Nanny For The Alien General by Athena Storm
Keilon
Idon’t know why I thought we could make it to sunset. I suppose I didn’t consciously do the math, either in terms of hours or in terms of temperature. I simply wanted so badly for my children to experience one moment of awe, of natural appreciation.
What better to create such emotions than the blaze of a sunset over the treetops, reflected in crystalline water?
Unfortunately, I’m learning a counteracting fact, which is that there is nothing better than boredom and cold to numb a child into misery.
“Daddy!” Belanna stamps her foot, sounding almost as imperious as her mother. “Let’s. Go. HOME! Dinner anna blanket!”
Emex, rather than speak to support his sister, simply lets out a pathetic wail. It’s sustained, and frankly I’m impressed by his lung capacity.
“All right.” I sigh. “All right. I’m turning us around right now, okay?”
“Good.” My daughter sits with a thump, but her gimlet eye is fixed on me to make sure I’m doing as I promised.
Under such supervision, I have no choice but to bury the urge to leave the cramped cabin on our tiny boat and get one good gulp of fresh air. I’ve never spent so much time in a skiff’s cabin. Most similar boats don’t even have a cabin, but I requested one for the children’s sake.
Good thing I did, given that they’re cold even in here, out of the wind. To be fair, the temperature is falling fast…
Not wasting any more time, I turn our little vessel so its nose points towards the shore. Reaching down, I re-activate the ion energy system, which whirs slowly to life. We begin to move, but slowly.
The children both groan, and exchange looks. They’re right — at this rate, we won’t be back in Evervale until morning.
Becoming impatient myself to be out of this situation, I grasp the speed dial. I turn it up, relishing the sensation of increased speed beneath my feet. I keep going, but then — I don’t.
The boat jerks once, twice, then with a racing crackle throughout its thin shell, it dies. The whir of the energy system is gone, replaced by the splash of waves against our hull as the boat thumps to a stop.
“What the—?” I cut myself off, eying Emex and Belanna.
Belanna begins to babble questions at me, but I’m too flummoxed to comprehend them. Ion stones are extremely reliable, unless damaged in some way. I didn’t feel anything strike the skiff, and in any case, the ion stone is well protected.
“One moment, Belanna, if you please,” I tell my little girl. “I’m going to try to figure out what’s wrong, okay?”
Without waiting for her response, I head out towards the bow, where the ion stone is housed. Swiftly opening the panel that hides it, I find what I was looking for.
My jaw drops in shock.
Sure enough, there’s a spiderweb of cracks in the surface of the ion stone intended to power this boat. Stress fractures, as far as I can tell.
I let myself curse, grateful to be away from the ears of my children. The first thing I do when I get back to Evervale is going to be taking up vessel maintenance with Teraed. Someone should be checking these vessels regularly for any kind of sign of ion stone damage!
Of course, getting back to Evervale is now a much bigger task than I’d realized.
Closing the useless ion stone panel, I pry open the side panels that should house emergency oars for a boat of this side. Once again, I’m startled and disappointed. The oars are missing — a second utter failure of vessel maintenance.
Swallowing the vague urge to scream, I stride back into the cabin, ducking to enter the small space. Seizing my comm-pad, I try to power it on.
Nothing.
NOTHING?
Frustration lances through me, as I glare at the dark screen. Why is everything failing me at this moment? My comm-pad was working well when we first embarked on this voyage! Has the cold affected it, perhaps? But that’s never happened before…
The children pick up my disquiet, and scooch towards each other. Emex climbs into Belanna’s lap, even though he’s really too big to fit there.
“What happening?” asks Belanna carefully. “Why are you angry?”
“I’m not angry.” I try to speak in as soothing a voice as possible. “I’m, um. Dealing with some problems. A lot of things are broken on this boat, which makes it hard for us to get home.”
“Can’t get home?” Emex speaks then, his eyes widening to be practically half the size of his face.
“We will get home,” I say, hastily attempting to halt tears or a tantrum. “I promise. It’s just… I have to go outside to make it happen, ok?”
I get mutinous head nods, and take that as enough for now.
I have bigger things on my mind, namely what it’s going to take for me to get us back on shore. Without ion power, without oars, without the ability to message for help…
The only way is for me to jump in and tow the boat to shore.
Well, I wanted to be outside, didn’t I?
Taking a deep breath, I don’t dally. Sunset is well on its way and the woods on the far shore are darkening. If I’m going to do this, sooner is better than later.
I plunge into the lake, the cold water slicing at me. Seizing the pointed front of the ship, I waste no time in beginning to swim for shore. Exertion will help me warm up — that is, if anything can.
Yet I’ve only gotten a few boat spans closer to shore, when I feel a searing pain on my calf.
And then another, and another.
I jerk, letting out a low grunt. Puffs of my blood rise up through the water as I strain my eyes to see what’s attacking me. When I see a flash of sinuous white, I nearly seize up.
I’m surrounded by mizonz.
I’m in trouble.
I begin to swim faster, my brain roiling with all the reasons this shouldn’t be happening. Mizonz don’t live in lakes of this size, they need the huge deep bodies of water like Astral Lake. Even if somehow there were a pack in Fogfrost, it makes no sense that they’d be attacking me. They usually keep to themselves, which is good because they are nothing but long tubes of muscle with a circular maw of jagged teeth.
The mystery slips from my mind, as I feel slashing fangs open new wounds on my thighs, my ribs. Throwing myself forward, I try to keep going.
Time melts into icy nothingness. The thrashing of my limbs, the frenzy of mizonz around me, the pain, the cold, the oncoming darkness, it’s all overwhelming. I’m disoriented, unsure of where I’m going, knowing only that I must. not. stop.
The bloody shadows wrapped around my mind are pierced by the shrieks of my terrified children. Suddenly, a brief burst of clarity comes to me. I see a grey lump that can only be the shore ahead of me.
With one last tremendous push, I practically fling the skiff up onto the sandy shore. Every part of my body burns, my muscles, my skin, my injuries more than either.
I manage to get myself completely out of the water and onto the shore, but that’s all I have left. A darkness more complete than any night in the woods rolls upon me. I collapse, and let it take me.
