Shore of Graves (Underwater Island Series Book 1)

by Miranda Hardy

“I’ve brought help! I’ve brought help!”

  My strength is no match for his. He pulls me, like a rag doll in his grip, along the shore into his village. As I look up, it doesn’t look like a village at all. It’s full of broken buildings and dilapidated structures Haku told us about in his stories. It all feels so surreal, even as I’m being dragged down the beach and seeing them with my own eyes. The heads of people bob in the water. I look away from them.

  “She saved Tao’s life. She knows how to save the rest of you!” Keyon continues to yell as he tugs me along behind him.

  Faces of their villagers flash with expressions of shock, disbelief, and completely unfathomed blank looks. Some of them are fully clothed while others wear barely anything. The women freely show their breasts. I look away, feeling ashamed and intrusive. But, they show no humiliation. The more I stare, the more I realize I’m the odd one here.

  Tanned skin people line the higher beach areas, while pale and wet glistening skin line the shores. Confusion collides in a trivia of questions in my head.

  Tao ties the boat to a wooden post and runs behind us. I hold out my hand to him, but his hand doesn’t reach out to mine. Keyon drags me to a mass of people gathered on land. The water people perplex me. They look so comfortable, as if they’re part of the sea.

  Tao catches up to us. “Release her,” he commands.

  Keyon ignores him, along with my pleas.

  With each glance at their so-called village, a twinge of dread boils in my gut. None of this can be good. The looks on the faces of the ones who live here are a mixture of apprehension and fear. They look at me as though I am a threat, instead of the savior Keyon shouts about.

  None of it makes any sense.

  Warmth spreads through me as a hand takes my free one. Tao. His expression confuses me. Hopefulness and regret etch the lines of his face.

  Using as much force I can muster, I yank Keyon’s arms. I’m done being dragged around. I dig my feet into the wet sand, doing my best to hold my ground.

  “Stop!” Pain shoots up my shoulder and streams through the rest of my limb. I cry out. Keyon jerks me regardless of my pleas.

  Tao runs past me toward his brother and tackles him to the ground.

  The connection between Keyon and me breaks, causing me to fall into the sand. Tao rushes to my side to help me up.

  “What are you doing?” Keyon asks. “We have to get her to father!” His high voice is frantic. “He needs to know we have found a cure for the sickness. We can save our people!”

  Tao sighs in an exaggerated breath. “She knows nothing about our kind.”

  “She knew enough to save you, didn’t she?”

  Tao falls silent. Irritation builds inside of me. My eyes widen and my lip quivers.

  “She did what she could, what she thought may work...” Tao trails off as I’m left to wonder what Tao meant by “our kind.”

  A man rushes toward the shore. His lavish attire and demeanor yells leader. He wears a ring of shells and jewels on his head.

  “I am Devlin, leader of this colony. What is going on?” He searches the faces of Tao and Keyon.

  The sharp pole in the leader’s hand stabs into the sand with each step he takes toward to us. “A mere girl is our savior? I don’t believe it.”

  “Father, you must,” Keyon says.

  Their father is the leader of this village? Then, the thought of him referring to me as a mere girl pops into my head right behind it.

  “I’m a healer.” My cheeks redden from anger this time.

  The leader’s face leans toward me. “What did you say?”

  I roll my shoulders back and stand taller. “I’m a healer!”

  “You’re a child.”

  Red flashes at the corner of my eyes. I glare at the jeweled ruler.

  “Father, she kept me from dying.,” Tao says.

  Their father glances from me to each of his sons. He sighs. “I need to speak with our doctor and reverend to see how to proceed.”

  The brothers bow their heads, and they guide me away from the presence of their father, the leader of this bizarre and sickly place.

  Keyon leaves us and starts in a different direction. Tao walks alongside me. Their village is more like ruins of a long ago place that may have once been beautiful. Instead of the palm trees and manmade huts lining the beach, dilapidated heavy structures are crumbled along their beaches. Some are inhabited, and others have long since been forgotten. The stone rising out from the ocean isn’t natural jagged rocks, but something from another time. I wonder how far down they travel into the sea.

  A man swims out of the ocean and settles onto the beach. He wheezes and coughs as he tries to catch his breath. Tiny gashes move in and out low on his hips. They remind me of the gills on a fish, opening and closing in sync with the rhythm of his breathing.

  I rush to him.

  He’s hot with fever, and his breathing is labored, just as Tao’s had been when I found them.

  Tao kneels next to me. “What can I do?”

  “We need to get him somewhere dry. Where is his home?”

  Tao stammers. His words are muffled by the sound of the crashing waves.

  “What?”

  “His home is in the ocean.”

  Ignoring his impossible answer, I ask him to help get the man to a place that is dry so I can administer herbs and help his sickness.

  Together, we carry the man through their crumbled village. I nearly drop him as we pass a man near piles of wood. My heart crushes into a thousand pieces. He wields his tools as he shapes and sands the wood until its surface is smooth. He makes the death boxes that land on my shore.

  “My...” I have no words. I find the strength to hold up the man in my arms and keep moving. The coffin maker looks up and offers a slight nod.

  It’s odd seeing the place where the death boxes originate.

  But the fact that these people experience so much loss makes me want to vomit.

  “I’M SORRY. I didn’t want any of this to happen.” Tao hands me a damp cloth to place over the man’s forehead.

  I don’t know what to believe anymore. At home, I thought Tao had different feelings for me. Now, I think I may have only been what I’ve been all along, a healer, or a pawn in someone else’s battle. Why did I think I deserved more? A rare love like Apela’s and Inoa’s avoids many. It’s something I can never imagine or want to have with Makoa, my fiancé, especially after our last encounter. A tremor races through me as I think about that despicable man.

  I need to shift my thoughts to things I have control of. “I need things to help him.”

  “What do you need?” Tao asks.

  “Wild indigo root, garlic cloves, and silver,” I say. “We usually have these things crushed and made into powdery herbs, but there’s no time. I’ll need them in large quantities to make multiple batches.”

  “Right. Garlic we have. You’ll have to tell me what indigo root is and where we can find it.” His jaw tightens. He holds up a finger and leaves, returning a short time later with a young man to help. After I explain what the blue-green flower looks like, as well as where it grows, he departs to look for it.

  An hour goes by. The dying man becomes delirious. There’s nothing more I can do until we have the root. The silver shavings and garlic boil in the pot over the fire.

  “What does Malalo mean?” I ask Tao.

  “Beneath.” Tao’s voice softens and a tenderness emerges inside me.

  “Beneath what?”

  “The water.” He must have seen the question on my face. “There is a city in the ocean... Some of my people—a lot of them live there.”

  “All the time?”

  He nods.

  Imagining all of the water people living below overwhelms my mind. How do they talk? What do they eat? I keep the rant of questions to a minimum. The funny thing is, I don’t even know what to ask. His hand reaches out to touch me. I don’t move, anticipating the sensual and desperate feeling I crave from h
im. He touches my cheek, and I cradle my face in his palm.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

  I don’t forgive him. There’s a part of me that believes he wants me here to help his people as much as his brother. Then, there’s a part of me that wants to believe he wants me here to be with him. The couple of days we were apart, I missed him. I’m not sure how to categorize the feelings I have for him. They are ones I’ve never experienced before.

  The man returns with the right root, and relief overcomes me. I may be able to save this man’s life as I saved Tao’s.

  THE WHIRLWIND of the next two days lightens my resolve. Many people wheezing and coughing come to me for help. Their lungs suffer from the intake of water, and it becomes difficult for us to convince them to stay out of their watery home. Tao stands by my side the entire time and encourages them to listen to me. The need to help them consumes me. They’ve evolved differently than we have, and their bodies seemed trapped between that of a land mammal and a sea creature. Although they breathe on both land and water, their still susceptible to the same sicknesses we are.

  When I tire, I sleep on the ground near the patients, and Tao provides me with blankets. My mind races with uncertainty. Tao keeps their loved ones away from the makeshift treatment center.

  Devlin strides in and looks at the few people I’ve been helping. His voice booms through the open stone space. “From what my sons tell me, you are our only hope. You will remain here and heal our sick.”

  Lost and unprepared for whatever comes next, I want to crumple to the floor at his words.

  I have just become their prisoner.

  9

  “You can’t keep her against her will,” Tao addresses his father. “It needs to be her choice.”

  “I’ve made my decision, Tao. Isn’t this why you and Keyon brought her here?” Devlin asks. “She can’t sleep here amongst the sick.”

  Tao’s eyes bore into mine. A sorrow resides there.

  Devlin motions for two young men to come into the building. “They will help her and follow her directions. Tao, you show her our customs and where she’s permitted to go. Also, she’ll stay with Esther. I’ve made the arrangements.”

  Words escape me. It’s a combination of exhaustion and confusion, but I can’t say anything.

  Tao nods, not standing up for me any longer. Sadness clouds his features.

  “She’s upset you haven’t visited her since your return.” Devlin grabs Tao’s shoulders. “I know your loyalty to our people is strong, but trust me when I tell you that your future wife needs to be pleased with your attention.”

  My heart feels like its dropped down my into stomach.

  “What do we need to do?” a young, squirrelly man asks me, pulling my attention away from Tao’s interaction with his father.

  “Um,” I mutter. “This broth needs to be administered to the sick every few hours. You may have to wake them and force some of it down, but their bodies need it to fight the infection. Keep them in their cots, and don’t allow them to leave. They can’t go back into the water.”

  They nod.

  “Also, change their cloths often to keep their fevers down.”

  “Let’s go.” Tao grabs my elbow. His father is nowhere in sight.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  “You need to get some rest.” Tao leads me out into the fresh air.

  Structures jut up so high I hide my eyes from the sun as I stare at them. They were there when I went into our newly made treatment center, but looking at them again still shocks me. It looks like a mountain carved into squares, most of them with fallen pieces lying on the ground.

  We walk quickly across a courtyard, with the squares beneath our feet. Shrubs peek through the cracks. One person continues to pull the pieces of grass out of each one and moves on to the next. He bows at Tao as we pass.

  He leads me to a set of towering stones and hops up them. I stop at the base of them.

  I eye the structure on both sides of me. “Is it safe? Will they fall on me?”

  “They’re safe.” He holds out his hand. I take it and follow him up the stairs.

  “Your village is different from ours. Haku’s stories—”

  “Are true.” He finishes my sentence. “These structures are from long ago. We try to maintain them, but most have fallen to ruins.”

  “I live there.” He points to an edifice higher than any other. “It’s the strongest of the buildings left. My father and brother stay there, too. We choose to remain above water the majority of the time, but that’s not the case for everyone.”

  He leads me down a dirt path through a wooded enclosure. Tall trees line both sides. My mind wonders to the underwater dwellings and what they may look like, but I’m too tired to ask the question lingering.

  We walk through a grassy meadow. A house of wood sits in the middle, and a billow of smoke races up through it. It’s squarer than our circular huts with a triangular shaped roof packed with dirt and hay of some kind. There are no palms around at all. Some of the trees have needles instead of leaves.

  Tao knocks on the door. A tall, ginger-haired woman opens the door, smiles, and flings her arms around Tao. She’s beautiful. A million knives stab my heart at once. Keyon said Tao’s fiancée was the most beautiful woman in Malalo. This woman must be her.

  Shells drape her neck, hanging from a silver chain. She wears a long white robe that touches the ground and wraps tightly around her curvy body.

  “Tao, I’ve missed you. We thought you’d died out there.” She releases him, and tears fill her ice blue eyes. “Why didn’t you come see me sooner?” She sees me for the first time. I look at the ground, feeling out of place.

  “I’m sorry. We’ve been busy with helping the sick.” Tao backs away. “This is—”

  “Alania.” She smiles. “The savior of our people.” She wraps her arms around me, and I stiffen.

  “Alania, this is Esther,” Tao says.

  “It’s so nice to meet you,” Esther says.

  “She needs some rest,” Tao says. “She’s been working for two days.”

  “Come in.” Esther backs away and lets us enter her house. No fire ring sits in the middle, as with our huts. Her fire is on the side, pots hanging over it. She has a nice table in one corner. A ladder of wood leads to the top portion where wood lines a second story. My jaw drops. It’s so much bigger inside than I imagined. “I’ve made a place for you in the loft.” She points to the top. “My room is in the back.”

  I look down a dark hall and see another door on the inside. It must lead to another part of this house. It’s amazing. Whoever built this did so with care. It must have taken years.

  “Thank you,” I say.

  “Do you want something to drink?” Esther asks. “I have some cider on.”

  “Cider?” I ask.

  “It’s made from apples,” Tao says.

  I nod, not wanting to say I’ve never heard of an apple. “Please.”

  She pours me a warm cup. I sip the sweet liquid. It’s the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.

  “I need to go rest, too. I’ll be back soon,” Tao says.

  “You can’t stay for some cider at least?” Esther frowns.

  “Later, when I return,” he says.

  She nods. “That’s fine. I’ll keep it warm for you.” She follows him to the door.

  “I know she’ll be in good hands here.” He kisses her on the cheek, and jealousy erupts inside me. “Thank you for taking her in.”

  “It’s my pleasure. I’ll see you soon.” She closes the door.

  I’m left looking at the woman I want to hate for being with the man I can’t have.

  I MUST HAVE SLEPT MORE than ten hours. The morning sun peeks through the wood slats.

  “Good morning,” a sweet voice reaches me from below. Esther smiles, holding up a cup.

  “Hello.” I climb down the ladder. “Is Tao here?”

  “He came by a couple of hours ago, before su
nrise, but you were still asleep. We didn’t want to wake you.” She pours a cup of the sweet cider and hands it to me. “You were exhausted.”

  “I guess I was. Thank you.” Disappointment fills me that I missed Tao. Did they speak about me at all? Had I been awake, I could have listened to their conversation.

  “I’ll take you into town.”

  “Why do you live so far away from the others?” I ask.

  “I like my privacy and the quiet that comes with it. Tao says he’d prefer to live out here with me once we’re married, and that makes me happy, too.” She places her cup on a counter. “I don’t long for the water the way others do.”

  “No? Why is that?”

  She shrugs. “Honestly, I don’t like being around a lot of people. I prefer isolation. Underwater, we are limited to the places we can go. There are many dangerous predators in the deeper waters, so we tend to stay closer to shore. It’s crowded there.”

  I think about the creature that tried to drag me into the water from the boat, and I shiver.

  “My nephew is sick. I’d like to go visit with him and my sister, Abigail, to see how he’s doing.” She walks to the door.

  I place my cup on the counter next to hers and follow. “Does he have the same sickness?” I didn’t treat a child.

  “Yes. My sister took him to the doctor three days ago.”

  We walk down the path and through the stone building. I look to the place Tao pointed at— his home—and wish she’d bring me to him.

  We pass the man I recall seeing the day I arrived. The coffin maker. “Abram, this is Alania.” Esther introduces me.

  He nods. “Esther, you need to go see Abigail.” He frowns.

  We look down to see his latest project. A child’s coffin.

  10

  Tears flow, and my heart aches watching the child’s coffin float away. Images flash in my head of my brother with his tools and the wrongness of it all. I’m one of the first to leave the shore. I can’t bare the sight of it or the weight of the stares from the people surrounding me. They see me as their savior, not a healer to those who can be made well with a few herbs. The pressure is overwhelming.