Because he had, in their eyes, turned traitor? Maybe it hadbeen revenge since he’d knocked the female leader off. If she’d fallen from a great height—and Syla believed she had—she might have died.
In that moment, as she clung to Vorik and the log, Syla realized that Vorik might have been telling her the truth all along. He’d turned on his own kind and chosen a faction that wanted peace between their two peoples. And he was risking his life at every turn for that.
“I’m sorry I didn’t believe you,” she rasped.
His eyelids didn’t so much as flicker.
Syla attempted to kick in the direction of the cliff, but she barely could have swum against the current by herself. With Vorik’s dead weight along with her, she didn’t know how she would make it. That was even more true when a wave sent the log smashing into a rock formation. It struck with abang, the force knocking it out of Syla’s grasp. She scarcely managed to retain her grip on Vorik as the water tossed them about.
He coughed, and she hoped he had woken, but it was his body’s involuntary reflex to spew out water that went down his trachea. He remained unconscious.
When she glimpsed the cliff, Syla couldn’t tell if it was closer or farther now, but she paddled and kicked in that direction. She had to make it, or she would be swept out to sea and die.
That concern reinvigorated her, and she kept going. Unfortunately, even with the buoyancy of the saltwater, Vorik’s lean muscled body wanted to sink, and her pack dragged at her as well. Even in the icy water, her efforts left her hot and panting.
Her spectacles fell around her neck, only the twine keeping her from losing them completely, and the cliffs turned into little more than a dark blur. A wave smashed her against a rock formation. Again, she almost lost her grip on Vorik, but she managed to clutch a protrusion on the barnacle-covered surface.
Needing a moment to rest, she hung on and found a footholdunderwater. She used it to push upward, trying to get her bearings, but she couldn’t grip Vorik, the rocks, and raise her spectacles to her face at the same time.
In the sky farther out to sea, a dragon flew past, its outline as blurry as everything else. All she could tell was that it was green. Was that Vorik’s Agrevlari? Or one of the enemy dragons?
It didn’t matter. The barrier kept it away.
“As long as we’re not swept out to sea and into their reach,” she rasped.
“Your Highness,” came Fel’s gruff call from nearby.
Thank the eyes of the moon.
“Here!” Syla hoped Tibby was with Fel and that she was all right. But she worried for her aunt, who would have as much trouble seeing out here as she. And her pack was evenmorefull of books.
Fel navigated to her rock formation, dashed water out of his eyes, and scowled at Vorik.
“He’s out?”
“Yes. Bleeding from many wounds, including at least one on his head.”
Fel’s grunt sounded a lot likegood. “Let him go. That’ll solve one of our problems.”
Yes, but…
“I can’t,” she said.
“Why not?”
Syla struggled to explain her feelings. “If it were the other way around, he wouldn’t let me go.”
“Yes, and don’t you find that suspicious? You’re his enemy.”
“I don’t know if that’s true.”
“It’s true. Trust me.” Fel pointed toward the cliffs. “Come on. I’ll help you, but leave him. If he survives floating out there, his dragon can collect him.” He squinted toward the one she’d spotted. “Actually, that might be one of the dragons that was trying to kill us.”
“That’s what I was afraid of.”
“His dragon might be dead. I don’t see the red one either.”
“I doubt they slew her. She… considered her duty done and left.”
