Between The Crystals

Ch 2 Vermilion Village

Now that I was back in the safety of the village, I took off my leather shoes and tucked them into my belt pouch to avoid wearing them out. The packed dirt down here hadn't seen rain in over four years, and any stray rocks and pebbles had been kicked to the base of the cliffs long ago.

With the fish and their tell-tale marks now in the hands of the villagers, I could go find Grant, who happened to be the porting coordinator and my adoptive father. I jogged toward the crystal at the other end of the village.

A grass-stuffed, leather ball bounced toward me, and I paused long enough to tap it into the air, bounce it off my other foot, then kick it back to a pair of teenagers, who grinned at me. A scrawny chicken—one of four in the village—took the opportunity to scamper past them.

The ravine was fairly long, although the widest section was only about fifty paces across. The limited space forced the villagers to carve paths going up the cliffside so we could dig enough small caves for everyone, but it was safe, and that was what mattered.

I detoured around animal hides stretched out on tanning racks and ducked beneath a couple of laundry lines where threadbare clothing hung. The cave entrances were covered by leather hides that were almost the same color as the rocks, having been rolled in the desert soil for camouflage in case an airship passed overhead.

I made a mental note to keep my eyes open for more flax for the spinning wheels, although it was hard to bring back that sort of stuff when food was so much more important. We had plenty of furs, hides, and leather, but they weren't ideal clothing in the desert heat.

It didn't take long to reach the other end of the ravine where the main crystal was. Grant was talking to a handful of hunters and gatherers who had just come back.

"Natalie! Over here!"

I smiled at my sister, Merryl, who was laying on a fur-covered stone slab in the sun. She lazily waved a hand before rolling just enough to lean against her partner, Calum. I headed over but picked a seat in the shade, which wasn't hard since the ravine was deep enough that shadows covered most of it, regardless of the time of day.

"How did your day go?" I asked her.

"Boring," she groaned, resting her hand on her stomach. "Grant is already shifting my duties and limiting how much I port."

"Better to play it safe," I reminded her. Despite being three months pregnant, she was only just starting to show. With both her and her partner being porters, the child would certainly develop the ability. That day would be a cause for a huge celebration, but in the meantime, the pregnancy would slow her down and make her vulnerable.

"I know," she muttered. "But I feel bad for always going to the safe zones when I could contribute more elsewhere."

We glanced at the crystal as a group materialized beside it. The porter in his early thirties leaned on the crystal as he recovered. A hunter set down two rabbit hounds, which trotted to the packed dirt in the shade and flopped down, panting happily. Another hunter helped the porter over to a nearby resting rock while villagers helped carry everything away.

"Welcome back, Andre," I said.

He gave a tired thumbs-up, not even opening his eyes as he leaned back on the worn furs to recover from the porting strain. His face wasn't pinched, so it was likely just exhaustion, not the painful aftereffects that built up if someone ported too many times. Just like some people were better at long-distance running, some porters could teleport more than others.

"Were the apples ready?" Merryl asked me.

I turned back to her. "Another village beat us to them."

"Dozens of villages know about that tree, so it's not surprising," Grant said as he came over, having finished his earlier discussion.