Dust

by J R Devoe

  Jinny and Kassini cling to me at the base of the Great Pyramid, shivering in the icy rain, desperate to share body heat. Teeth chatter, sniffles rise, but I don’t so much as let my jaw quiver. Instead, I hold my companions tight, because I know they must be tempted to retreat to the forest where they can find dry wood to start a fire, and maybe safety from the real storm that’s coming.

  The rain doesn’t let up for even a blink. The mud at our feet disappears under rising water, which floods in from the river through the moat’s canal until we’re forced to climb onto the pyramid’s bottom level. As the dark hours drag on, I hear whispers of doubt rise louder down the line.

  “Jexa forgave nearly everyone who followed K’lora,” one voice says.

  “If Jexa opens this gate, ain’t no one gonna be around to need forgivin’,” counters another.

  Her partner hugs herself and looks to her feet, but I see she’s not convinced. I see she’d rather risk fleeing to safety.

  To my left, another pleads her case. “Six more days of this? Even if we last that long, we won’t be able to fight when the time comes. Those backstabbing Aeri are gonna soften us up too much.”

  “Shut up,” hisses her friend. “You try to leave and I’ll gut ya me-self.”

  Many see what Jexa is doing. More see it than don’t, but some do not care. All I can do is hope those who have stayed this long have done so from an unwavering dedication to our cause.

  Somehow the pounding rain can’t keep my body from shutting down on me. Travel and stress have worn me out beyond the point of caring, so sleep creeps in without a fight.

  • • •

  I wake to a sight that makes my heart feel like it’s being ripped right out of my belly.

  Kassini sits cross-legged to my right, hunched over with her eyes locked on the forest through a veil of drenched hair, her nostrils flaring as she fumes. Jinny is nowhere in sight.

  “I’ll gut that little weasel,” Kassini says, “and you can wear her innards as a necklace.”

  I rub the sleep from my eyes and lean forward to better see down the line, confirming Jinny really did leave during the night.

  I pull my knees to my chest and rest my forehead on them. I’m now wondering how many more days of this I can handle.

  Dawn lightens black clouds to grey, but brightens no one’s spirit. All I can do is stare at the dark patch of forest before me, seething and cursing the cowards who followed us here, only to leave us to the dragons without a fight. Jaleera was right. The world has no pity for cowards, and I will see they get theirs if I live through this storm.

  But Jinny…how could she? Her desertion makes me sick, though I know I shouldn’t judge her too harshly. She’d defied Ko Mirah’s dying wish to come make a stand. She returned home to preserve what remains of her Hive. If she’d decided to leave early on, she wouldn’t have told me. For that I am glad.

  When it’s clear the rising sun will provide little more than a grey tint to the clouds, Ko Tora orders every cohort to form up for a headcount. Normally we’d do this on the ground before the moat, but that area is flooded halfway to the forest, so we stand on the pyramid’s steps.

  My knees have locked stiff from the cold. It takes a bit of crawling to rise and some walking along the base level to loosen up. When we fall into our lines, we are a pitiful sight. Everyone’s wings are wrapped tight around their torsos for warmth, except for the wingless Ori, who hug their neighbors for body heat.

  Kassini shivers beside me and looks to her feet. She deliberately avoids even a glance down the defence line. I know she shares my fear. Do we still have enough to put up a fight? Sure, on our side of the pyramid we stand shoulder to shoulder to occupy the three lowest levels, but we’re the side that faces the causeway and the nearest forest edge. I’m assuming this is the pyramid face the bulk of our force have naturally gathered on, to avoid missing anything important.

  It takes four attempts to come up with an official count. “Six hundred and ninety-five cowards!” Ko Tora shouts from six levels above us, almost victoriously.

  I think about this figure. That’s only a tenth of our force. Though, with the Aeri gone we’ve lost a huge advantage.

  Before we can lament too much at our losses, Ko Tora orders the Fori to pair up with sparring partners and run through drills to warm up. She sends every Ori out digging canals to drain the floodwaters.

  “Ko Tora should dispatch teams to bring those cowards back for trial,” Kassini says. “I’ll skin that Jinny alive if I ever see her again.”

  “You don’t talk about her like that,” I say.

  The words slip out without forethought. They draw a disappointed look from Kassini, who shakes her head at me and walks away to find a new sparring partner.

  I climb the courses in search of Jaleera among the scattered trainees. By the time I reach the twelfth level, above all the sparring, I’m lying on my side and gasping for breath. When I look up toward the apex, my heart quivers. How many levels did they say there are? Over two hundred?! That explains why only a handful of Fori have bothered making the climb. They came back exhausted and warned everyone else to save their energy.

  I scan the levels below for Jaleera’s scarlet hair. She is the only fighter who can prepare me well enough to face Jexa. She’s nowhere in sight on this side, but this vantage point offers me a view that dramatically raises my confidence in our chances.

  Spread out across the lower ten levels, with everyone warming up from movement, our force looks better than half bad. Partners take turns fighting from higher and lower levels and demonstrate just how difficult it is for those fighting from below. With us commanding the high ground, we possess a priceless advantage.

  The rain tapers to mist by mid-morning. Our Aeri cousins can’t dump like that indefinitely and on such short notice. Last night was overkill, and now we have a window to regain ground. Literally.

  The Ori work some real magic on the land around the pyramids. By midday, they’ve diverted enough floodwater away to reveal the ground and give us back our moat. They return to the Great Pyramid in high spirits and to much praise from the cheerful Fori.

  I am less successful in my endeavor. Despite an exhaustive search, I cannot find Jaleera on any of the pyramid’s four sides, so I’m forced to seek out Ko Tora. I find her crouched over a map sketched in the face of the thirteenth level. Her feathered wings are arched in a dome over her lowered head.

  “Have you seen Jaleera?” I say.

  Ko Tora’s focus remains on her map. “She left last night. Told me to tell you she’s sorry.”

  My heart drops like a meteor. Was there a secret meaning in Jexa’s words yesterday, meant for Jaleera, offering her amnesty?

  To my own surprise, it doesn’t take me long to forget about this loss. The drive to stay warm has motivated everyone on the pyramid to move faster, work harder, and the desire to avoid pain sharpens their movements. The clumsy smacking of wood on skin that plagued recent sessions has slowly turned into steady clacking as our fighters learn to block from experience, rather than relying solely on following instructions.

  And watching the Ori spar in the mud below, I see Jexa has created another obstacle for herself. In the soft ground, the Ori move easily. And their low center of gravity makes them phenomenal wrestlers.

  I allow myself a smile. Those we lost through the night were the fat, soft links that would only weaken our defence lines. Those who remain are the real fighters. The muscle.

  “Incoming!”

  On the outskirts, the Ori sparring in the mud stop and point to a Fori flying in from the forest.

  The Fori newcomer reaches the Anomaly and lands clumsily in the mud.

  “Where’s Nya?” she shouts. “Nya! Where are you?”

  Despite the distress in her voice, my heart flutters with pride. They seek me out before Ko Tora or any other Elder. She likely fought with me in our first clash with Jexa.

  I raise my hand from the twelfth level. “I’m here!”
/>
  The messenger notices me and dashes across the causeway toward the pyramid base. I slide down the levels to meet her at the bottom level. Her arrival draws a crowd of curious defenders. Running takes its toll on my kind, so when she reaches me she doubles over to catch her breath.

  I allow her a few seconds, then say, “What is it, cousin?”

  She stands straight. “Our sentries snared a Fori approaching the pyramids. She claims she was a slave moving the Capstone. She says she escaped Jexa’s guards and knows where she’s holding the gate key.”

  Gasps ripple out through the surrounding crowd as the news spreads.

  “Escaped?” I say, toying with this word. Is it escape if your captor allows you to flee? “We’ll see about that.”

  “You think she’s a spy?” asks Kassini, squeezing her axe handle so tight it groans.

  “She might be,” I say, “whether she knows it or not. Bring her in.”

  The Fori who allegedly escaped Jexa is one I know too well, and her reaction upon seeing me raises my suspicion further.

  Sheffa is too weak to stand, so when the scouts bring her before me she collapses to her knees. But her eyes light up upon seeing me. “Nya!”

  She lunges to my feet and hugs my legs. Her grip is loose and shaky.

  I crouch to eye level with her and offer her a stem of water. She gulps it back and reaches her free hand out to demand more. Someone offers her another stem. She finishes that and reaches for another, but I seize her wrist.

  Sheffa’s haggard eyes meet mine.

  “Tell us a story,” I say. “What have you been up to this whole time?”

  Sheffa winces and looks away. She wipes the water from her chin. “It was awful,” she says. “When I went to Jexa to…” Her eyes flare wide as she catches herself.

  I finish for her. “To turn me in. You went to Jexa to turn me in.” Best to show everyone who they’re listening to. I see a few onlookers narrow their eyes on Sheffa and rub their chins in contemplation.

  Sheffa hangs her head. “That was a mistake. I shouldn’t a done that. I was mad coz Squiggs was dead and I thought it was all your fault, but now I know the truth.” She looks to the audience around us. “Jexa just needed an excuse to attack. She was gonna take the Capstone anyway. But having Nya to blame, that divided us. It gived Jexa an advantage. I’m proof of that. I’s sorry, Nya. But listen, I knows things about the Watchers.”

  “Things Jexa wants you to know,” I say.

  “Let the girl speak,” says Ko Tora, who’d just shoved her way through the crowd. “Can’t you see she’s risked her life to bring us this information? We owe her our ears.”

  Sheffa stands and wobbles, giving Ko Tora a grateful nod. “I knows where the Capstone is. I helped move it there.”

  My skepticism must be obvious, because tears glaze Sheffa’s eyes and she jabs a finger at me. “It’s true! We lost many a good Fori and Ori moving that block. They’s dead now and I come to see Jexa pays for it.”

  Ko Tora slides between Sheffa and I. Much to my surprise, the half-breed Elder wraps her arms around Sheffa and hugs her.

  “There there, sweet child. You’re safe now.”

  I’m expecting Sheffa to look stunned, but instead she buries her face into Ko Tora’s shoulder. “It was awful!” comes her muffled sobs. “Almost killed me it did. That hunk of gold is so heavy!”

  Ko Tora pushes her away, holding her by the shoulders at arm's length. “Where is it?”

  Sheffa rubs her eyes. “South of here, inside a volcano. It’s Jexa’s base.”

  “South?” says Ko Zola. “That’s open desert. We had eyes watching there since the Capstone went missing. We’d have seen you moving it there.”

  Sheffa shakes her head. “You was lookin’ in the wrong place. Jexa got a whole legion of Ori slaves no one knows about. They been building her a network of tunnels since the day we showed up on this planet. Oh, you should see how they live! It’s worse than death, it must be. Worse than the Dark itself. You have to save them!”

  Ko Tora wipes the tears from Sheffa’s cheeks. “We will, sweet child. We shall save them all. Now, tell us about Jexa’s defences there.”

  “All the Watchers is gathered there now. One thousand of ‘em at least. They use the tunnels to travel without drawing attention.”

  “How deep are these tunnels?” asks an Ori leader.

  Sheffa hugs herself. “They’s deep. So deep ya forget the sun’s light even exists, but ya sweat in blistering heat like you’s walkin’ on its surface.” To bolster her claim, Sheffa shows us blisters covering the soles of her feet. “The floor even glows red in some places.”

  “They’re near the mantle,” the Ori says to Ko Zola, who nods in agreement.

  I slip in beside Ko Tora, so I have a clear view of Sheffa’s expression when I ask my question. “How did you escape a stronghold guarded by a thousand Watchers?”

  She meets my stare without flinching. “They was doin’ attack drills over the desert. Jexa only left a few dozen to watch the skies, so I escaped through a tunnel.”

  “Why did no Ori join you? They could have dug their way to freedom long ago.”

  “They don’t know anythin’ better. They was born in darkness, and that’s how they live. I tried tellin’ em Jexa is evil, but they think it’s all madness above ground. They think she’s some god that protects them from the chaos. They do her bidding without question.”

  “How did you know where to find us?” I say, prodding her story for more holes. Sheffa had been taken before the fighting even started, long before we flocked to the pyramids. She’d fallen into captivity before we even knew that Jexa took the Capstone.

  “I heard the Watchers talkin’ about the ‘traitors’ gatherin’ at the gate. She’s a feared of ya. Doesn’t think she can get here. I heard the words from her own mouth.”

  “Jexa discussing strategy in front of slaves?” I say with a glance at Ko Tora. “We should assume anything Sheffa heard was something Jexa wanted us to hear.”

  Ko Zola and Ko Rance each nod their agreement.

  Ko Tora ignores me. “It was very brave of you to bring us this information,” she says to Sheffa. She then hands Sheffa off to her warriors. “See to her ailments and make sure she gets lots of water. Then find her a suitable weapon, something light that doesn’t take much effort to swing.”

  Sheffa’s eyes grow wide in fear.

  “Your fight is not yet over,” Ko Tora tells her, almost sternly. “You’re with us in this until the end, whether you like it or not.”

  As the Fori lead Sheffa away, I turn my back to her to face Ko Tora. “Jexa let her escape.”

  “That may be,” says Ko Tora, “or it may be not. Either way, we outnumber the Watchers seven to one.”

  “Numbers count for less when you’re walking through the enemy’s homeland,” I point out. “That’s Jexa’s fortress. She knows it better than any of us.”

  “Which is why she won’t see it coming. Right?” Ko Tora looks to her fellow Elders. Zola and Rance reluctantly offer fledgling nods of agreement. “We have a chance to strike at the Capstone. And we have the element of surprise.”

  “We’ll never get it to safety,” Ko Zola says, hugging herself.

  “We have a dust maiden among us,” Ko Tora says. She looks to me. “We need not move that block a hair’s width.”

  “You’d send me on a suicide mission,” I say. It’s out of the question. I raise my voice for all to hear. “And all to trap every survivor on this planet, denying everyone any chance at seeing their home again. I won’t do it.”

  Ko Tora opens her mouth to speak, but Ko Zola cuts her off.

  “There might be another way,” the Ori Elder says. “That Fori fugitive, she said the Capstone is kept in a volcano. All we have to do is knock it down into the magma, then collapse the whole cone on top of it for good measure.”

  Ko Tora folds her arms and rubs her chin in contemplation.

  Thunder rumbles in the distan
ce. Over the forest, lightning flashes across a wave of black clouds that sweep toward us.

  “We better make up our minds soon,” says Ko Rance, instinctively fluttering the water beads from her wings. “The Aeri are coming in for round two. If you decide to go anywhere after that storm reaches here, it’ll be on foot.”

  Ko Tora pounds a fist against her chest. “I’ll lead a few hundred of our strongest flyers to scout out the volcano.”

  This is a terrible idea. “Even if Sheffa really did escape, we can’t divide our forces,” I say, trying to choke back my desperation. “Too many Fori and Ori took Jexa’s pardon. Our greatest strength remains here, together at our fortifications.”

  I search the faces around me for Jaleera. I need her support and tactical wisdom in this matter. But her scarlet hair and bronze skin are nowhere in sight. Did she seek amnesty from Jexa as well?

  “On this planet, Servants outnumber the Watchers one hundred-to-one,” declares Ko Tora. “I’d take those odds any day. If we destroy the Capstone and seal ourselves here, it will only be a matter of time before we wipe out Jexa’s army.”

  “We’ll be stuck here forever, though,” says a concerned Ori.

  Ko Tora gives her a sympathetic look, though I see the sarcasm in it. “Would it be so bad, little clay digger? What’s the difference between this planet and the next? Because make no mistake, that is our fate under Jexa. She dangles the promise of returning home before us, but it will forever remain out of reach.”

  Some younger Fori exchange wary looks.

  “Don’t believe me?” says Ko Tora. “Ko Zola, tell the good Fori here how long you’ve served the Watchers.”

  “Ninety-nine times!” shouts an Ori follower. “I’ve counted every one of her marks. This is her last planet.”

  Ko Zola gives a regretful shake of her head. “Four hundred and twenty-two lifetimes,” she reveals.