Page 30 of From the Noblest Motives
Damien didn't have anything to say to that. It felt rude to say that she saw too much. Healers couldn't help that.
Shudder's trail away from the family's village was clear and easier to follow since the accompanying agony had eased. Meemaw Sekhet shooed them off with reminders to talk to Floyd and not to forget them when the uprising started. An odd thing to say.
Blaze's foldable platform proved indispensable as they whizzed above the ever-thicker forest understory, the plants changing gradually from those that grew on dry ground to those that thrived in wetlands. Ponding between the trees became water around most of the trunks, Spanish moss hung in delicate curtains from cypresses that looked ready to walk away on their knob-kneed roots. Crabs peeked out from the lowest branches, and the whine of mosquitoes became constant.
The bug repellant Blaze had brought became equally indispensable.
"Should be coming up on…" Blaze trailed off when the coracle dock came into view. "Holy shit. I was expecting a couple of posts and some boards."
At least fifty meters long, the structure ran out into the swamp from what appeared to be the last spit of dry land in sight. It supported a small house near the land end and provided space for dozens of little round boats to tie up on the waterside. The majority of the boards were occupied by a coracle repair shop—turtle-shaped boats littering the space in various states of repair.
When they'd clambered onto the dock, Damien shuddered at one of the upturned boats. The shape of the hole in it looked far too much like something had taken a bite out of it for comfort.
"That's why you don't annoy the gators, yeah?" A rumbling voice spoke behind them. "Look like Auntie Eunice, that bite does. She don't suffer fools."
Damien turned to find Blaze chest to chest with a man who more than matched his height and mass. His smile wasn't terribly welcoming.Floyd, I presume.
"Auntie Eunice is an alligator?" Damien blurted out. An introduction would have been better, safer.
"Mmm, yeah. Old and mean." Floyd pushed his hat back and made a show of looking Blaze up and down. "What can I do for you gentlemen?"
"We're looking for Shudder McKenzie," Blaze snarled.
"Never heard the name. Best be movin' along, hunter."
"Wait, wait." Damien put a hand on Blaze's chest and tried to back him up, though it was like trying to move a wall. "Please. We're not bounty hunters."
Floyd poked Blaze in the chest. "This one is. Not sure 'bout you, little man."
"I'm not working a bounty. I'm looking for a friend." Blaze surged forward, nearly taking Damien off his feet.
"Oh, well. Didn't know hunters had friends."
Damien felt his chest constricting, his breaths coming short.No, no, no. Stay present. "Please. Stop. Meemaw Sekhet sent us."
Head swiveling between them, Floyd reared back. "Did she?"
"There were explosions. He escaped. But he didn't stay for enough healing." Damien swallowed hard, knowing his panicked word barrage probably didn't make sense. "We're worried. He needs help."
Floyd puffed out his cheeks on a long exhale. "Damn pretty-eyed men. Fine. Take you out there. But—" He jabbed a finger at Blaze. "Your fancy board stays. If he don't know you or want you, I leave you for the gators."
Jaw clenched, every muscle taut, Blaze looked ready to refuse.
"He's being careful, Blaze," Damien said softly. "I'm glad he is."
Blaze finally glanced down and his gaze softened. "All right. Okay. We do it his way. But I reserve the right for pugilistic contretemps later if he fucks with us."
"I'm not sure you can use that word like that."
"Which one? Fuck?" But Blaze folded his platform up and left it by the door of the dock house, shaking out the hand that had been gripping it too tight.
Damien shook his head and even managed a shoulder bump as they followed Floyd down the ladder to the coracles. He gave a few curt instructions, since he gave them each their own, and though Damien found propelling one a bit frustrating at first—it kept spinning in circles—he watched Floyd carefully and soon had the hang of it.
They certainly weren't the only things moving in the swamp, and now that Floyd had mentioned alligators, Damien began to see them everywhere. Baby ones sunning on a log. A bare hint of eyes above the murk. The V-wake of larger ones gliding through the water.
"Don't they… bother you?" Damien called over to Floyd. "Come up on the dock?"
"The gators? Eh, they just part of life." Floyd shrugged and waved a hand over the water. "The big ones—too big to climb. Ladder breaks. The little ones? Get the broom and sweep 'em off."
