Deepwater's Daughter

Chapter 22

The balloon hissed like a rock lizard as Kasey vented enough gas to gently lower the skiff to the stony outcropping below, well clear of the burning ruin of Xsatca's treehouse. The winged naga herself lay, partially curled in the hull of the small craft atop Ysara's satchel and pistol belt, her head in Ysara's lap and her long, silvery tail draped over the gunwale.

"Can we trust her?" Geffen asked, his voice tense with pain.

Ysara's eyes went to the satyr's puffy red palms where he had grabbed the rope on his slide down. "Yes," she said, "we can trust her."

Xsatca looked up at her adopted daughter, her eyelids still heavy with the effects of whatever poison the Crooked Tooth naga had used on her.

"Ysara," she whispered.

"I'm here," Ysara sighed, sick with worry at what the golden scaled naga might do to Rasha.

"Hook that branch," Kasey said, and one of the grenadiers snagged a nearby tree with his boat hook, dragging the skiff close enough to secure a line to its trunk.

"Lift her out," Kasey commanded his men.

Ysara looked up in surprise.

"We can't maneuver with her in the skiff," Kasey said, not unkindly.

"Be careful!" Ysara cautioned the two grenadiers who now positioned themselves to either side of the delirious winged naga.

"Don't step on her feathers!" Plec added as the two satyrs struggled to find a safe place to put their hooves.

Geffen winced as he slipped his injured hands beneath Xsatca's tail and lifted.

"Geffen!" Ysara worried.

"I'm fine," he answered through his teeth.

"I'll help too!" Plec offered as she jumped from the skiff to grab the tip of Xsatca's silvery tail.

Xsatca's eyes went wide, and she gasped.

"It's all right!" Ysara assured her, cradling Xsatca's head as they lifted her from the hull of the boat.

"Easy now," Kasey said as he threw his weight against the rigging to tip the skiff further over.

One of the grenadiers muttered a brief countdown, and they lifted together, easing Xsatca over the side of the skiff and down onto the sun-warmed rock.

The rope tethering the air boat to the tree creaked with strain as most of the skiff's occupants disembarked.

"Oh," Xsatca sighed as they carried her to a shady patch of the stone and lay her down.

"Plec," Ysara called, "bring me my staff please."

"Got it!" Plec answered, and she scurried back to the boat, returning a moment later with Ysara's medicine staff.

"Thank you!" Ysara said, taking the carved mahogany stick.

"I knew you were a shaman," Xsatca whispered, a faint smile on her lips.

Ysara smiled back and then closed her eyes in prayer.

"Voice of the Deep, hear my plea," Ysara spoke, "Touch this daughter of wind and sky. Let the water of life flow across her skin and cleanse her wound. Hear me, oh Singer of the Eternal Song! Touch her and heal her. Wash her clean of poison and pain!"

The wood grew warm in Ysara's grasp, and the memory of cool, dark waters flowed gently through her soul.

Xsatca grunted, and her fingers pressed into the scales of Ysara's tail.

Ysara opened her eyes again to see Xsatca lifting her injured arm to inspect her wound. She pushed herself up to a half-seated position and tugged at the bandage with her teeth.

"Let me help," Ysara said, cradling her staff in the crook of her arm to free her hands to unlace the knot.

"Wow!" Plec gasped at the sight of the fading pink scar that traced from Xsatca's wrist to elbow.

Geffen gave a bemused chuckle from where he knelt a polite distance away.

"We need to move," Kasey pointed out.

"If you wish to save your friend," Xsatca sighed, "I may be your only hope."

"Where did they take her?" Ysara asked.

"They will be taking her to the Fang," Xsatca said, rising slowly as Ysara hurried to help her.

"That sounds ominous," Geffen noted.

"More than you know, horned one!" Xsatca said, giving the satyr a suspicious glare.

"How do we find it?" Kasey demanded.

"You don't!" Xsatca hissed, "... I must go alone."

"No!" Ysara cried, "I'm coming with you!"

"That's not going to happen!" Kasey snarled, and Geffen put his rope-burned hand on Ysara's sleeve.

She gave them both a pleading look.

"We don't have time to argue!" Xsatca said with a ruffle of her mighty wings, "It may already be too late to save her!"

Kasey blew a hot breath through his gapped teeth.

"My wings are swifter than yours!" Xsatca said.

"Ysara," Kasey said.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Get your pistol."