Page 13 of Married By Wind
“Do they truly sit in cold halls? What do they do?”
“They amuse themselves watching the world, making predictions regarding the future, and bickering.”
Ulika giggled. “Bickering? Gods bicker?”
“They do, sitting on their lofty thrones, believing themselves better than everyone else because they have everlasting life and a higher intellect. I’m young, but still, the idea of it, lifetime after lifetime, it’s as endless as the sand. So much time to live often leads to mischief and misdeeds.”
“You’re mischievous, aren’t you?”
I feigned innocence. “What makes you think that?”
“You’re the god of wind, and you’ve blown across this desert, perhaps my entire life.”
Her entire life. I didn’t like the reminder of my agelessness but said nothing about it.
Ulika continued, “The wind is always mischievous.”
“Helpful?” I offered.
She glanced back at me, eyes lidded. “It was you, wasn’t it, the time I dropped Papa’s scrolls? I tried to gather them up, but you sent them flying across the campsite, and I had to chase them all down. And there was the time I spilled my paints and you hurled them into the tent. There was an inky black splotch until Mama replaced it. I have more stories, proof that you are mischievous.”
I burst into laughter, and after a moment, she joined me, her low, throaty giggles making something twitch deep inside. “Admit it: if not for me, your life would be dull and boring.”
She playfully swatted at my arm. “No, it would simply be incident-free. I have enough excitement in my life without your winds adding to it.”
“Do you?” My voice came out harsher than I intended, only to mask my true feelings. She’d dropped her guard and was having a candid conversation with me, just like old times. “I very much doubt that, or you wouldn’t have fetched me as your personal guide through the desert.”
Just like that, the carefreeness between us sizzled. Her shoulders went tight, and she faced forward again. When she finally spoke, her voice was low. “There’s more to this world than sand and dust. I’d love to see it the way you see it.”
There, that was her true wish. To see what I could see, to go where I’d been, to experience the joys of a lifetime. Impulsively I touched her shoulder, half turning her to face me. “When this is over, I will show you the world.”
A half smile came to her lips. She opened her mouth to respond, and a wall of sand washed over us.
16
Ulika
Vinn was flirting with me, just like he had in the past. A bloom of warmth filled my belly at his attention, even though I shouldn’t welcome it. I had to keep distance between us because this was temporary. I couldn’t grow used to his intriguing conversation and deep tones. It was wrong to even entertain the idea that anything could happen between us again.
And then something shot out of the sand. I cried out in surprise and yanked on the reins, forcing Nika to break into a trot. But the thing was faster. A whiplike tail slammed into Nika’s side. Vinn and I tumbled into the dust, and I rolled, coughing and gasping as Nika struggled to regain her feet. I lunged for her and snatched my father’s spear off her back. He’d given it to me as a parting gift. Even though he did not want me to go, he understood it was the only chance we had.
A high-pitched cry sent shivers up my spine as my fingers squeezed the solid wood of the spear. The tail disappeared into a cloud of dust. Shielding my eyes with my scarf, I coughed, unable to see Vinn. I hoped he wouldn’t use his magic again, because we’d barely begun and he’d already used it twice. How difficult would it be to cross the desert without magic? Surely other tribes did on their journey to the river.
Silence descended, and just as the dust settled, a blur of motion came at the corner of my eye. I ducked and pressed myself against the ground as something wide and luminous crept over me. It had claws and an arched tail, and with a shout of determination, I thrust the spear forward. The bones in my arm jarred as my weapon connected with something hard. A crack came, followed by a wail. Pain rushed up my arm, and my vision swam. I’d hit something. Hard.
My fingers loosened around the spear, and then a firm hand was at my back. Vinn. His fist closed around the spear, and he pulled it free, then thrust again, just like I had. Another sickening crack came, followed by a cry of frustration. The sand whirled around us as the creature spasmed in its death throes, and then there was silence.
Vinn wrapped an arm around my waist to steady me as we caught our breaths. It was another few moments before the dust cleared, and by then, the pain in my arm had settled into a dull ache. I stepped back, breaking the contact between us as I shook sand out of my dress, my hair, my scarf.
Vinn prodded the exoskeleton of the creature with the bloody spear, while Nika trotted off to a low-lying bush and started chewing on it, as though she hadn’t just been knocked over by a giant scorpion. At least, I guessed that was what the creature was, with two pincers, a curved tail, and green blood that glowed in the daylight.
“Careful, the blood might be poisonous,” I warned Vinn.
He finished his examination and returned to my side. “You were quick, and good with the spear. I’ve never seen a creature this size. Is your arm…” He trailed off.
“I’ll be fine. The shell was harder than I expected, but the spear went right through it. Have you seen anything like this during your flights across the desert? It looks like a scorpion but bigger than the ones I’ve seen.”
Vinn scratched his head. “It is unusually large, and it came right up from under the sand as though it was hiding and we stepped on it.”
