Sandstorm Box Set

by T. W. Piperbrook

  Or a beast.

  Hopefully, his plan was good.

  “What are we doing with them?” Ed asked, looking as if he had a guess.

  “Our powerful weapon is an asset, but its use is limited,” Bryan said. “Hopefully, these quills will supplement our arsenal.”

  The men looked at the quills, waiting for him to explain.

  “Perhaps the best offense against the monster comes from its own body.” A triumphant smile crossed Bryan’s face, as he looked from one quill to the next. “We will use pieces of these quills to tip our spears. If my guess is correct, they will penetrate the creature’s hide.”

  Understanding turned to hope in the men’s eyes.

  Focusing on Ed, Bryan asked, “Did you bring the tools?”

  “Yes,” Ed said, unslinging his bag. He revealed the selection of implements they’d grabbed. “We ferreted these from the tradesmen’s shops. Are they sufficient?”

  “Yes,” Bryan confirmed. Staring intently at his men, he instructed, “We will use these tools to construct new tips for our spears. When they are ready, we will have stronger weapons than we had before.”

  Confidence rose in the men.

  “Between these, the device, and careful planning, we will make sure that the Abomination never harms our people again,” he concluded.

  Bryan could already feel his faith reigniting.

  The men arched their backs, regaining the courage they had possessed on the march.

  With his proclamation made, Bryan raised a hand, signaling the end of their discussion.

  “There is something else,” Ed interrupted, pointing at the ceiling. “A storm is heading this way.”

  Bryan looked up, listening to a light wind keen over the top of the dome. The men in the room awaited his reaction.

  After a moment of thought, he said, “A boon. We are in the safest place we can be for a storm. Besides, the noise will give us some better cover, while we create the weapons.”

  The men nodded, satisfied.

  “Let’s get to work,” Bryan said.

  Chapter 59: Sherry

  “Sherry! They’re coming!”

  In the middle of the Center Cave, Sherry paused, surrounded by the huddles of women who protected their children with their spears, and waited for the woman who approached.

  Cranking a thumb toward the entrance, the woman said, “They’re heading down the ledge now!”

  Sherry’s eyes blazed. “How many are there?”

  “Four or five dozen,” the woman said, through gasping breaths. “I can’t tell for sure.”

  Sherry looked past her at the mouth of the cave, where other women waited uneasily for her direction.

  “What do you want us to do?” the woman asked.

  “Hold them off!” Sherry ordered.

  “How?”

  “Do whatever you need until I return!”

  The woman nodded, biting back her fear, before returning to the others. Shouts and boot steps resonated from the entrance. Sherry was already moving in the opposite direction, hurrying past the panicked mothers and children, who instinctively took a few steps back. Grasping her torch and knife, she returned to the winding tunnel leading to the coves, her heart pounding furiously.

  The time was here.

  She needed to get the rest of her women.

  Revenge was coming.

  A smile crept across her face, allaying some of her fear.

  A sharp pain ripped that smile away.

  Sherry’s knife and torch fell. She clutched her stomach with two hands, stumbling. She staggered toward the wall, reaching it before sliding toward the floor. Another burst of pain caused Sherry to cry out in agony. Her eyes widened. Under the flickering light of her dropped torch, she noticed a blotch of blood on her pants where there shouldn’t be one. She couldn’t accept what that might mean.

  She’d had this pain before.

  Flashes of memory returned.

  All at once, she was crouched in her hovel with Gary, suffering similar agony. But that awful event hadn’t come without a warning. For weeks, she’d had cramps. This time, she hadn’t—

  All at once, she remembered the kicks.

  Some of those had been harder than she’d felt before.

  And they’d definitely come earlier.

  Maybe those kicks hadn’t been kicks, at all.

  Sherry grabbed her torch, shining it on the growing splotch of blood on her pants. Fear and panic consumed her. She clasped her stomach with a hand, trying to stop something she knew was unstoppable. But her body was already acting out of nature.

  Even a healer couldn’t fix this.

  Too many in similar situations had tried and failed.

  No!

  Not my baby!

  A scream built up in Sherry’s throat, so loud and so consuming that she couldn’t contain it.

  She let it out.

  Her loud, agonizing wail reverberated up and down the cave, bouncing off the walls and echoing back to her. Sherry fell the rest of the way to the floor, grasping her stomach and her clothing. She stayed that way for some indeterminate length of time, clenching and unclenching her fingers, before boot steps interrupted her.

  Looking up, she caught sight of six women pouring from the rear of the cave.

  She sat up.

  “What’s happening?” a women yelled, immediately recognizing something was wrong.

  Sherry looked up at them. Rage and disbelief overtook some of her pain. As one, the women looked to Sherry’s stomach.

  “What’s going on? Are you hurt?”

  “No,” Sherry managed, gritting her teeth and hiding the splotch of blood.

  “Did something happen to…”

  “Nothing happened!” Sherry shrieked, startling the women. “Neena’s people are here! Get to the front of the cave and fight!”

  “Are you sure that—”

  “Go! Now!”

  The women traded a frightened glance, before running off in the other direction.

  Anguish washed over Sherry as she watched them go. Slowly, she found her footing, continuing down the tunnel in a haze of grief. Staring at the splotch on her clothes, she pressed the folds together, making sure that no one saw the evidence of another awful event.

  A thought echoed in her head, so loud and so persistent that it drowned out the others.

  Revenge.

  That thought drove her down the tunnel, strengthening in fervor, until she reached the first cove.

  Tanya and Jodi’s faces were filled with shock as she appeared.

  “What’s going on?” Jodi asked, fear in her eyes. “Are Neena’s people here?”

  “Untie Samel’s legs!” she roared. “We’re taking him with us outside!”

  Chapter 60: Neena

  Neena raced along the ledge, Kai at her side. The heaving breaths and stamping boot steps of The Right Cavers reminded them that they weren’t alone.

  But their presence was a small consolation.

  Everyone knew the danger they were about to face.

  It was evident in their wide eyes, the sweat rolling down their faces, and the way they stuck close together for courage. It was evident in the way their hands shook on their spears. Neena and Kai kept their eyes riveted and their weapons poised, leading Samara, Roberto, and Salvador, who ran in the row directly behind, among the fifty some-odd others.

  More of a stir was happening at the cave.

  A dozen women guarded the mouth of the Center Cave ahead, but more were quickly streaming out onto the ledge, blocking their path. The women lifted their spears with shaky hands, digging their heels into the ground and forming defensive rows, extending thirty feet past the mouth of the cave.

  Neena continued getting closer, winding along the dangerous cliffside.

  The clouds continued to grow on the distant horizon. A slow, menacing wind continued to blow. It felt as if the women weren’t the only ones trying to stop her from reclaiming Samel. But no storm or spear would stop
her. With her teeth clenched together, Neena tore along the ledge until they reached the first row of dirty, frightened women.

  A scared, blonde-haired woman blocked Neena’s approach. A ruddy-faced woman next to her pointed a weapon at Kai. Those in the rows behind stared at Neena with a disdain she remembered, from too many recent encounters.

  All at once, Neena was reliving a memory, trapped under the women’s kicking boots and their hurled stones.

  A burning, repressed anger spilled out of her. Scanning the women, she recognized a few more who had attacked her.

  Neena wanted to ram her spear into their ugly faces. She wanted to ensure that they hurt no one else. Only fear for Samel’s life stopped her.

  “Where is he?” Neena’s voice came out in a growl. “Where’s my brother?”

  She scanned from the blonde-haired woman to the ruddy-faced one.

  For a moment, the ledge grew uncomfortably silent, save the whipping wind and the shifting pebbles. The two women in the front exchanged a nervous glance, deciding what to say. A few others behind them looked over their shoulders toward the cave entrance.

  “Where is he?” Neena screamed.

  In the time they’d faced off, the sun had disappeared beneath the storm sky, cloaking the Center Cave entrance in shadow. Following the women’s gaze, Neena saw only silhouettes at the cave’s mouth. Her eyes shot back to the blonde-haired woman.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the woman answered, nervously.

  “The hell you don’t,” Neena snapped. “You left a piece of his shirt for us to find. You took him!”

  The blonde and the ruddy-faced woman traded another glance.

  They were unable to sell their lie, even to themselves.

  “We know you have him,” Neena spat. Trading words for actions, she reared back her spear. “Give him back, or I’ll kill you!”

  The two women cried out, lifting their spears to block. Neena eyes shot from the blonde to the ruddy-faced woman.

  “You aren’t the only ones with children to protect.” The ruddy-faced woman lifted her chin.

  “You’ve taken one of ours!” Neena countered. “My brother!”

  “You are a threat,” the woman said, her eyes flicking to the others for reinforcement. “You plotted against us. We’ve done what we had to do.”

  “Plotted against you?” Neena scoffed. It felt as if she was talking to a part of the cliff wall, instead of a person. “You attacked us on the ledge. You smoked us out of our home. And you killed Darius!”

  “Darius?” asked the woman, confused. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Neither do I,” the blonde-haired woman insisted.

  Neena was running out of patience. Maybe words were useless, and her spear was her answer. Movement interrupted her. Thirty feet away, shadows shifted at the Center Cave entrance.

  “Step aside!” a voice snarled.

  A woman plowed through the middle of the crowd, casting others aside, heading for the first few rows of the commotion.

  Sherry’s face was a mask of anger, as she drew up close enough that Neena could see the end of her jagged blade, and the fury in her eyes. Positioning herself between the two women and Neena, she took a defiant step forward.

  “You despicable wench,” she growled.

  Chapter 61: Neena

  Neena’s blood boiled. Her pulse pounded. She could hardly contain her anger as she laid eyes on the person responsible for her physical and emotional pain. Rage demanded that she forego talk and resort to action.

  The only thing keeping her from an immediate attack was fear for Samel’s safety.

  Tightening her grip on her weapon, ready to stab Sherry, she yelled, “Give me Samel back!”

  Sherry opened and closed her mouth on a thought she didn’t voice.

  Something wild and unnerving lurked behind her eyes, something that Neena hadn’t noticed before. Maybe the caves had darkened her mind. Or perhaps she was more unhinged than Neena thought.

  Surprising Neena with a coherent answer, Sherry said, “The next time you see your brother, you will both be with your ancestors.”

  “I will take him over your body, if I have to!” Neena warned.

  “And we will help her,” said a voice from behind Neena. She turned to find Samara, Salvador, and Roberto stepping forward, inspiring the other Right Cavers. “You’ve done enough, Sherry. This is the end.”

  Neena swallowed, her eyes moving back to Sherry. She appreciated her people’s encouraging words, but she didn’t need them. She’d gore all of the Center Cavers, if it meant getting to her brother.

  Sherry motioned to the people behind her.

  “My women are ready to fight and die, too,” Sherry said, drilling them with a stare. “Right, ladies?”

  Her words weren’t a question, but a command.

  The women closest to Sherry shored up to her. To Neena’s surprise, even those in the farther rows behind seemed allegiant. Sherry’s presence had a unifying effect on the crowd. Or maybe they were afraid of her.

  “We have more people than you,” Neena said, tilting up her chin. “Our people know how to use their spears. Do yours?”

  A sneer crossed Sherry’s face. For a moment, Neena thought she’d lost her sanity, until she motioned behind her again.

  “I think you misunderstand your position.” Spinning, Sherry waved a hand toward the dark shadows of the Center Cave. “Jodi! Tanya!”

  The guards near the entrance shifted, allowing three more figures to pass. Two women emerged. The other—clutched between them and shivering with fear—was Samel.

  “Samel!” Neena yelled, taking an instinctive step.

  “Neena!” Samel cried back.

  Sherry and her women put up their spears.

  Neena craned her neck, trying to keep her brother in view.

  “Move aside!” Sherry yelled over her shoulder. “Let her see him!”

  Obediently, the people in the far back dispersed, creating an open circle around the three new sources of attention.

  Tingles of fear coursed through Neena’s body. Samel’s shirt sleeve was missing. His face was covered in dirt. He tried breaking loose, yelling for his sister, but the two women held him tightly. Her stomach sank as she saw his bound wrists. Too many rows of women stood in Neena’s way of getting him. She felt powerless.

  “Let him go!” Neena cried, unable to stop the quiver in her voice.

  With a smug expression, Sherry said, “Gideon should’ve killed you when he had the chance. And so should’ve Bryan. But I’m going to fix that.”

  Neena looked over at Kai, trading a desperate glance.

  “It is time for you two to answer for everything you’ve done,” Sherry continued triumphantly. “It is my turn to give the orders.”

  Sensing a motivation behind her display, Neena asked, “What do you want?”

  “You and Kai in exchange for Samel.” Sherry demanded, looking from Neena to the Right Cavers. “If you give yourselves up, the rest of your people can leave with Samel.”

  Neena looked desperately to the sixty people behind her. Indecisiveness plagued them, as they held their weapons.

  “If you fight, some of your people will die, and so will ours,” Sherry admitted. “But the first will be Samel.”

  She turned over her shoulder, instructing Tanya and Jodi to pull Samel a few steps toward the edge of the cliff. Neena panicked.

  “Stop! Don’t hurt him!”

  Jodi and Tanya stopped, awaiting Sherry’s next order.

  “Toss your spears and come forward,” Sherry said, smiling in victory. “Do it and this will all be over.”

  Neena looked down at the spear in her hands. She looked at Kai.

  “She’s lying!” Samara yelled. “Don’t trust her!”

  Kai blew a breath and relaxed his spear, ready to stand down, if that was what Neena wanted. His loyalty would’ve brought tears to her eyes, had the situation not been so dire.

/>   “What do you want to do?” he asked her.

  Despite his bravery, she sensed his fear.

  Neena clenched the wood handle of her weapon. She wanted to lunge forward, jab Sherry in her venomous face, and take back her brother. She wanted to pay Sherry back for all the wicked things she’d done. But Neena wouldn’t make it more than a few steps before Samel was killed.

  Samara grabbed her arm, trying to stop her. “Don’t do it. Don’t give yourself up.”

  “Enough talk,” Sherry said. “Jodi! Tanya! To the edge!”

  The Right Cavers gasped, watching Tanya and Jodi drag the screaming, writhing boy. Even Sherry’s women opened their mouths. They turned, torn between the impending battle and the riveting scene. Bringing Samel within a foot of the ledge, Tanya and Jodi halted, staring nervously between Sherry and the edge. A few pebbles rolled away from their boots.

  Petrified by death’s closeness, Samel went limp.

  “My next order will be to toss him,” Sherry warned.

  Neena clenched her eyes shut. “Let him go now, and we’ll give ourselves up.”

  “You will do things in the order I say, and when I say it,” Sherry said matter-of-factly.

  A hush fell over both crowds. Neena looked from her brother to Kai, and back again. If this were the end, she’d have no regrets in trying to save her brother.

  With a last, fateful sigh, she lowered her spear.

  “If she breaks her promise, kill her,” she told Samara, making sure that Sherry heard. “Keep my brother safe.”

  Neena relaxed her gripped fingers, about to drop her spear.

  A voice interrupted her.

  “Mom?”

  A child’s cry rang out over the quiet.

  The startled crowd turned.

  A brown, curly-haired boy about Samel’s age broke from the dark shadows of the Center Cave, running away from some women who had been holding him.

  He raced toward Jodi.

  “What are you doing, Mom?” he asked her. “Are you going to kill that boy?”

  His words were like a spear to Jodi’s heart, unleashing some hidden emotion. Tears rolled down her face, but she didn’t let go of Samel. She looked from the bewildered, brown-haired boy who had stopped five feet short of her, to the boy in her arms, and back again.