Something brushes my boots with tentative curiosity. I flinch, chilled that I cannot open my eyes to see. My heart bangs as the creature moves up my leg.
Get away, get away!
I drop the clothes and kick against the ooze. A body slides up my side. I panic, jab a finger of white-hot energy into it. Mud explodes around me and I am thrown up and out of the hole.
I hit Daniel and we roll across the marsh. I wipe my eyes to see him covered in slime. He gags and struggles to breathe. Bryntar wipes mud that clings to the top half of her trembling body.
“Almost lost you both,” she says.
The marsh ripples under us.
“Run.” I yank on Daniel. We stumble away.
A gigantic snake rises out of the sludge, scaly body as big around as a tree. A forked tongue flicks under beady eyes.
Daniel stares in disbelief. “Snakes don’t grow that long.”
Bryntar snatches us and races away.
“You can’t outrun it,” Daniel says.
The snake glides over the ground so fast that I know we cannot escape.
“Put me down.”
Something in my voice makes her stop and release me. I spread both hands and send small hot flashes from each finger into the reptile. Tiny fires burn into the glistening scales.
The snake hisses. Huge coils twist over our heads and slam into the ground. Muck and plants spray over us. Daniel and I trip and slip away to avoid being smashed as the coils wind over our heads and slam the ground again. Scales twist around Bryntar and squeeze.
“Kill it!” Daniel yells.
The rope around her neck saves her momentarily. She claws to free herself but the snake tightens its grip.
“Leave her alone!” I blast the snake between the eyes. The coils loosen and the snake
slithers back into the murky water.
Daniel grins. “Way to go!”
I run to Bryntar. “Are you all right?”
She breathes deeply, her eyes shining. “You will save island.”
I fall to the ground, unable to stop shaking. I almost lost her. “The snake is not dead.”
“You kill Aru.”
“I do not want to kill anything. I do not want to be an Enchantress. Or save people who hate me.” I plunge through the swamp.
“Wait.” Daniel catches me and grabs my arm.
Angry, I yank away. “Leave me alone. Your feelings for me are quite clear.”
“Hey. Who pulled you out of that hole?”
“So I can save you, too?”
His face flushes. “C’mon. It’s almost dark. We need water, food and a safe place to sleep.”
“Nothing is safe on this wretched island.”
“We survive,” Bryntar says. She gazes into my eyes. “Take more care.” She pats Daniel on the back. “Thank you for saving Elandra.”
“Anyone would have done the same.”
“No,” Bryntar says. “Few choose courage over fear.”
For the first time since we argued, I feel Daniel. Embarrassed, he looks at me. “Now we’re even. I still owe Bryntar.”
“Not owe,” she says. “Survive together. You know swamps. Choose place to rest.”
His feelings change before he locks them away. A new resolve of confidence floods through him.
We eventually reach a higher, dry patch of land that suits Daniel.
“I gather food.” Bryntar hurries deeper into the swamp.
Exhaustion fills every part of me. “I am thirsty.”
“We can’t drink the water,” he says. “These vines have liquid.” He takes an instrument from a place in his pants and flicks open a small knife.
“What kind of knife is that?”
He turns it over in his hand with care. “My dad says everyone should have a Swiss
Army knife.” His voice catches, but he shows me the different parts.
The construction and different tools amaze me.
He cuts a slit at the top of a vine and one at the bottom. “Put your mouth under it.” He holds the vine.
Tart, sticky liquid dribbles into my mouth. The bitter taste puckers my mouth.
Daniel laughs.
“You might have warned me.”
“It’s better than dehydrating.”
He cuts more vines until we have our fill.
“You need to burn this area to get rid of bugs,” he says. “I’ll gather leaves for a shelter.”
Bryntar returns with reeds and tubers. “No need. We keep going.”
“No way. Not at night.”
She shoves the food at us. “Warriors rest. We do not.”
We eat, each caught in our own thoughts. I am too tired to feel anything, but I smile when Daniel makes a funny face while eating stringy shoots.
“Frog legs taste better,” he says.
“Eeuww.”
He smiles at me. “I do cook them.”
I melt inside, but control my expression.
Bryntar rises. “Come.”
“We’d better cover up with more mud,” Daniel says.
“I already smell horrible,” I say.
“Not to the bugs.” Daniel smears mud all over his skin.
I do the same and try not to smell the rancid odor.
Bryntar leads us through strands of moss that hang like green hair. I almost cry out in joy to see the broad pool ahead. Anything is better than the weight of the dried mud on my hair. I kneel over the water. Its warmth soothes me. My hair shines silver once again. I cannot wait to get away from this swamp and be thoroughly clean.
Birds suddenly shriek overhead.
“Croc!” Daniel yells and races toward me.
I push dripping hair from my face. “What is a croc?” Two large bumps the size of plates stick out of the water and glide toward me.
“Crocodile.” Daniel snatches my arm and drags me into the trees with Bryntar.
“Too small to worry about,” I say.
“Those are its eyes. Come on.”
I look back at the pond and gasp. A giant crocodile leaps out of the water, half as long as the snake. It flicks its tail, mashing plants. Huge teeth protrude from massive jaws.
Daniel yanks me through bushes, heedless of their thorns.
“Ow. Ow. Stop.”
“Don’t you have regular-sized animals here?” He holds my hand so tight it becomes numb as we stumble through the swamp.
Bryntar rips through trees and bushes to make us a path.
The crocodile hisses, lunging through the bog, trampling everything in its path to get to us.
“Watch out!” Daniel pulls me into his arms. A wild boar plunges through the bushes. One tusk grazes my leg before the boar disappears into the undergrowth. My heart slams in my chest when its death squeal pierces the night.
Deep growls from the crocodile shatter through my pain. I sense the overpowering lust for more food. I yank away from Daniel. “Get out of the way, both of you.” I run in the opposite direction and see the creature sniffing the air. I shoot a small bolt of light to distract it.
It twists toward me, massive claws squishing into the ground.
I leap into the branches of a tree. Slip on damp moss. Scramble up, ignoring the rough bark that digs into my hands.
“Higher!” Daniel yells.
The crocodile rams the tree, knocking me through the branches. I scream and snatch at any tree limb. Crash into vines and cling desperately. The tree shakes as I scramble up a larger branch, terrified.
Furious, the crocodile leaps on the trunk and claws the tree.
Fear saps my energy and slows me down.
Daniel shouts, “Kill it!”
I straddle a branch. Point a shaky hand into the jaws snapping under my feet. A trickle
of heat wavers from my fingers into its mouth.
The reptile growls and shakes its head. It lunges up higher, front claws ripping huge chunks out of the tree.
I leap for a high branch and dangle over its head. Maddened, the crocodile
emits a horrible hissing growl so loud it shakes the tree. The hairs on my neck quiver. The tree cracks and slams to the ground. I fall into a mass of slimy branches. The crocodile bellows, catches my scent, whirls toward me. Entangled, I cannot free myself.
“Over here,” Daniel yells. He throws mud to capture its attention.
Bryntar hurls large branches that bounce off its leathery hide.
The crocodile lunges toward them.
No. I wrench myself free. Raise my hands and spread the fingers of both hands at the crocodile. Instead, white heat blasts in two shining columns from the center of each palm. They bite into the back of the crocodile’s head. With a shrieking growl, it plows into the ground. I tremble with pain that is over in an instant.
Daniel runs toward me. “You’re really something.”
He starts to help me up until I see the halo of light surrounding me reflect in his eyes.
“Do not touch me. I could hurt you.”
He pulls away and I am reminded once more of how different I am. If I do not succeed in becoming normal, I will never have any other life and never one with Daniel.
Shafts of moonbeams turn Bryntar’s eyes silver. “Energy builds. Good you learn control.”
The glow around me fades. “I-I do not k-know how to c-control a-anything. It just happens.” Furious that I cannot stop shaking, I force myself to stand still and wipe my face. “Get me out of here.” I do not look back.
Bryntar leads me away, around black eddies of foul water and hanging vines sticky with sap. I stumble in exhaustion.
“We can talk about the croc if you want,” Daniel says.
“What about you killing the warrior?”
He swallows hard and turns away. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
I know exactly how he feels.
Bryntar finally stops before a quiet, narrow lake. Moonlight glows green on the mat of tiny plants that cover the surface of the water. I jump when a frog peeks its head out of the tiny fronds.
Daniel laughs.
I glare at him.
“Sorry.”
He is not sorry about anything. “How do we get across the lake?”
“Swim,” Bryntar says.
“There could be poisonous snakes and more crocodiles,” Daniel says. “Can’t we go around?”
“End of swamp is across lake,” she says. “Only chance. Kepyrs not travel in dark.”
I say nothing and hope I do not have to kill anything again.
Bryntar shifts the rope to her other shoulder. “Both hold onto back. Elandra, use feelings to protect.”
“I’m on the swim team at school,” Daniel says.
“You swim in teams?” I ask.
“Individually and for overall team points.”
“Safer together.” Bryntar walks into the lake.
Daniel and I wade in, grasp a ridge on her back and float next to her as she swims across. The warm water glides over me. My body relaxes. It would be so easy to fall asleep. I concentrate and let feelings seep in: wind through the wings of night birds, Bryntar’s confidence in my ability to save the island, the darting of fish below us, Daniel’s unguarded sadness. I sense no danger underwater. A brightly colored snake slithers away from us, leaving a curved line of black water through the lake’s green cover.
Bryntar strokes hard and fast.
I slip into another’s feelings outside the swamp, directly in our path.
Chapter Twenty-One: The Meeting
I whisper. “Someone is beyond the swamp.”
Bryntar shakes off the lake water. “Impossible.” She slips through the tangled trees without making a sound.
I rise from the lake, leaving behind the smell of slime and rot.
Daniel and I follow Bryntar’s trail and creep next to her prone figure to survey the grassy meadow before us. The stark Ice Mountains draw my attention to the north and west, still distant and foreboding. I shake off their distraction and look toward the warmth of the fire and the warrior who sharpens a large curved knife in front of it.
“Kepyrs not travel at night.”
“Looks like your guy doesn’t follow the rules,” Daniel says.
I touch her arm. “No more killing, Bryntar.”
She nods and removes the rope from her shoulder.
“I’ll distract him while you sneak up behind,” Daniel says.
“No,” I say. “I am going alone.”
Pride shines in Bryntar’s eyes.
“You can’t,” Daniel says. “Look at him.”
Muscles bulge on the tall man as he stands up and removes his shirt.
“He is smaller than the crocodile,” I say.
Daniel touches my arm. “Be careful.”
Warmth tingles up my arm. Why did he do that?
I stride forward into streaks of moonlight. The warrior hears me as soon as I step from the trees. He raises his knife, but does not turn toward me. I move closer and cringe. Deep scars ravage the dark skin of his entire torso. Some scars look like the claws and teeth marks of animals. Others are more uniform and unfamiliar.
He turns to me with the weathered face of a man older than the young warriors we fought at the Kepyr village. Shock changes to joy in his deep brown eyes.
Where have I seen eyes like his before?
“You live.” He sets his knife down and kneels before me. “Forgive me, Elandra.”
He knows my name? My throat tightens and I can barely speak.
Bryntar leaps between us. “Move away, Kepyr.”
The warrior looks up in surprise. “Forest Spirit is not a legend?”
She laughs and clutches her throat for the pain it causes her.
The warrior turns to Daniel. “And a foreigner? I see why the Kepyrs pursue you.”
“Why didn’t you see us at your village?” Daniel asks.
“I was on my way to hunt at the Sunken City until I heard the drums calling me to guard this place.”
Bryntar glares at him. “Liar. Kepyrs not hunt at night.”
“Some of us do not believe in the old ways.”
“All Kepyrs are barbarians.”
He smiles. “Like Forest Spirit is a legend?”
She hisses and turns away.
Questions itch my mind. “Who are you?”
He rises with pride. “I am Kydaka, older brother of your mother.”
The arrow that killed my mother pierces my heart once more. He cannot possibly be family. “If you speak the truth, how could you let her die?”
Kydaka’s eyes darken and fade into the past. “When the birthing woman told the tribe about you, I was captured and beaten for information. His voice breaks. I recoil to feel the whip that lashed his back until it was raw.
He lifts his chin. “I never betrayed my sister. Or my family.” He shudders with unbearable grief. “Priestess told us you were dead, showed us a piece of your hair.”
“What are you not telling us?” I ask.
He looks at me sharply. “My mate was heavy with our first child when I was declared a traitor. No one helped her and they both died when the baby came.”
Bryntar growls. “Savages.”
“Why are you alive?” Daniel asks.
“Kepyrs value strength and courage. Dead, I am less useful.”
Bryntar towers over Kydaka. “You make up stories.”
He meets her eyes without flinching. “You save Enchantress, the flesh of my ancestors. I thank you.” He smiles at me. “You are our savior.”
I look away, unable and unwilling to believe his words.
“Should have killed you all,” Bryntar says.
Kydaka turns to her. “Many do not believe the ways of our ancestors. Now there is hope that Elandra can fulfill my sister’s plan.”
I stalk away, furious. “What about my plan? You think it is all right to create a child and sentence her to death? I will not save this island. I am going to a magic lagoon hidden in the Ice Mountains to become normal. Aru will not want me then.”
/> Astonished, Kydaka stares at me. He starts to speak then changes his mind. “You must leave while it is dark, before the other warriors come.”
“You do not fear the dark?” Bryntar asks.
“There is more to fear on this island than the darkness of night,” he says.
“Pretend you did not see us,” I say.
“I do not lie.”
“We could tie you up,” Daniel says.
Kydaka shakes his head. “Failure means death.” He picks up his knife. “I will go with you. Guard Elandra with my life.”
“I protect her,” Bryntar says. “Not trust you.”
“You can.” Kydaka winks at her and slices his arm from elbow to wrist.
I cry out and grab my arm.
“Jeez,” Daniel says looking at both of us.
“You feel my pain?” Kydaka asks.
I nod and remember that his pain is not my own. I succeed in redirecting my thoughts to the patterned thunderclouds over our heads. It dulls the ache and that is enough.
Kydaka drips his blood over the ground.
“What are you doing?” Daniel asks.
“They will think I am dead.”
Bryntar tightens, but says, “Clever.”
Kydaka smiles at her and Bryntar plunges back into the swamp.
I strain to hear her, but noises are muffled. I am consumed with concentrating on the growing storm to rid myself of Kydaka’s misery.
Bryntar returns, struggling with a large crocodile. Her claws clamp its jaws closed. It whips its tail to free itself.
“I admire your great strength,” Kydaka says to her.
She blushes under her icy purple skin. “Your shirt?”
Kydaka rips his shirt into pieces and rolls them on his bleeding arm. He tosses the scraps on the ground near Bryntar’s feet.
“Get away,” Kydaka says.
Daniel and I move far away before she releases the crocodile. It lunges when it smells the blood-soaked scraps, snapping them between its teeth. Then it rushes her.
Kydaka grabs a burning stick from the fire and touches the crocodile. The reptile growls and plunges back into the swamp, leaving a distinct trail. He follows the crocodile, letting his arm bleed on the ground.
“Smart move,” Daniel says.
I take Kydaka’s arm when he returns and slowly run my fingertips down his knife wound. His eyes grow in awe as he watches the cut heal. He prostrates himself at my feet.
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