by Zara Zenia
“Okay,” Georgia mumbled meekly. She knew there was a lot riding on this, but I trusted her.
“What are you trying to do, get us killed?” Katie’s defiant and argumentative voice rang through the night sky as shrill as a hawk’s cry.
I glanced up at the water snake. It was no longer thrashing in the water, which gave me an ominous feeling. It must have been either contemplating its next move or ready to strike in the next second.
Most aggressive animals such as this one became still and quiet right before they plunged in for the kill. It was a snake, after all, and snakes were mysterious and vicious. There was no telling what move it would make next.
“I have a knife in my pack,” I explained to Georgia and Katie. “It might not be enough to kill the water snake, but it will injure it enough to where it will probably back off.”
I was saying the words more to convince the two girls than myself. I wasn’t sure what was going to work at this point, but we would have to take the chance.
“Probably? Probably?” Katie shrieked. “So, we are hanging on to the microscopic hope that this idea works?” She was back to shrieking again as Georgia did her best to calm and silence her with hushing noises.
“It’s all I have,” I roared back at her as the waters began to churn again from the movement of the water snake. In my anger, spittle expelled from my lips.
“Shut up, Katie!” Georgia bellowed. I could tell by her tone of voice that her nerves were fraying patience for Katie’s constant antics and spirited complaints. She didn’t want to die any more than I did. It was a concept that Katie apparently couldn’t grasp.
“Fuck you!” Katie lashed back as her cheeks flushed bright red.
She was starring daggers at Georgia. I wasn’t certain whether one of the two of them was ready to throw the other overboard, but the hatred and fury were raw.
“What do you expect us to do, just sit here and allow the beast to kill us? I don’t want to die on this boat! If we can at least allow Kylin the chance to try, we might have the potential to survive this ordeal!”
Georgia’s face was beet red with her screams aimed at Katie. She was firing away now, no time left to hold back any emotions. She was forgetting that her screaming mixed with Katie’s was not helping the Honkfishs’ moods that were becoming more frantic by the second. I tried to make eye contact with Georgia to help her calm down, but she wouldn’t look in my direction.
“Well, what about them?” Katie was the one who pointed begrudgingly to the Honkfish in the moment of tension. Before then, I’d completely forgotten about them.
I glanced in the direction of the water pets who had halted their efforts to tow our sled and were turning violent shades of blood red in their anger. I was afraid they would try to shimmy away from the ropes and abandon us to save themselves.
“They can help us.” I nodded to Georgia, addressing her directly because I was fed up with Katie for the moment. I had an idea.
“Okay, how?” Georgia asked. Her voice was high with hopefulness. She hadn’t given up yet. I could see her will to live sparkling in her eyes.
“We need to tap on their shells,” I explained. “It will let them know that we need their help, and they will try to bite at the water snake.
“What if they die in the process?” Georgia asked. “How will we get to the capital with no Honkfish left to tow us?”
I saw the fear and alarm in her eyes and knew I had to be the stable resolution that stunted the growth of her agony. I would die to protect her, and I needed her to understand that.
Even if I couldn’t verbally formulate the way to tell her that. Actions spoke louder than words. I had to swoop in and become the hero. It was now or never.
“We can’t think that way,” I told her as I breathed heavily. “We have to focus on positivity here.”
At that moment, the wild beast hit the side of our sled and we all went tumbling over like dominos. I hit my head against the side of the sled and my bones vibrated. It took a moment of reeling, but I got up again.
Katie screamed and gripped the sides. Water was plunging into the sled at warp speed. I stared up at the mighty animal’s head and its gray body was quivering with taunting provocation. I was frightened for what its next plan of attack might be.
I began violently scooping the water out of the sled, working vigorously so that we wouldn’t sink. There seemed to be more water spilling in than going out.
“Here, let me help you!” Georgia cried as her damp red hair dripped down her face. Even in the face of danger, she was intoxicatingly beautiful.
We both continued to throw water out of the sled with both our hands and a bucket we brought with us to hold supplies that had now been emptied out and cast to the sea. If it hadn’t been for Georgia, my efforts would have been no match for the water.
Georgia and I worked in unison, tirelessly as the fighting instinct to stay alive kicked in and provided us with the fuel and motivation of adrenaline. The muscles in my arms and legs screamed in pain and protest, but I couldn’t give up the fight yet.
“I think it’s working!” Georgia shouted hopefully. “Katie, can you give us a hand?”
I glanced behind me at Katie, who shivered in a ball on the other side of the sled. “I . . . I can’t.”
She trembled as her body shook. She just sat there, pathetically white-knuckling the side of the sled as if she was afraid to move.
I got close enough to the Honkfish to where I could give them little pats on their hard shells.
My gesture was all the power they needed, and as soon as I withdrew my hand from their bodies, they went into full-out attack mode on the water snake, biting at it and thrashing their webbed little claws with all their might.
“They are doing what they are trained to do,” I called out to Georgia. “Look, it might be working.”
I had just enough time to retrieve the bag from Georgia while the water snake was distracted by the Honkfish.
“I hope they don’t die!” Georgia exclaimed. Even in these dire moments of peril, Georgia was thinking about the animals.
“I’m getting ready to move in and aid them in their efforts,” I yelled to her as the water on the bottom of the sled sloshed beneath my feet.
“How much longer to the capital?” She asked with dread as if she didn’t believe for a single second that we would actually make it there.
“We have a fairly long way to go still,” I told her because I had to be honest. “We will just have to hope for the best.” My tone was grave and somber, and even I was having trouble believing it.
“The odds are stacked against us,” Katie yelled from behind us. I didn’t expect her to be anything other than negative.
“No thanks to you,” Georgia spat her direction with an accusatory glare.
“I’m useless when I’m scared, okay?” Katie cried defensively.
“Yeah, that much is extremely clear,” Georgia stated bitterly as she continued to scoop water out of the sled.
“Georgia, watch out!” I called to her and pointed to where the water snake loomed behind her like a demonic fiend of death. It was probably my imagination, but it looked like it was snarling.
Georgia shrieked and naturally jumped across the sled, her survival instinct kicking into full gear now. She threw the bucket of water and it landed on top of Katie.
Her eyes fumed with anger, and I knew she wasn’t going to allow herself or any of us on this sled to die in vain. Her cheeks were flushed with the heat of what I recognized in my own self. Power and domination.
The Honkfish squeaked their air bladders fanatically, and if we weren’t in this wretched situation, it might have sounded quite comical.
I was just thankful for their ability to understand our need for help in taking down the mighty water snake. Without them, we would surely die.
“The Dolarians tricked us,” Katie yelled. “These waters are explicitly hazardous and filled with creatures to destroy us.”
&nb
sp; “They did warn us to be careful, and that’s part of the reason they allowed us to take their Honkfish pets with us on our journey,” Georgia reminded her.
I smiled at Georgia and her profound depth of kindness. She really took a liking to the Dolarians, and for whatever unknown reason, had a way with them to where she could bond with them and earn their trust.
I unzipped the pouch containing my knife and pulled it from its protective encasement. It was now or never. I had to be swift, mighty, and stealthy.
“Okay, wish me luck,” I said more to Georgia than to Katie. My eyes trailed back to Georgia and lingered there for a few seconds. If I died, I wanted her face to be the last thing I ever saw.
“Good luck. I’m right behind you if you need help,” Georgia said, and I knew I could trust her to always have my back.
I was hoping to not have to involve her any more than I already had. With jerky, swift movements, I swiped at the water snake and managed to gouge a substantially deep cut into the middle of its body.
It roared in pain, continuing to thrash menacingly, but now I was its intended target.
Yes, the beast only had eyes for me as it narrowed in on me. I took a few steps backward and roughly pounced on it, continuing to stab it as many times as I could before it ate me whole.
The Honkfish continued to work on the water snake from the back, ripping its skin apart. It was becoming more and more injured by the second. If they did the majority of the work, I could finish it off.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the water snake relinquished its efforts to eat us and retreated. Its long body curled under the water in defeat.
Its thick, murky blood looked like oil as it collected on the top of the water. There was a ton of it and it was slimy as it created a film on the top of the water.
“Do you think it’s dead?” Katie cried out with uncertainty. She dared to crane her head over the side and check out the water.
“I’m not sure.” I panted and wiped the water and sweat from my eyes. “It may be injured enough to withdraw its efforts against us though.” I wasn’t ready to let down my guard yet.
Georgia collapsed against the side of the sled, breathing hard. “I’m shaking,” she admitted.
“You were very brave.” I gently squeezed her hand. “Thank you for your help.” It had been a brutal attack, but she’d held her own.
“Yeah. Thanks,” Katie murmured sheepishly.
The three of us sat there, shell-shocked as we tried to regain composure. Luckily, the Honkfish remained tied up to the sled even through their struggle to attack the water snake.
After several minutes, we determined that the snake wasn’t going to make a frightening return appearance. If it was coming back for a second wind attack, it would have done so already.
“Nobody is hurt?” I looked at them to make sure.
Georgia tried to make a little joke. “Just emotionally.”
“Good.” I nodded. “Let’s press on.”
We rode away from the area mainly in silence, too unnerved and exhausted to make mindless conversation after the attack. The ocean felt and sounded eerily quiet now that we were safely on our way once again.
After a while, Georgia sat up straight. “I see land!” she shouted.
I raised up on my knees. “That’s the capital. We are almost there.”
All three of us expelled an audible sigh of relief.
“I can’t wait to get out of this water,” Katie confessed with a timid chuckle.
For once, I knew Georgia and I were silently agreeing with Katie.
Chapter 17
Georgia
When we docked at the water station, I had no idea we would be greeted with such elaborate fanfare from the Crown Prince. I’d never seen such a celebration in my entire life.
The Crown Prince was slight, just like the villagers, with fuzzy fur and webbed hands and feet. I found him utterly adorable.
“Oh, look how cute he is,” I squealed and playfully hit Kylin's arm.
“Right, simply adorable.” Kylin rolled his eyes with sarcasm, but I saw him flash a tiny hint of a subtle smile.
“Stop it,” I teased as if he were sprouting nonsense. “Look!” I shouted and stood up as I climbed off the raft. “He has a marching band and they are forming a line for us to walk through.”
“Wow,” Kylin said with surprise, as if even he didn’t expect the Dolarians to go through this degree of trouble just to greet us.
“Where is Chad?” Katie glanced around with tired eyes. Even after everything we’d been through, I felt like she was still pining over him.
She wasn’t the only one exhausted from the ordeal we went through on the sea, and I felt like my nerves were frayed, shot and on edge.
“He must not know what happened to us out there.” I glanced up at Kylin with chagrin. I didn’t know where Chad was. Perhaps he wasn’t here because he was being held captive.
“In good time, we will tell him all about it,” Kylin said with charisma as if he wanted Prince Jerren to feel the brutal blame of our near-death experiences.
I supposed that Kylin had a point. We might as well go through the motions and play along with this parade of cheering animals.
The horns played as we walked past their players, and balloons rose to the sky, dancing into the clouds to tickle them with carnival joy from down below. If we hadn’t just been through hell and back, I might have actually enjoyed myself.
“Chad?” Katie looked around, spinning and looking pathetically distraught. She wasn’t focusing on any of the festive happenings.
“We won’t find him tonight,” Kylin told her firmly as his shoulders continued to sag with fatigue.
He had a few nicks, cuts, and bruises, but they were all cosmetic and none were going to leave lasting effects or be life threatening.
“At least we aren’t terribly hurt,” I reminded him. We got out of that mess nearly unscathed, and I wasn’t about to forget that.
“Thanks to your help. You are quite the brave woman.” Kylin’s expression was warm and genuine.
“It’s the survival instinct that kicked in,” I said humbly with a shrug as if it was no big deal. At the time, my survival instinct had gone into high gear.
Kylin rubbed my shoulder and then gently squeezed. “You were absolutely incredible.”
“Geez.” I glanced around, absorbing the cheers and obvious delight coming from these little welcoming creatures. “You would think you were a soldier returning from war and had just saved the nation.” I chuckled as I absorbed the triumphant greeting we were receiving.
“Yes, well, the Dolarians always seek to find a reason to celebrate any occasion.” Kylin rolled his eyes as his temperament soured to borderline bitter. He obviously didn’t have the patience to deal with them right now.
I could understand where his plaguing resentment came from because it wasn’t like Prince Jerren had jumped up to rescue us or provide safe means of transportation back to his capital. He had accounted for most of the reason we’d had to take the water sled in the first place.
“Hello, my good friends.” Prince Jerren spoke in English to the three of us as we approached his throne.
“Hello.” I nodded my head weakly and secretly wondered why he had addressed us as good friends.
With each step I took, my sore muscles throbbed in protest. My adrenaline was plummeting fast. I knew I was going to crash hard tonight.
Kylin looked positively drained and Katie looked . . . well, the way she always did. Skittish, annoying, and like a little helpless pixie fairy.
“Welcome to the capital city of Dolaria!” Prince Jerren exclaimed and threw his stubby little furry arms in the air.
“It’s great to be here,” I said politely, knowing that Price Jerren would be the source of our comfort tonight.
“Thank you.” He smiled with pride. He wore more jewelry than I had ever seen in my entire life. Even the Queen of England back home probably didn’t own
half the jewelry draped around Prince Jerren.
His diamonds, rubies, and emeralds adorning his neck shone brightly under the lights from the lanterns in the streets. They were beautiful, albeit unnecessary.
At one point, I had to look away because the glare was hurting my eyes from the flashy jewels. He was over the top, that much was certain.
“Do you think he likes to wear necklaces?” I droned with sarcasm and chuckled while Katie and Kylin laughed and snickered with me privately so that the prince wouldn’t hear our conversation.
“Just don’t tease him about it,” Kylin warned. “He likes to be the little rascal emitting the jokes.
“I can tell,” I said and continued to laugh.
Kylin looked at me as we jumped onto Prince Jerren’s carriage to return to the palace. “To be honest, I’m too exhausted from the journey to negotiate terms for Chad’s release tonight.”
I glanced at Katie a few seconds later, who sat behind us. The royal assistants for the prince had given her a blanket to wrap around herself and her eyes were closed. Thankfully, she appeared either asleep or not able to hear our conversation.
“I don’t think she will mind much.” I nodded my chin in her direction. She looked as exhausted as I felt.
Kylin’s eyes twinkled. “I’m just thankful that we made it.”
I squeezed his hand. “Me too,” I whispered with a smile. It had been a challenge getting here, but we were safe and that’s all that mattered.
We rode on in silence while we listened to Prince Jerren ramble on about the locations we were passing and the significant importance in their history each place represented.
I wasn’t paying that much attention but would smile and nod while smiling at him every so often to make it look like I was absorbed in the story. I needed a good night’s rest and sleep, then perhaps I might wake up with more ripples of curiosity about this strange moon.
After a few minutes, we arrived in front of a cute palace that was larger than I expected. “They live here?” I peered up at Kylin with intrigue.
“They accommodate their dwelling places for the Mixian people,” Kylin told me. “They are more hospitable than they let on.”