Chapter 73: Still You
Her frame was shaking, but her hands alone were steady, curled around the grip and trigger.
“Jump, then,” she notioned at the moon by Ennanis’ feet. Her voice was flat and monotone, in contrast to the tears streaked down her face. “Or you die. With your level of injury, you don’t have any Soleki left to expend. Your broken spine means you won’t have the reflexes to dodge, either.”
Ennanis turned her head to look into the moon, its still, rippleless surface. The Queen within it said and did nothing, as if she were merely a stone monument built within the water. If the angel commander saw anything in the moon's reflection, that was only for her to know.
She turned back to the woman in the grass.
“No. I think I will do neither,” she answered. “You’ve never been able to kill me, after all. All through nine years, even though you could’ve ended our fights with just one stone-cold glance, you chose not to. On the first night we fought, you had me by my wrists, but spared my life. And then, on the fifth peak… you died to save me.”
Back on the fifth peak, Ennanis had been one arrow away from dying for good… before the Cockatrice had taken it in the neck for her. Ennanis still didn’t know how the princess had survived it, but the fact of the matter remained clear. The Cockatrice had put herself in harm’s way just to protect Ennanis. It made no sense for her to do all that just to kill her now—right?
Jemi’s eyes widened. But then, she said sharply:
“Not for the reason you think, Commander. You don’t know everything yet.” Now her hands trembled. Desperately, she grasped at her gun like it was a lifeline, like it was the last thing in her life she had any control over. Ennanis knew that even through the fumbling, Jemi’s aim was good enough to incapacitate her.
Uninterested in standing there and awaiting a senseless death, Ennanis mentally reached for Lienna, reached for any daylight at all, but Jemi was right. With how much she had to use to bind her spine together, she simply could not afford to spare any Soleki for other uses. She also knew that if she made any sudden movement right now, Jemi would freak out and shoot her.
No one else was coming to save her. It was down to Jemi Garen to decide her fate.
……
…………
Suddenly, there was a rustle from the woods.
That got Jemi’s attention. They both turned to look in the direction of the noise.
The rustling grew louder. Then, bursting out from the bushes:
It was a rabbit.
Barely larger than two palms cupped together, it was like a ball of soft, cream-coloured fuzz. Its eyes were big and black, its tiny ears lopped. Completely uncomprehending of the situation, it nosed its way through the pondweed, its eyes reflecting the buzzing light of the moon. It wrinkled its nose in distaste. But then its whiskers twitched, and its attention was drawn to the gold-haired woman curled up in the grass.
The rabbit sniffed the air. Then, slowly, it hopped through the tangled weeds and settled against Jemi, nestled in the shadow of her brown cloak. Content, it tucked its paws beneath itself and closed its eyes. Its small body rose and fell, breathing.
Jemi did not move.
Slowly, more rustling ensued from the woods. More and more animals emerged from the trees. A nickering horse. A pair of trotting boars. Monkeys, squirrels, butterflies; lizards and snakes and an army of fire ants; a line of waddling waterhens, a flock of fluttering sparrows. These were not Beasts, nor Runts, nor domesticated pets; they were entirely feral. Yet they gathered around the gold-haired woman with a tamed sort of gentleness, tails flicking, wings ruffling, fur twitching. Their noises low and subdued, gazing patiently at her, in that way animals sometimes do when they sense a person in great sorrow. Waiting.
The gun dropped from Jemi’s fingers. It clanked, rolled, and splashed into the white lake, sinking below the surface.
Discreetly, the angel breathed a sigh of relief.
“What do I do now?” Jemi’s hands were on the grass. She hiccuped as a deer nuzzled her shoulder. “Where do I go?”
“Whatever you want to,” Ennanis answered, in front of the watching Queen. “Wherever you want to.”