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No—I don’t think so. By the way Lo’zar reacted, I think they might be something even worse.
Branches and leaves whip me across the face, so I cover myself with my hands while Lo’zar keeps me anchored by the waist. That’s when I hear them behind us, stomping through the brush. Lo’zar takes an abrupt turn and speeds up, perhaps hoping we’ll lose them. We crash through the trees, and I marvel at the trollkin’s physical power as he leaps over a fallen log and lands on a boulder, taking another leap until we’re on the ground again. His shoulder is digging into my stomach, making everything we ate earlier lurch and smash against my insides. But I’ve stopped fighting now that I understand he’s trying to save us.
I hear our pursuers gaining, and Lo’zar does too because he takes another sharp turn, diving into a thick curtain of vines. Up ahead there’s a river, and the closer it gets, the more I realize it’s much too big for him to simply hop across. He slows for a second, grabbing both of my arms and then sliding me over behind his back, where he wraps my hands around his neck so I’m hanging on like a baby monkey. With a squeeze to my wrist, he says something in his language firmly, and I think he wants me to hold on tight. So I do, with all the strength in my arms, as he grabs onto a huge vine and jumps.
It swings us over the river, and I think that certainly we’re going to fall right into the water. But when Lo’zar releases the vine we go flying, and he lands on the very edge of the far riverbank. Before I know what’s happening, we’re running again and I’m clinging to Lo’zar’s neck with everything I have. Angry roaring fills the jungle. Somehow, my trollkin picks up his pace even more, leaning forward as we blow past trees and ferns. We’re heading uphill, and Lo’zar’s breaths become heavy and ragged as he hauls both of us along as fast as he can. I’m just a dead weight, I realize, holding him back.
Up ahead, I glimpse some stone through the trees. As we near, more and more of the structure becomes visible. It’s some kind of ancient, crumbling ruin, with high walls that have collapsed over time. Trollkin used to live here, hundreds or thousands of years ago, but now their homes have been abandoned and overgrown by trees. Lo’zar bounds onto a pile of broken stone, then grabs a rough ledge above us and pulls himself up. How he’s able to carry my weight and his, I have no idea, but he manages to climb over the the wall just as our pursuers appear through the trees—three huge blue trollkin, with long tusks like Lo’zar’s, wearing leopard furs over their shoulders and armor made of what looks like bones. Their eyes are the most noticeable part of them, glowing with a purple madness. They’re hollering wildly, and though I can’t understand the words, I know what they mean.
Whoever they are, they’re after our heads.
Soon the trees give way to sunlight. When we burst through, Lo’zar comes to a halt.
We’re standing on a cliff, only a few paces away from the river where it cascades off the edge in a huge waterfall. The sound of the falls deafens me. I can’t see down over the cliff, but I know that now, we’ve run to the end of our luck. There’s nowhere left to go.
That is, until I hear Lo’zar say something to me in a soothing voice. “Gurzak kagnik,Ree-mee,”he whispers. And I know that he’s going to jump.
I let out a screech as he steps off the edge, and we plummet through nothing. Air whips past, throwing my hair up above us. I’m screaming as we fall, and it feels like we’re falling forever. I’m holding onto Lo’zar with all my strength, my eyes tightly closed.
We’re going to die. There’s no way we’re not going to die. At least it will be quick.
There’s a huge splash, and frigid water envelops me. I’m trying to hang on but my hands and arms have grown weak, and the water slips between us, separating me from him. I scream Lo’zar’s name but instead, water rushes into my mouth and lungs and I choke on it. I flail with arms and legs, hoping I can swim to the surface, but we’re so far down I can’t tell which way is up.
Suddenly arms wrap around me and Lo’zar is right there, worry etched into his face. He holds onto me tight with one arm as he swims, his powerful legs pushing the water down with such force I feel it ripple past me.
And then, we’re on the surface. I suck in air, but I already have water in my lungs that’s coming up in a horrid cough. Thankfully, Lo’zar is still holding onto me and I know he won’t let me go. As he paddles along, keeping me nestled in one arm, I choke and gag. Before long I can breathe again in fits and spurts, and I’ve never been so grateful.
Now I can look around us, and I get a glimpse of what looks like an island. What’s more arresting than sight of land is what’s on top of it: An immense pyramid, the point shooting high up into the sky. It’s falling apart at the edges, but a surprising amount of it is still intact.
“Ree-meeag nak grozzak?” Lo’zar asks, looking over at me. The water is just under his chin, and I can tell he’s struggling to swim while also carrying me under one arm.
“I’m fine,” I say between gasps. “Let me go. I can swim.” I used to do laps in the lake every day in the summer to get away from the tension in the house as my parents argued about money. But Lo’zar can’t understand me, so I peel his arm off and paddle onward.
“Ah,” he says, and lets me go. He points ahead at the island. I want to say,yes, of course, but I follow along behind him as he heads towards it.
It only takes a few minutes for us to reach the shore, and once Lo’zar is out, he reaches down to help me up. When we’re finally on dry land, I fall to my knees and cough, which pulls out the rest of the water that got inside me. Lo’zar pats my back, saying my name as he does.
He saved my life. Why? What does he have to gain? He could have left me behind when those trollkin with the furs came after us, but he slowed himself down to bring me along.
I catch him glancing over his shoulder, back at the cliff. Once I have I’ve regained my breath, he takes me by the elbow and urges me to my feet. Whoever they are, Lo’zar clearly thinks the monsters chasing after us are willing to follow us down here.
With a few stuttering steps I manage to get up to my feet, and Lo’zar takes off at a run. I keep up as best I can, but his legs are much longer than mine, and I fall behind as we reach the base of the huge pyramid. There are towering pillars everywhere, topped with massive carvings of trollkin heads. I wonder briefly who lived here, and what this pyramid was for. Is some ancient king or queen buried here, on this strange island surrounded by water and cliffs?
There don’t appear to be any doors or entrances leading into the pyramid. Up ahead I can make out a staircase, carved with steps that scale the side. It must be hundreds of feet high, I think. He can’t mean to climb them.
But when we finally reach the structure, Lo’zar starts up the stairs.
“Wait!” I call out, gasping. I lean forward, hands on my thighs, and suck in air. My lungs are burning. Besides, what do we have to gain at the top of the pyramid? We’ll just be funneling ourselves into one place for those trollkin with the leopard furs to find us. But I can’t ask, and Lo’zar seems insistent that we go.
There’s no way I can make it to the top, not right now.
Understanding crosses his face. This time when he picks me up, he tucks me against his chest, wrapping my arms around his neck so he’s reaching under my butt to heft me up onto his hips. Once my legs are wrapped around him, my face pressed to his collar and one of his strong arms holding me like a child, he jogs up the stairs.
I’m so grateful to be alive I could just cry. Now here Lo’zar is, helping me again for whatever reason I can’t fathom.
Instead, I cling onto him and hope he knows what he’s doing.
* * *
