“Unhurt,” I agreed. “It won’t be safe to leave the river for a while, little one. Will you manage?” Swimming with her in my arms, especially downstream like this, was no issue for me. I worried it was too much for her, though, but I saw no other option. The mercenaries Koratalin had sent after us were keeping up with dogged determination, racing along the riverbank just behind us, waiting for a chance to strike again when we tried to get out of the water.
“For now,” she said. “Can I help?” I huffed a disagreement immediately. She would only tire herself if she tried to swim. There was no way she would be able to keep up. No, we had to keep going, the water was streaming in the right direction. As long as we weren’t deviating too much from our destination, we’d stay with the giant. Since he’d insisted on swimming downriver, I hoped that meant he knew something we didn’t.
Dani was growing limp and tired in my arms, the cold water sapping the strength right from her bones. It had been several hours, and even I was beginning to feel the strain. Westillhadn’t shaken the males hunting the left riverbank for us, and the Radin giant seemed tireless as he swam. I needed to begin considering alternatives, but my mind was still drawinga blank. Fear and worry wanted to crash inside my chest, but the Rummicaron condition was holding—for now.
Then I tasted it, the faintest hint of salt in the water. My head lifted, and I peered into the distance, wondering if I’d tasted that right. There was definitely more salt now, the water beginning to turn brackish, which had to mean that we were approaching a sea or ocean. At the very least, a change in our surroundings heralded the increase in salt, and that could be to our advantage.
“Is that… is that a lake?” Dani asked a minute later, her voice a little thready and soft from exhaustion. She was right, the trees were opening up, the riverbanks spreading like a hand opening its fingers. The Radin giant peered back at us over his shoulder, giving us a wide grin with razor-sharp canines. Then he flicked his tail toward the bank, where we were now, finally, beginning to put distance between us and the males chasing us.
“It appears so,” I agreed, not just any lake, but a delta of multiple rivers and streams converging before they headed out to sea. The water was definitely brackish, and the depth was increasing beneath us. Dani wouldn’t be aware of it, but I sensed it in the coolness of the water and the pressure of the currents.
Angling away from the left bank, where the danger lurked, I followed the giant as he picked up the pace and hugged the right edge of the lake. If he was planning to get out of the water here, that made tactical sense. Unfortunately, the landing strip and our extraction point were all on the left bank too. If a ship landed or took off, we might even be able to see it now. I just didn’t know how to get there yet. Dani was also flagging from her long exposureto the cold water; she needed a break, even if that meant another delay.
“Jaxin,” she said quietly, her arm sluggishly rising to point at the giant just to my left. “He wants you to follow him, I think. I think his home is nearby… but it’s hard to understand what he means based on feelings alone.” I angled my nose in the giant’s direction to see what she meant. I could not imagine that we’d gained his trust enough that he would do such a thing, but then wehadsaved his life.
Visiting the home of this giant, and likely his clan, would make us safe for the night. More importantly, it would mean rest for Dani and a chance to get warm again after this long swim. So, I gave the giant a nod, though I could not be certain if this meant agreement in his culture. It seemed to do the trick, because, with a rumble and another wide grin on his alien face, he dove.
It caught me by surprise, briefly slashing through the coolness of my conditioning. It was completely unexpected that he’d go under rather than out. Sharing a quick look with Dani, I wondered if we should follow him down. It wouldn’t be a problem for me—I had gills—but Dani wouldn’t last long, and her small body was fragile.
It was the noise of what could be a small skimmer on the left bank, distant and faint, that decided it for me. If they had a skimmer, they could come across the water and find us wherever we went. Underwater, that was a very different matter. The giant did not have gills; he was not an aquatic creature, even if he was very well adapted to swimming. I had to trust that he knew where he was going and that there would be air onthe other side.
There was no taking risks with Dani’s safety, though. Not when I didn’t know how deep or long this dive would be. “Hang on,” I said, and I ducked my head beneath the water’s surface. Yeah, just as I’d expected, the giant had come back for us, waiting patiently and exhibiting a massive lung capacity if he was so placid under the surface. No wonder he’d survived having his face submerged for long minutes in the river last night.
I touched the collar of my armor to find the breathing straw cleverly hidden there. It was meant to be used to share oxygen in space, when it might be low for one or more of my crewmates—notan uncommon situation. I’d once been trapped in zero G with Aramon and Solear; sharing air with the twins hadnotbeen a fun experience. Since I had gills, I wouldn’t need the suit’s oxygen now, but it would make sure Dani made it through the trip.
“Breathe through this,” I told her. “And hang on tight. I think he lives in a larger version of that cave we found our first night.” I hoped so, fervently, but I couldn’t be sure. Dani didn’t protest; she didn’t even appear apprehensive about the dive. She took the straw and pinched it between her lips, her grip around me tightening. Then we dove.
The giant led us through rapidly darkening water, but he did not dive deep. He’d chosen a path that would obscure, to any watchers on the left bank, where we’d gone, very clever. Dani clung firmly, her hair, having come undone from the braid, waving wildly in the water around us. It clung like fingers to my arms and neck, brushed like soft silk across my gills. I’d never experienced something so distracting. In comparison, Bex was just a gentle bit of pressure on herstrap, hanging from my shoulder—just like she was supposed to.
The water expanded in every direction, offering a freedom that being on land and on two legs simply never could. I felt the depth of the ocean, the lure of the salt tugging on me, tempting me to alter our course and swim into the deep. This was another reason why I should keep a sharp lid on my emotions, lest that kind of madness take control of me.
It was a lake full of things, even if it felt huge and endless: tall kelp rising to the surface, large fish and schools of smaller ones darting to and fro, and strange insect-like creatures the size of my palm that danced just below the surface in intricate patterns.
Ahead of us, the Radin giant was beginning to dive, and he was also angling us toward the edge of the lake. It was a stone wall, straight enough to look like it might have been smoothed by hands. Just as easily, it could have been a phenomenon caused by the water itself. As a Rummicaron, I knew firsthand how strange shapes could turn out underwater.
I checked with Dani to make sure she was doing okay and discovered that she had her eyes wide open. Something close to awe seemed to be in her expression, but I wasn’t sure if I was reading that right. Did she like what she saw? Was she enjoying the dive, now that she knew she had plenty of air? She attempted a smile around the breathing straw attached to the collar of my suit and the hidden reservoir of oxygen. Bubbles escaped and floated up; a hint of amusement tugged at the control of my conditioning.
Then I saw what the Radin giant was headed for: an opening in the straight wall of rock. A cave.I was right, itwasan underwater home. The question was, how big was it going to be? Was it home to just him, or his family too? Perhaps even his entire clan?
Dani’s hair tangled around me like kelp as I followed in the giant’s wake. Bex was still a gentle weight on her strap. It felt nice, familiar, and I realized I’d stopped thinking of her as “Not-Bex” and begun to call her Bex again. She’d fired at my enemies with the same kind of passion, rising to the challenge every time. Was it a betrayal, had I replaced her? Or did Bex’s spirit remain in the shape of her barrel, the scratch that had marked her since my first mission carrying her?
I had no more time to think on it—perhaps it was something to puzzle over when I hadn’t numbed myself with Rummicaron control. We reached the cave entrance and dove down, following the tunnel. I kept a careful hold on Dani, making sure she was okay with this new depth. It was dark here, and I could not make out her expression very well.
Then the tunnel angled up, much like I expected it would, forming a natural barrier against the water and allowing the cave to remain dry. The Radin giant was just ahead, light radiating in beams down on us to guide us the last bit of the way. There were steps carved into the rock, sized to fit the giant’s much larger frame. He went up them just as I breached the surface.
The air was warm, humid, and very breathable. Dani looked like a drowned Riko, her long hair clinging to her face and my armor. I gently wiped the strands from her face and mouth and tucked away the breathing straw while she greedily gulped in the fresh air of the cave. There had to beair vents through the rock that led to the surface, but I couldn’t see them in this round entrance chamber.
We weren’t alone inside the chamber. Besides our escort, there were two armed guards standing by its exit, a tunnel that led deeper into the rock. The smooth, wave-like patterns carved into the bowl-shaped walls led me to believe this chamber had also been hand-carved—either to enhance a cave already there or perhaps entirely from scratch.
Our giant friend was standing on the steps, water sluicing from his body in rivulets, channeled back into the pool along his long black tail. He was unmarked by the red clay stripes he’d worn before, but I noticed that the pair of guards didn’t have them either. They wore only a loincloth of leather and leaves, and our friend was unarmed, though the guards held spears with sharp stone points as tall as their bodies.
I helped Dani up the first step, then settled Bex, Dani’s samples, and my supplies more comfortably on my body. “Let’s see where he wants to take us, shall we? I think we deserve a good night’s rest and a hot meal.” My stomach rumbled at the thought, telling me I hadn’t eaten nearly enough to sustain that much physical exertion on top of the healing my body was still going through.
The guards peered at us, full of curiosity, but they did not try to stop our giant or us as he led us into the tunnel with eager gestures of his massive hand. Dani walked beside me, but she did not go fast. I’d think that was tiredness, but she appeared to be craning her head left and right. She was staring at things I couldn’t see. At first, I thought it was the carved decorations on the tunnel walls that had her attention, but she was staring right through those. No, she sensed things with her empathic gift. Shewas looking at people, and I began to wonder just how many giants lived in this place ours had taken us to.
Chapter 18
Danitalin
