Lost World

Sinoah's eyes cut coldly across the faces of dirty Outliers, positioned on the other side of the Path Between Lands that separates their tribes. She stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Nathan. They wear feathers and bones in their hair, and the teeth of their fallen enemies wound in leather cords around their necks. The symbol of their House, a queen, is tattooed on the outside of their wrists, illustrating their union, and visible as each parent places a hand on a shoulder of their surviving son.

Nathan whispers in his son's ear that there are fourteen eligible Outliers this year. Skandar nods. The number means nothing to him as he can count no higher than ten, but also because his eyes are searching for only one: Helen. At last he sees her corn-colored hair riding the wild curve of the wind. She smiles at him wistfully.

They met by chance near a hollowed tree deep in the Outerlands and every week henceforth. He taught her how to write her name, she taught him the songs of her people in the broken, halting language of Outliers. Skandar sometimes leaves the Last World trinkets he finds in BWI City for her to discover among the rough folds of bark of their tree. In return, she leaves him gifts of daisy chains and wood carvings.

The sky above the two feuding tribes is a heavy slate of contiguous gray. Young Outliers are lined up behind their Chief on the opposing side. Thurgood Marshall X prepares for the ceremony. He reflects how far BWI has come in his time as elder elect. The tribe transformed the sprawling cavernous structure of BWI into a New World city: citizens claiming abandoned nooks with words such as Fire & Ice, Cinnabon, Chipotle above the door. They made homes, and together, a thriving community.

Outliers, on the other hand, live in squalor, wallowing in ignorance. Thurgood Marshall X crinkles his nose in disgust and then restores his nonpartisan expression. It's time to begin.

He marches to the center of the Path Between Lands and holds up the sacred Book of Words. Its cover and several pages are missing; what remains is stained and faded. A hush falls.

"As is our annual tradition," Thurgood Marshall X begins, "BWI citizens of age will choose a mate among Outliers. This union will introduce new blood to our superior City while lessening the burden of overpopulation on the impoverished Outliers. We pledge to educate the chosen, converting savage habits to the ways of the New World---"

The Outlier Chief moves swiftly. He raises a stick from under his filthy smock, plunges the sharp end into the chest of Thurgood Marshall X. He crumples, face white with shock.

Sinoah's muscular legs close the gap between her and the Outlier Chief quickly. She raises her sword, and with a single smooth stroke, his head is removed and rolls away from his body. She charges the Outliers, along with her tribe.

Skandar sprints to Helen and catches her hand. He presses his latest find into her palm: a gold heart-shaped locket, nicked and missing its chain. He points to the Outerlands and mouths to her: RUN. Then he turns and rushes to battle.

They attack every Outlier they catch; their bodies soon littering the Path Between Lands. Thurgood Marshall X lies in front of the City marker, his dead eyes stuck open. Sinoah places her palm on his face, closing them. She looks up to the large block letters spelling BWI on the City marker. The rest of the wording has blanched in the face of tens upon tens of suns since the Last World perished, save a line of pale pink script the ancestors deciphered: Thurgood Marshall.

Sinoah grunts and leads the pack home, between the red towers. She passes the Houses of Flying Dog Tap, Ledo, Jamba Juice. The families inside are roused by citizens' vicious whopping. They emerge from curtain-doors of matted bear fur and frayed fabric, weapons in hand.