Read Online Darkness Rising (The Endless War Book 2) by D.K. Holmberg - Free Book Online
Authors: D.K. Holmberg
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“Figures they would grow in the waste.”
Ciara wasn’t sure that was true. Had she really been in the waste, or had she passed through, gone beyond the edge, only to return when guided by the lizard? Where she’d been, other things had grown, if not what she might have expected. There were other creatures, not only the lizard.
And then there was the shadow man.
She shivered, taking another bite from the gourd to mask it. It wouldn’t do for Fas to know how something like shadows had shaken her. She was one of the nya’shin and meant to be fierce.
“I don’t know anything about the wisani ,” Ciara said, “but the gourd kept me alive. Without it, I would have died that first day.”
“You sensed your way back to us?”
That would have been one way for her to reach the village, but after meeting with the shadow man and following him across the desert, she hadn’t attempted to sense anything. She’d followed the lizard, hoping it would speak to her again, thinking it hadn’t only been a trick of her mind. She still wasn’t convinced.
“Something like that.” Ciara slid off the back of the wagon, wincing as pain shot through her legs and back as she did. Even with healing, she still felt as if needles were shooting through her. Sun burned on exposed skin as soon as she climbed from the wagon, and she realized with a start for the first time how disheveled she appeared and how tattered her elouf had become. Someone had removed her shaisa veil. As much as she fought wearing it so often, having the veil had saved her during the stretch walking across the waste. All that sand blowing around would have been even more miserable without it to protect her.
“Where am I?” she asked.
Fas caught her under the arm when she wobbled, and Ciara shook him off, preferring to use her spear as a crutch.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw the chemel and the shepa. Didn’t the village begin moving?”
That had been the plan when she and Fas had departed, hadn’t it? They would find water for the village, and the village would follow. She couldn’t remember how far the lizard had brought her, but it didn’t seem possible that it would have managed to get her all the way back to the village, not without something being different.
“The village hasn’t gone anywhere, Ciara.”
They stepped out from beneath the canopy created by the blanket. Ciara glanced around and saw the tall stone tower that she’d so often tried—and failed—to climb. The rest of the village, mostly buildings of stone built against the wall of rock, though some built into caverns in the rock itself, looked no different than the last time she’d been here. It seemed so long ago.
Something about the village seemed off, but she couldn’t place what it was at first. It might be the amount of time she’d been gone. As one of the nya’shin, she’d left the village for days before, but never for two weeks at a time.
The sun arced down from high in the sky, sending heat burning through her elouf. Ciara closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them in a snap. “Where’s the rest of the village?”
She knew what she’d felt, and why the village felt strange: there weren’t as many people as she expected.
It wasn’t that the village was emptier than it should be. Water sensing told her that was the case, just as it told her how Fas’s heart beat steadily in his chest and that her father waited for her in the shadows of the stone tower. No, this was different. Always before, she’d been able to detect others of the village, using water sensing to know where they were even if they had wandered away. She didn’t sense near what she should, as if the people were simply missing.
Ciara looked to Fas for answers.
He sighed and shook his head. “They’re gone, Ciara. All of them. Gone.”
6
Ciara
Lands that once were immune to the attack no longer have such protection. Even now the war spreads. So far, none recognize that it is about
Ciara wasn’t sure that was true. Had she really been in the waste, or had she passed through, gone beyond the edge, only to return when guided by the lizard? Where she’d been, other things had grown, if not what she might have expected. There were other creatures, not only the lizard.
And then there was the shadow man.
She shivered, taking another bite from the gourd to mask it. It wouldn’t do for Fas to know how something like shadows had shaken her. She was one of the nya’shin and meant to be fierce.
“I don’t know anything about the wisani ,” Ciara said, “but the gourd kept me alive. Without it, I would have died that first day.”
“You sensed your way back to us?”
That would have been one way for her to reach the village, but after meeting with the shadow man and following him across the desert, she hadn’t attempted to sense anything. She’d followed the lizard, hoping it would speak to her again, thinking it hadn’t only been a trick of her mind. She still wasn’t convinced.
“Something like that.” Ciara slid off the back of the wagon, wincing as pain shot through her legs and back as she did. Even with healing, she still felt as if needles were shooting through her. Sun burned on exposed skin as soon as she climbed from the wagon, and she realized with a start for the first time how disheveled she appeared and how tattered her elouf had become. Someone had removed her shaisa veil. As much as she fought wearing it so often, having the veil had saved her during the stretch walking across the waste. All that sand blowing around would have been even more miserable without it to protect her.
“Where am I?” she asked.
Fas caught her under the arm when she wobbled, and Ciara shook him off, preferring to use her spear as a crutch.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw the chemel and the shepa. Didn’t the village begin moving?”
That had been the plan when she and Fas had departed, hadn’t it? They would find water for the village, and the village would follow. She couldn’t remember how far the lizard had brought her, but it didn’t seem possible that it would have managed to get her all the way back to the village, not without something being different.
“The village hasn’t gone anywhere, Ciara.”
They stepped out from beneath the canopy created by the blanket. Ciara glanced around and saw the tall stone tower that she’d so often tried—and failed—to climb. The rest of the village, mostly buildings of stone built against the wall of rock, though some built into caverns in the rock itself, looked no different than the last time she’d been here. It seemed so long ago.
Something about the village seemed off, but she couldn’t place what it was at first. It might be the amount of time she’d been gone. As one of the nya’shin, she’d left the village for days before, but never for two weeks at a time.
The sun arced down from high in the sky, sending heat burning through her elouf. Ciara closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them in a snap. “Where’s the rest of the village?”
She knew what she’d felt, and why the village felt strange: there weren’t as many people as she expected.
It wasn’t that the village was emptier than it should be. Water sensing told her that was the case, just as it told her how Fas’s heart beat steadily in his chest and that her father waited for her in the shadows of the stone tower. No, this was different. Always before, she’d been able to detect others of the village, using water sensing to know where they were even if they had wandered away. She didn’t sense near what she should, as if the people were simply missing.
Ciara looked to Fas for answers.
He sighed and shook his head. “They’re gone, Ciara. All of them. Gone.”
6
Ciara
Lands that once were immune to the attack no longer have such protection. Even now the war spreads. So far, none recognize that it is about
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