Scavenger of Souls Read Free Page B

figure.
    Aleka turned to the rest of us and gestured toward the northwest, where the expanse of black rock vanished into a gleaming haze of distance. “We’re close to our destination,” she said. “We came out of the desert farther east than I wanted us to be, but not so far that we can’t cut across this region in a day or less. We’ll need to take precautions, though. The stone gets very hot, especially at high noon.”
    â€œWhat’s on the other side?” Wali said.
    â€œShelter,” she replied. “Clean water. Possibly—”
    â€œFood?” Soon interrupted.
    She didn’t answer. I glanced at the little ones, the pitiful thinness of their shoulders and cheeks, the eagerness glowing through the dusty veil that had descended over their eyes. I realized it wasn’t only Zataias who suspected that this journey was anything but business as usual.
    I think Aleka realized it too. “We’ll have to wait and see,” she said softly. “But we’re in a much better position now. Let’s break camp quickly and prepare to cover as much ground as possible before midday.”
    Everyone moved with new purpose. In minutes we were packed and ready to go. I rounded up the kids and made sure the littlest ones had the lightest burdens. Aleka insisted on wrapping extra cloth bandages around people’s boots, tying extra head scarves to cover faces and necks. We spent precious minutes erecting a canopy over the old woman, who snoozed on. We filled our canteens with muddy water, and I saw people lick their lips at the thought of what we might find ahead.
    Then we were on the move.
    I turned to say a word to Aleka, but found her already at my side. She dropped her voice and spoke low enough that Keely and Zataias wouldn’t overhear, but still her words gained a weird, tinny reverberation from the polished stone.
    â€œStay alert,” she said. “We’re not in the clear yet.”
    â€œWhat are you afraid of?” I whispered back.
    She sized me up, as if gauging how much to say.
    â€œYou wanted answers, Querry,” she said at last. “I hope you’re prepared to get them.”

2
    We tramped across the plateau in double file, weaving our way through monuments of stone.
    Aleka must have cautioned the other adults and teens as well, because Soon discreetly withdrew his gun and Wali his knife. Nessa stayed by the old woman’s stretcher, but she didn’t sing, and her eyes darted from side to side, all sleepiness gone from them. Even Zataias looked edgy, though maybe that was only from the excitement of playing an adult game.
    Aleka’s promise—or was it a warning?—rang in my ears like an echo off the glassy stone. There were so many things I wanted to know, so many things only she could tell me. About my past. My family. My father. Myself. I knew how a starving man felt when he saw an oasis in the desert. The only difference was, I felt like I’d been starving for seven months, and it was finally coming to an end.
    All we had to do was cross the plateau of stone.
    We hadn’t gone more than a mile before I realized how hard that was going to be. The sun had barely cleared the horizon, and already it hammered down on us, making the air writhe with heat, the black rock sizzle like a brand. Not only that, but the stone that had seemed so smooth at first glance turned out to be sharp and broken, stabbing into the soles of my shoes with each step—though that wasn’t surprising, considering my boots had been worn down not only by me but by whoever had lived and marched and died in them fifty years ago. Though the kids had started off with a burst of energy, it soon took all my coaxing and hand-holding to keep them on the move. I began to imagine that a giant fist had smashed down on the surface of the plain, shattering everything into shards and splinters of stone that sparkled like a trillion fragments of