Water & Storm Country (37 page)

“I’m here to request your help,” she says,
panting, sweat streaming from her brown-skinned forehead. Her voice
has a musical quality to it, like the tinkle of a stream, or the
pitch-perfect sound of a reedpipe.

The four Heaters stand, followed closely by
Buff and Dazz. “Wilde?” Skye says.

The arrival of the new Heater has created
quite a stir and temporarily stopped the peace process. I’ve been
called into a private meeting to discuss what’s happening.

I sit next to Jade, who her sisters refuse to
let out of their sight. From the Stormers are the war leader, Gard,
and Sadie, the girl who spared my life. The four Heaters are here,
too, along with the newcomer, who they call Wilde. The two Icers
round out the group. A strange and unexpected assortment of
parties.

Taking control of the meeting, Gard says,
“Tell us why you are here, Wilde.”

She shakes her head. “Tell me everything
first. I need the whole picture before I can move forward.”

I’m surprised at how boldly she refuses the
Stormer leader, but her tone is strong, commanding attention and
obedience. If I had to guess, I’d say this woman is a leader in her
own land.

Gard stares at her for a moment, and then
shrugs, an expression that looks funny on such a large man. “As you
wish,” he says. He begins, telling her about the long struggle
between the peoples of storm and water country. He tells of how the
Riders discovered my father’s slave trade, how witnesses saw the
bags of dried seaweed. How the Stormers never understood what they
were for until the Heaters and Icers showed up. To his credit, his
story is balanced. It’s interesting to hear it from another
perspective.

“The Cure,” Wilde says.

“Yes and no,” Gard says. “The sea plants were
sold as a cure, but they never really were. It was all an act of
fraud by a master of deception, used only to get what he wanted:
the children. There was never really a cure.”

Wilde nods, as if she could have guessed as
much.

Jade’s sister, Siena, says, “Don’t make no
searin’ sense. Why did my father and King Goff go to so much
trouble for something that wasn’t even real? It’s wooloo if you ask
me.”

Wilde looks at her. “We may never know for
certain, but I have a guess. The fear of death is a great fear
indeed, a major motivator; it drives even the best men to
madness.”

Between Wilde and Siena, Jade’s other sister,
Skye, says, “And our father wasn’t the best of men, I can ’sure you
of that.”

Siena scrapes her toe along the rug, still
shaking her head. “No sense,” she repeats. “How could everyone be
so stupid?”

Wilde says only, “Men believe what they want
to believe.”

Dazz, one of the Icers, turns to me and says,
“Did you know more was being traded for than just slaves?”

“I…” I don’t want to admit it, but I must.
The only way this—this peace—can work, is with honesty. “I found
out not long ago. My father was attempting to trade the fake Cure
for an Icer girl.” I pause, wary of Jade’s eyes, which I can feel
staring from beside me. “He wanted me to take her as my wife.”

Dazz is up and moving across the room so
suddenly that I don’t even have time to raise an arm in my defense.
And then she’s in front of me: Jade.

Dazz’s fist is pulled back, ready to fly, and
she’s standing in front of me, the guy who beat the skin right off
her back not a week earlier. Protecting me from getting hurt. I
almost want to gently remove her and let the Icer beat my face to a
pulp. But before I can, she speaks.

“He wouldn’t have bloody married her,” she
says. “He’s not like his father. Once I thought he was, but I was
searin’ wrong. He saved my life more’n once.”

His muscles still flexed, Dazz says, “The
Icer girl—she’s my sister. She almost died because of this Soaker’s
father.”

“I’m—I’m sorry,” I say, speaking around Jade.
I don’t know what else to say. “I wish I had done more, I wish I
had stopped him sooner.” Why was I so weak? Why was I so desperate
to obtain the pride of a monster?

“Dazz,” the other Icer says—Buff I think his
name is. “It’s over. Both of the men who hurt your sister are dead
or soon to be.”

Skye rises and places an arm around Dazz,
pulls him back and down, where he sits blank-faced, staring at his
lap, where his fists have finally unfurled.

Jade shifts over, once more at my side. She
lays her hand gently on mine. I’m ashamed because it feels so
good.

“Now please tell us why you’re here,” Gard
says to Wilde, forcing the meeting back on track.

“The Glassies are preparing for war. But not
just against us, the Icers too. Maybe everyone.”

I want to go with them—with the Heaters and
Icers, back to their lands to fight alongside them, like they did
for us. Gard’s already said that it’s not the right time for us to
wage another war, not when we’re not even sure whether we have an
enemy. But my situation is different. There’s nothing for me here,
right? My family is dead. The Riders, while still intact, won’t be
needed now that the peace has finally been agreed with the
Soakers.

“Is there any reason for me to stay?” I ask
aloud.

Remy kicks my foot, startling me. I almost
forgot he was sitting next to me in the sand. “I hope so,” he
says.

“What?” I say.

“I hope there’s a reason for you to stay. I
hope I’m a reason.”

“You? But…” I’m stupid, so stupid. I’m not
used to this, to any of it. I’ve lived my whole life for duty, for
the honor of becoming a Rider one day, and now I’m finally one and
I don’t know how to be normal.

“I just thought…never mind.” Remy looks away,
out to sea.

“No, Remy, I didn’t mean—” I stop because I’m
about to tell a lie. I did mean what I said—that there’s nothing
here for me. But it’s not because I don’t care about him, it’s just
because…

“I’m not used to you yet,” I blurt out.

He doesn’t look at me, but a smile tugs at
his lips. Although I’m not sure I said the right thing—do I ever?—I
know I didn’t say the wrong thing. “You think
I’m
used to
you?” he says, unable to hold back the smile that quickly turns to
a laugh.

I laugh too and before I can stop, his arm is
around me and I’m leaning into him and he’s kissing me, but I’m
kissing him back more, probably doing it all wrong, but not caring,
because it feels so—so perfect.

When we pull apart I can’t keep the smile off
my face and I don’t want to. Things might be all messed up and sad
and maybe getting worse, but at least what I’m about to say is the
truth, even if only a few minutes ago I didn’t even know it.

“I have a reason to stay,” I say. “You’re my
reason.”

“Tell me again that I’ll see you again,” I
say, although I have no right to ask for such a promise.

I can feel an embarrassing number of eyes
watching us, but I won’t let them ruin this moment, this
goodbye.

“I’ll see you again,” Jade says, her hands
curling around my neck, her lips rising up to meet mine. The kiss
is warm, like sunshine, and I let it linger, letting her decide
when to pull away.

“I’ll see you again,” I mimic, adding my own
promise to the mix. “One way or another.”

“All right, break it up. Quit yer
lip-wrestlin’ and love-talkin’ and get yer butt over ’ere,” Skye
says.

Jade laughs and the sound pulls saltwater
into my eyes. I’m glad for her—bloody sad that she’s leaving me for
now, but glad that she’s found her sisters, that she’s going
home.

And so am I. Back to the sea, to a new life
as the Admiral of the Soaker fleet, where we’ll trade and live in
harmony with our new Stormer friends on the shores. From now on
we’ll swab our own decks, repair our own sails. Given the dangers
in fire country right now, the Heater children will stay with the
Stormers, protected, until a time when it’s safe for them to return
home.

“Are you sure you won’t come?” Jade says, one
last time.

“My people are broken and scared. They need
me,” I say, wishing I was born to a regular sailor—that my duty was
only to myself.

She nods, kisses me on the cheek. “I
understand,” she says.

And then she walks away. She walks away and I
just watch her.

I
hold hands with
Jade as the miles fall away under our feet. Jade wanted it to be
the three of us holding hands, Skye included, but Skye said that’d
be too wooloo, even for sisters. But she walks close to us, just
listening with a half-smile on her face as Jade tells us stories,
some that make us want to rush back and beat the living tugblaze
out of the Soakers, some that make us laugh, and most that make us
love her all the more. When she tells ’bout chucking her scrub
brush at Huck, everyone laughs and Skye gives a “That’s my sister!”
She looks like she wants to clap her on the back, too, but Jade’s
still too injured and everyone’s scared to touch her.

I try not to think ’bout my mother—not much
anyway—’cause each time she springs to mind I start to cry. She
woulda loved to see the three of us t’gether again.

The guys, Circ and Feve and Dazz and Buff,
along with Wilde, seem to realize we need some sister time, and
they pretty much leave us alone, laughing and telling jokes and
whatnot. It’s strange how well everyone’s getting along now,
especially Dazz and Feve. I don’t know how I feel ’bout that, but
after what happened on the journey to storm country, I guess I
understand. Plus, I can’t really hold a grudge against Feve
forever, can I? Not after all he’s done since his stupid
mistakes.

When we make camp for the night, Jade finally
stops talking and yawns, curling up on my lap ’fore Circ and Feve
have even had a chance to make a fire. When the fire’s cracklin’
and the day is long gone, giving way to the moon and the stars of a
cloudless night, Wilde tells us everything she’s been holding back
while we prepared to leave storm country.

“Your father”—she motions to Circ—“arrived in
ice country two days past. The Tri-Tribe spies have been watching
the Glassies closely. As always, they were preparing for battle,
getting their fire chariots shined up, cleaning and organizing
their fire sticks. Nothing unusual.” She pauses, looks for
questions. We just wait.

“The Glassies rode out in their chariots,”
she continues, “and our spies followed them from a safe distance.
They picked through the old village.”

“Thank the sun goddess we left,” I say.

She nods. “They would’ve killed us all. Our
spies took a risk, got closer while the Glassies were combing
through the village. They overheard things.”

“What sorts of things?” Circ says, sitting
’side me. He runs a hand through Jade’s hair, all delicate-like,
his leg touching mine comfortingly.

“That we’re savages. That eventually we’ll
turn on them. That if we aren’t exterminated we could ruin
everything.”

“
We’re
savages?” Feve says. “We’re not
the ones rampaging across fire country trying to murder every
living thing.” I’d hate to be the stick he’s holding. He snaps it
in four places, throwing each into the hottest part of the
fire.

“I don’t know much about the Glassies,” Dazz
interjects, “but none of this makes any sense. They always seemed
peaceful enough when they came to see Goff.”

“That should tell you something right there,”
I say. “That they went to see Goff in the first place. He was a
baggard and a half.”

“True,” Dazz says. “It’s just strange, is
all. Don’t they live in some sort of an icin’ bubble or
something?”

“The Glass City,” Wilde says. “A huge dome of
glass. It keeps out the bad air somehow. They live longer than the
rest of us.”

“They don’t get the searin’ Fire,” I add.
“You know, the Cold.”

“Then why venture out at all?” Dazz asks.

“Like I said,” Wilde says. “They’re scared of
us. They think we’ll attack them, maybe crack open their bubble,
let the diseased air in. But it wasn’t just the people of fire
country they were calling savages.”

Skye’s eyes flick sharply to Wilde’s. “What
does that mean?”

“They spoke of the risk of the Icers too. How
now that King Goff has been overthrown they can’t trust the people
of ice country either. They said they want to cleanse the lands
from the desert to the mountains to the sea.”

“I’ll kill them,” Dazz says, pounding a fist
into his hand.

I know right away he’s thinking of his mother
and sister.

“We don’t have much of a choice,” Wilde says
evenly. “They’re forcing us into a war. The Icers too. We’ll have
to stand together.”

“And what of the Stormers and Soakers?” Buff
asks.

“They’ve chosen a different path. They’ll
wait until they have no choice but to fight,” Wilde says.

“Cowards,” Feve says. “They’ll let us die
against a foe that would kill them too.”

Jade stirs in her sleep, but doesn’t awake.
“Don’t let her hear you speaking like that,” I say. “She’s fallen
for one of the cowards.”

“Don’t be so certain of your judgments,”
Wilde says, “somehow I don’t think it’s the last we’ve seen of our
friends by the great waters.”

~~~

Another day of walking and talking and
occasionally laughing passes by us, borne on the strange wings of
fate. It gets hotter as we go, the forest on either side of the
wide swathe of grass we’re walking on thinning with each mile. The
grass is disappearing too, giving way to hard-packed dirt, and
eventually the beginnings of the desert.

I see a prickler, standing alone and resolute
like a sentry into fire country. He taunts me as I pass; must be
friends with Perry.