Temple Palace

Chapter 12: Tek

Tek lay on the ground, gasping. Her entire body felt like it was covered with thousands of tiny ants. She knew that it was just the salt, fighting to expel itself from her pores, but still, it hurt. A rash was breaking out over her entire body, accompanied by tiny little abrasions from the salt crystals.

Tracer was unconscious beside her. She had pulled them both out of the River Sea as the current had started to ebb and she had felt the beginnings of the tide starting to reverse, pulling the water back the way it had come. It was a delicate art. Not getting out in time would mean making the return journey in a current to strong to escape back to the start of the River Sea. The inland sea there was so poisonous from the war years that they would have died. Luckily she was able to drag both of their bodies to the shore.

When she had pulled them out the dark had just been starting to tint the sky.

It was fully night now. The moon was only a sliver in the sky, the stars faded behind clouds.

It was also very cold. They had been riding the currents for so long that it was possible that they were in the northern Realm of Tye. The temperatures there were mild during the day. It was the night you had to worry about.

She pulled her stiff body off of the ground and opened her backpack. The food and firestones were in a waterproof compartment and were unharmed. Her extra clothes were as damp as the ones she had on. Her cloak had been ripped off by the current.

The land they were on was too close to the salt flats for any plants to grow, but over time ill fated boats and houses too close to the crumbling hills had been smashed and carried up the river. Random boards stuck out all over the landscape.

She walked around slowly, collecting the smallest pieces that she could lift with her sore muscles. The water and fighting against it to make sure they ended on the other bank had taken all her energy. She rested often.

Finally she had a large enough pile to build a fire. She made a ring of stones and dug out a hole with a stick. Arranging her meagre collection, she struck her firestones together until a spark finally caught. The light green flames licked over the wood welcomely. Satisfied that it was burning well, she turned to her other matter of business.

Grabbing a larger slab of wood she scraped away at the salty ground, pushing all the chunks out of the way until finally the soft sand below was exposed. Clearing a large enough patch she sat back to rest.

She limped over to Tracer and carefully used all her strength to push him over onto his front so that his pack was exposed. She pulled it off of his back and went through the contents. Nothing had survived the wetness of the water. She pulled some of the meat out that was already salted and would not suffer from extra flavour. Arranging it on the largest of the heated stones she listened to the soft sizzles as it started to cook.

Returning to the pack she pulled out Tracer's cloak. It was soaking wet and she did her best to wring it out before spreading it out over the area she had cleared.

Then she returned to Tracer's side. She dragged him and pulled until her was spread out over his cloak. He didn't wake up. She began to strip off his shirt, pulling and tugging it over his head. Off also came his boots and socks. She left his pant on, reasoning that he should not be completely naked.

Finding taller sticks she stabbed them and burrowed them into the ground next to the fire until she had enough to hang up the wet clothing with. She quickly stripped off all her clothes and hung them up. Out of her pack came her extra top which she wrung out before putting on. It hung down to her mid-thigh. She turned both their packs inside out and put them near the fire too to dry.

Then she went and gathered more wood and made a stack big enough to last the night.

Finally she sat down next to Tracer and removed her small food packet. Collecting a large flat rock with a slight inward curve like a bowl and a smaller rock she started crushing leaves. The strong smell of them reached her nose and she stopped her movements to reach down and scoop up some of the pulpy mess. Leaning over Tracer she began to spread it over his bare chest. Once she had gotten all of the skin she could without moving him she stopped and did the same to herself. The clear juice went onto her cuts and soothed her skin, making her rash disappear. She crushed more leaves to get all of her skin head to toe, making sure to leave some extra for when Tracer woke.

She set the rounded stone down beside her pack and returned to her waterproof package. Going through her herbs she stopped when she got to some small yellow and orange leaves. Putting them in her mouth she chewed until they were a soft mush. She spat them out into her palm and went over to Tracer, pulling back his hair. He had been hit right on the side of his forehead, leaving behind a jagged cut that was bleeding slowly. The river had kept it from scabbing over.

She carefully applied the mush to his cut, massaging it in gently. Using her saliva to clean it was less than ideal, but it was better than the salty water that it was already filled with. Beneath her Tracer moaned and she knew that his forehead must hurt. Applying the last of the mush she sat back to watch him.

His eyes flickered slowly as he came awake. He groaned and his hand went up to touch his forehead but she stopped him.

“You'll open up the cut again,” she scolded gently.

His eyes flashed around her impromptu camp and finally landed on her. She flushed with something close to pride. Most people had been skeptic that she could survive as a Night Warden. They should look at her now. Sure there wasn't an inch of her skin that wasn't injured, but she had managed to make this all by herself, despite the fact that she had been swimming the entire day, pulling another person behind her.

“We survived,” he said with a raspy voice. He seemed surprised.

“Are you hungry?” she asked, pulling the meat off the hot rocks. It felt tough and scratchy but it was protein. They would need it for tomorrow.

“Thirsty,” came Tracer's reply.

“You'll have to wait,” she said with a frown. “We're too far away from any fresh water source. Eat this, we have a long walk ahead of us.” She handed him the piece of meat.

He grimaced at the taste but soldiered through eating the piece, forcing himself to swallow it. She watched him with amusement.

“Cheer up,” she said, “it takes at least three days to die from lack of water. We have loads of time until then.”