By Moonrise

by Jackie Dana

  Chapter 48

  The sun had been at its highest point when the festival began; now, evening was descending fast upon them, with sunset likely no more than a couple of hours away.

  “Will he send dogs after us?” she asked, after trudging along for a few miles in silence. Her feet were sore and she had been suffering a stitch in her side for a while, but most of all she wished she had some water to drink.

  “Dogs?” Arric asked, surprised. He seemed worn out, and she wondered how much further he could go.

  “To track our scent.”

  “Ah. You mean, will my brother hunt us?” He wiped his forehead on the back of his sleeve. “Nay, I expect not, at least not on the night of Jiona. Certainly he will send soldiers along the roads, to mark our route, and some may slip into the forest. He will deny that they are after us, of course. Likely there’s some fhaoli camp or something needing to be monitored, or so he will tell anyone who asks.” They came upon a fallen limb, and Arric held out his hand to help her climb over it.

  “But one way or another he’ll try to capture us?” She hiked up her skirt and stepped over the obstacle.

  There was no hesitation. “He will. I cannot see him allowing me to gain sanctuary with the Sarnoc.”

  “And if he does? He’s not likely to just lock you back in the tower, not after what happened today.”

  “True. He will be extremely angry that I escaped, particularly because the Sarnoc helped me. If we are caught, it will likely be bad for us both. I do not intend for him to find us, though. I just wish I...” he stopped, and dropped to his knees. Quickly he yanked the hem of her skirt, and she toppled beside him. To her unasked question, he replied, with a word that was barely more than a breath on the wind, “horses.”

  “Where?” she mouthed.

  Arric pointed to a grove of trees behind them. “They may not know we’re here, but be ready to run.”

  The possibility that they would be captured brought new clarity to fears that had been growing throughout the afternoon. The danger facing them now was no abstract concept. She had seen the dungeons, and she knew what Senvosra had done to Nyvas. She had even faced the possibility of being burned alive as a traitor. Most of all, she remembered Tashin threatening her with torture that day when she went to rescue Rynar. They could not be arrested now.

  Arric must have seen the terror in her eyes. As softly as he could, he tried to sound optimistic as he encouraged her. “We can outrun them—the trees are too thick for horses to maneuver. There’s a branch of the Amberia just ahead, and that’s where I hope to find shelter.”

  There was no time to discuss plans further. Shouts behind them indicated that the soldiers had spotted them, and Arric leapt up and bolted through the trees, hauling her to her feet so she could scramble behind. Fortunately, since they were heading into a river valley, the run was downhill.

  “We can make it—come!” Arric jumped into a dry creek bed, scattering rocks as his boots slipped in the gravel, and she nearly fell from the loose footing. Despite the uneven surface, neither one slowed down.

  Soon the narrow confines of the forest burst open as a wide canyon stretched out in front of them. It had not rained often the past few weeks, and the level of the river was low enough that the riverbed was partly exposed. In rainy weather, when the river would swell, Kate could imagine the entire channel becoming dangerous rapids. Now, however, the river weaved past slabs of gray stone jutting up from the riverbed like giant fossilized teeth. As it was now, it was impassible for any water traffic, but part of the riverbed was dry and could be followed on foot.

  Arric went first, and scampered over the rocks, forced to literally climb around the tilted boulders in order to make his way downstream. She tried to follow, jumping from one slab to the next, careful to avoid slick wet stones and swirling pools of water. They had to pick their routes carefully, skirting around the largest rocks when possible, sliding down them when it wasn’t. Their progress was slow and maddening, for it was like climbing steps of irregular height and width. Since he was ahead of her, she relied on his judgment to find the easiest route through the obstacles. More than once they passed snakes sunning themselves besides deep pools of stagnant water, and on the assumption they could be venomous, they gave them wide berth.

  They were able to go perhaps a half-mile downstream, but then there was nowhere further they could go. The river flowed into a single stream at the edge of a cliff, the water cascading over the edge into a deep pool below. Making matters worse, they couldn’t leave the riverbed, as the banks were now steep walls of sand and mud, meaning they were trapped.

  Approaching the edge of the waterfall, they carefully stood to one side where the rocks were still dry and stared at the churning white foam at the base of the falls. “Can you swim?” Arric shouted over the roar of the water.

  “Yeah but—you’ve got to be crazy!” She looked over the edge into the pool below. “There’s no way we can jump—we’d kill ourselves on the rocks!”

  He looked behind them, and nodded to one side. “They’re close. It’s the Senvosra or the river. Personally, right now I’d prefer to take my chances with the river. The pool at the bottom looks deep enough that we might make it.” Again he looked over his shoulder. “They’ll be here any moment, Kate. I can hear the horses behind us, on the banks. And the cave I want to reach is just ahead. Once we find it, we’ll be safe. Come on—we have no choice.”

  She wasn’t afraid of heights, or the river, for that matter. She had always been a strong swimmer. Faced with a waterfall like this, however, all bets were off. It was a long way down, and there was no way to know what would greet them under the water’s surface. There was a good chance they’d break their necks—literally. “I can’t!” She tried pleading with him. “There’s got to be another way!”

  He again glanced over his shoulder. “Nay, it’s our only chance.” He didn’t seem any happier about this idea than she was, but she knew he was driven by the knowledge of his fate if he were to be captured again. “I have no choice but to jump, but surely the Aldrish will protect you if you go back.”

  Kate stared at the crash of foam below.

  Until now it hadn’t occurred to her that she did have options. She could choose to follow him, or she could choose to end her journey now. Why was she risking her life? He was free, and that was more than she had hoped for. Her continued presence would likely only slow him down.

  While she didn’t share Arric’s confidence in Rynar’s response, so far he had protected her, and he might do so again. It offered better odds than jumping over a waterfall, at any rate. Stepping back from the edge, she waved him on. “I’m sorry, Arric, but I just can’t do it.”

  He nodded sharply, and looked away, obviously disappointed. Then he turned back and said, “You’re certain?”

  Before either could say another word, an arrow flew past them, and clattered against the rocks on the opposite bank. It was their only warning of the troops that even now emerged from the trees and ran towards them—as well as the realization that, Jiona or not, the soldiers planned to capture the fugitives. Over the roar of the waterfall, neither Arric nor she had heard their approach.

  “Sweet goddess, they’ve found us!” He stepped closer to the edge, as if about to jump, but looked back at her. “Come with me,” he implored, and took her hand.

  The next thing she knew she was falling.

  At the last moment, she had agreed, and now her feet pointed for the white foam below. She had just enough time to grab hold of her nose before crashing under the water’s churning surface. She sank deeply, and her feet touched bottom, but it was a clean fall, and then the current whisked her away. The river dragged her under water for quite a distance, and she lost all sense of direction. When she sensed she couldn’t last much longer, she surfaced, gasping desperately for air. Yet there was no reprieve. Even as she tried to catch a couple of breaths, rapids whipped her around curves like a demonic waterslide.

  Wha
t was that sound? In a heartbreaking moment, as she raised her head, she heard a second waterfall. She started kicking as hard as she could, trying to swim for the bank, but there wasn’t enough time to reach shore, nor did she have enough strength to fight the current.

  There was just enough time to panic. Unable to save herself, she tumbled over the second waterfall.

  For an eternity water pounded her from every direction as she sank to the bottom of the pool. There was no air, no chance to get a breath. She prayed to any gods who might be listening as she clawed at the water, feeling the terror that came on the verge of drowning. Her feet hit a large rock, and she kicked off from it, hoping the effort would be enough to propel her to the surface. At her lungs’ threshold, when she knew she could not go another moment without air, her eyes found the sun, and she popped up from the surface, gulping and gasping at the air, trying to bring oxygen into her desperate lungs.

  Sputtering, she was able to catch her breath; this pool was deeper than the first, and wider, and there wasn’t much of a current. Slowly, she paddled slowly to the edge of the pool. Grappling at the rocks at the water’s edge, she coughed and tried to breathe. Then she pulled herself halfway out of the water, collapsing in the gravel, unable to move further, and scarcely able to remain conscious.

  One thing she noted before she passed out. There was no sign of Arric.

  Chapter 49

  “Kate!”

  Lifting her head painfully, she spied Arric kneeling behind a rock in the side of the cliff. Unable to move, she dropped her head again.

  He jogged down to her side, scattering gravel under his boots. Before she could argue, he was already helping her to stand, and then with his arm wrapped around her, he helped support her weight as he led her from the narrow gravel beach to a crevice in the rocks above the water.

  She bent over to get past a low overhang, but once she had cleared the edge of the rock she entered a cavern with a ceiling high enough to stand up. A little sunlight sliced past the rocks at one side of the cave, but her eyes still needed to adjust to the dimmer light. Soaking wet, she was at least grateful that it was warmer here than outside.

  Exhausted, they sat beside each other for a short time, resting and catching their breath. As she struggled to get her wits about her, she noticed that her gown, which was heavy with water, was frayed but intact, though it was twisted all wrong on her torso. Her hair was matted against her face, and she pushed it out of her eyes. As for Arric, his dark hair was peppered with sand, and his shirt and trousers were both torn in several places. On his left arm, where the fabric had ripped wide open, there was a trickle of blood.

  Their silence was broken when she pointed to the blood on his arm. “You’re hurt.”

  He waved his hand over his injuries, dismissing them. “It’s nothing. I’ve been injured worse than this a hundred times or more. But you—” he said, pointing to her chin. “That doesn’t look good.”

  As he called attention to it, she felt a new throbbing along her jaw, and probed it with her fingers. The chill of the river must have numbed it temporarily. “Oh I think you’re right.” She pulled her hand away and it was covered with blood. “I didn’t even feel it happen. Is it deep?”

  He directed her to turn towards the sunlight, so he could better see her face. He held his sleeve to her chin to soak up the blood, but even with his light touch she winced. “Nay, I think it looks worse than it is,” he said, though she wondered if he was just saying that so she wouldn’t be frightened further. “Still, we need to stop the bleeding.”

  He clumsily attempted to put pressure on it with his sleeve, but then she held up her skirt. “Let me just use this instead.” Arric released his grip and helped her press a handful of fabric to her chin. It was starting to hurt, but she tried to push the pain to the back of her mind. A cut on her chin seemed the least of her worries right now. “Is this the cave you were looking for?” she asked, keeping her voice low.

  “Aye, it is. Because of the cliffs on either side, no one can reach the cave from above—the river is the only way. It’s possible someone will see the cave across the river it as they search for us, but it will be all but impossible for them to get here unless they come the way we did, or travel quite far downstream. Nay, with nightfall so close, I’m confident we’ll be safe.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “We rest, and pray that our luck holds.”

  She didn’t figure they had great odds, but she was so tired from the race through the forest and their river escapade that she wasn’t going to argue. Instead, she visually inspected the cave from where she sat. It wasn’t a large space, but there was more than enough room for both of them to sleep. “Does that go anywhere?” She pointed to a dark gap behind them. It was wide enough for a person to climb into, though she wasn’t about to find out what lay beyond it.

  “It opens into a larger cave, carved out by an underground river.” He turned his head towards the opening and looked inside. “Tomorrow we shall follow that river, and eventually it should take us close to Altopon. It should also confuse the Senvosra.”

  She locked her eyes on the tunnel opening. “Wait—you’re joking, right? We’re not really going in there, are we?”

  “Aye. It doesn’t appeal to me much either, but it really is the safest route. To leave here the way we came would be to march right into the hands of the soldiers.” He glanced into the dark tunnel again and grimaced. “Trust me, the Sarnoc offered me nothing better to avoid pursuit.” Crouching low, Arric crawled forward and peered around the edge of the rock that concealed their current hiding spot, and once he was satisfied that no one approached, he moved back to Kate, whose chin was now cradled in an armful of cloth. “Is it very painful?”

  She shook her head lightly, downplaying the discomfort. “Not too much.”

  “That is good to hear. It will be a few days before a healer can attend to it.”

  His mention of healers brought her mind back to Rynar. She could picture clearly how his cheeks had flushed with anger when Arric chose her as riliaga. There wasn’t any doubt in her mind that he was out there even now searching for her. “I’m sure I’ll be okay.” She shifted her weight a little and propped her elbow against a rock ledge.

  Meanwhile, he leaned against the wall opposite her and pulled off a waterlogged boot. He poured out its contents, a slurry of sand and dirt, and dropped it onto the dusty floor of the cave, its thud punctuated by a spray of mud. The other boot fell with similar results, followed by the slap of wet woolen socks. As he wiggled his wrinkled toes to dry them, she decided to do the same. Longing to remove her cold and itchy stockings underneath her dress, she pulled one of her feet onto her lap. She dropped the skirt from her chin and started to unlace her slipper, finding it difficult to force loose the water-swollen leather laces.

  “Let me do that,” he offered, and knelt before her. Nimble fingers untied the laces and quickly removed her shoes. When she started to pull off her hose, he retreated to the other side of the cave and averted his eyes to give her privacy. “The Sarnoc told me you saved Nyvas’s life,” he said, making conversation as he stared in the direction of the river.

  “Yeah, that was quite a day.” She untied the garters above her knees and slipped the soggy wool from her legs with a contented sigh. “You know, it wasn’t all my doing.”

  “Not as they told the story. Others were involved, to be sure, but you took all the risks. I’m terribly impressed, and grateful, of course, that you were willing to do all that for someone you barely know. I hear you confronted my brother, and you even bargained with Fantion for the Aldrish’s life, neither of which could have been easy to do. Indeed, it was quite a brave thing you did all around.”

  “You can turn back around now.” She wasn’t sure what else to say. It was difficult to think about all of that now.

  He didn’t seem to notice her reticence, and instead crawled to sit beside her again. “Is it still bleeding?” he asked about her chin, le
aning close.

  She could feel his breath on her cheek, and his proximity unnerved her. “I can’t tell.” She dropped her hand.

  Arric whistled as he saw the bright stains on her skirt. “It may be worse than I thought. May I?” he asked, and pulled a clean portion of fabric from her lap. She held her head steady as he probed the wound lightly. “The worst has past,” he decided, although he sought out another clean fold of her dress. Once he had taken over applying the pressure, he came back around to his previous topic. “The Sarnoc also told me that you spent your nights in the Aldrish’s chambers.”

  Defensively, she explained, “It was a bargain he struck with the Vosira to keep me out of the dungeon. I had to either be with him or the Senvosra, so I chose him.”

  “So I heard.” Bitterly, he added, “I should have known the Aldrish would suggest something like that.”

  She wasn’t sure if he was being serious or sarcastic. Nudging his hand from her face so she could apply the pressure again, she tipped her head to look at him. “Really, it’s not what you think. He treated me well, in his own way, and kept me out of danger.”

  “Of course he did.” Released from assisting with her injury, he leaned back against the wall. “That was the whole point, I’m sure,” he added, his comment loaded with sarcasm.

  Why was he making such a big deal out of it? “Honestly, it wasn’t like that. I think he was just trying to help me.”

  “Help you? Hmmm... I can imagine what ‘help’ he offered you.” He made a few quick nods of his head.

  “Can we change the subject?” Even thinking about Rynar made her nervous. Finding eye contact difficult, she pretended to be fascinated with the interior of their hiding place, and with her free hand, scattered a few pebbles across the ground. “It’s a good thing you found this cave.”