“Then they are welcome to swim after us,” Wade quips. “They won’t want to follow us when they figure out where we’re going anyway.”
“And where is that?” I reply hesitantly, already anticipating his answer.
“The marshes.”
I pause for a moment as Wade pushes the boat down into the water and think back to what Minerva said about the marshes, that I should avoid them at all cost. Obviously Wade has a different attitude about them.
“Is that where Eliana will be?” I ask.
“No,” Wade replies dryly, waving me into the boat with his hand.
“Then why are we going there?”
“Because we need to disappear before we can go south.”
Something tells me that there is more to the answer than that, but given our current circumstances, I’ll take half of the truth for now. Really, I am too exhausted to think beyond the dilemma at hand and won’t consider it over until we get beyond the bridge, which I expect will be filled with soldiers.
The bridge comes into view shortly after we emerge from the cover of the steam, but to my relief, there is no one in sight. As I think about it, I realize that we didn’t actually take that long to get to the river and find the boat. It’s very possible that our pursuers are still making the descent down the mountain.
I breathe peacefully once we are well beyond the bridge. Glancing back, I notice that some soldiers have finally reached it, but they can do little more than gape out at us. We made it.
Coupled with a warm breeze and the knowledge that we are safe, the river ride provides a rejuvenating tranquility. I have been on a boat a few times before thanks to the reservoir above Kalepo and the canals throughout the plateau, but those places were also filled with the sounds of the city. Here, the river flows quietly with a serenity I always associated with nature but never had the pleasure of experiencing before being exiled. It seems strange to think it, but I have become partly grateful for my exodus, if only for these moments of utter beauty.
I rest for some time and try to ease my mind about what will come next. My fatigued body makes this easy on me, and I am able to fall asleep for a while without problem. When I wake up, Wade is still at the head of the boat, mindful and vigilant, like the true protector I hope he is and remains.
“One of the soldiers told me about you,” I say to him.
He glances back at me but doesn’t respond.
“She said you were a ranger,” I continue. “That yo
u and others like you shielded people from danger.”
“I bet that’s not all she said,” he counters.
“No,” I momentarily trail off before remembering something reassuring my father used to tell me.
“You know, no one stands upright, for good or for ill, based solely upon the past. It’s as much in the lives before us that our true character lies, in the decisions that we have yet to make. If we intend to write our futures with goodness, then that is who we are, regardless of what evils we’ve done.”
“That’s a nice truism,” he scoffs, “but life is hardly so simple. Maybe you just want to believe that because I have your life in my hands, because of what I’ve done or what you’ve heard—”
“I haven’t heard anything,” I interrupt.
He looks down.
“Then you’ll be better off keeping yourself from finding out.”
Wade turns back toward the river, and the conversation abruptly ends, leaving an uncomfortable aura in its wake that disrupts the peace from before. I try to fall back asleep, but I can’t, at least not as fast as I’d like. As much as I wish it weren’t, my body is at least rested enough to let me worry.
Maybe Eliana is gone forever, and it is too late to do whatever good was expected of me. Maybe the quest I was sent on is hopeless beyond repair because of what happened before I even got here. Maybe this world stone I carry will never do the good my father intended of it. I know he would have me believe that there is hope yet, but I just can’t see it right now.
At some point, I drift into a deep slumber, but am then shaken awake
by Wade to the sound of crashing water.
“Time to get up, princess,” he yells above the noise.
My eyes jump ahead of the boat, the sight of the end of the river and a dead drop instantly causing me to panic. I grab the side of the boat and stand in preparation to jump out, but Wade’s laughter stops me.