Let me begin by apologizing for this chapter. You will probably be sad by the end of it. This also happens to be one of the longest chapters in the entire story^^
A Desperate Dash Across the Island
Janner ran through the jungle, yelling Kalmar’s name over and over and over again. He guessed his brother was far away from him, as far as he could get, and in the pit of his stomach he knew where Kal had gone.
He had gone to the cave he had wanted to explore. The cave that he had run to two weeks earlier. It was a place where Janner did not want to go, and Kalmar knew that. If he was trying to get away, he would run there.
Janner changed his direction and headed for the wooded forest, dreading the shadowed sprint through it. It had been bad enough in the shadows of the evening, but how could he see anything in the dark?
He could see the trees looming ahead, a deeper black against the odd blueness of the night sky. Janner glanced behind him for a split second before looking ahead again. Dawn was on the horizon. He prayed the Maker would help him find Kal quickly. The knot in his stomach tightened as the words he had said to his brother repeated themselves: Leave now. Go away and never come back.
Janner blinked furiously to chase away the tears that threatened to blind him as he raced into the woods. He couldn’t believe he had said something like that to his brother. He was supposed to be there for Kal, he was supposed to support him and help him and keep him safe. He was supposed to help him and love him no matter what. The words Janner had said to him were words of anger and fury, and Kalmar hadn’t deserved them. He had never deserved them. Even though Sara was gone, even though their child was gone, it wasn’t as though it was Kal’s fault. Janner still didn’t understand why he, Sara, Kal, and Galya had been out on the ship during a storm, but the storm hadn’t been Kal’s fault. None of it was. Instead of screaming at him, Janner should have comforted him, he should have told him that everything was going to be alright, that he was there for him.
He could not believe that he had drowned Kalmar in his anger.
Janner didn’t bother carefully hopping on the stream rocks this time. Instead, he splashed straight through and hardly noticed the cold water soaking his boots. He had only one thought in mind: I have to find Kal.
When he reached the slender trees that clustered together, Janner was sure he would have to slow down. But there was a path straight through them, a path that showed broken trees and crushed branches and the frantic dash of a little boy on the run from his guilt and his brother’s anger.
Janner felt sick at the thought and ran through, more desperate than ever to find Kal and tell him the truth. He wanted to take back the words that he had said and prayed that his brother would believe him when he did. Janner didn’t think he could live with himself if Kalmar couldn’t forgive him. Yet at the same time, he knew he didn’t deserve forgiveness.
When he broke through the once-tightly-knit tree stand, Janner veered toward the right. How long had Kal been gone? An hour? Less? He didn’t know, but he knew it didn’t matter. Janner couldn’t imagine what his brother was going through. Kalmar had just been driven away by the only person on the island who loved him, and now...Janner closed his eyes briefly, hating to think about what Kal’s mind was telling him.
He finally reached the place where Kal had saved him from the softish squeeblin, but skidded to a halt and realized he had no idea where the cave was. Janner knew the general vicinity, but he didn’t know exactly where Kal had found it. Not only that, but I don’t have any way of seeing once I get inside the cave.
Looking for Kalmar would be pointless if he couldn’t see where he was going. The wind blew briefly and Janner smelled something smokey in the breeze. He smiled a bit and looked up, seeing a tiny tendril of white smoke snaking its way into the lightening sky. Kal had figured out the same thing.
Keeping his eye on the smoke, Janner walked toward it and what he guessed was the cave. It didn’t take him long to find a smoldering fire that threatened to go out at any second. As he had expected, the yawning mouth of a cave crouched nearby. Janner looked around quickly for a thick branch. Once he had found one, he tore off a strip of his shirt.
Janner tied the cloth around the top of the stick and held it in the smoldering coals. He knew that even if it caught, it couldn’t last long. There was nothing on the torch to keep it burning and no oil or animal fat to soak the cloth. He would have to make his search quick.
A spark finally flitted onto the torch, and Janner pulled it close to him, carefully blowing on it to ignite it. In a few seconds, it was burning, albeit weakly. He didn’t care. All that mattered was that it was burning.
Janner stepped toward the cave and began walking into it. The fire flickered strangely on the rock walls and threw shadows in every direction.
“Kal?” Janner asked, his voice echoing in the enclosed space. “Kal, where are you? Can I talk to you?” He paused, waiting to see if he could hear an answer. There was nothing. “I’m not angry with you. Please come out,” he added, knowing that the words sounded like a plea. They were a plea. He desperately needed Kalmar to come to him, so he could reassure him and tell him that everything he’d said was wrong, that it had been his momentary anger speaking, that he really loved his brother and that he didn’t blame him for what had happened.
Janner walked further into the cave and felt a cold draft blowing into his face. It was so different from the humid breeze that rolled off the sea on the beach. This draft felt as though it was a dead creature’s breath, and it chilled him to the bone.
“Kalmar! Please come out!” Janner raised his voice a bit, wondering why his brother hadn’t responded. He had expected to hear something by now, even if it was crying or sniffling or hitched breathing. But he heard nothing.
Janner rounded a corner and sucked in his breath. The yellow light shone on something that scared him terribly. He ran towards it and knelt down, touching it with his left hand. He pulled it away and looked closer.
It was blood. It was a small puddle of dark blood. It was fresh. In his heart, Janner knew it was Kal’s. He looked around frantically, fear seizing his chest. What had happened? Had Kal been running and slipped? Had he hit his head on a rock on the way down? If he had, then where was he?
Quickly, Janner stood and moved the torch so he could look around. His gaze lighted on a charred branch not too far away from him. He stooped to pick it up and clenched it tightly. The fire was gone, but the bottom of it, the place where Kal would have been holding it, was still a little warm. Kal dropped this not long ago, Janner realized. So where is he? Why did he drop it?
Janner looked into the dark corridor ahead of him. He walked into his slowly, looking at the ground all the while. Kal had obviously knocked his head into the rock, but he wasn’t there anymore. He had discarded his torch on the ground. Maybe he had been confused and had run further into the cave, thinking it was the way out. If that was the case, Janner figured he would see drops of blood or some signs of haphazard travel.
His spirits rose even as they fell when he saw a drop of blood on the rocks. It looked as though there was a small trail leading into the cave.
Janner picked up his pace. The cave led in one direction, which meant Kal was somewhere along it. He hadn’t dropped the torch long ago, so Janner knew his little brother was close. “Kal!” He called out again, as he ran through the cave.
Then Janner heard a sound that stopped him in his tracks, a sound that he almost felt as though he recognized, even though he wasn’t really sure. As the noise — it sounded almost like flapping, and it was dreadful — grew louder, Janner squinted into the darkness. He racked his brain, desperately trying to remember.
A split second before the thing came into view, Janner remembered what it was. A Bat Fang. His face frozen in a look of horror, he stared at the monster that drew closer to him, brownish blackish, wrinkled, angry, and wicked. Its wings flapped crudely behind it and its arms carried a person.
Kalmar.
Janner’s mind blanked, unable to think. His mouth hung open, unable to speak. His chest stalled, unable to breathe. The Bat Fang passed, so close that Janner could see every feature of its hideous face. He saw Kal’s face too, his brow furrowed in a look of grief.
“Kalmar!” Janner finally — though it was really only a second’s delay — yelled. Kal didn’t blink or flinch or even move, but the Bat Fang did. It turned towards Janner and bared his teeth in a horrible way before flying off.
Before he had time to think, Janner was after it. He had involuntarily drawn his sword and he was running. He was sprinting as fast as he could, so fast that he didn’t notice that he, too, had dropped his torch and was finding his way by the dim light coming from the cave’s entrance.
The Bat Fang faltered momentarily as it flew out of the cave into the gray morning light, and Janner almost caught up to it. He swung his sword and would have hit it, but the Bat Fang beat its wings and flew upward. Gathering its bearings out of Janner’s reach, it set off into the forest.
“Kal!” Janner screamed as he raced after it, struggling to sheath his sword so he could run better. He raced after the Bat Fang as it flew above him. Janner crossed land he had never seen before as he followed it, trying to keep up as best he could, even though the fang was far faster than him.
Janner’s legs burned with exhaustion and he gasped for breath, yelling his brother’s name any chance he could, desperately hoping Kal would wake up and realize what had happened so he could free himself from the Bat Fang’s grasp.
He felt a tug on his foot and barely steadied himself before he tripped on a root or some other piece of underbrush. Janner shook his head, pushing himself forward. He wasn’t about to let a root stop him from reaching Kalmar.
After a little, he noticed the Bat Fang was playing games with him. It would let him get close, so close that if Janner pulled out his sword he could almost reach, but a second later it would burst ahead. When he would manage to close the distance, the same thing would happen again.
The Bat Fang flew into a rocky chasm, and Janner followed it, having no idea where he was being taken. He knew he would do anything to get Kalmar back. In a lapse of his focus on running and chasing, Janner thought: What if it’s leading me into a trap? Though the thought clouded his mind for an instant and his spirits wavered briefly, he soon felt something else flooding over him. Something he welcomed and cherished.
Protect, protect, protect , the words, the age-old words that had filled him with determination and courage, belief and confidence, resilience and defiance so many times before, now filled him with strength. He pushed himself forward, running across the rocks as carefully as he dared, knowing he had to keep up with the Bat Fang and rescue his brother. There was no other option.
Ahead, it flew through a few more trees and out into the open. Janner picked up his pace and followed it, bursting out onto the grainy sand of the beach. He glanced around and saw the Bat Fang glaring at him again. It hissed angrily before setting out across the water.
Janner looked at it in horror before glancing down the beach and seeing the raft he and Kal had built. Oh, thank the Maker that it’s here, he thought. It was still on land, and even though Janner would normally doubt his ability to push it into the water with so little time, the words coursing through his Throne Warden blood drove him forward: protect, protect, protect.
He took a running start and slammed his shoulder into it with all his might. It stung, but the raft slipped into the water as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Janner didn’t take any time to think about it and leapt into the sea, climbing aboard and hoisting the leaf-sail without an ounce of hesitation. It caught a strong wind instantly, and Janner’s heart soared in relief. He glanced out at the water and saw the Bat Fang. It had stopped and beat its wings in the air, almost as if it was daring him to come after it.
It’ll pay for its foolishness, Janner thought fiercely as the wind picked up and sent the raft toward the Fang. It moved faster than he had expected, and Janner grinned in spite of the situation. He would catch up to the Bat Fang and rescue Kalmar and tell him how wrong he had been and that he loved him more than his own life.
The Bat Fang’s face contorted in a look of anger and hatred as it realized what was happening. It turned away from Janner and flew out into the sea, beating its wings as fast as it could.
The raft stopped gaining on it, but Janner knew that even if he could not catch up, he could at least stay on the Bat Fang’s tail until it landed. He would attack him then and get his brother back.
Then the wind stopped.
Janner’s heart stopped with it.
“No,” he whispered, looking up at the sail that had been full the second before. Now it was limp and useless. “No, no, no!” Janner shouted, looking around desperately for something, anything to push the raft forward, something that he could use as an oar.
But there was nothing. There was nothing at all on the raft except for the sail, the wood, and him. Nothing else at all.
“Maker, please help me!” Janner begged, looking up at the sky that was now covered in hues of yellow, orange, pink, and lavender. He glanced out ahead of him and looked at the Fang again. It was too far away. There was no way he could ever reach it, not like this.
“Maker, I need You! Send Your wind, please!”
The Maker didn’t answer him, though. The glowing dawn was a mockery. Janner’s shoulders slumped in dejection. He heard nothing but the weak flap of the leaf sail and the mockery of the splashing waves around him. He felt the hot sun beating down on him and the iron fist twisting his mind into knots. He saw the endless water ahead of him and the Bat Fang growing smaller and smaller in the distance.
Janner’s eyes stung and his throat burned. There was no way he could catch his brother. There was no way he could rescue him. He put his face in his hands and wept, his heart breaking because he knew that this was truly his fault and no one else’s.
Kalmar was gone. Kalmar had been taken. He had been taken because Janner had forced him away in his fury.
And there was nothing he could do about it.
Notes: so, I'm really sorry to have caused you distress during that chapter. This also concludes Part I: Wrecked. I will begin Part II: Shattered tomorrow whenever I can manage to upload it^^
Oh, please upload it fast tommorow!