He gritted his teeth. “If I say you’re going too hard on him, then that’s exactly what you’re doing!”
I shook my head, rolled my eyes, and smirked, before following in Eno’s tracks.
“And where do you think you’re going?” he asked, and I stopped mid-stride. “I didn’t say you were finished.”
I glanced over my shoulder and gestured to the water where Eno had now jubilantly submerged himself. “Can’t I get a drink first?”
“No,” he replied, approaching me from behind. “You’re training isn’t over. Close your eyes.”
I sighed loudly. “Not this again, I told you I can’t open portals anymore.”
“Close them!”
I complied, standing in place. Aberym drew closer. The wind howled on the canyon walls, and Eno splashed in the water behind me.
“I want you to remember what happened to Eno’s parents,” Aberym began.
I peeked my eyes open and sneered. “They were my parents, too.”
“Enough!” He looked back at Eno and made sure he wasn’t paying attention before continuing. “I want you to picture them in your mind. Where they died. How … they died.”
My lips trembled. “This is a waste of time.”
“Hold out your hands,” he said, and I shook my head. After a brief pause, he latched onto my wrist and yanked it up higher. “You could have saved them if you had of opened a portal.”
I shook my head. “No, they ran off before I …”
Aberym began to slowly encircle me. “You knew how to make portals by then, you must have made at least four that day alone. But you froze, in the moment it mattered most.”
“You can’t put this on me,” I replied.
“Strain your wrists. Open a portal, now!”
I stood motionless and strained, but felt nothing. I couldn’t even remember what it felt like to open a portal. “I can’t do it.” A kick to the back of my knee forced me to kneel in the sand.
“The Necrolisks are coming,” he said in my ear. “Get up and do it! Open one and save them!”
I had enough. I shot up, opened my eyes, turned to him and gave a scathing gaze. A single tear rolled down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away.
I brushed past him, knocking his shoulder, before stomping back up the embankment and into the cave where we were keeping our gear.
“You can’t walk away every time you fail,” Aberym called out, his words echoing through the canyon. “If you do, your failures will follow you to the ends of this world.”
Later that night
“Are you okay, sis’?” I heard a faint whisper say.
I turned on the fur rug. The cave was dark, with only a little light from the night sky outside. Eno was beside me, staring into my adjusting eyes. I often forgot how grown up he was now, but I still saw the same small toddler looking back at me.
I looked over to Aberym to make sure he was still asleep. “I’m okay,” I whispered back to Eno.
“I don’t think Grandpa wanted to make you feel bad,” Eno suggested. “Whatever he said, I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”
“No, he meant it. But don’t worry about it, alright? It’s going to be over soon anyway. When we get to Metus, he’ll see how great everything is there, and … maybe we can just … live there. Live normal lives.”
I leant over and hugged him. “Goodnight.”
The next afternoon, outside the Teersau ruins
“We’ve made it, look,” Aberym said, pointing to the hazy vision on the horizon. “The ruins of Teersau. We have completed the great pilgrimage.”
I plodded up the next dune, pulling Eno up it by the hand. “So that’s the promised land? Another endless stretch of desert? Where’s the lush trees, the wide rivers and lakes, and the ‘bountiful wildlife to feast on’ you told us about?”
He shook his head. “Behind the ancient city are mountains, and behind those is a great forest, with a network of many rivers and lakes. The next river is two days away.”
Eno moaned as he sat on the sand. “I don’t have enough in my canteen for that!”
Aberym chuckled. “If your sister could open portals, we could make the trip by nightfall.”
I ignored him, striding down the next dune. “And let me guess,” I called back, “when we get to this paradise, we’re going to spend all our time searching for more settlements, right?” I stopped and looked between them.
Aberym stopped, too. “Sacet, your power, when you finally get it working again, will save this world.”
I shrugged. “I thought you’d say that.”
Eno walked past him, avoiding eye-contact. When he reached me, we both continued down the dune, focusing on where we stepped.
“Kids,” Aberym called out, and we stopped once more. “How about when we find a good place to rest, a settlement with food, water and shade, we’ll stay longer than usual? You both deserve a rest.”
Eno gave a sarcastic smirk. “Longer than usual, so what … three days instead of two?”
Aberym attempted a smile. “Longer.”
I nodded slowly. “Okay, you promise?”
“I promise,” he replied as he reached us.
Eno looked positively ecstatic. “Maybe there’ll be other kids?” He smiled at me. “Other kids!”
I smiled back. “Maybe some my age for once, too.”
Eno gave a mischievous smirk. “Yeah, I bet you’re hoping for all of them to be boys, huh?”
“Shut it!” I tried snatching at him but he ran down the dune ahead of me.
“Well,” Aberym began, pointing to the ruins in the distance, “let’s get there first.”
Eno led our trio, almost with a spring in his step, reinvigorated by the potential of other kids to meet. Aberym and I trailed behind together. And when our eyes met, I didn’t feel my usual hate for him. Was he capable of inspiring me after all?
3. Descent
In the ruins of Teersau
The ruined city around us was enormous. But what was most surreal was the lack of sound, light, and the living. The dilapidated structures would have been impressive to see before they were destroyed at the beginning of the Great Gender War.
I chose a spot out in the open, away from crumbled stones, then rolled out my fur blanket, ready for another night under the stars.
Eno dropped his backpack beside me. “This is your bag, where’s mine?”
“No,” I replied, pushing him away. “That is yours, it has a hole in it, remember?”
“Kids,” Aberym whispered, before shushing us. “Stay quiet around here. We might not be the only residents in this place.” He was sitting by his bag and pulling out a map.
“Other pilgrims like us?” Eno whispered back.
“Necrolisks,” I answered, and Eno’s eyes widened in shock.
“We’ll be fine if we don’t give them a reason to leave their nest and come to the surface,” Aberym said. “Sacet, sit with me.”
I rolled my eyes as I wandered over. “More revision? What’s the point in remembering the settlements if I can’t open portals anymore?”
“Just sit and tell me what you remember from …”
He stopped mid-sentence, for all three of us could hear an odd whining echo throughout the ruins. It grew louder, coming closer.
An aircraft emerged from the distant rooftops, equipped with bright, swivelling search lights. It was flying low, and as it approached our courtyard, it slowed and descended. A ramp was already winding down on its rear.
“Run!” Aberym yelled over the wailing engines.
I snatched up the backpack at my feet, not bothering to pick up anything else, and bolted into the nearest structure with the others.
My sweaty hands grasped at the rough stone passage walls as I twisted and weaved around the corners so as to not lose momentum. The ceiling above hissed as a rain of laser-fire fizzled through the stone. It must have been the aircraft firing from above.
Aberym howled from behind, causing Eno and I to stop.
“What is it?” I said as we turned back, my words echoing down the long, narrow passageway. “Come on!”
He stood there, gently swaying from side to side as he stared at Eno. His hand was on his stomach covering a growing stain of blood. The old man leant forward and knelt upon the grimy cobblestones. We could clearly see the laser’s entry wound, a hole larger than my fist through his stomach.
“You know … what you have to do,” he implored as he stared into my eyes, and then at my little brother. “Save him … get out of here!”
Our grandfather appeared not long for this world. A slight reassuring grin grew upon his face, but it was quickly replaced by a pained expression.
Eno clenched both his teeth and fists. “Come on, grandpa!” Eno then pulled on my arms. “Quick, portal us all out!”
I shook my head. “I can’t, you know I can’t!”
Amassing footsteps resonated from beyond the thin veil of dust the chase had stirred.
“I’ll slow them down,” our grandfather said. “Just go!”
With great difficulty he searched his belt underneath his tattered robes. He pulled out a grenade and gave us one last nod.
“Grandpa!” Eno screeched.
But he had already pressed down on the grenade’s switch. The sound of footsteps rang louder.
“Go! Now!”
I broke out of my transfixion, pulled on Eno’s robes, and turned to face the dim corridor ahead. My legs had frozen at first, but I forced myself forward with Eno in tow. We heard our grandfather’s final battle cry.
As we ran, an ear-deafening explosion shook the ground inside the tunnels, which caused stones and clumps of dirt to break free from the walls. We stopped and turned to see. The whole chamber was filled with the resulting dust. Eno began to weep, and I covered my silent, horrified scream with my hand.
Several figures waded through the dust. Each was clad in silver armour, with transparent helmets and large rifles. The women saw us and gave chase again.
My eyes widened, and I ripped on Eno’s wrist to make him follow. We sprinted into the dark, foreboding labyrinth of passages, with no clue as to where we were going.
More gunshots. The projectiles missed us and ricocheted off the walls. Strange, it wasn’t laser-fire this time?
Eno pulled on my arm. “Stop, Sacet!”
I hadn’t noticed it in the dark, but we stopped just short of a large hole in the corridor’s floor. There was a trickle of water below. We peered down through the gaping black maw and saw a large murky cesspool at the bottom. An ancient sewer system, or something else?
My body was covered in sweat and my heart raced. This was our only escape. Maybe they wouldn’t follow us in?
“We have to jump,” I pleaded.
“It’s too dark,” he said, backing away. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
I placed my hands on his shoulders and leant down. “I promise it will be okay, you still have your big sister with you.”
We had hesitated at the rim of the hole for too long. The first soldier had rounded the corner with her weapon raised.
I held onto Eno’s arms, pulled on him and dived forward. We leapt just in time, as more small projectiles hit the surfaces above us, buzzing and fizzing. Shock darts? They wanted us alive.
As we fell, the putrid black water below us bubbled. I threw my arms across my face and took what I thought would be my last breath of fresh air. We crashed into the cold water, and it felt like falling head-first through a glass window. The impact took my breath away.
Eno splashed down, too. I kicked and thrashed my limbs to face upright. I reached out and latched onto Eno’s collar before rising to the surface.
We both gasped for air and looked up at the tunnel. The only light that illuminated this dark cavern streamed in from above. It seemed much brighter up there by comparison. A soldier approached the edge and peered down into the abyss.
There was another tunnel entrance on the far side of the chamber, and so with Eno’s robes still in my grasp I began to swim towards it. The smell down here was revolting; it was the smell of decay, faeces and rotting meat. As we paddled, my feet touched the floor of the pool, and we waded through the shallows.
Our pursuers were assembled on the rim of the hole, watching us make our way across the pool. Their faint voices echoed into the lower chambers. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I knew what their discussion was about. Like our grandfather, they knew what was down here. They weren’t going to jump.
Eno and I trudged ashore. The air was humid and reeked of death, but we both panted deeply anyway. My adrenaline was coursing.
I rummaged through my backpack, hoping to find my torch, but quickly realised this was, in-fact, Eno’s bag.
“Ahh! This is your bag, see?” I said, opening it and showing him the hole.
Eno was still catching his breath. “Then where’s … yours?”
“You left it up there, didn’t you?”
“Me? It was your bag.”
Splash!
Our attention whipped back to the bog. Water spouted in all directions from another impact. I started to panic, my chest thumped once more.
I gestured towards the tunnel. “Come on!”
As we dashed down the passageway, a bright light shone from the water. It illuminated the path and cast our frantic silhouettes on the broken passageway stones. The tunnel ahead was long and empty. I could almost sense her training her weapon upon us.
Click!
We didn’t stop running. Her weapon must have jammed. There was no time to speculate.
“Come back!” she yelled instead. She kept the light trained on us. “Don’t go that way!”
But it was too late. We had already rounded the corner and were now out of her sight.
I reached out and gripped Eno’s hand tightly. He was shivering. I paid careful attention as I pulled him through the pitch-black tunnel. I dared not run at full speed as I didn’t know what we might crash into in the darkness.
Our pursuer closed in, her light revealing our path again. Had the other soldiers jumped into the hole yet? If not, perhaps they had found another way down and were about to cut us off.
Holding onto Eno with one hand, I put the other out on the wall to feel my way around. The muck felt as if it was oozing and moving. The overpowering stench had grown worse as it wafted in our direction, causing me to retch.
Eno was slowing down. “I’m scared.”
“I know, I am too,” I replied. “But I’m not going to let them get to you, okay?”
“It’s getting too small in here. I don’t want to die. Can’t we just surrender?”
I didn’t want to think about what they might to do Eno, being a male.
I could barely see him anymore, but I could hear him sobbing, and I could feel his wrist shaking in my hand. This was the worst place a claustrophobic like him could be right now, but we didn’t really have a choice.
The light on the walls in front of us flickered and grew brighter. As we passed each corner, her light guided us clearer than before.
We reached the end of the corridor and entered a cave, its floor covered in bones and mucous. A small shaft of light came in from the cracks in the cavern’s ceiling. On the far side of the cavern there was another stone tunnel, but it was much higher than I could reach. We would need to climb to get to safety.
Small tremors could be felt in the dirt beneath our feet. Eno and I sprinted straight for the wall, each step of our feet crunching the bones of long-dead victims. My clammy hands tried to grab onto the rocks but they were too slippery.
The soldier came out of the stone tunnel behind us and stopped. “Raise your hands, slowly! I’m going to get you out of here, but you have to trust me.”
I was right earlier, her weapon was malfunctioning. It didn’t bode well for her if she was trying to capture us this way. I stepped in front of my brother.
“Sis, you have to teleport us,” Eno whispered as he huddled against the wall.
“I can’t!” I snapped back.
The shudders of the cave became more obvious. The soldier spun around and noticed the bones, before letting out a gasp of fear. “Come on, quickly!”
One of the monsters erupted from beneath the ground between us. It raised its pincer-like claws into the air. Its shell shook and shivered, as if giddy with the impending bloodshed. Its head dipped towards me. Memories of my last Necrolisk encounter flooded back. I couldn’t move.
“Get us out of here!” Eno yelled, pushing me in the side. “You can do it, I know you can!”
We couldn’t die like this. I looked up at the tunnel above again.
A scream, followed by a burst of laser-fire from the soldier’s weapon caused the hideous creature to squeal and turn away from us. Each shot cast a shadow of its curved, segmented torso and spiny legs onto the cavern walls. The shadow’s legs skittered up and down as the creature rotated to face her.
A lucky shot to the creature’s head downed it for good. She backed away to the where she had entered, but another Necrolisk burst from the ground, spraying flecks of dirt everywhere and cutting off her retreat.
I had no choice now; I had to create a portal to safety. I closed my eyes and weaved my fingers in circular motions. The flux of stale air changed around us. I focused both on the collapsed tunnel above and on a point a few steps in front of us.
The soldier screamed again. A group of the towering creatures congregated around her. The cave trembled as more of them surged out of the hive tunnels nearby. The nearest beast swiped at her, but she narrowly avoided it.
I was ready. The portal opened, a small circle no wider than my body appeared beside us. The wall behind it was obscured, replaced with a view of the collapsed tunnel. All we needed to do now was jump through the hole and we would be teleported up to the tunnel.
The soldier fiddled with some of the switches on her weapon and then fired a flamethrower at the Necrolisks, but the flames only delayed them. It seemed she was done for.
“Help me!” she begged as the creatures corralled her towards a wall. “Please!”
I thrust Eno forward through the floating circle. He tripped into it and landed on the solid ground on the other side. I followed him next, jumping through the portal, gripping onto its rim briefly and then landing in the tunnel.
Sisters of the Sands: Book 1 of the Acolytes series Page 2
