‘I’m sorry I must betray your trust,’ he said sadly, ‘but it is for my family I do this.’ ‘Come on, come on,’ said the man impatiently. Stefan looked up, ‘she told me she is not the Chosen, someone else in the group is.’ ‘Interesting,’ said the haughty man, ‘but unfortunately for you and your family we already knew that, it was the names of the other Chosen we wanted. Kill him.’ He said addressing the guard as he turned to leave, ‘then kill his family.’ ‘No . . . please . . . Anubis, I beg you, let my family live,’ said Stefan as he crawled towards Anubis’ feet. Anubis kicked Stefan away and left without another word. The friends materialized in a grim, rubbish filled alley between two, crumbling stone walls that looked like they had seen better days. Still clinging tightly to one another, Gilster said, ‘I think we’ve arrived,’ he looked around at the forbidding environment, ‘and it’s exactly as I pictured it,’ he finished grimly. Elkeira dropped to her knees, vomiting loudly and violently. ‘Sweetheart,’ said Max, gently rubbing her back, ‘are you alright? What is it?’ Gilster pulled a handkerchief from his pocket handing it to the girl. Elkeira stood on wobbly legs, wiping her mouth. ‘You could have warned me,’ she said putting a hand out to the stone wall to steady herself. ‘Why didn’t you tell me how bad going through the portal would be.’ ‘Because we didn’t know,’ said Max, still rubbing Elkeira’s back, ‘none of us have experienced anything like you just did.’ ‘Typical,’ was all Elkeira said as she wiped her mouth. ‘I think we need to move,’ said Haven, spying some dangerous looking men standing at one end of the alley. They looked to be about seven or eight in number and filthy in appearance. Three wore long, tattered coats, two appeared to be wearing some sort of dirt encrusted camouflage clothing , clearly not working in the urban environment and the others looked like they had just put on whatever they could find, bits of rag, scraps of leather. One huge man was wearing a rather incongruous woollen jumper with a large bumble bee embroidered on the front. Each carried some sort of weapon, from lumps of wood to metal poles. Tallon nocked an arrow and let it fly over their heads, causing them to scatter in all directions. ‘What do we do now?’ asked Elkeira. ‘Well,’ said Gilster with a slight hint of sarcasm, ‘I suppose we always have the element of surprise.’ ‘This way,’ said Tallon, walking in the opposite direction to which the men had run. They came to the end of the alley and Tallon cautiously looked around the corner. ‘I can’t see anyone about,’ he said quietly, ‘let’s get into that burned out building across the street and decide what we’re going to do next.’ They quickly crossed the road and disappeared into the building. It had once been two storeys high but the roof and upper floor had fallen in covering most of the bottom floor with debris. Only the front room still had a roof over it and that looked like it might fall in at any time. ‘Oh great,’ moaned Elkeira, who was keeping watch at the broken window overlooking the road outside, ‘it’s starting to snow and I am not exactly dressed for this sort of weather.’ In their hurried departure from Naturine everything had been left behind, all the extra clothes, torches, food and weapons they had so carefully packed were now sitting in the ruins of the meeting place somewhere. ‘Hey!’ said Max, ‘I’ve just noticed something, all of you have weapons and I don’t.’ Haven and Gilster had taken to wearing short swords since their arrival in Naturine and still had them buckled around their hips hidden under their cloaks, Elkeira had her bow and Tallon his bow and dagger. ‘With this place being as bad as I think it is, don’t you think I should have something to protect myself with?’ ‘Here,’ said Tallon, untying the dagger from his thigh, ‘take this.’ He bent to tie it around Max’s thigh but before he could, Haven ripped it savagely from his hands. ‘I’ll do that,’ he growled. ‘Just trying to help,’ said Tallon holding up his hands in mock submission. ‘Please don’t start all that again,’ sighed Max as Haven knelt to tie the dagger. ‘You forget . . . I have my telepathy back now we have left Naturine behind.’ ‘Oh god,’ said Max, ‘I forgot about that.’ ‘I thought you might have,’ said Haven looking up at her as he tied the dagger to her thigh. ‘I’m trying Haven, believe me, I’m trying not to think about anything that may upset you.’ ‘I know you are, I can hear your thoughts, remember?’ Haven smiled sadly. ‘It’s him,’ said Haven standing and taking a menacing step towards Tallon. ‘Stop thinking those thoughts about Max or I swear, protector or not I will kill you.’ Tallon retaliated, ‘I will think whatever I like, my thoughts are all that is left to me.’ He closed his eyes picturing Max standing before him in a candle lit tent, the flickering light behind her making her flimsy dress see-through. She was smiling, beckoning him forward, slowly he walked towards her, he placed his hand behind her neck pulling her close, bending his head towards her, he kissed her lips. He smiled, opening his eyes just in time to see a huge fist coming towards him; it smashed into his mouth. He stumbled backwards but quickly regained his balance and began to advance on Haven, all the rage and anger clearly evident on his face. He snarled. Max screamed, but before anyone could move Elkeira sprang between the two towering men. ‘Stop it,’ she shrieked, ‘stop it now, both of you or I swear by Ragnar and Isis, Max and I will go on without you, we are the Chosen, we can finish this journey alone if we have to.’ She was breathing heavily, her small wiry body quivering with anger, her eyes blazing as she looked from one man to the other. Both men stop advancing, looking down at the little spit-fire between them. ‘I am sorry little sister,’ said Tallon, all the rage leaving his body, he sagged visibly. ‘I will do my duty to you and Max and will not cause any more problems.’ Haven looked at Elkeira too, the fight gone out of him. ‘I promise too, but . . .,’ ‘No buts,’ said Elkeira, ‘take my offer or leave it, it is up to you.’ ‘I will take your offer,’ said Haven resignedly, so quiet it was hard to hear him. ‘Now,’ said Elkeira, ‘we will hear no more about it.’ ‘Well done child,’ said Gilster, who had wisely decided not to intervene. ‘I am no child,’ hissed Elkeira, turning angrily towards Gilster. A small smile appeared on Gilster’s lips, he swept the hem of his long black cloak before him, bowing slightly. ‘You are right my lady,’ he said grandly, ‘you are no child, I apologise.’ Tallon wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand, he looked at Max and then turned and walked to the back of the room, squatting down on his haunches. After everyone had calmed down they sat in a circle on broken bits of masonry and old wooden boxes to decide their next course of action, Tallon taking up sentry duty at the broken window. ‘I have no idea what we should be doing next, how can we find Daria and the Chosen?’ said Max. ‘Can you use your telepathic abilities to help?’ asked Gilster looking to Haven. ‘I’ve been trying ever since we arrived,’ said Haven, ‘but I don’t believe I have my full abilities back; whether that will come in time I don’t know.’ ‘What do you mean?’ asked Max. ‘I mean,’ snapped Haven, more angrily than he meant to, ‘I can’t hear anyone unless they are standing very close to me. Normally if I concentrate I can hear a constant whisper of sound from everywhere, but not here.’ ‘What about you Gil, are your songs working?’ Gilster stood, closing his eyes he began to sing, softly at first; the sound was so beautiful, rising and falling, slowly becoming louder as Gilster became more confident, its ethereal sound out of place in this ugly world. Elkeira, who had not heard Gilster sing before had tears in her eyes at the loveliness of it, even Tallon turned to listen, his heart lightened by the song’s magic. Gilster began to weave his arms in the air; wood and dirt from the floor swirled and twitched as if a wind was trying to lift them, a column of dirt rose in the air and began to form into a shape. Gilster’s song ended and the light seemed to go with it, leaving the room a dark, dreary place again. He bent to pick up the shape formed from the dirt. It was a cat. ‘Here,’ he said offering it to Elkeira, ‘for you.’ She took the small statue of the cat and looked at it closely. ‘It’s me,’ she cried, ‘thank you Gilster, I will keep it with me always.’ He smiled, ‘you’re welcome my lady.’ Elkeira went over to window to show Tallon. ‘At least your songs still work,’ said Haven. ‘Yes, but like you, I don’t have my full powers, it took a lot of energy just to make that small statue.’ ‘What do you think is causing it?’ said Max sounding worried. ‘Who knows what we can expect in this world,’ said Gilster, ‘but we can’t sit here forever, we have to get out there and find the Chosen and more importantly, Daria.’ Turning to Haven he asked, ‘if we get close enough, will you be able to hear either of them?’ ‘I should, but I just don’t know how close I need to be.’ ‘Well, let’s go and see what we can find,’ said Gilster heading for the door. ‘Wait!’ said Max, ‘I think we should dirty ourselves up a bit first so we don’t stand out so much, but our clothes should be ok, it seems anything goes in this world.’ She bent down grabbing a handful of cinders from the cold fireplace and began rubbing them up her arms and on her face. ‘You should pull your hood up Haven, your hair is so distinctive.’ He complied. Tallon smiled at Max’s grubby appearance. ‘You could never be anything but the beautiful woman you are,’ he said graciously, ‘even under all that dirt.’ Haven tensed, but held his tongue . . . just. After a thorough covering of dirt and cinders had been applied to each member of the group they felt they could mingle in much better. They left the derelict house and began walking. From what they could see that was left of the buildings this had once been a great city. It looked to Max like a picture from a war-zone in her world after the bombs had been dropped, destroying everything. The wide avenues had once been lined with large trees, now all that was left were rotting stumps and weeds. No window was left unbroken, no building was untouched by some sort of damage. Broken furniture and old, rusty vehicles lay in every street, looking like a tornado had just dropped them. Around every corner scenes of utter destruction greeted them. In one street they found what appeared to have once been a library, its roof long gone allowing the weather to slowly destroy the contents within. Pages of books fluttered around like small birds in search of food. Max, who had always had a love of books, was devastated. ‘All that knowledge, gone forever,’ she thought sadly. They continued walking, occasionally spying a furtive face watching them from broken buildings and places of perceived safety. No one approached them, no one spoke to them. ‘Getting anything?’ asked Gilster. ‘No, not much,’ said Haven, ‘just fear mostly, from the ones that are close enough for me to hear. I have picked up one thing though, they know we’re not from around here, so getting dirty didn’t help,’ he looked at Max, ‘but I haven’t heard any mention of the word Chosen yet.’ ‘Well, keep listening, they have to be here somewhere.’ Hours passed. ‘This is getting us nowhere,’ said Elkeira sounding annoyed, ‘and it will be night soon,’ said added looking up at the ever darkening sky, ‘I am cold and I am tired, we should find somewhere to spend the night and start again in the morning.’ ‘Here,’ said Haven untying his cloak from around his throat, ‘have this,’ he tossed it to Elkeira who caught it with a deft hand, ‘that should keep you warm, it’s from my home world, it also has camouflage abilities, if you cover yourself with it and keep completely still you’ll blend in with your surroundings and no one will be able to see you.’ Elkeira wrapped herself tightly in Haven’s long cloak. ‘Thank you Haven,’ she said, ‘it’s very kind of you.’ Haven smiled in return. Elkeira had not really liked Haven up until that moment because of the trouble between him and her brother, ‘maybe he’s not so bad after all,’ she thought as warmth seeped into her frozen limbs. ‘I saw a building back there,’ said Gilster, pointing back to where they had just come from. ‘It’s only a couple of streets back, its roof was still on and its walls were intact, only the windows had been blown out.’ ‘Sounds like a palace compared to most of what we’ve seen,’ said Haven, ‘let’s go and take a look.’ They walked back, soon finding the building Gilster had seen, it was one of the most complete buildings they had seen all day. ‘This will do nicely,’ said Haven, ‘welcome home,’ he said ushering everyone inside. ‘I wish we could have a fire,’ said Elkeira, ‘everything looks much nicer with a fire.’ ‘We don’t have anything to start one,’ said Haven. ‘I do,’ said Tallon stepping forward, ‘if you think it will not be too dangerous I can start a fire.’ ‘As long as we keep watch all night, it should be alright,’ said Gilster, ‘we don’t want any unexpected visitors.’
Galaxy's Edge Magazine: Issue 7: March 2014 by Mike Resnick;C. J. Cherryh;Steve Cameron;Robert Sheckley;Martin L. Shoemaker;Mercedes Lackey;Lou J. Berger;Elizabeth Bear;Brad R. Torgersen;Robert T. Jeschonek;Alexei Panshin;Gregory Benford;Barry Malzberg;Paul Cook;L. Sprague de Camp