Waterborne (Wanderlust 3)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Soren would have liked a map, even though all they were doing was following the land. He could picture Tanden's wall map, but couldn't rely on his memory, or even the map itself, to be perfectly accurate. They sailed until the sun sank and he could see stars. With them, he could guess at how far they had travelled, but he had no idea how much further they had to go.

The winds died down as the sun completely disappeared. Soren began to wrap the sail, thinking out loud as he worked. "Are you hungry?"

Ara was sitting beside the tiller, holding it loosely with one hand, while his other hand cupped his chin. At Soren's question, he stretched and carefully stood up. "I can check our supplies."

"Tomorrow, we'll put out a line and see if we can catch anything during the day." Soren moved around Ara to pull out the oars and hook them into the oarlocks. He sat facing the stern of the Waterborne, weary shoulders aching as he began to row them to shore.

"Do we have a line?"

"No, but I'll try to make one. There should be something I can use on board."

There was no sandy beach to land on, so Soren did his best to tuck the front of the Waterborne between the roots of a large tree that hung over the water. Without having to be asked, Ara stopped his searching to toss the painter rope over the roots and tie them off. Soren stowed the oars and ran another rope from the Waterborne's stern to one of the roots.

Ara went back to the storage hold, pulling out a single glass bottle of water and a wrapped bundle of roasted meat. He hugged both against his chest as he carefully crossed the boat again, and sat down beside Soren on the central bench.

"I don't know how much we can spare," he said, apologetic even though it was in no way his fault.

"Aye, I know." Soren took the bundle and lay it open across his knees. It was pieces of the birds Jale and the hunters had caught for the feast. Dirty from laying in the sand after the attack, and probably a little off, but it was all they had. Soren picked up a piece and sniffed it, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to learn, but figuring that if the meat was too far gone he would be able to tell. It smelled all right, so he took a tentative bite. It tasted fine. He had another bite and nodded.

Ara chose a piece and quietly picked meat from the bone. They ate in silence, taking turns to pick pieces of bird and passing the glass bottle back and forth. As he ate, Soren tried to make a plan for the next day.

Tanden probably would have planned out a whole rescue at this point, but it was easy to imagine him missing details as important as finding food. Soren focused on those details. He had to make a line so they could fish, and they needed more freshwater. Rain would be ideal, otherwise they would need to hope to find the head of a stream.

And, he thought, glancing at Ara, he had to make sure not to push Ara too hard. He was willing to work hard, but he wasn't built for it. Ara already looked half asleep, nibbling on his last piece of meat.

Soren had a final mouthful of water and handed the bottle to Ara. "Here, finish this."

Ara lifted the bottle to his lips. It hadn't been enough water for either of them. Soren eyed him. His flushed skin, the way he was huddled on the seat, not quite touching Soren but obviously wanting to, the slow chewing.

"Are you all right?"

"Hmm?" Ara looked up. "Just tired."

Soren slid off of the bench and stretched out at the bottom of the boat. "It was a long day. Tomorrow we'll take breaks. Come here." He took Ara's hand and tugged.

Ara swallowed the last of his food and lay down next to Soren. "We don't have time to take breaks."

"No," Soren agreed. "But we'll be useless if we catch up half-dead from exhaustion."