Page 125 of Earthbound

‘Furi,’ Yeeran gasped her name once, then shuddered around her.

—

They swam in the shallows all afternoon and for the briefest of moments, Furi could pretend that nothing else existed beyond her and Yeeran. With the sea buoying her legs and the smell of charred rats and knellsheen spores far in the distance, it was as though the horror of the last few months hadn’t happened at all.

‘Why don’t we stay out here?’ she asked Yeeran.

‘Our skin would get pretty wrinkly.’

Furi dipped under the water, then popped up next to Yeeran. ‘I’d still love you though.’

Yeeran laughed, ‘And I’d still love you.’ She wrapped her arms around Furi’s shoulders and pressed her forehead against hers.

‘But we should probably get out.’

‘No…’ she let the sea drown out Yeeran’s voice as she swam underwater once more.

Yeeran’s fingers found hers and dragged her back to the surface. ‘Please don’t do that, I keep thinking you’re drowning.’

Furi splashed her, trying to coax another smile onto her face. ‘I was just having fun. Is that so rare a sight that you think I must be dying?’

But Yeeran didn’t smile. ‘Yes. And when this is all over I want to watch you have fun every second for the rest of our lives.’

‘Well, we better go figure out how to end this war then.’

As forlorn as she was to leave their slice of solace, she knew that there would be no true peace until the elven army was dispatched.

Rayan had been tracking Lettle’s progress back to Mosima, and she’d soon be at the city’s edge. The knowledge she brought with her gave them an opportunity to bring the elves back to the negotiating table.

If the boundary was removed, the elves could soon enter and harvest whatever fraedia they wanted. But equally the fae could leave, and now Lorhan was currently unoccupied, Furi had it in her sights.

She’d never thought she’d return to her ancestral land during her life, but now with the opportunity to leave Mosima presenting itself, she let herself hope.

Yeeran offered Furi a hand as they waded out of the shallows onto the shore where Amnan and Pila were waiting for them. Pila licked the seawater off Yeeran’s wrists, making her laugh.

Amnan, on the other hand, was looking at the sea, his ears alert.

What is it?

The sea, it smells strange.

She followed his line of sight. A liquid as dark as ink was blooming beneath the waves, spreading from the boundary edge towards the shore.

‘Do you see that?’ Yeeran asked.

‘Yes.’ Furi began to despair before she realised what was happening.

Something silver floated on the surface of the water. Then another, and another.

‘Fish,’ Yeeran gasped. ‘The fish are dying.’

Although the fae strictly only ate vegetables and fruit, the ecosystem in Mosima was delicate and this would have ramifications beyond the animals that lived in the bay’s waters.

They had thought they’d been so clever closing the entrance to Mosima. What more harm could the chieftains do?

Furi fell to her knees and it wasn’t from any weakness.

‘The elves have poisoned the estuary.’