Lysette woke with the dawn, startled into alertness by the braying of one of the horses. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she sat up, trying to remember when she had fallen asleep. There were no dreams. It had been the first peaceful night of sleep for months.

  “Ah, she is awake. Good morning, my friend.”

  The deep voice came from a young man who was sitting on the other side of the fire, poking it with a stick. Lysette suddenly became very aware of her surroundings and situation. She was alone with a strange man. She had been sleeping outside under a patchwork blanket, and there was a stranger nearby. A very handsome stranger. Blinking, she gradually remembered where she had seen his bright eyes before. The festival. Sitting quietly in the glow and crackle of the firelight was the one that had pulled her up on stage. Gabe had introduced him as Kipp. She pulled the blanket tighter against her chest.

  “You are welcome for that, by the way. That's my blanket,” a wry smile crossed his lips. “You fell asleep during the stories, and well, nobody wanted to move you. Did you sleep well? I stayed up on watch duty. You seemed very peaceful.”

  Lysette’s mouth fell open. Had he really been watching her sleep? Her cheeks warmed at the thought, and she tried to not show her embarrassment.

  “I… Uhh, did you stay up because I deprived you of your blanket? Or was it really watch duty? I had heard there are wolves and monsters deeper in the woods. Is that true?”

  “It is true, but more likely than monsters and wild animals would be bad people. Bandits or just people who don’t like us much. You must know what it’s like, living in a place like that looking like you do. People don’t like what’s different.”

  “What do you mean, ‘looking like I do’?” Lysette’s hand reached up to cover the mark on her neck.

  “Oh no, beautiful Lysette. That isn’t what I meant at all. Though the mark couldn’t have been an easy burden for you to bear alone for all this time,” Kipp said, “You were different to the others in that sleepy little place, and in sleepy places they don’t like folk who’re different. I imagine it was quite hard growing up there.”

  “No, no, it wasn’t. You are right about some of the people there, but I had Granny. I wasn’t alone. She was all I really needed. But once she was gone I suppose there was nothing to stop people from hating me for looking like this,” said Lysette. “I just can’t believe they would blame me for the deaths. I helped Granny heal people, I helped deliver their children, and they thank me by burning down my home?”

  “People can be like that when there are enough of them afraid. Always looking for something or someone to blame because it is easier for them. It makes them feel safe. It’s damned wicked of them though either way. I’m sorry you went through all that.”

  The fire crackled wildly as a charred log fell, and an ember flew out and landed on Kipp’s palm. He swore and put his burned hand to his mouth.

  “Oh, don’t do that!” Lysette stood and rushed around the fire to kneel at his side.

  “You’ll get it dirty if you put the wound in your mouth. It would be bad if the fiddler’s hand got infected, right?” Lysette pulled Kipp’s hand from his mouth to look at the burn. It was small, but a patch of red skin bloomed like a flower bud. It hadn’t blistered. “Just a moment, I have a salve you can use for this. The burn isn’t bad, so you shouldn’t get an infection as long as you keep it clean.”

  Lysette quietly climbed into the back of Gabe’s wagon nearby, where she had left her belongings. She was careful not to wake the snoring couple laying inside, as she retrieved two small bottles, and climbed back out.

  “You needn’t make a fuss, it’s not that bad. I apologise for my colourful language.”

  “Nonsense. Give me your hand.” Lysette had been presented with something she understood, an injury to be looked after. It would help her to think straight. She poured a little liquid from one of the bottles onto her hands, and onto Kipp’s burned one. The smell of alcohol floated around them until it evaporated, leaving only the scent of the campfire, the horses, and the towering pines.

  “Should we be doing this next to an open flame?”

  “Shush. It’s fine as long as you don’t stick your hand in the fire. Now keep still.”

  Lysette poured a few drops of the salve onto her fingers, and dabbed the mixture onto Kipp’s outstretched palm. She made sure that it was sufficiently covered in the oily medicine, and the red mark almost faded as soon as it was applied. She held his hand for a moment longer than was necessary, touching the calluses on his fingertips.

  “All done? Or do you want to hold hands a bit longer? Though, I don’t mind...”

  “Oh! Yes. Sorry, I mean no, I don’t. Not that I wouldn’t, but I shouldn’t. I mean to say, I’m finished with that. Sorry.” Lysette blurted as she recoiled, shamefaced from Kipp. “If you want your blanket back, I think I’m quite awake now. I could do the watching thing if you need some sleep?”

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  “No no, I’ll sleep in one of the wagons when we are back on the road. No worries. Keep the blanket, you must be cold. The others will wake soon, and we can start moving again.”

  _______________________________________________________________

  It had been three days since Balen and the group of escapees scrambled out of the stony tunnel, blinking away harsh rays of sunlight and hugging their thin chests. They had stumbled over the empty wastes, stopping only briefly to eat and rest before moving on.

  There was enough food to last them a little while, but fresh water was in short supply, and they struggled to keep warm at night. They had decided against building any fires, in case the smoke was spotted and betrayed their location. Being recaptured was a constant fear, they dreaded having their escape be for nothing.

  “How far do you think we have come?” Thaida said.

  “I don’t know, but I’d say we have far to go before we find any sort of shelter. This place is a wasteland. It’s a wonder why Adeon decided to build a fortress here.”

  “Well, not really. There’s never been much here, so nobody was looking here. It’s slap bang in the middle of the country almost, so it’s easy to invade other places from here,” said Maddox, “Of course, getting supplies to and from here is probably a pain. No roads.”

  “Wait,” Ocalla and Orphus simultaneously stopped walking, and slow smiles spread across their similar faces. “Water is close. We smell it. That way.”

  Balen followed their pointing fingers, slightly to the north of the direction they had been walking previously. Finding somewhere to restock on water would greatly increase their chances of surviving the wilderness, especially Sellene. He knew that you can survive days, even weeks without decent food intake, but without water, they would have no chance of getting out of the wastelands alive.

  The rocky ground gave way to smaller stones and thick, dried mud, which then gave way to damp earth and the occasional thorny bush or spindly tree. The group felt spurred on by these positive signs of a water source. They sped forward, stumbling and panting, until they found it. A small, mostly mud-filled oasis. It was wet sludge, slimy and thick. Not the fresh, flowing water they had hoped for. It looked as though it had dried up.

  “Well, that is a little disappointing.”

  “That’s an understatement. What do you suggest now, pretty boy?”

  “I wish you would stop calling me that… and I don’t know what to suggest. Keep walking, I guess?”

  “Would you two quit your bickering? I’m thinking.” Maddox scratched his bald patch with the wooden spoon he had become so fond of, and walked to a particularly slimy patch of earth, where he used it to poke at the mud. “The ground around here is wet. What’s sitting around up top here isn’t drinkable, obviously, but if we dig down a bit, we should be able to get at the water that’s in the ground. It’ll take a while, and we still might want to boil anything we get here, but we should find at least some water.”

  “Wait, boil the water? But that would mean making a fire. It’s too dangerous. They could see the smoke.”

  “Eventually, we won’t have a choice. At some point, huddling with our backs together won’t be enough to keep us warm at night. It barely helps as it is. Then there’s the water issue. Once our supplies are gone, we will have to collect water to drink, and if it isn’t clean, we might get sick. We might be Channelers, but we aren’t invincible out here, and we have Sellene to think about too.”

  “We could always collect water from here and boil it later, when our fresh water runs out? That way, we will know that we have gone as far away as we possibly could before making a fire.” Balen suggested.

  “It’s as good a plan as any, I guess.”

  It was back-breaking work, but Wood Channelers were known for their stamina, so they got to work digging the well-hole, while the others explored the area around the dried up water source to search for signs of animal life, or anything that could be used to make a makeshift shelter.

  They had gotten to about a metre down, when the welcome sound of trickling water met their ears, and they started to dig faster, water beginning to fill the hole and swirl pleasantly around their ankles.

  “Yes! Maddox, how did you know this would work?” asked Balen.

  “When you get to be as old as I am, it’s natural to have learned a few things.”

  “All right then, old-timer, be mysterious if you must. Should we dig further, or wait for it to fill up? The water doesn’t look very clean.”

  “That’s because we’re stomping all the mud into it. If we wait, the hole will fill up, and then the dirt will settle to the bottom. Let’s get out, we should probably set up camp here for the night. We’ve barely stopped these past few days, if we carry on like this without resting we won’t make it across the wastes.”

  When the Wood channellers climbed out of the hole, they saw that the others had wandered a little further away, and were collecting wood, leaves and grasses from around the area. A small pile had been gathered, and one of the Earth channelers stood by it in deep thought, her brows furrowed.

  “Laine? Is something wrong?” Balen asked.

  “No… Only, I might have an idea for us to create a shelter. It wouldn’t have worked before as the ground was so rocky, but now that there is more earth to work with, the Earth channelers could try and burrow here, and make a little cavern for everyone. It is still a bit more stony than I would prefer, so it might hurt us a bit, but we don’t have many options right now and any possibility for shelter should be explored. It would also mean we could maybe get away with a very small fire?”

  “Fire would still be a risk, but I say give the shelter a go. The nights have been getting colder, even if the days are still hot.”

  “We shouldn’t spend too long on making a shelter,” Maddox said, wiping his muddy hands on his ragged tunic, “If we get too comfortable here we may end up being found. We should only stay long enough to rest and stock up on what little supplies the local area has to offer, and then get moving again. We aren’t free yet.”

  “And who exactly was it that made you the boss of what we do?” The Metal Channeler, Niall grumbled, dropping an armful of branches onto the pile, “I say, we stay here longer, build up our strength, and then go back to that fortress and wipe those traitors out, every last one. They can’t come after us if they are all dead.”

  Balen was about to speak up, when Sellene spoke to the Channelers in their minds.

  We will not return there. Not for vengeance, and not as prisoners. I will not have my family’s sacrifice be for nothing. There is too much at stake. We leave here in two days.