“Just for that, I’m not giving you a ride out of this volcano.”
“That’s fine. I have the power to fly and am finally over my fear of heights,” he said, as their gazes locked. He jumped into the air, and stayed there. “You warmed up?”
“Warm enough,” she said.
He tossed her the Jagged Heart, which she caught in one hand. Her flight grew wobbly as she rose another couple of yards in the air. “Thinking-ahead Infidel sure wishes she had Tower’s little magic book to carry the harpoon,” she said.
Zetetic shrugged as he rose to her level. “Too bad it got burned up when Tower’s armor disintegrated.”
“No!” I shouted. “He has it!”
But, I hadn’t mentioned this to Infidel, so she merely said, “I guess I can rig up some kind of sling.”
Zetetic sank back down and offered a hand to Relic. “Can I offer you a ride?”
Relic sighed as he raised the claw that Nowowon had mangled least. “Any place in the world is safer than here.”
I floated next to Infidel as the three of them rose like balloons toward the edge of the caldera. The shadows of the vast pit fell away as we reached the sky and found the sun rising on the eastern ocean. Pale golden rays danced over a shimmering sea, bathing the treetops below with a radiance that made the dewy canopy look as if someone had spilled a bucket of glistening jewels.
And I finally got it. I understood what Infidel had meant when she said she’d already discovered Greatshadow’s treasure. It was the island itself, the last wilderness, and I knew, with the same certainty that I knew that stone is hard and fire is hot and water is wet, that there would be no better place on the planet for our daughter to grow up.
“I’m dying to hear the details of what happened in the spirit realm,” Zetetic said.
“What happened between Stagger and me is private, you creep,” said Infidel, sounding genuinely offended.
Zetetic shook his head. “I mean, the details of your confrontation with Greatshadow. The Jagged Heart should have killed him. You got close enough for conversation; presumably you were close enough to strike. Why didn’t you finish him? You’ve gambled the safety of the world by sparing him. What possible reason could have stayed your hand?”
“If I’d killed Greatshadow, all this would be gone,” she said, her eyes scanning the jungle as they slowly flew down the slope at about the pace of a good jog, heading toward Commonground. “My father’s men would come and set up lumber mills and mines. Before you know it, there would be farms everywhere. The priests would follow and build churches, and in a couple of years, this place would start to look civilized.”
“Indeed,” said Zetetic. “That was precisely the plan.”
“But it wasn’t my plan. I’ve spent the best years of my life here, and I like the island as it is: untamed and untamable. I grew up in a world of castle walls and armed guards and endless rules that shackled the soul as well as the body. I’ve had a taste of freedom now and will never give it up. I want to raise my daughter in a world that still has a place where the wicked may hide from the righteous.”
Zetetic slowed a bit. “Damn,” he said, with a nod. “That’s not a bad reason at all.”
Infidel shrugged, with an expression that told me she didn’t particularly care if he approved of her reasons or not. She flew on a little ways, until, suddenly, she looked back over her shoulder, her eyes wistful as she stared at the sky above the caldera, toward the spot where I’d vanished.
Then her distant gaze shifted, looking much closer, not quite to where I hovered, but not so far off either.
“You aren’t in this alone,” I said, with a reassuring smile.
I’m sure it was only a coincidence that, at that exact second, she smiled back.
