The garage door stood brazenly open when they returned. Kick waved them inside, shaking his head in disbelief. Bock jumped out of the vehicle as soon as it came to a stop but Sandsa planted his feet on the oil-stained floor before the younger man could open the door for him. Seeing this, Bock gave him a grin then scrambled out of sight, shouting to all who dared to slumber when their victory was at hand.
‘The Alcazaar are finished,’ Sandsa informed his remaining companion.
Kick’s eyes roved up and down Sandsa’s filthy but unmarked clothes. ‘Don’t you dare give me any false hope, mate.’
‘You can believe me now, or when the last dregs of the Alcazaar start dripping their way in here,’ Sandsa said as he brushed past the clansman.
The crowded lounge room upstairs rocked with applause and cheers when Sandsa entered behind Bock. Someone forced a drink into Sandsa’s hand. He stared at it, shrugged, then belted it down his throat. The sounds of triumph swelled around him — and abruptly ceased.
Subofficer Ala walked into the room, frowning when people did not part before her. Her artificial eye zeroed in on Sandsa. ‘Rumours are flyin’ around. And here you are, alive and well, so they must be true.’
‘Oh, it’s true,’ someone said acidly.
Callista appeared in the doorway, hair mussed up wildly behind her and one strap of her shirt hanging dangerously low on her shoulder. Even while furious she was beautiful. Sandsa guiltily stoppered that thought but knew she had already caught it.
‘You exhausted me, made love to me, simply so you could run off and steal the title of Clan Leader while everyone was in bed!’ Callista said, stamping the floor with her boots and forcing out vicious thuds.
A clansman burst out laughing. His peers glared at him until he quietened.
Callista marched forward, her lips forming distinctly different shapes as she seemed to war between fitting more words into her mouth or sticking her tongue into Sandsa’s. When she did kiss him, she nipped his bottom lip between her teeth, drawing blood, then retreated a pace to righten her clothes. Sandsa held out the flower he had picked for her; Callista accepted it only to crush it inside her fist. She discarded the remains of his gift on the floor.
Subofficer Ala was the next woman to advance on him. ‘Did you do this?’
‘Yes, the Alcazaar are no longer — ’ Sandsa began, then stopped. ‘Oh.’
‘Oh!’ Ala repeated. ‘You waited until my Cals was asleep so you could go and do somethin’ ya knew she wouldn’t like. What kind of boyfriend are you?’
Callista cleared her throat. ‘He asked me to marry him, Ala.’
The room exploded into celebration once more. But Ala was having none of it. Her lip curled. ‘Got you when you were weak, did he?’
‘Did you honestly think I could have ever become Clan Leader?’ Callista asked, rubbing her temples with one hand. ‘Do you think any of us could have done it? No one else can abuse his powers but him.’
Sandsa shot her sharp glance. She sent him her memories in return — crawling through sand, watching the destruction in the deserts, meeting his father. He flinched.
‘How will we ever know if we could’ve won on our own now?’ Ala demanded.
Sandsa slipped his arm around Callista’s stiff form. ‘The Alcazaar deserved to be toppled. And power like that should not lie in one set of hands. Today I took the title and today I tell you this — the Maria have not one Clan Leader but two.’
Callista shook her head, eyes on the floor. ‘Sandsa…I don’t deserve this and neither do you.’
‘Nonsense,’ he said, then raised his voice again. ‘I have brought down the Alcazaar — the city is ours! But listen — beside me I place Clan Leader Dancer, someone you have known far longer than me — ’
‘And prettier to boot!’ Knives said.
‘Much prettier,’ Sandsa agreed. ‘So what do you think, my fellow Maria? Two Clan Leaders to ensure our continued victory?’
‘YES!’ the Maria answered.
Callista seized his arm as the jubilant shouting continued, steering Sandsa downstairs and into the abandoned armoury. Lasguns and other pieces of equipment hung on the walls, untouched and unneeded. That fight was over, but another was just beginning.
‘Are you a human or a god?’ she demanded.
Sandsa said nothing. Instead he knelt before her, pillowing his cheek against her abdomen while his mind twisted with uncertainty and fear. He could sense that she knew how close he’d come to leaving for the deserts. How could he keep resisting the voices if they were that loud?
‘I did it for you,’ he finally whispered.
Callista closed her eyes briefly, accepting his words. ‘I understand. But my husband will be a man, a mere man. I won’t marry a god who could abandon me at any moment.’
‘I won’t do it again,’ he vowed.
‘You had better not,’ she said, pinching his earlobe and sending a shock of pleasure racing through him. ‘Or our son might get the wrong idea and start slinging sand around in front of his playmates.’
‘Our son.’ A statement. A fact. Sandsa smiled into her shirt. ‘I can feel…I can feel the seed of him, but I cannot communicate with him yet. When he is developed enough, I will.’
Callista shivered. ‘Your father…said that I’m to bear a lesson or the salvation of the sands. What could that mean?’
A drop of icy fear trickled down his back. He always has plans…
‘It doesn’t matter what he says,’ Sandsa said, forcing a smile. ‘Because I am staying here with you.’
‘As a man.’
‘As a man,’ he agreed, tugging gently on her hands until she too was on her knees.
Her scowl subsided into a wobbly smile. ‘Ala is not as concerned for me as she is angry that this opportunity was taken from her.’
‘She knew she could never accomplish it the way things were,’ he told her.
Callista sighed and eased her chin onto his shoulder. ‘That’s true. But you can understand her disappointment. Ala spent her life working towards this. And some outsider turns up and does it in a matter of weeks?’
‘We have won, it does not matter how,’ Sandsa said, stroking her cheek.
Her voice turned wry. ‘We’ve won. But we’ve still got lots of work to do.’
‘What should we do now?’ he asked her.
Callista bit her lip. ‘Sandsa, I want to get married.’
‘I believe we already established that.’
‘You know what I mean.’
He did.
‘You think it will be a much needed symbol for the gangs,’ he stated. ‘A sign of peace. A step towards stability in this city.’
Callista burrowed into his chest. ‘Yes. And we should invite all the clans and the Chippers to the wedding. If we can spend half an hour not ripping into each other’s throats, then that will be something.’
‘We managed to fight together for the past few nights,’ Sandsa pointed out.
‘That’s when we had a common enemy in the Alcazaar. And I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we haven’t heard from our Chippers in a while.’
He pursed his lips. ‘Ala may not understand what we hope to achieve.’
‘She’s only known one system — fight until you’re on the top,’ Callista reminded him. ‘No one has ever told the clans that there’s another way.’
‘Can it be done?’
‘Can’t you look into the future and see for yourself?’ she asked with a playful smile.
I stopped seeing that far ahead when I met you, he thought, shielding the words and his concern from her.
‘I don’t need to,’ he said out loud and drew her into a kiss.