A Pinch of Salt: A Towers of the Earth novella Read online

  A pinch of Salt

  A Towers of The Earth prequel

  Nita Round

  Editorial services

  Krista Walsh

  Cover by

  May Dawney Designs

  Dedicated to my long suffering wife.

  Without her, none of this would be possible.

  Thank you for choosing A Pinch of Salt. I hope you enjoy the story. The sequel, A Hint of Hope, is also available and is free to subscribers.

  https://www.subscribepage.com/nitaround

  Copyright © 2020 by Nita Round. All rights reserved.

  Contents

  1. Magda

  2. The Pyramid

  3. Tits Up

  4. Recruits

  5. What Goes Up

  6. The Infirmary

  7. Ascara

  8. Medics

  9. Talking

  10. Hobble Along

  11. Ascara and Alex

  12. Sleeping Beauty

  13. Waking Up

  14. What Are You In For?

  15. Outside

  16. Yes, Sir!

  17. The Commander

  18. Offers

  19. Valentina

  20. Hungover

  21. The Crossing

  22. Fly Away

  23. A Storm In The Pass

  24. On Foot

  25. Pirate Life

  26. Essenburgh

  27. Council

  28. The Sonos

  29. Water, Water, Everywhere

  30. Swim Away

  The back bit

  Copyright notice

  Acknowledgments

  1

  Magda

  Raised as a son and trained as a soldier, Magda Stoner dressed herself as any man of the desert would: in the pale Sha’arafe armour of the tribes.

  As an attaché, the liaison to the envoy at Port Ruth, she was not expected to be on watch duty, and yet here she stood with a rifle slung across her shoulders. Not for the first time, she had to wonder what the hell she was doing.

  Around her, the cliffs of the canyon stretched high enough to wrap a protective arm around the remains of Second Desert Company. Ahead, at the end of the sheer-sided pass, stretched open desert.

  They had numbered a hundred when they’d left the camp at Wadi Ca’Hassen. Now they were less than half that number, and most of those were little more than the walking wounded. She hoped that the First Company fared better than they did.

  Sergeant Markus Veight limped across the sands in her direction. “Stoner!” he bellowed from halfway across the canyon.

  “Sergeant,” she said, and saluted.

  “Walk with me, Stoner. We can watch for trouble as we walk.”

  “Sir,” she said, and fell in beside him.

  He waited until they were into the pass and almost out to the desert before he stopped to talk. “Stoner,” he started, “you know when they saddled me with you, a diplomat, I had to wonder what the hell they were playing at. But I’ve watched you in combat, son, and you fit right in as a soldier. You even know how to act. Why aren’t you an officer?”

  Magda didn’t answer.

  “You’re wasted behind a desk.”

  “Perhaps.”

  He stared out across the sands. “I didn’t expect this mission to go wrong so fast.”

  “No one did. It sounded so simple when we left.”

  “What did they say? Oh yes, go to the villages south of Wadi Ca’Hassen and find the mummy.”

  “Right.”

  “Tell me, Stoner, have you ever seen such a thing as that beast we encountered?”

  She shook her head. “No. Never.”

  “That was the mummy wasn’t it? But it was supposed to be dead. How the hell is something dead supposed to get up and fight like that?”

  “All I know is that someone got their facts wrong.”

  He laughed. “That’s an understatement.”

  “But what strikes me, Sergeant, is if they thought it was dead, then why did they send so many soldiers in the first place?”

  Veight shifted on his feet. “Look. Stoner. We’re all that’s left of the Second. As I am the only kind of authority here, if anything happens to me, I need someone I can trust to lead the unit home.”

  “Yes.”

  “That said, I hereby promote you, in the field, to Corporal of the Second.”

  “But I’m not a soldier. I’m just a liaison to the envoy.”

  “Bullshit. I've watched you, you know, and when we were in trouble you did what needed to be done. So, that said, my orders are this, Corporal Stoner—get us home.”

  “But–”

  “No buts, Stoner. Get as many back as we can. Take us home.”

  Magda stared at the rock as though for inspiration. “You can take us home yourself.”

  “Here’s the thing, Stoner–”

  A soldier interrupted any further discussion with a loud and raucous shout. “Sergeant! Sergeant! Micky got First Company on the portable aetheriogram.”

  “Fuck me, talking to the desert rat bought us some luck at last,” Veight said.

  Magda chuckled.

  “They’re alive, then. That’s good news. Where are they and how many are left?”

  “You’ll never believe this, Sergeant. First Company haven’t engaged with any hostiles. But they did find a pyramid in the mountains. We’re marking up the route on the maps.”

  “Bingo,” he said, satisfied. “We’ll rest up and set out at first light.”

  2

  The Pyramid

  They drew into the camp, and the reunion with other soldiers brought good cheer and a renewed sense of camaraderie.

  Some things were more important. After all they had been through, Magda needed something to put everything into perspective. She needed to see the pyramid.

  A scout led the way. A narrow, wind-swept defile wound through the mountains and deep into the range. Layers of coloured stone, smoothed by wind, gave the stone a wave-like appearance.

  Beyond the passage, the way opened up into a huge valley. At the heart of which stood a huge pyramid. Magda gawped at this huge construction made of blocks of stone. At the apex, gold covered the top stone and glinted in the sunlight.

  “Holy Mother,” she said. “Look at that.”

  “Amazing, isn’t it?” said the scout. “Never seen the like.”

  “Nor I,” she said. There were lots of people around the pyramid. From this distance, she could see that a few even dared to clamber over it. “What are they doing?”

  “That’s the engineers. They are busy with measurements and other examinations of the pyramid. I understand they have taken thousands of samples already.”

  “Have they been inside yet?” she asked.

  “Not yet. They say they have to do this right.”

  “That makes sense,” she said.

  “I think they are going to form an exploration team tomorrow.”

  She saw movement out of the corner of her eye. When she turned her head to see better, she didn’t know whether to smile or snarl

  “Excuse me,” the scout said. He raced off in a rush to be elsewhere.

  Magda turned to face the woman who sat on a stool just a few yards further along the cliff. She wore a plain abaiya, the long robe typical of Rabia, and loose fa’las trousers to protect her legs. She wore a plain ag’ael headscarf loose around her neck rather than around her head.

  A vision of Rabian beauty, dark skin, dark eyes, and dark hair that spilled out over her shoulders in a wave of midnight. Magda took a deep breath. “Olivia,” she said.

  “Hello, Mag. Are you not pleased to see me?” Olivia
asked in Rabian.

  Magda’s heart thudded in her chest. “Olivia, what are you doing here? You should be at the wadi.”

  “Where it is boring?”

  “Where it is safe. It is definitely not safe here.”

  Olivia stepped up to her. “Have you not missed me, my wife?”

  “Of course, I have. Every minute of every day.” Then she looked over her shoulders to see if anyone had heard them.

  Olivia smiled, and for Magda even the sun dimmed under the brightness of that smile.

  “Then we should have our reunion to make up for all those days apart. And you should not be mad because I could not keep away from you.”

  Magda strode forward and wrapped her arms around her wife. “How could I ever think to refuse you?

  “You can’t.” Olivia took her hand and led her back down the passage to their camp. “I have a good tent, Mag, but you will have to learn to be quiet in there.”

  Magda laughed. “It’s not me that needs to learn to be quiet, my love.”

  3

  Tits Up

  Magda no longer needed to be a soldier with so many of the First Company around the canyon. Instead, she resumed her responsibilities as liaison to the envoy and spent the entire afternoon, and most of the evening, in her tent with her wife.

  Olivia stretched. “I have missed you, heart of mine, but I could do with fresh air and to see the sands of Gypta stretched out under the light of the moon.”

  Magda laughed. “Are you not tired?”

  Olivia kissed the tip of her nose. “A little. But it would be nice to be out in the freshness of the desert and walk under the starlight with you.”

  Magda pulled her back onto the bedding. “Sleep. There is more than enough time to walk under the moon tomorrow, and the tomorrow after that.”

  Minutes later, they were fast asleep.

  Magda awoke with a start. At first she wasn’t sure what it was that had awoken her. The boom of gunfire and the noise of battle raged outside. She heard orders being bellowed, but they were drowned out by screams of terror and pain.

  She jumped out of their bed as Olivia stirred.

  “What’s going on?” Olivia asked.

  “Trouble,” Magda answered. She grabbed her sidearm, sword, and rifle. “Please stay here and out of danger.”

  “But–”

  “And lie low in case of stray bullets.”

  “You are not going out there, are you?”

  Magda knelt and kissed Olivia. “It is what I must do.”

  “Must?”

  Magda nodded.

  “Then come back soon, and keep safe.”

  “I will,” Magda promised. She unfastened the tent and stepped out into the chaos of the night.

  The light from dozens of campfires danced over the canyon walls. Oil lamps and moonlight added more illumination and rendered the canyon quite bright considering the hour. Magda hunkered down to minimize her odds of being seen as she determined where the problem lay.

  Chaos ruled here. Bursts of muzzle fire flared from too many places to determine a single source of attack. The camp was under assault from several fronts. Thankfully, their tent had been set up next to the cliff and behind an outcropping of rock. Olivia had chosen very well.

  Magda found Sergeant Veight hunched over a dead soldier.

  “Stoner,” he said. “It’s happening again. Definitely gone tits up big time.”

  She looked at the soldier on the ground and spotted the great bloody rents that ran across his chest.

  Veight shook his head. “He’s dead.”

  “Where is it?” she asked.

  “Everywhere.”

  “But there is only one beast,” she said.

  He pointed backwards, to the desert. “Tell them that, Stoner.”

  She looked to where he pointed. He was right; there were a dozen man-sized, man-shaped things, and they were marching towards the camp. They wore no clothing, but carried spears with a broad axe head.

  “What the hell!” She rose to her feet and drew her sword in one hand and her gun in the other. She raced towards a small group of soldiers who looked unsure of what to do. “Steady on,” she yelled. “Follow me.”

  “Aye,” one said.

  She faced a group of incoming assailants. “To me!” she yelled, and charged. She didn’t even know if the men followed. She didn’t have time to think about it, either. Her opponents were upon her.

  They were men.

  Or rather, they had been once. Their skin, dried to a husk, seemed to suck in the light. Milky eyes failed to focus on anything. They didn’t track her when she ducked their incoming blows, yet even when they looked the wrong way, they still seemed to know where to strike.

  One came in too close; she held it off with a sword and pumped a shell into its head. The creature slumped to the ground and didn’t move.

  “Aim for the head,” she roared, and hoped the others listened.

  Then the one on the floor sat up, so she sliced at his neck with her sword. With a satisfying crunch, the head fell free. This time, it didn’t move again. She danced out of the way of the other men’s weapons and was happy when Veight and two of her own company joined her. That made it easier.

  “They move slow,” Veight said.

  “Take off the head,” Magda repeated.

  As the last one fell to the ground, silence filled the camp. A few of the soldiers managed a weak cheer, but their triumph did not last long. A wind blew in from the open desert. Slow at first, and then it brought a raging sandstorm that had no place in the rocky confines of the canyon. Yet on it came.

  Sand filled the air in thick clouds. Fires, now covered in sand, smoldered and smoked but cast no light. Air and winds filled with the coarse grit of the desert blew a thick veil overhead and cut out the moonlight. Shadows grew longer, and the men beside her grew more fearful.

  “Steady,” she said, and reloaded her gun.

  A whirling storm of sand erupted from the center of the canyon, and chaos ensued once more. Tents, pulled from their pegs, flew into the air. Clothing and supplies were dashed across the ground. Soldiers raced to pin down their things. Yet they were so distracted, they did not see the nightmare that strode out of the storm.

  At the center stood a human-sized figure wrapped in dirty brown rags. It was hard to see details in the raging sands, and the dirty swaddling obscured the view even further. It stood, vaguely human shaped, and no taller than Olivia.

  Bright, glowing spots of red light marked where its eyes should be, and a black hole marked its mouth. Most noticeable of all were the blackened talons that hung at its sides.

  The beast did not come alone.

  From the sand emerged more of the unclad desiccated foot soldiers.

  A voice, one of command, shouted over the winds. “That’s the beast. The one in the middle. We want that.”

  “Who the hell is that?” Magda asked Veight.

  “Major Marshall,” he said. “Whatever he says goes.” He straightened his uniform, took a deep breath that sounded far too much like resignation, and raised his sword and gun. “Right, lads, to me. Let’s catch this beast and make our unit proud.”

  Magda stepped back. This was not her fight. They were trained for this. Except, as weapons clashed with weapons, it became clear that whatever they were ready for, this encounter was not it.

  They didn’t stand a chance.

  The beast reached out and, with a swipe, grabbed a soldier around the throat. The soldier stared into the face of the beast and froze. He let go of his weapons and became limp in the creature’s hands. It lifted him up into the air, and he didn’t even protest. A line of silver passed from his mouth into the beast. When done, it threw the man to the ground and stepped on him.

  “Oh, Mother,” Magda whispered.

  Carnage lay all around. Tattered and broken soldiers littered the ground. There were no more of the beast’s minions left to fight, but there were precious few soldiers of the Order eithe
r.

  That’s when she spotted Olivia. She wore her white abaiya, and with a blazing torch in her hand she stood out as some goddess of vengeance to fend off the darkness.

  “Burn it!” she yelled in Rabian.

  No one answered. Only then did Magda remember that the soldiers were not high guard. They would not respond to her or to Rabian speech.

  The beast, however, turned its attention to this single woman who carried no weapon but a burning brand and strode towards her.

  “Burn it,” Olivia repeated in Anglish. She seemed oblivious to the beast’s approach.

  “No,” Magda screamed. She raced across the canyon, but she raced through sand and across the broken members of the Order. She could never move fast enough no matter how she willed it.

  The beast rose before Olivia, and although they were of similar height, it seemed that the beast dwarfed her wife. Unconcerned for her safety, Olivia swung the torch with the will of one who demanded that the beast submit.

  “Go away, foulness,” she screamed in Rabian.

  Sparks of flame lined the edges of the creature’s old bandages, but the sparks spluttered, and the material did not catch fire.

  The beast reached out, grabbed Olivia by the throat, and lifted her into the air. Shimmering blue light rose from Olivia’s mouth, and the beast sucked it all up through its bandage wrapped face.

  “No!” Magda roared. She pushed herself the last few yards and, at the last minute, launched herself at the beast. She thrust forward with her sword and kept pushing until she rammed her blade all the way to the hilt.