A chain link fence waited for the three of them. Greenblatt was waved through the checkpoint, but when he tried to explain that Krav, Lenny, and Rufus were part of his retinue, he was asked not to press his luck. Here, they stood in an admissions line, watching the town of Agua Fria through the fence like kids waiting for their turn on a roller coaster.

  Agua Fria was easily the biggest settlement they had ever been to. Along the canyon floor, clusters of tents and wooden buildings could be seen as far as the eye could see in either direction. Crowds of people walked by, some going in and out of tents, others idly chatting. Others still pointed and laughed at the poor souls who waited at the fence. They giggled and jeered at the slow shuffle of feet that moved towards the towns checkpoint.

  Lenny had his fingers looped through the fence. He held himself up against the heat. The hooting locals didn’t bother him. In a way, this was the most familiar feeling he had had since they boarded the lift. They were laymen, outsiders to the path of souls he walked. Rufus would have told him to calm his emotions and remember that the path of the jester is one best followed by fools. But he wanted to be like Krav. He wanted to say…

  “Hey!” Krav yelled. “Hey! What’s so funny?”

  A group of laughing children turned and ran, but not before slinging a rock at the fence. It hit Lenny in the arm, but layers of robes guarded him from any pain. A hint of anger boiled in him, but he imagined it passing through him, leaving his body from his arm down to his feet, returning to the earth. The moment passed, and soon so would the embarrassment.

  “They probably think you’re some kind of animal,” Rufus said.

  Krav ignored him. “Come back here and try that on me!”

  Lenny shook his head. It wasn’t worth all the fuss to pick a fight with the locals. The town guards were already watching the wild boy. The one closest to them was drumming a thick club in his hand like a sideways pendulum. Every time it raised up, Lenny thought for sure this would be the one to come down on Krav's head. He leaned to his brother and whispered, “Calm down. You’ll get us in trouble.”

  “God forbid we get some action. Beats being hooted at by kids. I swear as soon as I get inside, I’m going to-”

  “You aren’t going to do anything,” Rufus said. He was trying to look as stern as possible, but he was looking at the wrong boy. “You’ll be on your best behavior unless we get a rowdy customer. The only act of aggression permissible in my charge is one made in defense.”

  Lenny reached up and turned the milky eyes towards Krav. “Understand me, boy?”

  “Fine,” Krav grumbled. He was still watching the kids as they wove through the tents. One of them stopped to steal a shiny piece of jewelry from a wooden table set up by a vender. What was the point of being on his best behavior when he was surrounded by idiots? Just wait, he thought. They’ll try the wrong tent tonight and end up skewered ass-first on his stick. That’ll show them.

  The line of people continued to shuffle towards the checkpoint until it was finally their turn. They made it to the front of the line and were greeted by a smiling gentleman at a table. He was flanked by two guards who wielded spears rather than clubs. More reach, Lenny realized. They were able to kill you before you might jump the table and attack the man working it. Lenny watched him.

  He was a middle-aged man, old enough to perhaps be the boys’ father. He sported a curved scar under one eye but was untouched beyond that. Something told him that he was probably considered one of the more grizzled members of this society. Scars like his were more common deeper in the wasteland, but here it must have made you some kind of badass. He sat with his hands folded over his mouth; eyes narrowed at Rufus. When the trio approached his desk, he put a hand up and halted them in their tracks.

  Lenny thought he was going to expel them immediately, casting them out of paradise. Then he was afraid they wouldn’t get that far. Krav would be stupid enough to fight it, then they’d all end up perforated by the spears. He watched his brother’s reaction. All he saw was the annoyed twitch in his eye. Don’t do it, he thought. He wanted to warn him against retribution taken in the name of anger, but it would’ve been too many syllables for Krav’s sun-rotted brain.

  Rufus, ever aware, continued to walk until he bumped right into the table. Lenny turned, stunned. In his infinite caution for his brother, he had forgotten Rufus was unable to comply with a nonverbal order like that. Now he had to watch both of them. The old man had failed to obey the man at the checkpoint, earning his ire, and Krav was just waiting for them to lose their cool. It felt like a stand-off; everyone’s hands raised just above holstered pistols.

  The spears didn’t turn on him, by some miracle. The man at the desk looked up at Rufus and raised an eyebrow. “You can’t see?” he said.

  Rufus shook his head. “I haven’t been able to see for a while now.”

  “Late stage wasting. My condolences, friend. Unfortunately, we can’t take any risks.”

  “It isn’t contagious.”

  “Of course not. But I’ve been lenient before, and wasters end up turning around the time they start to look like you. I’ve personally had to put down a handful. I’m going to have to ask you to return the way you came.”

  Lenny looked between the officer at the table and Krav. The boy’s eyes were wild. The two of them hadn’t eaten in a day, and Lenny was beginning to pick up on the smell of cooking food. It boiled the bile in his stomach and made his mouth water. Krav was even beginning to drool at the corners of his mouth. To be turned down now meant foraging the desert and eating whatever lizards and roots they came across. Lenny could do that. His stomach was prepared to survive a week without food. Krav, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to eat the officer and his bodyguards in one bite.

  But Krav wasn’t thinking about that. In fact, he hadn’t noticed the delicious aroma in the air. The boy’s hatred was directed at the officer. Lenny walked the paths of souls, he understood well and good what wasting meant. Krav didn’t like it. He stuck his head in the sand at the thought of a death he had no hand in preventing. Everyone who wastes faces the inevitable. The loss of sight does something to a man in the wasteland. That, or the scabs grow too deeply, and the afflicted begin to lose their minds. Late stage wasting meant mindless aggression, a loss of communication skills, and a bad habit of cannibalism. Eventually, the disease would claim them. Their minds would rot until nothing remained in their skull but soupy grey matter, then they’d collapse and die. The trio had passed by many corpses whose eyes had scabbed over and ears leaked red. They always looked like crazed animals that were put down for their own good, and Krav didn’t like to imagine Rufus amongst them.

  “Please. Return to the lift.”

  “My boys,” Rufus said. “They need water and a meal. Please just let us stay the night. We can do a little business and be on the first lift out tomorrow.”

  The officer considered it for a moment. He tapped his fingers on his desk and sighed, turning to one of his guards. They shrugged at each other, and he returned to Rufus. “What kind of business do you do?”

  “We’re spirit guides. The one all bundled up is my apprentice, and the short one is my bodyguard.”

  That seemed to perk the officer up. He straightened in his chair and for the first time, a smile appeared on his face. It was thin, only one side of it actually pulling up and revealing his teeth, but it was the most welcoming gesture they had been offered. It put the boys at ease. “We haven’t had a spirit guide in town in a while! Maybe we can put you and your boys up for just one night.”

  The air between them eased then. The spearmen on either side of the officer looked more like peacekeepers than executioners. The officer reached beneath the table and pulled out a rubber stamp and a pad of dye from a drawer. He waved them over and stamped each one on the wrist. They each sported a black crescent moon now. “It washes off in twenty-four hours. If you get caught without it, the guards will expel you from town on the spot. Come back tomorrow and we can discuss any extensions to your stay.”

  Rufus had his eyebrows raised. Lenny was thinking the same thing he was. That seemed to easy. They were discriminated against for their master’s condition wherever they went. Maybe Agua Fria was a place of kindness and acceptance. Or maybe it was a den of snakes. It was still too early to tell. Either way, one night would be enough. There wasn’t a reason to extend the stay for this visit. Rufus thanked the officer for his leniency as Krav ran off into the rows of tents and merchant stalls.

  The officer watched them disappear into the crowded town and waved until they were out of view. The next group of travelers approached, but he stopped them in their tracks. He stood from his desk and turned to one of his guards. “I need to make a call. Be back in five.”

  Krav and Lenny stood at the edge of the river with their jaws on the floor. They had never seen so much water in their whole lives. It flowed from a hole in the canyon wall and literally spilled so much onto the floor that it created a moving belt of water that bisected the town. People swam in it. Swam in it. It was so deep that in the middle, people would disappear beneath the water and reappear looking renewed. Krav stooped low and scooped a handful of it up and lifted it. He could see straight through it. It wasn’t muddy well-water or molded from days spent in plastic rain catchers. It was somehow clear and bright at the same time. He sipped it from his palms and nearly collapsed at the refreshing sensation on his tongue. This truly was paradise.

  Lenny couldn’t contain his smile. It forced its way onto his face in nervous bursts, and his breath was filled with excited anticipation. He followed his brother’s lead and scooped a handful out and drank it. It was cold on his dry throat. Hand over hand, he lifted sips to his mouth. Krav was bent over like an animal, sucking entire mouthfuls straight out of the river.

  Between crazed sips, Lenny turned to Krav and said, “Don’t look too desperate! They’ll…” he couldn’t finish his sentence without taking two more handfuls of water. “Mm… They’ll think we’re savages!”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  But Krav didn’t listen to his brother. He was leaning into the river like a pig at a trough. His hands were deep in the sandy bottom of the river, his head almost completely submerged. It was the best thing he had ever tasted, and he couldn’t get enough of it. He drank and drank until his body couldn’t handle it anymore. Suddenly, he jolted, burped up the gulp of water caught in his throat, and coughed until his throat burned.

  “Or you’ll get sick,” Lenny teased. He was satisfied for the moment. The people here didn’t pay them any mind. It must have been a common sight to see wanderers at the river’s edge, drinking themselves to sickness. They went about their day, using the river in ways he hadn’t even imagined. Some washed their clothes at the river’s edge, some washed themselves. Metal workers would quench red hot blades in buckets of water. A ways up the river, a large wheel turned in the water as the waves passed through it, and they harnessed that energy itself to power mills, lights, perhaps even the lift that brought them down.

  Lenny dug around in his robes and found a water skin. It had been the three of theirs to share, made of the bladder of an animal Krav killed. This place was the perfect opportunity for them to each get one, and if a night of readings went well, they might be able to afford it. They would be kings leaving this place, he could feel it. The boy bent and filled the waterskin. “I’m going to bring this to Rufus. I’m sure he’s ready to start soon. Are you coming?”

  “Nope,” Krav said. “Rufus asked me to find something for him. He says this place is safe enough to leave you guys alone for a bit.”

  “He trusts you to do the shopping?”

  “I guess. Maybe he knows you’d get swindled by the first scab head you meet.”

  “Would not.”

  “Would to! Plus, you’re working the tent. I’m apparently not.”

  Lenny finished filling the skin and tied it off with a fraying leather strap. Automatically, he tried to hide it in his robes, but then thought better. This place was filled with so much abundance that it would take more effort to steal the water from a frail boy than it would be to just go to the river yourself. He tucked it under one arm. “Just don’t get lost. We’re on the east side of the river, down by the guy selling iguana meat.”

  “I know where we’re at!” Krav said. A woman on the other side of the water bent and began pouring handfuls of water over her face. Krav copied her, feeling refreshed.

  “Alright,” Lenny grumbled. Maybe it would be best if Krav got lost here. He’d make a good city guard, bashing criminals over the head with his stick. Or he’d be the criminal. In which case he could use a good smack from a club.

  They offered up their goodbyes and split up for the evening. Lenny carried the waterskin like a newborn through the crowds of people gathered at stalls and eating on the dusty floors. The people here were smiling, haggling, and living life as if the world had never ended. It was hard to imagine that the people here really needed anyone to guide their spirits. They looked happy and contented already. What solace could they offer someone who has a full belly, a quenched throat, and a good night’s sleep? Maybe Rufus only brought them here so that they could experience what that abundance was like. Even so, for one night, they had everything the world had to offer.

  He made it back to their tent before the sun began to set. Outside, the man selling iguana meat was cooking the skewered animals over an open flame. He waved to Lenny as the boy passed, and Lenny offered him a smile in return. It was nice being around so many friendly people. For once, he didn’t see wickedness in the eyes of strangers. Still, if he was to see Rufus, to know that someone was wasting only a few feet from him, he probably would have stowed that kindness in place of malice. Lenny came to him and purchased one of the lizards, offering one of the many layers of robes as payment.

  “I know mock root makes you hungry, so I got us something to eat,” Lenny said as he entered the tent. Rufus was sitting on the floor, his legs crossed and blank eyes staring at the entrance. “Krav will have to find something else to eat. This one’s for me and you.”

  “Sit.”

  Lenny’s back snapped upright. Rufus’s tone wasn’t one of anger, but there was a seriousness to it that frightened the boy. He stabbed the skewered reptile into the floor and sat close to his master. “I’m not late, am I?”

  “There is no late, Lenny. Destiny finds us exactly where we need to be. Always.”

  Great. He was already high. Lenny hastened to catch up, digging through his master’s robes and finding a small piece of mock root. It was sticky in his fingers, and he tossed it into the flames. Soon, the tent began to fill with smoke, and the clouds returned to Lenny’s brain. He sat up straight, closed his eyes, and reached for the barrier between realities.

  “Destiny brought us here,” Rufus said. He dropped his voice as if the shadows on the walls were listening.

  “Fate guides our paths, master. We are wise to follow it.” He was reciting his teachings.

  “I said Destiny, boy. Not fate. We leave dice rolls and card games up to fate. Fate is the contention of the unknowns. It is fate what we eat tomorrow. It is fate what fortunes we acquire. But it is destiny that tells us we are where we need to be. Coming here was destiny, and I have fulfilled my roll to you.”

  The smoke was filling Lenny’s mind now. He wasn’t sure what Rufus was talking about. He understood the difference between fate and destiny, but surely this town was just another stop on their journey. There was no major cosmic need for them to be here, but as Rufus spoke, Lenny could see the paths. They were converging on this point in time. The town of Agua Fria was their destiny.

  “I have been called here to die,” Rufus said.

  Lenny was confused. That didn’t make any sense. Their paths were continuing on, past the point of this night. Rufus’s journey doesn’t end here, it can’t. He shook his head. “Your paths…”

  “The journey of the soul continues on before life and after death. It stretches on in either direction, branching into infinite paths. Just because my body dies here doesn’t mean My journey is over.”

  Lenny shook his head. The clouds were forming now. His head felt like it was swelling. Emotions were welling up, but they were quickly forgotten. What was he even talking about? Why would this be the end of the road?

  “I don’t understand. What about me and Krav?”

  “You boys have your own destinies. You were never meant to be my apprentice forever, and he was never meant to keep me safe. I have known you for years now, and I have long known your paths. Tonight, destiny reveals itself. Do not fight it.”

  His head was spinning, the dancing shadows on the walls mocking him. He wanted to cry but his eyes burned with the smoke and clogged his tear ducts. There was an overwhelming need to throw up, then he forgot he was ever even sad. He simply shook his head. Rufus revealed his destiny to him, told him the expanse of his paths, the great dangers that lie ahead. There was so much unnecessary sadness, so much violence. The rollercoaster of emotions came and went as he was in and out of consciousness from the effects of the mock root. Almost as soon as his reading was over, he had forgotten it all.

  Krav walked amongst the stalls, looking for the item Rufus had asked him to acquire. It was a big deal to the boy, and a secret their master had asked him to keep. If Lenny knew how much he was going to spend, and what he was going to spend it on, he would’ve blown up. Rufus had asked him to go out and find something a little more deadly than a stick.

  “The wasteland beyond this point will be filled with danger,” Rufus had warned before the boys went to the water. “The two of you will need to be prepared for it. Especially you.”

  He didn’t know why Rufus had added the part about him needing to upgrade his arsenal more direly than Lenny. Krav could take on a raider gang with his arms cut off, or so he thought. Lenny was the wet napkin of the group. Something light and deadly would suit him, maybe a dagger. Krav told himself that he would have to save a bit to get his brother one. He would always be around to protect Lenny, but it didn’t hurt for the boy to have his own weapons.

  As far as Krav’s upgrades, he was interested in a club. It was effectively a better stick, he figured. He had broken so many sticks that perhaps a fine hunk of metal would be the perfect replacement. The heavier the better, he thought. Imagining the satisfying clunk as metal met skull and cracked the bone beneath brought a smile to his face.

  But then there were the poleaxes, the finely crafted weapons Greenblatt had armed his retinue with. They were sleek, tipped with a spear's point, yet armed with a heavy blade as well. Something like that would be good for hunting animals, or poking people when they inevitably pissed him off. They didn’t look very heavy though. The speed at which his bodyguards handled them was proof positive that it wouldn’t make for a very fun weapon.

  He passed a stall with swords, knives, and other instruments of war. These didn’t look like they were crafted, rather looted from various sources. The man behind the counter greeted Krav as he looked over the arsenal, but the boy ignored him. He reached for a weapon he had never seen before. It was like an axe, but the head of it wasn’t bladed. Instead, there were teeth like a saw that angled downward. Krav touched a finger to its gleaming edge, and it drew blood without force. It was otherworldly how sharp it was honed. Clearly a master had forged this weapon. He was lost in its craftsmanship, then he looked up.

  The merchant was smiling at him beneath a red glass eye. Krav immediately recognized him as the scab head from Kiva Noon.

  “So, they let fortune tellers into Agua Fria now?” he asked. He was almost leaning over the table. Krav tossed the weapon back to him, and he caught it. His eye wasn’t the only augment. From beneath the robes, he sported an arm of rusted metal and rotting wires. He clicked his tongue at him like a parent scolding a child. “It’s used now, boy. Nobody wants to buy a weapon that’s had blood on it.”

  “All of these are used, scab head.” Krav pointed at the weapons. It was obvious. There was no cohesion between them that implied they were crafted by the same person. Not even the technique was uniform amongst them. Some swords were regal, some were scrap. Axes rusted, spears were warped and bent.

  “Are you calling me a swindler?”

  “I ain’t calling you an honest merchant.”

  There was a presence behind him. He turned quick enough to face the merchant’s partner behind him. The man snatched him by the shoulders and he kicked and clawed to no use. His boots banged uselessly against a metal hull within the man’s robes. “Sorry kid, but it is business. We don’t want to have to get the guards involved, do we?”

  “I don’t know, Trevor,” The glass eyed merchant said. He snatched Krav’s arm with his powerful metal one. The gears within it whirred and coughed as his grip tightened. “It looks like this one’s stamp is fading away. Maybe we should turn him in. They say they pay you a month’s stay for turning in rats that overstay their welcome.”

  Krav spat in his face, but the glass eyed merchant didn’t flinch. The bubbly glob of mucus splattered against one cheek and rolled down it. His smile widened and his grip tightened.

  “No need to get so aggressive, kid,” Trevor said from behind. “We can work something out peacefully. Just buy up the weapon so we don’t lose any value, and we’ll let you go on your way.”

  “I don’t agree,” said the glass eye. “I think we flay him alive and parade his skinless corpse around as a warning.”

  “Let me go! What’s the matter? You can’t fight a kid one on one?” he wound up another glob of spit in his mouth and fired it, but the glass eyed man caught it mid flight then smeared it all over Krav’s face. The two merchants laughed as they dropped him to the floor. One kicked him, but he wasn’t sure which one it was. He threw a fist left, then right, slamming into one of their legs. Even those were augmented. He cut his arm against the jagged metal beneath their robes.

  Another kick sent him crashing into the stall. People were watching now, but Krav didn’t care. He knew Lenny would have warned against it, told him that he was risking all their lives over a petty squabble, but he went for it anyways. Something fell from the stall, a rusted knife, and he snatched it from the sandy floor. He swung it upwards, ripping away robes before the two assailants snatched him up again. The two were taking turns pounding him, beating him with metal arms and legs until he felt like he was going to faint. By the time they released him, a crowd had gathered, and his pride was hurt. He knelt in the sand with his head hung.

  “That’s for spitting,” The red eye said. He grabbed the saw-toothed axe Krav had been admiring and positioned it on the back of his neck. “If you don’t want me to execute you right now, I suggest you empty your pockets of all your belongings and purchase this finely crafted weapon. Then we’ll all be on our way.”

  Krav felt the teeth biting into his neck. Warm trickles of blood streamed from his spine to his throat. From this position, there was nothing he could do, and he hated it. Everything in his pockets, he thought. Everything. He felt inside his robes, felt the clinking metal Rufus had given him. It was the first real currency they had acquired to trade with and was only supposed to be used in emergencies. Food could be foraged and bartered for, but this was for the major purchases. If Lenny knew he was going to waste the equivalent of a months’ worth of meals on these two just to escape with his life, he’d never forgive him.

  “Go fuck yourself,” Krav said. He felt the teeth gain weight against his neck.

  “Looks like these folks get a public execution.”