by T. C. Edge
It’s still dark, and for a second my eyes see only the blackness. I feel Adryan’s arm still wrapped around me, his chest rising and falling slightly hurriedly. I slip his arm away and turn to look at him, and find his face etched in some strange contortion, a nightmare besieging his sleeping mind.
But he doesn’t command my attention for long.
On the other side of the cave, near the exit out into the woods, the sound of heavy breathing reaches my ears. I whisper for my brother and search him out as my eyes begin to work their magic, sucking in all available light to see in the dark.
“Zander…”
He doesn’t answer.
I sit up and get a better look at him. And listening closely, I find that the breathing is from him. That even he has his limits. That he’s fallen asleep while on watch, defeated by his own exhaustion.
Feeling somewhat refreshed myself, I check my watch to see that a couple of hours have passed in a flash. It’s enough for me.
I stand and move over to my brother, and find that he, too, appears to be in the throes of some nightmare, his eyelids flickering and a few indistinct mumbles drifting from his lips.
I reach out to shake him awake, seeing how awkward his sitting position looks and thinking that he’ll be more comfortable lying down, but think better of it. Instead, I merely sit against the wall beside him and say a little prayer of thanks for this moment: my brother, safe beside me; my husband the same on the rocky floor.
Sure, both are currently being mentally accosted by their own subconscious, but that’s just part and parcel of life. Given what we’ve all been through, bad dreams are likely to be a regular fixture most nights.
Nothing to worry about.
Sitting back against the wall, I let my head hit the rock and allow a sigh of relief to drift from my lips. Things are hardly perfect right now, but given how they might have been only hours ago, I’m not going to start complaining.
Adryan’s alive and safe.
Zander is too.
I’ve managed to avoid the terrible fate of reconditioning, and we’ve all somehow managed to escape the net of the REEF, outrun our chasers, and done battle with a super-pack of ravenous, mutated wolves without too much to pay for it.
I suppose, though, it’s the young man sitting to my right who’s in line for the lion’s share of the credit on that one. I say lion’s share. I mean one hundred per cent. Without my twin, we’d all be dead or worse. He’s making a habit of saving me. And I’m making one of putting myself in positions where I need to be saved.
It’s time that changed.
Somehow, I consider this to be a good start. I’ll take watch, and let him sleep, and will, in very, very small part; in miniscule part; repay some of the credit I owe him.
It’s not much, but it’s a start.
So I set about my vigil, turning my eyes to the opening of the cave and the woods beyond. Despite feeling like I’d rather snatch a few more winks, I keep my eyes wide open and refuse to turn away, even for a second, as I wait for the first signs of dawn to creep up onto the world.
In the silence, my ears prime for any strange noise in the wild. Aside from the occasional grunt that slips from Zander’s mouth, or the more steady rate of breathing emanating from Adryan’s nostrils, there’s an eerie silence outside that, rather than settling me, serves to put me on edge.
I’m no expert, but I’d expect some birdcalls, or the sound of clicking insects, or the odd rustle of leaves as a critter creeps through the shrubbery.
Nothing.
Silence.
A deep, pervading silence that has me slowly, gently, leaning forward and listening more intently.
The lull is unnerving. The ambient sounds of the forest have turned mute. And then a realisation hits.
Something’s out there.
We’re not alone.
Now I break my rule, my vow, my desire to let Zander sleep.
Without turning from the exit, I reach behind me and take a grip of his arm. I don’t need to grab him firmly or shake. He needs nothing more than a light touch to wake him quickly from his brief slumber. He’s always so primed for danger.
“What…what’s going on…” he mutters quickly, taking stock of his surroundings.
“Shhh,” I say, still looking to the cave’s exit. “There’s something out there.”
Zander’s straight to his feet.
His pulse rifle is firmly positioned to attack, rising to his shoulder. He stands, staring out for a few moments, listening as I am. Getting a feel for the air. Tapping into the energy around us.
And then, he whispers: “Get him up. We’re leaving.”
He doesn’t look at me as he speaks. I move straight for Adryan and kneel down to shake him awake. His slumber seems deeper. He’ll require a firmer hand to bring him out of it.
Yet, it’s not my shaking that does it. I don’t get a chance to grip his shoulder and rock him awake.
Something else does so for me.
Something far louder and more sudden springs his eyes open and has us all turning straight up at the exit.
The clanging of metal and scraping of wood. It echoes loudly into the night and has my heart screaming inside me, pumping hard as I see the front of the cave suddenly covered in a tightly woven mesh fence. The gate falls from above, scrapping along the rock and hitting the ground with a thunderous bang.
Just as it comes, two little grenade-like devices roll in through small gaps in the gate, bobbing along the rocky floor towards us.
Zander’s eyes drop.
“Get down!” he roars, hurling himself away from the nearest explosive as it trickles towards his feet.
I feel Adryan pulling me down to him, instinct taking over. His frame covers me, blocking me off from the blast.
But no blast comes. Just a loud pop, followed by an intense show of green mist that quickly spreads through the cave, filling the clear air with the same toxic poison that lingers outside.
Our gas masks are quickly reapplied, taken off when we slept in this poison-free cave. No more. Now it’s filling with the stuff, the entire place going green as we fumble about and try to stop from sucking in the poison.
I take a gulp and feel the burn down my throat. The haze in my mind is immediate, this gas more toxic, somehow synthesised and enhanced and designed to be even more lethal.
My mind swirls and fades and, lying on the floor, I hear my brother attempting to blast his way through the cage using his rifle.
I don’t know if he succeeds.
Swallowed by the fumes, my head hits rock and I feel Adryan’s weight slumping down beside me. Then, the green turns to black.
And in that final moment, I don’t know if I’ll ever wake up.
132
I do.
My brain coughs and splutters its way back to life. My eyes, still burning, open to find that I’m no longer in the cave.
No longer is the air filled with that green fog.
No longer is it dark.
The day has come, and I’m somewhere new. My eyes search the interior to see that I’m in an old house, the inside filled with tangled vines, half taken back by nature. The scent in the air suggests I’m still in the forest, in some old town or village that once stood here.
I’m not alone.
Zander is with me, chained up on another wall. And Adryan the same, all of us locked and gagged and unable to speak. Only Zander is awake. Adryan not so much, his head slumped and chin dug into his chest.
I look to my brother. We can’t speak, but we can communicate. Through the lingering haze in my head, I seek out our telepathic link.
My first concern is for Adryan.
Is he OK? What’s going on?! comes my rushing voice.
Zander nods to me, and glancing at Adryan, sets my worries aside.
He’s OK. He just hasn’t woken up yet.
I turn my eyes around the place and get a better feel for it. I can only assume that our pursuers from the REEF have tr
acked us down and deposited us here, some half-way house on the return journey to the facility.
I’m wrong.
Zander shakes his head.
No, Brie, he says. These people aren’t from the REEF, and they aren’t from the city either…
A noise sounds. A creaking door. I have no time to respond to my brother before I look up and see the wooden entrance opening up and a shadow appearing in the doorway.
A shadow…
The man is large. He looks like no one I’ve ever come across. A man of the wild, dressed in a mixture of ragged clothing and pelts, fashioned from the beasts that roam the woods. Below his chin, a necklace of teeth dangle, a varying mixture of different fangs, big and small. In the centre, the largest of all swings, flanked by equally formidable teeth and claws, mementos of the monsters he’s defeated; a show of strength to all who come across him.
His face is similarly wild.
Scars litter his upper cheeks and forehead. The lower portion of his face is covered in a mat of brown hair, his beard thick and contrasting with his shaven head. Heavy eyebrows hang over his sockets, and from them come beads that stare upon us with an intensity that would shrivel many a man’s resolve.
But for all the man’s size and physical power, for all his obvious intimidations, he looks to be just a man. Not mutated or arranged in some weird manner. Not a mindless beast, a shade of humanity, eating uncooked flesh from the bone, residing in the swamps and hiding in the trees.
The rumours of the Shadows of the outerlands, perhaps, have been exaggerated. Beyond his strange garb and wild demeanour, the man before us appears to still be human.
Yet, some rumours may yet be true. Rumours of cannibalism, of terrible acts of violence against anyone who might come their way.
We haven’t been returned to the REEF, but perhaps a more grievous fate awaits us nonetheless…
My brother doesn’t look intimidated. His eyes burn and stare, perhaps in an attempt to control the beastly human stepping through the doorway and shutting out the morning light. He told me once that the Shadows run and hide whenever his hunting parties move through the woods. He’s never held any fear for them, and that doesn’t look like it’s about to change, even amid such circumstances.
Stepping forward, the large wildman locks eyes with my brother. Perhaps he doesn’t know what he can do. Perhaps he’s not aware of Mind-Manipulators, even if he is of the various other Enhanced that populate our world. Perhaps, in mere moments, Zander will have the man freeing us and we’ll be on our merry way.
Perhaps not.
Nothing happens. I watch the beast’s eyes for some flash of compliance, for the tell-tale signs that an order has been imparted.
Nothing.
Either this man has his own ability to block intrusions, or Zander’s powers have been temporarily disabled by the toxic fumes that soaked through his lungs and filtered into his blood.
A short stand-off follows, before the man steps forward and removes the gag from Zander’s mouth. They stare at each other for a few more moments. Then, my brother speaks.
“Rhoth,” he grumbles. “I might have know it would be you…”
The beastly man smiles, showing sharp, yellow teeth. His voice is guttural and deep when he returns fire.
“Zander of the Nameless,” he says. “How interesting to find our roles reversed. You, the hunted. For once. It gives me pleasure, boy.”
“Don’t call me boy.”
Rhoth laughs, his tooth-necklace bouncing on his neck.
“Still such an insecure lad, even after all this time. Now, are you going to introduce me to your companions,” he says, turning his eyes to me and then Adryan, who remains unconscious.
The wildman steps towards me, his weather-beaten hand reaching down to pull away the gag. When it slips off, the question falls straight from my mouth.
“You know each other?!”
My eyes blare at Zander and then at the sizeable frame before me.
“Unfortunately,” says my brother. “This here is Rhoth, leader of this particular tribe of outerlanders. We’ve had…dealings with him in the past.”
“Dealings, you say?” comes Rhoth’s rasping voice. He looks to me. “By dealings, he means that his people come and hunt our grounds. Those are the dealings he refers to.”
“They’re not your grounds, Rhoth. No one holds dominion over these woods. And don’t try to act all high and mighty. My men have died at the hands of your traps.”
“Traps intended for beasts, not men,” counters Rhoth. “If you wander into these woods, you better know what’s coming, boy. We have no caring for you people in the big city with all the lights, but we don’t kill for no reason. Only those who threaten us are in danger. Now, who is this lovely girl?”
He turns back to me. I answer before Zander can continue the debate.
“I’m Brie,” I say. “Zander is my twin.”
The big man recoils a little, before inspecting my face closer.
“Ah…yes, it’s so obvious now. The eyes are the same. And the expression too. There’s something inside you as well, isn’t there, Brie. Some power, great power…” His eyes switch to Adryan. “And what powers does Sleeping Beauty possess? Don’t tell me. He can move fast like the wind. What do you call those people. Dashers, is it? So silly…”
“You should look in the mirror before you say anything’s silly, Rhoth,” grunts Zander.
“No mirrors here, boy.”
“I can tell.”
Rhoth laughs loudly.
“I enjoy your sharp wit. But it won’t get you out of here.”
“And what are you going to do to us?” I ask.
The man looks to me for a moment, seeming to rather enjoy the ambiguity that his expression gives. I can’t tell if he’s friend or foe. Clearly, he’s had plenty of run-ins with Zander before. But despite his appearance, he doesn’t seem that malevolent.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he says. “But first, tell me about the gifts he possesses.” He nods again to Adryan.
“None,” I say quickly. “He’s just a Savant. He’s smart, but has no physical gifts.”
“Ah, yes, a Savant. Like those who rule the big city with all the lights. And why is he here, with you? The Nameless are against these Savants, are they not?”
“They are. But not all Savants rule the city. Adryan…he’s my husband.”
His recoils for a second time. There’s an exuberance to his change in expression that is quite striking.
“A husband you say. What a funny pairing.”
As he speaks, with his eyes locked to mine, I attempt to slip into his mind. I find my abilities muted, as I suspected, but there’s something more. It’s as if his mind is blocked off, difficult to decipher. Like living here amid the smog has given him some defence from any mental extractions.
He smiles once more as I dart in and out. Then he taps his temple.
“There’s no getting in here, girl,” he says. “I don’t have your gifts, but in my world, my mind is my own. Your brother found that out long ago, did you not.”
Zander glares. Rhoth chuckles.
“Now,” he continues. “I’m enjoying this conversation. Let’s continue it, shall we? Tell me, what are you doing out here, all alone without your band of thieves and trespassers? I sense it has something to do with all that commotion in the woods a few miles from here. It was a busy day for you yesterday, wasn’t it?”
He looks to Zander, who tightens his jaw. Then his eyes turn to me, seeking a reply. I look to my brother. There appears to be no reason to keep the truth from him.
So I don’t. And over the next few minutes, I quickly explain just why we’re here, Adryan, Zander, and me. He seems to enjoy the story.
“Strange happenings in the big city with all the lights,” he mutters. “And strange happenings beyond as well…”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I’m sure you’re aware, girl. These Savants of yours, these ruler
s of the city, are spreading their wings and preparing to fly. We see them now, chopping through the woods, sucking away the mist. They’ve been building for years. And now, we see them coming all the time. Trucks pouring back and forward to the big city…”
“From where?” I ask.
“A place away from here, but not too far. A facility, like where you came from. Now, there are more and more people going there. Our place here is under threat. That is why we take you.”
“We’re no threat to you, Rhoth,” I say. “We’re fighting the same people. We’re allies.”
His eyes shift to Adryan again. He’s just starting to stir, to break free of the gas that filled his lungs.
“You can trust him as much as anyone,” I continue. “He’s risked everything to help free the city. You have to free us…”
A heavy frown topples over his dark eyes.
“And why would I do that?” he growls.
“Because,” I answer immediately, “we’re the only ones who can hold back the tide. If we don’t stop the ‘rulers’, as you call them, then they’ll take these lands by force. They’ll keep on building and building, and spreading their kind all over the place. You want to keep your home? Then you help us.”
A slow smile rises onto his face.
“So like your brother you are. You ask, you take, but you give nothing in return.”
“Oh, you’ll get something in return. You’ll get to keep your freedom. But only if you help us now.”
The smile hovers for a few more moments. Then it slips away and the bearded beast steps towards the door.
“I will consider your words, girl,” he says. “But for now, enjoy your stay.”
He opens the wooden door with a creak, and a fresh deluge of light spills in. And then, we’re shut away once more, just as Adyran awakes.
133
Several hours go by before Rhoth returns.
I spend most of that time doing a mixture of filling Adryan in on what’s been happening and trying to keep Zander relaxed. While my husband continues to stay fairly muted over everything, my brother is far from happy with this latest turn of events.
