Ocean of Dust (31 page)

"D'ya hear that?" he said.

The noise was distant but unmistakable.

"Water," she said. "Or another one of those
horrible plants."

He scratched his beard. "One way to find
out."

The forest grew lighter as the trees thinned.
Both suns were halfway down the sky when they emerged into a meadow
of yellow grass as tall as her waist. A rocky cliff towered in the
background. It looked impossible to climb, and she hoped they
wouldn't have to try. She would never make it. They had to be close
to the water but all she could see was grass.

"It must be around 'ere somewhere," Jancid
mumbled. He moved out into the meadow, flattening the grass with
both arms. "Over here-"

He disappeared right in front of her. The
sound of gushing water became deafening. She teetered on the
crumbling edge of a gaping hole that had opened beneath him, and
flung herself flat onto the trampled grass.

"Are you all right?" she called and peered
down.

Ten feet below her, a river poured out of a
tunnel running beneath the meadow and gurgled into another on the
other side of the cave-in. Jancid clung to a root with one hand,
fighting the torrent of water that threatened to suck him
underground. Her heart pounded as she relived the flash flood on
Us-imyan.

"Me arm is broken," he yelled. "The water's
got me pinned to this rock."

The ground beside her gave way, dropping
chunks of earth and grass into the ravine that the river snatched
and carried away. She crawled back from the edge.

"I can't reach you," she cried. "If I try to
climb down it'll collapse."

"Don't try. Go for help." His root snapped
and he crashed onto the rock, half in and half out of the water.
"It's freezing, hurry."

"You can't hang on that long."

His knife was perched on a mud ledge below
her. Grasping a clump of grass with one hand, she stretched her
other into the crater. Her fingers edged along the blade to the
handle, and then she pulled it up and rolled away, just as the
whole section where she had been laying tumbled into the hole.

"Hang on," she shouted. "Just hang on."

She ran back to the trees and frantically cut
at the hanging vines. Once cold took hold, he would pass out and
let go, and if he was sucked under the meadow, she would never find
him alive. She tied them end-to-end with double knots, praying they
would take his weight. Then she wrapped one end of her vine rope
several times around a tree and tied it. Back at the crater, she
tossed the other end down next to his head.

He didn't move.

"Jancid," she screamed. "Wake up. Grab hold
of the vine.”

His head rolled around and he slowly shifted
his body. His face was blue and his eyes moved lazily.

"Do you see it?" she cried. "Take it."

It seemed to take him forever to nudge the
vine closer, using his broken arm. She was about to scream at him
again, when he reached out with his good arm and grabbed the
vine.

"I can't pull you out," she said. "You'll
have to climb. Use it to support you."

He took a deep breath and pushed up from the
rock, taking a higher grip on the rope. He climbed, hand over hand,
moaning and cursing every time he was forced to use his broken arm.
Half way up, he lost his grip and fell back. Her pulse raced, but
she ignored her fear and shouted at him continuously, not daring to
think what she would do if he fell unconscious. After an eternity,
his hand clawed at the top of the hole, and she pulled at his shirt
until he rolled away from the edge and lay shivering and
coughing.

"You're a miracle worker, young missy," he
said, and gave a weak smile. His whole body was blue with cold, but
the day was still hot enough to revive him. "I'll crew with you any
day."

"Let me look at your arm," she said, feeling
the flush in her cheeks.

Apart from a graze there was no obvious
external wound. The best she could do was fashion a sling from his
torn shirt.

"We'd better find the captain,” he said.
“Tell 'im we found water... the hard way." He gave a half grin,
half grimace.

"We'd never have found it if you hadn't
fallen into it."

"Aye. A broken arm's a fair price."

She retrieved the empty bucket from the
grass, and studied the roaring torrent below them.

"Let's take a full bucket back with us." She
tied the vine to its handle.

"No ya don't." He reached out with his good
arm. "It's too dangerous. Let me."

"Not with a broken arm," she replied. "We
barely got you out alive."

She lowered the bucket into the river, let it
fill, and hauled it back up. They took turns to drink. The water
was icy cold, but fresh and invigorating. She splashed plenty on
her arms and face, wiping off the dirt and sweat. She longed to
wash her hair, but there was no time.

Both suns hung low over the trees when they
returned across the meadow and into the forest. After the deafening
roar of the river, she found the chattering of the animals and
chirping birds relaxing, but they kept a wary eye out for
predators. She wanted to get back to the beach as quickly as
possible, and kept up a cheerful monologue about how thrilled the
captain would be with their discovery. Jancid didn't seem to share
her excitement, and walked beside her with a grim face, so she shut
up. He was probably still upset at losing his friends, Sawall and
Grad.

After they had traveled a league or more, she
tried again. "The captain wants to build another boat and leave the
island. How long would it take us?"

"We ain't got the proper tools," he said.
"Between our boat and the other we found, maybe we could cobble
something together. We'll certainly 'ave a go if you can steer
us."

"I'll try."

A warm, fluttering feeling filled her insides
to think how much faith the old sailor and the captain had in
her.

He stopped. "What in Anjan's name's
that?"

A crackling sound came from ahead of them,
and Lissa gasped when a billowing wall of blue flame careened
through the trees, consuming everything it touched. It seemed
possessed by a cruel spirit, probing in all directions with
tendrils of fire. Whole trees and undergrowth ignited at their
touch. The fire marched forward, unstoppable, spitting and
crackling. It leaped into the forest canopy, overrunning the
fleeing wildlife. Charred animal corpses rained down.

"Run," she screamed, tugging at his good
arm.

"What nightmare is this?" he asked.

"I've seen it before," she said. "It's
Farq."

"What? What do you mean?"

"Just run."

He veered to the left. "Back to the meadow.
We have to get out of the forest."

"No, not that way," she said. "It'll burn
that too. Run for the beach."

"But the beach is over there." He stopped and
pointed.

The wall of blue fire surged closer.

"Not our beach," she cried. "Farq will be
there, waiting. This way."

She weaved between the trees, keeping an eye
out for Tagraks or War-blit nests. Animals raced before her, and
swarms of insects and whirling tentacle bugs scattered in all
directions. She slowed often to allow Jancid to catch up. He panted
loudly, and his arm banged around in its sling. She took the heavy
bucket from him and ran on, ignoring the precious water that
sloshed out. The crackling of the fire diminished as they outran
it. Red sand came into view on her right, and she angled toward it,
shooting out of the forest to collapse onto the hot beach. Jancid
dropped beside her and they both gasped for air.

"Were you followed?"

She jumped.

The captain stood a short distance away,
knife in hand, Coy behind him.

"Only by a bloody wall o' fire," Jancid said.
He got to his feet. "I'm glad you're safe, cap'n."

"Likewise." His gaze flicked to the Jancid’s
sling, the bucket Lissa carried, and then past them into the
forest. "Are Farq's men behind you?"

Jancid's head snapped up and he scanned the
tree line. "What does he have to do with this? She's been telling
me the fire's all his doing."

The captain looked at her and his eyes
narrowed. She said nothing and he turned away.

"Wipe these tracks," he said, "then we'll
make for that headland."

"What's wrong with our camp?" Jancid asked.
"Farq's there you say?"

"Let's move before they find us."

Smoke rose from the forest, staining the sky
an ugly black. Blue fire flickered between the trees. They hurried
along the beach, using fallen branches to erase their tracks. By
the time they had scrambled across the rocky headland and into the
next bay, Eldrar had colored the dust ocean myriad hues of
orange.

The captain led them directly to a tiny cave
in the rocks. She wondered how he knew it was there. The entrance
was a tight crack, but opened into two spaces, neither tall enough
to stand in, but plenty of room for the four of them to sit or
sleep.

"So you found water," the captain said the
moment they collapsed onto the sandy floor.

She placed the bucket between the four of
them. He detached a mug from his belt and took a long drink, wiping
his stubbled chin with one hand.

"Ah," he murmured. "Well done. What happened
to your arm?"

He peered at Jancid in the growing darkness,
and handed the mug to Coy.

"I broke it getting the water," Jancid
replied. "It's a fine tale, but I want to know how Farq's
here."

The captain nodded and leaned back against
the wall.

"After running from the Tagraks, we thought
you'd rendezvous at the camp. We'd been there barely half a bell
when the whole forest erupted into blue flame. That scared the stew
out of us both, I can tell you. Coy, sharp eye that he is, spotted
the ship outside the reef, launching balls of fire from the deck.
We ran for it, just in time too, since one of them things
incinerated our boat and the others as well."

"But why did he come back here?" Jancid
asked.

"I’m sure he found the missing boat."

Jancid grunted. "I bet the navigator told him
where to look."

"He’s on our side," the captain said.

Lissa fingered the letter in her pocket and
nodded. The navigator would never willingly help Farq, but maybe
he'd been forced? She took a long swallow from the mug.

"What do you know about this, girl?" the
captain said.

She choked on the water. "I didn't see
anything. We were at the meadow."

"He said you mentioned Farq when you saw the
blue fire. Why?"

She squirmed and looked away, staring out at
the last light of the day.

"Well?"

"I tried to tell you on the ship, sir, but no
one would let me. I wanted to warn you-"

"About what? What do you know about
Farq?"

The story of the weapon gushed out of her in
a long and rambling explanation interspersed with gasps when she
remembered to breathe. She told him everything: about Lyndon and
Alice in the hold, the boy's plotting with Farq, how she had
followed them on Us-imyan and witnessed the weapon in action. She
described the destructive blue and purple fire in detail. Finally,
she stuttered to a stop and sank against the cave wall, staring at
her bare feet.

The captain exhaled loudly. "He was after the
cargo as much as my ship. I had no idea."

"I tried to warn you-"

He waved his hand. "No matter. It's done. He
came back to make sure we're dead."

They huddled together in the dark grey of
dusk. She shivered and wrapped her arms around her against the
chill air.

"They'll be searching for us," Jancid said.
"Unless they think the fire cooked us."

"We saw a boat land on the beach," the
captain said. "They'll be sure to look for us, but I doubt they'll
try at night."

"I say we attack," Jancid growled. "Right
now. He won't expect that."

"Don't underestimate Farq. The boat'll be
well guarded. That's our last option."

"Could we distract the men, and steal the
boat?" she said.

Six pale eyes stared at her out of the near
darkness.

"Possibly." The captain rubbed his jaw. "That
weapon was deadly accurate. I wouldn't like to row out under fire.
We'd never make it."

"Then we wait for 'em to lose interest and
leave," Jancid said. "After that we can build our own boat."

"Their attack on the beach destroyed all the
flux vanes."

"I'm hungry," Coy said.

The captain straightened his drooped
shoulders. "Aye. Find what food and wood you can. We'll build a
small fire where it can't be seen from outside."

In the dim light of two moons, Lissa helped
Coy search the tree line for dry wood and fruit. The acrid smell of
smoke was heavy in the air but there was no sign of blue flames.
Had the fire died out, or blown toward the meadow? What if it
burned the entire island and destroyed all the food? All their
efforts to find water would have been in vain then. She chewed her
lip. The ship was their only means of getting off the island, but
how to get aboard?

She said nothing while they started a small
but warming fire, and shared plenty of fruit. An orange glow
flickered across the cave walls and grim faces. Ideas began to form
in her mind.

"Captain," she whispered. "I know how I can
get back on the ship."

Chapter 27 - The Fair Maiden Again

The captain paused midway before putting a
piece of fruit in his mouth. He studied Lissa intently, one eyebrow
raised.

"You said I, and not we. Explain."

"My plan only works if I go alone," she said.
"I can get a message to Oban- I mean the navigator, and he could
sneak a boat back to you."

"And how do you intend to reach the ship?" He
popped the fruit in his mouth and chewed slowly.