The Desert (Song of Dawn Trilogy Book 1)

by Liv Daniels

  “No training today, Leina,” said Sasha with a mysterious smile on her face.

  “What?” Leina’s shoulders drooped in disappointment. “I mean—why not?”

  “You and Max have been at this every day for the last week. I convinced him that you need a break.”

  “Oh, but I’m okay without one. I like this.”

  Sasha chuckled. “Just like Max, I see. You’re certainly a change from our last batch of trainees.” She moved back to the door. “I’ll have to tell Ruby to go off on her picnic without you.”

  Leina jumped up. “Well, you didn’t mention that!”

  ***

  The younger girl was waiting outside the Agency, and she and Leina climbed to the top of a hill outside of town to eat the food Ruby brought in a basket.

  “Do you and Father ever even stop for a lunch break?” Ruby teased as she spread a blanket over the dew-kissed grass. “You’re always so busy.”

  Leina picked up a stuffed sandwich. “If you really want to know, we did think to stop for lunch yesterday.” She felt a warm wind wash over her, bringing sweet smells from the fruitful valley below. “It’s so pretty here. So different. Sometimes I can’t believe I was ever in the Desert.”

  Leina was silent for a long span of time, and her mind slipped to wandering. In places like this, and the forest where she had grown up, it was so hard to believe that there was darkness in the world. She had seen it with her own eyes, but now it seemed so far away, like some nightmare that had come and then faded forever from existence. Even Dangerman himself seemed like a very distant threat.

  Ruby broke into Leina’s reverie. “You’re so lucky—getting to go into training and go to Estlebey and everything.”

  “I’m sure you’ll get to do it, too, someday,” Leina said faintly. Her thoughts were wandering again. An idea had been formulating in her mind for some time, but she wasn’t sure what Max would think of it. Finally she forced herself to return to the present. “Do you still want to learn to read?” she said. “I brought my book with me.”

  Ruby’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes!”

  Leina pulled out the book. “I’m sure your father will be impressed. Once you know how to read, maybe I can even convince him to lend you some books so you can be ahead before you start training.”

  “Is it hard?”

  “It’s quite easy.” Leina opened the book to the first page. “See?” she read, “Listen, my child, to the story of how the earth was spared from darkness unescapable. It was long sung afterwards of the great hero who saved the earth with nothing but a single stone and his own… strength of will,” she finished, her voice fading. How many times had she read those words and been so enchanted, inspired? She wished that she could find the same innocent awe that the story had once brought her. The book made it sound so effortless, so gallantly heroic, to save the world. But now that Leina had seen more of it, she didn’t think it was that easy. Had there ever been such heroes? Now, more than ever, the World needed a hero. But there wasn’t one. Not even Max and Sasha were like that.

  Leina became aware that Ruby was still there next to her. Leina did not want to talk now, but Ruby was watching and waiting so rapturously that she knew she had to continue. “In no time, you’ll be reading as easily as that,” she finished quietly.

  Chapter 23

  Leina spent the remainder of the day teaching Ruby to read. Leina was so eager to impart to her any degree of knowledge, however simple, that time escaped her. She meant to return much sooner. But it was okay, she told herself. Today was one of those days when she needed some mental occupation to distract her from her thoughts, and she had found it in teaching Ruby to read. And Ruby made great progress. She was a quick learner, and could already make out simple words. Leina felt a surge of pride as Ruby stumbled through a short sentence at the end of the lesson.

  When she entered her room late that evening, Leina found a new stack of books on the small desk in the corner. She immediately picked up the first one. It was titled The Rise and Fall of Estlebey and the Emergence of the Agency: A Historical Chronicle. Unlike many of the other books at the Agency, this one was practically new, and its leather cover shone in the light. Curious, she flipped it open and began to read. It was clearly a story, and that fact alone drew a smile to Leina’s lips.

  There was once a good king in Estlebey, the City of Fountains, known as King Sebastian. He was growing old and knew that he would not be around much longer. He saw his kingdom falling into disorder, but there was little he could do in the time that he had left. Long ago his only son had run away and was never seen again. Now the king’s sole successor was a distant relative, a power-hungry appeaser who the king knew would only make matters worse. So in his last years the king formed an Agency and handed over much of his power to it. The Agency's job was to maintain order and keep evil at bay. In only a few years the Agency had become worthy of legend. The king appointed only the wisest and most capable to carry out its purpose, and the kingdom's stability began to build.

  But when the king died, his successor, who hated the Agency, seized its power and made the agents outcasts. His enemies called him the Appeaser, and it was whispered that he had made an alliance with some evil power. The kingdom of Estlebey quickly fell into fear and darkness, as did the rest of the world in its wake. The Appeaser erased all surviving records of the Agency’s existence and over time he convinced his remaining subjects that it was only a myth.

  But the outcasts of the Agency were not willing to abandon their purpose. They and those from Estlebey who were loyal to them traveled in the wilderness to the very brink of the hostile Desert whence it was said the evil came, and there they established an outpost. They faded even out of legend and were forgotten by many, but there they remained, secretly combating that evil which had torn the World apart.

  ***

  When Leina woke up the next morning, the first thing that she noticed was the scratchiness of the clothes that she had been wearing the day before. She found the book open on the floor.

  She had been dreaming, but could not remember what about. Faint images of a dark city on a hill, and a massive tower, and faces that seemed to come from long ago floated in her head until they dissipated and were lost. She wished that she could remember them more clearly; somehow they seemed very important. Something about them had made her afraid.

  There was a gentle knock on the door, and Sasha entered the room, carrying a plate of pastries and a glass of juice. “Max is already waiting for you, darling.”

  “Oh!” Leina exclaimed, taking the food hastily. “I stayed up late reading last night.”

  “I can see that,” said Sasha with a wry smile. “I’ll tell him that you are coming.”

  ***

  “What book were you reading?” Max asked unceremoniously when Leina arrived.

  “The one about Estlebey,” Leina said, slipping into her usual desk.

  “I thought so. I judged that it was time for a history lesson.”

  “I never read many history books. A little bit of ancient history, but never anything recent. None of the books that came were like that. When I was in the woods, that is.”

  “That’s not surprising. History books are even scarcer than other kinds. I think the Appeaser had many of them destroyed. Scoundrel.”

  That brought to mind a question that had been nagging at Leina for some time. “If books are so scarce, why do you have so many here?”

  “I might ask the same of you,” Max said. “We have been puzzling over where your books came from, and every possible explanation evades us.” He paused. “One of the Appeaser’s many faults was that he cared little about the royal library, which had been protected and treasured for centuries. The librarians, who were sympathetic to the Agency, allowed us to take much of its contents. The king knew, but he didn’t care. He underestimated the kind of power that lies between the pages of a book. Some of the librarians, among the few who were still learned in ancient knowledge, even came
with us. When they arrived here they wrote more books, like the one you just read.”

  “One more thing,” said Leina. “How do you know what is going on in Estlebey if you haven’t ever been there? And what is the situation there that Sasha keeps talking about?”

  “You’ll learn about the situation later,” said Max. “As for how we know about it… we have our ways. Estlebey is the most prominent city in the area, so it circulates a newspaper to the surrounding villages. We’ve developed a system for getting ahold of a few copies when it is delivered each month. But it has to be approved by the Appeaser—“

  Leina interrupted him. “The Appeaser? You mean he is still alive?”

  “Yes. He was fairly young when he took the throne, and now he is old. Still in good health. There are rumors that part of his bargain, if there was one, prolonged his life. I don’t know if that’s true. Sasha and I were there in Estlebey when the Agency was ousted, you know. We were only children.

  “As I was saying, the newspaper has to be approved by the Appeaser, so of course it’s nothing but lies and propaganda. Completely worthless. But by reading through the lines, we can usually come to the truth about what is going on there.

  “He’s not dangerous, mind you. He’s exactly what he is called—an appeaser. He cares only about his own self-interests, and in all likeliness doesn’t know anything more than what it benefits him to know. He has caused an inexcusable amount of suffering and wrong, but he is not the source of the darkness. He thinks that he is taking advantage of it, and possibly has made some alliance with it that he thinks is very clever, but in the end it would seek to devour him along with all other things. In all his supposed strength, he is only a petty liar.”

  “But petty liars can be dangerous in their own way, can’t they?” Leina interjected, something that she did very little.

  Max regarded her with a strange gaze. “Yes, they can. If there were not people like them, the darkness would have no power.”

  Chapter 24

  “Today you’re going to do something a little different,” Max said.

  Leina had already figured out that much. She had just returned from changing into a jumpsuit covered with tiny metallic flecks. Walking down the hall, she had been afraid that she was going to blind someone with all of the light that reflected off of it. The agents that she passed miraculously retained their eyesight, regarding her with knowing smiles. She couldn’t fathom why; she felt that she looked ridiculous.

  “Max, why is this suit so bright? It’s going to blind someone.”

  Max kept a straight face, but Leina thought she detected a smile in his eyes. “A bit of a design flaw. We’re working on a wax coating that will make it less reflective.”

  After refusing to answer any more of Leina’s questions, Max led her to the end of the hall, where she had never been before. A solid metal door blocked the way, but Max inserted a key into a hole at its center, and it split in two and opened inward.

  Inside, in a huge empty room, Leina saw a massive mechanism with two protrusions that looked like wings. It was sleek and rounded in shape, with Maglev 1 painted across it in large red letters. She took a sharp breath, and then ran to it and began circling it. She thought that she knew what it was, but couldn’t make herself believe that she was right.

  “What is it?” she asked finally.

  Max was still standing in the doorway, his arms crossed and cool amusement written all over his face. “Get in.”

  He opened a door on one side, and Leina climbed into a seat behind a panel of buttons and levers. Above that, a wide section of glass offered a panoramic view of the contraption’s surroundings.

  “Are you ready to learn to fly?” said Max, leaping in from the other side.

  Leina made a sound somewhere between a choke and a gasp. “You’re actually going to let me fly this thing?”

  “Sure. Even my last students could do that.”

  Leina only stared at Max dumbly.

  “Press the red button,” he said.

  Leina gave the button a tentative touch. Suddenly the machine’s control panel sprang to life with the flashing of many colored lights. There was a great whirring somewhere beneath them. At the same time, what Leina had thought was a wall in the hangar opened on its own, letting daylight stream in and revealing a short flat length of ground amidst the surrounding hills.

  “Good. Now just nudge that throttle forward… and up. Up!”

  At a mere touch of the throttle, the mechanism lurched forward at a startling speed. Before Leina was quite sure what had happened, it was in the air, gliding smoothly on the wind. It responded seamlessly to the movement of her hand on the throttle. Her stomach felt like a madhouse, but the purest kind of laughter was rippling from her mouth. “This is amazing,” she breathed.

  The aircraft soared high over the green valley, and then all at once the sea spread out before it, sparkling in the sun. Leina sent the craft into a dive and righted it just before it hit the surface, still laughing in delight.

  Max, smiling amusedly, reached for the throttle, which was between them in such a way that either could control it. “Now,” he said, “go back there and lie face down on the floor, and hold onto those handles.”

  Leina got up and made her way to the back of the craft, the queasy feeling returning to her stomach. She kept her hand on the wall to keep her balance against the rapid movement through the air. There were a few more seats along the walls, but the center of the space was empty except for two metal handles on the floor.

  “What am I doing this for, Max?” Leina yelled over the drone of the mechanism’s engine.

  “Just do what I tell you no matter what, got that?”

  Not encouraged, but unable to think of anything else to do, Leina got down on the empty floor and held onto the handles with her arms outstretched. Her hands were beginning to sweat, so it was difficult to keep a grip on the smooth metal.

  “Now,” said Max, “hold on!”

  All at once, the floor beneath Leina disappeared and all that was left between her and the sea were miles of empty space. She struggled to keep her hands from slipping, and her feet planted on the edge of the opening. Air rushed by underneath her at an immeasurable speed. She felt unable to talk, to make any sound. She could only stare at the sea far below and desperately brace herself against the craft that made her life possible at this height.

  Max was yelling again, and Leina could only barely hear him over the engine and the wind. “Now let go!”

  Leina let out a loud whimper that must have sounded pitiful. Her stomach reeled, and she was trembling so much that her grip began to fail whether or not she willed it. Then, with sudden determination, she tightened her grip. Was Max crazy?

  “Why?” she tried to yell, but her voice was weak.

  “You’re not scared like the rest of them after all, are you?” was Max’s only faint reply.

  That was enough. Without having made any conscious decision, Leina closed her eyes and let go. She felt a tremendous jerk as she was let loose from the safety of the aircraft, then nothing. She waited for the impact of the sea’s surface, but it did not come.

  Finally, Leina dared to open her eyes. She glimpsed the sea speeding past underneath her, and quickly shut them. But when she looked again, the sea did not appear any closer. Blinking rapidly against the onset of air, she looked up, and there was the bottom of the flying machine, not ten feet above her. She was suspended in the air below it.

  With mingled disbelief and wonder, Leina spread out her arms and let the World unfold beneath her and before her. She did not understand why, but she was flying. It was a feeling even more beautiful than she had imagined it. The aircraft made a great dip, so Leina was almost touching the water. She reached one hand down to it, and skimmed her fingers on the surface, creating a white trail of spray.

  A forest was approaching, and soon the sea came to an end. At length, Leina felt herself being pulled upwards. She approached the opening in the botto
m of the aircraft, and grappled for the metal handles. Finally she caught onto one and hung on as she was thrown onto the floor. The opening disappeared, and she was sprawled inside the ship, in relative silence, wondering whether she had been dreaming.

  On faltering feet, Leina got up and made her way shakily back to her seat at the front of the craft. She dropped into it, hard, and breathed heavily. Finally, she said, “How did you do that?”

  Max shook his head and chuckled. “Scares them every time.” He paused. “It’s easy enough. The suit that you are wearing is covered in tiny magnets.”

  “Oh,” Leina said. “So the ship has a giant magnetic field around it or something?”

  Max nodded, adjusting the throttle slightly as he spoke. “That’s the idea. It’s a very delicately balanced electromagnet that suspends you in the air via magnetic levitation, or electromagnetic suspension to be more precise. I can adjust the field strength with this lever, which is how I pulled you back in. Its main purpose is to pick agents up. As long as they are wearing their magnetic suits, we can just swoop in and grab them, instead of landing the thing and waiting for them to get in. It’s a lot easier—and safer—that way.”

  “Amazing,” she said quietly, staring out the windshield with something like a new kind of respect. “I never read about anything like that.” After a moment, she asked, “Where did this come from?”

  A look of regret came over Max’s face. “There used to be amazing technologies in Estlebey, compared to which this is only a toy. But when Estlebey fell to evil, such things were forgotten. The Appeaser introduced destructive uses for technology, and people became so afraid that they agreed to ban that kind of thing, and many other things besides. That was his plan, of course. It better served his purposes if the people were of an ignorant and simple nature. And such they have become. There was such a change that it seemed as if they went back in time, to a dark age of long ago.” Max sighed deeply. “Anyway, when the Agency left Estlebey, not everything had been destroyed yet, so we took with us as much as we could. Also, some of the followers who came with us still knew how to create such things. There are few of them left now with this much skill.”