The Arrivals

Chapter 15

Even though he was crossing the desert in the least unpleasant mode of transportation available, Ajani wished someone else could handle the task. It seemed a bit of a perversity that the Wasteland had such an overabundance of dismal locales: barren deserts, hovel-filled frontier towns, thick forests crawling with wretched beasts, and oceans that were populated by still more monstrosities. Still, it was the desert he liked the least. For weeks after he’d visited it, sand seemed to appear everywhere. He could taste it now, an unpleasant, silty brine on his lips and tongue.

“Water,” he ordered.

The sedan chair didn’t alter its forward trudge through the desert as one of the locals he employed handed him a canteen of warm water through the window. The water wasn’t at all refreshing, but given his lingering exhaustion and the desert heat, Ajani knew that drinking wine or brandy would be unwise. The perspiration on his skin had already caused a fine layer of sand to stick to him. He grimaced and blotted his face with a cloth.

Outside the sedan chair, Ashley, one of his most trusted fighters, gave him a look of disdain that would’ve resulted in a reprimand if she’d been anyone else. She was valuable enough that she got away with things no one else did. At first glance, she seemed like a delicate doll, a human replica of the sort of porcelain creation that his sisters would once have cherished. She was a petite woman with honey-blond hair, pale blue eyes fringed with exceptionally long eyelashes, and a smile that made her look angelic. In the world they’d both once called home, she’d had something she had called cystic fibrosis that had affected her lungs, but here—like the rest of his militia—she was functionally immortal. Having known limitations in that world had turned Ashley into the sort of warrior who seemed impervious to pain or discomfort. Even if he invited her to ride in the chair with him, he knew she’d refuse.

In his time, Ashley would’ve been just old enough to marry, but in her era, she had apparently been a student. He still found the idea of educating women a bit abhorrent, but after almost thirty years in the Wasteland, he was no longer shocked by anything.

“Would you like some?” He offered her the canteen.

“No.” She stared straight ahead, steadfast in her duties even as she struggled to keep the distaste from her voice. “Perhaps the others would.”

Ajani didn’t look at Daniel, her counterpart in rank, or any of the other servants or guards. They wouldn’t accept a drink after he’d said they didn’t need one. Even if they were suffering from dehydration, it wouldn’t kill most of his guards. Those he’d imported were unkillable. Those who weren’t from home were natives: their sort had long since adapted to the harsh environment.

“They’ll be fine,” Ajani said.

“So will I.” Ashley’s lips pursed in irritation, but she didn’t allow him to draw her into an argument.

“True,” Ajani admitted. He wasn’t sure if it was a result of the Coffin Text he used to open the portal to their world or some sort of transformation that resulted from crossing through to the Wasteland, but whatever ailments or diseases they’d had at home were gone here. They lived without physically aging. It made for the sort of incentive that created loyalty that couldn’t be bought.

As the crude little frontier town came into better focus, Ajani felt a thrill of excitement. It wasn’t the town itself that lifted his mood, but the possibilities of what he’d find there. One of the people who’d traveled to the Wasteland had expired, and with that, a new Arrival—a person full of potential—had come to this world.

And Katherine will be there waiting.

“Pick up the pace,” he ordered. In a few short hours, he’d reach his lodgings in Gallows, wash away the travel grime, and greet the latest resident of the Wasteland. Each time, he hoped that the new Arrival would be like him—like Katherine. Even if this woman wasn’t their equal, he’d welcome another good fighter. An emperor needed only one worthy wife, but many dutiful soldiers.