Page 1 of The Outcast
Prologue
Change of Plans
Northlands August 2466
Banni
Never had I imagined that I would get to visit the mythical Northlands.
I was ten years old when an earth restoration team from the Motherlands made contact with my people. After that came kind Motlanders who taught us children English and told us about the world outside our fenced-in area.
We saw pictures and movies from different parts of the world. I remember thinking that the Northlands looked like something from a different planet because I’d never seen vast landscapes of untouched nature and buildings so grand that they could compare to the pre-war era.
Back then in 2449, we French were cramped underground. Personal space, fresh air, and nature were only available in the dreams we held for future generations.
But with help from the Motherlands, things changed for the better. Since we were discovered in 2449 it had been seventeen years of growth and expansion. A third of our citizens now lived above ground and I had hope that one day I would too.
The reason I was in the Northlands was my friendship with Aubri and Indiana, who had worked with me as Explorers for the past year. They had smuggled me out of Old Europe five weeks ago, and tomorrow they would smuggle me back in.
I would treasure the memories of the days I’d spent here in the Northlands. The lush nature was beyond amazing for someone like me. And then there was the fun detail that my friend Aubri was like a modern-day princess here. At home I was an outcast with the lowest-ranking job available. Here, in the Northlands, I had been wined and dined with her royal family several times. It felt like an alternate universe where everything was upside down, and I couldn’t wrap my head around their fascination with my job and the respect they showed me. In France, book smart people were on top, while here they teased Aubri’s cousin Freya for reading too much.
Northlanders valued honor, bravery, and strength, which was something I luckily had plenty of.
A thing our cultures had in common was the directness in their communication. I had enjoyed wonderful long and deep conversations with both Aubri’s and Indiana’s families.
Two of Aubri’s family members had even brought me on a trip to the Motherlands so I could see the country and meet their friends Athena and Finn.
My five weeks here had been like a fairytale and I wanted to enjoy every second of my last day here. Soon Aubri and Indiana would return from their week-long trip to the Motherlands where they had participated in the yearly summit between future world leaders.
I already knew that once I was back in France, I would miss the people here. There was Belle, who was French like me. Our friendship went back to our childhood. And then there were new friends such as Thor, who had entertained me while Aubri and Indiana took a short honeymoon. Like his sister, Freya, Thor was easy to talk to and I enjoyed his dry sense of humor.
But the person I would miss the most was no doubt Aubri’s friend, Sparrow. She and her family had hosted me these past few days and we had stuck together like glue from the beginning. With Thor, Freya, Indiana, and Aubri all attending the summit in the Motherlands this week, Sparrow had showed me around and asked me at least a hundred questions about my homeland.
She was by far the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and at the same time she was completely off limits. The threats from Indiana and Aubri that hung over my head if I touched a Northlander woman were substantial. In their culture no one slept around for fun. Sex was all serious business, it seemed.
As I sat on the grass outside the school where Sparrow lived with her parents, I watched Sparrow teach a fight lesson to eight young teenagers.
My physical attraction to her had been instant, but over these past days, that attraction had grown to an extent that was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Maybe it was because I couldn’t have her that my desire for Sparrow was so extreme. She was funny, intelligent, brave, curious, and cute all at the same time. Visually soaking up the pearls of sweat dripping down the side of Sparrow’s neck, my mind tortured me for the hundredth time these past days with images of what would never be. If we were back in Europe, I would have dismissed the kids and seduced her. I wanted to lick that pearl away so bad that I could practically taste the salt on my tongue.
What I didn’t understand was how a deity like Sparrow could still be untouched. We had discussed it while walking in the forest with her two brothers yesterday. They had called her picky because apparently, both Sparrow and Aubri had always had plenty of suitors but they had impossible expectations and rejected everyone who offered them marriage.
Ryder, Sparrow’s brother, had joked that Sparrow had received more than twenty proposals, and she had corrected the number to sixteen.
If I had been born here and shared their culture, I would have proposed to her as well. But we French people didn’t marry or have committed relationships. There were laws against it that went back to the bleak history of the original survivors of the Toxic War four hundred years ago. Surviving underground required rigid systems and laws. There was no room for the emotional insanity that came with love.
“I told you to keep those hands up,” Sparrow lectured a boy who was as tall as her.
Because I’d seen Aubri and Indiana fight in Old Europe, it didn’t surprise me how good Sparrow was. Even the teenage students at the school that her family ran had better techniques than most fighters back home.
I hadn’t started fighting until four years ago when my friend Helmer had introduced me to the underground fight club. Since Indiana and Aubri began training me, I’d won most of my fights. Still, I wanted to be as smooth and fast as they were.
After the session with the children, Sparrow came to sit next to me. She was sweaty and out of breath, reaching for her water.
“How did you become so flexible? You and Aubri both look like acrobats when you fight.”
“It’s nice of you to compare me to Aubri, but she’s in a league of her own.”
“You’re good, Sparrow. Really good.”
