by B. T. Narro
Everything blurred. It worsened as shapes became indistinguishable in a veneer of gray fuzz. The voices merged together into a sharp squeal. The pitch rose higher until it was just a single screech. Desil fought to hold on to the memory, but his heading was throbbing now. It felt like he was in a fading dream, halfway between asleep and awake.
Then he lost it completely. He stumbled forward into Adriya’s palms. Her face showed panic.
“What?” she asked.
“They tried to lie and were caught.”
“So what can we expect?”
“An attempt to escape, possibly a battle.”
She cursed as Desil ran in the same direction the last Kanoans had gone.
The settlement went on far longer than Desil had expected. If an escape had led to a battle, Leida’s family and Desil’s father would’ve had no chance to get away.
Running around the last of the small homes brought Desil back out into the open land. He checked behind him to find Adriya illuminated by the bright moon in the starry sky.
“We should go back for the others!” she told him.
“There’s no time.”
He sprinted toward the new sounds of shouting and hoped she would follow. A hill blocked his view, while a narrow yet strong river snaked around it to pass Desil on his left. There was but one way around the hill if not over, so Desil sprinted around its northern side, where he made a mental note of a copse of trees he could use in case he needed cover.
Before seeing the mob, he heard Kanoans cursing at his father. They swarmed the stone tower Desil had seen from the mountains. They beat and kicked at the door in hopes of breaking it down. Some put their hands against the side of the tower as if looking for a way to climb up. They called to each other for help while others watched from the outskirts.
One woman turned and seemed to look right at Desil. But if all he could see in the dark was her silhouette, it must’ve been even harder for her to make out that he was not one of them, as the only light came from the moon and from the few fireballs mages were shooting in vain against the tower. She turned back. Desil watched to see if she might say something to someone, but all she did was raise her fist and yell for Wade to come out.
Was Desil’s father the only one trapped in there? He hoped so for Leida’s sake, as he saw no way of getting Wade out safely. Still, Desil wasn’t ready to give up. Adriya came up beside him.
“Is Basen in there?”
“I think only my father.”
“Then where are Leida’s parents?”
Enraged at her lack of concern for his father, Desil barely refrained from yelling at her. “Go find them if you need to! I’m going to figure out how to get my father out of there.”
She seemed to actually consider it as she glanced around, making him panic for a moment. But then she looked back at him with determination and said, “No, I’m with you.”
Desil fell silent to think. It was clear from the failed attempts of the climbers in front of him that there was no way the mob could get into the tower except through the iron door. But as strong as it appeared, the mob would eventually overpower it.
Desil’s father appeared at an opening near the very top. “This is madness! Stop acting like animals and let us talk through this!”
There was too much yelling for Desil to hear any of the responses, though the word “betrayer” was clearest among them all.
He knew his father could soften the stone and climb down even easier than Desil could climb up, but neither action would result in an escape.
Someone called his name from behind. “Desil!”
He looked as deeply as he could into the shadows between the nearby trees. He could see the faint outlines of people there and suddenly realized his name had been called many times. Then he heard Adriya’s.
“Get over here!” He recognized Beatrix’s irritated voice.
Desil and Adriya rushed into the trees. He could make out Kirnich’s massive silhouette compared to Beatrix’s diminutive one. Leida stood between them, Desil recognizing the oval shape of her face.
“When did you get here?” Adriya asked them.
“Just now,” Leida said. “What’s happening?”
“My father is stuck in that tower,” Desil said. Panic rose like bile into his throat. “I think they’re going to kill him as soon as they break through the door.”
Leida squinted at him in obvious confusion. “Don’t you mean my father?”
“Mine,” Desil specified. “Wade. He’s alive.”
“We think yours escaped,” Adriya told her friend.
“Wade..my…where—?” Leida stopped as she shook her head as if to clear it. Beatrix and Kirnich were far less surprised. Desil was right. They had already known. Perhaps that meant they knew something else.
“How were you going to get my father off this island?” Desil demanded, but he received no answer. “There’s no time to pretend anymore. I already figured out that you knew he was alive and that he was here. Now is there something else you know about this place that we can use to get him out of there?”
They were still silent. Desil was incredulous and had to resist the impulse to throttle them.
“Answer me!”
“We’re trying to think,” Kirnich growled.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Desil ignored the stupefied duo as he took it upon himself to figure out a way to help his father flee from the circular tower. Wade had taught him how to cycle energy. Both of them could outrun the mob so long as none of those giving chase were too fast. But what about the rest of Desil’s party? Sure, he could escape with his father, but Beatrix and Leida were not as quick as the rest of their group. If the mob got their hands on the two women…Desil gritted his teeth and forced away the thought of what would happen. Running was no longer an option.
To Desil’s irritation, Beatrix and Kirnich still offered no ideas. Desil walked out from the trees for a better look, desperate to come up with anything that might work. The largest of the Kanoans were crowded around the door, two kicking at a time while others waited for their turn. Desil might be able to fight his way through as soon as the door broke down, but could he really hope to get his father out of there alive?
“You swore that Kanoan lives would come before your own!” yelled a familiar voice. “And yet you betrayed us all for your first friend to come from Kyrro!”
It was the same older man who had captured Basen. If there had been any waning of aggression, certainly this man was doing everything in his power to ignite their anger again.
The truth must’ve come out. Basen had probably told them everything in his last stab at civility. Obviously it had failed.
What could Desil do? There wasn’t much around the tower but open ground. The only trees in sight were those keeping Desil’s party hidden from the nearby mob. Hills covered the land to the west, the river running through them.
The river!
He told his comrades his plan as it came to mind. None were eager to help as they seemed to be glancing at each other in hope someone would object.
“I can’t do what you ask of me.” Leida spoke as if apologizing.
“It’s the only way my father will live,” Desil countered.
But it was not Leida’s father stuck in the tower, nor anyone else’s loved one who needed rescuing. Their hesitance made this all too obvious.
“It might seem impossible.” Desil held back his anger. “But when something must be done it cannot be impossible.”
He let them consider his words as he turned around and figured out the best route. Approaching from behind the mob appeared to be the only option. He could wait no longer, as he had no idea when the door would finally break off its last hinge.
Leida grasped his arm and squeezed. “You’ve come this far for me,” she said. “I’m with you.”
“Then I am as well,” Adriya chimed in.
“What about the two of you?” Desil asked Beatrix and Kirnich.
> “Of course we’re coming,” Kirnich answered without delay, Beatrix nodding.
Desil took the lead as they ran out from the trees and circled around behind the mob. A few of the Kanoans turned and noticed them.
“Who are they?” one called out.
But the few who checked didn’t take any action.
“Who are you!” someone else yelled.
“We’re with you,” Beatrix told them, no doubt using psyche to convince them of her lie.
Soon Desil and his group were too far from the Kanoans to be in danger, but that didn’t stop many others from noticing them. Some of the mob’s attention started to turn, people beginning to point.
As they reached the edge of the river, Desil bent down and put his hands against the earth. He strained his mind to command the soil. Liquid! You must be liquid! He bent the will of the land as far as it would go, the weight of a mountain on his mind. It almost broke his connection as his limbs shook. The dirt crumbled as if falling into a hole.
But Desil knew better; it was condensing as the nature of it changed. The surrounding grass and rocks sunk inward.
He wearily sidestepped toward the river with his palms against the ground. The earth sunk beneath his hands all the way until he met the river. Some water trickled into the new path he’d made. He would have to do more if he had any hope of this working, and it had to be all at once.
“Leida,” he said, his voice shaking from the strain. “You’ll have to run with me toward the mob as soon as the others come with their rocks. Are you ready?”
“I think so. It’s just like softening the mountainside, right?”
“But with ten times the force.”
Beatrix and Adriya each carried a heavy rock toward them. Kirnich waddled after them with one twice the size.
There was a crack from the tower, and a cheer rose from the mob. “Get him out!” they yelled.
“Now!” Desil told them.
Adriya, Beatrix, and Kirnich dropped their rocks to block as much of the natural river path as they could while Desil and Leida ran toward the mob. Desil put all of his strength into liquefying the ground. The river followed beside him with Leida on its other side. Their fingertips grazed as the water jumped and thrashed, much of it running up over the sides of the narrow fissure they were creating. It slammed against his ankle and nearly toppled him, but he found his balance and kept going.
The water roared toward the mob just behind Desil and Leida. Desil saw them yanking his father out by his arms and pushing him into the middle of the frenzied crowd. The older man, Wade’s rival, started to yell something.
“This is justice for—”
“Watch out!” someone yelled.
Half of the mob had finally caught sight of the river, but it was too late for them. The water had doubled its strength in transferring into Desil and Leida’s narrow fissure, blasting straight through the crowd. Dozens of people were taken off their feet and carried to the back of the mob as the rest of the Kanoans were separated from each other. Desil rushed in beside the water, blinded in one eye from surges of waves striking the side of his face. With his other eye, he struggled to see through the darkness of night.
Apparently the Kanoans had just as much difficulty. They yelled in confusion, many interrupted by mouthfuls of water. Desil pushed through to his father to find him struggling against the older man while another held Wade by his arm. The older man had just pulled out a knife when Desil got there and punched him in the nose. He dropped his blade as he reeled.
Before the second man could figure out what to do, Desil kicked him in the groin.
“Desil!?” his father yelled, clearly surprised, but at least he had the presence of mind to follow Desil out of there. Hands came from everywhere. One grabbed hold of Desil’s tattered cloak. It stopped him for a moment before it ripped, but then someone else grabbed the remaining fabric.
Kirnich came in screaming with his bow overhead. Desil heard a crack and suddenly could run again. Someone tried to tackle his father, but Wade shook out of their grasp. Then someone grabbed Desil’s arm hard enough to stop him dead. Adriya appeared and smacked the hand of Desil’s attacker with her staff.
Desil caught sight of Beatrix making two claws toward them as her face contorted. She groaned with effort as her hands shot forward. The screams of dozens rang out behind Desil.
“We need to get them wetter!” his father yelled to him as he turned toward the still raging river.
Desil knew exactly what his father meant to do, and it wasn’t just dousing them.
“Leida, where are you?” Desil called. “We need your help softening the ground beneath their feet.”
She showed up on Desil’s other side. The three of them crouched and put their hands on the earth. It shifted into liquid and sank a good two feet, then rushed toward the mob. All the Kanoans tripped beneath the slippery terrain. They started to stand despite it flowing beneath their feet, but soon the water from the river filled the newly created pool and took them down again.
Their expressions showed rage but also confusion, many of them grabbing each other for balance. Some were climbing up the banks and starting to come around, but they had been drenched first and that’s all that mattered.
“I’m ready!” Desil told his father. “Get back, Leida.”
She ran out of the away.
“Gas, not ice,” his father instructed him.
“I know!”
They put up their hands and closed their fists. All the water in front of them vaporized into a hanging cloud of gas. Cold blasted Desil in his face. He tumbled backward in hopes of avoiding the worst of it, his fingertips stinging as frost formed on them.
The cloud of vapor rose above the mob. Desil didn’t stay to watch as he and his father scampered away, but he did enjoy one last look over his shoulder and saw hundreds of them covered in frost and barely able to move. Changing so much water into gas had sapped all the heat from the air and from their bodies. It wouldn’t take long to adjust itself, as nature always did, but it did slow them.
The Kanoans tried to chase after Desil’s father, but their speed was halved from the cold. The smart ones stopped and started to remove their freezing clothing. Soon others got the same idea. With frost turning their hair and beards white, they looked like a group of old folks trying to undress with slow urgency.
An arrow landed far behind Wade, whoever shot it lacking the strength to reach him. There was not another attempt.
Desil and his group were shivering as they ran.
“What the bastial hell was that!” Kirnich’s teeth chattered.
Before Desil could answer, Leida demanded, “Where are my parents, Basen and Alabell?”
“They should be somewhere ahead of us,” Desil’s father replied. “We might be able to catch up to them tonight.” He smiled at Desil. “Do you know how happy I am to see you?”
“Not as happy as I am to see you.”
Desil couldn’t wait any longer, grabbing his father in a hug. Wade let out a cheer as he squeezed Desil.
“We have to keep moving,” Beatrix complained from ahead.
Unfortunately, she was right. Desil and his father let go of each other to catch up to the others.
“What the bastial hell did you do to freeze those people?” Kirnich asked Desil’s father.
“It wasn’t just me.” He pointed at Desil.
*****
They ran until Beatrix could go no farther and fell to her knees. Kirnich offered a hand, but she refused it. They’d run west along the river for about a mile, but the mountains—where Wade had told them they should take cover—were still a few miles ahead.
“We should be fine walking now,” Desil said. “We just have to keep a good pace.”
“Are…?” Leida stopped talking to catch her breath, her hands on her knees. “Are my parents…unharmed?”
“Desil’s right,” his father said. “We need to keep moving as we talk.”
“Tell m
e,” Leida whispered as she continued to fight for breath.
“I think they’re all right. A few of my…of the Kanoans got some arrows off when your parents fled, but I don’t think they were hit. Come on.”
As they all walked, Kirnich and Adriya glanced back repeatedly, checking to see if they were followed.
Desil couldn’t stop staring at his father’s face. In the darkness, he couldn’t make out the features he longed to see, so he gathered bastial energy for light.
His father put up his hand as a shield against the brightness, but then he seemed to realize what Desil was doing as he smiled and let it down.
“Having trouble believing it’s me?”
“No. I knew it was you as soon as I watched Basen enter your home. Now I’m trying to let it sink in.”
“It’s not my home. I only have one, no matter where I go.”
They threw their arms around each other again.
“How long were you spying?” his father asked.
“We weren’t. I saw Basen meet you through the memory he left.”
Wade leaned back, his eyes wide. “Since when can you read memories?”
“Since nearly a year ago.” Desil’s smile grew wider.
His father pulled him in for another hug. After a blissful moment, he released Desil. “So you’ve been training all this time?”
“As much as I can.”
“But I hope you’re still helping your mother when she needs it.”
“Of course.”
“I’m proud of you.”
Desil could’ve listened to his father repeat the same thing a hundred times without tiring of it. He noticed everyone watching, Leida smiling though with worry creasing her brow. It wasn’t fair for Desil to take all of his father’s attention right then.
“Can you tell us what happened with Basen and Alabell?” Desil requested.
“Did you come here for them?” his father wanted to know.
