Samson counted the Sesharians in the crowd. Only seventeen, among fifty or so. And yet they watched him with a kind of hope that made him want to crawl away, unseen, and also rise above. To show them that finally,finally, they had a chance to be free. That they, the ones who had lost their home, who suffered the torment of various nations, could be victors.
He stepped forward. “I do not dance to your whims,” he said to the man. “You have your proof. Buuut”—he smiled, drawing out the word—“who am I to turn away a man of god?”
He unsheathed his urumi from his waist. The sudden slither of steel hissed through the air, and several people stumbled back. The man blanched. With a flick of his wrist, Samson ionized the blades, and blue flames furled down, crackling with electricity.
“From now on, no man shall be denied healing. Ravani and Sesharian will be treated equally, and if you disagree…” He looked at the mother, who dipped her head, muttering apologies. “I can take away your pain, but I can also return it tenfold.”
He turned on his heel, sparks flaring in his wake. He left them gawking as he hopped on a cruiser and started the engine with a roar. Though he did not know where Elena had gone, he could sense her Agni. It was bright and agitated, like a diya full of too much oil. He needed to find her—
Chandi slid into the seat beside him.
“What—” he began.
“Go to the wall,” she said. “There’s something I need to show you.”
Before he could respond, she reached around him and gunned the engine.
They rode through the gates of the northern wall and stopped in a wide basin the color of rust. Black Scales snapped to attention.
“Blue Star,” one said.
Though he was tall, he had a curved stoop to his shoulders as if he had been forced to walk through low spaces. A crescent scar hung from his eyebrow. A former miner, one Samson had dug out from the rubble and named his master of arms.
“Akino.” Samson looked up the western face of the basin, where soldiers had set a perimeter. “What have you found here?”
“A… messenger,” Akino said.
“From whom?”
Akino exchanged a glance with Chandi. “Will you climb?”
They scaled the basin, and when Samson pulled himself up over the lip, he heard a strange hum. Around the boulder, he saw that his men had formed a circle around an object.No, not an object.He walked closer, and Akino shouted a warning. There, seated in the center of the perimeter, was a man.
A man made completely of black sand.
Two sensors made of steel floated around the man as he—it?—sat serenely with pulse guns pointed its way.
“What is that?” he asked.
“We’re not sure,” Akino said. “But it’s not safe to draw closer. If we do, it starts to melt.”
“Melt?”Samson looked between him and the strange figure. “Show me.”
Akino carefully crept forward. The man, the figure, the thing—Samson was still not sure what to make of it—made no move. Akino took another step. At once, the sensors gave a loud, singular hum.
Samson stilled. He heard his men shift, the soft creak of gloves curling around triggers. Akino glanced back, as if to reassure them. He then took another step. The sudden susurration of sand filled the air as the man began to melt. Sand spilled down. A cheek caved in, revealing a cold, metallic glint that sent a jab down Samson’s throat.
He could recognize Jantari steel anywhere.
“Get back!” he barked. “Now!”
Akino retreated as the man continued to shift. A shoulder rippled down and swelled, the sand pooling around the knob of an elbow as if water around a bend. And then its right side gave a sigh. Samson gasped as he saw a blinking light, and then he was shouting, his men were stumbling back, and Chandi had her hand already on his arm, tugging him. But he could not burn, didn’t she know? He wrenched himself away, only to realize, a moment too late, that Chandi wasn’t pulling him back, but forward.
He cried for her to stop. She stood her ground, facing the man of sand as it began to stand. A blue blinking dot appeared out of its side, where its liver should have been had it been a real man. The sensors hummed twice. A warning.
“Chandi,” he called.
“What is it that the Arohassin would tell you?” she said.
