Page 66 of Artemysia

Just as I’m on the verge of losing consciousness, a body splashes in beside me and a firm hand grips my upper arm, pulling me up. Another arm wraps around my ribs, and my face breaks the surface. I gasp for air, my lungs burning. I throw up water.

“I got you, Delphine.” Riev’s voice is steady. In control. With two fingers, he rakes my hair back from my face and picks out a leaf from my mouth. “Take slow breaths.” He clutches me close, and cradles my head out of the water.

It takes me a while to stop retching.

The river is strong and pulls us south. “Riev, you can’t be in here,” I say between coughs, my voice strained. “What if your Syf side…turns rabid?”

He never even gave it a second thought. Or even if he did, he just dove right in anyway— to save me, to be here with me. I swallow the lump in my throat.

“I hate to tell you this, but I think it’s already affecting me.” He raises his lips. His teeth have sharpened into points. He has fangs.

My heart stops. Riders pursue us along the banks.

It seems hopeless, and I can’t see a way out of this. There’s no way to win. Not when Riev is turning.

It’s all over. Isn’t it? Riev is done for, which means I am too.

There’s nothing else we can do, except cling to each other, terrified.

I start to shiver, which means I can feel my body.

We’ve been riding the rapids downstream for a while.

It’s faster than running, and Riev has kept me afloat.

But he tells me he isn’t feeling like himself, and that his mind forms wild thoughts.

He whispers to me, in a voice tinged with dread, confessing that he feels like biting the throats of the guards if only to taste hot, pulsing blood.

A snarl rips from him, and for an instant, his nails dig a little too hard into my sides.

“Marije? Ma?” He is starting to make less sense with each wave of water washing over us. “The ravens are back, Ma. Your little raven is home.”

My heart cries for him. “Riev, listen to my voice. I will save you. Remember who you are. To Marije. To me. Hold on,” I plead, choking back the sheer horror of losing him.

“Elphie,” he rasps. “Promise me you won’t let me turn into one of them. A beast. A rabid monster. Promise me you’ll kill me first, that you’ll do the right thing.”

“Don’t say that. We’ll get you back to Artemysia. They may know what to do. You’re only half-Syf. It may not affect you fully.”

“Promise me, Delphine.”

My heart skids to a halt. No. No way.

“I am not going to kill you. You should have asked me when you were annoying the hell out of me going through the woods. Or at the prince’s estate. Maybe I could’ve killed you then.”

He smirks, and I see that his fangs have sharpened. He looks wilder, feral. “It’s you I need. Get us out of this. I’m out. I’m sorry, Elphie, my mind is turning. I can feel it.”

I can do this. Think . There are no rules anymore. I’m regaining a bit of feeling in my legs.

I glance down. I can’t see the bottom of the river. It’s deep and dark.

But something moves.

The shadows are moving, but not in a random pattern. Gods alive. Is that giant river snake real? Or just our shadows?

“There’s something in the water, Riev.”

He doesn’t seem to register what I’m saying. He’s looking at me, panic flitting across his face. “I don’t feel good…”

He growls, one side of his lip curling. I’m going to have to restrain him. But in the next moment, he blinks and holds me tight, making sure my head is out of the water.

My foot brushes against something firm .

It’s a lot bigger than I thought. And it’s definitely not a log.

It’s black, with fins and eyes of gold I recognize from the cave.

No effin’ way. The Lindwyrm? It can swim?

I wonder why it’s traveling in the water with us. Is it staying with me? It hasn’t attacked. I plunge my face into the frigid rapids and shout at it, gurgling through the water. “Remember me? I know you wanted to snap off Riev’s head, but we need your help!”

Who knows what it can understand, but I talk to it like I talk to my elk.

“Can you help? We need to get out of the water. You can fly.” I’m certain it only hears blah blah blah , but I plead anyway.

It snakes beneath me, surfacing. Hypnotic golden eyes meet mine. In the sunlight, its deep black scales glint like obsidian shards. They’re so smooth, and I can almost see my reflection.

The Lindwyrm lines up underneath me, and I arrange my legs as best as I can to straddle it. I can feel my feet and shins. My fingers tingle, regaining some feeling.

Perhaps I’ve swallowed enough water to flush out some of the poison.

Riev follows my lead, staying behind me. He holds on to me silently. I think he’s afraid.

He’s losing his mind. If I were him, I would be afraid too.

With one hand, I clasp his arm around my waist to secure him to me.

I place my other palm on the Lindwyrm’s scales, hoping it can feel me balancing.

My legs are still heavy as rocks, but they’re moving a bit now.

I grip my thighs around the Lindwyrm and lean back, wondering if it will know what I want.

Against all odds, it understands me. The flying serpent rises out of the water, black leathery wings unfurling like sails behind me.

The soldiers pursuing us along the riverbanks above us holler in shock. They stop riding and point, disbelief on their frightened faces. I hold Riev’s arms around me as he clings to me from behind. I hope whatever I’m doing is steering the Lindwyrm.

I thank the Lindwyrm using a soothing voice, adding clicks and whistles as I would with an elk.

I barely notice that my entire body trembles, shivering from being immersed in frigid water for so long, because I’m godsdamn soaring through the air!

My heart is about to burst through my chest. It’s pounding at an ungodly rate.

I’ll never know how my life came to this point, but the adrenaline keeps me going.

The Lindwyrm surges upward before leveling out above the tree line, and I aim it toward the heart of the forest.

Artemysia.

We soar right to the split in the giant oak, which begins to open as we approach. We dive right into it, perhaps because I’d entered it before, or because Riev, as the heir to Artemysia, is recognized.

The hollow swallows us whole as I steer the Lindwyrm between the two divided branches, and I find myself above the rooftops of the village outside the Artemysian palace.

A crowd of gentle Syf scream.

Apparently, they aren’t used to Lindwyrms either.

“I’m sorry!” I yell over my shoulder, feeling awful that I always elicit screaming upon entering Artemysia.

When we land at the palace entrance, Syf King Foss rushes out first, despite his guards trying to thwart him by standing in his way. They gesture emphatically at the Lindwyrm.

Perhaps he’d seen us flying in, but the king drops all formalities and pushes past his guards. He holds his palms open as he approaches, as if showing the Lindwyrm he means no harm. “What happened?”

As quickly as I can, in the least words possible, I holler at him in short bursts of breath.

“East River poisoned. Water turns Syf rabid. Riev’s been in the river.

We have to keep him from turning.” My body is weak and shivering, and I fall off the Lindwyrm.

King Foss swiftly catches an arm, but I slam down onto my knees, dragging Riev with me.

Guards advance cautiously to help us up.

No one mentions the Lindwyrm yet, but they leave a wide berth around it.

Despite the Lindwyrm’s depiction in black jewels along one of the hallway walls, it’s clear the Syf are also unused to this creature of myth.

The Lindwyrm settles beside me, heavy-lidded as if it wants to slumber after its swim and flight.

The king orders his guards to restrain Riev and escort him inside to their healers to do what they can to slow the change. I want to follow, but they move fast and have already taken him away, and I need to speak to King Foss.

“Can you stop others from coming into contact with the river?”

“Immediately.” He speaks to his guards behind him, firing off numerous commands at once. They race off in all directions.

Foss returns his gaze to the enormous scaly beast beside me. It must be the length of at least six elk, with its trunk spanning the width of the most massive untrimmed antlers.

“You know, there hasn’t been Lindwyrm spotted in any Syf lands for centuries. We thought they went extinct. In the past, only the true royal line could control one. You’ve legitimized Riev’s rule—if he survives—despite those who may not want to accept a half-human prince.”

I don’t bother to correct the king over who the Lindwyrm actually answers to, and allow Riev to have the credit. Besides, my mind is muddled with panicked, incoherent thoughts. What will happen to Riev? Can they do anything to help?

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” I ask, afraid that I already know the answer.

King Foss sighs. “I’ve lost so many of my people. I will do everything not to lose my heir too. I’ll attend to him now and see that you are taken care of also.” He gestures to two guards to split off and stay with me, then spins on his heels to return to the palace without another word.

Ivy and Throg race out of the palace doors.

“I saw you from upstairs!” Ivy shouts, crashing into me with a hug. “Is Riev okay? Where’d you get the cool flying snake?”

“Are you hurt? What happened to Riev?” Throg asks, “I saw them carrying him upstairs.”

I’ve held it together this entire time. Since the beginning of the mission, when I steeled myself for the possibility that not all of us would make it back.

But seeing Throg concerned about Riev, and with my worries tearing through my heart, I break down. The tears flow when Throg embraces me in his crushing arms. I’m strong, but my heart is broken as I recount what has happened .

“You look worse than Riev. He’s tough,” Ivy says kindly, circling an arm around my waist to guide me into the castle. “We’ll get him back. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

The Lindwyrm snakes behind me, its wings tucked in flat alongside its sleek body. The Syf guards step aside. No one protests as it follows me into the palace, and luckily, the main hallways are wide enough to accommodate it.

“What’s it eat?” Ivy asks, glancing over her shoulder with one arm still looped around me. “I don’t like how it’s looking at me like a snack. Do we need to feed it?”

Its golden eyes blink at us, the black eyelids shutting sideways before the slats flick open again.

A swarm of the apple-green luna moths that thrives in the palace hallways cruises by, and the Lindwyrm snaps its jaws like a trap and gulps down a mouthful.

“That’s right, buddy. Fill up on those moths,” Ivy mutters.

She turns back to me as I stumble. “Oh, Captain, you’re really pale.”

Utterly exhausted, I pause halfway up the stairs. My hip hurts and the pain forces me to lean heavily on her. “I think…I’ve lost some blood.” I press my hand to where the crossbow bolt struck me, and it comes up crimson and wet.

Throg stomps up beside me and scoops me up, just as everything turns black as night.