Page 94 of Earthbound

I shake my head. I will not unravel her from the earth. From me.

‘You must,’ she says. ‘This knowledge must die with me,’ her voice drops to a whisper, ‘and with you.’

I laugh. ‘Death and I shall never be acquainted.’

‘Are you close to finding a way to bring back your people?’ she asks. From my silence she surmises my answer. ‘Then come with me, Afa, let us leave this world. We wanted peace, now the only war that remains is you and I.’

‘No.’ I see Hady’s request as a weakness.

Hady drops to her knees and looks up to me, pleading. ‘Then gift me this last thing, my love.’

I have never been able to refuse her, even now.

It is the hardest spell I have ever spoken. Harder still than binding to the earth or making the obeah.

As I feel her unravel from me, I begin to fall apart too.

She sighs once and is gone.

It is pain like I have never known. I relish it. I crave it.

I cry and the world cries with me. I call all the waters of the mountain to where she last stood.

A waterfall of tears.

From that moment on her absence is loud. Screaming always in my mind.

I frequently return to the unravelling spell and the letter she wrote for me, but I do not speak it. Though death is calling, I know I must bring back the humans first.

I will fix this, I say.

Then it is just me and the silence, and the rest of time itself.

Chapter Eighteen

Rayan

Rayan hadn’t been to see his grandfather since he had been sentenced for his crimes. His penance was the worst one possible in Mosima: cleaning the aqueducts. Sahar wasn’t expected to survive the month, let alone four months.

But if there was one thing he had learned about his family it was that they were stubborn. Almost as stubborn as Lettle.

She had awoken not long after he had left Furi in the quarantined district. It had taken Rayan some time to recover after she had spoken to him through Ajax.

‘I love you, and want you, and need you. ‘They were words he would treasure until he breathed his last breath.

She had healed more wounds than he knew he had. Though his relief was short-lived as she was plunged into danger once again.

Afa’s power was immeasurable and it terrified Rayan. But Lettle had proved herself eminently capable and was now coaxing more answers from the ancient being.

Come home to me, my heart, he thought.

As he approached the entranceway to the aqueducts, he stole one last glance at Lettle.

She was sitting in an orchard eating a pear, her lips slick with juice. As much as he wanted to watch, his task was urgent.

Two faeguards stood at the staircase that led down to the underground waterways.

‘My king,’ they bowed low.