Page 45 of Barbarian Daddies

“What the hell is this?”

I kneel beside the stream and smell it first. It’s definitely loaded with minerals and elements I don’t recognize, yet my nose is able to discern the subtle layers of every fragrance. I reach down and touch the flowing water. It’s warm, almost hot, but it isn’t boiling. Looking left and right, I notice the stream moves through an artery in the black stone ground. It must have spent years eroding below the red desert, and I wonder how far it goes.

Tufts of love herb grow along the narrow bank. I pluck a handful and consume it. I’m so hungry, I don’t care what I put in my mouth as long as it’s edible. The effect is almost immediate, but profoundly overwhelming. Whether it’s my despair or my empty stomach, I’m not sure.

But I’m starting to see everything differently. It’s as if every sense in my body and brain has been amplified a thousand times over. I can see every atom of everything around me. The entire fabric of the universe ripples and shimmers in subtle waves that respond to my movements. I wave my hand around, marveling at how it feels, at how the air glimmers around it.

I think I might be high, but it doesn’t really feel that way. It’s something else, something infinitely more profound. I lick my lips and scoop up some water, staring at it in the palm of my hand for a few moments. I see the orange particles shining. Temptation gets the better of me, and I taste it.

“It’s sweet,” I whisper. “Like oranges and honey.”

I drink everything in my palm and wait a few minutes as I listen to the whispers of the stream flowing and echoing through the dark bowels of this planet. The water works its way into my system. One sip was all it took for my whole body to react, to revive its broken mechanisms. All it took for my skin to glow beautifully, for my lips to feel smooth again, for my hair to fall like layers of silk over my shoulder.

The more I sit here, the more I drink…

The better I feel.

The braver I get.

“I can’t go home,” I tell myself, the synapses in my brain suddenly reconnecting and getting new thoughts across. A wave of energy bursts through me. The strength of a thousand men. I fill my metallic bottle with orange particle water and look up to the stars—billions of them glancing down at me. Smiling. Twinkling. Guiding me to somewhere. “No, I can’t go home. I can synthesize the cure from my blood. I just need to get to the research lab.”

I’m not sure how I reached this conclusion. I’m not sure of the thought process behind my decision, but it’s irrevocable. The certainty of what I must do next is ironclad. The context of it is downright insane. I was running away from Sapphire City mere minutes ago. I killed Dahlen so he wouldn’t take me back there. Yet there is where I feel I need to go. Deep in my bones, at the very core of my soul, where I need to go back there. I see that now.

Whatever is in this water, it’s giving me the boldness I never imagined I could have. I’m starting to think all those folk tales the Fire Tribe folks talked about might have a seedling of truth in them. I’m starting to think I’m actually communing with Sunna’s inner fire, in a sense. Because I don’t feel like it’s my decision I’ve just made here. It’s Sunna’s. This planet, this entity that manifests itself through volcanoes and stretching deserts, rolling hills and undulating fields, hardy mountains and restless red seas, this world wants me to go to Sapphire City.

It wants me to find a cure for the plague.

I can almost hear its murmurs in the back of my head. I can almost see them, ideas implanted in my brain and translated by the love herb. Catalyzed by the mineral water. It’s strange, yes. It’s crazy. I’m a pragmatic woman, devoted to science and empirical thought. Of course, I never dismissed the spiritual side of my existence, but I’ve paid more attention to what I could prove over anything else. Yet now… I’m following an instinct that has only just awakened.

Sunna needs me.

23

Cynthia

Whether it’s by a miracle or pure luck, I make my way out of the desert and over another string of mountains. Judging by the position of the known constellations in the night sky, I’m somewhere between the Cloud Mountains and the trail the Hadana twins and I first followed to get into Sapphire City.

It has taken me a couple of days, but this odd mineral water has kept me hydrated and sated throughout the entire journey. Whatever that stuff is, it’s precious and rare. I hope I’ll have the chance to drink it again, to take samples and test them and figure out what about this liquid gives me such strength and energy. Such clarity. I’m still baffled by its effects. I couldn’t have imagined any of it.

But right now, as long as I’m still experiencing this strange high, I intend to make the most of it. I feel faster, sharper, stronger. Smarter, even. My gaze darts across my field of vision, immediately registering every crucial detail. Shapes, hurdles, ravines, pathways to follow. Minor to major threats to avoid. Hell, I can see the predators from half a mile away. I can smell them!

I reach Sapphire City’s northern gate just a little bit after midnight, if I’m reading the moons’ position correctly in the sky. The sea grumbles somewhere beyond with its foamy waves and restless waters, while the fire of Sunna continues to burn brightly through my veins.

I sneak down the crest of the mountain, following a fractured ridge until I find a cluster of jagged obsidian shards to hide behind. My bare feet sink into the black sand. The sandals didn’t last as long as I had hoped, but I do welcome the soothing warmth of the sand at this hour.

Plenty of Sky Tribe mercenaries are out and about, casually doing their rounds without a care in the world. They must be satisfied after the blow they delivered to the Sun River Plateau settlements the other day. I hope many of my people survived that awful treachery. And if there’s a hell in the afterlife, I hope Dahlen got a first-class ticket to the worst side. Innocents die every day in this war.

Why’d he have to go and make it so much worse?

My stomach churns. It’s not hunger. It’s guilt. Someday, I will forgive myself.

“Shift change!” one of the mercenaries calls out from the top of the blue wall, then rings a bell.

I watch the soldiers return from the beach trails and go in through the service door. As soon as the last of them walks into the city, I swiftly follow. My heart is thumping, and I don’t know where I’m getting this mad courage from, but it works. I’m inside, slipping past the door and down a secondary set of stone steps until I reach one of the residential alleys leading south.

It’s like a dream.

It’s as if someone or something else is using my body, and I’m just along for the ride. It would make more sense to me if I understood the components of that strange water. Maybe I’ll get my chance in the future. I need to survive and push our mission forward. Remembering the way back to the research lab, I sneak through the streets just like before. Sticking to the shadows. Hiding behind potted trees and what’s left of the decorative statues sprinkled across the city. Staying away from the streetlights, I turn a few corners and find the side entrance into the building once more.

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