I’m terrified of that happening to my Aron. Of course I’m worried about my own safety. That’s a given. But it’s a fear I’ve lived with for so long that I’m comfortable with it. It’s not new. It’s not fresh. My own safety is old news; Aron’s is increasingly worrying me.
If we don’t succeed, we’re both screwed.
Aron’s arm tightens around my waist. “Go to sleep, Faith. You need your rest.”
I do need my rest, because I’m his anchor. I’m his mortal tie to this plane. I have to keep myself healthy for the both of us. Even so… “I’m scared, Aron.”
He strokes my arm, comforting me. “If you were not, I would say you were a fool.”
Huh. No over-the-top declaration there. No arrogant posturing. Somehow, it makes me feel better. When I’m at his side, I feel safe. Like everything’s going to be okay even if we’re looking certain doom in the eye.
He makes me think maybe we do have a shot at this. We just have to be smart.
57
Three days in the mountains feels painfully long. It’s three days of cold camping, three days in the saddle, three days of damp clothing and relentless wind. My lips feel chapped. My ass feels chapped. My everything feels chapped. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this world, it’s that I am not an outdoorsy type.
I regret ever complaining, though, because the moment the landscape changes, I realize I’d rather stay in the mountains.
It’s late afternoon on the third day of travel when I catch a glimpse of a distant plain. It disappears from sight as we go around a bend, and then returns again a short time later. It’s a dismal gray plain, and utterly flat as far as the eye can see.
And rising up behind it, in the distance, is a slim, pale needle.
“Is that it?” I ask, pointing. “Is that the tower?”
Aron grunts. “I have never approached it over land, but I suppose yes, that is it.”
There’s something eerily familiar about it, the flatness that stretches for what must be miles. The stillness. “Is it like the Dirtlands?” I say, thinking of Tadekha’s Citadel and how it pulled all the life from the land surrounding it. “Everything’s dead?”
“This is a lake,” Aron corrects.
“But other than that, it’s the same, isn’t it?” I recognize just how…dead everything is.
Aron grunts. “It is. Mortal things cannot live where gods dwell.”
Which makes me worry about my future, since I’m tied to Aron. One problem at a time, Faith, I remind myself.
The path eventually descends out of the mountains, and as we get closer, I can see that it is, in fact, a massive lake. It’s completely and utterly flat, as gray as a storm cloud, and starts almost immediately where this side of the mountains ends. Across the incredible distance, on a small island, is the delicate tower itself, stabbing high into the sky.
Our woales pause on the shore, twitching and uneasy. Markos, Vitar, and the others watch Aron carefully, waiting. They look just as uneasy as the land-hippos.
Aron says nothing. He simply gazes out at the gray, dead waters.
So I poke him. “What now, o leader?”
He grunts, gesturing at the water. “We cross it.”
“Like…swimming? It’s too damn cold.”
Aron makes a sound of pure arrogance. “Of course not. We make a raft of some kind. Surely there are materials somewhere.”
“I see no trees, my lord,” Kerren ventures. “What shall we build a raft from?”
“There will be something,” Aron says bluntly. “We simply have to find it.”
And because there’s no arguing with a god, the men dismount and start to head down the shore. It’s clear they’re uneasy. I’m uneasy, too. Everything feels unnatural here. Awful. Even the water that laps on the shore seems to have an off sound to it. I’m sure as hell not going to drink it or get into it if I don’t have to.
Aron dismounts and then helps me down. Nearby, Yulenna holds the reins of her woale, watching us. The god gives me a hard kiss on the mouth, surprising me, and then storms down the shore.
“Wait,” I call out. “Where are you going?”
He turns around and looks at me. “To find the materials for a boat, of course.” And then continues to walk on.
I stare at his retreating back, surprised. Aron is…helping?
“Is he supposed to do that?” Yulenna asks, her voice hushed. She sounds just as baffled as me.