So I kept walking.
After a while, the forest brightened a little, not from the sun peeking out behind the rain clouds but because the trees were different, tall and skinny and pale, with white crystalline leaves that clinked against one another in the wind. This must have been the chiming I heard earlier – this bright, strange forest. I tensed and hoisted up the sword. Nothing about this forest was natural, and yet after a few moments that sense of danger had passed. The forest chimed and sparkled around me, and I was just too exhausted to stay alert.
That was when I heard the faintest murmur of water. It was hard to make out over the chiming, but I listened closely and wandered about, trying to find its source. I don't know how long it took me, but I finally stumbled over a spring bubbling up underneath a big normal-looking pine tree, the water clear and cleanlooking. I plunged my hands in and scooped it up to drink without thinking. Water was splashing down my chest when I remembered that I was on the Isles of the Sky, that this water could destroy me.
I fell back and stared at the spring, waiting for something to happen, for something to change. Nothing did that I could feel. And although I still didn't trust this normalcy, I allowed myself a bit more of that sweettasting water, and I prayed to Kaol and E'mko to keep me safe from the spirits.
The rain stopped, and I sat beside the spring, listening to the chiming from the trees, half-waiting for the mist to form again, to come creeping along the forest floor. But nothing happened. And after a while I started thinking on Naji, thinking on his curse. He cast a spell so strong it wiped out his magic, and we didn't even know if we could cure his curse. Hell, we didn't know if the Wizard Eirnin was even on this rock.
Maybe he'd die out there on the beach and I'd be free of the curse just long enough to get swallowed by the Isles of the Sky.
Maybe I shouldn't have left him alone after all.
So I ripped some strips of fabric off my trousers – they were soaked through with rainwater anyway – and knotted them in the tree branches as I made my way back to the beach.
The fire had burned out, just like I said it would, and the driftwood lay blackened and ashy along the horizon line. Naji was crouched beside the remains, his head hanging in his hands, hair stringy from the rain. He stirred as I walked up to him, but he didn't say anything, didn't even look up.
"I found a spring," I said.
No answer. I sat down beside him and balanced the sword on my knees and stared at the remains of the fire, trying my best to ignore the dampness in the air.
"A spring," Naji said after a while, muttering down at his feet.
"Yeah. You know. For drinking. I had some and it didn't do nothing to me, so hopefully…" I couldn't finish that thought. We sat in silence for a few moments more.
"I'm sorry I said I was glad your magic ran out."
Naji lifted his head but he still didn't look at me. I could hear the waves crashing beneath us.
"It happens," he said, "when I exert myself."
"I know."
Another moment of silence.
"I hope to be recovered enough within the next few days to cast a tracking spell on the Wizard Eirnin, but I don't…" He dipped his head again. "I've never run out like this. And with the curse – I just don't know."
I toyed with the hem of my shirt and looked down at the sand. My head felt thick with what he had just told me. Maybe he didn't have to die for us to get sucked into the island's magic.
"Maybe we can find the wizard the untouched way." Not that I liked the idea of wandering the island.
"I doubt we'll be able to find him just by searching."
"Ain't that big of an island."
Naji glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, and even with just that tiny look I caught a glimpse of the weariness and the hurt I'd caused him as I had traipsed alone through the woods. "The size of the island isn't the issue," he said. "I doubt very seriously the Wizard Eirnin will be easily found. Most wizards aren't. Not unless you know where to look."
I didn't have no answer to that.
"I might be able to conjure up a fire tomorrow," he said. "A small one."
"Maybe you should focus on getting better first."
"Perhaps you should show me the spring. You are correct that we'll need water to survive." He sighed. "We can look for food and shelter tomorrow."
"I can look for it to–"
"No." The word sliced through the air, left me colder than any rain ever could. "No. Once was enough."
I didn't need to ask him what he meant.
"I'm sorry," I said softly.
Naji pushed himself to his feet, and I noticed that he was shaking. If it was because of the cold or because of the way he wore himself out or because he was as scared as me, I couldn't say. But I didn't say nothing about him not being able to make it. I didn't say nothing about the spell he cast onboard the Ayel's Revenge.
We walked side by side as I led him through the woods.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
That night I made a little tent out of fern fronds and fallen sticks not far from the spring, and I fell asleep to the gurgle of water and the glow of Naji's tattoos as he started healing himself. It was weird sleeping so close to him, and at first I lay on my back and looked up at the pattern of shadows created by the ferns, my hands folded over my stomach so I wouldn't accidentally touch him.
I woke up the next morning covered in ferns and rainwater. The tent had collapsed in the night, probably cause of some storm, and Naji was curled up on his side, his tattoos dull and flat against his skin. I pushed the ferns away and peeled off my soaked-through coat and shivered in the cool, damp air. The spring bubbled and churned a few feet away. Naji didn't move.
I shook his shoulder. He moaned and fluttered his eyes.
"Naji?" I asked. "Are you alright?"
He rolled onto his back, shedding a cascade of fern fronds and rain drops.