It is Gunter who eventually breaks the still silence, his voice like shattering glass. “We need to clean up. And get going.” I don’t move…don’t answer as his voice attacks me…an army of weaponless soldiers. “Come on, get up. We need to get some fresh clothes.” He is standing now, shadowing over me. He leans down then and clasps my hand in his, pulls on it.
He is giving me a hand up…something that a friend would do. A friend. Gunter is my friend. I have made a friend. I breathe deeply, savoring the feeling…the first time since I was six years old. Gunter pulls me to my feet, and I stand shakily. “Thanks,” I tell him.
“No biggie,” he answers. “But we better get going.”
“I know.” I sigh deeply and shuffle over to Pebble, stop and lean against her. She is warm and alive. Her stomach moves in and out with each breath, and she doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. She reaches her head around, looks at me with soulful black eyes, and then she nudges me as if she is telling me to get my act together. “Okay, okay,” I mumble to her, patting her gently on the head. She turns her mouth up, and I swear if dragons could smile, she just did. I can’t help but laugh at her.
I reach into my bag, poking around for a clean cloak, but instead something familiar brushes against my fingers…something I know I didn’t pack. I snatch it out of my bag – it is leather and black and heavenly…something I have seen my entire life... Entho’s healing case. There is a note attached to it in his scribbly writing.
Teak,
I am so proud of you. You have become such a talented healer. I am sending my case with you should you need it. You will know what to do with everything in it.
All my love,
Dad
I grab the case greedily and open it up as Entho’s note falls back into my bag. Ahhh, just what I need. I mix a brew of white willow bark, curcumin, ginger, and a drop of pain killer in Reese’s water bag, which I picked up off of the ground. I rush over to Echo. “Here, I am going to have you drink this…it tastes terrible, but it will take the pain away.”
“Okay…sure,” she answers. Her blue eyes are almost milky. I put the water bag up to her lips; she coughs, gags, and spits. “Holy dragon tits, that tastes terrible,” she complains as she wipes her mouth. I stifle a laugh, and we try again. This time she gags some down. I stay with her until the bag is emptied.
I search for Koree’s water bag and find it hanging off his Metallic dragon. It is half full. Good enough for now. I mix a different brew of St. John’s Wort, skullcap, ginkgo, and capsicum…taking each bottle tenderly out of the case and thinking of Entho, remembering every time I have seen him do the same thing.
I trot over to Koree and I tell him what I told Echo. He takes the brew willingly. He does grimace in disgust, squishing up his face and wrinkling his nose, which makes me want to laugh for some reason. His green eyes are glassy, and his pupils are dilated. “The pounding in your head will stop soon.” I tell him, remembering my own concussion not too long ago.
“Thanks,” he tells me, and a lopsided grin sprouts on his face. I can’t help but stare at him again, gawking at the dimple that pops out of his cheek. I blink my eyes. “Uh, I better get going.”
“Okay,” he answers. I turn away from him, wondering why I don’t want to leave him.
I find Gunter standing by his dragon, holding a fresh red cloak. “You ready?” he asks.
“Yes,” I reply. “Let’s go.”
Finally, I feel like I can breathe, like maybe we are all going to be fine. I put the healing case back in my bag, find another cloak and start walking toward the stream with Gunter by my side when I hear Koree call for me.
“Teak…no red.” I turn to him, startled. I size him up quickly. He is having a difficult time talking, his words coming out in a slur, but he still seems coherent…aware. “My bag…get some tunics and pants.”
“No red?” I ask, confused.
“Don’t want to…be…noticed,” he wheezes.
“Okay,” I tell him, bewildered. I don’t know if he is delusional or actually knows what he is talking about…just like when he told me I looked nice. I puzzle over Koree for a few minutes, feeling my stomach do a flip flop when I turn back and find his green eyes blazing at me, a glassy green fire. I stare back at him for a few minutes and that same shiver runs up my spine and my heart races…not from fear or anger but something pleasant like waiting for a birthday present. Only better.
Hesitantly, I turn from Koree and I take a few steps toward his Metallic and dig out two beige tunics and two sets of pants from his bag. As I do, I breathe in Koree’s masculine smell – musk and woods and a tinge of sweat. I fight back the urge to stand there and just drink it in…smelling it and savoring it like slowly sipping a cup of Entho’s tea.
“Teak…come on!” Gunter’s voice snaps me out of it. “Geez, it’s like you’ve never seen a guy’s clothes or something.”
“Well, I haven’t,” I seriously answer, turning my attention to him. He sniggers, and I laugh in return. “I have no sibs, you know, and the boys at Weapons are creepy.”
“Like Reese?”
“Yeah, only some worse.”
“Holy snock,” he answers, shock on his creamy, dark face. “That’s rough.”
“You have no idea,” I answer as Gunter and I take the long route to the stream – neither of us even mentions avoiding the dead bodies – we just do it. The gurgling stream greets us, and we wash off, watching the blood from our hands mix with the water, turning it a horrid shade of reddish-pink…just like my tears. It trickles away, swirling slowly, almost methodically, and then returns to its original clear bluish-green color again.
I lean down and rinse the cool water over my face, splashing like a child at a pool, the droplets trickling onto my lips. I lick them, tasting the sweetness of each drop. Then I plunk my entire head into the stream, cleansing not only my hair, but the entire day away. I reach my head back then, squeezing the water out of my hair and take what feels like the first real breath I have had in hours.
Gunter has done the same, and his dark head pops up from the stream, splaying water as he shakes his head like a dog. I focus on his dark hair…his dark skin. My head begins to spin. There might be other Destroyers on the way to Harcourt – that is what Koree was trying to get across to me. If the Purity Law really passed, that means there might be Destroyers searching for Light Skins. Like me. Like Thann.
The bank of the stream is sandy with bits of rock and wood scattered about. There are no real plants or life that I can find. But water filters into a little pool at the edge of the stream, and it forms into dark, loamy mud. Black, gooey mud. Mud…I ponder the thought. Black mud.
I rush behind a tree and slip into Koree’s beige tunic and pants, which are way too baggy for me, hanging off of me as if I were a child playing dress-up. I emerge and find Gunter swimming in Koree’s clothes as well; he looks so silly I almost bust up laughing at the sight of him. “Let’s go find something to use for belts, okay?”
“Sure…I guess I’m the only skinny guy around here.” He shoots me a crooked grin. We both grab the waists of our way too large pants and start walking back to the others. When we reach our spot I search around and find some rope on one of the saddles. I travel back to my bag, dig for something that might cut the rope and discover that there are three ivory handled daggers in it. Three daggers that I didn’t pack. More gifts from Entho?
I cut a belt for Gunter and myself, and we both tie them around our waists, rolling up the pants legs so they don’t drag the ground. Finished, I look over at Gunter, my eyes boring into his. “Go fill everyone’s water bags,” I tell him, reverently placing the dagger back in my bag. “Make sure you are upstream of where we washed up.”
“Uhh, okay,” he answers as he gathers the water bags and starts off toward the stream.
“Oh, and when you’re done, bring back as much of that black mud as you can,” I call out to him. “Thann and I are getting ready to become Dark Skins.”
Chapt
er 23