Jaliyah's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

By the second morning, Silvana lagged a full bowshot behind. Her boots dragged. The winged lizard rode limp on her shoulder. Jaliyah watched the sun climb and counted miles they had not earned. The deadline did not care that the girl was sixteen. At midday they reached a small village tucked between gray stone hills. Jaliyah paid coin for the use of a back garden behind a weathered tea shop. She set down her pack. "One day," she said. "We lose it here or we lose the whole road later." She built a small fire ring among the stones and hung a kettle from an iron hook. Silvana sat cross-legged on a flat slab, the lizard curled in her lap. Jaliyah passed her a sleek black mug. "Hold it. Breathe into the steam. The spell is three words and a steady hand. Energy in. Tiredness out." Silvana failed four times. The tea went cold. The tea went bitter. The lizard sneezed sparks into the leaves. Jaliyah did not raise her voice. She only began again, and again, the way she had learned to do across centuries. On the fifth try, the mug glowed faintly from within. Silvana drank. Color returned to her face. She stood without wobbling. She walked a circle around the garden and then a faster one, grinning. "I can do it again," she said. "I can do it on the road." Jaliyah packed the kettle before dusk. They had spent a day they could not spare, and bought back the legs to outrun the loss. East waited. So did the border. But tomorrow, at least, the girl would keep up.