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Click here"How are you alive?" She demanded angrily. Why was she angry? "You have no pulse!" Was it because Berten was alright, but Lissi might not be?
Berten barked a hoarse laugh and scrubbed some of the sand from his beard. "I'm Gorn'elda, woman! When I'm resting, my heart slows to about one beat every minute, and I hardly need to breath at all. No doubt it's the reason I didn't drown. Call it a gift of my heritage."
Kyra surprised herself when she threw her arms around his neck. She was usually more reserved than this. Maybe it was the hard journey, or the possibility that she'd lost her friends, or her knives, or the fact that she couldn't use her vala right now. Whatever the reason, she just wanted to hug somebody. She was glad when Berten put his arms around her back and squeezed.
"Are you alright, lass?" He asked. "You look like you've been fighting bears with your bare hands."
"You're the first one I've found," she said into his sandy ear. "I don't know where Lissi and Tessa are. I don't even know where we are."
Berten pulled back a bit so he could look her in the eye. "Doesn't matter where we are," he grinned. There was a nasty bruise forming on one side of his face that kept one of his eyes swollen shut. "We'll figure it out. Besides, I have an idea where we might be. Captain said something to me before the voyage went tits-up. He thought we were off course enough to be close to the Alissars."
Kyra's eyes widened. "Impossible! The Alissars are hundreds of miles from where we were headed." In truth, if the maps she'd seen were accurate, the Alissar Isles were well offshore, to the northeast of Port Hope, a seaside city surrounded by smaller towns and villages in the Caraman Delta.
Berten shrugged. "With the winds driving us like they were, for so long, it's possible. At least according to the captain, rest his soul. He went down soon after the boat flipped. I saw him drown. I couldn't get to him in time."
"I'm sure you did what you could," Kyra said kindly. "Did you see anyone else?" She sighed when he shook his head. "Well," she grunted as she got to her feet and offered Berten a hand. "We'll get nothing done lying around in the sand." He clasped her forearm and allowed her to pull him up. It was harder than she expected, without her vala to lend her strength. Briefly, she tried again to access the light within, but a warning spike of pain in her head made her give up.
"Maybe they headed for shelter," Berten suggested, pointing away from the pounding waves. A bolt of lightning striking out to sea briefly illuminated a line of those tall, bare-trunked trees dividing beach and forest. "We should look up there."
With one last, desperate look up and down the shore, Kyra nodded and started for the trees alongside Berten.
***
END OF CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
***
- COMMENTS
D5834about 4 years agoYou have great skill in writing. Smythe's situation went from hopeless to better than before in this chapter, so they might have a chance after all.
Interesting that the Herald knife (Maharagi) not only concealed the wielder from the Gift, but also Shatter did not hum like it normally would when Elaina was threatened. That will be useful to me in determining the exact powers of Herald knives and Paladin weapons.
Anonymousabout 4 years agoThere's a whole lot to keep track of, and I've forgotten who some of the minor characters are. It seems like the odds are so heavily against the Arohim and their friends, like only Aros himself showing up could save them, but I'm sure you've got a plan to handle that. Like if the Titans could be turned (forgot your name for them) away from Maharad, Maloth and Co. wouldn't stand a chance. Also, Shenla no longer being loyal to her brother and building up her own power base is a helpful development, and thoroughly in character, as how can demons actually know love even for each other?
Anonymousabout 4 years agoGreat writing! The story is really developing well, although I wish there were more touching Maloth and Shenla
