Keira awoke from her deep sleep to the feeling of herself being moved about and propped up against something, and a voice saying her name, lulling her back into the real world. She opened her sticky eyes and found herself in the arms of Sig, who was gently but urgently shaking her with concern, and a rarely displayed fright was in his real eye.
"Keira, can you hear me?" he asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"
Rather than answer immediately, Keira smiled dreamily and snuggled back down. The pleasant, dowsing effects of sleep still lingered behind her eyes, and she felt strangely comfortable just to be held in Sig's strong arms. "Yeah, I'm fine," she whispered airily, which was the truth.
Compared to when she had last been awake, she did indeed feel much better, blissfully without worries, and no urgent, racing, confused thoughts filling up her mind. Everything felt far away, and she was at peace.
"I was just sleeping."
Sig seemed to understand that she was alright, but he made a small growl of mingled relief and annoyance. "Don't do that, Keira! You had me worried there for a moment. I thought something had happened to you too."
Still drowsy, Keira didn't quite catch the full implication of his words, nor remember how she had got to be here, but she was slowly coming round now. She sat up of her own power, rubbing her eyes, and Sig relinquished his hold on her. She found she was on the rug in the front room of her house, and daylight now beamed through a gap in the curtains, capturing the dust particles that swirled in the air. It was morning, a fresh new day, quiet, peaceful and untroubled in the wake of last night's storm.
"Are you sure you're alright?" asked Sig by her side.
"I'm fine," Keira said again, louder and more confidently this time. Soon she was on her feet, dusting herself down. She still wore the same clothes as yesterday, crumpled, slightly marked and in need of a wash. She ran a hand through her hair, and could feel it was sticking up stupidly in places, and one side of her face felt a little numb. If she'd had a mirror, she would have seen the textured imprint the carpet had left on her cheek from lying on it all night, but she could also discern it on the fronts of her arms.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"Almost seven," Sig answered, getting up as well and picking up his Peace Maker which he'd laid on the floor while he helped Keira, "But what's going on with you? Why the heck were you sleeping on the floor down here anyway?"
Keira rubbed one arm and rolled her cricked neck. "Mm… rough night…"
"I'm not surprised," said Sig. "But as long as you're not hurt, that's all that matters."
Keira was starting to remember the dramatic events of yesterday, they came back quite suddenly, but she didn't feel frantic or out of control anymore. On the contrary, she now felt clear-headed and purposeful, rested and ready to put her mind to work again. Her sleep had done her a real lot of good. Then she saw Azyma's picture which still stood on the nearby table, and she stared at it for a few seconds, recalling everything.
"Did you find her?"
Sig also eyed the picture and the figures it contained, and was instantly regretful. "I'm sorry, Keira. After you went back home, we searched the old streets for as long as we could, even through that huge storm. But we couldn't find anything."
Keira still felt disheartened, the unresolved loss still weighing heavily in the pit of her stomach, but it wasn't tearing her up anymore, not as badly as yesterday at least. "But who was that guy they were chasing?"
"Don't know," Sig said simply, and it pained him that he still had no answer for it. "We couldn't find any trace of him either. But the Guard are still working on it."
He was starting to regret shooting that suspect off the top of the wall. They should have taken him alive instead, that way they could have asked questions, found out just who he was, but in the heat of the moment, survival instincts took over, and in the end he'd done what he had to do. If he hadn't, something worse might have happened. He just felt sure that a guy like that, someone that desperate, would have willingly given up.
There was a moment of silence in the room. As Keira continued to think, she remembered the strange, perturbed, half-dream experience that had led her down here in the middle of the stormy night. The details were very hazy and confused, but the feeling was still strong, and the idea that had settled itself in her mind then started to re-emerge, piecing itself back together. She could put the images into words now, and she turned around to face Sig.
"Sig, something occurred to me last night," she said slowly. "What if Azyma's parents are living in Spargus?"
Sig looked surprised and intrigued. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Why would they be there?"
"Listen," she continued, and she described all that she could remember of what her father had revealed to her last night, about how Azyma had first joined the Underground to look for her parents, who had been arrested by the Baron and then disappeared. "What if they were banished to the Wasteland and somehow made it into Spargus, like Jak?"
Sig thought it through, a serious comprehension on his face. "You know what… that could be a real possibility," he said slowly. "I thought the guy in that picture looked kind of familiar somehow..."
This faint, hopeful sign of recognition was all that Keira needed to feel substantiated. A small fire started within her, burning away the loss and turning it into driving steam. This meant that she could be right!
"You've seen him before?" she asked.
"I don't know," said Sig unsurely, rubbing his chin. "I can't place him… but there's something about him…"
Keira couldn't contain herself. Everything had changed. Yesterday she'd been hopeless and exhausted, lower than low, yet out of control and unable to decide what to do. But now, she could see a new way forwards, a crucial piece of the mystery surrounding Azyma that could not be ignored.
"We've got to find out!" she said impulsively, and she made to move.
"Whoa, hold up," said Sig, holding out a large hand, and Keira stopped. "You should be taking it easy right now. The last thing anyone needs is you running off again."
Keira remembered her shameful behaviour yesterday and held herself steady, understanding now more than ever that she could not be so reckless. Then she realised that she'd never even apologised to him. "Sig, I'm sorry," she said, "Sorry for last night. I know I shouldn't have been out there, and I'm sorry for what I…"
"It's alright," said Sig understandingly. "I get it. I know you care for her and want to help. I want her found as much as you do."
Keira felt a little better, knowing that Sig shared her sympathy. She was still ashamed of herself, but what was more important right now was this new possibility. "So what do we do? About Spargus I mean."
"Hmm…" Sig thought it through again carefully. He knew how harsh the Baron had been to those who opposed him, and there had certainly been no paucity of people banished from the city during his rule. Azyma's parents may well have been among those unfortunate souls, even if they truly had never done anything wrong. But if so, could they have survived? Being thrown out of the city in those days, in the height of the Metal Head Wars, was near enough a death sentence, and not all exiles were fortunate enough to ever find their way to the refuge of Spargus. Keira could well be on to something, but it might lead to a painful truth, or nowhere at all.
He looked up. "It does sound plausible. I could try and find out for you for sure," he offered. "I could head back today even."
"I want to go with you," said Keira at once. She knew she didn't have much of a chance, but she had to ask.
The reluctance showed plainly on Sig's face. "I don't know, Keira. Spargus is a lot rougher than Haven, and even if they are out there, it's not going to help us find Azyma any sooner."
"I know," said Keira, "But… it's worth checking out at least, isn't it? If they are out there, I want to meet them. Please."
Sig still looked very unsure about it, and for several more seconds there was silence in the house. Keira waited anxiously. She didn't want to be left behind; this was too important. It ached her to find out if her hunch was truly right, and she needed to be there for it. But then finally, Sig gave her a gentle smile, and Keira smiled back.
The journey over the open ocean to the Wasteland felt long and monotonous. In the back of the transport vehicle, Keira sat uncomfortably in her small seat, listening to the drone of the engines that surrounded her, and staring at the metal floor and the dull walls, wishing she had a window to look out of. She wondered if they were over the deserts yet.
Tess was sitting on her right hand side, also thinking about what was to come, and then she looked up at Keira, feeling her eyes on her. They gave each other a quick, knowing smile, apprehensive but hopeful and adventurous.
"You sure you want to do this?" Tess asked.
Keira nodded. "Yeah," she answered. "Too late to change now, I suppose."
This was it. They were going to Spargus, the city of the banished, where old grudges still lay unburied, but where there also might lie the answer to a seductive mystery. Keira had convinced all of them to try and chase up on her idea, and now they were flying out there to begin an impromptu investigation.
"We must be nearly there now, huh?" Tess asked Sig, who took up the seat to Keira's left, nearest the exit hatch. Keira looked to him as well. His head was down, examining his Peace Maker and scratching rust off the handle.
"Yeah, not far to go now," Sig assured.
Keira returned to her thoughts as the conversation failed to progress any further. She had been out to Spargus only once before, and only for a brief while, less than a day, not enough to properly get to know the place, and she wasn't quite sure exactly what to expect. It was strange though how none of them were more excited about their mission, how they did not avidly discuss the possibility throughout the journey. Back in the house, it sounded so completely plausible and compelling, but for some reason, now they were actually on their way to investigate, she started to feel afraid of what, or who, they might or might not find. Could she really be right? Could Azyma's parents really have made it to Spargus? Were they still there now? If they were and they found them, what would she say to them?
Keira still had no conclusion when she felt the emptying feeling in her stomach and her toes that meant they were descending. The vehicle tilted slightly, the engines changed their tone, the whole vehicle vibrated, and she held on to the handles of her seat to keep herself in balance. Then they landed on a cushion of buoyant air and were still. The hum of motion wound down to a gentle drone. Then there was a clank and a hiss, and the rear hatch yawned open. A blinding sunlight and a fierce gust of hot wind filled the compartment, and Keira shielded her face. It felt like someone had just opened an oven.
"We're here," announced Sig, getting up and trudging outwards. "Let's go."
Keira pushed herself to her feet and Tess nimbly made her way up onto her shoulder, and squinting hard, she stepped out from the transport vehicle's protected interior. The Wasteland's extreme heat hit her instantly. It was more than an oven; it was a furnace. Her vision was a painfully bright haze, every inch of exposed skin on her arms and face felt like it was catching fire, and the dusty air she inhaled parched her breath and made her lungs feel dry.
"Ugh, this is horrible!" said Tess, who could already feel sweat forming on her back beneath her fur.
Keira stepped down onto the hot sand, unable to properly see where she was even going. While they both tried to recover their bearings, Sig moved to the open front window of the transport vehicle. Vis was at the helm. "How long will you need?" the commander asked.
"Give us four hours," said Sig, which he thought should be plenty of time to check most of the population, if they worked quickly.
"Alright," said Vis. "I've got other things to do, but I'll be back then to pick you up." He leaned out of the window a little further to where Keira and Tess stood towards the rear. "Good luck, Keira, and watch yourself out here. This is a real nasty place."
Keira heard her name, but her eyes were scrunched so hard that she couldn't even determine exactly where Vis was. But then she felt a strong hand grab her by the arm.
"Keira, stand back," Sig warned, and he pulled her away by a few long steps.
The rear ramp of the vehicle whined upwards again and sealed itself with a metal thunk. There was a loud whoosh as the engines charged up again, and a fierce torrent of sharp sand erupted all around them. Keira and Tess both covered themselves as the vehicle took off into the sky and left the three of them alone at the desert's edge, coughing and exposed.
"Come on, let's get inside the city," urged Sig. "Quickly!"
He marched off towards the gate, pulling Keira along behind him. She struggled to keep up with his pace in the relentless heat of the unforgiving desert sun, and the hot sand was thick and swallowed up her feet. Her shoes felt like they were filling up with lakes of sweat, making each step even more uncomfortable, and her clothes were sticking to her body fast. Tess panted on her shoulder and felt twice as heavy. She was burning up, dizzy and unable to breathe, and opening her eyes was completely impossible.
"Sig, I can't take it!" Keira cried desperately. "It's too hot!"
"We're almost there," Sig said back.
The torturous steps felt like they lasted forever, each more intolerable than the last. Then, when Keira thought she would surely pass out, shade fell upon them all, a blissfully welcomed relief, and Sig finally paused. Keira dared to open her eyes wide enough to see, but her vision was still a mess of flashing, sunburned colours. In the fading gaps between them, however, she caught glimpses of metal, and realised she was standing in the shadow of the battered outer wall of Spargus City. It was tall and thick and impenetrable, made up of huge mismatched sheets that were welded and riveted together like the hull of a giant ship. Right in front of them was the mighty gate, fifty feet high at least, and it clanked and screeched open slowly with a painful, rusty sound. Sig pulled her through, and she felt firmer ground beneath her shoes.
Now inside the walls, Sig let go of her arm. Keira bent over, panting hard, and droplets of sweat dribbled down from her hairline onto the grey ground. She could smell it pungently on herself, sand was stuck to her arms, and she wished she could just throw off all of her clothes and leap head-first into a cold lake, or a fridge, or a bucket of ice cream — anything would do. Tess twitched, drawing her attention. She was draped over her shoulder like a damp cloth, exhausted even though she had not even been walking.
"Tess, you OK?" Keira asked.
"Uh huh," Tess answered in a dry voice. "Couldn't he… have landed us… a bit closer to the gate?"
"Here, take this," Sig said. "It's a hot day today."
Keira looked up, and there was a leather sack held in front of her, thick and heavy with the tempting fullness of water. She reached out for it at once, found the opening and drank from it greedily. The cooled taste was almost too beautiful for words, and she somehow resisted the impulse to empty the entire container all over her face, to drown herself in its replenishing goodness. She drank until she had to stop for air, and then she shared it with Tess. Between the two of them, they almost emptied the entire sack.
"Thanks, Sig," she said, wiping her mouth.
Once she and Tess were both rehydrated, she handed it back and Sig took a swig from it himself, finishing off what was left. Keira was astounded that he wasn't sweating even more than she was. How could he possibly stand this heat in all that armour he was wearing?
As he drank, the heavy gates behind her began to clank and screech again. She took a look back, and saw through the closing gap an empty, endless, flat expanse of searing nothingness baking in the sun, white-hot sand and an invisible horizon disappearing in a mirage. Then the gates clashed together with a noise that Keira could feel through her entire body, and the desert's hostility was sealed out.
At once, an amniotic peace seemed to fall around them. Taking a deep sigh, she now had a chance to take in her new surroundings. They were standing in the centre of a spacious, open-air garage, the doorstep of Spargus City. The ground was half stone and half baked earth, and the high, curving walls were quite bare, but what captured her attention the most, however, were the burly desert vehicles that were parked in a long line across the garage's far wall. They were scarred and battered and looked like they had never been washed, but her mechanic's eye drank in their rugged beauty just like she had drunk from the water sack. Huge wheels armed with vicious-looking spikes, dormant engines that looked like they could devour wild animals for breakfast, and brutish, heavy machine guns mounted on their compact frames. Fearsome beasts, each and every one of them.
"Like 'em, huh?" said Sig, who was now reattaching the water sack to his belt. "Maybe some other time I can let you ride in one. But come on, the city's this way."
He passed between two of the vehicles towards a small doorway in the wall ahead which opened into the streets, but Keira still had her sparkling eyes glued to the desert riders.
"Keira, we can admire them later," Tess nudged her from her shoulder. "Azyma's parents, remember?"
That pulled her out of her transfixion. "Oh yeah, of course," she said, embarrassed that she had so easily forgotten something so important. She hurried after Sig, but her eyes still lingered distractedly on the nearest vehicle as she passed by. How she would love to someday get her hands on one those things, get behind the wheel or take them apart to find out how they worked. But today was not that day.
Through the doorway she went, and emerged onto the first dusty street of Spargus. Tall houses of white, sun-bleached stone flanked both sides, casting a channel of protective shadow, their roofs topped with strange, rusting weather vanes and stained, narrow chimneys. The drab pathway that led onwards was an unorganised array of flat stones sunk into the parched soil, many of which were loose or cracked. A stray desert rat scratched at one of them, then looked up frightfully at the new arrivals and scurried away into a burrow at the foot of one of the houses.
Things seemed peaceful, but Keira could at once feel the uninviting change in the foreign atmosphere, and despite how hot she still was, it made her shiver a little. She was here now, really here, and the apprehensions of the outward journey returned in full force. Were Azyma's parents somewhere here? In one of these very houses?
"Alright," said Tess finally, as the door to the garage shut behind them. "Where do we start?"
Sig reached into one of the other bags on his belt and retrieved the picture frame he had found in Azyma's house. "We should ask around and see if anyone recognises the people in the picture. It's the simplest way, but it might take a while. Just let me do the talking though. These guys don't like Haven folk."
The girls were soon to get a small taste of exactly what he meant. They hurried along in his footsteps as he strode towards the nearest Wastelander, a rough and sun-beaten man who was sitting on a crumbling stone staircase outside his house, chewing on a cactus stalk and doing his best to look as unapproachable as possible. A weapon as large as Sig's Peace Maker was leaning on the wall next to him. Tess noticed, however, that he seemed to have been glaring at them suspiciously, but when Sig began striding up to him, he lowered his gaze and acted like he hadn't noticed.
"Hey," said Sig when he got close, and the man immediately paid attention, though he looked unhappy to be disturbed.
"Your lordship," he grunted in a dull greeting, standing up. Both Keira and Tess felt a little afraid of him now they saw him up close, for he was quite a shocking sight. He wore a weathered eyepatch, his face was scarred and surly, and there were pieces of both of his ears missing. He also smelled like he hadn't bathed for at least a week, something which Tess's sensitive nose easily detected.
"Who are these kids?" he asked unbidden as his single eye fell upon them both. "Haven's latest trash?"
Keira felt provoked and insulted, sure that his words had intended to wound, but she remembered Sig's advice to stay quiet. Tess scowled but also said nothing.
Sig reacted sternly. "Hey, never you mind who they are, buddy. You're dealing with me."
The Wastelander, evidently quelled by his intimidating authority, paid attention to Sig. He still did not look pleased.
"We're looking for some people," explained Sig, showing him the picture. "Have you seen any of these guys around here before?"
The Wastelander quickly looked over the picture, and almost immediately, he shook his head. "Nah, don't know 'em."
Then his eye very briefly flicked at the two girls again, and after his prior behaviour, Keira wasn't sure if his word could be trusted. He made her feel uncomfortable, and she was liking him less and less.
"Alright, well thanks," said Sig, and he left the man to his own devices again. "Come on," he said to the girls, and Keira hurried along in Sig's wake, glad to escape the Wastelander's predatory eyeball, which she could still feel roving up and down her back.
"Ugh, he was creepy," said Tess when they were out of earshot, shivering with an icy ripple that was potent even out here in this sweltering heat.
"Sorry about him," Sig said. "But we've got to start somewhere. Let's keep looking."
So the search properly commenced. Over the next hour, they made their way around most of the eastern half of Spargus. They passed through the central square where crowds often gathered to socialise and trade supplies, and Keira felt very out of place. Thankfully, none of the other Wastelanders who they encountered were quite as confrontational as the first individual, but they all looked very hardened and austere, and every one of them carried their own makeshift but formidable looking weapons. In mood they varied from apathetic to grumpy, and did not make Keira and Tess feel any more welcomed. While they never refused to speak to Sig when he addressed them, Keira and Tess were mostly ignored or received openly judgemental looks, as if to make it clear that they did not belong here. Even though Keira stuck close to Sig for safety and Tess remained on her shoulder, she still didn't feel entirely comfortable being among them, but she tried to reassure herself rationally that they would not dare do anything to them as long as they were with Sig, the respected ruler of this bitter town.
Sadly, however, none could identify any of the people in the picture they carried, and as the negative answers continued to pile up, hope dwindled. They paused together for a rest and a drink at the foot of the great red staircase to the battle arena, demoralised but not yet defeated. There was still the other side of town, and as long as there were more people to ask, then there was still reason to stay.
Another hour passed, during which they moved into Spargus's western side, the coastal district. It was a little cooler here, and the smell of the sea brought Keira a calming feeling, a half-forgotten impression of her old home in Sandover Village, but it did not cure the sense of futility that was growing stronger as their search continued without success. Keira soon began to fear that her assumption was not true after all; Azyma's parents never made it out here. Nobody who they spoke to ever showed any flicker of recognition, gave no reason to believe that they were here. Eventually she stopped paying attention to what was happening around her, no longer feeling the motivation to continue, and retreated inside her own thoughts, just following after Sig like a silent shadow, kicking at stray pebbles on the ground. She felt pointless and unwanted. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for her to insist on coming out here after all. They hadn't achieved anything, and they might never discover what had happened. Azyma and her parents would remain lost forever in the murky fog of forgotten time.
After a while, Tess was getting bored too, and even Sig was beginning to look like it was a lost cause. There was little else he could think to do, and it felt like they were running out of people to ask. He looked upon Keira with pity as she shuffled along dejectedly. Just a few more tries, and then he would consider asking her if she wanted to call it quits.
"Have you seen any of these people here before?" he asked the man in front of him, as they came to one final stop along the front row of shabby, seafront houses.
The recipient of the question took the picture in his hands and peered into it, and then nodded his sandy head. "Yeah. That guy lives over there." He pointed to a building over in the corner of the bay, embedded into the red sandstone cliffs, one of the last homes before the sea.
This triggered an instant reaction for Keira and Tess, who suddenly paid full attention. Keira even gasped.
Sig looked to where the Wastelander had indicated. "Are you sure?" he asked. "That one there?"
"That's right," said the man, returning the picture. "He's kind of reclusive, but I've seen him around a few times. Looks like him at least."
"Alright, thanks a lot for your help," said Sig, and he gestured to the two girls to follow.
Before she found the strength to move, Keira let the helpful stranger pass by her, transfixed by him. He happened to catch Keira's eye as he went by, but in his curious glare she saw no element of satisfaction for helping them out. He did not realise just how much his knowledge had meant to them, she thought; it was overpowered by the city-wide bitterness towards Haven and her citizens that still lingered here. She wanted to thank him, but she was suddenly lost for words.
Tess snapped her out of her state with a tug on her ear. "Stop staring!" she whispered urgently. "Let's go. This could be it!"
Keira quickly averted her gaze and hurried close behind Sig, not looking back. In two minutes all three of them stood on the front doorstep of the house in question, the sea at their backs. Keira's heartbeat began to race, and her throat was very dry. Would they really meet Azyma's parents behind this door? Had she been right after all?
Sig looked down at the girls beside him. He could see the emotion in their eyes, especially Keira's. "You ready?" he asked.
They silently nodded, and then Sig drummed on the door with his great hand. Everything fell still as they awaited an answer. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Twenty. What was taking so long?
Sig knocked again.
Keira's heart was pounding so strongly now that even Tess felt it from her shoulder, and she placed an arm atop Keira's head in an act of anxious comfort as they stared at the unmoving doorway. All that could be heard was the wash of the ocean behind them and the call of some distant seagull.
But then the door unlocked, and Keira held her breath.