Ki Book One (30 page)

Shaking, she looked down at Jackson. He was
prone, his head flopped to the side, his eyes closed.

She commanded her hand to settle as she
checked his pulse. She choked through a gasp as she realized he was
alive.

“
Thank you,” she patted his chest as she
shook back and forth, “thank you.”

“
For what?” he croaked.

She shifted back, startled.

He pushed up, groaning heavily, wincing as
he wheezed and coughed. “I feel like I’ve fallen through hell,” he
crumpled forward.

“
You fell through the sky, does that
count?” she croaked.

He laughed, though it cost him another
coughing fit. “Where are we?”

She pushed back from him.

Slowly he stared around them.
“... The desert.”

She nodded mutely.

“
But at least we’re alive,” he shifted up,
but his arm crunched underneath him and he fell back
down.

“
Are you alright?”

“
Nope. You?”

She shrugged easily.

“
That good, ha? Well damn, aren’t we a
pretty pair,” he chuckled again.

Feeling warm, she shifted back again,
trying to stand. “What do we do now?”

“
Get through the desert. Kind of like a
mineshaft, but hotter and drier.” Jackson got to his feet, his
knees crunching audibly as he latched a hand on his legs for
support.

Together they stood and walked up the sand
dune. When they reached the top, Ki closed her eyes.

Sand stretched as far as the eye could see.
There was nothing but windswept dunes. No water, no buildings,
nothing but that golden glow.

“
Right...” Jackson gulped.

“
... There’s no way we can make it
through this desert. We don’t even know what direction to go
in.”

“
We’ll travel at night. Try to navigate by
the stars. If I’m right, we’ve landed in the Farsight Desert.
There’s a colony at the northern edge, on the coast. The ancient
town of Gora. Some of the buildings are over a thousand years old.
It’s a great place to start our journey.”

“
What do you mean?” she turned to
him.

“
We need to find out everything we can
about the Zeneethians. There are scrolls, libraries in Gora, it’s a
start.”

She raised an eyebrow
. “So we’re going to do this
together?”

He looked surprised
. “I betrayed my people—” he
began.

“
I’m not questioning you, Jackson. I trust
you now. But do you really want to do this? We could walk
away....”

“
We wouldn’t get far. I know there’s little
chance of us succeeding, but we have to try. I don’t know who the
Zeneethians are or what they want with you, but I won’t rest until
I find out. They float above our homes with the power to destroy us
all. They’re more of a threat than we are to each other. The
Ashkans and Tarkans could be wiped out in an instant. We have to
find out what’s going on.”

He was right.

Taking the initiative, she took the first
step and headed down the dune.

He chuckled from behind her. “Keen? We’ve
got a long trek ahead of us. Also, I don’t know if you’ve noticed,
but you’re still wearing a hospital gown, and there’s a mighty big
gap in the back.”

She gasped with indignation, cheeks flushing
in a snap.

Jackson headed past her, boots sinking into
the sand with ease. He laughed.

“
How dare you,” she began, “I’ll have you
know it is not permitted to look at a priestess when she is...
improperly attired. If you had any dignity you would look
away.”

“
Improperly attired? You’re dressed in
nothing but a sheet and you’ve gone and lost your shoes again. This
is going to be a long trip.” He stopped below her, a full smile
pushing at his cheeks.

They had already come a long, long way.

A month ago they’d been enemies, now their
once-tentative trust had been solidified. Time would tell if it
would be enough.

As the sun beat down from above, Jackson
pulled his boots off and gave them to her. Then they made their way
forward, bickering as they went.

Book Two is currently available.

The End of Book One

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