Lara rose off her bedroll to stretch as well, her brow wrinkled in thought. “If the herbs didn't come from Alysium, where could they have come from?”
There was silence in the cave as Ranelle mulled it over.
“I don't know, and neither did Gideon,” she replied, her voice catching in her throat as she said his name, “but we need to find out.”
Charlie and Lara glanced at each other.
“How can we help?” asked Charlie.
Ranelle smiled with palpable relief. “If you two can watch over Gideon, I can go over to the far side of the beach and look around.”
“You think it might be in this cavern?” Charlie inquired, his expression reflecting his obvious doubt.
“I honestly have no idea, but this cavern is massive, and I'm too anxious to sit around needlessly.”
Charlie and Lara nodded.
“I don't mind staying here with Gideon, but can you refill the stove before you leave?” Charlie said, glancing toward the fire, which had slowly died down over the last few minutes.
Ranelle nodded, grabbing the bladder that contained their store of pyrus and kneeling next to the stove. She filled the dish with a new supply of oil, immediately realizing how little fuel was left in the pouch.
“We don't have much,” Ranelle reported to her companions, her anxiety renewing as her mouth grew dry.
“What will we do if we run out?” Charlie asked, his eyes darting about with sudden panic.
“Do we have any more than this?” Ranelle asked, holding out the near-empty bladder.
Lara shook her head, her face falling as if it was personally her fault.
“Don't worry,” Ranelle reassured her, “I’ll search for pyromite while I explore the cavern. It’s everywhere in Ashbourne, so maybe it's down here too. If I find some, pyrus shouldn’t be too hard to extract.”
Missing the lack of confidence in Ranelle’s statement, Charlie turned and smiled, clapping Lara on the back affectionately, “See, it’ll be okay.”
Lara raised her eyebrows at Ranelle. She’d caught the insecurity in her friend’s tone; however, she chose not to apprise Charlie and dampen his spirits.
“There,” Ranelle said after filling the stove, replacing the top of the pyrus bladder. “That should be enough for a while.”
“Is there anything we should do for Gideon while you're gone?” Lara inquired, crossing the small cave and kneeling next to the unconscious teenager.
“Obviously, if he wakes come and find me, or give a holler out into the cavern and I’ll hurry back.”
Lara nodded as she sat back against the cave wall next to Gideon to begin her watch.
“I’ll see you both in a while then,” Ranelle offered as she picked up the pyrus lantern from its place in the sand, as well as a satchel with a few supplies she might need.
“Be careful,” Charlie and Lara called out in unison as Ranelle exited.
It was hard for her to believe that in such a short time, she’d come to rely on her mining teammates so much, considering she hadn’t known them for very long. When they’d started working in the mines, she’d found it hard to connect with anyone from her team. Since the cave-in, however, she’d grown to rely on them.
Determined to find something they could use, Ranelle breathed in the musky air as her boots scraped the sandy lakeshore. The familiar odor of rotten vegetation mixed with mud rose to greet her as she walked forward.
When Ranelle was younger, her entire dormitory was taken to the riverbanks as part of their lesson. She and the other children had spent the day playing in the rich mineral mud that lined the shores of the river. She’d learned how the minerals had healing properties. Stinky mud, the kids had called it.
The memory brought a smile to Ranelle’s lips, still, the recollection felt distant, as if the events she recalled were from a different lifetime.
As she walked along the beach, she kicked small stones across the sand, approaching the edge of the lake with curiosity. In the distance, the inky blackness of the water loomed ahead. As she looked out over the glassy surface, she noted the absence of Abree’s vessel.
She must’ve made it to the other side.
It didn't matter where Abree had gone as long as she wasn't anywhere near Gideon. The sheer space between their group and the detestable girl gave Ranelle a sense of comfort as she planned her next move.
Scanning the shore, she realized the far side of the beach wasn't visible by the faint light of the lantern she carried. Curious what lay beyond the reach of the pyrus-light, she decided her first task would be to explore the entire shore, for however long it stretched.
Moving down the beach, Ranelle passed the exact spot where she’d found Gideon unconscious. She paused for a moment, looking down at the imprints his body had left behind in the sand. Her stomach churned as she spied blood-stained ground leftover from his head wound. Ranelle knelt and used her fingers to cover the stain with fresh sand. When she’d finished, she scanned the area where his body had laid, noticing for the first time a set of footprints leading away up the beach. They were the same boot prints as Ranelle’s, only much bigger than her own.
“Abree,” she whispered to herself. Ranelle scowled and something inside her stirred, willing her to follow the prints ahead.
Giving in, irritated with her own curiosity, she followed the footprints as they led up the sandy beach and toward a high rock formation that jutted upward from beneath the sand in the far distance. As she walked along, she swore under her breath as her boots slipped and sunk in the sand. Feeling clumsy, Ranelle was relieved that no one was there to witness her struggle.
This beach is longer than it looks.
Eventually, Ranelle approached the stone structure she’d seen in the distance. She was left disappointed, however, as she discovered it was nothing more than a few vertical slabs of rock, arranged in a tight circle. The edifice butted up against the expansive cavern wall, making it harder to notice from a great distance.
Unsure why Abree would walk all the way across the beach to the rocks, Ranelle made her way around to the side of the edifice, noticing that Abree's footprints circled around as well. Following them, she approached the back of the rocks and was surprised to see that the large stone that should have been holding up the back of the structure, was missing. Instead, there was a gap between the rocks, forming a hollow center inside.
Ranelle stood in awe, mouth gaping. She ran her hands over the rocks to each side of the opening, giving each a little push to test its steadfastness. When she realized the rocks weren't going anywhere, she slowly stepped inside the hollow center. Since the inside floor was lower than the sandy beach outside, she had to step down, feeling the distinct hardness of stone beneath her feet.
This entire beach sits on top of a stone floor.
Ranelle knelt, inspecting the ground by wiping away the sand she’d tracked inside. As she ran her fingers over the bare stone, her expression fell. The floor should have been rough and grainy, but it wasn’t. Smooth and shiny, the rock felt identical to the polished tunnels they’d traveled through just days ago. The ground was flat but appeared as though large bubbles were trapped just below the surface. It was as if the rock had been liquid at one time, then suddenly solidified.
Ranelle ran her fingers over the bubbled stone, feeling the smooth bumps, sliding her fingers over each crevasse. As her fingers reached a small divot, she felt something sharp prick her.
“Ouch,” she cried with alarm, pulling her hand back in response. When she examined her fingertip, there was a small red dot on it. Pouting her lips, she brought the lantern down closer to the stone floor, illuminating the object that had pricked her. As the light spilled over the dark and bubbled stone, she saw a sliver of broken wood sticking up out of a small pit in the floor.
“Wood?” she said under her breath.
Her thoughts immediately flashed back to Alysium. In the Grotto, a small craft was used to retrieve fishing nets from the Surge’s tu
rbulent waters. She searched her mind for references that she hadn't heard since she was a young child.
A boat.
She barely remembered the reference. Besides its essential use to keep a person afloat, she’d never heard another use for one. After all, the waters in Alysium lacked useful resources, except for the Surge in the Grotto. There, the waters were rich with fish and other marine foodstuffs, which provided people across Alysium with nourishment. The other waterways were either shallow enough to traverse by foot, or too turbulent to enter at all.
As she reached down and picked up the sliver of wood, she held the light steady so that she could see it, expecting to find the wood worn and wormy from age. To her astonishment, the edge of the sliver was bright and polished, as if newly made.
How can this be?
Ranelle climbed from the hollow center of the edifice and onto the beach, once again her boots sinking into the sand. Looking down, her mind still on the piece of wood, she followed Abree’s tracks with her eyes as they moved off toward the lake. These tracks were different than those she’d observed so far. The boot prints were now gone, replaced with broad, flat marks from an object being dragged across the sand.
How did Abree even know the boat was hidden inside the stone circle?
Ranelle ran her hands through her hair with frustration. Nothing about what was happening made sense to her. How could Abree have known about the boat? Who told her it was there, and for what reason? How did it even get there in the first place? Ranelle paused, willing her mind to empty. She was feeling confused and overwhelmed. She always made mistakes when she got too wrapped up in her own thoughts.
I wish Gideon were here.
Focusing her attention back on the drag marks, Ranelle followed along as they led her toward the cavern wall. Dragging her feet through the sand, she suddenly spied something that immediately lifted her spirits. Rushing forward, she stumbled across the dark sands to reach the expansive stone wall before her. As the light from her pyrus lantern hit the wall of the cavern, Ranelle gasped with joy. In a patch on the face of the rock wall was a small cluster of bloom tendrils.
Ranelle's heart leaped in her chest. She never imagined she’d come across such a find. There were only a handful of places where bloom tendrils could be found in Alysium. Most pyrus had to be painstakingly extracted from the pyromite that was mined in Ashbourne. This was the first time Ranelle had even seen a live, exposed tendril.
With excitement, she pulled a knife from her satchel, setting her lantern down onto the beach beside her. Hands shaking from the anticipation, she grabbed a handful of tendrils, slicing them deftly with her knife blade. She couldn't help but smile with relief as fresh pyrus began leaking from the cut ends. Quickly, she pulled a small bowl from her satchel as she knelt, placing the leaking tendrils into the container to trap the precious fuel that was flowing freely. After a moment, the flow ebbed, and Ranelle laid those tendrils to the side. She stood to gather more, grabbing a bunch, slicing through them with ease, and placing their ends into the dish as well, allowing the fluid to drain.
When she felt like she’d collected enough bloom to work with, she gathered the tendrils into a pile, tying a string around their stalks. Ranelle then poured the leaked pyrus from the small bowl into the pyrus bladder she carried with her.
Slinging the bundle over her shoulder so she could carry it back to the others more comfortably, she hurried to her feet, excited to show Lara and Charlie what she’d found. Ranelle then began the long walk back, slipping and sliding through the sand, once again grateful that no one was there to watch her struggle.
The vessel scraped against the shore as small waves lapped at its sides. Abree leaped clumsily out of the boat, landing hard on her recently healed foot, jarring it to the point that it brought tears to her eyes. She cursed to herself, biting her lip.
Take it easy, or you might not make it.
She forced herself to breathe through the pain in her foot, slowing her pace to avoid further injury. Feeling thankful to be so far away from the others, she turned and pulled the vessel onto the shore, using her body weight to her advantage by leaning backward until the boat began to slide. Suddenly, she stopped her efforts as she realized that she had no further use for the vessel; it didn’t matter to her if the boat floated back into the lake. Giving up her current task, she focused her energy on unloading her supplies onto the rocky shore instead.
By the time she’d gathered everything she would need, her brow was glistening with sweat, and her back itched uncomfortably.
I feel strange.
While she wiped her forehead, she felt the itch traveling up her back, settling between her shoulder blades. As her shoulders and chest grew heavy, she had a sudden urge to take off her overcoat. After she had, she began to feel a bit better as she took a few deep breaths, the itching between her shoulders eventually beginning to fade.
Even though she felt less strange, she was still uncomfortable. As she breathed, the air felt too thin, as if she couldn't quite get enough. Feeling a bit lightheaded, she took a moment to catch her breath, setting herself down on a rock to take stock of her supplies.
Pawing through her satchel, she struggled as she felt the light from the pyrus lantern begin to grow dim. By the time she could no longer see inside the bag, she decided it was time to refill the pyrus. Turning to top off the lantern, she realized it was still full of fuel.
Why’s it getting so dark?
It took her a moment to realize that it was in fact her eyesight that was failing. Setting the lantern down onto the sandy shore, she tried to wipe her eyes with the back of her shirt sleeve as she blinked wildly, struggling to see through the ever-spreading darkness.
Despite her efforts, nothing seemed to work as Abree began to panic, clawing desperately at her eyes as her sight failed her, and she was thrust into blackness. Feeling her head spin, Abree put her hands out to brace herself, but she didn't fall forward. As her body swayed, she slid sideways off the rock instead, hitting the ground hard. Trying to shield her head unsuccessfully, it hit the rocky shore, sand sticking to the side of her sweaty face.
The pain from the fall brought tears to her eyes as she tried to take slow breaths to calm herself. Struggling, she found she just couldn't get enough air. She sputtered pitifully, choking on sand as rocks from the shore pushed painfully into every part of her body. Working for each labored breath, she slipped in and out of consciousness, becoming less and less aware of where she was.
Suddenly, Abree heard a distant noise, like the scraping of rocks against each other. Unable to move, she gathered her last bit of strength, peeling her eyelids open, trying desperately to focus on what was approaching.
As two blurry boots came into her fading view, her body finally gave out, unaware of the hands that lifted her seemingly lifeless body into the air.
Chapter Twenty
When Ranelle entered the small cave, the others were overjoyed with her discovery.
“I knew you’d come through!” said Charlie with exuberance, clapping Ranelle on the back as he and Lara helped to untie the bundle of bloom.
Ranelle turned toward the others, biting her lip.
“Actually, Abree kind of led me to it,” she said.
Lara and Charlie’s shock was unmistakable.
“You saw Abree?”
“Well, no,” Ranelle began, finding a comfortable spot next to Gideon so she could sit down and check his wound.
The others sat across from her, poised to listen.
“When I reached the place on the beach where we found Gideon, I saw footprints,” Ranelle explained as she delicately wiped away the old poultice from Gideon's head wound. “I noticed that the tracks led away up the beach.”
Pausing to reach for her medicine bag, Ranelle dug inside, pulling out the small pot that held the red-needled herb poultice.
“I was curious where Abree had gone, so I decided to follow her footprints. They went up the beach, circling a large group of
stones that were set up against the cavern wall. When I checked the back of the formation, I found it was empty inside.”
Here, Ranelle paused again, scooping poultice out of the jar with two fingers and deftly applying it to the wound. Despite its severity, the injury appeared to be doing better. There weren’t any signs of infection, which Ranelle had feared the most.
When she finished with the poultice, she set the small pot down and turned her attention back to the others.
“Inside the empty space, was this...” said Ranelle, reaching into her pocket to pull out the sliver of wood she’d found, “it’s from Abree's boat.”
“Boat?” Lara repeated as she turned to Charlie with a frown, “why does that word sound familiar?”
“The Surge,” Charlie replied, looking at Ranelle for confirmation.
“That's right,” Ranelle said with a nod, “the vessel they collect fish with on the Surge is called a boat.”
“Can I see it?” Charlie asked as he got to his feet, crossing over to Ranelle and holding his hand out.
Ranelle nodded, dropping the sliver of wood into his outstretched palm without hesitation.
As he held it firmly, turning it over with his thumb, a curious look crossed his face.
“What is it?” Lara asked.
Charlie held up the sliver of wood so the girls could see it clearly, “this wood’s brand new, see the fresh varnish?”
Ranelle and Lara observed the coat of shiny polish.
Extending her hand to collect the piece from Charlie, Ranelle remarked, “I noticed the same when I found it.”
“I thought the last bit of wood that was found in Alysium went to build the Apex?” Lara wondered aloud.
“That's what I heard too,” Ranelle replied as she placed the sliver back into her pants’ pocket.
“Where would someone find that much wood?” asked Lara as she stood and walked to her and Charlie's bags, pawing through them carefully until she found one that contained their food rations. She stood back up and crossed over to where Ranelle was tending their injured team leader, sitting herself down cross-legged on Gideon's other side. Charlie, motivated by the offer of a snack, joined the two girls, sitting down next to Lara.
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