Chapter One
A R I A V A L E S T R I D E
He threw her to the ground and kicked scorching, desert sand in her face, he did it cause he could, because he was a man. I could force sand to fill his lungs, I could throw him a hundred feet away from the poor girl he was abusing without a sweat, I could do so much and yet I couldn’t do anything at all. My gift must stay hidden, it’s all I’ve ever been told since I turned thirteen.
Five years ago – Aria’s thirteenth birthday
We don’t usually celebrate birthdays, but a girls thirteenth is a significant one with the Aridos people, it’s when the gift may be given. My parents prayed for days and nights before this day that the gift may miss me, that I remain ‘normal’, having the gift means that I would be hunted endlessly, chained and controlled for the greed of men. Our tent was more packed then ever, most of the tribe came over to celebrate, my mother walked over to me and set food on the ground. Traditionally, the tribe was to eat at the girls tent until midnight to act as witnesses for whether or not the gift was given, so I sat and ate and smiled but really, I wanted to throw up. My stomach churned and my nerves were on end, I couldn’t sit still knowing that this could be the day that meant I would lose my humanity and be treated as common cattle or remain as I am and live the rest of my life in this desert where nothing was a certainty, including basic needs such as food and water.
The hours passed excruciatingly slowly, but they passed, and not once did I show signs of having the gift. My tribesmen left and midnight struck, I was safe. The weight lifted off my chest and I finally felt like I could breathe. My mother smiled at me warmly, the stress lines on her face were fading simply due to the fact that I wasn’t gifted. She laid out my mat and blanket and sat down on the ground near me.
“Aria you must understand how lucky you are, not being gifted is a gift in it self” her voice was so soothing, like a cool wave of peace washing over me.
“I know, believe me mama I am grateful, I just wish I got some power, even a small amount. I could’ve helped us, especially with the gift of water”, the desert life was no easy lifestyle to live, sometimes we would go days without water and what little food we had would dry up into chunks so hard and inedible our teeth would chip. If I just got a gift, even a little power I could help my tribe.
I curled up on the mat she laid out and rested my head on her lap, she hummed blissfully in my ears and ran her fingers through my hair. I felt so calm, like all my worries were behind me, and then I didn’t. My heart burned and my eyes shot open, I felt like a drug was injected into my veins, my body felt lighter and my mind cleared up. Suddenly, I believed that with little effort I could burn this tent with flames hotter than the sun that tortured my tribesmen and the people before them for years and years, I felt that I could force water to gush out of the dry sands in streams so forceful and plentiful that the desert would drown. I felt like I could do anything I wanted.
I felt gifted.
This was not possible, this was impossible. No girl got their gift even a second after their thirteenth birthday, and it was well past midnight.
“Aria!” my mother looked at my with wide eyes, the fear, stress and worry flooded her face as fast as it left, she grabbed my arms and squeezed me tight.
“Aria, you must not speak a word of this to anyone, not your friends, tribesmen or even your father, he is your blood but still a man and men cannot contain their greed. Promise me Aria! Tell me you won’t utter a single syllable or use your gift in front of anyone but me. Promise me!” she looked so frantic and scared, it made me feel a foreboding terror beneath my skin.
“I won’t mama, I promise, I won’t ever” my voice shook and but my words rang clear, they rang and rang and echoed around my skull. I was gifted, and no body could know.
Five years later
He finally let her be, his abuse ceased for the time being and I rushed to Maybelle, the frail little girl he was hitting. Maybelle turned thirteen last year and was gifted the power of wind, immediately, she was used and fought over by the men in the tribe. I wiped the muddy tears off her face and hugged her to my chest, her gift wasn’t delayed, she wasn’t as fortunate as me.
“Shhh, it won’t last forever May, I promise you, as soon as I can I’ll take you and the other gifted to Dunamis, better men, good men, will marry you and then you’ll only ever have to worry about them, you won’t be hit or hurt or used. I promise you May, I promise.” Offering her these promises was all I could do. We hear stories in the tribe of life in Dunamis, of the few men that marry gifted and rarely mistreat them, it’s the only hope for a better life we have.
She trembled in my arms and my heart tore in two. I hated that I couldn’t help. Maybelle was young and only gifted a single power, there wasn’t much she could do to fight back. I, however, had been practicing my gifts in secret, ever since I turned thirteen, for five years I have honed my skills. Women are commonly given a single gift; like the will over water, air, wind or fire, I was different, I was given almost every gift, and I couldn’t even put them to use. My frustration builds and builds as the days pass by, as girls like Maybelle are beat down and I can do nothing but make promises that I may not even be able to fulfill.
After walking her to her mothers tent, I straddled my horse and galloped off. Making sure I was a good distance away from our camp, I jumped off and scanned the area, it was like everything else in the desert, an endless expanse of sand and lifelessness. It had been difficult recently, a complete two days without water and barely any food, I had to help. I raised my arms and closed my eyes, I willed the water to rise from its stubborn depths below the surface, it was almost effortless how a trickle of water sprouted from the sand and wet the dry earth it touched, just small enough to be believable. They couldn’t know it was me. I pulled out a leather pouch from the belt around my waist and collected as much as I could.
I made my way to the campsite, people were dismantling their tents and packing supplies. It was time to move. We never stayed in one place too long, resources didn’t last and the desert could be harshly unpredictable. My mother was on the ground sorting through our clothes and I wrapped my arms around her.
“I found water” I informed her, I knew she was thirty, her lips were cracked and her skin was almost flaking.
“Found or summoned? Aria I have told you time and time again not to use your gift” she nagged at me every time I went off, I just wish she understood that I couldn’t sit around and do nothing while our people were slowly dying of dehydration.
“Mama, please, you know I can’t just watch you fade away, I was discrete and I made sure no one was near or watching, don’t worry about it” I tossed the leather pouches of water near her and went off the find my dad before she could start up another lecture. He was one of the minor leaders of the tribe, I found him talking frantically with another tribe leader, his movements nervous and frazzled. Something bad was going to happen. I made my way to them as quietly as possible and tried to listen in on what got my dad so rattled.
“Please my Dremo you must listen to me, they’re going to come and when they do they will take what little power our tribe has!” My fathers words tumbled out clumsily, his behavior made me feel uneasy. Who was coming and what about them evokes such a feeling of powerlessness in my father? Every Aridos tribe has a Dremo, a leader who makes the decisions in the best interest of the tribe, our Dremo Ellian, looked like he wasn’t concerned at all with my fathers worries, in fact he brushed them off and walked to his tent. I approached my dad and told him of the water I ‘found’, I needed him to gather men to collect the water, if I informed the men directly I would be accused of being gifted or scorned for ‘finding’ what they couldn’t, I had to let the men believe they found it, so their egos were satisfied enough to allow our tribe not to starve and die. This part of using my gift always ate away at me, I was saving them, I was the sole reason for their survival and yet I had to be quiet and let them think they did it all, it enraged me to have to simper to their pride simply to ensure the continuation of our tribe.
Groups of three left our camp to collect the water under my fathers orders, most of the men were gone leaving women and children. I made my way back to my mother and helped her pack our belongings. It was calm for while, no commotion as I folded clothes into rucksacks, no noise as I removed the the tough material covering the wooden support beams under our tent, not a single whisper of trouble as I pulled the wooden beams out of the ground and tied them together, then I reached down to pluck the pegs out of the sand, and everything went to hell.
Several men all in black and covered by masks flooded our camp, they swarmed and raided our belongings. What was peculiar though, was how they ignored our food supplies, they didn’t want our food or water, they wanted something else. They’re trackers, and they’re on the hunt for gifted.
Comments