Ayrie: An Auxem Novel

by Lisa Lace

  "Sam," I said immediately. "Sam, wake up."

  My voice croaked, and my throat felt raw and painful. Her eyes fluttered open.

  "Jori? Are you all right?"

  "I'm okay. Can you help me sit up?"

  "What's wrong?" she asked, picking up on my anxiety right away.

  I thought I would be able to conceal my concern, but I was starting to realize that it was difficult to hide my innermost thoughts from Sam.

  "The wind's picking up."

  "Where did the sails go?"

  "The ship automatically lowered them, because the computers predicted a storm."

  "What do we do? Tie ourselves to the mast or something?"

  A horrified look crept over my face. "Why would we do something like that?" I said. I was unable to understand the thought process that would lead her to her conclusion.

  "Oh, I don't know," she laughed nervously. "It was something they used to do in the sailing ship books I used to read when I was younger." She paused. "Come to think of it, I might have read it in the story of Odysseus."

  "Maybe that's standard on Earth," I said. I was still appalled at the idea. "Not on Vandwa."

  "Oh right. Of course a merman wouldn't want to be tied to a ship," she said, understanding my horror. "But what about a frail human, unable to breathe underwater? She might want to make sure she didn't get washed overboard."

  "I would never leave you on board during a storm, Sam. Do you know what happens to people who are stuck on a ship if it goes down?"

  "No?"

  "They get sucked under with the current," I said. "Even if you can breathe underwater, you don't want that. It's better to swim away while you can."

  The weather punctuated my sentence. We heard the first clap of thunder, followed immediately by a bolt of lightning.

  "The storm is right over us, Sam. We have to get off now."

  "I'm afraid, Jori," she said. Her hand went to her stomach. The ship was starting to roll violently up and down on the waves.

  "If the mast gets hit by lightning, nothing's going to save this vessel. You don't want to get sucked beneath when it goes down into the ocean."

  She stared at the water. "I'm not afraid the ocean. I'm a pretty good swimmer. I'm scared of drowning," she said. Sam's eyes were filled with dread.

  I grabbed her shoulders to get her attention. She winced as I moved her hurt arm, but I refused to let go and gazed into her eyes.

  "I won't let you drown, Sam. I can make sure you have oxygen in your lungs."

  The day after we first met, she had taunted me and made light of Vandwans. It had made me furious at the time, but I had reflected on the conversation since then. I knew now that she had been teasing me and trying to taunt me after I had insulted her social status. The memory made me embarrassed. I wanted to put it behind me and my mind brought me back into the present. I needed to convince her.

  "Do you believe me?" I said, looking into her eyes earnestly. I would never let her drown.

  "No," she said. Her eyes appeared sad, and her mouth set into a firm line. "But I'm going to have to trust you."

  "Give me your hand and let's jump before the mast goes down."

  She pressed her lips together, and moved to my other side. Over here, I could grasp her good hand. I led her to the stern. There was no railing on this side.

  "When it's time to jump, move as far away from the ship as you can so you don't hit the tiller," I said, pointing to a large paddle barely visible under water. "And when you hit the water, surface as quickly as you can and swim away from the ship. I'll help you if I can."

  She nodded and climbed the stairs. I joined her. She had her eyes closed.

  "On three. One, two, three." We leapt as far out as we could, holding hands as long as possible. I didn't even bother taking a breath of air, but I heard her drawing in a deep breath as we fell into the ocean. When we hit the water, we were torn apart.

  I flipped my inner eyelid down before I opened my eyes. I wasn't in a hurry to surface as I drew in oxygen from the water through the skin of my torso. I saw Sam fighting to make it to the top of the water. When I saw her head poke into the air, I felt relieved, and I headed up myself.

  She was already swimming away from the boat and I quickly caught up to her. The waves were enormous. We were caught in between one wave after another. It didn't bother me much, but I could see Sam hoped none of the big ones would crash over her. I tried to stay nearby. My presence didn't reduce her fear.

  When another clap of thunder and a bolt of lightning hit almost simultaneously, I knew we were right under the heart of the storm. The mast of the old ship finally succumbed to the weather. I heard the crack as lightning hit the main mast and turned to watch. A moment later, one of the bigger waves crashed over the vessel as it listed on its side.

  "Hold on, Sam, we have to get out of here. It's going down," I said. I didn't want to look back. Sam wrapped her arms around me and held on. I didn't want to be anywhere near that ship as it sucked everything into a swirling vortex.

  When we were at a safe distance, I turned to look at it again, but it was already gone. Sam's eyes looked bleak. She didn't dare ask what we were going to do. It was for the best because I didn't have a clue. We were in the middle of the ocean. On Vandwa, land is hard to find. There was only a small chance of survival.

  "Out of the frying pan, into the fire," she said.

  "What?" Why was she talking about cooking?

  "It's a saying from Earth. It means you've escaped one terrible problem, only to be confronted by an even worse one."

  "Don't worry, Sam. Something will come up," I said. I certainly hoped a solution would present itself. "Look, the storm's passing. That's good news."

  She nodded but wouldn't look me in the eyes.

  "If you can hold on and not die, I'll get us out of here." I could see she was beginning to protest. "I'm built for swimming. I'll go slow and I won't tire myself out? I'm a fucking merman, remember?"

  That got a tiny smile. "Aren't I lucky to have such a husband?" she said.

  "Yes, very useful. It'll be okay. I promise," I said, touching her face.

  "How can you say that? Earlier, you complained about everything around you. Where is this hope coming from?"

  "What can I say? I'm an optimist."

  She shook her head. "And an actor as well. I didn't believe you when you said that you'd been acting all this time. But now I see it might be true."

  I shrugged, trying to downplay how important my next words were. "There's no one to act for out here."

  I hoped she knew what that meant - I was myself with her.

  "That's true. You can be yourself. Show me who you are, then, Jori."

  "There's nothing I'd like more," I said.

  She bit her lip and reached out her arms to hold onto me again. She winced when she pulled on her hurt arm but didn't whine or complain about the pain. Sam was a brave girl.

  I started swimming and, despite the hopelessness of our situation, there was a tiny light inside of me. I was almost out of a job I no longer wanted. Sam might have feelings for me. I was beginning to see that I had feelings for her.

  I just needed to stay alive.

  After two hours, there was nothing around us but open ocean. I could breathe underwater, but that didn't mean I could live underwater. Sam could only remain in the sea for a limited amount of time. I didn't know what her limits were.

  We didn't talk because I needed all my breath for swimming. I didn't want to say what I was thinking. We were doomed. We were going to die out here, and we could do nothing to prevent it.

  I began to get tired. I needed to take breaks, and we floated on our backs next to each other. I didn't know how close we were to The Barrier. I wondered if we might cross it without realizing.

  The fear seemed irrational because The Barrier was enormous. I had only seen it in videos at school, never in the wild. I wasn't even sure if it was possible for me to swim over it. Wasn't it supposed to keep
everything out? Maybe that meant it would keep us in as well. Whatever the reality was, I was terrified I would miss it, and we would be exposed to the hungriest, deadliest aquatic animals Vandwa had to offer. Sam sensed the tension in me but had her own fears to deal with.

  When the sun dropped lower in the sky, Sam began to shiver. Apparently Vandwans could retain their body heat more efficiently than humans as well. She was moving around so much trying to keep warm that I was afraid she might slip off me.

  "J-J-Jori?" she managed to get out.

  "Yeah?"

  "What is that over there?" she said, pointing with her chin. Her face shook, making her teeth chatter. I looked in the direction she indicated, but the setting sun and the deepening shadows made it hard to tell what it was. I hoped there was something on the horizon.

  "I don't know," I said, "Let's find out."

  I struck out vigorously, and as we moved closer, I was able to identify the figure. I thought it was land.

  "Sam, hang on for a little longer, okay?" I said, turning my head to look at her. "It's an island. We can rest soon."

  She nodded her head. Everything seemed like a blur, but we ended up on the sandy beach of something. I wasn't sure if it was an island and I didn't know how big it was. I was happy to take a break. Sam leaned against me, her cold making her stumble as she walked.

  I helped her sit down on the sand and wondered if humans could drop dead from the cold. She must have mild hypothermia, but I didn't think she wouldn't die from it. Would she?

  Chapter Twelve

  JORI

  Samantha lay down on the sand, which was slightly warmer than the air above it. She was curled up into a ball trying to keep warm. She constantly shivered, her teeth chattered, and her eyes were closed in misery.

  I felt helpless for a moment, but my training took over. There was a protocol to follow if I was shipwrecked and washed ashore on a deserted island. I would stick to the plan and hope for the best.

  The most important thing for now was to start a fire and keep warm. Water, food and shelter would come next. I searched in the jungle in front of me. Although it was dusk, I could still see a bit. To my great relief, I spotted plenty of fire plant.

  Fire plant was once a weed on Vandwa. Its only redeeming feature was that it burned well. It grew wild all over the planet, but when we realized it grew quickly and was a good source of fuel, we started cultivating it and harvesting crops. The amount I could see from our location would keep us warm for months. I hoped we would not be here for that long. Once I found a way to make a spark, we would be in business.

  "Sam, I'll be right back, okay? I'm going to find materials to make a fire. You'll warm up in a minute."

  She didn't respond. When I looked at her, I realized she was unconscious.

  I moved quickly into the bush, breaking off several branches from each fire plant, being careful not to take too much from each one. I didn't know how long we were going to be here, or how much fuel we would need in the future. When my arms were full, I headed back to Sam.

  After I had dumped my pile on the beach, I went back for another load. Soon I had enough to last the night. If I couldn't find rocks that would create a spark on the beach, I could dive into the ocean. There was a type of coral that would work in an emergency, but I didn't relish going back in the water right now. I was tired, and the ocean didn't have the same happy, safe feeling it had once had for me. Thanks to Sam, I was now aware of an angry, dangerous side to the sea.

  I trudged along, walking further than I wanted to go until I spotted a small pile of rocks that would help me start a fire. I picked up the entire batch and raced back to Sam, coaxing a little more movement out of my aching legs. She had stopped shivering as much, but that wasn't a good sign. I needed to get her warm right away.

  I made one last trip into the bush and gathered an armful of dead leaves.

  When I got back to the beach, I blocked out all the distractions and concentrated on making a fire. There was an art to starting a fire from the elements, and part of it was staying focused until the fire burned healthily. Any wavering at an earlier point could mean the fledgling fire would extinguish itself, and I would have to start the laborious process all over again.

  I didn't have time for that today, so I narrowed my attention to a single task.

  I carefully scraped a round space of sand free of anything flammable. I made a stack of dead leaves in the middle of the circle, carefully shredding some into a fluffy mass. I took the smallest branches and formed a tent above the dead leaves, leaving an opening on one side.

  Meticulously, I laid out the rest of the fire plant branches in order of smallest to biggest. I was ready to start the fire. I took the two rocks in my hand and squatted next to the little structure, striking them together and making sparks fly.

  It took six or seven attempts until the shredded leaves ignited. I set the rocks down and moved close to the smoldering plant, blowing gently. This was the most delicate part of the operation. If I blew too hard, I would put it out. If I blew too softly, there wouldn't be enough oxygen, and it would still go out.

  There wasn't a flame yet, but I knew there would be soon. I blew gently on the shredded leaves, and the embers grew until a tiny flame licked upward, lighting the dead leaves above it on fire. I continued to blow, giving the fire a gentle, steady flow of air as it grew. When the small fire plant branches ignited, I placed large branches on top of them.

  Once I had a workable bed of coals at the base, I stacked the biggest branches on top and started stoking the fire.

  Now that it was burning well, I sat back, took a deep breath and went to check on Sam. She had started shivering again, which I took as a positive sign. I left to gather some large, dry leaves. They were soft and would be more comfortable to sleep on than sand. I laid them as close to the fire as I dared, put some more fuel on the fire, and stared at Sam.

  The bodysuit had to come off. It had kept her little body warm before, but there was a fire now, and she needed to get dry. I was cold as well, and I needed to get hot and dry almost as much as she did. When the bodysuits were dry in the morning, we could put them back on.

  I stood watching her shiver for only an instant longer before I took action, pulling off my suit and kneeling beside her.

  I had to strip her naked.

  SAMANTHA

  All of a sudden, I felt warm, and it was blissful. The last thing I remembered was feeling cold and miserable. I thought I was going to die and never be warm again. Now heat warmed me from the front, and a blanket insulated me on my back. I was bundled up and safe. I sighed, feeling content all the way down into my bones.

  I might have fallen back asleep or been dozing, but I was awake enough to feel the blanket behind me shift and something hard push against my butt. The sensation alerted me, and I struggled to open my eyes. When they finally opened, they were so dry I spent a moment blinking until I could see clearly.

  Was I lying on a beach? A fire roared in front of me. Jori was in the blanket behind me. He had wrapped his arm around me, and his hand cupped my breast as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  That's when I realized that we were both naked. I felt neither aroused nor appalled. I felt comforted by the closeness of his body.

  I noticed my arm was covered in bruises from the shots I had taken through the bodysuit. But when I moved, it hurt less than yesterday. It looked worse than it felt.

  My eye caught our body suits draped on some nearby bushes, and everything came back. The stupid party, the gunshots, and having to crawl through a nasty little hole in the ground. I shuddered at the thought. The worst part had been the endless swimming with no end in sight. I had been afraid I would never see dry land again. I could have slipped beneath the water and disappeared, with my life not even half finished. Somehow, I had ended up here, warm, dry, and naked.

  I shifted my body and realized I felt less comforted and more aroused. It was hardly the appropriate time or place, but I
couldn't control my body. I was starving for him.

  Jori was an enigma. His real personality had recently revealed itself to me, but the change felt complete. It was shocking and fantastic, and I could hardly believe it. At this moment, I knew I was falling in love with him.

  The real Jori was kind, a hero, and willing to put his life on hold for years to keep children with their mothers. I had seen the real Jori swim and swim, towing my heavy ass across the ocean without complaining once. The real Jori looked distraught at the idea of leaving me behind. The real Jori dragged me out of the ocean, warmed me up, dried me out, and saved me.

  A warm feeling spilled out of my heart, and I wanted to be close to him. I wanted to feel him pressed tightly against me. I wanted him inside me and so close that we were almost one person. I needed him right now, and I couldn't wait any longer.

  I wriggled against him as a sharp spike of desire passed through me and my breathing sped up. He grunted and pulled me closer to him, squeezing my breast inadvertently which made me gasp. I was wet for him, and he was still asleep.

  I could feel his erection brush against my thighs. Surely he would wake up soon. I moved my hand to my sex and touched the hard nub between my legs, needing to feel something immediately. Suddenly I felt aroused. I looked up at the sky and saw that there were already streaks of pink breaking up the blackness filled with stars. It was nearly morning; that's why he was hard.

  I promised myself I would wake him if he didn't wake up himself in the next few minutes.

  I tapped on my button, feeling my need increasing. When would he wake up? I remembered how close I had been to having him inside me and the walls of my sex clenched at the thought, my hips bucking. Finally, I heard his breathing change. He lay still, but I was certain he was conscious.

  I pressed tiny, light circles on my clit, wondering what he would do when he woke up and found us naked together. A horrifying thought occurred to me. What if he said that he wouldn't sleep with me, again? I felt like I would die if he didn't make love to me right now. I heard him draw in a deep breath and felt his body shift. His hand squeezed my breast again, but purposefully this time. I hissed.