Water in a Desert

Whatever chipper attitude I found after eating the boar stew disappeared soon enough.

There was nothing to do in the wagon. I could not leave because I broke my leg, and I could barely slide along the ground without pain and numbness coursing through my body. All I could do was watch the muscles in my leg melt away, day by day, until my right leg was little more than bruised mush.

I wished I was dead. How was I not? Lotus straight up saved my life twice, from my own foolishness, in my own backyard. And now, she was debating business strategy with the Typhins, learning to drive the desert horses, taking everything in stride, while I could do nothing but drift in and out of sleep every two hours. Eventually she’ll notice I’ve been nothing but dead weight. Even though she was the one who asked to travel with me. The Typhins will notice, too.

I didn’t notice when we reached Outpost 66. I heard some discussion as we got close, something about how Moonlight didn’t have enough members to spare a few to guard the outpost, so it was hard to spot. Then, we stopped, and I watched as a dozen members of Moonlight leapt off their carriages and clustered around what looked like a chalky slab, barely peaking above the dunes.

Caramine was among the first dozen, and I watched as they started clearing away sand. In no more than fifteen minutes, I saw what looked like wooden posts for the horses, and then I saw more members join in to tie the horses to those now uncovered posts.

I scooted a little closer to the edge of the carriage to watch a few more members of Moonlight feverishly dig away at a mountain of sand from one side of the dune. I closed my eyes as the wind whipped gusts of sand into my face, into my eyelashes, and the cracks of my lips. I scooted back to my original spot.

Lotus giggled across from me, peeling an apple with a deftly wielded knife. One look at her technique and it was obvious she knew how to cook, professionally even. She just let me cook anyways, when we traveled together, and I felt another pang of futility. Everything just came back to how much of a dead weight I was.

After what seemed like an eternity, I heard the ponderous creek of a large door from out in the desert. They must be opening the storage room at the outpost, I realized. Then things were quiet. A minute later, Caramine popped in at the entrance of our carriage. “Lotus, do you mind coming with me for a second?”

“What’s wrong?” Lotus said between bites of apple.

“I can’t be certain now. I need to verify something, and I need you to bear witness.”

Lotus disappeared out the entrance of the carriage. Farther out past the canvas, I saw the shadowy forms of typhins returning, dejected, to their carriages. A sinking feeling hit my stomach.

Merlum leapt inside the carriage and slumped against its canvas frame.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Sabotage. The well is almost empty despite having an exceptional rainy season down south, which should’ve fed the groundwater sourcing the well. And the stuff in storage is also completely different from the items we thought we left,” Merlum explained gravely. “Someone wanted us to be unable to make refills here.”

“Caramine is investigating the source of the well, to confirm our theory,” Tiana added from outside. “But I think the saboteur is obvious. It’s that vile hypocritical woman, Azzerium.”

“Sister!” Merlum cried. “Pointing fingers won’t replenish our water supplies.”

“Oh, but it will. Next time we convene to discuss business strategy, I won’t back down so easily. We will see her and we will make it a priority. And she will know the price of throwing out information like it’s a crate of maggot-infested apples.”

“Sister, the only reason you backed down two weeks ago was because three bandmates had to physically restrain you after you challenged every dissenter to a wrestling match.”

“Let them all challenge me, if they care so much!” Tiana huffed.

Merlum turned to me. “Please don’t mind my sister. Most typhins are not nearly as…belligerent.”

“I can still hear you, larvae,” Tiana spat.

Merlum laughed. “This ‘hypocritical woman’ my sister speaks of, is someone she suspects of having leaked our outpost location. She was once a member of Moonlight, see, and she got kicked out for sharing our trade secrets with typhins outside of our group. I understood Azzerium’s philosophy in a vacuum, but unfortunately we live in the desert, not a vacuum. Or even a forest. Hah! I’d love to become one with the fungal infection under my scales if I lived in a forest. Doubly so if I can also release its spores in combat. Can you imagine a typhin expelling fungal spores? That would be funny, wouldn’t it?!”

I laughed out of politeness, which was sufficient for Merlum.

“What’s going to happen with Ardesburg? Are we able to make it?” I asked, staring at my shrinking leg.

“Oh, we’re going to make it, alright” Tiana replied. “We’re no stranger to life or death situations. We didn’t get a monopoly over the entire western edge of the Aurum without going through a dozen of those. In the desert, we’re always one stupid decision away from death. A stupid decision, like when we procrastinated dealing with our earlier loss of wells in this very area.”

Merlum shrank into his clothes. “We’re so, so deeply sorry that an emergency like this had to crop up with you as our guest,” he said. “We promised that we will keep you safe. Please trust us for that.”

Or maybe I could take advantage of the situation and die of thirst, but bringing that up would do me no favors.

I slumped against the carriage wall. Before long, Lotus returned to the carriage, and I heard the outpost door closed in the distance. “Caramine’s orders,” she announced, “She said we’re going to follow the underwater river upstream to someplace unaffected, and get as much water as we could from there. Then we’re convening tonight to find a raid target.”

“Lotus, what happened?” I asked.

“The underground aquifer was sliced apart and filled with sediment by Riarvis, the leader of the Roaches,” Lotus explained.

“Roaches?” I asked.

“I’d like to beat the shit out of the Roaches,” Tiana hissed.

“Apparently they’re another typhin band,” Lotus explained. “Caramine told me that they have an exclusive partnership with an elusive group of golden scarabs to the north, and they’re also known for sabotaging other bands for their livelihoods. She also said that they probably heard about the mine from someone she knows named Azzerium. She told me she’ll explain more to us during siesta today.”

“Curse Riarvis! What a stain,” Merlum cried, breaking his silence. “I forgive much, but Riarvis? This tapeworm deserves to have his bloodied corpse dragged along the sand.”

“Riarvis couldn’t have done this without that yapping traitor Azzerium,” Tiana added. “It was a mistake to entertain any of her ideas.”

Merlum shook his head. “That part’s a lot more complicated.”

“How is it more complicated? Azzerium is as tied to this as the Roaches themselves, and I won’t be giving them a soft version of this reality,” Tiana pressed.

Merlum ignored her and turned to us. “I’m truly sorry about the outburst. This is just…this is a stressful situation, and we really do wish for your understanding and patience.”

I said nothing. Who was Azzerium? Riarvis? I thought Moonlight was supposed to be established and relatively stable. But here they were—one mistake, one sabotage away from starvation. And just what did Azzerium do? Would I end up doing the same thing, and getting tossed to the dunes?

A typhin several carriages in front of ours raised a compass and a bugle.

“South-southeast! To water!” they cried.

The band shot off upstream, leaving the now worthless outpost exposed behind us.