by D K Drake
“Hmm.”
“‘Hmm?’ What does that mean? ‘Hmm.’”
“That means your arrogance is not going to let you believe the truth.”
“I have to be arrogant. I am Omri’s son.”
“Even Omri’s son needs help from time to time.”
“What happened? Did some of the men and women risk their lives to save me? I guess they would feel indebted to me. I did save us all from the disaster of the whirlpool.”
“And one man saved you from the clutches of that monster.”
“Courageous of him.”
“Extremely. Not only did he slice the head clean off the monster, he plummeted to the bottom of the lake to get your unconscious body, dragged you back to the boat and had everyone take turns doing this thing he called chest compressions until you came back to life and spit water in his face.”
“I’ll have to apologize for that. So who was it? Kai? Mazen? Datnara?”
“None of the above.” She cocked her head to the side and said the one name he never expected to hear. “Javan.”
◊◊◊
As he had for the past day and a half, Javan lay in his bunk on his left side. Bandages covered the long scratches on his back and another bandage covered his eyes like a blindfold.
He wouldn’t have needed the blindfold bandage if he hadn’t worn his contacts in the water. He had lost his left contact altogether, and something microscopic had lodged itself under his right contact, scratching his cornea.
Taliya was the only one who had seen his eyes since the incident. She had flushed his puffy eye with a solution she concocted in the kitchen and patched him up without making one comment about his brown eyes suddenly looking like glowing emeralds.
The eye pain had finally subsided that morning, but he wasn’t ready to take the bandage off. Once he did, he wouldn’t be able to hide his shiny green eyes from anyone ever again.
When he was in Gri, he had adapted to living without his contacts. But that was in a controlled environment with people he trusted. Out here in the real world, he would be known as the freaky green-eyed guy.
The disturbed him more than the fact that he was almost eaten by a sea monster and left him too shaken up to celebrate his victory with the crew.
“Hey, monster killer.” Taliya tapped him on the shoulder, and he rolled to his right side. “Micah’s awake. He wants to talk to you.”
“I don’t feel like talking to anyone right now.” As long as he wore the blindfold and couldn’t see the people he was talking to, he preferred to keep to himself. “Didn’t you tell him I’m blind?”
“You are not blind.” Taliya ripped the bandage off his head. “Just as I suspected. The swelling is gone, and your eye looks perfectly healthy.”
“No.” He sat up and tried to wrap the cloth around his eyes again. “I have to keep my eyes covered.”
“That’s why I brought you these.” Taliya took the cloth and replaced it with a pair of sunglasses. “I don’t know why you want to camouflage those gorgeous eyes of yours, but these glasses should protect your eyes until you’re ready to show people who you really are.”
“You think my eyes are gorgeous?”
“Just put the glasses on and follow me.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Javan donned the shades, bounded off the bed and followed Taliya to the captain’s quarters at the opposite end of the room.
◊◊◊
Micah had to fight through the pain to take deep breaths. Dreix had offered him medicine to minimize the pain during his exam, but Micah declined. The medicine would make him sleepy, and Micah did not want to sleep.
The doctor ordered him to stay in bed until they arrived in Fralick and to keep applying the cold cream to his chest to speed the healing process. Considering how much it hurt to move, he decided to obey those orders.
Shortly after Dreix left, Javan arrived. “Hey,” Javan said, closing the door behind him. “You wanted to see me?”
“Yeah.” Micah was taken aback by the Collector’s sunglasses. “What’s with the dark glasses? There’s no light outside, and it’s not all that bright in here.”
“Scratched my cornea. Makes my eyes sensitive to light.”
“Oh. I broke my ribs. Makes my lungs sensitive to breathing.”
“You always have to one up me, huh?”
Micah shrugged. Then grimaced when the casual movement sent a wave of pain through his body. “I did get hurt worse.”
“True. But that does remind me.” Javan tossed a ball of yellow coral on the bed. “I won.”
Micah fingered the coral, impressed with the Collector for following through with the bet. He wasn’t about to tell him that, though. “I reached the coral first, but I dropped my piece when that monster strangled me.”
“That’s what you have to say to me?” Javan shook his head and opened the door to leave.
“Wait. Close the door. Have a seat. Please. I need to ask you something.”
Javan sighed, shut the door and sat in the chair. “What?”
“Why?”
“Why…what?”
“I was a dead man. We are enemies. I imprisoned your family, destroyed your town, and left you to die. Twice. Once when I sliced you open, and once when I wouldn’t pull you out of the river. You should hate me. Plus with me out of the way, Mertzer would be yours. So why did you save me?”
“I do hate you, but it was the right thing to do.”
“The right thing? How do you determine the difference between right and wrong? Had the situation been reversed, the right thing for me would have been to let the monster kill you.”
“I know. We operate by a different set of values. For instance, I value human life, even the lives of people I hate. You value your life and no one else’s. That may feed your pride, but I’m guessing it leaves you feeling empty, lonely, and unfulfilled.”
Micah squirmed under the distressing truth of Javan’s words. How did the Collector know how empty and lonely he felt? And where did Javan’s values come from? Did they offer him a sense of fulfillment?
In a softer voice, Javan continued. “As much as I despise you, I saw a hint of goodness in you when you tugged on my leg and warned me about that monster.”
“That’s why you saved me? Because I tugged your leg?” Had Micah not tried to cheat, would Javan have done what he did? Should he tell Javan the truth?
Javan rose to his feet so that he was standing at the end of the bed. “That creature could have just as easily attacked me, and I knew God would help me save you. I was right.”
“God? Who is your God?”
“You really want to know? You don’t just want to bash my beliefs?”
“I am curious about your beliefs. I’ve never known any god but Omri, and he has never helped me save anyone.”
“In that case--” Javan’s answer was interrupted when the boat jerked to a sudden stop. “Great. I wonder what’s wrong now.”
“Let’s go find out.” Micah started inching his way off the bed.
“No.” Javan pointed at Micah. “You stay. I’ll be back later so we can finish our conversation.”
“Good. I’d like that.”
Javan nodded and opened the door. Micah couldn’t let him leave without telling him one more thing.
“Hey, Javan.”
He poked his head back through the door. “Yeah?”
“I’m pretty sure my own father wouldn’t have risked his life for mine, so thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He left, but Micah called him back. “And Javan?”
“Yeah?” This time he answered from outside the room.
“The people of Gri? They all survived. I didn’t let Mertzer crush any buildings until I saw the people retreat into the woods.”
He wasn’t sure Javan heard him until the Collector returned to the room a minute later. “Thank you. I still hate you, but thanks for telling me that.”
“Then we are good because I still hate y
ou, too. Now go do your hero thing and fix whatever’s wrong with the boat. I would if I wasn’t so sore and tired.”
“A true hero’s work is never done.” Javan smiled, nodded and left the room.
Micah leaned his head back and closed his eyes. But the shrieks wouldn’t let him rest. Because these shrieks didn’t come from his memories. They came from the crew on the deck above him.
Chapter 35
Ambush
Empty? That’s was odd. At any given time, ten to fifteen people hung out in the sleeping quarters to rest, chat, or eat in the dining area. But when Javan walked out of the captain’s room, he found himself alone in the big space. Where was everyone?
He speed walked through the room and was about to climb the ladder to the upper deck when Taliya and Jili the cook came down and elbowed him out of the way.
“What’s going on?” Javan asked. “Why did we stop?”
“Frogs,” Taliya said. “Lots of frogs. They’re clogging the paddlewheels.”
“Here.” Jili handed him a jug of water. Strands of her white hair had escaped from its bun and hung over her wrinkled face. “Fill every pot, pan and bowl you can find.”
“Okay. But why?”
“Frogs hate salt,” Taliya said, scrounging through the cabinets and putting bowls on the table, “so we’re going to pour salt water on them.”
As Javan filled the bowls with water, Jili added scoops of salt. He had one bowl left when the screams from above sent chills down Javan’s spine. “What kind of frogs are we dealing with here?”
“Poisonous ones.” Lydia appeared at the bottom of the ladder. “But they’re not our only problem. Get your swords. You’re needed on the top deck.”
“For what? I was helping here.”
“Go.” Taliya took the water from him. “We have this under control.”
Javan strapped on his sword belt and followed Lydia to the first deck. Where he couldn’t see a thing through the sunglasses. He felt like a blind man in a dark cave surrounded by shrieks and cackles and hisses. It disturbed him, so he perched his shades on top of his head. Although it was still dark, he could at least make out Lydia’s shadow. “What’s with all these noises?”
“We’re under attack.” A big bird flew under the roof, cawing loudly as it grazed both their necks with its wing. “See what I mean!”
“That was a bird.” Javan talked slowly to help Lydia grasp her overreaction to the situation. “Birds aren’t scary. Why is everyone terrified?”
“One bird isn’t scary. Dozens of them pecking at your face, pulling your hair and biting your hands can be a good reason to scream.”
“That’s what’s happening?” Javan gulped and listened to the banging and screeching around and above him.
“Yes. The animals seem to have created an ambush for us. Frogs are attacking from the water, birds from the air and we’re still not sure what’s trying to get to us from the land. Plus the wind is picking up. The weather is about to turn on us, too.”
“Wonderful.” He leaned to the side and noticed countless pairs of shimmering eyes moving about through the rustling trees on the shore. His heart rate started to spike as a gust of wind tipped the boat from side to side. “What can I do?”
“I’ve got my archers on the top deck shooting whatever moves on land, but the birds are making that mission difficult. You and I are going to fend them off to free the archers.”
“We are?”
“Yes. You might want to put those sunglasses back on to protect your eyes.”
Javan took her advice, drew his swords and followed her up into the chaos. Even through the dark glasses, he could make out shapes of birds as small as sparrows and as big as eagles swooping down and around and on the six archers.
One landed on his head and pulled a chunk of his hair out with his claws while another rammed straight into the fresh wound on his back. “That’s enough of that!” Javan waved his swords in the air like a madman, blazing across the deck and chopping at any bird he could reach.
“Need some help, please!” Bree, a five foot nine lean, muscular woman not too far to Javan’s right was trying to load her bow. Several birds pecking at her hands made that task difficult.
“I’ve got you covered.” Javan charged over, stabbed one bird, and shooed the others off. “Quick! Take your shot.”
She loaded her bow, lined up her shot, and let the arrow fly. “Got it!”
The arrow lodged right between the eyes of a tiger in mid-leap. It splashed in the water before it could reach the boat.
“Nice shot.”
“I’m not sure how much good it did. I’m almost out of arrows, but I can spot more than thirty animals bigger than that tiger from here. If we don’t get this boat moving soon, we don’t stand a chance.”
Javan kept his swords raised and moving as he surveyed the land. He couldn’t see what Bree saw, but when he turned his attention back to the deck, he could see the birds winning the fight against the humans.
They seemed to be growing in number while more and more of Lydia’s brave warriors emptied their quivers and resorted to hiding under the benches, crying like babies and praying for help.
Javan turned his gaze upward. He could only see the dark canopy of the rain forest, and he could only manage a simple prayer of his own. “God, this sure would be a good time for a miracle.”
◊◊◊
Another yelp. Another thump. Another warrior fallen. According to Micah’s count, that made five men down, and that was just in the area above his room. How many more had fallen throughout the boat? What was the cause of their demise? How long would it be before the danger reached him?
He eyed the spear hanging above the door. Surely that wasn’t as heavy as his sword and would be a weapon he could handle even in his weakened state. If he could grab it and get himself up that ladder, he could join the fight rather than wait to die.
Rain began beating against the window of the rocking boat by the time he scooted himself off the bed. The sharp pains radiating from his chest and the queasiness emanating from his stomach made him want to lay back down. Then he spotted the influx of colorful, thumbnail-sized frogs squeezing under the door.
He forgot about the pain, jumped on the bed, snatched the spear and darted up the ladder before any of those poisonous things could touch him. The ladder led him straight into the wheelhouse right behind the wheel. What he saw from there made him want to take his chances with the frogs.
Five whimpering men and women with torn clothes, bloodied bodies, and distressed faces huddled together on the deck, trying to protect themselves from the rain and birds and threat of the electric eels circling in the water below.
Additional animal threats lurked on either shore, so getting off the boat wasn’t an option. He could, however, get the injured people inside the safety of the glass room. The only problem was that he would have to risk his own life in the process.
That was a big problem. Why would he want to endanger his life to save people he barely knew? Because he could. Unlike with those men he lost in Fury’s Pass. He had been helpless to do anything there. Here he had a chance of saving everyone, including himself. Before he talked himself out of taking action, Micah slipped out the side door.
The rain smacked him in the face, and the wind tried to knock him to his knees. Nevertheless, he stood his ground, yelled to distract himself from the pain and used the spear to beat the birds away. “Go, go, go!”
Andre took charge of the downed crew that included Mirela, Phenix, Helena, and Orlan. Under the protection of Micah’s spear, they helped each other crawl to the door. Once they were all inside, Andre hollered for Micah. “Get inside! Quick!”
“Coming!” He took a few steps toward the door but slipped on the wet decking of the rocking boat. His broken ribs slammed into the railing. The overwhelming pain caused him to drop the spear, and he crashed into a defenseless heap on the wood.
The birds began pecking and clawing at his back. Unt
il a terrifying roar caused them to squawk. Flutter in startled circles. Then fly away just as the canopy ripped open and a stream of fire shot down from the sky.
◊◊◊
“Varjiek!” As the birds flew away, Javan threw his hands in the air and waved his swords at the invisible dragon. What perfect timing for a perfect miracle. “You found me!”
All the animals found you. A ring of fire around the boat was the only thing that gave away the dragon’s location. Getting rid of them is going to take some time. This rain keeps killing my flames.
“We’ve been battling the animals and rain long enough. It’s all you now, Varjiek.” He sheathed his swords and began pulling people out from under the benches. “Let’s get inside, everyone. My dragon has it from here.”
Animals screeched and howled from the land as Javan, Lydia, and her team of archers scurried to the ladder and down to the main deck. Once on the main deck, Taliya directed the beat up crew into the cargo space rather than the sleeping quarters.
Javan was the last one down, and when Taliya urged him to follow everyone else inside, he refused. “I’m staying right here. I have to make sure Varjiek is okay.”
“I understand. Just knock if you want in.”
“I will.” He couldn’t let her go in yet, though. “Hey, Taliya?”
She paused with her hand on the doorknob. “Yeah?”
“What happened with the frogs? Did you and Jili get rid of them?”
“Mostly.”
“Mostly?”
“We unclogged the paddlewheels, but some of the frogs made their way into the crank room and the sleeping quarters. We can’t crank up the boat or go below deck until we figure out how to get rid of those things.”
“Wonderful.”
“Stay alert out here. The doors are sealed, but those little frogs may find a way to get through anyway. Don’t touch any of them. We’ve already lost Cristiano and Brigan. We don’t need them killing anyone else.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Javan choked back the tears until Taliya left him alone on the deck. He sank to the rocking floor, locked his arm around the bottom rung of the ladder, and let the tears roll over his rain-soaked cheeks as he mourned the loss of his two friends.