by Raquel Lyon
Through the buzzing, she heard groaning beside her. Lambert lifted his head and shook it. “I do not believe they mentioned that it the textbooks,” he said.
“Where... are we?” Piper’s voice trembled and caught in her throat.
“Still far from our destination, I fear, and we must not waste a minute if we are to reach safety before nightfall.”
Piper scanned the area and saw Connor lying a few feet away. “Connor, are you okay?” she called out as best she could.
“Yup,” he answered, standing up and brushing rock dust from his pants. “You sure you haven’t taken me back to Hell? Looks pretty similar.”
“From the terrain, it is my assumption that we missed our mark by quite a way,” Lambert said. “The passage must have shortened as it closed.”
“But we are in Chimmeris, aren’t we?” Piper asked. “You do recognise it?”
“I have never travelled beyond the border of our lands before,” he said as he walked towards the cliff, “but I memorised the journey to Aperosta. If we can find that, it would simply be a matter of working backwards.”
“Aperosta? Is that a town?”
“A mountain. The portal should have led us to the cave there. This is not Aperosta, nor is it a mountain.” He stooped to scoop a handful of shale and let it slip through his fingers. “This rock is volcanic.”
Piper rotated her head and assessed their location. They were surrounded by an almost circular wall of rock. “Oh my god, we’re in the top of a volcano, aren’t we?”
She didn’t need Lambert to answer. At that moment, the ground answered for him. Under her feet, the rock shuddered, and nearby, a jet of steam shot high into the air. Lambert ran back and grabbed her hand, tugging her forward as a crack appeared at their feet.
“Is it going to blow?” she asked.
“Would you like to stay to find out?”
“Um... no.”
He pushed her up the crater’s side. “Good. Start climbing.”
Piper had never been much of a climber, and trying to do it when she kept getting her feet caught in her skirt was practically impossible. Lambert noticed her struggle and closed in behind her, gathered up the excess material, and threw it over his shoulder. Calling out suggestions for the right places to grip, he helped to ease her feet into footholds and kept them from slipping. Piper was grateful for his assistance, but she wondered how on earth she was expected to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other when all she could think about was the feel of his hands sliding over the bare skin of her calves and the fact that he probably had a great view of her ass. All around, the steam had intensified and clouded, and she could no longer see how far she had left to go, nor could she see Connor. She hoped he was following but daren’t turn her head to seek him for fear of losing her balance.
Lambert encouraged her higher. Her hand reached up to seek another ridge and something gripped her wrist. A scream lodged in her chest, held there by the force at which she was yanked upwards.
“Could you have been any slower?” Connor said, lowering her to the ground.
Piper took a relieved breath and willed her pulse to slow. “You frightened the shit out of me.”
“I got sick of waiting.”
“Oh, really? I suppose hauling your ass up thirty feet of rock comes naturally to you, then?”
“Couldn’t say. I jumped,” he said, reaching down to help Lambert up the last section. “Where to now?”
“Down,” Lambert said, rushing past them in a swirl of vapour.
Connor shrugged and held out his hand, signalling for Piper to go before him. “Down it is.”
Descending the steep incline was much easier with the hem of her skirt hitched up and tucked into her waistband, but large rocks jutting from the uneven earth hampered her progress, and she struggled to keep up with the boys. By the halfway point her legs already felt like marshmallows, and she had to pause to catch her breath.
Now that she was away from the rising steam, she had a clear view across the volcanic plain. It was hard not to be struck by the harshness of the landscape. Not a speck of green could be seen for miles, even along the banks of the river curving gracefully through the brown terrain and vanishing between two distant mountains.
Below her, Lambert stopped and looked back. “Piper, make haste,” he shouted.
Cursing her inappropriate attire, she tucked in her skirt more tightly and set off again. “I’m coming as fast as I can,” she called, scrambling over yet another ridge of rock. She didn’t understand what the rush was. Lambert had waited weeks to return, and now that he was here, he was acting like a schoolboy late home for his tea.
When she reached the bottom, the boys were waiting. Lambert pointed to the mountains in the distance. “From the shape of its apex, I am certain Aperosta is the one to the right of the river.”
Piper gasped. “But that’s miles away. It’ll take hours to get there.”
Connor cleared his throat. “Then you’ll be glad I tagged along.” He bent his back and patted it, gesturing to Lambert. “Come on, dude, up you get.” Lambert’s face contorted to a frown. “It’ll be quicker if you don’t argue. Hop on,” Connor added.
Reluctantly, Lambert moved behind Connor, who shucked him onto his shoulders. “Hold tight,” he said, turning to Piper. “Now you.”
She stepped forward hesitantly. “You can’t carry both of us.”
“Ah, please. Don’t insult me.” And with one sweep of his arm around her thighs, he’d hooked her into the crook of it as if she were no more than a doll.
She looped her arms around his neck, laying them on top of Lambert’s, and clung on tightly as Connor set off running. The ground trembled under his feet, and behind them a low, steady rumble sounded from the steaming summit and a cloud of ash billowed skyward, but Piper wasn’t afraid. The danger grew further away with each passing second.
Connor was fast.
The wind buffeted Piper’s cheeks as his long, sturdy legs powered over the hardened mud with ease. Under his shirt, she could feel his heart beating slow and steady. He looked at her and grinned, barely out of breath. She smiled back and felt Lambert shift his weight. His head appeared over Connor’s shoulder, his face unbelievably close to hers. Her smile faded, silenced by the frown set into his features. Piper wanted to tell him it was okay, that sometimes you had to suck it up and accept help, but there was a look in his eyes she hadn’t seen before, cold, almost angry, that kept her mouth tightly closed.
At the foot of Aperosta, Lambert slid quickly to the ground, and Connor eased Piper down. She surveyed their destination.
Between the two peaks the river curved, filling the gap, its edge abutting the ravine. Piper’s heart sank. There was no way they’d be able to go any further without more climbing on the agenda. “Okay, Mr Memory Man,” she said. “Which way now?”
“Through to the other side.”
Piper glanced down at the fast flow foaming against protruding boulders. Lambert was crazy if he expected them to swim their way through. They’d drown. When she looked back to him, he was standing in the shallows with his arms outstretched. Surely he wasn’t about to dive in.
Her hand shot out. “Don’t!”
“Would you like to do the honours?” he said.
“What honours?”
He snickered, turning away from her and sweeping his palms outwards. At his feet, the water receded and crested in a rippling mound at his side, leaving him standing on a section of perfectly dry riverbed.
Piper twisted to Connor. “My brother is Moses,” she said.
Connor jumped onto the pebbled trail, clasped Piper’s waist and swung her down in front of him. “Then, onwards to freedom,” he said, grinning.
Chapter Twenty-Five
BY THE TIME THEY made it to the other end of the gorge, Lambert’s wall of water loomed twice as high as they were tall. He waited for everyone to climb safely onto the riverbank before letting it fall, and it sloshed back into
place with a huge gush up the embankment.
Piper shook the splashes from her skirt and assessed their position.
In stark contrast to what they’d left behind, this side of the mountain grew lush with vegetation, and she was awed by its beauty. They were standing on the edge of a sea of yellow, dotted with patches of purple. She’d never seen so many flowers in one place, their long stalks bending and waving in the light breeze. A few steps ahead of her, the boys were already waist-deep in blossoms. She picked up her skirt and followed.
“Watch out for the purple ones,” Lambert called back. “They have a nasty sting.”
Piper trod Lambert’s weaving trail of crushed vegetation for what seemed like miles, convinced that giving the purple flowers a wide berth had resulted in their walking twice as far as they would otherwise have had to. She regretted not thinking to take a drink from the river. Her mouth was as dry as the dust covering her boots, and her stomach wouldn’t have said no to a fattening, either.
“Hey, Lambert,” she shouted as she lost sight of him over a small mound, “I don’t suppose you could conjure up a burger and diet cola, could you? Lots of ice?”
“I have no idea to what you are referring,” his voice drifted on the breeze, “but you are welcome to join us in a handful of lake water.”
Water? Piper clambered the last few feet and stood on the crest of the knoll. Below, Lambert and Connor were already kneeling at the water’s edge, drinking and splashing their faces. She raced down the slope, eager to join them.
In her haste, she tripped over her hem and rolled the last few feet on her back, and when she came to a stop, Lambert was crouching over her.
Concern filled his voice. “Piper, are you injured?”
“No. No, I’m okay,” she said, more embarrassed than hurt. “No broken bones.” She laughed, noticing a sliver of wood sticking out of her arm near a purple smear. “Just a splinter.”
Lambert grabbed her arm, and Piper winced as he pulled it out. “Ouch.”
“This is not a splinter, Piper,” he said, holding it up to the light. “It is a Lugnis spike.” He discarded it with disgust and clasped her shoulders. “Listen to me. In a few minutes, your arm will begin to swell and the pain will start.” He looked up to Connor towering over them and held out his hand. “Give me your belt.”
“What are you going to do?” Piper asked as Connor hurried to unbuckle it and hand it over.
“Try to slow the spread of toxin.”
“Toxin? Am I going to die?”
“Only if you are unlucky,” Lambert said, wrapping the leather strip around her arm.
“Hey. Not so tight.” She gasped. “You’re cutting off my blood supply.”
“That is the point,” Lambert said, turning to Connor. “Look after her. Keep her still. I will return presently.”
“Where’re you going?” Connor asked.
Lambert didn’t reply as he set off running.
Piper watched his figure shrink and blur into the scenery, dumbstruck at him leaving her when she needed him the most. Her arm deadened. She tried to wiggle her fingers, but it was as if they belonged to someone else and refused to take orders. She stared at them, willing them to move, and tiny sparkles of light glittered across her vision.
“You don’t look too good,” Connor said.
She blinked to clear her sight. “I don’t feel it... Argh!” Her fire ignited, sending searing jolts from her arm to her heart, and she cried out as she fell backwards to the ground. At her side, her arm lay heavy like a rod of iron in a blacksmith’s forge, as if her fire had solidified in her veins. She wanted to rip it off and throw it into the lake, watch it sizzle and sink to the depths. Was this it? Was she really going to die—here, in this strange land where nobody would care? She prayed it would be quick, if that were the case. She tried to speak to plead with Connor to do something. Her mouth opened but no words came out. Then, as strong fingers gripped her arm and tightened the tourniquet, her consciousness slipped away.
*****
When Piper came to, her fire had turned to ice and her arm was numb, yet tingling. She noticed with embarrassment that Lambert was cradling her in his arms, rocking her like a baby. His shirt was missing one of its sleeves, and the stretch of material was being used to bind something soft and wet to her wound. She searched for her voice and it came out as a breathless whisper.
“I-I’m okay.”
“Piper?” Lambert pushed her to arm’s length, his eyes darting over every inch of her. “Thank the gods.” He pulled her back close, squeezing her a little too tightly, and laid a lingering kiss on her forehead. After a moment, he spoke. “I was unsure whether I had made it back in time.”
Piper nuzzled into his neck. It was damp with perspiration, and he was breathing heavily. “You left me.”
“I had to. I needed to find the antidote.”
Piper’s eyes drifted to Conner, standing at the water’s edge skimming pebbles over the surface, and she picked at the knot of her makeshift dressing. “What’s under this?”
“Gibba root—tough to grind to a paste and stinks like a boar’s backside, but it does the trick.”
Piper giggled softly. “I think you’re right. I’m feeling much better now,” she said, reluctantly easing from his hold. She wanted nothing more than to stay exactly where she was, but knew she’d already delayed their journey long enough. She pushed to her feet and wiped a wisp of hair from her face. “Thank you for saving my life.”
Lambert stood up behind her. “You saved mine.”
His remark confused her and her chest hitched. “So... you were just paying back a debt?”
“Of course not. What a ridiculous thing to say.”
“Is it?”
Lambert’s hand smoothed down her arm, and he swung her to face him. He linked their fingers and stared at them. “You are my sister,” he said, “and...” His eyes slowly lifted to her face, and he swallowed. “I couldn’t lose you. I love you.”
“Everything okay over there?” Connor shouted.
Suddenly unable to breathe, Piper left it to Lambert to reply. He let go of her hands and walked over to Connor. She followed on wobbly legs.
“All mended and ready to continue?” Connor asked.
Piper offered a weak smile and nodded. Physically, she felt fine, but mentally, she was all kinds of messed up. Had Lambert really just told her he loved her, or had she imagined it? Love took many forms; she knew that, but what if...? She glanced at him, searching along the seemingly endless shoreline, deep in concentration as if their conversation had never taken place, then stepped to the water’s edge and crouched to take a drink, hoping to quench her confusion as well as her thirst.
“Left or right?” she heard Connor ask Lambert.
“Straight ahead,” he answered.
Piper lifted her head. The lake stretched into the distance like the ocean, cold and uninviting, yet rippling with a thousand tiny diamonds. She stood up and sought the opposite shore, but couldn’t make it out. “How?”
“Watch this,” Lambert shouted from a few yards away. He scooped a handful of pebbles from the shore and threw them in front of him. Some of them seemingly stopped mid-air and fell into the water with a tiny plop, but it was the others that Piper found fascinating. They hung in the air, forming a shape like the dots of a magic eye picture, and if she squinted a little, she could just about make out a shape. It was a boat.
She turned to Lambert, amazed. “How in the world did you know that was there?”
He nodded over to where the stretch of pebbles met the flowers. A curiously shaped rock was nestled between them. “The Hoot Stone,” he said.
“You mean that rock?”
“Yes—which from a certain angle has the appearance of an owl’s head.”
“Oh, I see.”
His arms began moving, as if coiling a rope around them. “It marks the spot for travellers to find where to cross.”
“In an invisible boat?”
“Precisely. Are you ready?”
“No. I told you I don’t like boats.”
“Would you rather I continue the journey alone?” There was a line of tension to his jaw, and his mood took another sharp turn to disgruntled as he hooked the invisible rope over his shoulder. “I am certain Connor would be happy to escort you home. Follow the trail back to Aperosta. In the cave—”
“Lambert? Shut up. I said I’d come, and I’m coming.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
LAMBERT AND CONNOR looked as if they were performing a strange exercise routine, or maybe the dance moves from that stupid song that used to be played at all the school discos? Their arms rotated in perfect harmony, each turning an oar as they navigated the vast expanse of grey. Piper held in her anxiety and tried not to look down, but couldn’t resist the odd glance at her feet gliding over the waves. She had pondered over whether travelling in a boat that could be seen straight through might be like walking along the glass tunnel at Sealife, only with the fish swimming under her feet instead of over her head. But the lake wasn’t clear water with subtle backlighting; it was darkly foreboding and too murky to see more than a few inches down. The only life to be glimpsed was an occasional ribbon of pond weed sucked along in their wake.
Lambert angled his neck to check the distance to the shore, causing the boat to sway slightly. Piper gripped her seat tighter and made the mistake of looking down. She could have sworn she saw an eye staring back at her, but it couldn’t have been. The pupil would have been larger than her foot.
In the corner of her vision, something broke the surface. “What was that?” she said, twisting to seek the culprit.
“Probably a fish. Could be water nymphs,” Connor said. “Keep your hands in the boat; you’ll be fine.”
Piper wasn’t sure. Notably, Lambert hadn’t offered any opinion on the subject and simply kept his eyes lowered in concentration. The hairs on her arms prickled and her heart quickened as her eyes darted around, searching for more signs of movement. She didn’t have to wait long. A short distance away something lifted high in the air, water cascading from it as it rose. It dropped with a huge splash, creating a swell that undulated in their direction.
