Snake Heart Read online

  Tomokosis tripped and slipped on the damp rocks surrounding the pool, stepping over thick bushes and vining plants. When he reached the waterfall, he kept going, ducking behind the curtain of water. After he disappeared, the tortoise continued to paddle about, enjoying the sun. It climbed out on the far side and munched on leaves. Yanko resisted the urge to groan or try to rush things along. He doubted tortoises knew how to rush. Besides, if Tomokosis hadn’t come out of the cave yet, this indicated he was doing something that took a while. Finally, the tortoise turned its head toward the waterfall as the human exited, this time with an empty bag hanging over his shoulder.

  Yanko wished the tortoise had followed him back to his ship, so that he might see where it had set anchor in order to access the waterfall, but of course his guide had no interest in the happenings of humans. It was mere chance that it had chosen that moment to cool itself in the pool. Chance... or divine intervention.

  Lowering his hand and breaking contact, Yanko leaned away from the creature. He wondered if the turtle god had left this representative here to watch over the island. He supposed the gods would never speak to him directly, so he would never know for certain. Still, this was the most interest they had shown in him, at least that he was aware of, and he murmured the closing to the Song of Prayer before standing up. The creature must have understood that they were done, for it shuffled back into the trees, disappearing from sight.

  Dozens of stars had come out in the deep night sky. How long had Yanko been communicating with the tortoise? For a moment, he worried that Dak had disappeared and that he would have to spend the night on this island full of death by himself. More than a night, if the ship left without him.

  “Dak?” Yanko took a few steps toward the path back down the hill.

  The tiny flame of Dak’s lantern came into view between two columns.

  “Here,” Dak said. He sat with his back to one of the columns, his pack resting so that it would block his light from anyone coming up the trail. A book lay open in his lap. “Find anything?”

  “The tortoise remembers Tomokosis stashing some items behind a waterfall somewhere in the interior.” Yanko waved in the direction opposite of the beach. “I have no way of knowing if the lodestone was in the bag, but this island didn’t seem very large when we were sailing up to it. I’m sure we can find the waterfall.”

  “Huh.” Dak closed his book and put it away. “I guess it’s good that I bumped this up from the sixth spot on my list of places to check to the third. I almost made it the first, but those other islands were on the way.”

  “What made you bump it up?” Yanko wondered if the Nurian gods might be influencing his atheistic Turgonian.

  “I did it when I learned Tomokosis had a woman here. Wouldn’t you return often to a port where you could get your snake greased?”

  “My, er, snake?” Yanko decided that pretending not to understand the euphemism would be better than admitting he lacked snake greasing experience.

  “Never mind. Let’s—”

  A crash in the brush came from down the trail. Dak grabbed his rifle and cut out the lantern.

  “Gods cursed trees everywhere,” came a snarl and a thump from farther down the trail.

  Yanko relaxed, recognizing Lakeo’s voice. “Might want to re-light that lantern, Dak. It’s easy to trip on that trail.”

  “Yes.” The dryness in Dak’s tone made him wonder if he had witnessed Yanko’s trip.

  “The ship,” Lakeo blurted as soon as she spotted them. “They left. It’s gone.”

  The light of the lantern revealed water dripping from her clothes and her usually frizzy wild hair plastered to her head.

  “You tried to stop them?” Yanko guessed.

  Dak set the lantern down and jogged to the rock he’d stood on before.

  Lakeo wiped her face. “Yes. Two of Shark’s men rowed into the cove, said another ship was on the horizon, and everyone decided that meant they should leave too. I tried to stop them—knocked some teeth out, but there were too many of them. Someone shoved me off the pier. It was too high for me to climb back up, so I had to swim to the beach. Shark and your girlfriend ran past while I was swimming—I don’t even know if they saw me. I shouted for them to wait, but by the time I reached the beach, the boats were all being rowed back to the Falcon’s Flight.

  Dak joined them again, the lantern highlighting his face from below, casting shadows across his grim features. “Judging by the lights, there are three ships out there.”

  “In addition to the Flight?” Yanko asked.

  “The Flight is gone.”

  “Gone? Already?” Yanko’s thoughts of being abandoned on the island returned to him in full force. Whoever these new ships belonged to, there was no guarantee they would give his little team a ride back to civilization. If anything, this could be some fleet that Sun Dragon had put together.

  “The view is limited from up here,” Dak said. “Minark could have moved to the other side of the island to avoid notice. His ship could also be running with its lanterns out.”

  “Or it could be gone forever.” Yanko closed his eyes.

  “I’d put my money on that, if I had any.” Lakeo propped a fist on her hip. “What’re we going to do?”

  Yanko sighed. “Find a waterfall. Before those ships find us.”

  Chapter 5

  “Are you sure we’re going the right away?” Lakeo asked after tripping for the twentieth or thirtieth time.

  “No,” Yanko said.

  He had tripped at least forty times. The villagers apparently hadn’t been big explorers of the lush interior of their island, because trails through the thick foliage were scarce. Whenever Yanko tripped, Kei squawked a protest from his shoulder. More than once, a wing slapped him in the back of the head. He wasn’t sure if it was because the parrot was catching his balance or if it was meant as punishment for being an unreliable porter.

  “It’s dark, and all I have for a map are the memories of a tortoise,” he added.

  “Anyone ever tell you how odd you are, Yanko?” Lakeo pushed a branch aside, one that whipped back and almost smacked Yanko in the face.

  “Not everyone is as blunt as you are.” Yanko glanced back for the hundredth time. Logically, he knew it was unlikely that the newcomers could have anchored, sent in boats full of men, and started to search already. Still, he couldn’t help but believe Sun Dragon would know where he was and have little trouble catching up.

  “So others only think about how odd you are?”

  Dak, who had the lantern and was leading the way, gave them a dark look over his shoulder, clearly feeling this wasn’t the time for chitchat. Yanko wanted to lift his hands in protest—he hadn’t started the conversation—but he was too busy pushing aside branches and fronds. He kept thinking that he should be leading, since this was his quest, but Dak had grunted something about having a map of the island in his head.

  Yanko wondered what he would do if they found the lodestone behind the waterfall. Could he keep Dak from grabbing it and claiming it as his own? A true warrior mage would have the power to beat a mundane warrior, but that presumed that the mage had a bodyguard to keep the warrior at bay while he concentrated on using that power. What did one do when one’s enemy and one’s bodyguard were the same person?

  “Stop worrying,” he muttered to himself, trying to still his whirring mind. Going forward without a plan would be foolish, but worrying himself to death would be equally foolish. If they found the lodestone, he would just have to get it before Dak, then run into the rainforest and disappear. He would hide until Arayevo convinced Minark to return, or until he had another chance to get off the island.

  “Talking to yourself is even odder than talking to turtles, Yanko,” Lakeo said.

  “Is it?” He struggled for a light tone, not wanting to worry her with his dark thoughts and definitely not wanting to let Dak know what he was considering. “Are you sure?”

  “Well, maybe not.”

  L
eaves rustled overhead, and a monkey howled down at them, irritated at being woken by their passage. At least there were animals now that they’d moved away from the village. The silence that had pervaded that area had been almost as unsettling as the dead people.

  Yanko stepped between two ferns. A branch snagged the hem of his soggy silk trousers, the material damp from dew already forming on the plants. He growled as he bent to free himself. He would have to find other clothing if he was going to continue hunting around for treasures on wild islands. And real shoes too.

  Up ahead, Dak grunted in surprise. A thud sounded, followed by the breaking and thrashing of foliage. The lantern disappeared, leaving Yanko and Lakeo in the darkness.

  “What happened?” Yanko whispered when it grew silent.

  “Dak found a hole,” Lakeo said.

  Yanko hurried up to her. She stopped him with a hand to the chest.

  “You can’t even see the drop off.” She pointed at dense leaves that looked like the same undergrowth they had been pushing through, especially in the dark.

  If the lantern had remained lit during Dak’s fall, Yanko could not see it. Only when he checked the area with his senses did he get a feel for the narrow and deep ravine. What looked like undergrowth ahead of their path was actually the canopy of trees growing up from the bottom and from the sides.

  “Dak?” Yanko could sense him down there and knew he was alive, but he could not tell if he was in pain or had broken any bones. Usually, he could feel it if people were in pain, but Dak could guard his thoughts from telepaths. All Yanko could tell was that he had slid down more than fifty feet.

  “Dak?” he tried again, a fresh new worry starting to spread through him. Even knowing his bodyguard was Turgonian and likely a spy, Yanko couldn’t help but appreciate the help Dak had given him these last couple of weeks. He didn’t want to see him injured or trapped where some predator could attack him.

  “I’m here,” Dak’s voice finally drifted up from below. He sounded more annoyed than pained, but he also seemed like someone who would hide his pain well. And he would probably do so in front of a couple of Nurians.

  “Can you get out?”

  “I hope so.”

  The distant snapping of twigs drifted up.

  “We’re going to have to find a way around,” Lakeo said. A warm orange glow started up as she created a small ball of light.

  Yanko grimaced, realizing he should have been doing the same thing all along, not relying on Dak’s lantern. Maybe with more light, Dak would have spotted the ravine. Yanko had been too busy worrying about his problems to think of using magic. How self-centered.

  “Do you need me to come down and help?” Yanko still didn’t know if Dak was injured. If he was, he might have trouble maneuvering through the bottom of the ravine and finding a place to climb out.

  “No.”

  Yanko was inclined to believe him and leave him alone, but then it occurred to him that Dak might find a way across the ravine and to the waterfall before he and Lakeo did, especially since he was the one who had studied the map. What if he reached the treasure stash first, found the lodestone, and pocketed it before Lakeo and Yanko caught up?

  A few more snaps drifted up from below. Dak was on the move. He might be out of earshot soon.

  “Dak?” Yanko called. “Which way should we head? You didn’t mention where the pool is.”

  “That’s because I’m guessing. The map only shows the coastline. Find a way around the ravine and head west. I’ll find you on the other side.”

  “Or he’ll find our treasure and not find us,” Lakeo grumbled.

  Yanko looked at her sharply. “Are you saying that because you’re pessimistic by nature, because he’s Turgonian, or because you have reason to believe he’s lying?”

  “All of those things. You can’t trust a Turgonian.”

  “I’ll go down to... help him.” Yanko waved a hand and created a mage light of his own, keeping the soft blue glow subtle, not wanting anyone anchored out at sea to glimpse it. “Want to go ahead and try to find the waterfall first?”

  Maybe Lakeo could do exactly what Yanko had imagined Dak doing—go in first, locate the lodestone, and hide it.

  “I’ll try,” she whispered. “Delay him if you want me to have time to search.”

  “Will do.”

  Lakeo pointed at his shoulder. “Your sleeping parrot have any better directions to give than head west?”

  “He’s not sleeping. He’s being quiet because it’s dark.” Yanko wondered if Kei had seen a waterfall while he had been off gorging himself on that nut tree.

  “How do you know he’s not sleeping?” Lakeo asked.

  “Seeds!” Apparently, Kei had noticed they were both looking at him.

  “Just a hunch,” Yanko said. He tried to share the tortoise’s memory of the waterfall with the parrot while asking if Kei had seen such a place.

  The bird stood higher on his shoulder, flexing one set of talons and then the other. He squawked, a pleased sound this time, rather than a complaining one. An image filled Yanko’s head, one where a pool and a waterfall were in the background, and the focus lay on a giant berry bush at the water’s edge.

  “How did you get there, Kei?” Yanko whispered, trying to get an aerial view rather than the close-up of the parrot pantry. After a couple of minutes of cajoling the bird into thinking of more than food, he was able to see how Kei had arrived at the spot.

  The crashes and snaps from the ravine below were growing distant. Yanko would have to scramble down quickly to catch Dak.

  “Head that way,” Yanko said, pointing north, along the edge of the ravine. “You’ll have to go to the beach before you can cross, I think. And be careful, because the ravine stays deep until the end. Once you reach the beach, follow it west until you see an outcropping of lava rocks. There’s a river at the bottom that empties into a bay. Follow that river upstream. You might make it to the pool before we do.”

  “Why don’t you try to make sure that happens?” Lakeo whispered, tilting her head toward the ravine.

  “I’ll see what I can do. But be careful if you go behind the waterfall—I expect that an old pirate would booby trap his treasure cave.”

  Lakeo waved in dismissal and started north. “I’m always careful.”

  “Also, don’t eat the bush full of red berries. Kei has claimed those for himself.”

  “Odd, Yanko. You’re an odd boy.”

  Yanko warned Kei that he intended to climb down to the bottom of the ravine, figuring the parrot might not want to go along for the ride, especially since he wasn’t sure how controlled of a fall it would be. He could levitate objects decently enough, but he hadn’t tried to lift himself that often, not the way Gold Hawk had at the mage exams.

  Kei made a grumpy noise and hopped onto a nearby branch.

  “Sorry,” Yanko whispered. “I was supposed to go to school for five years before having to do these things in the real world.”

  The parrot did not respond. Yanko crept to the edge of the ravine, carefully pushing the foliage aside to identify the drop-off point. It was abrupt and well-hidden, as Dak could surely attest. Yanko decided to try climbing down instead of testing his magic.

  As soon as he started, a mass of soft dirt gave away, and his climb turned into a rapid descent. Alarm surged through him, and his mage light went out. His toes slipped through earth, knocking clumps free. He skidded and bumped over roots, as leaves and branches clawed at him. He struggled to find the concentration necessary to levitate, or at least slow his fall. Air ruffled his damp silks, and he could feel pressure pushing against his feet. In the dark, it was hard to tell if he was slowing or not, especially with the entire forest scraping and clawing at him on the way down.

  There was too much brush to see the ground approaching, so the landing startled him. It was surprisingly soft. Despite the distractions, he had managed to slow himself down.

  Water trickled past nearby, and mud lay beneath his
feet. He had the sense of the ravine only being ten or twenty feet wide at the bottom.

  Though moderately pleased that he hadn’t broken any bones, Yanko couldn’t waste time patting himself on the back if he wanted to catch up. He hurried in the direction Dak had gone. He had barely taken five steps when a dark shaped loomed up in front of him. Right away, he sensed that it was Dak, but he still blurted a startled gasp and stumbled back.

  “I thought you were farther away,” Yanko said, embarrassed by his reaction.

  “I heard you fall.”

  “It wasn’t so much a fall as a rapid descent,” Yanko said, not wanting Dak to think he had been so inept as to stumble into the hole after him.

  “In Turgonia, we call that a fall.”

  Yanko shrugged. “I thought you might need help getting out.”

  Dak grunted and turned back the way he had been heading. Clearly, he was overwhelmed by Yanko’s concern.

  They headed up the ravine in the opposite direction from which Lakeo had gone. Yanko was tempted to share that Kei had shown him a better way, but reminded himself that he wanted Lakeo to arrive first, even if it meant extra trekking in his abused sandals.

  He did not intentionally walk slowly—he wasn’t sure why it mattered, but he had a hard time making himself appear more inept than usual in front of Dak—but he also did not point out the spots where the ravine walls were less steep and they might have climbed out. The foliage made it hard to see those walls, or even the creek meandering past beside their feet, but his senses could detect the rough contours of the terrain around them. He created a blue mage light to send ahead of Dak, but he did not make it overly bright.

  Now and then, Dak paused, looking upward and listening.

  “Where did you send Lakeo?” he asked after one such stop.

  You send? Yanko wasn’t sure if that implied that Dak knew they had been up there whispering about something. Why hadn’t he asked, where did Lakeo go?

  “She’s trying to find a way around the ravine,” Yanko said.

  Dak continued on without questioning him. Using his sword, he hacked at foliage choking the way. He hadn’t done that up above, but maybe he wasn’t worried about anyone tracking them through this. Who else would be foolish enough to fall—or rapidly descend—to the bottom of a ravine?