Chapter 14
Scott and Riley were quiet for several minutes. Scott was now leaning against the tree and Riley had finally sat down, his gaze trained on the ground. Scott was staring at me.
Finally, Riley looked up at me. “You think that one of us could be the agent.”
I didn’t reply. What could I say?
“What makes you think he didn’t lie to your parents?” Scott asked.
“I wasn’t taking any chances with their lives. I didn’t know if he actually has an agent, he didn’t mention whether it was a man or a woman and really, I don’t know anyone.”
“Except for me,” Scott said.
“And me,” Riley said. I could feel him getting tense, agitated. “Why didn’t you come to me, Shanna? Why put yourself in harm’s way like last time, couldn’t you have taken five- ”
“Where was I supposed to find you, Riley?” I snapped. “You’d disappeared and I didn’t know where to find you. I don’t know where you live, where you sleep or where your father is. I don’t know anything about you besides your day job, which is guarding me from doing anything stupid!”
“You could have asked Gaspar, he would have told you! Obviously you weren’t looking very hard!”
“I wasn’t looking at all, just mentioning that I- ”
“Would you two like to be alone?” Scott interrupted drily.
I glared at Scott, then at Riley before leaning towards them both and saying, my voice almost pleading, “Look, can you blame me? Riley, you made a promise to your father to find my family and I and drag us back here, which you did. You went at great lengths to save him, to help him relieve his guilt. And you Scott, you and I are the same here; we’re in an alien environment surrounded by people we don’t know and nothing is familiar to us. Is it really that difficult to believe I didn’t know who to turn to, who I could trust?”
“You can trust me!” they said in unison.
I sighed and I knew my gaze was sad as I said, “So you both say.”
“Follow your instincts, Shanna, what do they tell you?”
All the fight seemed to have gone out of Riley and his voice was quiet, soothing. I looked at my guard dog and felt my heartbeat pick up. I could barely make out his face inside my shelter, but his brown eyes caught the reflection of the moon and I could see, almost feel, the warmth within them. Here was the Riley who had protected and defended me for a whole month. The Riley who had wanted to come with me to the hospital in the ambulance, the same one who had helped me out of the storage room when I’d opened my head on the shelves. Dogs were not deceiving creatures by nature; they either loved you or they didn’t. There was nothing hypocritical about them, nothing sly or deceitful. My gut told me that Riley was trustworthy, whether in dog or human form.
“My instincts told me I could trust Eric, didn’t they?” I reminded him softly.
“Who’s Eric?” Scott asked.
“A customer who attacked her when she was working.” Riley’s voice had an edge to it. He leaned forward. “Eric was high and desperate. You’d trusted him for five years prior to that incident and there’d never been a problem. Nor had you ever had a problem with the other regulars you let in. Shanna, don’t use Eric as an excuse not to listen to yourself. Your judgement is good, trust it.”
“I’m just not sure what my instinct is saying. I don’t know what to think, who to believe anymore. I only find my parents and try to get them out of this horrible situation.”
“I can help.”
“So can I.”
I nodded once. “Can we continue this discussion later on? We’ve all had a gruelling day and we have a long walk ahead, let’s get some sleep, okay?”
It didn’t take much convincing. I noticed that Scott was barely able to repress his yawns and Riley seemed to be shivering almost constantly. He excused himself and said he wanted to change into his dog form; that way he’d be able to smell or sense any danger much easier than in human form. I showed him how to part the limb. I pulled the blanket out of the tree hollow and handed it to Scott who immediately protested, “You keep it, I’ll be fine.”
I covered him with him and said, “I’ll sleep in the hollow, it’s warmer there; I’ll be okay. Please, I insist.”
He didn’t seem convinced but he didn’t have it in him to fight; he yawned widely, laid down on his right side, his back against the rough bark. A second later, he was asleep.
I rose and dusted off my jeans as Riley padded back in, his black bag clenched between his jaws. He let it drop before looking from Scott to the tree to me. He whined.
“I let him have it; you have your fur, you don’t need it and I’ll sleep in the tree, I’ll be fine. Besides, I have my sweatshirt.” I tugged on the sleeves until they covered my cold hands. “Goodnight Riley.” I ducked and dragging my bag with me, I got settled in. I crossed my arms under my breasts and tried to stop my uncontrollable shivers. At least my teeth weren’t chattering yet.
Riley whined once more, close to the entrance of the tree, then he ducked inside with me. “Whoa, boy! What are you doing? I’m sleeping in here.”
There was actually more than enough room for him and I, I quickly realised, when he turned on himself and laid down, his back to my front. He shuffled backwards a bit until the length of him was snugly tucked against the length of me. Immediately, the shivering stopped, as I was well cocooned between the smooth inside of the tree of the warmth of Riley.
I ran my hand once down his soft fur before curling a loose arm around his neck and whispering, “Thank you.” Then I fell asleep.
* * *
“So how come you have a bag of clothes?” I asked Riley as we hiked across the desert.
To say that this morning we were up with the birds was awfully cliché but it was the truth; birds had actually found their way to our tree and once they began chirping, there was no way any of us were getting back to sleep. We’d set out half an hour ago, after having dug through my bag and found some food for the journey. There wasn’t much left but I handed both Riley and Scott an apple and I took the left-over grapes.
“My father lives in an isolated house a few miles from the castle and I had spent the night at his house. When that happens, I carry my clothes in my bag in case I need it. I left early from Dad’s and was on my way to the castle when I caught scent of you and someone else. I realised someone was following you but that person’s smell was only vaguely familiar so I decided to follow you. I thought you were only going to write but you just kept on going and I realised something was up.”
“Couldn’t you have caught up to me and asked?”
“Yes, but as I said, I didn’t know who was following you and I was wary of that person’s intentions. I didn’t know if you were meeting anyone secretly and I couldn’t figure out who that would be.”
I glanced to my left. “How about you, Scott? How’d you end up here?”
No reply. His unblinking eyes were set dead ahead and with his jaw clenched, he trekked through the sand.
“Scott?”
He blinked, shook his head and turned to me. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay?”
He frowned. “Yes, why?”
I shrugged. “Just wondering, you seem distracted.” I paused but when he didn’t comment, I asked again, “So how’d you end up following me?”
“I woke up early and parted the drapes to see whether the storm was still pounding. It wasn’t, it was a clear blue day and when I looked out in the distance, I saw a tiny figure stopped in front of the shelter you and I created.”
“You knew it was still there?”
“Well, yeah. We didn’t make it disappear so it will remain there.”
“It’s grown,” I said excitedly, “it’s made those trees come alive.”
“And you still believe we created this together?” There was half a smile on his lips.
“Well, yes. We made the earth grow back.”
I was puzzled by his question but before I could ask why, Riley cleared his throat loudly. “So you were saying about the figure?”
I noticed Scott shot Riley an amused grin before saying, “I only wondered briefly who this person might be, heading in the same direction she’d found me. I figured it had to be you, Shanna, probably out to write.” He chuckled softly. “I pictured those . . . um, Wogs we fought off the other day and I panicked. I ran for the gate and first confirmed with the guard that it was really you out there, then I asked him to let me through so I could keep an eye on you. He was relieved that I was going since he’d been worried about you all alone out there.”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t wanted the guard to fret over me. I thought I’d been convincing when explaining that I’d only go write, that I’d be perfectly safe. Then again, Riley told me that they’d never seen the likes of the Wogs before and considering that, it was surprising that the guard didn’t put up more of a fight.
“Do you think anyone’s realised our absence yet?” I asked no one in particular.
“Most probably. I was supposed to report back to Gaspar once I arrived and considering how reluctant the guard was to let you pass, he was probably keeping an eye out for you.”
“Oh.” I bit my lip so hard I drew blood.
In my heart, I knew that I was doing the right thing. I had to save my parents and I had no one to trust. I couldn’t leave a note because if the agent found it, he or she could report to their boss and he would be expecting me. Then again, he might already be expecting my arrival, although not on my own accord. Bah! I didn’t know what to think, what to believe. I simply had to have faith that I was doing the right thing, going in the right direction.
Speaking of direction, “Riley, are we even going the right way? Do you know which village I’m speaking of?”
“Yes, we’re headed in the direction of Bellania, the village where your parents met.”
“How do you know that?” Really, did I have to sound that suspicious?
“Your mother told me when I was young and the name always stuck with me.” He smiled wistfully.
I felt a pang of jealousy claw at my insides. My mother had told him about how she and my father had met, but I had only found out a few nights back. I mentally slapped the envious monster into submission and tried to find the positive side to this. Well, at least Riley knew where we were going, because besides following the sun, I had no idea. There, that was positive. I smiled.
“So how long before we get there?” Scott asked, his voice strained.
I jerked my head to the left and studied Scott’s face. How had I not noticed how pale and ashen he looked? It was early morning, still cool and we’d only been walking an hour, but Scott was sweating bullets. Neither of us knew what he did for a living nor who he was but he looked fit; he had wide shoulders, muscled arms and a narrow waist. He didn’t seem to have an inch of fat on him, which meant he kept in shape. So why was he sweating over such a small effort? Between all three of us, I was the only one who actually needed more exercise.
I gripped Scott’s arm and forced him to stop. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head and sweat poured down his face and in every direction. “I - I’m not feeling too good,” he stammered before dropping to his knees.
Riley immediately knelt beside him and forced Scott’s head up. After studying his eyes for a moment, he said, “Shanna, do you have any water? I think he’s going into shock.”
“Shock! What for?”
“From the heat. He’s only getting over from his experience in the desert and yesterday was a little too much for him. Besides, he’s had nothing much to eat in the past twenty-four hours to help him regain his strength.”
I gasped and fell to my knees, clawing at my bag. Inside I found my three empty water bottles. “They’re empty,” I whispered. I’d forgotten that I’d drank them all.
“Then get some more,” Riley said as he kept a steady hand on Scott’s shoulder.
“From where? Is the village close by?” I looked around desperately trying to find a water source.
“Shanna,” Scott’s voice was faint, weak, “you’re an RM, you can call for water from the earth.”
Right. Why hadn’t I thought about that before? Duh. Now how did I go about it? I didn’t want to start chanting ‘water, water, water’ because, with my present luck, we’d end up with another thunderstorm. I nibbled my bruised lip as I looked up at Scott who was laying on the hot sand, beads of sweat pouring down his face. I focused on one big droplet dripping down his temple, curving into the corner of his eye before continuing downward.
How could I ask for water? In books I’d read, the heroes would dig into the sand and either find a small pool of water, or they would draw it out of the earth from then on. But how was I supposed to get it into my bottle? And would that be enough to quench Scott’s thirst?
In my mind’s eye, I pictured those little metal spouts inserted in maple trees back at home where the maple water would escape the confines of its tree. It was rarely a steady flow that came out, more like drop after drop and it fell into the bucket patiently waiting underneath.
Drop, drop. The bead of sweat rolling down Scott’s temple
Drop, drop. Pooling in the corner of his eye.
I pictured a straw, long and sturdy. I mentally saw the hole in the sand with the small pool of water and guiding the straw to Scott’s lips. His health had deteriorated so swiftly, would he have the energy to take a pull of the straw?
“Perfect!” Riley cried out. “Shanna, give me your bottles!”
I blinked and looked around after realising I was still focusing on Scott’s sweat. Only when Riley turned to me, hand outstretched for the bottles did I discover what looked like an upright twig on the other side of Scott. I handed Riley the bottles then crawled on my hands and knees to the twig. It was, in fact, a hollow piece of wood, about a foot high that roughly resembled a straw. In the middle of it was a wooden spout, much like the one for maple trees I’d pictured.
I sat back on my haunches, elated, as Riley filled the bottles then turned to Scott. Tentatively, I touched the flowing water; it was bone cold. I realised it was pooling uselessly around the wood straw so I slipped my finger under the spout and gently pushed up; the spout nestled against the wood, momentarily cutting off the water supply.
I eased over to check up on Scott. Riley was pouring water in one of the bottle caps then stopped to study Scott, probably wondering how to give him the water. Knowing how I could help, I made my way to Scott’s head and, still on my knees, I gently raised his head and propped it against my knees. Riley flashed me a grateful smile before coaxing Scott to part his lips and swallowing the cool liquid. I wasn’t sure cold water was what Scott needed at this time, but it was all we had. Besides, in this heat, it would soon warm up. I wasn’t sure whether Scott was conscious or not at first but his lips soon began sucking greedily at the cap. Riley filled it again and gave him some more.
When Scott seemed ready for more, Riley extended his arm, Scott grasped it, and he pulled him into a sitting position. To make sure he wouldn’t fall back, I turned and leaned my back against Scott’s, offering physical support. I tilted my head to the right when Scott’s head pressed against mine as he swallowed big mouthfuls of water.
“Easy,” I said, “or you’ll get brain freeze.”
Too late. From the corner of my eye, I saw Scott drop the water bottle and press the heels of both hands to his forehead. I stifled my laughter.
Riley and I suggested Scott stay in place while we scouted the area. I could build another shelter for him so he wouldn’t bake in the sun and we’d come back for him once we knew what awaited us. He refused, insisted on coming. He didn’t want to stay back and worry about us and besides, he could be of help.
Neither Riley nor I had any argument for that so we picked up where we left off after drinking our fill of the water and restocking it. Riley offered to carry my bag but with a smile, I refused. Who said gallantry was dead?
Our pace was slow but steady and it took us longer to arrive but at least we arrived together, all three of us expecting the unexpected. At least, outwardly.
Inside me, everything was quivering like unsteady Jello. I was scared, terrified even, of what we would soon face. How many days had gone by for my parents? Three, four? I tried to count backwards to the day the storm broke but my thoughts were too confused and incoherent, the days and nights were elusive. Since leaving, I hadn’t had the compulsion to write and I’d been getting more worried with every step that took us closer to the village where they’d met.
Were they still alive? My heartbeat was erratic as the thought crossed my mind. Laying my right hand flat against the valley between my breasts, I took deep calming breaths and prayed for help, prayed for guidance and if possible, a miracle.
I want to go home, my heart pleaded silently. Just as silently, I questioned it, Yes, but where is home?
I glanced to my right, to Riley, standing tall and proud, his eyes set and hard. My guard dog was getting ready for battle.
To my left, Scott was standing also, although not as steady as Riley. On his face was a fierce look of determination but whether it was to keep himself upright, or for what awaited us, I wasn’t sure.
All I knew was that we were three people facing the unknown. One man suffering from amnesia, one woman still considered a rookie in this land, and a guard dog in human form. We were here to save my parents and possibly rid this land of the only serial killer it had ever faced and we were going to do so without getting harmed.
Yeah right.
On to nit-picking...
Anyways, good chappy, I didn't really see anything wrong with it, so good job 
