Desert Rose

by Marie Brown

their little lightsticks vanished into empty space, showing a sudden dropoff. "Kama, hold up."

  She stopped, keeping Kama safe beside her. Then she moved cautiously to the edge, kneeling, looking for any kind of pathway. Her crystal flared.

  "Um. . . Lorra, why's your shirt glowing?"

  "It's my crystal. I guess Biao Tanu's trying to tell me something. But what in hell it is, I don't know."

  "She's probably telling you this is a really dumb idea."

  "Maybe. Here's the path. Come on, let's see what's down there."

  "Probably nothing. But I'll go. Only because you're going with me."

  They started down the steep path. Lorrine took the outside. Kama trailed her hand along the cave wall beside them.

  Lorrine pulled her necklace out from beneath her shirt. It flared brighter than the lightsticks, encasing them in a shining bubble of white light.

  "You're handy to have around," Kama said.

  "Thanks. Are those lumpy things houses down there?"

  "Kind of looks like it," Kama said, a hint of curiosity coloring her voice. "The Mother said the Lake People lived here. Maybe their houses survived whatever happened to get rid of them."

  They made it down the path. As they descended, the smell of water grew stronger, and they started hearing it as well as smelling it. The air felt damp, and filled with the scent of life, along with a hint of mustiness. Probably mushrooms, Lorrine decided. What else would want to grow in this lightless environment? Fish, clearly. Fish didn't need light to live. But no plants. Only fungi.

  The buildings took shape slowly. They looked a little odd, by normal surface dweller standards, because they had no roofs. That made sense, in a way, because who needed a roof when they lived in a cave? The place was oddly lovely, though, and clearly magical. As they left the ramp and started down a path leading to the village, magical lanterns sprang to life every few lengths. And when they reached the cluster of buildings itself, each one lit with beautiful, intricate designs on walls, braces, around each door and window. Although not on the roof, as no buildings had roofs. It was a gorgeous, flagrantly decorative and outright wasteful use of magepower, and it made the place look like a gloriously elegant place to live, rather than a pit of darkness where people had fled to escape the wrath of their enemies.

  Suddenly, Kama stiffened all over and froze in place. "They're coming!"

  Lorrine looked around quickly. No need to ask who they were, not here in this weird underground world.

  The shadows still caught her by surprise.

  You! they shrieked. Black Rose, what have you done? You dare contaminate our home with such vileness!

  Lorrine thought maybe this might be a good time to learn how to pray. The shadows sounded pissed, and they'd almost reached her. What to say, though? How did one pray properly? Maybe something rather formal, a carefully worded plea for assistance?

  The shadows swirled around her, shrieking, biting with invisible teeth.

  "Goddess, help!"

  Not very eloquent, perhaps, but effective. Lorrine herself lit with the same blinding white glow as her crystal. The shadows chittered and sizzled, pinging off the light like it was a solid thing.

  "What are you doing?" Kama yelled suddenly. "You invited us here!"

  She'd lit up as well, with a golden light, shimmering around her outline. Far more subtle than Lorrine's blinding goddess-light.

  We invited you, our Lyrebird. We did not invite that demon she serves now!

  "Demon? I'll give you demon!"

  Lorrine never knew what inspired her to swing her arm like she held a whip. But whatever it was, for whatever reason, she did, and the light whipped out at the shadows. They howled, swirling to the attack. Shadows sizzled against the glow, allowing their friends to get closer, then trading out as they nearly died against the light. Wounded shadows swirled out to the far edge of the cloud, healthy ones pressed in closer, and slowly the shadows wore away at Lorrine's light. She could see Kama doing something she couldn't understand. It almost looked like Kama was using magic. But she'd never had any kind of mage-talent before! Maybe she'd pulled some kind of magical weapon out of her bag of tricks.

  "Stop this, right now!"

  Suddenly the shadows quit attacking Lorrine, swirled up, then spun around and dove to engulf Kama. Lorrine tried to reach her, although she had no idea what she could do, then Kama bolted forward, running blindly and wrapped in a writhing ball of shadows.

  "Kama, no!"

  Lorrine could see, thanks to her goddess-granted light. She could see the edge of the lake ahead. She could see Kama running directly towards the shore.

  And then she could see Kama run right into the lake and disappear, her golden glow barely visible for a brief instant before the water swallowed her.

  "No! No! Oh, Kama, no, not the lake, get out of the lake!"

  Irrational words, from a person suddenly engulfed in a frenzy of terror and grief. She ran to the shore, where the water lapped quietly. Her glow showed her the smooth surface of the lake, unmarred by bubbles.

  "Why, oh why did I never learn to swim? Kama! Damn it, Kama, come back here! Don't leave me alone! No. . . No. . . This can't be happening."

  She fell to her knees, splashing into the shallow water on the shore, suddenly drained of everything but fear.

  Underwater

  They fought her.

  Kama plunged through the darkness of the lake, surrounded by a bubble of air, and struggled with the ashantri. She could hear their voices in her head, their nasty chittering little voices. They didn't like Lorrine. They had some quarrel with Biao Tanu, and they wanted to go back and kill her.

  But Kama wouldn't allow that. She had absolutely no intention of letting these damned shadow beings kill her Lorra. So she held them to her with her will, and dragged them deeper down into the water, where their essences slowly paralyzed with the effects of an element so foreign to their own. And she imposed her will on each and every surviving member of the colony.

  The ashantri quieted, and their struggles ceased. Their shadowy darkness flickered and died. Then they were reborn into little golden fluttering squares, open to her will, eager to do her bidding.

  Kama smiled as she commanded the water to buoy her up. The Shrouded One had been right, as usual. The little ashantri felt nearly as friendly as puppies, peacefully glowing golden and swirling ecstatically. But she had to hurry. She'd bond with them later, once she'd reassured Lorra that she was still among the living. Poor woman was probably just about hysterical by now, after watching Kama "die."

  The surface of the lake parted around her. Kama convinced the water to bear her weight and walked back to shore, where Lorrine knelt with her hands over her face.

  "Lorrine," she called.

  Her head snapped up, and her jaw fell. Lorrine scrambled to her feet and bolted forward as Kama walked across the rather flexible water, surrounded by joyful ashantri.

  "What the hell happened!"

  Lorrine darted out into the water, getting wet. She stopped when she reached Kama, flinging her arms around her middle, as high as she could reach from the muddy shallows of the lake.

  "Oh, get up here," Kama said, and hauled her dripping lover up onto her solid patch. "Walk with me. I'll explain when we get to shore."

  "How is this even possible? Am I dreaming? Or am I the one that died?"

  Kama laughed. "Come now, it's just a few more steps. You can make it that far, right?"

  "Wait." Lorrine stopped, confusion forgotten in an instant. Her head turned, and she faced the darkness to the right.

  "What is it?"

  "A sound."

  Boom.

  Very faint. Very. . . otherworldly.

  "Let's get on shore. Now."

  Ashantri fluttered around them in an agitated cloud, picking up on Kama's adrenaline rush. They all but ran ashore, bobbing unpleasantly on the semi-firm water.

  Boom, tik. Boom, tik. Boom. Ba-da-da boom.

  "That sounds like a mar
ching cadence." Lorrine's voice was tight, laced with a bit of fear. "What the thtock would be marching down here?"

  "Look! Over there." Kama pointed towards the sound, where a blue glow emerged from the air, trailing wisps and streamers of light. She edged closer to Lorrine, trying to stay calm and keep her internal energies at the ready to face this new threat. Whatever it was. She could feel her ashantri clustering close to them both, adding their strength to hers. Individually, they were nothing. But as a group, they complemented and balanced her own mage power to the point where she felt near invincible on that front. Too bad invincible didn't translate into brave.

  "What are they?"

  "I have no idea."

  Shapes began to resolve out of the glow, many shapes, lurching forward one boom at a time. Large, indistinct shapes, getting a whitish tint to their blue glow, marching in unison towards the two women.

  "I think. . . I think those are frost demons," Kama said, more than a little hesitant.

  "What's a frost demon?"

  "Something a Dargasi would have no chance of running into in the wild."

  Lorrine snorted. "Wonderful. That really helps, you know?"

  "I know. And look, I'd almost swear that thing out front is a djinn!"

  "Really?" Lorrine tried harder to make out details. "It looks like they're getting more visible with every step."

  And so they were. Out front came the djinn, all blue and billowy, followed by six. . . were those really cave trolls? Ai! They were the drummers. Three of them carried monstrously huge bass drums strapped to their chests, three of them smaller, sharper-pitched instruments. But the sound they produced belied their small number.

  After the