Dustborn

by T. W. Piperbrook

  “Prepare to throw!” yelled Louie, his voice echoing off the cave walls.

  In unison, the thirty men reared back their weapons.

  “Set, aim…release!”

  The sweaty Watchers flung their spears.

  Thirty long, sharp weapons arced through the air, headed toward the targets. Most found their mark, penetrating the dirty cloth and cutting to the sand beneath. Only a few fell to the ground before their mark, landing on the rock floor with a clang. The throwers looked from their spears to Louie, awaiting his feedback.

  “Good!” Louie said decidedly.

  While his comrades walked over to retrieve their spears, Louie walked over to where Bryan stood.

  “Their skills are sharp,” Louie said, with a firm nod.

  “They are experienced, as we know,” Bryan said, watching the men return to their positions. Looking behind him at the mouth of the cave, he asked, “How have the Center Cavers been doing?”

  “Better than I expected,” Louie said. “Of the hundred and ten men and women that Ed brought us, many have innate ability. They aren’t as talented as our Watchers, of course, but they can hold and throw their spears.”

  “Good,” Bryan said. “And we have most of the Center Cave in our ranks?”

  “All except the elderly, some women, and the children. I will continue training them, so they can be prepared for the monster, or anything else we need,” Louie confirmed.

  Bryan nodded confidently. Having so many people at his disposal was a boon. Together, they watched the men wield their spears and aim.

  “Have heard anything from the scouts you sent out to the ground to check for the monster?” Louie asked.

  “Nothing yet,” Bryan said, “thought we’ve had a few groups moving around covertly, doing their best to keep out of sight of the Right Cavers. They’re checking the desert and reporting to me regularly.”

  “Perhaps soon, they will have an update,” Louie suggested.

  “The Abomination is still around,” Bryan said, firmly. “I know it. And as soon as we have evidence of it, we will face it.”

  They turned their attention back to the drilling Watchers, who flung their spears at the targets. A voice echoed from down the tunnel behind him, calling Bryan.

  He turned, catching sight of a familiar person carrying a torch.

  “Keep practicing,” Bryan instructed Louie. “I’ll catch up.”

  Louie nodded, heading back to the others, while Bryan headed to meet the person farther down the tunnel. Excitement lit Sherry’s face when she saw him.

  “I have news,” she said, her eyes flickering with intensity.

  “What is it?” Bryan asked.

  “This morning, we encountered Neena and some others at the spring,” Sherry said, dragging a hand across her sooty mouth.

  “What happened?” Bryan asked, surprised.

  “We sent them away without their water.” Sherry’s eyes were wild and enthused. “They tried resisting, but we fought them.”

  “You did?”

  Sherry told of the warnings she and the Center Cavers had issued to Neena and her people, how some of Neena’s people pushed back, and how they’d skirmished. She concluded with how she’d clawed and tore at one of the Right Cavers. Sherry’s eyes grew wild as she spoke of the knife she’d pulled.

  “I wanted to use it,” Sherry said, clenching and unclenching her hands.

  “But you have a child coming,” Bryan said with a frown.

  “The child is fine,” Sherry affirmed.

  “Still, you should be careful.” Bryan raised his chin and looked at her.

  The last thing he wanted was for her to hurt her unborn baby. Still, he couldn’t deny the feeling of power that overcame him as he listened to her report. Standing in the dark cave, he felt like Thorne. No. That wasn’t right.

  He was Thorne.

  “Did any of my Center Cavers waver?” he asked, unable to refrain from another question.

  “No.” Sherry’s smile was wide as she looked at him. “They all backed up Ed and me.”

  Bryan nodded, smiling back. “They stayed true.”

  “None of them questioned us, or you.” Sherry looked up at him. “It is because of your leadership that we will regain our colony. It is because of your courage that we stay strong.”

  Farther down the tunnel, around the bend and in the chamber, Louie’s voice echoed, as he continued drilling. Sherry tugged a lock of dirty-blonde hair behind her ear. Standing together with her, listening to the thud of the spears in their targets, Bryan felt as if he were a younger man, practicing for his duties. He felt a nostalgic freedom that extended far beyond these cave walls.

  Sherry’s eyes were equally nostalgic.

  He took a step toward Sherry, and Sherry stepped, too.

  All at once, their torches were on the ground and their hands were on each other. Sherry’s fingers were wild and feral as she pawed at his arms, pressed her lips against his, and pushed him back against the cave wall. Bryan flinched as her mouth moved to his neck, his chest, and his lower body, pleasing him, hurting him.

  The story of the skirmish had sparked something in both of them that neither could deny. Or maybe it was the loss of Gary—Sherry’s husband, and Bryan’s best friend—that created a hole they both needed to fill.

  Grief had turned to lust.

  Feeling the scratch of her nails, Bryan positioned her so her back was against the wall, ripped her clothes away, and took her.

  A strange, pleased laugh escaped Sherry’s mouth, as she tilted her head back and moaned. For a moment, he wondered whether Sherry had lost her sense.

  But if she had, he had, too.

  It wasn’t insanity.

  It was victory.

  Chapter 50: Bryan

  “Raj!” Bryan said. A smile took over his face as he watched the boy enter the drilling chamber the next night with Louie, bearing the object. “You made it!”

  Raj’s face was pensive, but excited, as he brought the object over. A long day of teaching the Center Cavers had tired Bryan out, but seeing the object in Raj’s hands gave him a new dose of strength.

  “Let’s give this another try.”

  Bryan received the object from Raj. A day away from the object had given him some new guesses. Putting his fingers in some of the grooves, he touched each of them while holding what he thought was the object’s handle, waving it back and forth. The more time they spent with the object, the more comfortable Bryan became with it.

  Still, he had no luck in making it work.

  After half a night without any results, Bryan looked over at Raj.

  “I’m sorry, but I just don’t see us making any progress,” Bryan admitted. “Perhaps it is time we reported back to Gideon.”

  Chapter 51: Raj

  Raj tried pushing away his disappointment. Gideon would know how to get the object working. Surely, if anyone had an idea, it would be a wise leader like him.

  He let that hope propel him as they returned to Gideon’s cove, circling around the battered leader’s bedside. Raj’s eyes roamed around the cove, landing on a bag filled with dried meats and herbs that the healer had started preparing. It looked as if the healer was in the middle of portioning the food before he was interrupted, and left.

  “Do you have news?” Gideon asked, when they were alone.

  His eye wandered between Bryan, Louie, and Raj.

  “Unfortunately not,” Bryan said. With a heavy sigh, he reiterated the trials they’d performed, and the ways he’d thought to use the object. “Nothing has panned out.”

  “Can I see it?” Gideon asked, reaching out again.

  Raj gently placed the object in his lap. Gideon’s hands wandered over it for a long while. Again, his eye wandere
d to the ceiling. Raj waited for the revelation that would bring his old object to life. He waited for an idea that would turn wasted efforts into a victory.

  A sigh escaped Gideon’s dry lips. “There is no doubt that the object is wondrous. Anyone can see that. But perhaps we are wasting our time.”

  Raj’s face darkened. “What do you mean?”

  “Too many times, I stared at the centerpiece in the Comm Building, wondering whether we might have some revelation about its use. But after so many years, nothing has surfaced. If not for the generations of men who circled around that piece of metal, taking inspiration from it, I might’ve melted it down years ago.”

  Raj had heard of the centerpiece. Almost all the kids in Red Rock had whispered about it, though he had never seen it himself.

  “My point is this,” Gideon said. “Sometimes the prettiest things are also the most unimpressive.”

  A small, growing pit settled in Raj’s stomach.

  “It is possible this object will serve a purpose in the future, but for now, it is about as important as any other piece of old metal. In a pragmatic way, some might argue that it would be better off melted down. At least then, we could make new knives and tips for our spears. Perhaps your object could serve a better purpose.” Gideon shrugged. “Of course, we would ask your permission before we did something like that.”

  Gone was Gideon’s look of child-like wonder. In its place was decisiveness.

  Raj slowly backed away with his object. Melted down? All at once, he wanted to run from the cave. He wanted to take back a stupid, silly idea and disappear.

  They couldn’t melt down his object, could they?

  It was his object, not theirs.

  At the same time, they spoke his deepest fears. What if the object was an old, dusted relic, just like Gideon said? What if it would do more good in topping a dozen spears, or making as many blades?

  Without the object, he’d be back where he began: a young, disrespected boy, with no clout, and certainly no more private, important meetings.

  He wanted the feeling back from before.

  He wanted to be important.

  Like Bryan.

  Like Louie.

  Like Gideon.

  Nausea overcame him as he thought of returning to Adriana as the same, pathetic boy who had run from her days ago.

  He couldn’t do that. He wouldn’t.

  “Wait!” Raj said, regaining the attention of the three men in the room. “I have an idea.”

  Gideon, Bryan, and Louie turned, listening.

  “It does seem as if we are wasting our time. But what if we could take it to someone who has a better chance at figuring it out? Someone who has experience with this sort of thing?” Raj looked from one to the other. “I think I might know someone who will help us look at the object. Someone who can figure out if it will work again.”

  “Who?” Bryan asked.

  “Darius.” Raj awaited their reaction.

  “Darius? The old man from your cave?” Gideon looked from Bryan to Louie, an unreadable expression on his face. “He will not help us.”

  Raj opened and closed his mouth. He wasn’t stupid. He knew the differences between their caves would surely prevent them from working together. But there must be another way.

  “If anyone can decipher what the object does, it is Darius,” Raj continued. “He has fixed tools that no one thought would work again. He has repaired spears that seemed as if they would never fly. Let me tell him. If Darius can fix the object, you will be the first to know. I’ll come back and tell you what he says. I swear.”

  “He will tell the others in the cave, and that will mean the end of us working together,” Gideon said, watching Raj carefully.

  Raj thought about that. He knew Darius and Neena were close. It would be hard for him to keep a secret from her. But maybe there was a way around that. “Regardless of who finds out, I will make sure Darius is the one who works on it, and I will keep you posted on his progress. If the object turns out to be worthwhile, I will sneak the information—and the object—back to you.”

  Gideon looked between Bryan and Louie.

  “I will keep our relationship secret,” Raj promised. “Just give me a chance to prove it to you.”

  Looking in the men’s eyes, he saw the same hesitation that Neena, Kai, and Darius gave him. But he couldn’t let it end. Not like this.

  Putting on the most convincing tone he could muster, Raj said, “When I came to you, it was for a reason. My sister doesn’t believe in me. She won’t even allow me to go outside on the cliffs without supervision. Why do you think I offered to show you the object, when she has not seen it? Why do you think I am here?” Looking over at Bryan, he made an embarrassing admission. “When you saw me on the ledges, it wasn’t because I was guarding. I snuck out. That’s the only reason we came across each other.”

  Silence came over the room. Clearly, they couldn’t deny the truth in what he said.

  “I won’t enlist Darius’s help unless you want me to.” Filling the silence with a last plea, Raj said, “But please, let me try and help you. Give me a chance.”

  He waited for the people in the room to shut him out, like everyone always did.

  Surprise hit him when he heard a different answer.

  “Okay,” said Gideon. “See what you can do. And report back to us.”

  Chapter 52: Raj

  Raj’s heart pounded with anticipation as he chewed his dried rat. For most of his breakfast, he’d tried telling Darius his secret, but every time he opened his mouth, it seemed Samel was hovering around him. Even when he could avoid Samel, Neena and Kai were there, conferring with Darius about an upcoming water trip, or the distribution of rations. It sounded as if Neena and Kai were going separately to the spring, meaning someone would always be left behind with Darius.

  It seemed it would take a strike of lightning to separate them.

  Frustrations.

  After several failed attempts, Raj came to the same conclusion he had reached in Gideon’s cove: even if he told Darius to keep a secret, the old man would entrust Neena or Kai. But perhaps that was okay. He’d tell all three of them. All he needed was for Darius to work on the object, so that Raj could find out what it did, and bring the information back to Gideon, just like he offered.

  Only one other snag existed.

  Adriana.

  Raj hesitated.

  In his excitement to impress Bryan and Gideon, he’d forgotten the object was once their secret together. Raj looked across the cave, where she sat cross-legged. He ran his fingers through his hair. Adriana had once agreed that he should tell Neena, Kai, and Darius. And that’s what he was going to do.

  So why did he feel guilty about it?

  The answer wasn’t hard to deduce.

  She knew nothing about his deal with Bryan and Gideon.

  She couldn’t.

  But maybe that was okay.

  At some point soon, Raj would be a hero—not just of the Right Cave, but also of all three caves. And then Adriana would feel more strongly about him that she ever had.

  When I’m a hero, I’ll tell her everything, Raj thought.

  “Darius?” Raj asked, waiting until the old man slowed down and turned before he spoke again.

  “What is it?” Darius’s smile cut through his wrinkles.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Your sister and Kai are speaking with the guard about our rationing,” Darius said, motioning to the rear of the tunnel, where Neena and Kai had gotten ahead of him. “I was going to join them.”

  “Can I come?” Raj asked.

  Darius looked back and forth from Neena and Kai to Raj.

  Before Darius could reject his offer, Raj said, “I have something impor
tant to tell all three of you.”

  Something you should’ve listened to before, Raj thought resentfully, but he didn’t say that.

  Darius hesitated, before saying, “Come on. Let’s go.”

  Neena, Kai, and Darius stood in the center of the tunnel, watching Raj.

  “What was it you wanted to show us, Raj?” Neena asked.

  Confusion crossed her face as Raj pointed at the small crevice in the side of the tunnel.

  “What’s in there?”

  “Something I found,” Raj said.

  “What?” Neena furrowed her brow.

  “A few days ago, when Samel and I explored, I came across something incredible,” Raj said. “I came back for it. It’s something you’ll never believe.”

  Neena started to react, before he interrupted.

  “It’ll be easier if I show you. Let me get it, and I’ll be right back.”

  Before anyone could stop him, Raj slid underneath the crevice, ignoring the protests of the three people behind him. He made quick progress with his torch, worming his way to where he kept the object, and eventually back to where his sister, Kai, and Darius called for him.

  “Raj! Where did you go? It’s not safe to—”

  Neena stopped mid-sentence as she saw the object in Raj’s hands. Crawling the rest of the way from the passage, he dusted the device off and held it up for them to see. Their expressions changed from concern to wonder.

  “By the heavens,” Neena exclaimed, taking a step back. “What is that?”

  “I’m not sure. It was hidden inside the crevice,” Raj said proudly. “I found it.”

  Darius shuffled forward, reaching out a wrinkled hand and touching it. “Remarkable.”

  Raj looked from one of them to the other, savoring their looks of awe. Once again, he felt the same sense of importance as he felt when showing Bryan, or Gideon, or even Adriana.