“You caught me.” As he came to drier, less slippery rocks, Lakhoni moved faster. “There was something up there.” He felt jittery, as if his blood were shaking in his veins.
“What?” Hope surged in Alronna’s voice. “What was it?”
“A tree.”
“There are trees all over this mountain!” Alronna followed Lakhoni as he clambered up the mountain.
The pain in his leg tried to slow him, but Lakhoni forced the weakness away. Now wasn’t the time. “No. It was a carving.” He studied the rocks near the fall. There. The rock shaped like a man’s nose and the gap.
“A carving?” Alronna shoved her sword out of the way as she leaned forward to climb. “Of a tree?”
“Yes!” Lakhoni shouted. “A perfect carving.”
And suddenly he wasn’t climbing. He found his feet on a perfectly hidden path cut into the mountain side. He walked quickly, easily, back toward the waterfall.
“Lakhoni what? How are you—” Alronna’s question cut off as she found the path too. “How did we not see this?”
Lakhoni’s heart hammered as he approached the waterfall. The path widened, cutting deeper into the mountain.
It led right behind the torrent of cascading water.
Lakhoni and Alronna sprinted back down the path. His injured leg screamed for attention and rest, but he paid it no heed. Or not much. He still found himself hobbling and Alronna quickly outdistanced him.
The path narrowed as they hurried back toward the others. Then, all at once, the path no longer stretched out ahead. Twenty paces away, and down only three paces on the slope, Simra stood and turned as Alronna called out. Lakhoni stopped and turned back. The path was visible that way. It would be the single stupidest thing he could do to lose the path as they came back. Lakhoni bent and pulled hard at a large rock above the path. It came free and rolled slightly, thudding into where the path ended. He found another rock, not as big, and set it atop the one he had just moved, then, to be sure, he stacked another.
His marker complete, Lakhoni continued toward Lamorun, who was calling to him. “Swiftly, brother!”
Lakhoni arrived to find Alronna and Simra bent over Hilana, who still sat on the stone, but now slumped to one side. Her eyes were closed. Dark red smeared on her lips where her coughing had brought up blood. “Is she d—” He couldn’t finish the word. The bandage around Hilana’s side was soaked completely through.
“She’s breathing.” Simra turned tight, worried eyes to Lakhoni. “But only just. And her heartbeat is weak.”
“What did you find?” Lamorun pulled Lakhoni around. The veins in Lamorun’s temples and neck pulsed. His eyes gleamed from deep in their sockets. Sweat beaded on Lamorun’s brow.
Lakhoni bit back on an exultant shout. They’d found something, but the Water Pure might not be in there. Hope. “Something. A way behind the waterfall.”
“We go now.” Lamorun dropped his cudgel into Lakhoni’s hands and gently eased Simra and Alronna away from Hilana. “I will take her.”
“No, Lamorun!” Alronna put out a hand to stop Lamorun’s reaching arms. “You’re bleeding too. We can carry her.”
“You have to make it too, brother.” Lakhoni reached for Lamorun’s shoulder.
Lamorun didn’t respond. He flicked Alronna’s hands away and slid an arm under Hilana’s legs and the other behind her back. “Go. Lead the way.” He lifted Hilana with a hiss of pain and effort. “One person carrying her is faster.”
Alronna stood and nodded. Lamorun’s expression was clear. He would not listen to argument.
Lakhoni stayed with Lamorun, just behind and to his side. “It’s not far.”
“Faster,” Lamorun said as Alronna and Simra hurried up the smooth path.
“I left a marker,” Lakhoni called ahead. Mist from the waterfall softened the lines of the mountain as they approached the cascade.
“I see it,” Alronna said. They passed the stack of rocks and Alronna led the way up the almost invisible path.
“How did they make this invisible?” Simra shouted to be heard. “And how did you find it?” She followed Alronna around the bend as the path hugged close to the slope of the rough-sided mountain.
“I’ll tell you later,” Lakhoni called back.
Lamorun’s breathing was becoming labored. He sounded strangely similar to the oxen Lakhoni had walked next to for the last portion of his first journey to Zyronilxa. “Faster.” Lamorun’s grunt was loud, but obviously required much effort.
“Lamorun, let me help,” Lakhoni said. Fear tasted sour and hot. Lamorun’s face was flushed now, sweat pouring down his brow and gaunt cheekbones. His breath was raspy.
“Do not slow me down.” Lamorun leaned forward and somehow accelerated.
Lakhoni tucked his brother’s cudgel under his left arm, squeezing it tightly to not let it fall. He leaned closer to his brother and put his right arm under Lamorun’s left, doing his best to lend support. Lamorun said nothing.
Alronna and Simra waited at the space where the path widened and led behind the waterfall.
“We don’t know what’s back there.” Alronna took Lamorun’s cudgel from Lakhoni.
Lamorun didn’t even slow. “Then we find out.”
Simra nodded and spun, plunging into the shadows.
Alronna followed, her body language alert and ready.
Lakhoni stuck by his brother’s side, glad the path—now a passage—had grown wider.
The noise of the waterfall drowned everything else out. The world had become a passage with a stone floor, a stone wall to the right, and a plunging torrent for a wall to the left. Enough pale light filtered through the water and entrance to illuminate a smooth stone floor that turned more and more to the right, somehow carving right into the heart of the mountain.
Alronna took the lead from Simra, handing Simra Lamorun’s cudgel and drawing her sword. They moved as fast as they dared in the weak light. The noise faded slowly as they pressed on. The passage was now stone on all sides, as wide as five strong men. As the noise faded and the wet mist was left behind, another smell filled Lakhoni’s nostrils. Sulfur.
“She is fading!” Lamorun’s voice, despite being weaker, echoed off the passage walls.
“Is she breathing?” Simra asked, her form dark and silhouetted against an odd-looking red light.
“I cannot tell.” Exhausted anguish filled every syllable that Lamorun spoke. “We must hurry.” Lakhoni fought to keep up the pressure under Lamorun’s arm. How was his brother not collapsing?
“I’ll go ahead,” Alronna said. “I’ll find the way through.”
In the new, dim red light, Alronna broke into a steady jog. Her shape grew smaller quickly, then angled to the left and disappeared.
“Simra,” Lakhoni called. “Do you see anything?” With his free hand, Lakhoni scrubbed sweat away from his brow. With each step they took, the passage grew warmer.
“Only the red light.” Simra paused for Lakhoni and Lamorun to catch up. Without making Lamorun stop his steady stride, she put her fingers to Hilana’s neck. After a moment, she shook her head. “I can barely feel her heartbeat.”
Lamorun bent his head to Hilana’s face, his mouth near her ear. “I will not permit you to die, crazy woman. Stay with me.” Lamorun repeated this refrain, still moving. Still walking forward. Somehow unstoppable.
Tears sprang unbidden to Lakhoni’s eyes. He blinked them away. His arm wanted to drop from where he pushed upward on Lamorun’s, but he would not allow it. Nor would he allow his throbbing leg to slow them.
“Lamorun, you’re bleeding again.” Simra cleared her throat. The smell of the sulfur and other heavy odors was much thicker, making it harder to breathe. “I can stitch you again if we stop.” She wiped sweat from her cheeks and neck.
“We are not stopping!” Lamorun bellowed. “If this Water Pure is ahead, we will find it.”
And then Lamorun broke into a jog. Lakhoni, taken by surprise, was left behind. He glanced at Simr
a and realized the red light was bright enough to see her face by. Her eyes were wide in shock. “He should have collapsed by now. He’s bleeding so much.”
Lakhoni forced himself to hurry after his brother. “He has no time to collapse.” The smelly, warm air felt like it was clawing down his throat with each breath.
They rounded a bend in the passage and the source of the red light was revealed. A cavern, easily as big as that of the Separated, stretched out ahead and to the side. Fissures in the stone floor gave off a dull red light. Steam spewed from several, then stopped. Then steam erupted from another fissure farther off.
Alronna was nowhere to be seen.
“Alronna!” Lamorun’s voice was loud as he slowed to a walk, unsure of where to go. “Where from here?”
“Let’s go straight,” Simra said, squinting and scrubbing sweat from her eyes again. “I see big shapes up there, and I think some different light.”
Lakhoni peered through the red, hazy gloom. He saw nothing. But the cavern walls were smooth to either side, so that was the best option.
“Good.” Lamorun broke into a fast lumber again. He stepped over a fissure and as he did, the rock under his back foot cracked.
Lakhoni caught Lamorun as he stumbled. “Let’s go around them,” Lakhoni said. He glanced down at the fissure. The source of the red light was deep in there. And the heat coming up from whatever was down there was incredible. He strained to help Lamorun straighten his legs with Hilana still in his arms.
Lamorun said nothing. His chest heaved as he pushed forward.
“Simra, get out front.” Lakhoni glanced at Lamorun’s face. In the glowing red light, he looked like a man possessed. His eyes practically glowed. “Find the easiest path around these cracks.”
“Good idea.” Simra moved into the lead.
They were halfway across the cavern when Alronna’s voice carried to them. “This way!”
Lakhoni glanced ahead. Now he saw the light Simra had mentioned. Alronna stood framed in it. He helped Lamorun step up and over a rise in the cavern floor. It seemed like the stone of the cavern floor had somehow naturally formed smooth steps here and there.
Alronna ran back to meet them. She took one look at Lamorun, then Hilana, and took a place next to Lamorun, supporting his other side.
“Did you find it?” Lakhoni asked.
“We found…” Alronna trailed off, shaking her head. “I don’t know. There’s a huge river. And a tree on an island.”
“What about the Water Pure?” Simra pointed at a crack in the cavern floor. “I think it’s weak there.”
“I don’t know.” Alronna seemed to struggle for words as she and Lakhoni helped Lamorun around the fissure. “The tree’s… strange. Beautiful.”
Lamorun bent his ear to Hilana’s face as they approached the light ahead. It was a pale, even light. Simra led the way around two massive boulders that snugged up against the far cavern wall, then angled toward an opening off to the right.
“And small creatures,” Alronna said. “Ones I’ve never seen.”
“She isn’t breathing.” Lamorun’s voice was ragged. His own breath was loud and labored. “Where is the Water Pure?” Desperation made his voice crack. He stumbled.
Lakhoni and Alronna caught Lamorun before he could fall. Lakhoni changed position, putting one arm under Lamorun’s and one arm around his back. He lifted and pushed. Alronna mimicked him and Lamorun straightened and continued.
“I don’t know.” Alronna sounded like she was going to cry. “The tree’s on a tiny island in a small pond. But it all just looks like normal water.”
They came to a slope that led up to the opening. It was steep. Lamorun grunted and faltered as they began the ascent. Lakhoni pushed, knowing Alronna was doing the same. Lamorun leaned forward and climbed. After a lifetime, they finally came to the opening that allowed the pale light into the fissure-strewn cavern. Air, clean and crisp, filled Lakhoni’s nostrils, a welcome change from the thick, heavy odor in the cavern.
They emerged from the cavern and Lakhoni had to blink for a moment as his eyes fought the change in light. His feet crunched on leaves and dirt. The sound of a river was background against the music of wind and birds. As his eyes adjusted, he briefly wondered if he was losing his mind. “How are we outside?”
He glanced behind. The opening they had come through must have been at the top of the cavern, because they were somehow at the top of the mountain. The rushing river was the source of the waterfall.
The top of the mountain, somehow, was a massive bowl. Half of the bowl was thick forest and the other part was grassland. The valley had to be nearly a mile across. Birds soared in the air high above. Something small and wiry flitted from a nearby branch. Was that a hapcha?
“Where is this tree?” Lamorun trembled under Lakhoni’s hands.
Alronna pointed. “In the middle.”
“We go.” Lamorun started out, but dropped to one knee on his second step.
“Lamorun!” Lakhoni darted forward, reaching to make sure Hilana didn’t fall. But Lamorun clutched her tighter against his chest. In the wash of gray light from the cloudy sky, Hilana’s face was completely pale. Her lips had lost all their color. Her head lolled as Lamorun fought to regain his feet.
“Help him!” Lakhoni added his strength to Lamorun, Alronna and Simra doing the same. Lakhoni’s leg throbbed and threatened to collapse. But if Lamorun could stand, so could he. Lakhoni forced himself to ignore the bone-deep throbbing in his calf.
Lamorun roared and shoved to his feet. “We go!” This time, his step was firmer. He followed the river bank and struck out toward the middle of the valley. Hilana hung limply in his arms.
“Lamorun.” Simra hurried after him and put a hand on the man’s arm. “It’s too late.”
Lamorun ignored her.
Lakhoni caught up to them. “It might not be.” He caught Simra’s gaze. Hope was all they had left. He willed her to read his thoughts. They had to keep going.
She crooked an utterly exhausted half-smile at him and nodded.
The river bank curved to the left and the view opened. Far ahead, something glittered.
“It’s up there.” Alronna pointed at the glittering thing. “I didn’t get very close before I went back for you. Close enough to see the tree was…different.”
Lamorun glanced at the river. “This cannot be the Water Pure.” It sounded almost like a question.
“I don’t think so,” Alronna said.
“It’s just a river,” Lakhoni agreed. Lamorun’s stride was lengthening, forcing him to go faster to keep providing support.
“Then it must be near the tree,” Simra said. “Straight ahead.”
Lamorun put his mouth close to Hilana’s ear and whispered. “I do not permit it.”
Lakhoni knew he was the only one who made out what his brother had said. Lamorun had proven himself stronger than a crushed leg, stronger than years of torture at Shelu’s hands, and stronger than a broken memory. Somehow, Lamorun seemed determined to be stronger even than death.
The glittering thing was perhaps two hundred paces away. If that was a tree, it was like no tree Lakhoni had ever seen.
“How far do you think it is?” Simra asked. “You’re bleeding badly. We could take her now—”
Lamorun drew in a ragged, deep breath and bellowed. “I do not permit it!”
Then, blood streaming down his side, Lamorun broke into a run.
Not a jog, but a sprint. Directly at the strange tree.
Lakhoni tried to call after Lamorun, but the words caught in his throat and all that came out was a surprised grunt. He forced himself into hobbling run, trying to keep pace with his brother.
Simra caught up with Lakhoni and pulled one of his arms across the back of her shoulders. “How is he doing that?”
“I don’t know!” Lakhoni forced his legs to keep moving. Hilana’s arms bounced limply as Lamorun ran. Lakhoni screamed a silent prayer to the First Fathers. Let that truly
be the Water Pure around the tree.
Alronna was ahead of him and Simra, but still unable to catch up to Lamorun.
“He’s lost so much blood.” Simra clutched Lakhoni’s hand, lending him support. “He’s going to kill himself.”
“He doesn’t care.” Lakhoni’s chest felt so tight it might compress, shattering all of his ribs. Any moment now, Lamorun would fall, spent. Nobody could keep that up. And Lakhoni would lose him again. This time forever.
But Lamorun continued. And the distance to the glittering tree was halved. Then halved again. Lamorun was slowing.
Lakhoni realized that the red on the ground as he and Simra desperately tried to catch up was his brother’s blood. Fear gave Lakhoni a burst of energy and he ran harder. The pain in his leg had become somebody else’s. Somebody who had time to worry about it.
Ten paces from the water that surrounded the tree, Lamorun stumbled. He nearly went to one knee, but Alronna was there. She screamed and hauled Lamorun up. He lurched forward. She got one arm around his back.
Lakhoni and Simra caught up and lent their strength, propelling Lamorun forward.
The clearest water Lakhoni had ever seen surrounded the glittering tree’s island. With a roar, Lamorun fell forward. He launched Hilana into the water just before he hit the ground short of the pond’s edge.
Hilana sank into the water without a splash.
Lamorun didn’t move. Blood poured from his side. His eyes were closed.
“Get him in!” Lakhoni dropped to a knee and grabbed Lamorun, trying to drag him to the water. He was too heavy.
“No!” Alronna cried, falling to her knees. “Roll him.”
Lakhoni bent and lifted Lamorun’s legs as the women pushed him onto his side. Lakhoni’s right leg plunged into the clear water as he maneuvered Lamorun around. Then the three of them rolled Lamorun over and he sank into the water.
The blood streaming from Lamorun’s side didn’t spread in the water as Lakhoni had expected it to. The water stayed utterly clear as his brother’s limp body was completely submerged.
The tree—if it was a tree at all—was crystal. A trunk as thick around as three people but appearing completely smooth, sprouted from the island and stretched up to where branches grew out from it. The branches had smaller offshoots and there were leaves and some kind of fruit clustered all over it. The leaves fluttered in the soft breeze that carried through the bowl valley.
Red Prince Page 27
