Breaker of Rings

Chapter 11

Content warning: Burning in the context of a healing ritual. If you need more info, let me know.

The sky is your blanket. Given that the Four Horsewomen spent more nights under the stars than in beds—their own or otherwise—Bex should have been able to sleep beside the waterfall without any problems. Sasha's burns had gone deeper than either of them thought, and it had taken the rest of the day in the waterfall to heal her enough that she could fight; ideally she would finish her healing in the morning. The process was strangely exhausting, so Bex had offered to take the first watch while Sasha slept. When it came time to switch, though, Bex found it hard to sleep. The constant rumble of the waterfall was soothing and the nocturnal sounds of a forest had never bothered her, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw burning villages and Sasha struggling in the boiling water: atrocities she would never commit, or so she hoped, but she knew the rest of the world would probably disagree.

Rest ebbed and flowed like the tide, and when the sun was finally too bright to ignore, Bex opened her eyes and felt something tugging at her hair. Her first instinct was to reach for the dagger she always kept close, day or night, but a gentle hand tapped on her arm. "It's just me, Bex. Calm down."

Bex squirmed around until she was on her back, looking up at Charlotte, who was still combing out her hair. "Charlotte?" She sat up as quickly as she could, bracing herself against the ground. "Where's Bayley? Is she okay too?" The air-archer looked weary and sore, but still mercifully alive.

"Here." Bayley had been sitting by a small fire with Sasha, but she came over to hug the fire-forger. "Are you okay? Sasha said you hadn't been hurt," she added, lowering her voice, "but I know she lied about how bad her burns were." Her hands were streaked with dried mud, which for her could either be a coincidence or an attempt to heal a wound.

"Did he—" Bex looked back at Charlotte and then to Bayley again. They were both fully dressed, which meant they were mostly covered from the neck down; it was impossible to tell if they had been burned. "Are you two hurt? When did you get here?"

Charlotte stood and ruffled Bex's hair as she went to sit by the fire. "Not too long ago. Sasha said you hadn't slept well, so we didn't want to wake you. We got the message she left with the river, but we ended up sleeping a little further back. We just couldn't push the horses anymore. Come sit and eat."

Bayley helped Bex stand, barely breaking their embrace. "Thank you. Thank you for not being like him." Pressing even closer, making sure she was turned away from Sasha, she added, "How did you face him? When that earth-etcher made everything move, I . . . I froze and I. . . ."

Bex held Bayley close and kissed her forehead. She doubted that the Skull King himself had powers—that was the kind of thing he would flaunt—so Charlotte likely hadn't had to contend with another air-archer and Sasha hadn't gone against a fellow water-weaver. She and Bayley alone had witnessed the cruel side of their magic—worse for Bayley, she thought, being directly on the receiving end—and it had been both humbling and terrifying. "Let me wake up and eat and we'll go for a walk, okay?"

Squeezing Bex's hand in reply, Bayley walked with her over to the fire, where Sasha already had food waiting. "Did you get any sleep at all?" Sasha asked, patting Bex's knee when she sat. "I tried slowing the waterfall, but I didn't want to use too much energy. . . ."

"I got enough." Bex rubbed at her face before grabbing her food. Normally she cleaned up before she ate, but she wanted to hear how her sisters got away. "I'm sorry I didn't come back to help," she said, looking to Bayley first and then Charlotte. "I wanted to, but Sasha was too weak and—"

"It wouldn't have been safe for you to go back alone, Bex. We all know that." Sasha leaned over and hugged her. "They're here, they're alive, and they even managed to save our swords." She pointed to a rock near the base of the waterfall, where the blades were glistening. "I cleansed them with water. You can do a fire purification later."