A Girl From Nowhere (The Firewall Trilogy #1) - James Maxwell Page 0,18

could there be a city? It was supposed to be beautiful, built of pale stone, with a soaring, graceful tower in the very center. Tall walls kept the people safe. Water was plentiful. Everyone lived in peace and harmony. A wise leader, the Protector, welcomed all newcomers.

Selena had thought it was a myth too, until, just a few weeks ago, she discovered the truth for herself. The white city was real.

Part of her hadn’t known what she was searching for until she found it. The image she farcasted was hazy, like a distant mountain that might be mistaken for a cloud, but there it was. Once she knew that the white city was out there—a faraway dream but real—everything changed.

When the three skinners passed through, she seized her chance. It was a risk, but she revealed what she had seen with her talent. Lars, in particular, had seized on the opportunity. He was the oldest of the three skinners. A rover, with no one to rely on but himself, he knew that his future in the wasteland was bleak.

Yet Selena knew she wanted it more.

The white city would provide the home she had always been searching for. And there was one hope she was holding on to so tightly she would never voice it aloud. If she could only get there, the Protector might know of a way to remove the curse she had been born with.

As Selena walked, she glared at Sully’s back. Her mouth was dry. Running her tongue over her lips did nothing. Vic glanced back at her and muttered something to the wiry skinner at his side.

“Can you farcast at all?” Lars asked. He looked worried as he gazed out at the landscape. A long, downward slope ahead climbed to a tall rise, crowned with a hill. “We’re exposed out here.”

Selena shook her head. “I can barely cast a hundred paces right now.”

“That mountain we’re heading for is beyond the firewall, I’m sure of it,” Sully said. “This is ridiculous.”

“We can skirt the firewall and still head in the same direction, can’t we?” Vic asked.

“It’s risky,” Lars said. “We should find shelter until she recovers. The last thing we want to do is go the wrong way.”

Selena scanned the plain. She couldn’t see anywhere to take shelter, but at least from the circle of boulders on the next hill’s summit they would have a commanding view of the area.

She felt a sudden rising dread.

Experience told her that her talent was trying to tell her something. She sensed a presence behind her. Hazy figures in her mind became distinct.

Her hand shot out and she gripped Lars’s arm. “Bax,” she whispered. “Behind us.” Her eyes widened. Dread shifted to fear. “They’ve seen us.”

“Blast it,” Lars swore.

Sully drew a long bone dagger. His gaze narrowed at Selena. “You’re sure?”

“What do we do?” Vic asked, searching wildly the way they had come.

Selena whirled. She saw a dozen bax crest the ridge behind them, this time with the clarity of her eyes rather than her muddled mind. Light brown in color, they were covered in lumps like desert toads. Their ridged spines made it appear as if they barely had necks and gave them a hunched posture like old men. But they were surprisingly fast, even in their leather armor. They brandished weapons of wood and bone, and fanned out as they ran down the slope, directly toward Selena and the three skinners.

Lars pointed to the tall hill and the ring of boulders on top of it. “We need to get up there. Now!”

Lars had barely finished speaking when Vic and Sully both broke into a run. Putting her head down, Selena sprinted after them. The grunts and rasping calls of the bax followed her. Lars puffed and panted beside her, clearly showing his age. It was hard going, racing up an incline that grew steeper as they approached the summit. She could only hope that the bax behind them found it equally difficult.

The grunts of the bax grew louder, making the area between her shoulder blades itch. Approaching feet pounded at the ground with a rumble that echoed her thumping heart. There was no doubt in her mind. Death was just behind her.

She heard the whistle of something thrown through the air. An instant later, a spear slammed into the center of Vic’s back. His momentum carried him forward until he was face down on the hillside.

Then Sully went down in a tumble, and when he stopped rolling, he was