Watcher's Web

Watcher's Web Chapter 12

The unknown boat on the beach, of course, was Brian’s.

A bundle of rags amongst the baskets moved, and revealed itself to be a Pengali youth. He climbed out of the boat and stood, holding the rope attached to the bow, wide eyes roving the opposite river bank. Eddies of water gurgled around his knees, tugging at the hems of his turquoise trouser legs. With his skin patterns covered under a thigh-length tunic, also turquoise, and his hair cut short, he looked almost human. And where was his tail?

Brian stepped in the boat and shoved some crates aside.

"You take this."

He passed Jessica a small object, which felt cool in the palm of her hand. It looked, for all she could think, like one of those gadgets her father used to clean his telescope: a brush on a tube attached to a rubber balloon that hissed air when you squeezed it. Except this thing was made from silvery metal and had no brush.

"What’s this?"

"It’s a zapper. What do you do with it? Blast the living daylights out of anyone who follows us before they blast the living daylights out of us." And at her horrified look, he added, "Sorry about this, I know, it’s no job for a lady, but we can’t take any chances."

Holy shit—was this trip going to be that dangerous?

"How does it work?"

He beckoned and she held up the device.

"It’s easy. You point. Wait until they’re about thirty yards away. You press this button with your thumb. It shoots a narrow beam of energy. You won't see the discharge until it hits something. Don’t get frightened by the flash and drop the weapon in the water. Give it to me after you've discharged. It only fires once and I’ll re-load. The important bit is the distance. Don’t discharge too soon. They’re not powerful at a distance. But they’re the only weapon you can legally own."

Jessica pulled her thumb away from the button, oval and also made of metal.

"Is this how the others were killed?"

"Most likely. They’re very effective at short range. Pengali messengers are stealth killers. They’d use knives and catapults before anything else. Proper charge guns are illegal anyway. They do a lot more damage. They flash blue."

"But …" The flashes in the forest had been blue. Hadn’t he seen them? "Is this … the only weapon you have? What about if they come from the air?"

His eyebrows flicked up.

"We’ll be fine. Get in."

Well, he’d said that before, and maybe she would have been fine if she hadn’t jumped off that cliff. But without any explanation, she had no way of knowing. It was all about trust and, right now, she wasn’t entirely sure if he deserved it.

Jessica clambered into the boat and wriggled sideways against a stack of baskets, pulling her knees against her chest. He might have given her a cloth to serve as dress, but she still had no underwear and couldn’t sit cross-legged.

As soon as Brian had settled himself, the turquoise-clad youth jumped into the bow and pushed off with his stick.

The expanse of slowly churning water between the boat and the shore grew. Behind the beach rose the rainforest like a wall of green. Ghosts of shadows moved between the trees, small figures blending with the forest.

A chill crept over Jessica’s back. The look on Ikay’s face still lingered in her mind. Her lips moved in a soundless whisper, Avya.

The secret of the link between them might forever remain a mystery.