THE LIVING DESERT
THE LIVING DESERT
CHAPTER 3
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I
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The man said his name was Lance and that he was part of a farm group improving crops in the northern Frontier. The group had developed a new strain that would bear fruit even in cold areas without water; they’d selected this desert to stage their experiments some five years earlier. Traveling in a caravan of five trailers bearing a hundred thousand seedlings, the farmers fell victim to a sandstorm and were attacked by a pack of bandits. Regardless of whether they offered any resistance or not, all were slain. Lance himself had been hit, but for some reason the bandits pulled out the gun they’d shoved in his mouth and brought him back to their hideout. The reason Lance went along with all of this was because, in the heat of battle, he’d seen that no matter how many times the bullets and blades of his compatriots had found their mark, the bandits had been utterly unfazed—and he valued his own life. As soon as they arrived back at the bandits’ lair, however, Lance realized he’d been drawn into a world beyond imagining.
“You see, the first thing they did was tell me their age. The leader said he was going to turn two hundred that year. And the other bandits did the same, saying they were a hundred, or a hundred and fifty, or whatever the hell they felt like. I laughed at them—at least I had enough backbone left for that. It’s what they showed me next that tore the very soul out of me.”
“And what was that?” Granny asked eagerly.
“Their stomachs. One by one they took off their shirts. And then . . .”
Lance pressed both hands over his face. They were in a cave they’d found in a rocky mound. The air was sultry, but it was better than being outside. Luckily, they also found Granny’s wagon intact, so for the time being they were set as far as food and weapons went.
“What did you see?” Granny asked, growing pale as she did so.
“They were mummies, you see.” Under the fresh new shirt of every last one of them, the stomach-wrenching remains of desiccated flesh clung to their bones. “Yet they were perfectly normal from the neck up—as you saw earlier. They turned their ordinary faces at me and grinned. I tell you, I thought I was done for then and there.”
The mandate Lance got from them was strange and cruel; he was to work alongside these living corpses as they carried out their mission of slaughtering any travelers who ventured into the desert. How could Lance refuse them?
“In the past five years, we’ve attacked four parties,” Lance said. “I killed folks, too. Men, women—people I didn’t know at all. If I didn’t do it, they would have killed me. One of them was a girl about your age, too, Miss. Now, I won’t tell you I was out of my mind when I did it. I puked my guts up every time I did someone in. But that didn’t mean I was happy with the way things were going, either. When I heard you’d been brought here, I decided I’d get away for sure this time no matter what happened to me.”
“You said we were brought here. What do you mean by that?” Clay asked as his eyes moved to the cave’s entrance.
D was leaning against the rock wall. At that distance, it was difficult to tell whether or not the Hunter could overhear the group’s conversation. As he’d helped cut down Lance’s pursuers, one would think he’d be quite interested in this discussion, but he didn’t ask a single question or even move from where he stood. Ordinary expectations couldn’t begin to apply to the Hunter.
“So, who the hell controls the tornado? You’ve been living out here for five years. You gotta at least know that much. And those freaking mummies gotta be working for the same person, right?”
“No doubt,” Lance replied, nodding feebly. “But I can’t even begin to guess who—or what—might be behind all this. All those years I watched them carefully, hoping to get some clue as to who it was, but I don’t even know if it was someone human or not. Something tells me they don’t work for any mortal.”
The reason Lance believed this was because of the way he’d been kept alive. His sustenance had consisted of one meal a day of some unknown leaves and berries that were left piled unceremoniously in front of his quarters. Though he tried, he was never able to see who placed the meal there. Lance’s meals usually were brought to him while he slept. If he stayed awake to keep watch, nothing would come. After a few weeks, a strange sensation came over Lance. No matter where he was, he had the feeling he was being watched constantly. Even out in the barren desert without another creature around, the feeling remained with him. Of course, escape was impossible. When they weren’t attacking travelers, the mummies lay in their cave. Any getaway plans Lance might’ve come up with were always foiled by sandstorms—or something even stranger.
“And what the hell was that?” Clay asked.
Lance merely shook his head at the question. “I don’t know. Well, I’d heard about it, but I’d never seen it before. It was water that just stretched on forever. I guess it must’ve been that ‘sea’ thing folks talk about.”
Clay and Granny exchanged glances.
The Nobility’s transportation system was still operational in the Capital, but the further away from the city one went, the worse traveling conditions got. Aside from a few exceptions, people had only the most primitive means of transportation to rely on almost everywhere on the Frontier. Not only did most people live their entire lives without ever seeing the sea, but many died without ever setting foot outside their own village.
Lance’s words were sufficient enough to amaze both Clay and Granny.
“There’s no sea in the desert,” the old woman groaned. “It might’ve been a spell, or something set up by the Nobility, I guess. What do you think?” Her query was aimed at D.
Lying down in a hollow about ten feet from the rest of the group, Tae turned her eyes toward the Vampire Hunter for the first time.
“The tornado is under someone’s control,” D said, his eyes still trained on the vista before him. “Whoever controls it brought all of us here. There can only be one reason for that—to have us do the same thing it made him do, I suppose.”
“What, you mean plundering?” Clay blurted out without the slightest reserve. “But nobody’s loony enough to try crossing this desert anymore. No one other than this old bag, my brother, and me, that is. Anyway, we haven’t been attacked by the freaking mummies. What’s that supposed to mean?”
“That the desert has some purpose other than killing us, and so it lets us live,” D replied plainly. “The man said he was being watched. Now, it’s our turn for the same.”
“Wait just a minute there!” Granny interrupted. “Just now, you said something about what the desert wants. What’s the story? You mean to tell me everything that’s attacked us so far is following orders from the desert?”
“It shouldn’t come as a surprise. I told you about the moving forest. And I suppose you know about the living mountain in the northwestern sectors of the Frontier.”
“Sure,” Granny said, shivering at the thought of fifty billion tons of rock moving along the horizon. “But that’s just a simple mineral-based life form that can’t do anything aside from move. Of course, it only occurs maybe once in a decade, but then again, thousands of people get crushed when it does.”
“It wouldn’t be that unusual for a more complex creature to exist,” D said, though it hardly sounded like a rebuttal. “Because the metabolism of mineral-based life forms is greatly restricted by their weight, they really can’t hope to develop any further. But the same might not be true for the desert.”
“You keep talking about this desert, but I just don’t get it. You mean to say—”
“It could be a living creature with a developed nervous system and circuits for thought. But even I can’t say exactly what either of those would be like.”
“Okay, let me see if I’ve got this right. You’re saying that the tornado was some kind of ‘hand’ that brings what the desert needs here? That it had ‘eyes’ that watched this guy? Just where are the nose and mouth then? Oh, I suppose you’re gonna tell me those were the globes and butterflies we ran into at the start?”
D didn’t respond.
“See, I’ve got another theory,” Clay said, brushing off the dirt as he stood up. He’d been kneeling there listening to what Granny said. “For the time being, let’s just forget why this character might’ve been brought here. But the reason other travelers were robbed and killed is pretty obvious. It’s because whoever’s pulling the strings is greedy, of course! And so far as I know, there ain’t nobody with that kind of greed—nobody but humans.”
“You know, you just might have a point there,” the old woman said matter-of-factly.
But it was Lance himself that refuted the younger Bullow. “If you turn south from here,” the man said, “there’s a huge depression in the ground. Everything we stole is sitting in it, rotting or rusting.”
Granny and Clay exchanged glances.
“You mean to say someone just chucked it all?” the warrior asked incredulously.
“I really can’t say, as I never actually saw it being thrown away. But every last thing we took went off to the dump after about a week.”
“So, what did they do with the goods while they had them then?”
Lance just shrugged at the old woman’s query.
“At any rate, the first thing we gotta do is get the hell out of this hole in the wall,” Clay said, looking around at his companions. “Hey, old lady—get in your wagon. We’re getting out of here.”
“It’s no use,” Lance said in a weary tone. “Hell, I tried a hundred times myself. But sometimes there’d be sandstorms, other times it was mirages of the sea. Oh, yeah—there were times I’d walk out and nothing at all would happen and I’d think to myself I was in the clear. And then there’d be this big damn mountain towering right in front of me.”
“Well, this time it’s gonna work just fine,” Clay spat back. In his eyes, Lance must’ve been nothing more than a coward. “I hate to break it to you, but if we don’t get out of here, you ain’t either. According to what ‘pretty boy’ says, it seems we were brought here to take your place. Meaning, whoever controls this here desert don’t have any further use for you.”
A look of incomparable horror shot across Lance’s face.
“Those creeps didn’t come here to take you back earlier—I bet they came to kill you. Hell, we can leave you here and let them finish you off, if you like.” Watching with relish as Lance’s shoulders drooped, Clay then turned to D and said, “You’re coming, too, right?”
“It’s no use.”
Realizing that the Hunter’s frosty response was exactly the same as Lance’s, Clay got a gleam of light in his eyes—a vicious spark. “What do you mean it’s no use?”
“Is your wagon still in one piece, Granny?” D asked.
“Yeah, she’ll move somehow or other. Horses are fine, too. But I don’t think either could go through that again.”
“If we get picked up by another tornado, her wagon will be ruined. Then we’ll be out of luck.”
“Well, what do you suggest we do, then?” Clay asked, suddenly kicking at the ground. A few small stones vanished into the dark reaches of the cave. “Are we just gonna sit here with our thumbs up our asses? You planning on staying here for the rest our lives, eating nuts and berries like this chump?”
“Do whatever you like,” D said, pulling away from the rock wall. It was probably his way of saying he’d handle things his own way. Silently, he moved to the cavern’s entrance.
“Is something coming?” Granny asked, squinting her eyes.
“Horses. Ten or so, with riders. His compatriots, no doubt.”
“Came to shut him up, did they?” Granny replied, putting her right hand on her jar. “Hell, if there’s only a dozen or so, I can take care of ’em one-handed,” Granny quipped, but her words met only the empty space where D had been.
“D,” Tae mumbled softly.
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II
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D stepped out into the light, although it was really only light in comparison to the cave. The sky, as always, was shrouded in clouds. At the entrance to the cave, the Hunter looked up at the sky. It was dim—so dim that it merely served to make D’s gorgeous countenance seem all the more radiant. He stood quietly, without moving. It was as if he was looking at something beyond the lead-gray sky. But what? Glistening green plains or bright tropical lands would surely mean nothing more to this young man than an arrangement of air and land and colors. What of life, then? Or death? Or fate? Darker than dark and colder than cold, his crystal-clear eyes reflected nothing save the dusty cloud that had twisted around the rocky crag.
There were ten riders. They were the living dead, and a fair bit cleaner than Lance. Surely they’d come here because their earlier colleagues had failed to return. They didn’t look at the faces of the four men that Clay and D had dispatched. It appeared the false life the desert had given them once couldn’t be theirs a second time.
The living dead formed a semi-circle in front of D. A man with a mustache took a half-step forward. For all intents and purposes, he appeared human. “You’re all going to be staying,” he said in an almost mechanical voice. A gunpowder pistol hung at his waist. The rounds it could hurl from its six tiny chambers would go right through a tree trunk. “If you give us the man, you have our guarantee you’ll be allowed to live here. You’d be wise to take us up on that,” the man said flatly, and then he waited.
There was no reply. He was dealing with D, after all.
“Then I guess we can’t avoid this, can we?” the man with the mustache said, raising his right hand.
The air was filled with the sounds of gears meshing. All the men on horseback had cocked their guns.
“You, in particular, interest us greatly,” he told the Hunter. “If at all possible, we’d like to avoid a confrontation.”
Wind buffeted the man’s cheeks. And then laughter did the same. Not from D—that young man didn’t even know how to laugh. The voice came from the Hunter’s left hand, which he’d lowered naturally.
A dangerous silence came over the world.
The mustached man’s hand went for the grip of his gun. That was the signal. The row of men pulled their triggers. Or rather, they tried to. But a cloud of yellow sand spread before them like a wall.
Weapons roared. There was the sound of the combustible gas in one tiny metal cylinder after another propelling wads of lead from the weapons’ barrels. Orange sparks flashed somewhere in the sandy cloud, and between them streaked a silvery gleam. What happened within that cloud of sand was anyone’s guess.
The billowing curtain of sand suddenly dropped to the ground. And with it fell the horsemen. Only D remained standing.
All of the other men had their heads split open and had turned to ash, but D didn’t even look at them as he walked over to the only one of them who appeared to have fallen to the ground unscathed—the man with the mustache. The blade the Hunter thrust smoothly under the man’s nose was not only free of blood, but of the faintest speck of dust as well.
“The dead should stay that way,” D said softly. “How do we get out of this place?”
“I don’t know,” the man replied, shaking his head. He was pale. His lack of color seemed to spring not so much from fear as from pain. With utter loathing, he added, “And I hope you all wind up like me. Used for the rest of your life by this desert—whatever the hell it really is—and brought back again when you’re dead . . . That’d be just perfect,” the bandit laughed.
There was a smooth clink! D had just sheathed his longsword. At the same time, the man’s torso slipped off to the left. Sliced from the right armpit to the left hip, his body turned to dust and vanished before the two pieces could fully separate.
“This is a fine mess you’ve made,” D’s left hand chortled. “I don’t think that Lance character knows the way out, either.” Surely not even the mummies could’ve imagined the curtain of sand that’d issued from that very same mouth.
“And do you know?”
“More or less. But I haven’t been fed enough to know an exact direction when one might not even exist.”
D turned right around. Four people stood at the entrance to the cave. Even Clay couldn’t hide the surprise that colored his ferocious countenance.
“Ten of them . . . and in less than two seconds. You’re a goddamn monster . . .” the younger Bullow fairly groaned. “I wanna kill you more than ever now. With my own two hands.”
“I’ll thank you to hold off on that until we’re across this desert,” Granny said in a strident tone. Turning to Lance, she said, “Well, that takes care of the mob that was after you. Now, relax and see if you can’t remember something better to tell us, okay? I’ll be damned if I’m gonna hang around here playing bandit.”
Putting his hand to the brim of his hat, D looked over his shoulder. “Escape is possible,” he said.
“What?” more than one person exclaimed as they opened their eyes wide with amazement.
“But as long as we’re out in the desert,” he continued, “it’ll probably keep chasing us. Before we leave, we’d better settle this.”
“And just how are we supposed to settle it?”
“We wait.”
And saying that, D went into the depths of the caves. The Hunter was hopelessly indifferent.
Clay and Granny looked at each other.
“I’m gonna take a peek outside,” Clay announced. “If I gotta stew in this hole all day, I’ll go nuts. If any strange characters start trouble, you’ll have to deal with it.”
Before Granny could stop him, the man in the blue cap had vanished in the sunlight.
“Dear me, if that man don’t have ants in his pants,” the old woman griped to herself. “Looks like we’re left with just the cool and composed one to rely on now. You really are our guardian angel, you know.”
Their guardian angel was deep in the recesses of a hole in the rocks, shrouded in shadows.
“So, what are you folks, anyway?” Lance said meekly. He rubbed his jaw incessantly, which seemed to be something of a habit with him. “I didn’t think you were ordinary travelers, but it’s like you’re all freaks or something. Where are you headed, and what’ll you do there?”
“We’re pretty much just like you, you know. Relax. We’ll get you out of here safe and sound, sure as shooting.”
“I sure hope so . . . but I don’t even know where the stuff they gave me to eat and drink came from. At this rate, I’ll waste away to nothing out here.”
“But you were willing to take that chance when you ran away, weren’t you? I don’t wanna hear such nonsense from a grown man. If you hadn’t run into us, you’d have just grit your teeth and forged on, am I right?”
Lance shut his mouth.
“Well, if you’re hungry, there’s food over in my wagon. Come with me and I’ll get you something to eat.”
The old woman stood up, and Lance left with her. Only Tae and D remained. D was behind a rock with his eyes closed. About fifteen feet lay between the Hunter and the girl.
“Mrs. Viper just . . .” Tae began to say softly, her face still pointed toward the floor. Her tone was so weak it wouldn’t have been at all surprising if it didn’t even reach D. “She just left me here. I suppose she thought I’d be safe with you around . . . even though you’re the scariest of them all . . .”
There was no reply. Even if Tae’s voice was audible, it only would’ve sounded like incoherent mumbling.
“I never dreamed I’d be able to go home . . . I really thought I’d have to spend the rest of my life in that Noble’s castle.”
“You remember the Noble’s name, don’t you?”
When the darkness emitted these words, Tae trembled. It was quite some time before she managed to nod and reply, “Marquis Venessiger . . .”
“Just him?”
“Huh?” Tae cried out softly, turning in D’s direction. She could see only darkness.
“Castle Gradinia had a special purpose. Was that the only Noble you met there?”
Tae was silent. Seconds passed. And then, as if unable to bear the silence any longer, she said, “There was another . . . He was taller than the marquis, and more regal . . . I never saw his face, though . . .”
“But his eyes were red. Blazing like rubies.”
“Exactly,” Tae said, nodding in amazement. But it didn’t take long at all for her expression to become completely vacant. She was in the dark. And through that darkness so deep she could even feel the weight of it: two red things were coming closer. A pair of eyes.
“What kind of eyes were they?” D asked, not inquiring at all what sort of man it was.
“Bright red and piercing . . . Eyes that seemed to drink me up, body and soul . . . All they had to do was take one look at me . . . and then I couldn’t even think at all . . . Come to think of it . . .” Tae said in a strangely relaxed tone. “Come to think of it,” she repeated, “they were kind of like yours. I wonder why that is? Oh, I know now . . . Because they seemed so terribly sad . . .”
“Did he do anything to you?” D asked, changing his tack unexpectedly.
Tae was horribly shaken. “Not a thing . . . Nothing happened to me . . . I really just met him. Why would you ask me something like that? You’re a Hunter, aren’t you? Don’t ask me anything you don’t need to know.”
“The one with the red eyes is a ruler.” The darkness didn’t move in the slightest, but smoldered behind the rocks. “The sun is setting on the Nobility’s influence over our world, and yet the gusts from their black wings still bear mystery into so many lives. Yours may be one of them. What did he do?”
“Stop it!” Tae cried, covering her face as she got up. “Nothing happened to me at all. If anything did, I don’t remember it—so please don’t ask me such horrible questions.” Her tone sounded cold enough to freeze a stone.
A tear glittered as it trickled down her cheek. Scattering those sparkling droplets to the wind, Tae raced from the cavern.
A few minutes later, Granny Viper showed up in the cave. “D—you in here?” she called out.
“Over here.”
“You said something to the girl, didn’t you? She came running back to the wagon, bawling her eyes out, you know,” the old woman said in an uninflected tone.
“And that bothers you?”
“A little, I guess. After all, she’s valuable merchandise.”
“You’ve been traveling with her a while. Have you noticed any-thing about her?”
“Like what?” Granny asked, a fine thread of tension stitching through her flesh.
“Any physical irregularities? Swings in her mental state?”
“Sure, there’s some of that to a degree,” Granny replied, her tone already relaxed again. “But then, she’s a girl at an impressionable age who’s spent quite some time living with the Nobility, and now she’s on a long, long journey home. If there wasn’t anything weird about her, that in itself would be pretty weird. Look, I’m gonna be on my toes to see to it that nothing strange happens to her until I can hand her over to her family. And I’ll thank you to keep any funny remarks to yourself. You should be thinking of some way to get us out of this godforsaken land as soon as possible.”
“The girl has to be brought home,” said a voice from the darkness. “Her family’s still around, I gather.”
“Yeah. Her parents passed on not long after she was taken, but her brother and his wife have a farm.”
“Alone she might’ve been okay, but the two of them are in for a hard life.”
“Just what’s that supposed to mean?” Granny snapped, a heavy shade of dismay rising in her face.
.
Hearing a knock, Tae looked up. The forearms her face had been buried in were damp to the elbows. Quickly pawing at the corners of her eyes with the backs of her hands, Tae said, “Come in.”
Expecting to see Granny Viper, the girl was actually a bit surprised by who opened her bedroom door. It was Lance. Scratching his head uneasily, he said, “Sorry to bother you. It’s just that I heard crying . . .”
“It’s nothing.”
“Well, if you’re okay, then. I was just worried, is all. Well, see you.”
“Don’t go,” Tae cried out reflexively.
Lance didn’t know what to say. As he stopped there in spite of himself, his eyes caught Tae crumpling on the bed. “Hey!”
“Don’t mind me. Just let me be.”
“But you just—” Lance began hesitantly. “I can’t just stand idly by when a girl’s crying. At times like this you shouldn’t be alone. If you had someone to talk to, it’d be—”
“I’m fine, so get out.”
Like a razor through the conversation, her tone was so intense Lance finally grasped the situation. “I get it. I’m sorry.”
As he slowly turned his back, Tae called out to him huskily, “Wait—” It sounded like her nose was stuffed. “I’m sorry. But I’d just like to be alone. Please.”
“Okay. But keep your chin up,” Lance said, having nothing but a trite expression for this situation.
“Sure,” Tae replied in the brightest tone she could manage.
Donning a smile that suited his bony face, Lance took his leave.
As the door closed, all the strength drained from Tae’s body. Her hands rested naturally on her abdomen. A heartrending sigh spilled from her. That sorrowful breath carried the girl’s curse on the universe. Her dainty shoulders trembled. Sobbing split her lips. There was little else she could do.
Tae watched as a number of sparkling beads shattered in her lap. Even after those beads had become stains, her eyes didn’t move. They had a dangerous hue to them.
Standing, she pulled a leather bag out from under her bed. Her pale hand was swallowed by it, and then came back out with something long and thin and shiny. She tugged on one end with her other hand and it came apart in two pieces—a short knife and a sheath. When her eyes were reflected in the tempered steel, a spark of urgency resided in them.
Slowly the blade rose. At its tip sat Tae’s throat. A light push made it dimple the flesh. As the blade moved forward the tiniest bit, its edge was stained red with blood.
Her trembling ceased. A decision had been reached. With the same speed that she raised it, she pulled the knife away again. Tae heaved a heavy sigh.
Just as she finished sheathing the knife, the door flew open without warning. It was Granny Viper. The first thing she saw wasn’t Tae’s face, but rather what the girl had in her hand. As she wrested the weapon from the girl with incredible force, Granny was probably disappointed by the complete lack of resistance. “Why you—”
“I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me,” Tae said in a voice so faint it was barely audible.
An instant later a harsh slap landed on the girl’s cheek. Exposed by the way the shock of the blow turned her head, the other cheek resounded with another smack. A wrinkled hand seized the girl by the collar and shook her.
“Listen—and listen good,” Granny said, hammering the words into the face of the young girl gazing back at her absentmindedly. “You’re valuable merchandise to me. It’d be a hell of a thing if you went off and damaged yourself now. I’ve got a duty to deliver you to your home without a mark on you. I’m responsible for you. And I’ve always met my responsibilities. Now, I’m not about to let you blemish my tidy reputation, either. You hear me? The next time you pull something like this, I’ll forget all about bringing you home and I’ll kill you myself. You remember that!”
Tae waited until the old woman had finished her threats. “Please, just kill me,” the girl then mumbled.
It took Granny a few seconds to realize what she’d just heard. “What did you say?”
“I never even wanted to go home in the first place. So, if there’s anything you don’t like about me, go ahead and kill me here and now.” Though her tone was hollow, a resolute will lay behind it.
“So, you don’t wanna go home then?” Granny said, sounding somewhat obtuse. She wasn’t badly flustered. In fact, the look she gave Tae was almost gentle.
Tae was silent. A great weight had suddenly been lifted from her chest.
“Swear to me you won’t try any more of this foolishness,” Granny bade her in a low voice.
The girl’s pale visage was still aimed at the floor. For the longest time, the two of them simply stood there.
Clucking her tongue, the old woman said, “You’re an obstinate one. But let me make it perfectly clear I’m pretty obstinate myself about you not doing anything else stupid. I don’t care if you try hanging yourself or drinking poison—I’ll bring you back to life and deliver you home. I’m not about to let a slip of a girl like you soil the name of Granny Viper. The Nobility did something to you, didn’t they?”
Tae’s face shot up. “Don’t ask me about that,” she said.
“Good enough,” the old woman said with a nod. “It seems just asking you was effective. Well, I suppose if you’ve come around that much, you’re not likely to do away with yourself so easily. Until we can get across this desert, just keep remembering all the bad things that happened to you.”
“As far as memories go—I don’t really have any.”
“Is that a fact? Then you just have to think about what lies ahead. A person can live without memories if need be.”
Tae’s eyes shot up to the old woman’s face. “Is that what you do, Mrs. Viper?”
“Spare me,” Granny Viper said with an exaggerated frown. “I’ve got hopes and dreams, too, you know. I’m out to make a load of money quick, then open myself a fabric store.”
“A fabric store?” Tae said with amazement.
“Yep. It may not look like it now, but I have really fine taste in clothes. See, before I got into this line of work, I had a place in the Capital. I always made children’s clothing, and eventually I even made a business out of it.”
“A fabric store,” Tae muttered once more.
“Traveling together all this time, I’ve noticed you like kids, don’t you?” Granny said in a gentle tone. “And since we’re on the subject of fabric, you may as well know there’s a sewing machine in the storage compartment under your bed. You can use it if you like.”
“Can I really?”
“You can’t wear that miserable puss forever. I just said I’d let you borrow my precious sewing machine, and I’ve never let anyone touch it before. Have to get you to cheer up, anyway. You sure look happy as a pig in slop, but are you sure you know how to use a sewing machine now?”
“When I was back home, I used one a little bit.”
“Then give it a shot. But I’m not about to let you use it for free. After all, it wears down on the parts. I was thinking if you had the know-how, I’d have you make me a children’s outfit.” Indicating the far end of the wagon with her left hand, Granny said, “The material’s in there. But if you make a mess of it, your family will have to reimburse me when I turn you over. Okay?”
Not waiting for a response, Granny turned her back. Once she’d reached the door, she looked back.
“I understand the Vampire Hunter might’ve said some callous things, but don’t let it get to you. He might wear a sour puss all the time, but he’s not the kind to bully folks. However, he does have to say some hard things to stay true to himself. It’s a hard life, being so tough on yourself like that. And I hear it’s a lot worse in his case. If you could get inside his skin, it’d be so sad in there it’d kill the likes of you or me.”
Tae didn’t know what to say.
“Oh, I saw our new arrival coming out of here earlier,” the old woman continued. “What was he up to in here?”
“Not a thing. He just came in to cheer me up, is all.”
“Hmm, must be nice being a pretty young thing. But I’ll have to have a word with him. I can’t have you getting all infested with bugs and such.”
Granny stepped out of the wagon. A figure in black stood right there.
“Heard us, did you?” the old woman asked.
Not answering, D just put his hand to his traveler’s hat and tugged the brim down a bit.
“Here I was, thinking you’re cold as ice, and then you go and do something all considerate like coming out from the shade under the wagon for me. You really are worried about the girl, aren’t you?”
“Something strange is happening to the desert,” D said tersely.
Granny’s expression changed. “What?” she asked in equally terse fashion.
“I don’t know. Though something’s clearly not right, I can’t be certain just what it is.”
“You saying we should move out, then?”
D didn’t answer her, and Granny soon fell silent, too. They’d come to a conclusion about that earlier. For the time being, they could merely wait. D’s eyes shifted ever so slightly to the east.
“What is it?” Granny asked, unable to see anything there.
“I hear a sewing machine.”
“Looks like she’s finally turned around,” Granny said with a wry smile. “Now all we have to do is get out of this desert and get away from you.”
“From me?”
“I’m sure you’re not so thickheaded as to miss what I’m driving at. You’re a dangerous man, not just for that girl, but for all women. Hasn’t anyone ever told you that? If they haven’t, it’s because one look at you scrambles their brains.”
The old woman stared at D’s face, waiting for some reaction. Even out in the sunlight, he looked as beautiful as a crystal that’d formed somewhere in the darkness and then been worked by the chisel of the Almighty. A weird sensation surged up from Granny’s lower half, making her shake. The praise of the present world meant nothing to this young man. Only those dead and removed from the material world could pay him his due.
“‘There’s no place like home,’” D said dispassionately. “At least, that’s the maxim of travelers on the Frontier. But is that really the case?”
“I don’t necessarily know how relaxing it’ll be, but if you’ve got one, it’s generally best you go back to it. You’re talking about the girl, aren’t you? You trying to suggest I shouldn’t bring her home?”
“Are there any hidden who’ve settled back at home after you delivered them?” the Hunter asked.
“I wouldn’t know,” Granny said, turning away disdainfully. “I’m only responsible for ’em until I get ’em home. But once they’re there, it’s somebody else’s problem, you see. I’m not really in a position to provide maintenance and upkeep, you know.”
“I met one once,” D said. His darkness-hued words melted in the sunlight.
Granny gazed vacantly at his beautiful countenance. Unrestrained curiosity and excitement colored her eyes. She couldn’t conceive of this young man ever turning his thoughts to the past.
“It was in a village in a southwestern sector of the Frontier. Apparently, he’d been run out of town by the whole community. This boy of about eight was freezing to death by the banks of the river. Not long after I heard the particulars, he died.”
“He must’ve done something or other, right?”
“Don’t you see?” said the Hunter.
“No, I don’t.”
“He didn’t do anything at all.”
“Is that so? Then, why would they do that?” Granny asked, seeming a bit peeved.
“The boy had been with the Nobility for three months. That was all. A doctor had even verified there was nothing out of the ordinary. He could walk in the daylight, too. And in six months with him, his parents hadn’t noticed any strange symptoms.”
Granny was at a loss for words.
“However, a certain woman had her suspicions about him, and she went to the mayor and the leader of the Vigilance Committee and complained to them that she’d been bitten. Though they could tell at a glance that the wound had been faked, the two men chose to interpret it differently.”
“They wanted to get rid of a nuisance, eh?”
“Within the hour, the whole village was beating down the boy’s door. His father was killed trying to stop them, and the house was put to the torch.”
“How awful,” Granny said, shrugging her shoulders coldly. Tilting her head to one side, she added, “But I’m a bit surprised a lad at death’s door could hold out long enough to tell you such an involved tale.”
“The explanation came from his mother, who was right by his side.”
“So, he had his mum there at the very end to look after him, did he? Well, that’s something, isn’t it?”
“She was the same woman who’d tipped off the mayor.”
White sunlight held the two of them in its embrace. The world was unspeakably peaceful.
Granny awkwardly made her way over to the wagon. “Well, then. We don’t have the faintest clue what’s bound to happen, but I warrant the safe thing to do is have everything ready for departure. You said there was something strange out there, but do you think it’ll be headed this way soon?”
“I don’t know,” D said, coming out of the shadows.
Granny casually remarked, “I hear it hurts you dhampirs quite a bit to be out in the sunlight. If someone wanted to kill you, daytime would really be the only time to do it. I guess you really can’t fight your blood—” the crone said, stopping and clamping one hand over her own mouth mid-sentence.
Her mouth may have been covered, but her feelings showed in her eyes. They were laughing. Laughing maliciously.
Not seeming the least bit bothered, D walked out onto the sea of sand.
“Er, pardon me,” Lance said, coming out from behind the rocks to the Hunter’s left. Apparently, he’d been keeping out of the sun there ever since Tae had chased him off. D didn’t stop walking, so Lance jogged after him. “Your name’s D, isn’t it?” he asked. “Back in my village, folks used to say that out on the Frontier there was this one incredible Vampire Hunter who was unbelievably handsome. That’d be you, wouldn’t it? In which case, the girl and the old woman are connected to your business, right? I mean, I don’t know the first thing about this. One of them’s unbelievably gloomy, and the other’s real testy. Say, speaking of the girl—she wouldn’t happen to be one of the hidden, would she?”
“What if she is?” D asked as he walked.
“Hey, it doesn’t matter to me. But shouldn’t you be comforting her or something? She’s had it bad enough up till now, and no matter where she goes, folks will give her a hard time if they find out what happened to her. The least you could do is be nice to her until she gets where she’s going.”
D stopped in his tracks and looked at Lance. “And why are you telling me this?” he asked.
Lance diverted his gaze. His cheeks wore a thin flush—even men blushed when they were subjected to D’s gaze. Coughing, he replied, “Well, because you’re the only one for the job. Girls her age always fall for the good-looking guys. I guarantee you that. And given that, you’re far and away the top out of the three men here. Why don’t you spend some time with her? I saw her crying earlier. A girl like her doesn’t deserve to suffer like that.”
D watched the man without saying a word. Soon he turned to face the desert. It was an endless sea of sand. “Don’t leave this spot,” he told Lance in a low voice.
Leaving the other man behind as he nodded his agreement, the Hunter advanced about twenty paces, and then stopped. As his face slowly scanned to his right and to his left, there wasn’t a trace of tension on it.
“Well, there’s something wrong here, and then again there isn’t,” said a hoarse voice that slipped from the vicinity of his left hand. “But something’s sure to happen all right. Better be damn careful.”
At that instant, darkness hid the sky. D’s coat had fluttered out around him. As he whipped around, his eyes found nothing. There was naught but waves of sand dunes slumbering out in the white sunlight. Lance wasn’t there, nor was the old woman and her wagon. Even the rocky mound was gone.
“Oh, boy,” D’s left hand moaned. “Just perfect. We’ve been hit with another psi attack.”