“You never should’ve chased me.” Joyce looked to her with a snarl. Then turned to Jax. “You shouldn’t have gone asking about Adela Lagmir.”
Joyce pushed Jax away and his arms pinwheeled. Vi caught him, helping right him, but let go just as quickly to lunge for Joyce with flames alight.
The Waterrunner parried her blow for blow. Vi had spent decades learning and perfecting her Lightspinning. Her Firebearing had improved naturally with her combat instincts, but she wasn’t nearly as good with it.
If only she could use her chants.
“I’m not letting you go,” Vi growled, throwing a ball of fire.
“Petulant child.”
Jax was all flaming hands and feet as he rejoined the battle. He was more of a liability than a help in such close proximity. Vi found herself dodging his attacks as frequently as she was avoiding Joyce’s.
The awkward dance distracted her and Jax reached out, searing a spear of ice that was meant for her. Vi’s breath hitched. He’d overextended and left himself exposed. Joyce impaled him to the hilt on an icy weapon and Vi bit back a cry of agony on Jax’s behalf.
This could still be salvaged. If she let his consciousness fade due to blood loss then she could use her Lightspinning to finish off Joyce and heal him. Assuming Jax didn’t die in the gamble.
“What a noble soldier,” Joyce sneered as Jax coughed blood. “You shouldn’t have gone looking for the pirate queen if you didn’t want to find her.” Joyce pushed him away and Jax staggered backward.
Vi stepped forward. Joyce levied a spear of ice against her. Vi melted it and uttered, “Juth calt.”
Two simple words, and Joyce was dead with a flash of light.Now, for Jax. Vi was just in time to see him stumble back into the open air beyond the cliff. Gravity mercilessly pulled the dying man down into the dark waters below.
“Jax!” Vi screamed, lunging into that void as well. She would not let him die.
Saltwater went straight up her nose and Vi surfaced, sputtering and looking around frantically for Jax. The tide was heading out—her first lucky break. They wouldn’t be pushed deeper into the Caverns.
A lifeless body rolled over in the currents, dipping below the surface.
“Yargen above, don’t you dare die on me,” Vi snarled. Looking behind her, she said a quick “Kot sorre.” The glyph pushed on the water, giving them forward momentum.
As she tumbled in the waves she made, Vi reached for Jax. Dark waters, swirling with blood, surrounded her. Sand crunched beneath her feet as she found footing. Her elbows scraped against pebbles and rocks.
Her arms closed around the man and she pulled him to her. Vi tipped her head back, surfacing for air, clutching onto him for dear life. She gasped as they beached on one of the rocky shores she’d walked with Taavin and Deneya only a night before.
The wound was bad. Jax was coated in blood. But his heartbeat was weak and fluttering under her fingers. Water gurgled up from his throat as his lungs struggled to inflate.
Vi closed her eyes, dipping her chin down as she laid her hands over his chest. She could feel the man’s shaky breaths, his struggling body, his quivering magic, his fleeting life. She could see it all as clearly as she’d seen Taavin’s body, inside and out, when she’d made it.
“Halleth ruta sot,” she whispered. Glyphs illuminated her hands. She opened her eyes, both seeing and feeling his skin mending.
“Halleth ruta toff,” Vi continued. She moved deliberately, as if guided by an unseen teacher. Light and skin merged, weaving together and becoming one. Vi gave herself to instinct and her body moved as though it were no longer her own.
It was afternoon when she finally finished the job. Vi looked up at the young man. She reminded herself for the dozenth time in a few hours that this was not her Jax.
But… she would look after him to honor the memory of the Jax she’d known. He had spent the latter half of his life looking after her. Even if this Jax had nothing to do with the man who had made that sacrifice, Vi would look after him. She would repay that favor as best she could.
Vi twisted and sat with a sigh. She wiped the salt water that mixed with sweat from her eyes—certainly, these were not tears from emotions she didn’t have names for—and looked out to sea. Jax slumbered at her side, breathing steadily; Vi would wait for him to wake naturally. She’d monitor him. And when he was ready, they would take on Henrietta’s crew together.
* * *
A sigh at her side had Vi stopping the tune she’d been humming. She didn’t know where she’d heard the song, or where it came from. Phantom memories that didn’t quite feel like her own paraded through her head as she’d sat watching the waves, thoughts and visions that scattered like rats as Jax stirred.
“The Mother did not want you yet,” Vi said faintly. Perhaps that was what had allowed her to pull him back from the edge of death—Yargen’s blessing. At the edges of her vision she could see him turning to look at her.
“You’re the sailor,” he said slowly. Vi nodded in reply. “You saved me?” She merely nodded again. Not going into too much detail was for the best. “Where are we?”
“I don’t know exactly.” Though Vi had a very good suspicion. “We got dumped out here after you fell off the ledge and I went in after you.”
