by Unknown
***
Echo is standing under the tree with the limbs that umbrella out then curve up toward the sky. It’s where we normally meet in my dreams, and it always seems calm and detached from every worldly thing.
When I go to him, he holds his arms out for me, and I step into his familiar embrace. He smells of warm spices, a cologne he usually doesn’t wear. When I turn my head to face his neck, I can also detect another scent—the smell of sickness, though he doesn’t appear to be sick.
For a while, he doesn’t speak, he just holds me to him like a child clinging to a teddy bear.
“You’ve already been gone for too long.” Echo finally breaks the silence.
“It’s hardly been a day yet, Echo. I’m sure you’re doing fine without me.” But is he? When I left him, he was starting to show symptoms of the plague. How much worse could it have gotten?
“My mother has died.” His words are abrupt, sad.
“ … what?” I pull back and look up into his eyes. “Dead?”
Echo’s gaze strays from mine as tears well in his eyes. He struggles not to let them fall, to not appear weak. “Yes. She passed away last night. They’ve announced me as King, but I refused a coronation ceremony. I just … I am not up for it.” He avoids letting me know that he is sick, but I know. I know. “I do nothing but worry about you now.”
I wrap my arms around him in a comforting embrace. “I’m in good hands, you don’t have to worry.” That’s assuming that Echo believes that Gabe is good enough to protect me. I used to think that he did, since he never concerned himself much with Gabe. Until Echo’s feelings for me intensified, and mine for him. Until I became his wife, a princess to his prince. Now, the two are at odds with each other, and I am stuck between them, unsure myself of whom I should choose.
“He better bring you home safely, with or without that leaf.”
“He will, Echo. He will.”
Echo reaches out and cups my cheek in his hand. I stare into his blue eyes, which seem a little dim, their evanescence lacking.
“We will be home soon … and then … then we’ll have to talk about what happens next.”
Echo simply nods then leans in and sweetly kisses my lips. Even in my dreams he is a good kisser, and I crave more from him … I want more … but I’m woken with a sudden, jarring shake …
***
“Get up,” Gabe commands.
“What is happening?” Everything around me is blurry as I wake up and readjust to my conscious surroundings. That’s when I hear the voices and the footsteps. It’s also when I realize that it’s too late.
The tent is pushed in from the outside, and Gabe protectively throws himself over me, smushing my body into the ground as hands press through the canvas, reaching blindly for our limbs.
“Get them out of there. Let’s see what they have.” There’s a voice that is louder than the rest, and the next time I hear it, it’s right by me and Gabe. “Seems like there’s two of ’em in there.” Hands finally clamp down on my arm, and someone else struggles with the zipper to the tent.
“Gabe!” I don’t want to be separated from him, but they are pulling me, and eventually I’m dragged out of the tent and dropped onto the arid ground. It doesn’t take long before Gabe gives up and allows himself to be pulled out as well. Two of these people hold Gabe by his arms, and it doesn’t take much, since he doesn’t struggle.
The people standing around us are dressed in tight, leather leggings with leather tunics that match the color of the sand and dirt. They look rough, like lost brambles that have been blown across the Outlands, picking up whatever grime they’ve tumbled over. Their skin is dark, tanned from many hours spent in the sun. These must be the Rogues that I’ve heard so much about, but have never met face-to-face. One of them, a male, stands in front of the others, his hair long and corded. At a second glance, I notice that there are trinkets that have been woven into his locks, some of them look metal and others look like bone or plastic. When he crouches down in front of me, I can make out a bronze key and a coin with a hole through the center.
“What do we have here?”
This is when I hope Gabe is bright enough not to mention I’m the Keeper. The Rogue grabs me by the chin and tilts it upward so he can look into my eyes. “Can it really be?”
“Looks like a Seer, Boss.” One of the others chimes in helpfully.
“A Seer indeed. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen any Seers come through here.” The Rogue drops his hand from my chin and yanks me up to my feet. “You’ll be a welcome sight back at the camp. There’s much we can do with you. Maybe try to ransom you back to your corrupt City. Maybe sell you to the Dreamcatchers to do whatever they want with you … or maybe … ” He rubs his goatee in thought. “We can keep you and make our own little army of Seers. Wouldn’t that be something? Rogue Seers?”
The group of them laugh the same sardonic laugh. All-in-all, there’s seven, two females and five males—too much for Gabe or I to fight. That, and they’ve already confiscated our weapons. One of the females holds our guns, one tucked under her armpit, the other hanging loosely in her hand against her side.
“What do you want from us?” I ask the leader of the bunch.
“What do we want from you, darling?” He laughs and grabs my wrist, tugging me to walk alongside him. I look over my shoulder and Gabe is pushed forward, a sign that he should go, too. The whole group follows, and we leave our tent behind. I say a quiet prayer to the Maker for this small favor. At least, if Echo sends out someone to search for us, he’ll find our tent. Hopefully, that will be a sign enough that we are in trouble.
“Yes. What do you want?” I repeat myself a little more slowly this time, just in case he didn’t hear me.
“We’ll figure that out later, when we get to camp. For now, it’s just fun to say that I’ve found two Seers. And one of them is pretty at that.”
I try to yank my hand out of his grip, but he only grasps me tighter, his nails digging into my skin. “Now, you want to behave, honey, or we’re going to have some real issues you and I.”
“I’m not your ‘honey.’”
“You are whatever I call you.”
I wriggle my wrist in his grip, trying to abate the pressure of his fingernails. “And what do I call you?”
Over his shoulder, he flashes me a grin. “That’s a question I can answer. You can call me Lee.”
Not so far away, behind a rock structure, we arrive to a line of speeder bikes that have been hidden out of plain sight. Lee slings a leg over the seat and then pulls me down in front of him. When I look behind for Gabe, he is struggling with his captors, which I’d expect from Gabe. He’s not one to go down without a fight. He catches my gaze, and I shake my head at him. There’s no point fighting now. We’re stuck, and we’re going with these Rogues whether we want to or not.
“Ready to go, darling?” Lee asks as he starts the bike and it hovers over the ground.
Ready as I’ll ever be, I think to myself. But before I can answer, he speeds off toward the blinding sunrise.
Chapter 13
We ride for what feels like hours, and probably is. The sun is hot and unbearable, and I’m sweating uncomfortably under my jumpsuit. Lee is hunched over me, his hands on the handles of the bike, his breath by my ear. I think he’s enjoying this a little too much, but there’s nothing I can do.
Finally, I make out something in the distance, a group of tents, hundreds of multi-colored tents … a little tent city. They ride the speeders right up to a watch post that consists of five guards holding machine guns. The bike slows down to a stop just before the entryway into the camp, and Lee hops off, pulling me down off the bike with him.
“Found something good, did ’ja?” one of the guards calls down from the little post, which can’t be more than ten feet up in the air.
“Something real good.” Lee smiles and brushes his dreadlocks back behind his shoulders. They are covered in dust that has been kicked up from the sp
eeder, and when I look down at myself, I notice that I’ve been blessed with the same, dirty appearance.
“We’ll get someone to put the bikes back. Go on in.” The guard motions with his gun to pass, and we continue into the camp. It reminds me much of the Citizen Settlements back in Aura, except these people aren’t slaves, they are misplaced from society. Rogues. There are children running through the dirt streets, and the smells of humans and food and the general odor of living close to each other wafts through the air. Once we are inside the camp, I can’t see where it ends, not even when I take the time to stop and tiptoe in an effort to get a better look at my surroundings. Lee pulls me off balance, though, and I almost stumble into him.
“Keep up, honey.”
“You can call me Be—”
“Beth!” Gabe cuts in, calling the name out in my direction. “Beth, is he hurting you?”
It only takes me a moment to figure out why he called me “Beth.” He’s protecting me and my identity. What would they do to me if they found out that I was the Keeper? I’d never see home again, probably.
“No, Gabe. I’m fine,” I reply calmly.
“Beth, huh? A pretty name for a pretty girl.” Lee motions ahead of us, gesturing down the road. “We are taking you to the leader of the camp, Moses.”
“Moses? That’s a unique name.” It seems vaguely familiar to me, as if I’ve heard it once before, perhaps in a class or a book.
“It’s the name of a prophet from the Bible. He was given the Ten Commandments. He also freed the slaves of Egypt.” Lee steers me around a puddle of filth, and a group of kids nearly collide with us as they round a corner and bound off down another alley. “So, our leader likes to be called Moses, because he’s gathered us, freed us, and given us rules to live by that aren’t the rules of the City or of Aura.”
Moses. The Bible. The book was banned from the City long ago when we took up the faith of the Maker, the one who guided the scientists to make our abilities which blessed us with the gift of Sight. I’ve heard of the Bible only in my history classes and thought it had long since disappeared.
“You still didn’t tell me what you want from us. You already took our stuff, why not let us go?” I press on, thinking of Echo and how he’s probably rapidly perishing from the plague back at the palace. I think of his mother, who is most likely already dead. I need to find that plant, and getting caught by these Rogues isn’t helping.
“Because it’s been many years since we’ve found Seers outside of the City. Moses will be interested to hear about why you are wandering around the Outlands. There has to be a good reason, honey, because no one comes out here just because they felt like it.”
“And after we meet with your Moses? Then what?”
“That’s up to him, sweetheart.”
I really hate him calling me all these pet names, and I grind my teeth together in annoyance. When I glance back at Gabe, I see the same annoyance written all over his face, and it makes me feel a little better that I’m not the only one who is letting it get to me.
We finally get to a large tent that looks to be made from a deep green velvet. The flaps have been pinned open, but the inside is darkened with a shadow that keeps anything from being seen. Two guards flank the entrance, and as we approach, their legs part and they block our entry.
“We’re here to see Moses. It’s very important.”
“Everyone wants to see Moses. Did you make an appointment?” one of the guards responds.
“No. We just got back from a raid and we found some pretty interesting stuff. Like these two Seers.” Lee motions back at me and Gabe, then smiles a smile that is almost bigger than his face. “See?”
The guards glance at us, then look back at Lee. “Fine. You may enter, but I can’t promise he is taking any visitors. Especially unannounced ones.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m rude! But everyone pretty much knows that.” Lee barks a laugh, and his little posse of Rogues chime in with their fake guffaws in a show of support.
The guards never take their eyes off of me or Gabe, though, and even when we pass into the tent, I can feel their gaze burning into the back of me.
When my eyes adjust to the lack of light, I realize that we are standing in some sort of antechamber to the tent where Moses must really be. The room is outfitted with large pillows to sit on and tables with short legs that sit close to the ground. There are sticks of incense burning, and the thick smoke irritates my eyes, not to mention my lungs as I suck in deep breaths of what smells like lavender.
A woman with the same sort of dark corded hair that Lee has appears in the doorway of the second larger tent. She wears a beautiful suede dress that clings tightly to her form, leaving very little to the imagination. I catch Gabe staring at her, and there’s a piece of me that ignites with jealousy. That woman is really nothing to look at. She’s all meat and bones anyway.
“You wish to see Moses?” She must be stupid too, because for what other reason would be we standing out here?
“We do, lovely. Don’t you look sweet today, too?” Lee lets go of my wrist long enough to brush his fingers down the woman’s cheek.
She blushes, her ruddy skin turning a darker shade of brown. “You may come in.”
Lee grabs my wrist again and Gabe and I are escorted into the larger tent. This one is much more impressive than the previous tent, with knickknacks and all sorts of furniture and artwork strewn about. It’s a mess, but a somewhat organized mess, and I have no idea where I want to look first, there’s just so much to look at. I stop just inside the door, and Lee lets go of my arm again, allowing me the time to admire my surroundings.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” A gentle, soothing voice comes from somewhere to my right. I turn that way and an old man stands up from a chair that looks to be made from bone … or tusks? I’ve heard of such things before, but no one has seen an elephant since the War. How could he possibly have tusks in the middle of the Outlands? “All of these things were once lost to the survivors of the War. The City won’t allow them, since they are things of the past … things that make us remember when all they want you to do is forget. The City is all about looking forward, not looking behind—that’s where they get everything wrong.”
“Are those tusks?” I ask.
The man nods his head. “They are. One of my groups of raiders found it on a journey up north. Came across an old museum that had lots of different things for the taking.” He smiles and gestures for Gabe and I to sit down in a pile of velvet pillows situated on the floor behind us. “I am Moses. Welcome to my humble abode.”
“Bet you never thought we’d find us some Seers, Moses. Did you?” Lee puffs his chest up proudly, which I find to be ridiculous. “They call themselves Gabe and Beth.”
“A good find, indeed. It’s been many years since I’ve spoken to a Seer. Many years since I’ve seen them. As the decades wear on, less and less try to escape the City, because they forget there’s a world outside of those barricades, so welcome, Gabe and Beth.” Moses doesn’t sit down and imposingly towers over Gabe and me, regarding us both like we are one of his prized objects. In particular, he watches me. “So, Seers, tell me how you ended up way out here, walking in the wrong direction?”
“What’s the right direction?” I wonder.
“Away from the City, not toward it. That makes me believe that you are coming from Aura, but that can’t be, because why would two Seers want to have any business with the Dreamcatchers? Especially after we just learned about the attack against your people and the loss of your Keepers.”
Keepers. He means me, too.
“To be honest, we are looking for a plant,” Gabe blurts out, giving away our true intentions without giving away too much. “Some of our Seers are sick, and we heard that the only way to cure them is to find this plant.”
“Well, we didn’t hear it but we Saw it in one of our Visions.” I try to play it up as much as I can. It’s not too far off the mark. A shiny bauble catches my attention when
it deflects the light from a nearby lantern. It’s curious why one would have a fire in a tent filled with precious things.
Moses smiles at my curiosity, admiring it from where he sits. “That is called a sun catcher, though it catches very little sun here in these confines.”
“Why not put it outside, then?” I don’t remember seeing any sun catchers in the City. Such little things seem so insignificant in the grand scheme of our existence. And yet, I can’t look away.
“Because it is mine. Once I put it outside, someone will steal it and make it theirs. What you don’t watch is what you lose, Beth. That’s a good lesson to take away from here … if we let you go.” Moses steeples his fingers together and leans his forearms on his upper thighs, glancing down at Gabe and me like we are little children.
“Why wouldn’t you let us go?” Gabe asks.
“Because having a pair of Seers around is a rare thing. We could use some of that knowledge of yours … your gift. And if not that, it might not hurt to just have you around. Like an addition to my collection here.”
“I’m not a collectable.” I push myself up to stand, making a move to leave, though there’s nowhere for me to go.
“Sit down,” Moses commands, his voice deepening into something dangerous.
Gabe tugs on the dirty pant leg of my jumpsuit, and I sit back down beside him. Here, I am not the Keeper. I have no power. I am only a Seer, like the rest of the Seers … like I was before the Dreamcatchers came.
“This is how it will work. I will have a tent set up for you beside mine. You will be our ‘guests’ for a little while. I will even find some scouts to search for those plants you are looking for. Then … we will ransom you and your medicine back to the City.” Moses pauses to examine his fingernails, which are all well-manicured. “And they better offer something good. Money is not an object to us here. We need supplies to survive, and that is worth far more than your currency.”