Standing Steady in the Storms: Ch. 9

Wow. I have not posted in way too long, and if anyone is actually enjoying this then I'm super sorry...I've had a lot of school work and not a lot of time for doing much other than that (sadly). I now have an alarm set to force me to post regularly because I feel bad starting to post something and then not continuing 😅

A Temporary Home

Those on the rescue ship searched constantly, but to no avail. Artham flew reconnaissance after reconnaissance in every direction, desperately searching for any sign of life anywhere. All they found were a few small islands with some shrubs and trees clinging to them. Two days after setting out, they managed to find the top of the mast. The wooden beam was battered into splinters and the sail was shredded into bits. Artham closed his eyes and bowed his head at the sight. The words he desperately didn’t want to think wormed their way into his heart: They could never have survived that storm, not if they were both thrust into the sea.

“Sir, do you want us to continue?” Artham turned to face the captain, Gresten. “Yes, Gresten,” Artham said after a long pause. “For a bit longer.”

"A bit longer" turned into half a day, then a whole day, then two. Artham flew out for hours, only returning for a bit of food and water and then flying back into the open ocean. He did it again and again and again, desperate to find Janner and Kalmar, desperate to find Esben’s children, desperate to find his nephews who he loved. Desperate to find them so Sara’s heart would not be broken again. The Maker knew he loved her like his own child.

When he came back at noon on the fourth day, gasping for breath and collapsing on deck, Gresten put an end to it. Artham protested, but still Gresten adamantly refused to go out any further. “Sir, I respect you. I came to Anniera as a Fang and it was Janner who made me whole again. I am as loyal to him as I am to High King Kalmar. But you can’t do this to yourself. You can’t destroy yourself to find these boys. We’re heading back to Anniera so you can rest. After you’ve done that and your wife has cleared you to go, I promise you, my ship is ready and will welcome you aboard again. But if you kill yourself now, you won’t be able to search for Janner and King Kalmar ever again. Do you understand me?”

Artham stared at him for several seconds, breathing heavily, before he finally nodded and looked away. Greston grunted and set to ordering his crew to prepare the ship for her sail back to Anniera.

Artham sat on the deck and leaned his back against the ship’s inner wall. He shifted his gaze and looked out at the vast Dark Sea of Darkness. “Maker knows you’re out there somewhere, Janner and Kalmar,” he whispered through dry and cracked lips. “I promise, I will find you.”

*****

“You’re sure you’re good? I mean, you’re really sure that you feel okay enough to go?” Kalmar stared at his brother intently as Janner gingerly picked up his sword and slid it into its sheath.

He sighed. “Yes, Kal. I feel perfectly fine.” Kal looked at him sideways and Janner laughed. “Alright, not perfectly fine, but fine enough to follow you into this jungle. Besides, if I tell you I don’t feel fine, your usual impatience will probably override your sensibility, and you’ll go exploring on your own.”

Kal crossed his arms and glared at him. “Janner, that’s not fair and you know it!”

“Alright, half of it isn't fair. But I think you would do some minor exploring without any supervision,” he smiled. Kalmar had been gracious enough to actually wait until Janner’s head had stopped throbbing enough so he could follow him into the jungle. He certainly didn’t have to do that, but Janner was still a bit suspicious that Kal had snuck off when he was sleeping to, at the very least, explore the edge of the jungle, and perhaps further in. His brother had gotten the water and freshwater fish they’d been eating and drinking from somewhere, and it certainly wasn’t from the beach.

“So let’s get going already!” Kal hopped excitedly and started walking towards the trees. “And are you suuure you don’t want me to carry your sword? I can actually use it!”

“You already made yourself a bow and arrows. And I can use it. That’s the whole point of wearing the sailing gloves.” Janner said. “I’m just surprised the sword managed to stay in its sheath when I was getting tossed around in the sea.”

“You mean my sailing gloves,” Kalmar inputted. “I’m letting you borrow them.”

Janner shook his head. Even on a deserted island with everyone back at home worried, Kal would still act like Kal. He was grateful that Kal had loaned him the sailing gloves that he had managed to find the day before they left. Kal had wrapped the rope gashes with strips of cloth that Janner had torn off of his undershirt and then put the gloves on overtop. Afterward, Kal had helped him very carefully do the same with his head wound, sans gloves.

“Kal, wait!” Janner shouted, running a bit to catch up with his brother, who had already begun pushing through the denser trees and undergrowth.

Kalmar stopped just before stepping into the thicker part of the jungle and turned to look back at Janner. “Now this feels normal.”

Janner grinned, shook his head and set off to follow Kal.

*****

They stayed at the edge of the jungle at first. Janner didn’t want to venture in any further than they needed to on their first day of exploring. Kal’s indignant look told him everything he needed to know: his younger brother had indeed explored part of the jungle, certainly the outer edge. Kalmar was growing bored. That was never a good sign.

Janner ignored him and simply said: “Stick to the edge for now.”

Kal shrugged and moved behind his brother. “Fine. We will. But you’re leading.”

Janner sighed and began walking forward. The trees were thick but not too thick, and most of them were small, especially when compared to some of the trees further inland. The air was dry and hot where they walked, and everything looked the same as it had from the beach. It didn’t take Janner long to realize that Kal’s longing to go in deeper was probably a wise move, considering they weren’t finding much of anything in the sandy soil.

“Kal,” Janner sighed, looking over his shoulder at his younger brother. “My guess is that you’ve been in here before. Lead us in.”

Kal’s face lit up at the prospect and happily took the lead, Janner falling in behind him. Janner couldn’t help but smile. This was natural. Him, following Kalmar into situations that would undoubtedly end poorly, both because he knew he had to keep and eye on him and because he secretly wanted to explore too.

The jungle was thick and shadowy, covered in every shade of green imaginable. The trees towered high above them, so high that when Janner looked up, he couldn’t see the tops. The jungle floor was carpeted in thick ferns and weeds, and insects thrived in the underbrush.

Not too long after Kal steered them deeper into the jungle, a swarm of geefs attacked them, a giant cloud coming out of nowhere. Janner and Kalmar batted them away, smacking furiously. Their noises and movement only seemed to attract more of the blood-thirsty monsters, and by the time they had managed to run away from the swarm, Janner and Kal were covered in itchy, red welts.

“Alright, this is just getting annoying,” Kalmar complained as he scratched at a geef bite on his neck.

Janner looked at the dense trees surrounding them and glanced at his brother. “What is?”

“Every time I come to that part of the jungle, those things come in and start biting me.”

Janner looked at him as though the solution was incredibly obvious. “Kal, just don’t go in this part of the jungle. Then, the geefs won’t bite you and all your — and my — problems will be solved. I don’t like this anymore than you do,” Janner added as he slapped a geef away from his pant leg and bit his lip in pain. Slapping, bad idea, he told himself, wincing at the pain in his right hand.

Kal rolled his eyes and began walking forward again. “Do you seriously think I haven’t thought of that? Of course I have! But this is the quickest way to get to the freshwater stream from our camp on the beach. There’s fish in it, too.”

“Wait a minute,” Janner stopped in his tracks. “You’ve been coming all the way out here to get water and food? Kal, when did you find time to do this? At night?”

Kalmar laughed. “Janner, just keep following me. And, no,” he continued when Janner began picking his way through the weeds and ferns again. “I’ve been doing this in the daytime. You’ve spent a surprising amount of the day sleeping, you know, and I had to find some way to entertain myself. I found fresh water and food. You're welcome. Here it is.”

Kal thrust his hand out in a flourish and Janner stared, mouth gaping open, at the sight that lay before him.

It was a river that carried its water beautifully, sending out music worthy of Leeli’s whistleharp. The water jumped and danced over and around rocks and swirled in eddies and quiet pools. It was in these pools were the fish stayed.

Janner knelt closer to the water and squinted at them. If he wasn’t mistaken, they were plonkfish. And if not plonkfish, then some near-relative of theirs. The two looked almost identical.

“Kal,” he said as he stood up. “I believe you have successfully discovered the only variety of tasty plonkfish in Aerwiar.”

Kal beamed with pride. “So, what do you think of it?”

Janner looked around at the river. It ran powerfully through the jungle, soaking the rocks around it. One bank was much higher than the other, and at a certain point in it, the rocks turned inward, making a sort of cave. As long as it wasn’t too deep, it would be a decent place for shelter until help came or until they could find a way to get themselves off the island.

“I think,” Janner said slowly. “That we could do alright here.”

Notes: Again, my sincerest apologies. I just need to get back into the pattern of it all (posting fanfic, actually making other posts on here, writing until 2:00 a.m., etc.).