Horizon (2 page)

“I will follow the Dawn-bringer, even into the heart of the enemy,” Dash said. He wiped his palms on his shirt, stood, and offered Aluna a hand.

Aluna’s stomach fluttered again, but in a warm, happy way. Dash pulled her up and steadied her elbow while she got her crutches in place.

Calli stared at the Upgraders disappearing down the path. “They’ll camp soon. We can take our time and approach them in the morning.”

“No,” Aluna said. “We go tonight. I don’t want to risk losing them. And Hoku and I can see in the dark.”

“I’m sure several of them have night vision, too,” Hoku said. “It’s a very common Upgrader modification. Rollin told me they don’t even need medteks to add the lenses to their eyes.”

“Okay, so we won’t have an advantage, then,” Aluna said gruffly. Hoku knew more than she did about Upgraders — he’d studied with Rollin for months in the desert. “But I still want to go soon. Now, even. Before . . .”

“Before I lose my courage,” Calli said quietly. Aluna saw Hoku squeeze her hand.

Dash pushed his way through the shrubs back toward the horses. Hoku and Calli followed, and Aluna tried not to hear the sweet words Hoku whispered to Calli as they walked.

Aluna went last, trying not to catch a branch in the eye. When Khan Tayan of their new Flame Heart herd had renamed Vachir, she’d also given Aluna a new name:
Dawn-bringer.
But was she leading them to a new day — to a new world without Strand — or to their early deaths?

Vachir met her at the edge of the scrub. Aluna leaned on her friend and watched Hoku and Dash pull their disguises from their horses’ saddlebags.

Hoku donned a mask that covered half his face and one eye in shiny silver and circuits. It wrapped around his neck for protection and hid his Kampii breathing necklace. The neck cover had been Rollin’s idea, if Aluna remembered correctly. Weeks of planning meetings back in the desert now blurred together in her mind. But Aluna had been the one to insist that Hoku wear the force shield he’d made for her for the Thunder Trials. It had already saved her life; maybe it would save his, too.

Calli touched Hoku’s metal cheekbone and shuddered. “I don’t like it,” she said. “I miss your freckles.”

Aluna agreed, but said nothing. She’d known Hoku her whole life, and yet the mask had transformed him into someone she barely recognized. She turned away, reminded of the hideous scope that Karl Strand’s clone Fathom had attached to her sister’s eye.

Dash slipped a crude metal skeleton over his left forearm. He’d lost that wrist and hand in the battle at the HydroTek dome. The medteks had replaced it with a mechanical limb, but the tech wasn’t obvious enough. The new external piece glinted dangerously in the amber dusk. Aluna hopped over and helped Dash strap his retractable sword to his other forearm in the hopes that it would look built into his flesh when he extended it.

It had taken so long to convince Tayan and the other Equians that this was the best plan. If they’d stayed in the desert and joined the Equian army, they’d be just five more swords among thousands. By going after Strand himself, they had a chance to make a difference.

Tayan had hated Aluna’s plan. “Bravery is honorable,” she’d said, “but this? It is merely foolish.”

High Khan Onggur had disagreed with Tayan, and so had Khan Arasen of Shining Moon. Aluna hadn’t needed the Equians’ approval, but it certainly helped to have their supplies and Rollin’s tech, and a place to stay while they prepared. Eventually, Tayan had come around, and she had even granted them the sun’s blessing when they’d left. Nothing would ever be easy between Aluna and Tayan — not even when they were fighting on the same side.

After Hoku and Dash finished adjusting their new upgrades, they slipped behind the horses and traded their desert clothes for patchwork leathers and a few mismatched pieces of armor. When they emerged again, Aluna gasped. Her friends had become Upgraders.

“We’re ready,” Hoku said. “Only one thing left to do.”

Calli looked at Aluna, her face pale but resolute. Aluna nodded. They were already dirty enough, and Aluna had a large scratch over one eye that she’d allowed to crust over with dried blood. Now she attached her crutches to Vachir’s saddle, hopped up, and secured her tail.

“Hands,” Hoku said.

Aluna held them out and watched Hoku wrap his custom-made cuffs around her wrists. “Remember, you can struggle all you want in these. If you need to break out of them, twist out with both arms at the same time and they’ll pop open.”

She gulped and stared down at the shackles while Hoku bound Calli’s hands. “Don’t leave me,” she whispered to Vachir. “You’re my secret weapon.”

Vachir threw her head back and whinnied, clearly pleased to be a weapon of any sort.

Dash looped a rope over Vachir’s neck and another over Calli’s horse. He kept the ends loose in his hand and mounted his mare, Sandwolf.

The world seemed to fall silent around them, the only noises the distant caw of birds, the swish of the horses’ tails and the shuffle of their hooves as they shifted their weight.

“The word is
Zorro
,” Aluna said. “Anyone says it and the mission is over. We get away as fast as we can. If we get separated, we meet up again at the HydroTek dome.”

Aluna lowered her chin to her chest and let months of travel sweep over her body. She and Calli needed to look like prisoners: hungry, exhausted, and defeated.

They were ready to meet the Upgraders.

H
OKU TOUCHED HIS CHEEK
and felt cool metal instead of flesh. He didn’t mind it nearly as much as he probably should have. The faceplate felt slick and dangerous under his fingertips. No one could see it and think he was still an ignorant youngling who only understood books and tech.

“I wish Rollin had changed her mind,” Dash said quietly. He rode next to Hoku and pulled Aluna’s and Calli’s horses behind him. “I would feel safer if we had an actual Upgrader with us. Someone who knows their customs.”

“She said she’d be more trouble than help,” Hoku said. “I know she was afraid of being recognized; I just don’t know why.”

Dash huffed. He sounded just like a horse. “Well, it would be unfair of me to condemn someone for keeping secrets. Perhaps she was exiled, just as I was.”

Hoku said nothing. He knew Rollin better than anyone, and he knew it wasn’t just the Upgraders that Rollin was avoiding, but Karl Strand himself. She’d gotten twitchy when Strand’s name came up during their planning meetings, and she had been far more likely to punch someone soon after. But they all had their scars, and Rollin’s were none of his business. Maybe someday she’d trust him enough to share.

Up ahead, the Upgraders had started a campfire, and Hoku could see hazy forms clustered around it like fish at feeding time. Their rhinebra had settled itself into a slumbering mountain nearby. “We’re close enough. Are you ready?” He wasn’t sure whom he was asking, Dash or himself.

“Yes,” Dash said. “Walk us between worlds, friend.”

Hoku smiled. After the Thunder Trials, Khan Tayan had given him the name
Sun-strider, he who walks between worlds.
Time to see if she was right.

He glanced back at Aluna and Calli. Their faces were grim but determined. He sucked in a big breath and tried to remember how Rollin talked. Mostly he remembered her throwing things.

“Yo,” he called out. His voice came out softer than he wanted, so he tried again. “Yo! Got room at your fire for a couple of Gizmos with a . . .” What should he call Aluna and Calli?
Prisoners? Prizes?
“With some cargo?” He winced.

“Good,” Dash whispered. “This is a game. We must play our parts.”

“Don’t say ‘parts’ when we’re around Upgraders,” Hoku said.

The Upgraders around the fire stood and one took a few steps toward them.

“You on horses, then?” a man called. “Just two of you?”

“Two of us and two prisoners,” Dash said.

“We don’t want blood,” the Upgrader said. “But we’ll spill it everywhere if we have to.”

“Not necessary,” Hoku said, probably too quickly. He forced himself to stay calm. “We just want a seat at the fire.”

“He is posturing,” Dash whispered. “They are a small group, too. He tries to assert his dominance to make us think they are stronger than they are.”

“It’s working,” Hoku mumbled. He pulled his horse Sunbeam to a stop while they waited. The silence stretched and stretched while the Upgrader conferred with his group.

“Can you hear what they’re saying?” he asked Dash.

Dash shook his head. Hoku saw him twitching his right arm, the one with the expandable sword sheathed under his sleeve.

“Steady,” came Aluna’s quiet voice from behind them, and Dash settled.

The Upgrader called, “Come closer. We want eyes on you.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hoku answered. He nudged Sunbeam. His heart seemed to beat louder with each clomp of his horse’s hooves. He squinted, trying to count the shapes taking form amid the smoky campsite. Calli had said there were five, but he only counted four.

Two Upgraders stepped forward, close enough to see. The one they’d been talking to was a burly man with goggles over both eyes and a long shock of red hair spiking out from the center of his otherwise bald head. The hair fell in a scraggly braid over one of his muscled shoulders. The other Upgrader was slight and possibly female, although her body was hidden beneath a thick leather coat that went all the way down to her feet. Her dark hair bobbed around her head like a shadowy nimbus, somehow defying gravity.

“Close enough,” the man said. “I’m called Odd. This here is Mags. We speak for the kludge.”

“I’m Hawk and this is Dash,” Hoku said.

Rollin had told them that most Upgraders named themselves, picking words that matched their upgrades and the identities they had built — or were trying to build — for themselves. Hoku was pretending to be a trader, so they chose “Hawk” for him, since he was always hawking goods. Dash could be their hunter, their warrior, so his name worked fine as it was.

When Hoku had asked Rollin what her name meant, she’d only snorted and told him to keep his wiggly fingers out of other people’s heads.

“And what you towing behind you, Hawk and Dash? Most cargo don’t have tails and wings and ride horses,” the woman Mags said. Her voice seemed sharp as a gull’s cry over the ocean.

Calm as Big Blue
, Hoku thought.
They either believe our story, or we run.

“We got prizes for Karl Strand,” Hoku said. “Some trinkets he wants. He wants them bad enough to take to war in order to find them. Think we can make out good in a trade.”

Mags walked toward them, the hem of her long coat drifting just above the ground, making it look as if she were floating. She didn’t focus her gaze on him, but on Aluna and Calli. He forced himself to keep staring at the man Odd, to not let his eyes trail her and show how worried he was.

Behind him, Mags said, “What are these, scales? Can think of a dozen who would pay for some of these shinies. And the feathers, too.”

Thwack.

Mags laughed. “The one with a tail isn’t broken, I see. Still got spirit and a good strong arm. We can help with that.” She rejoined Odd and whispered something in his ear. Hoku relaxed slightly. She hadn’t hurt Aluna, and Aluna hadn’t pulverized Mags. A good start.

“Is there room at your fire or not?” Dash asked.

“We can just as easy make our own,” Hoku added. “In fact, maybe we should. Come on, Dash. Let’s take our . . . cargo . . . and find another spot.”

He started to turn Sunbeam when Odd called out, “Wait. Yeah, we got room. Room for you and extra feed for your animals. Our beast won’t mind sharing. Only one catch.”

Hoku kept his face still. A catch. Of course there’d be a catch. “Name it,” he said.

“While you share what’s ours, you fight for our kludge,” Odd said.

So that’s why Odd and Mags had been sizing them up. They wanted to know if Hoku and Dash could fight.

“Only in defense,” Hoku said. “You start a fight, and you’re on your own.”

Dash nodded. “I agree to this.”

“Then get over here,” Odd said. “We got ourselves a tasty little pact.”

Hoku had almost been hoping the Upgraders would say no and the plan would fail. Then they could all go back to Mirage or HydroTek and think of another plan. Something less dangerous.

Odd and Mags led them into camp. Hoku kept his eyes forward even though he wanted to stare at the other Upgraders.
Look like you don’t care
, Rollin had said.
Pretend you’ve seen their gizmos and buzzy-bits a thousand times before.

“You can tie up your horses and cargo here,” Odd said, pointing to a metal spike that had been driven into a huge rock. A single rope looped around it trailed off toward the sleeping rhinebra.

While Dash fed and watered their horses, Hoku dismounted and stood next to Odd, who seemed even larger up close. Or maybe Hoku just felt smaller. He squared his shoulders and tried to imagine he was one of Aluna’s warrior brothers or a fierce winged Aviar, instead of merely himself.

Dash helped Aluna down from Vachir and carried her to a position facing the campfire. Aluna hated being carried, but that was part of their plan, too. If the Upgraders didn’t think she could walk, then they’d never see her as a threat. If she needed to fight, she’d have the advantage of surprise.