The Kingdom Page 31

  “Over here!” Teo screamed with all the volume he could muster. “I’m coming!”

  Proper swimming was impossible in the heaving ocean, but Teo fought his way to where he thought Ana was. He swiveled his head, completely disoriented. The Midnight Glider was long gone now. Teo saw no sign of Ana. Deu! Where is she? Help us!

  At last she surfaced a short distance away, clawing up from the black sea in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. No doubt her gown was weighing her down, dragging her into the deep like a lead weight. “Ana!” Teo shouted, but she didn’t hear. He swam to her, determined not to let her go this time. But the sea had other plans. Just as he was about to seize her, she went under the surface again.

  Teo plunged into the inky blackness, waving his arms in every direction as he tried to find Ana. Horror filled him at the thought that she had run out of strength and was now sinking into the abyss forever. He thrashed wildly, urgently, ferociously. His breath was running out, but he paid it no mind. Ana! Where are you?

  Something bumped him.

  He spun in the water . . . grasping . . . reaching . . .

  And then Ana was in his arms.

  Teo shot to the surface, clinging to his beloved with fierce determination. They surged from the ocean with their lungs heaving, gasping for air in a world that seemed to offer only water. Ana made desperate whimpering sounds as she tried to breathe.

  “Hang on to me!” Teo yelled. “I have you!” Though she grabbed him, Teo knew he couldn’t support her for long.

  Something smashed Teo in the back of the head, making stars blaze before his eyes. He shook away the dizziness and saw that a large chunk of wood had struck him from behind. Looking around, he realized he had floated into the debris field from the two Clan ships that had collided.

  “This way, Ana! Come on!” Teo held her with one hand and paddled with the other as he struggled through the roiling sea. The swell lifted them high, then plunged them down again. Teo kicked with all his strength, dragging Ana toward a large hatch door that had come loose from one of the ships.

  After heaving Ana onto the hatch, Teo flopped next to her on his belly. The hatch was big enough for the two of them to lay side by side. Teo’s legs remained in the water, enabling him to steer. He quickly discerned he didn’t have to propel the makeshift raft, for the relentless waves drove it along.

  The cold rain continued to fall as Teo and Ana drifted at the ocean’s mercy. In the distance a dark shadow indicated what Teo assumed was a headland. Ana clung to the raft, coughing periodically but mostly lying still. Teo let the rolling swells carry them both toward shore as nightfall set in.

  The dull roar of breaking waves finally snapped Teo out of his lethargy. The cliffs were close now, and Teo knew that to be caught in the toothy rocks at their base would mean certain death. Summoning his final reserves, he kicked his legs to guide the raft toward an opening in the wall. Apparently some kind of inlet pierced the seaside bluffs here.

  The winds subsided as soon as Teo entered the inlet. Compared to the high seas outside, the narrow cove seemed like a tranquil paradise. Towering walls on either side sheltered the exhausted castaways from the brunt of the gale. Even the rain started to lighten up.

  Teo ran the raft aground on a little beach at the back of the cove. Ana gagged, retched, and vomited up a bellyful of water. Groaning, she lay prone in the sand. Teo collapsed next to her, and for several minutes they lay together unmoving. At last Ana rolled onto her back and found the strength to speak.

  “I hit him,” she said.

  “You what?”

  “I hit him. The guy with the hook.”

  Incredulous, Teo struggled to a sitting position and looked down at Ana. She regarded him with the steely gaze of a victorious warrior. Both of them knew that if the man had been able to tie off the grappling rope, the Midnight Glider would have been tethered to the other two wrecks. All three ships would probably be on the sea floor right now—with their occupants.

  Teo shook his head. “You amaze me, Anastasia of Edgeton.”

  “I am a pretty good archer,” she agreed with a grin, then rolled over and coughed up more seawater.

  When Scylla and Charybdis began barking, Jané knew she had a visitor. Normally it wasn’t anyone threatening, just patients in need of healing. But out here in the Sessalayan wilderness, Jané was glad to have her two fierce dogs just in case. Their watchful presence helped to even the odds.

  The visitor this time, however, was no one to be afraid of. He was a peasant boy whose style of clothing and clean hands suggested he was from a village instead of a farm. The boy carried a small parcel wrapped in paper. Jané realized she would have to call off her dogs if she wanted to find out what it was.

  “Down, boys!” she called, swatting Scylla on the muzzle to make her point clear. The dogs quieted as soon as their mistress showed no alarm at the unknown intruder.

  “What can I do for you?” Jané asked the wide-eyed boy. “Come to swap something for a bottle of medicine? If so, you’ve come to the right place.”

  “No, ma’am,” the boy said. “I have a delivery.”

  “A delivery? Well, come inside and let’s open it up!”

  The boy shook his head, eyeing the dogs warily.

  Jané laughed. “Alright then, have it your way.” She crossed her cottage yard to meet the boy at the gate. “We’ll do it out here.”

  “A man paid me to bring this to you,” the boy said, holding out the parcel.

  “A man? What kind of man?”

  “A handsome man.”

  Jané scoffed. “Since when do handsome men give gifts to wilderness-dwellers like me?”

  “But you’re pretty,” said the boy.

  “Aha! You’re gonna be good with the ladies someday, little fella.” Jané grinned at her visitor, then began to tear open the wrapping on her delivery.

  Inside was a book. It was small and inexpensively bound, yet it had a look of substance to it. Flipping it over, Jané’s heart skipped a beat as she read the title: The New Testament of Deus, and His Son, Iesus Christus.

  “Oh my!” she exclaimed, delighted by the gift she now held in her hand. Opening to the title page, she saw a note scrawled there: To Jané, with friendship and deepest gratitude, from Teofil and Anastasia.

  “What is it?” the boy asked.

  Jané glanced at her visitor’s curious face. “A storybook full of amazing things.”

  “About what?”

  “About a great teacher named Iesus, who came down from heaven because he loved us.” Jané paused, then asked, “Have you ever heard of him?”

  The boy shook his head.

  “Go sit under that shady tree,” the healer instructed. “I’ll get a couple of cold lemonades, and then Miss Jané is going to open up a window in your soul.”

  “There’s a light up there,” Teo said.

  Ana craned her neck from her seat on the beach. “I see it.”

  “Probably a fisherman’s cottage. Think you can make it?”

  “As long as I’m on solid ground, I can go anywhere.” She gathered her legs under herself and stood up. Her gown was soaked, but the rain had stopped, and the moon was already peeking out from behind tattered clouds. All things considered, Ana was feeling okay.

  “I don’t know how you swam in that heavy thing,” Teo said.

  Ana smiled ruefully. “I didn’t.”

  The pair trudged up the trail from the beach toward the cottage on the inlet’s clifftop rim. Now that there was a little light, Ana could see what a stunning place they had found. The moon’s pale glow reflected off a dramatic landscape of sheer limestone cliffs that enclosed a narrow arm of the sea. It was a deep, hidden cove of incredible beauty.

  As the cottage came into view, Teo shouted a friendly greeting. The light streaming from the window changed as someone picked up a lantern and opened the front door.

  “Who goes there?” called the tentative voice of an old man.

  “Two strang
ers in need of help,” Teo answered. “We fell from our ship and washed up here.”

  “A woman and a man,” Ana added. She knew the presence of a woman often put people at ease in situations like this.

  “Oh dear, how dreadful for you both,” the old man said in a kindly voice. “Tell you what. My cottage stinks of fish, and it’s a mess, but the barn is warm, and the loft is filled with clean hay. Make yourselves comfortable there, and I’ll bring you something to eat.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Teo replied.

  Ana found the barn to be just as the old man described. Wearily she and Teo climbed up to the loft and collapsed in the sweet-smelling hay. Before long the hospitable fisherman arrived with two thick blankets and a picnic basket. Ana pulled out a large jug and guzzled the cool water. It occurred to her that her mother would have frowned on that, but the salty seawater had made her thirsty, and she knew Teo wouldn’t mind her bad manners. Passing the jug to him, she found smoked tuna and pickled olives, along with a couple of dried pears.

  “What’s this place called?” Teo asked the fisherman after taking a drink from the jug.

  “It’s known as En Vau Calank. There are several of these narrow calanks along the coast here.” The old man smiled. “Well now, I guess I should leave you to your rest. Sleep late, you two, and in the morning you can join me for a hot breakfast.”

  “You are far too kind, sir,” Ana mumbled past her mouthful of olives.

  With her belly full and her thirst quenched, Ana felt the heavy weight of exhaustion settle onto her shoulders. Teo gave her the privacy to wring out her gown and chemise and hang them up to dry before wrapping herself in one of the blankets. After she found a dark corner in the hay, Teo also hung up his damp clothes, then lay down on the far side of the loft.

  As Ana examined her thoughts, she realized she felt a little rejected by Teo’s obvious physical distance. Though the two of them were not sexually intimate, their unique circumstances had often caused them to sleep in close proximity. After the day’s harrowing events, she especially craved his comforting presence.

  “You could . . . come over here,” she offered.

  Teo was silent for so long Ana thought he might have fallen asleep. At last he said, “You’re just a little too much for me to handle in that blanket.”

  Ana suddenly felt shy and embarrassed. “Oh, I see . . . okay.”

  “You stay on that side and I’ll stay on this. That’ll be our rule tonight.”

  “Alright . . . so, um . . . good night, Teofil.”

  “Good night, Ana,” he answered with a little laugh. In a matter of minutes he was breathing steadily in the hay.

  Ana stared at the barn’s roof, thinking about the tall, rugged man with whom she shared her life. She often experienced a deep longing to give herself to him in body and soul. From what she understood, those desires were even more urgent in men. Yet in all the time she had known Teo, despite all the intimate experiences they had shared, he had never tried to prevail upon her. Tender kisses were their only form of physical affection. Ana’s last waking thought was a grateful prayer. Thank you for sending this man to spread his wing over me, she said to her God as she drifted off to sleep.

  The sound of horses’ hooves clip-clopping against hard stone awoke Teo at dawn. Instantly alert, he leaped from the hay and threw on his clothes. Though he had left his sword and ax on the ship, he made sure his knife was still in his boot.

  Ana sat up in her blanket, clutching it around her. “Teo, what’s wrong?”

  “Strangers. Six or seven of them. I doubt they’re having an early breakfast with the old fisherman. Get dressed—quick.”

  Peeking out the hayloft door, Teo spotted the riders in single file along the rim of the calank. All of them wore black hoods. They had paused to converse with someone. The fisherman! He was pointing toward the barn.

  “We’ve been betrayed to the Exterminati,” Teo barked. “Hurry! Down the ladder.”

  “But what about my dress?” Ana had donned her chemise, which was essentially a tunic that all peasant women wore as their outer garment. Upper-class women, however, wore it as a shift under their gowns.

  “Leave it. We’re in trouble. Let’s go!”

  Teo and Ana hurried down the ladder and exited the barn into the cottage’s yard. One path descended to the beach, but Teo preferred to take the upper trail. They hurried along it, ducking low to keep the shamans from seeing them. Teo thought it might be possible to disappear among the limestone pinnacles and escape.

  “Let’s hide here and watch,” he said, indicating a clump of boulders. Ana crouched next to Teo. The Exterminati rode to the barn and dismounted. After a brief search, they saddled up again.

  A high-pitched whistle pierced the air nearby. Teo looked up to see the old fisherman pointing down the trail toward the fugitives.

  “But he was so nice!” Ana cried.

  “Looks can be deceiving.” Teo took Ana’s hand. “Come on! We have to make a run for it!”

  They dashed down the trail as the shamans scrambled in pursuit. Teo realized they had one advantage—being on foot. He and Ana could take rocky paths that a mounted enemy could not navigate. He left the main path and clambered along the rim of the calank. The water far below was a beautiful emerald green as it shimmered in the morning sun.

  “This way,” Teo said, leading Ana down a narrow track with a sheer drop-off on one side.

  “Oh, I don’t like this!” Ana’s fear of heights made her clutch Teo’s jerkin as she followed him.

  They wound their way downward, sometimes sliding, sometimes climbing with hands and feet. Shouts and hoofbeats resounded from the calank’s rim, but Teo knew the shamans couldn’t follow unless they dismounted.

  He rounded a corner and pulled up sharp.

  “Oh no,” Ana groaned as she held Teo from behind.

  The little trail had terminated at a ledge that dropped straight to the sea.

  “We’ll have to backtrack.”

  Teo started to turn, but a loud crack! stopped him. Something ricocheted from the cliff wall. Ana gasped.

  “Get back!” Teo cried, pulling Ana behind a limestone protuberance. Up above, the shamans had found a vantage point and were shooting arrows at the trapped fugitives. Several others started easing down the narrow path, daggers in their hands.

  Teo drew his boot knife. “Stay down,” he instructed. “This is going to be—ach!” He stumbled backward as something slammed into his leg.

  Looking down, he saw an arrow protruding from his calf. The narrow bodkin point was bloody where it had passed through the muscle below his knee. Though the wound wasn’t deep, it would certainly hinder him in battle. Teo reached down to the arrow and snapped off the fletching, then slid the shaft free with a grimace. Blood seeped from the two holes.

  “Here, take this!” Ana handed him a piece of moss, which he stuffed into the wound. Another arrow careened off the cliff. The approaching shamans were very close now.

  Teo slid his arms around Ana’s slender waist. She clung to him, though her face bore an uncertain expression. He stared into her eyes.

  “I love you so much,” he said.

  “Oh, Teo! Me t—”

  The affectionate words became a high-pitched scream as Teo leaped off the cliff with Ana in his arms.

  They fell for what seemed like forever. Teo’s stomach churned as he plummeted, and Ana’s terrified squeal rang in his ears. They hit the turquoise water at the same moment, plunging deep beneath the surface in a cloud of bubbles. Teo’s feet touched bottom, and he used the contact to propel himself upward. He shot into the brilliant sunlight, exhilarated to be alive. Ana popped up a moment later, blinking and gasping. The high walls of the calank surrounded them.

  “Teo, look out!”

  He spun to see a lone shaman approaching in the fisherman’s sailboat. The hooded figure held a fishing harpoon above his head.

  “Dive!” Teo said, ducking underwater again. Ana followed his lead, b
ut Teo immediately realized it would provide no cover. The water was so clear, the shaman would have them in view at all times.

  The harpoon whizzed pass Teo’s side, leaving a frothy trail as it planted itself in the sandy bottom. Teo lunged to retrieve it. Rising to the surface, he saw the shaman in the boat had gained on him. Another harpoon was in the man’s hand. Although Teo had nothing to push against, he rose up as high as he could and hurled his own spear at his enemy. Seawater splashed him as he threw, so he couldn’t tell if he hit or missed.

  Wiping his eyes, Teo saw his enemy still poised in the prow with the harpoon raised high. Cold fear gripped him. The shaman couldn’t miss at such close range. Teo crossed his arms over his body, hoping to protect his vital organs.

  Suddenly the hooded figure went limp like a rag doll dropped by a child. His eyes closed, and he toppled into the sea. Teo gazed at the grisly corpse floating facedown in the water. A bloody exit wound was visible in the middle of his back. Teo pushed the body away and climbed into the sailboat.

  The wind had picked up as the morning wore on. Teo trimmed the sail and took a seat at the rudder, heading for the inlet’s mouth. His calf injury ached, and a trickle of blood ran down his leg, but he ignored it.

  He came alongside Ana, who was swimming through the crystal-clear water. Her hair streamed out behind her, and her long, muscular legs propelled her forward. When she surfaced for a breath Teo called her name. She stopped and turned, smiling when she saw him in the boat. Her bright eyes perfectly matched the blue-green sea. Droplets glittered on her forehead like a diadem.

  “Now I believe in mermaids,” Teo joked as he reached out his hand.

  Ana clasped his arm and let him pull her aboard. She tumbled onto the floor of the boat, then sat up on one elbow, dripping wet, panting for breath. Her hair was a tangled mess, and her outfit was that of a peasant, but Teo thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  “How would you like to go to Marsay?” he asked.

  She glanced up at him. “I’m going wherever you are, Captain.”