“Stop!” Taimin bellowed.
He had addressed the crowd in the arena in Zorn, and knew how to make his voice heard. But when nothing changed, he readied his sword. It would be difficult to capture the leader without killing him.
He heard a whirring sound.
Surprised, he cast a quick glance over his shoulder to see Ruth whirling several lengths of braided leather over her head. Weighted with stones, the cords flew above her in a blur.
Ruth let go.
Her weapon crackled as it shot forward and struck the purple-faced bax in his torso, wrapping around his limbs as his momentum carried him forward. The leader crashed to the ground and lost his axe. Before the bax knew what was happening, Taimin had closed the distance and pressed his sword point into his throat to force him onto his back.
“I said stop!” Taimin roared.
The rest of the bax faltered when they saw Taimin standing over their leader. One after another they came to a halt, chests heaving as Taimin leveled his gaze at them all. Meanwhile Taimin knew that his companions stood behind him, ready to fight.
“Wait.” He scowled. “All of you, wait.”
The expressions he saw were more puzzled than anything else. It was common for humans and bax to attack each other on sight. But at least Taimin had caused them to hesitate. He had their attention.
Taimin glared down at the leader on the ground. The bax scowled up at him and spoke in a rough, gravelly voice.
“Why not kill me, human?”
Lars spoke up. “Trust me, my friend here can fight you all on his own. But if he chooses not to, I would listen to what he has to say.”
The members of the war party now had time to think. Most were warily watching Taimin. A few glanced past him at Vance, Lars, Selena, and Ruth.
“What should we do, Hagrax?” a bax with a thorn-studded club asked the leader.
Taimin tried not to show it, but the fact that the other warriors were looking to the leader gave him hope. Everything now rested on Hagrax, and whether he was intelligent enough to talk his way out of his predicament.
“If I die, avenge me,” Hagrax replied. He narrowed his eyes at Taimin, despite the leather cord entangling him and sword point pressed against his throat.
Taimin’s mind was working. He remembered when he was searching for the city with Selena and Lars and kept encountering bax. They were territorial, and didn’t travel without good reason.
“This is a war party. Where are you going?” When Hagrax didn’t answer, Taimin pushed his sword point harder against his neck. “Answer me.”
Hagrax scowled. “To the city, Zorn.”
“Why?”
Hagrax’s dark eyes met Taimin’s. “Word is the city’s soldiers were killed in a rebellion. If we are to strike, now is the time.” He glanced meaningfully toward his followers; they still outnumbered Taimin’s group three to one. “If you don’t like it, kill me and see what happens next.”
Taimin was worried. He knew how precarious the situation in the city was. But there was supposed to be peace between Zorn and the bax who lived nearby. “Blixen would never agree to it. There’s been a truce.”
“Blixen will not remain warden of the Rift Valley forever.”
“You don’t have the numbers,” Taimin said.
“You think this is all we have?” Hagrax shifted position and sat up. As the bax began to untangle himself, Taimin moved his sword to keep him pinned in place, but still Hagrax didn’t stop. “Now, human, I think you have a decision to make.”
Taimin had been prepared to consider himself satisfied if no one lost their lives. Yet he hadn’t been expecting Hagrax’s revelation. If he let the bax depart, they would go on to threaten Zorn.
It was Lars who spoke. “Our group is smaller than yours, but we can fight. Best thing for us all is to pretend we never met.”
Hagrax watched Taimin, waiting for him to speak, but Taimin said nothing. “I can do that,” he said slowly.
Taimin’s frustration grew, but there was nothing else he could do. He removed his sword from Hagrax’s throat and took a step back. “You have your freedom. Go.”
Hagrax climbed to his feet. With a last look of venom at Taimin he grabbed his axe and waved his arms to gather his warriors. Soon they were loping away.
Vance was watching Ruth as she collected her leather weapon and fastened it around her waist. “Where did you learn to do that?” he asked.
“My mother taught me. Before we moved to Zorn.”
“What do you call it?” Vance asked.
“A grapple.”
“You probably saved our lives,” Taimin said. As he sheathed his sword, he searched the horizon for a time, pondering.
Word was out. The bax scattered across the wasteland knew that the Protector of Zorn had fallen, and that with him the feared city guard was gone. Zorn was now a target.
At the same time, the knowledge only served to increase Taimin’s determination to reach his destination. Without a reliable water source, the people of Zorn had no future. Meanwhile, the wasteland’s five races were constantly fighting over scarce resources and the few places where they might be safe.
On the other side of the firewall, new lives would be possible, not just for humans, but for everyone. Taimin had to do everything he could to find a way to get there.
5
Taimin climbed the slope of a gully. A powerful river had once flowed in the very place he was walking, so wide that a stone couldn’t be thrown across its breadth, and deep enough to form tall, steep banks. After days of hard travel, pain crept up his leg with each step, but he had controlled it for half his life and forced it to the back of his mind. Late afternoon sunlight cast long shadows behind him on the deep gully’s floor, where smooth stones littered the ground.
Lars had gone to scout the terrain from higher ground, but he should have been back long ago. Creases lined Taimin’s forehead as he approached the top of the bank and thought about all the ways Lars might have got himself into trouble. He came to a halt and stared in all directions. There was only one place that commanded a decent view, and he squinted against the sunlight until he saw Lars’s bald head, poking up above a tall hump-shaped rock to leave the rest of his body hidden. Taimin had no idea how Lars had made his way up so high. The skinner must have found a series of ledges on the other side.
Taimin’s jaw remained clenched. For Lars to have been looking for so long, he must have seen something.
As Lars’s head turned his way, Taimin knew better than to wave. He kept himself a little below the top of the slope. He was sure Lars had seen him, but after a quick glance the skinner returned to whatever he was watching. For a time Lars was motionless, with his attention focused back the way they had come. Then his head ducked down, so that Taimin could no longer see him.
Taimin wondered where Lars had gone, but then saw a flicker of movement as the big skinner dashed from one hulking boulder to the next, his deft movements belying his age and size. Taimin spun round to scan the landscape, in the direction Lars had been looking. He couldn’t see anything. Deciding he shouldn’t stay so visible, he skittered back down the slope.
Selena stood waiting for him and her brow furrowed when she saw his face. Ruth was at Selena’s side, while Vance was farther back with his bow in hand.