Skye's Arrival

Chapter Twenty-Two

My vision returns about midday. When my eyes focus on something, I see the back of Gerrickson’s horse’s head. What is his horse's name? I think it’s Dorthe. Rafi is covered in blood, and his clothes are so torn, it does leave very little to the imagination. They’ve been riding in silence for most of the journey, which is odd for them it seems. I’m still feeling weak, so I’m allowing myself to rest on Gerrickson some more. I really wasted too much energy by killing so many of Koan’s men, as well as Koan. Well, there goes all the strength I had recovered.

“Rafi, can I just ask you something?” Gerrickson asks, keeping his head straight.

“What is it?” He grunts, sounding as if Gerrickson had called him away from his thoughts.

“Why are you so protective of Skye? I get why Dawn is. They were basically the same person for almost a century. They knew each other’s every thought, every breath, and every sense of pain. You can’t understand that kind of bond, or loss. Skye hasn’t had a chance to grieve for it, but Dawn has. In a sense, it’s been worse for her since she has to watch her go through all of this without being there for her. But why are you nearly as bad as she is?”

“She’s close to me Ger, let’s leave it at that. Besides, it’s my brother that has done this to her. I can’t undo the things he’s done, but I can stop him from doing more.”

“So you feel a sense of atonement needs to be made to her by your family?”

“That’s one way of phrasing it. It’s more complicated than that. Either way, Skye is a part of my family and my past. That is worthy of my protection within itself.” Rafi says, his voice has a bit of a stubborn edge to it.

“You’re so serious lately,” I tell him, my voice raspy. “That’s not like you.”

“Skye,” Rafi yelps. “How long have you been awake?”

“Out of the trance, about five minutes. You two do know I can hear everything you say when I’m stardazed, right?” I lift my head but stay relaxed in Gerrickson’s arms so as not to throw him off.

“No,” they both say; embarrassment is easily noticed in both of their tones.

“Well, I can.” I stretch a little. “Thanks for telling me when you were going to touch me Gerrickson. It was very appreciated.”

“Oh,” he says, going tense. “You’re welcome I guess. I just didn’t know if you were awake or not, and I didn’t want to scare you. I’ve heard some of your dreams, and I don’t want to make things worse for you in case you were having a nightmare.”

I smile, thinking that’s actually pretty sweet, “It’s still appreciated.” Ignoring both men’s embarrassment I look around. “Where are we?”

“We’re heading northeast of the Willow Mountains. We wanted to get away from there in case Koan showed up again.”

“Good idea,” I say, looking in my pack. Yep, the gabbin bones are still there. “We’re still missing something.”

“I have it,” Rafi tells me. “I found something interesting in one of the craters my brother created with my body. Couldn’t find the other thing though.” Rafi reaches into his pocket and pulls out two silver-blue pearls, reaching to hand them to me.

I flash him a smile as I reach to grab it. “Thank you so much, Rafi. Those things are impossible to find.” I put it in my little bag and think about where we should stop next. “Can we go to Onald Beach next?”

“It’s not a beach,” Gerrickson says quickly, then immediately shakes his head. “Sorry, that’s a bit of a sore subject for me, but sure.”

“How is that a sore subject?” I demand while Rafi violently shakes his head at me.

“It’s a lake, not an ocean. It can’t be a beach.” Gerrickson says. “I was right on that exam and I’m right now. No one believes me on this.”

“Maybe the settlers thought it was a beach,” I offer.

“Then why is the body of water called Onald Lake? They knew.”

“Skye, there is no way you’re going to convince him otherwise. He’s dug his heels so deep into this argument, he’s permanently planted there.” Rafi says, urging his horse to move faster. “I’ve had this discussion with him so much, that I can recite it in my sleep.”

“Then admit I’m right,” Gerrickson says, his tone defensive.

“It’s just a name. Let it go.”

“No.”

“This is what you two talk about?” I ask, watching Rafi roll his eyes.

“Yes. What do you and Dawn talk about?”

“Pretty much anything,” I say as I look at my stoned hand. “She’s like a sister to me.”

“Which is why you don’t want Koan to kill her,” Rafi says, flashing me a look.

“Exactly.” I turn and look at Gerrickson, “can I ride my horse?”

A grin immediately spreads on his face, but he folds his lips in to hide it. “I’d say yes, but I feel like Rafi has a different answer.”

Our heads look to Rafi, who shakes his head at me. “You just woke up from being bitten by Koan.”

“I saved your life after breaking out of a three-month-long trance, given to me by Koan,” I argue. “And I stole a horse and sealed a spell, and I also kicked Nate and killed you.”

He opens his mouth to argue, then closes it, finding it hard to pick a ground. “You were stronger than. You vanquished someone less than a fortnight ago.”

“I’m still well enough to sit up on Fidda. She’s quite a gentle horse.”

“I’ll put it this way. If we were to even leave a remote chance for you to get hurt, Dawn would eviscerate us.”

I groan. “I’m not a little girl.”

“No, but you’re weak enough to be taken down by one.” Gerrickson points out, pushing my shoulder to make his point, nearly knocking me over.

After righting myself, I give him a dirty look. “You’re not helping to make my point.”

“Really? I thought I was,” he chuckles with a very sarcastic edge in his tone.

“Skye, you can either sit with Gerrickson or me. No matter what you pick, you won’t be riding solo.”

I groan and shake my head, deciding it’s no longer worth it to keep arguing with them. One of these days, I will be able to get to be unsupervised, but it’s not going to be today.

When we make camp, I work up a sweat helping Rafi cool down and brush out the horses, and clean their hooves. After that Rafi has me sit down and take a water break, while he and Gerrickson set up the rest of the camp. While he’s not paying attention to me, I get up and walk around the camp, trying to get my legs moving.

I pause in mid-step on the east edge of the camp. “Is there a stream nearby,” I ask, hearing the sound of running water.

Rafi looks me over, unsure how to answer. “A slow river…why?”

My eyes immediately brighten. “I’ll be right back. I want to bathe.” I grab my bag and run off before he can stop me. I can hear Rafi groan in frustration behind me. However, the fact that I have removed my corset, and thrown it behind me, is stalling him.

“At least call Dawn,” he yells after me.

“Fine!” I shout back, willing to take that as a win. I call for Dawn while I take my clothes off as I run, excited to be moving. I don’t remember the last time I bathed, and that’s not a good thing. When I reach the river, I drop my bag and dive into the water. The water is freezing, but I’m loving every second of it. The river isn’t moving fast, and it’s easy to work with the current.

I start swimming in circles, my face filled with a smile as I let it remove the sweat, and over a week’s worth of grime, from my body. Happily, I swim to my bag and find that Rafi has packed me washing supplies.

After I clean myself, I soak a little in the river. Dawn still hasn’t shown so I call for her again in my mind. A few minutes later, I hear something move to my left, making me snap my head in that direction. There is a fury of water spreading through the air as something charges toward me, making me scream. “Rafi,” I scream as I swim to the shore.

I don’t make it in enough time as something wraps around my ankle, pulling me under the water. I scream out, “Rafi,” again before being pulled under the water. When I’m under the crystal clear water, I can see that it’s a totoalin. The turquoise spines it holds are nestled into my ankle, holding me in place as it drags me toward its mossy green body. I kick hard, trying to gather as much force as I can into the kick.

It flinches and releases me, allowing me to pop out of the water and breathe. I hit the stone on my hand as hard as I can while I swim towards the shore. Rafi wasn’t kidding. I am too weak to do much right now. My body is already trembling. Normally I’d be able to kill it if this happened.

Before I reach the shore, I see Rafi charging right at me, a sword in his hand. He sees the totoalin right behind me. He dives into the river to go after it as Dawn appears on the shore. He tackles it seconds before it tries to drag me under again, allowing me to get to safety.

“What happened?” she demands, seeing Rafi fighting with the deadly creature.

“Totoalin.” I gasp, making it to the rocky side, and cling to it to catch my breath.

“Are you alright?” Dawn demands, noticing I’m bleeding.

I nod. “It took me by surprise. I should have been paying more attention.”

“Yes, you should have.” She tells me, reaching for my hand.

“Be careful,” I tell her. Dawn can’t swim since she’s never needed to. She’s not in my body anymore, so she can technically drown now. Before, it would have just been me.

I grip Dawn’s hand and lack the strength to pull myself out. I’m too slippery for Dawn to get a good grip on me.

“Where did that come from?” Rafi demands as the water settles. “They’re usually further down south.”

“No idea,” Dawn responds with concentration in her voice. She’s trying to pull me out, but I’m still too wet.

“Here,” Rafi says, pulling him and his wet clothes out of the water. He turns around and pulls me out of the water, setting me down on my feet in front of him. “How’s your ankle?” He asks, focusing on my injury.

I try to put weight on it and grimace. Pain that feels like shattered glass spreads up my leg, making my breath hitch as I immediately pull my leg up. I can’t step on it, and I’m too weak to heal like I normally would. My ankle and up to my midcalf are covered in small puncture marks that are freely bleeding. “I can’t stand on it.”

“Why aren’t you healing?” Dawn demands. “You should be healing.”

“She’s too weak, thanks to Koan’s venom,” Rafi explains, scooping my wet self up.

“Rafi,” I cry out with a mortified note, aware that I’m naked.

He looks down and his eyes widen and his jaw drops. He is just realizing what sort of compromising position this puts me in. “I am so sorry,” he says, immediately looking away from me.

Dawn looks confused. “What is wrong with him?”

“It’s another indecent moment,” I tell her as I blush deeply, aware that something hard is now resting under my backside.

Dawn smirks, “I can see that. Should I get your clothes, Skye?”

“Yes please,” I squeak; my entire face red.

“If it makes this any less awkward,” Rafi begins, clearing his throat, “you do look nice.”

“Thanks,” I say in a hard tone as I squirm a little uncomfortably in his arms. “Can you set me down, please?” I ask, my voice just above quiet.

Rafi nods as he sets me down and watches as I limp behind a tree, making sure I don’t fall. My entire body is quaking as heat spreads through me.

Dawn hands me my bag and I change into a pair of loose black pants and a long shirt, ready for bed. When I step out of the tree, I see Rafi shirtless, immediately making my blush deepen. Why is this happening to me?

“She’s a little embarrassed,” Dawn tells Rafi, helping me walk.

“I believe it. Sorry again,” Rafi tells me, reaching for me.

I keep my head down. “It’s okay. Let’s just not talk about it.”

“I can do that. Do you want me to carry you, or Dawn?”

Dawn speaks first. “I’ll carry her things; you can carry her. I’ll meet you at the camp and get the med kit ready.” She leads me to Rafi, allowing him to pick me up.

I still can’t look at him as we walk in silence back to the camp. “Thank you for calling me for help,” Rafi says awkwardly, to break the silence.

“I panicked, and yours was the first name that came to mind,” I tell him, still avoiding contact.

“You were scared, and I was your first thought?” He asks for clarification.

“Well yeah,” I say. “Dawn can’t swim, and I’ve known you for so long.”

I hear a smile in his voice, “Dawn can’t swim?”

“She never learned how. She was always in someone else’s body. A lot of the things that you automatically know she doesn’t. Cooking is another example.”

“What happened to you two? Skye is as red as an apple cherry.” Gerrickson says, signaling we’ve entered the campground.

“Rafi got an eyeful,” Dawn says, motioning towards Rafi to place me on his bedroll.

“Dawn,” I beg while Rafi sets me down, “please stop talking about it.”

Gerrickson chuckles, “That explains that, now explain the ankle.”

“I was bathing in the river and a totoalin attacked me. Rafi had to jump in the river to kill it.”

“Well, that explains how he saw you naked. Why was there one this far north? It’s too cold for them up here.”

“I’m not sure, but it’s something to think about,” Rafi says, taking the kit from Dawn. Carefully he cleans my wound and wraps it while the others watch in silence.

“It should be healed by the morning,” Rafi tells me, pulling a blanket over me.

The rest of the night goes smoothly while we talk around the fire and eat Gerrickson’s burnt rabbit stew. If I didn’t need the strength, I would have thrown it out when he wasn’t looking. At bedtime Dawn retreats into the stone, leaving me lightheaded and tired enough to sleep.

After I’m hit by another nightmare I bolt upright. It’s dark and the sky is covered in stars. Exhausted, I move over to Rafi-who is sleeping on his side close to me- and curl up behind him. I bury my face into his back, and relax into his scent, going back to sleep to meet a dreamless slumber.