He stared at me. “Pardon?”
“Don’t move!”
We both turned to see the Wen soldier stomping toward us, flanked on either side by a pair of winded guards. She came to a stop three yards away, her body wired by rage. I wouldn’t want to encounter this woman as an evil spirit.
“You can’t arrest us without valid reason,” I said.
The soldier’s gaze shifted to Ren. “Lying to an officer is reason enough. Why disguise him as a reanimated dead? Who is he?”
Ren blew against his talisman in annoyance. “I’m standing right here. Why does she keep speaking as if I’m not?”
“It’s not a disguise,” I said, addressing the soldier. “The situation is complicated and certainly none of your business.”
Although the soldier seemed like an honorable person, I couldn’t trust her with the truth. The woman was a Wen officer, and she had the power to subject us to the laws of her state. Detaining us wouldn’t only cost me precious time; it could cost the lives of my father and Ren.
The soldier motioned to her subordinates. To me, she said, “You will return with us to the watchtower for proper questioning.”
Exactly what I feared.
As the soldiers advanced, I drew Ren back toward the ledge. “We must escape through the river.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the torrent, eyes growing wide. “You can’t be serious. That’s a dreadful idea.”
“You ran away from home. You love dreadful ideas.”
Even behind the Fu talisman, his scowl was obvious. But when I squeezed his hand and tugged him toward the water, he didn’t complain. And when the soldier shouted for us to stop, Ren jumped with me—our bodies plunging feetfirst into the dark, icy river.
CHAPTER 15
I couldn’t decide which was worse—the cold or the absence of air. Both sensations pressed into my psyche, my body sweeping downriver as if made of paper. Then Ren’s fingers were wrenched from mine, and I flailed, alone, in what was promising to be a watery grave.
I needed air, needed it before my lungs collapsed. My feet kicked desperately, brushing past debris and shoving against the current.
After what felt like hours, my head burst through the river’s surface, and I gulped in both water and air. But, oh, I could breathe, and with that miracle, I found the strength to swim toward what I hoped was shore. My chin scraped rock, hands slapping against blessed earth. I dragged my body out of the water, coughing the river from my burning lungs.
In the dim moonlight, I could make out the forest on either side of the river, the chirping of insects barely audible over the water’s gurgling.
For a moment, I thought the earth was shaking. Then Irealized it was me, shivering. My drenched clothes clung like ice to my body, my exposed face freezing against the air. It didn’t help that my lower half was still submerged in the river. But when I attempted to crawl forward, my weak wrist made it difficult to move.
I curled my fingers into my palms and lay there for a moment, breathing through chattering teeth. I was so cold, so tired. All I wanted to do was sleep. But—
Ren.
I’d lost him in the current. I needed to find him.
Ignoring my body’s protests, I dragged my legs into a kneeling position and crawled up the bank toward drier ground. Then I stumbled along the riverside, calling for Ren.
Dread weighed on me as I scanned the shadows. What if he’d washed up in Wen territory? What if he was still flailing in the stream? Or worse—what if he’d already drowned?
I pushed my legs harder, sending a frantic prayer to the gods, my ancestors, and the river itself that Ren was safe.
I didn’t know how long I walked—enough for my eyelashes to turn brittle and my fingers to grow numb—but at last I spotted an unmoving shape lodged between the current and a fallen tree. Letting out a fearful breath, I staggered across the mud to reach him. His head was above water, and he was breathing, if shallowly. My staff bobbed, protected, beside him.
I set the staff aside on safe ground so I could hook my arms under Ren’s and heave his body up the shore. With his clothes thoroughly soaked, he was heavier than ever, and I had to pause every so often to rest.
Finally, we reached the forest’s edge, where I laid him on the grass and found the mala beads beneath his jacket. With frozenfingers, I stroked the round bones until I distinguished warmth from ten of the beads.
I laid my forehead on his chest, relieved. He still had some qi left.
