Pathfinder Tales: Skinwalkers by Wendy N. Wagner

Author:Wendy N. Wagner
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781601256164
Publisher: Paizo Publishing, LLC
Published: 2014-04-15T04:00:00+00:00

paizo.com #3236236, Corry Douglas <[email protected]>, Aug 10, 2014

Chapter Thirteen

Followers

The sun's approach turned the whole sea gray. Gray sky, gray water, gray canoe. Jendara stretched her fingers and made herself pick up her canoe paddle again. It was just too cold to take a long break.

She scanned the horizon behind her. Not a single ship. The observation didn't give her any kind of comfort. Kalira wasn't going to simply give up on converting Jendara to her cause, just like the ugly brand on the back of Jendara's hand wasn't going to go away on its own.

Her eyes wandered down to her hand. Seawater hadn't helped it any. The scab on the burn was slimy and gray, the skin around it swollen. There was no way it would heal nicely. She wondered why Brynorm had branded her hand—her right hand—of all places. Was it just to serve as a constant, visible reminder of her sister and her sister's people? Or had he noticed the old tattoos in the shape of Besmara's sacred symbol and thought to close off that connection?

He needn't have worried. She hadn't made an offering to Besmara in years. Not since the day Ikran had died.

She brought her mind back to the sea around her. A few small islands dotted the eastern quadrant of visible waters. They had to mark the far edge of the fishing grounds. She hadn't really thought that they'd taken her all the way to Kalva—that trip would have taken days. Instead, she'd guessed the little island the raiders had set up camp on was one of the uninhabited rocks scattered across the northernmost tip of the Ironbound Archipelago. If that were the case, maybe she'd find one of her scouts soon.

And maybe she needed to pay more attention to her paddling. She sat up straighter. It was easy to become distracted by one's thoughts, but that was a sure way to get a body killed. Hadn't she already faced a giant squid in these waters? And of course there were always rocks to worry about, or simply the waves themselves. These waters could kill.

She looked back over her shoulder. Still no following ships. But plenty of seabirds moved through the skies. Kalira had shown a preference for crows, but given her ability to create all kinds of animal shapeshifters, Jendara worried any kind of bird might act as Kalira's eyes.

The wind stirred the salt-crusted collar of her shirt, and she shivered. What had the men called Kalira when they were taking Jendara to the ceremony? The Crow Witch? The name seemed a little too appropriate.

The canoe bumped against something beneath the waterline, and Jendara cursed. She probed the area with her paddle and flinched when she struck stone. Rocks. Big ones. And right now she wasn't doing the best job watching out for them.

She braced the paddle against the stone, holding the canoe in place. She squeezed her eyes shut. They stung with exhaustion. She'd been up nearly twenty-four hours. Her shoulders ached from their dislocation and Brynorm's brutal repairs.

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