“Our boat hit the rocks.” Weylyn said and peered over the rail into the clear water.
Keegan moved to the stern and finally fulfilled his dream. He tossed the anchor over the side. “I dropped anchor!” he crowed, very pleased with himself.
“Okay, people,” Orin shouted. “Grab a pack and let’s go. Move, move, move.” No one could be more than eager to get off this floating death trap than Orin. He sprang over the side and landed calf-deep in water. I grabbed my pack, and Orin helped me off the boat. As the rest clamored off, Orin gallantly carried me over to the beach. So gentlemanly. I would have been dry as a bone, except I was already soaked to the bone to start with.
“Thank you, my knight,” I simpered. As a joke. I don’t do simper.
“Anytime, Princess.” He gave my cheek a chaste, courtly kiss.
Turning, I asked “Brann, do you know which side of the island this is.”
“Yeah. It’s this side,” he joked dryly. The needle of his compass was spinning uselessly. “But since we sailed west to get here, logic says it must be the east side.”
“I claim this land in the name of Queen Isabela,” Katie said. I turned, and looked at her. Her skin was now sparkling.
“Yo, Columbus? Your glamour has gone wild, girl.”
“Woah!” she said in surprise. “But I didn’t let it down,”
“It must be the island. I think you’ve been ‘magicked’.”
“Now that you say it, I do feel a bit different,” agreed Weylyn.
“It feels like it did back in Seelie Court,” I offered. “Only more.”
“The air is humming with magic,” Brann said. “But it feels different. Wild.”
“It feels... older, I guess.” I replied. “Raw.”
“That’s it, yes. I’ve never felt anything like it before.” Brann started walking toward the forest.
Katie pantomimed an imaginary joint, sucking in pretend smoke. “This be some badass shit, my brother.”
“It’s so dense. Thick. Like, milkshake thick,” I said. “Deeper.”
“What are you saying?” Katie asked.
“Unstable?” It made me feel anxious. “It’s like... a radioactive nucleus.”
“Terrifying much?” Katie shot back. “Thanks for the comforting thought.”
“I feel... something, like, I don’t know. Calling to me?”
“What is? The knife?” asked Weylyn.
“Not exactly, but...” How do I explain something I don’t understand myself? “The Morrigan gave me her power, right? And since she is doing the Donn’s job, maybe the knife senses me. Not ‘senses’, but... something is just drawing me. Calling to me, like I’m part of the Danu.”
“I wouldn’t rule it out.” Brann adjusted the bag on his shoulder. “You carry the blood of the Danu in your veins. Whatever is calling you, that makes you our new compass. Lead the way.”
We made hard progress, pushing and cutting a path through a suffocating overgrowth of trees and vines. Some trees towered so high I could only imagine how old they must be. The air was sweet and fresh, like flowers blooming on your tongue. Orin hacked with his machete, pushing away the cut branches. Weylyn assumed his wolf form, trotting out ahead, scouting for signs of life or civilization.
“So far, we have been lucky,” Katie whispered to Keegan.
“Huh? Why are you whispering?”
She swept the forest with her most steely gaze, on high alert. “I don’t see any yet...” said Katie, turning seriously to Keegan. “...but we can’t be too careful.”
“Careful… of what?”
“Pookahs!” Katie screamed out in laughter. “Beware the attack of the giant black rabbits!” She screamed as she did a little dance around Keegan, she was so pleased with herself.
“Ah, bite the back of me bollocks, ya flittering fairy.”
As we pushed forward, the only sound was the low hum of insects and chirping birdsong. Other than that, nothing. It was kind of creepy.
An hour later, we stumbled upon a wide, shallow river. The water sparkled in the filtered sunlight, the shade an almost living turquoise, flowing freely through the thick green forest. Then, a startling observation hit me. Unless we had gotten completely turned around, this stream was following inland, toward the center of the island. “Um. Guys? Shouldn’t water flow out? Toward the ocean?”
“Always. High to low.” Orin said then paused in his hacking to take a breather. “Laws of nature, eh Brann?”
Brann’s hands were braced his on knees, bent over, trying to catch his breath. But now he straightened up, and looked at the stream’s uphill flow. “Laws, huh? Better write this fucker a ticket then.”
Katie, most attuned to nature, plucked a leaf and dropped it in the river. “Shit, Keira’s right. It’s following inland.”
We all watched the leaf drift down the river – well, no – up the river. The clear water gurgling away, toward the unknown. Uphill.
“I’d say this means something,” Brann said.
“Like what?” from Keegan.
“Speaking as a scientist, I can only conclude... Fuck if I know.”
“Then let’s follow the river and see where it takes us.”
“That’s not weird at all,” Keegan mumbled, as he summoned forth his trusty shillelagh and took off, swinging it like a jaunty walking stick.
“Let’s drop talking about weird,” Katie said, trudging the broad riverbank. “With your luck, it will just get weirder.”
“Do not bring my luck into this. So far we have been very lucky.” Keegan declared poking her very lightly with his stick.
“You looking to wear that up your ass, you Lucky Charms motherfucker?”
Keegan pouted. “We didn’t sink on that leaky garbage skow, did we?”
“I bet you a hundred bucks it’s gonna get a lot weirder,” Katie dared.
A big grin lit up his face. “You’re on!”
“You should know better than to bet against a leprechaun,” I warned her.
Keegan wagged his finger. “Let’s make it two hundred that we’ll see a giant black rabbit.”
“I’ll jump in on that,” Orin said. “Anyone else?”
“Guys,” I tried to sound serious. “Is this really the time to be making bets?”
Weylyn scoffed at Keegan. “Him? He’d bet the Devil a popsicle wouldn’t melt in Hell.”
“Seriously guys? Can we just focus on finding this Temple?” I said, as I rounded a bend in the river, and pushing past some kind of willowy looking tree, finally getting a
