Page 152 of Earthbound

Alder noticed her sister’s inner conflict first. ‘What is it?’

‘Malak, he’s gone,’ Yeeran said. ‘He fell right over there, but he must have got away.’

‘Go after him, Yeeran,’ Lettle said. ‘He is the poison in the centre of it all; the chieftains are gone.’

Yeeran’s mouth parted in shock. ‘The chieftains are dead?’

‘Yes, Malak killed them. There is only him left.’

Yeeran looked to the swampland behind her then back to Rayan in her arms.

Lettle smiled. ‘Go, we’ll be fine. Alder and I can carry him alone.’

‘But Rayan—’

‘He’ll be fine,’ Lettle said sharply.

‘Lettle…’

Yeeran exchanged a glance with Alder. It was filled with worry, but Lettle gave her a reassuring smile.

‘Jay will stitch Ajax up and all will be well.’ It was a lie and everyone knew it. Deception masqueraded as hope.

Alder looked at Lettle’s smile with horror. He seemed about to speak, but Yeeran shook her head at him.

Lettle ignored the exchange.

‘Go, Yeeran. We have no time to waste.’ Lettle spoke quickly before Yeeran’s sorrowful gaze could pierce the armour of her delusion.

Yeeran squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them they were blazing and full of grief. She shifted so that Alder and Lettle took the bulk of Rayan’s weight. Then she pressed a kiss to his forehead. ‘Goodbye, Rayan.’

Lettle wasn’t sure why she was saying goodbye.

Then Yeeran was gone, her feet quickly carrying her towards the spot where she’d seen Malak fall.

‘Let’s go,’ Lettle said cheerfully, picking up the pace.

Alder watched her with a perturbed expression on his face until the darkness of the tunnel consumed the light completely.

Lettle moved into magesight to guide them forward. The moss around them gently glowed so she could pick out the outline of the tunnel. She was careful to keep her gaze averted from the flickering soul within Rayan. It was as though his soul knew its moment for release was near.

Ajax, Pila and Amnan were a beacon of light up ahead as they crossed into Mosima.

‘Fly fast, obeah, take Ajax to Jay,’ she murmured.

Rayan twitched in her arms and Lettle tensed before letting out a small laugh. ‘I wonder what he is dreaming of.’

She could hear Alder opening and closing his mouth as though he were considering his words before speaking them. Finally he spoke. ‘Lettle, no one expects you to be fine right now. It’s OK to struggle.’

‘Rayan’s not too heavy, to be honest, and all that climbing you made me do has really helped—’

‘You know that’s not what I mean,’ he said softly.

She stumbled, her heart stuttering in her chest as it skipped a beat. For a second she saw herself as Alder did: her body covered in blood and dirt, a manic smile on her lips, her eyes as deadened as the soulless obeah’s, her lover’s body dying in her arms as though he were simply sleeping.

She felt pain swell within her and the inevitable horror of guilt that would come with Rayan’s death.

Her lips trembled, and her breath shortened into quick hisses that drew spittle from between her teeth.