by Kara Timmins
Then it was free.
“Got it!” Her face lit with victory, small lines imprinted in her bottom lip from where she had been biting down.
Eloy took the wedge out.
“Yay,” Malatic muttered.
“Here, swish this around and spit in the river.” Neasa handed Malatic a waxy leaf full of water.
Malatic did as she said and shot a spout of blood in an arc into the flowing stream.
“Ready for the next part?” Neasa asked.
“Get it over with.” Malatic tipped his head back again and opened his mouth.
Eloy looked down into the meaty crater and put the wedge back in its place.
Neasa motioned for Eloy to hold the other side of Malatic’s head. “Hold tight,” she mouthed.
She scooped up the yellow mix with the blunt-edged stick. She closed her eyes, took a long breath in through her nose and a slow exhale out of her mouth. Like a flash, she packed the bleeding hole with the mush.
Malatic’s scream was instantaneous and resounding.
Eloy felt the skin under his hands slip under a fresh sheen of sweat. Malatic writhed, his legs flailing and stomping against the ground. But Eloy held tight. The yellow paste in the void where Malatic’s rotten tooth had been frothed and bubbled, fresh blood mixing with the yellow foam.
“It’ll be over soon,” Neasa cooed.
But Malatic couldn’t hear her. He was lost in the tide of his agony.
Eloy never imagined that he would ever see such a strong reaction from Malatic, but there was no way for a man to guard himself with jokes or physical strength against pure pain.
Tears spilled down the sides of Malatic’s upturned face, a steady stream out of his clenched eyes. Then he settled down. The screaming devolved, slowly, into deep gulps of air. His thrashing moved into involuntary shaking.
“You can let go now,” Neasa said to Eloy.
Eloy took the wedge out of Malatic’s mouth and stood up from the rock. He looked down at Malatic, his face now covered in a mask of shiny sweat and devoid of color. The clench of torment was gone. He could have been sleeping.
Neasa straddled over Malatic and took his face in her hands.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
His eyes fluttered open. He tried to say something, but it came out too mumbled to understand. A line of saliva dribbled down from his bottom lip.
“Okay,” Neasa said. “All you have to do is rest now.”
Eloy moved to Malatic and helped Neasa lift him. Neasa secured Malatic around his waist, and he dropped his head to her shoulder. The three ambled to the campsite and Eloy and Neasa laid Malatic down to the ground, where he passed out.
“What was that stuff?” Eloy whispered.
“It’s a root from home called lendu,” Neasa said. “It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but just taking the tooth out wasn’t enough. If I hadn’t done it, he would’ve gotten sicker. Hopefully that will do it, and the sickness will reverse. He’ll have to do it a couple more times, but the pain won’t be like that again.”
Eloy ran his tongue around his teeth and only opened his mouth again when he was satisfied that everything seemed in order. “How are you doing?” he asked.
Neasa smiled at him, but she looked tired. “I’m okay. I’ve seen lendu used before. I knew what was going to happen. I just didn’t know it would be so hard for me to see him like that.” She shook her head.
Eloy put an arm around her shoulders. “That was tough for me, so I can’t imagine how it felt for you.”
She rested her head against him for a moment and sighed. “I wonder if there are fish in this stream.”
“Only one way to find out,” Eloy said.
35
The only fish Eloy saw were no bigger than his pinky finger. Neasa soon gave up on the hope for fish after a quick scan and started poking around the little dark caves that were made by the round stones flanking the riverbanks. Eloy was still sloshing through the clear water looking hopefully through its distorted surface when evening arrived.
“How long do you want to keep looking down?” Neasa asked.
Eloy looked up, his head slightly sore from trying to focus through the warping ripples, and saw her standing next to camp with one of her woven bags writhing in her hand. “Do I want to know what’s in there?”
“Oh, you do. You never did get to try any Valia toad, so this might be the next best thing.”
Eloy groaned and walked to the bank.
The things in her bag didn’t look anything like the toads she had shown him in Valia. These were wide and disc-shaped, with girthy long legs dangling from their circular bodies.
She held one up, its mouth opening at the edge like a slit in a bag. A line of sharp translucent teeth rimmed the edge of its mouth. “It’ll be good. I promise.”
Eloy looked around the darkening forest, contemplated going off and finding something else to fill the aching want in his stomach, and sat down on the ground.
He built up the fire as they prepared the meal and, after a few moments, the air filled with the comforting smell of smoking leaves and cooking meat. It reminded Eloy of the first time he’d shared a meal with Critiko. He thought back to the seemingly jolly man and his uninhibited singing. Why did his happiest memories have to be so painful?
“That smells good.” Malatic sounded groggy but no longer in pain. “What’re we having?”
“Best not to ask,” Eloy said.
“Fine by me,” Malatic said. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this hungry.”
“That’s a good sign,” Neasa said. “Here.” She handed Malatic and Eloy each a waxy leaf with crisp pieces of toad.
It tasted so much like the white meat he had eaten at the hall in Valia that he closed his eyes and pretended he was back there sitting between Critiko and Gwyn.
“That good, huh?” Neasa asked.
Eloy looked at Malatic to see that he’d already finished his four pieces. Eloy took one of his and put it in the empty leaf.
“Thanks,” Malatic said before cleaning the bones.
“How does your mouth feel?” Eloy asked.
Malatic swallowed. “Better. Still sore. But better, I think. Hopefully tomorrow will put me far enough away from what happened today to say thank you.” He laid back down on his side and reached out for Neasa.
Neasa took his hand and held it. “I hope so.”
Malatic fell asleep again after a few moments, and Neasa let go of his limp hand.
It was hard to believe that the horrors of the bog weren’t that far behind them. The chirping and humming sounds of the night were as soft as a lullaby, the little multicolored lights above reflecting off of the water below and making everything look soft and safe. Fatigue was like a root growing in the hollow of Eloy’s bones. Every layer of him was tired.
“Everything okay?” Neasa asked.
“Yeah. Why?”
“You have that distant look in your eye.”
“Just thinking.”
“That’ll usually do it.”
Eloy opened his mouth to say something else but was stopped by a rustling in the leaves behind him. He shifted his weight forward, away from the sound, popped up into a crouch, and turned around, the balls of his feet bearing his weight.
Neasa removed her knife from its sheath and crouched low and ready in front of a still-sleeping Malatic. “Is that what you heard last night?”
Eloy picked his sword up from the ground. “I don’t think so. It sounded bigger last night.”
The creature got closer. Eloy tried to ignore the burning in his legs.
The source of the rustling emerged into the wreath of the firelight. Eloy dropped the tip of his sword to the soft earth and rocked back into a squat, a laugh bubbling up from the thick fatigue of his spirit.
“Would you look at that,” Neasa said. Her voice was the softest tone Eloy had ever heard.
The animal was no bigger than their carrying bags. Its brown fur caught the reflection of the light as it sauntered out of the forest in radiant ripples. It looked softer than anything he had ever seen, and Eloy wanted to know what it felt like. Its lanky legs bent out at the knees almost awkwardly, but its movement was agile and fluid. Its eyes demanded the highest regard. Two massive black orbs blinked back and forth at them, cautious. Neasa let out a cooing sound, another first for her, as two more black orbs—the eyes of the baby clutching at the animal’s back—opened and blinked.
Deciding Eloy and Neasa were not a threat, the parent walked to the bank of the stream, cupped its little hands together, and brought the fresh water to its tiny mouth. Every other scoop of water went over its head to slide down its hair into the waiting mouth of its pup. Filled, it retreated the way it had come, regarding Eloy and Neasa one last time before disappearing back into the night.
“It must have decided we weren’t much of a threat,” Neasa said. “Probably didn’t want to wait any longer for us to leave.”
“That probably means we should. Leave, I mean. If we stay here much longer I might become fixed here. I kind of like the idea of being regular neighbors with whatever that was.”
Neasa laughed. “We should be okay to leave in the morning. As long as you’re okay with Malatic setting the pace for a few days, circumstances permitting.”
“That’s fine. Get some sleep.”
“You’re sure that wasn’t what you saw yesterday?”
Eloy looked at the spot where he had heard movement the night before. “I’m sure.”
36
Eloy dreamt about Critiko that night. He was singing, the happy singing Eloy remembered. It filled Eloy with peace. And when he awoke, the melody hadn’t stopped.
He had never heard Malatic hum before.
“Someone sounds better,” Eloy said, his eyes still closed.
“It’s been awhile since I woke up without discomfort. It’s not so bad,” Malatic said.
Eloy opened his eyes to Malatic sitting cross-legged in front of a spent fire, the gurgling brook behind him. He looked better too. Malatic didn’t have much color in his skin to begin with, but the revitalization seemed to have shooed away the sickly yellow undertones. The swelling around his jaw was down a lot too.
Malatic pushed a waxy leaf piled with more meaty toad legs toward Eloy. “Something to eat before we go. We can really make some progress now.”
Eloy sat up and took one of the pieces of meat. “Hopefully there aren’t any more bogs ahead.”
“Here’s hoping we don’t have to deal with another bog until we come back.”
Eloy hadn’t given much thought to having to walk through the bog again. “Where’s Neasa?”
“She went to poke around the forest. She should be back soon.”
Malatic went back to humming as he packed up the camp and Eloy finished his meal. Neasa rustled through the brush and leaves on her way back to the campsite just as Eloy finished.
“Good, you’re up,” she said. “Think you can be ready to go soon?”
“Sure,” Eloy said.
“Here’s what I’m thinking for the day,” she said. “It looks like the forest gets thicker the farther we get from the bog. The trees are different too. I think it has something to do with this water. If we keep moving northwest like we have been, we should find ourselves around some big trees again, ideally sometime later today. Hopefully, we’ll be able to climb something big enough to let us know how far we still have to go. Sound good?”
Eloy looked up from packing his bag. “Fine by me. Mal, you okay with that? Particularly the ‘steady pace’ part?”
“Should be fine,” Malatic said. “And I’ll let you know if it stops being fine.”
Eloy turned his attention back to his bag. “Okay, then.”
“One thing first,” Neasa said, reaching for her bag at her side.
She removed a swatch of fabric pulled together at the top and tied off like a dumpling and opened it in the palm of her hand. The yellow mush from the day before had dried into something powdery.
“Oh no,” Malatic said.
“It should be fine,” Neasa said. “It won’t be like yesterday.”
“Do I have to?” Malatic asked.
“You don’t have to do anything,” she said. “But if you want to stay feeling well enough to hum, you might want to.”
Malatic slumped and slid down the rock he was sitting on to the ground. “Fine.”
Neasa sprinkled a few drops of water into the yellow mound and worked the moisture in with her fingers. “Tip your head back and open wide.”
“No mouth wedge from Eloy today?” Malatic asked.
“We shouldn’t need it, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if you ask nicely.”
“I think I can handle it.” Malatic tipped his head back and opened his mouth wide.
“It looks much better,” Neasa said.
Eloy looked down from above, careful not to get in Neasa’s way, and looked at the spot that had been so savaged the day before. The packing of the mush now looked more scab-like, an aid to the healing happening around the wound. The smell was gone too.
Neasa smeared the rehydrated substance over the spot. Malatic cringed, but he didn’t scream.
“Okay?” Neasa asked.
Malatic closed his mouth and seemed to give himself an internal assessment before answering, “Okay.”
“Keep your tongue away from it. It’ll stick where I put it within a few moments, but trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to swallow it. You’ll be stuck out there in the woods squatting next to a tree for the rest of the day.”
“Got it,” Malatic said. “I think I’ll just bite my tongue on the other side until you tell me it’s okay.”
“Who said you don’t have good ideas?” Neasa asked.
“No one,” Malatic mumbled with his tongue secured between his back teeth.
As they moved away from the little stream, Eloy realized how much the clean moving water had done to purify the air. Pockets of the bog water’s warm reek hit him like a punch, each one reminding him what it felt like to wade through the seemingly endless muck, constantly watching out for its hidden nightmares. He tried not to think about the leftover parts of Niall and Oisin resting in the sludge behind him. But his senses remembered, and the fearful parts of his memories were beyond rationalization. Niall and Oisin’s last agonizing moments were branded, perhaps forever, in the recall of his thoughts.
Fortunately, Malatic was moving faster than he had in days, and the puffs of the stagnant bog that carried through the northern parts of the forest became fewer and weaker. They walked in silence for at least a few hundred strides.
“Okay, Malatic,” Neasa said. “It should be enough time now.”
“That’s a long time to for it to take,” Malatic said. “Didn’t you worry about that yesterday?”
“You passed out yesterday,” Neasa said. “And I may have waited twice as long to tell you than necessary. Can’t be too sure.”
Eloy looked over his shoulder in time to see her wink at him.
“Ah,” Malatic said from the front. “I see how it is. Lucky for you, that just gave me the time to think about all the things I want to sing for you.”
“Oh no,” Neasa said. Eloy heard a lightness in her voice that hadn’t been there for a while.
They didn’t reach a tree tall and thick enough, or free of sharp thorny protrusions, for two days. “I can make it up this one,” Neasa said, “but the branches are pretty sparse for more than one of us to go up.”
“Oh no,” Malatic said sarcastically.
“You go ahead,” Eloy said. “We’ll go off what you see. But you should
hurry, we’re losing light. Mal and I will get camp ready here.”
Neasa looked around at the ground of the base of the tree. “Okay, I’ll be back down soon.”
Eloy and Malatic craned their necks back as they watched Neasa swing, jump, and pull her way through the branches of the knobby tree until she disappeared among the thick greenery at the top.
Eloy and Malatic were still collecting things for their nightly fire by the time she made her way back down.
“So?” Eloy asked.
“We’re closer, but still far enough that I can’t say how long it’ll take. We’re not right on top of it yet.”
Malatic tugged at the bulging lump rolled up in the bottom of Neasa’s shirt. “What do you have there?”
She smiled. “Gifts.” She moved to the place among the tree roots next to the fire and unrolled four oblong red-speckled eggs from her shirt. “The nest was cold. They aren’t viable. But mother bird’s disappointment is our gain.”
They built a fire, warmed a stone in the center, and cracked the eggs on its hot surface. The orange centers danced around as the translucent outsides bubbled and turned white. Eloy ate his portion and licked the surface of the waxy leaf when he was done.
“There was something else,” Neasa said, her mouth full of food.
“Something else?” Eloy asked.
“I saw something else up there,” she said. “I wasn’t sure if it was worth saying, but the more I sit here, the more I think it is.”
“What?” Eloy asked.
“Light,” she said. “Below in the forest. Directly north of here, and not far. Maybe a day’s walk, if that.”
“What kind of light?” Eloy asked.
“Like sunlight. If I had to guess, I would say it looked like the sun reflecting off of something. What do you think?”
“Do I think we should go check it out, you mean?” Eloy asked.
“Yeah.” Neasa finished her meal and put her leaf down next to the fire.
“It could be trouble,” Malatic said.
