Page 42 of Seaspoken

Chapter 13

Evya

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At first, the waterfeels as thick as mud as I try to push through it. Stroke after stroke, yet we barely move.

Then a faint current springs to life beside me, flowing east toward the mainland. I grasp at it, and it grows stronger. All around, the sea is dark and groaning, but this stream has somehow slipped from the Seamother’s hold and answered my call. I let it take hold of us and carry us along, breathing a prayer of gratitude to the Creator.

Keliveth clings to me, shaking as he fights to stay conscious. Blood seeps through the seaweed bandages. I can do nothing more to stop it. All I can do is hold him as the water rushes past and the lights of the elven fortress grow brighter on the horizon. As we pass over the ridge, he goes limp in my arms. By the time the rocky beach of the mainland is in sight, his skin is as cold and pale as snow. I press my fingers to his throat, feeling his pulse. Too slow and too faint, but still there.

We’ve moving more swiftly than I could ever swim. The moons still tread high in the starry night, casting cold light on the contours and towers of Kara Davonashi. A new pang of despair hits me as I look up at the cliffs and remember the only way up to the fortress is the narrow staircase carved into the stone. Carrying Keliveth up those hundreds of steps will take precious time. My own strength might give out before the end.

Set me on the steps, as high as you can, I ask of the sea.

The water swells around us, lifting us up. My stomach clenches with nervous adrenaline as a great wave washes us over the rocky beach and toward the steps. The water piles higher and higher, finally setting us on the slippery rock only a few dozen steps from the top. The wave falls with a crash like the shattering of stone, leaving me huddled on the staircase with hundreds of feet of empty air between me and the tide. Then the sea’s voice fades to a subdued murmur, the waves barely lapping the sharp rocks along the shore. The waters have brought me here in a last, defiant act of will, but I can sense the Seamother regaining control of them. If I fall now, the sea might not catch me.

A terrifying sense of loneliness wraps around me. The sea cannot help me now. My own tribe might never stand with me again. Blood still drips from Keliveth’s wounds, and his only hope lies within a fortress with stone walls and bolted doors that might close around me and never let me out again. Every nightmare has sprung to life in one swift moment. The horror of it threatens to pull me down into a fathomless pool.

“Evya ...” Keliveth’s faint voice breaks through the haze of despair. “Evya, I ...”

“Shhhh.” I brush strands of sodden hair from his face and press my lips to his icy brow. “It’s all right. We’re almost there.”

Resolve grips me. I stand, fighting for balance on the slick stone, and lift Keliveth as gently as I can. His eyelids flutter shut and he groans, then his head lolls against my shoulder. I take the steps as quickly as I dare, bracing against the cliff wall with one side of my body to keep from pitching over the edge of the narrow staircase.

The silence feels like a shroud, a smothering weight. I sing softly as I climb, calling from my memory one of the songs Keliveth used to call to me across the waves. The notes are halting and breathless, but a little of the pain seems to lift from his face and his chest rises and falls in an easier rhythm. Tears burn in my eyes, but I shake them away and keep climbing.

At last I step onto the high plateau, and my heart plummets. The gates of Kara Davonashi tower above me, and shadowy figures of guards stalk along the fortress walls like prowling rimecats. The trees that once stood sentry around the fortress are only stumps now, leaving me with no place to take cover and slip past the guards’ notice. I move with measured steps, heart hammering as the guards turn toward me one by one and raise their longbows. Depths—if they loose their arrows before they recognize Keliveth, we are both doomed.

Creator, help us!Not an eloquent prayer, but I pray it anyway. In this moment, it’s the only shred of hope I have left.

Quiet calm whispers through me, and my strides grow bolder. The guards gather on the parapet above the gate, arrows nocked. The tower bells toll in throbbing tones and shouts rise from the courtyard beyond the gate.

I keep moving forward.

“My name is Evya Atathari, and I bring one of your own,” I call in the common elven tongue, my words ringing clearly through the night. “Keliveth Dalzana is wounded, and I don’t have the skill to heal him. Please open the gates.”

The guards stand motionless. Cold wind carries the murmur of soldiers’ voices debating and speculating. The gates don’t budge.

At last I stand just outside the looming walls. Precious seconds crawl by, stoking the flames of my own frustration. I shout up to the parapet above me. “I swear by the One Who Is that I come alone and unarmed.Open. The. Gates!”

A tenor voice rises above the clamor of the guards. “Let them in, captain. There’s truth in her voice.”

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