The Skeleton's Knife (The Farwalker Trilogy)

by Joni Sensel

  She began drawing gifts from her pack, thinking those, at least, would focus attention. They did. Medications, seeds, and trinkets were passed for inspection and drew oohs and ahhs. Yet somehow every one ended back in her bag.

  "Them things is lovely, girl, make no mistake," one of the Fisher sisters told Ariel. "Thank ye kindly for hauling 'em here. No spare room on a boat, though, and seeds won't grow there, either. You take 'em to someone who needs those things more. We can get by without. We've had practice with that."

  The elders drifted away, apologizing for how easily they tired. The boaters didn't want to miss the outgoing tide. Soon Ariel stood alone on the slip with her friends.

  She kicked her pack. "That was the worst I've ever done!"

  "Don't be silly," said Cassalie. "I'm not sure what you're used to, but we'll be talking about the Farwalker's visit until the octopus sings."

  Scarl laid his hand on Ariel's shoulder. "You know what they need, don't you?"

  "Everything! But they won't take anything!" Ariel dropped her voice so Cassalie couldn't hear. "This place is going to die, Scarl. They don't have enough people to even have children."

  "Then you can bring them new blood, or you can help the youngest move somewhere new," he told her. "Nothing remains in the world forever."

  Dain approached. "I was whisperin' with Lila, from the boat there." Lila, a bright-faced girl of ten or eleven, had been the only member of Ariel's audience who'd been rapt the whole time.

  "Lila hates boats," Dain said. "Always has. And now she knows what she wants instead. When it's time, she's going to ask for a Farwalker test."

  Ariel's breath caught. "Truly?"

  Dain nodded. "Won't nobody know how to test her, I bet, but she's already learned the directions from stars. When they're near shore, she'll swim in to practice on land. That's what she says, anyhow."

  "See?" Scarl told Ariel. "You might gain an apprentice from here. And that would be a stunning success--two Farwalkers in the world in five years."

  Ariel blinked after Lila's boat. Responsibility for an apprentice was too much to imagine, but the idea eased her sense that she'd failed.

  She turned back to Dain. "You saw my gifts, right? Are there any you'd like for our trade? The tree seeds? Trees like the wind." She bent to rummage. "Or I think I have a copy of the marks that tell how to make a windmill."

  Dain spit. "My wind doesn't need things like that."

  "What, then?"

  "Later." Dain ran to splash in the waves. "Let's swim!"

  As Ariel stared after Dain, stymied, Cassalie asked her, "Do you still want to learn how to dive?"

  "Oh, yes! But..." Ariel's voice dropped. "Do I have to go naked?"

  Cassalie grinned. "Dain won't, either. Wear your clothes and we'll dry you out later."

  While Scarl climbed the rocks with Dain and Zeke, who jumped off to compete for the biggest splashes, Cassalie showed Ariel new ways to kick and how to hold her breath longer. Ariel went deeper than she'd ever gone, once deep enough to snatch a starfish from the seabed. She saw other creatures she'd like to show Nace, but having thought of the Kincaller, her concentration slipped. It seemed a very long time since she'd hugged him.

  At last Cassalie said, "Enough for today. I'm bound in to get warm. Will you join Dain and Zeke?"

  "I'll be fine by myself. I grew up on the sea."

  "Not in our currents." Cass called to Dain as she retrieved her clothes. "Watch Ariel, too, Dain. I'll leave the door unlatched. Send the wind to bang it if someone's caught in the rip."

  "Aye."

  "I'll make tea, if you'd like some, Scarl," Cassalie added.

  The hope in her voice was rewarded. Scarl pushed Zeke, flailing, into the water and climbed down from the rocks.

  "Come jump with us," Dain called to Ariel. "You'll get deeper than a dive from the surface." She plunged down herself.

  Ariel watched for a few moments from where she floated. They had a rhythm of climbing and splashing together that was complete without her. She imagined the flips and somersaults Nace could have done. Zeke was neither as bold nor as strong, but his limbs sliced through the water, and on land he leapt effortlessly over the rocks.

  Dain seemed to have noticed. Her eyes followed him, and grins flashed between them after every leap. When she took Zeke's hand so they could jump down united, Ariel felt a flutter inside. She kicked over for a share of the fun.

  They saw her coming and waited on the ledge they'd been using to launch from. Dain and Zeke had worked their way up to this height, so to Ariel, the water rippled a dizzying distance below. Kelp and rocks shadowed the seabed.

  "Push out from the shore," Dain advised her. "Like this." She swung her arms and leapt. The wind held her aloft like a bird on an updraft before she finally plunged downward. Ker-splash!

  "We can go together the first time, if you're nervous." Zeke offered his hand.

  Scoffing, Ariel jumped.

  As she fell, a wild thought blew through her. She should've taken Zeke's hand just to see how it felt. She'd squeezed his hand plenty of times, but not in a long while. Not since she'd met Nace. Zeke's hands were longer and more delicate. She tried to recall how his fingers meshed with her own.

  Water slurped her, making her eyelids pinch shut. By the time she bobbed out, she'd made a decision.

  "Fun, aye?" asked Dain, treading water nearby.

  "Yes." Ariel returned to the rocks, and Dain followed. Zeke awaited them both at the top.

  "All three at once? That'll make a big splash." Standing in the middle, Zeke held out both hands.

  Ariel grabbed one. "Too slow!" She jumped to pull him down without Dain. Clutching his hand didn't feel like she'd hoped, though. The rush of falling so overwhelmed their connection, she could hardly feel it at all, and her grip broke once they hit the water. It was too hard to swim with locked hands, anyway. As it was, they were so close they kept kicking each other.

  "Why'd you do that?" Zeke asked, spitting water.

  "Just playing," Ariel said. "I didn't mean anything."

  Still above on the rocks, Dain gestured for them to move out of her way. As Zeke turned to swim, Ariel plastered herself onto his bare back, wrapping her arms and legs around his body so he was still free to swim.

  "Dolphin ride?" she said. Years ago, they'd played this game often, though Ariel had always made a better dolphin. "Oh--maybe not, since your chest hurt yesterday. Sorry."

  She released him, sliding off his skin, and only after she'd let go did she really feel his body beneath her embrace. The familiar, playful position had gained new sensations, a scalding awareness that stuck after they no longer touched.

  Zeke searched her face. "I feel okay today. But you're different."

  "No, I'm not." Embarrassed, she splashed him.

  Dain hit the water not far away. The splatter showered them both. As soon as she surfaced, she said, "Let's try again--I won't be slow this time!"

  Ariel pushed a smile to her lips, which were stiff from the cold. "You go," she told Zeke. "I think I'll dry off."

  "Aw, not yet." Zeke cupped his hands to squirt her.

  She spanked water at him again in exchange but turned to stroke toward the slip. The thought of holding his hand had knocked something loose and now their friendship wouldn't settle back into place.

  Dain called Ariel back. "You've only jumped twice!"

  "I'll jump more tomorrow," she said. "Right now I'm cold, and there's something else I want to do."

  The sea pulled at her as she waded out. Halfway up the slip, still dragging her feet, she realized some of that weight couldn't be blamed on wet clothes. When she'd said she had something to do, she'd secretly hoped Zeke would follow. And help. Because she planned to pull her staff from the creek and find out from Cassalie where Elbert Finder had lived.

  She turned, a request on her lips, as Zeke and Dain again hit the sea, elbows locked. Water showered, the biggest splash yet. She felt jealous of someone, but she wasn't sure who
. Maybe anyone who could simply hold hands with a friend without being flooded by thoughts and confusions.

  Ariel marched away without hailing them. She could finish with Elbert's knife by herself.

  Chapter 14

  As promised, Cassalie had left her door ajar. Ariel paused in the sheltered entry. Warmth and the smell of kelp tea drifted to her from beyond the sailcloth curtain. Should she call inside and ask for something to dry herself with, or simply walk to the hearth, dripping? She peeked in.

  With his back partly to her, Scarl sat at the small table before the fire. His elbows rested near two cups. Light footsteps sounded, and then Cassalie, once more in her sharkskin dress, swished into view and paused alongside him. Ariel reached to push aside the drape, but something in the woman's posture stayed Ariel's hand.

  "Can I get you more tea?" Cassalie asked Scarl. "Something to eat? A bit of dried fish?"

  Scarl declined with thanks. "I'm content just to sit here with you, Cassalie. If I'm not in the way or keeping you from your work."

  "No, no, I don't mean to chase you off." She did not move away, either, confirming Ariel's hunch. There was a tension in Cassalie, or the room, not unlike the snap of air before a storm. Ariel's finger drew the sail open half an inch farther.

  "Quite the contrary." Cass nibbled her lips. "I'm very pleased you see fit to linger." She laid her fingertips lightly on Scarl's forearm where it rested on the table.

  He glanced at her fingers. Blushing, she started to pull them away. With a flash of his hand, Scarl stopped her, trapping her fingers with his and drawing them back. His gaze lifted to Cassalie's face, which was startled but glowing.

  No sound came from either of them. Ariel held her breath and wondered what Cassalie was seeing in Scarl's eyes.

  "I fear I don't have time to be shy, Scarl Finder," Cassalie whispered at last. Or perhaps she was breathless.

  "I have no particular liking for shy."

  Ariel could not see enough of his face to read his expression, but she could hear his amusement--and something else in his voice, too, a throatiness unfamiliar to her. Whatever it was, Cass could not hold his gaze, but looked down at his hand grasping hers.

  He brought it to his lips, which barely brushed her skin. Cassalie swayed as though she might faint.

  "I hate to see you sleep in the boathouse again," she murmured, so low Ariel strained to hear. "It's drafty and damp. I would... offer you..." She gulped but couldn't go on.

  Motionless, Scarl waited a very long moment before his cheek twitched around a sly smile. "A bed?"

  Cass winced, but she peeked at his face, and this time she managed to hold his regard. "My bed," she whispered.

  Scarl sobered. His thumb stroked the back of her hand. That tiny caress filled the room. "I would very much like to accept."

  Cass heard it, too. "But."

  Scarl sighed and looked away. He didn't withdraw his hand from hers, but he lowered them both to the table. "I have my young one to think of."

  Ariel had to wrap both arms over her mouth to keep herself from bursting in to contradict him. But Cassalie's face rekindled with hope.

  "If that's all," she said, "I have plenty of space. I could make a pallet for Ariel and Zeke in my pantry. Unless... unless what you mean is you wouldn't want them to know."

  "It's not that," Scarl said. "They're both nearly grown, and we have few secrets between us. But Ariel's too grown, in my mind, to sleep alone with a boy, even one as familiar as Zeke. Especially one so familiar, in fact."

  "Ah." Cassalie's voice grew thoughtful. "What if she slept with Dain and we put Zeke in the pantry? Dain adores her, there's room, and-- But I'm persuading you now. I don't want to do that." Flustered, she pulled her hand free, turned away, and busied herself gathering teacups. "I'm sorry."

  Scarl studied her straight back for a moment filled with the rattle of dishes. He rose, took one stride to reach her, and slid his hands onto her waist. Her motion stilled, but her gaze remained forward.

  Softly he said, "I would not have you sorry." He bent his face to her hair and inhaled. As if that breath pulled her, Cassalie left the dishes and melted against him. His arms wrapped more snugly around her.

  "But are you certain, Cassalie?" he added. "I... We won't be here forever."

  She spun sharply to face him. "And who is? I know exactly how quickly the sea or cliffs can reap me out of the world, Scarl. Me or anyone else. I'm quite sure." Her palms rose to his shoulders.

  Scarl stroked the firm line of her jaw with one thumb. "Let me speak with her, then."

  He shifted his weight toward the entry, reluctance in even that partial motion. Ariel knew she'd be discovered if she didn't flee. She backed off on tiptoe, slipped out the door, and sped as fast as she could to the water's edge. Skidding to a seat so her tailbone went numb, she scooped up a handful of pebbles and began chucking them at the water as if bored beyond measure. Zeke and Dain were still shuttling between the waves and the cliff. They didn't note her return.

  Scarl's footsteps approached slowly--too slowly, she decided, for him to have seen her and given chase. She breathed more easily and tossed another rock with a plop.

  He sank beside her on his haunches. Neither spoke for a dozen licks of the waves. Ariel supposed he was choosing words to explain why they might sleep somewhere different that night. "This should be good," she thought. She hoped she could make him squirm just a bit.

  When he finally spoke, he said only, "Well?"

  Prepared for many things but startled by that, she asked, "Well, what?"

  He squinted at the sea. "I'm a Finder, Ariel, and you matter to me. I know where you are most of the time without trying. As soon as I thought to speak with you, I felt you at the door. And you stood there dripping long enough to leave a puddle."

  The stones Ariel sat upon seemed to grow sharper. She fidgeted. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to listen at first, and then I just--"

  His sharp gesture cut her off. "I only want an answer to my question."

  "Wh-what is it?"

  At last he looked over at her. Her confusion must have been plain, for his face softened slightly. "How upset will you be if I accept Cassalie's offer?"

  Relieved by his eye contact, Ariel could not resist a smirk. She tapped her curved lips. "Well, hmm, I dunno--"

  "I'm not asking your permission," he snapped. "I'm just trying to learn how large a price I will pay."

  She gaped at him, stung by his tone. She'd been so pleased to see that bright splash of romance, but worrisome ripples now spread through her heart. Would it change him or weaken the bond they had forged?

  And then she noticed how hard he was rubbing his knuckles. The edge in his voice was only partly for her. He was also trying to silence an old loyalty scratching at him from the past. Ariel respected that struggle, but it served no one now. It was an echo that needed to still.

  Swiftly she leaned over and pecked his cheek. "I'm happy for you, you dolt. And you know she would approve. I'll sleep anywhere, with Dain or in the boathouse again by myself." She scrambled to her feet, afraid to feel the stab of a jealousy she knew hovered near.

  She didn't move fast enough. A question slipped from her. "You'll still keep your promise, though, right?" He'd promised never to leave her until she no longer wanted him to accompany her.

  "Without fail."

  She got three paces away before his voice came again.

  "Ariel."

  She turned. She could read Scarl's eyes well enough to recognize relief and perhaps even gratitude in them. Then they hardened, and he said, "I do not want to be spied on with Cassalie again."

  She was tempted to tease him, but recalling moments with her own sweetheart helped her resist. "I promise."

  Ariel hurried away before she could think more about it--and before vague, muddled fears of losing Scarl here could overcome what she knew to be right.

  Finding herself among the stone houses, she recovered her bearings and slipped to the creek. Her walking
stick was still jammed in the rocks. The shark's tooth in the knife hilt gleamed through the water.

  Ariel checked Scarl's whereabouts. If he remained on the shore, he was hidden behind houses. Zeke and Dain bobbed in the waves, their backs turned to her.

  Unseen by all, she took up the staff. She'd planned to ask Cassalie for guidance, but a Farwalker could find the way with her feet. No one else understood anyhow. And maybe she ought to get more used to walking alone.

  Placing her palm on Elbert's knife, she asked her feet to lead her.

  A shiver racked her. She blamed it on clothes still wet from her swim. They'd dry soon enough, and she'd be too busy to notice.

  When the impulse to move arose in her feet, Ariel turned away from the water and ran.

  Chapter 15

  Willow whinnied in greeting. Hobbled, he grazed the sparse grass where they'd left him. Ariel paused to pluck green stems from between rocks to feed him. His whiskers tickled her hands.

  "More on the way back," she promised, moving on with her staff.

  When she reached the tunnel she'd emerged from with Dain yesterday and her feet urged her in, she stopped short. She'd need a light in the dark. She didn't want to waste time going back for one, though. Her feet pulled her firmly ahead, trying to lead her to where Elbert had lived. Since it hadn't been too far through the hill yesterday, Ariel plunged in. As the glow from the tunnel's opening waned, she used her staff to probe for barriers or drop-offs.

  Slowing, she patted the wall, wanting to turn but unable to find the side passage she and Dain had crawled from yesterday. She backtracked, reaching higher--there! Yesterday she'd been so intent on reaching Zeke and Scarl that she hadn't noticed how high the crawlspace had been.

  Sliding down from above had been easy. It proved more of a task to climb up. Ariel sprang toward the passage but fell back repeatedly until her scrambling toes caught a hold and she kicked herself up.

  Collecting herself on her hands and knees, she thrust the staff before her, mindful of the long drop at the far end of the crawl. This passage was black, the stone suffocating. Wistfully she remembered the lamp Dain had left farther in. Nothing in her pockets would light it. She'd come too far, though, to retreat.