Saber (a post-apocalyptic fantasy)

5 - Shasta

"But seriously, where are we going?" I say. We've been walking for hours across the Waste, and we're not heading where I would expect.

Shasta smiles. The sun is about to begin its journey across the Blue. The horizon is turning to gray, and I can see her and her companion better now. A shawl is draped around Shasta's face to protect against the sun and the wind. But even with her mouth covered up, I can tell she's smiling by the way her eyebrows raise. "We're going north."

The cover of the Bone Trees lies a full night's trek straight west, but we have been going north since we left the Hollows. The Waste stretches out endlessly in all directions. "I know where north is. But why north?" Mami died in the north. I wouldn't have come this far north already if it weren't for the Shades in the Southlands.

Shasta giggles at my question.

"What's so funny?"

"Vega was just like you."

"Like hell I was."

"You always wanted to know where we were going. The answer is the same. You go wherever your feet take you. You can go with me, or you can go someplace else." The girl seems to enjoy being vague. "Right now, I am going north. And so are you."

"Or perhaps you just don't know," I say, annoyed. This girl may be some sort of oracle, as absurd as that may seem — though, how else can I explain how they appeared just in time to save me from those Shades? — but she seems about as reliable as one of the rovers from the World Before that line the ruined roads of the old cities.

"You know nothing, boy," Vega snaps defensively.

During the night's march, I've quickly realized how different these two girls are. Shasta's skin is tawny, where Vega's is a deep brown. Shasta's hair is dark and wispy, while Vega's is curled in dreadlocks. Vega has sunglasses pinned on top of her head, which look too small for her. Shasta's eyes are empty, so she doesn't bother with sunglasses. Vega speaks little and always with an edge like the blade on her back. Shasta's voice is sweet but shrouded in riddles that she may not even know the answers to.

But Vega keeps close to her companion, protective like an older sister. Her suspicious gaze follows me wherever I go.

"A great stone tower with a roof that glimmers in the sun," Shasta says. "I'm going there, someday. A ghost city from the World Before. An abandoned way station. I'll get there, too. Before the tower, I think."

"Places from your dreams?" I say. It is strange to voice aloud. I am wandering the Waste with a crazy child and a girl who looks like she might kill me at any moment.

Shasta nods. "That is what I see. The how and the when and the where don't show themselves until they are ready."

"Sounds annoying," I say.

Shasta giggles again.

"How do you know that they're the future?" I say.

"I just... know."

"But how did you find out? That your dreams were the future?"

Shasta's voice grows solemn. "I dreamed that my parents died. Betrayed by a friend from our caravan. And that is how it happened. That's when I knew my nightmares were real."

"I'm sorry," I say.

Shasta shakes her head. "The past is what leads us to now, Saber. It is not happy or sad. It just is."

I wish I could believe that. The past is the Flare. It's the Haven. It's being safer alone than with people. It's betrayal. It's never actually being safe. It's death and decay. It's abandonment.

Rule #1: Trust No One.

I tell myself this over and over as we walk. I should get the hell out of here.

This crazy girl thinks I'm supposed to go with them.

Vega does not like me, but she will probably kill me if I try to leave Shasta.

So, I have to find the right moment to run.

But I feel guilty at the thought of leaving them. They saved me. I should be dead. I owe a blood debt, but I don't want to pay it. Mami felt she owed a debt too. And she died for it. My stomach is churning with each step. My fingers twitch, and they linger near the hilt of my blade. This is nothing new, but I prefer the enemy to be Shades. Shades are at least predictable. You know they all want to kill you. There is no wondering.

"We should find shelter," I say. "Day is nearly on us."

"There's a cave another mile north," says Shasta.

"You see that in your visions, too?" I say skeptically.

"We stayed there last night," says Vega with a dark laugh.

The horizon glows red with the coming sun as we enter the dark cavern at the base of a pillar of red rocks. There was a children's book at the Haven Mami used to read to me before bed. In the story, the prince lived in a castle made of stone. This place makes me think of that castle. But we enter at the base of it. We stoop low and wind our way into the deep, swords drawn in case of Shades.

If this place is a castle, we are staying in the dungeons.

Thank you for reading SABER!

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Discussion: Do you think Saber should run away or stay with the girls?