Two Moons of Sera

by Tyler, Pavarti K.

  He brought his face to mine, and I could taste the tears in his eyes, but I turned away. “I have to go.”

  “Wait.”

  Pulling back, I watched a tear fall from his eye, spiral down his chiseled face, and hit the ground. Salt of the earth. I shook my head and walked away to join Keene, Sev, and the children.

  Tor sat beneath his tree while the distraught A’aihea children lay in a pile between Sev and me. Neither she nor Keene said nothing, but I knew they’d seen, and probably heard, the whole exchange between Tor and I. It didn’t matter, though. What was the point of secrets? I’d been a secret my whole life, and it hadn’t protected me from the war, from the cruelty of others, from the pain of love. No, I was done with secrets.

  The light brush of footsteps brought us to attention. Tor rushed to our side, standing right in front of me, sparks alive along his flesh, and Keene took a similar defensive stance. Sev whispered to them in A’aihea, and Tor nodded without looking back. In my mind’s eye I reached out, searching for the source of the sound. After the massacre at A’ailia and Ash’s squad catching us off guard, I didn’t think I could take another attack. At that moment I was ready to just surrender and let the Erdlanders cage me in a lab somewhere, strap me to an examination table, and dissect me. I was so tired of running.

  I counted one, two, three pairs of footsteps. Opening my eyes, I saw that Sev had moved next to Keene, fire burning in her clenched fists. Elgon stood at Tor’s side, hackles raised.

  “Wait!” I yelled, not caring who heard.

  From the forest shadows, Elle came into view, an Erdlander rifle clutched cautiously in both hands. Lock appeared next, carrying a weak and furious Lace across his arms. Lock set her down so she could stand, he but kept a hand on her back for support.

  “I told you I could walk,” she hissed.

  Even in the dark I could see Lock’s eyes were wide as he took in Tor’s naked form. “Tor, is that you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, thank goodness we found you!” Lock said, stopping to catch his breath. “We were starting to think we’d have to fend for ourselves.”

  Despite refusing Lock’s help, Lace struggled to remain stand, so he helped her lean against a tree for balance. I rushed up, desperate to see if she was all right, forgetting about Tor and the questions the others were sure to have for him.

  Keene followed me and placed a hand on my arm. “Sev did this?” His voice was a whisper, but I could feel the chill of his concern as he examined Lace. He shook his head. “She will heal, but it will scar, badly.”

  “Sera...,” Lace said, “where have you been?” Instead of the characteristic anger, fear clung to her words, weighing them down. “I thought... I thought you were dead.”

  A sob broke free as she rushed toward me, nearly falling into my arms. Her body shook. Fatigue, fear, and pain all tore through her lips as tears fell against my shoulder.

  “You’re okay. You’re okay.” She repeated the words again and again.

  “I’m fine. Keene and Sev saved us; they made sure you weren’t hurt worse. How are you?”

  Hair draped her face, hiding her from me. I pulled back and reached to move it away, but her head drooped lower. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “We’re all alive.”

  “Did they hurt you? I mean, more than....” My words trailed off, and I couldn’t bear to think of the pain she’d endured from the burn.

  “No, they were nicer than Erdlanders would’ve been, if things were the other way around. The place was clean enough and we had food. They even gave me medicine to put on my face and arms.” She gestured to her burns but didn’t tilt up so I could see.

  Instead of forcing the subject, I nodded. If Lace needed anything, it was to have her dignity left intact; there would be time later to help her heal. I took her hand and walked to where Tor, Keene, Elle, Lock, and Lace stood. Sev and the children remained under the dark cover of the trees.

  “What do you mean we have to go out to the cliff? Why can’t we go back through the forest?” Elle demanded of Keene, her calm demeanor strained under the circumstances.

  “Erdlander that way, every way. We go through the mountain.”

  “Tor, do you know what he’s trying to say?” she asked the subdued version of the ferocious man I’d fallen in love with.

  He looked down at her, then at Keene, and spoke quickly in A’aihea. I watched as they talked back and forth with breathy ease. When had Tor become fluent? Probably the same way he’d learned Erdlander from me. His time Within must have taught him more about where he came from than I could imagine.

  Watching them all interact, it became obvious Tor had never been an Erdlander. Tor and Keene shared the same strong builds and self-confident stance. In a way, Keene looked like a younger, paler version of Tor.

  They stopped speaking, and Tor ran a hand over his head, scratching at his scalp. Did he miss his long hair as much as I did?

  “Keene says there’s a cave past the cliff wall,” he told us. “A narrow ledge leads around the mountain. If we can get over there and onto the ledge, no one will be able to see us. We just have to make it across.” He pointed back to where the trees thinned and an open patch of trampled weeds separated us from freedom. “Once we’re inside, he says there’s a whole underground network of caves to get lost in. We can disappear there until all this is over.”

  Lace finally spoke up, her fiery passion dimmed. “Where will we go then?”

  “Beyond the mountain, to the other side,” Keene offered.

  “There’s nothing over there.” Her defeat was so complete, I could hear it in her voice, feel it in the loose grasp of her hand. Would the Lace I’d come to care about and count on ever recover from this? Only time would tell.

  “You do know nothing is there?” Keene countered. “Something may be. Here, I see Earth and Fish and Fire—Erdlander, Sualwet, and A’aihea together all. Never did think could be. Over there—maybe there is more. Maybe safe.”

  We all stood in silence for a moment. A child began to cry behind us.

  If my choices were limited to death by fire, by Erdlander weapons, or by falling off a cliff, I was going to make a run for that cave.

  “I’ve been to the cave Keene is talking about,” I said. “We can make it.”

  Tor looked at me, his eyes hidden in the forest shadows, his gaze as alive as the day I’d first met him, when we’d both been standing on another cliff so far from here. “Sera, can you sense any Erdlanders near?”

  With a nod I closed my eyes and dropped Lace’s hand. Keene and Sev exchanged a strange look.

  “What’s she doing?” Lock wondered.

  “Shut up, Lock,” Lace sneered. She was still in there.

  My mind’s eye passed over Lace’s cool figure. Her face was marred with pulsating heat, her skin and nerves still raw. Elgon sat calmly at her side, protecting the weakest of us. My senses wandered through the trees, out into the darkness beyond.

  Dirt, ash, and fear all reverberated through the air, distorting my inner vision, making it difficult to navigate the chaos, but I pushed farther into the murky dark until I found the cliff wall, solid and strong. Its structure grounded me, just like Tor’s presence once had.

  I stood in the forest with my mind anchored at the wall. The distance wasn’t far and nothing stood between. Using the two points as references, I pushed out my awareness to scan the field for movement or solidity, but all I found was the floating remains of a village destroyed.

  I opened my eyes to find myself alone with Tor. He placed his hands on my upper arms and gathered me close, pulling me tight against his chest.

  This time, I didn’t fight. I couldn’t. At that moment, the memories of all we have been through flooded back to me. He’d been there through everything we had endured to reach this point. He had learned so much about himself Within, and the tightness of his embrace told me that his time in the Fire showed him he needed me more than anything else in this broken world. In the end,
he had chosen me and our life together.

  And I forgave him—for myself, for our future.

  When he pulled back, he leaned down to look at me. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”

  “Not really. I mean, we are running for our lives in the middle of a war.”

  “Sera,” he chastised, a smile glimmering in his eye.

  “I’m glad you’re safe, too.”

  “So... did your freaky brain scan show anything?” Lace called out.

  “She’s certainly feeling better,” I huffed.

  “No,” Tor said. “She’s not as tough as she’d like, but she’ll be fine.” As usual, he read Lace’s brashness for what it really was—fear.

  We rejoined the group by the tree. Sev stood with the smallest girl back in her arms. Lock held one of the boys and stood between Sev and Keene, and Elle sat with Lace on the forest floor.

  “It looks clear,” I told them, “but we should hurry. I don’t know how long it will be safe.”

  After gathering up the children so they could be easily carried, we headed for the tree line. I led the way, keeping my senses as open as I could while remaining alert to my immediate surroundings.

  Keene whispered through the group to his sister, “Burn our path so Erdlanders. lose our steps.”

  Sev nodded solemnly and passed the child she was holding to Lace. With tentative arms, Lace received the unconscious girl and cradled her to her chest as though something could snatch the child away at any moment. We’d all lost far too much in this. I pitched my hopes on the possibility that if we got through this alive, if we could survive the next few hours, we’d finally be safe.

  “Now!” I directed.

  We ran.

  Elgon darted between us, yipping at the children when they fell behind.

  Behind us, Sev set the forest ablaze until I couldn’t even see a single tree for the flames. Beyond sight of the forest fires, the blackness of night turned dense and thick with the oily smoke of death. My senses spiraled along the wind, flying through the air like a speck of dust. I sprinted at the front of our group. I wasn’t the fastest, but I was the only one who had a chance of finding a path through the rocks and debris. We ran over charred ground and destroyed crops, through the remnants of an entire people, and didn’t look back.

  Near the cliff’s edge, Keene stepped past me, one hand on the rock, and crept forward until he reached the drop-off near the cave. My eyes stung from the smoke in the air. Particles of ash attempted to slip past the membrane protecting my eyes.

  “The path is here.” Keene reached forward and took my hand, guiding me to the point where ground shifted to stone and open sky pressed against me. “You go, they will follow. I’ll come after. When I’m at the cave, I’ll shoot the rocks.” He pointed to the top of the cliff where a tree grew haphazardly out of the mountainside. “Cliff will be buried or destroyed, but none will follow.

  Single file, we edged along the path to the cave. I’d been here just a few days ago with Velka. The impossibility of everything she had shown me paled next to the urgency of staying alive. Who cared about ancient people and unbelievable portraits on cave walls when you were running for your life? But maybe that was the point. Maybe prophecies come true whether you believe in them or not.

  I waited in the black mouth of the cave for each of our group to arrive. Sev and then Keene were the last to appear. Other than the sleeping child in Lace’s arms, all the children were set on their feet. We didn’t have to tell them to stay close, as they clung to whomever was nearest.

  I stood outside on the cave for a moment, looking up at the moons. How long would it be until I saw them again? How long until I could sleep and not worry about war creeping up and ripping my friends away from me? If the ruby moon really was a goddess like in my mother’s stories, I hoped she would smile down on our little family. As I turned my back and rejoined the group, I took Tor’s hand and knew I’d see the open sky again soon.

  “To initiation place,” Sev said. “We sleep, then go on.” She sparked a fire to life and let it float to the middle of the group. “Us is all we have now. Come, family.”

  She led the way through the inky darkness, our mishmashed group in tow on our way to a new life on the other side of the mountain.

  Epilogue

  Jaxyra held his son’s small hand as they approached the voices. It had been a month since they’d seen another person—Erdlander, Sualwet, or anything else. The world he’d escaped into was nothing like the one he remembered.

  Looking down at the redheaded boy, still draped in the remnants of their prison uniforms, the need to protect him overwhelmed Jax. How many had lost their children, their lovers, their families, in this jikmanae war? Until the moment when a sympathetic guard opened his prison door opened, he’d believed he’d lost everything. The man had spoken in garbled Sualwet, but from what Jax could understand, the fighting had come to the camp.

  Now he had his son back and he knew there was so much more to lose.

  “Papa?” the little boy peered up at him with hazel eyes, so unlike his mother’s.

  “Yes, Jade?” Jax squatted down, looking at his son’s calm face. The boy had never known anything but cruelty, yet he still had so much faith that things would be all right. Jax prayed his son was right.

  “These are friends?”

  “I hope so.”

  Jax had heard stories from other refugees about a place on the other side of the mountains, beyond the reach of the blazing cities, where people of all the races had settled and lived together in peace. Now, standing at the edge of what could be paradise, he couldn’t squelch the fear swelling in his chest that he had risked his son’s life for a rumor.

  “I’ve never had any friends.” Excitement sparked in the boy’s eyes, and a small fire burst to life among the dry leaves at their feet.

  Jax stomped out the flames with his bare feet, hiding the pain from his son’s apologetic eyes. “Try to stay calm, buddy, and don’t use your fire unless you have to protect yourself. If these are friends, we don’t want to scare them.”

  “Like the bad men in the white room?”

  “Yes, those men were afraid, and they did bad things.”

  “But these are friends?”

  “I really hope so.” Jax pulled his son into his arms and inhaled the sweet scent of childhood before lifting the boy’s small frame to his shoulders. “Let’s go.”

  With a steadying breath, he stepped forward and called out toward the din of laughter ahead: “Gods be kind, we come as friends!”

  “We’ve been expecting you.” A tall man with thick shoulder-length hair and a welcoming smile stepped out from behind a nearby tree. He wore a long skirt that hung around his ankles and nothing else. Scars littered his chest, and the tattoos of an A’aihea climbed his arm, but his eyes shone with kindness. Next to him stood the largest mountain hound Jax had ever seen. “I’m Torkek. I’m glad you decided to join us.”

  “You knew we were here?” Jax kept his voice steady, despite his fear.

  “Yes, we’ve found it’s better to let people announce when they’re ready to say hello. Come, we have food and a fire. The moons will be up soon, and it’ll be cold tonight.”

  Torkek patted the hound on the head, and it bounded off into the woods. “Don’t worry, Elgon is friendly. He especially loves children.”

  The man’s smile seemed so genuine, Jax decided believing him was worth the risk.

  He followed Torkek’s winding path through the forest, weaving among the trees in no clear direction. Their surroundings disoriented him, and he couldn’t tell which way they had come. He lifted a hand to his son’s leg and squeezed, more to comfort himself than the boy. Never again would he ever let anything bad happen to his son. Never.

  The sun set as they walked, and a chill settled over the earth. When Jax spotted the fire ahead, his exhausted body longed to sit and sleep, but he held his fatigue at bay, ready to run at the first sign of danger.

  “Daddy!�
�� A little girl a few years younger than Jade wobbled away from the fire, darting into the tall man’s waiting arms.

  Torkek lifted her in the air before settling her on his hip and turning back to Jax. “Nila, these are new friends. They’re here to rest by our fire.”

  “ ‘Kay.” The chubby-cheeked girl popped her thumb into her mouth and laid her head on the man’s shoulder.

  A striking, pale-skinned woman in a blue dress joined them and wrapped an arm around Torkek with a smile.

  “Welcome to our fire,” Torkek said. “This is my mate Sera and our daughter, Nila.”

  “We’re so glad you decided to join us,” the woman said. “All are welcome here.” Her eyes twinkled in the moonlight, making them appear almost silver.

  “I’m Jaxyra—”

  “Jax?” A female voice from the past drifted from the fire. That impossible sound ripped through his heart and laid him bare.

  In a trance he watched as the blond beauty he loved with all his soul stood in the firelight. Her face was badly scarred, the flesh pulled tight over rippled skin, but that didn’t matter to him. Every night since they were separated, he would lie awake and wonder if she was still alive somewhere. Seeing her here, after all this time... it was almost more than he could bear.

  “Lacey?” He let his son down to the ground, kneeling next to him as tears streamed from his eyes.

  Lace ran forward and knelt before them. Her hands shook as she reached out, fingers poised to touch but didn’t dare. “Jax? Is it... is it really you?” She looked up at him, and his breath caught.

  The memory of every moment they had been apart crashed against him all at once, and before she could disappear into the ether, he grabbed her with all the strength his malnourished body could muster.

  “Lacey, Lacey,” he sobbed against her. His hands roamed over her arms, her face, her hair, as though reassuring himself she wasn’t just a fever dream. “Gods, Lacey.... I never thought I’d see you again.”

  Their kiss burned with desperation. He needed to taste her, to feel her, to brand her into his reality.