The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

22.3. Free at last

Liran carried the young woman all night, stopping frequently to use his precious water to wet the cloth he covered her head with. It was a very serious case of sun stroke and he wondered anxiously if she would make it. The longer he carried her, the more responsible he felt.

It was still a very difficult journey and he was happier than ever to be wearing this strange desert suit as it meant that he didn't need as much water and could save the majority for her.

In the very early morning, they arrived at the spring at the foot of the mountains. Liran set her down on the fur and dripped water slowly into her mouth. Then he covered her entire body with a soaking wet cloth. She was unconscious and her breathing was shallow, but she was still alive.

As the sun rose, he decided to wait through the day with her here in the shade by the spring. It was a safe place, with some trees to hide from drones and he couldn't risk carrying her in the daylight.

When the cloth had dried out, he replaced it, and for the first time, he looked at her closely. He could not help but stare at her strange, pale face. She didn't look like a human — not any human he'd ever seen. But she was very beautiful. Where had this strange creature come from? It was just like his father to find something so rare, so precious, so beautiful, and then to just hide it from the world.

It made Liran sick to think that his father had killed his own wife and then had taken this strange woman as his new wife. There was no justice in it at all. Thoughts like this made his anger flare and he forgot that his father was dead.

He spent the entire day sleeping awkwardly in fits and starts. He removed the desert suit and gave himself a bath for the first time in days; he ate the rest of the dried zabi and made some cassava. Opening the bag of supplies, he shook his head at her sleeping, shrouded form — what a silly woman — she had taken the entire kitchen, even the grater.

As the sun finally started to set, Liran was itching to get started. He figured he could make it to Grandmother's tonight if he was quick.

The first time he lifted her was the hardest — his body was stiff from carrying her the night before, and the uncomfortable sleep he'd had on the hard ground. But the pain felt good. It felt like justice. He deserved to hurt, and to hurt for this woman especially.

He walked all night, and his thoughts were a blur. He had many memories of his life in this desert. He hadn't been here in so many years, but he still knew all the hills and valleys where he'd played as a child, and worked with his father. It felt like he'd never left, like the last four years had been a dream. Like he'd never had all those experiences, all those travels and adventures.

He took fewer breaks than the night before, encouraged by the proximity to Grandmother's home. 

Time passed with the rhythm of his feet. He hadn't stopped for a break in many hours, having grown weary of picking her up — the muscles in his back were stretched beyond their capacity and the motion of bending over was excruciating. Instead he leaned against whatever he found along the way — a tree, a large boulder, an ancient wall whose purpose was long forgotten.

Finally he saw the Grandmother's yurt in the distance. By this point, he was walking very slowly, too exhausted to do more than take step after painful step. His shoulders were screaming. His arms were numb. His feet scraped the desert floor.

As he approached, his belly formed a knot of anxiety. He didn't want to face the Grandmother—knowing full well what she would feel when she found out about Liran's actions. He didn't know anymore what he thought about it. He kept his mind focused on his task, knowing that the pain of carrying this strange woman was saving him from facing the reality of his life. He had been so pointedly seeking his father's destruction for so long that he didn't even know anymore where his own life was heading. Having accomplished his mission, he felt empty and lost. The life he had been living on Ithabar's ship seemed so far away and pointless.