Page 11

eleven

Morai

M orai groaned as she peeled herself off the side of the carriage. It took her a minute to get her bearings. Her head where she’d hit against the wall throbbed in pain. She sat up, looking around, both Luka and Tanen were also picking themselves up off the floor.

“Is everyone all right?” she asked.

“Yes.” Both Luka and Tanen grunted.

“I’m fine,” Neoni said, “But Fida is…” Morai’s heart lounged in her throat.

“What about Fida?” A roar came from the outside that drowned whatever Neoni was about to say. With a curse, Tanen climbed out of the carriage.

“Stay inside,” he yelled at Luka, who’d been going after him. Luka frowned.

“We’re not helpless, you know,” he said.

“Yes, but if both of you are outside, it would mean we’d have to keep an eye out for you.” Luka scowled, folding his arms around his chest.

“Neoni will join you.” Tanen closed the door, leaving Luka and Morai scowling after him.

“We may be thieves, but we have an expertise that comes with the territory,” Luka said, sitting back down on the floor next to her. He rubbed his shoulder, grimacing in pain.

“True, we have our own fighting style,” Morai said, grabbing her bag and looking through it. She winced; some of the bottles had cracks in them causing the potions to leak out. Taking them out, she gingerly put them on the floor, it was then she noticed how quiet Luka had been. She looked up to see him watching her.

“What?” she asked with a frown.

“This must be the first time you’ve agreed with me on anything,” he said.

“No, it’s not. I’ve agreed with you on…some things.”

“Begrudgingly, yes, not willingly.” Morai shoved one of the cracked bottles at him.

“Drink this, it'll help with the pain.” Luka stared at the bottle in his hand then gave it back to her.

“I’m fine,” he said.

“Really? Cause even I can tell you’re in pain.”

“I’m fine.”

“This is not the time to be disagreeable.” Luka stared straight ahead, the muscle in his jaw twitched.

“I’m fine, Morai.” She wanted to argue, but the tone of his voice made her hesitate. Before she could ponder on it some more, the door to the carriage swung open, and Neoni scrambled inside, hastily shutting the door.

“How is it out there, and are you hurt?” Morai quickly assessed Neoni for any injuries. Apart from a scratch on her cheek, and the fact she was covered in swamp mud, she seemed fine. Morai shoved the bottle Luka had refused to Neoni, who absentmindedly took it, unscrewing the bottle and drinking before responding.

“It’s not looking good. The chimera had fallen into the swamp, but there was another that rammed into the side of the carriage.”

“What about Fida?” Neoni grimaced.

“She’d fallen into the swamp. I helped get her out while Tanen fought the other chimera.” Morai exhaled with relief. A roar sounded from outside.

“With all this noise, I won’t be surprised if the mermaids woke up,” Luka said. Morai silently agreed as she stared at her bag of potions. Taking one out, she drank it; it tasted like nothing until it got to the back of your throat, then it tasted smoky with a bitter tinge to it.

“We should probably try to get the carriage upright,” she said. Neoni shook her head.

“Tanen explicitly stated that we should remain in the carriage.” The carriage jerked to the side. Neoni, who had been sitting next to Morai, fell onto her. As a result, Morai also fell, and Luka ended up underneath them, cursing as he was pinned on the floor.

“Sorry,” Morai said, sitting upright and looking up at the carriage like that would help her. The door wrenched open.

“Come out,” Tanen said.

“Oh, now you want us out?” Luka asked, grimacing a little when he sat up. Morai frowned at him. He wouldn’t be in pain if he just accepted a potion.

“Not now, brother,” Tanen said, holding out his hand for Neoni. The carriage rocked precariously when she got out.

“Move slow,” Tanen warned as Morai grabbed his hand to help her get out. It was when she finally got outside that Morai saw why Tanen was so cautious. Vines had wrapped around the carriage, and from the looks of it, Tanen had to cut them to get the door open. The carriage, lurching to the side, had caused it to move to the edge of the bridge, and with another tug they would have spiraled into the swamp. Morai shuddered at the thought as Luka joined her, whistling at the sight.

“Stay in the shield,” Fida yelled. She was covered in mud from head to toe and was fighting with one of the chimera that looked worse for wear. The shield was a blue circle that emitted a blue light, and as long as they stayed inside the shield, nothing could hurt them. Neoni was already inside.

“We can help,” Luka growled at his brother, who was herding them into the shield.

“Not now,” Tanen said. “Stay here,” he said mostly to Luka before running off to help Fida.

“We could help by cutting the rest of the vines away from the carriage,” Morai suggested. If the carriage fell over, they’d have to walk the rest of the way to Braken and that would take them longer to get there. The lizards, well trained as they were, hadn’t moved since the carriage fell over, but they snapped at the vines that tried to reach for them.

“Good idea. One of us should watch our backs while we do it,” Luka said. Neoni pulled a knife out of her inside jacket.

“I can watch your backs,” she said.

“Thank you.” Morai and Luka sprinted back to the carriage. The vines, thankfully, were not hard to cut, but they writhed every time as though they were in pain.

“Incoming,” Neoni shouted. Morai glanced towards the swamp to see the chimera that had fallen in, making an attempt to pull itself out of the water. A mud green hand shot out of the water, grabbed the chimera by the mouth and shoved it back down.

“They’re awake,” Morai said, thankfully, the chimera was keeping them busy.

“Do you think we can pull the carriage up?” Luka asked as he cut the last vine, throwing it into the swamp. He didn’t even spare a glance at the struggling chimera.

“Not with the two of us,” Morai said, stepping back to look at the carriage that wobbled precariously. A pained roar had Morai looking up and towards her friends. Fida and Tanen finally had the other chimera subdued.

“I thought we said you should stay in the shield,” Fida said, running up to them, and taking the bottle Morai handed to her. She nodded her thanks and downed it. Tanen scowled at Luka who only grinned and clapped him on the back.

“Good fight. Now, how about we right the carriage and leave while the mermaids are occupied?”

“Good idea,” Fida said, raising her hand to wipe her mouth before pausing and staring at her mud-covered hand with a grimace.

“We’ll have to move it away from the edge first,” Tanen said, Neoni joined them in assessing the carriage. A pitiful growl came from the chimera in the swamp causing the group to jump into action. Once the mermaids were done with the chimera, they might turn their sights to them. With four of them pulling on the carriage, Neoni was on look-out duty again, they had the carriage upright in no time and sped away from the swamp. The injured chimera that was still on the bridge made a swipe at them as they passed by, causing it to topple over and join its kindred in the swamp.