An undulating carpet of green stretched as far as the eye could see. The sky was clear and blue and strewn with bright white clouds.
Far away on the horizon, a cumulonimbus cloud rose like a white-walled palace of the gods. The sound of cicadas filled the air. In the center of this meadow, the road was a tiny strip of hard-packed earth so thin it barely qualified as a road at all.
It ran straight for the most part, occasionally making a sudden sharp curve to avoid a thicket of brambles or a copse of trees, then straightening again. It headed due west.
Hermes moved down the road, taking the curves at a high speed. When he hit a straightaway, his front wheel bit into the earth, and he accelerated even more.
It was a warm day, and Kino opened the collar of her long, black vest to let the fresh air caress her skin. She wore her holster strap on the outside of the vest in case she had to reach for the Woodsman at a moment's notice. On her right thigh, the Cannon's holster was also uncovered – the tail of her vest was tucked securely behind it. She'd wrapped elastic bands around the sleeves of her shirt to keep them from flapping in the wind or impeding her movement if she had to go for one of her guns. But her short, black hair was free of cap or helmet and blew every which way. She glared straight ahead through her ageworn goggles.
Hermes had no rear seat and had yet to carry an extra passenger, but his carrier and storage bins were quite full of provisions like food, water, and ammo. They were so full, in fact, that Hermes felt that he was entitled to complain about the speed Kino pressed him to do on the sharper tums.
He was considering voicing just such a grievance when she tapped his gas tank and pointed up over his handlebars.
"There it is," she said.
Hermes surveyed the road ahead. In the distance, he could just make out the white walls of a town.
Kino opened the throttle all the way. Hermes leapt ahead and forgot to grumble.
Kino stood before the arched gate in the high, thick walls, her goggles around her neck. She raked her fingers through her windblown hair and shouted into the still air, "Is anyone there?!"
Thick wooden doors, which should have been tightly shut, stood wide-open on their massive gateposts, but Kino was nothing if not cautious. She could see a few stone houses through the dark gate. The guardhouse should have had armed men, but there were none.
She waited for several minutes, listening to wind and occasional birdsong. She wiped sweat from her brow with her forearm.
"I don't think anyone's here, Kino," said the motorcycle behind her. He leaned on his kickstand in the shade of a lone tree.
"Strange." Kino called out again. Only the wind answered, but it had nothing informative to say.
"Come on," urged Hermes. "Let's go in. The gate's open, after all."
"We shouldn't do that, Hermes. If you go into someone's house without permission, you can't really complain if they shoot you."
"But if nobody' s there, then you can't get shot. And..."
"And?" repeated Kino, turning to look at him expectantly.
"Very few people could kill you, Kino. Even if someone pulled a gun on you from behind, you'd spin and shoot before they got the thing cocked. I guarantee it."
"Thanks, I guess." Kino grimaced, tapping her fingertips on the revolver in her thigh holster. "Okay then. We can't stand here all night. Let's go in. But we're not shooting back. If it looks like trouble, we ride away."
"Your call."
Kine pushed Hermes through the gate, her eyes trying to take in every comer, alley, and rooftop. It was as silent as a shrine.
"Center of town's the most likely place to find someone," Hermes suggested.
"Oh, right. just like that last place, huh? A cast of thousands."
"No need to be sarcastic," Hermes told her, sounding miffed. After a moment he asked, "You think... you think the same thing happened here?"
"That'd be too big a coincidence, wouldn't it?" Kino said as they left the shadow of the gate. She prayed she was right.
"Roughing it in the center of a town," sighed Kino, feeding kindling to their fire. Darkness blanketed the ground, but the sky bulged with stars that occasionally hid behind high-riding clouds. Kino shivered and wished she were warm.
"Not like it's your fault." Firelight reflecting off his chrome fittings, Hermes stood to the side, baggage-free.
Kino chuckled. "Ah, so I guess it must be yours!"
"Heck no. I blame the citizens of this place. A city as nice as this and nobody lives in it?" Hermes made a rude noise. "It's insulting to the buildings. An outrage."
Kino laughed softly and looked about the intersection in which they'd set up camp. Cobblestone roads wide enough for several cars to pass stretched in all four directions. Stone buildings lined the sides of the roads, without so much as an inch between them. Every one was four stories tall, of identical construction, and ancient.
There was not a single light in any window.
Kino and Hermes had wandered around the city for half the day without seeing a sou]. There were no signs of anyone having lived here for a very long time. Weary of investigating abandoned buildings, they d set up cramp here, where they could keep a close watch on things. They'd built their fire in a small depression in the cobblestones at the center of the intersection, using dry wood from the trees along the roads.
"It's a ghost town," murmured Kino, tearing into something that looked like a lump of clay but was labeled "Protein Energy Bar." She put the lump into her mouth and chewed it with difficulty. It certainly took a lot of energy to eat the darned thing.
"What will we do tomorrow?" Hermes asked when Kino had finished her meal.
"There are places we haven't been yet. We'll look there."
"Might be futile."
"That's fine, too." Kino pulled a blanket from her duffel and crossed to the sidewalk before a blank-faced building, leaving Hermes behind by the fire. Laying the blanket down on the sidewalk, she murmured, "I'd love a soft bed with white sheets."
"My sympathies. Might I also point out that there won't be a hot shower in the morning?"
"Killjoy." Kino pulled the Cannon out of her holster. Then she lay down, wrapping herself in the blanket. The Woodsman stayed snuggled up against her spine – just in case.
"Sleeping already?"
"Nothing else to do. Keep wateh for me. Good night, Hermes."
Kino had almost dropped off when Hermes murmured, "I hate keeping watch."
"Sorry," she muttered.
"I really hate it."
"Hermes..."
"It's boring."
He was silent just long enough to allow Kino to drift toward sleep once more.
"Boring... boring... bo—"
"HERMES!"
Silence.
Kino slept at last. She wasn't sure, but she thought that, just before she nodded off, she heard a soft, metallic whisper, "Boring." But it might have been part of her dream.
Kino woke with the sun. Or would have, had it not been shrouded in a thick mist.
She performed some light exercises, cleaned her guns, and practiced her quick draw, which managed to warm her blood a little. The breakfast menu was the same as dinner the night before, which meant it was wretched. Kino tried not to taste what she ate. Once finished with the onerous task of eating, she woke Hermes.
He took in the gray mist and chill. "Still boring," he informed her.
The sun appeared at last and drove the mist away. Kino cleaned up the remains of the fire, loaded all the baggage onto the carrier, and left the crossroads behind.
For half a day, they roamed new areas of the city. They found no one, not even traces of people. The buildings reeked of long disuse.
Around noon, tiring of their search, Kino and Hermes made their way to a large park. White cobblestone paths stretched across the grass. The park was wide enough that even at reasonable speeds, they traveled for some time without reaching the other side. Here, too, there were signs of long abandonment The trees and grass were overgrown, the ponds had dried up, and the flower beds had withered away or gone to seed.
In the center of the park stood a large white building. It ran so far to the north and south that there seemed to be no end to the expanse of white marble. It was magnificently constructed, with finely carved embellishments from top to bottom, as far as the eye could see.
"This is amazing" Hermes said, as they admired the edifice. "Think of the resources it must have taken to build such a place. It's awe inspiring."
"Maybe it was a palace," suggested Kino, wiping her forehead with her shirtsleeve. The sun was at its zenith, and shining very brightly.
"Probably. The palace of a very rich king, once upon a time, long, long ago."
"Then the monarchy fell and they turned it into a park," Kino finished the fairy tale, then added, "Wish there was a guide around to tell us the real history." She nodded toward the northern face to a soaring archway. "I think that must be an entrance."