Chapter 21: My breath of air.
Water flushed from my lungs spurting out as I coughed. My eyes flew open immediately blurred and dazed. A face in front of mine and a deep red hair. Lara? As my eyes focused the hair faded to white and I was sure who it was now.
"Thank god you're alright," she heaved on the edge of tears.
I coughed again and rose to a sitting position, "Well I've had worse." I felt the back of my head and found blood. "Thanks for saving me. Where did you learn CPR?"
"You know what that is?" she asked surprised.
"Of course I do," I huffed. "I was pretty much forced to learn First Aid."
"Oh… then you know what I did," she was beginning to blush self-consciously.
I had to look away, "Don't be embarrassed or I'll be as well. It's a completely normal medical procedure."
"Y-yeah," she nodded and shook herself. "But what do we do now?"
I looked around. We were lying on the bank of a smaller channel. The current must have dragged us in. Unlike before however we were in what looked like a tunnel and there were no trees in sight. A golden orb hovered above Lara shedding light around us and against the nearby wall Marley was resting unconscious.
"What happened?" I asked.
"Well after I got hit I tried to swim after the boat but then it shot away before I could reach it. The current pulled me under and before I knew it I was washed into this place. I found you and Marley washed a bit further away. Marley was breathing but you weren't."
"I see…. So in other words you have no idea where we are?"
"Sorry," she apologised as if it was her fault. "What? Why are you staring at me?"
"No, it's just your hair was red," I said simply. It had only lasted a brief second and probably due to my addled mind.
Lara widened her eyes excited and grabbed her hair looking at it, "It's still white…."
"I said 'was'. I was probably just hallucinating. Is your hair colour that important?"
"Well, my hair used to be red before I came here." She laughed tiredly, "To be honest I kind of miss it."
"If it makes you feel better it looked nice while I saw it," I shrugged and stood up. "Let's find a way out of here. I'd carry Marley but you're clearly stronger than me."
"Right!" Lara picked her up instead, throwing the girl over her shoulder as if it was nothing.
We were still wet but inside the tunnel the chill of the wind was gone and Lara's light emitted a soothing warmth. The tunnel ran in either direction a few metres high and several wide. Aside from the stone walls and water, the banks were made of a thick sand. It didn't take us long to reach an impasse. The tunnel cut off and into the water. Just from looking at it I could see the current as the water pushed back the way we came. If it had been strong enough to pull us in, leaving that way wasn't an option.
"Do we head the other way?" Lara asked.
"It's the only thing we can do." I winced and touched the back of my head again as a sharp throb expanded through my skull.
Lara looked at me downcast, "Sorry, healing magic is one of the few things I can't use. Ironic right? Me being the Hero and all."
"I'll be fine. Once Marley wakes up she can give me a check." The pain throbbed again. At times like these, magic sure would be handy. Most my usefulness was preparation based and without my apothecary set, there was little I could do to help myself.
We slowly began to move back the way we came. Aside from our steps and the sound of the water flowing beside us, the tunnel was silent. An hour of walking later our clothes had mostly dried from Lara's light. Then came the sound of the wind. We both hurried and soon enough saw the faint light of the moon.
"Finally," Lara said accomplished. "Now what?"
I took in our surroundings. We had just come out of a large hill and in front of us the river continued to flow. Tall trees stretched in either direction and dense brush filled the gaps between them. The tunnel we had followed twisted and turned ruining any sense of direction I previously had. There was no telling where we were and the sky was too cloudy for me to read the stars. In other words the situation wasn't good.
"Let's go back inside," I turned around.
"Wait why?" Lara asked confused. "Shouldn't we keep moving? If I focus I can feel where Taylor is."
"It's the middle of the night, dark and you may not be, but I'm tired. Marley still hasn't woken up, we don't know where we are and while we have a direction, above all I don't want to be food for the denizens." I pointed into the tunnel, "It should be safe if we rest till morning inside."
"If it's just denizens I can handle them," she nodded confidently. "I've fought them before, they're not strong."
"Yeah so have I but here's the thing. You don't have any equipment, none of us do. We have nowhere to run or hide if things go bad. Ten, twenty, hundreds, I'm confident that you could protect us, thousands? Even you would slip."
"I get it," she moped disheartened. "You didn't have to lay it on so thick."
"I'm just telling the truth," I faced away from her only to turn back around quickly as a prickling sensation spread through my back. Just like I thought she was poking her tongue out at me.
With forceful casualness she pretended like she was licking her lips, "What?"
I sighed, "Nothing." It was just like her to complain in such a childish manner, or at least I felt so.
A few metres back inside the tunnel we lit a fire and rested by the rushing water. While Lara's light could give us all the warmth and light we needed, there was something about fire that was calming. Maybe it went back to the dawn of civilisation when the first beings discovered flames and were mesmerized by its beauty. The way it flickered with seeming randomness, dancing to the wind and casting shadows on the wall like puppets in a play.
"Rain… how are you so calm?" the question came suddenly.
My eyes, tired, which had almost closed shot awake, "What do you mean?"
"I said it before as well. You're always so calm, like you're seeing the world differently. You're different to Ronalt who's just being brave or Ardent's aloofness." Her eyes stared into mine, "How do you do it?"
I had to think. Was I really that calm? I could think of dozens of times while we had travelled that I had lost my wits but at the same time I understood what she meant. Even my first death. When I had seen that Monster chew threw them and I knew I was next… all the while I was scared and trembling, there was a strange sense even then that I'd be fine.
"I'm just used to it," I replied as if it was nothing.
"My friend was like that," Lara looked down. "He was the one who was calm. Even when he almost drowned and I had to save him. Just like you he got up like it was nothing." She began to shake, "It's scary you know. Maybe not for you, but when you weren't moving… when you couldn't breathe… I was really afraid you'd die and it would be my fault."
My hand plonked onto her head, "Me dying would never be your fault."
"But," she looked at me with watery eyes, "But what if it is? Like on the boat, I was careless and both you and Marley ended up falling into the water. If-if things had gone any worse you'd be dead."
I tightened my grip on her head annoyed, "And in that case it would be those damn pirates' fault and not yours wouldn't it?"
"Ow ow!" she struggled under my hand.
"Oh come on as if this hurts you," I laughed and loosened my hold, instead gently rubbing her head before pulling my hand back.
"Things that hurt still hurt," she pouted.
"Anyway just don't mind it. Whatever happens to me, or to anyone else for that matter isn't because of you. We're all making our own choices," I smiled softly. In the end, if or when I did die it wasn't like she'd remember. Only I would.
She opened her mouth to say something else but Marley lying beside us shifted. With a tired grogginess she rose to a sitting position, first staring at the fire then at us. Her stomach grumbled.
"I'm hungry," her eyes directed themselves at me.
I raised my empty hands, "I'm sorry but I've got nothing."
She frowned, "Where are we?"
Lara answered, "We fell off the boat and now we're camping in the forest. First however, Marley heal Rain. He injured his head protecting you."
Marley looked at me and spotted the dried blood sticking to my scalp. Her eyes softened looking at the injury and an ever so slight smile crept on her lips. Silently she reached forward and a glow sprouted from her finger twisting around my head. The last remnants of pain faded and she yawned.
"Are we sleeping?" she asked.
"For now yes," I replied. "Also thank you."
"Feed me later," she laid back onto the ground and closed her eyes. Within seconds the sound of her breath went back to sleep.
"She really does things at her own pace," I smirked.
Lara laughed, "She's not as bad as Earnest."
"No one's as bad as Earnest," I nodded in full agreement. At least all Marley mostly wanted was food and the occasional sight of violence. Earnest wanted to be a part of the violence, that or sleep. "Well I'm going to sleep as well. Get some rest too. You're spell should hold till morning right?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "We'll be safe."
"Good," I lied down and closed my eyes. The sound of the crackling wood easing my mind to sleep.