Ember of a New World (41 page)

Sometime during the middle of the night, Ember knew not when, clouds fell upon the sky and blocked much of the moonlight. The total darkness this created made navigation impossible and so the women decided to sleep. The jo
urney was in the hands of fate.

Well Gods, here I am at the edge of a new world, the farthest west I can go on my own. Now it's your turn,
Ember thought. She laid
there
in a tiny boat in pitch blackness as the night
rolled along. A cool breeze fel
l
upon the women as they slept.

The morning of the third day on the water, the women awoke to see the land was much closer, but now looked different. Ember was not sure, but she felt as though the boat had moved just as much north or south as towards the land. She w
as not sure of which direction.

How
can
land be so close and yet so far?
Ember
wondered. Ember's stomach
growled
and she felt around the various food containers for something to eat. A short time later, Ember and Brig'dha sat eating the final strips of dried and salted meat they had. With only a handful of salted beans remaining, their food supply was effectively exhausted. The women sat for a long time, watching the land slowly taunting them from the distance. The day rolled along, and the women became more irritable as hunger, fear, thirst, a
nd exhaustion took their toll.

“We-wait, water-move,
land-closer. When-close, we-row
,
”
Ember said to Brig'dha in broken trade language. She was worried that their strength would fail before they made land. Perhaps letting the current lead them to shore was the best way, saving their strength for the final pull. Brig'dha was unsure of this pl
an and argued back.

“We-row, land-come, more soon. We-wait, we-die
,”
Brig'dha said. Ember disagreed with this idea, thinking the flaw obvious. Brig'dha could see the frustration on Ember's face, which only made things worse. Fear took hold of the friends and each
woman
argued in broken trade lan
guage for a short time.

“We no-move, we-die
,”
Brig'dha said, thinking the current to be unreliable. Ember knew this was possible, but she could barely bring herself to row, her arms ach
ing even at the thought.

“We-row, more-weak, more-weak!”
Ember said angrily. Why wouldn't Brig'dha understand this obvious problem, she wondered? After a long and very heated exchange, made more heated by their inability to correctly articulate themselves, the women ended their fight and merely sat in silence. Each knew the other had a valid point, but they were too tired and angry to admit it. Both women knew the source of their anger was fear. They were taking out their fears upon each other and the only thing keeping them from really hurting each other was their inability to say the sorts of things people say when they are angry. The rest of the day pas
sed in silence with neither woma
n doing anything but keeping the boat st
eady. The silence was painful.

The night of the third day on the water, the women put the oars away and made ready for sleep. Ember and Brig'dha had carefully switched positions several times each day to keep the rolls of navigator and rower split. The boat was large enough for them to carefully swap spaces, in a squatting fashion. This was beneficial as other daily acts had to be performed and the back of the tiny boat was the best place for privacy and for leaning one's backside over the edge of the boat without falling in. The silence hung over Ember and Brig'dha as the women prepared for a hungry, tired, and thirsty sleep. Their water and food had finally run out earlier that evening, and the land had on
ly grown slightly larger.

Ember was unsure of how she would sleep. Normally, she rested her head in Brig'dha's lap or
vice
versa, but the two had spent the day in silence after their argument. Both knew the source of the argument had been fear and not each other. Ember closed her tired eyes and lifted her head up to the sky full of stars. As she did, she felt small hands reach into her hair and start untangling it. Ember said nothing as Brig'dha slowly worked on her tangled and matted hair, long neglected since leaving shore. Women commonly cared for
each other’s
hair, but the act of doing so while on a boat in the middle of
the
Greatest River was absurdity. Ember understood the act for what it was, an attempt by Brig'dha to let go of their earlier fight. Ember appreciated the gesture and was tired. She no longer had the urge to argue and welcome
d the invitation to apologize.

“Sorry
,”
Ember said, without the ability to say anything more. She was cold, tired, and afraid. The only thing she had left was her friend, Brig'dha, and she would not let their argument continue. Ember reclined her head into Brig'dha's lap and looked backwards, upside down, at her friend. Brig'dha sat behind her with slightly wet eyes and a smile. Both knew they would not survive another day and night on the water. The water beat upon the sides of the boat as Brig'dha's head rested on the su
pplies. With little hope and
bodies weak from days of rowing, the two friends drifted into a deep sleep on a boat in the Greatest River, one day to be calle
d the North Sea.

A splash of salty water smacked Ember in the face, waking her up in a sudden panic. At first she thought a storm had come in the night to kill them, but the moon was out and the wind was calm. The boat rocked back and forth threatening to capsize! Ember's eyes came into focus, and she realized the source of the waves, they were near the shore! With days in the water, Ember could not be sure it was the correct shore, but at this point she would take any land. With the beach in sight, Ember forced herself awake. The boat was bobbing in the surf and turning sideways. If the boat turned sideways, the waves would flip it over. Ember could not let that happen, not with land so close! Ember grabbed at a paddle and dug it deeply into the water. As she started pulling hard with sore arms to bring the boat
in line
with the waves, the powerful currents took hold. The boat was bobbing up and down over the waves nearly out
of control.

“Brig'dhaaaaa!!!”
she called but heard nothing
over the pounding surf
. Ember couldn't take the time to look back and check on Brig'dha as she pulled hard against the water. Before her, the land loomed
with a wall of
powerful waves
separating them
. Ember felt a tap on her shoulder and saw the other oar being pulled free. Brig'dha was awake. The boat bounced up and down nearly throwing the women as it slammed into the waves head on. Both women fought to control the boat as the shore line came upon them. The waves seemed to be pushing the boat away from the shore, though Ember could not be sure. Her arms spasmed with pain from days of rowing, and her mind was still foggy with fatigue. Ember tried again to move the oar against the current and found her arms simply giving out. She could not continue to row, but the boat might not make it to shore if she did not! Her arms were nearly spent, but Ember had two perfectly good legs
..
. Over the wave crests, they rode until Ember finally decided on a dar
ing move.

Ember kicked off her boots, tore off her shirt lest she be dragged under, and rolled out of the boat into the cold water, not but fifty lengths of a man from the shore! Emb
er grasped the side of the boat
and kicked wit
h her legs as hard as she could!
Her arms were nearly e
xhausted and could just hold on
to the boat, but her powerful legs, honed from a life of swimming, bit deep into the water. Together, the women forced the boat
to the shore with sheer willpower.

The r
emaining energy in her body ble
d away as Ember kicked against the current. Blackness and tunnel vision started taking hold in her eyes. She saw sparkles in her vision and began to lose focus of her surroundings. Suddenly, her feet found cold sand beneath her! Ember's toes sank deeply into the sand, and she began to haul the boat ashore. Ember didn't see Brig'dha jump into the water and help pull the boat as she was too exhausted. Ember stumbled as she pulled the boat forward, her body not completely responding to her anymore. Ember let go of the boat and stumbled beside it falling to her knees. As she looked to her right, Ember saw Brig'dha lying on the ground. She smiled back at Ember, weakly. Exhausted, both women laid beside each other and their boat. Ember, too tired too even stand, crawled over to Brig'dha and held her hand, to which
they
both smiled and promptly p
assed out.

Sometime later that same day, the women awoke beside each other on the sandy beach of the land of Inn'bry'th, the Ends of the World. Ember stood, slowly
,
and
with the soreness only days of rowing and little food or water could bring. Brig'dha
lay
awake on the sandy ground slowly gaining the urge to stand and muttering to herself in her native
tongue. Both had made it with their clothing, effects, and supplies intact, for the most part. Their heavier boots had been removed at the start of the trip to keep them dry, and they were still somewhat dry. Ember tossed Brig'dha's boots to her and put her shirt and her own boots on. Both women had made it
alive
and even the little boat was in good shape, being a solid piece of wood. Ember and Brig'dha, when she was fully awake, pulled the boat completely ashore and tied
it to a tree near the beach
, a flat land with sparse trees. With the boat secured, Brig'dha took a closer look at
the land and nodded to Ember.

“This is-home. We-are here
,”
she said, to which Ember and Brig'dha
yelled
powerful screams of triumph into the air. They had been on the water for three days and having made it to their
goal;
they were filled with
euphoria
.

Later in the day, the two friends sat beside a warm fire and ate meager portions of a small but
well-cooked
bird. The
feathers
were long beautiful, but the meat was very oily and not plentiful. Ember did not complain. The warm meat, the first food she had eaten in a day, tasted greater than anything she could have imagined. The women licked the bones clean leaving not a single bit of the bird, besides its guts, feathers, and bones. Ember had even speculated how the beak might taste, sending Brig'dha into hysterical laughter. Their stomachs slightly filled, the women set up a small c
amp by the shore for the night. It felt good to sleep on dry land.

That night, Ember slept better than she had in a long time.
She was finally able to stretch fully and relax her haggard body. The water of the Greatest River had rocked and rolled her, always threating to overturn the boat.
As Ember slowly drifted to sleep by the low fire, she could not help but notice that the stars didn't look any different. Ember wondered why that was.

The next morning, the women packed up their gear and started the long walk towards what Brig'dha hoped would be her tribe. Brig'dha explained that her tribe was the farthest south of her “greater people”, a term sometimes used to speak of people and tribes who practiced similar customs. According to Brig'dha, her people had moved south from a place much farther north than where they now lived. The far north was full of large hills and mountains, and very cold, Brig'dha had explained. People of the land of Inn'bry'th, including her people, journeyed to the mainland by boat using the same basic route they had used
. She concluded that
her people should be north
not more than a few days walk.

Ember considered this to be a large amount of supposition. During the trip, both women had lost any idea of how north or south they had jour
neyed.
Brig'dha had to agree with Ember on this point, but she insisted that her people lived by the shores of the Greatest River and traveling
north should soon reveal them.

As the day rolled on, Ember and Brig'dha spoke about Ember remaining with her people, the Isen'bryn.
Ember had given much thought to the idea of remaining with Brig’dha’s people
,
at least until the weather was warmer. Ember could not bring herself to consider another trip across the Greatest River without many ten-days of rest. Perhaps she could even join the next expedition of Brig’dha’s people to the mainland.

“My-people will-welcome you. You-save me. You live-
long with-Isen'bryn, take-man?”
Brig'dha
asked
. Ember thought about that for a mo
ment. She was of the age to be joined, and it was the custom of every tribe she had ever encountered. The problem for Ember was that she was not ready to
settle down
. She had tasted the wide world and the urge to return to traveling was a slowly building fire.
Ember also r
emembered her promise
to return
,
which
she made to
her mother East and her childhood friends Fire Blossom and Kanter.
Ember
unconsciously rubbed her G
oddess pendant as she replied.