Nikon told me when we reached the others, and so did Tewy, with a hoot.
I asked, “Any ideas where we can hide?”
“The trees are too obvious.” Kaius sounded more authoritative than I was accustomed to. “They’ll find us there. We could get on a boat, but these days, people are just as likely to turn us in as take us where we want to go.”
I worried my lip as I tried to find the solution to the problem. My cane was light in my hands, a reminder of what I’d have to do if we were found again—fight. But it reminded me of something else, too. “What if we cover ourselves in sand? The magic may hide us if it’s in a generous mood.”
“Did you really just suggest using magic?” Nikon sounded incredulous.
“When times are desperate, you do what you have to,” I responded. I wanted to cringe away from the idea, but we had nothing else.
“It’s worth a try,” Zoe said.
Nikon moved forward, and I followed. He said, “We’ll have to hurry, not only to see if it works, but also because it won’t take the warriors long to find us.”
When I realized we were heading closer to the river, I paused with the memory of my parents putting sand on my eyelids. “Shouldn’t we keep going? Try to get away from this city and into another one?”
“I understand you don’t like magic”—Nikon’s voice was low—“but there’s something to your suggestion. Kaius and Zoe are injured. The warriors will catch up to us before we can get away from here.”
I gritted my teeth and let him guide me forward, toward the sound of lapping water. The coarse sand beneath my feet changed. It became softer, heavier, and wet. This was it. I would find out how magic would ruin my life yet again. “Are you certain this is the only way? We don’t know what it will do.”
“Maybe if we lie on it first, it will figure out we need to hide,” Nikon responded.
Feeling a mix of silliness and trepidation, I crouched down. Could I bring myself to do this? Magic ruined my eyes. What would it do if I covered my entire body in it?
I yanked my mind away from the thought. I’d used the river and magical sand to clean both my clothes and body for years, and nothing bad had ever happened. It would be fine. Just fine.
Only it didn’t feel that way.
Instead, it felt like we were calling on a deeper magic. One I didn’t want to mess around with.
The squelching of wet sand came along with noise I couldn’t make out. If I had to guess, my friends were putting the sand on themselves. Nothing bad had happened to them yet, or they would have said something. I had to do this.
Not wasting any more time thinking, I flattened my body against the cool grains of magic. It didn’t take long to roll around in them.
“It’s not doing anything yet for anyone,” Nikon said. “Here. Let’s cover you with more.”
Before I could protest, gobs of the thick stuff landed on my torso. As I rubbed it in and spread it to my arms and legs, a cold feeling splashed over me that had nothing to do with the temperature of the liquid. I was never going to be the same.
Whatever happened, I was probably ruining my life more. The warriors would find us anyway.
But I needed this to work. Needed the sand to help secure a way for us to bypass the guards. If that didn’t happen, I was as good as dead—and worse, so were my friends. Tewy might be the only one to live through this.
“That’s not what I expected,” Zoe said.
A vice gripped my heart. “What?” I forced out.
“My wounds are healed,” she replied. “And I look different. We all look different, I think. Let’s wade deeper and rinse off the sand.”
Oddly, my knees were no longer stinging. That didn’t explain the cold feeling on the rest of my body, though.
I had no problem complying with Zoe’s request. I got to my feet and went further into the river, enjoying the rush of cool water across my skin. I scrubbed all the sand off, pretending I was taking a bath with my clothes on.
Fine. It was a silly idea, but the thought calmed me anyway. It was a typical day back at my waterfall home, only here I had more than just Tewy for companionship.
“It definitely worked, but not in the way I thought it would,” Nikon said.
I splashed some water on my face, easing my fears further. “What’d it do?”
“Like Zoe said, we all appear unlike ourselves. Our features have changed, though our height and builds are the same. My warrior outfit looks like regular clothes. Tewy is the only one who didn’t change, though he didn’t roll around in the sand like we did.”
We looked different? I didn’t appear like myself anymore? What did that mean? For starters, the warriors chasing us wouldn’t be able to tell we were the ones they were trying to capture. Also, I didn’t know what my friends looked like before either, so it didn’t matter.
I shrugged, letting the tension seep from me. I’d be fine. “So what you’re saying is we can go wherever we want and not have problems?”
“I suppose so,” Nikon said.
“How long will it last?”
He replied, “It could be forever or only moments. We’ll have to hope it lasts at least until we can get out of here.”
“And what about you, Kaius?” I asked. “Did your wounds heal as well?”
“They did.”
Huh. Perhaps magic wasn’t as bad as I always thought, though I didn’t forgive it for taking my sight from me. It did make me wonder why it had, but there wasn’t time to ponder on it.
“We need to get moving,” Nikon said. “Though we look different, we’ll appear suspicious if we hang out here, doing nothing.”
“I thought people did that in the river all the time,” I said.
“They used to,” Zoe responded, her voice gratefully stronger, “but the warriors have put an end to that, since the raids have become more frequent.”
“Sands.” What to do now? “What about going back to the house?”
“They’ll be watching it after our break from prison,” Nikon said. “We need to run.”
Our lives in Itpy were over.
Grief and failure overwhelmed my senses, making the world go bland for touch, hearing, and smell. We not only couldn’t help ourselves; we also couldn’t help the rebellion.
I tried to steady myself and pull back into Eppla, the fresh scent of the river familiar but tension underlying everything.
“We should get on a boat and row away from Itpy,” Kaius said.
“But go where? We have to tell them a destination, or they’ll never take us anywhere,” Zoe said.
Nikon gave me his lower arm, and I followed his skin up to his elbow. He led me out of the water, saying, “I’m unsure. The city was supposed to be a safe place. We could wander the desert.”
“Except for the lack of water and the hoard of marauders,” I grumbled.
“Then what do you suggest?” he asked.
“Me?” I hadn’t thought of anywhere, but there was a place I wanted to go. “What about to find my parents?”
The silence was filled only by the water smacking against itself and the beach.
“Aren’t you siblings?” Zoe asked.
“We are”—Nikon stepped in—“but when we spoke to Cassandra’s caretaker, she mentioned something that made Cass think our parents are alive.”
“You don’t agree?” Kaius asked.
I wondered the same thing.
“The woman had every reason to lie, but it did seem like a slip of the tongue.”
“Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it fast. There are warriors out here now.” Zoe’s words were stern with an underlying tension.
Her worry made my pulse quicken. We had to get moving.
“I grew up in Kenti,” I said. We did. If my parents are alive, we should start looking for them there.”
“It’s farther from the capital,” Kaius said.
Zoe added, “That may be our best chance.”
“Let’s find a boat.” Nikon didn’t sound happy, but he guided me back toward the sound of people. The citizens of Itpy might not have been supposed to play in the water, but it sounded as if plenty of people worked along the river, and perhaps some were splashing around like we had been as well. But would it give us cover until we were out on a boat?
Leaving everything we knew in Itpy and those who we helped was our only choice. The rebellion wouldn’t have our assistance, but if we found my parents, would it be worth it? I hoped so.
“Act like you can see,” Nikon muttered. “Warriors are coming this way.”
I gave him my cane, and he transferred me to someone with a thinner arm. Zoe. It would look less suspicious if two women were strolling together than two odiosom of the opposite sex, who didn’t have the markings on their amant finger. Hopefully it appeared that she and I were good friends, and not that she was guiding me.
Ahead, Nikon and Kaius spoke of the weather—how it’d been unusually dry by the river. That the rainy season seemed to be late for this time of year. I hadn’t paid much attention, but I supposed it had.
Zoe said something, but it didn’t register. “I’m sorry. What was that?” I said.
“Don’t you think the river is gorgeous tonight?” In a whispered undertone, she added, “Almost there.”
To the boats, I hoped. “It is.”
We went a little ways before stopping. Nikon said, “We’d like a lift to Kenti.”
An unfamiliar male voice replied, “How much are you willing to pay?”
While Nikon negotiated with someone I suspected was the captain, footsteps crunched closer from our right side. Moments later, a sharp female voice said, “We’re looking for some escapees. Have you seen anyone down here who doesn’t belong? There were four of them—two men and two women.”
“Like this group?” the captain asked.
I held back a cringe, my stomach feeling as if it were upside down.
“Yes, but one of the men and one of the women were injured. These people are healthy and don’t look like our captives. The other man was dressed as a warrior. They’re highly dangerous.”
“We haven’t seen anyone like that.” Zoe sounded perfectly certain.
“Come here, woman,” the female warrior demanded.
Zoe left my side, and I let her go. As her steps went toward the warrior, I wondered if I should face the soldiers or the boatmen. I opted for not moving, but strained to hear the conversation Zoe carried on.
“Are you sure you haven’t seen them?” the warrior asked.
“Nobody like you described, but we haven’t been out here long.”
“Where are you going?”
Zoe replied faster than I would have. “Kenti.”
No sense lying about it, when we’d told the captain that was where we were going. But, sand it all, I hated giving it away.
“Then where are your things?” The warrior’s tone was strict.
“We have family there, and the river will give her offerings on the way,” Zoe said.
“Hmm.”
That didn’t sound like a good response. Would the guard speculate that we’d used magic to change our appearance? I hadn’t expected it, so I hoped she wouldn’t think of it, but perhaps they dealt with this type of thing more than I had.
“We’re on the boat, waiting for you two ladies,” Nikon said.
Why hadn’t he come to escort me over? Maybe because he didn’t want me to appear like I couldn’t see. If he was asking me to come over to his voice, he thought I could do it.
And I could, but it would be harder to not walk slow and tentatively. I felt bare without my cane or Nikon’s arm to guide me.
I turned toward where his voice had come from. “I’ll wait for her.” I didn’t want to say Zoe’s name, in case the guards knew it.
“Go on,” the warrior said. “I’ll be finished with your friend soon.”
I gulped down my worry.
Nikon said, “That’s fine. We’ll be right here when she’s done.”
As he spoke, I stepped forward, mimicking the confidence of a sighted person. It was easier than I thought. Just the sand and lapping of water against my feet.
Nikon had stopped talking, but there was a low hum of chatter, presumably from the captain or other shipmates and Kaius. I followed the noise, going deeper into the water. It was halfway up my shins when Nikon said, “Ste—”
I slammed into something and fell forward, face first.