A Girl From Nowhere

by James Maxwell

  Taimin saw a sea of faces; these were the same people who had watched him fight in the arena. Many held weapons; they were prepared to fight for their homes, but they were afraid. They knew his story, that he was taught by the famed fighter Abigail, who had raised him after rovers killed his parents, men who turned out to be Galen and his brother. Taimin had refused to fight a skalen he considered a friend. He had challenged the commander of the city guard to single combat. He had led his fellow prisoners to freedom.

  Taimin called down to the crowd below the wall. “People of Zorn!” Their expressions were expectant as they waited to hear his words. “The Protector has used fear as his weapon. He has sought to create hatred for anyone different from ourselves. He wants to make us so afraid of everything outside this wall that we will agree to anything, even terrible deeds against those we share this world with, so long as we think we’re safe.”

  He scanned the crowd and saw the gaunt faces of the field workers. “Why did he not tell you that the well was dry? You know the answer. Because his rule would be threatened. Rather than find a solution together, and share his authority, he has lied. Rather than trade with those outside, he has made enemies out of them. Rather than protect you, he has brought an army to this city’s doorstep.”

  “But how can you protect us?” a man with a gray beard called up.

  Taimin turned to look out from the wall, toward the plain. A long line of figures, a dark mass on the horizon, was growing bigger. Even as Taimin watched, Blixen’s army marched inexorably toward the city. Bax after bax stood in long, frightening lines. Soon Taimin could make out bristling spears held upright.

  He once more addressed the crowd. “We began this war, and we can end it. With the fall of the city guard, we have an opportunity for peace.”

  “How can we trust Blixen?” a dark-haired woman shouted. “If he knows we have no soldiers, what is to stop him killing us all?”

  Taimin called down to her. “I will ask him that myself.”

  The stout wooden gates drew open, just wide enough to allow Taimin, Elsa, and Rathis to emerge from the city’s protection. There was something final about the thunderous clatter the gates made as the timbers crashed together once more.

  With his two companions on either side of him, Taimin started to walk.

  As his group of three left the city behind, Taimin’s hands were moist and his shoulders were tight with tension. He felt naked without a weapon, but he also knew that where he was going, a sword wouldn’t do him any good. If Blixen wanted him dead, he soon would be.

  Now that he was no longer looking out from a height, all he could see at first was a haze of dust ahead. It was late afternoon. Soon night would descend on the wasteland. Softened rays lit up the landscape as the golden sun fell from the sky.

  Blixen’s army appeared out of the haze.

  Taimin’s heart rate increased. Unarmed and walking directly into danger, he wondered if what he was doing was the right thing. It was nerve-wracking to see a long row of armored bax warriors marching side by side. Squat figures held clubs, axes, swords, and long spears. Their eyes were dark and deep-set. Behind the first row of marching figures came another, and another. A group of skalen with patterned skins, armed with javelins, appeared on the right flank.

  As the army neared, Taimin stopped walking. Beside him, Elsa and Rathis came to a halt. Taimin glanced at Elsa. Her usually stern expression was gone. Her face was pale.

  He then looked back at the city. The wall was tall and the gates were closed. The citizens of Zorn were prepared to fight if they had to. The population was large enough that even without skilled soldiers, lives would be lost on both sides.

  The army marched. Two humans and one old skalen waited to greet it. Taimin heard a bax bellow a command in a hoarse, throaty voice.

  “Halt!”

  The army came to a thunderous stop. A cloud of dust billowed around the area, obscuring the bax and skalen completely. For a moment everything was still.

  Taimin waited and wondered what would happen next. Then a bax, taller than those around him, appeared out of the dust. He walked with the strange, hunched posture of all his kind, but was still big enough that his stride was long. Six warriors flanked him, spread out on both sides.

  “Blixen,” Elsa murmured.

  Taimin’s mouth was dry as he looked at the bax leader he had heard so much about. Blixen’s torso was thick, dominated by a powerful chest and wide shoulders. The thin slits of his nostrils were his smallest feature, and his mouth was set in a grim expression, made even more menacing by the folds above his eyes. A circle of what appeared to be finger bones enclosed his thick neck. His studded leather vest was obviously made to fit. Far broader than Taimin, everything about him communicated size.

  As Blixen and his escort approached, Taimin glanced at Rathis. The former prisoner was shielding his tilted eyes as he peered at the army’s distant flank. As the dust began to settle, Rathis left Taimin and Elsa without a word.

  Taimin stayed silent as he watched Rathis’s departing back. The air continued to clear, revealing more and more figures, and he saw expressions of disbelief on several faces among the skalen. He heard a cry, and finally recognized Group Leader Vail and her son Rees. All of the skalen surged forward and surrounded Rathis. Taimin couldn’t help but smile.

  He heard Elsa speak and tore his eyes away.

  “Come,” she said.

  Taimin and Elsa walked forward to meet Blixen and the six warriors with him.

  “I am Blixen, Warden of the Rift Valley.” His gruff voice had a booming quality. “If you want to say something, speak and be done with it.” As soon as he had finished, Blixen looked past Taimin’s shoulder. Taimin turned, following his gaze. A long row of city folk stood on top of the wall. They were being watched.

  Taimin opened his mouth to speak, but then a series of what sounded like cheers came from the direction of the skalen. Blixen turned his attention to the commotion on his army’s flank. His brow furrowed as he considered Rathis’s newly won freedom.

  “You may have satisfied the skalen, but nothing will stop me from assaulting your city.” Blixen’s dark eyes met Taimin’s. “The Rift Valley is our home. We will be victims no more.”

  “I agree,” Taimin said.

  Blixen frowned. He tilted his head, surprised.

  “We bring news,” Taimin continued. “Every soldier who once bore arms against you is dead. The city guard is no more. I am sure you had your own score to settle with the commander, but he and his brother murdered my parents. I avenged their deaths.”

  Blixen was silent for a time as he inspected the city. “How can I believe you?”

  Taimin nodded at Elsa. “There has been an uprising. This is Elsa. She is in command.”

  “We come to broker peace,” Elsa said.

  Blixen’s frown deepened. He looked at the city wall while he considered their words. He turned his head to glance at his army. Even if the skalen no longer wished to join his cause, he still had a great number of warriors.

  Taimin spoke up. “If you choose to fight, you may conquer Zorn, but you also may not. The people inside would be fighting for their homes and for their lives, just as you have been. The power to end this is yours.”

  “The city acknowledges your right to the Rift Valley,” Elsa said. “We want peace restored. We want to trade and share knowledge.”

  “Let this end—today,” Taimin said.

  Blixen didn’t speak again for a long while. When he chose his words, he spoke them slowly. “I need to verify the truth of what you are saying.”

  “I understand,” Taimin said. “I would expect nothing less.”

  Blixen lifted his chin and scowled. “And there is one matter I can never let go. My wife. She was captured by the city guard close to three months ago.” He clenched his hands into fists. “I want to enter the city to find her.”

  Elsa’s mouth dropped open, but Taimin spoke first, forestalling her reply. “We agree to
it. You may enter.” When Elsa gave him an alarmed look, he continued before she could speak. “If you enter with your escort, we will keep the gates open, and that will remain the case. In turn,” he now addressed Elsa, “the bax will not attack while we have their warden inside.”

  Elsa was pensive for a moment. She then nodded. “That can work.”

  Taimin had one more offer to make. It was the reason he had sent Vance to guard the tower. “And to demonstrate our desire for peace,” he said to Blixen, “we offer you a gift. The Protector is in the tower. Do with him what you will.”

  While Elsa watched Taimin, her expression shifted to one of respect. She spread her hands. “Will that work for you?” she asked Blixen.

  Blixen thumped his chest. There was something ceremonial in the gesture. “I am the warden and I can speak for all here. I agree to your terms. Now,” he said, “I want to find my wife.”

  “How will you find her?” Elsa asked, puzzled. “I can promise you I don’t know where she is.”

  Blixen called over his shoulder. “Rei-kika!”

  Taimin was surprised to see a mantorean push through the ranks of bax warriors. Even more surprising was the realization that he had met her before. As she came forward with the unusual double-jointed walk that mantoreans employed, he recognized the shape of a healed scar on the side of her triangular face.

  He remembered the trull trading the mantorean to Vail. Evidently Rei-kika had made her own unusual journey, and now accompanied Blixen. Her antennae swished from side to side as she approached. Her black, multifaceted eyes gave Taimin an unnerving stare.

  “Rei-kika,” Blixen said to the mantorean. “I want you to enter the city with me and use your abilities to find my wife. Do this, and I will free you from my service. You may take your eggs wherever you wish to go.”

  “I will help,” Rei-kika said in a clicking voice.

  As Blixen prepared to enter the city, Elsa raised an eyebrow at Taimin.

  “Go,” Taimin said to her. “Leave me here.”

  He stayed where he was as Blixen, Rei-kika, and the escort of six bax warriors followed Elsa toward the city gates. He then gazed up at the darkening sky, heedless of the fact he was standing between Blixen’s army and the city gates.

  Whatever happened next was out of Taimin’s control. For the time being, war had been averted. Blixen had accepted his proposals.

  Taimin was instead thinking about Selena. He had no idea where Griff might have taken her. She could even still be on the wyvern’s back. All he knew was that he needed to search the sky, and it would be harder within the city wall.

  Selena was the reason that the uprising had been successful.

  He wouldn’t rest until he found her.

  Griff soared over the city, and Selena flew with him. The buildings below sped past, making her feel dizzy. Her heart beat faster with every strong movement. At the same time, her spirits soared. The experience was exhilarating.

  Even as Griff’s leathery wings swept up and down, his wedge-shaped head craned from side to side. Selena thought he might be searching; perhaps trying to find Taimin. A wyvern’s eyes were far sharper than a human’s, but, even so, to pick out one man in the streets below must be close to impossible, particularly with nightfall fast approaching.

  All of a sudden Selena felt her whole world tilt. She leaned forward and gripped the ridges of Griff’s shoulder blades, hugging the wyvern’s body. Her knees tensed as she tried to prevent herself from falling. Griff was turning, banking sharply to head back toward the middle of the city. The tower approached, becoming steadily larger.

  “No,” Selena said sharply. “Not there.”

  Griff’s wings gave another series of sweeps, and then in an instant the tower was behind Selena rather than ahead. From her height she saw a great crowd at the city gates. Farther away, past the wall, was a multitude of dark figures that could only be Blixen’s army.

  Griff began to swoop down toward one of the wider streets, but a handful of people saw him and cried out in fear. The wyvern’s wings came down again to lift him up and away.

  Selena leaned forward and brought her face as close as she could to a pointy ear. “Griff? Where are we going?”

  Griff gave a piercing shriek, which she took as the only reply she would get.

  As the wyvern’s body leveled once more, Selena’s eyes stung from the constant stream of air against her face. She tried to guess Griff’s destination, and then she saw a huge, oval-shaped structure directly ahead.

  Her breath caught as she realized where Griff was going. The arena was somewhere he knew, and was the last place he had seen Taimin.

  Griff shot over the arena’s perimeter and immediately Selena spied the sandy, blood-stained floor. Bodies lay strewn across the sand on one side of the fighting pit. While she took in the grim sight, Griff tucked in his wings and dived. Her stomach churned as the wyvern pulled up sharply, broad wings blowing up sand. Griff found a secluded place to land, away from the scene of recent fighting, where he probably thought she would be safe.

  Selena slipped off Griff’s back. With sand below her feet and her chest heaving, she turned to face the wyvern. Griff watched her for a moment, eyes filled with concern. His face was different, more tapered, but his gentle, sad eyes were the same.

  “Griff . . .” Selena said. She stepped forward and reached out to stroke his face. He had changed, but she knew him, just as he knew her. “Thank you.”

  He moved his head slightly to nuzzle her hand. Then, giving another shriek, he startled her by launching himself once more into the sky. Selena followed him with her eyes until he was gone, and she was alone in the fighting pit. She guessed that Griff would continue to search the city for Taimin.

  After the frantic pace of events, Selena took a slow, steadying breath. The bodies of so many uniformed soldiers told her that the uprising had been successful. She tried not to look at them, but then her gaze alighted on the corpse of a man she recognized.

  Galen’s body was on the far side of the fighting pit, but his close-cropped white hair singled him out. Taimin had done it; his enemy was dead.

  Thinking about Taimin, Selena tore her gaze away and instead scanned the sky, wondering if Griff might soon appear with Taimin on his back. As she stood on the sand, in a cleared space that was hers alone, it was growing dark and, as blue shifted to black high above, stars began to shimmer across the expanse.

  Wherever Taimin was, she was going to see him soon.

  But even as she had the thought, a strange feeling of dread crept up unbidden. She couldn’t explain it at first. Her talent was trying to tell her something. The sense of unease grew stronger. There was terrible danger behind her,

  She whirled.

  Arren stood facing her.

  His pinched face looked haggard. He was wheezing, and a wide patch of crimson stained the material of his white tunic.

  But the wiry mystic was wounded, not dead. He held something in his hand.

  It was the dagger Selena had stabbed him with. Arren snarled as the dagger came forward.

  Aware that she was unarmed, Selena freed herself from her body faster than thought. In an instant her ethereal consciousness was floating in the air. She shot toward Arren’s skull and dived inside.

  Stop. She sent the single, strong command, just like she had with the trull who had been about to kill Taimin.

  But Arren was a skilled mystic. He didn’t have her power, but he had his years of training with Merin.

  The dagger in his hand kept moving.

  43

  Vance stood guard outside the white tower. With him were a handful of other fighters and the irritating rover, Lars.

  The tall tower cast a broad, tapered shadow on the plaza. It was growing dark and, high above, the azure sky shifted hue, becoming deep blue and then black. Vance glanced up and saw the cratered moon, pale and glowing now that its brighter rivals had departed. The plaza was deserted, as was the broad avenue that led to the city gates.
Everyone was either hiding in their homes or had joined the crowd at the wall.

  As Vance paced, he kept looking askance at the tower’s oversized door, wondering who was inside and what was happening within. He tilted his head back but couldn’t make out the open-sided room at the tower’s summit.

  Lars stood nearby with his fingers hooked into his trousers. “Do you have to move so much? You’re making me nervous.” The bald, bearded skinner scowled. “I’m surprised you’ve got the energy.”

  Vance put his back to the skinner. He didn’t know how Taimin had managed to put up with Lars when they had traveled the wasteland together.

  Now that Vance had turned, he couldn’t help looking at the corpses of several uniformed soldiers, sprawled out a dozen paces from the tower. The last of Galen’s men were dead. Vance had killed two of the soldiers standing guard himself. In another life, when Cora had been caught in his bed, these were the same men who had thrown him into the arena.

  “No one’s going to miss them,” Lars said, noticing Vance’s attention.

  Vance nodded but didn’t reply. Instead he glanced again at the tower and wondered if Cora was still alive. She had been the Protector’s mistress. How vengeful had the Protector been? Was she locked up inside? He was desperate to find out. He tried to clamp down on the faint hope that he still held on to. Over and over again, he kept telling himself that she was almost certainly dead.

  A startled sound from one of his companions made Vance return his attention to the street. His eyes shot wide open. Even Lars had frozen and looked poised to run.

  A huge bax, the biggest Vance had ever seen, was striding directly toward them. The insect-like form of a mantorean walked at his side. Half a dozen younger bax warriors followed, all carrying axes. Vance began to panic. If the city had fallen, why hadn’t he heard anything?

  Lars let out a breath. “It’s all right, lad,” he said.

  As Vance saw that Elsa was part of the group, his heart rate slowed to something approaching normal. He had been so focused on the huge bax that he hadn’t seen her. Elsa didn’t seem afraid. Nonetheless, it didn’t put Vance at ease to see the circle of bones around the bax’s neck.