Kamo hated to admit it, but she knew Rolin was right. Her soaking clothes were starting to warm a little from being near the fire, but they were more soggy than dry.
With a regretful sigh, she removed Rolin’s coat and her fur one. She handed it to Rolin, who draped it carefully on a tree branch that hung near the fire.
“The boots too, I’m afraid,” he said.
“I’ll go change and grab my old sandals. I think I have an extra tunic in my pack,” Kamo told him.
She hurried to her tent and exchanged her clothes for a dry pair, slipping the wet boots off her feet and trading them for her old pair of sandals, open at the toes. Despite their exposure, they were warmer than the water-logged boots.
She returned to the fire, set the boots on the stones, and hung her wet clothes next to the fur coat. A musty scent already wafted from the sleeves.
She sat down on the log and reached her toes and hands to the fire. Rolin left his jacket on the log, and she picked it up and twirled it over her shoulders.
“It’s warmer if you wear it properly,” he said, bending to the fire to stoke the flames.
Kamo shifted, working each arm into the sleeves and pulling the collar closer to her neck.
“Aren’t you going to be cold?” she asked Rolin as Gobi joined them with some dinner.
“Me?” Rolin asked, “I’ll be fine, Laukia has winters just like this. You get used to the snow and chill.”
Gobi eyed him suspiciously.
“Dinner is served,” he said, and he handed a plate to Rolin and Kamo, “It should warm up both of you.”
He sat between them and shoveled meat and potatoes into his mouth, barely stopping to breathe between bites.
Before Gobi finished his plate, Hertha wandered over to their fire. His inhale of food became more civilized as she sat down next to Kamo.
“How are you, Kamo?” she asked quietly, “I hope I’m not interrupting. I just heard that Panchon had given you a hard time, so I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
Kamo didn’t know if she should be flattered or embarrassed.
“He was just giving me lessons,” Kamo decided to say, “And I’m a little wetter and colder than usual, but no worse for the wear.”
Unless you count the bruises running up and down my arms.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Hertha exclaimed. “What about you, Gobi?” she asked around Kamo’s head, “Kamo’s lessons didn’t scare you, did they?”
Not wanting to be in the middle of the exchange, Kamo stood and insisted that Gobi switch spots with her. He happily obliged, and Kamo took a seat next to Rolin as Gobi scooted toward Hertha.
“I’m not the one who got pelted,” Gobi said, “so I think they were brilliant!”
Hertha giggled and softly nudged Gobi’s shoulder.
Kamo leaned her head to Rolin and whispered, “Perhaps we should give them some privacy. I have a feeling the giggling may be a symptom of a much more serious condition.”
Rolin looked from Gobi to Hertha and whispered back.
“If it’s a condition, at least it’s mutual. I’ve never seen Gobi this giddy! And that’s saying something. The man gets excited over everything.”
They looked at Gobi and Hertha one last time before Kamo stood up.
“I think I’ll head to bed,” she said loudly, “Good night, Gobi. Hertha.”
Hertha wiggled her fingers into a wave with a small goodbye, and Gobi mouthed, “thank you” as Hertha turned to say goodbye.
“I’m headed to bed as well,” Rolin announced, “Gobi, I’ll leave a torch for you.”
Gobi stood and clapped him on the shoulder.
“Thanks,” he said, “good night, you two. I’ll see you in the morning.”
The clear sky shimmered as a blanket of stars, the full moon its glittering centerpiece. Kamo searched the stars, comforted by their light. She found her favorite constellation, though not in the location that she was used to seeing it.
“It’s beautiful tonight,” she said.
“Indeed,” said Rolin, “it’s been a long time since I’ve seen the stars this close and clear.”
They had reached Kamo’s tent and were lingering next to its canvas door.
All of a sudden, Kamo heard rumbling all around her.
Rolin looked around, his eyes searching for the source of the noise.
“I thought we were past rock giant territory,” Kamo said.
“We are.”
The rumbling got louder, and the ground began to split beneath their feet. In the dark, Kamo could just make out nests of ratty green hair on the tops of thirty or forty elven heads, jumping from the trees and surrounding their camp.
“Panchon!” Kamo cried. She heard the leader rally his clan, but they weren’t as fast as the attackers.
Spears flew into their midst, slashing Rolin’s sleeve as he ducked toward the earth. The ground still threatened to collapse beneath them, and Rolin and Kamo leaped to a nearby stone as the dirt they had stood on fell into a chasm in the earth. Rolin unsheathed his sword and went bounding into the dark, aiming for the nearest elf he could see.
Panchon’s men joined the fight. The earth was torn between two wills: one trying to tear it apart, the other trying to build it into mounds. Kamo stayed still, trying to take deep breaths.
This gang has magic.
Another set of spears flew past her ears, and Kamo heard a cry of pain in Gobi’s direction. She turned to see Hertha pinned to the ground, and Gobi crumpled to the ground next to her.
A spear had pierced her arm and it protruded at an excruciating angle. Gobi, frantic and panicked, pulled the spear from her arm and put his hand over the wound.
He searched for Kamo in the darkness. “Help!”
But Kamo didn’t dare move. The earth around her was a sea of ups and downs. Dirt pillars would dash into the air, only to be slashed to dust by Panchon’s men. Kamo couldn’t see Rolin any more, but she could hear the clash of metal on metal as his sword found an enemy weapon.
One ragged Earth elf approached her from the trees, a mad look in his eyes.
“You will not trespass here! Pacha is a traitor, and so is her filthy son!” he cried, and he jumped at Kamo, spear pointed straight at her heart.
Fear and anger seared through her. She snapped her fingers and lit her fists into flaming balls of rage. The Earth elf dodged mid-attack as Kamo reached for the oncoming spear and tore it from his hands. The wooden spear caught fire, and Kamo pointed it at the elf, knocked to the ground by her interception.
“Leave! Now!”
The elf’s hands were scorched and bleeding, and his wild eyes showed fear and rage.
He backed away from Kamo and pressed his hands to his chest. He broke into a run, and Kamo could hear his screams of agony as he disappeared back into the trees.
But his weren’t the only ones.
All around her in the camp, people were screaming in pain and anguish.
Still, she didn’t dare move. She could see the earth bending around her, and the threat loomed, still too real. She chanced a look at Gobi and Hertha. Gobi cradled her in his arms as she sobbed in silent agony. But something was wrong. Gobi’s eyes were closed, clenched tight. Kamo squinted at him in the darkness and could just make out a long, jagged gash that spanned the length of his arm, covering him in thick, red layers of blood.
No.
The rage in her hands overwhelmed her whole body, and before she could think any more, the flame engulfed her entire figure, marking her as a burning beacon in the midst of the battle. She jumped from the stone and ran into the fights around her. The Earth elf gang was occupied with Panchon’s clan until Kamo ran into the fray, fists and arms and legs blazing in fire. She threw balls of fire at every ragged Earth elf she could see, and the flaming spheres left each target burning in his tunic, frantically patting out the fires and running away. Some tried to quench the fire around her by smothering her in a whirlwind of dust, but she moved too quickl
y. She targeted them with her flaming throws, and soon the ambushers retreated, warding off her attacks with shields of dirt columns that shot from the ground behind them as they ran.
Rolin emerged from the forest, limping badly, but Kamo could only see a few scrapes and bruises.
She gasped, and fear replaced her rage. As quickly as it had come, her anger extinguished, and so did the flames around her. She ran to Rolin, desperate to support him, carry him if she must.
“Well, now I see what they were all running from,” he panted. He grimaced in pain, and Kamo caught him as he almost fell to the ground. “You are a force, love.”
“Stop talking. We need to get you to a tent,” Kamo said.
“Did we lose anyone?”
“I don’t know.”
He limped slowly, and Kamo supported most of his weight on her shoulder. To her surprise, her tunic didn’t burn up in her inferno but still clung to her skin with sweat.
As they entered the ruin of the camp, Kamo cringed at the moans in the air. Every direction, there were Earth elves on the ground, nursing wounds or writhing in pain. She searched for Panchon.
“Bring the injured here!” Panchon shouted from somewhere to her right. She steered Rolin in the direction of his voice. Slowly they limped to the center of the camp, where some elves had already gathered. Panchon was leaning over one of the more injured, administering a salve to the man’s leg.
“Panchon, Gobi, and Hertha are over by my tent. A spear hit them both. I don’t know if they can walk here,” her voice shook as she spoke.
“Pacha gave you some salve before you left. You need to get it to Hertha. Now!”
Rolin let go of her shoulder and fell onto a rock on the ground.
“Will you be alright here?” Kamo asked him.
“I’ll be fine, just go.”
His voice sounded weak and tired, but she couldn’t see blood anywhere on his body. She nodded and sprinted toward Gobi and Rolin’s tent. She arrived and frantically tore the flap open, trying to locate Gobi’s pack in the darkness. She snapped her fingers for light and found the pack at the foot of his bedroll. Not bothering to search its contents in the tent, she snapped her fingers again and snatched up the entire pack, running toward Gobi and Hertha as fast as her legs would carry her.
Gobi was struggling to hold onto Hertha as she writhed in his arms.
Kamo fell next to them and ripped open his pack to find the small jar of salve.
“Try to hold her still, Gobi,” she said calmly.
“I’m trying,” he pled, “but the waves keep crashing!”
He swayed back and forth as if caught in an invisible tide, his eyes still shut tight.
“It’s not real, Gobi,” Kamo reassured him, “Just hang on. I have to help her first.”
She turned his pack upside down and emptied its contents onto the ground in front of her. She rifled through everything to get to the tiny jar; she found it and quickly removed the cork.
As carefully as she could, she removed Gobi’s hand from Hertha’s wound, reassuring him that she would help. Her blood gushed from the wound in her arm. Kamo tore a piece of fabric from her tunic and wiped away as much blood as she could before dipping her fingers into the salve and drawing them across the worst part of the wound. Its jam-like texture immediately hardened as it touched Hertha’s skin, and she stopped fighting in Gobi’s arms.
Next, Kamo attended to the gash in Gobi’s arm, tearing another part of her tunic and using it to wipe away his blood. This time, she scooped the salve onto her hand so it covered her palm and dragged it across Gobi’s arm. As before, it hardened and acted as a barrier between him and the magic in the air. He opened his eyes, stunned to see Kamo kneeling next to him.
“It hurts… I lost my sight,” Gobi gasped, “and then everything was… everything was distant, like some wild dream.”
“I know, but you’re all right now. Can you stay with Hertha? I need to help Rolin.”
“Go.”
Her heart was still pounding in fear as she returned to Rolin.
He breathed more steadily than he had when she left, and his face was no longer contorted in a grimace, but he lay with his right leg limp in front of him.
“How’s Gobi?” he asked as he saw Kamo running toward him.
“I think he’ll be fine,” she answered, “how are you feeling? Your leg looks terrible.”
“I’ve certainly been better,” he chuckled, “one of the elves tried kicking the ground out from under me, but I stepped into him. I should have stayed where I was, but he missed the ground and found my ankle.”
“But you aren’t bleeding,” Kamo said. She carefully examined the minor scrapes on his arms, but none of them broke the flesh enough to bleed.
“Not me, no,” he said, “but Panchon has plenty who are. I’m fine. Why don’t you go see if you can help him?”
“Alright,” Kamo said, but she couldn’t seem to move her legs and feet.
The rush of battle and rage and panic finally started to ebb, and Kamo drooped with their weight. She swayed on her feet, her arms hanging limply at her sides.
“Whoa, Kamo, are you all right?” Rolin asked as Kamo lifted her hand over her mouth. “You look pale. Maybe you should just lie down.”
Kamo swallowed the bile in her throat and laid down on her back next to Rolin.
“I don’t think I got hit,” she mused aloud, “I must just be tired, that’s all.”
Despite the frost on the ground around them, her back and shoulders radiated heat. Her arms ached, and her legs felt like they were filled with sand. The palms of her hands dripped with sweat.
Rolin sat up on one elbow and felt her forehead.
His cold hand acted as a compress on her throbbing head, and she sighed as it cooled her down.
“You’re burning up,” Rolin exclaimed, “I’ll go find Panchon.”
“No, please stay,” Kamo pled as he tried to stand on his good ankle. She grabbed his hand and held it to her flush, red cheek. “This is helping.”
Rolin reluctantly laid back down and stared at her as she closed her eyes and breathed deeply.
“Kamo,” he whispered, “I don’t think this is just from being tired. I think this has something to do with the magic.”
“What would you have me do?” she asked softly. “Panchon is busy helping those who lost blood, as he should. You can’t walk, and Gobi is watching over Hertha. I can wait.”
Rolin frowned at her, searching for a solution. He watched her breathe, slowly in and out and tried to imagine what Panchon might say. He gently stroked her forehead and cheeks as he pondered.
“You’re safe,” he finally whispered. “You’re safe. We are here with you, and we’re not going anywhere.”
Kamo didn’t react immediately, her chest continued to rise and fall at the same pace, and she didn’t open her eyes. A few minutes later, though, she answered him.
“I know.”
Chapter Sixteen
When Kamo awoke, she was in her tent. Her head was still splitting in pain, but her arms and legs were rested and functional. Her mind felt groggy and muddled, and she could only think of a few jumbled thoughts.
Earth gang. Gobi, Hertha. Rolin. Cold.
Cold wind crept under her blanket. She reached to pull the blanket tighter around her waist but kept grabbing at the edge of her trousers.
Finally, she opened her eyes. She had kicked the blanket off, and it was lying in a heap at her feet. Her awareness of the cold weather intensified its effect, and she quickly grabbed the blanket and pulled it up over her head, covering every part of her body.
She fell asleep again. At first, she slept peacefully, dreaming of her beautiful islands and sailing the calm, blue sea. But soon, nightmares of bloodied elves and accusatory faces made her toss and turn under the blanket.
“They only died because of you!” faceless voices tormented in her dreams.
Finally, Hertha’s anguished face haunted her, and she woke
up again, gasping in a cold sweat.
“What’s the matter?” Rolin’s sleepy voice hummed outside her door.
Kamo rubbed her eyes and wiped her forehead with her sleeve.
“Rolin, did you stay there all night?” she croaked.
“I just wanted to make sure you were all right. You fell asleep so quickly. You didn’t even wake up when we picked you up and moved you to your tent.”
“We?” she asked, confused.
“Me and Panchon. Well, mostly Panchon. I tried, but my ankle couldn’t take the weight of you and me,” he said.
“You should have slept, Rolin. You need the rest way more than I—”
“I got a little sleep,” he interrupted. “Gobi and I have been taking turns.”
Panic welled up in her throat.
“So Gobi is fine? What about Hertha? Where’s Panchon?”
Rolin opened the flap to her tent and ducked inside.
“Gobi’s fine, thanks to you,” he reassured her, “Hertha was hurt pretty badly. The salve helped a little, but it’s been three days, and she still can’t move her arm.”
Kamo blinked and shook her head. “What do you mean, three days? The attack happened just last night.”
Rolin looked at her with apprehension. “Kamo, you’ve been out for three days.”
She stared at him, her eyes only just beginning to focus on his face in the dim light. “What?” She rubbed her forehead and ran her fingers through tangled hair. “It can’t have been three days. I feel like it’s only been a few hours. My head is still pounding, and your scrapes are still fresh…”
Rolin rolled up his sleeves, and Kamo could only find a few traces of skin that had lost the first layer.
She laid down, pressing both palms into her forehead. “Why didn’t you wake me up?” she asked incredulously. “What if we miss the gate?”
“Well, we tried to wake you the first day, but when you wouldn’t, Panchon told us to let you rest. And that’s what we did.”
The Last of the Sea Elves Page 15