Rami

Chapter 3

Panting and shaking, I come to a stop beside the river.  The strange woman is walking across Arl's stone bridge; she casts a long shadow that claws towards me.  Water crashes and pounds against the rocks beneath her.  Cold air burns at the back of my throat.  The first rays of sunlight glare in my eyes.

"Wait,"  I mean to yell it, but my voice comes out as a breathless hiss that's snatched away in the breeze.  The woman doesn't turn.

She crosses the bridge and walks down Arl's broad main street.  I hesitate.  I know it's foolish to go after her.  The streets are a twisted labyrinth.  I could lose her so easily.  

The elders always warn me that Arl can be dangerous in the morning, when buildings are still cloaked in mist and shadows.  Someone could attack me, they said.  I often replied that if I was attacked, I could easily protect myself.  I've been gifted that power.  I smile weakly.  I've never had much regard for such rules.  

So I clench my teeth and chase after her.  My bare feet crunch against the icy pavement.  This street is lined with small, gloomy storefronts.  By the time I reach the place where she was standing, she's disappeared into a narrow alley cramped between two concrete buildings.  I go after her, slipping into cold shadow.  I sprint through the dark and come out in an empty market square.

There she is, in twenty paces away, in the entrance of a jagged street.  I keep running.  How can she outrace me like this, when she's strolling so casually?  It doesn't make any sense.

She ducks through the back entrance of some sort of factory.  I linger for a heartbeat, then follow.  The sound of grinding machinery and hissing steam rings in my ears.  The air reeks of tar.  I stare around for a moment, lost and desperate, then hinges creak and bronze light spills into the building.  She's leaving through a doorway on the far side of the room.  I leap over a tangled mess of pulleys and chains to emerge on a high walkway.

I don't recognise this place.  Shards of broken glass are scattered across the ground.  The sun has risen high enough to cast a bloody glow over the world.  The walkway ends with an iron bridge above a stretch of the river.  On the other bank, a narrow dirt track leads away into a shaggy forest.  Trees grope towards the sky like crippled hands.  Mist coils among the branches.  Shadows ripple on the forest floor.

I finally catch up to her.

She turns slowly.  Her lips curl into an eerie smile.  "I wondered if you would come.  Greetings, child of the lightning gatherers."

I feel sick.  My heart is beating so fast I'm convinced I'll faint.  But I force myself to go and meet her on the bridge.  She's leaning over the steel railing and staring down at the rapids.  I try to speak but no words come out.  It feels as if a cloth is stuffed in my mouth, choking me.

"You're Nico's sister, aren't you?" the woman says.

I nod stiffly.  A bird squeals somewhere above us.  I shiver.

"Good.  My name is Firay."  For the first time I get the impression that she's speaking without fear or deception.  It doesn't make me feel any safer.  Her voice is tinged with madness and wild glee.  I shrink away from it.  "What do people call you?"

"Rami King," I manage.

"Tell me, Rami, do you have any unusual abilities?"

"I can sort of control electricity and shock people.  I can also run very fast and possess animals," I say, truthfully, because I've been told a thousand times that it's obvious when I'm lying.

Firay smiles.  I notice how sharp her teeth are, "That must be useful.  Can you possess humans?"

What?  I swallow hard and force myself to speak.  "I, um, I've never tried."

She brushes my shoulder with cold, pale fingers.  A scream bubbles in my throat but I won't let it escape. I've come too far.

"I see," she says, "Tell me, girl, what do you know about the state of this world?"

"N-Nothing," I say, then realise how childish it sounds.

She snorts, "You've never questioned cruel injustice?  It's never occurred to you that there might be higher powers at work?  You've never wondered why electricity is so valuable now, when stories say it was once dirt-cheap?"

Her green eyes bore into me.  I don't know what to say.  The world seems too hopelessly vast and I already have a thousand questions of my own.

"I'm sorry, I don't know!" I stammer, when I realise she's expecting some sort of answer.

She's quiet for a moment.  "Rami King, I'm going to test you."

It happens in an instant.  Before I can move or even think, she's behind me.  There's a flash of yellow light and the smell of hair burning.  Pain boils against my skull.  I cry out and collapse against the railing.  My teeth ache, my head is ringing.  My vision blurs.  I grip the steel railing so hard my palms bleed.

"You survived that?" Firay says, "So you really are one of us."

Darkness seeps into my mind.  I'm trembling, my chest heaves.  I can't see anything but distorted shadows.

I have to defend myself...

I focus on summoning power from deep inside me, gathering electricity.  It pricks at my fingertips.  My vision fails, I fall to my knees and grope in the darkness.  

I tug at her cloak and shock her with all my strength.  She screams.  Then there's only silence and the churning of the river.  My head throbs.  Shadows and afterimages flash across my vision.  I taste blood.

"If you join us, you will see your brother again." Her voice floats out of the dark, as if in a dream.  Footsteps clatter against the bridge, then I'm all alone.  For a while all I can do is lie there, nearly motionless.  Tears trickle into my mouth.  Cold iron is pressed against my cheek.  My fingers twitch.

Then sunlight flickers.  The world swirls back into focus.  I'm convinced that time has passed.  Did I fall unconscious?  For how long?  

I sit up and bite my lip.  I mustn't panic.  Cold sweat trickles down the back of my neck.  My ears are still ringing and my heart hammers.  I sit shakily and stare around me.  It's broad daylight.  I'd better go back.  

I want to run; I crave the wind on my face, the fiery ache in my lungs and the rhythm of my footsteps against the pavement.  But I when I stand up, the world spins and I barely have enough strength to remain balanced.  A moment passes.  I grit my teeth and take a few dizzy steps.  Bile stings my throat, but I don't allow myself to stop.  

I need to get back swiftly without drawing attention to myself.  With luck, perhaps I can still slip into our camp before anyone starts searching for me.  I'm definitely not allowed to walk Arl's streets on my own, so I pray that nobody has noticed my absence yet.  I don't want to face the wrath of the others.

I realise with a stab of frustration that I didn't find out anything about Nico, save that he's alive and Firay knows him.  But somehow, I can't bring myself to feel bitter about it.  I'm far too exhausted.  Firay's words plague me as I sneak past the factory, through the market square and down Arl's crooked streets.  Our conversation echoes through my mind.