The oldest son says what we were all waiting to hear, and the lines between his brows and the darkness in his voice make me believe he’s telling the truth. What he says is not out of desperation or pain, no. It’s out of something more complex. Anger. Resentment maybe.
It doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is his words.
“Yanami has it. Princess Yanami took the Samay Stone.”
Before I can tell Pucaru to get the others, he falls to the floor. Pucaru runs to him, while I lean against the wall. She will call the others soon. She will tell them the boy is essentially comatose. I glance at the Inka, still calmly composed as if she were sitting on her throne and not the filthy floor.
She would look the same as when I came in, if not for the streaks of white marring half her hair.
Chapter 12
Serpent mimicry is the only way to teleport from one location to another. Feline mimics rule over their own bodies, enhancing strength, speed, or reflexes. Ave mimics rule over communication, whether that’s creating projections or reading thoughts. But it’s only serpent mimics that can move beings from one place in the earthly world, the Kay Pacha, through the inner world, the Ukhu Pacha, and back above again.
The Ukhu Pacha, the Serpent’s domain and that of the dead, is like the pressure beneath the sea and the dark inside a cave. It’s water. It’s drowning. It’s losing your orientation when beneath a wave, not knowing which way is up and swimming down instead.
It’s the domain of the Guardian who both heals us and claims us at the end.
In the void of the Ukhu Pacha, I feel the slither of the Serpent, wet and gliding through the water, a sea monster and a savior. I feel them so close I can touch their scales. Who am I to be so close to our Guardian?
My hero, the Serpent hisses out, and I recognize it as one of the three tones that have been whispering in my ear these last few days.You must help her, hero. You must help our child.
Our child? We are all children of the Guardians, but I know instinctively who they mean. The princess. That must be why I’m at her side, traversing the Ukhu Pacha and drowning when I’ve swum in the past.
Help her when we cannot. Help her because it’s our fault.
I choke, and then I’m breathing fresh air.
Mare drops from my left arm, and the princess’s wrist is no longer in my hand as I heave over the grass.
“Heavens damned… Serpent travel…” I say in between spitting up bile. I haven’t had a single bite of food, just coca leaves and chicha in preparation for the debut tonight. My spit tastes metallic, a sign of my fasting, and it’s awful.
My mind immediately turns to Mare, and I see the kid breathing heavily. He’s kneeling on the ground, but he’s not crying. He’s tough like that. “I’m okay,” he sniffs out. “I’m okay. Just need to-” he heaves a little. “Just need to throw up like you.”
He crawls further away after waiting for me to nod at him in agreement. He can handle himself while I figure out what’s going on. Serpent mimicry tends to be easier the younger and healthier you are. After the insane amounts of healing I’ve experienced these last few days, I thank the Gods it hasn’t affected me more strongly.
The same can’t be said for the princess.
“Princess, you hear me?” I whisper, using my knees to crawl closer to her. She’s in the same position from Lima with her head hunched down. Her entire body trembles. Her normally brown skin is ashen, and she looks too close to death for me to keep my head on straight. “Princess, please, you need to look at me.”
I need to see her eyes alive and well, or I’ll fight the Serpent myself. I’ll fight all the Guardians if I need to.
She looks up at me before I begin to curse. Her eyes are bloodshot and unfocused, but every blink brings her back to consciousness.
“Where are we?” she slurs, and I’m at a loss.
“Where are we?” I parrot back. “You brought us here.”
Her brows furrow, and she sways as she attempts to sit up. I grab her bicep to stabilize her, and she jumps at my touch. I almost let go, but she falls to my side with an exhausted sigh. I wrap my arm around her, but that triggers a flinch. She pushes against my hold and manages to just barely sit up by herself.
“No, it’s okay,” I say, and open my arms wide. She looks at me with those unfocused eyes, so different from the calculating ones in Lima. I hold my breath until she’s in my arms, slumped with her forehead on my left shoulder.
“What did I do?” she rasps out.
That’s exactly what I want to know, but something tells me right now isn’t a good time to interrogate her. It sounds suspiciously like Suyai’s voice in my head, and, oh Gods, Suyai. My arms tighten around the princess, and I have the need to hold Mare too, no matter how independent he can be.
I lost sight of Suyai.
“We need to save them,” I say, and the princess immediately pulls away from me. The fog blurring her eyes is gone. Her glare is as hard as our stone Gods.
