26. Bree

26

Bree

Sweat prickled over my skin, and yet, I shivered. My legs threatened to give out with every climb. Watching Tez's lean form tackle the terrain with ease was doing something disturbing to me—he might be fully clothed, but it didn't seem to matter. I was existing in a daze of heat.

I almost moaned with relief when I saw the boat. Floating down the river would be so much easier than fighting our way through the swamp itself. And after running into that creature—not to mention the millions of creepy crawlies…

Snatches of Riggs's experiential content drifted through my mind—mostly impressions of Tyrez's flapping wings, the rain dripping beneath his cloak, as well as mutterings about just how sore his butt was. And that by the time they got to me, he wouldn't be able to walk. He was, however, cautiously optimistic about Tez's plan. Traveling by river makes good sense. It will be safer and much faster than overland. But it will be easier to spot you, too.

"Won't Victor's Dragons see us on the river?" I asked.

"I've got it covered," Tez said mysteriously, gazing at the boat.

The light was much better now, so I removed my goggles, wiped sweat from my brow, and pushed my tangled hair back off my face. I'd twisted it into a knot, but the twig I'd appropriated to hold it in place was sorely lacking in ability.

Tez took our goggles and stashed them in the pack. He dug around in it and emerged with, wonder of all wonders, hairpins.

"Will these help?"

I stared at him. Then at his hair. It hung to his shoulders at the back, but I didn't think the ornate pins were either warranted, or his style.

Then he pulled on one and revealed the stiletto. Okay, maybe they were his style. I took them from him.

"They were my grandmother's," he explained.

My mouth fell open. "I can't take these!"

He shrugged. "I won't use them. They don't go with my outfit."

It startled a laugh out of me as I looked at his clothes, all covered in tiny slits where they weren't coated in muck. "I think they are totally your thing," I said, twisting my hair and shoving the pins through.

He tilted his head to regard me, and I couldn't read the expression in his eyes. "They suit you."

The resulting flush of heat weakened me at the knees. I got a visual of crouching before him, while he?—

Dang it, Bree, Riggs protested.

I ripped my gaze from Tez's, turning instead to stare at the boat. Getting to it wasn't going to be easy—it had clearly been brought in via the river and was tied to an overhanging branch. The bank was a mess of dense vegetation, all reaching for precious sunlight, and it looked to be a sheer ten-foot drop from the last tangled roots to the water.

Tez pulled off his bright-red cloak and dropped it into a boggy pit, then poked it with a branch until it vanished. I wondered what the tiny slices in his pants and shirt were from.

He started breaking branches and tossing them into the boat. "Most of the transports on this river are carrying cargo of some kind," he explained. "If we cover these with tarps, we'll blend in."

"Are any of these Brircans?" I asked.

He shot me another heart-stopping grin. "I have no idea," he replied.

I helped him, stomping around and snapping off shrubbery. It wasn't easy to get them in the boat, as it floated amid young trees growing straight out of the water. We eventually managed a decent pile where we needed it. As well as ending up with many floating in the water and hanging forlornly from the saplings. Turns out Tez's aim was much better than my own.

The process only increased my insecurity about actually arriving in the boat myself. Tez surveyed the situation with a rather grim twist to his mouth. "Don't think I can pull it in closer," he said. "We might have to get wet."

The river swirled lazily along the banks, but in the marginally brighter light of morning, it was a murky brown color, and I didn't trust what might be lurking beneath. But I agreed with him—there was no way to pull the boat through the shrubbery.

"Well, it isn't like we aren't already wet," I said with a martyred sigh.

He tossed both packs and the rope into the boat, before moving to a spot on the bank closest to it. As I stared down, looking for handholds, he kneeled and offered his.

I took it, and he supported me as I swung out over the edge. My boots slid on the wet mud of the bank, and I would have fallen if it wasn't for his firm grip. He lay flat, to lower me as far as he could—the water rose over my calves, and then, my thighs…

I released his hand and slipped into the river up to my waist. The mucky bottom sucked at my boots. Suppressing a shiver, I waded toward the boat.

Tez slithered down the bank and landed with a splash behind me. I was almost at the boat when something brushed against my leg.

I froze.

"What is it?" Tez asked.

"Something moved down there," I said through gritted teeth.

Knife! shouted Riggs through my mind, just as whatever it was snaked around my calf and pulled me under.

The next few seconds were a mess of thrashing limbs and churning water. A tentacle emerged from the gloom, attempting to wrap around something more substantial than just my leg. One found my forearm, which completely blocked my attempt to use that knife. Another wrapped around my waist, which covered that blade as well.

So I raised my hand to my hair and pulled out one of the stilettos. Plunged it as deep as I could, wrenched it out, and plunged it in again.

A dark form churned through the water from out of the corner of my eye, and the flash of a blade—Tez, his knife striking repeatedly into something I couldn't quite see.

As abruptly as it had grabbed me, it let me go. I surfaced, spluttering. A strong arm wrapped around me and all but threw me upward—my fingers closed around the gunwale. I half-scrambled and was partly lifted into the boat itself.

As I flailed my way past a pile of branches, I was immediately swathed in moss hanging from the branch above—and along with it, nasty-tempered bumblespidery beasties.

I swatted them off me as I twisted to help Tez haul himself aboard. After a period of hacking away moss and extricating grumpy spiders from draped cloaks, we both lay on the piles of branches, breathing hard.

I retrieved the stiletto from where I'd dropped it into the bottom of the boat, and pulled the hairpin out to re-sheath it.

"That proved handy," I told him, and his eyes glowed at me.

Please stay out of the water. I sensed Riggs's effort to regain a state of calm.

I rubbed at a spider bite. The spiders left more of an impression.

They were just annoyed. The thing in the water was hungry.

I heaved another sigh. Point taken . To Tez, I said, "Remind me to never swim here again."

He snorted a laugh. "That was a hell of a lot of calamari."

"What's a calamerry" I asked.

"A cala mari is a critter with tasty tentacles," he answered.

"You'd eat the tentacles from that creature?" I turned my head to regard him with amazement.

"Well, maybe not those tentacles," he admitted, rolling to a sitting position. "Okay, let's get the branches under cover, and then we can get going."

He pulled folded tarps out from beneath the benches, and within minutes, our boat appeared to have an admirable load of something bulky.

I tucked the last tarp into place and then reorganized my hair. The pins worked like a dream.

When Tez straightened, he said, "Pull your hood over your face."

I complied, as he did as well. "What happens if someone wants to inspect our load?" I asked.

"Doubt they have harbor police," he muttered as he untied the rope.

I had no idea what he was talking about, but I assumed he meant it wasn't likely. I picked up one long pole from where it was stashed and handed him another.

We poled the boat out until it got caught by the current, and Tez directed us downstream. The river remained shallow enough along the edges for us to use the poles, and soon we weren't alone on the water—other boats appeared, coming from Murkan behind us. As we progressed, we ran into a few going the other way, working laboriously against the river's flow.

I wasn't contributing much to our progress—I as much leaned on the pole as leaned into it. I now shivered every few minutes, as though I had a high fever.

To keep myself from repeatedly glancing back to Tez, I examined the other boats we passed. In our cloaks, and with our pile of concealed branches, we blended with them perfectly. I was confident enough that I barely flinched when Dragons flew by overhead. From that height, we looked no different than any of the others. It helped that they appeared to be spending most of their time patrolling well away from the river.

When I pointed that out to Tez, he offered a grin that sent a flush of pure heat through me. "Caliel had a brilliant idea—we have them convinced the Priesthood took you. So they are looking for red."

It certainly explained the cloak Tez had worn when we escaped.

"So you really talk to him in your head? How is he?" Tez asked.

"He's okay, so far." My heart twisted. I could barely feel Caliel, but he was there.

"And you talk to the Dragon, too?"

"Yes."

He half nodded to himself, as if I'd just confirmed something. "Must get crowded in there."

"It's not as bad as you might think."

When his mouth pulled straight and he stared out across the river, I reached for Caliel. Are you okay? I asked.

I am fine. Close to our goal, I think. He paused, then added, Does Riggs know what kind of proof Daize might have that his family survived?

Riggs cursed when I passed the question to him. He saw me. And Mykal. Why?

I asked Caliel.

He says he is bringing proof, he answered .

My gut twisted. What could Daize be talking about?

I will keep you informed, Caliel promised, and faded away .

Riggs's worry carried clearly to me. I don't like the sound of that.

I just hope Caliel gets those photos, and then we can get him the hell out of there, I stated.

A heavily laden boat passed us. It had four men on the poles and contained open crates of what looked like fish. One had a thick tentacle hanging over the edge.

I pointed it out to Tez. "Calahari?" I asked.

"Calamari," he corrected. And then shot me another grin that further weakened my knees. "Kalahari is a desert."

"If you say so."

He snorted a laugh and leaned on his pole. He looked so darned handsome that I had to rip my gaze away.

It would help if you stopped staring at him, Riggs provided . Your Ice Drake is getting desperate.

There was no doubt Icey was, but was that all that was going on? I'd been attracted to Tez before I'd been given the serum.

My general state of decrepitude was not going unnoticed. "There is food in that pack," Tez said, pointing. "Why don't you dig it out?"

I set the pole aside and wove my way through the piles to the pack. Minutes later, I handed him a bag of nuts and nibbled on some dried fruit.

He let us drift with the current, but kept his pole in the water as he sat to eat. When he finished, he gestured for me to stay on my pile of branches.

"I'm okay alone," he said, and resumed poling.

I sat hunched against the drizzle and watched the river. As Dragon wings beat through my mind—mine, or Riggs's? I couldn't be sure—my body ached for something I could not have.

It was better to focus on my worry for Caliel.

Tez's tiny bird flew from his shoulder to hover in front of my face. When I pulled my hood a bit open, she ducked inside and landed against my neck, before stroking her head along my cheek. Her bright little eyes seemed to commiserate with me.

Tez watched her antics with a raised brow. And then, he said, "It would never work, pollito ."

"Who is pollito? And what would never work?" I asked.

" Pollito means little chicken," was all he said.

When I raised a brow, he sighed. "I was talking to the bird."