Skarsh Waterscale's Arc

Chapter 6 of 9

The sun is lower now, the shadows stretching across the gazebo stones. The woman stands where she crossed to him, still holding the scroll in one hand. She does not speak, but her eyes shift past Skarsh toward the water. The drake goes still, its circling cut short. Then Skarsh hears it — footsteps through the marsh, fast and deliberate. Artur appears at the rusted bell tower near the water's edge, breathing hard. He carries a weathered compass in one hand, moss thick on its cracked face. The woman recognizes him immediately and moves down the gazebo steps. Artur holds up the compass and speaks quickly, gesturing toward the forest behind him. Skarsh cannot understand the words, but he sees the woman's face change. She looks at the compass, then at Skarsh, and something passes between them — not fear, but recognition. She knows who Artur is warning her about. She has always known someone was hunting her. Skarsh steps between them and the forest line. The drake rises from the water, positioning itself at his side. The woman reaches for his arm, stopping him before he moves further. She points to herself, then to the trees, shaking her head. She does not want him to protect her from this. She wants him to understand that this hunter is her burden, not his. But Skarsh came out of the water because she asked him to cross the boardwalk and be seen. He cannot go back to hiding now. Artur pulls something else from his pack — a worn leather strap with tracking marks, the kind hunters use. He points to boot prints in the mud near the bell tower, fresh and deep. The woman studies them, and Skarsh sees her shoulders tighten. She knows these tracks. She turns to Skarsh and makes the symbol for "together" that she drew in the mud earlier, then points to the forest. Not asking him to leave. Asking him to stay beside her when the hunter comes. Skarsh looks at the drake, then at the woman, and realizes his plan to prove his worth by protecting her from a distance was always wrong. She wants him here, visible and present, when she faces what has been following her. That is the only protection she will accept.