Page 15 of The Garnet Daughter
“More rain is coming.” The storm is now almost directly overhead.
“I don’t mind working in the rain. Are tree leeches a problem here too?” he asks, a little breathless, before adjusting his grip and pushing his whole body into the branch with a heave.
“No, but there is fungi in this area that releases spores when it rains, not fatal but it causes hunter’s cough.”
“Hunter’s cough?” It comes out strained as he pushes into the wedge again, the metal groaning but still not giving way.
“Yes, and I should not get this wet again without dressing it properly.” I raise my arm, feeling a little vulnerable.
He pauses, eyes trailing to the angry red skin. The reminder seems to give newfound strength as he breathes through his nostrils like a feral animal, gathering all the air he can muster before switching to the other side of the branch and pulling it toward his puffed chest.
And then with a mix of wood splintering and metal yielding, the door pries open.
“Well done,” I praise and try to hide my smile between my teeth as he recovers.
But his face immediately drops when he looks inside, cursing under his breath and reaching in with careful fingers.
“We can’t send a signal as this is. The wires need to be repaired.” He withdraws a smaller square, not much bigger than a waterskin. The bottom has a dark streak across the grey surface like it has been scorched somehow.
“What do you need to fix it?” I examine the object in his hands with a mix of fascination and worry.
“Tools to open this. I have to assess the damage inside the receiver box.”
“Selene kept a small number of tools.”
I can’t remember the last time I saw them, but I’m certain they are within our home in the village. I hoped to avoid it during our brief stay here, with every intention of camping on this plateau until a ship came for us, but even as I say that now, it would be uselessly dangerous. The damage of the beacon has not only complicated our time here, but prolonged it.
Chapter
Seven
“Idid not believe it was true!” a familiar voice chimes.
Ruth approaches as we reenter the main village path just as the storm begins, her expression one of disbelief. She lives nearby, it would be unlikely she wouldn’t see us, but I assumed I would at least make it farther than a few steps. Word has likely spread like wildfire of my return, and the opinions as well.
I plaster a pleasant smile and brace for what happens next, one I’m not in the mood for no matter how kind Ruth is.
“The others said you were here,” she continues, wrapping an arm around me in a tight embrace. Her other cradles a bundle that she immediately presents, flipping over the cloth corner hiding dried meat and bread so fresh the fragrance of steam makes my stomach rumble. “I was just headed over to yours.” She juts her chin in that direction.
“Oh, thank you. That is very generous.”
“It’s nothing.” She flicks her hand in the air, dismissing the gesture. “I will walk with you both.”
She greets August, who discreetly tucks the receiver box at his side. Because Ruth is not versed in any technology at all, ifshe notices what he carries, she would dismiss it as a strange Viathan object. They fall in step behind me and exchange pleasantries, and she shows him the food she has brought us, offering the meat for him to test.
“My husband smokes it with spices and tree barks, a hobby as much as it is for survival.” She laughs.
“It is delicious,” August compliments over a full mouth.
My stomach growls because I remember how good it is and there’s nothing like it in the other worlds.
“We were so sad you decided to journey back to Cosima with the representatives,” Ruth says a little louder to me in the front.
She doesn’t seem betrayed or even upset on Selene’s behalf that I left Frith without saying proper goodbyes. I wonder what polite lies Selene told, letting them spread and morph out into the village as they always do.
“It is . . . nice to be home,” I lie over my shoulder. The elders were clear that we need to make as little fuss while here as possible.
“How is our Selene? She did not return with you?”
