Outsider

The sun had barely been up for more than an hour, but the heat had already caused a trickle of sweat to run down her spine. Around her, the humans trudged on. Many of them were so tired they could feel their bones creak with every step. After all the weeks of travel, most had learned to walk in the shade provided by the caravans, although that did not stop their constant complaints. A curse at the sand gods was muttered every few moments, followed by a hurried apology, just in case the gods should decide to take the insult to heart. Even those humans rich enough to ride in the caravans complained about the heat. She had already heard several flasks of water being opened and drunk, and as usual it was not the walking travellers that were the first to dip into their daily water ration.

Once again, everyone had started at a pace they would not be able to sustain for the rest of the day. One by one, caravan after caravan had passed her until at last she lagged behind everyone else. She took every step exactly the same as the one before. After an hour, the rest of the group had begun to falter. The heat was even more unbearable than the day before. Before long she had caught up with the caravan, but when she reached the middle of the line she slowed her pace to make sure that she remained in the middle. For the most part, she kept her eyes on the ground, sometimes even closed, but very minute or so she would open them and look out over the desert dunes, wary and alert.

She looked strange among the tall dark humans. She was barely tall enough to reach the shoulder height of the average human, but the way she moved, looked and dressed was more alien still. In this searing heat, none of the humans would have even considered wearing a wolf skin draped over their shoulders, the wolf’s head propped over their own like a hood, yet she did not seem to mind it.

From around her waist, a long dark sash wound its way up across her torso and looped three times around her neck, before it finished, draped around her head, with only her eyes - one grey and one a vivid green - exposed through a narrow slit.

She looked around to make sure that nobody was watching before she reached for the knot on the side of her head and unwrapped the veil. She winced as her finger accidentally caught on the edge of one of the many scars on her face. Though she had taken off her veil many times during their journey, the driver of the caravan beside her still stared down at her exposed ears. Her right ear was severed, just where it would naturally have lifted to a sharp point. She unhooked a goat skin water bag from her belt and took a small slow sip, savouring the sensation of the water before she took another. She knew that she was being watched but paid no heed to the driver.

“Outsider! How long till the oasis?” a voice shouted behind her.

She took another restrained sip from her water bag before she replied, “Soon.”

“How soon. The next few hours? This eve?”

“It could be. I’ll know when we arrive.”

“Can’t you tell from the dunes or something?”

“The dunes change every day,” she scoffed. “We will arrive soon. Sooner the less you talk.”

“Erin?”

A small hand took hold of hers. The young boy barely ten years old, although when he stood next to her he looked much older.

“I couldn’t you see this morning. Where did you go?”

“I was here Nedwin,” Erin smiled down at him. “Where did you think I’d gone?”

“I don’t know,” the boy shrugged. “Where did you go last night?”

“Nowhere.”

“You weren’t at the fire.”

“I was on lookout, Nedwin.”

“You’re always on lookout.”

“I have to be.”

“Did you see anything?!” Nedwin hopped up and down as he walked alongside her.

“No, just the stars and sand.”

“Niian said there are monsters out in the dunes, and that’s what you were looking for.”

“Your brother likes to tease you Nedwin. I’m more worried about raiders than monsters.” Erin laughed and reached to pull his hood back over his head. The sun glistened on his dark, brown skin. “You should keep your hood on, you don’t want to get sun sickness.”

Nedwin tried to protest as she tugged his hood, when a woman’s voice shouted at him from the caravan behind that he should do as he was told.

“See, I told you,” Erin smirked at him.

“It’s not fair!” Nedwin frowned. “Will I have to wear my hood in the oasis?”

“Probably.”

“Why? Niian says that there are so many trees there that you don’t have to wear your hood during the day.”

“Niian has never been there. He wouldn’t know.”

“But he said—”

“He was lying. There aren’t that many trees in the oasis. None of them have many trees.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, too much sand probably.”

Suddenly Erin felt the hot breath of musty horse feed against the side of her face. She swore loudly in words much deeper than the soft, song-like language of the Gold Coast, and leapt away from the horse, hands raised to her head as though she expected to be struck. The blue glow of magic glimmered around each of her fingers.

“Keep that nag away from me!” She growled.

Around him Nedwin felt the crackle of magic in the air. Small flickers of blue lit up and then faded like fire dust. For a moment, Nedwin thought he saw Erin’s wolf skin bristle and move its tail, but when he looked again he could only conclude that the wind had played a trick on him.

“Damned nag!” Erin cursed again.

“Nedwin! Go back to your mother!” the driver shouted over as Nedwin skipped to catch up with her. Nedwin only laughed at the driver’s order and took Erin’s hand again. The glow that had surrounded them a few seconds before was gone.

“Why are you afraid of the horses Erin?”

When Erin did not reply Nedwin repeated his question.

“I just don’t like them.” Erin whispered/

“Why?”

“Why do you ask so many questions?”

Nedwin shrugged his shoulders. His good-natured, toothy grin easily pushed the frown off her face. “I just do.”

“Nedwin!”

They both looked back at the caravan to see Nedwin’s mother’s face poking out. A light blue silk sash wound into her braided hair/

“Get out of the sun! You’ll get sun sickness!”

“You should go to your mother.” Erin gently nudged him in the direction of the caravan, but he pushed back.

“But I want to stay here!”

“Get in the caravan. You’re too small to walk for the rest of the day.”

“You could carry me?” Nedwin suggested innocently, the start of a grin at the corner of his mouth. Erin shook her head, but smiled.

“Alright. Climb up.” Erin crouched down on the sand and waited for Nedwin to scramble onto her shoulders. She winced as he slipped and scraped his foot down her back. Eventually, he sat comfortably on her shoulders, with Erin’s hands firmly on his ankles in case he lost balance. She stood up and began to walk ahead, Nedwin’s weight barely noticeable to her.

“Wow! You’re strong!” Nedwin laughed and reached down to poke at her arms.

“Nedwin, stop that or I’ll put you back down!

“My brother said you’re something called a dwarf? Are you? Is that why you’re so strong?”

“Your brother should really learn to shut his mouth.”

“Are you though?”

“No, I’m not.”

“But why are you so short then?”

Erin paused. “I’m only half a dwarf.”

“Really?” Nedwin leant forward to peer down at her face. “What’s the other half?”

“Sylph.”

“Wow! Really?”

“No,” Erin laughed. He sat back and looked down at the distinct mark of a serrated knife blade along the edge her torn ear.

“Have you been to the Azure Oasis before?”

“Of course I have. Otherwise your mother wouldn’t have hired me.”

“How many times have you been there?”

“Oh, maybe five or six times, I’ve forgotten exactly how many.”

“How could you forget!?” Nedwin asked. His excitement had returned now that Erin’s mood seemed to have lifted.

“I’ve been to many places. After a while you stop counting.”

“How many places have you been to?”

“I’m not sure Nedwin.”

“Haaaave you been to Bienra?”

“Yes.”

“Haaaave you been to…the Salt Monasteries?”

“Yes.”

“Haaaave you been to…the Sunken City?”

“Only once.”

“The South Ports?”

“Yes, I was there before I went to the Gold Coast.”

“What are they like?”

Erin smiled and appeared almost joyful as she replied. “Warm. The sea there is so clear you can see through it all the way down to the sea bed.”

“You can see through the water?”

“Yes.”

“That’s strange.”

“I’m sure that the people from the South Ports think your water is strange.”

“What’s your favourite?”

“My favourite what?”

“Place. What's your favourite place.”

“In all of Ammastein? Bienra,” Erin replied without a second’s hesitation. “That is my favourite.”

“Why?”

“It’s warm.”

“And your least favourite place?” Nedwin swung his feet side to side as he asked. He leaned his head as far forward over hers as he could so that he could read her expression.

Erin was silent for a moment. “The Northlands.”

“Isn’t that where you’re from?”

“Yes.”

“Why do you hate it then?”

“Enough, Nedwin! Enough questions about the Northlands. Ask me som—”

Erin suddenly stopped talking and put Nedwin on on the ground. She scanned the dunes and clasped both hands protectively around his shoulders.

“Erin? What’s wrong?”

Nedwin followed her gaze, but he could see nothing but sand for miles and miles, except for a fast-approaching blanket of dark clouds.

“Erin?”

Erin did not move, her eyes on the clouds. Sheets of rain were pouring from their bases like thousands of small, swaying pillars. It wouldn’t take long to reach them.

“The oasis! I can see it!” a voice cried out behind them. Several more voices echoed the first shout.

“Erin. We’re close!” Nedwin smiled.

“We’re going to have to stay out here a little longer I’m afraid, Nedwin. The rain is coming.”

“What? Why?”

Erin took his hand firmly and dragged Nedwin behind her as she walked into the line of caravans. She marched purposefully towards the only caravan which looked as though it had not previously travelled to the Azure oasis hundreds of times. The wheels still smooth and un-battered. Erin pushed aside the curtains that covered the opening and looked at the tall human woman who lay draped across several colourful cushions. The woman continued to fan herself with the sandgrass fan she held in her hand.

“Nebet, we need to stay here ‘til the rain clouds pass.”

The woman did not even look up. Her eyes were closed, and she had the particular kind of exhausted expression that Erin had noticed only the wealthy wore when they had no reason to be tired.

“It’s rain, Outsider, we don’t need to stop. The sooner we get to the oasis the sooner I can get out of this wretched heat!”

“I’m as eager to get out of the heat as you are, but with the rain there will be wyvern.”

“Wyvern?”

“Sand serpents.”

“So, a little rain and we’ll have to deal with a few serpents. I’m sure you can kill a few little lizards.”

This time when Erin replied she did not bother to keep her tone civil. “The serpents can be the size of this caravan, Nebet.”

The human woman’s eyes snapped open and she sat up with a jolt. “What?”

“It might take an hour or two for the rain to pass, but the wyvern only attack with rain. It helps them move faster. There might not be any wyvern left along this way, but a few seasons past the route was infested with them. I don’t want to take the chance.”

For a few seconds, the woman looked like she was about to take Erin’s advice, but when she looked outside behind Erin and saw that the rest of the caravan had not slowed down she shook her head and slouched back onto the cushions.

“We’ll be safer with the rest of the caravan. They’ve traveled this route before. They know what they’re doing.”

“Nebet, this is the first time Moeris has traveled from the Gold Coast. His father was an experienced guide, Moeris is not. I don’t want—”

“It is not about what you want, Outsider! Do what you’re told or you can forget about being paid once we get to the oasis.”

Erin growled but stepped back. Her grip on Nedwin’s hand tightened so much that it hurt.

“Erin? What are you going to do?”

Erin knelt down in front of him and pulled his hood even tighter around his head.

“Stay close to me. Don’t let go of my hand.”

The storm arrived more like a waterfall than the kind of rain Nedwin was used to. Within seconds he was soaked. The deluge was so intense that the ground did not have time to drink it up. Soon everyone was ankle deep in the rising flood and unable to hear anything but the incessant thunder of water falling.

“Erin!” When she didn’t hear him Nedwin pulled at her sleeve. “Are we close to the oasis?”

Erin nodded and looked back out to the plains, the coal paint around her eyes streaked down her face. In the distance, everyone could see the brilliant white walls walls of the Azure Oasis, the rain clouds not yet far enough to shade them from the sunlight.

“We’re close!” Nedwin skipped up and down in the water. “We’re—”

“Get in the caravans! Everyone! Now!”

Erin threw Nedwin into his mother’s caravan before she tied the drapes shut as tightly as she could. “Get inside and don’t move or make a sound!”

The tall man leading the caravan turned to face her from his high seat, annoyed that the small woman had started to bark orders without consulting him first.

“Erin, what are you—”

“DO IT!” Erin screamed at Moeris. “Wyvern!”

Moeris was silent for a few moments and then repeated her orders to the rest of the caravan. His chest puffed out, determined to make everyone remember who was really in charge.

“Doesn’t matter what you hear! Don’t speak, don’t even move until I tell you to!” Erin marched through the caravans and tied down the openings of every single one that she passed. Once she was satisfied that every single caravan was tied down, she walked up to every single horse and untied them, careful not to get too close. A revolted expression on her face as she set them loose.

“What are you doing?” one of the drivers hissed from inside his caravan.

“You might stay quiet, but they won’t. If they see a wyvern they will run, and they’ll take you with them.”

“But they’re mine! I need them!”

“The oasis isn’t that far. If the horses pull you away from the caravan the wyvern will go for you first. Do you want to die?”

The driver reluctantly shook his head and closed the blind.

Erin tossed the last of the ropes to the ground and looked around for a moment, before she tied her veil securely around her neck. She closed her eyes and flexed her hands. Every bone in her body was braced for the creatures she sensed under the sand. The moments crawled by. Everyone nervous or irritated by the sudden change of plans. It didn’t take long before Erin heard one human after another begin to shuffle uncomfortably inside the carriages.

“Stay still! Please!” Erin begged silently.

As time passed the shuffles turned into whispers, until finally, Moeris could no longer bear the idea that he might be mocked for his decision to listen to an outsider. He threw open the blinds behind his caravan and jumped down onto the ground with a loud splash of water.

“Erin! This is ridiculous. My father told me that there were—”

Like a wave rushing towards its crest, the ground behind Moeris surged towards his turned back, higher and higher, until it broke open with a deep, breathy rumble. A swell of water and wet sand tossed against the sides of the caravans and shook it like a rattle as the wyvern darted past.

For Erin time seemed to slow down so much that she could pick out every chip and scar in the wyvern’s scales as it approached. Its large jaws opened wide exposing rows of long teeth. Some of them were broken in half and blunt, the others razor sharp. Its eyes not quite visible, the wide open red gullet was the only part of it with any colour other than speckled shades of brown.

Moeris did not have time to turn around. The only warning of the monster behind him was the look of horror on Erin’s face. He felt the heat of its breath on the back of his neck just as its long snout embraced his face. Erin leapt out of the way as the monster scuttled past her. A trail of red in the water behind it.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, it burrowed itself back below the sand. Erin looked up from where she had landed on the ground as the enormous beast slid back down into the earth. There was a horrible strained snap and the rest of Moeris’ body lay on the sand beside the freshly dug hole, his head torn free.

Just as she had predicted, the horses panicked. They all - save for a few of the older ones - bolted out into the rain, dragging their reins in the water behind them.

“Stay inside the caravans!” Erin screamed. “Stay inside the caravans!” The rain was falling even harder than before and her cries were like whispers against it. “Don’t move! Don’t make a sound!”

The next wyvern did not wait so long to attack. Erin did not even turn to face it as she twisted out of the way. The beast was so close that it brushed against her leg. Close enough for her to plunge her dagger through it's narrow eye and into the soft brain tissue.

The wyvern hit the ground with a heavy thud. Its back arched and coiled. The long tail writhed in the sand behind it. Erin stepped back to be safe from its death throes. Sure that there would be more than one of the creatures nearby, she pulled a second dagger from the collection hidden down the side of her boot. Wyvern did not tend to hunt alone, and a creature this size could only mean that there were smaller, hungrier young nearby, or worse, a much larger parent.

“I’m here! Don’t look at the caravans. I’m here!” Erin shouted and reached for a second dagger. Now she held a dagger in each hand. “You’re hungry! I’m here!”

A few dunes away everyone heard the high-pitched shrieks of the horses before they abruptly stopped. Erin could not help but smile, the horses would not be missed by her.

When after a few moments no wyvern appeared Erin stood up, her arms outstretched, and walked through the caravans.

“Stay inside! Don’t make a sound! Don’t move! If you hear something near—"

The second wyvern was much smaller. Barely longer than Erin’s body, it was still strong enough to erupt out of the sand with enough force to knock Erin against the side of a caravan. Her dagger was already in her hand and it took the wyvern several seconds to realise that it had impaled itself. Its bony neck had been skewered on the thin blade. Behind it another one sprang towards her, only to meet the same fate as its slightly larger sibling.

Under her feet Erin felt the sand shuffle as she tossed the carcasses aside.

“If you hear me shouting, or screaming, don’t come out of the caravans!” she continued to shout. Her voice was a little clearer to the camp now. “Only come out if the rain stops or I tell you to! The wyve—”

The next wyvern was less quick to leap to its death. In the wyvern cavern under the sand dunes, it thrashed its body against the brittle walls till they crumbled down around it. The ground below Erin’s feet shuddered and collapsed into the open void and she was dragged down into a slurry of sand and water. Both the daggers were swept from her hands as she slid down the slope, feet first. Just before she reached the bottom, the wyvern’s head rose to meet her. It opened its jaws wide, ready to crush her the moment she tumbled into its mouth.

Erin’s feet slammed against its lower jaw, while with her right hand she caught one of her daggers as it slipped past her, and with her left hand she grasped and held onto one of the three nostrils it had on each side of its head. It's breath was hot and wet on her fingers. The wyvern snapped its jaws again and again and again, furious that she had not simply rolled into its open mouth. It thrashed its head from side to side, but she held on tighter than a sand barnacle. As it threw its head back one more time Erin used the momentum to propel herself over its head. One hand still in its snout, she landed hunched on the nape of its neck, wrapped her legs around it as firmly as she could, and plunged her dagger through its small yellow eye.

Behind her the wyvern’s tail thrashed against the walls of the pit. Still, Erin held on. A cold blue flame spread across her hands and the wyvern shrieked and shuddered as a deadening numb feeling spread from where her fingers touched its skin. The blue glow from Erin’s hands illuminated the whole of her face. The shudders underneath her became weaker.

Then, then stopped.

Half the wyvern’s head crumbled into ash, and she fell, landing clear of the pile of moist flesh and cinders that remained of its body. There was no smell of burning, only a tingle in the air like the static before a storm.

There, it’s dead. Stop, please. A soft voice in her head begged.

She stood up slowly and began to climb up the steep sides of the pit. The sand was still wet, and it was hard to get a foothold without sliding back down to the bottom. Eventually she managed to reach the edge. Erin hauled herself up, and lay on the sand for a few moments. Her wolfskin still slung over her shoulders she closed her eyes and forced her breathing to slow. As her own heart slowed down she picked out the rapid heartbeats of the humans and last remaining horses among the caravans. All of them were scared. All of them, except for a strange heartbeat. It's thuds a series of three before a long pause, the triple heartbeat of one last wyvern somewhere in the camp.

Erin sat up with a groan, het legs bruised and her hands covered in scratches where she had held onto the wyvern's snout.

“Erin!?”

“Nedwin! Stay in the caravan!”

The clouds had passed and already the wet sand had begun to dry. At any minute now, the last wyvern would be forced to burrow back beneath the sand before it became too hard to drag its enormous body back down under the surface, but desperation made it bold. The journey back across the desert to the old feeding ground at the trade route had been harsh, and the wyvern had been forced to hunt for scant prey on the parched surface of the desert. The sharp sand had cracked and dried its skin, and the meagre hunting had left it close to starvation. It had no choice. It needed to eat.

The last wyvern sprang forward, jaws wide-open, and crashed into the caravan behind Erin. Its head smashed through the light wooden frame and snapped at the humans screaming inside. It tore itself from the side of the caravan and circled the sand several times, angry, unable to smell Erin. Instead there was a strange new, quite unfamiliar smell of thick, wet fur.

A howling wolf with blue flame scintillating in its eyes and flaring along the edges of its claws, threw itself against the wyvern with the force of an animal ten times its size. The wyvern thrashed against the caravans and rolled over several times. Each time the wolf let go, it would retreated and then attacked again. Its smaller body was nimble and had unnatural speed.

Despite Erin’s warning, Nedwin’s curiosity could not resist the howls. His mother was preoccupied with her older son. She lay on the floor of the caravan and held Niian tightly with one arm, while the other pressed a cushion tightly over her ear to block out the sounds of the wyvern. When Nedwin pushed the drape aside, he saw the wolf crouched in front of the caravan, its back to him. Its strange body was long and gangly, like a wild dog which had been stretched out. There was a large bump over its back and shoulders and its head, paws, thighs and feet were larger than a wolf.

The wyvern reared back, one eye torn open, and roared into the face of the wolf. Nedwin could see every single tooth in its mouth. The wolf roared back, not with a howl or a bark, as Nedwin expected, but a thundering roar. The wyvern coiled back into a knot, afraid. The wolf roared again and stood up on its hind legs. It extended its front paws on either side like a human, every claw flexed, hackles raised.

“Erin!”

The wolf turned to him, and for the first time Nedwin was able to see its eyes. One eye was grey and the other bright green.

The wyvern propelled itself forward with the full force of its long muscular tail towards Nedwin, the young boy stared, terrified and unable to react in time. Too late, the wolf sank its fangs into the tender skin of the wyvern’s neck as it flew past, forgetting in the moment about the long stinger at the end of it's tail. The tangled creatures crashed into the side of the caravan with enough force to knock it over and break the side wide open. As the wyvern thrashed about in a futile attempt to dislodge its attacker, the wolf locked its jaws and raked its claws down the side of the wyvern’s neck, over and over until the scales peeled and it's throat ripped open with a hiss. It was only when it's claws reached the vertebrae that it stopped.

“Erin?”

Nedwin looked down, shocked and confused at the puncture in his chest, unable to lift his hands. His brother, Niian, whimpered as he tried desperately to plug the flow of blood with his hands. Nedwin’s face had turned a strange colour, his lips greyish and his eyes beginning to roll back.

The wolf dropped down to the floor and lay sprawled out, completely hollow as Erin crawled out from underneath it.

“Is he going to be alright?!” Niian shrieked and gripped her arm tight enough to make her wince.

“I-I don’t know.” Erin mumbled.

The deep puncture in his chest was directly over his heart and Erin could detect no heartbeat from the little bloodied body. She looked around and saw his mother nearby, partly covered by the torn caravan awning. A blow to the side of her head had knocked her unconscious. She was alive though; Erin could still hear her heartbeat, and for a moment she wished the couldn't.

“Nedwin?” She whispered, lifted the little body up into her arms and rocked him back and forth gently. When he didn't move she pressed one hand over the puncture. Seconds later, blue flame licked over her hand.

“Nedwin? Nedwin, look at me. Please? Just look at me?”

The flame from her hand pulsed brighter and brighter. Niian watched as the skin on her hands began to dry, wrinkle and turn grey. For a few moments, he thought that he saw Nedwin’s wound begin to close and he looked up at Erin’s face hopefully. The expression on Erin’s face crushed his hopes instantly. All the colour had drained from her face, even from the deep scar which ran down her lips which alway had a wine stained tint to it. The blue glow around her eyes flickered, like a flame struggling against a strong wind. She shook him again, at first gently, and then more and more violently. His body hung heavily and was completely limp.

“Wake up! Wake up Nedwin! Wake up and I’ll tell you about the northlands, please! Please, just wake up!”

“Nedwin?”

Erin’s whimpered as Nedwin’s mother began to groan and move. It took her a few moments before she was able to grasp what she saw. She sat up, dazed, before a look crossed her eyes and she crawled over, barely able to stay upright, and clawed Nedwin’s body out of Erin’s arms.

“Nedwin!”

Shrieking in agony, she rocked back and forth and pressed Nedwin's head against her chest like he was a baby.

“You, you killed him! You killed my baby!” She shrieked at Erin.

Erin didn’t move. There was a blank expression on her face. She could have been a statue in that moment. Her blood covered hands were open rigid by her sides. Next to her Niian shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake her from her daze.

“Erin! Help him, you can help him, can’t you?”

Erin looked at him. Her pupils were so large that the colour of her eyes was barely more than a thin ring around them. She looked like an animal.

“Astrid, my name is Astrid,” she whispered. “I’m sorry Niian, I can’t help him. He’s gone.”

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(You can find the next chapters for the first Outsider book on my profile)