Across the Dark Water

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

  “There. Take a look at her,” Brauk said.

  The cub named Rahkki peered over her wall and gasped when he saw her. He opened her stall door and dropped to his knees, but out of her striking range. Tears filled his eyes, and Echofrost blinked at him, shocked. Could Landwalkers cry?

  The boy spoke in a choked whisper. “Why’d you wait so long to get me, Brauk?”

  “I didn’t think she’d be this stubborn.”

  A voice interrupted them. “Ay, who goes?”

  Rahkki looked up to see Koko facing them with a loaded bow, the arrow drawn back.

  “It’s us, calm down,” said Brauk.

  She lowered her arm. “Two a their wild friends came outta the sky. Tried ta free ’em.”

  “You saw them?” Rahkki asked. Echofrost watched the pulse quicken in his throat.

  “Well, I didn’ imagine ’em,” she answered. “A buckskin and a pinto, standin’ righ’ there.” She pointed to where Brauk was standing in front of Echofrost’s stall. “I chased ’em off.”

  “Well done,” said Brauk, and Koko ambled away, looking as smug as a monkey.

  Rahkki turned back to Echofrost and lowered his voice. She pricked her ears, listening to the soothing sounds emitting from his throat.

  Rahkki reached his hand toward her, and Echofrost shied away from him.

  “She doesn’t like to be touched,” Brauk said.

  “I know that,” Rahkki whispered. “Just stop talking.”

  The cub inched closer to her, and Echofrost realized his arm was there to keep her away from him. She twitched her tail. Even weak and starving, she could slice his soft, hairless belly wide open with her sharpened hooves.

  Rahkki exhaled, long and slow, pushing his warm breath toward Echofrost.

  She startled. This she understood. She closed her eyes and drank in his odors—the scents of wet soil, burned wood, the jungle air, and Rahkki’s essence: his spirit. It melded all the other scents together into a blend that was unique to him, and his scent was peaceful but tinged with caution. He inched closer.

  She blinked her eyes and stared at him. Why did he come closer if he was afraid of her? Was he stupid or brave? Echofrost huffed, curious. The cub lowered his arm and turned his back on her.

  She lifted her head higher, her ears flicking front to back. What was he thinking to show her his back? She couldn’t see his eyes or smell his essence. She glanced at Brauk. The big Landwalker watched, standing lightly on his feet, ready to intercede. But his little brother sat in front of her, not moving. She stretched her neck toward Rahkki, growing more curious by the moment. Her nose reached his neck. She opened her mouth, thinking to lip at his bare skin.

  “Get away!” Brauk dived into the stall swinging his club and struck Echofrost across her jaw.

  She reared back, and Brauk yanked Rahkki out and slammed the door.

  “I thought you understood the Kihlari?” Brauk said, breathing fast. “She was about to bite you.”

  “Sula was just smelling me.”

  Brauk groaned. “No, she opened her mouth. I know her better than you do.”

  “But I wasn’t threatening her; I was making her curious about me. Now look at her; she’s spooked.”

  Echofrost quivered in her stall, furious.

  “I’ll have to start over with her; Sula doesn’t trust me now,” said Rahkki.

  “Start over? You haven’t done anything yet.”

  “She was studying me, and now she’s blocking me out.”

  Brauk dropped his face into his hands and groaned. “Tuni said you’d know how to help her, but you’re crazy, aren’t you? You read things into these animals that aren’t there.”

  “Just put a halter on her,” Rahkki said. “Let’s get her fed and watered, then I’ll start again.”

  “She won’t eat or drink. I’ve tried.” Brauk entered Echofrost’s stall with his club lifted high and strapped the halter onto her head. She trained her eyes on his weapon, tired of being struck by it. When he yanked on her lead rope, she walked forward.

  When they were outside, Echofrost halted and stared at the stars, hunting for Hazelwind and longing to fly. She glanced back at the Kihlari den. Shysong was inside, munching her hay like a tame pegasus. She wondered if that meant the mare was losing her motivation to escape. Echofrost chewed her lip. Her hunger made it difficult to think straight.

  Rahkki touched his brother’s shoulder, making him pause to wait for Echofrost. Brauk rolled his eyes and fidgeted with his belt.

  Echofrost took a long, slow breath, looking again at the stars, but she couldn’t reach them, not yet. It had only been four days since Brauk cut her flight feathers and five days since her capture—her chopped plumage wasn’t even close to being sky worthy.

  Rahkki stood in front of her but with his back turned, making her curious about him again. He was leading her somewhere, and she didn’t think he meant to hurt her, so what did he want? She stepped toward him, and he resumed walking. He and his brother led her toward the jungle. Echofrost remembered the black spit dragon and the killer ants, and she dug in her hooves.

  Rahkki and Brauk stood patiently, not tugging on her. When she let out her breath they walked forward and she followed, feeling soothed.

  Soon they reached the rain forest’s edge. Brauk grabbed Rahkki’s shoulder and forced him to stop. “What are you doing? We can’t go in there.”

  The cub lifted his chin. “I’m taking Sula to Leshi Creek. She wants to drink from a running stream, and she needs to graze. You waited too long, and now we have no choice. We have to go into the jungle. Look at her.”

  Both males turned, staring at Echofrost, and she took a big, wavering step backward. They dropped their eyes and continued whispering.

  Echofrost’s mind filled with doubts. Why hadn’t she just eaten their food? Then she would at least be healthy.

  Finally, the brothers finished their argument and entered the woods. “Stay behind me,” Brauk ordered. “It’s dark enough for dragons.” He took the lead, brandishing his sawa sword, a weapon that had a long, curved blade the color of the moon. Echofrost knew the name of the sword because while she’d been slowly starving to death in the barn, she’d also been listening to Kol. The stallion liked to talk, mostly about himself, but he’d also begun teaching her about the Kihlari army. He’d told her that all the Riders carried a sawa sword, a dagger, and their arrows. Some also wielded spears.

  Echofrost followed the brothers, her ears pricked for danger. As much as she hated to admit it, she was counting on their weapons to protect her. Until she could fly, she knew she wasn’t safe alone in the jungle. The mist was thick in the forest tonight, hanging low over her head and blocking her view of the sky. If Hazelwind was out flying, he wouldn’t be able to see her or she him.

  Foreign animals shrieked in the trees, and night insects chirped with irritating enthusiasm. But when Echofrost heard the sound of bubbling water ahead, her heart lifted. She nickered and surged forward, following Rahkki, who’d taken her rope and was leading her toward the creek. When they arrived, the cub walked into the water, clucking to encourage her.

  Echofrost stepped closer, flaring her nostrils and

  scenting the water for contamination or danger. But the brook seemed fresh, clean. Rahkki tapped the surface. “Come on, girl.”

  She stepped into the creek and then plunged her muzzle deep into the cool liquid, sucking it down her gullet and splashing Rahkki. He laughed, sounding like a nickering foal.

  Brauk watched them from the bank where he was squatting. Leaning over, he selected a small stone and tossed it at a tree, striking it dead center. “This is the same creek I use to fill her water bucket,” he said. “Why will she drink here and not in her stall?”

  Rahkki shrugged. “She’s wild, Brauk. That’s why.”

  “But that’s stupid. She’d let herself die of thirst next to a bucket of water?”

  “She might,” he answered. “But Sula’s not stupid, just willful.”
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  “I don’t see the difference.”

  Rahkki chose a stone and threw it at the exact tree his brother had aimed at, missing the target completely. Brauk harrumphed. “You have perfect aim with your blowgun, but you can’t hit a tree with a rock.”

  The cub shrugged and then sat next to his brother on the bank, holding Echofrost’s lead rope in one hand. “Once

  Sula’s and Firo’s feathers grow back, you should let them go, Brauk. Maybe they can catch up to their herd.”

  Echofrost waded to the creek’s edge and grazed on the succulent plants that bordered it, too hungry to test for what was poisonous and what wasn’t—she’d die anyway if she didn’t eat something, so she munched on every plant that smelled good to her.

  Brauk shook his long hair at Rahkki. “I can’t let them go,” he said. “I promised the Sky Guard I’d use their profits to buy hay and weapons for us all. Whoever buys Sula can deal with her attitude. I just need her tame enough to trot in a circle and fat enough to look good doing it. I only have twenty-four days left until the auction. Will you help me?”

  Rahkki sighed. “I’ll do what I can.”

  The brothers kept watch over her while Echofrost drank and grazed. Rahkki was distracted, flicking small black ants off his knees. Echofrost rotated her ears and flared her nostrils at every scent and sound. The fog rolled in thicker, if that was possible. She couldn’t see but a winglength ahead of her. A spit dragon was too big to sneak up on them, but what else lurked in these strange woods? Where was the panther that had chased her? And

  what about the huge, stinging red ants? Did they swarm animals as large as she?

  A loud cracking noise spooked Echofrost and sent her trotting in a wild circle. In her fright she knocked Brauk headfirst into the riverbank.

  He leaped up and shouted at her, making a fist. She reared away from him.

  “Brauk, no!” Rahkki sprang on his brother and shoved him off-balance. Brauk fell into the creek, and Rahkki landed on top of him. The brothers rolled like crocodiles while Echofrost swung her neck, searching for the source of the noise that had spooked her.

  “Get off me,” Brauk yelled, flinging Rahkki aside.

  “Don’t hit Sula,” Rahkki said. “Please don’t do that.”

  “Land to skies! I was just threatening her.”

  The brothers sat in the stream, panting. “I think you broke my nose,” Brauk grumbled.

  Rahkki scooted out of his brother’s punching range. “I didn’t break it; you fell on it.”

  “Nah, it was you.” Brauk jerked his nose straight with a sickening crack. “Own the deed, own the consequences, Brother. Just be glad I’m not in the mood to thrash you.”

  Brauk stood up, squeezing water out of his boar-hide trousers, and then he lent his hand, helping Rahkki to his feet.

  Echofrost watched them, feeling curious. Were they playing or fighting? She was so distracted by the brothers that she didn’t immediately notice the hot breath on her neck.

  “Sula’s quiet,” Rahkki said. Then he turned and saw why. “Giant!” he screamed.

  But the warning came too late for Echofrost. Huge fists wrapped around her neck and dragged her off her hooves. She kicked; she couldn’t breathe.

  “Let go!” Rahkki bounded toward her.

  Echofrost twisted her head up and saw her attacker towering over her: his pale skin, red hair, small blue eyes, and thick dry lips. He was so wide she couldn’t see around him. Muscles bulged down his arms, an animal hide draped across his shoulder, and he grunted like a buffalo. His long exhale blew back her mane, and her heart hammered. She guessed she was face-to-face with a Gorlan giant.

  He tightened his grip around her neck. Her vision darkened and her body went limp.

  19

  Leshi Creek

  RAHKKI SNATCHED BRAUK’S DAGGER OUT OF HIS brother’s sheath and leaped at the giant, climbing onto his back. “Let her go!” The words blasted from his mouth with such savagery that he didn’t recognize his own voice.

  “Rahkki, get off him!” Brauk shouted.

  This Gorlan beast was at least twelve lengths tall and dressed in goatskin—he was from the Highland horde, Rahkki guessed by the cut of his clothes. The Gorlander held Sula by her throat with both hands, trying to suffocate her so he could drag her away. Her tongue lolled from her mouth, and her eyes popped wide.

  The giant shrugged, trying to throw Rahkki off his back, and then Rahkki’s thoughts caught up to his actions. I’m attacking a giant!

  Brauk drew his sawa blade, shifting through the moonlight like a shadow, his eyes glinting. “Rahkki, get off that giant,” he said.

  But Sula needed Rahkki’s help, so he grasped Brauk’s dagger in both fists and drove it toward the giant’s brain. The Gorlander released one pale, meaty hand from the mare’s neck, snatched Rahkki’s arm, and tossed him into the creek before the blade could find its mark.

  Rahkki landed in the water with a loud splash. His upper arm went immediately numb where the giant had squeezed it.

  “Run!” Brauk ordered, keeping his eyes on the Gorlander. He twirled his curved sawa sword and trotted lightly forward, springing off his calves. Where size was the giant’s friend, speed was Brauk’s.

  Rahkki swam out of the creek, clutched the dagger, and followed his brother. The beast watched them come, his eyes as fearless as Lutegar’s, and for the same reason. What could hurt him out here? Even drooling dragons switched paths when giants walked the woods. This one lurched toward them with one fist twisted in Sula’s white mane and the other poised to strike. The giant grunted with each footfall, and his great weight rattled the soil.

  “Go,” Brauk ordered again.

  But Rahkki trotted closer. Sula twisted and kicked. Her hooves sliced through the Gorlander’s goat-hide vest, raking red streaks across his moon-pale skin. He roared like a lion, his attention divided between the mare and Rahkki’s brother. Brauk danced, light on his heels, transfixing the giant with his swaying movements. Rahkki clasped Brauk’s short dagger in his left hand, since his right arm was throbbing.

  The flame-haired warrior motioned at Brauk in Gorlish, speaking with his hands. Brauk, and all the Sandwen warriors, learned simple Gorlish as part of their training—and Brauk answered back quickly. The gestures were oddly familiar to Rahkki, which was strange, because he didn’t speak Gorlish.

  Brauk translated. “The giant is alone.”

  “He told you that?”

  “Not exactly. He said his horde is sneaking up behind us.”

  Rahkki glanced fearfully at the trees.

  Brauk grinned. “But giants are terrible liars.” He gestured again in Gorlish, and the giant responded by shaking his head. “He won’t let Sula go,” Brauk said. “I’ll have to fight him for her. You need to leave. If I have to tell you again . . .”

  “I’ll bring help back then,” said Rahkki. He charged toward Fort Prowl to call out the army.

  “No!” Brauk’s harsh tone stopped him. “It’s one Gorlander, Rahkki. Don’t embarrass me. Just get.”

  Rahkki ripped his eyes from the seething giant to his brother, the last living member of his family, besides Darthan. If Rahkki wasn’t getting help, then he wasn’t leaving at all. He crossed his arms.

  Brauk unleashed a stream of curses. “Sun and stars, Brother! If this giant doesn’t kill you, I will. Just stay behind me then.” Brauk shook his long, dark hair, jingling the bells tied within, and darted forward, slicing the giant’s free arm.

  The beast charged. His flat, naked feet thumped the soil, and he dragged Sula behind him. He backhanded Brauk, but his brother ducked as the big arm whooshed by his head and slammed into a tree, snapping it in half. Brauk dived in and stabbed the Gorlander through the calf. The giant groaned, and his fist squeezed Sula so tight that her legs curled.

  The giant drew his bludgeon, a solid ivory club, and swung it at Brauk; but Rahkki’s brother was too quick, and the spikes stuck in the soil, giving Brauk the second he needed to stab the g
iant’s bicep muscle.

  Snarling, the Gorlander’s white face turned the color of his hair. He coiled his body for attack.

  Brauk parried in and out, slicing at the giant in sections from head to foot until the beast was streaked in blood. But these wounds were not fatal, nor were they meant to be—Brauk was whipping the giant into a crazed frenzy and throwing him off his guard.

  Rahkki leaped and dodged in the background, ready to help but staying out of the way. Sula was panting hard, but her eyes had cleared. The giant had loosened his grip, and she could breathe well enough now. He saw that she was watching the Gorlander too, waiting patiently for her moment to strike.

  “Get him, Sula!” he called to her.

  As if she understood, the winged mare whipped her head around and bit the giant, clamping her jaws around his forearm. He stifled a roar and shook her, but she held tight, sinking her teeth deep into his flesh. She pulled herself closer and then kicked him in the chest, stunning him. He released her, and she spilled onto the ground and rolled out of danger.

  Rahkki rushed in, grabbed Sula’s lead rope, and meant to pull her away; but she galloped past him, dragging him off his feet and through the tangle of undergrowth. By the time he thought to let go of the rope, she was with Brauk, battling side by side with him.

  Rahkki lay on the jungle floor, stunned. Sula could have run away, but instead she stayed and attacked the giant with the skill of a warrior. Using her flightless wings to propel and balance herself, she reared and clubbed the giant with her front hooves. Meanwhile Brauk hacked at the Gorlander like he was chopping down a tree.

  The giant finally toppled when Brauk sliced his ankles, severing the tendons. He leaped onto the beast’s chest, gestured in Gorlish, and then slew the giant cleanly and quickly, like he would a wild buck. Brauk swept back his hair, inhaled a deep breath, and then edged toward the creek to wash his sword.

  Rahkki stood up, his legs shaking, and he dusted the muddy soil off his trousers. He inched toward Sula. Her eyes were fixed on the felled giant, but her ears swiveled back, letting him know she heard him coming. He picked up the end of her lead rope, expecting her to bolt. She didn’t. Her eyes turned toward the sky, gazing hopefully at it. Rahkki looked up and saw nothing there—the mist had cleared for a moment, but it was quickly rolling back in.