Dustborn Page 15

  Likewise, the talk with Bryan swirled in his thoughts.

  For the first time, he felt validation. He had felt as if he were worthy of someone’s respect. Bryan hadn’t questioned his presence on the ledge. In fact, Bryan had treated him even better than Salvador or Robert. He had almost treated him like one of The Watchers.

  More of Bryan’s conversation came back to him, like a dream returning in fragments.

  “One day soon, we’ll kill the monster. We’ll return to Red Rock.”

  Could that be true?

  Raj tossed and turned, trying to work through his sleeplessness, but his thoughts wouldn’t let him. He thought of Neena, and the way she treated him. He thought of Bryan.

  More importantly, he thought of Adriana.

  After a long deliberation, he rose from his bedroll and made his way across the cave. The shadows seemed like they had waited for him since the last time he waded through them. He had learned them intimately. Too much of the night was already spent thinking and wasting time. He walked heel to toe, afraid that he was pushing his luck, until he made it past the guard.

  He continued down the tunnel for a way, before lighting the torch he’d brought.

  Raj held his breath as he traveled the same path along which he had taken Adriana. Passing the crevice, he looked at it only briefly, before continuing past the object.

  Raj was surprised, but probably shouldn’t have been, to find Louie and another Watcher leaning against the wall past the bend in the tunnel, in the same place where he’d first seen them.

  Mustering up his courage, Raj approached the chatting men, his heart beating furiously. “I have something to show Bryan.”

  Chapter 42: Sherry

  Sherry sat alone in her bedroll. All around her in the Left Cave, people chatted, played with their children, or sharpened their spears. Some gathered in groups, consorting with some new comrades from the Center Cave.

  For the past few days, grief had drenched her, like the wide, inexorable flow of Red Rock’s river.

  But there was hope in there, too.

  Hope that Gary’s death might mean something.

  The ceremony for his passing had made her feel alive again. Vindicated. And so had speaking her mind to Darius, Neena, and Kai. That felt liberating.

  Reaching beside her, she unsheathed a small, sharp blade and turned it in her hand, examining the gleam of torch light off of its surface.

  The knife was a small gift from Gary. She recalled the day her dead husband had given it to her, after a long day on the cliffs. He’d traded one of his old spear tips to a gullible tradesman, convincing the man to part with the blade. That was a few months before Gary and Sherry had decided to start a life together.

  Before they had gotten married, and he’d gotten her pregnant.

  Sherry pulled up one of her sleeves, examining the old scars that resided on her arm. Each sideways mark reminded her of the moment she’d carved it. Those marks were from a weaker time, when she had trouble regulating her emotions. Before she had met her husband. Gary had been the mud that glued the wall of her life together. He was the one person who listened to her, no matter how scattered her thoughts became.

  And now Gary was gone, and her mind threatened to spiral out of control. Without thinking, she moved the knife tip toward her scarred arm.

  No!

  She couldn’t let her convoluted thoughts win.

  Not again.

  She’d regain control, by making the people who had killed her husband pay.

  She’d do whatever it took to get justice from Neena, Kai, and Darius.

  Biting her lip, Sherry looked around the room, at The Watchers and people in the Left Cave, and some representatives from the Center Cave—her new allies.

  She rolled down her sleeve and forced herself to replace her knife in its sheath. Her hands roamed to her stomach.

  One day soon, we will have a better life, she told the baby. One day soon…

  Chapter 43: Bryan

  “Bryan?” Gideon blinked his eye, broken from his slumber.

  Bryan’s eyes wandered among the flasks, roots, and herbs that surrounded his leader’s bedside. Elsewhere in the cave, Jameson prepared Gideon’s breakfast.

  “We have news,” Bryan told him.

  Gideon looked between Bryan and Louie, both of whom stood by his bedside. “What happened?”

  “A turn that we didn’t expect.”

  Gideon pulled himself as far upright as he could, groaning at his body’s aches. His mouth twisted in frustration. Through his pain, he listened.

  “Last night, one of the Right Cavers came to us in secret,” Bryan reported. “He confided in us.”

  “Who?” Gideon asked.

  Bryan looked at Louie, and back at Gideon. “Neena’s brother, Raj.”

  “Raj?” Gideon grew fully alert.

  Without preamble, Bryan explained the interaction he’d had with the boy on the ledge, while chasing the wolf, as well as the interaction a few days earlier in the caves. “He approached Louie just before daybreak in the tunnels. He said he has something to show me tonight, when he can sneak out again.”

  “What is it?”

  “We don’t know, but he obviously thinks it’s important,” Louie said.

  “He trusts you,” Gideon asked—a question, disguised in a statement.

  “Yes.” Bryan smiled.

  “I remember that boy.” Something sparked in Gideon’s eye. “I spoke to Neena about him, when I agreed to let her go. She was worried about him. He was sick, then.”

  “He has since recovered,” Bryan said. “But I don’t think he likes his sister very much.”

  “How do you know?”

  “A few nights ago, we found him wandering in the tunnels with a girl. They snuck away together. When I asked if Neena knew where he was, I heard disdain in his voice,” Bryan said. “Rather than threatening him, or turning him in, I thought it might be better to gain his trust.” Bryan smiled. “I had no idea it would pay off in this way, or this quickly.”

  Gideon’s lips curled into a smile. “Where one leads, others will follow.” The spark in his eye brightened. “You were wise to handle it that way. When Raj comes to see you, bring him here. I would like to see what he has to offer.”

  “Will do, sir.”

  Chapter 44: Raj

  “This way,” Louie said, beckoning Raj down the tunnel, under the cover of a new night.

  Raj’s heart beat faster as he looked down at the strange, metal object in his hands. Not for the first time, he questioned his decision to reveal his object to Bryan. But it was too late for regrets. He was going to make something of himself.

  Finally.

  He kept a careful eye on The Watcher he followed. It seemed that ever since he had shown up to meet him, Louie couldn’t stop looking at Raj’s device.

  Swallowing through his fear, Raj asked, “Where are we going?”

  “Where do you think? To meet Bryan,” Louie grunted.

  A thought struck him. If the large man wanted to take the object, what would stop him? Clutching it tighter, he reminded himself that he trusted Bryan—or at least, he thought he did. Still, he needed to be careful. He hung back a few steps—enough that he could run and get away, if things went poorly.

  Raj continued down the tunnel, following Louie through several more turns. It felt like they were headed north within the cliffs, but he couldn’t be certain. Neena would never allow him this far, that was for sure.

  That thought rekindled his anger.

  Forget Neena.

  He was going to earn his respect another way.

  “Don’t worry. We’re almost there,” Louie said, after a longer while of walking.

  Their boot steps echoed through a
wide chamber. Looking from side to side, Raj no longer saw the cave walls, or anything but darkness. Something crunched under his feet. He looked down to find small, scattered piles of sand. Boot prints marred some of them. It looked like some other people had been this way recently.

  A torch fifty feet away captured his attention.

  Bryan.

  Raj swallowed as the familiar, dark-haired man approached within a few feet and stopped.

  “You made it,” Bryan said, with the same easy smile that had earned Raj’s trust, both inside the caves on that night with Adriana, and outside on the cliffs.

  Nervously, Raj asked, “What is this place?”

  “We’ve been practicing throwing our spears,” Bryan said. In a pleasant tone, he continued, “With so much time in the caves, we are staying active. And of course, we are staying ready, for the day we kill the monster.”

  Raj nodded. Hearing about one of The Watcher’s drills—and their plans for the monster—made his heart nearly leap from his chest. Having gotten farther into the chamber, he could smell the spent torches and the lingering aura of people’s sweat.

  Bryan’s eyes riveted on the object in Raj’s hands.

  Holding it up so that both Bryan and Louie could see, Raj said, “This is what I wanted to show you.”

  Bryan’s eyes widened. Slowly, he moved toward Raj, holding up his torch. “Where did you find that?”

  “In one of the caves,” Raj said proudly. “I was hunting a dust beetle, when I saw something gleaming in a passage. I crawled in and dug it out.”

  Bryan’s face filled with wonder. He reached out as if to touch the object, before noting the possessiveness on Raj’s face. “Can I see the other side?”

  Cradling the object, Raj turned it so the men could see its bottom. Bryan and Louie leaned closer, enrapt. Watching their reaction, Raj felt the same excitement as when he’d found it, and when he’d shown Adriana. Their astonishment reinforced the object’s importance.

  “Can I hold it?” Bryan asked.

  Raj hesitated. The object was his finding, his discovery.

  Seeing the look on Raj’s face, Bryan promised, “You have my word that I will not take it from you.”

  Whether it was the admiration in Bryan’s eyes, or the sincerity in his tone, Raj didn’t know, but all at once he was offering up the object. Bryan accepted the object as if it were a newborn baby.

  “It’s incredible,” Bryan said, turning the object in his hands, running his hands up and down its metal surface.

  “Isn’t it?” Raj beamed.

  For a moment, he felt as if he had made the object rather than discovered it.

  “What does it do?” Bryan asked.

  “I’m not sure.” Feeling inadequate in his answer, Raj said, “I thought that it might be a tool. Or a weapon.” Raj looked back and forth between the two men. “Maybe even something from the First Generation.”

  Bryan and Louie’s eyes sparkled. Speaking the words out loud furthered Raj’s excitement.

  “Is this a handle?” Bryan asked, gently tapping the metal piece on the bottom.

  “I thought it might be, but I’m not sure,” Raj said.

  “So, what do you think it does?” Louie asked.

  The question was rhetorical.

  No one knew.

  Turning the object around so that the half-moon faced away from him, Bryan gently shook the object. He turned it left and right. Nothing happened. After studying the device for a while longer, Bryan wondered aloud, “I’m not sure what it does. But I think I might know someone we could ask.”

  Raj swallowed.

  “Can we show it to another person?”

  “Who?” Raj asked.

  He looked between Bryan and Louie. Rarely had anyone asked his permission for anything. He knew what his answer would be, even before they said who it was.

  Bryan looked between Louie and Raj.

  And then they told him.

  Chapter 45: Raj

  Raj’s stomach roiled with nervousness. Gideon. Hearing the leader’s name instilled a primitive unease. Memories of the man came rushing back to him: watching the tall, authoritative man on the podium, or seeing him walk through the streets, always with an entourage.

  And now Raj would be one of Gideon’s important people.

  A hunter.

  A Watcher.

  Maybe even a part of that entourage.

  What would Adriana think, when he told her?

  Raj could hardly contain his excitement, as he followed Bryan and Louie into another, wider passage. Only his fear kept him in check.

  Was this the Center Cave?

  It must be.

  He recognized the familiar, yet different, tone of the auburn walls. He had only been to the Center Cave a few times, mostly in those beginning days, when he’d helped others situate. Judging by the path they’d followed, he deduced that they’d entered from the back way.

  In the distance was a small, dark passage.

  A man guarded the entrance.

  Bryan and Louie headed toward him.

  The smell of medicines, herbs, and sickness reached Raj’s nose. He had never seen Gideon up close. And he certainly never thought he’d speak to him. Raj knew that he was fortunate, and yet his fear encompassed him.

  Getting closer, he saw that the person he thought was a guard, was actually a healer.

  “Jameson.” Bryan nodded at a balding man, who parted to allow them in.

  The man’s eyes lingered on the object, but he made no move toward it, nor did he ask any questions. Inside the small cove, Bryan, Louie, and Raj headed for a single, occupied bedroll.

  And then Raj was standing alongside the two Watchers, looking down on the leader to whom he had spent most of his life listening, and fearing.

  He shivered.

  Gideon’s scarred, disfigured face was fit for nightmares.

  Wounds ran in every direction, obscuring the man’s familiar visage. Some of his grey hair hung over his eye, but other parts of his scalp were patchy and bald. One of his legs was missing. His arms were dirty and thin. Worst of all was his empty eye socket, filled with mottled, red skin. Gideon looked like a corpse, waiting for burial, rather than a man. With his one remaining eye, he fixated on Raj and his object.

  “Raj.”

  Hearing his name, Raj jumped. “You know me?”

  Seeing the surprise on Raj’s face, Gideon explained, “Bryan told me you might be coming. He said you had something to show him.”

  “He is our leader,” Bryan explained. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  Raj nodded through the lump in his throat. It made sense.

  Pointing at Raj, Louie explained, “Raj said he found the object in the caves. He crawled in and pulled it out of a crevice.”

  “Let him explain,” Gideon said, quieting his subordinate.

  With Gideon’s encouragement, Raj explained the things he’d told Bryan and Louie, adding how he’d chased the dust beetle, and how he’d crawled in and retrieved the object. Gideon listened with a quiet intensity, his eye roaming between Raj and the device.

  When Raj was finished, Gideon said, “You are brave.”

  Raj’s heart soared.

  “It is clear you have found something of worth.”

  “I thought it might be,” Raj said, validated.

  “Do you have any idea what it is, Gideon?” Bryan asked.

  Gideon’s dry, cracked lips opened and closed. He leaned his head forward as far as he could, getting a better view, but weakness made him fall back on the bedroll.

  With a quivering hand, he reached out. “Can you bring the object closer?”

  Slowly, Raj placed the object on the crippled man’s lap. The sm
ell of unwashed garments and sweat invaded his nose, but he didn’t falter, or back away.

  “Do you think it might be from the First Generation?” Raj asked, unable to stop the words from spilling from his mouth.

  Gideon didn’t answer. Instead, he scrutinized the object, finding the strength to grasp it. A spark of wonder flashed through his eye as he passed his hand along its surface, caressing the smaller pieces of attached metal, the half-moon at the end, and some thinner, metal bands connecting one end of the half-moon to the other.

  Pointing out a few divots and dings, Gideon said, “Obviously, you can see the object’s imperfections. But it is wondrous. And certainly old.” Gideon couldn’t take his eye, or his hands, off of the device.

  “Do you have any guesses as to its purpose?” Bryan asked.

  Gideon stared at the object a while longer. Slowly, a memory surfaced.

  “As you know, my father didn’t believe in wasting time on stories,” Gideon said. “He believed that dreaming led to dying. But my mother told a few.”

  Raj, Bryan, and Louie leaned forward, listening.

  “Seeing this object reminds me of one of the stories she told me—something that I haven’t recalled in many years.” Gideon’s eye roamed to the ceiling. “Like most of the colonists who spent time on such fictions, my mother was enamored with the idea of Earth’s ships. She was also enamored with Earth’s devices. Often, she spoke of the ways they communicated with other people in the ships. She also spoke of weapons they used to hunt animals.” Gideon paused, an almost-childlike innocence coming over his face. “According to my mother, the people from the ships had a weapon that took no force from the person wielding it—a device that could kill animals with one use, if it was used right. Perhaps this is one of those weapons. It is a guess, of course, but seeing the object reminds me of that story.”

  Raj stared at the object with even more wonder.

  A weapon. What he heard gave him goosebumps.

  He couldn’t imagine how it might work.