“I will not,” the boy called back.
He was as stubborn as I had been, thinking that compromise was the same as losing. The Winterville brat waded into the water and hung on to the pole with one arm. Shaking my head, I watched him paddle. The current was swift, and I fought fear and despair that the water would drown half my forces. Still, they preferred that fate to being torn apart by monsters that intended to eat them, so Company D pushed on. My officers and I held the line on the shore, braced for the worst. I met Fade’s eyes and he smiled, like the memory of my face was all he needed to steel him for the long walk.
Deliberately I crossed to him and whispered, “With my partner beside me, I fear nothing, not even death.”
His answering look felt like a kiss. Behind us, men waded into the water, the monsters were nearly on us—and I felt the breeze from their snapping teeth and raking claws as I dove.
I’d never learned to swim.
Like the men struggling ahead of me, I preferred to choose my fate. I mimicked the motions of those who looked like they knew what they were doing, using my hands and feet to paddle, but the current sucked me under. The river hated me; it dashed me against the rocks and cast me back up again to torment me with a gasp of breath, only to pull me under again. My vision went dark, and I knew no more.
I didn’t expect to see the world again, but I was on the opposite shore when I awoke with Fade pounding on my chest. A gasp, a splutter, and I vomited up half the river in a retching gush, then I fell back onto the damp dirt, curling my fingers in it. I hadn’t expected to make it. Shakily, I pulled myself up and spotted Tegan circulating among the men. I couldn’t tell yet how many had made the swim, but it seemed like a fair number.
Fade pulled me into his arms; he was sopping wet, shaking, but not with cold as the sun shone bright overhead. The island was close enough to the bank that I could see distant Freaks over his shoulder. They came a few steps into the water and then retreated with bared teeth. They wouldn’t survive the crossing. If only they were stupid enough to drown themselves chasing us, that would solve our problems without the need for more dying on our part. But the monsters had become a clever, inexorable enemy, and their destruction wouldn’t come so easily.
“How many did we lose?” I gasped.
“Twenty-two,” Tegan said gently.
The officers arranged themselves around us, then Thornton said, “Some of them might wash up farther down.”
I caught Morrow’s eye and he shook his head. He was an island native, and he knew the currents. If he believed it unlikely, then I had to be realistic and count the men lost. Breathing hurt, probably from all the water I swallowed, but also from getting my soldiers killed.
“Find out their names,” I told the storyteller. “Write them down. I want to be able to tell their families where they fell.”
He got out his journal, wrapped in a treated cloth, and it was mostly dry when he opened it. “I’ll get started right away.”
“Before you go,” I added, “how far are we from Rosemere?”
“It’s a few miles to the east, all forest. I’d keep to the shore. As long as we do, you can’t miss the village. It’s built for fishing and sailing. If you catch a boatman on a good day, he’ll carry you up the coast to settlements that aren’t even on your maps.”
Tegan brightened, her eyes sharp with what I’d come to think of as her hungry-for-knowledge expression. “Would you take me, sometime?”
“Someday,” he agreed, moving off to fulfill my request.
I addressed Tully, Thornton, and Spence. “Tell the men to dry off and rest up. I want them all in solid shape before we look for the village.”
“Understood.”
Before moving off, Tully put her hand on my shoulder. “Glad we didn’t lose you.”
Against my ear, Fade made a sound of inexpressible pain. “Me too. You should’ve told me you can’t swim!”
“When would I have learned?” I asked quietly.
He seemed to consider the question, sorting through what he knew of my past. Then he sighed and rubbed his cool cheek against mine. “I should’ve stayed close to you. When you went under, my life ended. I don’t think I breathed until you did.”
“You can live without me,” I said.
“I don’t want to.”
I feared a love like this—that made us incomplete without each other. It was beautiful but treacherous, like snow that looked white and pure and lovely from the safety of your window, but when you stepped out to touch the softness, the cold first stole your breath, and then your will to move, until you could just lay down in it and let the numbness take you. Yet I didn’t want to be without him either, so I didn’t chide him for the statement. After all, I’d braved the horde to bring him back, even if Fade had believed he was broken beyond fixing.
He kissed me then in front of everyone, and I didn’t mind at all. I lost myself in his arms and his lips, his heat and his presence. This man was everything I needed, my best and brightest dream. He tangled his hands in my hair, and I dug my fingers into his shoulders without thinking.
“Sorry. I forgot—”
Fade pressed two fingers to my mouth. “Stop. There is nothing I want more than your hands on me, anywhere you care to put them.”
“Maybe you want to save that for later,” Spence observed.
Heat suffused my cheeks, and I buried my face in Fade’s chest as the men laughed. In an hour or so, the soldiers recovered enough to move and Morrow completed his census. He took down all the names of the fallen and showed them to me. After the war ended, if I survived, I would take this paper to all the towns across the territories and inform their families myself. It was the least I could do.
“Thank you,” I said to the storyteller. “Can you lead the way to Rosemere?”
The storyteller nodded.
“What will your father say when he sees you?” Tegan asked.
“‘James, what have you done now?’”
I smiled at Morrow’s answer.
The trip took two hours, according to Fade’s watch, which had survived the river and was still keeping time. Morrow was right, I thought. It’s beautiful here. Of the Evergreen Isle, I could honestly say I had never seen a more tranquil place, though part of that came from knowing no Freak had ever set foot here. I wondered if all islands were the same, havens of safety that the monsters couldn’t reach. Pale, raucous birds dove after fish and insects along the rocky coast, which gave way to dense and mysterious forest farther inland. We came around a curve to find Rosemere perched like a perfect secret.
The village stole my breath; my chest ached in a way that I experienced only when I looked at Fade. Just as Morrow had described, the place was pure beauty, neat cottages with flowers growing in boxes beneath the windows. The roofs were painted tiles in colorful contrast to the milky stone of the cottages. Though the buildings weren’t tall, they had a sweetness I couldn’t explain, as if they beckoned me to come explore the tidy cobbled streets and see the shops and markets. Everything the storyteller had said was true.
In the streets, people greeted us with friendly smiles. Many of them had coppery skin, more like Tegan’s, though that could be a result of the sunshine. Their hair came in all shades from fair to dark, and the women favored head scarves and baggy trousers wrapped multiple times around their hips. Here, the men treated the women with respect, but I heard no deference on either side as they greeted one another. There were no fences or gates or bars; the river kept these people safe. At the far end of the village, I saw the dock Morrow had mentioned with boats tied and bobbing in the current. Farther on, there was a grist mill for turning grain into flour and a long rectangular shop that the storyteller had said was for building boats.