Fairy Keeper (19 page)

Nell bent her head down and took a deep breath. She clenched and unclenched the hand on her good arm. The pain must have been tremendous, but there she stood, refusing to let Sierra help.

“What. Do. I. Do. Nell?” Sierra spaced out each word, taking one tiny step closer with each syllable.

“You’ll vomit.”

“I won’t. Nell. Please.”

There was a long pause. Sierra waited. Nell’s white blonde hair looked dirty blonde now, drenched with sweat around her brow despite the cold air.

“Bend my hurt arm ninety degrees at my waist.”

Sierra leaned in close to follow Nell’s directions. She smelled of forest, that tangy resin of pine, but also of old sweat, dirt, and fresh sweat mingled. It was uncomfortable standing this close to her. Sierra always figured she’d be more likely to pitch Nell over the cliff rather than help her get back up one. But Sierra lifted Nell’s arm more gently than if it were a newborn babe.

Nell continued, “Now bend my hand over toward my belly, keeping the angle of my arm exactly the same.”

She sucked in breath as Sierra followed the directions, until Nell’s wrist was touching her own waist. Sierra swallowed loudly.

“Now”―Nell’s voice was breathy―“keep the arm steady and slowly take my fist and move it away from me, toward the outside of my body.”

“Like this?” Sierra asked, biting her lip, sweat beading her forehead. What if she hurt Nell worse?

Nell nodded, but froze and hissed at the pain caused by the movement.

Sierra steadily moved Nell’s arm until it reached ninety degrees from her body and began to move in an outward arc. Sierra squeezed her eyes shut as she continued the movement until there was a sudden ricocheting
pop
. Nell let loose a yell that swayed Sierra with its sheer volume and terrified her for an instant. What if she’d done something wrong? Something must have finally gone right, though, because Nell sagged in her arms, groaning in relief. The bone had snapped back into joint. Sierra dragged gulps of air into her tight lungs, able to breathe properly again.

Nell slumped to the ground, leaning against the cliff wall. “Keep my arm bent, but move it in front of my stomach. I’ll need a sling.”

Sierra gingerly placed the sore arm in position, then looked around for anything to use for the sling. They each had on their only jacket, and there was no way they were going to rip those up. They still had farther to go up the mountains, and the temperature was going to drop. They had their woolen shirts on and pants but no extra cloth at all.

Sierra had an idea. “Tuck your good arm inside your jacket, and I’ll tie your sleeve over onto your other arm to try to keep it in place. Corbin can help us make a sling back at camp.”

Alarm flashed on Nell’s face at the mention of Corbin’s name. She hurriedly stuffed her arm in her jacket. The brown material flapped in the breeze, because she couldn’t button one-handed. Sierra had never seen her so dependent. It was a nice change.

Sierra buttoned Nell’s coat without saying a word, because now that the moment of pain had passed, Nell was pink, not pale. Nell probably hated that Sierra was the one there, the one who helped. Thinking over their conversation and her memories of their childhood, Sierra wasn’t too happy about it either.

Understanding Nell made hating her much harder.

he thought of getting up the cliff made Sierra break out in a sweat, but she gulped and moved forward. The girls strapped on Nell’s weapons so they could use their remaining hands freely.

“Hurry,” Nell said.

“I’m doing the best I can,” Sierra snapped. “I want to find him too.”

Sierra made a stirrup out of her hands to hoist Nell a few feet up the cliff wall. Once Nell found handholds in the dirt, Sierra knelt and leveraged her hands under Nell’s feet and heaved, giving Nell the strength to pull herself up a few feet, one-handed. Nell clung to the side of the cliff with her one arm and legs while Sierra used the freshly exposed roots and rocks to haul herself alongside.

It was slow work, and Sierra couldn’t quite keep the momentum going. They hung halfway up the craggy wall.

“It’s too hard,” Sierra said, pulling on Nell’s coat to help lift her. Sierra’s foot broke through her foothold, and she slid down three feet.

Nell cursed, trying to find a better way to maneuver. “Keep going,” was all she said.

Their plan was precarious, but they were driven to get off the cliff and get to Corbin. Sierra pulled herself back up and tried again. They moved ever-so-slowly up, with Sierra scurrying all around.

She acted as Nell’s right arm, held Nell’s leg against the wall, dug small footholds in the crumbly dirt for her feet. When Nell’s aching right shoulder swung away from the cliff without the right hand to hold her steady, Sierra pushed her back. They were fortunate that the fall hadn’t been a farther drop.

Still, even with Nell’s amazing climbing skills, they were running out of strength, and the top was still out of reach.

Sweat burned in Sierra’s eyes, and her arm muscles were on fire. Her legs trembled. She wanted to scream. To come so close and fail!

“I’m sorry,” Sierra panted. “I can’t. I can’t. I’ll have to go on without you. Let’s get you back down. I promise we’ll come back to you. Do you hear me, Nell? We won’t leave you.”

The two girls met each other’s gaze, faces close in their climbing positions.

Nell nodded and began to lower herself.

“Wait!” a voice said from above. The girls gasped and nearly slid down the cliff wall.

“Corbin?” Sierra cried out.

He leaned over the cliff and waved down at them. “I heard you, thank all the trees! I’ve been looking for you since the quake! Are you okay?”

Tears stung Sierra’s eyes. He was alive. Corbin was okay, and Nell would be okay.

“Nell’s hurt! We need to hurry and get her out of here!”

“Hang on,” he replied. “I brought some rope, in case you needed to be pulled out from something.”

Sierra sighed with relief. They’d be okay now. She said, “Hold tight, Nell. I can help you hold on, as long as I don’t have to lift you.”

Nell snorted. Despite their shaking arms, the girls clung tightly. A couple minutes later, after many grunts and curses from above, Corbin dropped a thick rope beside them.

He swung out on the rope and lowered himself hand-over-hand until he was alongside them.

“What are you, part-squirrel?” Sierra gasped as he managed to pull Nell so she was holding the rope but also leaning on him.

“Hush up and help me,” Corbin grunted.

By the time the three of them hauled themselves over the edge of the cliff, the sun was setting. They had never caught anything for dinner, but, at this point, they had other priorities. They had to get to camp and make sure Nell was okay.

They dusted off their dirty knees and brushed off their hands as best they could. Their faces were smudged like they had been cleaning out a fireplace, though Sierra bet hers was the worst from the feel of it. Given the late time of day, though, being muddy might save them from predators that came out as the sun went down. Corbin’s dark skin and hair merged easily with the dusky shadows, but Sierra and Nell needed all the help they could get for camouflage. Nell’s pale blond hair shone with the last rays of sunlight. Sierra grabbed her bow from the ground, and they worked their way back to the camp, Sierra explaining what had happened as they went. Corbin had thankfully remembered to notch the trees as he came, so they found their way back even with Nell unable to pay much attention.

Sierra and Corbin each walked on one side of Nell. She seemed too quiet and stumbled a lot. Sierra wondered if shoulder dislocations could cause shock, not to mention the fall itself. Sierra’s mind seemed fuzzy. Maybe she was in shock, too.

Nell nearly fell while stepping over a fallen log, so Sierra and Corbin both wrapped one arm around her back for support. When no protest was made, Sierra quickened their steps.

The orange glow of the hastily banked fire sent soft light through the darkening trees, the truest beacon Sierra had ever seen. Relief made her giddy and warm.

They’d all survived an earthquake in the mountains, and they had time yet to find a fairy and rescue Phoebe. Rocks and branches scraped at Sierra’s ankles as they hurried through the underbrush in the straightest line to the fire, but she didn’t care. She smelled wood smoke and, even better, cooked grains. Her mouth watered. The fact they would have no meat in them meant nothing tonight.

“I know I should have put the fire out completely,” Corbin earnestly explained, though Sierra really didn’t care about fire safety details at the moment, “but I just took off to find you guys after the quake.”

They set Nell on a fallen log he’d dragged over by the fire and he quickly built it back up. Sierra had never been so thankful for Corbin’s impulsive, passionate nature. So sweet―so very Corbin! She was glad the forest didn’t catch fire, but no harm had been done, and he’d saved them.

“Nell? How’re you doing, sweetie? Are you in shock?” His voice sounded calm and strong. Hearing him use the endearment for Nell didn’t seem as odd―or as upsetting―as it might have that morning.

“Not in shock, you guys are the ones losing your mind,” Nell grumbled. The very mildness of her response alarmed both Sierra and Corbin.

He stepped over to Nell and sat beside her, laying his hand on her forehead like his parents did for Sierra so many times.

“No fever,” he murmured to himself, and then placed two fingers on the pulse in Nell’s neck.

She jerked away, saying, “I told you, I’m fine.”

Corbin dropped his hand limply to his side.

Sierra smiled at him from across the fire. “We’re glad you’re okay, Corbin. We were worried.”

She paused, seeing him glance over at the tired girl next to him. “Both of us were,” she added, feeling generous.

They helped Nell into her bedroll, then Sierra quickly fell into her own and dropped into deep sleep, thankful to be alive.

The next morning, she was slightly less thankful. Her entire body protested when she stretched. A rosy pink blushed across the pale dawn sky. She rolled over and saw Corbin asleep sitting up, his back propped against a gray boulder. She guessed he had been keeping watch, bless his heart, or trying to. Then Sierra’s gaze dropped. The white blonde of Nell’s hair spread across his legs like a blanket. She was fast asleep in her bedroll, but her head was pillowed on his legs, face tilted up to the sky. His hand curled against her cheek. In sleep, their tenderness was bared for anyone to see.

Sierra looked away and took a deep breath. She counted to ten. For the first time, she wondered if Nell actually planned on making a life with him. Wanting him and wanting to keep him were two different things. No matter how Nell loved him―and she really might―it didn’t change the fact that she was an enforcer and he was so gentle. Surely she understood the problem. Their relationship wouldn’t work, and Sierra didn’t want him heartbroken. Corbin was crazy to even consider staying with Nell, but he’d never listen to Sierra anyway, so she’d save her breath.

The fire glimmered, one tendril of gray smoke curling into the dawn sky. Well, she couldn’t do anything about her two teammates cozying up―she wasn’t sure she even wanted to anymore―but she could do something about an empty stomach. It looked like they’d need to take a day to let Nell recuperate, and they might as well have fresh meat while they waited.