Silence

Chapter 9 - Asylum

I haul myself out of the water, dragging my dripping body onto the shore. Sal follows, wheezing. My legs are sore from swimming for what felt like hours.

Coughing, Sal trudges up next to me.

"I don't think I've ever been as tired as this," he grumbles, sitting down on the gravel. I follow, putting my ankle out in front of me. It had stopped bleeding, thankfully, but it still burned, and the pain was getting worse by the second.

"Do you think they followed us?" I ask, shaking water from my hair. He frowns.

"Of course. Maybe not directly, but they've most likely told all of the islands." He looks over at me. "We aren't safe anywhere on this planet now. Not even Senapri."

"So, where do we go, then?"

Sal is silent, the only sound coming from the waves breaking over the rocks.

"You still got that teleporter, kid?" he asks eventually. I nod, showing him my arm, which I had strapped the teleporter to.

"We can't use it to get to that mountain anymore," I murmur. He shakes his head.

"No, but I have an idea." He gets to his feet, shaking the sand off of his legs. I try to stand with him, but fall back after trying my ankle. Sal squints, arms crossed.

"I hope your idea doesn't involve walking," I mutter, annoyed and in pain.

Neither of us had enough energy to travel for long, and both of us had burns, scratches and bruises from head to toe.

"No, but you won't like it," he says, walking up the beach away from me. "I'm gonna try and find where we are, I won't be long." I sigh, laying down in the sand. I stay silent as his footsteps get further and further away.

☆

"Link!

Link!"

I open my eyes, blinking as they adjust to the blinding midday sun. A figure was standing over me, shaking my shoulder. I push him off, rolling over to my side.

"What, Sal?" I grumble, rubbing my arms. He drags me up into a sitting position, kneeling down in front of me.

"They're here," he breaths, obviously shaken and out of breath. "I ran here as fast as I could. I don't think they saw me, but I saw them." I blink, shaking my head.

"Who? Who's here, Sal?"

Sal takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Falrevour. I saw him," he wheezes. "And, and Kyri. Quinnian wasn't there, but she's probably around here somewhere."

I look around, suddenly very aware of all noises in the brush. "Then we need to leave," I respond. He sighs, turning away.

"That's the thing. That teleporter, it can only take one person."

I frown, moving in front of him. "You've been lying to me?"

He shakes his head. "No, kid, I never lied. I told you I was gonna help you, and I 'm." I slowly get to my feet, leaning most of my weight on my right foot.

"I'm not leaving you," I say, putting my arm with the machine out in front of me. "You saved me, so now I need to save you."

Sal looks away, crossing his arms. He looked nervous, glancing around as if something were waiting in the trees for us. And, if we weren't careful, there could be.

"I'm not leaving you," I say again, my voice quivering. "You are the only person I have left, and I can't lose everything." 

He sighs, hunching his shoulders. "I can't take care of you forever." He opens his mouth to say something after, but was interrupted by voices behind us. One was only a whisper, too quiet to hear, but the other was obnoxious and harsh, a very familiar sound.

"Follow me!" Sal hisses, running in the opposite direction. Glancing behind me, I follow after, trying to stay as quiet as possible with my injured ankle as I run through the foliage. He was leading me away from the beach and the voices. Right now, I'm just glad we are still together.

But as we run, I can hear footsteps behind us. They aren't in a hurry, but they are following us. I can tell Sal hears them too; his ears are perked, facing behind us. He hurries his pace, deliberately throwing rocks and sticks away from us to try to disorientate them and cover our sounds. 

The movements were closer now. Whoever was following us obviously knew we were here.

Sal stops in front of me, and I have to scramble and fall onto my back to avoid ramming into him. He is standing at the edge of a cliff, the water lapping at the rock far down below.

"Were we running uphill?" he mutters, stepping back. I maneuver quickly around him, crouching down to look over the drop.

"We can jump," I whisper, listening as the pounding feet get closer. Sal looks down at me.

"Are you crazy? We'd never survive that," he grumbles. I sigh.

"Water nadic?" I say, my hands and feet gripping the earth, wanting to jump. Sal rolls his eyes, growling under his breath.

I grab his arm, and just as I prepare to jump, another nadic grabs Sal's other arm, pulling him away from me. Sal yelps out in surprise, and I let go before I fall over the edge. The heat grows quickly, choking me.

Kyri is standing in front of me, holding a knife up to Sal's throat.

"This is your last chance, mutt!" Kyri spits, his eyes glowing with malice. "If you don't give up, we'll kill him!"

Sal closes his eyes, staying as still as possible, and mouths 'Go' to me. I look over the edge to the ocean below, then back at Kyri and Sal.

I owe Sal.

"Fine," I growl, standing up slightly. "Let him go." Kyri grins, just showing his teeth. He brings the knife away from Sal's throat, loosening his grip. He forces Sal towards me.

"Good choice," Kyri cackles, seizing my arms and kicking out his foot, hitting Sal in the chest. Sal trips, stumbling over the edge of the cliff.

"Sal!" I yell, pushing myself off of Kyri, trying to go over too. Kyri lets go with with a startled cry, grabbing onto rocks and tufts of grass and bush sticking out of the cliff face, hauling himself away from the edge.

I can see Sal, not that far away, but falling fast. The wind whips across my face, burning my eyes. I tuck my arms to my sides, falling faster to catch up with Sal. He is watching me fall after him, holding out his hands. I grab them, dragging him into a hug, turning my back to the sea.

I watch Kyri get further away, until we hit the surface of the water and are enveloped by a shower of bubbles and warm ocean currents.

I let us sink, watching schools of colorful fish swim past, their scales reflecting off of the afternoon sun. My back burns from the hit with the water, but other from that, we are okay.

Sal pushes away from me, swimming up to the surface. I watch him, relaxing in the warm underwater rays from the sun. For a moment, I almost forget the trouble we are in, and the looming threat on land.

Above, Sal beckons me up. I blow air out from my mouth, pushing up from the floor.

"It's time to swim again," he breaths, pointing up the cliff face. The top is smoking, with dazzling orange and red flames tricking over the rocks. I nod, grabbing his arm and pulling him under the waves, for yet another long swim away from yet another island.

Sorry for the shorter chapter but I needed to end it there!

Anyways, have a nice Friday the 13th!