Her arms burned, but she climbed onward, using her feet to grasp the rope while she shimmied higher and higher. As soon as she could, she used the side of the boat as a lever, pulling herself to the railing. The rescuers had disappeared now, and she heard scuffles on the deck. She took a deep breath to prepare herself, and hauled herself over the ship railing, landing on the deck on both feet.
Immediately, her eyes went to the place where she had seen her brother last. He was still there, sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees, and she drew in a breath at the beauty of him, sitting there, very nearly her child rather than her brother, his tiny arms and giant eyes in his face as he watched the fighting. But then her breath was knocked out of her as something heavy hit her in the side. As she fell to the ship's deck, she realized the heavy thing was a person, tackling her, and she heard the horrible voice call out, hold her.
Isika fought. She had taken beatings many times, so she had strength to withstand the pain of the person pummeling her ribs with his fists, but in all her life she had never fought back. To her surprise, it gave her more strength. She felt power surge through her, though her opponent had her pinned on her back. Laughing, she managed to get her feet under his body, and she kicked out, launching him toward the main mast. He hit it with a thud and crumpled on the deck.
Isika leapt to her feet and stood with her hands ready, looking to see if anyone else approached. But everyone else had gone still, frozen. The man with the tangle of black hair approached from the ship's stern. She inhaled deeply, calming herself. She had healed the poisoned sea, the Othra called her the World Whisperer, she was not just some girl.
You are annoying me now, the goddess said, and she spoke the words into her head, rather than through the man. Isika could hear the power and venom behind the words, and she shuddered.
"You have no power over me," she shouted, her voice strong despite her fear.
The man laughed crazily, his head tipped back and spit flying from his mouth.
"I have power over everything," he said, as conversationally as if he was talking about the weather. "Especially you."
Isika's eyes narrowed as she stared at the man the goddess was using as a puppet. She looked around at the other sea people, who were still and silent, watching the man in fear and disgust. She felt intense pity, then, for the people who stole children, whom the goddess used like this, with no regard for their lives at all. Born into a life of theft and no doubt thrown aside when she was tired of them.
"No one can steal from me," the man said, his eyes red and wild.
"I can," Isika said, and she lunged forward, across the slippery deck, her bare feet flying as she closed the distance and leapt on the man. He screamed as she grasped him and Isika felt the wild power within him, the strength of his muscles and the desperation of the goddess writhing like a worm. Isika clamped down on his arm and said, within her mind, Go.
Never, the goddess shrieked at her.
Efir, Isika called out. Help me. And with a blast of wing wind, the giant bird came and plucked the man out of Isika's grasp. She flew with him, dropping him into the sea, not far from the boat. Isika rose and ran to the ship's railing, staring down at the man, who was being thrown around by more than the waves. Suddenly he went still and there was a lightness in the air. People visibly straightened and sighed as the air became thinner and lighter. Isika grinned at Efir, who circled the boat, trailing light behind her.
Thank you, she said. Will you bring him back now?
Efir swooped down with her immense power and plucked the man out of the sea as though he was no more than a doll, carrying him carefully back over to the ship and depositing him on the deck. A woman ran to the man and collapsed on his chest. Her long, straight, black hair was braided, wrapped with golden thread, and strung with mirrors. She sobbed against the man's still body, then began to check him over, rolling his ragged sleeves up to hold his wrists, pulling his eyelids back to check his eyes. The man was unconscious but breathing.
Just then, one of the other sea people walked forward. He too had the jet black hair of the sea people and his hair was wild on his head. He scowled at Isika.
"You may have gotten rid of the goddess," he said, "But you won't leave easily. We have one more child to sell. And with powers. This is going to be a large bag of gold, men!" He smiled and Isika flinched from his broken teeth and his malice.
"No!" The shriek came from beside Isika and she turned to look wearily. She couldn't believe how tired she was. She had no strength to fight these strange sea people, thieves of children. She wanted to run to Kital, but he was hiding behind a pile of sacks and she willed him to stay there, safe and out of sight.
"No!" the voice said again, this time firm and quiet. It was the woman who crouched over the man the demon had inhabited. "She has returned Torar to us and we will honor that gift. He will live and we will know him as husband and brother again, rather than the crazed lunatic the goddess turned him into."
The man made a quick motion with his hands as though he was praying. Isika recognized the fear of the goddesses, that they would hear the woman's words and strike.
"You must not speak so," he said to the woman.
"You know it is true, Bevar," she said. "He is your brother. You must see that he was unrecognizable. We will allow these children to go free as our thanks." Bevar's face became even more furrowed and angry as he looked from Isika to the four rescuers he had kidnapped, measuring the woman's words. Isika was barely holding herself upright now, but she was afraid to show any weakness. Just then there was a clattering on the boat and Jabari leapt over the railing, following the rope Isika had climbed, and Gavi jumped over soon after, Ivram and Ben in their wake.
Bevar's eyes widened at this new intrusion. Isika willed Jabari not to attack anyone, and he seemed to understand the great tension, because he simply rushed to the rescuers, grabbing their hands and hugging a couple of them.
The last thing Isika heard was Bevar's words, "Very well, they can go," before everything went black and she slid to the deck.
When Jabari saw Isika walk out into the water and not fall to its poison, he closed his eyes. His head was clouded by opposing thoughts. One side screamed that it was demon magic, that she was in line with the Mugunta. The other side considered her words, World Whisperer and wondered whether this might be the truth. He didn't know why he felt so cloudy, why thinking was so difficult.
He opened his eyes and watched her wading farther into the water, healing it as she went. Around him, rangers gasped and one woman cried out in surprise as the water came back to life. It wasn't as surprising to Jabari. He had seen her do it before. He looked up and met Ivram's eyes. Ivram looked back at him and what Jabari registered in the elder's face was deep disappointment. He flinched away from it, knowing why Ivram was disappointed. All his life Jabari had been trained to await the queen's return, to seek her with all his heart. Yet now the World Whisperer might be back, and Jabari was resisting. He had wanted to distinguish himself by finding the queen, but he hadn't realized he would feel overshadowed by someone who was just a girl.
Something was happening in the water, a flurry of motion, and Jabari recognized that the naia had come to Isika to help her swim out to the boat. He felt a burning sensation from his head to his feet. Was he jealous? Was that all this resistance was? He ground his teeth, frustrated with his mind and especially his emotions. Beside him, Gavi put a hand on his arm.
"Not much going on lately, is there?" Gavi said, smiling.
"No," Jabari said, laughing and sighing. "It's been boring." He turned to Ivram. "Do we follow?"
Ivram gazed at the boats, watching Isika, who now climbing a rope into the nearest ship. Jabari caught his breath. She was very brave, he had to give her that.
"We wait. The sea is almost clear but I still fear its effect."
Jabari clenched and unclenched his fists. Waiting was the last thing he wanted to do. He never waited for anything! He was the active one, the
one who charged ahead. Was it simply that she was more powerful than him? He, Jabari, the most gifted of his generation? Was that why suspicion and anger boiled in him? He tilted his head and stared at the sky, watching the Othra float high above the ships. They had chosen her, they who had only ever been mysterious and evasive with him. He needed to come to terms with these feelings, or he could make wrong steps, wrong judgments, and hurt someone who had become a friend. As he watched the Othra, one of them—it was too far to tell who— plunged toward the ship and lifted a person from the deck, dropping him or her into the sea. Jabari gasped. They never interfered with adversaries this way.
"It's time to move," Ivram said. "Rangers, stay here and wait for us. Jabari and Gavi, Ben, we swim out now."
Gavi gulped beside Jabari, and Jabari thumped his brother on the shoulder.
"I wish something interesting would happen," he said.
"Before we die of boredom," Gavi replied, though his voice was a bit shaky.
They waded into the water slowly, but it didn't poison them. As soon as he could tell that he was going to live, Jabari dove straight in, swimming with long strokes. He turned his head and saw his brother just behind him, then Ivram, and Ben trailing them all.
It didn't take long to reach the ships. The air somehow felt cleared of confusion, and as Jabari hauled himself up the rope, he felt more prepared to support Isika than he had on the beach. He thought maybe he could win the fight within himself, and believe in her. At least, he thought, until she did something outrageous again.
As soon as he pulled himself over the railing he felt the strong tension. One man lay on the deck, a woman crouched over him. Turned away from them, Isika faced another man, her feet spread, her chin up and defiant. He smiled to see her with such a familiar look on her face. He caught sight of the rescuers, his missing friends, and rushed to hug them.
"Very well," the man said, "they can go," and Jabari spun as he heard a thud. Isika had fallen and lay in a tangle of wet clothes and limbs on the ship's deck. He rushed to her, but Ivram got there first. He picked up the girl with the strength of a young man, holding her to his chest as he straightened to face the man who had made the pronouncement. The man wore the gold of the sea people, on his wrists and around his neck. He was young, with a beard shadowing his face. His skin was light brown, and his hair was wild on his head.
Ivram spoke. "Thank you for your wisdom. We will not forget it. Do you have a boat for us to reach the shore?"
The man considered Ivram for a moment, then nodded curtly. He gave a quick command and men rushed to lower two small boats and a ladder. Jabari looked at the people aboard the ship. He couldn't believe they were just going to let these sea people, the same ones who sometimes stole children of the Maweel, sail their ships into the sunset. But he knew that he and the others were at a disadvantage on the ships. Too much blood would be spilled if they fought.
He sighed. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a furtive motion. He looked and saw a small boy peering around a pile of sacks near the ship's prow. Kital. He was small, still nearly a baby, with giant eyes and little hands that held on to the sacks. Jabari nudged Ben, who caught sight of his brother and went to him, his arms out. Kital looked at the space between the sacks and his approaching brother, and when Ben was close enough, the little boy ran into his arms.
Ben sighed and laughed and pulled his brother close.
They climbed down the ladders and into the boats, Ivram holding Isika until he reached the bottom of the ladder and handed her to Jabari. She was completely still, the way she had been after she healed the river, and he thought of how much more poison she had taken into her from the sea, as well as facing the demon, the rescuers had told him. When they reached the rocky shore, he climbed out of the boat, still holding Isika. It was impossible to be mad at her when she was so helpless, and he felt his heart soften toward the girl who could heal a sea.
"We make camp here," Ivram said. "And wait for Isika to grow well again."
CHAPTER 30
Isika awoke to someone calling her name. She was warm and dry, she could smell the salty tang of the sea. She was having a good dream, and she didn't want to wake up, so she frowned and snuggled deeper into her blankets.
She heard her name again, and this time she recognized the voice that called her, and sat bolt upright. Kital sat on the corner of her blanket, his little legs crossed under him, watching her with a frown on his face that quickly faded when he smiled and his dimples flashed at her. She lunged at him and pulled him into her arms, hugging him until he squirmed and she loosened her grip.
"My little boy," she said. "I missed you so much!"
"I waited for you for a long time," he said simply, his eyes huge.
She was surprised by how seriously and calmly he said it. "How did you know I would come?" she asked.
"They told me," he said, pointing at the three Othra, who were feasting on fish at the shore.
The Othra. Isika sent a warm feeling of thankfulness to them, and looked around. Gavi sat by the fire, cooking as usual. Ivram perched on a rock beside him, talking with a tall girl Isika assumed was one of the rescuers. Jabari stood nearby, practicing archery with a piece of driftwood, sending arrow after arrow into a circle drawn on its surface. Near the fire, the sleeping pallets were rolled out, and the other rescuers sat on them or lay, propped on their elbows, chatting with the rangers. A wave of happiness broke over her. Things were perfect, now Kital was with her. She lay down beside him and stroked his round cheek.
"I found you in the end," she said.
"Have you ever had potatoes that were roasted in the ground?" he asked. "They're delicious!"
She smiled into his eyes and felt her happiness stretch even wider.
Gavi built a fire, and they sat around it as though nothing had happened. Kital ate and ate, and so did the four who had rescued him. There was the tall girl, who Isika learned was Ivy, Ivram's daughter. She was a couple years older than Isika, born late to Ivram and Karah. She wore braids to her waist and looked like a tall, brown crane, with graceful arms and legs. Then there was a rescuer with white skin, and bright yellow hair. And a rescued boy who wasn't from the Worker village, with long black hair that he wore in a braid, and gold rings in his ears. Isika felt curious about the jewelry and wished she was brave enough to ask him about it. And there was a dark-skinned Maweel boy who was short and broad in the chest. He often sat and chatted with Gavi by the fire. The four young people were exhausted, and seemed tired. It was taking them a long time to recover from the poison of the goddess.
"Why does Kital seem okay when the rescuers are wounded?" Isika asked Ivram.
"It always hits the older ones the hardest. If a child grows up poisoned, it will deeply affect him. But a few weeks of this kind of poison will be quickly repaired in a young child." He sat quietly for a while. "It's one of the deepest healings we have to do," he said. "When we get the rescued ones and they have been living in poison for a long time." He looked at Aria, then at Isika. "Sometimes the wounding is very deep. But your brother is resilient, and he will be like new in no time."
Kital certainly seemed fine. He was poking at the fire with close supervision from Gavi, so adorable, with his curly hair and light hazel eyes, the dimples in his cheeks. She watched as he stood on tiptoe and held his hand up as high as he could reach, demonstrating something big for Gavi, who nodded and grinned at him. Two rescued ones.
A shadow crossed her heart. No one had rescued her. She had to rescue herself. But she shook the thought away and took some of the potatoes that Gavi held out. Beside her, Jabari sighed.
"More potatoes," he said. "I can't wait until we get back home and eat a feast!"
Isika grinned at him. Since she woke, Jabari had been kind and easy with her, surprising her after their last, tense conversations.
"You are a true Maweel," she said. "Used to the best food." She would never, ever complain about potatoes. To her they were still delicious.
Isika smiled at him. Kital climbed into her lap. Isika was with her friends and she had her brother, they were headed back to the city and all was right with the world.
The company left the cove and walked back along the rocky path with the cliffs towering overhead, traveling slowly because the rescuers were still weak. Isika took one last look at the cove that had given their brother back to them, and in her mind she called goodbye to the naia. She got goosebumps when she heard an answering farewell echoing through the water. They fell into a pattern, Isika walking with Gavi, Ivy with Aria, talking together in low tones. Aria helped Ivy when she stumbled over rocks in the path. Kital skipped from sibling to sibling, holding Isika's hand for a while, then walking with Benayeem, then back again. He approached Aria for the first time when the company stopped for a break.
"I think you're my sister," he said.
"I think you're right," she replied, smiling at him. He was irresistible, with his dimples and dancing eyes, hopping from one foot to another while he talked to her.
"Can I walk with you next?" he asked.
"Of course you can. Sometimes we have to help Ivy, though."
"Ivy helped me so much when those sea people took us," he told her. "She held me when they made us stand on the deck all day. I'm sorry she's not feeling well now."
Isika tried to convey her gratitude to Ivy with her eyes. The tall girl returned her look with a tired smile.
They came to the river on the third day, traveling slow as they were, and everyone cheered as Gavi pulled out his fishing net and waded into the quick-moving current. That night the fish tasted better than anything Isika had ever eaten, paired with the wild herbs Gavi had pulled from the riverbank with Kital's help. She didn't cry as Gavi had suggested she would, but she did beg for more.
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