Page 149 of Artemysia
I start to shiver, which means I can feel my body. We’ve been riding the rapids downstream for a while. It’s faster than running, andRiev has kept me afloat. But he tells me he isn’t feeling like himself, and that his mind forms wild thoughts. He whispers to me, in a voice tinged with dread, confessing that he feels like biting the throats of the guards if only to taste hot, pulsing blood. A snarl rips from him, and for an instant, his nails dig a little too hard into my sides.
“Marije? Ma?” He is starting to make less sense with each wave of water washing over us. “The ravens are back, Ma. Your little raven is home.”
My heart cries for him. “Riev, listen to my voice. Iwillsave you. Remember who you are. To Marije. To me. Hold on,” I plead, choking back the sheer horror of losing him.
“Elphie,” he rasps. “Promise me you won’t let me turn into one of them. A beast. A rabid monster. Promise me you’ll kill me first, that you’ll do the right thing.”
“Don’t say that. We’ll get you back to Artemysia. They may know what to do. You’re only half-Syf. It may not affect you fully.”
“Promise me, Delphine.”
My heart skids to a halt.No. No way.
“I amnotgoing to kill you. You should have asked me when you were annoying the hell out of me going through the woods. Or at the prince’s estate. Maybe I could’ve killed you then.”
He smirks, and I see that his fangs have sharpened. He looks wilder, feral. “It’s you I need. Get us out of this. I’m out. I’m sorry, Elphie, my mind is turning. I can feel it.”
I can do this.Think. There are no rules anymore. I’m regaining a bit of feeling in my legs.
I glance down. I can’t see the bottom of the river. It’s deep and dark.
But something moves.
The shadows are moving, but not in a random pattern. Gods alive. Is that giant river snake real? Or just our shadows?
“There’s something in the water, Riev.”
He doesn’t seem to register what I’m saying. He’s looking at me, panic flitting across his face. “I don’t feel good…”
He growls, one side of his lip curling. I’m going to have to restrain him. But in the next moment, he blinks and holds me tight, making sure my head is out of the water.
My foot brushes against something firm.
It’s a lot bigger than I thought. And it’s definitely not a log.
It’s black, with fins and eyes of gold I recognize from the cave.
No effin’ way. The Lindwyrm? It can swim?
I wonder why it’s traveling in the water with us. Is it staying with me? It hasn’t attacked. I plunge my face into the frigid rapids and shout at it, gurgling through the water. “Remember me? I know you wanted to snap off Riev’s head, but we need your help!”
Who knows what it can understand, but I talk to it like I talk to my elk.
“Can you help? We need to get out of the water. You can fly.” I’m certain it only hearsblah blah blah, but I plead anyway.
It snakes beneath me, surfacing. Hypnotic golden eyes meet mine. In the sunlight, its deep black scales glint like obsidian shards. They’re so smooth, and I can almost see my reflection.
The Lindwyrm lines up underneath me, and I arrange my legs as best as I can to straddle it. I can feel my feet and shins. My fingers tingle, regaining some feeling.
Perhaps I’ve swallowed enough water to flush out some of the poison.
Riev follows my lead, staying behind me. He holds on to me silently. I think he’s afraid.
He’s losing his mind. If I were him, I would be afraid too.
With one hand, I clasp his arm around my waist to secure him to me. I place my other palm on the Lindwyrm’s scales, hoping it can feel me balancing. My legs are still heavy as rocks, but they’re moving a bit now. I grip my thighs around the Lindwyrm and lean back, wondering if it will know what I want.
Against all odds, it understands me. The flying serpent rises out of the water, black leathery wings unfurling like sails behind me.
