Unlit

by Keri Arthur

  Winterborne’s gleaming metal wall soon became little more than a speck in the scooter’s rear-vision screen. Dawn had begun to smother the stars and it lent the barren landscape a moment of beauty. But that star-like flash that had drawn me out here had disappeared.

  “Base, can anyone one still see that beacon?”

  “Negative,” came the reply. “But Ava worked out some rough coordinates before she signed off. Sending them through now.”

  “Ta.”

  Numbers flashed up on the scooter’s control screen. I punched them through to navigation and released manual control. The scooter surged forward, the whine of her engines audible even through the helmet. It was a somewhat comforting sound, if only because it meant everything was working as it should.

  The skies brightened as the sun began to rise over Drakkon’s Head, the massive peak that was reportedly the main entrance to the Irkallan colony that ran deep under the Blacksaw Mountains. I sometimes wondered why the earth and air witches had never taken the war directly to the Irkallan—why they hadn’t destroyed their land rather than ours. Nothing in the history books ever mentioned such an attempt, and if there was a sound reason for not doing so, it had never been recorded.

  Of course, it could also be that we unlit had no need to know, so it simply wasn’t a part of our education.

  I was just over an hour out of Winterborne when I reached the coordinate location and the scooter began to slow. I couldn’t see anything in the immediate vicinity and the sensors—which had a range of about a mile, depending on the terrain—weren’t picking up anything. I switched the scooter to manual and began a long circular sweep of the area. About three-quarters of the way around the sensors began to beep—the directional lights indicated it was to the northeast, and the slow nature of the auditory signal suggested it was at least half a mile away.

  It turned out to be a woman.

  I stopped the scooter but didn’t immediately get out, instead giving the sensors time to do another sweep of the area. The Adlin had been known to use the bodies of their victims to lure soldiers to their deaths, and while this woman looked whole, I wasn’t about to step beyond the punitive safety of the scooter until I knew for sure there was nothing and no one else out there.

  When the sensors gave no further indication of movement or life in the area, I hit auto hover to keep them operational, took off my helmet and tossed it into the back of the scooter, then opened the door and climbed out. The wind stirred around me, whispering of the heat that was to come later that day. If there was anything more dangerous in this part of the world, she certainly wasn’t inclined to tell me. I grabbed the medikit then slung the rifle over my shoulder and walked across to the woman.

  The first thing I noticed was the fact that there was absolutely no indication of how she’d gotten here. There were no footprints or vehicle tracks, and the wind certainly wasn’t strong enough to have already erased them. Aside from the thick silver bracelets on her wrists, she was naked, but her pale skin showed no sign of sunburn, which suggested she’d walked through the night rather than the day. But from where?

  The second thing I noticed once I was much closer was the rough-cut, circular black stone lying near her left hand.

  It was an Adlin beacon.

  My pulse rate jumped several notches. I stopped beside her and scanned the area again. The brown landscape stretched on endlessly until it met the blue of the sky. If anything moved, it would be visible long before the sensors spotted it. But there was nothing near—nothing heavy enough to stir up the dust, anyway.

  And yet I couldn’t escape the notion that something was out there, watching us.

  If it was the Adlin, we were in deep trouble.

  I bent to press two fingers against the woman’s neck. Her pulse was slow and strong, and her breathing regular. It was almost as if she was asleep rather than unconscious. There was no evidence of wounds or bruising on her back, rump, or legs. The soles of her feet were cracked and hard, suggesting she spent most of her time without shoes. But there was little dirt caked between her toes or covering her ankles—what did linger was black rather than the red-brown of the Tenterra desert—and no sign of the redness that came from walking through the night on soil heated by long days of hot sunlight.

  I grabbed the mediscanner out of the kit and ran it over her. Other than noting she was dehydrated and carrying a very low body weight for her height, it backed up what was already evident by sight—although she was, apparently, eleven weeks pregnant.

  I moved the glimmer stone and then carefully rolled her over. Despite her paler skin, she had what was considered to be typical Sifft features—an oval-shaped face, an aquiline nose, and well-defined cheekbones. Her hair was as black as mine, but also had thick streaks of silver—and silver so pure, be it in the hair or the eyes, was usually one of the signs of air witch.

  I pressed the earwig and said, “Base? I’ve found my target. It’s a woman, unescorted, with no apparent means of transportation.”

  “Is she alive?” The voice belonged to Jeni, one of the night shift communicators and my assigned comms point. She’d obviously been held over because I was out.

  “Yes. Unconscious but unburned and unhurt.” I hesitated. “There’s an Adlin beacon with her.”

  “But no other sign of a trap?” Her tone was detached—without life or emotion. Another side effect of the enhancement chips. “No indication she’s been tampered with?”

  I pursed my lips and quickly switched scanner mode. Thankfully, the screen remained green. “There’s no indication of internal alterations or weaponry insertions.”

  “The captain said to bring her back but leave the beacon. Be wary, though—sensors are picking up activity about fifty miles southeast of you.”

  Which put it between Winterborne and us. I swung around. The horizon remained clear, but maybe the teasing wind was erasing any sign of movement. “Keep me updated, Base. Out.”

  I flicked off the earwig and returned my gaze to the woman, only to discover she was awake and watching me. But there wasn’t a whole lot of awareness in her eyes—eyes that were a silvery-white rather than the gold of a Sifft.

  “I’m Nightwatch eight-three from Winterborne.” I kept my tone soft so as not to spook her. If the activity Base mentioned was the Adlin, then the last thing I needed was this woman screaming. I had no idea if they’d be able to hear her from such a distance, and no desire to find out. “Have you any memory as to how you got out here?”

  She stared at me for a moment and then blinked. Awareness seeped into her eyes, but it was quickly overwhelmed by fear. She sucked in a deep breath, but I clapped a hand over her mouth before she could unleash the scream.

  “Don’t,” I said, perhaps a little more sharply than was wise. “You’ll draw the Adlin to us.”

  Her gaze darted left and right, her expression wild, confused. Fearful.

  “It’s okay,” I added swiftly. “We’re okay. We just can’t do anything that’ll attract attention. Okay?”

  Her gaze returned to mine, and after a moment she nodded. I hesitated, and then pulled my hand away. “How did you get here? Can you remember?”

  She shook her head and opened her mouth to reply. No sound came out. Confusion and panic rolled across her features again.

  I touched her arm, halting further attempts to speak. “Wait. I’ll go get some water.”

  I rose and walked back to the scooter. The sensors were quiet and the horizon remained dust free, but the uneasy feeling we were not alone out here was growing.

  The earwig buzzed. When I pressed it, Jeni said, “Eight-three, we’re now picking up movement twenty miles out from you.”

  Which meant it remained beyond the range of my scanners. I glanced over my shoulder but still couldn’t see anything. Maybe it wasn’t the Adlin but rather one of the wildebeests that somehow eked out a living from this barren place. “Any idea what it is?”

  “No, but it’s not large enough to be a full sleuth
.”

  “That’s not exactly comforting.” Adlin hunting parties were quite often only a half dozen or so in size rather than the full twenty-five. But half a dozen Adlin could easily take out a full escort detail. I certainly didn’t want to be confronting one of the bastards right now, let alone six or more of them. “Are they moving toward us?”

  “Yes, and rather rapidly. You’d better get moving, eight-three.”

  I flicked off the earwig again then grabbed the water bottle and walked back. After undoing the lid, I held it up and let the water trickle into the woman’s mouth. She grabbed it, trying to drag it closer, to drink more, but I held it firm. “Just sip it,” I said. “It can be dangerous to drink too much when you’re dehydrated.”

  Something flashed in her eyes, something that spoke of storms and thunder. The wind stirred around me, sharp and filled with ice, but, after a moment, she relaxed and obeyed. The wind, however, remained hostile, whispering promises of retribution. For what, I wasn’t entirely sure.

  After another second or so, I pulled the water away and repeated my question.

  “I was dumped here.” Her voice was little more than a scratch of sound, but held within it the force of an oncoming storm. Despite her hair not being a pure color, she was definitely an air witch of some power. “I’m not sure why.”

  I frowned. “Who dumped you?”

  She shrugged. Frustration swirled through me, but it wasn’t really my job to find out the whys and wherefores of her being here. My mission was to get us both back to safety.

  As dust finally appeared on the horizon, I slung the water bottle over my shoulder, then grabbed the medikit and rose. “Do you think you’ll be able to walk across to the scooter?”

  Her gaze slid past me and she frowned. “Are we both going to fit in that thing?”

  “It’ll be tight, but yes.” I held out a hand. “We need to move.”

  She half raised a hand then stopped, panic flaring across her features again. “You have to get them off me.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “The bracelets.” Her voice was rising, as was the wind. It tore at my hair, my clothes, as if trying to strip me bare. “You have to get them off me. Now.”

  “I will, but we haven’t the time—”

  She grabbed my hand and pulled me so close her nose was inches from mine. “Do it now. I can’t be wearing these things. It’s the surest way for the queen to find me, and I can’t be found. Not again.”

  Queen? Both Gallion and Salysis had long ago freed themselves from the yoke of a ruling monarch. While Versona—the lands that lay on the other side of the Blacksaw Mountains—had kept what we’d discarded, we’d lost contact with them not long after the war that had decimated Tenterra.

  Did that mean this woman was some kind of refugee from those lands? She surely couldn’t be an emissary, not given her words.

  “Get them off me. You have to get them off me.” Her words held an uneasy mix of desperation and fury that had ice running across the back of my neck. And I wasn’t entirely sure its cause was the wind.

  “Okay, but be warned, it’s going to make things tight.”

  “Whatever comes cannot be worse than being found by the queen.”

  I glanced at the horizon; the dust cloud was thicker, and far closer than before. We really couldn’t afford this delay, but it wasn’t like I had any choice. Not with the wind continuing to tear at me.

  I swore under my breath, but shifted my grip and studied the bracelet. The workmanship was absolutely beautiful, the silver pure and bright, and the decorations carved into its surface intricate and unusual. I couldn’t immediately see any sort of catch, but a closer inspection revealed a hairline break on the reverse side of the bracelet.

  “Hurry,” the woman growled. “They’re coming.”

  “Which is why we should be in the scooter rather than wasting precious time trying to get these things off.”

  “If they’re not removed,” she bit back, “running will be of no use.”

  “Why?” I slid the glass knife out of its sheath and wedged the delicate tip into that crack. I hated the thought of breaking the blade but short of blasting the bracelet—and half her arm—away, I had little other choice.

  “They are a beacon, of sorts,” the woman said, “and are powered by my life force. When no longer attached, they will not hold any ability to summon.”

  “That dust”—I pointed with my chin as I shoved the tip of the knife deeper. The hairline crack widened fractionally—“is being raised by Adlin. Are you saying these bracelets are somehow connected to them?”

  She twisted around and studied the dust cloud. The wind grew stronger, but its whispering was faint and incomprehensible, at least to me. After a moment, she said, “No, they’re not. They’re connected to something far worse.”

  “I’m not entirely sure there is anything worse than an Adlin hunting party.” I twisted the knife and, with a metallic click, the bracelet opened. Dust bloomed as it hit the ground.

  “Then you would be wrong. Look, I can’t explain what I can’t remember. You just have to trust me.”

  Even though the wind was now begging me to do just that, instinct was screaming the very opposite. I had no idea why. Maybe it was just a natural distrust of the odd, almost otherworldly fury I kept seeing in her eyes—though, for all I knew, those brief flashes were entirely natural for an air witch. Aside from the occasional escort placement, I’d never had that much to do with witches of either kind.

  The second bracelet came off easier than the first. I shoved the knife home then hauled the woman upright. She gasped and bent over, her body shaking and seeming to struggle for breath.

  I hadn’t been that rough—had I? “Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” Her voice was tight. “It’s just been so long since I’ve moved with any sort of speed that I was surprised.”

  A curious statement given her position here in the middle of nowhere, but my gaze drifted back to that dust cloud and fear stirred. If that dust did signal an approaching party of Adlin warriors, then they were already far too close for my liking.

  I shifted my grip and wrapped my arm around her body in an effort to support her. “Let’s go.”

  She balked. “I need the bracelets.”

  “Didn’t I just remove them because they were damn dangerous?”

  “Yes, but they’re pure silver and very valuable. I’ll not leave them here in the desert.”

  I swore under my breath, then scooped up the two bracelets and clipped them to my utility belt. “Can we go now?”

  “Yes.”

  She began to walk toward the scooter, but her pace was frustratingly slow. It was almost as if she was trying to remember how to walk. Instinct itched, but I swiped it away. Right now, I needed to concentrate on getting us out of here rather than the puzzle this woman presented.

  I boosted her into the rear of the scooter and quickly strapped her in. The sloping roof meant she had to bow her head, a position that would soon get rather uncomfortable—but better that than dead.

  I jumped in front of her, slid the door closed, and then switched off the auto hover. The engine kicked in, the noise almost deafening after the silence of the Tenterra wasteland.

  “Base, we’re on the move.”

  Even as I said the words, I hit the accelerator. The scooter jerked forward; there was a responding crash and woman behind me swore. “Be careful.”

  “You be careful. I’m trying not to get dead.”

  I punched in the coordinates for Winterborne, but the direct path put us on a collision course with the Adlin. I ordered a more circular route then hit the autopilot. The scooter began a sweeping curve as it accelerated to top speed. I unclipped my blaster so that it was easier to grab, then loaded both the gut busters and the rifle. There was nothing else I could do. Nothing except hope the Adlin decided we were too much trouble to pursue.

  “Have you got a name?” the woman said.

  Her voic
e was barely audible over the screaming engines. They weren’t exactly designed to run at top speed for very long; I hoped they held up.

  “Neve. You?”

  She hesitated and, after a long moment, said, “Saska.”

  The earwig buzzed. “The Adlin are echoing your movements,” Jeni said. “They’re now two miles away and closing fast.”

  “Thanks, Base.” I picked up the rifle and placed it across my lap. “How did you get to be out in the middle of nowhere, Saska?”

  “I told you, I don’t know.”

  The wind rose at her reply, buffeting the scooter and sending it drifting sideways. “Getting pissed off at my questions doesn’t do either of us any good. Why don’t you put all that hostility to better use, and direct it at the Adlin instead?”

  “I’m not sure what you—”

  “I mean that.” I waved a hand at the window and the dust being torn up by the battering wind. “It’s hindering our speed and making us easier to spot. Direct your power at the Adlin instead—draw up a cloud so thick and a wind so strong they can’t move with any speed against it.”

  “That’s not me.” But her voice was confused. Uncertain.

  “Then who’s drawing the wind to us? Because it’s sure as hell not me.” I might be able to call on the wind, but I’d never been to raise this much force.

  Not that I’d ever really had a reason to try.

  She didn’t say anything. I wished I had the skill to touch her skin and read the secrets I suspected she was keeping, but that was a task for the readers. Besides, I had more important problems right now—like the scooter’s sensors finally kicking in, signifying the Adlin were now within a mile of us. We weren’t going to make it to Winterborne. Not without help.