“Well.” JI stepped up to Ryke’s shoulder and smacked him on it. “That was fun. Who are these people?”
“Deckers. Those are deckers,” he murmured.
Thousands of them it seemed.
“You mean more Mekkers.” JI’s face changed as he said that, his mouth sinking.
The Scav was troubled, which shouldn’t surprise him. He didn’t have time to nurse the man through introductions.
Gio arrived at his right and gently took his hand. His wounds were still there, but he felt strong, his blood clean, his head perfectly clear. The storm had vanished, the sky had cleared, and the waik crystal had done what his mother had predicted it would.
If he could pass this on to others, his people had a chance to live on the surface of Aerthe.
Badh was in the front row, a bandage bulking below his torn open shirt.
“I think they’ve come for your...blessing,” Gio said. “But first, do you think you could put on some clothes.”
“Oh.” He looked down. The wind or the effect of the Aerthe had demolished his clothing. “Indeed.”
A moment later and JI had draped a blanket around him. Birds flew past, to land in the branches above tweeting at him. He studied them suspiciously.
“This is too perfect.”
Gio came to his front and took both his hands, peering up at him. “You’re no longer blueish, the storms have gone. How do you feel?”
The deckers were slowly advancing, as if afraid of him. He pulled in a few blissful and deep breaths. “I feel great. I felt the Aerthe come through me. Which is ridiculous. Who will believe me?”
“I will, Ryke.” Badh stopped a few steps away. “We all will. We found you in the storm by the light of the Aerthe. Until the storm ceased, there was a bright glow that led us on.”
“Huh.” He shook his head, struggling to believe in what had happened, and he’d been here, experienced it.
A miracle. The responsibility was heavy, yet his heart beat steadily. His mother had showed her faith in him through her words. He only wished she could be here with him and with Badh.
No one else could do this.
He looked again at his arms, his hands where Gio held them, and at her. He wasn’t sure she’d blinked at all since taking his hands. He leaned down and kissed her once, then raised his head again.
“Why did you kiss me?”
“To be sure this was real. You are.” He smiled fleetingly, then said to Badh, “You’ve left the swathe?”
“Yes. Most of these with me are from the Underdeck. A few are from above. All of us chose to try to find you so that you could...” He frowned. “Do whatever it is –”
“Bless you would be the best terminology,” Gio interjected. “I think. Going from what little I know.”
“Uh-huh. Never heard that word before.” His brother pressed his fingers to his bandage, wincing.
“It’s real. They umm do it where I come from.”
“Prophets?” Badh raised his eyebrows.
“Well, priests.”
“Okay, well. To bless us then. I can see it worked, Ryke. Something good happened. Please, do this. We have brought a waik crystal each of us, taken from the cores in the Engine Sea. The king gave permission, and we have weapons and supplies because of that.”
The king had... The entire front row of people was kneeling. It made him nervous. He’d always been a loner, not a leader.
“He did?” He latched onto Badh’s last point.
“Yes. I had an audience with him once Ormrad’s treachery was revealed. It seems a mechling owned by Mako, one of the kings-in-waiting, recorded much of the fight with Gyle, and more.”
“Okay.” But he’d stopped really hearing what Badh was saying.
There had to be over a thousand here. Even if they all had a crystal, this would take days to accomplish. He should nevertheless get started.
“Line them up after this, my brother. But you are to be the first, of course.”
“Here it is.”
Then Badh kneeled and he placed the crystal in his brother’s mouth and held his shoulder as he swallowed water and the crystal. If this didn’t work...
Have faith in yourself.
A blueness obscured vision for a flash of a second.
Badh stood, shaky but smiling. “Thank you. My stars if we can do this, the Mekkers are saved. We can live here, under this sky!” Tears ran down his cheeks, shining in the sunlight. Badh only sniffed, not bothering to wipe them away. “Let’s do this.”
“Yes.” Ryke grinned, sure his eyes must look as if he’d been possessed by madness. If he’d been the sort of man to yell and dance, he’d have been dancing. Instead he let the surge of blood roaring through him die a little then he waved forward the first of the waiting deckers.
But all he had in mind was one blinding thought.
I’ve done it. Achieved what no one thought possible. This is the answer for us.
By midday, they had to pause to eat and drink. He sat on a blanket with Gio and Badh, but he questioned only her. JI had vanished. Curious how he’d come to rely on her for opinions on such things, the weirder things.
“Is this magic or science? I didn’t think magic existed, no matter what we called Drette and his portals.”
She pursed her lips and eyed him from under her brow, then idly pulled out some grass.
“I don’t know if we can tell. Your world is odd. Nothing like this happened on my world, except in mythology. My opinion? It could easily be science and explainable but we don’t have the right facts or knowledge, yet. However, I’d rather say science.”
“That’s in line with my thinking. Another question. How are we to bless all these people before another storm arises? The last weather effect was due to me. These...” He gestured at the crowd who were also seated. Some were eating, some waiting for him. “I think they walked for four days to get here? Badh?”
“No. Five days.”
“I’m not sure I have time then.”
“You could try getting Badh and others you’ve blessed to bless others. It might work.”
“Good idea. Badh?”
“Sure, we can try that.”
Except it didn’t work. Badh tried it on one child and nothing at all seemed to change – no blue flash of light.
Ryke looked to Gio and she thought again. He could almost see her brain ticking over. Why he was asking her, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps it was those visions.
“Try giving Badh a second dose? Doubling up?”
That did work.
When Badh had a woman kneel and swallow a crystal, he watched as the blueness engulfed her and flashed.
“Science, see. Double dose, double effect.”
“We still can’t tell,” he noted. “Not definitely.”
Gio tsked. “Give it time. You’re the prophet. You can’t be a sceptic. That’s probably blasphemy.”
“Hmmm. Why do I feel I should be punishing you for that? Spanking you...” He beckoned to one of the Followers he recognized. “You. Find another twenty people I can bless a second time.”
“Twenty? I’ve lost track of where most of my friends are, but I can find twenty.”
The mass blessing went much faster once they had over twenty who could perform it. By the end of the day, the crowd had all been blessed and he stood before them, surveying them, amazed at what had been accomplished, and at what might come next.
“Now, we can search for that lost city,” he said quietly. “I have an ancient map. We have enough supplies. We are large enough to defend ourselves. We are the future of the Mekkers.”
“Well said.” Gio yawned and, for the first time in a while, he studied her figure, how her cleavage showed in the V-neck of the light gray shirt, how her ass filled out those black pants. “Come over here so I can change those bandages. They’re bleeding, your hands.”
So they were. Simply handling the crystals had worn away at the wounds. He followed her to the blanket they’d set up earlier and watched as she gently changed the bandages on his hands. Watched the play of her fingers, the wisps of hair at her ears. The black dye was wearing off already and hints of gold glinted among the black.
His feet had healed faster. All his wounds had healed faster than normal. The Aerthe’s effect?
“You liked my words? I should say some sort of speech tomorrow. We should leave then.”
“They weren’t bad. Could be better. Prophet level?” She waggled one hand. “Not sure.”
“Now who is skeptical?” He added, after some thought, “You came back for me.”
That was probably a blush he saw on her cheeks though firelight made it hard to tell.
“So did you.” Suddenly Gio seemed shy. She peeked at him. “You came for me too. Shot down that sniker.”
“Aunt M was handling that. She ripped off enough pieces to make it crash.” Which made him wonder where she’d vanished to, and JI. Though some of the Mekkers had questioned why he trusted a Scav. “I admit I did try. So, we are definitely friends then?”
“I guess so.” She smiled weakly.
Something about this eluded him. Something was off. Too tired to decipher what it was, he decided to figure it out tomorrow.
The morning brought a brighter brain. Fatigue eliminated, he could see many things he’d lost in the chaos of the previous day, and he stood with a hand on a tree branch overlooking the countless deckers who’d had enough faith to follow him out here. Some sat around small fires. Some were preparing food over them. No doubt there’d be burns and burnt food.
There was much to learn. Hunting. Gathering. How to construct a shelter. How to predict the climate or track game.
He knew he was not the leader for them – Badh was. He’d make sure his brother understood this.
He also knew what was missing when he talked to Gio, when she sat with him.
And he knew she intended to leave. No doubt feeling as if she knew him better after the recent events, or perhaps because she felt safer outside the landship, she’d spoken freely and had said as much last night.
He forbade her of course, though he used reasoning. That she gave way and agreed it was wise to remain and see if the lost city would provide a home for these people and her, it reinforced his thoughts.
He knew her better than she’d yet admitted. Yes, he’d changed, but not as much as she thought.
Nowhere near that much.
Neither had she. He saw the casual way she sometimes positioned herself as if to lure him – ass up when she picked something up from the ground. She still wanted sex but that was only the beginning of his desires. He was in no great hurry. He would wait until they found the site of the city, to let her understand her situation.
Out here was no safer than in the landship. Less so, if anything. There were Scavs and wild beests, the weather, the land itself, and men here thought slavery was natural. This was never going to be her world.
His one misgiving was that she strived to improve her portal making skill. Now that she knew it existed, she sneaked away from the main mass of people when she could, and she practiced. He saw this enough times to be certain she was making headway. Before she’d been ignorant of her ability.
Now... The circle of greenish light was expanding, incrementally.
No other humans had been allowed to leave the swathe. There was only one who might step through any portal she created – Gio.
After days of walking, while fending off beests that killed three and wounded several deckers, they reached the site of the city.
“There it is,” he breathed the words.
They’d topped a rise beyond the main delta of the rivers, dreading an expanse of sand and lifeless countryside, only to find the crumpled and crumbled remains of the city. No smoke drifted from these ruins that spread for miles. There were no signs of crops being grown, no signs of people. The Scavs and grounders weren’t using it, though they must have explored the place.
A branch of the river meandered beside the city and through it, on the way to the ocean that lay to the left – fervent blue water sweeping into forever, waves frothing inward and dying on a long beach.
“The sea!” several cried. The reverent echoes of that word carried down through the crowd edging onto the rise of the land. “The sea.”
No landship ever ventured close to the oceans, for the soils could be treacherous and the waik crystal harvest was poor. No Mekker had seen such a vast amount of water, free on the land, for generations.
Ryke smiled as Gio walked up to stand next to him.
“We have found it, girl.”
“We have.” Uncertainty flew over her face before she firmed herself. “I hope you do well here. I will wait a while and find supplies before I go on.”
“Hmmm.” She wanted freedom? He wanted her. “You need companions to survive here. Alone would be reckless.”
“Yes. I agree.” Her lips twisted – she agreed with him yet was unhappy. “I was hoping maybe JI and Aunt M?”
“JI is a loner. I don’t understand the man well, but I doubt he’d have you. I believe he’s spoken to Aunt M. They have some goal in mind.”
“Aunt M too? Really?” Disappointment dripped from her voice. “I haven’t seen her or JI for days.”
What other ideas did she have? Expecting a sun-mad mechling to want to stay with her seemed odd. If the creature...thing, hadn’t showed her mettle, he was sure the other Mekkers would’ve asked for her destruction. Perhaps that was why Aunt M had kept to the fringes and not walked with them.
Perhaps that was why she’d taken to JI? Though why she’d feel aligned with a Scav was beyond him.
Letting Gio go off with a Scav was never going to be allowed. He mightn’t have used his cock much but he would surely get lustful ideas with her around.
Two children ran up with their Above parents, giggling and pointing at the remains of the once-tall buildings. Birds circled below the flimsiest of white clouds. The sun shone. And not a single storm had hampered their travels.
Gio picked up one of the children and held the girl higher so she could see past some shrubs poking up from below the ridge. The little boy begged him for the same and he perched the child behind his shoulders. It surprised him how good it felt to do this.
One child with Gio, the other with him, both of them laughing with the boy taunting his sister. Ryke smiled at Gio. There was something admirable about families.
“You’re a natural,” Gio yelled to him, laughing herself as she handed the girl off to the father. The boy demanded to be let down also and he watched them run off along the line of people still exclaiming at the wonders of this derelict city.
“Children are the hope of our people.”
“Yes.” Gio nodded. “They always are.” She turned to pick up her pack and hoisted it onto her shoulders.
He helped her adjust the fit. “Let’s go find out what this city holds.”
And more, much more.
A sparse forest lay between them and the outskirts of the city. Alongside Gio, he picked his way down the ridge at the forefront of the little army of settlers.
When Badh arrived, he ventured something he’d been wondering, “What do we call them all from now on? Deckers? Mekkers? Or do we invent something new?”
“I don’t know.” Badh dodged a whippy branch and stepped carefully over some rocks and uneven ground. “Perhaps we will think on that in a month’s time when we are sure we won’t starve to death?”
“Oh we won’t starve. Not with you as our leader. I am certain of this.”
Badh chuckled. “I’ll bring up your suggestion, Prophet, at our first meeting in the city.”
“This city was once called Mucho Boo.”
“It was? Now that one will have to be changed.”
“New New York? New Sydney? Wooloomooloo?” Gio interjected. “I can give you a ton of suggestions.”
“I think we should call her Hope City.”
Gio smiled at him. “That’s a beautiful suggestion.”
“Thank you.”
“Hope, maybe. It’s a little bland,” Badh said. “Or Prophet City. Either way, we have to tell the king as soon as we can that we Mekkers can now live on the land of Aerthe.”
“Agreed. Definitely a priority.” He nodded.
He’d find a place he could call his, also. Somewhere where no one would hear her screams. Good screams, of course. He didn’t do bad ones anymore.
Soon he would show her the flaws in her plans.