Rachel stared at a cluster of boulders in the middle of the clearing. The orange rocks were covered in strange white streaks where the minerals had been washed out of them by the rain.
Lisa had been pleased to see her at first. Rachel had seen it in her eyes, but her anger had quickly returned. So quickly their conversation had boiled over. Lisa had stormed off and was now standing some distance away with her back to all of them. Rachel set off towards her but Trent shook his head.
'Give her a moment to calm down,' he said. 'She won't talk to you right now.'
'Since when did you become an expert in my daughter?'
Trent shrugged. 'I'm just saying, that's all.'
Rachel turned to him, recalling how pathetic he had looked in the basement of the Mekinet News building. His skin was less greasy now, with an almost healthy bronze tone to it. His body was more athletic too, his belly less pronounced than it had been. She could see that even through his strange boiler suit, and the ridiculous exoskeleton that he was wearing.
'Why did you put that note under the Albatross' wing?'
Riser shook his head. 'I don't know.'
'What do you mean you don't know? There has to be a reason. Without it I might have guessed where she had gone but I might not. Did you know I would find it?'
'I thought someone would find it - maybe one of the implants. I didn't know she was your daughter back then. She was a stranger to me - a woman who came out of nowhere with long white wings. She broke me out of my cell and asked for my help in return.'
'Why did you come with her? What's in it for you?'
'I didn't know what I was getting into. I've been used by the Kamari. I've been used by Central Command. She seemed to be rushing into something that she didn't understand. I thought she might get us all killed if I'm honest, and I wasn't in the mood for dying. It made sense to leave a note for someone to follow. Call it my insurance policy.'
'You didn't know she was my daughter?'
'How could I? The last time I saw her she was six years old.'
Rachel shook her head. 'None of this makes sense.'
'Tell me about it. Nothing has made sense for a long time in my life. I used to be a successful hacker, a small time crook living in basement of the Mekinet News building. Nothing is the same since you killed my brother and got me fired.'
'I didn't get you fired. You did that yourself, and your brother stabbed me first. I could have been crippled for life. I'm the one who should be angry.'
Kuerolong glanced between them, his wet snout sniffing the air.
'I haven't got time for this,' Rachel said. 'I came here to find my daughter, not to argue with you. I' didn't come this far just to lose her again.' Turning, she walked across the scrub land, heading for where Lisa was standing alone with her back to them.
* * * * *
Rachel returned some time later with Lisa by her side. They didn't say what they had been talking about but they both looked tired with puffy red eyes.
They sat and ate in silence as the minotaurs served a basic meal consisting of some kind of meat that tasted gamy and well-seasoned. Riser asked for an extra portion, which earned him a frown from Ranno, but the minotaurs didn't seem to mind.
They talked together about Malkor's army and what he might be planning. Lisa told them how she thought he might attack the Orange Zone and how she had invaded her mind after fighting Ibex.
Rachel asked too many questions. She was concerned about everything. She wanted to send Lisa home to Annie but Lisa just laughed it off. It was too late for all that, she said. She was a different person now. She wasn't Rachel's little girl anymore.
Ranno told them about some of the terrible things that Malkor had done during the Iridium Wars - things that he might well try again, given half a chance. They shouldn't underestimate him. He would stop at nothing to see them all dead.
Rachel looked pale. Even Lisa was worried, though she tried not to show it. They were all shocked. Riser tried to put a positive spin on the situation, asking what they could do about it.
Rachel clenched her fist by her side and asked about allies. 'Who will help us?' she said. 'What strength can we draw on?'
'The minotaurs will always support the sky lords,' Kuerolong said with steam rising slowly from the short fur on top of his broad, black head.
'Which lords are loyal to Malkor?' Lisa said. 'Who can we trust to help us?'
'It's difficult to know,' Ranno said, tending to the small fire between them. 'The lords change their allegiance often. Power is important to them. Status rules, but so too does survival. If they can extend their lives by switching sides in a conflict they will do so. They aim to be on the winning side. They don't care who's right or wrong.'
Things looked hopeless, but they had to try something. Rachel spoke of an army of clerics heading south towards the Orange Zone. Kuerolong said it was probably too large to stop but he could send a small force of minotaurs to delay them if it would help.
'I think we should,' Rachel said. 'Now that we've found Lisa, we can all return to fortify the city.'
'I'm not going back there,' Lisa said. 'I'm going to the Sky Lord Island.'
Rachel opened her mouth to protest but no words came out.
'I always wanted to go there,' Kuerolong said, 'but the island is closed to outsiders. It is far from this land. Too far to travel even by boat.'
'It is warded,' Ranno said. 'None but sky lords can enter. You need wings to travel so far. Teleporting doesn't work out there either.'
'You can't go,' Rachel said, turning towards Lisa. 'It's too dangerous.'
Lisa shook her head. 'It's not your decision, mother. It's not like you can ground me anymore.'
'Then I'll go with you.'
'You can't. Didn't you hear what Ranno just said.'
'What do you hope to achieve out there?'
'There are more sky lords out there.'
'So?'
'They'll understand me. They'll know what we need to do.'
Rachel brushed a hand through her hair. 'You don't have to do this, Lisa. We can go back to the city together.'
'I can't.'
'Someone needs to warn Central Command about what is happening,' Ranno said. 'Someone with access to the Dome Shield.'
Rachel looked up, 'Are you talking about me?'
Ranno nodded.
'Oh no,' she said, shaking her head. 'I just got here.'
'The cleric army that you saw is probably just the first wave of Malkor's attack. It looks like he's intent on destroying the Orange Zone and everything in it. He won't rest until he finds a way to kill everyone inside.'
Rachel shook her head, staring up at the clear blue sky above. It was late afternoon and she could already feel the temperature dropping around her. 'What would I tell them, even if I went?'
'Tell them to prepare for war.'
'But they just had a war. The city is ruined. Their defences are smashed and broken.'
'Then they must repair them. There isn't much time.'
'Why now,' Rachel said, 'after all this time?'
'Because you exist,' Ranno said.
'Me?'
'You and Lisa. He won't rest until the last of the sand lords are dead. Hades defied him for much of his life. You represent the last of Hades' line.'
Rachel shook her head. 'This will never stop, will it?'
Ranno didn't answer her question. 'Now a sky lord has risen, it will only serve to accelerate his plans.'
'Is there nothing I can do to dissuade you?' Rachel said, turning to stare at her daughter with pleading eyes.
Lisa shook her head. 'I need to tell the sky lords what's happening.'
Rachel glanced down at her hands, letting out a long, slow sigh. 'I can't go back,' she said. 'I came so far to find you.'
'And you found me,' Lisa said.
'But I wanted to help you, to bring you home and keep you safe by my side.'
'Nothing is safe anymore. Do you think we'll be safe hiding in the suburbs with your rose bushes?'
Rachel shook her head, dropping her gaze to the ground.
'I have to do this. Don't you understand?'
'I'll never understand.'
'I'm a sky lord.'
'And I'm a sand lord but it doesn't have to define us. I'm a soldier too and a mother.'
'And I'm your daughter, but if I don't find out what this is all about - if I don't find the other sky lords, we might never be able to stop Malkor. We'll all be dead, whatever we choose to call ourselves. We can be dead mothers and dead daughters, or we can try to be more than that. We can try to make a difference.'
'Stop him? How can we stop him? He has so much power.'
'I don't know, but we have to try.'
'She's right,' Ranno said. 'I don't like the idea of her going off on her own any more than you do. I'd go with her if I could get through the wards, but I can't, and the sky lords need to know what's happening. This involves them more than anyone.'
'It's too dangerous,' Rachel said. 'We don't know how far it is. What if she gets tired half way to the island? Where will she land when she's surrounded by nothing but ocean?'
'There's nowhere to land,' Ranno said, 'but she's a sky lord. They can fly long distances. I've seen it before.'
Rachel glanced at each of them in turn with desperation building in her eyes. 'How can you think this is a good idea? There must be some other way.'
'I don't think it's a good idea,' Riser said, 'but no one listens to me anyway.'
Lisa rolled her eyes in his direction and Riser smiled in return.
'This can't be happening,' Rachel said.
Ranno frowned, looking more like an old man again as their troubles weighed down on them all. 'Do you want to help the people of the Orange Zone?'
'Of course I do - but I want to help my daughter too —'
'Then go warn Central Command. You'll be helping us all.'
'I can't,' Rachel said. 'I lost my gemstone. I can't teleport without it and it's too far to walk. It'll take months even if I survive such a journey.'
'You don't need your gemstone,' Lisa said.
'But I don't know how to teleport without it.'
'That's just an excuse.'
'No. It isn't.'
'I can show you how. It's a simple technique.'
Rachel covered her face with both her hands. The tension was palpable between them.
'Okay,' Rachel said. 'I'll do it. But I'll return as soon as the warning has been delivered.'