Sisters of the Sands: Book 1 of the Acolytes series

by James Villinger

  “What detachment do you think we’ll get?” Vana asked.

  “I hope we have Corporal Saryia. I heard she’s really friendly,” Sunil said.

  I closed my eyes and focused on the now-steady humming of the turbines. As I rested, I tried imagining what was waiting for us when we touched down. Was Aero as beautiful as the capital? What about the people there? I hoped they were friendly and exciting.

  There was a loud swish outside of the aircraft. I awoke to the children now silent; they were trying to evaluate the noise like I was. A large explosion shook the cabin and ripped a hole along the opposite side, causing the children’s seats across from me to fly out into the sky.

  I shielded my face from the flames and grabbed the sides of my chair tight. An alarm was sounding. There was a gaping hole now where some of the children had been sitting, and one of the turbines was missing from the wing. We were spinning out of control, plummeting towards the empty sand dunes far below.

  Those of us still inside wouldn’t stop screaming. My seat wobbled. I stretched out and tried to grab the hand of the girl next to me. My seat pitched forward and broke loose. I tumbled on the cabin floor, before the wind ripped me out through the hole and into the hot desert air. The seat spun sickeningly until it eventually settled so that I was facing the clear blue sky above.

  The back of the seat impacted into the sand and tumbled down the dune before coming to a stop. Miraculously, I was still alive. I pulled on the buckles and straps until I was free. I persuaded my shaking, shocked body to climb out of the seat and stand on the dune.

  The aircraft continued to spin into the distance, before crash landing into the desert. Were they okay? My squad was everything to me, my family. What happened?

  I ran up and down the dunes, approaching the smoking wreckage. There were rocks jutting out from the ground between me and the crash site, and so I twisted and weaved through them, climbing over those that blocked my path. Upon reaching the pinnacle of one of the boulders, I found I had a clear view of the crash site.

  But I quickly ducked down. A large group of men had beaten me here. They had pale, tan-coloured clothing. Their faces were covered by cloth masks, obscuring all but their eyes. They had their primitive weapons at the ready, pointed at the downed craft. Nomads.

  I peeked over the boulder for a better look. Aircraft pieces lay strewn across the sand. The main cabin was intact, aside from the massive hole in its side. Some of the girls inside were slumped on the floor, and others were still stuck in their chairs, unconscious.

  My eyes shifted back to the men. One of them appeared to have a metal tube over his shoulder – it was a crude missile launcher. That explained how they were able to take us down.

  The men ducked their heads through the hole in the cabin and stepped inside.

  “Children!” one shouted. “They’ve sent children at us?”

  “It doesn’t matter how old the enemy is, they’re going to grow up to be monsters anyway. Make sure they’re all dead,” another man ordered with indifference.

  They pointed their weapons down at the unconscious children and shot them in the head, one by one. The gruesome sight made me sick to my stomach, but I couldn’t look away. Tau was still alive; her body twitched and writhed until she brought herself back to consciousness. She looked afraid and wriggled in her seat, trying to free herself.

  “Hati, this one’s awake. Should we take her prisoner?” one of the bandits suggested.

  “Too risky. Tracking devices, remember?” another man said. “Kill her.”

  The first man raised his weapon and fired into Tau’s head. The exit wound splattered blood onto the back of her seat. I let out a shriek but placed my hands over my mouth to muffle myself. I ducked back down behind the boulder as the men spun in my direction.

  “I heard something. Go check it out!”

  I wiped my tear-filled eyes and ran back through the stony pathway as fast as I could.

  “There’s one over here!” I heard a man yell from behind.

  Gunshots followed, ricocheting off the rocks to my sides as I fled the scene. I left the rocks and back into the dunes. There was nowhere to hide. I wouldn’t be able to outrun them in this open area. But I had no choice. I ran up and down the dunes again, away from the rocks and my pursuers.

  I wanted nothing more than to escape this, to survive, to live on. I wanted to leave this desert and return to the safety of the city walls. No … I didn’t want … I needed. I must escape.

  There was a loud pop, followed by a whoosh. I felt something hit me in the back, a hot tingling sensation that travelled to my extremities. I fell down into the dune, rolling into a crevice and hitting my head on yet another rock.

  As I lay there staring up at the sky and bleeding onto the sand, I pictured my home again. I peered over to the sand dune where I expected my executioners to appear, but nothing. I closed my eyes and lost consciousness. I slipped in and out of awareness and saw the clouds drift away.

  I opened my eyes again just as they arrived – two desert dwellers walking down the dune. The couple knelt beside me and brought a canteen to my lips. As I drank the cool water, two heart-warming smiles beamed back at me. I swallowed, and then fainted back into the soft sand.

  I shot up from the bed in a daze. “Stop it!”

  I was in a cave. The sunlight was peering through the distant passageways. The bed had tattered, mouldy sheets, and no pillow.

  “But we’re not doing anything?” a man’s voice replied.

  There was a man and woman on the other side of the cave. I recognised them, It was the same couple who had found me. They were both leaning over a metal cauldron. A fire was lit underneath it, and something smelled … pleasant.

  The man was middle-aged, had black hair and tanned skin.

  “She’s awake! Don’t tease, Azua,” the woman said with a scowl.

  Azua smiled back. “How am I teasing?”

  They both wore rags and robes, Nomadic clothing. I was wearing rags, too.

  I stood up on the flimsy bed with my back to the cave wall. “What’s going on here? Where am I?”

  The woman stood, too, and gestured to my bed. “Please sit, dear. You’ve been asleep for two days now. You shouldn’t be moving too much. Just rest on the bed.”

  She was beautiful, with gorgeous, long-flowing, blonde hair reaching to her lower back. She placed one of her hands on her stomach, which was ballooned up more than I thought was possible. She was pregnant. I don’t recall ever seeing that before.

  I began to sob and eyed the cave’s exit. “Who are you people?”

  “You’re safe here,” the woman continued. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

  I continued to eye the exit, but my whole body was frozen.

  The man noticed the direction of my gaze. He was still smiling. “It’s dangerous out there. And dinner’s almost ready, too. It’s Enni’s favourite.”

  The woman called Enni smiled back at her partner and then to me. She calmly walked over and sat at the end of the bed. I edged farther away and hopped off my end, side-stepping along the cave’s wall.

  “Try to remember what happened,” Enni said. She had a kind demeanour and I felt I could trust her.

  A tear trickled down my cheek and onto my chin. “There was a crash,” I said, struggling to piece my memory together.

  “Yes, go on,” Enni said, placing both her hands on her stomach.

  “The other children … wait.” I backed away from her. “It was you! You Nomads shot us down. You killed my friends!”

  Enni raised her hands to try and calm me down. “That wasn’t us, I promise you. When we got there, it was too late. We found you and brought you here.”

  Azua cleared his throat. “If we hadn’t, you’d be dead.”

  They saved me? But why?

  “I don’t understand,” I said, looking down at the sand on the cave floor.

  “Azua and I don’t want to be a part of this war,” Enni said. “We saw y
ou and … we knew we had to help.”

  I shook my head, flinging tears about. “But … you Nomads shot me?”

  Enni stood up. “Shot? You have no bullet wounds or laser burns.”

  Confused, I quickly felt my back underneath my rags, checking for the wound, but felt nothing.

  Enni coolly made her way over and gently rubbed my cheek. “You don’t have to worry about that war anymore. You can stay here with us, as family.”

  Azua chuckled and continued to stir the pot. “You’ve always wanted a daughter.”

  I shook my head and furrowed my brow. “But you’re my enemy? Why would …” I groaned and glanced at the exit again. “Just let me leave! Take me back!”

  Azua stared at Enni expectantly. Enni puzzled for a moment, taking her hand off my cheek and instead tenderly pulling on my hand. She guided me back to the bed and sat down.

  “Come sit with me,” she asked.

  I wanted to run, but her warm smile put me at ease. I did as she asked and sat next to her. I had stopped sobbing, but my eyes still welled with tears.

  She gestured down to her stomach. “Right now, I have a baby inside of me.” She rubbed it and smiled at me. “He or she is an innocent person, so small and cute that they couldn’t possibly hurt someone. Is my baby your enemy, too?”

  “Well … no, but …”

  “And what if my baby grows up and wants to live peacefully,” she continued, “would they still be your enemy? Those people that raised you are evil, and soon they would make you do very evil things, too. Wouldn’t you rather live a happy, free life?”

  “I don’t know,” I said as I looked away.

  But then I realised what she was doing. She was trying to give me a way out. She thought she was helping me. And they still wanted to take care of me, knowing what I was? She locked her kind eyes with mine and nodded.

  “Don’t you want to have a little brother to protect?” Azua said.

  Enni raised an eyebrow towards Azua, and he gave the biggest smile yet. “It could be a girl?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “Oh, quick, come feel the baby kicking!”

  She reached out to my hand and placed it on her stomach. Sure enough, I felt a small nudge.

  “Wow … that’s amazing,” I said, wiping away my tears with my free hand. There was a silence in the cave as we watched her stomach, and nothing but the flickering flames and the bubbling cauldron could be heard.

  My sisters were dead, there was no changing that. If I went back home now, there wouldn’t be anyone I knew waiting for me. I felt safe here, like the war no longer existed. I didn’t want to leave this place.

  I shrugged, deciding to play along. “Maybe I’ll stay … for a little while?”

  “And while you’re with us, we’ll be your parents, alright?” Enni said.

  I wiped the rest of my tears away. “I’ve never had parents before.”

  Azua scooped some of the broth into a bowl and stood. “First time for everything. Here, try this.” He walked over.

  I let go of Enni’s stomach and took the bowl with both hands. Azua quickly reached out to my head. Shocked, I tried to duck. He gave my hair a gentle tussle before standing up straight again, beaming down.

  Relieved, I laughed. This was the first man I had ever met. He was so friendly, I didn’t understand? The food he had given me had vegetables and meat. It smelled delicious.

  I looked back down at the baby. “Um, what are you naming it?”

  “Well, if it’s a boy, then Eno,” my mother said, rubbing her stomach. “I did think of a great girl’s name, but …”

  “I think she should have it,” Azua interrupted, pointing at me. “Whatever the Dominion made you think and do, that’s all gone now. Leave everything about them behind, including your name.”

  Enni gently gripped my wrist. “Do you like the name Sacet?”

  I nodded. “Saaa … set?” I said, sounding it out. Both Enni and Azua grinned.

  My new father passed me a small, wooden stick and gestured at the food. “Eat, you’re probably starving.”

  23. Returned

  The present

  “My … parents,” I said, my eyes welling up, just as they did that day.

  Tau’s rib cage was fusing back together, the broken bones receding into her ripped flesh. The pool of blood regressed towards her body until the rubble was left unstained once more. Her hair had turned a very light-blue, almost white. The flickering streaks of silvery air grew in intensity, thrashing around her corpse.

  The tingling sensation returned, but this time it travelled up my arm and onto my burnt shoulder. I watched as the seared skin repaired itself and the blisters subsided. I brought my hand now to the back of my head, for an old scar that was lingering under my hair had tingled and vanished. Somehow, I no longer felt exhausted and broken.

  “Sacet?”

  I looked down at her perfectly healed body as she sat up. The flickering air had ceased, her skin had changed back to normal and her hair faded from white to auburn. Even her blue streaks returned.

  “Tau! You’re okay!” I shrieked in excitement. “But … you were dead?”

  It was unbelievable. Only moments earlier, she was dead, and now she had brought herself back to life!

  Tau leant to the side and looked behind me. She saw the colossal man in continual free-fall.

  “Is he … are we safe here?” she asked.

  “He’s not going anywhere … and he’s not important right now. Why didn’t you tell anyone you were an Acolyte?”

  “I … well, what? I never knew.”

  “Tau, this isn’t the first time you’ve died.”

  A look of disbelief formed on her face. “And what makes you say that?”

  “This power of yours … it healed me. I remember things, memories I didn’t know I had. I remember why you hate bandits so much, because I was there. I’m Cara.”

  “What?”

  “Or I used to be. When we met, you seemed familiar to me. Now I know why. I didn’t remember who you were up until now. We’ve both grown so much, so I didn’t recognise you.”

  She gasped and sat up. “Cara? I remember you, too. You do look like her. You’ve been alive all this time?”

  “It was so long ago, and I suppose I just put it behind me. I remembered the city, shooting and training.” I shook my head. “So why didn’t you tell anyone about this power? This is amazing!”

  She looked confused. “I didn’t know. How did I die before, I don’t remember?”

  “You got shot in the head, no one could have survived it. Look, I suppose it doesn’t matter. We can talk about this later. Come on, we should leave,” I said as I looked around at the other bodies lying on the ground. “Why did they send your group in here alone to fight him? Where are the Acolytes for your squad?”

  “That would be us,” a voice from behind said.

  Iya and Colonel Neva strolled through the rubble towards us from behind the falling man. Neva was one the colonels I saw in the Queen’s chambers. She had long, golden hair, like Mira. Her hair looked perfect, as if she hadn’t been fighting at all.

  Iya started clapping. “Good job, Sacet. I’ve been told you cleaned up today.” She gestured at the falling man. “Although this one isn’t dead yet.”

  I helped Tau up and then cast a spiteful look at them. “Well why don’t you finish him off yourself, Iya.”

  “Watch your tone, Initiate! Here’s me being polite to you and I get that in return?”

  “Where were you two?” I said, ignoring her. “Why did you allow this group to get massacred?”

  “Hey, we had problems of our own,” Neva said. “We can take things from here. Be a good little initiate and escort anyone left to the pickup zone, and rejoin the rest of your group. Tau, you can come over here and tell us what happened.”

  Tau was staring at one of her dead squad members sprawled on the ground. She nervously looked back up at the other two.

  Iya raised her
hand in front of her eye and brought the falling man to a jolting stop. The man fell oddly quiet, not even struggling against her grip.

  Neva pointed towards the factory. “Well? What are you waiting for? The city’s clear and the enemy have retreated. Leave!”

  I didn’t like the idea of leaving Tau with them after they had done such a poor job protecting her in the first place. Were these dead soldiers this expendable to them? I’ve dealt with four enemy Acolytes today; what could these two have possibly been busy with?

  “I’ll be fine, Sacet,” Tau said under her breath as she passed me to join them.

  “Fine?” I mumbled back. “Since when does getting killed count as fine?”

  I closed my portals and started for the rubble-strewn hallway from where I had entered. What was she thinking? I paused and focused past the rubble, past the corridor and back to the factory floor. I opened a portal and glanced back at Tau one last time as I stepped through.

  24. Doubt

  Eno

  In the mines

  Toroi seemed to thrust his laser drill into the rock wall harder with every hit. He hadn’t cried since they took his dad, but I think he was over that now, he was just angry. Every so often he shot a vile look back at the guards. It was the only way he knew how to fight back against them.

  When he lowered the drill, I bent down and picked up one of the stones he had cut loose. I wasn’t strong enough for this one. I could barely even roll it. Toroi dropped his drill and helped. Together, we carried it over to the hovering cart and dropped it in. It tumbled against the walls inside the metal container before coming to a rest halfway down with the other rocks.

  “It’s full enough. Take this one up,” a guard said to me, pointing at the cart.

  She pointed her clicker at me and it beeped. I was free to leave the area without proximity alarms going off.

  I placed both hands on the edge of the cart, stepped up onto the footrest, and pushed the same buttons as last time. The machine rumbled to life, beginning its slow journey up to the surface along the electric track.