Mirage (15 page)

A
LUNA AND TAL
raced over the sand. The cold desert air felt almost like water as it washed over Aluna. Lit only by the stars, the desert became a beautiful shadowy landscape not unlike the ocean floor. Cactus were almost like kelp, but more straight-backed and stubborn. Tiny animals darted out of their path, just like goldenboys and shiny-blues, little fish too quick to be caught. Aluna imagined that they were racing along at the bottom of the sea, sand puffing up behind them in the water.

She hated stopping, but she couldn’t risk losing Tayan’s trail. Tal didn’t want to stop, either. She whinnied her objection but slowed to a trot, then a walk. The metal scanner beeped weakly. They zigzagged across the sand until the signal strengthened. Once they’d found it, Aluna pulled out the compass and checked their direction. The needle always pointed north, which meant they were heading a little north of east.

“Got it.” She pointed and Tal bounded off again.

For days, they’d been practicing their riding in the desert. Stopping and starting, galloping and trotting, turning quick like a shark. Aluna did not ride well, but Tal’s occasional nips at her feet or snorts of irritation helped her improve quickly. If she’d been sitting atop a regular horse instead of an Equian, she’d still be at a walk.

The next time they slowed, Aluna couldn’t find the trail of iron with the scanner. Either she’d read the compass wrong or Tayan had. Or maybe the two other guards had altered the group’s direction.

Tal weaved north and south along the path they’d been following, trying to pick up the iron trail. The scanner offered a weak beep every few minutes, but nothing Aluna could follow. The minutes passed painfully. Each one meant that Dash was that much farther away, the trail that much colder. If the wind picked up, it might blow the light iron dust into the air and scatter it kilometers away.

Even in the cold of darkness, beads of clammy sweat formed on her scalp and dripped slowly down her forehead. “Beep, you stupid artifact. Beep!”

The scanner ignored her. She checked the settings, hoping nothing had been broken or dislodged during their run. Hoku had told her not to touch any of the knobs, but what if they’d moved while she and Tal were galloping? She’d never figure out how to reset them.

And then a miraculous beep. And another. And a whole stuttering cluster of them.

“Tides’ teeth,” Aluna muttered. She and Tal navigated back to the trail. “They’re headed due east now,” Aluna said. “We’d better stop more often.” Tal whinnied in disgust but didn’t argue. She vaulted into a gallop, and Aluna barely had time to grab hold of her mane.

They rode for hours. Aluna sipped sparingly from her canteen, wanting to save as many of her supplies as possible. Dash would need food and water badly when she found him, and who knows how many days they’d be traveling after that. She offered water to Tal, but the horse shook her head and ran faster.

Aluna smiled. Tal was more similar to her than her own siblings were.

Eventually the sky began to lighten and Tayan’s trail ended. The signal had grown weaker and weaker on the scanner until, finally, they couldn’t find any trace of iron at all. Now everything depended on the compass, and on Tayan’s ability to keep the group headed in the same direction.

The sun peaked over the gray mountains, and the air started to warm. Tayan and the other guards would have abandoned Dash by now and might even be headed back this way. Even so, she stayed on course. She’d rather run into the guards than risk missing Dash.

A dark smudge appeared in the distance, a black lump lying on the blinding gold ground. Tal slowed as they neared, and Aluna’s pulse quickened.

An Equian. Dead. One of Dash’s guards.

She dismounted and toppled into the sand, her legs refusing to hold her weight. She landed on her hands and knees beside the body. Her nose wrinkled at the smell. A deep-red stain soaked the cloth of the man’s tunic near his Human stomach. A gut wound, the most painful kind. He’d lived long enough to run from whatever he’d fought but hadn’t made it far.

Another wave of stench assaulted her nose. She turned and retched into the sand, painfully aware of how much water she was wasting with such foolishness.

Tal stomped a hoof and whinnied.

“I don’t like death, either,” Aluna said. “No one does.”

She pushed herself to her feet. Her legs obeyed this time, and she was relieved that their earlier betrayal had more to do with riding for hours than with her growing tail. She stumbled back to the dead Equian and unhooked his canteen from his packs. Water was too precious out here to waste just because she didn’t want to touch a dead body.

A stain in the sand a few feet away from the Equian caught her eye. The guard had been bleeding as he ran.

“Come on,” Aluna said to Tal. “We have a new trail to follow.”

Tal trotted over. Aluna hefted herself onto the horse’s back with a groan. Her legs ached, but she found her seat.

“There,” she said, pointing. Tal burst into a trot. The trail proved easy to follow, far easier than the iron had been. Even the guard’s hoofprints were still visible in the sand. “Whatever happened was recent.”

Who had killed the Equian? Had the group been attacked by bandits? A rival herd? The Serpenti? Scorch? If the others were alive, why hadn’t they followed the dead guard and tried to save him? Tal seemed to sense Aluna’s growing unrest and ran faster. She had no trouble following the trail without Aluna’s help.

And then, in the distance, she saw the rest of them. The rest of the bodies.

Her heart thudded painfully inside her chest, her rib cage suddenly too small. Tal slowed instinctively. Aluna’s eyes struggled to resolve what her mind didn’t want her to see.

Tayan and the other guard, down on the sand. Down, though Equians never
chose
to lie down, not even when they slept.

A flash of silver
. The third figure looked up at them, his eyes bright and alive, a long, bloody sword clutched in his hand.

“D
ASH!”
Aluna cried. Tal galloped forward. Aluna swung her legs over and dropped to the ground before the horse finished slowing to a stop.

“Aluna,” he said. He had no head wrap. His straight dark hair streamed behind him like a black sash.

She stumbled toward him. No wounds. She didn’t see any wounds. The blood must be from the others. “Are you okay?”

He nodded. “It’s Tayan. She’s hurt.”

Aluna pulled her eyes away from him and looked down. Tayan lay beside him. He’d been shading her face with his shadow.

“The others attacked,” Dash said. “They belong to Weaver Sokhor. They tried to murder us. They were going to tell the khan that I killed Tayan. That I killed his daughter.”

She knelt by Tayan and dropped her ear to the Equian’s mouth. “She’s still alive.”

“They got the first blow. The dishonorable one,” Dash said. “We got the rest.”

Aluna searched Tayan for the wound and found it. A deep puncture dangerously close to her heart.

“Berrin got away,” Dash said. “He will spread lies about us as soon as he gets to the settlement. Sokhor wants to hurt the khan. He wants to weaken him with grief.”

“Berrin will never get there,” she said. “He’s dead. You got him, too.”

“Good,” Dash said, and sat back on his heels. Aluna glanced at him and saw clouds in his eyes. He’d killed before — some of the Upgraders in the HydroTek dome had died. Was this the first time he had killed one of his own?

She said nothing but began to rummage through the packs tied to Tayan’s back. “Help me remove these. We need to lighten her burden. Maybe she has medical supplies in here somewhere.”

Dash snapped out of his reverie. “Yes, of course. She always has supplies. She is ridiculous that way. I do not know why I failed to think of that.”

I know
, Aluna thought, looking at the sword still gripped tightly in his hand.

They found bottles and ointments and bandages, and Dash set to work applying them. Aluna had never been much for tending wounds, not even her own. She headed over to the other Equian and began sifting through his supplies. More food, more water. Two knives. A compass. Special tools for making fire without wood. She took it all but left the bedding and extra clothes. Tal couldn’t carry much more.

“Traitors!” Tayan breathed.

Aluna looked up and saw Tayan struggling to lift her head.

“Slow,” Dash said. “They are dead. The traitors are dead.”

The panic washed out of her eyes, and she sighed. She groaned and touched her wound. “I should have known,” she hissed. “I should have insisted on bringing only warriors loyal to my father.”

Dash finished taping a bandage around her shoulder. She’d have to keep the whole arm immobile to stop the gash from reopening. “Can you stand?”

She nodded. “With help.”

Aluna called to Tal. The horse had been keeping her distance, but now she stepped carefully into place beside Tayan.

“Thank you,” Aluna whispered to her. Tal didn’t like the Equians of Shining Moon. Or at least she didn’t trust them. But Tal understood life and death, and she knew what she had to do.

Tayan gripped Tal’s mane with her good arm, while Dash supported her on the other side. From what Aluna had seen, horses never looked graceful when they tried to stand. Wounded Equians were so much worse. Tal grunted as Tayan cursed and pulled herself up.

“Careful,” Dash said. “Try not to reopen the wound.”

“Of course I am trying not to aggravate the wound,” Tayan said bitterly, then added, “My apologies. My anger is not with you.”

“Be as angry as you need to be — just get to your feet,” Aluna said. “We’re shark meat if we can’t get you walking.”

Another few curses and Tayan got all four hooves underneath her. Aluna and Dash lifted, Tayan pulled on Tal, and the Equian managed to stand.

“Keep hold of Tal,” Aluna said. “You’re likely to be dizzy.”

As she finished speaking the words, Tayan stumbled forward and almost toppled over again.

“The desert spins,” she said.

“Here, water. Drink as much as you can.” Aluna handed her the canteen. Tayan sipped carefully at first, then lifted her head and gulped.

“The sun climbs,” Dash said. “We should start moving.”

“No,” Tayan said, handing the water canteen back to Aluna. “We must bury the dead. These men were Shining Moon.”

“Shining Moon who tried to kill you,” Aluna said. “We’re not wasting our energy, our water, or our time on them. Not when we need every minute we have to find shelter.”

“I agree,” Dash said. “We have no idea how long it will take us to cross the desert.”

“We know exactly how long,” Tayan said. “It took us six hours to ride here. It will take us slightly longer to get back. We have more than enough supplies.”

Aluna looked at Dash. He shrugged and gave her a small grin. She felt her face break into a smile in return. “Tayan, we’re not going back to Shining Moon,” Aluna said firmly. “Dash will be killed, and you’re too weak to make the journey on your own. We must go forward.”

“Never!” Tayan said. “I must warn my father. I will go back by myself if I must.” She let go of Tal and clomped forward. Her legs wobbled, and she fell to her forelegs in the sand. “Uhhh . . .”

“Easy,” Dash said. He put a hand to her head. “Fever. And I have already given her all of our painkillers.”

Aluna stood near Tayan as the Equian struggled to stand again. “Listen,” she said. “I understand what it’s like to think you’re in charge and then find out that you aren’t, but it’s happening to you now.”

“I must —”

“No. No arguments,” Aluna said. “Dash and I are making the decisions. We’ll find someplace safe to get you fixed up, and we’ll find some way to get word back to Shining Moon. Our friends are back there, too. We won’t forget. But now, and until we say otherwise, you’ll listen to us.”

Tayan wanted to fight. Aluna could see it all over her pale, bloodless face. But the woman was also feverish and dizzy and suffering and seemed to realize that she’d lost.

“Good,” Aluna said. “Now, you hang on to Tal. Dash and I will walk alongside.” She turned to Dash. “We’re east of Shining Moon. What direction do we walk?”

He looked up and studied the sun. “Southeast,” he said. “I may have some allies in that direction. They won’t care that Shining Moon has condemned me to death.”

Tayan snorted. “Then they cannot be honorable allies, to ignore desert law without care.”

“Equian law is not desert law,” Dash said easily. He could have said more — Aluna saw it in his eyes — and yet he didn’t. His restraint seemed to vex Tayan all the more.

She wanted to ask about these allies, too, but not in front of Tayan. It would be so much easier if they could just let her go back to Shining Moon. She and Dash could make good time riding Tal without a wounded Equian to care for.

But letting Tayan have her way would kill her, and Aluna didn’t want her to die. Tayan had told them how to save Dash and had risked everything to carry out her part of the plan. Aluna could do no less for Tayan now.

“Dash, there are extra clothes for you in Tal’s pack,” Aluna said. “And I’m sure you need food and water, too.”