Kiera's Sun (#2, Anshan Saga)

Chapter Eight

Except it didn't. Kiera cried for some time, waiting anxiously for any symptom she was dying. If she were, it was similar to the degeneration of her cells the medic had claimed was occurring. She felt no different.

When her legs became cramped from her position jammed between boulders, she lifted her head – careful to keep her shirt over her mouth and nose – and stretched them. Kiera tested her body. She was sore from all the walking, starving, and too wired to sleep through her looming death.

She felt ... fine. Itchy, though, and uncomfortably warm.

Kiera shifted and ran her hands along the ground beneath her. Grass was tickling the exposed strip of skin between her shirt and pants as well as her ankles. She shivered as something brushed the back of her neck, and she stretched back to feel thick ribbons of grass three feet tall.

The darkness was lifting around her. The storm blocked the sun, but it was definitely morning on Anshan. Weak daylight turned her world from black to gray. As she sat and debated what to do next, the gray took on an orange-ish hue as full daylight reached the planet's surface through the red dust storms.

She rested her head against the rock behind her, eyes on the storm above her safe alcove above. Small funnel clouds touched down and skipped over her. Bursts of red dust that appeared like smoke plumes often trailed them. The sky on the other side of the storm remained invisible.

The grass was growing quickly enough to agitate her. Kiera shifted out of her spot and knelt on the ground near the boulders. Beautiful green splashed against the charcoal and reddish rocks. As she watched, the patch of grass expanded.

I know Anshan senses me.

She wasn't dead, either. Was this a sign the planet was protecting her, or was she safe away from the storms? A'Ran had said the air was toxic, since the mines used to blow up the planet's surface were filled with toxic ore. None of his men dared venture out into the storms without the goo-suits she'd worn once.

Yet she was in the open, breathing the air of Anshan without a problem, aside from the occasional sneeze. If anything, the air was much easier to breathe than that of the caverns.

Her gaze went to the path leading out of the draw. She took two steps onto it, and the energy of the planet sparked inside her stronger than before. Two steps to the left, and the warmth all but vanished.

Anshan wanted her to leave the draw next to the door to the underground world.

Fear made her heart race and her palms clammy. Dared she leave the relative peace of the protected spot? She knew from her first visit it would be impossible to find her way back, once she had gone more than a few feet from the mouth of the draw.

The universe didn't bring you to me for us to fail to save Anshan. A'Ran's words were louder in her thoughts than her pounding heart.

Kiera tugged the shirt down from her face and took a cautious breath. The air was thick with dust but otherwise seemed normal.

She glanced towards the door through which she'd been shoved once more then rose and crossed to it. It was impossible to budge from this side. She rested her palms against the cool metal for a moment before turning away. The energy was gone from this direction, too.

Either she stayed where she was and prayed someone saved her, or she did what the planet and Yirkin told her – and ventured into the storm to see what was there.

Her gaze lingered on the grass rapidly expanding from its spot in the corner of the draw. When she'd left Anshan last time, the expansion had ceased and was presumed killed off by the toxins in the air. It showed no sign of slowing despite the puffs of dust and full exposure to the Anshan atmosphere.

What if she had to remain on the planet for any terra forming to be successful? Was her distance, as close as the moon was, causing her and the planet pain?

I wish I knew a single thing about this relationship. "If you can hear me, please help me," she said to the planet. "I don't understand what I'm supposed to do. I don't understand how we can help each other survive."

She didn't expect a response and wasn't disappointed. Kiera drew a breath and started walking. Her step slowed as she tackled the uneven terrain leading out of the draw, and she held the shirt across her mouth to keep dust from choking her.

The storms of Anshan howled across the scarred planet, and she closed her eyes as she reached the edge of the trail. One more step, and she'd be fully exposed.

But this opportunity was what she'd wanted for weeks – to see if she really did belong here, if there was any chance in the world she was able to help the planet and people.

I need to know if I can survive here. If the planet's accepted nishani wasn't able to live on the surface, its people would never have a shot either. Kiera steadied her breathing and left the safety of the draw. She hunkered down and braced herself, ready to be knocked off her feet or pelted by dirt and dust.

Nothing happened. She cracked one eye open then the other. She had the strange sense of being at an aquarium, watching the underwater world yet protected from it by a clear layer of glass. The winds and dirt went around her, staying a consistent two feet from her at all times, as if she were in a bubble.

Kiera frowned. The grass was growing faster now. Whenever she paused, green shot up around her feet. Already her ankles were itchy from the blades poking at her skin.

She feared losing track of the entrance to the underground world. Turi would have to confirm whether she lived or died, and he'd have to open the door to do it. She ventured farther from the draw with some apprehension. She wasn't able to see more than half a dozen feet ahead of her, though the energy of Anshan remained steady and warm, as if to encourage her to continue.

With a deep breath of clean air inside her strange bubble, she started walking. The uneven terrain was littered with sudden dips and gashes as well as boulders and loose shale. She had little warning before reaching the obstacles, and even less ability to gauge how treacherous her path ahead became.

Kiera walked, praying the planet showed her the path it needed her to take to help them both. No such road formed, and she continued forward at a slow pace.

A shadow passed overhead, and she lifted her eyes from the ground. At first, she prayed a ship had found her. To her surprise, it wasn't a ship but a boulder larger than her caught in the violent winds far above. She watched in disbelief as the boulder tumbled through the sky before it was swallowed by a cloud of red.

"C'mon, now, Anshan. You gotta be able to stop this stuff," she murmured, waiting to see if another rock soared through the sky.

The ground dropped out from under her right foot, and she toppled down a slope littered with shale and small, sharp rocks. Bursts of pain shot through her. Kiera covered her head the best she could, unable to stop her momentum or even release the breath caught in her throat. She slid and rolled down the slope, scraping her arms and legs as she went.

She dared open her eyes. The blurry, spinning, gray form of a boulder was directly in her path. She flailed – and then smacked into the rock.

Kiera's world went dark.