Voro's Return: Land of Szornyek, #5

By Ariele Sieling

Askari and the others spent their winter in the Vault, taking the time to heal, rest, and learn as much as they can. But with the first drops of melting snow, an all too familiar face appears: Devor.

Askari knows he is taunting her, trying to get her to react and she knows she should resist. Yet all she wants is to kill him... until she finds out that there might actually be a way to save Agi in the process.

As the days grow slowly warmer, Askari and the others embark on a mission to save their friend and fellow warrior--and possibly the future of the human race.

This is the 5th action-packed book in the Land of Szornyek series

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ariele Sieling
• Release date: Jun 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201398750

Ariele Sieling

Ariele Sieling is a Pennsylvania-based writer who enjoys books, cats, and trees. Her first love, however, is science fiction and she has three series in the genre: post-apocalyptic monsters in Land of Szornyek; soft science fiction series, The Sagittan Chronicles; and scifi fairytale retellings in Rove City. She has also had numerous short stories published in a variety of anthologies and magazines and is the author of children's books series Rutherford the Unicorn Sheep.She lives with her spouse, enormous Great Pyrenees dog, and two cats.You can find her work on Kobo, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Apple, GooglePlay, and Payhip. Visit www.arielesieling.com for more information.

Book preview

voro

Chapter 1: Voro’s Return

Askari lounged in the midday sun. It was the warmest day they’d had in months, and most of the snow had melted away. Fat drops of water plopped from the bare branches of the trees to the ground, making the hill around the Vault a muddy mess.

She sat on an upturned bucket, watching as Isabella and Adan ran around and hurled mild insults, splashing in puddles and chucking sticks at each other. Arrow had vanished early that morning, out hunting most likely, and Rudi and Moose had headed out for their daily check of the solar panels, to make sure no more babosas had crawled up on top of them.

Since clearing out the boneshredders from the Vault, Askari, Minda, and Rudi had made one brief trip back to Greystone City to report that the computers were up and running; that, yes, they could see when a portal went live; and to give a rough estimate of how many portals there were, but President Amaka had immediately sent them back, saying that they needed more information—as much as possible, as soon as possible. So they had spent the rest of the winter in the Vault, digging through servers and trying to sift through as much data as possible.

They had also opted to keep Moose’s identity secret for now, though Minda had privately told Amaka that they had encountered a new type of human-looking monster called a valik, and Amaka had begun to spread the word: don’t trust anyone without a blood confirmation of their humanness.

Hey, behind you.

Askari looked back to see Shujaa standing over her.

Shift’s almost up. Shujaa smiled. And Carmen wants the kids to start their afternoon school work. She dragged a second bucket over and sat down beside Askari. It’s so warm today!

It’s gorgeous, Askari agreed. She smiled at her friend. It’s weird, honestly. Everything has seemed so… easy.

Shujaa nodded and gestured to the kids, as Isabella let out a laughing shriek and jabbed a stick in her brother’s direction. The kids have time to play, Harcos is glued to those computers. It turned out he was a natural and loved learning the math and programming languages almost as much as he enjoyed experimenting on bugs and studying the various monster forms. I’ve read more books than I ever thought was possible. And Minda has been great, letting me pick her brain about monsters and the history of the world pre-Cataclysm.

I’m getting better at reading, too, Askari added. Who would’ve thought? She laughed.

Our life traveling with the Baratok was so different. Shujaa looked wistfully around. Do you think it’ll last?

Askari shrugged and shifted her position on the bucket. Guess it depends on how much information Carmen and Julio can find. The two original Vault-dwellers had been spending their time programming a system to track the energy surges, and then looking for patterns in the data, with Minda’s help, of course.

Shujaa nodded. I hope it takes them a long time. I like spending my days reading and foraging.

And I’m happy to keep guarding, if you can even call it that. Askari gave a laugh. She spent most of her extra time either on guard duty or training. But guard duty these days was a joke. Askari had hardly fought anything since returning from the city—between Moose, Dreadnaught, and Arrow, she figured no monsters really wanted to borrow trouble by wandering into their territory.

Even better, she’d eaten regularly, due to the combined efforts of Arrow, Moose, and Shujaa, had time to physically heal—and most importantly, had time to think.

Much of what she thought about, however, she kept to herself. She had replayed Connie’s death in her head more times than she could count, looking for other choices she could have made, trying to reframe it from other people’s perspectives. She’d also spent a great deal of time contemplating the few weeks she’d spent in the city—she thought about the roughness of her friendships with Harcos and Shujaa, about Fane and the Rokkin, and about Hank and the Lamplighters.

She thought about how no matter how many friends she made or communities she visited, she never really felt like she belonged. Even here, where she was as relaxed as she’d ever been—possibly more relaxed than she’d ever been in her entire life—she felt a sense of otherness. It was the way she caught Harcos staring at her with a small frown on his face, never told her what he was thinking. Or how Shujaa made sure she always announced when she stepped into the same room as Askari, as if Shujaa didn’t want to startle her. It was the way Minda would smile and offer advice, but more as a mentor or elder than what Askari imagined a grandmother should be like. It was how Carmen and Julio still treated her with a polite distance, even though they’d lived together for several months now. Or how the kids never wanted to play with her—despite how they liked to stealth tickle Minda or do science projects with Harcos.

And it was the way Moose, Arrow, and Polly listened to everything she said and did whatever she asked whenever possible, without questioning her—but never did what the others asked without first checking with Askari.

Only Rudi acted normally, joking with her and treating her like another member of his community, to the point that she’d starting spending more time with him than anyone else. She felt like she could be herself around him, like she wasn’t constantly trying to force herself into some preconceived version of who she was supposed to be.

She’d also thought about her biological family. She had the photograph Hank had given her, and she stared at it every chance she could. She traced the image of her mother’s young face, and Minda’s. She squinted at her own little baby cheeks and smile. She hadn’t shown the photo to anyone—not Shujaa or Harcos, not Rudi, not even Minda. She wanted to keep it for herself, her own little secret. Plus, a tiny voice in the back of her head wondered if it were even real. How would she know? This photo could be of anyone. But she cherished the thought that it was of her and her mother and grandmother—and that her father had taken the picture.

She wondered about him. Where was he? Who was he? What did he look like? What was his name? Why did he leave and never come back? Did he even care about her? Or did he think she was dead, like her mother was? Should she try to find him? She couldn’t right now, of course, but maybe… maybe Minda knew. Or Elol or one of the other Baratok elders. Or Amaka. Or Hank—Hank seemed like a good bet. He’d had the photo, after all. And if she did find him, would she be able to find a home with him?

I’m going to get the kids. Shujaa interrupted Askari’s train of thought.

Oh, sure. Sorry, I zoned out for a second. She smiled at her friend.

It’s the sun, Shujaa chuckled. Makes you drowsy.

Askari watched as Shujaa stood and strode out toward the children, waving at them. Adan caught a stick his sister had just thrown at him, and then waved back at Shujaa.

Time to go in! Shujaa called.

Isabella turned and ran back toward the bunker, giggling hysterically. Askari smiled at them as they headed inside.

Don’t fall asleep! Shujaa grinned as she vanished into the bunker.

Askari sighed and looked out at the empty wilderness around her. It was so different here than it had been with the Baratok, or with the Rokkin, or in the city. The crux of her differences with everyone else, she had decided, came down to the deep-set beliefs she held about the inherent evils of monsters and about the way the world worked. She had spent a lot of time considering what she thought of Moose, and the differences between good monsters and bad monsters." She’d thought about who she was and what she wanted. And how those desires differed from the desires of others. Some of these topics she even brought up at dinnertime and downtime, and listened to the others debate on questions of morality and right and wrong.

What she was slowly discovering was that the answers were a lot muddier than she had ever thought. When she lived with the Baratok, she had believed she was right and the elders were wrong on many issues. And while she still didn’t agree with Kira on a lot of their choices, she was starting to understand how complex the issues really were—and perhaps they weren’t necessarily entirely wrong, after all.

Out of everyone, Rudi was most likely to be willing to have these conversations with her. She never thought of him as deep, but his answers to her questions were surprisingly complex and thought out. He clearly had spent a great deal of time contemplating the very issues she was now considering, and his ideas seemed to stick with her well after their conversations. She found herself thinking about their conversations a lot. And him too. Far more often than she wanted to.

It wasn’t that she didn’t try to keep thoughts of him out her mind. She did. It was just that the more she tried not to think about him, the more her thoughts strayed in his direction. It didn’t help that he was around so much, talking to her in his deep voice, smiling broadly when he played with the kids, helping her hunt, teaching her to read, reminding her that it was okay to rest sometimes and that she shouldn’t feel guilty about taking breaks. Not to mention, he was the only person who had showed her so much attention, possibly ever. It was hard not to start thinking of him as potentially more than a friend.

But he was just her friend, and she had to keep her thoughts in check no matter how much effort it required. They had a lot of responsibilities together, and she couldn’t let any stray feelings about him prevent her from doing the work that needed doing. After all, it was spring, and soon, Askari had no doubt, Minda would announce it was time to leave the Vault to take everything they’d learned back to the city.

Askari glanced up at the sun. It had been about an hour since her last patrol. She stood slowly, stretched, and made sure her machete was still attached securely to her belt. She didn’t feel like moving—the sun was warm, and she was very relaxed, almost sleepy, even. Elol would be horrified—this was not good behavior for someone who was supposed to be on guard duty.

She shook the sleepiness out of her eyes, did a few jumping jacks to get her blood moving, and strode out of the fenced-in area surrounding the bunker’s entrance, where she saw Rudi stomping through the mud toward her. He was alone; she saw no sign of Moose. This wasn’t surprising—the valik often wandered off on his own when he needed a little space from all the humans.

How’s it looking up there? Askari asked as Rudi neared, keeping her eyes deliberately fixed on his face. He’d gained a lot of muscle training with Moose the last few months, and Askari had made a definite effort to not notice.

He shook his head. All clear. A small frown hovered around his lips.

What’s wrong?

I’m not sure, exactly, he answered, glancing back up toward the solar panels. Moose was just acting a little weird. He said it was nothing, but he kept, you know, doing that listening thing he does. Where it’s like he can hear something the rest of us can’t? Sort of… tilting his head like he was trying to hear something and couldn’t quite pin it down? Rudi tilted his head, mimicking the motion. And Dreadnaught was being weird too—she climbed up on the fence and just stared out at the forest, and then would walk to a different corner of the fence and stare some more.

Where are they now?

Moose just said he wanted to check something out. Rudi shook his head. Told me it was probably nothing, but he wanted to be on the safe side.

Askari nodded. Probably just another monster moving in on their territory, right?

I hope so. Then the frown vanished from his face and was replaced by a warm smile as he looked down at her. You have mud on your nose. He reached out and gently rubbed it off.

She felt her stomach flip flop, but ignored it. All this time together was starting to have an effect on her, but she was pretty sure that was all it was—an effect. It wasn’t like there was anyone else around for her to pay attention to. These weren’t real feelings—they couldn’t be. They would go away eventually. This was Rudi, after all. Her childhood friend. Someone she had known for her entire life. Any feelings she might be having were likely just due to their proximity and the fact that they’d been forced to spend so much time together lately.

Thanks, she said, reaching up to rub the same spot. She glanced back toward the bunker. The kids had vanished inside. You go tell the others. I’ll keep watch out here until Moose gets back.

Sounds good. Rudi turned and strode toward the bunker, and Askari shifted her attention back to the quiet world around them.

And then she listened. What had Moose heard that worried him? She slowly and quietly moved away from the fence, walking in her typical patrol direction. Every few yards she paused, slowed her breathing, and focused in a little more on her sense of hearing.

Wind. It was always windy up here on the hill, outside the bunker. Sometimes it was just a light breeze, sometimes a gusty gale, and today it was somewhere in the middle.

Creaking trees. She heard those a lot too, because of the wind, and because they were surrounded by woods. The trees groaned and cried an old, weary song, and sometimes, the song was punctuated by crashing as a branch let go of its trunk and fell to the ground below.

Water. Fat, wet drops dripped from the trees, from the fence, from the sleepy brown bushes that grew up all around the hill. She could also hear the distant hush of the heaving river at the bottom of the gorge. The melting snow made it heavy with water, and chunks of ice swirled and crashed against each other as they floated downstream.

She took another few steps forward. Her feet squelched quietly in the mud; her machete brushed against her pants. She breathed deeply, slowing her heart rate, relaxing her tense muscles.

And then, she frowned. And listened harder. Still, she heard the wind, the water, the woods—but where were the birds hopping through the dry leaves? Where were the chipmunks and squirrels, chattering as they sought out their hidden stashes of nuts? Where were the rabbits, peeking their noses out of their dens on this warm spring day? Or the deer, running past to go drink at the stream? Or the bees, flying for the first time in months?

It wasn’t what Moose had heard that worried him. It was what he hadn’t heard.

Askari scanned the flat hilltop, a frown deepening on her face. There weren’t many things that scared off all the animals in the forest. A big monster might do it, but all had stayed away since Arrow had started camping out here.

So whatever this monster was, it wasn’t afraid of Arrow or Moose. That was more worrisome.

She decided that perhaps she would stay close to the bunker and not walk her normal patrol route after all—at least not until Moose returned. As long as he was gone, Arrow was out hunting, and the others were closeted away in the bunker, she was basically on her own. She should stick close. She turned back and began to stride slowly toward the bunker, keeping a sharp eye out for anything unusual.

As she neared the gate, she heard a new sound: a squelching. Boots in mud.

She took a deep breath. Moose must be returning. That was good. They could patrol together—he could tell her if he learned anything.

She turned… and froze.

A face had appeared at the edge of the hill. Smiling. Grinning.

It wasn’t Moose.

It was Agi’s face.

Devor.

Fire rushed through her veins as she stood frozen beside the fence—a cocktail of anger, fear, frustration, sorrow, rage billowing and bubbling up in her gut. So many feelings, she felt frozen in place, but also like she was about to explode at the same time.

You, she whispered.

Hello again. It was Agi’s voice, but also different somehow. Sharper. Icier. Lilting. I’ve been looking for you.

Askari reached down, her fingers wrapping around the hilt of her machete. She unsheathed it in one smooth motion. She wouldn’t fail, not this time. She knew what she had to do, and she wouldn’t hesitate. She would hunt Devor down and complete the task she had been unable to do the first time. She would free Agi. Give her back her death.

I have a message for you, Agi/Devor continued.

Askari heard the lid to the bunker slide open behind her, but she didn’t turn to see who it was. She kept her eyes fixed on Devor and took one step forward, and then another.

Askari, what are you— Rudi began from behind her, but broke