The Ashen Wrath (Watty's SHORTLIST recipient 2018) CHAPTERED VERSION

*30

       

"Danth? I didn't mean to startle you," said Daun, taking a quick step backward.

I turned around and took a deep breath. "Daun! No, it's fine...I'm just glad you're here. I saw something strange...but it's gone now."

"Strange?" asked Daun with concern.

"It's nothing," I lied. I decided to put it out of my mind. "Where's Tenslin?"

"She's tied up on the other side of the slope, enjoying some crab apples."

I realized I hadn't even looked at Zone 29 yet. "Is it possible to see your village from here?"

"Yeah, follow me," said Daun with a gentle smile.

I followed Daun through a thicket of tall trees until her village came into view. My pulse was racing. Every new sight opened up my world and threatened to overwhelm me. "It's beautiful," I gasped. A clover field dense with white wildflowers gently sloped into a shallow valley. There were notably fewer plots—or ranches, as Daun had called them—in Zone 29, but the tents on each one were larger. Each ranch tent sat beside a large wooden pen holding three or four horses. There were no crops to be seen.

"It's so different here," I remarked.

Daun nodded. "From what I could see, your village seems much more—compact—than ours."

I followed Daun farther down the hill until we reached Tenslin, who was happily plucking apples from the tree where she had been lashed. I gently stroked the horse's mane. "I'm glad you don't have to climb a bunch of rocks from this side," I told Daun.

Daun shook her head. "Yeah, I feel bad about that."

"No worries," I said. "I don't mind."

"Okay. We probably shouldn't get any closer to the village than this, to be safe."

"Right. How many people live in these ranches?"

"About 50."

"Wow, that's all? We have 503 people in our zone."

"But no horses?"

"No, just donkeys. A few cows. Chickens." I looked over at the village. "Where's all your crops?"

"We don't grow anything here, just raise horses for the Privus. They deliver each family a box of rations every month."

"Do you have IP in your zone?"

"What's that?"

"Interaction Periods."

"I've never heard it called that, but once a month we're allowed to meet families from other ranches in a common area. The drones give us an hour."

I realized if they weren't growing their own food, there was no need to trade. "How big is your family?"

A pained look crossed Daun's face. "It's just me and my Mother now. My dad got sick. He was with us until last year...and..." She started to cry.

Instinctively, I put my arms around Daun and held her close, feeling her tears wet my shoulder.

Daun backed away after a few seconds. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "Don't be. I didn't mean to pry."

"What about your family?"

"It's just me and my grandfather." I looked at my watch quickly. Time was flying by. "My sister and niece were just transferred to a different plot."

Daun became visibly angry. "Mom says I'll get used to the way things are, but it's insane here. It's no better than a prison." She slumped down and sat on the grass, leaning against the tree.

Prison. Another word I had never heard before. I moved against the tree and sat next to Daun. Beyond the vocabulary, something about her last statement seemed strange.