Free Zadayi Red by Caleb Fox

Su-Li.
    “Let’s do it,” she said.
    The first step was immersion in a painful world. The cold—Sunoya wanted to bellow. The ache in her legs—breath clotted in her throat.
    Dak swam alongside, looking at her, trusting her. So far the baby was dry.
    Sunoya scooted one foot forward. She wanted to holler and wouldn’t let herself. Then she picked up the other foot and took a firm step. She shouted for her own benefit, “I don’t get across, he dies, too. Go!” Six steps, eight steps, ten. A wave splashed high as her right breast, and her nipple pinched until it hurt.
    Ten more steps and she grabbed onto the trunk of a dead tree stranded in midstream. She gripped a limb hard and hoisted her bottom onto the trunk. She sat for a moment, the water only up to her calves. Then she realized that, with the wind, she was still cold. Very cold. She slipped off the trunk.
    And went under.
    The current was a maelstrom. Her body was down, sideways, up, down—and then was flung underwater beneath the trunk. She reached up blindly and found a limb with her hands. She grabbed it but couldn’t pull her head above water. Air! Air! I’m going to die.
    A monster heaved her upwards by the shoulders. She beached on the trunk.
    A war eagle retracted his claws from her hide dress. Su-Li was twice the size of a buzzard, and she could read his thoughts.
    “Thank you,” she wheezed.
    I can’t carry you, but I can give you a boost.
    When she got her mind and emotions sorted out, he said, It’s shallower at the downstream end, and you won’t be sucked back under the tree.
    “I can’t do this,” she said.
    You have to. He turned his handsome russet head across the river. Both dogs stood on the far bank looking back at her, panting. You hear Dahzi bawling?
    She crawled to the downstream end and, before she could think, flung her feet at the bottom. Waist deep.
    In two dozen steps she was sprawled on her belly on the sand. She doubted that anyone could feel this cold and be alive. She crawled to Dak, unstrapped Dahzi, turned him over, and held him tight.
    He hollered.
    She mumbled, “I’m not warming him up . . . I may be freezing him.”
    Wrap one of the robes around you. Her spirit guide was back in Su-Li’s familiar shape. She liked him that way.
    And let’s get moving.
    “I ca—”
    Sunoya passed out.

 

    12
     
    S u-Li watched nervously as the shadows stretched from the western mountains onto the water. Once in a while he glanced up toward the frozen waterfall. The slanted sun lanced light onto the branches of the laurels along the bank and the ice above. Not a bad place sometimes, this Earth.
    He had done all he could, covered Sunoya and the baby with elk robes. Even partly wet, the robes held some warmth. Beyond that, he had to wait, which was driving him crazy. Damned fear . It was the true affliction of the realm between the upper and lower worlds, Earth.
    He watched Inaj and his six men picking their way down the steep clay trail, its surface not quite dry. When they got to the river, Su-Li, Sunoya, and the dogs would be directly in view.
    His brain whirled around, searching for ideas. He could hope for darkness, but it would probably come too late. He could hope that Inaj would make camp back from the river and not see the fugitives through the trees. He mocked himself. How desperate you are.
    He nudged Sunoya with his beak. He pushed at her face until he made her blink.
    “Hunnh?”
    We’ve got to get going. They’re almost here.
    “Hunnh-hnn?”
    Sunoya!
    Suddenly, Inaj and his men appeared on the opposite bank. They pointed toward the helpless band. A couple of them shook their spears. One jumped up and down. Their pack dogs milled, eager for excitement.
    It’s over.
    Su-Li felt a great infusion of sadness, like a dye in his blood.
    Maybe they won’t kill her, he thought.
    But Inaj will still rape her, he told himself honestly. Hopeless.
    He missed the Land beyond the Sky Arch. So why am I not glad for this