Mirage (4 page)

The Red Sky Equians cheered.

Hoku shook his head. Karl Strand was promising them water. How could their tiny band ever compete with such an offer?

“What about the herds that don’t want war?” Aluna said.

“Karl Strand is not worthy of desert honor,” Dash added. He touched fingers to his heart. “He is not worthy of
you
, High Khan.”

“When the Thunder Trials are over, there will be only those who are loyal to me and those who are traitors,” the High Khan said. “All traitors will be hunted down and killed. Their bloodlines will be crushed to dust so that their lines can never rise again. All memory of them will be extinguished, and even the sun herself will forget them.”

Silence fell in the pavilion. Onggur’s words hung in the air, dark as blood in water.

Tayan spoke next, her earlier bravado diminished. “Your message is clear, and I will deliver it to my father, High Khan. With your leave, I will take the four Shining Moon prisoners and go.”

High Khan Onggur held up his hand, and Tayan waited, her black tail swishing. “The
aldagha
is yours by herd law, Tayan khan-daughter, but you will not harm the other three, even if they are found guilty for helping the exile. Bring them to the Thunder Trials. When the games are over, they will belong to Scorch.”

Scorch grinned, looking like a hunter with a fat catch.

Tayan’s back hooves shifted, but in the end, she bowed. “A fair compromise, High Khan.”

“If you think we’re going to give ourselves to her,” Aluna said, glaring at Scorch, “then think again.”

“If you do not arrive at the Thunder Trials, then Shining Moon will bear the punishment for your dishonor,” the High Khan said.

“I will execute the Aviar in front of all the herds,” Scorch said. “That will make up for this ludicrous”— she looked at the High Khan and paused —“this
understandable
delay. But if the winged girl is not there, then I’ll make do with killing Shining Moon. One Equian for each of the girl’s feathers seems fair. . . .”

“The prisoners will be there,” Tayan said quickly. “You have my word.”

The High Khan nodded. “Then go. Tell your father that by the Thunder Trials, Shining Moon should be ready for war. I am counting on his swords, his arrows, and his falcons.”

“Oh, I will,” Tayan said quietly, and bowed low before the High Khan. Hoku wondered if he was the only one who could hear the hint of dissent in her voice.

Their guard from earlier, Borte, motioned for Tayan to follow him. She paused to speak to Dash. “Dashiyn of the Shining Moon, you have knowingly broken your exile and returned to the desert. Do you acknowledge this?”

Dash looked up at her. “I do.”

“And you will come willingly to face your judgment?”

He nodded. “I will.”

Tayan stomped a foot. “Then I see no need for restraints. Bring your friends and follow me. We leave the city immediately.” She walked past him, then past Borte and down the ramp.

Dash looked at Hoku, his dark eyes questioning.

“Yes, of course,” Hoku said. “Calli, do you need help?”

She gave him a weak smile. “No, I’m fine. I’m looking forward to open air.”

Hoku turned and found Aluna staring at Scorch from less than a meter away.

“This isn’t the last you’ll see of me,” Aluna said to her.

Scorch chuckled. “I certainly hope not.”

Hoku saw the talon weapons in Aluna’s hands and whispered quickly, “Not here. Not now.” He knew that the Kampii artifact in his throat would send the words directly to the device in her ears.

She didn’t react at first. Her gaze stayed stuck on Scorch. But eventually she nodded and stepped away — though she wouldn’t turn her back entirely, not with Strand’s clone so close.

Hoku gave one last look at Scorch. Now he could see her resemblance to the Karl Strand from the ancient photo. Her brown hair was the same length as his, her chin the same shape. Strand’s other clone, Fathom, had said the cloning process was imperfect, that all the clones came out a little different from Karl. Well, Scorch had come out female and smart. A lot smarter than Fathom. That made her a lot more dangerous, too.

Once Hoku made sure Aluna was really headed down the ramp and wasn’t planning some sort of surprise attack, he followed. As they descended, the thick, choking smoke of the weapon forgers swallowed them up. Despite the smell, he was grateful for its protection. He wanted to be as far away from Scorch as possible. The entire desert might not be far enough.

At Mirage’s gate, Borte handed them packs of dried cactus strips and water skins only a quarter filled. From what Hoku had seen of Mirage, it was a generous offer.

“May the sun guide you,” Borte said as they affixed their headgear.

Tayan clapped him on the shoulder and said quietly, “Stay strong, Brother Red Sky. This isn’t over.”

Borte’s back hoof stomped, but he said nothing.

And then they were through the dome scanner and back outside the city. The heat hit Hoku like a dolphin tail full in the face. He staggered and was tempted to head back inside, at least for another hour or two. But then Calli jumped into the air, unfurled her wings, and flew. A smile spread across her face, and although she didn’t laugh, Hoku could tell she wanted to.

“Thank you for getting us out,” Aluna said to Tayan. “I’m in your debt for that.”

“You are welcome,” Tayan said. “I would leave no person in the grasp of that woman, if I could help it. Nor with our High Khan while he listens to her counsel.”

Aluna nodded. “We’re heading back to HydroTek. We need to talk to the Aviars and our people, the Kampii, and figure out what to do next. We wanted to get here before Scorch, but we obviously failed. I’m not sure what our next move should be.”

“You will come to the home of Shining Moon,” Tayan said easily. It occurred to Hoku that with her horse body, she probably weighed more than the rest of them combined. “I gave my word that you would attend the Thunder Trials, and Dashiyn must stand trial. I thought I made myself clear.”

Aluna stopped walking. “You said that to get us out.”

“No,” Tayan countered. “Everything I said was true.” The Equian seemed untroubled by Aluna’s growing agitation. Hoku felt his shoulders tense. After everything, he might still see blood today.

“We have no intention of being your prisoners,” Aluna said gravely. “If you want us, you’re going to have to take us.”

There it was. The ultimatum. Hoku tried to signal Calli to fly back down. He wanted her by his side for whatever happened next. She waved and smiled. Clearly, his signaling skills needed work.

But it was Dash who spoke next, his voice as calm as ever. “Aluna, I have given my word to go with Tayan and abide by herd law, and Tayan has given her word that you will appear at the Thunder Trials. I am asking you, as a friend, to come with me. We will talk with Khan Arasen of Shining Moon and come up with a plan.”

He touched Aluna’s hand. “Please,” he said. “Do not give up on the desert yet.”

But Hoku heard the words he was really saying:
Do not give up on me
.

Aluna must have heard them, too. She stared at Dash, then sighed. “Okay. We’ll go. We’ll fight. We’ll find some way to win.”

A
S TAYAN LED THEM
deeper into the desert, Aluna looked back and watched Mirage flicker briefly before it disappeared, hidden once again by its ancient tech. The city hadn’t been the bastion of food and culture — and soft beds — that they’d been expecting. She frowned, remembering Dash’s expression when he’d seen the marketplace transformed into a factory of war. How could High Khan Onggur force his people to work for a fight that wasn’t even his own?

The High Khan said Karl Strand was giving them tech, had even promised to bring water to the desert. Maybe Onggur saw an alliance as the only way to help his people. Aluna needed to show him and the rest of the Equians that there were other options. Better options. Options that didn’t involve letting Karl Strand and his clones run the world.

When they finally stopped for the night, Aluna and Hoku started gathering twigs for the fire. They didn’t need the flames for warmth, but Calli and Dash did. And besides, she’d grown accustomed to the crackle of dried wood, the smell of smoke, and the way the flames pulled everyone’s faces out of the darkness.

Dash and Calli went looking for food. They’d proven a highly efficient team during the last few weeks, what with Calli’s wings and keen eyesight and Dash’s ability to know what bizarre desert plants and animals were actually edible. Dash could eat a much wider variety of things than the rest of them could, thanks to the SandTek ancients having given him a superstrong stomach, but he was good at finding things for all of them now.

Now that Dash was finally away from camp, Aluna saw her chance to get some answers. Tayan knelt on one knobby horse leg by the fire circle and began arranging the kindling with practiced ease. Aluna dropped a bunch of scrub brush by Tayan’s side.

“So, you and your herd exiled Dash. Why? Just because he was born different? Because he doesn’t have hooves?” She’d wanted to remain calm, but could hear the pitch of her voice rising anyway. “He risked everything to come back here and help you, and you’re going to thank him by putting him on trial?”

Tayan stopped her work and stared. Her blue eyes reminded Aluna of an overcast sky. “Is that what you think? Is that what he told you?” Her tail swished. “Dash’s exile had nothing to do with his status as
aldagha
. Shining Moon are not barbarians. We do not exile or kill our own people. Not without good reason.” She shook her head as if she had a horse’s mane instead of hair under a head wrap.

“If you’ve got a good reason, then I want to hear it,” Aluna said. “If you want our help, then you need to win us over. Because right now, I may want Karl Strand dead, but I am
not
on your side.”

“None of us are,” Hoku said, dumping his small contribution of twigs near the smoldering fire.

Tayan looked across the darkening horizon in the direction Dash and Calli had gone. “Very well,” she said. “I will tell you quickly, because despite what you may think, I do not wish to cause Dashiyn further dishonor.” The Equian motioned to the fire, and Aluna sat, grateful for the chance to rest her legs. Hoku flopped down beside her with a grunt.

Tayan stoked the fire with a long stick. “Perhaps you know this already, but the Equians are not alone in the desert. The SandTek ancients created not one race but two — ours, and the half-Human, half-snake people called Serpenti.”

“Snake people!” Hoku said. “We saw one at HydroTek. He was one of Fathom’s prisoners.”

Aluna remembered him from the cages, and later from the battle. He’d worn gold hoop earrings, and his long, dark hair had been half shorn to nothing by Fathom for one of his experiments. “That man fought bravely against Fathom’s army. We had no idea where to send his body.”

“I hope you sent it to the ever-dark,” Tayan said coldly. “Oh, the Serpenti can fight. Their whole bodies are weapons, from the strength and reach of their tails to the poison hidden in their fangs. The SandTek ancients must have thought we could live together, share resources, perhaps even help one another. They were wrong.”

Aluna gestured to the dusty flats surrounding them. “This place is huge, and you still fought over it?”

“The desert is vast, but water and food are scarce, and growing harder to find every year,” Tayan said. “Why do you think the High Khan would even consider this alliance with Strand and his clones? Because the promise of water is too great a temptation. When your people begin to wither, you will do anything to save them.

“Performance in the Thunder Trials determines how many foals each herd may birth in the following year. Win more honors, and your herd grows. In this way, our strongest bloodlines prosper and our weakest slowly diminish. Over the last few years, the High Khan has doubled the birthing rights granted to each herd, but our numbers do not increase. Fewer foals survive the birth chambers, and among those that do, there are more
aldagha
. More mistakes.”

Aluna was already tired of hearing that word. It made her heart ache.

“Your tech is broken. Or breaking,” Hoku said. “Maybe you just need to fix it.”

“Which Karl Strand has offered to do,” Tayan said solemnly. “Do you see now the position we are in?”

“Maybe if you didn’t keep fighting with the Serpenti, you’d have more people,” Aluna said bitterly. “Try making a few friends instead of going to war with everyone.”

“Do you want to hear about Dashiyn or not?” Tayan asked coldly.

Aluna swallowed her anger. It felt like a fire in her gut, but she managed to control it. “Go on.”

“As I have stated, war with the Serpenti was inevitable. When it came, it was bloody and terrible, and we were losing. We would have been utterly destroyed if our great heroes Altan and Chabi had not challenged the Serpenti to an honor duel in the Valley of the Dead. They defeated the Serpenti khans — whom the snake people called pharos — but were poisoned in the process. Both heroes died not long after.”

“Just for once, I’d like to hear a story where the heroes
don’t
die,” Hoku grumbled.