Prophet's Journey, page 15
part #1 of Prophet of the Badlands Series
She stepped around some cushions by one of the cooking stations. “I don’t want to have any. I was only curious what it is and why you keep drinking it.”
“White Russian,” said Bill, swirling the glass. “Or as close as I can get to one with Ell-Gee’s little still and powdered milk.”
“Powdered milk?” Althea cringed.
“Found a stash of it down one of the tunnels. Some survivalist dude stockpiled a whole bunch of it. Stuff’s gotta be 200 years old, but the nectar coming out of the still is strong enough to kill anything bad.”
Althea shivered. Not that she had any desire to ask for a taste before, but after hearing he drank something that old, she didn’t even want to keep smelling it. Two steps later, she took his hand and peered inside his life essence for sicks. Somehow, he didn’t have one.
They headed down the tunnel to the outer platform where the spear-bearers stood guard. Shara and the other sentries appeared surprised to see her back so soon, and with a member of the council.
“She is to journey to the Cursed Place in search of Queen Kye.” Bill sipped his drink. “There’s apparently been a slight problem.”
“What?” Shara gasped.
The other three sentries all shook their heads, giving off fear.
“No.” Shara grasped Althea’s shoulder. “You can’t send her into the Cursed Place. She’s not of the Transit. Not a royal. I can’t let a child go off to die.”
“Sumiko believes she may be from the gods. She managed to put the fear into Noema. Great glowing wings sprouted out of her and made the council chamber so bright we couldn’t see a damn thing.”
“You are pulling my arm,” said Shara.
Bill gestured with his drink at her. “How many people have you ever seen with so much magic in them that it leaks out their eyes?”
“Are we to escort her to the Cursed Place?” asked one of the male spear-bearers. “Surely, you are not going to the surface.”
“Heh. No.” Bill chuckled. “I’m happy to stay right here. I prefer my hide without holes in it if at all possible. They are asking for volunteers now. We need you four at the tunnel. Spear-bearers defend us. Any scout can show this kid the way.”
Althea kept quiet while the five adults debated the wisdom of letting her go into a place that would supposedly kill anyone without royal blood the instant they went past the door. It didn’t sound believable to her. How would an area know who someone was? And what did ‘royal’ mean anyway? Any raider who took over a pack of bandits called themselves war chief or king. She didn’t think the Ancestors named some people royalty or anything like that. Most likely, the people of this settlement had legends they followed that could have been started by anything, the same way ‘legend’ claimed anyone who mistreated the Prophet would face horrible luck. Considering every group that took her captive would invariably be attacked constantly by others until they, too, took her, ‘bad luck’ would follow her no matter how nice or mean raiders were. The group who gave her free run of their camp fared no better than the ones who kept her chained to a truck or locked in a cage.
Thinking about those days made her feel stupid for not defending herself. At least for the past two years, she understood having the ability to give people commands, Suggestion as Officer David called it. Only her fear of being burned alive kept her from using it in all but the most dire circumstances, and never to set herself free. Only to stop wifeing or needless killing. Now, all too late, she understood she didn’t have to worry about being burned alive—she could protect herself from that, too.
But, had she not made the choices she’d made in the past, she would never have met Father and Karina. Of course, now all she had to do was get back to them.
Paama and Ooru emerged from the tunnel and walked over.
“We have volunteered to take Althea to the Cursed Place,” said Paama.
“Very well.” Shara gave a somber sigh, shaking her head.
Ooru grinned at her. “Follow.”
He jogged to the end of the platform and jumped down into the tunnel. Althea rushed after him with Paama right behind her. She hopped down to walk on one of two narrow strips of relatively flat ground on either side of the rails. Large metal brackets at regular intervals held the rails in place, and looked quite painful to mash a toe into.
Ooru glanced over his shoulder at her. “You can hang on my back to get past the traps.”
“I can see them, remember?”
“Oh. I forgot. All right, but don’t cry if you hit one.”
She raspberried him.
Paama laughed.
A few minutes later, they reached the other platform and climbed up out of the tunnel, crossed the room and went into the passage loaded with jaw traps. Both of her guides advanced at a deliberate pace, counting every step while making precise turns. She meandered behind them, stepping around the various—rather obvious—spring-loaded jaws. When they eventually reached the base of the stairs that led to the surface world, Ooru paused and looked back at her.
“It’s so funny to see your eyes in the dark.” He laughed. “Like two little floating dots.”
“They’re almost bright enough for us to see with.” Paama held her hand out by Althea’s face, wiggling her fingers in the blue light. “So pretty. I wish my eyes were like that. Mine are brown and boring.”
“Okay.” Ooru patted Althea on the head and felt his way down over her shoulder until he found her hand. “This is important. The Cursed Place is a good walk away. We will probably have to hide from Silver Men. If one of us starts running, you should start running too. Don’t make a sound. Just do what we do. If we get down and hide, you do that, too.”
“Okay,” said Althea.
“They can’t see through metal at all, but they can sometimes see through walls.” Paama held one hand up simulating a wall and made a person shape with two fingers behind it. “If you have metal all around, you’re safe. We can hide in big pipes, rust boxes, or holes. Whatever you do, don’t scream or make loud noises. The Silver Men can hear from far away.”
“I understand.” Althea shivered. Maybe this is a bad idea. Dealing with raiders or living creatures wouldn’t have bothered her at all, but she couldn’t do anything about the machine men. Her two new friends had experience avoiding them, so she would do whatever they said.
Ooru went up the stairs first, pausing at the top to peer out with his eyes barely above the level of the sidewalk. He watched for a few minutes before climbing up to stand. Althea hurried after him.
He pointed at a mostly-collapsed building about two blocks away. “We move short and fast. Run there as fast as you can, then we hide and make sure nothing saw us.”
Althea nodded.
“Go!” whispered Ooru, before sprinting off.
She ran after him, sending a surge of psionic energy into her body that boosted the blood-presence flowing to her leg muscles while simultaneously increasing her endurance. Althea blew past Ooru, pumping her arms, sprinting as fast as she could make herself go to the indicated wall. With the grace of a bounding deer, she leapt over a rusting car, landed in stride, and continued toward the building. To avoid stripping the skin off the bottoms of her feet when stopping, she slowed well in advance and trotted to a halt by the corner.
Ooru and Paama hadn’t yet even made it halfway.
She flattened herself against the wall and listened for the whirring noise of the wheeled machine man, but heard only the soft clap of her friends’ fur boots on the paving. The other kids ran up to her, mouths hanging open.
“How did you do that?” rasped Paama.
“He said I should run as fast as I can,” whispered Althea. “So I did.”
“People can’t run that fast.” Ooru looked her over. “And you’re not even tired.”
“Inside.” Paama pushed at them both.
Ooru ducked into a hole in the wall. Althea crawled after him, Paama behind her.
Once hidden within a shadowed place under a nest of collapsed I-beams, the kids sat to catch their breath. Althea shrugged and sat as well.
“You could outrun a Silver Man,” said Ooru.
“She’s not that fast. They have wheels.” Paama shook her head.
“The ones that walk.”
“Mariko could outrun those.” Paama smiled. “They’re not fast at all.”
Ooru grasped Althea’s leg and squeezed her calf. “What magic is it? You don’t feel like a machine.”
“I’m not.” She muffled a giggle. “I am a healer. My power can do other stuff. If I make my legs stronger, I can run faster.”
“Healer?” asked Paama. “Like Mariko? You know about herbs?”
“Just which ones to eat. And one or two that make you see weird things if you light them on fire and breathe the smoke. I helped a chamán before.”
“She saved Jo. His leg was gonna fall off.” Ooru patted Althea’s arm. “She’s got real magic.”
“Obviously. Her eyes are glowing.” Paama smirked.
“C’mon.” Ooru got up and trotted to the opposite end of the room, then stuck his head out an old window frame. “Clear.” He vaulted over the sill and landed outside.
Paama climbed after him. Althea stepped up onto the windowsill and dropped down to the dirt outside.
Ooru took off at a jog. Since he hadn’t indicated where to stop, Althea kept pace with them rather than run at full speed. They navigated around more dead cars, a series of collapsed lamp posts, and a large hunk of metal wreckage that appeared much newer than anything else in the area. Despite its obvious difference in technology, it still looked as though it had been there a long time. Given how it had embedded itself into the ground, Althea guessed it crashed from high up, most likely a piece of a flying machine.
High-pitched whirring came from the right.
Ooru sprinted. Althea darted after him, Paama bringing up the rear due to fumbling at her skirt pouch. A small machine shot out from behind a six-story ruined building fifty feet in the air, swooping down toward Ooru. Sunlight gleamed off the surface of a silver flying wing. A black rectangular patch at the front had a small lens, aglow with green light. The boy stopped short and darted to the left. The machine hung in midair, pivoting to follow him, though didn’t attack. Despite the strange robot’s apparent peacefulness, Ooru gave off extreme fear.
A whooshing noise started behind her.
Althea ran after Ooru, glancing over her shoulder at Paama who swung a sling around in a rapid spin. A few seconds later, she snapped her arm, launching a rock that smacked into the flying machine with a loud plastic clonk. It faltered, flipped over, and crashed to the ground upside down, scooting forward as it tried to right itself and get back into the air.
Paama hefted her spear and charged at it. At the clatter of the machine hitting the street, Ooru reversed course and also ran at it. The wing flipped itself over and started to rise back into the air, but before it got more than a few feet up, Paama walloped it, slapping it back to the ground. Ooru lunged in and stabbed it, pinning it down. Dust bloomed out from the back end as the machine’s little engine whined louder and louder. On the ground, it appeared larger than it seemed in the air, roughly three feet across from wingtip to wingtip.
Althea kept her distance as the two slightly older children set upon the stricken machine with their spears, stabbing it again and again, setting off flashes of crackling sparks. Ooru broke the glowing green spot at the front, spilling a small amount of glass bits on the road.
With a grunt of exertion, Paama leapt into the air, using all her weight to drive her spear into the machine’s main body. A brilliant blue flash burst out of it, and the engine whine abruptly cut out to silence. Unsurprisingly, Althea did not feel any icy chill of departing life.
“Run!” rasped Ooru.
Her guides scrambled up to a sprint, fleeing like an angry canid had found them. Althea caught up to them with ease, but kept quiet as instructed instead of asking what scared them so much about a flying machine that had no apparent means of hurting anyone.
Ooru slowed to a stop by a storm drain, hastily sliding into it and falling out of sight. Paama dropped to the ground and slithered in headfirst. Althea waited for the girl’s boots to disappear, then sat on the edge and slid in feet first.
Ooru caught her and helped her down.
He and Paama both held her in a three-way hug.
“That was close,” whispered Ooru.
Is it safe to talk? asked Althea, telepathically.
He stared at her. “Your lips didn’t move.”
Mind talking. The Zero police called it tell pathy.
“Gods… amazing,” whispered Ooru. “And sure we can talk, but whisper.”
“Huh?” asked Paama.
“She spoke inside my head.”
“Stop lying, butt.”
Althea glanced at her. He’s not lying.
“Gah!”
“Shh!” rasped Ooru.
“Why are you scared of the little flying machine?” whispered Althea.
“It’s an eye.” Paama pointed up. “It sees for the Silver Men. If one of the fly-eyes finds us, other Silver Men will come after us.”
As if on cue, the whirr of a wheeled machine man rose up in the distance.
Ooru waved for the girls to follow, then climbed down a ladder into a round shaft. “We are safe in here.”
Paama went down next. She paused when she wound up eye-level with Althea’s feet, then peered up at her. “Where are your shoes?”
“I don’t have shoes. I don’t like them.” Althea turned her back and lowered herself onto the ladder.
“What if you step on something and cut yourself? You could die. Even small cuts can kill, especially on your foot.”
“I don’t get sick.” Althea climbed down and hopped off the ladder in a big concrete pipe.
“Everyone says that… until they do.” Ooru chuckled. “When we are back home, I will get shoes for you.”
Althea tensed. She opened her mouth to tell him that she already had a boy who liked her… but stopped when she didn’t pick up any emotions like that from him. Usually, when a Scrag gave someone clothes, weapons, or other scavenging spoils, it meant they wanted to court them. Though, she had mostly lived in the south where it didn’t get very cold except at night when everyone stayed inside. Perhaps this far north, traditions would be different. Then again, they didn’t know the Prophet, so maybe they never heard of the rules about gifts either.
“It’s okay. I won’t be staying here and I really don’t get sick. I make the sicks go out.”
More whirring echoed from the distant storm drain along with the faint electronic voice muttering, “Lost contact with contaminants. Initiating search.”
Ooru eyed the pipe leading into the distance. “Be careful. It is dark, but there is only one way to go. Feel with your feet to avoid holes. Or we can just hide here and wait for the Silver Men to leave.”
“That will take a long time,” whispered Paama.
“I can see, remember?” Althea squeezed past them. “Let me go first.”
The two shrugged.
“Okay.” Ooru nodded.
Althea advanced into the pipe, featureless concrete as far as she could see. “It’s empty here.”
Ooru put a hand on her shoulder.
“The blue from your eyes lights up the walls,” whispered Paama. “Like Ell-Gee’s magic torches.”
Althea grinned and looked around so the glowing spot moved. The effect didn’t appear to her as blue, merely a somewhat lighter patch of grey. “Why did they ask you to bring me to this Cursed Place, and not a grown-up?”
“The adults almost never go outside,” said Ooru. “When we get too big to fit into the hiding places, we have to stay inside, too. Some become spear-bearers. Silver Men can go anywhere adults can. But some of the Silver Men won’t attack children. The big ones with legs don’t. But the little ones on wheels will. And the really big ones with tread-wheels will try to kill us, but they are super slow. Easy to hide from. Besides, even our strongest spear-bearers can’t scratch the Silver Men, so it doesn’t matter if we’re kids. Sending a warrior won’t help.”
“You killed one just before. And watch the floor. There’s a hole. Don’t trip.” Althea bent over to shine her eyes on the small pit so they could see and avoid it.
Ooru laughed. “The little flyers are different. Any of the ones that can hurt us are way too tough. They have fire sticks that can kill from way far. We’d never even get close to them. Even if we did, our spears would break on their armor.”
“Kye broke a Silver Man,” said Paama with an air of reverence. “With a spear.”
“Oh sure.” Ooru chuckled. “Royals can do stuff like that. We’re not.”
“So why do you go outside at all? Everything here is gone.” Althea stepped around a scattering of human bones.
“The Silver Men kill the Sky Monsters and they crash. Their bellies break open, and sometimes they’re full of good stuff we can take. There’s also lots of things in basements. The Silver Men kill everything, so no one is here to take stuff.” Paama let out a heavy breath. “Is it true you live outside all the time?”
“Yeah.”
Althea told them about Querq, playing soccer with other kids, relaxing by the stream with Den, the farm where Karina worked and so on as they walked, until they reached a join in the pipe. “There’s another tunnel to the left here. Which way?”
“Straight,” said Ooru.
She resumed telling them of the Water Man, Dr. Ruiz, and even swimming in the giant pool that had formed in an old basement.
“I want to go there,” said Paama.
“It sounds nice, but won’t the gods be angry if we leave? We’re supposed to be punished for what the Ancients did.” Ooru grumbled. “Stupid Ancients.”
“Umm.” Althea whistled innocently. “Gods? If you don’t want them to come to Querq with me, say something.” She waited a minute, but no strange beings said anything. “Guess it’s okay.”
“Wow. Does that really work?” asked Paama. “Will the gods talk to you if you ask?”
“I dunno,” muttered Ooru. “Seems too simple… but Althea is magic, so maybe she’s right.”
