But it had seemed impossible, and the king had worried at what would happen if his people were ever found there, cornered on some desert island.
On Aaath Ulber’s world, this whole continent was underwater, Borenson realized. In the binding of the worlds, the two became one. That’s why there are sea animals here on dry land—it wasn’t dry on both worlds. Now the land has fallen. The sea is rushing in to cover it!
“Run!” he shouted to Draken and Sage. “Run to high ground! The sea is coming!”
He peered down at little Erin. He could not move her safely. Nor did he dare leave her here.
He wasn’t sure how much time he had. Minutes? Hours? No, he could feel the land trembling. He might not have even minutes. The sea was rushing toward him in a flood.
We may all be doomed!
The squatters came boiling from under the tree, then stood gaping, gasping and crying in astonishment. Nothing could have prepared them for what they saw—kelp and coral and creatures of the sea all suddenly appearing where once there had been dry ground.
“Run!” Borenson urged them.
The valley here along the Hacker River was long and narrow, a mile or two across.
On both sides of the valley, stark red-rock cliffs rose up. In only a few places could those cliffs be scaled.
“There!” Borenson shouted. “Up that hill!”
The squatters were shrieking, the children yelping in fear. At least one woman was still unconscious, and young men carried her. Others limped about groggily. The men were gathering bags while mothers tried to herd their children.
Draken looked back toward the house. “Shall I save the horses?”
“Save your sister!” Borenson shouted. “Get to high ground.”
The earth continued to rumble, growing louder by faint degrees. Draken grabbed his sister Sage by the elbow and took the girl Rain by the hand. The three rushed off.
It was nearly a mile to the ridge. They’d be minutes running toward it, long minutes climbing.
Borenson looked down at Erin. “Daddy?” she said. Her eyes scanned left and right, unseeing, unable to focus.
“I’m here,” he said. “Mother is coming. You’ll be all right.”
Myrrima had some skills as a healer, as did all water wizards. Her kiss could calm a troubled mind; her stroke could draw away a man’s pain. But Borenson didn’t think that she could mend a broken neck, not in the time that they had.
Perhaps the flood won’t reach us, Borenson dared hope. How far did the land sink? Certainly it won’t all be underwater. We are fifty-two miles from the sea.
He imagined that some sort of balance must have been reached in the binding of the worlds. Perhaps his homeland would only sink halfway into the sea.
He heard his wife crashing through the brush of the overgrown orchard. This part of his land was ill-kept.
“Myrrima,” Borenson bellowed. “Over here!”
She came running a moment later, leaping over a rock covered in coral, rushing between two trees, panting from exhaustion. She wore her deep blue traveling robe over a white tunic and leggings. The years had put a little weight on her, but not much. She did not run fast. No longer did she have any endowments of speed or brawn. The Dedicates who had given her their attributes had all been slain long ago, shortly after they’d fled Mystarria, as had his Dedicates.
Yet as a wizardess she would enjoy a longer life than Borenson, and in the past ten years she seemed not to have aged a year.
Myrrima stumbled to a halt, not even recognizing him. The woman had had the sense to bring his war hammer, throw together a bundle of clothes. Now she backed away with fear in her eyes.
Her body language said it alclass="underline" Who is this giant, crouching above my child?
“Myrrima,” Borenson said. “It’s me—your husband.”
Wonder and confusion warred in her face. Myrrima peered down at Erin, there gasping for breath, and she seemed to cave in on herself.
“Erin?” she called, daring to scrabble closer. “My little Erin!” Myrrima dropped to her knees, still panting for breath, and kissed Erin’s forehead, then began to stroke her. “My baby! My sweet baby?”
“She fell,” Borenson explained, “in the binding of the worlds.”
“Mother?” Erin called. She peered up, unseeing.
“I’m here,” Myrrima whispered. “I’m here for you.”
There was a protracted silence. Borenson became more aware of the rumbling beneath his feet, the squawking of borrowbirds. The animals felt the danger, too.
“We have to get her to safety,” Myrrima said. She eyed Borenson with distrust. “Can you move her gently?”
Borenson let out a little wail of frustration. His giant hands were so powerful, yet so uncouth. They were ill-suited for such delicate work.
“Can you hold back the water?” he begged.
Myrrima shook her head in defeat.
Borenson worried that nothing that he could do would save the child. Perhaps he could not even his save his family. How tall would the waves be? Forty feet tall, or four hundred?
Myrrima shifted the child slightly, lifting her just enough so that Borenson could slip his fingers beneath Erin. As gently as he could, he slid one palm beneath the child’s body and another beneath her head.
With great care he lifted. The girl seemed so small in his arms.
I am of the warrior clan, a voice whispered in his mind. This child weighs nothing.
It was Aaath Ulber’s voice.
Borenson put one arm beneath Erin, like a board, and began to carry her as swiftly and as delicately as he could.
The grass was wet, the ground uneven. Strange sea creatures dotted the land—enormous crabs creeping about with claws ready, rays gasping for air. Colorful coral rose up in shades of tan and bone and red, all surrounded by clumps of summer grasses.
Borenson hurried, trying not to jar his daughter, careful not to slip. He kept glancing to the ground then back to Erin’s small face, contorted as it was as she struggled to stay alive.
Is she even breathing? Borenson wondered. He watched her chest rise a little and then fall again.
Yes, she breathes.
Up ahead, Owen Walkin’s people lumbered along. All of them moved slowly, painfully, as if some great illness had befallen them.
Suddenly, Borenson felt as if he were watching them from outside his own body. The people looked small and puny. “Run, you feral dogs!” he roared.
People of such low breeding don’t deserve to live, he thought.
It was not a thought that would ever have presented itself to Sir Borenson.
Aaath Ulber was talking.
Though the others were weak Borenson felt strong, stronger than either he or Aaath Ulber had ever been. In some ways, he felt as if something vital had always been missing and now he had found it.
He reached the river, which had gone strangely muddy. A pair of giant rays were flapping about. The water was not deep this time of year, nor was it swift. But the rounded stones beneath the surface were slick.
Borenson sloshed through, Myrrima at his side, and made it more than halfway before he slipped.
He caught himself, but Erin’s little head swiveled to the right.
“Aaaagh!” Myrrima gave a cry, then reached out and tried to hold Erin’s head securely in place. They attained the far bank, raced up wet stones. A patch of slick red kelp hindered him, but he finally made it to the base of the ridge.
The squatter families ahead toiled up the long slope. The ground trembled mightily now. The flood was coming.
Borenson marched boldly, passing the squatters, holding Erin as securely as he could. He studied Erin’s face; she gasped for breath. Her complexion was as white as a pearl, her skin seemingly translucent. He could make out the tiny veins and arteries that colored her skin, blue and red. Her pupils had constricted to pinpoints.
She’s in shock, he realized. She’s strangling for lack of air.
There was no way to save her. Perhaps all of his efforts had been in vain. Yet he clung to hope.