Текст книги "The sea ogres eager bride"

Автор книги: Ruby Dixon

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Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

Chapter

Twenty-Two

VALI

Days Later

“What do you mean, ‘we have to swim the rest of the way’?” I’m trying not to panic, I really am. Surely he just misspoke, as Ranan is sometimes known to do when he’s stressed or flustered.

“Just that. We will have to swim. To there.” He points at the dark line on the horizon. “Akara can take us no closer.”

I open my mouth to protest, but nothing comes out. Instead, I get to my feet and climb out of the shade of the sun-awning anchored on her back and move closer to the edge of Akara’s massive shell. I put my hand to my brow and squint at the waters as if that will somehow help me see the distant smudge and have it magically turn into the flotilla village that I’ve been anticipating for the last several days of travel.

Nope. Still looks like a smudge to me.

I turn back to Ranan, my belly in knots. “I don’t understand. Why can’t we move closer?”

He tries to get to his feet, grimaces, and flops gracelessly back onto the blankets. Immediately, I rush to his side. Ranan is the worst at being ill. He pushes himself hard every day, and he’s not giving his leg a chance to heal up. Throughout our travel on Akara’s back, I’ve been doing everything that needs doing—making fresh water with the sand filtration system, drying seaweed, pulling up nets, making food, tending to Ranan, and adjusting our tent so the strong winds that come through don’t knock it down. It’d be fine if there were two people to do such things but with Ranan being injured, I’m the one handling all of it.

And I am exhausted. Truly and completely bone-deep exhausted. My initial nerves at going to the village of his people have gone away, and now I’m just ready for someone else to help with the chores. Ranan does what he can, but he’s still weak and gets fatigued easily. Most things also have to be completed on the edge of Akara’s back, and Ranan has to stay under the tent, so I just handle it all.

I thought as we traveled that perhaps I’d have time to practice swimming lessons, but there’s been no chance.

Ranan tries to push up from the bedding again and I make it to his side, putting my hands on his shoulders. “Stay down! How do you expect to heal?”

“I expect the healer to take care of that,” he tells me in a surly tone.

“Well, they’re not going to be pleased that you’ve pulled your stitches twice,” I snap at him, forgetting to be pleasant and ever so eager to please. The moment I realize I’ve lost my temper, I flinch.

But he only laughs, the sound as rusty as the smile that tugs at his lips. “No, they will not like it at all. I cannot sit here forever, though. We must get to the flotilla and Akara can go no closer.”

“Why not?” I try to keep the panic out of my voice. Surely there’s a logical explanation. “You said there would be no swimming, remember?”

For a moment, he seems chagrined. “I did not mean to lie, my wife. I thought this would be easier. Akara’s older than the last time she was near the flotilla, but she is just as belligerent as before. Her thoughts are becoming increasingly territorial. The reason why Akara and I are not with the flotilla is because she is at the age where she is confrontational to other females. Once she is older, she will calm, but until then, we cannot get any closer or she will grow aggressive. If the hamarii split apart because she is challenging a female, they will submerge. It will cause those aboard their backs to lose their supplies. Akara will stay back here and you and I will have to swim the rest of the way.”

“But…your leg.”

“I am buoyant in the water. It will not pain me to swim. I will just use my arms more than anything.” He reaches up and takes my hand in his. “I am far more worried about you. Do not fret, Valessa. I will not let anything happen to you.”

I want to argue, but he twines his fingers with mine and I swallow back my fears. He’s not happy about this either, I remind myself. He thought Akara would be calmer. I’ve noticed myself that she seems agitated today; her movements are choppy, making our shelter shift and shake in place. I eye our joined hands, running my fingers over his larger knuckles, and I confess my biggest fear. “I’m not worried about drowning, Ranan. I know you won’t let that happen. I’m just worried that you’ll think I’m hopeless. That you’ll be disappointed in me for not being able to swim and I’ll embarrass you in front of your family.”

That you’ll decide you no longer want a bothersome human wife.

“No,” he blurts. Then he closes his eyes, pauses, and elaborates. “You won’t embarrass me. I know you cannot swim. It is inconvenient but not your fault. I would not hold that against you. I swear to you on Lord Vor.”

He knows just what to say. Invoking Lord Vor’s name reminds me that we are in the god’s territory now, and Ranan’s people are probably his favored. “Just don’t remind Lord Vor that I haven’t gotten him his fish yet.”

A hint of a smile flashes on Ranan’s somber face and he squeezes my hand. “The gods will understand that you have been occupied with other things.”

I’m not so sure. The gods aren’t known to be incredibly understanding. I’ve promised Vor of the Seas a sacrifice, and I’ve let weeks pass without fulfilling my promise. I’m suddenly thankful that there’s an Anticipation going on right now—like Ranan said, Vor might not even be there to accept my sacrifice. Here’s hoping.

Sighing, I turn and look at the smudge of darkness on the edge of the horizon. It’s farther away than I’ve ever swam, and we’re in the middle of the sea. We’ve seen nothing but blue waters for days now. I’ve found the vastness a bit alarming, but safe on Akara’s back, I’ve been able to stave off my fears. Now I get to jump in and swim next to my husband who will swim better with one leg than me with both.

Lovely.

“What about our supplies?” I ask Ranan. “Do we leave them here?”

“For now. We’ll send someone back to retrieve them once we’ve arrived on the flotilla.” He releases my hand and turns on his side, extending his legs out behind him. “The sooner we go, the better. Help me stand?”

Stand? He’s ready to go now, it seems. I’m not ready. I might never be ready.

I swallow my fear and nod brightly and lie through my teeth. “Great. Let’s do this.”

It takes a bit of maneuvering to get Ranan to his feet—he might have four arms, but having only one uninjured leg plays havoc with his balance. He puts all his hands on me and uses my sturdy form as a lever to haul himself upright and then leans his weight over my shoulder and hops towards the edge of the water. Once we get close enough, he dives in. I hold my breath until he surfaces and gives his head a toss, flicking water from his proud head fin. “Better already.”

“How’s your leg?” I ask, stalling as I curl my bare toes against the moss on Akara’s back.

“Stings a little, but I’ll just use my arms,” he says, and demonstrates by flicking a bit of water at me.

He seems buoyant enough, all right. My turn. Biting back my fear, I hold my nose and run towards the edge of Akara’s shell, then jump into the water. It’s biting cold out here despite the warm sunshine, and the shock of it makes me flail momentarily.

I surface, sputtering, and then immediately sink again.

I claw frantically at the water, desperate to get air, and then a hard arm locks around my waist and hauls me to the surface. I cough right into Ranan’s frowning face.

“Quit flailing,” he tells me. “You’re going to tire yourself out.”

“I’m trying to swim⁠—”

“Hold onto me,” he says. I wrap my arms around his neck, shivering, but he’s not able to keep both of us afloat. We go under once more, my weight hanging on him like an anchor.

I immediately release him so we can both suck in air and paddle at his side, splashing. “Just go,” I tell him. “I’ll swim as best as I can at your side and we’ll manage.”

“Take your dress off,” he says. “It’s keeping you from being able to move your limbs properly.”

“And show up naked on your family’s doorstep? I think not!”

His frustration is evident, and he tries again and again to keep me afloat while he propels us forward. It never works for long, and in the end, I simply paddle in my flailing way at his side while he slowly moves at my side. I try to copy his movements, but he can hold his breath for far longer than me, so it doesn’t matter nearly as much when he goes under for long spells…whereas it matters for me. We push on, though, and somehow manage to make some progress away from Akara. I can tell he’s getting tired because his movements grow slower, his breathing labored. I watch him anxiously, which just makes me swallow even more water. We swim and swim and…gods, the flotilla looks just as far away as it ever was. I want to weep with frustration because my limbs are cramping from fatigue, but I keep going because there’s no alternative. I paddle and claw at the water, paddle and claw, and somehow I keep going under over and over again.

“Vali?” Ranan calls as I submerge again, only to come up coughing once more. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I reassure him between gasps for air. “Worry about yourself!”

I go under again and he growls with frustration, moving to my side and tearing at the dress tangling my legs. I’m too tired to protest as he rips it free from my legs. It helps, but only a little. At this point my limbs feel like painful knots and every breath hurts. My hair is in my face, salt water stings my eyes, and that gods-damned flotilla still looks as if it’s the size of my thumbnail.

I might be drowning. Just a bit. But Ranan’s tired, too. I just have to manage.

Something brushes under my foot and I yelp, swallowing a mouthful of water as I do.

I go under, thinking a shark is surely going to eat me. Under the surface is so peaceful, though, and for a moment I stop paddling and moving just to drift. Drifting is so very nice…

Dimly, I’m aware that I’m hauled to the surface again and someone slaps my back, hard. I cough up water, and hear the sound of Ranan arguing with another man, who seems to be yelling right in my ear. I can’t focus. I’m too tired, and I just want to go back under the cold waves and drift a bit more. But I have to keep swimming. I try to paddle again, only for a hand to push my arm back to my side.

“Stop your windmilling, lass. I have you now.” The hand moves up to my chin, tipping it toward the sun and keeping me above the water.

I sag against my savior and listen to muffled, waterlogged conversations between him and Ranan. No words register, just the newcomer’s warm, friendly voice and Ranan’s sharper one.

Then I’m hauled bodily into the air and the world tilts around me. I’m flung on my back on a hard surface and squint up at the sun for a moment before hands are pressed on my abdomen and push, hard.

I immediately vomit saltwater.

Someone turns me on my side as I puke, and I stare at delicate feet with a sparkling bracelet around one ankle. A woman’s feet. When I roll onto my back again, I see there are multiple people standing over me with looks of concern on their faces. They all have the head sails like Ranan, four strong arms, and the same greenish cast to their skin.

That’s how I meet Ranan’s family—upon my back, covered in vomit, half drowned and naked.

Lord Vor has taught me so much humility this day.

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Chapter

Twenty-Three

RANAN

The healer’s home is a crowded one.

Daidu’s tent is usually full of jars with cork stoppers—each containing fermented brews made from seaweed, various fish guts, and Vor knows what else—all for use with his healing. There is a small padded bed tucked amidst the jars, and a second padded bed for those that require healing. That alone is enough to fill his domain, but on this day, my tall mother hovers over the healer, frowning down upon him as he works on my leg.

And at my side, Vali is fast asleep, her hand clutching tightly to mine even unconscious.

After we were rescued from the water by my uncle Dorran and his mate Balo, I insisted that the healer examine my Valessa first. My wound is old, and she took in a lot of water in her valiant attempt to swim at my side. Now that she has been deemed well enough, she remains with me, but she is so fatigued that she has passed out.

My poor wife. I reach over and brush a lock of still-wet hair from her brow. Ever since I have been injured, she has not gotten a moment’s rest. Vali just burrows closer to my side, her breathing steady.

“What bit you?” Daidu asks, leaning in close to get a good look at my leg. “Doesn’t seem like a shark. The bite is too deep.”

“Sea dragon. One has settled near my grotto.”

Daidu clucks his tongue, reaching behind him to get fresh towels while examining my wound. “Bad luck, there.”

“Aye. I’ll set up elsewhere. Akara is still too wild to return to the flotilla.” And I am not sure what Vali would think of being here permanently. She loved the grotto and didn’t seem to mind that it was isolated, but she hasn’t seemed particularly excited about meeting the rest of my people. Perhaps she’s shy.

My mother paces while Daidu pokes and prods my leg. She finally loses her patience and leans over both of us, getting in my face.

“What is the meaning of all this, my son?” My mother keeps her tone low and even so she does not wake my slumbering wife. Her expression is full of emotion, though. Her mouth is pulled down into an angry frown and her eyes are full of concern as she watches Daidu poke and prod at my wounded leg.

The healer pushes my mother aside. “You’re in my light, Ajinai.”

Mother steps over my legs to move to my other side. This puts her closer to the sleeping Vali and her expression changes to one of distaste. “You know this is inappropriate. What will the other flotillas think?”

As if I care? “They’re not here.”

“But they will be in a month! You know the Laena flotilla’s chieftain has that lovely daughter about your age. She’ll be looking for a mate and our flotilla could use new blood.” She crosses her arms over her chest, giving me the same stern, motherly look she has all her life.

“Vali is my wife,” I state again. I have said this twenty times since arriving, and it seems I must continue to say it.

“But…why?” My mother leans forward again and then draws back when the healer shoots her another irked look. “Why, my son? Why a human?”

“Does it matter if she is human or not? I have chosen her.”

“I am not questioning your affection for her,” my mother says. Her expression is genuinely puzzled, as if I am speaking in a strange language. “But a marriage should be about strengthening the flotilla and the bloodlines there. It is about strategic alliances amongst others for the stormy season. It is about strong children, my son. It is one thing for your uncle to have a human mate, but another for you.”

“I do not see why.” I’m trying to keep the impatience out of my voice. I continue to stroke Vali’s hair back from her face, feeling the need to touch her softness, to reassure myself that she’s here and she’s fine. My heart nearly leapt from my chest each time she went under the waves. She tried so very hard even though she knew she didn’t have the skills to keep up with me, but she did not complain. Not once. “My uncle could have contributed to the flotilla’s bloodlines as easily as I could have, but he was allowed to mate who he chose. No one is more giving or thoughtful than Vali.”

My mother lifts a hand and plays with one of her dangling earrings, a sure sign that she’s agitated. “That might be, but keep her on the side and marry a nice woman of the seakind instead.”

I bite back my impatience, because my mother has always been like this. It is no surprise that she refuses to accept my marriage to Vali. I knew she would be difficult about it. “I told her I would marry her, and I do not lie.”

Mother sighs heavily, just as Daidu yanks out a stitch, making me grimace silently with pain. The healer glances up at me, two of his hands pinching at my wound while the other two move to pull the next stitch. “These are crooked and clumsily done.”

“My wife stitched me up after I was injured. She has not done it before.”

“It shows.” Daidu wipes away a bit of welling blood. “But it was smart of her to attempt it anyhow. I imagine you’ll keep the leg, thanks to her.”

I want to squeeze my wife against my side for her quick thinking. “She saved my life in more ways than one,” I tell them. “I owe it to her to marry her.”

“Well, that’s it, then.” My mother seems displeased. “I will let your father know, and he will tell the chieftain.”

I doubt either of them will care nearly as much as my mother, but I just nod as she leaves the tent, wincing as Daidu yanks out yet another stitch and then another. He tuts at the jagged line of my scabbed wound, now bleeding from his ministrations.

“Can you give me anything to help with the healing?” I ask him.

“You’re lucky it’s healing as well as it is.” He pulls dripping seaweed from a jar nearby and places it on the angry wound. “But yes, I have something to help. Essence of seaworm and the ground heart of a scaly eel, left to ferment for a hundred days.” Daidu pauses. “It won’t taste good.”

“It never does.” Daidu’s potions are effective, though.

“I’ll prepare it for you.” He pulls another stitch and then straightens. “Ignore your mother. She dreams of grandchildren with taller head sails than her own. It clouds her vision.”

I nod. Vali and I might still have children—halflings are not unheard of—but it is not a particular concern of mine. I care more that she is safe and happy. Strange how I am focused on her needs now, when a month ago all I could think about was how much she would slow me down. How quickly minds change.

How besotted am I that the thought of not waking up with Vali tucked against my side makes the future seem incredibly bleak? Every time I tell myself that I should find a nice safe human settlement to send her to I…just can’t bring myself to do so. It’s selfish, but I want her with me, wherever we end up.

“I need fresh water,” Daidu says, unfolding his legs and getting to his feet. He puts two hands at the small of his back as he stands, bones creaking. “Be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

Our healer loves his own jokes. I bite back a sigh. “Funny.”

Then I’m alone with Vali. All is quiet for a time, with nothing but the sound of sea birds calling to one another and the gentle lap of waves against the shells of the flotilla’s turtles. There are distant murmuring voices of others, likely the chieftain’s family and my mother. Akara’s thoughts brush against mine now and then, calm and distant. She does not mind waiting, and will sun herself and enjoy the waters here. She will grow restless if I stay here long-term, and our bond will weaken without close connection, but for now all I need to do is heal up and tend to Vali.

My Vali.

I glance down at my wife. Her eyes are open and full of worry. I know my wife’s penchant to lie to protect herself, but for some reason I’m not annoyed that she might have been pretending to be asleep through my conversation with my mother. “Have you been awake long?”

“I heard everything,” she whispers. “Should we not marry? Is it wrong?”

I shake my head. “No, we will marry. I said we would.”

She hesitates, her fingers moving along the spiny fin on one of my arms. “I just…they don’t seem happy you brought me. I want your family to be pleased with me as your bride. I want you to be pleased with your bride.”

Her words irk me. After all we’ve been through, she is yet uncertain? “You don’t please me.”

She flinches, gasping. Her eyes immediately fill with tears and she sits up. “Oh.”

By Vor, will my mouth ever stop getting me into trouble? I must learn to think before I reply. “No—wait. I misspoke, Vali.”

“It’s fine,” she says, but I can hear the tears in her voice. She stands and won’t look at me, her arms hugging her chest, a length of fish-hide tied at her waist to clothe her nudity that she hates so much. “I should have known⁠—”

“You should please yourself, not others. That is what I meant.”

“And not you.” There’s a wealth of hurt in her words.

“Just yourself,” I repeat again. “No one else matters.”

“Maybe not in your world,” she says, voice small. “But my survival has been about pleasing others.”

She’s right, and the more I talk, the more of a mess I make of this. “You have to understand, Vali. No one will be pleased you’re here. Not because you are human, or because you are you. They simply do not understand. Among my people, the young marry to bring new blood into the flotilla. They expected me to take a bride from a neighboring chieftain’s tribe, and not for a while yet.”

Vali turns and shoots me a frustrated look. “Then why demand a bride from the slave boats? I thought you were lonely!”

My tongue feels like a stone in my mouth. “Bribe. I meant to say bribe. I misspoke then, as I did now.”

Her face crumples. “Ah. I’m a fool.”

“It’s fine, Vali⁠—”

“No, it isn’t. I’m not wanted anywhere. And this—” She gestures at my leg. “A sea dragon? When were you going to tell me, Ranan? Or is a human you didn’t want not important enough to tell these things?”

I clench my jaw. I should have told her, but I never found the right time. “I didn’t want you to worry.”

“So I get to save you and feed you and bathe you, but I’m not good enough to talk to about the important stuff? Got it. Guess I should have stopped thinking of myself as your wife. At least as a slave, I knew my place.” She tosses her hair, magnificent in her outrage, and storms out of the tent.

Vali storms back in a moment later, her hands balled into fists at her side. “I don’t know where to go.”

“Find my uncle’s husband—the human. His name is Balo and he has a thick beard. He’ll help you find a tent.” I want to do this for her, but I’m stuck here in my sickbed, and I hate it. I try to get up anyhow, because Vali shouldn’t have to face the curious, unwelcoming eyes of my people alone.

She puts a hand up. “Stay down. I don’t want to talk to you right now, and I sure don’t want to help you if you fall.”

And she storms back out again, all righteous fury.

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