Page 90 of The Unseen Hour

“That’s why you should take it! I can make it out of any scrapes I get into here, but you need all your strength in case we find ourselves in more trouble. And there’s no way I’d let you hurt while I healed myself.”

He had been fully immersed when he was healed in the cavern. We had no way of knowing how much water was necessary, which made it difficult to ration. We didn’t want to waste it entirely by each using only a small amount and being no better off than before.

My stomach growled again.

“Why don’t we figure this out on full stomachs?” Orion suggested.

I wouldn’t have imagined soggy jerky and a damp root vegetable could taste so delicious, but they were more than welcome. I wolfed both down, smacking my lips.

“When we do return home, I think I’ll eat all my meals this way. No cutlery, and with my hands. What do you think the queen would say?” I asked.

“If she’s a smart woman, she’ll join you. Fewer dishes. Much simpler.” Orion laughed.

After we ate we made our way back to the bank, crouching down to rinse our hands off in the water. I cupped my hands and drank, even though I wanted to run from the water screaming. If I never saw a river again, I thought, it would be too soon.

“I think we should follow the river,” Orion said.

“I have had enough water for a lifetime.”

“I hear you, but think about it. We were at the northern end of the canyon, and the water ran directly south. Now, I’ll grant you that water could have done some serious twisting and turning, but I think we’re still generally headed south. The baton wasn’t in the cavern, so the beach is our next stop, and we might as well stay close to a water source.”

“I agree. I hate it, but I agree. It’s the most sensible thing.”

Not that I would have accused myself of being overly sensible, but I did want to survive, and more than that, I wanted Orion to survive.

“We’re low on supplies and we have no idea how long it’ll take us to reach the beach, but I have a lot of scavenging experience. It took me a lot of trial and error, getting sick by eating plants I shouldn’t have ingested, but I have a pretty good idea of what’s edible.”

“As much as I would kill for some of the puff pastries at my favorite Fox Haven bakery, I’m more than happy to eat some roots right out of the ground, if that’s what it takes. Edible is just about my only requirement.”

He ran his hand through his hair, some of the lighter brown strands falling right back over his face.

“I wish I could offer you better. You deserve more than what the Ether has available.”

I went over to him, grabbing his hands and placing them around my waist.

“The Ether has you. That’s the best thing it could possibly have given me.”

“Would you let me give you one thing, aside from barely edible plants? Take the water?”

I sighed, dropping my hands.

“How about this? I try a small trickle on one of my larger bruises. Maybe my ribs.” They’d been terribly painful, and I knew I must have bruised a few. “We watch that spot for results, and based on how well it does or doesn’t work, we can ration out the rest.”

“Deal.” Orion grinned.

He grabbed the waterskin from among our sparse possessions and brought it back over.

“You’ll have to pull your shirt up,” he told me.

What remained of my shirt, anyway. No spare clothes had survived our tumble in the rapids, so we’d have to make do. I lay on my side and pulled the tattered garment up past my lower ribs.

Orion sucked in a breath, reaching out to run his fingers lightly over the mottled bruising.

“I didn’t realize it was this bad. We could use the entire thing.”

“No. Just a small amount. And we need to save some, anyway. Who knows what we’ll find at the beach?”

Orion scowled at me, but I knew it wasn’t me he was angry at. It was the fact that I’d been injured in the first place. He opened the waterskin and poured a small trickle of the still-glowing liquid onto my injured side. Instead of dripping off, it pooled over the bruise.