Chapter 11
By the time I’m facing the violent sea wind on the way to the Awarmatu for our debut, every step I take feels like it can crush the boulders beneath me. The Awarmatu is an elevated wooden palace atop boulders forced into a thick line that reaches far into the ocean. I adjust my gait for the extra weight of gold littered all over my body, gilded headpiece, earrings, and coins hanging from my clothes and singing with every step. More gold than I’ve ever seen as a mere soldier.
Everyone, including the Inka, must already be there. It’s just the princess and her guards, including me as the princess’s champion, making our way to the ceremony as the sun sets. I can see the shadows of people far off in the various levels of the wooden structure, as well as the security vessels, with their lamps shining like stars between the ocean’s black waves.
I also see the princess’s back, never turning to look at me, not once.
Her every step is confident, and I have no trouble matching it. I’ve walked the black rock coast since I was six years old. I’ve stepped on urchins and dug their needles out of my feet with their own teeth. The princess can’t know these rocks like I do.
But she does know the Awarmatu. It’s a place meant for the Inka and Panaka after all.
I’ve only stepped onto its wooden platform once before, for a festival celebrating the top of the Inka’s army. I’m not prepared for the way the wood rumbles beneath my feet as a wave crashes into the structure and seeps between the boulders beneath. I close my eyes and reorient myself after missing a step, stance wider and stronger.
I turn around, and Suyai is there with one other soldier. She’s been a mess since this morning’s incident on the training grounds. I may be handling the responsibility of being the Guardians’ Hero, but she’s dealing with me and Mare, who will be present as Suyai’s ward.
Mare and I can handle ourselves well enough, but Suyai is Suyai, and she won’t stop worrying until we’re all together and safe again.
“And stop,” the soldier at the back screams, and we all come to a standstill. All of us except the princess, of course. We need to wait for the signal that marks our official entrance, yet she continues for a few steps before turning around and looking down at us from her upturned nose. She’s back to neutral and cold, like a dead body.
“Susu,” the nickname slips out as a whisper, too low for the princess or soldier to hear. “Isn’t this crazy?”
“Shut up for once in your life, Sinchinrei,” Suyai says, but I can hear the strained smile in her voice. I know she meansI love you, idiot.
I’m too busy looking at her, hoping to see a proper smile break through, to realize the princess has come to my side. Her hand reaches out as if to grab my arm but retreats before I can be sure of the motion.
“Two steps behind me, champion,” she says, and it’s nothing less than whiplash I feel at her soft tone.
“Yes, Princess,” I say, unable to stop myself from matching her softness.
No more words are exchanged as we walk to the entrance. The lights of the Awarmatu grow stronger, orbs like miniature suns floating in the air and lighting up the patio where the majority of the nobles are.
I’m buzzing. It’s the hyper awareness of the two girls with me. It’s the wind in my ears.Careful,it whispers.Be careful. I don’t know how to be careful. I’ve dropped Suyai so many times, I can’t imagine her breaking, the princess even less.
I’ve never been careful in my life, but Suyai always has. Suyai has been careful where I’ve been reckless. She’s been subdued and demure, where I’ve been loud and brash.
That’s why I’m shocked when Suyai’s hair begins to turn white, strand by strand. Suyai doesn’t waste samay for frivolous mimicry. Not unless she needs to.
Suyai bursts into a run and pushes past me, past the princess, straight for the Awarmatu, with Mare’s name on her lips.
For a second, nothing.
Then, an explosion.
The side of the Awarmatu comes to life like a twinkling star.
The screams barely register above the sudden onslaught of waves on the pier. My feet are soaked in seawater that splashes up to my knees. I can barely see the structure in front of me anymore. It’s overcome by the frothing white foam.
“Get back,” the soldier shouts. “Back to the coast, Princ…” His voice is drowned out by the thunder of a boulder dislodging from its place as our foundation. The beginning of the wooden platform creaks once, then cracks into pieces, wood flying into the air only to be swallowed whole by the waves.
There’s no getting back to shore like this.
There’s no getting the princess back to safety.
My body moves the moment I have enough information. I lunge back to grab the soldier and pull them in front of me. It’s safer at the Awarmatu’s main structure. The water is deeper there, and the wood sturdier. The soldier stumbles but manages to stay on his feet and keep running. I’m one step behind him and grabbing the princess with my arms.
She rips her arm out of my hold, violent and thrashing until she goes stock still. A statue frozen in time.
“We have to move, princess,” I say, the salt water burning my chapped lips. I reach for her again, slower, letting her eyes track my hand until it reaches her arm. I grab her gently despite the force crashing into my side.
