The Destiny Detour

A Dramatic Entrance

Drake

When Rosaliy pitched forward, momentary chaos erupted. Drake lost focus for the instant it took Iketa to roll over and throw herself into Drake's knees. The drawback of sand was that he had no chance to keep his footing against such a tackle. Sand as a fighting turf had as many benefits as drawbacks. He would have righted himself had Iketa not kicked him in the chest the moment he was distracted by Quita clawing his shoulder in consternation. He was sent sprawling all over again. At least the angry monkey finally jumped clear of him.

At the same moment, a dome of light appeared above their heads. This was too much for a crowd on edge. First there was a scream, and then there was general shouting and threats of a stampede. Iketa was just out of Drake's grasp, and for a perfect moment, she had a clear path to sprint off into the confused crowd.

"Gatito!" shouted Zaphia, and one of her new cat friends had Iketa back on the ground before Iketa could do any more damage.

"Quiet!" Arlana's voice boomed in a way that must have been magical, because her voice was everywhere all at once and audible above the yelling and pandemonium. Also, Drake felt himself freeze. "Be still," the reverberating voice said again, and he was free to move after the moment of paralysis. The crowd was uneasy, but obedient. They, too, had control of their voices and bodies, but they only dared to speak to each other in whispers. "Seer?" was the only word Drake could pick out.

Arlana barked an order in Flifary, but no one moved.

Arlana sighed, and she came to Zaphia. "My popularity is low, little one," Arlana said in a normal, localized voice. "I think explanations would be better from you."

"Me?" Zaphia spluttered. "No one will listen to me. Especially not loyal followers of Iketa and Dalor."

While Zaphia argued with Arlana, Daniella held out an arm, and Drake took it.

"I saw that," she said with half a smirk as she helped him up.

"Saw what?" he grumbled, beating sand off himself.

"Exploitable weakness," mused Daniella. "Although I'm sure it has a nicer name. Zaphia has the prisoners under control. Go see what's wrong with her."

Zaphia had clambered onto a boulder and waved her hands for attention before she began chattering away. Whatever she was saying, she was saying a lot of it, and she certainly had everyone's attention. Everyone but Drake. Daniella was right; he was only focused on one thing, and she was just past the crowd pressing in on him. He slipped through as the Flifary drew closer to hear Zaphia.

Issabeth was on her knees next to a fallen Rosaliy.

"Drake," Issabeth barked. "Check on Rose. I need to stop us all from being destroyed or something." She waved her arms at the glowing light surrounding them—surrounding the entire island, it appeared. Then she hopped up. "Athena," Issabeth yelled, waving her arms. "Athena, it's me and Rose."

At some point, Issabeth talked Athena into dropping the dome of light to talk, but Drake barely noticed. He was busy rolling Rosaliy over like she was made of glass and brushing her thick hair out of her face. She looked like she was flushed red, but they were quite a ways from the light of the Flifary torches, so it was hard to tell. Carefully, his hand stole to her neck. He finally breathed when he felt her heartbeat. In fact, her heart was racing.

Athena was at his elbow now, pressing a hand to Rosaliy's forehead and leaning close. "What's happened?"

"She seemed fine when she decided it was a brilliant idea to—" Issabeth vanished from sight and stopped in the middle of her statement. "Aren't we fighting?" Drake heard her say.