The Sands of Borrowed Time

by Jeffry Winters

  “We’ll make it, Hayley.”

  “I know, Demelza,” Hayley replied, hugging her tightly.

  The sails buffeted above them as the ship continued to cruise across the misty plains, the sand in the air getting thicker as the midday Sun got fiercer. Demelza could feel sweat trickle down her back, her mouth parched dry.

  “This is getting bloody ridiculous,” she broke out in a raspy voice. Hayley remained silent, just staring ahead as she held onto Demelza. Hayley felt exhausted, the wind whipping her face, its howl becoming ominous. She looked at the swirling patterns of sand in the air. She could see glimpses of contorted faces with mocking, hateful smiles, their bodies writhing and dancing in the dry, hot air.

  Spirits of the dead, of those who have perished, she thought. The ship creaked on, Hayley steering aimlessly through the dry, sandy storm as Demelza stared out into nowhere. Both were becoming wearier as sand covered their skin and their hair became tangled and knotted, taking the onslaught of more punishment from the wind. Demelza went back inside to find her compass, she was sure they should be close by now. She held it flat in her palm, waiting for the needle to settle.

  “Yep,” she said softly to herself, “looks like the hills should be close.”

  Later that night, Hayley awoke shivering. She was still at the wheel of the ship, but it was stationary, remembering that she had stayed outside, gazing up at the stars. She was tired after the day’s trip and had fallen asleep. Demelza had already gone inside to bunk down. The dawn light was beginning to creep up from behind the eastern horizon, but it was still dark. She could feel the patter of wetness on her face as a gentle, bitter breeze drifted through her dishevelled hair. Her eyes were full of icy water, her vision blurred as she tried to look out across the desert. She could feel flakes of soft ice touching her lips and melting, the water entering her mouth, its freshness relieving her bitter thirst. She rubbed her glassy, green eyes with her shivering hands, straining to focus on the strange sight before her. Hayley for a moment had a feeling almost like déjà vu, her breathing deepening as the spectacle before her became clear. Everything was white; a carpet of crisp snow being weaved from falling, meandering snowflakes.

  How peculiar, how beautiful, she thought. Apart from the bitter breeze, everything was silent.

  “Demelza!” Hayley croaked painfully as her dry throat cracked. “Demelza, come and take a look!” she continued as she ran inside excitedly. Demelza groaned and mumbled something incoherent, tightening the blanket around her as she lay on the floor. Hayley crouched down onto her knees, shaking her, “You have to come and look!” she said, her pale, frozen face full of savage joy. Demelza looked up. The wildness in her sister’s eyes alarmed her, stirring her from her slumber. Hayley continued to shake her like a rag doll.

  “Calm down sis, you’re scaring me,” Demelza protested, pushing her back. Hayley walked back outside, beckoning her sister to come with her. Demelza got up and followed, stumbling as she tried to walk with the blanket still wrapped around her.

  “What the fuck?” Demelza said incoherently as she yawned, then gasped, astounded by the scene before her. As far as she could see, out towards the hilly horizon, was pure and untrodden snow. Flakes of the stuff were falling and twirling in the breeze. She could see Hayley standing on the ground, looking upwards with her arms stretched out above her, spinning slowly like a ballet dancer. Demelza gave out an unconsciousness, nervous giggle as she shivered uncontrollably, whether from excitement or from the freezing conditions she did not know or care. Demelza ran back inside and grabbed a pan, running immediately back out, jumping into the snow.

  “Wow, so cold!” she cried as the snow chilled her bare feet. She packed the pan with snow and returned to the ship, Hayley soon following. She put it on the stove and heated it. Both Hayley and Demelza watched with fervour as the snow melted into water, filling their cups when it was warm enough.

  “That feels so good, “Hayley said as she eagerly took her first sip. Demelza nodded in agreement as she felt the water warm her throat, feeling her body thaw. They both looked at each other, not saying a word, shivering under their blankets but smiling with relief. Hayley suddenly sensed something and looked around. She got up and went outside.

  “You hear, that?” she said to Demelza.

  “What?”

  “That!”

  “No! It’s probably just the wind.”

  “No! Listen! Turn off the stove, come,” Hayley urgently beckoned. Demelza went outside with her sister, looking out across the frozen desert. She focused through the gusty wind, but heard nothing.

  “There again, from the hills,” Hayley whispered as she heard it again.

  Demelza heard it this time, “Yes, it sounds like people talking,” she whispered back.

  “I don’t think it is, though.”

  “No?”

  “No, it’s more like animal sounds. Maybe the snow as made them restless and lively.” They both looked to the mountains intrigued, not saying a word as they focused on the strange chatter.

  “Maybe it’s just echoes, from far, far away, channelled by the hills and snow,” Hayley said with a puzzled look.

  “I can almost hear words,” Demelza said. “I think there are people up in those peaks.”

  “Yes, I think you're right. I hear them now; sounds like many people, enjoying themselves.”

  “Indeed, like there’s a party going on!”

  “But who, bandits never come this far west?”

  “Maybe we should go up there and have a look, take the guns, and go on foot, just in case.”

  “You think they are dangerous?”

  “Just in case. We will need to leave the ship here, though. I don’t believe that it will make it through the snow, and certainly not up the hill.”

  “Of course, but let’s hide it, cover it.”

  Hayley and Demelza packed their rucksacks and covered the ship with its white sails for camouflage. They put on their boots, tied back their hair, and left the ship to head for the hills.

  As the snow began to ease and the clouds broke, they trudged through the snow, towards the hills. Soon the mountains came into clearer view, looking bright, white and majestic as they reflected the light of the full moon.

  Northward Bound

  Below them, thick dark torrents of sand raged across the plains. They swallowed everything in their path, driven by the intense heat of the Sun. The awakened air turned into vicious gales that ripped up dust, sand and dirt, stripping the plains bare until they were barren. Even the hills were consumed, their peaks covered in glittering layers of brown, orange and yellows. The torrents spread outwards, dumping their load over the cooler oceans as they became too much to handle.

  “It’s beautiful in an awful way,” Mysti said as she lifted up her shades to look down across the plains.

  “In an awful way?” Luke asked.

  “The power of it all. Makes you feel so small and helpless.”

  “It’s just sand blowing in the wind.”

  “I know, but it sucks all the life from the ground until there's no more soil or water. Nothing can grow or live down there anymore.”

  “Blame the Sun.”

  “The Sun?”

  “Yes, the Sun,” Luke repeated as he pulled his white hood over his head as if to punctuate his argument.

  “But the Sun gives life.”

  “And it also destroys.”

  “Depends where you are in the World, I guess.”

  “Since that star went supernova, I assume it’s the same situation everywhere. We are living on borrowed time.”

  “You really think so?” Mysti said sorrowfully, pulling her shades back down from her hair over her eyes.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then, I guess we are just like grains of dust, blowing in the wind.”

  “Dust, blowing in the wind?” Luke asked in a confused manner.

  “Helpless; drifting on its currents until it falls back asleep, dumping us on th
e ground with no affection for us whatsoever.

  “It gets us around,” Luke gently objected, “from place to place.”

  “From one barren hole to the next, you mean?” Luke frowned, knowing that she was right, but he was determined to look on the bright side of their situation, even if there wasn’t one.

  “Look, it gives us hope,” he said, patting her on the shoulder. “Tomorrow may be different, who knows what may happen.”

  “There have been a lot of tomorrows that have been the same. Nothing happening,” Mysti said, turning her back to her friend. “We grow thinner, and thirstier, every day.”

  “Don’t talk like that. You need to keep your chin up. Something will crop up, I promise you.” Mysti looked down into the billowing darkness. She thought of her name.

  “That darkness,” she said aloud. “That torrent of thick, sand and dust, it’s like a curse. They named me after it; Mysti.”

  Luke laughed, “You were named after the beautiful mist of the morning sea.”

  “And that mist has turned against us, into darkness.”

  “Don’t be daft. It’s a different thing.”

  “Maybe,” Mysti replied quietly, her brow creasing.

  The airship drifted briskly northwards. It was a smooth ride in comparison to what would occur in the torrents below, the sky above a brilliant, cloudless blue. Luke turned up the flames to get more hot air into the canopy, keeping them high above the chaos below.

  “You know, they say that up north the wind isn’t so strong, and the land more fertile. People have claimed even to have seen animals,” he spoke enthusiastically.

  “Animals. What animals?”

  “Animals that graze, animals you can eat.”

  “You mean there is grass too?

  “I guess so.”

  “Then why don’t people go there to farm.”

  “Too far by land, they die before they get there.”

  “Too far by air, maybe?”

  “Not if we time it right. The air is always coming from the hotter south, especially along the coast. We can ride that warm current all the way to the fertile north.

  “You think there are people already there?”

  “Maybe some, but the North got hit the worst. You know, the blast from the supernova. The gamma burst and heat vaporised everyone and everything, but the plants came back and thrived. Their seeds survived, and without man and animals to hold them back, they grew back unchecked.”

  “Really, so how come there are animals there now, then?”

  “They migrated there, from the barren south. They’re tougher than us.”

  “Smarter as well,” she said with a smile.

  “We just need to get there, and we’ll be fine.”

  “How long do you think?”

  “Not sure. Let’s say, a few more days.”

  “Let’s hope that evil wind keeps blowing then,” Mysti added, looking down at the muddy torrent below. Luke turned the gas nozzle, adding more heat into the canopy with a rapturous roar, the flames glaring off his shades.

  “I’m sure it will, girl. I’m sure it will.” Luke looked south, his hood flapping in the breeze.

  “A farm of my own sounds great!” Mysti said excitedly.

  “We could eat like kings and queens.”

  “Oh, yes; eggs for breakfast, beef for lunch, and lamb stew for supper.”

  “Oh God, my stomach is aching from the thought,” Luke said, rubbing his tummy.

  “And enough wine until we’re all messed up good and proper!”

  “With awful hangovers the next day,” Luke laughed, Mysti’s smile breaking into a giggle.

  “Here, take some water,” Luke said, throwing her a bottle. “We have a few bottles left, but we still need to be careful.” Mysti took a few gulps, its warmth unpleasant in the heat. She held her hand to her mouth, almost coughing it back up.

  “Steady on there girl, take it slowly.”

  “Oh, it’s so stale and warm.”

  “It’s all we have Mysti, just imagine it’s from the fresh, flowing streams of the North.”

  Mysti smiled, “Fresh water to drink, to bathe in, to throw in the air, and not worry about wasting it.”

  “Yes, like in the time before.” Mysti took another gulp, more careful to keep it down, this time, throwing the bottle back to Luke when she was done.

  “What do you think it was like before?” she asked seriously, watching Luke shake his head in disgust as he took a few gulps from the bottle.

  “Before the supernova burnt the sky and split the Earth?”

  “Yes, before all this mess. Do you think things were easier, people were happy?”

  “You would have thought so. Plenty of food and clean, fresh water, but you know people have a habit of finding something else to be unhappy about.”

  “Really, you think that?”

  “When you have more than you need, they say your heart begins to bleed.”

  “What are you talking about?” Mysti asked, looking intrigued at Luke's statement.

  “Well, you get greedy, I guess. When your needs are met, your desires turn to other things. Politics becomes a game, rather than a mode to survive. The more you get, the more you want. The more you have, the greater you become. Everyone wanted everything, even though they had it all anyway.”

  “I don’t understand?”

  “Well,” Luke chuckled, “you become big, fat, and obnoxious.”

  “Ah, really,” Mysti giggled, “like a big, pink pig.”

  “Yes, a big, fat pig!” Luke shouted gleefully.

  Mysti smiled wisely, “I guess we already have everything we need, inside; in our hearts and heads. We don’t need to look for anything. We are born complete. Maybe it’s good to go hungry, to feel like you’re dying from thirst, to freeze at night and burn by day, to remind us who we really are and be grateful for every moment.”

  “Were just flesh and bones, I guess?” Luke added.

  “With a little guiding spirit to steer the ship,” Mysti said with a sweet smile.”

  “Now, I’m the one lost,” Luke added, returning the smile.

  “We’re all born with a bit of wisdom to guide us out of the barren landscape and into the wealthy fertile valleys of life, I presume.”

  “You’re a smart girl, you know. You couldn’t tell just by looking at you,” Luke grinned.

  “You’re so cheeky,” Mysti laughed, running across to slap him across his side.

  “We’ll, I’m glad we’ve had this little chat. I don’t want to become a big, fat trotter, obnoxious or otherwise after we get to the green grass of the North.

  “Oh, I don’t know, a little curly tail and a muddy nose would look rather fetching on you.”

  “Oh, really now!” Luke said, returning the slap, Mysti now in fits of giggles. “Ok! Ok! Fun over! We need to get this little bird down. The Sun is descending, the wind will fall, and so will we, like a brick, and my little pink, piggy nose will break on the ground.”

  “Ok, captain piggy,” Mysti said with a smile.

  Luke turned down the flames, and the ship began descending into the failing torrent below, the sand beginning to blow into their faces, stinging their skin and scratching their dry eyes. Luke searched hard for the ground through the blowing dust and sand.

  “Get ready!” he shouted above the howling gale, turning up the flame again to slow the descent. “Brace yourself, we’re almost down. I can see the ground coming!” There was a thud, and then a series of thumps as the cage bounced across the ground, coming to a scraping stop, the canopy gently collapsing above them as Luke turned off the flame.

  Escape!

  I need to get out of here! Aveline deliberated as she lay sleepless on the bed, staring up through the grim darkness. As far away as possible from that psychoneurotic bitch, she thought. She is one deranged, crazy witch for sure! She sat up, rubbing her eyes, And the cheek of it, locking me up in here as her prisoner, making me listen to her bullshit plans. Sh
e got up, and paced up and down the room in the gloom, thinking of how to escape. She could see a slim sliver of light beam through into the darkness from the keyhole before her. She knelt down to peer through it, but most of her view was obscured by a key sitting snugly on the other side. If only it were in the lock this side of the door, she thought. Her frustration began to build as she moved her head down to the ground, straining to see through the gap beneath the door. There was some light on the other side, revealing a path, but it faded into the darkness without any clue as to where she was. She stood back up quickly, a rush of blood momentarily blacking out her vision. Could it be possible? I need a bolt, a screwdriver, or something? She frantically pulled at her hair, thinking about a solution that would get her out of this mess. My belt! She quickly unfastened her belt, dragged it through the loopholes of her jeans, and felt the pin in its buckle. Should do it! She took a deep breath and knelt back down, carefully inserting the pin of the buckle into the keyhole. Her thumb gently pushed the pin against the key. “Come on my little beauty,” she whispered. Nothing. The key didn’t budge. She pushed a little harder, feeling the edge of the buckle dig into her skin. Gently does it, slowly and smoothly. She held her breath, but still nothing. For fuck’s sake! she screamed in her head. The key just wouldn’t budge. She exhaled with a sigh and reinserted the pin, gently tapping her thumb with her fist. There was a clunk. She peered through the keyhole to see it dangle on the opposite side.

  “Yes!” she whispered. In went the pin again and she gently levered the key out of the lock until it finally fell free. It hit the stone floor with a dull clunk. Aveline could hear her heartbeat thump in her head as she laid down to look through the gap under the door. There it was, a rusty looking key, just inches away from her fingertips.

  They say it’s a long road to freedom, so why does it appear so close? She stared a while, just lying there in the darkness, looking at the key right in front of her with one eye peering through the gap, her cheek resting on the cold floor. Aveline held her breath as she heard footsteps approach, then chatter.