Alice Parsons awoke from the rhythmic sounds of feet stomping and claps. Light poured through an uncovered window. She remembered little since entering Tennessee on the armored transport that Marshall Bob put her on south of New Chicago. Alice reflected on the wild journey she’s taken since she left New York. One of the US Marshalls assigned to protect her went above and beyond the call of duty. She would have been dead if it wasn’t for him.

Alfred! He’s got to be hungry, she thought.

Alice looked about the tiny room, searching for her cat, when one of her captors entered. She was taller than Alice, had dirty blond hair and bronze skin.

“Peregrine,” the woman said as she bowed.

Why does she keep calling me that? Alice wondered. How long have I been here? And they won’t use my real name.

“What’s going on outside?” Alice asked.

“The man you questioned… he’s being sentenced.”

“For what?”

“He is accused of spying. Even you caught him in a lie.”

“My head hurts, and I remember little of last night.”

“Goeh’s wine has influenced you,” the woman said.

“Alice!” a man’s voice yelled.

“Finally, someone using my real name! He sounds familiar. Who is that?” Alice asked.

“The accused,” the guard replied.

“I would like to see him.”

“Your turn to judge was last night; now his fate is to be decided by the elders.”

“I don’t care. I want to see him,” Alice said as she headed to the door.

The woman held out a hand. “It’s not proper to go out like that.”

Alice blinked. She looked at her outfit, which was a tank top and blue jeans.

“Royalty is not to be seen in those common clothes,” the guard said.

Royalty?

The woman handed her a robe made from several animal pelts. At the base of her neck was the head of a fox. It was pulled back and positioned in such a way that the head faced anyone who would approach the wearer from behind.

“If you are to approach this man again, you will be in proper dress.”

The woman helped Alice into the robe. She was about to leave when the woman lifted an attached hood, concealing most of Alice’s face.

She doesn’t want the man to see my face. Why?

Alice followed the woman out of the hovel, reserved for royalty. Most of her memories were scrambled, but she remembered an explosion and chaos as her transport, a modified armored truck, was attacked. Men on cycles pulled her from the rubble. She remembered a lot of men, but no women.

Alice left her tiny hovel on the outskirts of the encampment. Mobile homes and other handmade structures made from wood, logs, branches, rock and mud encircled a pyre. The structures didn’t seem too stable to Alice. Her captors had tied a man about her age to the metal X-shaped pyre. Piles of wood and scrub brush were stacked around him. Near the prisoner, a group of elders stood nearby. Other members of the tribe stomped their feet and clapped their hands. A group of younger adolescent looking members held weapons, torches and some kind of hood. Alice walked slowly toward the stomping and clapping until the pyre come into view.

“Are they going to execute that man?”

The woman gave Alice a sideways glance. “I gave the order after your interview with him. He called you by some other name.”

“What name might that be?”

“Alice. Does that name carry any meaning for you?”

Alice thought about it for a long moment. “It stirs something, but I’m not sure,” Alice lied.

I’m not sure if these strange women are friend or foe yet. I’d better keep this to myself for now.

As Alice approached the group of elders, haunting echoes provided a surreal experience. Goeh watched them approach like a patient mother waiting for a child.

“High Mother, Peregrine wishes to speak with you,” Alice’s escort said.

“Thank thee Silvia, you can let us be.”

Alice watched Silvia leave, but the other elders remained near the pyre.

“Speak, child,” Goeh said.

“May we speak in private?” Alice asked.

“Oh course. Latavia, please carry out the sentencing of the infidel—”

“No,” Alice cut Goeh off.

All eyes were on her. The penetrating gaze of the clan was palpable.

“I mean, this man may have clues to my past. After seeking knowledge in sleep, I feel I may share a connection.”

“In two days, the raiders attack, their leader confirmed as much. We cannot afford to wait. The longer he is alive, the weaker our position becomes. He may try to get a message to his kind,” Goeh said.

“I killed raiders for Maverick. I’m not with them,” the man known as Jamie said.

“Is that a risk you willing to take? If we show the raiders at the outpost his head, then it may turn the tid in our favor,” Latavia said to Goeh.

“Give me a few hours alone with him. If I cannot find a connection with this man, I will kill him myself,” Alice said.

God, I hope it doesn’t come to that, Alice thought.

The Crone gave Alice an unreadable stare for a long moment, then she pointed at Jamie.

“Very well. Untie and put him with the others. Peregrine and the High Council need to palaver,” Goeh said.

I need to figure out the hierarchy of this council before it’s too late. I know Goeh’s a leader, but I suspect that she reports to someone else.

Goeh motioned Alice to follow.

The Crone led Alice to the last trailer near the edge of the encampment. A guard opened the door. Alice had to duck to avoid hitting many objects that resembled a dreamcatcher. Goeh twisted a band on her wrist. A tiny light illuminated the area. Alice noticed a ladder leading into darkness.

Soon after descending the ladder, Alice found herself in a room with many women she didn’t know. All of them referred to her as Peregrine and said that she was royalty within their clan. She racked her brain for answers, but found none.

I remember an accident. Bodies all around, was pulled free—men. What happened after that?

“The council has assembled. Speak freely, child,” Goeh said.

“There is something familiar about that man. He might be from my past. But I can’t say for sure,” Alice said.

“Do you know his name?”

Alice closed her eyes and furrowed her brow in concentration.

“I don’t even know half of your names.”

“Your memory will be whole in time. I know you suffer from what we call phased personality. After a traumatic event, like what you went through, part of your brain forgets about who you are. Our ancestors called it mind wandering.”

“I think this man can help me come out of whatever shell my mind is hiding in.”

“This man is dangerous, and I won’t allow you to be left alone with him,” Latavia said.

“I won’t be. You can stay outside. You would be within arm’s reach in case I need you,” Alice said.

“If he harms you, I will tear his heart out. We need you for the fight to come, sister,” a woman that Alice knew as Maggie said.

“Before we do anything, I want to know why am here. What can you tell me about how I came to be here? I only remember bits and pieces since… joining.”

Goeh and Latavia exchanged a look.

“We should tell her mother,” Latavia said to Goeh.

The old Crone gave Alice a pained look.

“As you know, I’m not your birth mother. When we found you, the raiders had taken advantage—they raped and beat you child. Your skin was black and swollen.”

Goeh had trouble enunciating words. The ebony-skinned woman known as Latavia put a comforting hand on the old mother’s shoulder.

What is she not telling me? Why is she so upset? I should be the one upset.

“I remember nothing, just fragments.”

“Are you sure you want to know of this past, sister? Perhaps it’s a blessing that you don’t remember. Sometimes the past can not be healed,” Latavia said.

“I feel incomplete. Can you please tell me? Good or bad, I need to know.”

Latavia closed her eyes for a moment. “Very well. It may not be easy to hear, but you shall know.”

Latavia described a battle with a raider gang infamous for its assaults on caravan transports. The Shrew had been tracking Dieark, the leader of the raider gang, for months to anticipate their next move.

“Who is the Shrew?” Alice asked.

“She’s the leader of our clan,” Goeh said.

“I thought you were the leader.”

“No, child, I’m just a humble advisor.”

Goeh urged Latavia to continue.

“We thought the raiders attacking the caravan was a lucky break for us because they had evaded our scouts for months. Several from our clan were taken away from this sacred ground. We found you when we tracked them to the raider camp.”

“How did you find me?”

“You were beaten so bad… your face was so swollen. We had to patch you up before we could move you. It’s so lucky that I had some arnica flower in my pouch. The bruises cleared faster, but I had to apply a healing poultice before we moved you.”

“Well, I’m glad you found me; my face has healed—”

“Girl, you have another inside you, a vile temptress that gets what she wants. Nothing like our Peregrine or the person you are now,” Goeh said.

What the hell is she talking about?

“We have accepted you into our clan, and you have been true, but you have a wicked evil inside you that we are afraid of. We saw what you did to those raiders. True, they violated you and deserved what they got, but their death was inhumane.”

“You think I did something to those raiders?”

“Some of our captured girls got passed around to the men at the raider encampment,” Goeh said as she gave Alice a compassionate look. “So did you. You were like a tigress in the night, slow, waiting for the time to be right—then strike. You endured for days.”

Alice’s eyes became moist with the realization that she may have done something unthinkable. She closed her eyes and tried to pick a thread of memory. She remembered an explosion. The upper half of the transport separated from the lower half, then blackness. Tears rolled down her face as she saw her cat Alfred being propelled across the desolate landscape.

I’m sorry, Alfred!

Alice opened her eyes. The group of women gave her a wary stare.

“Do you remember anything more?” Goeh said.

Alice stared into space.

“She needs some of your wine, mother,” Latavia said.

Goeh waved a servant over, who filled a cup and gave it to Alice.

“Take it in and it will help you remember, child.”

She drank the wine greedily, then closed her eyes, waited for the visions to return. She thought she was going to fall asleep, but the visions returned. The fog of memory provided a jumbled, kaleidoscopic effect of carnage. Many faces of men, armored vehicles and women from the clan accompanied visions of burning skulls. Screaming women and laughing men haunted her as the fog lifted. Alice was seated on a bearded raider’s lap. He had a necklace of miniature skulls. He gazed into her eyes, stroked her hair, then kissed her. The cloudiness of her mind returned, her memory faded for a time. It lifted as sudden as a light illuminated a darkened room. A burly man was attempting to mount a fifteen-year-old that Alice recognized from the clan. She watched herself hold a blade to the throat of the girl.

Why did I do that?

Tears poured out of her closed eyelids. Her lip quivered as she processed the images. Alice opened her eyes. Goeh, Latavia, and the girl that the raiders attacked stood in silence as the awful memories invaded Alice’s mind.

“I’m so sorry,” Alice mouthed to the girl.

The girl Alice had helped the raiders attack stood motionless, watching Alice like someone would a viper.

Then another memory filled Alice’s mind. She closed her eyes and let the memory take hold. The leader led Alice into a bedroom. She watched herself lose control and give in to the savage. The next memory was harder to conjure up, but after more concentration, she could summon it. Her wrists were bound, and she held an icepick in both hands. She was stabbing someone. She caught a reflection from a piece of metal lying nearby. From the looks of it, she’d killed several raiders. Blood covered her naked body.

“I… I don’t recognize these actions,” Alice said as she collapsed to the floor, sobbing.

Goeh gave Alice a much needed hug. “Now, do you recognize the man outside?”

Alice shook her head.

“I want to spare you any more pain. But if it helps, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to talk. I will think on it, for now rest my child.”