Dustborn

by T. W. Piperbrook

  “Did you hear what he said?” Adriana asked Raj, admiration on her face. “He said you’d make a good Watcher.”

  Raj’s stomach felt lighter than air. “I heard him.”

  They grabbed their torches from the floor. Once again, they looked behind them, but the tunnel was still empty.

  “Maybe he was right, you know,” Adriana said, punching his arm with her free hand. “You are pretty stealthy.”

  Raj smiled and looked away. He was too nervous to accept the compliment—at least, not now. Looking over at the crevice where they had originally intended to stop, Raj glanced back at Adriana.

  “Do you still want to crawl under and see the object?”

  Adriana considered it. “We should probably get back, before our luck runs out. Besides, we wouldn’t want to risk them seeing our hiding place.”

  Raj agreed.

  Together, they headed back down the cave, lightness in their footsteps.

  Chapter 33: Raj

  Raj lay in his bedroll.

  Try as he might, sleep evaded him, like a dust beetle scooting just out of reach. He couldn’t stop replaying the events of the night in his head. He considered the different outcomes for the night. He could’ve been stabbed, or killed. And yet he was alive.

  They both were.

  Was Adriana awake and reliving their night, too?

  He stared over at her bedroll in the dark, but he saw only the lump where her body must be, and the shadows of her relatives. Neena, Kai, Darius, and Samel were fast asleep. No one had any idea of the things he and Adriana had done.

  It felt like he and Adriana lived in a secret, nighttime world.

  For a moment, their world had almost imploded. But it hadn’t, because Bryan had let them go.

  Raj thought about that. No one, not even Neena, had ever complimented him like Bryan had. Or, at least, not that he could remember. He couldn’t stop thinking of Adriana’s admiration, when she repeated what Bryan had said.

  Maybe she and Bryan were both right, and someday he would make a good Watcher.

  Those thoughts stirred inside him, until eventually, he was asleep.

  Chapter 34: Neena

  Neena awoke to the smell of cooking breakfast.

  For a moment, while her eyelids fluttered and she savored the aroma, she tricked herself into believing she was in Helgid’s hovel. Closing her eyes, she envisioned the old woman’s pleasant face and her soft voice. She imagined the chores that awaited them for the day, and the talks they might have. It’d be so easy to melt into that dream forever. Wrestling herself back to reality, she opened her eyes and looked up at the high, auburn ceiling of the Right Cave.

  “You slept late,” Kai said, smiling and leaning over her.

  Holding up some sand rat, Darius said, “If I eat any more of these rodents, I might become one.”

  Neena laughed, until responsibility took over.

  “Where are Raj and Samel?”

  “They’re over there,” Kai said, pointing across the cave, to where Samel played with some other boys, and Raj sat with Adriana. “They’re fine.”

  Relieved, Neena departed her bedroll, raised herself to her haunches, and graciously accepted some breakfast from Darius. It was rare for her to sleep past the others. Too many churning thoughts must’ve pulled her into a deep sleep. She wiped some crust from the corners of her eyes. While chewing, she looked around the cave. The grim faces of the colonists showed that even a night’s rest hadn’t changed their outlook.

  “Are we still planning on visiting Bryan today?” Darius asked.

  Neena pondered that while she ate. None of her opinions had changed. “I still think it’s a good idea. Hopefully, some rest has given The Watchers some clarity.”

  “Maybe the funeral eased some of their pain,” Darius agreed.

  She hoped his words were true. Neena knew the calm that followed a procession, as people looked at their own lives and realized the brevity of their existence. There was no doubt that tensions had run high lately. But maybe they could take advantage of the temporary calm.

  “Have you given any thought to what we will say?” Neena asked Darius.

  “I think we should approach them as friends,” Darius said. “A few days ago, in that cave outside of Gideon’s cove, we worked together. And in the weeks before that, we got along. That gives me hope that we can get along again.”

  It was a hope and a last resort.

  “Regardless of our differences, we have much in common,” Kai agreed, gesturing around them. “We’re all dealing with the same problems.”

  Neena thought on that a moment. “And obviously we share the biggest problem.” Recalling Darius’s words from the night before, she continued, “The monster is the biggest threat to all of us right now, not each other. Maybe we can do a better job of convincing Bryan we can work together—not only to survive, but to kill the beast.”

  Darius and Kai agreed.

  Of course, they weren’t the audience she needed to sway.

  Her eyes wandered to the guards at the front entrance. Another question arose. “Do you think we should bring more people, or just go by ourselves?”

  Darius blew a long breath. “Bryan’s issues are with us, not the rest of our cave. Bringing more people might escalate things. I think we need to reconcile our differences personally.”

  Neena nodded.

  “We’ll tell the guards, and maybe Amos, so they know where we are,” Darius said. “But other than that, we should keep the meeting to ourselves. We don’t want to worry anyone unnecessarily. Hopefully, when we come back, we’ll have good news to share.”

  Neena looked around the room at the colonists, most of whom had become as close as family. Her eyes roamed to Samara, one of the young women with whom she’d had a few chats, and Salvador and Robert, two of the guards. In another corner, Amos talked among a circle of elderly folk. She felt a responsibility towards all of them, not unlike what she felt for Raj and Samel. They were scared, and they were losing hope, but she believed that she could turn things around.

  Regardless of her positive thoughts, a pit formed in her stomach.

  It felt as if she were going off on a week-long hunt, rather than a meeting in a cave.

  With nothing else left to decide, Neena asked, “When will we go?”

  “The morning always has a way of making things clearer, at least for me,” Darius said.

  Neena nodded. It did for her, too.

  “After we finish breakfast and clean up, we’ll head out,” he said.

  Chapter 35: Raj

  “How did you sleep last night?” Raj asked Adriana, a smile crossing his face.

  “I kept thinking of our narrow escape,” Adriana admitted.

  She smiled, grazing his fingertips.

  “Me, too.” A familiar rush filled Raj’s stomach.

  He looked around, past the people around them and toward the cave through which they’d snuck the night before. A layer of security existed in the daylight that disappeared in the dark.

  With the scent of breakfast in the air and the sound of talking people, it was easy to forget about the dangers, or the risks. But he couldn’t get his mind off of the things that had occupied him before he slept.

  “What are you thinking?” Adriana asked him. It seemed he could get nothing by her.

  Raj smiled. “I was thinking about what Bryan said again.”

  Adriana leaned forward. “About being a Watcher.” Her blue eyes brightened.

  Glancing at the front entrance of the cave, where a few guards shielded their faces from the morning sun, he admitted, “Yeah.”

  Adriana smiled. “It is a magnificent dream. I still think he had a point.”

  “For most of my life, I’ve looked up at those men, wonder
ing what it would take to be one of them,” Raj continued. “I’ve stared at these cliffs, imagining a life high above all the others, with a spear in my hand and the wind whistling in my ears. Being a Watcher seemed like the most important thing a person could be. And the caves seemed so magnificent.”

  “And now we live in them,” Adriana said with wonder.

  That thought gave him pause. Raj looked around at the people who sat amongst them, smelling of cave dirt and more than two week’s worth of sweat.

  “It is strange that we ended up here,” Raj said, furrowing his brow. “Though towering over the colony is as grand as I thought it would be.”

  Seeing something in his face, Adriana asked, “But?”

  “Now, all I can think about is getting back to Red Rock.”

  Raj laughed, and Adriana laughed, too.

  “But of course we can’t, because of the monster.” Adriana’s smile faded.

  Raj thought about that. Over the course of the last two weeks, the caves had lost some of their novelty. Looking around, he saw a tunnel filled with a hundred and fifty others laid nearly on top of one another. Living in a place like this made it almost impossible to be alone with Adriana.

  He was frustrated.

  For a long moment, Raj went quiet, while his mind wandered. After a long period of silence, he said, “Maybe being a Watcher isn’t the best dream.”

  “What do you mean?” Adriana asked.

  Raj spoke his half-formed thoughts. “In a way, we already are Watchers. We spend most of our time in the caves or on the cliffs, keeping each other safe, or looking out for animals. We make sure the children do not wander. We look out for each other, the way The Watchers used to look out for our people in the colony.”

  “And now we even get our own water,” Adriana said.

  Raj agreed. “With The Watchers no longer speaking to us, it’s almost like we no longer need them.”

  “That is an interesting thought,” Adriana told him.

  She reached for his hand again, taking hold of it. Her touch gave him the courage to speak a thought that he hadn’t yet shared.

  “What if we could be more important than any Watcher, any leader, or anyone in this cave?” Raj asked rhetorically.

  Adriana tilted her head, listening, as Raj solidified his emerging thoughts.

  “What if we could share something that would make us more important than anyone Red Rock has ever known?”

  Something registered in Adriana’s face. “Are you talking about the object?”

  Raj nodded, swallowing. “Before I went to sleep last night, I was thinking of some of these same things, about being a Watcher. And that led me to wonder whether we might have something more important than we realize. If the object is from the First Generation, it could be almost anything.”

  A sparkle crossed Adriana’s eyes as he talked about it.

  “Both of us have speculated on what it might be,” Raj said. “But whatever it is, it is certainly more special than anything in this cave. It might even be the most special thing in Red Rock.”

  Adriana agreed.

  “What if we were to tell people we discovered it?” Raj asked, trying hard to quell his excitement. “We might be the heroes of our cave. We might be more important than any of these people. More important than anyone in the First Generation, or The Watchers.”

  “It is certainly a tempting thought,” Adriana said. “But to do that, we would have to admit we were sneaking around the caves.”

  “True,” Raj conceded. “But I think the wondrous object would make them forget about any punishment we might receive.”

  “Maybe so.” Adriana sat back, thinking on it. A new objection hit her. “But we don’t even know what the object is. For all we know, it is some sort of ancient chamber pot.”

  Raj smiled at her joke. Obviously the device, with its handle and intricate metal pieces, wasn’t a chamber pot. But it was funny to think about.

  “We don’t what it is,” Raj admitted. “But I know someone that might.”

  He looked around the room, his eyes stopping on Darius.

  “If anyone knows tools and weapons, it is Darius,” Raj said. “He’s repaired spears that people never thought they’d throw again, or tools they never thought they’d use. He knows things that others don’t. If anyone can figure out what this object is, it is him.”

  Adriana opened her mouth, closing it just as quickly. Her doubt gave way to excitement. “So you are thinking we should tell Darius first?”

  “Maybe.” Raj thought about that.

  “You’ve seen how close he and Neena are. He’d probably tell her, too.”

  Raj deflated.

  “What’s wrong?”

  Raj went quiet a moment. The thought of being heroes was enticing. But for some reason, the thought of telling Neena gave him pause. He was still angry with her. Every time he looked at her, he thought of the childish way she treated him, and the embarrassing things she said in front of Kai and Darius.

  “I know it has felt like Neena is keeping secrets lately,” Adriana said. “But I’m pretty sure you could trust her with a secret like this. She’s your sister, after all.”

  “Maybe,” Raj said, staring off into the cave.

  “You don’t think that’s true?” Adriana asked.

  “Even if I could trust her, she doesn’t trust me,” Raj said.

  Adriana was confused. “What do you mean?”

  More embarrassment struck Raj. That embarrassment led to anger. He was tired of holding things back—from Adriana, from everyone. The words came out before he could stop them. “She treats me like a child,” Raj said through clenched teeth. “Every time I ask her to let me do anything, she puts me off, or doesn’t listen. She thinks I’m helpless, like one of the children who need to be herded by the river. She doesn’t understand all the things I’ve done, probably because she hasn’t been around to see them.”

  Adriana bit her lip, watching him.

  “I’d rather tell any of these people before her,” Raj said, waving an angry hand around the room.

  Adriana fell silent a moment. She looked from Raj’s face to the tunnel behind them, where the secret object was hidden. Slowly, she reached over and put a hand on his knee. “Maybe this is your way to show her how valuable you are. Once she sees what you have, she’ll have no choice but to take you seriously. You can be a hero.”

  Raj paused, thinking on it. “You think?”

  Adriana nodded. “I do.”

  Raj nodded. Some of his anger faded as he looked at Adriana’s soft smile, and her brilliant eyes. Maybe she was right. When he showed Neena the object, she’d be forced to respect him. He’d be the important person he was meant to be.

  He and Adriana would both be heroes.

  With his decision made, he stood.

  “Are you coming?” he asked.

  Adriana glanced over at her relatives, who sipped their flasks.

  A new thought struck Raj. “I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

  Adriana started to stand, before thinking better of it. “Maybe I’ll stay here. After you tell Neena, come back and get me.”

  Raj felt a tingle in his stomach. Looking at her face, he couldn’t stop imagining another kiss.

  “That sounds good.”

  “But if you want to tell her now, you better hurry,” Adriana said. “It looks like she, Kai, and Darius are going somewhere.”

  Raj looked where she pointed to find his sister and the two others headed off toward the front of the cave. Quickly, he stood, while Adriana stayed on the ground.

  “I’ll talk with you afterward,” Adriana said, with a smile.

  With a quick smile back, Raj hurried after them.

  Chapter 36: Rajr />
  Raj huffed as he ran toward the mouth of the cave, swerving around bedrolls, bags, and talking people. Neena, Kai, and Darius were already halfway to the entrance. If he didn’t move quickly, he’d lose them. Now that he’d made his decision to tell them, he wanted to divulge his secret now.

  A group of young children laughed and clapped hands, blocking his path. Raj skirted around them, barreling into a colonist he didn’t see.

  Massaging his sore shoulder, the man said, “Watch where you’re going!”

  Raj opened his mouth to retort, but thought better of it. Soon, the man would respect him. They all would. He made his way through the cave, finally catching up with Neena, Kai, and Darius.

  “Neena!” he cried, loudly enough to make all three of them turn around.

  A few other people turned around, too. Raj hesitated as he found an unexpected audience. He swallowed, preparing words he never thought he’d say. Neena, Kai, and Darius glanced over their shoulders. It looked as if they had somewhere to be. Whatever new, secret mission they were on could wait. His secret was more important.

  “What’s going on, Raj?” Neena asked.

  Feeling the need for privacy, he hissed, “We should speak alone.”

  “We’re heading somewhere,” Neena said. “Can it wait?”

  “No.” Raj looked to Kai and Darius, imploring them. “It can’t wait.”

  “Are you hurt?” she asked.

  “No, nothing like that,” Raj answered.

  “Is Samel okay?”

  “Yes.” Raj swallowed under the weight of his secret. “I’ve found something that might help you.”

  He waved his hand, beckoning them in the other direction, waiting for Neena and the others to accompany him to a spot deserving of such important news. He took a few steps. Hearing nothing behind him, he stopped and turned. All three of them stood in the same spot as before.

  “We’ll be back in a while, Raj. You can tell us then, okay?” Neena said.