Stranger

by Bryant, S. J.

  She considered making a break for it but they'd never make it past six guards with Orion in his condition. She pointed the gun at the ground.

  "I wasn't using anything," she said. "I was just checking on my friends and helping with the defence."

  She pointed her gun at the three dead men.

  Bitami grunted. "Your friends will be returned to their shelter. It was undamaged. You will come with me back to Omi."

  Nova bit her lip. "Of course."

  She turned to her companions, putting her back to Bitami and his guards.

  "He's taking me back to the mansion," she said. "And you back to your house. Don't do anything rash. This is a good thing; it might be the break we've been waiting for."

  "Check them for weapons," said Bitami.

  The two guards ran their hands over the Hunters, taking a pistol each from Nova, Aart and Tyra, and six from Gus.

  Nova raised an eyebrow; she hadn't even seen him take them.

  Dark clouds surged over Gus's face but he followed the others back to their dwelling while Nova turned to face Bitami. Two of his guards followed after the Hunters.

  "Good," he said.

  Together they marched back up the hill to Omi's mansion. As they drew closer the full extent of the damage became clear. The fence around the side of the mansion had become a blackened pile of ash on the ground. The trees both inside and outside of the fence formed blackened stumps while the piles of half-burnt wood and debris glimmered with the water that had been thrown in an attempt to put out the flames.

  Nova stopped at the gate and looked at Omi's house, her mouth hanging open. The side closest to the fence was burnt black and had collapsed to one side, the roof caving in on the rooms below. The paper sliders that made up the walls had been completely incinerated, along with most of the support poles. The other side of the house remained intact; Omi's guards had managed to stop the flames before they spread too far.

  Omi yelled at a group of guards near the charred side of the house while others dragged the burnt pieces of the mansion away. They'd already created a sizeable pile of burnt rubble. The rest of the household stood in tight circles and gazed at the ruins with horror-struck faces.

  Sia stood apart from the others, one hand firmly placed on Zen's shoulder, the knuckles white from her tight grip. Her face made a stony mask as she surveyed the damage. Zen on the other hand looked close to tears, but he wasn't looking at the house. Nova followed his gaze to two figures laid out on the ground. The wizened medicine man from the village was bent over them so that Nova couldn't make out their faces.

  She jogged closer to get a better look and stopped short, her hand clapping over her mouth.

  Meeka's small frame was unmistakeable as the doctor leaned close to her chest, head tilted. Her eyes stayed closed in her pale face.

  Ree lay beside Meeka, her small body hidden under a white sheet with just her head poking out the end. She looked serenely asleep, as if she would open her eyes and get up at any moment.

  Nova ran to the doctor's side and knelt next to Meeka's head. The onlookers gasped at her sudden approach and the doctor glared at her.

  "What happened?"

  She cast her eyes desperately over Meeka but there was no sign of life.

  "The servant was caught in the fire," the doctor said. "Meeka ran in to save her and they were both caught."

  "Are they going to make it?" Nova whispered.

  He gave her a stern look and leant over Meeka, pulling the corner of Ree's sheet up to reveal the body underneath.

  Nova fell back as bile rose in her throat. "No."

  Where Ree's body should have been there was a charred ruin. Her arms and legs had become blackened stumps that ended in twisted knobs that looked nothing like hands or feet. The burns went all the way to her neck where miraculously they stopped. A few blisters and redness on Ree's chin was the only sign of the fire.

  The medicine man dropped the sheet.

  Nova's eyes raced away from Ree and back to Meeka. She couldn't help but think of their time together. Meeka had helped her and together they'd faced Omi's wrath. Seeing her lying, on the verge of death, made hot tears sting the corners of Nova's eyes.

  Hot anger seared through her veins as she looked around for someone to blame.

  Omi's round face came into view as he yelled at his guards to clear the burnt ruins of his house away. He hadn't even glanced at the little village, which had been brutally attacked. Nova wondered if any of these guards had family down in the village and whether they even knew if their loved ones were still alive.

  Nova sprung to her feet and marched at Omi. She managed to wrangle her rage enough not to yell but it burned in her chest like a raging inferno.

  His nostrils flared. "I'm busy, stranger."

  Nova took a deep breath, pulling her voice under control, and bowed her head. "What happened, Lord Omi?"

  Omi's jaw tensed. "Buta."

  Nova twitched. "What does that mean?"

  Omi shoved her out of the way and kept talking to his guards. They formed a tight circle that Nova couldn't break into, leaving her standing on the outside, fuming.

  She gritted her teeth and went to help clear the wreckage, hoping they didn't find any more bodies. She watched Omi and his guards out of the corner of her eye. Every so often a group of guards would break off. Sometimes they'd join the clean-up, other times they ran out of the gate and disappeared into the lightening dawn.

  Nova waited until Omi was alone and then made to approach him. Before she could take two steps three guards were on her, holding her arms at her sides.

  "He doesn't want to talk to you," Bitami said. "He's busy."

  "I want to know what is going on!"

  "It's none of your business," Bitami said.

  By the time the guards let her go, Omi had long since disappeared into the side of the house that remained standing. The rest of the household were also moving inside.

  Already new screens had appeared beside the broken half of the house and were being erected over the charred remains. At the rate they were working there would be no sign of a fire by the end of the day.

  Two guards carried Ree's body away from the mansion towards the village whilst Meeka was carried inside followed by Yana. Nova went after them. Meeka had been her only friend in this hell-hole and she wasn't going to give up on her now.

  The guards carried Meeka to her room and laid her out on her own bed. Doctor Yana knelt beside her mattress and reached into the bag at his side.

  "I'll need warm water for tea," he said.

  "I don't know where it is," Nova said, surprised that he was talking to her.

  "Then you'd best find it. I don't think anyone else will try to save this girl. What do you think?"

  Nova swallowed hard and dashed from the room. She ran down the corridor to the kitchen where Ree had forbidden her from entering. A pang of sadness rolled through her as she thought of Ree's fearful face. She shook her head and looked around, there was no time to mourn Ree, and she had to focus on saving Meeka.

  Over by the far wall stood a stove with a small fire burning underneath it. A pot of water was already sitting on top, bubbling. Nova breathed a sigh of relief and loaded the pot onto a tray. She carried it through the house as fast as she could to Meeka's room.

  Yana didn't acknowledge her as she lay down the water. Instead he pulled a small glass jar filled with crushed green leaves from his bag. He took a pinch of these and dropped them into the tea, swirling the pot and then letting it sit. The colour leaked out of the leaves and turned the water a murky brown.

  "You'll try to save her?" Nova asked.

  Yana didn't respond, pulling another jar from his bag.

  "Even though she's… cursed with misfortune?"

  Yana's hand's paused and he looked up at her through thick eyebrows. "I take care of all my patients equally. It's my job to do my best and save them all. If I fail them, their souls will weigh down on my shoulders long after I die."
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  Nova's mouth hung open but any reply she might have had died in her throat.

  "But you'll have to help," Yana said. "No one else will risk being cursed by saving her.

  "Anything you need," Nova said in a whisper.

  Yana took her at her word. For the next twelve hours she was rushed off her feet fetching things. He sent her down to the village three separate times to collect things from his shop and then she had to get water from the stream and boil it every half an hour so that he could make teas and poultices. She was also sent scrounging for pieces of cloth to use as bandages. She wished that Crusader was nearby, one can of New-Skin-O and all of Meeka's injuries would be sealed.

  At first glance, Meeka's burns didn't look so bad. There was a line on the back of her hand and one of her toes was bleeding profusely but apart from that she looked normal. It wasn't until Yana pulled back her coat that the real damage became clear. A huge bruise covered Meeka's chest and stomach, surrounded by blisters and blackened pieces of skin.

  "One of the beams fell on her," Yana said as way of explanation.

  Nova's mouth hung open and her chest constricted, squeezing the air out of her. She couldn't believe Meeka was still alive after an injury like that.

  "And here." Yana lifted Meeka's head, revealing a pool of bright blood.

  It seemed to Nova that no matter how many bandages she placed under Meeka's head, they kept coming away soaked in blood.

  It went on like that well into the night. The rest of the household had fallen into restless sleep by the time Yana leant back on his haunches and wiped the sweat from his brow. "It's up to her now."

  Nova nodded, resolved on staying by Meeka's side until she woke up.

  "Give her a cup of tea with two pinches of this every hour," Yana said, handing her a jar of dried leaves.

  Nova nodded and clutched the jar close to her chest. Yana shuffled out of the room and slid the screen shut behind him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Nova dozed in and out of sleep as the night dragged on. Her eyes popped open at every noise, hoping to see Meeka awake and dreading the alternative.

  Finally, as dawn peeked over the horizon, Meeka shuffled and opened her eyes. Nova rushed to her side, and helped her sit higher.

  Meeka sat against the pile of pillows and smiled wanly at Nova. "Thank you."

  Nova shrugged. "It was the least I could do after all the help you've given me. Plus I need you here to keep me updated on what the hell is going on."

  Meeka sighed and dropped her eyes to her hands. "Ree didn't make it, did she?"

  Nova shook her head and placed her hand on top of Meeka's.

  "I thought I'd saved her. I had her hand and we were running, but then the roof fell in. I don't remember much after that."

  "It took all of Yana's knowledge just to save you," Nova said. "Ree was already gone by the time they pulled her out."

  "She should have lived," Meeka said. "Of everyone here she was the one who most deserved to live. She was never mean or cruel to me like the others. She was a good woman."

  Nova bit her lip and said nothing. Sometimes people would whisper about an after-life and how the lost loved one was better off. But Nova didn't like to live in fairy tales. If Meeka wanted to believe that, then it was her business.

  "Those bastards," Meeka said under her breath.

  "Which ones?"

  "Buta."

  "That's what Omi said. What does it mean?"

  "Buta is a man. He's a cruel man with no honour. He and a band of renegades live outside of the towns and they're constantly attacking villages. Omi and Toro have tried to root them out but it's like they can disappear into thin air."

  Nova gripped Meeka's hand tight as she remembered the men who attacked her in the village. "They had guns!"

  Meeka's eyes flew open and her gaze rushed to the door. There was only silence on the other side.

  "How do you know of such things?" Meeka whispered.

  Nova frowned. "What do you mean? I know all about guns; how do you know about them?"

  Meeka dropped her eyes and bit her lip. "I shouldn't know."

  "But you do. What the hell is going on here if you're still getting water from wells and yet your attackers carry plasma pistols!"

  "Shh!" Meeka urged, her eyes again darting to the door. "I'm not supposed to know. Those weapons are reserved for Toro's elite guard, his top soldiers. I saw Omi practicing with his one day, I've seen what they can do."

  "All of Toro's elite guard?"

  "His whole personal army has them," Meeka said.

  "But they were carrying swords."

  "On the outside, yes," Meeka said. "The shooting weapons are a secret. The common folk, like me, aren't supposed to know such technology exists. It's like my inventions, we're not supposed to see anything more than what we have."

  "How can no one know?" Nova said, shaking her head. She couldn't conceive of a whole population being so oblivious.

  Meeka shrugged. "We're trained from an early age not to ask questions. This is just a part of that."

  "It's disgusting. So how the hell does this outlaw have weapons then?"

  "I don't know. I would guess that he stole them. Buta's family used to be part of Toro's honoured elite. His father was the last Emperor's closest general. Something happened back then and Buta's father disappeared along with his family. Buta reappeared a decade ago, with these attacks, and they haven't stopped since."

  "But how are the villagers supposed to defend themselves against guns when they don't even have lighters to make fires!"

  Meeka caught Nova's gaze. "Did the attackers use guns on the villagers?"

  Nova frowned, mind racing. "They must have. They were carrying them…"

  "Did you see them fire?"

  "Well… No…"

  Meeka nodded. "Then at least some of them keep some honour."

  "Still cowards," Nova spat.

  A sharp rap on the door made both women glance up like startled rabbits.

  "Toro has arrived. He wants to see you both," Bitami said through the sliding door.

  "Meeka can't move!" Nova bellowed back.

  "I don't—"

  Bitami's reply was cut short by the door sliding open and Toro stepping inside. "I don't mind talking here," he said.

  Nova instinctively bowed her head towards the floor. Beside her Meeka tried to do the same and gave an audible gasp of pain.

  "You may forgo the formalities this once," Toro said, raising his hand to Meeka.

  He slid the door shut behind him, leaving Bitami on the outside, mouth gaping.

  "I wanted to talk to you," he said, nodding to Nova.

  "Good, because I want to talk to you too," Nova said. She turned away from Meeka and got to her feet. "Buta and his followers have guns. Why the hell didn't you tell me that you have that kind of technology?"

  Toro's mouth twitched but that was his only sign of emotion. "It's not my job to tell you the intimate details of our ways."

  Nova's jaw clenched.

  "I've let your insolence go so far," Toro said, his voice dropping to a menacing whisper. "But my patience is wearing thin. I came here to tell you that you're coming with me to the Capital. As are Meeka and Omi."

  "What?" Nova and Meeka said in unison.

  "My companions?" Nova said.

  "Will not be joining us."

  "But—"

  "Perhaps I didn't make myself clear," Toro said in the same whisper. "This is not a request. It's an order. You will accompany me. We leave at dawn."

  Toro gave them one more look and then marched from the room.

  Nova and Meeka looked at each other, their mouths hanging open.

  "I can't believe we're going to the Capital," Meeka said, her voice filled with wonder.

  "It's another step further from my friends and home!"

  "I've heard it's the most beautiful place," Meeka continued, unheeding. "No one except Toro's most trusted are allowed inside. It's supposed to be
like a whole other world."

  Nova sighed and collapsed back beside Meeka's bed. Something in Toro's voice had warned her that there would be no argument, but now that he was gone her insides boiled with rage. She dreaded the thought of leaving her companions alone. All it would take was one bad move and all hell would break loose.

  "You have to do what he says," Meeka said, as if reading Nova's thoughts.

  Nova sighed. "I know. But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

  ***

  True to his word Toro and his travelling companions marched out of Omi's gates when the sun had barely peaked over the horizon. Toro strode out in front, surrounded by guards. Six men carried a palanquin draped in gold silk behind him, which he ignored.

  Behind Toro and his soldiers came Omi and a small retinue of his household guards. The rest were left behind to repair the damage left by Buta's soldiers and to keep an eye on the village. Omi marched along in his usual black cloak with red trimming and a sword on each hip.

  Nova's eyes kept sliding to Omi's waist, wondering where he kept his plasma pistol, and then to the rest of Toro's soldiers; did they have guns too?

  Nova's skin crawled at being surrounded by weapons while having nothing to defend herself with. She felt like a sitting duck at a back-planet country fair. She just hoped none of these soldiers tried to shoot her for extra points.

  One hundred people marched away from Omi's mansion in relative silence. Only Toro's occasional comment and Nova's questions broke the quiet. The path out of town led towards mountains in the distance and soon thick trees and swaying grass hid the village from view.

  In the daylight, and with soldiers on all sides, the forest seemed far less threatening. The purple flowers cast a cool glow over the ground and the leaves spread over their heads like giant tents. In a way the ancient forest reminded her of Drigoon, but at least here she hadn't been swallowed by a carnivorous plant, at least not yet.

  Meeka lay on a small palanquin with a thin veil for shade. She winced with every jolt of the carriers but said nothing. Nova had fought tooth and nail to get her the carriers; Omi had wanted to make Meeka walk all the way to the Capital.