tradition. Only thing is, Immortals aren't supposed to fall!'
Cali had a funny feeling, but didn't vocalize it just yet. 'Right, let's work our way in.'
They left their spot in the shade and ran out into the middle of the road, towards the procession.
'Don't say anything. I will talk,' he instructed.
The acolyte leading the procession, a man with a scrubby white peppercorn beard and livid eyes, viewed them with scorn as they approached. 'What happened to the usual two?' he quizzed.
'I don't know, manu.' Amin replied. 'keTecwe Massur instructed us to take their places.'
'Massur?' the gruff man repeated, recalling the name. The duo kept silent, heads bowed. After a few moments he resumed. 'Head to the back, and relieve them of the water and provisions. And keep your hands off the sacred dead.'
They obliged. The acolytes at the back were glad to burden them with the sacks of provisions and flutes of water. Cali slung a sack over her back and tried to catch a closer look at the bodies.
Was that... a bullet wound? An angry dark hole under the shoulder, dried blood obscuring part of the white pectoral tattoo.
Another corpse had severe burns, deep pits in its flesh, perfectly neat and cauterized. Another, a bit further in front – my god – had a hole right through the middle of its abdomen, with arcs of burnt skin radiating out from it, scored and seared as if by lightning.
The Desert Gate parted slowly, allowing the procession to pass through. The masked sentinels on its towers scrutinized them from above, but kept silent and still.
On the other side the desert loomed at them, so vast and uniform that it seemed two dimensional. A stretch of flat, baked earth ran for about two hundred meters from the city gates, carved perfectly down the middle by the road's paving. Beyond that, on either side of the road's vanishing line, dunes undulated like a frozen sea towards an endlessly flat horizon.
In the far distance, in line with the road, the colossal shapes of humanoid statues rose above the dune sea, the same bluish color as distant mountains or skyscrapers at sunset.
Cali left Sol Mana, accompanied by Amin, heading towards the unknown and to freedom.
CONTINUED in the sequel, Unmarked Conspiracy
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