17Zyirah
Despite the events of the day before, I woke feeling well rested. Although, the right side of my face hurt, and a headache pulsed through my temple from the swollen welt that was my eye, I otherwise felt good. I prodded the bruise with gentle fingers, wincing as I did so. I couldn't even open my eye through the swelling. Frowning, I pushed myself to sit and swing my legs over the side of the bed, where I froze at the sight of the dark lump across from me.
Charlie sat with his back against the wall, head lolled his against his shoulder, fast asleep. His legs were stretched out in front of him, arms wrapped around his midsection, brows furrowed as he slept, though whether from pain or troubling dreams, I wasn't sure. I remembered the way he'd favored his ribs the night before... they'd been hurt.
He was still wearing the clothes I'd last seen him in, black pants and a long-sleeved black shirt, both of which were wrinkled, with patches of sand still clinging to his knees and the hem of his pants, as though he'd walked on them across the beach. With quiet movements, I slid off the bed and went to him, lowering to sit on the floor at his side. I gnawed my lip as I studied his face, frowning at the bruises.
There was a cut on his left brow, and the flesh beneath his right eye was beginning to purple, as well as the line over his nose and across his forehead. I could almost make out the shape of Jackal's boot in the wounds, and I let out a soft breath as I raised a hand to slide through his hair. The brown locks were tangled and stiff and smelled of saltwater, as though he'd had to swim to the island to reach me.
The fact that Charlie had come for me at all was astounding to me. I wasn't sure if it meant he'd heard me call to him, or if he'd happened to just come back anyway and find me missing. Either way, he'd dropped everything to find and save me, and had taken a hell of a beating doing so. It was something I'd never be able to thank him enough for.
My lips lifted into a small smile as I studied him, a new fondness for him brewing inside me. Ever since he'd come, I'd fought to avoid getting close to him, but it seemed the more time I spent with him, the harder it became, and since he'd saved my life... I couldn't possibly fathom the stoicism I'd tried to portray around him. It went against everything I was meant to be. I'd been created to be a companion for him and had been bred most of my childhood to be so. When the Creator came, I thought I'd be ready to step into my role. But I hadn't been.
Charlie was just so different than anything the old stories implied the Creator would be. I'd heard everything from him being a raging tyrant who would step into this place ready to rule it, to a proud king who would Lord over us with malevolence and power, even to a sadist who would fuel his ego and sick pleasure by plunging us into slavery and torture. I'd been terrified for him to come, knowing I was meant to serve him.
But Charlie was none of those things. He was just a kid. Seventeen years old, he'd said. My age... I couldn't imagine bearing the weight of the world on my shoulders being so young. Then here came Charlie, entering from a troubled life to not only shoulder the weight of our world, but his too in an attempt to save both from Jackal. And he did it with kindness and self-sacrifice. He barely even accepted the title of Creator, he just wanted to be our friend, and I had developed so much admiration for him that I nearly wept with it. If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was falling in love with him.
I remembered the way he'd fought with Jackal, wielding those fireballs like it was second nature, despite the fact that he'd been hurt, and the power would literally suck the life out of him. I'd heard the stories about the power of the Immi. I knew what it could and would do to Charlie's body, and yet he'd accepted it anyway, and used it to face off against Jackal, for no other reason than to save me. Not too many people would give so much for someone who couldn't even make up their mind on whether or not they were going to be kind to him.
Guilt swamped me over my actions, and my eyes pooled as I looked over my Creator, wishing I could make it up to him. Dragging out of my thoughts, I looked up when I heard running feet approaching and stood as my brother came rushing into my room.
"Hey, Zyi!"
I held a finger over my lips as his eyes swept over my shoulder to Charlie, where his expression wilted. He let me guide him out into the hallway and met my eyes with concern as I crouched before him.
"Why is Charlie sleeping in your room?"
"I don't know."
"Did he have a bad dream?"
I smiled. "Maybe so. Are you doing okay this morning?"
He nodded. "Zirlic sent me to see if you were up yet."
"Oh," Rising to stand, I started walking him toward the battlefield. "What did he want?"
Xylem shrugged, pausing to look over his shoulder back into the cave. "Is Charlie gonna be okay?"
"Yes." I assured. "Once he rests a little, he'll be fine."
"But I heard what happened with Jackal and—"
"I know." I interrupted and crouched before him again. "But we have a very strong Creator. He's not going to let anything happen to us. I promise. He saved me didn't he?"
"But what if something happens to him?"
I pursed my lips as he spoke my own fear, then let out a breath as I stood again. "Nothing will happen. We're going to watch his back just like he watches ours. Right?"
Though his expression was less than certain, he nodded, and I draped an arm over his shoulder to lead him to the mess hall, inclining my head to Zirlic and the boys, who were standing over the table.
"There you are." Zirlic said, straightening away from where he was bent over a mess of parchment on the table. "How's the eye?"
"Sore, but I'll live. What's up?" I rounded to stand beside him, glancing at Jerry as he led Xylem back toward the kitchen, offering to get him something to eat.
"Where's Charlie?" Leo asked, and I gestured my head toward the sleeping dome as I yawned.
"Sleeping on my bedroom floor. You want me to wake him?"
Zirlic shook his head. "No, no, let him rest. Immi knows he needs it." He sighed as he looked down again, his hands braced on the table where he leaned, and I bent to look as well, recognizing the map of Arion.
"What are you doing?"
"Just trying to get all our ducks in a row." Leo answered. "See who's still loyal to Warrior Hold."
"What do you mean?"
Without looking at me, Zirlic sighed. "Did Charlie say anything to you last night about Jackal's supposed army?"
I shook my head. "I heard Jackal threaten him with it, but no. We haven't talked at all since the lighthouse." Zirlic nodded slowly. "Why?"
It was Leo who answered me. "We need to have some kind of defense in place. I can't imagine Jackal could convince too many men to stand up against the Creator, but there are enough people in this world who don't know Charlie that... if Jackal has them believing the Creator is some kind of tyrant, it's possible we could be facing quite a battalion. Assuming he was telling the truth, anyway, and for safety's sake, we have to assume he was."
I licked my lips as I looked down at the map. "Have you mentioned your ideas to Charlie?"
Zirlic shook his head. "No, he was exhausted last night. I didn't want to burden him, but we'll have to go over it today if he's willing."
Absently, I nodded, my eyes scanning over the map. "But I don't think Charlie even knows that the rest of the world exists. All he's seen is as far as the lighthouse."
Leo made a humming sound of agreement before standing straight. "We didn't consider that, Zirlic. Charlie indeed knows very little about his creation. He'll have to know what he's up against before we can expect him to defend it."
Zirlic nodded as a loud sigh escaped him. Frowning, I looked between the two of them. "Wait, you don't expect Charlie to defend us singlehandedly, do you?"
"Goodness, no." Zirlic assured. "But he'll be at the center of all this, regardless."
I exhaled heavily, hating that he was right. I glanced up when Xylem and Jerry emerged from the kitchen and watched as Xylem carried his plate of eggs to the table behind Leo and sat with his back to us.
Jerry looked up at me. "Hungry Zyi?"
"No... thanks." I scraped a hand back through my hair as I glanced down at the map again, then at Zirlic. "Can Xylem hang out with you awhile so I can take a bath?"
"Of course." He said without looking at me.
I rounded the table to squeeze my brother's shoulder, then left the tent, stopping in my room before heading out to the pool. Charlie was still sleeping on the floor, and I sighed as I sank to my knees next to him, my mind toiling over everything Zirlic and Leo had said. Looking at him just then, I couldn't even picture him as a tyrant. But if the rest of Arion had grown up with the same stories I had, it was highly plausible that they could be led to believe it, and I feared what some may do in retaliation.
Letting out a breath, I skimmed my fingers through his hair and down his cheek, leaping away as he startled, the back of his head knocking into the stone wall as he did so. With a wince, he raised a hand to rub the sore spot, his eyes cracking ever so slightly to look confused as he gazed around the room. When they landed on me, he frowned.
"Sorry, I wasn't trying to wake you." I mumbled, and he shook his head.
"Some guard dog I am." He grumbled, and I smiled.
"What do you mean?"
"I was supposed to be watching you." He said around a heavy yawn. "Not sleeping on the job."
Scoffing, I shook my head. "If anyone deserves a long night of sleep, it's you."
"I'll sleep when I'm dead. Got too much to do until then." He stretched out his arms and legs, his breath catching as he pressed a hand over his ribs. "Forgot about those." He groaned, and blew out a long, steadying breath before looking at me again.
"Are you okay?"
He nodded. "Yeah, I'll live. How did you sleep?"
I shrugged. "Surprisingly well, considering. This thing hurts like crap, though. Jackal smacked the snot out of me."
I laid a gentle hand over my swollen eye and saw his brows furrow with a look of both sadness and anger. Without a word, he curled his legs under him and leaned forward, reaching for me. His lips were pressed thin with concentration as I lowered my hand and he replaced it with his, and I looked deep into his eyes as his brows sank deeper. There was a slight tingling sensation beneath this palm, both warm and fluttery, and I listened as his breath hitched a moment, then he slowly withdrew his hand to slide gently down my cheek as he smiled.
My eye opened, and reaching up, I touched it, my lips parting in awe when I noticed it was completely healed, as was the split in my lip, and the process hadn't burned like Zirlic's healing sometimes did.
"You learned how to heal?" I asked him, and he shrugged.
"Guess so. Although I just used you as my first Guinea pig."
Rolling my eyes, I smiled at him. "Thanks a lot."
"Sorry."
"No, really." I said and met his eyes. "Thank you."
He inclined his head, and I stood, offering a hand to help him up, his forearm braced over his ribs as he met my eyes. "So, what's on the agenda for today?" He asked.
I shrugged. "Zirlic and Leo want to go over some things with you later, but they want you to rest first. I was about to go down to the bathing pool if you want to come."
Though his cheeks blushed, I caught him looking down at his clothes, pulling at the taught fabric before rubbing a hand through his hair with a grimace. "Guess I could stand a bath, huh?"
"Unless you prefer to smell like salt and sea."
He smiled as he shook his head, then stretched his arms out again, wincing ever so slightly before following me out of the room. "The pool is big enough for both of us without being completely awkward, right?"
I laughed as I led him around the cave and onto the river trail. "Relax. There's plenty of room."
Though the idea of the both of us being naked in the pool together, regardless of space between us, did a funny thing to my body that took all my willpower to ignore.
Charlie
Between the cliff and the thick surrounding trees, the bathing pool was shrouded in shadows, even with the sun shining brightly overhead. I watched as Zyirah rounded to the far side, and turned my back to her so she could undress and get in.
"How deep is it?" I called over my shoulder once I heard her splash into the water.
"Waist, depending on how tall you are, but you can crouch down to submerge."
Deeper than my knees... my anxiety tried to kick up at the thought, and I stamped it down with stubborn resolve not to keep being pathetic around her.
"You can strip. I'm not watching." She called from behind me, and I turned to see her with her back to me, splashing handfuls of water into her face.
I undressed as quickly as pain would allow, keeping my underwear on, and tried to ignore my racing heart as I eased to the edge and dropped into the water, my feet sliding over the smooth stone bottom. It was hotter than I expected, somewhere between bathwater and a jacuzzi, and I sighed as I sank up to my chest and closed my eyes.
"Nice huh?"
Nodding, I looked to see Zyirah standing a handful of feet away. Her arms were crossed over her bare chest, hair slicked back, water speckling her face.
"It's really nice." I agreed. "Feels good on the ribs."
I found a flat, angled rock, half on shore, half submerged into the water, and I waded over to it, sighing as I laid myself over it like a lounge chair and closed my eyes again. Somewhere ahead of me, I heard Zyirah splashing, and cracked my eyes open to see her standing near the waterfall. Her back was turned again, and I watched as she sank low into the water and leaned back, giving me a view of the top swell of her breasts as she soaked her hair.
My face bloomed a full shade of rose as I closed my eyes again.
"Hey,"
When I looked, she was standing directly in front of me. One arm covered her while the other held a hand out to me, something grasped within her palm. I took it and turned it over in my hands.
"Soap?"
She nodded. "Lilac soap. Jerry makes it. Lilacs are good for the hair and skin."
I offered an impressed smirk as I lathered it between my hands, intently aware that she was still watching me as I scrubbed it over my hair. When I glanced at her again, her eyes weren't on my face, but my body, and I felt my blush deepen as I slid off my rock and into the water.
"Your scrutiny isn't doing much for my self-esteem." I muttered, and she immediately whipped her eyes up.
"Sorry. I was just... looking at the bruises."
Frowning, I stood straight so that the water was just below my hips and looked down at myself. There was dark discoloration across the right side of my ribs, as well as a few spot on my sides, but nothing else that I could see.
"Not as bad as I thought."
"There's more." Zyirah said and slid up to me to stand as well.
The water thankfully covered her beneath the waist as she kept one arm over her chest. With gentle fingers, she used a hand to smooth over one arm, counting the marks on my shoulder, then slowly gestured for me to turn. I did so, my heart pounding like a drum set in my chest as her hand smoothed over my back, pointing out bruises as she found them.
"He beat the hell out of you." She mumbled, her tone sounding both horrified and heartbroken.
I shrugged, breathing heavily as she continued to look and feel. "It wasn't that bad. I've endured worse."
"When?"
Shaking my head, I let out a breath. "It doesn't matter."
That was a path I hadn't walked in a long time, not even with my family, and I definitely did not want to walk it with Zyirah. She'd seen me too low already. Turning slowly, I faced her again, frowning when her eyes fell on my left shoulder.
"What's all this?" She used a finger to make a wide circle around all the scars.
"A long battle with depression." I said and watched as heart-wrenching pity flashed across her face.
"Someone cut you?"
"I cut me. On either my shoulder or thigh. One mark for every panic attack or suicidal thought." I shrugged. "Made me feel better sometimes, like there was still some amount of pain in my life that I had control over."
Her face was horrified. "Charlie... that's..."
I shook my head and stepped away from her. "No, it's okay, really." I assured. "Besides... I've decided not to do it anymore."
"How come?"
I shrugged again. "My life has meaning now, and I don't want to do something that would indicate otherwise."
Her lips pressed into a thin line, her brows drawn taught as I eased down to my knees and leaned back to rinse my hair. I grunted as I did so, my ribs not thrilled about my position, and I tried to ignore it as I raised my hands to scrub out the soap. I froze, however, at the feel of someone else's hands in my hair, and my eyes flew open to see Zyirah knelt behind me.
"Let me help." She said softly.
"I'm fine." I said, and leaned forward, soap and water dripping over my shoulders and down my front.
She rolled her eyes. "You're hurt. For once in your life, don't be so awkward."
"Ha! I'd sooner sprout a tail."
She rolled her eyes again, then rounded to my front to take my hand. Though my heart was pounding out of my chest, making it hurt to breathe, I let her pull me to the far side of the pool, and sank to my knees before the lighter end of the waterfall, as she instructed.
"Just tilt your head back."
"Are you going to drown me?" She arched a brow at me, and I smiled. "It was a joke."
"Well, you're not funny."
"Story of my life... you and my brother would get along great."
I heard her let out an exasperated breath, but there was humor in her expression as she gently took my face her hands and guided my head back as she stood behind me. I startled when the rush of the waterfall poured over my head, my anxiety kicking into overdrive at the thought of it falling over my face, my mouth my nose...
"Let me up!" I began pulling away, stopping only when Zyirah held onto my head, her fingers on my cheeks.
"It's okay... I've got you."
"I have a thing with water..." I blurted, my chest rapidly rising and falling, and my ribs aching and burning with the effort as she held me.
"You're safe. I promise." She soothed, and I squeezed my eyes shut as she moved her hands to sift her fingers through my hair.
Tingles spread across my scalp, and despite the fact that my hands were balled into fists beneath the water, I was comforted by her touch.
"See? Not so bad." She said softly. I could only whine in response.
When all the soap was out, she grasped my arm and pulled me back, and I sucked my breath in as the water rushed over my face before emerging on the other side of the falls. Tucked between the cliff and the rushing water, I was shrouded completely in shadow, hidden from the rest of the pool by the sheet of the falls.
I looked down as Zyirah swam beneath them to pop up at my side, throwing water from her hair as she did so. She grinned as she stood, using one arm to cover herself as she held the other beneath the falling water.
"Like a little hidey hole, isn't it?" She said, her voice echoing off the rock.
I nodded as I pressed my back against it and looked up to where the water spouted out, a good twenty feet over my head. "Pretty cool."
She pulled back from the water and leaned against the rock beside me. Her nearness, with nothing but our skin between us was setting my cheeks ablaze with embarrassment, and I licked my lips as I looked down at her.
"Thank you, by the way." I said, and she shrugged.
"I was just trying to help."
"No, not for my hair." I said. "Okay, well, yes, for that too, but I meant... thank you for not acting like you're mad at me anymore."
Even in the shadows, I saw her cheeks blossom, but she didn't say anything, and I averted my eyes to look into the water as I continued.
"Truth be told, I feel really... weird around you." I admitted and caught her eyes lift to me.
"Weird how?"
I shrugged. "Like... I want to be near you. I want to open up to you and tell you things about me that no one else knows. I want to hold you and protect you, and... it's not like me. If my brother could see me here, he'd think my doppelganger had taken over..."
I licked my lips as I shook my head, resisting the urge to tell her how much I wanted to kiss her, especially since I'd never kissed before. Her eyes stayed locked to mine as she slowly turned to rest a shoulder against the rocks, facing me.
"When I was growing up..." She licked her lips, her eyes shifting to look this way and that. "I was made to believe that if the Creator ever came in person... he would be some horrible, sadistic person, who would relish the fact that he technically owned us, and therefore could make life hell for us."
My face scrunched as I looked down at her. "Why?"
She shrugged. "The strength of mind and soul that it would take to create a place like Arion..." she trailed off, her eyes searching through the waterfall before she spoke again. "Well, it would take a hell of a strong person. It was always assumed that someone with that kind of strength and power would naturally fall into a position of leadership, and not necessarily be kind in doing so."
Still frowning, I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. "I hope I broke that assumption at least a little bit."
"You've more than broken it." She assured. "But, when you first came here, and I saw Zirlic begging you not to leave us, I wasn't sure yet who you would be. And when I saw you weak and struggling... honestly, I thought maybe it was a front, that you were trying to gain our trust before you turned on us or something."
My lips parted in bewilderment as I glanced at her. "Is that really what you thought of me?"
She shrugged, looking ashamed. "I'm just being honest. But after a while, I started to think that maybe... this was just you, and you weren't the Creator I'd always feared coming. And when you saved my life, risking your own in the process..." Her voice cracked, and I frowned when I saw her eyes pooling with tears. "I knew that you were different; that you cared about us, and I realized that that was all I wanted of my Creator." She blinked and a tear fell. "I was made to be a companion for you. It's my whole reason for existing, and..." She shrugged. "I don't know what to do about that."
Sighing, I shook my head. "Zyirah... I'm really not that special, but I do care about you. All of you, and I'll do anything in my power to protect—"
She cut me off with her lips on mine. Not like the quick, awkward peck of before, her lips were full and eager, pressing into me as she slid her hands around my neck and into my wet hair. Temporarily stunned motionless, I stood with my back braced against the cliff, but when Zyirah didn't release me, I wrapped my arms around her back and mashed her against me. She sighed softly into my lips, raising goosebumps on my skin as her mouth thoroughly explored mine.
Lost in a tangle of sensory overload and desperation, I barely noticed the sudden tap-tap-tap against the inside of my skull and put all my remaining strength into ignoring it.