I kept my head firmly in Fynn’s shoulder, hiding my eyes from my friends and the scene of devastation I had caused. I had made the decision last time that had nearly cost my friends their lives. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that every choice I made put them in jeopardy. I hated having that kind of responsibility to them, and to myself. I felt the tears in my eyes as I recalled Jakob’s words to me, not too long ago.
“We’re all here because this is where we
want to be,” he had told me. “Remember that.”
“Well?” Jakob was saying, and I could feel his eyes in the back of my head.
Fynn gently released me from his embrace, giving me the slight push I needed to separate myself from the safety of his arms. He smiled at me encouragingly, and I took a deep breath to try and calm my trembling nerves. My eyes inadvertently caught the reflection of the sun off the glass desert, the bodies of the men I had killed trapped within it. I swallowed hard.
“If the sea will be faster, we should go that way,” I said.
“I saw a ship a-sailing, on the wine-dark sea,” Will sang. “And it was full of pretty things, for my baby and me!”
He did a little dance, as if he were leading a woman around on a ballroom floor, a broad grin on his face. His exuberance made me smile, and I felt a little better about making a decision.
“The smuggler’s town is probably only a days walk from here,” Jakob said. “We could be on a boat as early as tomorrow afternoon, if we’re lucky.”
Fynn said nothing, the smiling fading from his face. The strength Ellena had given him was apparent, but I could tell he still wasn’t back to his old self. I felt a sense of urgency rising within me, like every second we delayed here was another second from Fynn’s life. I put on my best smile, hoping to show everyone the confidence I didn’t feel.
“Let’s get moving, then,” I said.
Jakob nodded and lead the way, and I followed close behind him. Will was whistling and skipping around us, like an excited dog out for a walk on a bright summer’s day. Fynn and Clothis followed behind us, whispering to each other. I felt a twinge of jealousy as I found myself straining to hear what was being said. Instead, I caught up with Jakob and walked beside him, watching Will scamper around.
“He seems happy,” I commented.
Jakob nodded. “I wonder when the last time he was out of the desert was.”
“You think he’s been here long?”
“Someone had to have chained him to that rock,” Jakob said with a little laugh. “Did you think he did it to himself?”
I blushed, and realized I had not thought about Will’s obviously troubled past before. I hoped I would have the chance to ask him about it sometime, to find out why he had been left to die in the desert, and why he had told me about an acorn with what he thought was his dying breath. I shook my head.
“I’ve been thinking about it,” Jakob continued, still watching Will. “He said he was a soldier turned traitor, like me, and that he had been in the Tower. He must have escaped somehow and fled to the desert. I just can’t figure out what he could have done, or how he got out.”
Will was turning cartwheels in the soft sand, falling more often than he made it over.
“Maybe we’ll be able to ask him,” I suggested. “He seems to be getting better since we saved him. Maybe he’ll return to his old self?”
Jakob raised an eyebrow. “Do we want to see his old self? You’ve met the soldiers in the army, Leila. They’re not all as kind hearted as I am.”
I shuddered and fell silent, lost in my own thoughts. We kept walking, pausing only once for some of our meager rations that Clothis had been able to save from the Huryl camp. Once again, Fynn handed me the water flask and watched as I attempted to drink. The sand and fire spirits within me rebelled, but the third presence helped me quiet them down as I drank. For the first time in a long time, the water felt good as it poured down my throat, and I passed the flask along to Jakob with a smile on my face.
As the sun began to sink on the horizon, we crested the top of a large dune and Jakob pointed out the sea. I gasped at its vastness. It spread out across the horizon and disappeared over the edge of the world, like a mirror of the darkening sky above it. Jakob took my hand and squeezed it, gesturing with his other hand to a small spot of light on the coast.
“That’s the village,” he said. “We’ll have to stop here, but we can reach the town tomorrow morning. We’ll be able to catch an afternoon tide and be on our way to Oponoe in no time.”
I smiled happily as I thought about returning to the Dyrel city, and seeing Fynn once again as his old self. I hugged Jakob quickly and walked away from the confused Huryl to help Clothis prepare the camp for the evening. Will was already lying down in the sand, wrapped in a blanket and staring at the stars as they came out, greeting them one by one. I found myself thinking about my conversation with Jakob again, and found it impossible to picture Will as anything other than what he was right now – sweet, childlike, and funny. I hoped Jakob was wrong in thinking that Will might not be what he appeared to be.
The next morning, bright and early, we left the Huryl desert behind us and stepped onto the green grass that surrounded the village. The wind was still hot and dry, and sand mixed in with the vegetation that grew along the coast, but it felt like we were in another world all together. Fynn seemed to regain some energy from the few trees that had been planted around the town, and I began to feel foolish for worrying about him. Jakob led us straight through the main square to the small harbor on the other side, where we saw an elderly man lounging against a pile of ropes on a wooden dock. Behind him, several muscular men were loading goods onto a medium sized ship. I was disappointed by the ship’s size, thinking we would be sailing on a pirate ship like I had seen in the movies back home.
“We’re looking for passage, heading east,” Jakob announced.
The man glared at him for a moment, then slowly looked at each of us. His eyes rested for a long time on Clothis before he spat into the water and shook his head.
“She’s Dyrel, a soldier, by the looks of it,” he said. “We got no business with the prince.”
“And the prince has no business with you,” Clothis spoke up, “if you bring us where we need to go.”
The man raised his eyebrow and spat again. He considered the request. “What you got for payment?”
“Gold,” Jakob surprised me by answering. He put his hand in the pouch at his belt and drew out several large coins. The old man nodded, his expression unchanged.
“Passage to Dyrel,” the man agreed. “You’ll stay away from me men while at sea. Any trouble, you get below and stay there. Understand?”
Jakob nodded and the old man grunted. Heaving himself to his feet, he spat one last time into the water and headed towards the ship. The muscular men were loading up the last of the goods as we followed him up the gangplank. Fynn hesitated at the bottom, looking up at the boat with a frightened expression on his face. I had never seen that look in his eyes before.
“Fynn?” I asked gently. “Are you okay?”
“Hurry on up!” the sailor yelled.
Fynn smiled shakily and put one foot on the gangplank. As the other left the ground, he stumbled and I caught him before he could fall into the water. He grinned sheepishly at me, and together we made it onto the deck of the ship. I brought Fynn to the small area where the sailors told us we could sleep, and waited with him in silence until the ship was underway.
We were at sea for hours, and I spent most of the journey on the deck, watching the waves crash against the hull and enjoying the cool breeze in my face. I could feel the spirits within me sulking at leaving the hot climate, but I ignored them. I was starting to feel like myself again. Clothis joined me as I peered over the rail at the dolphins that were leaping through our wake. She grabbed me by the back of my shirt and pulled me off the rail.
“Don’t you dare fall overboard,” she said.
“I won’t,” I assured her. “But there are dolphins chasing us!”
Clothis smiled and laughed, a genuine laugh of amusement and delight, not the biting sarcastic laugh she usually used. We both leaned over the rail to watch the sea creatures.
“When I was a little girl, I used to always do this,” Clothis remarked. “My sisters and I would see who could hang farthest over the rail and try to touch the dolphins. I always won.”
“You must have been close,” I said.
She nodded. “I was the eldest, but only by a few months. Atropis was the middle child, and Lachis the baby. We used to tease her about it mercilessly. My father was a merchant, and he would always take my mother and us with him when he traveled. I loved being at sea.”
She trailed off, lost in thought, tears shimmered unshed in her eyes. I wondered what happened to Clothis, remembering how I had found her in the fortress, swearing she would save her sisters this time and how her entire family had died. I hoped she was at least reliving happy memories as she watched the dolphin’s play.
“How long do you think it will take us to get to Oponoe?” I asked.
Clothis wiped her eyes and smiled at me, her face returning to its customary seriousness. “We should be nearly there. We have a strong wind, and it’s not terribly far. One of the reasons Prince Damaeon has such a hard time with these smugglers is because they’re here and gone in no time flat.”
I smiled. I could see it all in my mind already. We would get Fynn to the Wood, where he would revert to his old self again. We would visit Damaeon, and I would apologize for disappearing, but he would be so grateful to see us that he wouldn’t care. He would grant Jakob and Will asylum, and together we would all prepare against the coming Huryl. I could do as I promised and bring the Dyrel peace.
And then what? A nagging through sprung into my mind. Would I go home? Could I go home? Back to my boring office job, where I fought with my parents and did my best to avoid them. Back to my so-called friends, who barely knew me. Back to my lackluster life. Could I go back, after having gone through all this?
“Leila!” Jakob called urgently.
I turned and saw him waving frantically from the stairs leading to the hold, where we had been put for the trip. Leaving Clothis at the rails, I hurried across the heaving deck. Jakob grabbed me by the arm and pulled me down the stairs, not bothering to explain what was happening. I could sense his nervousness as we moved, and that time was of the essence. I became worried and hurried as fast as I could.
Jakob pushed me in front of him and I stopped short, frozen in place. Fynn lay where I had left him on the rope hammock, swinging gently back and forth with the motion of the ship. He had fallen asleep almost immediately after we had left shore, and I had sat with him for a while, listening to him breathe. Eventually, I had wandered to the deck for fresh air, thinking he would be fine on his own. Now the full weight of guilt crashed onto my shoulders.
“Fynn?” I whispered.
He still lay as if asleep, but his skin was pale and almost transparent. I was struck with the memory of the forest, where he had urged me to leave him for dead as he had been struck by the iron arrow. He had started to disappear then, too. Tears trickled down my cheeks and I ran to him, throwing my arms around him as best I could. I could see the ropes of the hammock through his torso.
“What’s happening to him?” I asked.
“He’s losing his connection with this world,” Clothis said from the doorway.
I looked over my shoulder at her. Her expression was sad as she stood with her arms folded across her body. I blinked the salty water from my eyes.
“He’s never left the earth,” Clothis explained gently. “I was worried what would happen to him if we brought him on a boat. He needs to be on solid ground to stay in this world.”
“Why didn’t he tell me?” I whispered. “We could have gone through the mountains. We could have gone the long way. I just wanted to get him home as fast as possible.”
“He knew you wouldn’t want to go through the mountains, because of what happened there,” Clothis said. “I tried to talk him out of this, but he insisted.”
“Will he die?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
I wiped my eyes and stared into his sleeping face. He looked like a ghost, like one of those strange spirits who had tormented us in the desert. Spirits! I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, calling the spirits within me. If I could keep those spirits alive while at sea, I knew I could do the same for Fynn. I picked up his hand and held it tightly in mine.
Please, I beckoned the spirits. Give my strength to Fynn.
“What’s she doing?” Jakob asked.
“Leila?” Clothis said, a note of panic in her voice.
“The other spirits are away from their homes, and I’m keeping them alive,” I said calmly, “I can keep Fynn alive too.”
“Fynn’s not like the other spirits,” Clothis objected. “Leila, you can’t!”
Please…
The mark on my palm flared up with an intense red light. It enveloped both Fynn and me in a warm glow. Opening my eyes, I saw that he was no longer fading, and that some of his colour was returning. I smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, before I toppled forward onto his chest, our hands still tightly clasped together.
***
I woke up some time later to find myself in a hammock on the ship. I blinked sleepily, when suddenly I remembered what I had been doing. I sat up quickly and struck my head on a low ceiling beam, nearly knocking myself out again. As I rubbed my sore forehead, I looked around for Fynn.
“Fynn?” I called. “Fynn?”
Jakob appeared in the doorway and smiled. “Good. You’re awake.”
“Did Fynn – “ I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“He’s on deck already. I wasn’t looking forward to carrying both of you off this tub,” Jakob replied. “He’s still unconscious, if that’s what you’re asking.”
I lay back and took a deep breath, ignoring the pounding on my head. He hadn’t disappeared. Jakob came over and gently lifted me out of the hammock, carrying me to the door and setting me on my feet.
“That was very foolish, Leila,” he told me. “Clothis is going to have your head.”
“Why? It saved him, didn’t it?”
Jakob laughed and shook his head. “You remember who Fynn is, right? Stealer of souls? You just offered your soul willingly to him with that stunt. At any other time, you’d be a faerie servant right now.”
“He wouldn’t take my soul,” I insisted.
Jakob raised an eyebrow. “Would he have a choice?”
We made our way to the deck and I saw that we were anchored in a small natural harbour surrounded by dense forest. I was relieved to see the woods still standing. Jakob pointed to the distance, and my heart sank.
“You can see where the fire stopped,” he said.
The beautiful wood had been reduced to ash, with tumbled trees and charred stumps sticking out as testaments of what had once been. My hopes crashed to the ground. At least not all had been consumed, I told myself. There might still be hope for Fynn.
At the thought of the Woodwalker, I looked around the deck and saw him lying on a blanket. He was still pale and somewhat transparent, but seemed much stronger than before. I started to walk towards him when Clothis placed herself in my path. I looked up into the eyes of the angry Dyrel and prepared myself for the onslaught. Clothis stared hard at me, then sighed and relaxed her tense muscles.
“You’re crazy,” she told me. “And very lucky. Don’t do it again.”
The sailors and Jakob loaded Fynn into a longboat, and Jakob paid the captain as the boat was lowered to the water with a splash. I scrambled down a rope ladder to the boat, followed by Will, Jakob, Clothis, and a sailor who would row us to shore. I sat next to Fynn’s head, silently urging the sailor to row faster so we could get him safely to the forest. As we drew closer, I could feel the spirits around me, like I had before. There was something different, though, almost accusatory. The spirits were angry with me for taking Fynn and for allowing their home to be destroyed. I felt their fury wash over me, and I hung my head in shame.
As we waved farewell to the sailor, who quickly brought his boat back to the ship and as far away from us as possible, we began to walk into the forest. Jakob carried Fynn on his back, and I walked behind him so I could keep an eye on them both. As soon as the shore was lost from view, a strong wind picked up and the air filled with whispered words. I put my arm in front of my face to shield my eyes, hearing Jakob exclaim something as Fynn was lifted off his back. A whirlwind of leaves surrounded him as he hung in mid air, cocooning him from view. Suddenly, as quickly as it had come, the wind vanished and the leaves dropped to the ground. Fynn was gone.
“Fynn!” I cried, spinning around in search of him.
“The same thing happened last time he went to Faerie,” Clothis remarked, picking the leaves out of her hair. “The Queen has him now.”
“We have to get him back!” I insisted.
“How?” Jakob asked. “None of us can get to Faerie. It’s best if we go straight to the Prince and tell him what we saw in Huryl territory. He needs to be ready if they attack. Fynn would understand.”
Will was muttering nervously to himself and looking around the forest with scared eyes. Clothis held her chin in thought, one hand on her hip. She still wore Fynn’s quiver of arrows and his bow on her back, and I felt a lump form in my throat as I saw them.
“The Elven Queen would know how to get there,” Clothis said finally.
Will screamed. I looked at him in surprise, as did Jakob and Clothis. He fell to his knees, grasping his head with both hands.
“I cannot find the shoe, my lord. I will not go to the garden. There is no place for rest in the last place I found. My lord, don’t make me. I cannot!”
“Will?” I asked, kneeling next to him. He grabbed me by the arm and held tight.
“The eyes see all, the ears hear all. I can’t go to that place!” he said, tears streaming down his frightened face.
“It’s okay, Will,” I assured him gently. “You don’t need to go anywhere. We’re all okay now.”
I patted him on the back as he whimpered and wondered what caused such a reaction in him. The decision weight heavily on my mind. Did we warn Damaeon about the Huryl army, or did we seek out the Elven Queen and find Fynn? If he was in Faerie, he was probably better off, but I needed to be sure he was all right. Still, if we delayed in speaking to Damaeon, would he lose the next battle?