A soft gasp told him Melody had finally looked down.
“Here,” he said, reaching up. He set her on her feet beside Kaeliph, and they started down the steep rocky path toward the shore. Melody followed the brothers as they picked their way down to the steady waves in the cove below.
Jovan scanned the area again, and he did not like what he saw. He stopped Kaeliph at the bottom of the trail, while Melody explored further.
“We can’t stay here,” he said.
Kaeliph was crushed. “But it’s perfect – no one can see us from above, and the soldiers won’t come by boat.”
Jovan gestured at the cliff face.
Kaeliph stared blankly. “What am I looking for, brother?”
Jovan lifted Kaeliph’s arm and pointed at a simple color shift in the rock. “That.”
Finally, Kaeliph saw. “What is it?”
“Some fisherman you are. That, little brother, is the tide line.”
Grim realization dawned on Kaeliph’s face. “Lich be damned.”
“Tide's coming in. We can't sleep on the path, and those tunnels— What?” Jovan followed his brother’s stare.
Kaeliph was looking at the water, where Melody was standing thigh deep in the surf, naked, loosening the braid in her hair. “What is she—?”
Jovan watched for a long moment, hypnotized by the way her endless hair lifted in the light breeze. “Praying,” he said. He knew it was the truth the moment he spoke.
"How do you know?"
He shrugged. “I just know.” He forced himself to look away. "We should—"
Kaeliph was still staring. “The water could be dangerous.”
“She’s fine. I’d know if she wasn’t.” Again, the truth surprised him as he said it.
“It’s not safe, though.”
"Kaeliph..."
The younger man set his jaw. “Mother told me about Smuggler’s Cove, Jovan. The islands are haunted, it's all the Lich King’s territory.”
Jovan rolled his eyes. “You and her stories. The Lich King is dead.”
“We think,” his brother corrected. There was a moment’s pause, filled with the silence of Jovan’s humorless glare.
“Well she might ... slip, or something.” Kaeliph tried, but couldn't keep the grin from his lips.
Jovan started to smile, but quickly became thoughtful. “She’s got the right idea, I think.”
“About which?” Kaeliph teased. “Praying, or being naked?”
“Maybe both. We’re going to swim. How far do you think it is out to the Bear?”
Kaeliph stared at his brother. “You’ve lost your mind, then? Was bound to happen, I suppose, all those blows to the head—”
“Where else can we get before night falls, Kaeliph?” He pointed to the coast just beyond their small scrap of beach. “The waves would crush us against those rocks before we could find another cove. Back to the tunnels? No. This is the only way.”
Kaeliph looked out towards the islands. “It won’t be easy. And we don’t even know if she can swim.”
“She can swim.” Jovan no longer questioned his intimate knowledge of her. The sun was sinking and the water was rising faster – but Melody wasn't finished, he knew. “We’ll get our things ready until she’s finished, see if we can’t keep some of it dry, anyway.”
Melody relished the feel of water against her skin – it had been so long. The tiny lake by the glade was never like this though, pulsing with such deep energy. The power in the tunnels had been vast, yes, but it was dark. Here in the water the force was pure: simple and huge and perfect.
It was Her, Melody was certain. This was the Power she felt so strongly in the trees of the NightWood, the only home she knew. She felt it surrounding her here, rocking her in the waves and warming her bare skin with the sun.
I’m here, she told the water, the wind, the sun. I’m here.
Breathing deep, Melody closed her eyes and let her body move with the waves as she focused her mind above the red-orange glow on her eyelids. She was the water. She was the wind. She was the sun. She was the Power. Melody began to hum, then sing, a tuneless uplifting of sound that drifted across the water and back onto the beach like a mist. I’m here.
Warmth enveloped her.
I am with you.
Melody’s heart swelled, and her knees went weak. She remembered this Presence, and was reminded of every time she had met with Her – in the streams, in the trees, in her dreams… Here, now, with Her, Melody could let go of the confused determination that had carried her this far. She wept, silent as she always had, relieved and aching and desperately uncertain.
I’m so frightened. She had no other words. She needed none, Goddess knew her heart - knew all of her. It took a long time to shed as many tears as she had stored up, but there was no rush. There was just her, and the rhythm of the rising water, and the Power.
I am with you.
Melody took in a deep breath, clearing the tears from her closed eyes and feeling the waves and wind. Yes.
I am always with you.
Melody frowned. But here … This place, these people…
The clenching anxiety of being surrounded by countless strangers and constant noise had been coiled in her gut for days, but now she surrendered it to the comforting embrace of the water. The waves lifted Melody’s riot of curls and caressed her back with them, and she felt Goddess smile in a sudden bright breeze.
Are Mine, as you are Mine, though many have forgotten. I am not confined to your forest, and neither must you be. You will see much more of My creation before we are reunited, little one.
Melody felt her whole body shiver as she glimpsed for a moment just how much farther she had to go, and what was expected of her. The touch of the water and the Power was all that kept her terror from consuming her.
I can’t!
You are not in this world to hide, child of Mine. Your gifts are My gifts, and they are much needed in this place. You are needed.
I understand. And Melody did understand, though understanding did not ease her fear or lessen the heartache of losing her family and friends. Goddess would be with her, had always been with her. Whatever lay ahead would not change that simple truth.
I am Yours, she whispered to Her in her mind.
There was a final breeze, a last lingering wave over the curve of her hip, and Melody felt herself return. The water was much higher on her body now, well above her navel. A look back showed shockingly little of the sandy beach left. Had that much time passed?
Melody let the waves bring her to shore, where Jovan and Kaeliph were stripped to their trousers, packs hitched high on their shoulders. She paused in the surf as they waded in to meet her; disturbed to see even from this distance the scars crisscrossing Jovan’s well-tanned arms and chest. Some were fresh. Melody looked away. She could not bring herself to think about his past, those brutal moments she’d glimpsed in his memory. Ducking her face under the water, she swept the hair out of her eyes.
Were you waiting for me?
“I have your things,” Jovan said. He gestured with her staff. “We’re swimming to the island. Can you make it?”
Melody looked back over her shoulder, nodded, and dove back under the waves. She set a strong pace, easily matched by the former fishermen, but all three were struggling as they approached the far shore an hour later. The nearly full moon tempered the darkness, showing Jovan the clouds of their breath in the chill night air.
The three of them lay on the sand for a long moment when they arrived, the silence broken only by the lapping of the waves and the grumbling of Kaeliph’s stomach.
“We need a fire,” Jovan observed, his eyes still closed. He made no effort to get up.
“I’ll get some branches.” Kaeliph also stayed where he was.
Do you have my dress?
“Yes. Sorry. I’ll get it.” Jovan sat up, pulling her simple bag out of his pack while she went to wash the sand from her knees and hands. He rummaged through the bundl
ed herbs in their tiny oilcloth wrappings until he found the ball of soft cloth that was her dress. He squeezed as much water out of the fabric as he could for her. It would get even colder tonight – the drier she could be, the better.
“Here.” Jovan waded out a few steps to hand her the dress. Melody seemed to not even notice that she was naked and glistening in the cool blue glow of the moon, but he did. He turned as soon as she had taken it, and saw Kaeliph was sitting up, noticing as well. Jovan kicked sand at him as he walked by. “Branches,” he said.
Jovan scanned the beach for anything useful while he dug in his pack for his own shirt, the cold needling his damp, bare skin. They would need their cloaks as well as the fire tonight, there was nothing that would pass as shelter. Melody didn’t even have a cloak, he realized as he wrung the water from the rest of their clothes.
“Could be a rough night,” Kaeliph observed, dumping an armful of branches at Jovan’s feet. The wind was starting to pick up.
“Could be. Better get more wood. At least these trees will block some of the wind.” Jovan used a stick to break up the wet, sandy soil for the fire pit, and was scooping out the loose dirt when Melody appeared beside him. Her skirt held several good-sized rocks.
Will these work for the fire?
Jovan nodded. “Are there more?”
Yes. She left, sending him an image of the scattered stones not far from where they swam ashore.
When the lined pit was deep enough for Jovan’s liking, he carefully laid the branches and started the fire, standing only when the flames were in little danger of blowing out.
“That will do. Kaeliph, get us some fish for supper. Melody, would you stay by the fire, make sure it doesn’t go out? I need to scout around.” The fire wouldn’t go out, he knew, but with a wet dress and no cloak, she didn’t need to be far from the warmth.
Kaeliph gave a good-natured grumble as he went to the shore, but Melody was not so cheerful. There was something unpleasant about this place, she thought. It felt like the tunnels. She fed the growing blaze a few more sticks, shivering with a chill only partly due to the wind off the water. Even exhausted, Melody felt a restless energy inside her reacting to the subtle hostility of the island. They would not sleep well this night if she did not do her part.
But what could she do? She stood, placing both hands on the staff, letting instinct guide her. Eventually, she paced out a large circle around their campsite, her bare feet leaving tiny tracks in the wet sand. She walked one complete circuit, tapping with the staff and sharing energy with it, then she walked another. Around and around she walked, step by step intensifying her focus while Kaeliph caught the fish and Jovan cleaned them.
Please, keep us safe, she asked, repeating it with every step around the circle. Melody repeated the words she didn’t say until she knew they had been heard, repeated them until she was certain no harm would come to them within the boundaries of their camp.
“What is she doing?” Kaeliph’s head was tipped, and he made no secret of watching their companion’s circular journey. Melody seemed not to notice, or care. She was praying again, Jovan knew, but not in a way he could explain.
He shrugged, poking at the fire, and they fell silent again.
The fish were ready by the time she stopped walking and returned to the fire, still shivering. She couldn’t tell whether the ice in her bones was from the unfamiliar chill in the air or the effort of rebuffing the island’s quiet, angry, energy. She did know the NightWood was never like this.
Jovan stood and slipped out of his cloak, wrapping it around her shoulders. He did not know why she had no cloak of her own, but she would need the protection against the steady breeze. “Sit here,” he said, guiding her close to the fire. She obeyed willingly.
Thank you.
“Hungry?” Kaeliph said, and Melody blushed as her stomach rumbled in answer. Once she was sitting, Melody could feel how exhausted she really was, and by their silence she knew the brothers were tired as well. The meal was delicious, and with warm food in their bellies sleep was not far behind. Jovan stoked the fire one last time, then all three of them curled close to the fire’s edge and let the sound of the waves and the distant waterfall usher in their dreams.
They did not wake for hours; not when the breeze shook the leaves in the trees, not when the footsteps crunched through the underbrush and paced the outer edge of their campsite, and not at the low, frustrated grunts that retreated into the trees shortly after.
When Jovan’s eyes did open, the sound that woke him was a rapid clicking, barely audible over the rush of the waves. He sat up, fully awake, and looked around.
“Melody,” he whispered. The tiny curled shape did not react. She was freezing; he could feel it now, under his own chill. Jovan first stirred the fire, knocking the coals into life and adding the remainder of the branches. That would help some. He looked again, seeing nothing but her white toes peeking out from the edge of the cloak. Bare feet? No wonder her teeth were chattering. He knelt by her side, feeling her shaking even before he touched her.
“Melody.” She opened her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to focus on him.
Jovan worked quickly, unwrapping his cloak from around her. He shifted her to face the fire, and then pulled her snug against his stomach before tucking the cloak around them both. With one of his arms under her head and the other across her stomach, his back would block the wind, and the fire would warm her front. Perhaps she would not freeze to death before they could find her some boots, and a cloak of her own.
“I’ve got you,” he whispered into her unbound hair, tucking her under his chin. She smelled of wood smoke and water. “You’ll be fine.” It took time, but the chattering of her teeth stopped, and Jovan finally slept when she snuggled back into his chest without trembling.
“Jovan?”
Kaeliph touched his brother on the shoulder. He hated to wake them, but Jovan needed to know about what he had found. “There’s something you need to see.”
Jovan tried to extract himself without disturbing Melody, but she woke anyway and blinked up at him with curious red-gold eyes.
“It’s all right,” he said. “Keep this, we’ll be right back.” He wrapped his cloak around her again, pleased to note that Kaeliph had already stirred the fire into life for the morning and brought more branches.
The sky was the cold gray blue of impending rain, and thick dark clouds raced overhead. “What is it?”
“Over here.” Kaeliph led Jovan to the edge of the circle Melody had been walking the night before, where the deepest footprints were unmistakable. “They go around the whole camp,” he said. “But they never cross over.”
Jovan squatted for a better look. Definitely human, at least five separate sets. The tracks led out of and back into the trees, but Kaeliph was right. They never once crossed over the barely visible path Melody had paced.
“What did she do?” Kaeliph asked.
Jovan shrugged. “It worked, whatever it was.” He looked at the angry sky, and over to Melody, trembling by the fire as she once more braided her thick hair. “We need to find shelter. And I want to know where these men came from.”
Kaeliph agreed wholeheartedly, unnerved by their night visitors. Back in camp, the three ate a quick meal of leftover fish before repacking their belongings.
“Melody,” Jovan asked, “do you have shoes?”
Kaeliph looked down, surprised. Sure enough, their companion was barefoot. No wonder she was shivering.
She shook her head. There is no need. Accompanying this answer was a sensation of familiar summer sun dappling through the branches of strong, protective trees. There was comfort and safety, warm air with just a hint of a breeze, and soft forest earth. That must be her home.
Jovan sighed. “There is now. It will only get colder – autumn is not long away.”
Melody sneezed and finished re-wrapping her father’s journal while Kaeliph doused the fire. The words in the journal were beyond her, but some of the dr
awings matched the carvings on her staff. She wished she felt less drained, so she might have been able to learn what they meant.
Jovan knew they would need to swim back to get supplies, but the waves in the cove were too wild today. That journey would have to wait. “We should go.”
Jovan let Kaeliph lead the way; his eyes were sharper and he would have less trouble picking out the traces made by the mysterious footprints. Melody trailed behind, pausing at the edge of her circle from the night before.
Thank you. She silently acknowledged the Power that had kept them all safe. She had dreamed of the visitors, and she had known even then it wasn’t a dream. The energy she had asked for on instinct, the Power that had wrapped around their campsite had protected them, but from what? The island still felt inexplicably angry. She sank her staff into the sand at her feet and could feel the protective energy drawing back up into its length. Thank you.
“Melody.” Jovan’s voice held barely veiled impatience. She caught up.
Kaeliph’s tracking led them, after several hours, to the interior of the island. The thick forest they pushed through did nothing to protect them from the rain that started only moments after they began. Fat cold drops fell between trees, dripped off of leaves and branches, and every breath they took was full of the thick, cold mist that surrounded them.
Melody was uneasy. Something was terribly wrong about this whole place, but it was increasingly difficult to focus. The longer they walked, the more scattered her thoughts became, which didn’t help her navigate the hostile landscape.
Wet leaves made the footing treacherous, hidden vines caught at her bare feet with their scratching briars, and in the rare spots without underbrush, mud squelched up almost to her ankles. Twice, she lost her footing so badly she almost fell, but each time Jovan had been beside her.
They broke for a rest after a few hours of hiking, right at the time Melody let out another sudden, surprised sneeze. The rain had slowed, but the trees around them still dripped in the chilly drizzle.
“She needs shelter, Jovan.” Kaeliph’s whisper was soft, but nevertheless, Melody heard it.
Awaken Page 9
