Born of Sand (Tales of a Dying Star Book 5) by David Kristoph Read Free Book Online Page B

fumes burned her nostrils. Mira kept it at arm's length as she began rubbing it over the exterior of the pipe.
    How can a girl so young be so... old? Binny acted like someone who'd seen the horrors of the world and had hardened herself against them. Because she probably has , was the obvious answer. Although she respected and followed Farrow's orders, Mira got the impression that he wasn't Binny's father. And she'd made no mention of a mother.
    Mira suddenly felt very foolish. For the longest time the only thing that mattered was protecting her own daughters. Everything she did and thought about was to that end. She'd had no room for anything else in her focus. With them gone, Mira had a deep, empty hole in her concern. Now that she allowed herself to look around her, see the struggles of everyone else, it became obvious that she wasn't the only one suffering under the Melisao occupation.
    And yet despite that occupation, strength existed. Binny was stronger than Mira. She seemed fine at being alone, while Mira still felt vaguely lost without her daughters. And that tiny girl's strength comforted Mira, reminded her that her own daughters would be fine. They're stronger than they know , she thought as she dipped her rag into the bucket to soak it with more liquid. They'll be just fine, at least until I get there.
    But she still needed to get there, eventually.
    "So what does Farrow or Akonai have planned?" Mira asked when Binny eventually emerged from the turbine interior.
    "We're going to take the planet back. Throw off the Melisao peacekeepers and restore the Praetari monarchy."
    They began cleaning the turbine shell in unison. "If you want to throw off the Melisao, then why is Spider here? Why is a blue-eyed Melisao on your side?"
    "Not all Melisao are bad," Binny explained patiently. "Some want to destroy the empire. They think their Emperor is a false god. They want to worship Mother Saria, like we used to here on Praetar before the occupation. Spider is like that." She added, "He's still a bad person, mind you, but in a different way."
    Mira chewed on that for a while. It didn't make much sense to her.
    "You had daughters?" Binny suddenly asked. "Farrow said you had daughters."
    Mira smiled. "I still do, yes. Ami is four, but Kaela is about your age."
    "You say 'is'. Does that mean they're not dead?"
    That took Mira aback. "Why would you say that?"
    "If they were alive they would be here with you."
    Mira scrubbed at the metal, picking her words carefully. "Sometimes a mother has to do what's best for her girls, even if it seems terrible. Even if it's the hardest thing in the world."
    "You didn't answer my question," Binny pointed out.
    She's so much like my Ami, smart and stubborn. "I sent them away. I found a way for them to leave the planet, to escape to a better place. I wanted to go with them, but there was no way."
    "Farrow says there's no way off the planet. Anyone who tries to escape is killed, except for Akonai."
    Farrow doesn't want to get her hopes up , Mira realized. Hope could be a dangerous thing, she knew. Changing the subject, she said, "How long until your group of rebels attacks the peacekeepers?"
    "We're not rebels . We're Freemen ," Binny said. "And I don't know how long. They always talk like the revolution is nearly here. But I've been here two years and it still hasn't happened. I don't think anyone knows. Though with Akonai in the base everyone has seemed more nervous. Anxious."
    "How are you going to defeat the peacekeepers?" Mira asked. "If there's only thirty-some Freemen here, and they have thousands..."
    "We're smarter than them," Binny insisted. "They built electroids and teach them how to fix things and repair. We take them and fit them with weapons. Plus we're salvaging more and more ships from the desert. There was a battle here long ago, and many of the parts are still useable. We'll have an army, soon."
    An army . Mira couldn't decide if the girl was optimistic or if that was a realistic