The Boys of Fire and Ash (17 page)

“Head north along the river,” he said finally. “Towards the mountains.”

“Is that where the Belphebans are?”

The distant scream of a new group of Tunrar echoed through the trees. “No. But you should come to a roadway. Follow it west, to Fendar Sticks. If anyone knows where the Belphebans are camped, it'll be the gentlemen of Fendar Sticks.”

He shrugged off his outermost skin. He handed it to me for the second time. “You'll need this.”

And that was it. He turned and started on his way, and I didn't know whether to celebrate or cry. He'd told me exactly what I needed to know, even though he didn't have to. I stood a chance of getting Cubby back. But I was going on alone, without Blaze, without my guide. There was nothing I could say to make him stay. He had to run. The Tunrar could find him at any moment. If they caught up to him again, he'd face them on his own. I watched him pick out a long stick and plunge it into the pool nearest to him. If they caught him, it would be because of me. It would be because I'd betrayed him.

It took us longer than expected to get back to Av, Fiver's leg slowing him down, though he was still pretty quick, considering the size of his gash—longer than mine had been. Sticky Willow would have set him right, but I didn't know if there was anything like that around here. Didn't matter if there was, though, 'cause whenever I mentioned it, he just kept on growling that he was fine.

“You have to treat it, somehow,” I told him, feeling worse by the minute. I started undoing the belt that covered my own wound, but he stopped me.

“Leave it alone, Urgle,” he growled. “Let's just get back to Av.”

He limped ahead and I hated myself for each labored step. He was hurt because of me. And so was Av.

Av was exactly the same way we'd left him: his chin slumped into his chest, drool staining his clothes, his back against the same tree. He hadn't moved in all the time we'd been gone.

As my heart suddenly accelerated and my brain feared
the worst, Fiver gave him a gentle kick to the foot. Av managed a low groan.

“Well,” said Fiver, shrugging, “he's not dead yet.”

I swallowed the panic that had made its way to my throat and nodded.

I opened my sweaty clenched fist and unveiled the crushed orange petals of what Fiver and I had, after much debate, decided was the Sable Root Blaze had told me about. We measured with our fingernails as best we could, but we weren't sure if it was the blossom that was supposed to be that size, or the entire plant.

Blaze's hide hung heavy over my shoulder. I kneeled down beside Av and draped it over him, hoping the warmth of it might help him feel better.

Fiver, with a face contorted by pain, carefully took a seat beside Av and began studying the damage I'd inflicted on his thigh.

“Well, Useless?” he said. “Give it to him.”

A new swell of panic rushed through me as I looked at the wilted little plant. “How?” I asked.

“I dunno, just—jam it in his mouth.”

Wrong. I'd seen Crow work with plants and herbs a dozen times, and never had I seen him just shove a flower in someone's mouth. There was a lot of prep work: picking, peeling, squishing, mixing, boiling, frying—even fire moss needed to be boiled in a tea before it could help someone's pain.

“Maybe we should boil it,” I said finally.

Somewhere in the distance, the screams of an army of Tunrar rang out, not far.

“We don't have time, Urgle. Just give it to him.”

I began to sweat again as I remembered something Crow told me a long time ago. I was young, still just a Little Brother myself, and Cheeks had banished me from target practice because I accidently hit him in the leg with a wayward spear. I was told to sit with Crow and his Big Brother while everyone kept practicing. Crow was crushing a bunch of roots, I remembered the black juice staining his hands.

“Always gotta crush Wheezy Weed, before you boil it,” he said.

Confused by the amount of work and grossed out by the mess, I asked him, “Why can't they just eat it as it is?”

Crow's jaw dropped and he looked at me very frightened. “No! No! Just eating Wheezy Weed could kill somebody! Don't you know how strong it is?”

Now I looked at the little flower in my hand, my palm flecked with small orange stains from squeezing it so tight. It might be too dangerous to give it to Av just the way it was, but time was running out.

Av lay there against the base of the tree, still and silent.

“Come on, Useless,” said Fiver, grabbing Av's mouth in his hand and forcing his jaw open.

The Tunrar screamed. Closer.

“It could be dangerous,” I said.

“What in the Mother isn't dangerous in this forsaken world?” Fiver growled as the screaming grew louder, and constant. “Just do it!”

Without a thought, I shoved the flower, the stem, its leaves and roots into Av's mouth and clamped closed his jaw.

“Chew it!” I yelled over the chorus of hideous screams and wails that were closing in.

Av just stayed the way he was, completely out of it and unable to do anything.

Fiver growled and shoved me out of the way, grabbing Av's face. He fished out the plant and ripped off the pedals before stuffing it into his own mouth.

“What are you doing!” I yelled.

Fiver ignored me and chomped on the flower. He spat it out chewed to a pulp and forced the regurgitated petals into Av's mouth. Av swallowed.

Then Fiver chewed up the stem and handed me the root. Thrilled to see it working, I chewed as quick as I could, spat it out, and forced it down Av's throat.

Just as he swallowed the last bit of Sable Root, a Tunrar rushed out of the undergrowth and ran at Fiver.

I reached for the paddle from our boat and bashed it in the face before it had the chance to pounce.

Fiver looked up at me from his spot on the ground. “Not bad, Useless.”

I reached for him and he took my hand. I hoisted Fiver to his feet and together we grabbed Av's limp body and flung him into the boat as we saw shadows leaping in the treetops, more Tunrar descending from the sky.

“Get us out of here!” Fiver yelled as he did his best to heave his throbbing leg over the side of the boat and join Av.

I pushed the boat with all my might away from shore and jumped in. Grabbing an oar and thrusting it into the angry river, I paddled hard and fast, my limbs heavier than I'd ever felt them, dead and unwilling to move. My body was exhausted, but I kept plunging my paddle into the torrent.

The Tunrar screamed, unwilling to brave the waters and running along the shore, following us, tripping over each
other as they hissed and roared and protested at our unfair advantage.

“Now what?” shouted Fiver from the front of the boat.

“We go up the river.”

“You know where the Belphebans are?”

I shook my head. “A town: Fendar Sticks.”

By the time we saw the mountains that Blaze had promised we'd find, my arms were fighting against me, refusing to obey, and I could barely keep paddling. Not only that, but my skin was stinging, like burning, but I couldn't stop shivering. My teeth were chattering and no matter how I tried to keep my blood flowing, my body grew numb the further we pushed on. No wonder Blaze had given me his outermost skin. Av lay on the floor of the boat, Blaze's heavy brown hide draped over his motionless body. I inched my frozen toes under the thick cloth and felt Av's warm shoulder at their tips.

“Look, Urgs!” shouted Fiver, pointing to the shores of the river. The river had become narrower, the shores so close that if the Tunrar had kept following, they could have jumped in. The water was shallower too, the raging torrent just a gentle flow. And at the edges of the banks were crystals clinging to the surface of the water, crusting to everything from rocks to earth.

I barely acknowledged Fiver's discovery and wondered if the roadway would ever appear. I had to get out of this boat, had to find warmth, if only for a second.

In that moment, something in the distance obstructed the river. I could see it was a low bridge that connected to a rocky pathway.

“The road!” Fiver cheered, and we both cracked our frozen cheeks into smiles.

I angled the boat just so and it drifted to the shore, gently scraping along the bedrock to a stop.

Fiver and I both shivered as we forced our bodies out of the little craft and onto the shore. Fiver stumbled, and he winced, grabbing at his injured leg.

“Do you need me to—?”

“It's fine,” he snapped. Fiver's eyes were wide when he looked at me and I felt a surge of fear.

“What?”

“Fire. Your insides are on fire, Useless.”

He was right. I could see light clouds emerging from below my nose, and when I looked at Fiver, there were clouds coming from his mouth. Our warm breath danced on the chilled air and disappeared before our eyes. Fiver cupped his mouth to catch it, his cheeks a frozen red, his nose a perfect circle of blush.

“Your lips are blue,” he said, and I realized his were too. This was a wretched way to be. How any creature could survive this, I didn't know, and as I glanced around at the barren landscape, white-peaked mountains, rocks and dirt, and patches of white dust stretching into forever, I suspected they couldn't.

We heard a groan and Av's head was wobbling. My heart swelled with relief, almost bursting with excitement. He was moving.

“The Sable Root!” I said. “It's working!”

I rushed to Av, who was clutching his arms to his chest,
his whole body shaking beneath Blaze's hide. His lips were blue, even bluer than Fiver's, and his eyes were still rolling, but he was moving. Under his own strength, he was moving. He responded to my touch and weakly tried to struggle out of the boat with my support.

As we held Av up, I couldn't help but notice this was the closest I'd been to Fiver or even Av. We were clinging to each other, desperately trying to absorb each other's warmth, Fiver draping Blaze's hide around the three of us. It wasn't as effective as I'd hoped.

“Now what?” said Fiver, his voice swallowed by the enormous empty space that surrounded us, swallowed by the windy quiet, by the cold.

“Walk, I guess,” was all I could say, “till we get to Fendar Sticks.”

So we did. Fiver and I started forward and Av tried to follow; he still hadn't said anything much more than a groan, and his weak effort to walk on his own was almost a complete failure. Fiver caught him before he fell to his knees and I took up the other side.

“How you doing, Av?” asked Fiver.

Av groaned and tried to lift his head, but it barely moved an inch and flopped back down. He was still drooling.

I wiped it away with the back of my hand, drying the wet on my Larmy skin. “You can do it, Av, the Sable Root's already started to work.”

He tried again, but his head fell limp. I wrapped my arm around his waist and leaned his head on my shoulder.

I was waiting for an argument from Fiver, another fight that we couldn't keep going like this, but he didn't say anything. He just sighed and slung Av's arm around
his neck and the three of us tried pathetically to move as one.

It was a jumbled, jostled mess. Fiver was having a hard time with his leg and I nearly lost hold of Av's mostly limp form multiple times, but we pressed on. The ground was hard and numbing on our feet, burning in its own way. It was like walking on hot coals, but there was no heat to be found anywhere. As night closed in, the air became colder and the wind picked up speed.

I couldn't feel my naked toes, and my fingers were almost gone too. My nose was running, but I barely noticed, and my cheeks felt like someone had been slapping them over and over again.

“I'm so cold,” Fiver whispered.

I nodded silently, but there was nothing to be said. The only option was to keep going. I had to save Cubby and this was the only way.

Until Av started shaking. Without warning, his whole body convulsed and what little strength he had slipped out of him and he fell to the ground.

“Av!” I shouted.

He was writhing, shaking, the whites of his eyes showing, and a gurgling choking sound escaped his throat.

“Come on, Av,” said Fiver, crouching down and taking Av in his arms.

A bubbly foam, a familiar orange tint, oozed out of his mouth.

“The Sable Root!” I screamed. “Fiver, we've poisoned him!”

“Come on, Av,” Fiver said, ignoring me and rocking Av back and forth as his body trembled and shook. “Hold on.” He turned to me. “Urgle, how much farther?”

I didn't know. Blaze had just said to follow the road.

Av couldn't die here, not like this. I'd never forgive myself.

With no thought in my head, and no hope in my heart, I screamed into the night, “Help! Help us!”

Who I was calling for, I couldn't say. Blaze? A desperate dream that maybe somehow he'd be nearby and hear my cries. Rawley, the First Brother? A hope that he'd watch over us. Whatever my reason, my heart couldn't handle losing Av. Not when I'd given him the Sable Root, not when it was all my fault.

“Help!” I screamed again and again as Fiver rocked him back and forth.

And then a faint rumble echoed in the distance, a small light not far down the road. Someone was coming.

“Help us!” I shrieked and waved my arms with all my might. “Please! Someone help!”

From nowhere, a rickety wooden cart, pulled by a large Sibble Cow like I'd seen in Abish Village, slowed to a halt, and a deformed, bent, melted person leaped down from a saddle placed neatly on the creature's back.

The man called out to me in yet another tongue I couldn't comprehend and I just kept screaming for help. I rushed to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him to come and get Av, to come and save him. The man was ancient and couldn't stand straight, his body bent forward, long white hair poking out from under his hat. He followed me to where Fiver held Av and worry flooded his face. He said words, more words I couldn't understand, and pointed to his cart. He motioned to Av, then to the cart, and immediately Fiver and I sprang into action. I didn't know who this man was or
where he had come from, but Av needed help. It was trust him or let my friend die.