Fly or Fall

Chapter Twenty-Five

Hae couldn't swim. As water filled her lungs and the current pulled her into the depths of the ocean she couldn't help but think how stupid it was. She lived on an island. How could she not know how to swim? Oh, yeah, she'd spent all her free time with her face buried in a book. She couldn't believe she was going to die like this. She couldn't believe her last thought was going to be, 'I should have learnt how to swim.'

"Hey," she heard the voice before she saw the person who spoke. It was soft but unfamiliar. She felt a warm hand wrapped around her fingers. For a moment she thought she was dead and the goddess was leading her to the afterlife. But the voice that had spoken was definitely masculine. She opened her eyes; the world was dark and unfocused. It was a moment before the darkness resolved into an image.

She saw sea cowries first. They hung off a thick neck, glimmering like polished ivory in the sun. Her eyes moved, half dry tufts of sandy blonde hair fell off bronze tanned broad shoulders. Eyes, green like spring leaves peered down at her in concern.

"Hello?" she managed, the word scrapping against her throat like sandpaper. She tried to sit up but slumped back down when pain shot through her entire body.

"Careful," the boy said, placing his hands on her shoulders. "You crushed against some rocks when you fell. You shouldn't move."

Fell? The cliff, she remembered. "My brother," she said. Her voice was harsh and panicked. "Where's my brother and Anna?"

The boy turned his head, Hae tried to follow his gaze but her neck protested the movement. It was stiff, her whole body was stiff and sore. "They're fine," he said and turned to her with a smile. "My brother took them back to our village to get the healer. They were very worried about you but I promised I'd keep you safe."

"Oh," she said with a sigh. They were fine, good. "Thank you," she added.

His smile broadened showing his teeth and the corners of his eyes crinkled. He had a warm easy smile that seemed to calm Hae a little more. "I'm Kellen," he said.

"Hae." She returned his smile. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," he said with a nod. Hae noticed for the first his chest was bare. He knelt next to her shirtless. He was built like a swimmer, lean but with defined muscles. Hae tried not to stare.

"Where are we?" she asked. She was obviously laying on a beach. She could feel the warm sand between her fingers, the air was heavy with the saltiness of the ocean and from the corner of her eye she could make out palm trees. Probably an island. She doubted this was the same island the Wythynian had taken them, at least she hoped it wasn't.

"Paralous," he told her. She recognized the name.

The location of Dorian's isle was one of the most closely guarded secrets on the island. Very few people knew exactly where it was; the empress, the council members and a few chosen nobles shared the secret. But Hae remembered an old map she'd found deep in the palace library. It was a relic from before the Wythynians invaded. Paralous wasn't far from the island. Maybe a half day's boat ride. If they could somehow get a boat, they could get back home, explain everything to the empress and she could send out a team to rescue Andy.

Hae also remembered something else about the island. "Wait, I thought Paralous was a deserted island." All the islands in the Gwammean sea where supposedly deserted. It was due to an old superstition. Stories of sea monsters attacking and killing anyone who sailed through these waters.

"It was," he said. Something in his eyes gave Hae the impression he knew about the stories. "Until my tribe settled here."

"Your tribe?"