Marie's Journey (Ginecean Chronicles) (27 page)

“What?” both Corinthia and Grant said at the same time, both showing incredulous expressions on their faces.

Eyes wide and words broken, he whispered, “You don’t have to.” He took her hand in his, brought it to his lips, and brushed them across her knuckles. “I want you to have a beautiful life.”

Corinthia stepped closer to her. “Please, listen to him.”

Marie gave her a smile, then turned to Grant. “I don’t want to live without you.”

Corinthia didn’t look convinced. “You’re too young to make such a decision. You could die out there. He’s barely an adult—”

“I won’t change my mind. I’ll follow him to the end of the world and back.” At her words, Grant squeezed her hand and she felt his ragged breathing and how he was trying to stay calm. “Can you help me prepare what I need for the travel?”

The woman moved from one foot to the other, a troubled expression on her face. “Marie, please, reconsider your decision. You might think this is what you want, but you don’t know.”

“I’ll leave with him tonight. With or without your help. I’d rather have it though.”

Corinthia sighed. “Follow me.”

***

Marie endured Luna’s attempt at swaying her from her decision, but eventually the two women had to accept there wasn’t anything they could say to change her mind and promised to send word to Rane to tell her what had happened to her and Zena.

“On the second day of the hike, there should be someone waiting for you. The City of Men sends scouts every day looking for men on the run. Keep north and they’ll find you. You’ve enough food and water for five days. Never stop, keep walking—”Luna couldn’t finish.

“We’ll send you a note when we arrive.” Marie had said it as a joke, but the light in the women’s faces told her they would be counting on that.

“Walk during the night and rest a few hours during the day. Drink a few sips of water once in a while. Keep a steady pace…” Luna and Corinthia took turns giving them advice until it was time to go. At midnight, clouds obscured their normal view of the night sky. A steady drizzle accompanying them, she and Grant left Vasura behind. It was almost anticlimactic how easy it was to step outside of the waste plant. Corinthia and Luna walked them to the wall and opened a small gate hidden from sight by ivy. Embraces, a few more words of motherly warnings, and loving thanks were exchanged, then one small step through the gate and they weren’t Vasurians anymore. The brand on Marie’s arm seemed to ache.

If only Ginecea knew how easy it was to escape the waste plant, it would have understood how much Vasurians loved it there. Once the sound of the gate closing behind them finalized their new reality, a few tears escaped her eyes before she could stop the flow. Grant took her in his arms and rocked her slowly for a long while.

Then he stirred. His eyes went to the sky and then back to her. “We’ve got some road to cover before sunup.” He took her under his shoulder and they started walking hip to hip.

The night was pitch black, but he somehow knew which direction was north, and after the first moment of silence, they started talking to pass the time. Grant had taken her heavy backpack as soon as they were out of Vasura and so she had only to focus on walking while listening to his warm voice. Her body was still sore, but Luna had given her enough painkillers to keep the worst of the pain at bay. She also had some for the trip. The first light of the day arrived and he called for a break. They had walked for more than five hours and she was exhausted.

“I’ll stay awake. You need to sleep.” He unrolled a slim mat and then sat on the ground by it. “I’ll be your cushion.” He helped her down and eased her head on his lap, his fingers playing with her hair. “The second time I saw you and I could get a good look at you, your head was illuminated from behind by the stairwell light. It looked like your face was framed by a halo. Your eyes and your mouth were set out by your fair skin and I thought you weren’t real.”

Marie shivered under his touch and brought her knees to her chest. He misunderstood her reaction and searched for a sweater in his backpack.

“Better?” He tucked her in it as if it were a blanket, his hands resting on her shoulders. “When I’m around you, I always worry about hurting you.”

She wanted to say that he had hurt her back at Redfarm, but the pain he had inflicted had never been physical. Instead, she pulled his hand down, leaned her face against it, and closed her eyes, happy to be lulled by his voice. She had gone too close to losing him to waste time rehashing the past.

But he wasn’t of the same opinion. “Remember when you caught me stealing from the cellars?”

She smiled against his hand. “I could never forget.”

“I’d been thinking of you the whole time, and when I saw you there, I thought I was hallucinating. My heart started beating so fast and I wanted to talk to you, but you looked terrified and then I was worried you were going to scream and give me away. It was terrible.” He laughed.

Marie propped her head on her bent arm to look at him but kept the hold on his hand. “I was paralyzed. I’d never been so close to a man in my whole life—” She felt his body stiffen and softly added, “It’s the way I was raised.”

His fingers found her hair again and he combed through it in slow movement. “I know, but it hurt so much whenever I was near you. The only thing I wanted to do was kiss you and hold you in my arms, and you looked at me in fear.”

She was surprised by his confession. He was so different from her and looked so much stronger than her. She had assumed his strength was also psychological. “It wasn’t fear.”

He stopped caressing her. “What was it, then?” His unblinking eyes were a dark green in the pale light of the new day.

“It was desire of something I couldn’t have.” He bit his bottom lip at her words and she lost focus for a moment. “You weren’t mine and couldn’t be. I dreamed it was just me and you and nothing more. I wished for the whole universe to disappear.”

Grant tilted his head right and left and came back to her to slowly smile. “It worked.”

“It did.” She pulled him down to her and kissed him.

Without breaking contact with her lips, he gently turned her sideways, easily maneuvering her until she was lying on him. “You’re so light. You barely weigh anything.” His hands roamed along her sides, careful not to apply any pressure on her back. “Sleep.” His voice was a warm puff against her ear. “I won’t let you fly away.”

She felt the aftermath of his smile on her skin and shivered once again, raised her head, and then looked for his eyes. “I’ve never been so happy in my life.” She laughed because it was a feeling so powerful she could hardly bear it. “I want to scream it for everybody to know.”

He hooked one hand around her neck and lowered her face to his, keeping her mouth so close to his, but not touching, his whole body trembling, his voice but a broken whisper. “I would’ve found you.”

She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t say anything.

“Had it taken my whole life, I would’ve found you again.”

Marie couldn’t contain her tears and turned her face, not wanting him to see her like that.

He wiped the wetness from her cheeks. “I saw you hiding it before, but you aren’t less strong for showing you’re human.” Murmuring sweet nonsenses, he left a trail of small kisses on her eyes, nose, lips, and jaws. He cuddled her until she relaxed against him and fatigue finally claimed them both.

***

The desert proved to be selective about forms of life. Marie had seen pictures of the Desertica Region, but she hadn’t been prepared for the absence of visual clues to determine which way was which. If it weren’t for the fact they knew where the sun rose and fell, they could have walked in any direction without knowing where they were going. Dunes and small shrubs, that was all there was to look at. Three days and three nights passed. Although they walked at night and were careful to cover their faces during their daily slumber, they still got sunburned from the times they moved around and removed their covers. On the dawn of the fourth day, Marie started worrying. By that night, she was almost ready to voice her fear that they were stranded in the middle of nowhere. The fifth morning, when they started drinking from the second to the last bottle of water, even Grant started to look on edge. And maybe was just her imagination, but he started to look thinner.

“They’re here, somewhere, looking for us.” He had been staring at the vast expanse of nothingness for the last hour. His eyes darting left and right, squinting at the horizon.

She didn’t dare saying anything.

He looked at her and then shook his head. “I know I kept north. They must be close.”

She took him by the arm. “I know you did. We’re in the right place.” She wasn’t sure of anything, but confessing it wasn’t going to help. “Let’s rest for a few hours and then we’ll keep going until we find those men or they find us.”

He looked at the bottle and then gave it to her. “Your lips are chapped. You need to drink some more water.”

“I’m fine.” She refused the bottle and pushed it back to him. His lips were so dry he had drawn blood last time he had bit on them.

“Dehydration sets in before you realize it.” He leaned to give her lips a soft brush. “I know what I’m talking about.”

She accepted the water and took a small sip. “You too.” Crossing her legs, she sat on the mat he had already unrolled. They had used only one for the two of them. She had slept furled by his side and even on him for the four previous days. When she had tried to move to give him some respite, he had said,
“I can’t bear the thought of not touching you in my dreams.”
She had smiled at that and her heart had beaten at double speed for a while. They should have taken turns at staying awake, but it hadn’t worked out well. She couldn’t rest if he wasn’t, and they soon found that their heartbeats synched and helped them relax, which in turn led them to fall asleep at the same time. She knew it wasn’t smart, but out there it was easy to forget they weren’t, in fact, alone in the universe.

Grant sank on the thin mat by her side and reached out to caress her face. “When we’re there…” His eyes went to some faraway place where the alleged City of Men should have been according to Corinthia’s calculations, and his expression clouded for the briefest moment. “I won’t let anybody touch you.”

She hadn’t realized he was worried about that. “We’ve got to get there first,” she mused.

They rested, but not as much as they should have. An underlying tension was present. Finally, they decided to start walking. Night came and then it was dawn again. The last sip of water was drunk. The last bite of bread eaten. They kept walking until their legs hurt so much they had to stop. They hugged each other and didn’t bother with the mat. Another cloudless night kept them company.

“I want you to know I’d do it again,” Marie whispered to him, her eyes unfocused and her mind foggy.

“Marie…” Grant stroked her back ever so gently.

She slipped in and out of consciousness, memories and images mixing, past and present chasing after each other. “Again and again and again.”

***

“Hurry, bring me some water and a blanket.”

“Are they alive?”

“I don’t know…”

“My Heavens, they’re nothing but kids—”

“Did we get to them in time?”

“I can a feel a pulse on the boy.”

“What about her?’

I’m alive.

“She’s such a small thing.”

“All skin and bones.”

“Is she breathing?”

“Yes, I can see her chest moving now.”

Feeling cold, Marie reached out from under the blanket, her fingers searching for the familiar warmth of his side. Her hand traveled on the smooth surface until her arm was stretched and her fingers fell over the edge. She patted the empty space, the smile turning up the corners of her lips slowly fading. “Grant?” When there was no answer, her eyes shot open, a few confused memories of fragmented conversations coming back to her.

Sitting upright, she looked around at her surroundings. She was in a room about the size of the one she had shared with Verena. Too big to contain only the one narrow bed she was sitting on, the nightstand on which someone had left a tray with some food and a pitcher of water, and a worn-looking chair. On the wall opposite the bed, a rectangular window opened on a sight she wasn’t able to categorize at first. Bright light inundated the room, but she wasn’t looking at the desert. She left the bed and tiptoed on bare feet to the window. Before her eyes lay a city the likes of which she had never seen.

She leaned over the windowsill and peeked outside, her head going up and down to take in the whole picture. She was inside a gigantic funnel made of red rock. A natural conic formation, which had been excavated inside to make space for human dwellings. At its base, several stories below her window, there were plazas and what looked like gardens. The whole place looked still in the construction stages: some of the structures were finished; others were being built. She looked up and saw that the funnel ended in a big opening from where the light came in.

A knock made her jump. She swung around and saw the door to the right of the bed. “Yes?” she automatically said.

“Can we come in?” an adult male voice asked.

She looked down at herself, and besides not wearing shoes, she still had her dusty clothes on.

“Yes.”

The handle was lowered and two men entered. One was older, maybe in his forties or fifties, difficult to judge since he had some gray hair, but he also carried the bearing of a younger man. The other was definitely younger, in his late twenties, as lean in physique as the older. It was always hard to guess a man’s age.

“How do you feel?” the older man asked. His voice was warm and his dark-brown eyes gentle.

“Fine, where’s Grant?” Marie had retracted to the window, her eyes darting between the two men and the open door.

The older man walked a step closer to her. “Your friend needs to rest some more—”

Panic swelled in her chest. “Where is he? Why isn’t he here with me?”

The older man raised his hands in the air, a gentle smile tugging at his mouth. “Don’t worry. We took him to the infirmary. He was severely dehydrated.”

“Do you want to see him?” the younger man asked.

“May I?” Marie was already heading to the door.

“Of course you can. But wouldn’t you like to eat something first?” He looked at the untouched tray.

“It can wait.” She only wanted to see him and make sure he was fine.

The two men seemed pleased by her reaction. The younger showed her the way with a flourish of his hand. “After you.” He waited for her to pass them and then added, “We weren’t sure you were out there of your own will.”

For some reason, she felt the urge of defending Grant’s honor. “Of course I was!”

The older man smiled. “Later, I’d love to hear your story, Marie.”

She stopped in her tracks and stared at him. “How do you know my name?”

His smile widened. “Your friend—Grant you said his name was—right?”

She nodded.

“Grant called your name several times in his sleep.” He gave another warm look and then waved his hand in the air as if he were forgetting something. “This is Lucas—”

The younger guy tipped his head in salute.

“And everybody knows me as the Priest.” The older man said his name as if it were an amusing joke.

She wondered about the title. As far as she knew, there were no such things as priests on Ginecea. She didn’t even know there was a male version of the word priestess.

“Life has a sense of humor sometimes that is difficult to understand.” The Priest seemed to have read her mind.

Meanwhile, they had reached the end of a landing that ended in a low parapet overlooking the hustle below. “Welcome to the City of Men.” Lucas’s eyes swept from side to side and she followed his gaze to take in the incredible sight.

“How long have you been building it?” She couldn’t help but be impressed.

“Almost thirty years.” The Priest leaned out from the parapet and waved at a group of men working below. They were excavating a new house from the look of it. “There’re still so many things to do.”

She thought that whatever they had done was nothing short of a miracle already.

“But I don’t think you’re interested in the city tour.” The Priest turned to face the corridor that ran the length of the parapet and disappeared behind an arch. “Your friend is this way.” He walked under the arch and gestured for her to follow them through another long corridor at the end of which stood a door.

Marie walked behind the two men, looking at the activities taking place downstairs. “Are there only men living here?” She had been looking for a woman for the last five minutes and didn’t see one.

She saw Lucas exchanging a glance with the older man who nodded. He tilted his head over his right shoulder to peek at her. “Women don’t live inside the city.”

“They don’t?”

Lucas shook his head.

“But why?” She was confused.

“Unfortunately, even in the middle of the desert, Ginecea still rules our hearts.” The Priest sighed.

“Some of the men aren’t comfortable around women, and so the women prefer to live outside the city proper,” Lucas explained.

“But, I’m here.” She looked around, suddenly nervous.

“Nobody would dare lay a hand on you. You’re under the Priest’s protection.” Lucas smiled at her.

Marie didn’t feel reassured. “What about the other women?”

Lucas frowned, but the Priest seemed to have understood her question. “Any person who asks asylum is welcome here. Men, women, and kids are all under my protection.”

“Do you have kids?” She gave a brief glance downstairs to confirm what she already knew. There were only male adults around.

“We have men and women living together.” Lucas smiled.

She saw he didn’t mean to be crude, but she still blushed. Certain habits are difficult to forget. “Of course.” They were at end of the corridor.

“We have several mixed families.” The Priest paused before the door. “But they prefer to live separate from us.” He knocked on it.

She shrugged. “Why?” After spending time at Vasura, she wasn’t as shocked to hear that they had mixed families as she should have been and didn’t understand why they would keep by themselves when they could have stayed there.

Both men turned to look at her in puzzlement.

“They are men and women who have kids—” It was clear Lucas tried to be as gentle as possible while breaking the truth to her.

“I know what you meant by mixed.” It was her turn to smile.

“And it doesn’t sound strange to you?” the Priest casually asked, but the light in his eyes betrayed his interest in her answer.

She felt she was being judged, but it didn’t matter. “Not anymore.”

Lucas’s mouth opened, but someone screamed from the other side of the door.

“What did you do to her?” a hoarse voice distorted by the walls demanded.

Lucas sprung the door open. “What’s…?”

The Priest raised one hand to stop Marie from entering the room. “Wait here.” He followed Lucas inside.

Scuffling noises reached her ears. One or more chairs were thrown around by the sound of it. “Take me to her! Now!”

Marie recognized Grant’s voice and stormed inside without thinking. Several people turned to look at her. The scene she witnessed would have been comic if it weren’t for the fact that Grant was fighting three men who seemed to be trying to prevent him from harming himself, and Grant looked like he could barely stand. As soon as he saw her, he fell on the floor like a sack of potatoes. A stark naked sack of potatoes. “Grant…” Her first instinct took her by his side in two strides, but then her eyes went to his private parts and she choked back a cry.

A long, awkward moment passed before any of the people reacted. Lucas finally came to their rescue by removing a linen sheet from a bed and draping it around Grant, who wearily thanked him and then asked Marie if she was okay.

“I’m fine. What about you?” She couldn’t help but see him naked although he was entirely covered by the white sheet. She’d had only a brief peek before averting her eyes, but one thing was clear: he was quite different from her.

“Now, I am too. I was worried they had done something to you.” He had lowered his voice on the second statement, but Lucas shook his head and the Priest sighed. “She’s a fathered girl.” He looked at them in defiance.

Although she was sure at least Lucas wanted to reply to Grant, he didn’t. Instead, he waited for the Priest to answer. “Nothing will happen to her while she’s here. I promise.”

Grant bit his bottom lip, gave her a sideways look, and ate back whatever he had thought of saying. “Thank you.”

The Priest nodded. “Now that the misunderstanding has been cleared, can I ask you, both of you, what your intentions are?”

Grant’s eyes widened, his hands clutching at the sheet. “We have nowhere to go.”

The Priest looked at Marie. “Is it true for you too?”

She felt an unfamiliar sting to her heart. “Ginecea sentenced us both to death.” She hadn’t realized until now how painful it was to face reality. She had been busy running for her life with no time to reminisce, but she truly was dead to the world. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“Are you looking for asylum?” Lucas turned from her to Grant.

She looked at Grant.

He reached out and took her hand in his. “Only if she’s welcome too and only if we can live together.”

The Priest was waiting for her to say the words.

She didn’t have to think about her answer. “I’ll only stay with him.”

“You look too young to live together,” Lucas commented, one eyebrow raised.

“If we’re not welcome here, we’ll leave.” Grant threw an arm over her shoulders and lifted himself upright.

“We’ll find a place right for us.” Marie looked at the door, but the Priest stopped her.

“I would never send anybody away. Especially two children.” He smiled and then reached them and cupped their united hands in his. “I declare you citizens of the City of Men.” He gave both of them a paternal embrace.

“They’re barely older than Randal,” Lucas muttered under his breath.

“Your son is a toddler.” The Priest turned to him and chuckled.

Lucas gave them another look and then waved his hand in their direction, as if the gesture were self-explanatory. “Exactly my point.”

The Priest dismissed him with one of his quiet smiles and said to Grant, “I see that you’ve recovered sooner than we expected.”

The three men Grant had been hitting with the chairs, which lay upside down on the floor, nodded their consent for him to leave the infirmary. “He’s all yours,” one of them said, relief evident in his voice.

“What about some clothes?” Lucas gave Grant a thorough look, the corner of his lip turning up in an amused smile.

“There’s a change of clothes ready for him.” The man who had talked earlier pointed toward one of the linen cabinets on the opposite wall.

“Then it’s settled. Thank you.” The Priest helped the three men straightening up the chairs, while Grant hastily donned a shirt and a pair of pants from behind the sheet Lucas held for him as a screen.

“Are we decent?” the Priest asked Grant but winked at Marie. “If you feel like it, we could show you the city and then let you decide where you want to stay.” After Marie and Grant nodded, he motioned for them to follow him outside.

Only a step out on the corridor and her stomach growled. She pressed both hands on her belly to silence it. Without looking at her, Grant complained about being too hungry to be able to do anything.

“I could use some breakfast myself. How about you, Lucas?” The Priest took the lead and guided them out of the first corridor, but instead of entering the arch, he opened a door she hadn’t noticed before, focused as she was on the sight below.

They walked through a short hallway that resembled a nursery by the number of potted plants dotting the floor and hanging from the walls. “One of my pet projects.” The Priest caressed a succulent leaf jutting out from one of the vases near the door. “We need to change the acidity of the soil,” he commented, but it sounded like a note to himself.

The hallway opened to a staircase that wound up for several floors. Marie didn’t mind the hike, but given her dislike for small, crowded spaces—although the stairwell was lit by sconces and decorated with more plants and even an attempt at a partial mural of a seascape—she was glad when they reached the landing that opened on the open space that constituted the inner part of the city.

“Sorry, more stairs to climb.” The Priest showed her the next stairwell.

Rounding the corner, her eyes went to an elaborate metal cage opening onto the landing suspended by a sturdy-looking cable.

“We’re working on it, but the elevator isn’t ready yet.” The Priest looked at the contraption with proud eyes.

“I won’t ever step inside that thing,” Lucas commented, passing by. “And it takes too much manpower to operate it anyway.”

Marie would have preferred riding the elevator, even if it meant being suspended in midair for several minutes. Anything was better than climbing stairs that were becoming narrower and narrower as they went up. The hike seemed to take forever.

Lucas’s words partially echoed her thoughts. “Still can’t understand why you chose to live up here. What’s wrong with the ground floor?”

“Nothing wrong with that. I just like to be close to the sky.”

The Priest’s wistful tone made her think there was a whole story behind that sentence, but they were finally stopping before a door at the end of what was hopefully the last landing, and she was happy for the light. The older man didn’t knock, but lowered the handle and entered.