By the Shining Sea: Khe 3 (The Ahsenthe Cycle Book 4) by Alexes Razevich

Author:Alexes Razevich
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Razor Street Publishing
Published: 2016-08-22T22:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Marnka woke first in the morning. She sat up and rolled her shoulders, exhaling a long, satisfied sigh. “I see that the second half of my forecast was exactly right as well. Today the weather will be fine. A good day to travel.”

Through the clearstone ceiling, a blue-green sky streaked with yellow and orange greeted my eyes. The sun glowed as bright as a startling thought.

Ta stirred, probably woken by her words. Nez sat up and fisted the sleep from her eyes. Ta didn’t sit, but said, “I hope I’m not the only one who’s hungry.”

The landscape outside was different from the one we’d seen before the wind began. All the small trees and shrubs that had dotted the landscape were gone. The small cove-like area where we rode out the storm now lay bare of anything green and growing. I thought of the small meadow where we’d harvested denish and pronth. The denish might still be there — the bulbs buried deep in the soil. The pronth’s fronds would certainly be gone though, carried away by the wind. I was glad we’d gathered some while we had the chance.

Nez crawled from the vehicle first. She stopped almost immediately and hunkered down on her heels.

“What do you see?” I asked, sliding out behind her. But I saw for myself how branches, limbs, and at least one small beastlet had somehow gotten stuck under the vehicle.

Marnka and Ta crawled out and stood looking at the same mess.

“Let’s move it clear,” Ta said.

We set to the task, pulling broken branches, most of their leaves stripped away, from the vehicle’s undercarriage. Marnka picked up a beastlet body and held it out at arm’s length. Its head was bloody and battered from where it had hit the vehicle.

“See if the vehicle starts,” Ta said. “Dirt can get into the tiniest places and ruin them. I saw it happen more than once in Tarington.”

Marnka walked a distance away and deposited the beastlet body behind a rock. Nez watched her progress, the sorrow colors on Nez’s throat betraying the softness of her heart.

I got into the pilot’s seat and did the starting maneuvers. Nothing.

Maybe I wasn’t remembering the movements right. Maybe I’d gotten a little full of myself thinking what a fine pilot I’d become.

I tried again and heard the soft whir of the machine kicking to life. I sighed with relief. I wanted to get away from this canyon. We’d followed canyon after canyon for days and all they’d led to were more canyons. I wanted to get up high, above the hills, and try to gauge where we were. Not that I would recognize anything — this was unknown territory. Still, I hoped that if we got high enough, we’d glimpse the water without end and know we were heading in the right direction.

Ta and Nez came up front with me. Marnka settled herself in the back. I took a deep breath and piloted the vehicle forward, then made the motions for it to rise.

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