Stone Heart (The Cursed Seas Collection)

by Pauline Creeden

  “Are you injured?” he asked, his eyes closed as he settled into my lap.

  I shook my head, realized he couldn’t see it, and said, “Nope.”

  He exhaled and relaxed. “Good.”

  “Do you want to eat?” I asked.

  “No,” he whispered. “More sleep.”

  Almost immediately, his breathing evened out, and he fell asleep.

  I took out some dried meat and chewed on it while Kane slept with his head on my lap.

  One of the books I’d gotten hold of named some of the constellations. As I peered up into the night sky, I tried to remember some of the names and connect them with the white points of light I was searching overhead. About the only one I could recognize was Orion's belt. Though the jungle behind us continued its song, it felt distant and lulling. The relaxation spread through my body, and I yawned. Though I kept watch overnight, I found myself dozing off a bit several times.

  The next morning, Kane woke me when he stood, removing his weight and warmth from my lap. He smiled down at me, as well as he could with half of his face still swollen. “Looks like we made it through the night.”

  I yawned and stretched. “Yep.”

  He looked at the makeshift shelter. “That’s pretty good. Did someone teach you that?”

  I shook my head. “No. I lived under water, remember? I’m honestly surprised that it stayed up.” I had fully expected to have to throw myself over Kane once it started to collapse.

  “I’m impressed,” he said.

  I beamed and pulled myself up to my feet. Sand stuck to the backs of my thighs and I dusted it off. “Are you okay to walk?”

  He nodded. “Yeah. I might be slower than usual, but I’m fine to walk.”

  “Alright, let’s go.”

  Kane grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Wait.”

  I frowned but didn’t look up at him.

  “I’m sorry. I screwed up. I said we were partners, but then I put you in danger. I’m a jerk, and I don’t know if I can make it up to you, but I really am sorry.”

  I hadn’t known him long but felt like Kane wasn’t the type who would normally apologize. “Apology accepted.”

  He blinked his one open eye, his hold on my arm growing flaccid. I pulled from his grip and started to walk away. I felt him tug on the top of my pack and looked back. He leaned on his staff a bit like an old man, but he was walking just as he said he could. We headed into the trees, side by side, in companionable silence. I may have accepted his apology, but that didn’t mean I would forget what had happened. I would remember and keep my guard up with him.

  “Let me know when you need to rest,” I told Kane, keeping my voice low so as not to alert any nearby predators of our presence.

  He grunted in reply.

  This seemed like a hopeless task. How were we supposed to find a stone? We were just wandering aimlessly, and there was so much land to cover. Why didn’t the elders give us more information before sending us out. Or the thirteenth district could have given us more information in their oh-so-helpful letter. No wonder everyone considered this a fool’s errand. My hands fisted at my sides.

  “What’s wrong?” Kane asked.

  I shook my head. “Nothing.”

  A hairy, four-legged animal screeched at us and swung on its long tail across the tree branches toward us.

  Kane swung his staff at it, and the creature backed away, baring its teeth as it sat on a tree branch.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “A monkey,” he said. “They’re not very dangerous, individually, but if a group of them comes after you… it’s bad.”

  I could understand why a group of them would be bad. This monkey bared its sharp-looking teeth at us. I would bet if four or five of them latched onto me, I would be littered with bites. The thought of them working as a group like that reminded me of piranha. I shivered at the thought.

  Kane pointed up toward them and gestured with his staff. “There are some larger versions of beasts like them, but they walk on their knuckles. Those ones, you stay away from. They will kill you.”

  “What are those called?”

  “Gorillas.”

  Who came up with these names?

  “There are also baboons, which are mean versions of monkeys with red butts.”

  I watched his face, but his expression didn’t change. Was he making fun of me? “I thought baboons were the things that people used to hold, and they floated in the sky?”

  He chuckled. “Those are balloons.”

  “Whoever named all these things was terrible at it,” I grumbled.

  He laughed then clutched at his side and hissed, bending over.

  “What’s—”

  He waved me off. “I’m fine.”

  I was fairly certain that was a lie, but I did not call him on it. I checked over my shoulder, but the monkey was gone. Hopefully, he wasn’t going to get his friends and come back after us.

  A multi-colored bird flew low over our heads, and I ducked down.

  “Those ones won’t hurt you,” Kane said. “Unless you try to attack their nest. Even then, they aren’t very dangerous.”

  “Doesn’t it hurt your face to talk so much right now?” I asked him. He had gotten pretty bashed up before I saved him from those pirates.

  “Yeah, but I am trying to make up for being an ass,” he said, smirking. “I thought maybe if I gave you some knowledge about animals up here, and let you know when you didn’t need to be scared, it might help.”

  “Can’t you just heal yourself?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No. I can only heal others.”

  “That sucks.”

  We continued on, silent again. We drank from our canteens and ate the dried meat we still had in my pack. As the sun began to set, we found a safe, cleared area and set up camp. This time, Kane built the shelter, putting mine to shame. How had he said I’d done such a good job when it looked ridiculous in comparison to the awesome one he built? Once he stopped moving and sat down, I changed the bandage on his shoulder. Then we sat side by side in the shelter of branches and leaves, listening to the animals moving around us. Unlike my shelter, he’d completely sealed us in, so no animals could see us. Despite knowing a large predator could come knock it down and catch us off guard, it made me feel safer not seeing outside. It was probably a stupid thing, but that was how I felt.

  Kane and I shared another piece of dried meat, and I worried over our food supply. Half of what we had was lost when we left Kane’s pack behind. We would have to start hunting animals or start fishing soon. But I was too tired to discuss that right now. I just wanted to stretch out my muscles and rest them after walking the full day. I lay down, and Kane lay beside me, his face a bit less swollen, but the bruising was a nasty green color now.

  “Tell me about your home,” Kane whispered, his eyes closed.

  “It’s really wet, all the time,” I said with a smirk.

  He snorted.

  “We had our own homes, shops where we could buy food that others caught, even a little gift shop where we could buy trinkets others found on the ocean floor. I sold quite a lot of the items I found there.”

  “You ever visit the surface while exploring?” he asked.

  “No. Though I would occasionally explore the borders of our territory, the surface was too far away, and our wards don’t reach that far. Besides, I had to take care of my mother… I wonder who is taking care of her now.”

  I ground my teeth together.

  Kane wrapped his hand around my clenched fist, and I relaxed it. He peered up at me, his one brown eye containing no mirth.

  “We’ll find the stone,” he said softly. “And, I’ll keep you safe in the meantime.”

  I bit my lip to keep from bringing up prior events. Instead of starting an argument, I laced our fingers together, and we fell asleep holding hands.

  The next morning, I woke to a heavenly aroma. I turned toward Kane and found the space that he’d occupied empty. A
split second of panic struck me before I heard him clear his throat just outside the shelter. Breathing a sigh of relief, I pushed aside the branches at the entrance to the shelter and found Kane sitting just outside the tent over a cook fire. On the fire were two portions of meat. He peered over at me, both his eyes able to open. “Good morning. I caught us breakfast.”

  I slipped out of the tent and sat on a rock next to him, my mouth watering as I inhaled the scent. “I could really get used to cooked food. What kind is this?”

  “I found a nest and caught the birds. I also have some eggs buried under the fire, so we can eat those, too.”

  I felt bittersweet about that. My stomach grumbled, glad that we’d get to eat something other than the dried meat we’ve lived off of the past few days, but sad that we had to kill a whole family of birds in order to get the food we needed. Silently, I prayed a moment of thanks to the birds for their sacrifice so that we could eat. Maybe if the strength they lent us would actually help us find the stone, their deaths would be worth it.

  We ate and broke up our camp before continuing our journey. As we went, Kane continued the trend from the day before by pointing out and naming birds, animals, and bugs we found along the way. It made the day go by much faster. We traveled for miles but didn’t find a clue that led us in the direction of the stone. When we camped that night, Kane sighed. “I think we should head back to the mainland.”

  “Why? I thought we were going to travel to the next island first?” I asked.

  “I don’t think the stone will be on an island. I think we need to go to the mainland.”

  I shrugged. “Okay.” I didn’t really care where we went. We just had to search everywhere until we found the stupid stone. “There are several islands on this side of the continent, though, right?”

  He nodded.

  “Shouldn’t we at the very least, check the big ones first?”

  “There is a rather large one to the south. We could head there and then go to the mainland after.”

  “Do you have the map?” I asked.

  He nodded as he pulled it out. I took some of the burnt wood and smudged it on the areas we had already traveled.

  He arched a brow at me.

  “This way, we know where we have searched,” I explained.

  He took the piece of wood and drew a border. “This is our territory,” he explained. “This is where we will search.”

  “How are we going to get across the ocean? Our stolen ship was blown up.” I could swim, but he couldn’t. He could learn, but he wouldn’t swim as fast as I could. And, he would be pretty defenseless in the water.

  “I can make a quick raft,” he said. “It won’t be a ship, by any means, but it should float and get us to the mainland.”

  “I don’t know how I feel about that, but we don’t have any other options.” I sighed and resigned myself to our new plan.

  The area we needed to cover was so large, it would take us months, no, years just to search the mainland.

  The animals grew quiet, so we stopped, and squatted down by a tree, next to a group of bushes. We couldn’t see what had made them go silent but knew better than to ignore the warning. Kane pulled me closer, until I was pressed against the tree with him pressed against my back, still squatting. His bulk blocked me completely.

  A shrill squeal pierced my ears, making me cringe and cover my ears with my hands.

  Kane leaned his forehead closer to the back of my head, as he clutched his hands over his ears as well.

  The squeal stopped, and then the sound of bones crunching and flesh tearing filled the air.

  Ew.

  Kane peered around the corner, his eyes widened, and he slowly pulled back to his hunched position over me.

  I opened my mouth, but he shook his head once. I took the order and shut up.

  There were absolutely no sounds from other animals.

  We had to squat still for so long, my legs began to cramp, but I didn’t dare move.

  Finally, the animals started making noise around us, and after a quick peek, Kane nodded and stood. Instead of standing, I sat on my butt, and stretched my legs out. I massaged my thighs, wincing at the sore muscles.

  “What was it?” I asked softly.

  “Giant panther,” he answered, staring in the direction the animal had been.

  “Like, wolfcupine size?”

  “Bigger,” he whispered.

  “Are they normally that size?”

  He shook his head. “No. This one was also a strange black color with inky eyes.” A small tremor went through his body. “That was definitely one of the most evil-looking creatures I have ever seen.”

  “Now I kind of wish I had seen it,” I said with a smirk.

  “No, you don’t,” he grumbled.

  That thing had really freaked him out.

  As I stood, something sharp snagged my wrist.

  “Ouch!” I yelped.

  An ugly red plant had stabbed into my arm.

  “What’s wrong, Ivy?” Kane asked, turning to see what was going on.

  “Red means dead, right?” I asked. My ears were throbbing, and the world swayed before my eyes.

  He looked down at my wrist, and his eyes widened. “Freck.”

  I fell sideways, and Kane caught me. “Please tell me red doesn’t mean dead this time,” I begged.

  “I need to find an herb,” he muttered, picked me up, and started jogging.

  “Curb?” I asked, my lips heavy, and strange feeling.

  “Shush” His grip on me tightened as he dashed haphazardly around the forest.

  My tongue felt like it was twice its normal size. “My tongue—”

  “Seriously, stop talking.” He glanced down at me, his face serious and his jaw set. “Your tongue is probably swollen by now. You just need to shush and let me find medicine.”

  His head whipped side to side as he ran.

  “What…looking for?” I asked.

  He grumbled something offensive beneath his breath. “Golden plant with purple leaves,” he finally said.

  Determined to help, and hoping it would keep me conscious, I searched for the weird plant. It didn’t seem like it was common, since I had not seen that type of plant since coming to the surface.

  He veered in a different direction, his brows furrowed, and his speed increased.

  Was I going to die?

  “Don’t want to die,” I whined.

  “You’re not going to die,” he said, but even I could tell he was just reassuring me.

  “Purple leaves?” I asked.

  “Gold plant,” he said with a nod.

  “Monkey,” I said and pointed.

  “No, a plant. Not a monkey,” he grumbled.

  “Monkey. Has plant!” I said.

  He slid to a stop, and his head jerked up as he searched the trees for the monkey.

  The monkey hopped up and down on the branch, making strange hooting noises.

  “Nice monkey!” I called out. “Can I have the pretty plant?”

  “It’s a monkey,” Kane said, clearly exasperated. “He can’t—”

  The monkey swung on his tail, landed on a branch next to me, and set the plant on my stomach as I lay in Kane’s arms.

  “Well, I guess he can.” Kane blinked as he began to lay me gently on the ground.

  “Thanks, monkey,” I said, smiled, and then my eyes rolled up into the back of my head. The last thing I heard was the monkey screeching at the same time Kane yelled my name. Why was everyone always so loud?

  “Come on, Ivy. You’ve got to wake up. I can’t do this on my own. Okay, technically I probably could, but I don’t want to. That monkey never would have given me the plant. I don’t even know why he gave it to you, but I’ve noticed even the wolfcupine wasn’t as aggressive with you as it is toward others. There’s something about you that tames even the wildest of beasts.”

  He was totally rambling. It was cute, and I wasn’t going to interrupt.

  “I hate this
trip. I knew when I saw you that something bad would happen to you. You’re just too naive and know nothing about our world. Why didn’t they at least teach you the basics? Did they want you to fail? Were they sending you to die because you were such a pain in the neck? I mean, you are a pain in the neck. Not that I think you should die for being a pain, but I could understand why someone wanted to send you away.”

  Okay, now he was being a jerk.

  “You’re the pain in the neck,” I growled, my voice sounded strange, raspy, like it hadn’t been used in a long time.

  “Ivy!” he breathed. “You’re alive.”

  “Am I? I can’t feel my toes or fingers.” I felt too weak to try moving anything.

  “You’re probably numb still. The plant I gave you helps stop the toxin from spreading through the rest of your body, but it also renders you paralyzed for a bit.”

  “So, I will be able to walk again once it’s out of my system?” I asked. I still hadn’t opened my eyes, but the sunlight was shining through my closed lids already.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  His voice sounded strange.

  “Are you alright?” I asked, peeking at him with one eye.

  He had dark bags beneath his eyes, and his mouth was set in a grim line.

  “I haven’t been able to sleep,” he explained. “I had to keep watch, so nothing attacked us.”

  “How long—”

  “Four days.”

  My eyes flew open.

  Four days? He’d been watching after me for four days? I peered at his injured shoulder and saw that he’d removed the bandage.

  “Water?” I tried to swallow, but everything just rubbed against each other in my throat.

  He helped me sit up, propped me against the front of his body with my head resting on his chest, and helped me drink from one of our water bags.

  “I don’t like not being able to move my arms and legs,” I told him softly.

  He chuckled. “I can imagine it would be awful for you, since you had to use them in the water.”

  The monkey who had helped me leapt down from the tree above us and walked on its hind two legs towards me.

  Kane held very still but didn’t attack it.