Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
My head broke the surface, lungs frantic for fresh air. I drew it in along with a mouthful of water and sputtered, eyes tearing up.
When they cleared, they landed on Poppy resting cross-legged on the river bank, entirely too calm. A knife the size of her forearm glinted in the dawn light as she dragged it beneath her fingernails to clean them.
“Hey! I’m alive,” I called out and my voice cracked.
“I knew you would be,” she yelled back. “You always are. I’m not surprised anymore.”
I rolled my eyes. “Glad you have such faith in me.”
By the time I swam to shore, she had moved on to cleaning the other hand.
“Good job, by the way.” Poppy refused to look up as I crawled to the sand and sprawled. “Not a speck of mud left.”
Even though I could have literally died if not for the eel girl who took pity on me.
“No offense, but your compliment means nothing.”
Morning sun warmed my face but did nothing to melt the core of ice lodged into my heart, throbbing along with every erratic beat. My throat burned, too.
A shiver wracked me from my nose to my knees and I clawed my hands in the sand like I needed something to anchor me without sucking me down. Everything hit at once the moment I left the water.
Spending the night in Crahlish felt like the right thing to do at the time, no matter how badly I wanted to go home.
“Then you’re learning.” Her knife scraped. “Or I’m rubbing off on you.”
“Fuck you, Barbara.”
She heard my whispered curse and chortled.
“They’re in, by the way.” My legs flopped to the sides and I burrowed deeper into the sand.
Poppy paused, then resumed her rhythmic cleaning. “The Encantado?”
I chuckled. “Do you know of any other people who live in this lake? Yes, the Encantado.”
Poppy sheathed the knife before sprawling on the sand beside me, her arms and legs spread to make a sand angel. “You keep doubting yourself but I knew you could do it, even without training. I mean, you’re coming along there too, but this is something else.”
Her fingers grazed mine, and before I knew it, the air vacuumed out of my lungs. Blessed sunlight evaporated in the mist of her magic, and wind tugged my hair into knots before Poppy deposited us back at the camp.
Still on our backs, with our feet warmed by the central balefire.
My ears rang and my head spun in nauseating circles. Noren’s howl cut through Poppy’s laughter. I mentally braced myself, then the direwolf leaped on me, all four of his legs caging me beneath him.
His rough tongue grazed my cheek, a low whine vibrating in his throat. I ruffled my hands through his scruff. “It’s good to see you too, buddy. Have you been watching the fort while we’re gone?”
I clung to him and with a gentle pull he got me up on my knees, stopping until the wave of vertigo passed and I could stand on my own.
Poppy had already hopped up with a sprightliness I’d never match. She flashed me a victorious grin with only a hint of sarcasm at the edges and a dare to complain about her preferred mode of transportation.
I couldn’t, not when she was helping me.
She clapped her hands together before cupping them at her mouth. “Michael! Your girlfriend is home.”
* * *
Within the hour, our core crew met in the main tent turned war room. I stood at the center, caught between a direwolf and a prince.
My two favorite beings in this world stood with me, and all the people I loved stood or sat around a massive table similar to Lesheno’s. Livvy and Nexa perched near Nurse Julie.
“So, we have water-based allies on our side now,” I explained. “The Encantado can’t actually come to the camp like the Dryads, obviously. But their magic allows them to travel to any body of water. Apparently, for them, all bodies of water are connected metaphysically.”
“But you said the girl—Eri?—told you they did patrols on land.” Coral was quick to point out whatever plot hole she assumed existed.
“They are able to hold a human-ish form for a few hours, yes, but it won’t be enough.” I turned to Mike. “Would they be able to travel through the river to get here?”
Mike shook his head. “Lane and—” he coughed into his hand “—Arlyss helped me put together a spell for disabling any attack from the water. But water is so malleable, it’s harder to code to individual magical signatures.
Not like the forest and the meadow. If we try to change the spell to allow the Encantado to land, it could jeopardize its entire structure. ”
That was an interesting theory. I shrugged away the mention of one of my nemeses’ presence in this camp—when the actual fuck had Arlyss Coldwater arrived?
Bronwen was sprawled on her stomach near a fireplace more for show than necessity, her feet at the flames, kicking gold shadows across the tent walls. “What are the odds of Dorian Jade’s camp being close to water?”
“High, actually.” Livvy’s voice, barely a thread of sound, still managed to cut through the undertone of conversation.
“It butts up to a river. He wanted access to fresh moving water because running water is good for certain spells. He’d waste too much energy having to magically gather water for spells for his soldiers. ”
My heart lurched against my ribs. She’d escaped. If anyone knew the layout of his campsite, it was my mother.
“Do you think you can draw a map of the tent placements and major geography?” I asked. “I’m sure he’s moved camp since he took me there. I’d like to know how close his personal tent is to the river.”
Livvy nodded as Julie slid a curled-up piece of paper toward me. “It’s already done.”
Melia vibrated, her excitement palpable. “We’d be able to attack them from both sides. Enemies coming up from the water would be a surprise. He’ll be too focused on land attacks.”
Mike snagged the map. “We’ll need to study this and make sure we have a comprehensive plan of attack once the Dryads arrive. Their input will be valuable.”
“Absolutely. I think that’s a great idea,” I said.
Coral held up her hand, but instead of using it to ask a question, she studied her nails. “What about those of us with no real skill at fighting? I’m not really the best person to have on the front lines.”
I blinked, looking up from the map. “No one said you had to be.”
“We’ll figure it out. We don’t have a lot of time, but until the Dryads—”
Mike’s voice blurred under a wave of sudden nausea. I shifted away from the Noren’s body heat, a film of goosebumps lifting.
“Stop trying to claim you have no skill, Coral,” Bronwen was saying. “You won’t shut up about how you fought off those werewolves. I’ve seen your warrior form and it’s as good as any pureblood.”
“Yeah, well, I’m just saying I don’t want you to put me in the front lines.”
My stomach roiled, the sensation of fullness pushing higher. It worsened through the conversation and I clenched my teeth to stop the wave of sickness. The room swam, and when the urge hit, I stumbled outside.
I couldn’t get out the words to excuse myself, but luckily no one asked. Into the nearest bushes I fell, and the moment I hit the ground, it happened.
Mud poured out from my stomach, sloshing against the inside of my mouth and pushing out from my nostrils. Wave after wave of mud jettisoned out of my body as I vomited up the mudslide I’d taken in.
But I barely recognized the cool hands grabbing my hair and pulling it out of my face. Barely felt the coolness of the touch as my body fought the purge.
“It’s okay, Tavi,” Livvy soothed. “It’s all going to be okay. You have to cleanse the overburden of earth from your system. Purge.”
A fresh wave of nausea hit, and despite the tears in my eyes and the way my body seized, the mud needed an exit.
Livvy held my hair out of the way through the next wave of vomiting. My abs contracted, lungs desperate for a break.
The mud didn’t stop. Whenever I’d take a breath, thinking it was finally over, a fresh wave hit and more earth expelled from inside of me.
When my body couldn’t take any more, I collapsed on my side, face inches away from the piles of mud I’d ejected.
Livvy hauled me up and pushed sweat-slicked hair from my face. She braided it with an almost automatic practicality and secured it with magic.
Her hands were steady on my shoulders. “Is it all gone?”
I worked my tongue over my teeth and spat out the last dregs of mud. “I think so.”
It had better be, because I’d always been a violent puker and the last thing I wanted to do was force my body through another round of purging. Everything stung. My throat, raw from the ejection, my stomach, still roiling in protest, my muscles, fatigued from spasms. I found no relief.
Not even when Livvy took my hands and drew me into a more comfortable seated position.
“Come on.” She settled herself down with her legs crossed, urging me to follow her. Away from my mess. “I know what will help you.”
Unless it was a medically induced coma, I wasn’t sure there was any way for her to help.
Finally I relaxed into her hold. And when I sat heavily, clumsily, our knees brushing, she blew out a breath. Her eyes fluttered closed.
I forced mine to do the same.
The comforting wave of her magic proved a balm against my overworked system. Behind closed lids, I imagined it, a soothing wave of blue and gold. Small sparks like fireflies on an easy summer evening fluttered along the tide of her power.
“We give ourselves back to the earth who has given us so much. We settle into the waiting arms of Faerie, grateful for her magic. Now imagine tree roots anchoring you to the earth,” Livvy said.
“This will be different from the lightning. So much raw power, primal. This is thicker, though the damage feels the same.”
Her tone, the strong tenor of it, walked us both through a grounding ritual. By the time she pressed her forehead to mine, my chest rose and fell normally, my stomach unclenched.
And I felt a little bit better.
Her knuckles brushed over mine. “I’m sorry I can’t do more to help you.”
When I blinked my eyes open, she was staring at me. “What are you talking about?”