by V. R. Janis
CHAPTER 12
Wi laid me back in my hammock and waited for me to say something. I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to say to him that would not burn his ears, so I turned toward the wall and swayed with the motion of the ship.
I felt him leave before I heard him shut the door. The energy he gave off was pulling me; I should have tried to steal some.
He was back in a few seconds with a little bread and a cup full of soup. He held them out to me as if they were poison. “Here, eat.”
I glared at him. “Why? What’s the point?”
He scowled back. “To not let them win, that’s the point. You’re stronger than this and your father would be ashamed if he knew you had given up.”
I sat up fast and threw my legs over the side of the hammock. “Okay. You don’t want me to let them win. Fine! Have it your way.”
I started gathering power and could feel my hair lift off my head and crackle with it.
“You can’t do that. They’ll know and then we’ll both get in trouble.”
I didn’t listen, just continued to gather power. He stepped close to me and I started to steal his power. He leaned in, grabbed my face and kissed me.
All of the energy I had gathered fell away as quickly as it had come to me. I melted against him and went weak. Then I got angry. Angry at myself and angry at him.
I shoved him toward the door. “OUT!”
He fell against the door and then shot up to standing. “Wait, I want to talk to you.”
“NO! OUT! NOW!”
I had a little energy left so I opened the door with magic, shoved him out and sealed it. I collapsed on the floor, which was covered with thin stone pavers. The stone stole my warmth as one last thought went through my head: With all the stone on board, maybe I would get lucky and the ship would sink. Blackness crept over me as I
thought about how I could get free.
CHAPTER 13
I shivered in the cold room and tried to wrap the thin blanket more tightly around me. If I didn’t die by my captors’ hands then the cold surely would do the job. I woke slowly, scared of the fact that I could not feel the tips of my fingers or my toes.
I sent what little energy I had into my toes and fingers, hoping to save them for a little while longer. I closed my eyes, unable to sleep but too tired to keep them open. I focused on the sounds around me—the slight breeze flapping in the sails, the scraping of things across the wooden deck—and then the voices reached my ears. They were on the other side of the door; I focused on the words coming from those people.
“I have had enough of dealing with this and I think it is time to get rid of the problem.”
Wi spoke in a whisper. “Fine, pull in the nearest port and we can.”
Hanyetuwi laughed cruelly. “You have to be joking! The sea is the only way she’s leaving this ship. You are getting too close to her.”
Wi slapped the door. “And you, brother, are jealous.”
I knew a few things for sure. First, they were coming for me. Second, I had nowhere to run. Third, I had no energy to fight. Fourth, no one was going to save me, which left only the last certainty: I was going to die today.
The only question remaining was how fast they could break down the door. With this thought, a pounding and the sound of splintering of wood filled the room. I couldn’t even cover my face and felt little slivers of wood cut into my face and neck.
There was only one way out of this. When they broke into the room and touched me, I would drain most of their energy so I could get away. I prepared myself to gather the energy from whoever touched me first, hoping in the back of my mind that it was not Wi.
The door gave way with a great booming slam into the wall. Hanyetuwi grinned down at me.
“Well, now that was a neat little trick.”
His foot kicked back and was already coming for my face. My last thought was, of course.
I woke when a bucket of sea water hit my face and burned all the little cuts there. I sputtered and choked. I was sitting at the edge of the gangway of the ship. My arms and legs were bound and a huge rock was also tied to me. I wiggled and the ropes dug into my arms, making me wince.
“Well now, sweetie,” Hanyetuwi gloated. “This is going to be hard on both of us. We will keep our goodbyes short.”
I glared at him and then looking around for help. Wi was in the bow of the ship, tied but standing. When our eyes met, he struggled against the six men surrounding him. I held his gaze as I felt Hanyetuwi’s foot push me over the side. The last sight I had was of Wi lunging for me.
Too late.
CHAPTER 14
I hit the water hard and it knocked the breath out of me. I looked up at the ship as I struggled against the ropes holding me to the rock. I was sinking deeper and deeper, and could feel a burn starting in my chest. I wanted to take a breath so badly.
I knew I couldn’t and shouldn’t, but I was getting ready to open my mouth when I felt a bump against my back.
Then I was speeding toward the surface of the water at an angle. My head broke the surface and I gasped and choked, thankful for the breeze that pushed waves into my face. I was moving swiftly across the water and tried to flip over to see who my savior was.
When I finally succeeded, my face was flat against the huge snout of a whale. He was pushing me through the water with a great surge of energy. Our eyes met and I knew he was trying to protect me.
I wondered how he had known I needed help and why he was trying to save me, but I was thankful no matter the reason. I drifted in and out of consciousness as he swam for an unknown place. I simply had to trust him. There was no other option.
I finally figured out how he knew—from the mermaids. I caught a glimpse of one, but then they vanished, clearly not wanting to get near me. I smiled and let the mermaids slip from my mind. I had bigger problems.
I worried about the heavy rock and kept trying to loosen the rope. I got it to the point where it no longer dug into my arms and legs, and that made me hope I could actually wiggle myself loose.
I looked around and I could see a dark smudge on the distant horizon, but I also noticed that night was taking over the sky. I didn’t think we would get there before full darkness. I had no doubt that the place in the distance was where my savior was swimming with me.
He dove under the water and I was sinking again, but he grabbed the rope in his teeth and shook me. Then he rose above the water with me on his snout again and blew the water out of his spout. I was a little in shock from being thrown around, but I noticed that the rope now sagged around the rock. I shifted my position and worked the rope off the rock, then rolled it away. It sank into the water.
I began to wonder again about the mermaids. I wondered why the whale, and not the mermaids, had freed me. It would have been easier and it would have hurt less if they had helped. They must have had a great fear of me or of the ship, I wasn’t sure which.
At least if I ended up in the water I could float now. I was able to look around and noticed we had some visitors that jumped and breached above the water. They were probably my whale’s family.
He dove under the surface again and then let me go. I wasn’t sinking fast, but I was still sinking.
Those horrible, rotten men had tied my hands and then bound me to the rock. We had dealt with the rock, but my hands were still tied. My legs got tangled in the extra rope every time I tried to kick to the surface.
The whale swam away from me but a smaller one appeared under me and lifted me above the water again. He swam faster than the other whale and the wake he made kept smacking me in the face.
I noticed three things at the same time. First, I could make out the shape of land, and it was much closer. Second, with the night, the temperature was dropping and I was shivering in my wet clothes. Not good. Third, the land looked to be covered in snow or ice. The light was reflecting off something.
I was still tied by the time we got close to the shore, but with my shifting I was ab
le to get most of the rope untangled from my legs and into my hands. I was wondering how they were going to get me onto the icy shore when my whale went under again. He let me go and hurried away. Then I saw him swimming up at me from the depths. Oh, no!
He hit me hard, shoving me out of the water and into the air with great strength. I flew through the air long enough to realize my landing was going to hurt. I hit the ground hard and skidded to a halt. I was too stunned to move. I felt sticky wetness on the side of my head and all I could do was hope it was the water. I kind of doubted it, though.
I slowly tried to sit up. As I groaned, I noticed movement out in the water. My saviors were waiting for something. I struggled into a sitting position, looked out to the water and nodded. They circled and then sprayed water from their spouts. When I looked again the sea was empty.
I didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I could not stay still. It was freezing and getting colder by the minute. I went to my knees and then used sheer determination to get to my feet. I stumbled along the shore, hoping there would be a fishing village in the area.
CHAPTER 15
I was losing focus and kept forgetting what I was doing. Then I started to hear noises—shuffling and grunts. I stopped, trying to determine where they were coming from. Then I realized I was surrounded. How did that happen?
I stopped. There was no point wasting energy going forward when they were everywhere. I closed my eyes and concentrated, and suddenly knew what was there. Polar bears.
“What should I do, brothers? What do you want me to do?”
I felt their anger at me. I was trespassing. They were not hungry, but they didn’t know what to do with me. They wanted me to leave and now would be the best time.
“I am trying to leave, but I don’t know where to go.”
I felt their agitation grow, but knew it had nothing to do with me. There were shadow men about, looking for something. Maybe me? The bears called them shadow men because there was no light in them, just the darkness of greed and hatred.
They saw the light coming from me and made a decision. They came closer and closer. One of them batted me down to the ground and they crowded around me. Wow! I did not realize how cold I was until I felt their body heat surrounding me.
Some of them shared their warmth and others seemed to stand guard in a circle around us. I fell asleep in the grip of one of the younger bears. Then a roar and many growls woke me. I peeked around the bears and saw a group of men trying unsuccessfully to sneak around them.
I cowered back down among the bears. They had gone from being annoyed about me to being very protective. Why were all these animals helping me? I knew being an elf made me closer to the earth than the human beings were, but usually we stayed to ourselves.
I was not going to complain about the animals. At the moment I could use all the help I could get. I figured the men had seen the whales save me and came to finish the job. I wanted to have my sword in my hand. I wanted to have energy to deal with this. I wanted to stop hiding and running. I wanted to go home.
Home. That was the goal. I had no idea even which continent I was on. Three of the ten continents on my planet were covered in ice and snow most of the year. I needed to figure out where I was before I could plan where to go.
The men eventually went away and I went back to sleep. One of the bears woke me later by shoving his snout into my face. Past time to wake up and go. Okay, I thought, I’m awake.
I stood up and realized that while I had slept, the bears had chewed the ropes off me! Then I looked up to see a man standing close to me.
CHAPTER 16
Wi stared at me. “Hi.”
“That’s the first thing you have to say to me? ‘Hi’? You have to be joking.”
“Sorry. Is that better?”
“Are you going to hand me over to your brother?”
“I have tried to protect you as much as possible from him.”
“You know how you could have protected me? You could have let me go, or better yet, not grabbed me at all. But I guess that ship has sailed already.”
“If I were not there, it could have been a lot worse for you.”
“Are you joking? I may not have looked it, Wi, but I do have a breaking point. Everyone does! And when it comes to dealing with you, I’m right on the edge.”
“I wanted to do so much more, but….”
“Why did you help them kidnap me?”
“It’s complicated.”
“I know I’ve been hit over the head a lot, but I’m not slow. I can keep up.”
He looked ashamed and would not meet my eyes. “I was not involved in taking you. When I found out what my brother had done, I included myself, but only to protect you.
“I love my brother, but I know he can be cruel sometimes. The human beings he had with him do not understand what you are.”
“What I am?”
“You are the light and the darkness that eclipses it, all rolled into one. And we are the ones who stole the light from one of the greatest men in the world. Forgive me.”
He leaned towards me. I kicked him, and he landed on his back with a gasp of pain.
I glared at him. “I hate you. You did this to me just as much as the rest of them did.”
“They’re still searching for you. We need to leave this place.”
I would show him the true gift I had. I crouched in the snow, ready to fight, and stared at him. He looked around for me in confusion, but his eyes passed right over me. He couldn’t see me? I looked down. To him I was now invisible!
There was blood dripping onto the ice from a wound on my leg, making a bright red target. That would be a problem. When I had kicked him, I must have reopened the wound.
Wi searched the ground around him. “I see your blood! Where did you go? What type of trick are you playing on me? Come on!”
I slowly circled around him. This was awesome, being invisible! Hmm, I thought…. What to do about the blood?
I decided to use it to my advantage. I walked to the shore and let the blood drip on the ground. When I got to the shore I saw the ship moored nearby. I also noticed that down the beach there was a cliff riddled with caves. I went to the edge of the water.
I ripped a piece of cloth from my shirt and tied it around my leg and then headed toward the caves. I hoped they were the first things the men searched. They wouldn’t see me unless I wanted them to.
I found a cave almost too small for me to shimmy into, but it was deep and I crept toward the back. It widened more the deeper it got, and I knew it was high enough on the cliff that if the tide came I would not be trapped and drowned.
The new trick I had learned, the one where the light made me invisible, made me think. I could and would learn all about my gift once I was away from this place.
I froze. I heard the clatter of stones near the entrance to my hideout and wondered how they had found me. I saw a hand reach over the side of the cave and then an arm and head. Wi! Dang.
He quickly pulled himself into the cave. Since it was tight for me it was almost impossible for him to get to the back. He held his finger to his lips as he squeezed in beside me.
That was when I heard the shouting and then splashing. The need to stay motionless made me hold my breath. My muscles clenched in fear. If they caught me now I did not know what they would do to me. I also did not want to breathe because Wi was too close. Every shift in position brought us in contact.
The silence dragged on and on before, much later, he shifted again. He started to inch toward the entrance. He peeked out and then turned back toward me. I could just make out his golden eyes.
“The ship is way out to sea now, but Hanyetuwi may have left some men to search. Where are we going to go now?”
“I don’t know where you’re going, but I’m getting off this forsaken ice land and going home.”
“Great. I always wanted to get to know your father.”
“You’re not coming with me. That’s the end
of it. I don’t know how you found me, but there is no ‘we’.”
“I followed your blood trail and knew you came this way instead of out to sea. I looked carefully and there was a small amount of blood in front of your cave. I cleaned it off as I crawled in.”
“Thank you, but you are still not coming with me.”
“I have a tent, supplies and clothes for you stashed nearby. I do have one question, though. Is it true that you can find things that were lost?”
“Fine, but when we leave this continent I make no promises that I will stay with you or wait for you.”
I didn’t answer his question about lost things. I planned on staying quiet about that power. It looked like I was stuck with him, at least for now.
Now the goal was to leave this continent
and go home.
NAMES of CHARACTERS
Wakangli - Lightning (Main character - elf maiden)
Iyatan - To Light (brother to the Wakangli)
Tanagila - Hummingbird (cousin to the Wakangli)
Wagnuka – Red-headed Woodpecker (cousin to Wakangli, brother to Tanagila)
Wicahpi - Star (horse of Wakangli)
Pailepi - Flashlight (horse of Iyatan)
Wiahinapa (Wi) - To Have the Sun Rise On (Golden Eyes - friend to Wakangli, brother to Hanyetuwi)
Great Tree - (father of Wakangli and Iyatan)
Tate - Wind (daughter to Aicamna)
Aicamna - To Storm Upon (dragon leader)
Jan - orphan, friend to Wakangli
Hanyetuwi - Moon (brother of Wiahinapa)
WORDS and PHRASES
pikicila - thankful
wana - now
tatanka - bull buffalo
Tatowapa - against the wind
Aglapta - To cease to fall on or to rain
iyokipi - please