I wasn’t sure what to say. It didn’t seem that clear to me. Besides, prophecies were weird religious things, weren’t they? What did they have to do with real life? But you couldn’t tell someone that when they were dying.
Instead, I reached through the dark and took her hand. “Don’t give up, Vyvera,”
“I am not giving up,” she said, struggling for breath between each word. “I just don’t want you to give up either. Any of you.”
Heron coughed awkwardly. “I won’t leave Seleska and Nasataa.”
Her voice seemed to contain a smile as she said, “That’s all I needed to hear.”
We grew quiet then and soon Nasataa began to snore again. I listened for a long time to Vyvera’s breathing as I held her hand. I wished I knew what to say to help in some way, or at least ease her worry about all this.
I still hadn’t thought of anything when she drew her last breath.
There was silence in the shed for a long moment.
“Vyvera?” I whispered.
“I think she’s gone,” Heron said.
Her hand was cooling when I finally let it go. I felt – heavy. It turned out that adventures weren’t always fun. And they weren’t always good stories. Sometimes they just hurt and people died for seemingly no reason when you just wished they could live.
I didn’t even realize my breath was trembling until Heron found me in the dark and wrapped me in his big arms. He held me like that for a long time and I thought he may have even kissed the top of my head before he finally cleared his throat and spoke.
“I still have one more patch. If we knew of a ship headed upriver, it might be enough to get us to Vyvera’s goal. I remember her sand map.”
And that was all he needed to say to tell me he was still with me. At least Nasataa and I weren’t alone. I squeezed him in a grateful hug, so incredibly grateful, but afraid he’d change his mind if I mentioned his change of heart.
“I know of just the right one,” I said.
Chapter Eleven
Hiding under a strange boat was far more difficult than hiding under a friendly one had been. I adjusted my grip on the rope carefully. Heron’s eyes were closed as he fought to stay strong and keep holding on. He couldn’t surface and adjust his grip, and the hours were wearing on him. I reached out again to pat his shoulder with the back of the hand holding my staff, and he looked up tiredly and gave me a dull nod to tell me he was still holding on inside.
With one hand on the rope and one holding my staff, I couldn’t help him. I could pop up to the surface and get my bearings, but he was stuck under the water since this was the last magical patch we had.
We hung this rope in an inconspicuous spot from the prow of the boat when it was still dark outside. We’d stolen it from the shed and dragged it with us, knowing we’d need any advantage that we could get. Even though it had been a full day since then, I couldn’t stop thinking about the moment that Heron picked it up.
We’d both been standing there, shaking, looking at Vyvera. It didn’t feel right just to leave her in the shed. She was a precious person. She wasn’t disposable. But there were no Elders here to say the Words of Respect, no women of the tribe to wash her body with Xyana flower water, no men of the tribe to build the Great Fire to return her to the embrace of the earth.
“We can’t stay, Seleska,” Heron had said. “If we stay, they will catch us.”
But all day, all I could think about was Vyvera. Had they found her body? Would they honor her, or did they even do that for foreigners? The guilt plagued me.
On top of that, Nasataa was hungry. He had been sending me mental images of eating for hours. And if I didn’t find a way to feed him, he was going to go crazy. I was pretty sure that he’d already eaten the last of the meat in the bag and maybe some of the leather clothing, too.
He was scrambling circles in the bag on my back. How long until he decided to leave it and what would I do with him then?
Heron’s hand slipped on the rope. I gritted my teeth, hoping he could catch himself, but his other hand slipped and then he was spinning through the water away from the boat. I kicked off from the hull, kicking hard to chase after him.
From over my head, a blue streak shot out in front of me, gaining on Heron. Nasataa. I knew he was going to slip out of that bag soon!
I swam as fast as I could with one arm and two feet, fighting to get to where they were. The dark currents of the river between us obscured everything. That was good, right? If anyone was looking out from the deck of the boat, they wouldn’t see us in the water. But they would definitely see us if we poked our heads above the waves.
I found Heron in a huddle in the shallow water next to the shore. He was careful to keep his face underwater, but his arms were wrapped around his head.
If only I could talk to him. Nasataa was running circles around him as if he could communicate that way, but I knew that this wasn’t good. I’d never seen Heron like this before. Had he been injured and I didn’t know it?
I popped my head above the surface, choking on the water silently. I was getting better at that. The boat was already long gone. I watched the stern slip around a bend in the river. There was no one else here. I could try to find a different boat, but I didn’t think Heron had that in him right now. I needed to worry about him.
I ducked back under the water and found Nasataa gulping down minnows as he swam circles around Heron. Well, at least there was one problem solved.
Gently, I took Heron by the shoulders and pulled him up out of the water, ripping the path from his mouth.
“Can you walk?” I asked.
He nodded and I took his hand and drew him into the forest, choosing a place where the bushes were thick. At least we’d have some cover. Nasataa followed me, snapping at bugs and picking them out of the air. He was having more success than we would have. My own belly rumbled hungrily. I hadn’t eaten in more than a day and that hadn’t been very much.
“Heron,” I said as soon as we reached the bushes. “Are you okay?”
He nodded, but he was rubbing his eyes, his face lined with worry.
“What’s going on?” I asked him.
“Seleska, I just feel lost.” He paused. “I came out here with Vyvera to find you – to make sure you were okay and could come home safely, but the farther we go, the farther we are from home. And Vyvera’s dragon died and with him our chance of quick escape, and now she is gone, too. Without her, we don’t know where we are or what we’re doing. Neither of us has been off the islands – not since we grew up. We don’t know what to do or how to handle this place. I know she quoted that prophecy and I know you promised her we would keep going, but this feels like a fool’s errand.”
“We’re only a day away from the place she drew on the map. Remember, it was just two more days past Tinlin City.”
“That was when we were under a boat,” he said, looking grimly at the forest ahead.
I swallowed, following his gaze. I had a knot in my throat thicker than the rope we’d been holding. What was I going to do if Heron lost hope? I didn’t know what I was doing either, but I didn’t see what other choice we had than to keep going. It would be even worse to turn back now.
“Don’t give up on me, Heron.”
“I’m not giving up, Seleska. I just ... I just don’t know what to do.”
“Follow me,” I said. “I’ll keep you safe. I‘ll keep everyone safe.”
And how was I going to do that? He seemed to share my uncertainty as he laughed grimly.
“I came out here to keep you safe, Seleska.”
“Well, Heron,” I said coyly. “How can you do that if you leave? You know I need a lot of help to stay out of trouble.”
He laughed, smiling for a moment before his smile faded again.
I stood up on my tiptoes, wrapped him in a hug – though my arms barely reached around his bulky muscles – and kissed his cheek.
“Stop worrying so much,” I said. “How can you enjoy an advent
ure if you spend the whole time upset to be on it?”
He smiled again, this time a little more genuinely.
“Let’s build a fire and get dry before we continue,” I said, but if I was being honest, I was worried. I needed Heron to be strong and stable. I wasn’t sure I could do the task Vyvera had left me and keep his spirits up at the same time.
Chapter Twelve
It felt good to be on land again. Nasataa ran from bush to bush and flower to flower, stripping anything edible from the surrounding countryside. He was happy and vibrant and totally unconcerned about our situation. I loved that about him.
Heron, on the other hand, had me worried. He was lost in thought and even though we could talk again, he’d hardly said two words to me. At first, I felt worried, trying to think about how to cheer him up but soon that worry faded into irritation. We were all in this together. I didn’t force him to come along on the adventure, so it wasn’t up to me to make everything fine for him. I’d just have to ignore his moodiness and carry on.
The brush along the river was thick enough to mask us from the water but sparse enough that we traveled through it easily and I was beginning to think we should have spent the whole trip on land instead of clinging to boats in the water.
A dull thunk like a paddle hitting a hull caught my attention and I dodged quickly behind a clump of bushes, motioning for Heron to join me. Nasataa swarmed in, running up my leg and back to perch on my shoulder with his chin on top of my head. He was starting to get too heavy for that maneuver.
We peered anxiously at the water as a boat emerged from a bend in the river, skimming quietly along the water. A stack rose up from the center of the boat, black smoke billowing from it as the paddle worked against the current. Was that some kind of magic? It didn’t look like it. If anything, it reminded me of Heron’s forge.
I turned a questioning eye to him but he shook his head.
At the tip of the prow, a pair of Bubblers leaned against the rail, searching the water with their gazes.
“I don’t know why you are so set on this course, Atura. Your father will not be impressed by the capture of a single foreigner. You should set your sights higher.” A female voice drifted across the water as clear as if I had been on deck with her.
I froze at the reply. This voice, I recognized. It was the Bubbler who had threatened both Nasataa and me, first when I was imprisoned in a cage and then when I was rescuing him in the tent.
“This foreigner is different, Sanala. I will do anything to catch her and the abomination. This foreigner is an enemy prophesied from times past. Defeat her, and our land will soar. Fail, and she will ruin us.”
The other woman barked a laugh. “You’re being overly dramatic. What could ruin the Rock Regime? We have stood proud for generations. The other nations think we are barbarians. And since we destroy any trespassers, they don’t know our secrets.”
“Secrets!” Atura spat. “If you think that rough mechanics and burning hunks of rock is a great power, then you have no idea what magic can do. We can’t afford to lose it. What would you do without bubble patches?”
“Find some other way to breathe underwater. If we can power boats with rocks, who knows what other things we can do. I swear, Atura, the rock you swallowed made you so salty I can hardly stand you sometimes.”
Most of that was nonsense to me, though Heron’s eyes grew big when they spoke about mechanics. The one thing I did catch was the one that made me most worried. Atura really was hunting me. And now she had passed me on the river and anywhere I went, I would have to worry that she was already there.
And her friend was right. She was too salty! She should have taken my advice about becoming a better person.
“Do you realize what this means?” Heron whispered when they were finally past.
“That Atura is an ill-tempered frog who should have listened to me when I told her to be nicer to people?”
His eyebrows rose. “I meant the rocks. Somehow, they power those things with rock. Do you have any idea what that knowledge could do for our village? We could make so many things. I wonder what kind of rock it is.”
Well, at least someone was pleased. My delight didn’t last. Ahead of us, the boat pulled into land.
“We’ll do a land sweep here before carrying on. Check everywhere.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Hurry,” I whispered, scrambling behind Heron as we raced to find cover. He hid under a tangle of roots in a small overhang. He was partly hidden from view by the fallen tree and a man-sized rock that had left the hole in the bank when they fell, but would that be enough?
Nasataa wrapped himself around my neck, sensing our worry. I tried to signal to him to get into the bag, but he ignored me, only tightening his grip. Well, it wouldn’t matter if I could breathe underwater if I couldn’t breathe at all! I tugged at him, trying to release his grip.
Heron grabbed me, ignoring my battle with Nasataa, and pulled me behind him, pushing me as deep as he could into the dip formed by the roots. He stood in front of me in a crouch, clearly ready to take on any attackers. He was like a wall of man and muscle.
Long moments passed as we heard the rustle of feet in the bushes and the occasional call back and forth from the search party. I was already sweating, tension filling me. Why had they picked this exact spot to look for us? I wished Octon was here to shed light on it. Or Vyvera. She would have known. Instead, it was just me and Heron trying to figure this out for ourselves.
There was a snap as someone trod on a branch nearby. I froze, icy fear stabbing down through me as I waited. Out of nowhere, Nasataa let out a chittering sound. Was that his fear leaking out?
“This way,” the searcher said, pushing through the trees toward us, his red clothing – tight at wrists and ankles – billowing around him as he hurried.
I shrank back into the bank, trying to be small and unnoticed. Heron shrank back to, pressing me into the dirt. He was too big to be doing that! My lungs squeezed at the pressure of his weight and I gasped as Nasataa gripped tighter still.
It’s going to be okay, Seleska, I told myself. You will be okay. And so will Heron and Nasataa. But it was hard to have a cheerful outlook with our enemies closing in on us.
The Bubbler was searching, eyes up in the trees scanning the branches, then down to the ground looking for hiding spots. He kicked at dry leaves and sticks as he came into view from around the roots of the fallen tree and the huge rock.
“You find anything yet?” another Bubbler asked as the first one stepped close to where we were huddled.
All he had to do was look in this direction and he’d see us. He looked over his shoulder as he replied.
“Not yet. It’s a wild dragon chase. Atura needs to get over herself.”
He spun back around, and his eyes widened as he spotted us. He opened his mouth to call out, but Heron was faster. He leapt from our cover like a dragon flying through the air and pinning the man against the tangle of upturned roots from the fallen tree. He snatched a rock up with one hand while the other gripped the man’s neck, pushing him backward and strangling his cry of alarm. Fast as lightning, the hand with the rock came up and smashed him over the head.
No! My hands flew up, covering my mouth. I’d never expected to see such violence from Heron. Not mild, gentle Heron who always took care of people!
The Bubbler fell lifeless to the ground, his eyes rolling back and a terrible caved-in dent in his head. I turned to the side and threw up noisily.
“Not feeling well, Malan?” the second bubbler asked, turning around the big rock. His eyes widened as he took in Heron, still clutching the rock. He brought up a long spear, jabbing it toward Heron.
Heron ducked silently to the side, but another jab shot toward him just as quickly. You couldn’t fight a rock with a spear.
Soundlessly, horror filling me, I leveled my staff and lunged from the cover of the overhand, darting toward the Bubbler. The blade of the staff slid into his back so easily t
hat it almost didn’t feel real. Heron leapt forward, clamping his hand over the man’s mouth before he could scream. His other hand wrapped around his neck, holding the Bubbler in place while he thrashed on the end of my bladed staff.
When he was finally still, we were both out of breath, looking in wide-eyed horror at what we’d done.
“The others going to notice that they don’t come back,” I said eventually. I thought I might throw up again. What had we done?
When I longed for adventure, I’d never realized that I would have to become a terrible person if I went on one. Heron hadn’t even wanted to come – and yet he’d been so good at killing. All of his instincts had been perfect. I turned my wide-eyed gaze to him, my hands shaking so badly that I nearly dropped the staff.
“Do you still have the Bubbler clothing that we were wearing before?” Heron asked, breathlessly. After a moment of my wordless gaping, he clarified. “In the bag?”
“Y – yes,” I said, pulling the bag off with shaking hands and digging into it to draw out the red flowing clothes and the goggles and masks.
“Put them on over your clothes. We’ll pose as these two.”
I complied, shaking so badly that I could barely dress.
“You’ll have to put the bag on under the clothes. Can you do that?” Heron pressed.
I nodded, still unable to speak as I did as he directed. They’d never buy it. We didn’t look anything like them.
“We won’t go on the ship. They’ll know it’s us in a heartbeat,” Heron explained as he dressed. “We’ll run into the woods and let them just see glimpses of us. They don’t have time to chase deserters. Right?”
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