The Fuegorra is…gone. I cannot feel it even try to heal me anymore. I guess it could, since I was impaled straight through my empty chest. Without the heart, my body adjusted, but it was merely a patch over a serious problem. There was no way the Enduar magic could survive in instances like this.
Then, what one of the women says next absolutely stops my thoughts in their tracks.
“Entonces déjalo morir.”
Then let him die.
I let out a groan, but it doesn’t seem to stop them. It comes out of my mouth involuntarily, a simple way for me to voice my absolute displeasure. There is no way I want that. I need to get to Arlet.
But I am dying. Slipping between visions of red and black.
I force my brain to focus, working through the time I spent learning the human tongue. I pick out familiar words, stitching the meaning together as best I can.
“But his people have helped our enslaved brothers and sisters,” another continues. “What would Ashra think of our silence?”
“They will continue to help them even if we let him die. Ashra has been powerless before. The land outside is not safe for us. The power corrupts us—just think about what happened to our sisters who helped the giants.”
“I wish to leave this island!” another shouts. “You told us that most of the humans were dead. But now we know they have been enslaved. That is our kin. Our families. We abandoned them.”
Silence follows.
“We have everything we need on the island!” the main voice responds.
“We do not.”
A new voice enters the conversation. One I recognize—Elanina. “Maelira, I know you are contented here. Certainly, the last fifty years of seclusion have done us well. But it is time to leave—or at least, allow some to leave. In order for that to happen, it is wise for us to take advantage of his offer.”
“Even our own kind turned against us in the last days. We are outcasts. We should not tempt fate,” Maelira spits.
“You are blinded by fear.” Something shifts on the table with me. “He does not have long. You and I both know there is only one solution to this—his heart. With it, we can fix him properly. He will live and we will finally have a true ally.”
“He made a deal with you, Elanina. It cannot beundone.”
Rage and despair flood through me. This cannot be the end.
“It can, and you know it. What good is his heart, sitting in the Hollow. It is nothing but a trophy. We can trade it for a better future.”
“But—”
“I want to find my family.”
And yet, she fights for me to live. I know this is not about me, it is mostly about my offer. But the last bits of me are amazed that she would allow me to have my heart back—that she would give me strength so I would be able to go for my Arlet.
Gratitude cuts through the pain as sounds and voices grow hazy again. And despite trying to move, trying to speak, I am left without strength.
“Most of them are dead by now.”
My stomach sinks. I worry that they will give up, and I will die here.
“We used to be able to leave this place and explore. That is how I met this one,” Elanina says. “And now, he has returned to us. If that isn’t a sign from the goddess, I don’t know what is. She guided his path back to us—to me. We could live amongst others.”
Silence follows.
“The mark of a true leader is when one can admit they were wrong. You do not feel a responsibility to humans without magic, I know. You thought we would be safe studying and secluding ourselves, far from the others,” Elanina says. “But you were wrong. Some of us have families. Children, sisters, brothers, fathers, mothers, old lovers, long lost. I miss seeing new places. New people and old people. We deserve to know the fate of the humans.”
I struggle to stay awake, left with nothing more than an appreciation for this witch who speaks so eloquently. There is honor amongst these women, after all.
“Maelira, your fear is unfounded. The goddess has already started to be freed. Our people are healing. The time of the humans is coming. I don’t want to rot and die, forever secluded on this island. If we want safe passage back into the world, we need connections with the mainland.”