Chapter Thirteen

 

Zeke

 

In the end, Chloe gave it four days.

Barely.

Her bruises disappeared by the second morning, and she seemed to move more easily by the next evening. I caught her watching the cave entrance more often than not, though when she’d notice me studying her, she’d just blink and look away.

But she hardly slept.

Jirral tried encouraging her to rest. Told her it would help her body repair itself even if, as a dehaian, she’d normally only need to sleep every two or three days. But she wouldn’t. Simply closing her eyes seemed to frighten her, and every time she did drift off, she’d jerk back awake again with her face as white as a sheet.

And she never let anyone touch her.

I’d noticed it a few days before, when she’d tried to bolt out of the cave while Jirral was gone. Fear had flashed across her face as I’d come near, the expression so strong, it was like she thought I was a Sylphaen. She’d stayed away from both me and Jirral since he’d returned that first day, mostly remaining curled in the cave’s corner while she waited for her body to heal.

It bothered me more and more as time went on. I didn’t know why I let it, except that it was just another example of the damage the Sylphaen had done. Another way they’d hurt her.

One more thing they had to pay for.

“Stick to the southern line of Myriarch,” Jirral said.

I blinked, pulling my attention back to him. By the cave entrance, Chloe hovered, waiting for Jirral to finish his instructions.

No matter how pointless they were.

“And don’t try getting too close to the Riovarian hills. I spotted a few sharks that way last month and you don’t want Chloe having to contend with them.”

“We’ll be fine,” I told him tiredly, not bothering to add that I’d been to Santa Lucina a hundred times. Or that our spikes would tear through the hide of any shark stupid enough to attack, and that was if they were fast enough to catch us in the first place.

He knew all that.

“Huh,” he commented. He swung his bag up from the floor and tossed it to me roughly. “Food, medicine and clothes, though the latter won’t fit her, obviously. Try not to be such an idiot that she ends up needing to use all this stuff, eh?”

I took the bag and headed for the entrance.

“Thank you for your help, Jirral,” I heard Chloe say as I passed.

She followed me out of the cave.

“How long will it take to get there?” she asked as the dark water swallowed the glow of the torchlight behind us.

“Most of a day.”

“That’s the fastest we could make it?”

I hesitated. There wasn’t any way I was going to let us travel at top speed. “Safely, yes.”

Her mouth tightened, but she didn’t press it.

The hills and valleys surrounding Nyciena gradually fell behind us. I couldn’t think what to say to her as the hours passed, and from her silence, she didn’t seem to want to talk either. There wasn’t much to discuss in any case. She’d leave the ocean, and anywhere near the coast, and stay away from both for as long as she could tolerate.

Which, given her history, might be years.

But that was what she needed to do to stay safe, and as a plan it obviously made the most sense, so there wasn’t anything to talk about.

No matter how uncomfortable the idea made me.

We passed the flat terrain bordering the valleys of Myriarch and then turned to trace a long curve around the Riovarian hills, just in case. Everything Jirral said aside, Chloe didn’t need the stress of learning how to take on a shark right now.

Though I honestly wouldn’t have minded a good fight. I still felt like breaking something.

The water grew shallower as we rounded the outer perimeter of the hills. I could feel the temperature rising incrementally the farther we swam, though it was still sometime past midnight above the rolling waves.

Something moved to our right.

I glanced over sharply, and saw Chloe do the same.

“What–” she started.

I motioned her to silence, my attention on the hills.

A shape flicked between the slopes, too fast to be a shark.

I gestured to the seafloor, and then followed her when she dove toward the rocks below.

We dropped down behind a large boulder. Chloe’s brow rose questioningly. Reaching into the bag, I didn’t respond, instead drawing out the veil control stone and circling us with it quickly.

The veil swelled up, coming to a close over our heads.

A moment passed.

Three dehaians left the hills, swimming toward the place where we’d been. At my side, Chloe’s breath caught.

They were Vetorians. Knife straps crossed their chests over top of so many scars, the old wounds and tribal markings looked like strange maps. The trio fanned out in the water, their heads turning while they scanned the area. Scales of sickly white and faded bronze covered their tails, and metal glinted from their fins, revealing the razor-sharp blades clipped there.

I glanced to Chloe. Her eyes were locked on them, and I could see her trembling.

My grip on the veil stone tightening, I stopped myself from reaching out to calm her. The veils deadened most noise, but I still didn’t want to startle her into making a sound.

The mercenaries passed overhead without seeing us and continued on. My gaze returned to the hills.

Nothing moved.

I remained where I was. If the Vetorians had come out here because they’d spotted us earlier, the lack of motion now could just be a trap.

Chloe looked to me, her pale skin bloodless. I put a finger to my lips. She nodded.

Seconds turned to minutes.

The Vetorians emerged from the murky twilight to our left, swimming back toward the hills. A string of fish trailed behind them.

I drew a slow breath when they disappeared behind the hillsides. I let another minute pass for good measure, watching both the hills and the ocean around us alike, but nothing changed. With a glance to Chloe, I motioned for her to stay low, and at her nod, I switched off the veil surrounding us.

We emerged from the shelter of the boulder and took off.

Water rushed around us as we raced along the seafloor. I kept an eye to Chloe, watching for any sign that the speed hurt her, and when miles separated us and the hills, I finally motioned for us to stop again.

“You okay?” I asked.

She nodded, though she was breathing hard and still looked pale. “More mercenaries?”

I didn’t know what to say. They shouldn’t have been here, just like they shouldn’t have come near us on the way home a few days ago. I knew Ren said they’d been breaking past the borders, but for them to be this far inside Yvaria…

“Zeke?”

“We’re fine,” I answered, hoping I was right.

Worry tightened her face. “So this is normal?”

I hesitated, searching for an explanation to make us both feel better. “No,” I admitted. “But they’re probably just stragglers hiding out after getting past the border patrol. The soldiers will catch them soon.”

Chloe didn’t respond. Not knowing what else to do – and not really wanting to talk about it anyway – I started swimming again.

She followed.

It wasn’t like Vetorians hadn’t gotten past the borders before. It was rare, but it’d happened over the years. But for them to be here in these numbers, and swimming around so damn-near brazenly…

It almost felt like someone was letting them in.

I swallowed, pushing the thought away. Liana and her three cohorts aside, the whole world wasn’t in a conspiracy. Especially not one of that scale.

So this was an anomaly. A disturbing one, but one that – like everything else – I’d deal with when I got home.

When Chloe was gone.

A grimace twisted my face and it took effort to drive it away. She had to go back. It was the safest option left.

Trying to make myself believe the words, I continued toward Santa Lucina.