“Thank you, but I think it is a little late for that,” she ruefully replied, fingering a long tear in the green material.
A surge of shame over his behavior threatened to swallow him. He’d spent the last two hours fluctuating between wanting to wrap his arms around her and being a total jerk. It appeared that being a total jerk had won.
She swept her damp hair back and sighed, pointedly looking at everything except him. He placed his pack on the ground and retrieved his water bottle. He shook it, muttering under his breath when he realized it was empty.
“Do you need water?” she asked.
He nodded. “We need water. It is important we stay hydrated,” he replied as he stood.
She worried her bottom lip. “If you like, I can—”
He shook his head. “I’ve got this,” he interrupted and removed the knife from his boot.
She loudly sighed and became quiet again. He looked around the area, sending up a silent thank you to the Goddesses when he saw the flat, ruffled texture of a milk-white Dragon’s Beard mushroom.
The Dragon’s Beard would not only give them plenty of water, but its meat was sweet, delicious, and nutritious. He walked over to the plant and poked a small hole in it with his knife. Clear water poured from it into the bottle. When it was full, he cut a small section off the tip of the mushroom.
In seconds, a thin film covered the cut section, sealing off the flow of water and protecting the mushroom. He carried the mushroom piece and the water back to Arosa and held out the bottle. She gave him a brief smile before she took the offered bottle of water.
“Thank you,” she said.
He studied her when she stared at the bottle before sniffing it. An amused smile tugged at his lips when she finally took a drink. She seemed almost surprised by the cool liquid. She drank deeply before sighing again.
“There is plenty more,” he assured her.
She shook her head and offered him the bottle. “You have some first. You have been traveling longer than I,” she insisted.
He took the bottle and sat down beside her. Placing the bottle between his legs, he tore the piece of mushroom and handed half of it to her. She fingered the soft white meat before pinching off a section and placing it in her mouth.
“This is good,” she remarked with surprise.
“Do you not have Dragon’s Beard in your forest?” he asked before breaking off a section and eating it.
“This type of fungi is found on many planets, though they call it different names. Aik—” she started to explain before she stopped and looked at the piece in her hand. “It is very good,” she finished lamely.
“How did you find me earlier?” he suddenly asked.
She choked on a small piece of mushroom she was eating and coughed. He patted her on the back and handed her the water bottle. She took a deep swig and cleared her throat.
“I… the butterflies warned that there was a disturbance and I…uh…came to investigate,” she haltingly answered.
“I’m thankful that you did. It was interesting how you could do that—turn the sandworms into flowers,” he reflected.
“It… as the Queen of the Wood Fairies, I have a certain skill when it comes to plants. The sandworms weren’t harmed. The flowers grew around them,” she said with a wave of her hand.
“Fascinating,” he murmured.
“It is? Yes, it is,” she hastily corrected.
He wanted to ask her one more question that was puzzling him—why had she left him without saying goodbye the morning after, but he was afraid of the answer. There was a lot he wanted to say, but an awkward silence fell between them as they finished their simple meal. He offered her the bottle again.
“No, thank you,” she said, wiping the mushroom crumbs off her dress.
“I’ll refill the water bottle and cut another section from the mushroom just in case we need it later. It tastes better roasted. We should get going if we want to make it back to Batty by nightfall. I told him to find me, but I don’t know if he understood. He might end up back at the palace,” he mused.
“He understood,” she replied.
She looked so certain he couldn’t help asking, “How can you be certain?”
She gave him that mysterious smile of hers and slid off the mushroom. “Bats are very smart creatures,” she replied with a confident nod.
“Well, I think we should still try to get back to the cave. If nothing else, it will give us protection. The poachers are more active at night,” he said.
He refilled the water bottle and cut off another piece of the mushroom. She held his bag and coat while he stored their meager supplies. The tiny frown line between her eyes made him smile. She was watching everything he did as if it were all new to her.
Her soft cheek was smudged with dirt. He took his coat from her and pulled a handkerchief from the pocket. Dampening one end with the trickle of water still dripping from the mushroom, he gently wiped the spot.
“Tamblin,” she whispered, looking at him, her eyes filled with longing and confusion.
He caressed her cheek with his thumb. “We’d better go,” he quietly responded.
After several stops, they reached the bottom of the rock face where he had left Batty just before dusk. The last couple of hours had been the most taxing. He had pushed not only himself but Arosa at an exhausting pace. His biggest motivation was fear for her. The thought of her being exposed to the horrors of the poachers superseded everything else.
He held out his hand. “Just a little farther, we are almost there,” he promised.
She grasped his hand and stepped up beside him on a rock. “I can take us the rest of the way,” she offered.
The protest on his lips died when she wrapped her arms around him. She looked up at the opening, and when he looked up too, his feet left the ground. Her wings fluttered so quickly he barely saw them. In seconds, they were on the ledge from where he had descended nearly fourteen hours earlier.
“Thank—thank you,” he said when she released him.
She self-consciously pushed a lock of her hair back and gave him a shy smile. “You’re welcome,” she replied before walking past him into the cave.
He followed her with his gaze until she disappeared from sight. He sighed and looked behind him at the horizon. Bright spotlights and the unmistakable gray clouds of smoke created a glowing haze along the skyline.
Hopelessness filled him as he stared out at the devastation. These men cared nothing about the lives they were destroying. Their only concern was for the credits they would earn.
Tia, I fear nothing short of a Goddess can save our world this time, he thought with despair.
8
Arosa glanced over her shoulder before studying the cave in front of her. Batty peeked down at her and gave her a toothy grin at the changes she made to the drab interior. All day she had fought against the urge to make things easier for Tamblin.
Even so, she might have been responsible for the Dragon Beard mushrooms appearing when they needed water... and because of her, no sandworms tried to attack them. Also, there had been a cooling breeze that stayed with them, there were fewer obstacles to block their way, and heavy rain had kept the poachers from the area.
Now she focused on making the night more pleasant. The cave expanded. In the corner, a deep oval depression formed. Water poured down along the wall from a crack and filled the area, then the torrent became a continuous trickle. In another corner, dried wood appeared. There would be enough firewood for several nights.