Chapter 29
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
After the events yesterday, I volunteered to cover Jorn’s lookout shift so he could rest and recover, but I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t also need the time away from Weston. He agreed to let me switch without an argument, so Sig and I head to the lookout just before dawn.
Watching everything unfold at the Oasis, and sitting with Weston after, knowing now exactly how he saved me and how close to death I was, kept me lying awake in bed well into the night, unable to quiet my mind.
I just can’t make sense of how someone who would risk themselves to save a stranger matches up with Dane’s warnings.
Weston would have to be playing a game so deep and so manipulative if his motivations back then were solely to have one more chance at stealing the waters.
Deep down, I just don’t think that is true.
I also can’t help but wonder what happened between Weston and Dane that caused such friction that Dane’s perception would be so skewed. And what happened to cause that scar?
Would my mind change about either of them if I find out the truth?
I hoist myself through the trapdoor behind Sig as she sits on the rail with the direct view of the mountain, feet crossed out in front of her.
Now that we’re alone, I can finally make sure she’s doing alright. She’s never shown that much emotion before, and quickly buttoned it up just like Weston does as soon as everything was back to normal. But just like with Weston, I want to be there for her the same way she’s been there for me.
“How are you doing after yesterday?” I ask, and hop up on the rail across from her.
She lets out a deep sigh. “Fine. It’s never easy, but I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that this isn’t the first time it’s happened.”
I huff a laugh and shake my head. “I haven’t known him very long, but with Jorn, I am not at all surprised.”
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes, the hint of a smile on her lips.
“What’s going to happen with you two? You know, if we get back.”
“I don’t know,” she murmurs quietly. “Probably nothing. He’ll go back to his kingdom, and me to mine.”
“Would either of you change your mind and follow? You seem like you care about each other. Why would that change just because we make it home?”
She stares off toward the mountain. “It’s not that simple,” she says, her head swiveling toward me, her eyes filled with sorrow. “Not when you aren’t the one that can decide who you marry.”
I search her face, confused. “Why wouldn’t you be able to marry Jorn? The only time I’ve ever heard that happening is if…” My voice trails off as what she said clicks.
Sig is royal.
Just like me.
My mind reels, and I grip onto the railing tighter. Names of the ruling families shuffle through it until I remember.
Berrendahr.
The seaside kingdom that shares a border with Blackwood. The kingdom Sig is from.
“Otin,” I whisper. “Signee Otin.”
She nods slowly, watching me figure it out.
“My father is the king. Well, I assume my brother is now.”
Zyke Otin, the king that stepped into power after his father fell ill, is her brother. He isn’t much older than my father, still a young king in the spectrum of our world.
“Zyke is king now.” I don’t explain how I know.
The lines and names of the royal families of other kingdoms isn’t common knowledge for someone who is a maid in the castle.
I thought I was the only one, but now I know there could be others hiding among not only the Castaways, but the Voyagers too.
Keeping the royal lineage hidden wasn’t only my decision, Sig did too. And there could be more.
She nods solemnly. “I knew, deep down, but hearing it isn’t easy.” A tear falls down her cheek, and I cross the space to wrap my arms around her. She squeezes me for a second before releasing me and swiping her hands under her eyes.
It wasn’t my intention to bring her more pain after what sh dealt with yesterday, but I’m glad it happened. Sig trusts me enough to tell me more about who she is back home. I thought I would feel elated when that happened, like I’d finally accomplished my goal, but it hasn’t been on my mind at all.
I can’t even remember when I stopped thinking about it. I’ve just been living, and learning, and truly getting to know everyone, and it’s just… felt right.
“Why not stay here, then?” I ask. “Why go back when you can be happy with Jorn and live in paradise?”
She speaks slowly, choosing her words carefully.
“I’ve been here a long time, and while I love every person on that ship, living stuck in time for eternity isn’t the way I want to live.
I don’t want to be deprived of what it is to actually live.
I want to experience what it is to be human.
I want to know what it feels like to grow old, and have a family, even if it isn’t with who I would choose. ”
Her words hit me like a slap across the face, but she continues before I can say anything.
“If my fate is to remain here, with all of you, then I will live the best life I can, and mourn the loss of what I thought I would have. But when it comes down to it, I wouldn’t choose it.
I don’t think any of us were truly meant to stay here forever.
This place is meant to help us save someone we love, which means we return home.
That’s why I have hope Dawnlin will let us. ”
When I’d been deemed unworthy, my first decision was to remain here with Dane. If I didn’t have my mother, I had nothing else to return to. My life in Blackwood was not better than the one I had found here, filled with all the experiences and relationships I’d only dreamed of.
Sig’s perspective shocks me back into reality. My life in the castle is unfulfilling because I didn’t have any of the experiences I wanted, and didn’t think I ever would. But here, I truly wouldn’t.
My life as the future queen may not have been exactly as I hoped, but it was still my life, and I could live it.
And I could change it.
I’d already proven that to myself, seeking the island, and finding the impossible.
I understand now more than ever why Weston wants to help everyone get home, even if it is empty-handed.
“Hopefully, we all can live the lives we dreamed of.” I swallow the lump in my throat and fight back my own tears.
Sig is right. The Castaways are making the best out of a situation they cannot control, trying to live happily every day, but how long can you live without actually living? Is eternal life worth living without purpose?
What about all my dreams of seeing the kingdoms, forging relationships, and becoming a fair queen? Like Sig, love may never be in my grasp, but a family can be, and not just one that I’ve chosen here.
A scream breaks through the air, piercing the sound of the waterfall and falling straight into my ears, distracting me from my thoughts.
I know that voice, and my blood runs cold.
Roley.
The shrill scream sounds again, and I run around the lookout, peering through the trees, trying to find where it is coming from.
“Where is he?” I cry as I scan the space around us, to no avail.
“I don’t see anyone!” Sig says as she circles around the lookout, leaning over the rail to get a better look.
On the third scream, I can’t stop myself. I need to get out of here and find him.
“How do we get down?” I yell to Sig.
She shakes her head. “We don’t, Lennox. We can’t leave the lookout.”
“I’m going down there, Sig. I’m not going to abandon him.”
I step up onto the rail, hanging on to a pillar for balance as I reach out and grab the nearest tree branch.
“Shit! Lennox, wait!”
I barely think as I descend the wooden beams that hold the lookout in the air. I don’t wonder about the magic that keeps it hidden, or prevents anyone from stumbling into it. I don’t think about the danger I’m putting myself in.
All I can think is that Roley needs help.
Jumping off the last rung, my feet slam into the ground and I take off in the direction of the screams, trying to stay just inside the line of the trees, off the main path.
“Help!” Roley cries again, from deeper in the forest. Turning toward the sound, I push the foliage out of my face as I crash through the dense trees. By the sound of his voice, he can’t be far.
“Roley!” I scream, hoping he will hear me and respond so I can follow his voice again. The trees thin out just ahead as I charge forward, heading for the open space, when I hear another cry for help.
Movement catches my eye and I stop, pulling my bow off my chest and nocking an arrow.
I creep forward and my eyes fall on Roley, suspended in the air by thick green vines, covered in long, sharp thorns.
They don’t just hold him, though. They slither quickly through the space, wrapping around trees, writhing across the ground, twirling around themselves to get to him.
He’s in a cage, no weapon in sight, and no way out.
He sees me then, and a sob escapes him. “Lennox! Help me!”
“Don’t move!” I yell. Footsteps pound behind me and I gasp, spinning and raising my bow, only to lower it a moment later as Sig bursts through the leaves, sword drawn and scanning our surroundings.
“Shit,” Sig hisses as her eyes fall on Roley, suspended in the air.
“We have to help him,” I say. I don’t care that we aren’t supposed to interact with the Voyagers, he’s my friend. He’s a child. I won’t leave him here to become a victim of the island.
“Of course we’re going to help him.” She jogs around the perimeter, staying just out of reach of the vines.
“Lennox, look! Right in the middle, there’s a stalk where they’re growing from.”
I dart over to her side to follow her point. From this side of the cage, I can see it clearly, a thick trunk growing from the ground, with branching ropes extending out the top in all directions.
“We need to cut it, but there’s no way to get in there,” Sig yells.
Roley whimpers above us, and my heart pounds louder in my ears. I need to get him out now.
I raise the bow and line up my shot. This might be the only way, and I have to work fast.
“Roley, listen to me!” I yell. “I’m going to try to kill it. You might fall, and it might hurt a lot, alright? But we’re going to get you out!”
“We have to take him back after this,” Sig hisses in my ear.
“I know. He saw you,” I mumble, and let out a breath.
Releasing the string, I watch as the arrow sails through the air and hits my mark, tearing a huge gash into the stalk.
An ear piercing squeal erupts from it, and Sig and I throw our hands over our ears.
Vines lash out toward us then, as the others shake Roley in the air.
Sig lets out a cry as one wraps around her leg, and she hacks at it with her sword.
I grab another arrow and let it fly, following quickly with a third.
With the last arrow, the stalk starts to turn brown and shrivel.
The thorn covered shoots unwrap from Roley’s limbs, flinging him to the ground where he lands in a heap.
The vines retreat into the stalk, hissing and squealing as they go, until it disappears into the ground, as if it were never there.
I run, dropping to my knees in front of him, Sig close behind me.
“It’s alright Roley,” I say. “Anything hurt?” I grasp his shoulder, turning him from the curled position he landed in so I can assess him.
“Just the cuts,” he whimpers. His clothes are torn, and puncture wounds cover his entire body. He needs the salve immediately. We don’t know if the thorns had any poison in them, and we can’t risk taking too long to find out.
“It’s alright. We’ll get you all cleaned up,” I say.
“Lennox, we have to go,” Sig says. Her unease is palpable, and I nod quickly and turn back to Roley.
“Roley, you’re going to come with us, alright?”
Terror fills his wide eyes, and he shakes his head roughly.
“No! She’s a Castaway! I can’t go!” he cries and tries to crawl backward away from me, wincing in pain as he moves.
“I promise it will be fine. You have to trust me.”
His head swivels between Sig and me, and I see reflected in him what I believed before, that the Castaways were monsters and being with them would change who we are.
“Come on, Lennox,” Sig grumbles.
“I’m going to carry you, alright?” I lean toward him as a rustle of leaves causes his eyes to flick over my shoulder.
I spin around, looking past Sig, and my breath catches in my throat.
Sword raised to strike with fiery hatred in her eyes, Mara charges right toward us.