Chapter 10
POISONED WATER
Hahri led them back through the bazaar to a different gate, one that opened not to the docks but to a small community of one-story wooden buildings. All had small windows and strong doors. In the early dusk, few people travelled the streets here, far from the commercial area of the bazaar. Lights dimly glowed from the windows of what Lavinia realized were homes. They stopped before one, Hahri glancing back along the street before he opened the door.
“Sahrai?” he called softly.
His wife emerged from the back of the house wearing a flowing indigo robe belted at her slim waist with a saffron sash. The joy in her face changed to worry at the sight of Ty and the three women behind him. Curious about the lives of people who lived and worked in Sardinia, Lavinia didn’t realize the bundle of fabric in Sahrai’s arms contained a baby until Hahri pulled back the cloth and touched his son’s face.
The baby stayed silent. That was what struck Lavinia first. He was a slight boy, only about five or six months old, but Lavinia couldn’t understand the silence. All of her nieces and nephews had gurgled and grabbed for their parents, but not the boy Hahri introduced as Kabutu.
Niri turned ashen when she saw the baby. Lavinia did the math in her head as well. Kabutu must have been born just before the well had been contaminated, before life became so much more difficult. In quiet tones, Hahri told his wife about Niri. Sahrai’s eyes changed from fear to worry and finally to hope.
“You are a Priestess?”
“I was, yes.” Niri paused. “I’m sorry for what happened. I had no idea such things were done.”
Hahri stood protectively next to his family. “How do you think the Church pays for their ships, their clothes? Where do you think the food they eat comes from? What do you think happens when someone cannot pay, or refuses?” His voice was accusing, not granting her innocence due to her ignorance.
In the silence that followed as Niri stared chastised at the floor, Sahrai spoke, “You can really do this?”
“Yes, but if they come back, you should hide what I’ve done to protect yourselves. They will be angrier to learn the well was purified.”
“We can take care of it. Do not worry about us.” A resourceful independence filled Hahri’s face. It was a confidence that Lavinia yearned for and had not realized that she did until she saw it worn by Hahri. Ty carried it as well when he sailed, Niri when she used her skills to call water. Lavinia could not imagine what it felt like to have that certainty.
“It will be easier if I am near the well.”
Hahri nodded and, along with his wife and child, led them from the house and through the night-shrouded streets. Ty let them walk a dozen steps ahead before he whispered to Niri, “Are you sure about this?”
“Do you have any ideas that don’t involve telling us to leave you here to your fate while we keep going?” Niri shot back, casting Ty, who walked next to her, a glance from the corner of her eye.
“No,” he chuckled.
“Ty, I can do this.” Niri paused the space of a breath. “I need to do this,” she said to him, gaze sober. Ty nodded. His hand brushed her shoulder.
Lavinia felt the road drop out from under her feet. She reached for Ria’s hand, surprised not to stumble. But it wasn’t really the dark road that felt suddenly unreal.
When Lavinia had woken in the front salon of Finneous’s house, it had been obvious to her that something had changed with Niri. The aloofness with which Niri normally held herself was gone, replaced with bright eyes and a perceptive wit. Lavinia was only beginning to see that something in Ty had altered as well. There was tension in him, but not anger. Lavinia wondered what had happened while she and Ria slept.
“How far is it?” Ria asked, her voice tremulous.
“Not far. I can feel the vein of water just ahead. It goes deep into the rocks of the peninsula.”
A flash of yearning clouded Ria’s face. Lavinia looked away. The ocean glimmered on her left, barely visible tonight with only a sliver of the moon hanging in the sky. They were a few hundred feet above a stretch of beach the tide swirled against, sounding gentle and soothing as it swept across the sand. Against the whiteness of the beach, dark lines of narrow fishing boats rested above the high-tide line. It reminded Lavinia of Mirocyne and the fishmongers there. This part of Sardinia was no different from home.
Lavinia tasted the tainted water before she saw the well. A metallic tint coated her lips, the air smelling of rotten eggs mixed with bitter almonds. Hahri and Sahrai stopped before an opening between two houses. In the deeper night between the two buildings, Lavinia saw the low stone wall of the well. Buckets were scattered across the ground, tipped over and abandoned.
Niri walked forward first, placing her hands on the worn, waist-high lip and leaning over to peer into the water. Sahrai shifted uncomfortably and glanced at her husband. Ty joined Niri, standing by her side. Hesitantly, Ria walked to Niri’s other side, as if to learn by watching. Lavinia waited a moment before joining Ria. She looked across at her brother. His attention was on Niri.
Lavender and aqua blue suffused Niri’s eyes. All of her attention lay on the water before her. The sick smell was so strong that Lavinia held her breath, struggling to take in the vile air only when her lungs cried with need. Niri reached a hand over the water.
“It is poisonous. Do you need to touch it?” Sahrai asked, dark eyes wide as she held Kabutu closer to her chest.
“Do not worry. It will not harm me.”
Niri’s voice murmured and flowed, transformed by her skills. Despite her reassurance, Ty shifted uncomfortably when she skimmed her hand over the surface and winced as if the water stabbed her. Niri shook off her hand, opening and squeezing it closed the way Lavinia had seen her grandfather do when poor weather troubled his joints.
“Whatever it is, it is strong,” Niri said to Ty.
“Can you find the source?”
Niri’s voice was fainter when she answered. “It is not in the well but somewhere deeper in the bedrock, I think.”
Her eyes focused not on the water but somewhere else that only she could see. Ria stared at the water too, a cross look marring her face. Niri straightened in surprise, blinking her eyes to focus, although the strange pale light did not fade.
“The Priest who came, he was from the Order of Earth?” Niri asked Hahri, voice bubbling the question.
“Yes, the ground trembled at his word.”
Niri frowned at the water before her.
“What’s wrong?” Ty whispered to Niri.
“I hadn’t thought the poison would be caused by a different element. I assumed,” Niri shook her head. “I found a fault deep in the veins of water that form the well, a rent in the rocks that has not been worn smooth. It is jagged and the impurities are strongest there.”
At her explanation, Ty looked beyond Hahri to the beach further down the hill as if to judge the distance. Tension laced up his arms. Hahri shifted uncomfortably.
Niri’s eyes unfocused again, her attention returning to the source of the problem. “The pocket isn’t big, but I can’t close it. It will take years to dispel, maybe longer since the well isn’t being used.”
Hahri wrapped an arm around Sahrai, turning his face into the darkness. But Niri smiled as she leaned over the water.
“I can dissolve all the impurities and flush the well,” Niri exclaimed to Ty.
“Are you sure?” Ty asked at the same time Ria barked, “How?”
“You'll see.”
Niri closed her eyes and bent over the polluted water. On the well's surface nothing changed, but the hairs on Lavinia’s arms rose. Her skin tingled as though an invisible storm swirled around her.
A bubble burst on the surface of the well, then a second. Within moments, the water began to spin lethargically. Ty and Lavinia stepped back in surprise. Only Niri and Ria remained next to the well as the water spun faster. Ria watched Niri with transparent awe.
The well swirled into a mael
strom of turgid water, a funnel forming in the center of the whirlpool. The odors of almonds and sulfur flooded the air so that Lavinia gagged and coughed. Ty covered his mouth with his shirt. Lavinia could not imagine how Niri and Ria could stay so close when the heavy air suffocated her every breath.
Niri opened her eyes, the color in them so intense they were like twin lavender stars. “All of the poison is in the well now,” she said, voice rippling like the pounding tide.
“Flood it and send it to the sea,” Hahri said from behind her.
“No, it is too much. It will poison the bay and kill the fish. What good returned would that do you? It must go deep, somewhere where it will take years to slowly leak toward the surface,” Niri whispered, closing her eyes again.
The spinning stopped. Not a drop of water splashed toward the rim. It was as if the whole well had frozen in an instant or had never spun in the first place. Then the water level dropped a foot.
“How?” Ty asked, stepping forward to stare into the well.
“I’m pushing it into the bedrock,” Niri replied, but her voice was pained.
“If it is too much?” Ty asked, glancing at Hahri, who had a similar worry in his eyes.
Niri shook her head. “Illusion, not physical. I feel the poison like a knife, but a blade cannot harm water.” Niri answered as if trying to convince herself. “The impurities want to precipitate out as I push down, and they are so sharp.”
A tear glinted on Niri's lashes. She took a deep breath as the water bubbled as if it boiled. Niri leaned forward as though she would push the fluid down with her body. The water in the well dropped twenty feet at once, exposing the rough rocks that lined the well below the surface. The force of the water Niri pushed into the bedrock caused the ground to shudder like a small earthquake. The echoing sound of dripping water reverberated up from the well’s depths. The spring that had fed it fell into the emptiness as an underground waterfall, washing the sides clean.
Niri was tired. Even in the darkness, Lavinia could tell. She no longer leaned over the empty well so much as slumped. The sound of falling water increased in intensity as Niri pushed herself upright on quivering arms. The sound echoed off the walls and into the night like a small stream at flood. Some of the weariness left Niri’s face, replaced by a satisfied calm.
Lavinia watched the dark water lap the stones as it rushed toward the top of the well. She didn’t know when it had changed, but she realized the metallic taste was gone from the air along with the potent smell. The space between the buildings now held the scent of spring rain.
The rising water brushed the rim of the well and spilled over, tumbling onto Lavinia’s feet. She jumped back. Sahrai, though, tossed back her head and laughed as water soaked the hem of her robe as it rushed past her ankles. She pulled Kabutu from her shawl and set him in the cascade. The little boy giggled as he reached to grab the sheet of water and found it slid through his fingers.
The permeating smells, rumbling, and running water had brought out other villagers as well. They crowded forward as the water ceased to flow over the rim. In the shuffle, Ria and Lavinia were cut off from Ty and Niri. Lavinia beat down a fledgling sense of panic.
She turned to grasp Ria’s hand and found her frozen in place. In the darkness, Ria’s face was as pale as her hair, her features tight and eyes wide.
“We need to get to Niri,” Ria gasped.
“Everything’s fine, Ria. No one will hurt you here. This isn’t the market.”
Ria shook her head with a jerky motion. “Only she can protect me. She did something to Causis. I know she did. I saw her eyes.” Ria grabbed onto Lavinia’s forearm with a bruising force.
It was the second time that day that Lavinia felt helpless to aid her friend. She swallowed a bitter mixture of wounded pride and helplessness, covering Ria’s hand on her arm with her own. Lavinia pushed through the crowd that was now drinking and splashing in the water as if it was a celebration. When Lavinia made her way to the other side with Ria in tow, she found Hahri talking to Ty and Niri.
“I cannot thank you enough,” Hahri said to Niri.
Niri shook her head wearily. She had one hand on Ty’s shoulder as she leaned slightly into him, his arm around her for support.
Lavinia blinked rapidly. Ria let go of her hand and a small sense of relief flooded Lavinia as she anticipated Ria hurrying to Ty. He would hold her closer than he held Niri. Lavinia was sure of it. She didn’t know what to think when Ria grabbed onto Niri’s free hand with the enthusiasm of a child for her favorite aunt. Lavinia stared at Ria in confusion
“We will get you to your boat now, as I promised,” Hahri said.
Sahrai swept Kabutu up from where he played in the puddles around the well. Her robe was damp to her waist, and the sopping wet Kabutu looked ready to soak her top and shawl, but she didn't appear to mind. Sahrai pushed back her midnight-dark hair, the strands sticking to her wet hand.
“Thank you,” she said to Niri, giving her a half hug, both nonplussed by the moisture. “Be careful, my husband,” Sahrai said to Hahri as she kissed his cheek.
Hahri found three other men to join them as they headed toward the beach. Two of the long and narrow fishing boats were flipped over and hauled to the surf. Lavinia’s feet felt heavy on the pebbly sand. Seeing her hesitation, one of the men misunderstood.
“We know our way, even at night. We often leave before dawn. Don’t worry.”
Lavinia nodded, not sure she could explain the strange doubts filling her. One boat was ready and Ty steadied Niri as she stepped in. Ria hopped in on Niri’s heels, leaving Ty blinking. He helped push the first boat into the waves before splashing through the water to join Lavinia where she sat in the other boat.
Ty, soaked to the skin between the well and the waves, couldn’t help spraying water with his every move. Lavinia shied away from him and he shook his damp hair at her with a grin.
“I’m surprised you didn’t want to go in Niri’s boat as well," Lavinia snipped.
Ty looked at her from the corner of his eye, no longer playful. The boat rose as the bow cut through the crest of a wave. With one man on each end of the boat, they were quickly moving past the breakers into the smoother water of the bay.
“Vin, are you all right?”
It wasn’t the defensive response she expected.
“I…” Lavinia lost what she was about to say as the boat took the brunt of another wave. She fell into her brother. Ty caught her, keeping her close as he had done when they were children and she had tipped her small sailboat and swamped it along the shore. Lavinia held onto her brother, who didn’t seem all that different in the dark, while the small boat floated into an unfamiliar bay full of rocks and night-shrouded narrow passages.