Authors: Alaya Dawn Johnson
"Kai, are you all right?" she asked finally, even though she knew it was a useless question. What would he do if he wasn't? Abandon her to the mob?
"Don't worry, we're almost there." When he turned his head to look at her, she saw his expression change to one of dismay. Surprised, she turned around and felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. The death was walking beside them, on the other side of the barrier of water. It must have sensed how weak Kai was getting-almost too weak to enforce his geas.
"Stay away," she said angrily. "He bound you and you haven't broken it."
The death's mask refracted through the water looked like a hideous parody of itself. "I can stay right here. I may not be able to touch you now, but not many geas are kept by dead men."
Lana refused to show fear at his threat. Instead, she reached into her bag and pulled out the flute. She didn't quite know why she did it-she was completely out of her depth and she could think of no geas that would be helpful-but the music comforted her, and she knew it set the death on edge. She found herself playing one of her father's favorite tunes-the very same one, in fact, that he had performed for her on the day of her initiation. She played it slowly and sweetly, not entirely unaware of the irony. She was playing "Yaela's Lament" for the man who had inherited the powers for which Yaela had sacrificed herself.
Kai seemed surprised when she started playing, but he didn't speak. They reached the seamstress's house just as she was finishing the song. A woman waited for them on the porch, surveying the approaching crowd with a wary expression. Kai's breathing began rasping in his throat, but Lana didn't dare show her worry.
The woman looked down at her and held out a loosely wrapped bundle of herbs. "They told me that a black angel was coming. They said that she needed these herbs to cure my daughter. You must be the one I made those shirts for. I wondered, but I never imagined..." She shook her head. "So tell me, why have you come?"
"I know much about illness and healing. Your husband blames me, but I had nothing to do with your daughter's illness. I may be able to save her life, if you let me inside. I can promise nothing, but I swear I will do nothing to harm her."
The woman gave a bitter smile and Lana could see there were tears in her eyes. "Ah, my husband's a fool. Our daughter had the cough a week ago-it only got serious recently. She's in so much pain..." The woman paused and then took a deep breath. "If you think you can, please, will you help her?"
Her husband and a few other men came tearing through the back of the crowd-he must have been with the stragglers.
"What are you doing, you fool!" he screamed. "Do you want her to die? She's the one who did this, and now you'll let her kill our daughter with one touch!"
The woman's mouth twisted. "You ignorant ass. Do you really think anybody but death has such power?"
"She's a black angel, Sei!" he said.
"Then let me be the first to invite a black angel into my house." She turned to Lana and held out her hand. "Come," she said.
Lana looked frantically at Kai. "Go on," he said. "I'll hold them off."
"But, you-"
"I'll hold them off!" he shouted. He gripped her hand tightly and his eyes momentarily regained some color. "Save her, keika." He kissed her briefly on the lips and then shoved her out of the bubble. Lana grabbed the woman's hand and ran inside, only vaguely aware of the wall of water that came shooting up behind her.
The girl was sleeping on a mat on the floor. The windows were shut and cloying incense was burning at her feet-Lana nearly gagged on the smell when she entered the room.
"Throw that incense away and open the windows. This isn't good for a girl with lung sickness." Lana was startled, but pleased at the authority in her voice.
Negotiating the small room was a little difficult with her wings, but she managed to kneel next to the sleeping mat. The girl opened her eyes as she did so, and then they grew round with shock.
"Am I dead?" she asked. Her voice was just the barest rasp in her throat.
Lana shook her head. "No, of course not. You're just a little sick."
The girl began coughing and Lana was shocked to see how much blood was mixed with the phlegm. She wondered if she might have come too late.
"I put some water out to boil, just in case. Do you want it?" The woman was hovering nervously over her shoulder.
"That's good. Put the mushrooms in first, then the rest ten minutes later. When the bitterwort turns pale yellow, strain it and bring a glass to me."
Lana kept a silent vigil by the child, wondering at the irony of a black angel trying not to destroy, but rather to save a life. She could hardly blame this woman's husband or the rest of the villagers for their attitude-the only thing anyone knew about black angels (which was what everyone knew, even children like this girl) was that they brought destruction. It had been far too long for anyone to remember how or why. Lana wondered if all of the black angels had essentially been helpless spectators to the destruction that followed them. Had their existence presaged violence without their ever participating in it?
The woman tapped her on her shoulder. "I think it's ready," she said quietly, handing her the glass.
Lana nodded. She helped the mother force the drink down the girl's throat and her mind raced as she thought of what to do next. The geas needed to be powerful, but though she knew she could use the flute, something inside her warned against it. She had never used the flute for any geas other than those she used to bind the death, and she wondered if playing it now might somehow invite the death inside. No, it had to be a self-sacrifice.
Steadying herself, she felt for the watching presence of the spirits around her. There were more than she ever remembered, in fact, as though she were now an object worthy of far more attention. Lana reached behind her back to where the wings joined her still-tender skin. Remorselessly, she ripped out three large feathers. For once, she barely enjoyed the waiting anticipation of the spirits before the binding. She was too worried about Kai-the sounds from outside were violent and not reassuring.
"No human is a waterbird. No fish breathes air. As the wind blows where water does not belong, so I bind them both to right themselves in the body of this girl."
A strange force began making the tips of the three black feathers vibrate. The girl gasped and Sei held her shoulders as she began coughing uncontrollably, nearly vomiting as vast amounts of discolored phlegm suddenly vacated her lungs. Lana held the feathers still over her torso, hoping that the violence of the purging wouldn't further harm her already weakened body. The feathers crumbled to black ashes that dusted the deep blue of her pants-the terms of the geas were fulfilled.
The three of them were silent for a moment and then the girl took a deep, shuddering breath-probably the healthiest-sounding one she had taken in days.
The woman gasped and felt the girl's forehead. "Her fever's broken," she said quietly. "You've saved her life."
"I only-"
She stopped at the sound of something heavy smashing into the wall just above their heads. The shouts outside that she had tuned out for the past twenty minutes suddenly seemed loud and terrifying. Some of the men had taken up a chant that sounded like, "Kill the freak, then the witch."
"I have to go," Lana said, standing up awkwardly. "Give her more of the draught every few hours until she seems better."
The cries of the mob sounded like a solid wall of noise when she ran outside. The water barrier still surrounded the house, but Kai had sunk to his knees and it looked like he was barely holding on to consciousness. Lana stumbled next to him and held his shoulders. He looked at her with an expression of barely suppressed pain, but he smiled.
"Did you ... do it?" he asked.
Lana realized she was crying when she tasted salt, but she didn't know when she started. She nodded. "The girl will be all right. But we have to leave."
"No, you run away. I can't. Just get away. Fly ... I can't hold this up much longer. When it comes down..."
"What are you saying?" Lana's head felt like it was going to burst with the sudden pressure.
"Stop it!" The new voice was loud and emphatic. The noise of the crowd tapered off in response to its anger and, Lana realized, its authority: the girl's mother, Sei, was standing beside them.
"You will not kill these people. Or you will have to kill me to do it. She saved our daughter, Tope. Why do you want to kill her?"
"She's deluded you! No black angel could save anyone-they only destroy."
"Will you all kill me, then?"
They mob hesitated, then seemed to lose some of its anger.
"I will never forget what you did for me today," the woman said to her. "Tell him to drop his shield. I'll be able to give you enough time to get away."
Lana nodded and nudged Kai. He collapsed against her and the wall of water fell to the muddy ground. Before the mob had a chance to regain their bearings, she grabbed both of their bags and then hugged Kai tightly around the waist. He only seemed partly conscious, but she knew that she would need his help if they even had a prayer of getting off the ground.
"Kai, you have to put your arms around my neck, okay? I won't be able to fly if you don't."
"Just leave me," he mumbled.
"Damn it, Kai! Do you think I could do something like that? Put your arms around my neck!"
Lana thought she heard something like a muffled laugh escape his lips before he slowly complied. She thanked him silently.
Looking around her for the final time, she had a strange, hazy glimpse of glowing lanterns, angry faces, and one brave woman daring to stop them. Then she stood up and with a few painful, powerful strokes heaved herself off of the ground and into the night sky.
She didn't dare spend too long in the air-Kai seemed to be holding onto consciousness by sheer force of will. His breathing was shallow and she knew the air and the wind that was battering them at such a high altitude could only make things worse. The effort of carrying both her and his weight was also ripping open her healing back. She managed to make it to the city, landing less than gracefully on a low roof in the northeast. They both lay there panting for a few moments before Lana forced herself to sit up again. They still wouldn't be safe unless she could somehow conceal her identity. She shoved her own exhaustion away and began rifling through Kai's bag for something she could use as a cloak. To her surprise, she found a real one with a blue silk lining, so long that she knew Kai must have bought it for her. She smiled and put it on, carefully arranging the folds so it disguised the shape of her wings. Then she reached over and shook him by the shoulders.
"Kai, you have to wake up. Just a little longer and then you can rest, okay?"
He opened his eyes and smiled. "You're crazy, keika."
Lana almost started crying again. "You too," she said softly. "Now put your arm over my shoulder."
They were in luck-she had apparently landed on top of a theater and the production was letting out right at that moment. Many of the people below her were wearing outfits so outlandish she felt sure that the two of them would simply blend into the crowd. They climbed down a ladder set into the wall and then Lana half-carried Kai as she walked as nonchalantly as she could through the crowd.
She stopped in front of two men lolling on the side of the theater and smoking something whose smell she didn't recognize. They looked at her raised cloak with the barest flicker of curiosity.
"I'm sorry, but my friend here is a little drunk and, um ... I was wondering if you could tell me where the nearest inn would be?"
"Up the street, to the left," one of them said. "It has a red door. You can't miss it."
Lana thanked them and walked with Kai as quickly as she could-his legs were barely moving beneath him. The inn was just as easy to find as the men had said and the proprietor seemed as disinclined as anybody else in this neighborhood to think there was something strange about having a hunchback and a nearalbino as guests. Lana fished into Kai's pocket and pulled out a hundred-kala coin that seemed to satisfy the proprietor quite nicely, since he led them to a room in back that was much quieter and a bit larger than the others.
"I'll have a maid bring bedding," he said.
Lana took a ten-kala coin from Kai's pocket and handed it to the man. "Make sure she brings the softest sleeping mats ... some food and amant weed wouldn't be amiss either."
The man looked at her a little bemusedly and then nodded before shutting the door behind him. Lana set Kai against a wall and then poured some water from the pitcher on the table. He revived enough to drink half of it and then leaned back against the wall. His skin felt dangerously cold and he had begun shivering. She waited impatiently until she heard someone knock at her door. Two maids entered, one carrying some of the fluffiest bedding she had ever seen and the other bearing a huge tray of food.
"Is that real?" the younger maid asked after she had set down the food, pointing to Lana's back.
Lana nodded. "I've had it since I was born."
"Does it hurt?" she asked, ignoring the other one's efforts to drag her out of the room.
"Not anymore."
"Oh? Well, good night, then. Just let me know if you want anything else." She closed the door behind her and Lana heard the two girls arguing as they walked back down the hall.
Lana allowed herself a small smile and then locked the door after them. She took off his shoes and then half-dragged Kai to the sleeping mat. Part of her wanted to take off his clothes, but she didn't quite have the nerve. Instead she pulled the thick down quilt over him and adjusted his head on the pillow. Just before she turned to the food, he gripped her hand. Her heartbeat skitteredshe had assumed he was asleep.
"Will you come home with me?" he asked. His iris-less eyes rippled the way they had the first time he looked at her. "My father is dead-I must go home and be his successor. But will you come with me?"
"To the water shrine?" she asked, stupidly. Was it possible that they had only kissed just this afternoon? That he had nearly killed himself to save her life? "Why?"