by Jack Porter
She nodded, and we raced out of the shrine together. The door was burning by the time we got down the long hallway to the exit. I had to kick it open and clutch Salem tight to my chest as Layla and I rushed through the flames.
The girls were waiting a safe distance away, and when they saw us, cheered and rushed forward to greet us. I imagined we were a sight to see. Both of our robes had nearly been burned to scraps, hanging off of our shoulders but not covering anything.
“Salem! Dexter, you got him! He jumped out of my lap as soon as we smelled the smoke,” Megan said, spotting the small kitten in my hands and taking him from me. “Goddess, is he alright? He’s not...” she trailed off. “Is he...?”
“No, he’s alive. But he inhaled a lot of smoke.”
Piper stepped up and gently took Salem’s limp body from the redhead. She put her ear to his tiny chest and stuck her pinky finger into his mouth. “He’s not suckling. We’ll need to clear his airways.” She sat crisscross on the ground with Salem in her hands face up and gave the kitten a few small puffs of air.
Nothing.
She did it again, and this time flipped him over and used three fingers to give Salem a few firm thumps on the back. This time the baby panther gave a couple of coughs and began to breathe a little deeper. Piper massaged Salem’s back a little longer. “He should be fine as long as we keep an eye on him. His breathing will be a little raspy for a few days, but hopefully it will clear up with the fresh mountain air.”
“You’re amazing, Piper.” I said, meaning it. “I think you were meant for this. Healing. Taking care of people.”
“I think you’re right. Every time I help someone in need, I just—” She shook her head, eyes filling with tears. “I don’t know. I get this warm fuzzy feeling.”
“That’s how I feel when I’m in the water or cooking,” Megan said, giving her a quick hug. “You know, all joking aside, we may need a doctor during our time on the island.”
“Doctor Piper Quinn,” she said, testing the words. “Has a nice sound to it.”
“Sure does,” Layla chimed in, giving the smaller woman a strong hug that left Piper rubbing her sides.
“Careful, or you’ll put me out of work,” she grumped, then gave an apologetic smile when Layla looked horrified by her own actions. “Don’t worry. I’m fine. First Hannah, now you. It’s strange not being the tallest and strongest of every female I come across.”
“You won’t be once you find your crystal,” I said.
This seemed to put Piper in a better mood. “Well, let’s get to it then. Where should we go next?”
Oh right. They don’t know.
I gave Layla a pointed look, and she took my meaning. She began to explain my dream and how close Hannah’s physical body was. Meanwhile, I glanced around for Yua to ask her directions down the mountain.
My mouth pulled down in a deep frown when I found her sitting beside her still burning shrine, tears falling freely from her striking blue eyes. The spider guardian’s failed stunt had allowed flames to engulf the entire building.
There was no saving her shrine now, and Yua knew it.
Thirty-Four
I knelt beside the woman monk who had her head buried in her hands. The short strands of her shaved black hair seemed to glow as red as Megan’s in the firelight. Yua’s blue kimono she’d picked this morning was in a state of disarray from her run out of the shrine. Kimonos were not made for running. Her obi had loosened, which caused one half of the fabric to slip down her slim shoulder. I finally got my tattoo question answered. It was a fire-breathing dragon done in gold and black. But none of that really mattered now.
“Yua?” I murmured. Hearing the heavy grief for her in my voice gave me pause. I realized I cared about this woman. I didn’t want her to hurt. It wasn’t that much of a surprise. She had a heart of gold and was fierce. But she was also so vulnerable in some ways that I couldn’t help but feel a strong desire to protect her.
She started, having not realized I had come over and moved to cover her tattoo. I politely looked away until she was decent. Yua quickly brushed the tears away and gave one sniff before standing. “Oh, White Guardian, it’s you. Can I help you with something?” She patted the dirt on her kimono and tried to put on a brave face, but I could see the tears already threatening the corners of her eyes again.
Her whole world was on fire and she wanted to help me? “Call me Dexter,” I said. “Actually, I was wondering if I could be of service. The flames don’t seem to hurt me. Not like they would a normal mortal. Is there anything I can get you from inside?”
Her eyebrows rose and a small ‘O’ shape formed on her mouth. “Oh, White Guardian, you don’t have to—” she began, but I held up a hand, silencing her words.
“Just Dexter, and please Yua, let me help. This isn’t a feeling of obligation. This is about wanting to help a friend. I know how much this place meant to you and I want to save what I can for you.”
She cleared her throat, and I could see in her eyes that she was touched by my gesture. “I think mostly everything is gone. The magic is, certainly. I could feel it leave the shrine. But mostly everything can be replaced with time. Maybe my staff would have made it? It was irreplaceable. The only possession I kept from my past life before the island. I need it to protect me from the Zavier’s beasts.”
“I think I saw it near the couch. I’ll go get it,” I said, already taking off and jumping back through the flames.
She didn’t need to know that even with my new god-like abilities, I could still feel the searing heat of the flames as they licked me. They were stronger and hotter than before, and I had to clench my teeth so I didn’t yell out in pain and cause alarm to Yua who would probably hear it.
The staff was exactly where I remembered it, resting against the couch. It jingled when I picked it up to inspect it. There were a few scorch marks on the staff portion itself, but the top was in perfect condition.
It was almost impossible for something like this to not be burnt to a crisp, and I wondered if a little of the shrine's magic didn’t still exist in this weapon. I hoped it did. That would bring Yua some happiness, and maybe even some closure.
It took me longer to run back through the towering flames and out to where Yua was waiting. The blisters healed almost instantly once I cleared the doors, but as Hannah would say, “damn me if it didn’t hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.”
Panting a little and rubbing the ghost feeling of the flames from my arms, I jogged back toward Yua and held the staff out to her.
She took it and, not caring if I saw, cried like a child while she held her weapon against her chest. “I thought for sure it was gone.”
The other girls came over to give her hugs and whisper comforting things to her. She let them. No, more than that, she sunk into their touch like it was her only lifeline. It struck me that Yua probably hadn’t had something as simple as a hug in a very long time.
I smiled and went in for a hug myself. “It will all be okay, Yua,” I told her, giving her a light squeeze and lifting her feet clear off the ground.
She squeaked, and then gave a laugh, “Put me down, you big lug.”
When I did and stepped back, Yua’s eyes went wide and rolled instantly skyward. The tips of her ears went cherry red. “Uh, white—I mean Dexter. You’re naked.”
Glancing down, I saw that indeed my robe had been completely burned away by my second trip inside the flaming shrine. One of the girls, I’m not sure who, snorted a laugh. Piper pulled my guardian cloak out from one of the deerskin bags and tossed it to me. I gave the dark-skinned beauty a grateful nod, which she returned by arching one eyebrow and biting her lip seductively while glancing at my junk. Grinning, I promptly slipped the clothing over my head. These girls would be the death of me.
“All clear, Yua,” I said, but my eyes were still locked with Piper’s. Focus soldier. I told myself.
The blush was slow to fade from Yua’s face, but when it did, her eyes took on that sad qu
ality again, and she glanced back to the shrine. She looked so lost.
Making a decision, I stepped a little closer and placed my hand platonically on her shoulder, not wanting to give her the wrong impression like I apparently had with my hug. “Yua, would you like to come with us?”
“To get Hannah?” she asked, voice dipping in that way it did when she thought we needed something. “I could help find her.”
“And longer,” I said, wanting to make myself clear. “You can stay with us as long as you’d like to. We’d be happy to have you in our group. Indefinitely, if you wish.”
I looked around to the other girls and was relieved to see they were all nodding with vigor. “Yes, will you stay with us?” Megan shifted Salem to her shoulder, where he seemed to sit perched more like a parrot than a cat. “You’re so cool and you have a ton of knowledge! As one would expect from reading all those scrolls.”
I winced at Megan’s lack of tact. Yua didn’t need to be reminded of what she’d lost. Piper must have thought so too because she blurted, “We could make you some deerskin clothes like ours. Maybe in a kimono style, but shorter so you can move with ease.”
“I’d like that.” Yua’s voice was full of warmth and honesty. I was glad. I didn’t want to force her into anything she wouldn’t welcome.
Looking off into the distance, I could just see the waterfall that had been in my dream with Hannah. “That’s settled. Layla, would you mind lending Yua your moccasins until we can make her some?”
Yua started to protest, but Layla was already plucking them off her feet and pushing them into the woman monk’s hands. “The cold doesn’t bother me, I promise,” Layla said. “You’ll get frostbite if you don’t have proper clothes.”
I frowned, watching Yua give in and slip the shoes on without another word. Frostbite was a real possibility for the girls who hadn’t received their crystals yet. We needed to get to Hannah before the girls were put at risk of being harmed by the elements.
Gripping Kain’s sword in my hand and shouldering the buckskin bags for the journey, I pointed into the distance and asked, “Yua, what is the fastest way to that waterfall?”
Thirty-Five
A day and a half passed while we slogged down the mountain. It was slow going, slick with ice and drop offs we couldn’t detect under the snow, but Yua seemed to know it by heart.
She had fashioned a very modern style wolf-skin kimono from one of the blankets she’d packed for us in the bag. And she looked damn fine in it. She had hidden quite a figure under those traditional clothes from the shrine—not as much as Hannah in the breast department, but curves in the right places all the same. It took me a lot of effort to keep my eyes solely on the path instead of wandering up those flared hips and full chest. Yua’s a monk. A monk. A monk. I repeated it to myself firmly as if her being a monk would somehow take away from her beauty.
Newsflash. It didn’t.
Still, I managed to occupy myself with plans for how to get Hannah back. That was at the forefront of my mind always. And I seemed to narrow it down to two choices just in time.
We barely made it down the side of the mountain before another cold snap hit and there was no more room to think.
The sting of the snow as it fell down hard on us, whipping in the strong winds, chilled even my cheeks and nose.
I couldn’t even imagine what the girls were going through. Megan’s teeth clattered together, and poor Pipes seemed way out of her element. The gold medalist stopped to rest for the third time in two hours. “Sorry guys,” Piper yelled over the howling winds. “I’m not sure what’s wrong with me. I may have caught a bug somewhere. Maybe ate some contaminated snow without knowing it. I feel a bit sick.”
“We made good time. I think we are only a couple of miles from where I saw Hannah. I can see the top of the waterfall from here,” I said. “Why don’t you stay and try to keep warm, Pipes. We’ll come back for you.”
“Hell no, I—” Piper abruptly stopped talking, leaned over the snow-covered rock she was resting on, and heaved out all of the contents of her stomach. Which honestly wasn’t much. We’d eaten only a couple of meals since the strenuous trek down the mountain. Even the term ‘meal’ was a stretch. They were more like snacks that Yua had packed pre-fire. And we hadn’t stopped to hunt because we were rushing to get Hannah.
Worry spiked in my stomach, giving me a foreboding feeling. I didn’t like the way Piper came back up looking like a ghost. Her pallor was sickly and pale.
“You’re staying,” I said, and my tone gave no room for argument.
Piper seemed to realize I was serious, because she nodded and held her stomach like she might be sick again.
What she needed was to get dry and warm. The problem was, there were no nice caves, crevices, or magical shrines near here.
All we have is snow. I made a growling noise in my throat, frustrated by circumstances I couldn’t control. What could we possibly— I stopped mid-thought and smacked myself in the forehead. “Of course. An igloo.”
“What?” Megan asked, even though she was standing less than an arm’s length away.
“He wants to make Piper an igloo so she can rest,” Layla answered for me, raising her voice loud enough for everyone. The three of us looked at Layla in shock while she bent down to gather heaps of snow, patting it together.
When she noticed us staring, she made a duh face, and pointed to her ears. “I get good reception with these things.”
Despite the cold, we all laughed, even Piper, who was losing color by the minute.
Everyone but Piper got to work building as many squares as we could. “Thick for insulation,” Yua had instructed. Apparently, she’d had experience with this before, or at least read about igloos in detail, because she showed me just how to stack the ice bricks so they wouldn’t cave in. With my increased size and strength, I formed them in record time, outstripping the others’ pace. But we didn’t have time to wait. The air grew colder by the minute.
When it was finished, I built a tunneled entryway so Piper could get in and out without the wind becoming a problem.
Stepping back, I surveyed it for any weaknesses. It looked good, though. I’d have to scrunch to fit inside, but it was perfect for someone Piper’s size.
“I’m going to stay with her,” Megan said, taking out the last of Yua’s wolf fur blankets and rolling it into her hands so she could take it inside the igloo. “I’ve been putting on a brave face, but I’m freezing what little ass I have left off in this weather.”
Nodding, I said, “Good idea. You keep each other company and warm. Keep the supplies.”
Layla turned to Yua. “Do you want to stay too? I remember how harsh the conditions were for me only a few days ago.”
Yua smiled brightly. “I’ll tag along if it’s all the same to you guys. I am used to this winter weather. Besides,” she thumped her kimono proudly, “this is much warmer than a buck’s hide. If I didn’t have the arms and legs ventilated, I’d be—how do you Americans say it? Sweating like a pig?”
I barked out a laugh and nodded. “That’s how we say it. Your accent isn’t as thick as when we first met.”
“I’m good at picking up languages,” Yua shrugged.
Layla practically beamed. “Oh really?”
The two chatted back and forth in several different tongues that I couldn’t understand. That was okay with me. I wasn’t feeling much like talking at the moment. Something was nagging at me and I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Soon, we reached the place where I’d seen Hannah in my dream. The waterfall was much louder and larger than what I remembered. It thundered overhead, but ice was forming on the rocks all around it. I realized it looked different because I wasn’t in my fully transformed state yet.
Gripping the hilt of my sword, I ran headfirst into the clearing. Looking around for Zavier’s host, waiting for him to pop out at me like the boogeyman.
When that didn’t happen, my heart sank. I now knew what had be
en bothering me just minutes before. I couldn’t feel the darkness here. I couldn’t feel Hannah, either. She was gone.
Thirty-Six
Of course she’s gone!
Right then I wanted to smack myself for being so stupid. It had been a few days since I’d seen her in my dream. The host would have moved on from this point. She had said as much. Secretly, and without even admitting to myself, I had hoped we could catch up to them, or that the host had been delayed by the weather.
I scoured the darkening ground, but the fresh layer of snow had covered any tracks they might have made.
Angry and tired, I sat down hard onto the snow. Yua and Layla came over immediately, sitting down on either side of me.
Tears filled Layla’s eyes. “Hannah has to be close,” she growled. “I’m not just going to give up.”
“Neither am I,” I reassured her, bringing her in tight against my chest and kissing her forehead. “But we have no way of knowing which way they went. And if we choose the wrong path, we could spend days going the wrong direction and never find her.”
Rage boiled hot in my stomach, and I wished I had something solid like a tree to pummel until I cleared my head. “If only I could connect with her one more time.”
Yua cleared her throat. “I think I can help.”
That had my undivided attention. Layla’s too.
“You can track them?” Layla asked, her voice dripping with hope.
“Well, no,” Yua said. “But I can give you a spiritual connection. That is one of my duties as head monk you see. My culture practically invented an ethereal state.”
I frowned. “That only works while Zavier’s host is sleeping.”
Yua pursed her lips. “Zavier may be a god, but he’s not at full power yet, and I have my own ways of working around magic. It comes naturally when you spend all your time absorbing every scrap of information on the subject for over three hundred years.”