Into the Desert Wilds

by Jim Galford

  “So where are we going?” asked Atall, as they followed Phaesys into a mostly-abandoned section of the city.

  Whereas the north and south sections were for the most part intact, this particular area was incomplete, as though it were missing buildings that should have been there. Large sections of the city district were gone, clearly the result of mists passing through, gobbling up everything in their path. Even the stone road was missing in places, revealing packed sandstone that had once been beneath. Wide open spaces were dotted by the occasional building that had somehow escaped the mists, including a massive stone building and a house or two.

  “I received word yesterday that the undead might be hiding away under the city in one of the old crypts,” Phaesys eventually explained gruffly, taking them toward the stone building, surrounded by iron fencing. “This one is the most likely. Given that Arturis has at least a hundred ghouls and zombies at his disposal, I believe they could only fit in here without being found. They come out most nights, so we know they aren’t far from the heart of town.”

  “So why are we here?” Atall asked.

  “We’re going to burn it down,” explained Phaesys.

  Atall shot Oria a worried look, but she just shrugged.

  “We usually work on small goals,” she told him as they stopped at the fencing. “Phaesys likes to help the rebels within the city how he can.”

  Hopping the fence, Phaesys turned and offered a hand to help Oria over the metal barbs and then did the same for Atall. Oria tried to thank him for it, but he grunted and headed toward the crypts.

  “What did you do to him?” Atall whispered to her, motioning with his muzzle toward Phaesys. “He’s acting like mom would when she really wanted to gut father.”

  “Not sure. I think he’s mad that I got beat up this morning.”

  Atall regarded her oddly at that, but said nothing.

  They followed obediently as Phaesys led the way down into the old crypt, walking around the fallen entry door that appeared to have had its seals broken quite some time ago.

  Inside the crypt, sand blew slowly around the floor, creating an endless swirling that made it difficult to spot movement early or recognize any footprints. Instead, Oria had to rely on her sense of smell for any danger.

  “Over here,” announced Phaesys, leading them to the back of the large room. “Everything up here is new enough that I wouldn’t expect the dead to use it. In the lower crypts, it may be different.”

  When Oria caught up, she found that Phaesys was indicating a long staircase down into darkness. Before she could ask whether they needed to take any precautions, Phaesys drew his long sword and began down the stairs.

  “Can you see down there?” Oria asked Atall, squinting down the stairs. “He won’t make it twenty feet, unless his eyesight is a lot better than mine.”

  With a flick of his hand, Atall created a faint ball of light that floated just above his head.

  “A wizard can manage,” he told her with a wink. “C’mon.”

  They hurried down the steps, catching up to Phaesys quickly, as he had been forced to stop by the loss of light until their arrival. Apparently, he was angry enough that he would stand in the dark, where he expected to find zombies, just to keep from asking Oria for help.

  “I am glad to see someone trying to be safe, rather than risk themselves,” Phaesys told Atall, nodding his thanks. “I will lead, if you do not mind.”

  Not waiting for their answer, Phaesys began down the stone and packed-clay tunnel, guiding them to a long room lined with alcoves. These, Oria realized, were filled with corpses that had dried and decayed beyond recognition. They were likely not a threat in their current condition. A stiff breeze might destroy them.

  Phaesys moved slowly, keeping his sword ready as he checked the rows of tombs. Finally, he motioned them onward as he headed for the far end of the room.

  “This crypt was abandoned when we found that it came too close to the newer water and sewage tunnels,” he explained as they reached the crypt’s back wall. Where it had once been smoothly-stoned, there stood a large hole, as though ripped open with tools. “Apparently, we did not keep that secret well enough.”

  “How far do the water and sewage tunnels go?” Atall asked, leaning through the opening.

  “Well past the outer city walls,” answered Phaesys. “I believe some may actually connect to the older lost tombs in the desert. There is no way of knowing how far they could go if someone wanted to expand them.”

  “Let’s find out then,” Oria told them both, hopping past the males and walking into the tunnel beyond.

  Unlike the previous chamber that had been largely old sandstone, the new area was mostly harder rocks, carved to create easier movement of water. The ceiling was low, even to Oria, though she could just manage to stand fully upright. At her first step, she also found that the tunnel had at least six inches of cold water running through it.

  “That way,” Phaesys told her, pointing off to her left. “The other direction brings us closer to the sewage system and farther from the desert.”

  Oria began walking, knowing the others would follow.

  Time was difficult to gauge underground, but it felt as though she walked a long time, following the seemingly random turns of the water tunnels. She had been walking long enough that Oria had stopped looking for threats, vaguely hoping for some change of the dimly-lit scenery.

  “Oria!” hissed Atall, snapping her out of her dazed state.

  Looking around, Oria found that there was another torn-open wall that she had nearly passed. This one was smaller, but easily large enough for a human to climb through, making it more than large enough for any of the wildlings.

  “Where are we?” she asked Phaesys as she took her first step into the new tunnel.

  Phaesys shook his head and looked around. “I have no idea. At least a little past the outer walls. I don’t know where the well is that feeds the city, relative to here, so it could be quite some distance.”

  Oria motioned her brother closer so that she had some lighting as she proceeded and he fell in right behind her, with Phaesys guarding the rear.

  The first few feet of the new tunnel was littered with rubble from whatever had created the hole in the first place. Oria had to step carefully around the debris to keep from making too much noise or cutting her bare feet. For once, she wondered if Desphon’s sandals might have a reasonable purpose, beyond trying to fit in with the other races of Eldvar.

  Past the rubble, the tunnel became more obviously an ancient tomb, much like the ones where the three of them had been hiding for months. Unlike the other tombs, these stunk of death and decay. Each step of the way, the walls on either side got a little farther out and the ceiling rose. Faint markings on the walls grew clearer, though Oria still could not make them out.

  “It’s opening up a little,” she whispered to the others as she continued forward.

  The passage continued on for some time, giving no indication of any turns or side-rooms as they went. The whole place was so expansive that Oria had to start wondering just how many people had been buried near Corraith that would account for the elaborate tombs everywhere she went. If it were not strictly for burial, ancient Corraith had a strange obsession with tunnels.

  A loud crunch of a foot coming down on loose sandstone froze Oria where she was.

  “Atall?”

  “Wasn’t me.”

  “Phaesys?” she asked next.

  “It was behind me…”

  Oria turned slowly, leaning to look past Atall and Phaesys. Just behind the group, a hunched humanoid shape in ragged filthy clothing moved on all fours, following closely. As she watched, it took several more steps and looked up, lowering itself close to the ground.

  With a hiss, the corpse bared its broken teeth and leapt at Phaesys, swinging wildly for his face.

  “Run!” cried Phaesys, twisting and slashing with his sword, leaving long gashes in the creature that it ignored comp
letely. “Atall, get your sister out of here!”

  Atall reached for Oria, but stopped when she glared at him.

  “Touch me and I’ll drag you back to mom unconscious,” she warned, drawing her dagger to ready herself for a fight. “Go help him.”

  While Phaesys continued hacking at the undead, Atall planted his feet and closed his eyes. A second later, he gestured toward the ghoul and it erupted in flames, collapsing into a twitching heap at Phaesys’ feet.

  In that moment of flaring light, Oria looked upward as movement caught her eyes. Something else was there, but she did not get a good look at it before the dimming flames plunged them back into darkness. Faint sounds of movement echoed in the dark.

  “Atall, up there,” she told him, pointing at the ceiling in the direction they had been going. “Get light up there.”

  Not questioning, Atall waved his hand toward the ceiling, sending the dim light that had been floating behind him in that direction. It flew where he pointed as though thrown, arcing gently before descending.

  At the peak of the light’s path, a dozen undead that were crawling along the ceiling stopped and looked straight at Oria. When the light fell silently to the floor, concealing the creatures again, she could also make out a wall of disheveled corpses standing in the middle of the tunnel, blocking the way forward. During the entire arc, Oria saw carvings along the walls, but these were the least of her concerns.

  “There’s got to be a hundred of them,” Atall announced, grabbing Oria and shoving her back toward Phaesys. “I’ll slow them. Start running!”

  Oria practically leapt past Atall, grabbing Phaesys as she went, dragging him off-balance to keep him from charging into battle alongside her brother. She ran hard, struggling to get to the waterway without letting go of Phaesys, who fought against her the whole way.

  “Down!” cried Atall, as a crackle echoed off the walls and warmth poured over Oria’s back.

  Knowing better than to question Atall at such a time, Oria kicked Phaesys’ feet out from under him and threw him to the ground. Still, he tried to stand back up, so Oria threw herself atop him.

  Within a breath of hitting the cold tunnel floor, a roar of flames washed over them, making Oria’s fur sizzle and her lungs ache. Distantly, she heard parts of the tunnel collapse as the flames died down. A second rumble farther off sounded as though parts of the ceiling had fallen.

  “They’re still coming, but they have to get through the cave-in first,” Atall warned, running up alongside Oria with a new light bobbing near his head. “Time to go.”

  Grumbling under his breath, Phaesys got to his feet and sheathed his sword, giving a glance back up the now collapsed hallway.

  “Follow me,” Phaesys told them both, running back into the water tunnel, and the way they had come.

  If the trip down had seemed to take hours, the return felt like no more than a minute, as fast as they pushed themselves.

  When Oria finally broke free into the sunset’s light, just a step or two behind Phaesys, she dug her feet in and stopped. Searching the dark crypt behind them, she breathed more easily as Atall came into view, coughing and brushing dust off of his fur.

  “None are still coming,” he told Oria and Phaesys, then shook himself bodily, raising a cloud of white dust. “I think we cut them off. The tunnel didn’t fully collapse, but it’s pretty much filled with fire right now.”

  “We need to go,” warned Phaesys, squinting at the top of the distant walls. “The guards will try to find out what happened. We should not be in the city when they figure it out. Loyal or not, they’ll report that I was here.”

  “Is this how all your visits to the city go?” asked Atall, looking between Oria and Phaesys. “If this is what you do when you leave me behind, I am not letting either of you go anywhere ever again without me.”

  Growling, Phaesys threw the door of the crypt shut, nearly collapsing it inward. Turning on Oria and Atall with an anger Oria had never seen in him before, Phaesys looked about ready to attack her…which on some level, Oria approved of. It was somehow good to know he had it in him.

  “He knows now!” roared Phaesys, ripping off his hooded overcoat and throwing it in a heap beside the crypt. “Everything I have done for the last year is wasted if he hears that we were here. Every careful step I have made to challenge Arturis was for nothing.”

  Atall took a step toward Phaesys, but Oria motioned him back.

  “Atall just saved your life and mine,” Oria told him firmly. “Calm down.”

  “No!” Phaesys continued to rage, clutching his head in his hands. “I will not calm down. What we did here today may have cost me everything…”

  Picking up the hooded garment from the ground, Oria pulled it over Phaesys, covering his face as she put her muzzle near his. The act of fastening the cloak felt an awful lot like hugging the male, which Oria regretted immediately, but chose not to stop herself.

  “Then we should leave before they identify us,” she told him calmly, forcing him to look at her. There were tears in his eyes, but Oria could tell that he could not decide between fear or anger. “We’ll go home and lay low for a while. This is not as bad as you think. We weren’t caught.”

  Putting his arms around her, Phaesys buried his face in her shoulder, sobbing for just a moment until he could regain his composure.

  Through that moment, Oria felt entirely disarmed, looking to Atall for some idea of what to do. He would not look back at her.

  “I am sorry,” Phaesys whispered near her ear. He tried to tighten his arms around her, but Oria stopped him. “Please forgive me.”

  “Why?” asked Oria, hugging Phaesys on her own terms. It felt right…among friends. “That was the first time I saw you actually prove you have any instincts at all. Be angry, but use it against Arturis.”

  Nodding, Phaesys stepped away from her hastily, lowering his head as he looked toward Atall.

  “I was wrong to be near her,” he told Oria’s brother. Taking a hasty step away from Oria, he added, “It will not happen again.”

  Atall stared at them both wide-eyed and finally answered with a smile, “Don’t mind me. Be as close as you want.”

  At first, Oria was going to let that pass, but then it sank in what her brother was thinking. She took a step toward Atall, but Phaesys stepped between them.

  “You were right, we should go,” he told her, raising her own hood for her.

  Oria tried to stare down Phaesys, hoping to intimidate him just enough that she could get at Atall. He stood there staring back at her until Oria finally gave up and began walking away.

  As they left the area, it was far more difficult to hide than when they had arrived. Soldiers ran everywhere, some trying to calm down citizens who had heard the rumbles, while others were actively searching for the source. Given how far underground it had been, no one seemed to know really what to look for, giving the three wildlings enough chance to slip away from the city, with only one guard noticing them. That man gave Phaesys a slight bow before letting them leave.

  The walk back to the refugee camp was silent, the three of them taking their time leaving the city. Part of their routine was to keep from drawing extra attention, but they all needed the time to cool down after the battle. Atall seemed to be in the best mood of any of them, though eventually Oria had calmed enough that the walk was pleasant enough.

  Once she no longer wanted to punch her brother, Oria spent much of the remainder of the walk watching Phaesys.

  Though he still walked with the strength and purpose she had grown used to, Oria could see the pain in his face and shoulders. He was terrified and she knew it was out of fear of what might happen to his lost mate-to-be. The longer Oria watched him try to hide the worry, the more she wished she had some idea what to do. Deep down, she wanted to find some way to locate the female and bring her back to Phaesys, just to see him happy again. The idea made her stomach clench, but it was still a better choice than watching him worry himself into an early g
rave.

  When they neared the tunnels, the sun was little more than a faint glow on the horizon. Atall stopped, bringing the others to a halt as well.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Phaesys, putting a hand on his sword. “Did you see something?”

  Atall shook his head and looked off toward the north.

  “I’ve got somewhere else I want to be,” Atall answered, giving Oria a pleading glance. “I think I’ll go there, rather than return home.”

  Oria came up beside him and punched Atall in the arm, before giving him a big hug.

  “Go say ‘hi’ to her for me,” she whispered, shoving her brother away afterward. “Hurry back though, or mom will be angry.”

  Grinning almost to the point Oria would have thought he might injure his jaw, Atall detoured off toward the north and the location of the gypsies.

  “What was that about?” Phaesys asked, watching Atall leave before continuing the march toward the tunnels. “I’ve never seen him happy like that.”

  “Creepy, isn’t it?”

  “A little, yes. Will he be able to keep secret where we have been?”

  “My brother has bigger secrets to worry about right now than telling on us,” she explained, skipping a little. “He’s found a girl he likes.”

  Phaesys laughed and nodded. “This I should have recognized. Have they been betrothed or are they going with the traditions of your people?”

  Oria snickered, but had to think through how to phrase her reply. She was not quite ready to explain to Phaesys that his friend Cora was free. Oria wanted to surprise him with that later, when he was not in such a grumpy mood. If she read him properly, Phaesys would be ecstatic when she did tell him. It was something she would save as a pleasant surprise the next time he was upset with her.

  “Neither just yet. They’re just friends, but in a few months or years, who knows? We’re adults in a couple months, so I doubt there will be much to talk about before then.”

  “What does your mother think of her? Is she a good fit for your family?”

  That soured Oria’s humor a little and she flattened her ears back, thinking of the yelling or spankings that might come of the whole situation. She had not considered what Feanne might think of the arrangement, or of Atall running off to be with his first love. She might brush it off…or she might box Oria’s ears for letting things get this far.