The Azureans

by R Gene Curtis

  Somrusee squeezes my hand, which is sweaty now. I give her an embarrassed smile and try to pull my hand away.

  “I’m here with you.” Her voice is soft, but her grip tight.

  If she stays with me, I will have to protect her. Running away is harder with two people.

  “No,” I try to pull my hand away again.

  She holds tight, and there is fire in her eyes. You can’t tell me no, they say. I’ve risked my life for you before, and I’m going to do it again and again before this is over or I’m dead.

  Okay, she’s coming with me.

  It isn’t hard to find Arujan’s house. It’s the big, new house that’s surrounded by guards. The house has an upstairs, and is large enough to potentially have several rooms. The guards look like they’re supposed to be hiding in the bushes, but they do a poor job concealing themselves. We walk past at least ten men on our way to the door. No one stops us.

  I take a deep breath, think of the lessons Buen taught me, and kick the door in.

  Nothing is waiting behind the door. I grab Somrusee’s hand and pull her inside. A knife flies in from behind us, rippling as it sinks three inches into the wall. I jump to the side as a man runs in behind us. I put a knife in his back, and his body makes a thud as it hits the ground. We jump over him and start running through the house.

  Somrusee’s face is calm, and she stays with me. She has also seen enough death not to be shocked by a falling corpse.

  The rooms blur as we run past them. One. Two. Three, and four. All empty, doors ajar. Just one left—it’s at the end of the hallway and its door is closed. I don’t slow as I let my momentum slam into the door, twisting the doorknob as it swings open into the room. I slam it shut behind me, hoping to avoid a crowded room.

  We found him. Arujan stands over a woman who is prostrate on a floor that is covered in blood. She’s sobbing. Still alive. Memories of Cadah paralyze me.

  “Who in Wynn’s name…” Arujan’s squeaky voice cuts off when he sees me.

  The room is mostly empty aside from a table and a door at the back of the room. We’ll have to hope that the guards are incompetent enough to leave that door unguarded.

  “You haven’t given up your habit of killing helpless girls.” I take a step toward Arujan. Somrusee stays by the door.

  Arujan sneers. “I don’t have a za’an.”

  His words hit harder than a blow from the stick in his hand would have. “She’s here of her own free will,” I tell him, grimacing at the lie. I forced her to leave Wynn’s castle, and she cannot stay in the mountains without me.

  “So is she,” Arujan beckons to the woman on floor. “She was assigned to kill your other friends. But she failed.”

  The woman moans.

  And then I realize what Arujan said to me. He knows about za’an.

  He knows I’m a Man of Wynn.

  He knows Wynn will kill everyone if they leave the mountains.

  “You’re a fool for coming here, Karu.” That squeaky voice. It’s the voice from the hallway I heard on the day Wynn called for Buen. It sounded familiar then. It was Arujan.

  “You’re the fool,” I say. “You’re working for Wynn.”

  Someone bangs against the door. Somrusee propped a chair against it, and it holds—for now.

  Arujan laughs. “Of course I’m working for Wynn, you fool. Do you think I would stand by and let men like you have all the fun?” He eyes Somrusee, and I want to grab his stick and shove it down his throat.

  “How are you here? It has something to do with Buen.”

  Arujan’s smile fades. “Yes. And now Buen is dead. Don’t worry, Karu. You’ll be dead in the next few minutes, so you won’t have to see all your friends die. Because they all will. Everyone will be dead by the end of summer.”

  I thought I came to talk to a deranged man who didn’t understand that he was telling thousands of people to commit suicide. Instead, I’ve found one of Wynn’s puppets.

  I should kill him. I draw my knife.

  Somrusee lets out a yelp as something hits the door again. It isn’t going to hold much longer. I don’t have time to fight Arujan if I want to get out of here alive.

  He’s not worth it.

  “Run!” I shout and point at the back door. Somrusee hesitates a minute and then runs. I stay by Arujan until she is past, and then I follow. Without a weapon, Arujan makes no movement to follow us. As I hoped, Arujan’s guards are too stupid to be guarding the back door. We run out of the house and sprint to the woods. Shouts sound behind us, but I don’t look back.

  And now knives fly around us. If Lydia hadn’t taken the stud out of Somrusee’s foot we’d both be dead right now. I pump my arms and push hard, grateful for the hours I spent running with Buen. I look at Somrusee, who is starting to slow now. I slow to stay with her, trying to ignore the knives that get closer and closer to us as we run.

  We’re almost to the forest when a knife hits my left shoulder. I feel the impact and then a second later, the pain. The signals from the nerves pull my concentration, and I stumble, only to have another knife lodge itself into my calf. I try to move my leg, but the muscle is torn and won’t move. I fall face-first into a large sticker bush and try to convince myself that if I don’t manage to defeat this pain, I will die.

  Somrusee jumps onto the ground beside me.

  “Run!” I scream.

  But she doesn’t run. She climbs under me and pushes me up, balancing my weight on her shoulders. My head spins and the shouts are getting closer. We stumble forward and then Somrusee lets me fall into a small thicket. I pull my legs in as she jumps in on top of me. I bite my tongue to keep from crying out with the pain of moving my leg and having Somrusee land on my shoulder. Seconds later, men rush by us.

  As soon as the men have passed, Somrusee stands and rips her tights and ties strips of cloth around my wounds. I grimace and wish that pain cleared my head instead of making me delirious.

  We hear a rustle, and then I make out a large man as he steps up next to the thicket. He’s more careful than the others; he doesn’t rush by, and he doesn’t miss us. With my good hand, I manage to grab a small, discarded tree branch. The man pulls a knife and throws it at me as I lift the branch. I yank the branch to the side, and it smacks the knife away.

  It also loosens the bandage on my shoulder. The pain reignites, and warm blood spurts out of the wound and starts running down my back. I close my eyes, gasping as the pain overwhelms me.

  The man laughs and pulls another knife from his coat, but he doesn’t throw this one. He’s big, and I’m wounded. He intends to kill me.

  I drop the stick and grab the knife from the ground. I push myself into a sitting position and nearly faint from the pain. I fall against the bush and steady myself before I fall over.

  The man rushes forward, and his arm with the knife is raised. I watch him come, certain I am about to die. He doesn’t reach me, though. Just as I decide that I don’t have enough strength to fight back, I hear a loud crack. The man stumbles, and then he falls. Somrusee stands behind him with a large stick in her hands. She takes the knife from me and finishes the man off. I close my eyes and fill my lungs with air.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  Somrusee doesn’t say anything, but she tightens the bandage on my shoulder. I manage to stand up, and I’m even able to walk until we find a better hiding place under a hollow oak tree. That’s where we stay, barely breathing as the day passes by.

  Occasionally we hear movement around us, but we’re not found again. Eventually, dusk comes, and we start back to the cave, concealed by the darkness of the night.

  I’m so weak from the pain and loss of blood that I lean heavily on Somrusee each step of the journey. The pain in my calf gets more intense with each step. Blood from the wound runs down my leg and onto my feet.

  “This isn’t going to work,” I say at one point, but Somrusee doesn’t respond. She keeps pushing. I limp, I groan, I grind my teeth, and I keep pushing, too. The Bataa
n Death march. The trail of tears. Others have done this before. It’s not fun.

  After hours of torture, I’m sure I’m about to fall over dead. But, I don’t. It’s close to dawn and I can see the cave, lit by the early morning light and a full moon. I stop and lean against a tree to catch my breath.

  “Somrusee.” My voice is more like a pant. “Thank you. You saved my life today.”

  She stands silently by my side, where she’s been all day. Her eyes are illuminated by the moon, her dark hair frames her face. She’s a pretty girl, this friend of mine. I’ve saved her life, and she’s saved mine. I’m alive, and we’re back.

  Somrusee leans her head back and steps up to me. Her eyes sparkle with moonlight. My eyes focus on her lips. They aren’t as full as Lydia’s lips, but they’re inviting. I put my hand in her hair to hold her head, and she closes her eyes as she puts her arms around my neck. Her lips are soft and warm, and in her embrace, I forget about my pain, if only for a second.

  I kiss her back. It’s a way to say thank you. She’s my friend, and I trust her. I can see excitement in her eyes as she pulls away. I don’t know if I feel the same way. I like her, and I like kissing her. Do I love her? Could I love her?

  “Go find the others. Maybe Lydia can help me.”

  She nods and runs to the cave.

  I watch her go. Andrea used to look like that after we kissed. That was before she hurt me, and before I abandoned her.

  The difference was that I knew I felt the same way about her.

  22 Infected

  Lydia

  I pull my legs to my chest and watch the moon rise over the large peak in front of me. The pine trees at the top look small, silhouetted against the moon hundreds of feet above me.

  I’ve been out here a long time. The hours have ticked by, and the temperature has dropped. Still no sign of them.

  Karl was stupid to go. It isn’t my fault he ran off. Not this time. He made his own choice. Last time he was captured, I was sure he was dead, but he wasn’t. But I’m not going to blame myself for his death this time.

  Who are we? Karl and I. We think we can change this huge world that we barely understand. If those tall trees at the top of the cliff are small, then what am I? A drop in the ocean? A taxi driver in New York City? How can I make a difference to millions of people? How can Karl?

  The cool air presses on me, and I hug my knees tighter. I really hope Karl is okay. The empty trail that leads to Watch is dark and foreboding. I imagine Karl walking up the trail. I run to him, and he smiles his crooked smile. His face is unworried. Calm. Not at all like how I feel right now. I sigh and turn my attention back to the moon and the trees.

  Another hour ticks by. Or two. Finally, I hear crunching footsteps. Two figures approach, barely illuminated in the moonlight. I straighten my legs and stand up. They’re okay!

  But I don’t run to them and Karl doesn’t smile his crooked smile. Instead, Karl leans against a tree and puts his hands on Somrusee’s hips. She wraps her arms around his neck. Oh.

  Feeling inexplicably lonely, I sit back down and reconsider the moon, which starts swimming. Tears. Why am I crying? I’m glad he’s back. I’m glad he’s alive.

  Karl sees only Somrusee. Still, I let myself get too worked up over an afternoon. We worked together and everything felt natural, but what felt like something to me was just an afternoon for Karl. We were solving problems, figuring out hemazury. Maybe that’s all it was to Karl. That’s probably all it was to him. Even though he had me feel those feelings, that doesn’t mean they were for me.

  I’ve been alive long enough to know I’m invisible. I’m not attractive. I’m just a small dot next to a cave in a large, unforgiving world. My future will be made up of many more nights like this one—outside admiring nature. Alone.

  So, why do I let myself hope? Get caught up in things? I don’t look back at Karl. He’ll come when he’s ready.

  Someone starts running, and I hurry to wipe the tears off my face.

  “Lydia!” It’s Somrusee. I don’t want to talk to her right now. I just want to go to bed and not think about her or Karl or Wynn or Togan or anything.

  “Lydia!” she repeats, and she’s close enough to touch me now. She nudges me like she thinks I’m asleep. Worry impedes my thoughts at her touch, momentary relief from the discouragement I feel.

  “You made it!” I stand up and force a smile.

  “Karu’s hurt.”

  I stare at Somrusee blankly. Hurt? I saw what they were doing in the woods, and it didn’t have hurt written on it. I don’t move—I just stare blankly over at Karl, who is still leaning against the tree. Suddenly, he staggers forward and slumps to the ground.

  Somrusee was telling the truth.

  I run down the bumpy trail and fall to my knees beside him. It’s dark and I can’t see much.

  “What happened?” I ask.

  “Just a flesh wound,” Karl says in English. Then he grins and the moon catches his face just right. He spoke in English, and the joke was just for me. The smile, the way our eyes meet, it makes butterflies in my stomach. How dare he do that to me when he was just making out with Somrusee?

  Cautiously, I put my hand on his arm. Despite his joking words, the only thing I feel is pain, discouragement, and fatigue.

  “Let me fix you up,” I say—not in English so Somrusee can understand. If he’s with her, I don’t want to get in the way.

  He nods and closes his eyes.

  I rub my hands in the dirt and let it take my consciousness. I go to his shoulder first. The wound is bad, and it’s not fresh. The tissue around the original wound is badly torn as well. Given the extent of the damage, it takes me a long time to pull the strong muscles back together and to patch the smooth skin.

  Things aren’t any better when I move to a wound in his calf. This one is badly infected, and I struggle to figure out how to get all the bacteria out. I end up causing a lot of bleeding, but when I finish and patch the wound, it looks much better.

  Karl’s muscles are more shaped than anyone else’s body I have worked with before. Once his calf is healed, I can’t resist spending a little more time with Karl. I shouldn’t do it, and I bet I’m blushing in the moonlight, but I explore the rest of his body, fixing a few minor scrapes and bruises along the way. I see his body in a way girls on earth could only dream of.

  I return to consciousness, confused and exhausted.

  Karl is sitting now, and our eyes meet. He smiles at me. He always had a nice smile, even before his reformation. My face gets warm, but I don’t look away. Despite the dim light, his eyes glow bright. I could drown in that smile.

  “Much better,” he says. “Thanks.”

  I smile back, and it seems momentarily that the rest of the world has disappeared. And then I come back to reality and see Somrusee, who has returned with the rest of the gang.

  “Tell us what happened,” Tran says.

  Karl’s smile fades as he turns to Tran. “Arujan is working for Wynn,” he says seriously.

  “What!?” Tran exclaims.

  “That’s what he said. And I can confirm that I heard Arujan’s voice in Wynn’s castle.”

  “You’re lucky to be alive,” Ler says. “Those were solid hits from their knives. Somrusee saved your life.”

  Somrusee smiles shyly and looks down at the ground.

  “And you tracked blood all the way here, no doubt,” Tran’s voice is rising with worry.

  “We didn’t leave a blood trail,” Somrusee says quietly. “Karu was hit badly, but we didn’t lose all sense.”

  Tran starts yelling about how stupid they were, Karl starts talking over him, and Somrusee glares at both of them.

  “Everyone calm down!” Dynd shouts, and the yelling stops. “We’re all friends here, remember? My last question is why you thought Arujan knew Wynn in the first place, and then we’ll go back to sleep and talk about this tomorrow.”

  Dynd’s jaw is set and his face has a “don’t mess with me” au
ra. He can put a meeting back on track when things go awry, and he always does. I’m not that kind of leader—whenever anything goes off track, I get distracted with everyone else. I’m not sure whether I’m grateful or jealous.

  “Arujan knew I was a Man of Wynn,” Karl says. “And that Somrusee was a za’an. I recognized his voice. I think Wynn has been using the blood of my trainer, who is also Sapphiri, to get Arujan past the border into the mountains. Since Buen sacrificed his life to help Somrusee and I escape, this is Arujan’s last season in the mountains. He has to get everything done before he runs out of time.”

  “Everything done?” Tran asks.

  “Get everyone out of the mountains,” I say. “Clear them out so the border breaks down giving Wynn free reign and passage.”

  “So many people believe his disinformation,” Tran says, quietly this time. “Arujan is very convincing. Many people now accept the legends of Wynn as a farce meant to keep them here. That’s why they killed Ziru.”

  “And soon Wynn will kill them all,” Karl says.

  No one else speaks. We all knew our situation was precarious, but we hadn’t realized Arujan was tied up with Wynn.

  “We have to fight him,” Dynd says. “We need to get Arujan out of these mountains.”

  But that doesn’t sound right to me. Fighting Arujan only delays us fighting our real enemy.

  “We need to fight Wynn,” I say, and I’m surprised by the confidence in my voice. The words sound true, so I repeat them. “Fighting our problems up here is futile until we take out Wynn. If we kill Arujan, we’ll just have to stop Wynn’s next attempt at getting up here, and then the next one, and the one after that.”

  Karl raises an eyebrow. “You have a point, Lydia, but take out Wynn? I know you’re powerful, and the way you just saved my life was amazing. But, how are you going to kill Wynn? He’s studied hemazury his entire life. We don’t stand a chance.”