AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Panic doesn’t stray far, but exhaustion soon shares its company with me as well.
The tracks have long since been swept away by a frigid night wind, and I find myself wandering aimlessly in the desert, looking for any sign of life. “Harold, preserve me,” I mumble through parched lips, my leathery tongue sticking to my palate.
A gust throws sand into my eyes, and I have to shield my face with a ragged cloth just to breathe. My pack is growing lighter by the hour, the chewing roots refusing to offer up their sweet nectar any longer. Nothing is helping the growing chasm in my gut.
Though the moon is still cresting the horizon, the sky seems unusually bright, pulsing purples and blues swirling with the deep orange of predawn. It is a sight to behold, a godless wonder that slows my steps.
It would be so easy to simply lie down and watch the show.
But the sand is biting cold when I fall to my hands and knees, sending pain shooting up my arms. I don’t have tears any longer, or I might have shed them. I glance up again, and the sky is dark once more, speckled with stars as it should be.
“It’s not much further,” I hear myself say. “It can’t be.”
“The elves will get you if you don’t hurry,”someone whispers in my ear, so close I can almost taste the fire on their breath.
I don’t know how I find myself upright, wavering dangerously on my feet.
My pack is some steps away from me, its contents scattered down the side of a dune. The world feels as if it’s tilting, trying to shake me off, so I scramble up to the top of a small sand hill, feeling a warm breeze break through the chill.
Morning is coming.
With it will come the wretched dawn and the merciless heat. Cold can be battled with layers but I cannot remove my skin when the heat sets in.Or, maybe I can, I think, my nails digging into the flesh of my arm. Wetness beads under my nails, and I realize I’ve pushed too hard. I stare at my bloodied fingers for a long moment, considering sampling it.
“I am not an animal,” I remind myself, my voice cracking as I wipe the blood on my shirt. “I am not an animal.”
“There, do you see them?”
The voice from before urges me to look at something, and I scour the terrain. Several sets of footsteps in the sand. I’m amazed they haven’t been swept away with the rest, and they even look human in size. No elf tracks accompany them, nor cart or equu.
I take measure of their meandering path, committing them to my shifting memory. “Yes. I see them,” I say in turn, grinning at no one and stumbling forward.
I feel the press of Mother’s company beside me.
If I turn to look, I know she’s going to disappear again. I don’t want her to disappear, because that will mean I’m alone. Truly alone. “Thank you,” I say. “For staying with me.”
She says nothing in response.
But it’s enough to feel the press of her presence as she walks in step with me. We travel like this for what feels like forever, but that can’t be right. The sun seems shy this morning, taking its time to rise.
“Who should I pray to, Mother?”
My laugh is soft and wild, but at least my tongue is no longer sticking to the roof of my mouth. I must keep talking, or it will shrivel up. I can’t imagine meeting the owners of these tracks, just to find myself unable to speak.
"Is there a god of the sun? There must be, right?"
“Maybe we can call her Maeve. Or Maya.” It feels good to fill the silence. “Maya, I like that. Unless you have a better one?”
I can feel her shake her head.
“Maya it is, then.” I squint in the direction of the dawn, sensing that heated potential just on the horizon, threatening to rip the seam. With the growing light, the colors return tenfold, coming alive and chasing one another’s tails.
"Remember not to tarry at daybreak."Mother’s words flood into me from somewhere just out of reach."It’s not just the desert creatures we have to worry about out here."
“Right, of course.”
I lower my head and trudge ahead. The tracks are gone, but the terrain is getting steeper. There are few places to go but forward. Maybe from a higher vantage, I’ll be able to see where the humans went.
All I have are their tracks.
