by Joni Sensel
Ariel swallowed hard and plucked at a burr stuck on Willow. Her words snagged, too, in her throat. "Zeke and I could go home by ourselves."
"No."
The speedy denial sent relief surging through her, but she replied, "You don't need to stay with me for the rest of my life, Scarl."
His laugh was flat, without humor. "You haven't had enough life yet to speak of 'the rest.' No. I've met too many ruthless men. Not to mention fires, floods, and lions. I can't let you ply your trade by yourself. Not yet. In a few more years, maybe... but not yet."
Ariel listened to her feet. They hadn't been restless except in the tunnels, and they didn't squirm to walk now, either. "I'm not sure which way we'll go next."
Scarl still stared into the distance, but his eyes closed. "Any way."
She laid her hand on his arm, but he did not respond. Because she knew he would prefer it, she left him alone with the horse.
Ariel returned to the village, intent on finding Dain. She and Zeke were still skipping stones.
"Hey," Zeke called. "Can you do better than six?"
"Probably not," she replied. "But Dain and I need to talk."
Zeke studied her face. "Alone?"
"Please. It's about something I owe her." She'd prefer to have him there in case she needed help, but even more she wanted to save him discomfort--and he'd feel bad if he realized that part of the debt was for saving his life.
His face clouded, but he shuffled down the shore, still tossing rocks.
Wishing he'd gone a bit farther, Ariel kept her voice low. "Listen, Dain. We have to leave--"
Horror lined Dain's face. Ariel shushed her before the outburst could escape.
"Why?" Dain demanded. "You aren't having fun? Or is it that knife?"
"Neither. I'm a Farwalker, so going to new places is how I trade. It's time to move on, that's all."
"But... Cassalie and Scarl!"
Dain's disappointment scratched at Ariel's heart. "I know. But that's..." She felt she'd be breaking a confidence to explain. "We have to, that's all. Tomorrow, I guess." That still gave her time for a bonfire tonight. "So you need to tell me now what you want for our trade."
"Wait. Suppose I wanted you to stay as my trade?"
Ariel could tell Dain was grasping at a new idea, not revealing the old one. "It wouldn't be fair. Like asking a Windmaster to be a Fisher instead."
"Aye." Dain kicked a shell.
"Just tell me what you want. Don't forget that I could take you where you might find a heartthrob. Or a Windmaster to learn from. Or both."
"I want you to take me somewhere, all right."
Relieved the trade would be something she could manage, Ariel sank to a seat on a rock. "Good. We can go now if you want, but it doesn't have to be now. I can--"
"Now. If I don't do it now, I won't never." Dain shot glances toward Cassalie's cottage and Zeke. "But I can't tell you where yet."
"I have to know where. My feet won't feel which way to go otherwise. Scarl will want to know, anyhow."
Alarm twisted Dain's features. "Not him and Zeke! Just you and me."
Ariel shook her head. "Then you'll have to wait till I'm older. Scarl won't let me go by myself yet."
"The wind'll keep him and Zeke here, if I ask."
Ariel's patience broke. She stood. "You know what? I'll get Scarl now, so he can help make the trade. When people can't agree, a Judge helps decide what is fair. Scarl can--"
Dain grabbed her arm. "You owe me," she hissed. "I took you through the tunnel and I put the wind into Zeke. You owe me his life, Farwalker. And you traded on the tide. Tide's come in."
"Dain, I'm not trying to cheat you!" Ariel cried. Beyond, Zeke looked up. Ariel bit down on her voice. "Just tell me where--and why Zeke and Scarl can't come, too!"
"Don't want to put 'em in danger," Dain muttered. "Wouldn't do it to you, but I'm ascairt I might need you."
The words stirred Ariel's interest as well as her frown. "What kind of danger?"
Dain stared off toward the point. "I want you to take me over the bridge. The one that leads out of the world."
A huff of disbelief escaped Ariel.
"It's not far," Dain said quickly. "I don't reckon it'll take more'n a day to go and return. We'll be back again almost before anyone knows it."
"I can't take you there. I don't know where it is," murmured Ariel, glad she hadn't told Dain that she rarely knew her destinations before her feet led her.
Dain's thin lips curled in a humorless grin. "That's all right. 'Cause I do."
Ariel's jaw dropped even as her common sense told her not to believe it. "You've been to the bridge out of the world? How do you know that's what it is?"
Dain toyed with her windpipe. "Went far enough before to see dead folk on it. I just got the shivers too bad to go farther."
Still staring, Ariel exhaled hard. "What do you need me for, then?"
"For the other side, once we're across. And to find the way back. Those are the parts I'm ascairt of." Dain's eyes burned. "Not too scairt to go, though. Not if you're with me."
"But why do you want to? Because of your family?"
Dain shook her head. "I don't have to say. Nobody tells Fishers why they want a fish, or tells a Finder what they'll do with something that's found." Slyly, she added, "But you should want to go, too. You could lose that knife forever if you took it out of the world."
Ariel's breath caught. She could throw Elbert's knife off the bridge. Fire rose from beneath, or so it was said, and the knife and its past would return to the Essence. Instead of merely destroying the blade, she could unmake it--the ultimate victory over evil and fear. Dain's suggestion was daring, but if anyone living could cross that bridge and return, a Farwalker could. After all, she'd stepped out of the world once before. Still...
Dain's eyes narrowed into something just shy of a smirk. "You scairt, Farwalker?"
"Yes," she whispered. What if her nightmares were more than just dreams, and Elbert awaited her on the far side?
"You owe me a trade."
"I know."
"You'll do it, then?"
Her heart thumping, Ariel took a deep breath. The idea was tempting and her curiosity potent. But the bridge out of the world might end both their lives or trap them forever, out of place with the dead--a particular dead man, perhaps.
Her good sense prevailed. "No."
"You have to!"
"No, I don't. Let's talk to Scarl. He'll help us come up with a trade we agree on."
"This or nothing." Her face dark, Dain clambered away up the cliff. "If you won't take me, though, don't expect you'll be leaving."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Dain didn't answer.
Chapter 20
Zeke scrambled along the waterline to Ariel. "What was all that whispering and frowning about?"
After releasing a growl of frustration, she turned to him. "I don't mean to keep secrets from you, Zeke. I owed her a trade, and I thought it'd be best to work it out by ourselves. But I'm going to need help."
"She probably doesn't trade enough to know how it works. What did she want?"
"Something crazy." She told him. "And now look."
Sickly green clouds, the same ones Ariel had seen building a short while ago, were rushing toward the cove. As the sea beneath writhed and turned grey, a boat on the horizon made haste in the other direction.
"She's probably just blowing off anger," Zeke said. "Guess we'd better go inside."
They ran the last stretch as fat balls of rain splattered. Dain ducked into Cassalie's house not long after them. Scarl was already there.
"Are you showing off, Dain?" Cassalie peered out her window.
"It's gotta rain sometimes," Dain replied. "Don't it? Besides, you're always telling me the weather's not all my fault."
"Their poor horse, though." Cassalie turned to Scarl. "Perhaps you should lead him into the boathouse."
"I'll go with you," Ariel said, glad for a chance t
o talk to Scarl alone.
"You, too, Dain," Cassalie added. "Keep the wind off them."
"Aye." Dain raised her windpipe.
Scarl objected that he didn't need help. The wind proved him wrong. Its blasts kept him and Ariel at the door.
Dain squeezed between them to play a single note that was nearly lost in the storm. The pressure eased and all three stepped out together. Dain's piping did not shelter them fully--Ariel's hair tossed and their clothes billowed--but it created an eye in the furor. Ariel merely had to reach her free hand to arm's length for the wind thrust it back at her, hard.
"Don't," Dain yelled at her ear. "The wind's kind enough to heed me and make us a hole. Tease it, and it'll close. Don't none of us want to feel that."
"Call it off, Dain!"
"Can't," she replied. "Once it's going like this, it doesn't much listen again until it's done."
Annoyed, Ariel gave up on talking to Scarl until they escaped the swirling wind and Dain's company.
By the time they'd collected the horse and were hurrying back toward the boathouse, rain drove them, too. Trotting through the downpour was like crossing a river in a leaky glass jar. Water flew past all around but only misted their clothes and skin. Ariel had to admit the effect was impressive.
Willow, just behind them, did not fare so well. Yet when Scarl threw open the door to the boathouse, the drenched horse balked. His large nostrils flared.
"Come on, boy," Ariel coaxed, leading the horse while Scarl fought with the door. "It's drier in here." Dain helped tug on the bridle, and together they managed to lead Willow three paces in--just enough for the wind to bang the door shut behind him. Startled, Willow jumped forward, dragging Ariel with him. She only just kept her feet. Dain let go to leap clear.
Scarl slipped in behind them and dropped the latch on the door. "Forgive me. Wind snatched it. No one stepped on, I hope?"
"We're all right," Ariel said, trying to quiet the horse.
As Scarl came alongside her to help, she caught a whiff of a musky odor she couldn't quite place. She hadn't noticed it until the door stopped the turbulent wind. Her body went rigid.
"Ariel? Did you come back here after lunch?" Dain stood near the hole in the floor. The trap door had been flung aside, and Elbert's knife lay nearby.
With a snort, the horse reared and ripped from Ariel's grip. Willow's terror spoke clearly of some predator, and at once Ariel knew the scent in the air. She yelled, "Lion!"
Willow's heaving shoulder knocked her to the ground. Behind them, Scarl shouted. The lion--where was it? A stomping hoof grazed Ariel's hip, and pain flared. Curling tight, she rolled sideways to avoid being trampled.
A tawny blur shot overhead as the mountain lion leapt toward her from the rafters.
The horse reared again to strike at it and caught the lion mid-leap. Willow knocked it aside. With a pained yowl, the lion whirled for another attack. It looked both starved and insane. Every bone stood out from its dull fur, and foamy slobber dripped from its fangs. Its yellow eyes found Ariel's and bored into them.
Elbert's knife lay just out of reach. She scrabbled toward it, but Willow's stamping hooves got in the way. Scarl grabbed her, dragged her back from the horse, and yanked her to her feet. His own knife drawn, he threw her toward the door. Dain scrambled to meet her. They clutched each other before crashing against the latched door.
The lion leapt again, snarling. Its claws ripped at the throat of the horse, which was still between it and its prey. Willow wrenched his head and neck sideways. Blood splashed. The lion flew off.
The horse backed hard against Ariel and Dain. Crushed against the door, Ariel fought to breathe. Dain raised her pipe and blew. Ariel struggled with the latch, but their tangled bodies pressed against it too tightly to move it.
Willow spun to kick at the lion with his mighty hind legs. The sudden loss of his weight left Ariel flailing for balance.
Scarl rushed up. "Get that door!"
Willow's movement had given Ariel the space she needed. She lifted the latch. The door gave way. She and Dain stumbled into the storm.
"Scarl!" She whirled, reaching for him.
Willow squealed as the lion's fangs sank into flesh. The horse twisted and bucked. A flying hoof struck Scarl's head with a sick thud. He dropped.
Ariel screamed. Grabbing fistfuls of the Finder's clothing, she yanked him with the force of panic into the rain.
Still blowing her pipe, though the storm stole the sound, Dain slammed the door shut and threw the outer latch. Weight inside crashed against it. The wood shuddered but held. Hooves pounded and stamped. The horse and lion both screamed.
The wind joined them, its shriek rising over them both. With an enormous cracking, the boathouse roof tore away. Slate shingles tumbled into the sky and scattered, followed by sails in great flutters like clouds. The wind sucked and roared. Wailing like a child, the lion was whisked upward, flopping and vanishing into the storm.
"Good 'un!" cried Dain. "Thanks, wind!" She braced against the updraft to throw the door latch again and look in at the horse. Willow, still bucking madly, didn't notice the open way out.
"No, shut it!" Ariel crouched over Scarl, who lay in a heap at her feet. "He'll break legs doing that on these rocks!"
Dain obeyed. "It's good he's so heavy," she yelled over the wind. Its suction had eased, but it still roared around them. "What about Scarl?"
"I don't know!" In the blustery rain, Ariel could tell only that he was unconscious. She gave up trying to rouse him. "Help me!"
She and Dain lifted Scarl by his armpits and dragged him over bruising rocks to the house. His limp weight was almost too much for them.
They kicked Cassalie's door. The Reaper opened it, leaning hard to control it. "What's-- oh!"
"A yellow monster!" cried Dain. "With claws, not just teeth! The wind saved us, but Scarl's hurt!"
Zeke rushed to the entry, levered Scarl onto one shoulder, and laid him out near the hearth. Cassalie and Ariel tangled in their efforts to help. Dain slammed the door, pressed her back into it, and blew gently into her windpipe.
Through the noise of the storm, Cassalie and Zeke had heard nothing. Ariel could barely catch enough breath to explain. Nobody listened to what she said anyhow until they'd confirmed that Scarl's heart was still beating. There wasn't much blood, and his skull was not smashed, but his skin was ashen and his breathing frightfully shallow. When Cassalie lifted his eyelids, Ariel saw mostly white. She looked away with a whimper. When a flame was held near them, his pupils didn't react.
Zeke helped Cassalie strip Scarl of his wet clothes and swaddle him in furs. Ariel scrambled to build up the fire and to mix a wound wash per Cassalie's instructions. Then Zeke wrapped both arms around Ariel while Cass tended the ugly lump on Scarl's head.
"It's my fault," Ariel moaned, clenching her eyelids against flashes of memory. She didn't know if the lion had tracked them or simply followed the knife. It didn't matter. She didn't need more evidence of Elbert's ill will behind it.
"It's my fault!" Dain replied viciously. She'd slid miserably down the door to the floor, and her lips quivered as she fought not to cry. "If I hadn't brought in the storm, we wouldn't have been going to the boathouse at all. I just keep killing folk! I ought to--"
"Dain! Stop your mouth! Nobody here is leaving the world!"
Even Dain stared at Cassalie, shocked to hear her voice raised.
Ariel would've liked to blame Dain, but she couldn't. "If we hadn't been bringing in Willow," she said, "the lion would've waited to attack one of us. So the wind saved at least one of our lives. Probably mine."
"I'm surprised it went after Willow," Zeke said. "He's big."
"He stayed between us, that's all." Ariel leaned her forehead on Zeke. "It's rabid, Zeke. Or... or something. Not right. There's no way it should be here this far from the mountains. It came after me because I have that knife."
Zeke took a deep breath, but he didn't deny what she'd said. He just hugged
her tight before he released her. "I'll go see how badly Willow's hurt."
"No, I'll go," Ariel said. "He should be calmer, at least."
"Nothing's crossing the cove now without drowning," Dain said. She hadn't stopped piping until seawater crashed all the way to the house. "But we could take the tunnel between here and there."
"Can I cut a sail into bandages? Big ones?" Ariel asked. "Willow's probably got some bad wounds."
"Here." Dain took down the sail that protected the entry.
"I have a good bladderwrack poultice," Cass added. Unwilling to leave Scarl, she told Ariel where to find it.
Ariel sliced a sail into strips, and then they all struggled to open the door. The wind that blasted inside ripped sailcloth from the walls and chased sparks from the hearth. But as Cassalie beat stray embers, the girls and Zeke shoved outside. Only bracing against the stone walls kept them from being blown over.
Getting soaked over the short distance from the door to the cistern, Ariel and Zeke followed Dain into the tunnel. It reeked of the lion, and Ariel wondered how long the crazed creature had prowled there. It was a wonder Dain hadn't encountered it below the boathouse that morning. Ariel put her face in her hands to block the thought and the stink.
As they neared the stone steps they had to climb to the hatch, she shoved to the front. "Let me go first."
Zeke grasped after her. "Why?"
Ariel didn't answer. She just ran up the steps. If by some freakish turn the lion was back, her blood might be the only thing that could save her friends' lives. In that case, she'd throw herself into its teeth. Even if it did mean that Elbert would win.
Chapter 21
The thick smell of blood hung in the boathouse. No lion prowled, though. If it hadn't been swallowed forever by the wind, the beast surely lay dead somewhere distant. Having braced herself for pain, Ariel nearly sobbed in relief.
Willow was down--not a good sign--but he rolled his eyes at her touch. He lay in the corner most sheltered from rain. The wind streamed overhead but only rarely dipped to flutter his mane.