The Phoenix People

Chapter Fifty-One

  "The south...?" I drew up a mental map of our world. "But there is nothing but desert to the south." 

Moonhopper raised his eyebrows at me as if to say see?

"But - but - " I felt anger bubbling in my chest, feeling as though my understanding of the situation was worsening by the second. "What are you trying to say?"

"I don't know," my sister's husband articulated. "I don't know what happened to Alia. I don't know why she left me or why she lied in her note. I don't know why she went south."

"So you never traced the tracks to completion? I thought you loved her!"

"Never doubt my love for her!" Moonhopper shouted, his sudden fierceness startling me. "She was the only woman I ever loved! She was my only family in this world!"

"And yet you let her go," I hissed, not backing down.

Moonhopper sighed, running a hand over his face. All the fight drained out of him in a second. "I would never voluntarily give Alia up. Like I said, my hunting party forced me back to camp. Sky put me on lockdown for days. I tried to escape from that and she put me on lockdown for weeks. By then, the tracks would have been long gone if I had even been able to retrace my steps. It has eaten away at me for months. And, might I ask, what you did to find Alia, princess?"

The words were like a dagger twisted in my gut. He was right. I had sat around the castle and mourned without ever actually taking action.

You were a different girl then, I reminded myself. You were convinced there was nothing you could do.

I looked at Moonhopper. My sister's husband. The only real semblance of family I had left, aside from Jack.

"You say Alia was your only family," I said quietly, meeting his gaze steadily. "Now you have us. I need to get home, Moonhopper. Please."

Moonhopper sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "If I am discovered to be a traitor to my people," he said slowly, "I will be punished."

"All you have to do is teach me the final command and turn a blind eye," I assured him, desperate. I had no other options, no one to turn to.

Moonhopper was silent for a long, tense moment before finally sighing and replying, "Fine. But please, if you find her...return my Alia to me."

I knew that the odds of my sister being alive, never mind finding her again, were extremely low, but at that point, I would have promised anything for my freedom.

"Of course."

As if, were Alia to be discovered, I would ever let her return to these evil people.

*

That night, everything was in place. I had learned the command that would send the Skimmer back to the camp, meaning I wouldn't be stealing it or condemning it to death in the harsh desert, and Moonhopper had given me directions. After Jack's and my large dinner, I had balled up all the clothes and baby wrappings I could fit into a makeshift bag I had fashioned from my bedsheets. I had even managed to act friendly with Sky, seeing as soon, I would be leaving her and her barbaric people behind forever.

I lay in my tent for quite a while before I dared to peek outside. The desert was silent. I knew that a couple of Outlanders would be moving about the camp, guarding it and tending to the Skimmers, but they were on foot. As long as I could make it to my Skimmer before they saw me, I would be free.

I tied Jack to me with the clothing I had been wearing earlier. He was so tired that he yawned and fell right asleep, much to my relief.

I was about to leave my tent when I remembered my dancing shoes, the ones I had arrived in, the ones that Sky had tried to take. They would be a hindrance if I took them - hard to keep on and quick to fill with sand.

I doubled back, secured them tightly on my feet, and left the tent for what I prayed was the last time.

*

Heart in my throat, I carefully maneuvered my way through camp. When I saw a shadowy figure moving about, I dropped into a crouch, careful not to jostle Jack too greatly. He rose out of slumber momentarily before once again succumbing.

I crouched there for several seconds, not even daring to breathe, before hesitantly lifting my head. The Outlander had, thankfully, moved on.

I jumped to my feet and skirted around a tent. My Skimmer awaited on the other side. I unlatched the bells on the side of the tent and shook them once, as Moonhopper had instructed. The produced sound was supposedly silent to humans, and I breathed a sigh of relief as this held true.

Something bumped my back and I whirled around, biting back a shriek and sighing when I saw that it was simply my Skimmer.

"Hello," I whispered, mounting it with ease. Taking in my surroundings, I turned the creature in the right direction before taking off.

We got only a few hundred feet from the camp before a shout drifted across the desert.

I cursed and lowered my hand in front of the Skimmer's face, opening and closing my fist rapidly: faster. We sped up until we were soaring over the desert, destined for home.

I whooped with glee, bent low over the animal, and felt Jack wriggle against my chest. "We're free, sweetheart!" I yelled, cheering again.

When I turned around to look back at the Outlander camp, however, my high spirits were dashed.

Skimmers were pouring out of the camp, which was immobile. Had the Outlanders truly unhitched the Skimmers from the tents in order to pursue me?

"Not good," I muttered, signaling to my Skimmer to go even faster.

Luckily, I had gotten a sizeable head start. But it all boiled down to whether or not my Skimmer could maintain our current speed. I patted its side, mentally urging it to stay strong and urging myself not to fall off.

Given the potential outcomes of the situation, I was actually rather calm. The desert was quiet, aside from the shouts of angry Outlanders far behind me and the wind whistling past my ears. It wasn't like riding a horse, whose hooves would create a symphony of added noises on the cobblestone streets of my home. This was quieter, and thus automatically more relaxed.

Luckily for me, the camp had been moving toward Fairmeadow for days. It seemed a bit counterproductive to Sky's intentions, but perhaps it had just been another intricate layer in her elaborate deception. A deception which I had shattered.

I gritted my teeth, holding on to the Skimmer with one hand and gripping Jack to my chest with the other.

I was going home.