Page 27 of Twins for the Barbarians

Yet it could be something, something I didn’t plan for but should’ve seen coming. We never bothered to worry about contraception. If I’m pregnant, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. But the implications a pregnancy carries with it do worry me. This isn’t the time or the place to bring a new life into the world. We’ve got too much work to do and too much danger to navigate.

“Come on, let’s get you something to eat,” Kharo says and gently escorts me back to the campfire.

Kharo continues scanning the horizon with his binoculars while Kingo takes some food out: crackers and dried fruits, dehydrated meat, and a handful of eggs, which he cooks on the open fire. I manage to eat crackers and plums, just enough to fill my stomach and settle the acidic storm brewing within, but the nausea persists, stubbornly threatening to ruin what’s left of this evening. There’s water, and I brew myself a cup of spiced tea in the hope that it will ease my symptoms.

If I keep this up, however, I fear Kharo and Helios will catch on and come to the same conclusion. If I am pregnant, they cannot know about it, not until we’re back in Sapphire City, at least. How the hell am I going to hide it from them, though?

“Feeling better?” Kharo asks me after a while.

“Yes,” I say, lying through my teeth as I help myself to another dried plum if only to reassure him. I can barely swallow. Chances are, I’ll vomit against that blackwood tree again before sunrise.

Helios settles next to me by the fire and puts an arm around my shoulders, lovingly holding me close. “We’ll take turns keeping watch tonight,” he says. “Kingo will go first.”

“Oh, you’re too kind,” the kid chuckles dryly.

“Kharo will have the second shift, and I’ll take the last,” Helios says.

“What about me?” I ask.

He smiles and kisses me deeply. “You rest, darling. Sleep as much as you can. We’ve got quite the day ahead of us tomorrow.”

We most definitely do.

13

Alicia

Ibarely sleep. My head feels like a bag of wet sand. My mouth feels dry, and my throat burns. The nausea is gone, but I worry it’s only a temporary reprieve. I’ve got so many thoughts swirling in my head that I don’t even know what to focus on first.

It takes a while to get back into a functional state, but I manage to put a smile on as I get in the passenger seat, and Kharo takes over at the wheel. Each hour that passes brings us closer to the black mist, and the closer we get, the more concerned I become that we’re driving into something we’re not entirely prepared for.

“The air quality seems normal so far,” Kingo says from the back seat, the air-measuring device beeping steadily in his hands. “There’s more carbon and sulfur dioxide than earlier, but that’s to be expected since Kaos is active again.”

“Will it be safe to breathe?” I ask.

“If the levels stay the same, yes,” he says. “Otherwise, we might need our filter masks and oxygen tanks, and that will limit the amount of time we’ll have to spend in the area.”

“It feels more humid, too,” Helios replies.

“This is another normal aspect of an active volcano. Water vapors are frequently emitted at this point,” Kingo says. “We should be fine.”

Upon reaching the outer border of the black mist, however, my uneasiness is amplified as the image before us becomes clearer and more unsettling. The walls we saw last night are all too real. They’re definitely additional defenses, but built by whom? Opal City was supposed to be abandoned. No one should be living in these parts anymore. We didn’t spot any sentinels or flying drones along the way, either.

“This doesn’t make sense,” I say as we park the buggy close to a solitary black rock and equip ourselves with what we can carry for the rest of the journey into the city. “What are these walls?”

“They’re not mere walls,” Kharo replies. “This is a maze.”

I see the opening before us, where another wall rises. Coupled with what we observed last night through the binoculars, I’m inclined to agree. “Who built it, then?”

“We may find out,” Helios replies. “I suggest we bring weapons, too.”

“How’s the air quality?” I ask, looking at Kingo.

He checks the device again and nods once. “Just like before. We can go on.”

Slowly but surely, we approach the first wall. Kharo and Helios take the lead, while Kingo and I walk a couple of steps behind while they survey the area. It’s eerily quiet. Even the wind does not blow in these parts. The volcano is silent except for a few rumblings in the distance, though I can’t pinpoint their origin.

“We’ll try to get into the city,” Helios says. “But at the first sign of trouble, we stop and go back.”

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