Chapter 28: Kamura
Kamura chewed greedily. She’d never imagined herself eating raw lizard—let alone enjoying it. She was so hungry that the raw moki tasted better than any delicacy served at a state dinner. She only wished she had some water to go with it. She sighed. Thoughts of water had filled her imagination since shortly after they’d left the riverbank.
Just one glass, she thought longingly, just a glass filled to the brim with clean, ice-cold water. Her throat worked as she swallowed. She thought of all the crystal goblets full of water that she’d left sitting untouched on the table and swore she’d never waste that abundance again.
She also wanted a bath, a long soak in a steaming tub with plenty of lavender-scented bath salts. Maybe she’d have a glass of water while she had her bath, cold water with ice cubes tinkling. Her eyes closed, but Jak’s voice recalled her to the dry and dirty present.
"So you just started walking across the Waste because she wanted you to?" he asked Toko. He sounded amazed that they would even consider such a trek, let alone that Kamura would make it this far into the desert with nobody but Toko to help her. But she had a destination and now, more than ever, she was determined to reach it.
"We must reach Tekena," Kamura said. She had good reason for doing what she did, and it was not Jak’s place to question her. Especially not if what she suspected about him was true. "We must be there before it’s time for the Prime to Join with the God Core."
"Yeah. Yeah," Jak said. "We’ve all heard that before. Shelter first. Then you can tell us about your important mission—again."
She knew Jak and Tessa thought her a fanatic, but that was only because they didn’t understand the danger. Crime lords and moki were nothing compared to the Selok omniphage. If one of those creatures connected with the God Core, in a generation it could take over every newborn on Shadriss. And then there would be no stopping it. Still, she had no desire to spend a day in the open. The moon had set while they ate. Already, the sky was tinted gray with coming dawn.
Pointing his chin to the side of the dune, Jak said, "Up there, where the slab was, that looks like it could be a cave, or at least a hole big enough to give us some shade. I’m going to check it out."
He stood and started up. Kamura watched him step over the fallen slab, and the face of it caught her eye. This had been the buried side. Hidden no longer, the slab showed faint lines, squiggles, and dots spiraling outward from a central symbol. It was one of the alien artifacts, and it was bigger than any she’d ever seen before. Granted, there were larger artifacts in the Black Palace but those never left the royal family’s grasp. This was an important find!
"Selok omniphage work," she said in wonder. "I must preserve this for my Family."
"Are you out of your tiny mind, girl?" Tessa demanded. "Do you plan on strapping the thing to your back and carrying it to Tekena?"
Kamura looked down at her, managing an implied ‘of course not, you idiot’ in the tilt of her head. "I am a Recorder," she said. "All I need do is to look at this artifact in a good light."
Toko ignored them both to climb after Jak. Kamura felt a pang of anxiety as she watched him go. She shook her head, angry with herself. She was a Recorder! Well trained, on an important mission for Family Mobutu. When had she become so concerned about this man? This boy? Granted, she knew his secret now, but that should only add to her determination to reach Tekena. It shouldn’t make her feel as if she had to have him in her sight at every moment.
Omniphage Invasion Page 28
