The shores of the Sand Sea drifted past them for a time, the silence broken only by the rhythmic stroke of the oars to the drum below.
“How is your Mala?” Urulani asked.
“She is. . she is doing better,” Drakis replied. “She has calmed down and is speaking again. . but she is still undoubtedly broken.”
“Then why keep her with us?” Urulani said to him with surprising softness in her voice. “I do not ask you this to be cruel, Drakis, but what kind of a life can you have together without trust? She is clearly a danger to you and perhaps to us all. What kind of a life can she have beyond the forgetful lie that the elves offer to all their slaves?”
“You make sense, Urulani,” Drakis responded. “In fact, all of you make sense. . even Ethis is starting to make sense to me. I cannot explain it, but I feel responsible for her.”
“You did not break her, Drakis,” the captain said. “It is not your fault that she is how she is.”
“Yes, I know,” he said gazing out over the bow. “But I made promises to her when she was whole-when I thought she was mine-and now that she is no longer whole, I feel that those promises should still mean something. Maybe it wasn’t real for her, but it was for me-or at least as real as I believe anything to be any more.”
“So, are you this Drakis they all want you to be?” Urulani asked through a smile.
“You really want to know?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll really tell you. . I don’t know.”
“That’s no answer,” Urulani scoffed.
“That’s all the answer I’ve got,” Drakis said, reaching up for one of the back stays and leaning against it. “There’s only one thing that I’m certain of and that is that I need to know-one way or the other-if this is my destiny. So much has happened, so many people have sacrificed so much-even their lives from time to time-that I have to wonder if all of this has some meaning. . some purpose. Belag once told me that he had to believe in me or his brother’s death would have had no meaning. All I’m left with now is that thought and this terrible song in my. . wait! Look ahead, just around this bend!”
The bow was swinging around another turn in the river.
Urulani’s face shifted into a crooked smile.
“Is that a road?” she asked.
“Ethis! Jugar!” Drakis shouted. “Break out the packs and make sure they’re stocked! We’re going on a little trip.”
“Master Ganja, you are in charge,” Urulani said, checking her pack and closing it. “I’ve got six of the crew with me. . the rest are to stay here.”
There was a groan among those left behind. They would have liked the opportunity to see this new land.
“Drakis, are you ready?” she asked as she shouldered her pack.
“We’re all ready,” he replied.
Urulani turned to acknowledge him when she was caught up short. “You’re not serious!”