Graveyard of Empires

by Lincoln Cole

  “My guess,” Richard said, scratching his beard, “is to test us. They want to see how long we can survive on our own.”

  Jayson splashed some water on his face. “So like a test?”

  Richard snorted. “Something like that. Yeah. They want to see which of us are worth the effort of training. If we can’t survive this, they don’t want us.”

  “So how long do we have to make it?”

  “Until they come and find us.”

  “No,” Tricia replied, shaking her head. “No one is coming. We have to make our own way back to the Academy.”

  Richard laughed. “See Jayson? This is why we kept you alive. We need a tie breaker.”

  “What?

  “Trish here—”

  “I said don’t call me that.”

  “—thinks we should move and try to find our own way back to the Academy. I think the point of this exercise is to survive. So we build a structure, find food. Lay low. Then, when they are happy, they come and find us. What do you think?”

  Jayson shrugged. “No idea.”

  “You have to have some idea,” Richard said. “Even if it’s a bad one.”

  “If we don’t know where we are, how do we find our way back?”

  “Exactly,” Richard said.

  “We’re close to the Academy,” Tricia argued. “The trees are all the same. And those are the same mountains.”

  “Let’s say they are the same,” Richard replied. “Even then, it would be no good to go trekking to them.”

  “Why not?”

  Richard laughed. “Do you understand the concept of a range of mountains? There might be hundreds of them, each several kilometers apart. It could take us weeks trekking up the first one to find out we picked the wrong mountain. We’ll be dead before we reach the second.”

  “Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”

  “No that’s exactly what it means. We should just stay here and—”

  “Staying here is the same thing as dying here,” Tricia said, “because no one is coming—”

  “—build up our shelter—”

  “—to rescue us. And we have no choice—”

  “She’s right,” Jayson interrupted. “I’m siding with Tricia.”

  Richard trailed off and let out an exasperated sigh.

  “You sure? We aren’t really in shape to be moving right now.”

  “That’s why,” Jayson replied. “If they’re going to test us, they’re going to make it as hard as possible. We’re injured, no supplies, not at all prepared for travel. So that’s what they expect us to do.”

  “But we don’t even know where to go!”

  “We have, as you pointed out, a mountain range to follow.”

  Richard’s jaw fell open. “Maybe you don’t understand the idea of a mountain range—”

  Jayson held up his hand. “I know, and if we pick wrong we’re probably going to die before we realize our mistake. But, we have a few advantages on our side.

  “First we can assume whoever left us here wanted to make this trek difficult. But they don’t want to kill us. If picking the wrong mountain will get us killed, then most likely they won’t make it a hard choice. The nearest one is most likely. And second, we can figure out which one is right before we climb any of them.”

  “How?” Richard said. “The Academy was a long way up. We won’t see it until we’re relatively close.”

  Tricia blinked in realization and then chuckled. “The train tracks.”

  Jayson nodded. “It’s no wonder they used something so low tech to bring us out here. They’re meant to help us find our way home. It’s part of the test.”

  “Well, then what the hell are we waiting for?” Richard said, then made a tsking noise at Tricia. “And you said we should leave him to die.”

  Tricia sighed.

  3

  They walked.

  Morning turned into afternoon. They aimed for the mountains. Tricia climbed trees every once in a while to make sure they were on the right path. Jayson was only capable of short spurts of energy before his leg hurt too badly to continue. They stopped frequently to rest and recover, something Tricia didn’t like. But she didn’t complain.

  The forest closed in around them, sheltering them from the sun and keeping them cool despite the humidity. They chose their paths by least resistance, avoiding thick areas of the brush but keeping an easterly route.

  No one talked. Well, no one except for Richard, who didn’t shut up.

  “I think I’ll put my summer home over there,” he said as they passed a waterfall. “It’s beautiful out here.”

  There was no response.

  They walked some more.

  “I wonder if we’ll stumble into any animals doing there…you know…business. Or mating,” Richard said. “Anyone want to wager on which?”

  No response.

  They continued walking. Jayson focused on his feet. Left, right, left, and right. And then repeat. He supposed he should be thankful that the only things his mind could handle during that first day were motor skills. It meant he wasn’t thinking about their predicament or the fact that the water might make him sick with dysentery or the problem that they might not even find more clean water. Instead, he focused on left, right, left, and right.

  The ground was relatively flat, for which he was grateful. And the cut on his leg, while painful, wasn’t debilitating. The more he walked on it, ironically, the better it felt. After a few hours, he started using the crutch as a walking stick.

  He must not have looked healthy, though, because he heard Richard whisper to Tricia, “He’s not doing very well. Maybe we should stop for the night.”

  “There’s plenty of light left,” she whispered. “We can cover more ground.”

  “Breaking down now will do more harm than gaining those few kilometers,” Richard replied, looking casually over at Jayson. Jayson pretended he couldn’t hear them. “Plus we’re out of food.”

  “Out?” Tricia asked.

  “We didn’t exactly have a lot left this morning.”

  “We had three fish!”

  “Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It goes fast, Trish.”

  She made a disgusted sound. “Lasted longer with just the two of us. Fine. We can stop here for the night.”

  As soon as Richard told him, Jayson found a comfortable looking spot and collapsed. Richard woke him up, once, to give him some scavenged food and water from their makeshift bowl. It was dark. The meal was comprised of berries and some stringy meat.

  Jayson decided later he should have asked Richard if they were poisoned berries. Or if Richard had at least tested them to make sure they were safe. But at the moment, he was too hungry and tired to care. He devoured the berries, spreading blue stains all over his face and hands, and then fell back into a stupor for the rest of the night.

  It wasn’t until the next morning that he realized another possibility: he probably was the test subject to make sure the berries were safe for Richard and Tricia to eat.

  He couldn’t decide if that bothered him or not.

  They walked throughout the next day. And then the one after that. Gradually, they increased the distance they traveled as Jayson’s body recovered. They went past fallen logs swarming with insects and through thick foliage where the sun pierced through the canopy with only the greatest reluctance. They crossed streams and forded a fast moving river sometime during their fourth day.

  Tricia gathered pliable tree branches and vines as they walked. She used them to make traps and tools, increasing their arsenal of supplies. She managed to locate a knife shaped piece of rock. She chipped a few pieces away and turned it into a jagged weapon.

  Each night she set out her traps in a circle around the camp. Little rope snares using fruits, vegetables, and bark as bait. And each morning she checked them for any animals they might have caught. More often than not, the traps were empty.

  When they were, she would search out a rock or log for insects. She would
flip it over and scoop up as many crawling things as she could find. Then she would declare it a meal.

  Jayson didn’t dare refuse. His body was recovering rapidly, but he needed to get as many calories as he could to keep healing. He grabbed the bugs that looked least likely to sting him and popped them into his mouth. Some of them squished, some were chewy, a few even wriggled after he bit into them. He made sure to chew those ones until they stopped before swallowing.

  “I bet you did this kind of thing even when you had plenty of food,” Richard remarked, stuffing a worm into his mouth. Tricia didn’t reply. She rarely did.

  They walked. Another day breezed past. And then another. Each night they sat in a circle. Some nights they had a fire. Some nights Tricia couldn’t get one started. On two of the nights it rained in heavy cold sheets and they huddled close together.

  Sometimes they talked—never about themselves—and sometimes they listened to Richard talk. He told stories about his life before coming here and the heroic things he did. A couple of times he sang a song off-key).

  All of his stories were made up, but that didn’t matter. After long days of walking and very little external stimuli, just hearing someone speak was enough.

  Jayson was losing weight, but a lot of that was excess mass he’d put on before this ‘excursion.’ His body didn’t need those pounds for a hike like this, and if anything he felt healthier as he got leaner.

  The scenery never changed. More trees. More streams. The occasionally scurrying animal or snake or spider. The days began blurring together. Tricia estimated they were making six to eight kilometers a day through the thick forest, and Jayson couldn’t dispute the claim. They could have been walking in a circle for all he knew.

  The only sign they had that they were making any progress at all was when Tricia climbed the trees. The mountains were getting bigger, she informed them each morning. Jayson was beginning to suspect she might be lying.

  4

  They found a stream swimming with fish and crawdads after about a week. Richard insisted they stop and rest for the day.

  “We should keep moving,” Tricia replied. “It’s only midday.”

  “This is the perfect opportunity to stock up on food,” Richard replied. He scratched his scraggly beard, which was already enough to hide most of his face. “I, for one, don’t like wondering if we’re going to eat dinner. We’ve missed, what, eight meals since we started?”

  “Coming from someone who’s probably never missed a meal in his life,” Tricia said, “forgive me if I don’t seem to care.”

  “I’ve been hungry before,” Richard replied defensively. “What do you think, Jayson?”

  He shrugged. “It’s more we’d have to carry.”

  “But less time we will spend foraging,” Richard said. Then he bowed to Tricia. “But I’ll defer to your wisdom, oh fearless leader.”

  She narrowed his eyes. “Are you mocking me?”

  He looked aghast. “I would never.”

  She clearly didn’t believe him. “Fine. We can stop. But catch your own damn fish,” she said, then turned and disappeared into the forest.

  Richard grinned at her. “I think she’s starting to like me.”

  Jayson chuckled. “So how are you planning on catching these fish?”

  “I’ll use my shirt like a net,” Richard said.

  “Will that work?”

  He shrugged. “That’s what Tricia did at the last stream we stopped.”

  Jayson eyed the water skeptically. “These ones look pretty fast.”

  “I’m faster,” said Richard.

  5

  Twenty minutes later Richard reemerged, soaking wet and unencumbered by any fish. “Don’t look so smug,” he said to Jayson, plopping on the ground next to him. “You wouldn’t have caught any either.”

  “I’m not dumb enough to try.”

  Tricia appeared, walking toward the water with a stick in hand. “You won’t get any,” Richard said, panting. “They’re too fast.”

  It took a full thirty seconds for her to skewer the first fish. She tossed it at Richard. It landed with a wet smack against his chest and flopped into his lap.

  He held it up, twitching. “What do I do with it?”

  “Clean it,” she said.

  “With the knife, I magically carry in my pocket?”

  “This,” she said, pulling the jagged rock from her pocket. She tossed it to him without looking, and he caught it in his right hand.

  He stared at it doubtfully. “Seems messy.”

  “Just shut up and do it,” she said, picking her next target. She jabbed down, again, the stick breaking the surface of the water and scattering a pool of fish. This time, she missed.

  Richard looked over at Jayson. “Warrior women are so hot.”

  Tricia glared at him. Richard held up the knife and studied the bottom of the fish.

  “Are you looking for a diagram?” Jayson asked.

  “There should be dotted lines on it, right?”

  “Just make a shallow cut.”

  “I don’t want to pierce the stomach, right?”

  “It’s not a deer,” Jayson said. “Just give it to me.”

  He reached over and took the knife and fish. He cut into the belly and started removing the innards.

  “You know how to gut a fish?”

  “It’s not exactly rocket science.”

  Richard sighed. “I really am useless.”

  “We know,” Jayson replied with a small smile. He finished cleaning it and set it aside.

  “I wasn’t exactly expecting…this…you know?”

  “This isn’t bad at all,” Jayson said, catching the next fish Tricia threw his way. “If they really wanted to kill us, they would drop us into a desert. Here there is plenty of food and water, not a lot of bacteria. That, or they inoculated us against any diseases we’d have to worry about.”

  “You think they did?”

  “I think that germs and bacteria are better at killing humans than about anything else. If they didn’t inoculate us, then we’re getting really damn lucky.”

  “Yeah, that would suck,” Richard said. “You spend a lot of time in places like this growing up?”

  Jayson shrugged. “My planet was pretty rundown. Not a lot of places like this left. We overpopulated and then died out or fled. Trish,” he said, gesturing toward the water, “knows a lot more than I do about this sort of thing.”

  Richard turned toward the water. “Yeah. Why is that, Trish?”

  “Call me Trish one more time and I’ll stab you in the eye.”

  Richard ignored her as usual. “Did you grow up in the woods? Come on, tell us something. Did you run away from home?”

  She didn’t reply.

  “I know,” Richard said, nodding to himself. “You were raised by wolves.”

  “Do you ever shut up?”

  “Hypothetically,” he said, “I’m sure that I do. But right now I’m more interested in knowing why you’re here. I mean, I know why Jayson’s here. Pretty sure I know why I’m here. But what went so wrong in your life to leave you stranded out in the middle of nowhere?”

  Again no reply.

  So Richard speculated:

  “You don’t seem like the mothering type. If you had a heart I’m sure we’d be able to chisel ice off of it,” he said, tapping a finger against his beard and studying her. “You’re…what…twenty-seven? That means you could have been in and out of the military already. But I don’t think that’s where you picked this stuff up. More likely you grew up on a planet similar to this.

  “Your parents were hard on you, so you rebelled from that life. So even though you’re good at this, you don’t like doing it. Reminds you of home. Am I close?”

  She glowered at him.

  “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said.

  The next fish hit him on the side of the head.

  6

  They spent that night building up a large fire to smoke the fish. Tricia h
ad managed to catch twelve of them. She skewered them on a stick and dangled them over the fire. They spent the next several hours napping and listening to the crackling fire.

  It was peaceful for Jayson. A chance to admit just how tired he really was. The trip was exhausting.

  He fell into a light doze. When he woke up he saw Richard and Tricia sitting beside the fire, speaking quietly and eating little strips of fish.

  “He lives,” Richard murmured when he noticed Jayson moving.

  “Barely,” Jayson said. “That smells amazing.”

  “Thanks. I can’t catch a fish, but I can cook them.”

  Jayson forced himself to sit up. Richard handed him a piece of white meat. Jayson took a small bite, letting the flesh dissolve in his mouth. He’d never tasted anything so delicious.

  “I found some herbs nearby. But someone—not naming any names—wouldn’t let me season the fish.”

  “They could be poison,” Tricia said, nibbling her own piece of fish.

  Richard shrugged. He took a sip of water from their little makeshift bowl and passed it to Jayson. “True. They could have been delicious too. Now we’ll never know.”

  “Do you never shut up?” she asked without any bite.

  “Never ever,” he replied. “I just say whatever comes to mind. I have no internal filter.”

  “Then perhaps you shouldn’t say anything at all.”

  “But then it would be quiet. And when it’s quiet there’s time to think. And when I think I remember that we were dropped off into the middle of a forest by some complete lunatics and left to die. And that if we do survive this, then we get trained by the same lunatics, which just sounds all kinds of bad. So I’d rather not think, which means I have to talk instead.”

  Tricia made a disgusted sound. “Fine, if you must talk, do so quietly.”

  “How about you talk instead?” Richard said. “Joking aside, where did you come from? Why are you here?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Did you make some mistake and get in a bad situation?”

  “I said I don’t want to talk about it,” Tricia said, her voice firm.

  Richard eyed her for a moment and then held out his hand. “Fine. I don’t know who you are or why you are here, but I’m thankful that you are. I think I can speak for Jayson as well as myself when I say that we would be dead by now without you.”