“I think ‘children’ means something different in your language than it does in mine.” I’m fairly certain I’m right about that. First, Lorraine looks nothing like Nile. They don’t even appear to be the same species. Second, there’s no way someone would entrust their kid to a random stranger.
The bird tilts its head in response and the big owl eyes blink. “What does ‘children’ mean in your language?”
“Umm…” I try to conjure up a definition in my mind. It takes some swimming through my memories, not all of them come willingly, and at one point a flash of a blond-haired child fogs up my thoughts. “Young? Not yet an adult? Less mature? Needs a guardian?” I was spouting off words as they came to me, hoping I was interpreting the images accurately.
“‘Children’ is the same to us,” Nile says.
“Oh…I see.”
The bird nods. “As a Guardian I’m sure you understand their situation.”
“Oh no, I don’t have any kids.”
Nile’s head tilts the other way, its feathers ruffling. “You are not a Lefan?”
“Layfond?”
“Lefan.”
“Layfon…”
“Yes. Good.”
I’m being trained by a bird how to talk. …has this ever happened before?
“Are you not a Lefan then? A Guardian?”
I frown at the bird, feeling my confusion build. The tone of the conversation is odd and I begin to suspect that we’re talking about different things again. Although, surprisingly, Nile really was entrusting its children to me. Was that related to the servitude thing? “I think… ‘guardian’ means something different in your language than it does in mine.”
Nile hums, and it comes with an odd sort of clicking noise. “Guardian. A protector of cities. Traveler of the lands. Wielder of the wadzh.”
“Huh.” Were there guardian protectors where I came from? It’s hard to know for sure. Nothing immediately pops up to compare it to. “What is a wash…wodsh…wo – what is that?”
My bird companion points to the white stick tied around my waist. “Wadzh. The tools of pulelman.” The finger then points to my cape. “They wear white as you do.”
My mind flickers back to the people I saw briefly on the streets. There had been some particularly strange white garnishments.
“Considering the size of your weapon I was surprised you were not above Guardian rank. But I suppose that…” the bird stops. Its feathers ruffle and its eyes catch on something at our feet. “Is that…” Niles crouches, its hand touching the ground. It rises a moment later, thumb and forefinger pinched together and a small grain of blue sand is held up to the light. “Pulelman.” A frown creases its face. “I thought you put this away.”
“I did…I mean…another one probably dropped out.” Which was odd. My pockets were pretty deep and I hadn’t been moving around that much but…ah, wait. I vaguely recalled the gritty friction that had driven me to keep out a spare outfit. “Oh…oooh.” I cross my arms awkwardly. “It might have fallen while I was walking. There was some stuck to my skin.”
“There was some?”
“Yeah.”
The bird’s face morphs into a distinct expression of panic. I didn’t know it could look like that, considering the otherwise subtle shifts of expression. Its feathers stand on end over its shoulder and all at once it darts through the viscous wall.
The sudden departure is bizarre and I look over at the ice child just to see if I’m the only one confused. Lorraine…or however you say her name, is lying still on the boxes with her eyes closed. Maybe she passed out again? But her breathing’s steady, unlike before, so that’s good.
A sloshing sound signals Nile’s return. The bird’s face is a mask of concern and for the first time I realize something serious is happening. “We need to leave,” the bird says.
I stiffen at the tremor in its voice. “What?”
“We need to leave the city.” It glances at Lorraine and back at me. “Will more sand fall if you travel now?”
“Umm…” I take stock of my person, rotating my limbs. There’s no gritty feeling, which leads me to believe I’ve lost any grains that were stuck. I shove the sand in my pockets as deep as they’ll go and snatch the garment draped over my shoulders. A tight tie around my waist further secures my stick and acts as a seal over my jeans. “I should be good.”
Nile nods. “Carry Luren. Quickly.” Its feathers are standing on end and it hops frantically from foot to foot. “We must go.”
“Why? What happened?”
“I’ve sent children to run your route and recover any pulelman you’ve left behind, but if more are found…the Palgeer will come.”
“Rolgear?”
“The mouthless.”
Oh… oh no. I suck in a breath.
It’s probably not them, right?
“Quickly!”
I start at the shout and shoot toward Lorraine, scooping the ice child into my arms. She’s small and lighter than she looks. It’s startling to hold a person that’s cold to the touch and I have to remind myself that she’s alive. The chill seeps into my skin and further unsettles me as I tighten my grip.
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We burst into the next room at a run. The place is chaos. Children are darting back and forth, lugging crates and stripping beds. Blankets are turned into makeshift sacks that pile high with everything in reach.
A child trips over a blanket and tumbles across the floor. Nile snatches it up, helping it to its feet, and veers past it towards the boulder. “Welashrepal, you need to go with…” the bird looks back at me and frowns, and I wonder if it realizes it has no name for me, “the Lefan pretender. Lead her numpem through the city. Halwer will meet you with whatever pulelman is found.” Its gaze shifts to me. “We will return it to you. Do not lose it again.”
That was an order.
“And as payment for its return, use it for Luren and Welashrepal.”
“What?”
“Go!”
Nile darts away and the boulder, in a startling maneuver, tucks its arms and legs into its body and rolls...actually rolls across the floor towards the door. Its speed is easily triple of the slow plod it’d shown me before and in seconds it's sloshing through the liquid wall. I glance toward Nile who’s already gone, and tuck Lorraine close in my arms.
“I guess we’re going then.”
The wall slows my sprint and I burst into the street with a shaky breath. The boulder is already far down the alley, nearly about to turn.
“Wait! Waylushra...Waylash...Wail! Slow down!” Ugh, these names are so confusing. “Wail, you’re going too fast!”
Thankfully, the boulder recognizes my attempt at its name and it slows, popping back onto its legs at the end of the alley.
“Thanks.” I hurry toward it, adjusting the child in my arms. “What are we doing?”
Wail’s response is the gravelly tone it used in the alley when we met, but this time I understand it... most of it. “Doun street to city gate. Ue need to moe ery shast.”
...
“These translators don’t do much, do they?”
Wail ignores me, gesturing with its stubby arms. “Ue need to hurry. Quick, quick.”
“Okay, hurry. Yes.”
The boulder tucks back into itself and takes off down the street. I dart after it, twisting out of the alley.
Our run is desperate. I only keep up with the strength I’ve built slogging through the dunes. Streets blur by as we run and the slap of brick against my feet echoes off looming structures. People roam the city in an unhurried lumber and I wonder if they don’t care about what we’re fleeing from, or...if they don’t know.
“Wail!”
The boulder lags, wobbling in its trek before popping to its feet.
“Wail, the umm...mouthless. Are they after us or everybody? Are these people in danger?”
Wail’s body bobs, its arms pinwheeling with the movement, and I take it to mean yes.
“Shouldn’t we tell them?”
“Naalshemue᷾p will tell them.”
“The bird?”
The body bobs again. “She uill tell Leshan.”
“The...the guardian?” There was a guardian here?
“Yes. But ue need to hurry. Palgeer uill come for us.”
I frown, puzzling out the sentence, trying to remember which word meant what. “The mouthless will come for us. For us specifically?”
There’s a third bob and this one sends a shiver down my spine, magnified by the chill enveloping me.
“...Why us specifically?”
“Pulelman.”
Ha. Of course. The blue sand.
I clench my fists to stop them trembling.
With all of my goals for survival, how did I manage to amass the one thing that constantly puts my life in danger?
I suck in a breath, considering my options. “Why don’t we just dump the sand and run?”
“Luren needs it. I need it. Ish ue leae it city dies.”
Okay. The city dies. That’s a good reason not to leave it. “I understand.” I didn’t like it, but I had no intention of dragging someone else into my mess. “Let’s go then.”
Wail’s legs tuck, and I adjust my hold, ready to run. But the boulder pauses and its grey eyes flicker. Then, abruptly it spins, bursting into a roll that’s faster than before. It shoots down an alley and I take off after it, trying to keep up. The sudden flight takes us through another street and we burst into an empty plaza. Wail grinds to a halt, limbs sprouting as it precariously tips back to look up.
“Wha-”
A huge boom shatters the stillness. The buildings around the plaza shake, pieces smashing into the ground. The white bricks don’t even shift beneath my feet.
“What’s happening?”
The boom is followed by another and I jerk toward the sound. A flying mass sails through the air, smashing to the stone in front of us. It’s a mess of furry limbs and red liquid. A second figure appears behind it, landing lightly on the stone. This one...I recognize.
Black eyes look out from a pale, mouthless face.
It’s dressed differently from the ones that tracked me through the desert. Its azure robes billow in the wind, decorated with flowing patterns of thread. I faintly hope that this one can be reasoned with. But then its eyes shift to me – hungry.
“This is bad.”
Red hot lava rockets through the air, and I’m shocked to see the stream erupting from Wail’s mouth. The grey veins running along its body pulse with embers and the lava sprays across the stone, hitting the humanoid square in the chest. The creature’s mouthless face stretches, and gaps appear in the seamless skin. The maw peels open, a horrifying shriek piercing the air.
Wail rolls forward as the humanoid writhes in agony. Its stubby arm touches the downed ball of fur before backing away and spinning to me.
“Ue run.” Wail says.
Not gonna’ argue with that.
The stalker continues to screech, its azure robes in flames, and I try to tune it out I race after Wail.
This time our flight twists into winding patterns and it only takes minutes before I’m lost. Booms shake the world around us and more than once we run over the splinters of wooden buildings. Fragmented beds suggest they were homes.
But there are no bodies. That alone eases the throb in my chest.
Finally, Wail rolls to a stop and I hunch over, breathing hard. By now Lorraine feels five times as heavy and I shift her in my arms for relief.
A figure darts out from a building, and after a moment of panic I realize it's one of the children.
The creature is similar to Nile’s, yet at the same time, it feels like a different species. A fully feathered hand reaches out. There are no fingers, just feathers cupped and extended. I stumble to my feet as it approaches, looking at the wing. Sitting on the feathers are sparkling blue grains.
“Take Pulelman,” Wail says. “Ue need to go. Run, run.”
I shift Lorraine up onto my shoulder and the chill eases the fever of our flight. Quickly, I snatch the grains from the feathers. It takes a second to get them all in my hand, and I stuff them in my pocket as carefully as I can.
“Run,” Wail says again.
“Yeah. I’m ready.”
The child darts back into the house and Wail takes off.
I follow, slower this time. I can feel the energy sapping out of me, but stopping isn’t an option. We have to get out.
Twists and turns wind us through the city, and I’m on my last leg when the wooden structures give way and the white border breaks into view. Wail rolls to the nearest building, and I realize...I’ve seen it before...or I’ve seen something like it. It’s the same rounded door of my treasure room, except it’s not sunk down into the brick. Rather the entire curve of the circle hovers above the ground, a hazy film covering the shape.
Wail rolls towards it, stopping a foot away and popping to its feet.
“Go, go.”
I stumble up to my companion, breathing raggedly. “What... What is this?”
“Run from Palgeer. Far away.”
“Okay?”
The boulder’s stubby arm reaches out and touches the border of the door. The blue symbols light up and the film ripples. The color shifts, and Wail hobbles forward. It hops, narrowly, and sort of trips into the doorway. Its form disappears into the film like it did the liquid wall. The surface ripples and hums as it settles.
I watch it, not sure if I should follow.
Blasts sound nearby and I glance back at the city. From here it’s not clear how much destruction has racked the city, but the constant blasts are enough to give me an idea.
A screech sounds from further in and I shiver.
My eyes turn back to the circle.
Well… anything’s better than here I guess.
I adjust the ice child in my grip once more and gather up the last of my strength.
Finally... I step through.