Obsidian Tears

by Jaleta Clegg

  "I'm not going to count on it." Vance pulled me to my feet. I groaned when my right foot hit the ground. "What hurts?"

  "My ankle, mostly. And my head."

  "I didn't get the med kit."

  "I'll survive," I said. I'd been through worse.

  He took that as my answer. We headed into the desert again, lit now by the column of flame from our ship.

  I leaned on his shoulder, limping as best I could. I let myself slip into a waking doze, trying to put as much distance between me and the pain as I could. I was losing the battle when Vance stopped again. He'd found a dry streambed. He climbed down first, it was cut into the sand waist deep. I held myself up by clutching a stunted tree barely shoulder high. He reached up and lifted me down. I bit my lip against the pain when my foot hit the ground again. I sank down to sit on the soft sand of the stream bed.

  "I can't go any farther." My ankle throbbed. My boot was so tight my foot was numb. My head wasn't any better. I wanted to just lie down and sleep and hope the pain was better when I woke up. If I woke up.

  "It's not far," Vance said. "We can't stay here. First light, they'll spot us from a mile away."

  "And you think the cliff is going to be any better?" I was in pain, a lot of pain. I didn't want to move.

  "Come on," he said, not letting me argue. He pulled me to my feet. He wasn't going to take no for an answer. I leaned on his shoulder as we struggled through the loose sand.

  We came to a spot where the sides were low, the stream bed wide and shallow. He turned off, dragging me up the slope. We traipsed into a maze of widely spaced bushes and drifts of sand.

  Rocks crept out of the sand, small boulders at first. Larger fingers of rock grew around us as we walked towards the forbidding wall of stone that made the cliffs. I stumbled beside him, trying to ignore my numb foot and throbbing ankle.

  The light of the nebula slowly faded, giving way to the burning light of stars. We stopped frequently to rest. Vance was slowing. He had to have been banged up in the crash. He wasn't going to admit it though.

  The blood from the gash on my head dried. It itched as it flaked off my neck. My hair was thick with it. The dizziness came and went, along with the throbbing pain. My ankle had gone numb, the boot so tight against the swelling that it cut off circulation. My knee was worse, cracking with each step. I hobbled, hanging onto Vance's shoulder to keep from falling.

  Ships streaked overhead, bright flashes of light and screaming engines. They circled the spot where our ship had exploded, flying fast and high. We ducked under bushes and rocks when they passed, using what cover we could find.

  We finally reached the cliff as the sky turned pale with coming sunrise. I leaned against the rock, keeping on my feet because I knew that if I let go, I wasn't going to get up again. Vance left me while he scouted the cliff base.

  He came rushing back, scrambling through the leaning slabs of stone that lined the base of the cliff. "We have to hurry. I saw three flitters near the crash site. I found a cave for us to hide in."

  He grabbed my arm and dragged me through the maze of rocks. I did my best to climb over them. My best wasn't very good. I was barely crawling when Vance pushed me under a slab of rock. I slid down a slight slope of sand, landing in a heap at the bottom. I groaned and rolled onto my back. Vance slid down beside me. The cave was barely big enough for both of us. The ceiling of stone, visible in the growing dawn, was only a couple of feet over my head.

  "How long are you planning on staying here?" I asked.

  "Today at least. The rest depends on how bad your ankle is."

  I yelped when he touched it. He lifted my foot and propped it on his knee. His hands felt along my foot, working up to my ankle. I stifled the urge to scream. The pain was incredible. His fingers circled my ankle, twisting it gently.

  "I'm not sure we can get your boot off," he said as his hands worked their way up to my knee. "It's probably a good idea to leave it on for now. Your knee's swollen, too. I don't think anything's broken, just twisted and sprained."

  "A week or two and I'll be good as new," I muttered. My head was starting to spin again.

  He put my foot back on the sand. He moved to my head. He took my chin in his hand and turned my head to the side. I hissed as he prodded at my head with his other hand.

  "I should wash it off," he said. "I can't see anything through the blood."

  I grabbed his hand and held it away. "Then just leave it. You can't do anything about it. And it hurts when you try. Just leave me alone."

  He sat back on his heels. "You're probably right. We should sleep while we can."

  He moved away from me, as far as he could get in the small hollow under the rock. I turned my head to keep the sore side out of the sand and closed my eyes.

  I dreamed of being a Sessimoniss priestess. My claws clicked on the cool stone of the temple floors, the weight of the ceremonial robe dragged on my shoulders. The Eggstone whispered in my mind.

  I woke feeling disoriented and groggy. The Eggstone was still in the front of my shipsuit, a lump of stone resting on my belly. My hands were curved around it, holding it as I slept.

  Vance snored softly not far away. I had to go to the bathroom. I shifted, waiting for the pain. It was a lot less. I crawled out of the cave.

  It was daylight outside, a hot searing day that sucked the moisture from me. I found a spot between a finger of rock and a bush and took care of my body's urges. I leaned back against the rock when I finished, looking into the burnished sky of Serrimonia. The hiss of shifting sand carried on the gusts of hot wind that barely stirred the leaves of the bush next to the cliff. I heard a distant call, the sound of one of the animals that lived here. Without the Eggstone's store of memories, I had no idea what it might be.

  The peace was shattered by the sound of an engine overhead. I scrambled into the cave in a panic. Whoever had shot us down was still hunting us. I caught a single glimpse of a strangely curved flitter body with stubby wings drifting down the cliff face as I slid into the cave.

  Vance woke, instantly alert.

  "They're still looking for us," I said.

  "Your ankle's doing better?" he asked, as if we were in a hospital somewhere and not stranded on one of the least hospitable planets I knew.

  "That doesn't matter."

  The sound of the flitter's engine grew louder, more distinct. It echoed in the pocket where we were hiding.

  "We have to get out of here," I said.

  "And go where?"

  I looked up, where sunlight leaked around the slab of stone. "They're going to find us."

  I crawled towards the back of the space, where the shadows were deeper.

  "Who are they?" Vance asked.

  I looked back, startled by his question.

  "You know, or you wouldn't be so panicked," he said in his reasonable voice.

  I stopped crawling. Why was I so panicked? Why was I running from them? They'd shot us down, without warning. Why shouldn't I be so afraid of them finding us? There was that brief transmission I'd picked up, in a language vaguely familiar. If I stopped to think about it, I was sure I could figure out who was hunting us. If my head would stop hurting.

  "I don't know who they are," I said. "I just know I don't want them finding us."

  The throbbing of the engine outside grew louder. It sounded as if it was hovering right over the slab of stone. Vance looked up, at the stone, as if he could see through it to find the answers.

  I turned away, pushing into the shadows. I wedged myself against the very back. The slab of stone overhead vibrated. Sand sifted through the cracks, trickling into the cave. Vance crowded back with me, pushing me farther into the shadows.

  The slab shifted, the rock cracking and groaning. The rock behind me gave way. I slid headfirst into a hole and tumbled down a slope of smooth rock. I rolled over and over. I lost count of how many times. I hit my head on something and blacked out.

  Chapter 7

  My face was covered with gri
t and dust. My head throbbed. I smelled stone, dark and cold and unforgivingly hard. I tried to roll over, to ease some of the pain. That set my ankle and knee throbbing in time with my head. I put my head back down on the gritty stone and closed my eyes. I was ready to give up trying.

  Except Jasyn would never forgive me if I didn't come back. I wanted to cry. I wasn't going to make it back now. Despite all of Lowell's assurances and extra precautions, we'd been shot down and stranded. But we weren't dead. Not yet.

  I heard footsteps crunching in the grit. A handlight beam, dim and yellow, wavered crazily over the slope of rock I'd tumbled down. The light found me and kept me spotlighted as the footsteps came closer down the slope. Vance knelt beside me, studying me.

  "No worse than before," I said, answering his unasked question. "Nothing broken that wasn't already."

  "Do you have any idea where we are?" He shifted, sending the handlight beam into the darkness around us. "The entrance collapsed. Even if you could climb back up the slope, it won't do any good."

  "It keeps us from getting caught." I closed my eyes, gathering strength. The Eggstone dug into my ribs, reminding me of why I was here, why I was involved.

  "Who are they? You know or you wouldn't have panicked like that."

  "I thought I recognized the language, but there was so little of it, I can't be sure. I don't remember where I know it from, so it won't help." I pushed with my arms and managed to roll onto my back. My head spun and my knee screamed in pain. I bit my lip to keep the screams silent.

  "Now what?" Vance still sounded suspicious, but he also sounded like he was resigned to dealing with it.

  "You're the expert," I managed through clenched teeth. "You tell me what." The pain slowly subsided in my leg.

  "I'm not an expert at primitive survival."

  A shock wave boomed through the cave. Vance ducked reflexively. He stared up the slope. Rocks rattled and pelted towards us.

  "We have to move." He stood and held his hand down to me.

  I took it and let him lever me to my feet. I had to hang onto his shoulder to keep from collapsing again. The crazy bouncing of the handlight made me dizzy. Vance shot it around us, searching for something. I was in too much pain to care. Another shock wave boomed through the cave. More rocks rattled down from the slope.

  Vance came to a decision. He started off to his left, dragging me with him. I limped as best I could. I still had to hang onto him to keep upright and moving. I hated it. I swallowed my pride and kept going.

  The shocks behind us grew less intense as we moved farther away. Vance stopped to lean against a slab of rock, breathing heavily. I leaned against him, gasping. The tunnel shook and roared with a final blast. Huge rocks crunched into the tunnel behind us, sealing us off.

  "Nowhere to go but ahead," Vance said. He stood, dragging me with him.

  I bit back the groan of pain from moving my leg. We limped into darkness, the single dim beam of the handlight our only illumination.

  Time passed and blurred into a haze of pain and darkness. I kept going through sheer willpower. Each step was agony.

  Vance stopped after a while. I toppled to the ground when he let go of me. He crouched, the handlight clamped in his teeth while he sorted through his pack. I tried to sit, but couldn't do it.

  He lifted me up and handed me one of the water packs. I was thirsty enough I wanted more, but I only drank half and passed it back. He handed me half a ration bar when he took the water. I leaned back against the rocks and choked it down.

  Vance wedged the handlight up with some rocks. The dim light reflected off the rock overhead, casting weird shadows, but it was marginally easier to see. Not that I could, I was fighting to stay awake. My headache was back, sending waves of nausea and dizziness through me. I shivered.

  Vance studied me in the dim light. "Are you going to make it?"

  "Do I have a choice? Make it where?"

  He shrugged. "What options are there here? You said there was one city."

  "It's old, mostly deserted. I don't know if there is any help there." I pulled my arms around myself, trying to get warm. I wasn't very successful. My leg felt three times its normal size.

  "What about food?" He leaned against a rock, watching me. His eyes flashed darkly in the reflected light. "I've only got a few ration bars."

  "I don't know." My eyes wouldn't focus. My teeth chattered, clicking loudly.

  Vance watched me for a minute. He sighed and shoved things into the pack. He crawled over to me and wedged the pack behind me, giving me some insulation from the cold stone. He touched my face and shook his head. He settled beside me, reaching to pick up the handlight. He leaned against the rock, pulling me against him, before he snapped off the light.

  I let my eyes close and drifted into an uneasy sleep full of nightmares.

  I woke alone. It was dark, the light reflecting from behind a giant tumble of stone. I panicked, sitting up before I could think better of it. My leg and my head told me it was stupid. I bit back a groan and carefully straightened my injured leg. I could barely feel my toes. I tried to wiggle them in my boot. It hurt but I did it. My knee didn't look quite as swollen. My head spun, but that could have been dehydration and hunger. I tried to convince myself that I wasn't in as bad a shape as I knew I was.

  The light bounced and moved, growing brighter. Vance came around the rocks with the handlight shining from one hand. He crouched next to me, pulling the pack from where I'd slept on it. I tried not to heave a sigh of relief. He didn't need to know I'd almost panicked at being alone. I think he knew anyway.

  He held the handlight out. "I'll wait just around the rocks. There's a better passage back that way." He picked up the pack and went around the rocks.

  I stared blankly after him. My hand clutched the handlight, sending beams of dim light bouncing off the ceiling. I blushed when I realized why he left me alone. I took care of personal things and managed to limp my way around the stones. I leaned on the rocks more than I walked. My leg was throbbing again.

  Vance took the handlight back without comment. We shared another packet of water and a ration bar. Vance wrapped his arm around me. I thought about pushing it away but I knew I wouldn't have made it more than a few steps on my own. We stumbled into the darkness.

  Hours passed. I was in pain before we'd gone far. It didn't get any better. It got worse, much worse. I shook with fever. My leg screamed every time I took a step. My head spun. I focused only on taking one agonizing step after another. I fell into a trance where the pain was only a blurry haze.

  We stopped to eat and drink. I was barely conscious. I chewed the tasteless ration bar mechanically. Vance pulled me back to my feet much too soon. I wanted to just lie down and pass out. Vance kept me moving, pushing and prodding and whispering hoarsely when I threatened to collapse.

  He couldn't have been in much better shape, but he kept moving. We were weaving through tunnels. At least we didn't have to crawl through holes or try to climb up or down. I couldn't have done it.

  I took a step wrong and went down, dragging him with me. We sprawled on the cold rock. I landed on my side, curled up against more pain. Vance was on his hands and knees, head hanging as he breathed heavily. I closed my eyes, breathing hard myself, trying to get the pain back under control.

  "Come on," Vance said, crawling closer. "We've got to keep going."

  "Why?"

  "Because we have to find a way out before the charge in the light is gone completely."

  I groaned and tried to get up. I barely lifted my head before I collapsed back down. "I can't." The cave spun crazily around me. The light flickered. My head pounded. My leg ached and throbbed.

  Vance rolled to one side, sitting propped against the cave wall. "One hour. And then we have to get moving again."

  I shivered. The cold stone sucked heat right out of me. Vance grabbed my shoulder and heaved. I found enough strength to shift around to sit next to him. It was marginally warmer. He tucked the pack behind us
and snapped off the light. I let myself slide into sleep. The pain buzzed and throbbed through my nightmares.

  "Dace," Vance said.

  I grumbled and refused to wake up. I wasn't ready to face more pain and the endless rock tunnels.

  "Dace," he said, shaking my shoulder urgently. "You have to wake up now."

  "I don't want to," I muttered.

  "Wake up, unless you want to be dead."

  "That sounds good right now." I opened my eyes.

  The light was not the beam from the handlight. Torchlight danced and flickered over us. I squinted at the light. We were surrounded by very tall reptilians, all of them with heavy spears. The heads were pointed at us. They looked very sharp. I shifted my gaze back to the creatures holding the spears. They wore tunics of garish colors, striped with slashes of other colors. They blinked yellow eyes. The crests on their heads were half raised, flushing red.

  "It's all right, Vance. They're Sessimoniss." My eyes were sliding back closed.

  "Dace," Vance said, shaking me again. "They are going to kill us."

  "No, they're not," I said through the throbbing in my head.

  A spear poked towards him. The fog in my head cleared very suddenly. They were going to kill us. Sessimoniss did not tolerate outsiders.

  "Help me stand," I said to Vance. I knew I wasn't going to make it by myself. I hoped the Sessimoniss would tolerate my apparent weakness. They usually killed anyone who showed the smallest sign.

  Vance stood without a word and pulled me to my feet. I pulled the Eggstone out of my shipsuit, cradling it in one hand. I reached into my mind, looking for the language I knew was buried there. Somewhere. It wasn't going to come. Only through the Eggstone's memories was I able to speak their language.

  The Sessimoniss flicked glances at the rock in my hand. I didn't know if they recognized it or not. The spear points shifted marginally, aiming more truly at us.

  "You have to help me," I said to the Eggstone.

  "I don't know what to do," Vance said in my ear. "You're the expert here."

  I ignored him. I leaned against him as I raised the Eggstone in both hands. "Heshk Bashnessit," I said, trying to remember the inflections and the guttural consonants.