1
Taimin was a hunter, but out in the wasteland he also had to avoid becoming prey. Some creatures were more dangerous than others. Among the worst were the ones with horns.
With his bow clutched in his right hand, he lay on his stomach and slid his body forward, inch by inch. His eyes were on a row of pricklethorn bushes that screened the menacing creature on the thicket’s other side.
The sand lizard behind the bushes was a monster, at least seven feet long. And if it chose to charge, Taimin would never outrun it. Even as Taimin crept toward the edge of the wiry scrub, the sand lizard swept its head from side to side, using its trio of sharp horns to tear bright berries from thorn-covered branches. Strong jaws crunched at the hard fruit, stones and all. The same jaws could bite through the thickest part of a man’s leg.
Taimin carefully nocked an arrow to his bowstring.
This would be his last chance to hunt before entering unknown lands. As dangerous as it was, the sand lizard would provide meat for five hungry travelers. Taimin was alone, but this was a region he knew well. He had grown up above the cliffs bordering the plain, and as a boy he often gazed upon the rugged landscape he now found himself hunting in.
Two suns beat down on Taimin’s back as he watched the gray-skinned lizard lumber closer and closer to his position. A warm breeze blew, dry and smelling of dust. A nearby ravine offered the promise of shade, but he wouldn’t allow himself to rest; not until he’d made his kill. He no longer had Griff, his wherry companion. His right foot was crippled, so he had to sneak up on his prey.
When the moment came, Taimin would stand in a single swift movement. The sand lizard might run, but Taimin would be close. He was a good shot. His arrow would find its mark.
His heart began to race as he prepared himself. He tensed, utterly focused on the horned lizard.
Raucous caws came from the sky. A raptor appeared, then another, until a sizable group of predatory birds swooped toward the sand lizard’s position. Taimin had seen for himself the damage they could do to a big creature, pecking with their sharp beaks until their prey was too wounded to move. Taimin cursed under his breath as the sand lizard froze, turning its head to look at the ugly, beady-eyed birds.
The lizard started to run.
Taimin stood quickly, but already the sand lizard had plunged into the thicket, heedless of the grasping thorns. Fast for its size, the lizard emerged from the bushes and raced toward the nearby gully to escape the raptors.
The raptors passed overhead and Taimin let his arrow fly into their midst. Loud screeches came from above when the birds noticed him. They were smart enough to avoid Taimin and his bow, and as a dead raptor fell from the sky, the rest became fearful and scattered.
Taimin whirled to see the sand lizard vanish into the ravine’s depths. He burst into a run, moving with the hobbled gait that was the best he could manage. He reached the gully’s lip to climb down the rocky slope.
He found himself standing inside the shadowed interior. The ravine was deep enough to place him in near-darkness, and he readied another arrow as he waited for his vision to adjust. At any moment the angry lizard could charge.
He saw a long, gray shape up ahead.
The sand lizard had reached the end of the ravine and come to a dead end. Cornered, it turned back to face Taimin and parted its jaws to reveal curved, yellow teeth. The creature gave a hoarse, threatening hiss.
Seeing how close the lizard was, Taimin’s pulse quickened as he watched carefully. He knew he would only get one shot. With a fluid movement, he drew his bowstring to his cheek and sighted along the arrow. He held his breath.
The sand lizard lowered its horns and charged.
Taimin’s bowstring thrummed. His arrow slammed into the lizard’s tapered skull. The creature gave a convulsion, then sprawled out onto the dirt.
Taimin remained tense. With wary footsteps, he approached the lizard. Glazed eyes told him it was dead. Then he came to a sudden halt. Something new had seized his attention.
Bones. Human bones, without a doubt.
After Taimin’s initial shock, he crouched just a few paces from the dead lizard. Filled with a mixture of horror and pity, he saw a skull, dry and whitewashed by the elements, with teeth bared in a grimace and gaping holes for eyes. Part of a rib cage lay nearby, along with thick leg and arm bones.
He wondered who the human had been in life. It was an adult, but could have been male or female. This person had died in the gully alone, probably long before Taimin’s family came to build their homestead past the top of the cliffs, near the firewall’s edge.
For a long time Taimin stared at this reminder of the fate that might await him. Survival wasn’t easy in the wasteland. His back itched, making his head jerk round, but he was still alone in the ravine. He turned his attention to the lizard. It was so big he would have to throw it over his shoulder.
He would be carrying fresh meat. And the walk back to the cave where he had left the others wasn’t a short one.
There were even bigger beasts around that might want what he had.
Selena stood on the edge of the plain, near the bottom of the cliffs. Her eyes were tight with worry.
The rays of the golden sun Dex merged with the crimson glow of Lux to wash the landscape in bright light. Her gaze roved over a region of snaking gullies and rocky knolls, where raptors fluttered on gnarled trees, lizards peeked from shadows, and cactuses stood with arms upright as if paying homage to the cloudless sky. Cracks and crevices in the dry ground provided places for creatures to hide from both predators and the savage heat. The shades of red were countless, ranging from the rusted color of the dirt to the amber hue of rock formations.
Taimin had said they had just this one day to prepare for the onward journey. They would take the opportunity to repair weapons, replenish water, and gather meat while there was good hunting on the plain. Tomorrow morning they would be leaving this area behind, to travel where none of them had ventured before.
She wished he hadn’t insisted on hunting alone.
He had said he would be back while the golden sun was still high in the sky, but soon it would be sinking into the plain. She watched and gnawed at her lip. Beneath her worry was frustration.
Once she would have been able to use her talent to search the plain from high above, traveling from place to place with ease. Her body would stay where it was, but her consciousness would roam. This ability was called farcasting and, as a mystic, it was what she had been born to do.
But Selena’s power was gone.
Every time her eyes became unfocused and she searched for her symbol and the radiance inside her mind, there was nothing there. She had tried again and again, desperate to grasp her inner fire and free herself from her physical form, but all she found was emptiness.
She knew the loss of her power came from the time when she was back in Zorn and stood face to face with an enemy: a snarling, pinch-faced man who prepared to plunge a dagger into her chest. To defeat Arren, the mystic who had tormented her, she had been forced to find his weakness. Like her, Arren had been born with a power he couldn’t understand. His mother had despised him and called him cursed. Selena had used her talent to learn about her enemy and his difficult childhood, and then she had deployed this knowledge against him. She had taken him back to his past, and used the memory of his mother to cow him into submission. His fatal wounds had done the rest.
Selena’s actions had saved her life, but she had recoiled at what she had done.