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Then the shadows started moving around us, slinking like cats. I stiffened, thinking that it was the island and her magic, but Naji tightened his arms against my back and said, "It's fine." I let out a slow, careful breath. Something prickled against my skin, cold and damp. It soaked through the fabric of my clothes. It pressed my hair against my scalp.
And then I couldn't see nothing at all, just blackness. And there was this roaring in my head that scared the shit out of me. But at least I could still feel Naji even though I couldn't see him. I could still smell him, that scent like honey.
And then I smelled soil and pine and rotting wood. We were on the island. It was like I'd opened my eyes and here we were, curled up together beneath a tree taller than any ship I'd ever seen, the sand of the beach not ten feet away.
Naji's arms loosened and he fell with a thump against the soil and the fallen pine needles.
This might hurt me. His words echoed around inside my head and I thought maybe he said hurt when he meant kill and I rolled him over onto his back and pressed my fingers against his neck until I felt his pulse fluttering beneath his skin. I lay my head on his chest and listened to his heart beating.
"You're alright," I said, just in case he might've heard me.
A breeze blew in off the sea, biting and cold. I remembered what Marjani told me: stay warm and stay dry. We weren't doing too good on neither count.
And I hoped those woods didn't hold the same kind of monsters as the water.
I pushed that thought out of my head so I could concentrate on not freezing to death. I left Naji lying beneath the tree and picked my way down to the beach. The sand was rough and dark, coarse like Orati salt, and littered with bone-gray twists of driftwood. I gathered some of the driftwood, trying not to think about how it got there, and stacked it in the sand. Then I sprinkled some powder from the pistol into the wood and fired off the one shot I'd been allowed, wincing as it rang out through the trees, echoing and echoing. Streaks of white birds erupted from the trees and I slammed down on the sand, fumbling around for my knife – but they were only birds, and they flew off and disappeared into the gray clouds.
Thank Kaol, the shot took. The powder sparked and smoldered and burned. I watched the fire for a while, sitting close enough that the heat soaked into my skin. The light of it made me feel safe.
I walked back over to Naji. He was still passed out. I took off his boots and his cloak and lay them out by the fire to dry. Then I gathered up my strength and wrapped my arms around his chest and dragged him over the pine needles and the sand to the fire. He squirmed a little, twisting his head this way and that. I brought him as close to the heat as I could. He moaned and fluttered his eyes and kind of looked up at me and then at the fire.
He said something, but I couldn't understand it. I sat down beside him and took off my own boots so they'd dry out. I stuck my feet close to the flames. I warmed up pretty quickly, all things considered.
Just once in all that work, I let myself look out at the horizon, to see if I could spot the Revenge one last time before she left us. And I did. It wasn't nothing but a few specks of sails against the gray sky, but Kaol, did it ever fill me with despair.
I was dozing on the sand, drowsy from the heat of the fire, when Naji shook me awake hours later. I rolled over and looked at him.
"You're alive," he said.
"Course I'm alive," I snapped. "You're the one who keeps passing out."
"I feel better now."
He didn't look better. Still death-white and haggard. One bruise blossomed out on the unscarred part of his face and another ringed around his eye. Kaol, I got him good.
When he reached up to shove his filthy, clumped-up hair out of his face, his hands shook.
"We need to find fresh water," I said, really meaning I would have to do it, cause in his state he didn't need to be traipsing through the woods. "I hope it won't turn us into monsters." I squinted up at the soft gray sky. "Do you think it's go
I'd seen snow once when we sailed to the ice-islands, and I knew that it was cold as death and not anything we'd want to mess with in our present state.
"It shouldn't," he said, and I didn't know if he was talking about the snow or the water's magic, and I didn't ask.
I sat up best I could – my body was stiffer than it'd been before, like I'd just gone eight rounds with a kraken. "I don't know about you but I ain't too keen on dying." I grabbed my boots and patted the leather. All dry, but also stiff and shrunken. I kneaded at it while I talked. "One of the first things I learned. You get stranded, look for water. Then find a place to protect yourself." I jutted my head at the fire. "I made an exception on account of you getting us stranded in the forsaken north. Figured water wasn't no good if we both froze to death."
Naji closed his eyes and let his head loll between his knees.
"Though I'm also a bit concerned with whatever the hell's following us."
That jerked him back up to full alert.
"It's the Mists, ain't it?"
"The Hariri clan would not have followed us this far without attacking."
I sighed and started kneading at the other boot.
"Ana
His voice trailed off as though speaking had worn him out. I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.
"Are you kidding me!" I shouted. "You couldn't have told me that earlier?"
"We need to find the Wizard Eirnin."
"Don't ignore me."
"You have no idea… I'm utterly incapacitated by this curse… If the Otherworld finds me, if they find you–"
"I'll hand you right over! You don't think this curse is hurting me, too? Kaol! I should have let you die in the desert."
Naji's face turned dark as a typhoon sky, and I immediately regretted shooting off like that. I didn't really want him to die, curse or no. So I pulled on my other boot and stood up. I hated stepping away from the fire, but it'd gotten big enough that its warmth spread all up and down the beach. I did not want to go into those woods, though, all dark and misty and shivering.