About a Half-Day from a River, Day 112 A.F

Male screams rattled my skull, infiltrating every corner of my mind. With a jolt, my eyes flew open, staring up to an endless, inky sky. My heart thudded, my arms still burned. I glanced at my forearm, but saw no injury. Only my thorn claws, fully present in my subconscious distress. Just a dream. Just a dream. It wasn't real. What was real was the threat from the Lovers, or Gabriel's blackmail. What was real was the possibility of saving Paltic. What was real was Cyprian, warm, and slumbering at my side.

I snuggled closer, wanting nothing more than to burrow into his arms, but wanting nothing less than to steal Cyp's precious moments of sleep. I looked up to his sleeping face, completely at ease. What could he be dreaming about to cause that blissful smile to creep to his handsome face?

Turning over, I spotted Enki, glaring at me. We'd left him on night watch.

You slept with this man on guard? It's a surprise you're still breathing, Lady Lotus sneered.

"How about a 'thank you'?" Enki grumbled, crossing his arms.

"What do you mean?" Reluctantly, I shimmied away from Cyprian's side, not wanting to wake him with my voice. I sat up, eyeing Enki warily.

"Just saved Cyp's life," he grunted, a short distance away, "from you. Your damn vines were wrapping around him like snakes. Only a matter of time before they suffocated him. So I woke you up, and just about had to throw myself out of the way of that arsenal of yours."

My throat clenched up. Had I lost control of my powers in my sleep? Had that horrifying dream caused me to lash out in reality. I stared at Cyprian, peacefully asleep. "It was just a bad dream." My tongue felt like stone. No doubt Enki would throw me out should he learn of my violent dreams... Who had I killed--burnt upon a tree?

Enki regarded me, rubbing his chest slowly. "About the Lovers? Me too."

Not even close. "You have nightmare too?"

"Of course," he admitted. "I think it's just part of being an Arcana. The things we see... the things we experience..."

"Yeah..." I wrapped my arms tightly around my chest, staring around our camp. I shivered. Our fire was dying, but I didn't have much inclination to salvage it. Someone was missing. I turned sharply back to Enki. "Where's Gabriel?"

He pointed towards a scraggly tree. "Up there. Roosting. He doesn't trust us enough to sleep down here."

Rightly so. I peered up at the silhouette. With horror, I saw Gabriel turn his head forward with the stunted motion of a bird. From far away, I could still feel his gaze tickling the back of my neck. I wondered if he could hear us from there.

"That's a little creepy," I mumbled, still staring at the angel.

"Indeed," Enki agreed.

"Any food left?" A day ago, Cyp had managed to spear a passing fish with his sword. Though there'd scarcely been a mouthful for each of us, I dared to hope there was another bite. We'd left the river a short while ago. I didn't want to backtrack, but we couldn't be without food.

"Hardly." He scoffed. "But if we scout ahead we might be able to find some plants. Your Empress-power should be able to tell what's safe to eat."

"We can't leave camp without a guard," I protested. Especially not with Gabriel watching like a hawk.

"Romulus and Morrigury are the best guards here anyway." Enki turned his head to where Tybira slept, head resting against Xanthus's muscular legs and halfway buried in wolf fur. All three canines were awake, laying in a heap atop their alpha, and watching us intently. Smintheus and Morrigury were nowhere to be seen, but I assumed they were nearby. "Besides, with Tybira's acute hearing, she'll wake up right away if something happens."

"Tybira could sleep through anything," I snorted. She'd dozed peacefully as Cyp and I battled Red for a bite of cheese, and through that wonderful kiss.

"She can if she feels safe," he corrected. "If there's a threat she'll wake." Enki scowled at me. "Look, I don't want to go wandering around with you either, but what choice do we have? We need food, and I don't know about you, but I'm far too hungry to wait and I can't tell what's food from poison."

"Fine." I stood up, dusting off my dress. After Cyp had taken pains to wash it, I made sure to care for it. Without glancing at the Magician, I stalked towards the edge of camp, only hoping my dream, that horrible screaming, wouldn't follow me.

"Freki," Enki called. As he caught up to me I could hear wolf paws pattering behind. The silvery female ambled after us calmly, keeping close to Enki's side.

"We shouldn't leave Tybira without a set of fangs," I advised. If an attacker struck the camp, this wolf could make a large difference.

"Tybira has her own fangs, two more wolves, a horse, and Cyp. We don't." Enki eyed me as we walked. "Besides, I'd like some protection should... someone attack."

Someone like me.

"I know what you're implying and I wish you'd quit it," I grumbled, inspecting each scraggly shrub and dried tree we passed. No berries this far from a water source, which would mean hiking for a good portion of the day. "It wasn't me that lied to you. It was..."

"I know that." He didn't look at me. "But it will be you and no one can tell when that'll happen."

"What do you mean?"

"Every Arcana has two sides to them. We have our human side, and we have the side that's truly an Arcana. As the Game progresses the sides blur, and in many cases the Arcana side becomes all that remains--angry, vengeful, bloodthirsty. Arcana do anything to win, no matter the cost."

"I don't want to win," I protested.

"Maybe you do. Maybe you don't. But I have no doubt in my mind that the Empress does." Enki ran his hand over Freki's coat. "The past Empresses have been notoriously bad at controlling their malicious intent. If you're already having trouble controlling your urges... Well then, it's only a matter of time before you're wearing my Icon. Or Tybira's. Or even Cyp's."

I wanted to defend myself. I wanted to prove Enki wrong. But how could I? I had lost control. Even in my sleep I was dangerous. Hadn't Matthew said I'd become the Empress?

Instead, I watched the wolf, beautiful and graceful. Freki lumbered beside Enki, sniffing at the ground with heated intent. Her silver coat glimmered in the slowly rising sun. When dawn broke, the camp would awake and realize we were gone. What would they make of our absence?

The distant sun rose steadily, shining upon the tortured earth. Why did the Earth let the sun so near when she remained deprived of moisture apart from the banks that had been utterly drowned in the Flood? Why not leave the sweltering heat so that more plants could engulf her?

In time the dry, dusty ground turned to a thick, brown mud that attempted to swallow my boots with every step.

Freki's nose remained attached the ground, even as her snout became smeared with dirt. She snarled softly at a smooth patch of mud, planting her paws in the ground. The she-wolf refused to let us pass her until we made a wide circle around her.

Enki surveyed the muddy stretch leading to a small river. Little clean water remained, the rest undrinkable, wasted in the dirt.

A seldom noticeable pull tugged on my stomach, as if a minuscule thread had knotted itself to my spine and was attempting to draw me forward. I followed the tug blindly, trusting it would lead us to food.

The Magician followed me without question, even as those suspicious patches of mud became so numerous we needed to hop around them.

Mud clung to my freshly cleaned boots. Each step attempted to drag me into the murky depths. It became increasingly difficult to lift my feet, the audible squelch of mud promising that with one misstep, I would be unable to free myself.

As we progressed, dodging patches that would undoubtedly be fatal, that tug grew stronger, urging me on. More and more scraggly plants dotted the brown landscape. I could sense all of them like a prickling on the back of my neck, but none of the bushes we passed tugged my gut the same way. Though Enki seemed inclined to inspect each one, I kept moving. Without even looking I knew there wouldn't be any berries clinging to the branches. Quickly, Enki acquiesced and we kept moving.

A high pitched whine pierced my concentration. I turned over my shoulder to see the silver wolf, legs almost completely submerged in mud.

Freki thrashed and yelped, but couldn't free herself. With every jerking attempt she sank lower. Soon she'd be swallowed by the abyss.

Enki and I made our way to the wolf with all the alacrity we could manage, hopping and dodging to avoid the same fate as Freki.

The Magician had been closer, so he reached the wolf first. He placed his hand on Freki's head, her silver fur caked brown with mud. "Hey, calm down. We'll get you out of there. Hold still."

Miraculously, the wolf listened. Freki stopped moving, her pink tongue lolling out of her mouth as if she couldn't take in enough air. Her amber eyes strained to the whites, but she held still.

"Help me, Ayesha," Enki grunted, sliding his arm through the mud in an effort to reach under the wolf.

I followed suit, bending down and thrusting my arms into the mud until I got a hold of Freki's middle.

"Pull!" he yelled, cheek pressed against the wolf's muddy flank.

There was no guarantee we'd save Freki, and I knew the wolf would regenerate. But one look at her terror stricken expression had me pulling with all my might. Though she wouldn't remain dead, her fear and her pain was real, and it would be cruel to make her suffer.

After sliding, grunting, and slipping in the mud, somehow Freki came free. The wolf, the Magician and I went sprawling, equally coated in brown filth.

Freki limped to her feet. She attempted to shake herself clean, but the mud remained caked into her coat. The she-wolf then rubbed her dirty head against my side and bestowed a sloppy kiss to Enki's face in gratitude.

Though coated in canine drool as well as mud, the Magician beamed at the wolf, taking her massive head in both hands to lightly kiss her snout. He glanced up at me. "We'll keep going, but Freki stays here. With her smaller paws she'll sink easier."

I was going to point out that while her paws were smaller, at least she had four to distribute her weight, but I noticed a slight change in her gait. Freki seemed to be favoring one of her rear legs. "She stays," I agreed, standing up. It was no use brushing myself off, so I simply turned and walked on. The tug in my gut had grown more demanding, as if it had grown annoyed by my ignoring it for a moment.

Freki attempted to follow us, but after a few imploring words from Enki, she capitulated to remain where she was, pacing back and forth and whining every few moments. Her eyes never left the Magician's careful feet.

I trudged on, watching my step, following the line that would hopefully draw me to food. The mud grew deeper and it became far more difficult to sense where to step. Every time I lowered my foot was a gamble of life and death.

The tug grew so strong I allowed myself to look up from the sea of brown. There it was. Several paces ahead sprouted a few ratty bushes in a cluster. On one bush I spied a clump of small, dark-blue berries. "Bilberries. There." I pointed to the fruit. Even without my intuitive knowledge of plants, I'd recognize the berries. Bilberry bushes grew all across Europe. Lalita and I had often picked the sweet fruit in our youth. While they weren't completely ripe, the promise of such a decadent treat made me reckless, hurrying towards the bush without care of where I stepped.

Evidently, I wasn't the only one to make that mistake. I was just two steps away from the bush when a sharp howl rang out: Freki yelped so loud I assumed she'd gotten stuck again. I turned to the wolf, only to see her dashing before the mud patch she'd originally fallen into, crying out, but too afraid to come forward after her near death experience.

Enki had fallen over in his haste, tumbling backward into the mud. Chest deep and sinking, he looked up at me in despair. One arm was submerged and his thrashing did nothing. He didn't call for help--he didn't expect me to rescue him. He stopped trashing and simply stared at me. He'd demanded I help the wolf, but didn't bother to ask me to save him. Evidently he saw no point in wasting the breath. Enki Velos had given up.

((Hello, all! It's about 2 AM as I'm writing this author's note, but seeing as I have no idea when the next chapter will be published I didn't want to make you wait any longer for this one. I'd say I made pretty good time considering where how long it had been taking me. The holidays are a wonderful thing for writers! Plenty of time to stare at the keyboard and tell myself to write.

Things aren't looking too hot for the Magician. Enki and Ayesha were never on good terms. All this for a couple of unripe berries.

Hope you're all having a good winter!))