Island of Exiles by Erica Cameron - Chapter 1 to 11

Chapter Five

I'm not dead. I hope I'm not, anyway, because this isn't what I imagined Ryogo would look like. The Miriseh promised cool breezes and lush fields of green. Wherever I am now looks far too much like Hishingu Hall.

Closing my eyes again, I rub my cheek on the exquisitely soft mattress. The raised stone beds in the healer's ward are covered by feather-stuffed mattresses made of niora skin. Those furry cats from the southern mountains don't cross into our territory often. When they do, their russet skins go to the healers and the Miriseh. Whatever I did to need a healing, it's worth it for the chance to feel niora fur against my skin.

"I'd like to think you'll admit I was right about Yorri now," Tessen says. "Don't worry, though. I won't hold my breath."

"Yorri!" I gasp, sitting up fast. The pain in my leg is gone. How could I have forgotten what happened? The limb is stiff—bellows, my whole body is stiff—but nothing hurts when I turn to hang my legs off the side of the stone platform. Most of the beds in the hall are empty. The people I do see aren't Yorri. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

"He's fine. He came home in much better shape than you." Tessen takes a step back to give me room. "Luckily, there wasn't anything wrong with you that the hishingu couldn't heal. They were by not long ago and said you could leave when you woke up."

"Where is he, then?" I can't believe he'd leave me here alone unless something important kept him away. Maybe I can find Ahdo-mas Sotra and ask her where—

"Whoa. Stop, Khya." Tessen touches my arm, but he doesn't try to hold on when I jerk away. "He's with Kaigo Ono. It'll be another few hours at least before they're done categorizing his power and placing him with a mage for training."

Oh. I exhale heavily and lean against the next bed. That makes sense. That's exactly where he should be. More than that, it means that it worked. We made it back and Yorri is going to be a nyshin and everything will be fine. Maybe after the herynshi, they'll place him with my squad. The impossible strength and speed of a kynacho and the impenetrable wards of a fykina mage? Together we'd be unstoppable.

The thought makes me almost giddy. A smile spreads across my face. Tessen blinks and steps a little closer, his own smile softening. He opens his mouth to speak and—

"You're awake!" Etaro and Rai rush into the room, grins on both of their faces. They're coated in dust and splatters of mud. I can only assume they ran in here as soon as they were released from their shift. Our shift.

Bellows. I missed it. The first one I've ever missed.

"What the bellows were you doing out there yesterday?" Etaro scans me quickly before hauling me into a crushing hug. I stiffen, the unexpected contact sending tiny prickles of alarm over my skin. By the time I take a breath and begin to accept the embrace, ey's stepped back, embarrassment and relief warring on eir face, the expression softening eir naturally sharp features. "Wasn't the last storm bad enough?"

"Khya has always had a death wish." Rai rolls her eyes and puts her hand on her waist, pulling her tunic tight against the wide curve of her hips. "She wants to see Ryogo."

"How can I resist paradise?" I shoot back at her. The taunt is old by now after a year together in Nyshin-ma Tyrroh's squad. She laughed the first time I mentioned the stories they told us about Ryogo and the afterlife when we were kids. It's a long-standing obsession, and she isn't the first one to tease me for it. When we were kids, Tessen used to laugh and say I enjoyed the stories we would get to hear while we ate more than the food itself. I glance at him now to see if that's changed, but... Where is he?

Oh. There. He's at the door, leaving without a single glance back.

"Are you going to tell us why Tessen was here?" Rai grins, her full lips stretching wide.