“What does that mean?” I whisper.
“There’s no one on it,” Reece answers.
A hundred other questions pop into my head. The one screaming the loudest is why?
The men on the shore slowly lower their weapons. Their fighting stances relax as they inch toward the waves crashing against the shore.
I glance down the shoreline and see Tao. His eyes are fixed on the rocking boat. I want him to see me, but he doesn’t look in my direction. Then again, if he does spot me, I’ll have to hear his rants of why I didn’t listen and how I should have stayed clear of the beach.
A light rain begins to fall. Most of the men stand their ground in spite of the storm that will be here in minutes. I can’t tear myself away from the scene. The man in the water, who had approached the boat, pulls it to shore. The bow of the boat digs into the sand and comes to a rest.
Lightning strikes somewhere in the distance.
I step to the edge of the water and peer into the vessel.
The boat’s only passenger is a coffin.
9
“It’s a message,” Tao says. He exchanges a glance with Keyon, and they both turn away from the boat with the coffin in it.
Other men take the coffin out of the boat. It’s empty. Thank goodness. I don’t know what I would have done had there been a body in it. Keyon and Tao speak with some men several feet away from me. Tao continually looks back at me. His worried, pensive look scares me.
Devlin joins them, and I need to know what they’re saying.
Without hesitation, I walk right up to their group conversation and stand next to Tao. None of them pays me any attention, but it’s a good thing. They don’t stop their planning because they don’t feel I’m a threat.
“They are coming, and we need to be ready,” Devlin says. “I have a feeling they won’t attack from this shore again. They will try another way onto the island and try to ambush us from behind.”
“I agree. They know we are more prepared for an attack this time, so I think Father’s right.” Keyon nods. “We need lookouts throughout the island to let us know where they make land.”
“What will we use as a method of warning?” Tao asks.
“Our horns.” Nasir holds up a large empty conch shell that’s resting at the end of a string. “If we position key people at the right locations, they can sound an alarm that reaches the next person before heading back to the village. This way we can tell in which direction they landed.” He points at several different points that they could possibly come from.
“That could work,” Devlin says. “We need to get scouts out now across the island. It’s too big and will take days for some to make it to all the major points on the island.”
“What if some of our people swim around the island, too?” Tao asks. “We have a water advantage, after all.”
“Great idea.” Devlin places his hands behind his back. “Both of my boys think strategically.”
“I’ll lead a team in the water and have Reece lead one in the opposite direction,” Nasir says. He looks at the pale man and nods.
“I’ll gather our fastest runners and have them placed at the highest points around the mountain on land,” Rian says. “And then we need to ready the village.”
“Agreed,” Devlin says. Rian, Nasir, and the others leave to start their quests, leaving Devlin, Tao, and Keyon staring at me.
“What can I do?” I ask.
“You, my dear, need to prepare your hospital in case we run into unfortunate circumstances, but when the horn sounds, you need to go with Esther to your designated safe place,” Devlin says. “Tao, can you have Esther stay at the hospital for the next few days? It’ll be safer here in the village than out on her own in the woods.”
“I can. I think she’s visiting her sister now. She was before the boat showed up, that is.” Tao searches the village for a sign of her.
“I can stop by and check on my way to the weapons shed. We need to get the weapons in place in case of a surprise attack. We need to find accommodations for the Wai, too,” Keyon says.
“We can use the prayer house and maybe the hospital if needed,” Tao says.
“I’ll come with you, Keyon,” Devlin says. “You’ll need as much help as possible.”
Tao touches the bottom of my back to guide me toward the hospital.
Devlin takes one last glance at me and then watches Tao. His eyes narrow, but he turns his attention and starts talking with Keyon as they walk away.
I want to tell them to be careful, but words escape me. Devlin senses Tao’s feelings for me. He’s too observant to not notice, and I worry about what that means for Tao. Will he be shunned from the village? Will I?
“Your father suspects something,” I whisper. “He picks up on every little gesture. You should have gone to look for Esther instead of allowing Keyon to do it.”
I follow him into the empty hospital, and he pulls me into him. His lips find mine, and I lose myself in the moment. He kisses me deeper than before. His chest presses against mine, and our heartbeats mingle with each other in a rhythm soothing to my soul. It all makes sense when he’s near. He’s the one I want to spend each moment with, but can that be possible?
He breaks our embrace and places his forehead against mine. “I’ll tell Father and Esther the truth. You’re the one I want to marry, if you’ll have me.” His gaze bores into me. “Do you want the same? I won’t ever make you do something you don’t want to do.”
My heart skips a beat. For the second time, someone has asked me what I want. “Yes. I want to be with you, too. What’s going to happen, though? Will we be kicked out of the village?”
“No, we will not. Esther will hurt, though. I owe her an explanation, and I need to give it to her. I’ll tell her tonight.” He grabs my hands and kisses the tops of them both. “Father will be disappointed in me, but he’ll understand once I explain the feelings I have for you.”
“Is this really happening?” I ask, wondering if I’m dreaming.
“From the first moment I saw you, even thinking you were an angel, I was in love.” He cups my face and makes me look into his beautiful, dark eyes. “Alania, you’re kind, caring, and stubborn. You do what you feel is best for those around you, without any regard for your happiness. I don’t want to pressure you into being with me because you think that will make me feel better. I want you to be happy here. I would fight off anyone who threatens to take that joy away from you.”
“Is that true? You love me?” I think about Esther and wonder if he’s spoken these words to her. “What about Esther? Did you love her?”
He shakes his head. “I’ve never felt this way about her. I didn’t even know these feelings were possible. I thought Esther and I would make a good match. Father was happy. Esther was pleased, but I was lost in doing what others expected of me. When I saw you, an explosion occurred inside me, and when Keyon suggested we take you back, I wanted you for more selfish reasons than to heal our people.” He looks away sheepishly.
I feel like a million butterflies are dancing inside my stomach. “You are what I want, Tao. I’m being honest about my feelings for you. I was so jealous when I met Esther, and it hurt seeing you with her. I feel the same way for you as you do for me.”
He kisses me again and smiles. “We better get this hospital cleaned up. Others may be needing to stay here tonight.”
My heart sings with delight as we ready the beds for guests. I pull extra linens from the closet and set them on each cot. Tao cleans the fireplace and adds logs to make it warmer.
“It’s getting late, and I need to go talk with some people.” Tao finds my hand and entwines his fingers with mine. “But, first, you need to eat. So, let’s find you some dinner and get you situated in your hut.”
People bustle all around us, preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. The Wai all gather near the prayer house and take supper together. Keyon passes out bowls of stew to everyone.
“Did you get the
hospital ready?” he asks as he hands me some stew.
“Yes, we can fit about fifteen people in there. We have blankets and bedding for them, too.” I sip the stew. It’s delicious. “Thank you. I needed this.”
His attention turns to Tao. “Esther went to gather some things and will be returning to the hospital to stay near Alania in case of an emergency. We have guards posted around the exterior of the village, and the weapons have all been dispersed to where they need to be.”
“And you managed to fix stew for everyone?” Tao asks. “All of a sudden, I feel useless.”
Keyon smirks. “Oh, I’m sure you have your uses. We need to figure out what they are. Certainly, it’s not one-on-one combat.” Keyon looks at his head and laughs.
“You watch what you say, or you’ll be rolling around in this stew on the ground,” Tao retorts.
“Luckily, we have Alania to heal your wounds.” Keyon grins. “She’s useful around here, you know.”
“When this is over, we will see who’s better in the arena.” Tao arches his brows and takes a bowl of stew from Keyon. “Thanks, brother.”
It’s refreshing to see some playful banter on the eve of what might be a devastating storm. I can tell Keyon and Tao care for each other very much. I wonder how Keyon will react to the news of us being together. Will he accept me as part of his family? Although he stated he didn’t want to be married, I wonder if that is the truth. Keyon has suffered his own pain, and I wonder if he can heal from it and find his own happiness someday.
The evening meal feels less like preparing for war and more like a community coming together in the face of uncertainty. Esther joins us, with a bag under her arms. She sits next to Tao, and my heart races. I don’t want her to hate me, as we’ve grown rather close since she’s been helping me, but I love Tao and nothing is going to change that.
He glances up at me as Esther speaks to him.
“The crickets are loud tonight. They followed me all down the path here, like they wanted to pounce on me.” Esther sips the last of her stew. “I can’t wait until this is all over.”
“We all feel the same way,” Tao says. “We should get you girls settled in for the night.”
We say our goodnights to Keyon and the others who linger around the fire.
Esther walks beside Tao, and I follow. “It won’t be a peaceful night being in the room with others. I wish you were staying in the hospital, too,” Esther says.
“Me, too,” he says and steals a glance at me. “Remember, if you hear the horn, both of you need to go to Esther’s. It will be safer in the ruins on the mountaintop.”
“I know,” we both say in unison.
We near my hut.
“Esther, go on to the hospital and I’ll be there after I see Alania into her hut,” Tao says. He doesn’t look into Esther’s face.
“Okay. See you tomorrow, Alania.” Ester smiles.
“Good night,” I say.
She takes her bag and heads toward the door of the hospital.
Tao follows me into my hut and throws his arms around me. “I’m going to tell her.”
“She’s going to hate me,” I say.
“No, she’s going to hate me.” He moves a piece of hair from my face and leans down to kiss me. “Please know how much I love you, Alania.”
Hearing the word “love” and my name makes all the fear disappear. “I love you, too.”
With that, he leaves and heads to tell Esther the truth.
I pace with nervousness inching up every part of my body. The noise from the gathering outside dissipates, and the fires around the village fade into nothingness, leaving the sliver of light from the moon as my only way of seeing in the darkness.
I wonder what Esther is feeling. I wonder if Tao has returned to his home and if he’s thinking about me this night.
I lie on my bed and look up, seeing the splinter of light penetrating small sections of the wood beams. My mind slowly drifts out of exhaustion, but I hear rustling outside. I hope Tao decides to sneak back into my hut to tell me what occurred when he talked with Esther, but the figure that enters isn’t Tao.
It’s my brother, Apela.
“She’s in here,” Apela whispers. Makoa marches in right behind him.
10
“Hello, my love.”
Bile and fear lodge in my throat. A sick grin slices across his face.
“Miss me?”
“Hardly,” I spit.
Makoa nods to my brother. “Get her. She’s coming with us.”
Apela grabs my arm. “Sorry, Sis.”
I struggle against him. “What is wrong with you? Whose side are you on?”
“It has nothing to do with sides,” he returns. He tugs me hard as we exit. “You don’t understand.”
Anger surges through me. “The only thing I do understand is you taking me against my will.”
“I’m rescuing you.”
“I don’t need to be rescued.”
“You don’t know what you need.”
I’ve taken care of myself since our parents died. Even when he was raiding coffins, I was healing the sick and wounded. “Since when do I need you?”
“Trust me. This time you do.”
Nothing he says makes any sense. And, I wonder what lies he’s been told.
Makoa exits through the doorway to the outside. My brother pulls me after him. There are so many people rushing around the island. Using torches, Makoa’s minions set fire to a few of the huts.
“Stop them,” I yell. Why didn’t I hear the horns?
Apela ignores me, and tightens his grip on my arm.
Over his shoulder, I see a man with broad shoulders coming our way. Tao. Relief and terror fight against my needing to be saved and wanting to save. His sparring wasn’t mastered, but it doesn’t help that these men do not fight fair.
“Let her go!” he yells over the screams.
Makoa steps in front of Apela and me. “I don’t think so.”
A large man with a dirty face and scarred arms races to intercept Tao and Makoa. Tao raises his spear and brings it down. The sharp edge of the shell nicks the man’s shoulder before he’s able to get out of the way. Tao turns as he circles the beastly man.
Following the chaos, I fail to see Makoa pick up a large rock. Before I can stop him, he raises it and brings it down onto Tao’s head.
I can’t hear my scream over the other’s surrounding me. “No!” I struggle as hard and as fiercely as I can against my brother, but his grip on me is too strong.
Makoa drops the rock near Tao’s fallen body.
I watch the blood pour from the gash on his head. Knowing I’m unable to help him kills me. If he dies, his blood will not only be on my brother’s and Makoa’s hands but also mine.
“You killed him!”
Makoa turns slowly in my direction. “It was self-defense, love.”
Nothing is beneath me as I spit into the face of the man who calls himself my fiancé. “You’re nothing more than a coward and a bully.”
He backhands my face. The sound is deafening as blood pounds in my head and ears. Apela’s grip loosens. I break free and fall toward Tao, who lies motionless on the sand. Just before I’m yanked back, I touch Tao’s head.
Makoa pushes me into my brother’s arms. “Get her out of here!” Makoa demands to Apela.
I scowl at my brother. “This is what you call rescuing me?”
He hauls me over his shoulder and heads into the ruins. I beat my fists on his back. My throat is hoarse from screaming. Jostled to the point of wanting to throw up, I stop moving. Exhaustion and the pain in my head and across my face hurt so bad—to the point I can’t think. I need to try to stay alert. He can’t carry me forever. He’ll have to set me down and rest at some point. And, that’s when I’ll run.
My heart collapses when I see that the others have started following us. Makoa takes up the rear. What do they want with me? No man has ever wanted a wife this bad. There had to be something else.
His ego couldn’t have been hurt that badly when I didn’t return with him. A failed planned marriage is nothing to kill over. I’m too tired to think about it any longer.
My eyes close in desperation for this nightmare to end when I wake.
The crackling of fire wakes me. At some point we stopped. In addition to Makoa and Apela, at least five other men are near the fire. Most of them are sleeping. I wonder if there are others on watch surrounding the makeshift camp.
I touch the side of my face. Pain throbs over my cheek and into my jaw. The anger pulsing through me that my brother did nothing infuriates me. Who is this Makoa, and why does everyone do as he says? It doesn’t matter. I plan to get as far away from them as possible.
Without the ease and stealth of a predator of the night, I stand. Several of the men rustle and jerk in their sleep. Taking the first step toward my freedom, I glance over my shoulder. I draw in a deep breath and take another, and another, and another until I’m just outside the ring of sleeping men.
A large creature steps out in front of me. I groan and knee the man. He doesn’t go down but howls loud enough to wake the others. I was so close. Makoa is at my side within seconds.
He brushes his fingertips across the bruise he left on my cheek. I refuse to wince as pain races under his touch. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“As far away from you as possible.”
He shakes his head and chuckles. “Not tonight, love.” Gripping my arms, he pushes me backward. I fall into a bearded man’s arms. “Tie her up!” he orders.
Makoa casually makes his way to my brother who’s sitting on a nearby pile of rubble. “This is your fault.” He scowls and kicks Apela hard in his side again and again.
Apela grunts and takes the beating as if he is deserving of it.
“Stop it!” I yell.
Makoa stops on his own terms. When his gaze settles on me, I look away. The sight of him causes my to stomach roil.
The bearded man wraps my wrists with rope. The knot is tight, too tight to wriggle out of. He tosses me to the ground next to my brother, who lies in the dirt like a heap of disgrace. Even the healer in me can’t find her way to the surface. I turn away from all of them and lay on my side.
Nether Tears (Underwater Island Series Book 2) Page 6
