A Girl From Nowhere

by James Maxwell

  “Nine skins, she cost us,” Sully said, “and all she does is get those headaches. Sure, now and then she points us in a direction. But there’s no way for us to tell if she’s full of lies. I wish I’d never decided to go along with this plan of yours, Lars.”

  “Then leave,” Lars said bluntly.

  “Three of those skins were mine! You have to buy me out.”

  Lars smiled thinly, and Selena saw him turn his dark gaze on his wiry companion. She knew how cold those eyes could feel. “I’ve got one wherry skin, that’s all. You can take it and you can go. Or you can stay. The choice is yours.”

  “I want three,” Sully said.

  “I don’t have three,” Lars said. “Look, she’s said she’ll help us find the white city, and that’s what she’s going to do. Anyone has a problem they can leave, or we can take it up with knives.”

  Sully scowled at Selena. “If she’s no good at guiding us, we should get her to do more. Sure, she can cook, but I’m sick of carrying the firewood. She should do it.”

  Selena cleared her throat. She held Sully’s gaze and spoke firmly. “The reason I cook is because you burn everything. But yes, I can carry the firewood. I can carry your pack and your water and rub your feet at night. Is that as far as your ambition goes?”

  “It’s a start,” Sully said.

  Selena turned her gaze to take in all three men as they watched her warily. “You three have got an opportunity you’ve never had before. I’ll take you to the only safe place in the wasteland. Why else did you trade for me?” She combed her fingers through her long black hair as she spoke; it had become tangled with grit as she rolled on the ground. “If you would prefer to have me carry things on my back, or you would rather keep your water for yourself, you will be the fools who never get there. You all know it. We need each other. I’ll do my part and get us to where we’re going.” She directed her words at Sully. “Focus on doing yours.”

  Lars gave a short laugh. “No reply, Sully? She’s got you there.” He harrumphed. “She’s right. We should keep moving.”

  Sully grumbled and looked away.

  The march in the blazing heat continued.

  The land was featureless in all directions, barely broken up by dead bushes rolling in the wind or the occasional hermit cactus. Boulders large and small clustered in groups. Lizards scuttled underneath rocks when they sensed footsteps. Sometimes the three men and one young woman marched in the eerie crimson light of Lux alone; other times both suns scorched the flat terrain and forced them to hide in what little shade they could find. The pink strip of sky above the horizon became darker. It was clear that the distant mountain they were using as a marker was leading them toward the firewall, which might mean that Selena’s earlier directions were wrong.

  Selena’s headache persisted for days, but she counted herself fortunate to avoid another seizure. The pain between her temples was always worse when thirst took hold, and with Vic and Sully refusing to share their water, Lars’s supplies were low. Both Vic and Sully continued to complain about the trade that Lars had insisted they make.

  Selena focused her determination on keeping her body moving as the three skinners walked in front of her. This wasn’t the first time she had been traded like property rather than a person, but she intended for it to be the last. No matter what the three skinners believed, she knew it had been her decision that had initiated the journey. The wasteland was dangerous. She needed their help to get to the white city.

  If there was one thing she knew, it was how to survive.

  She remembered nothing of her parents. A girl from nowhere, she had spent her youth being passed from one group of settlers to another. Survival was something she had learned on her own, and her abilities hadn’t made things any easier.

  At first, as an innocent, she hadn’t learned to hide the things she could do. She had told people that visitors were coming when they were still several days away. She had challenged people when they lied to her. One settler even tried to leave her alone in the waste, but she never got lost, and always found her way back. Visions came to her unbidden, and it was hard not to speak out when raiders came to plunder. There were so many threats in the wasteland that she had no choice but to heed warnings, especially when she could save lives. People she thought cared about her began to mutter about her entering their minds, and gave her or traded her to others.

  As she grew wiser, she learned to hide the fact that her strength as a mystic was far beyond what people were used to, and then to hide what she was altogether. One benefit of moving around was that she had picked up skills—from foraging for edible plants to nursing a sick wherry—and she earned a safe place to sleep at night in return for caring for children or doing anything else that was asked of her.

  But then the seizures came. And the group of settlers she was living with had changed over time. The kind-hearted woman who took her in had been killed by a firehound. The three men remaining gave her stares that made her fear for her safety.

  She held on to her goal of going to the white city. Most people thought it was a myth. In the vastness of the desolate wasteland, how could there be a city? It was supposed to be beautiful, built of pale stone, with a soaring, graceful tower in the very center. Tall walls kept the people safe. Water was plentiful. Everyone lived in peace and harmony. A wise leader, the Protector, welcomed all newcomers.

  Selena had thought it was a myth too, until, just a few weeks ago, she discovered the truth for herself. The white city was real.

  Part of her hadn’t known what she was searching for until she found it. The image she farcasted was hazy, like a distant mountain that might be mistaken for a cloud, but there it was. Once she knew that the white city was out there—a faraway dream but real—everything changed.

  When the three skinners passed through, she seized her chance. It was a risk, but she revealed what she had seen with her talent. Lars, in particular, had seized on the opportunity. He was the oldest of the three skinners. A rover, with no one to rely on but himself, he knew that his future in the wasteland was bleak.

  Yet Selena knew she wanted it more.

  The white city would provide the home she had always been searching for. And there was one hope she was holding on to so tightly she would never voice it aloud. If she could only get there, the Protector might know of a way to remove the curse she had been born with.

  As Selena walked, she glared at Sully’s back. Her mouth was dry. Running her tongue over her lips did nothing. Vic glanced back at her and muttered something to the wiry skinner at his side.

  “Can you farcast at all?” Lars asked. He looked worried as he gazed out at the landscape. A long, downward slope ahead climbed to a tall rise, crowned with a hill. “We’re exposed out here.”

  Selena shook her head. “I can barely cast a hundred paces right now.”

  “That mountain we’re heading for is beyond the firewall, I’m sure of it,” Sully said. “This is ridiculous.”

  “We can skirt the firewall and still head in the same direction, can’t we?” Vic asked.

  “It’s risky,” Lars said. “We should find shelter until she recovers. The last thing we want to do is go the wrong way.”

  Selena scanned the plain. She couldn’t see anywhere to take shelter, but at least from the circle of boulders on the next hill’s summit they would have a commanding view of the area.

  She felt a sudden rising dread.

  Experience told her that her talent was trying to tell her something. She sensed a presence behind her. Hazy figures in her mind became distinct.

  Her hand shot out and she gripped Lars’s arm. “Bax,” she whispered. “Behind us.” Her eyes widened. Dread shifted to fear. “They’ve seen us.”

  “Blast it,” Lars swore.

  Sully drew a long bone dagger. His gaze narrowed at Selena. “You’re sure?”

  “What do we do?” Vic asked, searching wildly the way they had come.

  Selena whirled. She saw a dozen ba
x crest the ridge behind them, this time with the clarity of her eyes rather than her muddled mind. Light brown in color, they were covered in lumps like desert toads. Their ridged spines made it appear as if they barely had necks and gave them a hunched posture like old men. But they were surprisingly fast, even in their leather armor. They brandished weapons of wood and bone, and fanned out as they ran down the slope, directly toward Selena and the three skinners.

  Lars pointed to the tall hill and the ring of boulders on top of it. “We need to get up there. Now!”

  Lars had barely finished speaking when Vic and Sully both broke into a run. Putting her head down, Selena sprinted after them. The grunts and rasping calls of the bax followed her. Lars puffed and panted beside her, clearly showing his age. It was hard going, racing up an incline that grew steeper as they approached the summit. She could only hope that the bax behind them found it equally difficult.

  The grunts of the bax grew louder, making the area between her shoulder blades itch. Approaching feet pounded at the ground with a rumble that echoed her thumping heart. There was no doubt in her mind. Death was just behind her.

  She heard the whistle of something thrown through the air. An instant later, a spear slammed into the center of Vic’s back. His momentum carried him forward until he was face down on the hillside.

  Then Sully went down in a tumble, and when he stopped rolling, he was coughing blood. He fumbled at the spear in his lower side. His weak movements stopped altogether.

  High on the slope, Lars whirled and brandished his big axe. Red-faced and showing the whites of his eyes, he stood his ground and roared like a wild beast. Selena focused every effort on running.

  Her foot struck a rock.

  As her leg collapsed underneath her, she flung out her arms and saw the hillside coming up to meet her before her wrists crashed into the dirt. With every sense screaming at her, telling her that danger was behind her, she spun so that she was on her back. She faced down the slope and stared at the snarling bax rushing toward her.

  Lars stood grim-faced, holding his axe and waiting. Two bax were well out in front. The first reached Lars and gave a cry, attacking with a spear. The bax’s nostrils were thin slits and his eyes were dark and deep-set. Lars smashed his axe into the warrior’s chest, sending a spray of green blood into the air. The second bax, with a face covered in purple warts, made a sound of rage and raised his club as he charged. Lars chopped at the bax’s thick neck. His opponent went down.

  More attackers were coming, slowed by the incline but still racing up the hillside. Selena tried to comprehend the rapid pace of events as her breath came short and fast. Vic and Sully were both dead. Lars looked haggard and green blood coated his leather vest.

  Selena’s eyes darted to Sully’s body and she saw the hilt of a dagger in his hand. She threw herself forward, climbing up the hillside. As she tried to pry the skinner’s fingers free, she heard a voice and looked at Lars, who met her eyes and shook his head.

  “Don’t fight,” he said. “They might make it quick for you.” With his face red and chest heaving, Lars looked much older than he had before.

  Selena ignored him, grunting as she freed Sully’s bone dagger. She straightened and faced down the incline, dagger held out in front of her.

  But then the same awareness that sensed the bax alerted her to something new. An instant later, she saw a shape crest the opposite hill, heading directly for the bax with formidable speed. One of the bax called to his companions and, as a group, they turned to face the potential new threat.

  Lars shaded his eyes. “It’s a man on a wherry.”

  Selena waited for the man to slow and prepare himself, or to turn and run, but the wherry kept bounding toward the clustered bax. At the same time Selena realized the man was holding a bow, one of the toad-like creatures fell with an arrow in his chest. A second strike made a bax scream and try to pluck out the shaft that sprouted from his eye until he collapsed. Two more shots close together peppered another bax’s body.

  Selena had an impression that the man was young and tall, with dark hair. Then he charged, and she found it difficult to make out what was happening. The man threw himself from his wherry and straight into combat, fighting with a hardwood sword. He weaved between his opponents, blocking their blows and countering with savage thrusts that each left a warrior dead. The wherry fought alongside him, growling and using its size to scatter the bax, butting with its head and shoulders.

  Selena exchanged a quick glance with Lars, who still stood with his axe in hand and the bodies of two bax at his feet.

  As the newcomer dispatched more of his opponents, at first he looked indomitable, but then he moved to evade a bax’s club and staggered, falling to one knee. The club whistled over his head, and he straightened, just in time to stab the bax through the torso. A grimace of pain crossed the man’s face. His final opponent roared and ran forward, but the man appeared to have recovered, and the last bax went down with a cry.

  It was over.

  The bax were all dead. The man stood panting, but for some reason he didn’t immediately approach.

  Selena knew that he had seen her and Lars, but he didn’t call out or make any sign of acknowledgment. Walking slowly, almost laboriously, he searched the area, stowing items as he found them and gathering two heavy water sacks. Selena’s parched tongue roved over her mouth. The young man then hoisted the water sacks onto the wherry’s back and held on to the saddle with one hand while he walked with his strange gait toward where Selena and Lars waited.

  Lars gripped his axe tightly and his expression was inscrutable. Selena looked at Sully’s long bone dagger in her hand. She then stared at the bodies of the two skinners, sprawled on the hillside nearby.

  Lars lowered his axe, but he kept it ready. Selena regarded the man as he drew near. Now that he was close, she was surprised to see that he was young, close to her own age.

  He had a sharp jaw, strong nose, and dark, piercing eyes. Close-cropped brown hair coated his head and black stubble covered his cheeks. His shoulders were wide and defined, and his leather vest did nothing to hide his broad chest. Remembering his strange walk, Selena glanced at his legs, but his animal-skin trousers and well-made boots gave nothing away.

  The wherry snorted, and Selena turned to the man’s steed. The wherry was a male, a relatively small one, with a hide the color of sand, floppy ears, and long eyelashes surrounding gentle brown eyes. Despite his size, his four legs were powerful, and he looked as fit and lean as the man who rode him.

  The young man stood with his hand on the wherry’s saddle. He glanced at Lars, assessing him, and then focused his attention on Selena. He stared at her for a long time, as if he had never seen a woman before. In contrast with his warrior’s build, his eyebrows gave his face a childlike, inquisitive air. Selena was conscious of her tangled hair and the grime on her skin. She was weary, and she looked it.

  Lars broke the silence. “Friend,” he said with a smile, “I thank you. Those bax . . .” He trailed off.

  The young man still remained silent. Then, noticing Selena’s eyes on the water sacks, he reached over the wherry’s saddle and held out the sloshing bladder.

  “Here,” he said to her. “Drink.”

  Selena forgot about everything else as he passed her the water. She struggled with the heavy sack and the young man stepped forward. He was close, but all he did was hold the sack up for her so she could drink. She took out the plug and her shoulders slumped as life-giving liquid splashed into her mouth. She took swallow after swallow, waiting for the man to snatch the bladder away from her, but he said nothing, and she drank her fill.

  The young man next handed Lars the water sack. Lars set down his axe, laying it on the ground at his feet, but unlike Selena, he took only a few mouthfuls before handing it back with a grateful nod. The man returned the water sack to the wherry’s back.

  Lars spoke again. “You saved our lives. Where do you come from? Where are you bound?”

>   The young man’s eyes were tight as he gazed at the bodies he had left behind. “They destroyed my home.”

  “Disgusting creatures,” Lars said with a grimace. “Not so long ago, they might talk or trade, but for whatever reason they now attack humans on sight. War parties like that are everywhere. No place is safe.” He cleared his throat. “What’s with your leg? Are you wounded?”

  Selena glanced at the young man’s leg; even now, he was standing awkwardly.

  “I’m fine,” he said. He met Lars’s gaze. “I can take care of myself.”

  “No one’s doubting that,” Lars said. “Bax are as tough as basalt wood but you knew how to bring them down.”

  The young man hesitated. “To be honest, that’s the first time I’ve fought one.”

  Lars snorted. “I find that hard to believe.”

  “I was taught how to fight them.”

  Lars’s expression became curious. “By your parents?”

  “My aunt.”

  “A woman?” Lars grinned.

  The young man’s nostrils flared. “They killed her.”

  As Selena frowned at Lars, he cleared his throat. “Ahem. Fair enough.”

  “What’s your name?” Selena asked.

  Already the young man was becoming something more than a stranger. She had learned that he had lost his home, and tracked down those who had destroyed it. A name would make him into a person.

  “Taimin.” The word came tentatively, as if he hadn’t introduced himself to many people before.

  “I’m Lars. And the mystic—”

  “I’m Selena,” she interrupted.

  “So if nowhere is safe, where are you heading?” Taimin asked.

  It was Selena who answered. “There’s somewhere that will be. We’re trying to get there quickly.”

  Lars threw her a sharp look. She hoped she wouldn’t regret her decision to mention their destination, but she knew she needed allies in order to survive the perilous journey to the white city. Vic and Sully were dead. Lars had kept her alive, but it wasn’t from any altruism on his part. More than the others, Lars believed in the place she had farcasted, and was desperate to find it. But Lars wasn’t a young man. Taimin had water and was a capable fighter. There was something about Taimin. She couldn’t explain it . . . Perhaps she felt that if she could trust Lars, she could certainly trust him.