Raven's Return - Ruby Dixon Page 0,50

and their tepid light doesn't make the temperature seem so bad. U'dron figures out the paddle, and then we surge along in the water, just far enough out from the shore that we don't get pulled into the waves. I paddle along with him, though a lot of mine is just steering, and when he takes a break, I push a little harder to keep us moving. I'm so focused on keeping us going and not falling off the tilted, flimsy raft that I don't even notice that the day is getting late. Sure enough, though, when I look up, the skies are getting dark.

My arms are tired as hell, and all of me aches. I dig my paddle into the water and glance back at U'dron over my shoulder. He looks the same as ever, as sturdy and strong, and like he could keep going on for hours. Years, even. "Should we get to the shore and make a fire?" I ask, trying to keep the fatigue out of my voice. I don't want him to think I'm a wimp. "Or a shelter?"

"We will keep going," he says, and I want to cry like the pathetic dork I am. He reaches over and touches my shoulder, as if sensing just how done I am. "I recognize this stretch of beach. We are not far. Rest. I will take us the rest of the way."

I settle my paddle over my crossed legs. "I'll rest, but just for a little while. If you can keep going, I can, too."

He chuckles at that. "Humans are not built the same as the sakh. If you can keep up, I will be very impressed."

Mmm, that sounds like a challenge and one I'd normally try to take him up on, except for the fact that I've been paddling all day and I'm wiped. I bank it mentally for later and scan the shore instead. U'dron says it looks familiar to him, but to me, it's just more jumbled rocks and forbidding, uninviting shoreline with a backdrop of equally uninviting mountains. It's not a comfortable, cozy beach here in Icehome. Everything looks as if it was newly churned from the sea, and the waves are violent against the sharp, jagged rocks. Hawaii, it's not.

I guess it could be worse, but…not by much.

I turn my head to say so to U'dron, when I catch a glimpse of something out on the water, farther out than we are. Frowning, I swivel my entire body as much as I dare and look behind me. There's a flash of blue against the deep green sea, but it disappears in an instant. "I think I saw something."

U'dron grunts acknowledgement. "Juth, most likely."

"You think he's following us?" I contort myself a little more, trying to see, and end up falling onto my back, my head landing in U'dron's crossed legs. The raft rocks and tips, and for an alarming moment, I think I've gone and capsized us again. U'dron puts a hand on my shoulder, going still, and then I let out a breath of relief when we stay afloat. "Sorry."

He gives me a crooked smile. "Perhaps you stay like that for now."

"Pssh. You're just saying that because you want my head in your lap." I carefully poke his leg, gazing up at him.

"I say that because I have no desire to fish us both out of the sea after dark." He gestures at the cliffs. "And we are passing a particularly unpleasant spot of beach with nowhere to land."

"Point taken." I look over at the beach (carefully, carefully) and notice there's really no sand right here, just cliffs that push right up to the edge of the water and meet it. I think about U'dron, and how he must have swum alongside this as he looked for me, and my heart swells with appreciation. "Thank you for coming for me."

"I will always come for you," he says gravely, casting a smile down at me. With my head in his lap, my view is mostly of his chin and nose, but I still like looking at him. "And you are right," he adds after a moment. "Juth is following us. He has been for some time."

"But why?"

He shrugs, his muscles flexing as he digs his paddle into the water again. "Our camp is rich with resources—food, fur…women. He will see what he can steal for himself and his son to make their lives easier."

"I wish they'd let us help them."

"I wish that,