Wastelands

by Jack Porter

  It was as if she had let off the mother of all hand grenades.

  The whole ground shook, and the field of battle exploded into light. At the same time, the air split with the sound of thunder.

  It was like she had exploded a flask of Greek fire onto the sand walkers. The initial explosion spread the flames wide, and they burned quickly. And then, in moments, instead of rushing to attack us, the sand walkers were howling in pain. After the initial explosion, the flames burned a bright cherry red, and they burned hot.

  It was like the whole wasteland was on fire, incinerating arms, legs, everything, and even melting the sand and stone around them. I couldn’t help but think it was good that Lady Gamma had thrown it as far as she had. If she had not, then we might have been caught in the ensuing chaos.

  As it was, the heat of the fire was enough to blister the skin on my face, and even Ash had to turn away from it. Only Gamma remained standing in place, a satisfied smile playing on her lips.

  In less than a minute, the flames started to die down, but by then, the battle was over. The few survivors watched in horror as their brethren screamed into the night, and chose to see to their own safety instead of continuing the fight.

  I thought for one wild, hopeful moment that the wraith had been caught in Gamma’s blast, but that hope was dashed when his voice floated up from across the destruction.

  “Do not think you have won,” he said. “Your strength will still become my own, and that of my Queen.”

  Yet there was no immediate threat in his words. If anything, they seemed to fade at the end, as if he too was slinking away under the cover of darkness.

  In just a couple of minutes, we were alone in the desert, surrounded by nothing but corpses, with a glowing red field cooling before us. I lowered the tip of my bloodied sword to the ground and surveyed the damage, and Ash did the same with her club.

  Even Camille dropped her invisibility act and came to stand beside us, and Edda scampered over to her mistress, clambering up to take her place on the Lady’s shoulder, and chattering away with a mixture of satisfaction and righteous anger.

  Then the exhaustion hit me. It was like I’d done a full day’s work without a break, and I knew then that while this new body of mine was tough, it was not completely invulnerable. But a quick meditation session would take care of most of my ills, and I figured that as a team, we had escaped certain death in remarkably good shape.

  Even so, there was one thing I didn’t like.

  I turned to Lady Gamma. “Is there a reason you waited so long before doing that?”

  31

  Lady Gamma turned toward me, her eyes flashing with anger. “You dare to question me?” she demanded. And Edda started jabbering away from her shoulder again before swinging down to the ground. I thought she might be running back to the wagon, but instead, she stopped halfway there to pick up a stone and hurl it in my direction.

  It was a surprisingly good throw. I had to bat the stone aside to keep it from hitting my face.

  I felt the weight of Gamma’s compulsion like a shadow in the distance, like an unexpected hole in which I could easily step, only seeing the danger once I was already falling. Yet I refused to back down. Compulsion or not, this was important.

  “We could have died,” I said. “Not that you’d care about that. But if Ash or I had fallen to those creatures, who would have protected your Royal Highness from them? Who would see to your safety then?”

  “I would have cared!” she snapped back, then looked as if she regretted her words. But she seemed to compose herself, and lowered her voice. “I would have cared. And not just for my own sake, either. Ash has been with me for a long time.”

  I noted that she didn’t mention anything about me. No surprise there, and yet she favored me with a smoldering gaze, as if daring me to push that particular button.

  “Then why didn’t you act sooner?” I asked. “Or at least tell me what you could do?”

  “Because it’s the only one I had!” she said.

  Edda found another stone to hurl in my direction. This time, her aim wasn’t so good. I just swayed out of the way.

  “Because I was saving it until it was most needed.” Still glaring at me, Lady Gamma softened her tone. “I didn’t know how many of them there were. I thought there was a chance you and Ash could take care of them all. And you nearly did. But when they started to get through Ash’s guard, then I knew. You could have fought through them all by yourself. That much was clear. But Ash… I didn’t want to see her get hurt.”

  As if the admission was painful, Lady Gamma swallowed, but she kept glaring at me as if it was all my fault.

  Then she looked away. “I should have used it back at the bridge where the bandits attacked. If I had, maybe…” she trailed off.

  She didn’t need to say anything more. Maybe the others would still be alive. That’s what she meant. And maybe she was right.

  And maybe she wasn’t. There was no way of knowing.

  I took a deep breath to calm myself. I wanted to be angry with her, but I could not. She was a princess, pampered and in some ways naïve. She couldn’t be expected to be the best judge on about when to use such a weapon. Nobody could, not really.

  Perhaps there was a greater danger up ahead where her magical hand grenade would have been better used. But if we had failed to survive this clash, then what would that matter?

  “Well,” I said, seeking safer ground and keeping half an eye on Edda. “Do you have the ingredients to make more?”

  Lady Gamma shook her head. “You don’t understand. Such a thing is more than just a matter of ingredients. I have a chi gift, as do you. I can infuse potions with my chi, fortifying them, enhancing their effect.” She let out a sigh. “Even if I had the raw ingredients, it would take weeks of effort to infuse it with enough of my energy to be of use.”

  I was a bit dumbstruck at this revelation. It seemed there was more to Lady Gamma than met the eye. I wondered about the other potions I’d seen, the healing drought she had used on Ash, and the smelling salts she had used to draw me back to consciousness after the attack of the bandits. Perhaps the latter required no chi gift enhancement, but the way the healing potion had worked so swiftly, and even the way it sparkled in its glass container–there had to be more to that as well.

  I wondered how much time and effort Lady Gamma had put into her various concoctions. I’d caught a glimpse of the inside of the supply wagon more than once, and there were many similar containers hidden within. How many weeks of effort did they represent?

  Or was it months? Maybe even years?

  I didn’t know how the process worked, but if it took weeks to amplify one potion using her gift, then it likely took just as long for the others. This alone demonstrated a focus and dedication far beyond what I would have expected Lady Gamma capable of.

  I felt suitably guilty. I shouldn’t have berated her. She was doing the best she could.

  “I’m sorry for speaking harshly,” I said. “I didn’t know what I was talking about. Thank you for acting as you did, when you did.”

  Lady Gamma seemed to grow taller as I spoke, and even Edda seemed mollified. The little wretch stopped hurling stones in my direction, and instead sat on her haunches, folding both sets of arms over her hairy chest. She looked for all the world like someone who knew they were right all along and was pretending that the acknowledgement of such didn’t please her.

  I thought to myself that in her own way, once you got past her stiffness, Gamma was as attractive as Camille. Or perhaps I just liked strong women who had power of one sort or another over me.

  With that thought in mind, I started to grin, and shot a glance at Ash. In a very real way, she had power over me as well. But I hadn’t even realized she was female at first, and her face was that of an ogre. Perhaps there were limits to who I could find attractive.

  Looking at the sky, I judged morning was still a couple of hours away. The battle had been intense, but had lasted less
time than it seemed.

  “So, now what?” I asked. “Do we all go back to sleep and pretend this didn’t happen?”

  “The spellcaster is still out there,” Camille said. “What if he decides to return?”

  “What if he gathers more sand walkers first?” Ash rumbled.

  “He seemed to feel it was inevitable that we would submit to him,” I mused, not really adding to the conversation, but instead just talking out loud. “I don’t like that he is still out there.”

  “Nor do I,” Gamma agreed.

  “Do you think he will try again?” Camille asked. “Will he gather more of the sand people?”

  “If he even needs to,” I said. “He’s a spellcaster. Who knows what he can do? Maybe he can attack us directly with his magic. Maybe he can put us all to sleep and do what he wants.” I shrugged. “I don’t know what’s possible.

  Perhaps I should have paid more attention to what I and the others were saying. I was simply talking out loud, wondering about the wraith’s power. But Lady Gamma and the others had a different mindset.

  “We cannot simply pretend he doesn’t exist,” Gamma said. Then she fixed me with a peculiar expression. “Do you think you could defeat him? Like you did the magic user with the bandits?”

  I stared at her. “Like I did what?” I asked, even though I knew what she was talking about.

  “The other spellcaster. You defeated her, even though I thought she had killed you as well. Could you defeat this one?”

  “He seems more powerful…” Ash rumbled.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  It wasn’t the answer Gamma wanted. Her eyes flashed dangerously once again, and Edda once more started screeching.

  “Rogan Ward, this is important,” Gamma said. “There is a spellcaster out in the Wastes who desires us to submit to his will. This will not happen, at least willingly. He has already tried to force it once, and will likely do so again. Swordsman, I do not ask this lightly. Do you think you can defeat him?”

  I frowned. She was asking an impossible question. I didn’t know enough about what this wraith could do to know the answer. Hell, I didn’t even know enough about what I could do to give her an answer.

  Except… I had seen the wraith’s power level as displayed by my AC lens. That should count for something, shouldn’t it?

  It had shown the wraith as being about the same as Ash, and considerably stronger than the wraith I’d faced at the hospital.

  At that time, I had been weak, broken, dying of shock and horribly wounded. I hadn’t stood a chance against that one. But now, I was a different man completely. I had access to some pretty extraordinary gifts.

  If anyone could defeat a creature such as the wraith, then maybe a sword-wielding badass who could spit lightning from his fingertips would have a good chance?

  Would I be able to defeat Ash?

  If I was quick enough. Yes. Absolutely.

  And the wraith was about the same level.

  I started to nod. “If anyone can, then I can.”

  Edda gave a victorious cry, and Lady Gamma herself looked pleased. “Then, as soon as there is enough light to see by, go,” she said. “Find him and kill him if you can. At the very least, learn his intentions. Then come back to us alive. We will continue on our journey and meet again as soon as you are able.”

  32

  I had a couple of objections. The first was whether I really could get the better of the wraith, but since I’d already said I could, I wouldn’t back down now.

  My second objection concerned the safety of the wagons and Lady Gamma.

  “Is it wise to split us up like that?” I asked.

  She dismissed my concern with a wave of her hand. “It is you who will be heading to the greatest danger. Ash will be able to defend us from anything lesser. And, while I used my greatest weapon against the sand walkers, I do have other, lesser weapons still in the wagon. And do not forget Camille. She is an assassin, after all.”

  She made good sense. I didn’t have any more actual objections, and even if I did, Camille spoke before I could have put them into words.

  “I’m going with him,” Camille said. “He can’t hunt worth a damn, and if he tries to go by himself, he’ll end up wandering the desert until he dies of thirst.”

  The beautiful assassin spoke with a hint of condescension, yet I couldn’t argue the point. I’d stumbled across her by chance the first night, and if I hadn’t done so, I doubted that I would have been able to return with anything, let alone the desert creatures I’d been hunting.

  Lady Gamma shot Camille a sharp look, and I knew she wanted to object. The friendship between the two of them was still new, and it was clear to me that Gamma enjoyed Camille’s company. Yet, Lady Gamma had no call to order her to stay, and we all knew it.

  After a moment, Lady Gamma nodded her head. “As you wish,” she said.

  And so it was decided. At first light, Camille and I would track down the wraith. Until then, we would continue as we had done the night before, with me standing watch for the latter part of the night, while the others slept.

  Only this time, before we settled back in for the night, we moved the camp a few hundred paces away from the scene of the slaughter. If the corpses on the ground attracted carrion feeders, then it would be best if we were nowhere around. And no one really wanted to sleep near them, anyway.

  By the time we were done, there was only a couple of hours to go. I would have been happy to keep watch by myself as I had the night before, but to my surprise, after only a short while, Camille re-emerged from her wagon.

  “Couldn’t sleep,” she said by way of explanation, but didn’t feel the need to say anything more.

  I eyed her warily, still not completely sure I could trust her. But she had fought well, never once, as far as I could tell, breaking free to run off into the night. Perhaps her intentions were no more than she had stated. I couldn’t help but hope that she needed a recharge after so much action, but the lizard woman didn’t make a move toward me.

  I, however, needed to replenish my chi, and sex with Camille wasn’t how it worked for me.

  “In that case, you can keep watch while I meditate,” I said. “If we are to face the spellcaster, I want to be at the top of my game.”

  She acquiesced with a nod, and I took a seat with my back to one of the wagon wheels, and cleared my mind as I’d done before, opening myself up to the energy of the world.

  33

  Camille had been right. If I’d tried to find the wraith all by myself, I would have ended up walking in circles until I ran out of water. But the fierce woman knew how to track and seemed to know exactly where she was going.

  I kept pace with her, my sword slung over my back. But this newfound confidence in my own skills didn’t mean I relaxed. Camille had fought against the desert people and had watched over me and the rest of the camp while I’d been meditating. But out here alone in the desert was a different story. I didn’t let down my guard for a second, aware of her movements every step of the journey.

  It wasn’t a difficult task. Camille was not fully human, a fact that was hard to forget. But that didn’t stop her from being the most enticing woman I’d known in forever, and her scales, horns, and tail only added to her beauty.

  My intentions did not go unnoticed. Very early in our mission, she flashed me a dirty look.

  “You don’t have to stare at me like a virgin teenager,” she declared, half angry, half challenging.

  “I don’t have to make it easy for you to slit my throat, either, if you should decide to do so.”

  She stopped walking to glare at me. “Is that it? You still don’t trust me?”

  “Why should I? What have you done to earn my trust?”

  The answer was obvious, and I was being a dick. Saying nothing, Camille spun back around and stalked off into the Wastes.

  I followed as before, listening to her mutter under her breath. After a few minutes, she turned back to me once a
gain.

  “What have I done to earn your distrust?” she demanded.

  “You mean apart from shadowing us, watching us from afar? You know, exactly what this spellcaster is trying to do? And anyway, you seem to still hate me, despite using me to replenish your chi.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I told you. I would have joined if I’d known Lady Gamma would treat me as she did. I want only what she wants. Nothing more.”

  “So you say. But you still attacked me when you had the chance. Just like the spellcaster did.”

  “That’s not fair! I only attacked when I couldn’t get away!”

  “You could get away now if you wish. I won’t chase after you again.”

  “You won’t?” she began, then frowned. Not knowing how else to respond, she let out a noise of frustration and stormed off once again.

  Sometime later, in a calmer voice, she spoke. “You don’t trust me,” she said. “But tell me. What is it you think I am planning to do?”

  I just shrugged. “I don’t know. The same thing as the bandits? Steal Lady Gamma’s supplies?” For good measure, I mused on a possibility I hadn’t really considered. “I mean, you kinda look like you could be one of the bandits. How do I know you’re not?”

  It was an insulting thing to say, and I knew it. While the bandits were indeed human hybrids, they were uniformly dirtier and well, less then Camilla. A blind man could tell that while the bandits had spent years living in the dirt under the harsh sun, Camille had led a far more comfortable existence.

  Not as comfortable as Lady Gamma’s, perhaps, but comfortable enough.

  Instead of responding with anger, Camille grinned humorlessly. “If that’s what I wanted, do you think I wouldn’t have taken all I could carry and made my way back by now?”

  “You can’t disappear from me. I can tell where you are,” I said. “And besides, your chi reserves must be getting low after last night’s attack.”