Faith, Hope, and Charity

Unice

No sooner have the words left my mouth than the crowd erupts into screaming. I'm knocked to the ground by rajika bellowing in fury as they rush to their leader's side. Strong, gnarled hands grab me and whisk me through the crowd. I'm hurled onto the back of something that bucks up and down as it walks. My vision flashes with shadow and sunlight. My head spins. I hold on to the knife.

Suddenly, I'm plunged into darkness and there's more yelling. I can make out Faith, Hope, and Tress's voice along with another boyish one. I can't do anything but listen and try not to throw up as we lurch back into the sunlight. The ground glows as I bob up and down. I can hear several sets of footsteps, but can't distinguish between them. In the distance, I hear more yelling. It grows louder and louder until I sounds like the wind is howling with a thousand voices.

I'm dropped onto the sand and I gaze up at the sky. In the corner of my vision I can see Tress's cloak whirling. The sky is overshadowed with snaking black and I hear the clattering of swords. I try to stand, but the world pitches beneath me and I collapse. It isn't long before I sink into ignorance.

When I wake up, it's dark. My head feels like it's been cracked open and my limbs so heavy that I can't move them. I can see the crescent moon in the sky, surrounded by the rose-blue glow of the stellar clouds.

"You're awake."

It's Tress. She's sitting beside on the crest of a sand dune, gazing at the sky full of stars. Her rod and staff lie in the sand nearby. Below us, the sea of sand spills to the edge of the sky. Moon Mountain stands like a stone giant and all the barren trees of the desert bow before it.

"What happened?"

"You blacked out."

"And then?"

"Once they had realized their chieftain was beaten by a teenage girl, they came after us thinking they were going to capture or kill us." She smiles and pulls the rod to her side, "I showed them how mistaken they were."

"Do you think they'll come after us?"

"I don't believe they will. You undermined their chief. He might have a hard time controlling his men if they believe him to be inferior. You broke him. Good job."

"I wasn't going to let him break me."

"Where are the others?" I clutch my head, not wanting to move.

"Sleeping. All around you."

I look, gingerly moving my head. Faith and Hope are lying together on the sand. Some ways off there is a boy curled up in the sand. He's wearing a simple, rough tunic and pants that drape from his wiry frame. I can only see his hair and his feet uncovered, the former pepper black and the latter olive.

"Who's he?"

"Former slave. Now a young, free man. He told us where the ruamul were in return for his freedom."

"I didn't win him."

"He won himself." Tress replies.

I pull myself up to a seated position while Tress continues to stargaze. Once my head has stopped spinning, I point at the rod. "You said that wouldn't help us if we weren't in mortal danger. So someone has to want to kill us for it to work, right?"

She nods, "Only my husband knew everything about how it functions. As far as I can tell, it works as you described. Short of that, it's just a rod."

She looks down at the rod and a shard of starlight rolls down from the corner of her eye. My eyes are drawn down to the rod as well and the questions come rushing back into my wind.