Chapter 24: 21

“Hold still,” Xix said for what must have been the tenth time.

“I’m trying,” Ema hissed through her teeth. “Not my fault it stings.”

“And it’s not my fault you were shot.”

Ema tried focusing on anything other than the pain. The wood of the small rundown shack the pair were hiding in, the dark clouds hovering outside, the sound of rain on the metal roof, the scent of wet ground, the small fae-lights lighting the shack. Even the little splatters of bird shit. Literally anything.

Pain flared in her upper arm again. Ema cried out.

“Almost done,” Xix said, beginning to tightly wrap a bandage around the wound. “Just a moment longer.”

“If this is anything like what childbirth is out, count me the fuck out.”

Xix laughed at that, though her hands remained steady.

She and Xix had run for hours, most of the night passing until they were certain no one from Nox or the casino had followed them. The movement had done nothing to help Ema’s arm. Xix had a few small cuts here and there, most of them from low hanging branches, but insisted that Ema come first. She was far worse off.

Ema looked down at her bandaged arm. “Thanks.” She tugged her grey hoddie back over her head. Ema took the first aid kit from Xix and begun cleaning the Terpolite’s cuts. “What’s our next move?”

“Check the map,” she said with a small flinch. “Make sure that absolutely no one from the casino or hunters found us.”

“And if they have?”

“We still have a few rounds in our guns.”

Ema knew it was meant as a joke but it did nothing to lighten the mood.

“I suppose we will have to find a town on our journey,” Xix mused, tugging at her wavy hair with a hand.

“Suppose we do,” Ema agreed, finishing cleaning the last of her cuts. “All done.”

Xix took back the kit and stuff it into her bag. She looked between Ema and the other bag. “You sure you can carry that?”

“I’m sure.”

With some effort, and a little pain, Ema was able to push her injured arm through the straps of her backpack. Xix stepped behind her, adjusting the straps to take the strain off her shoulder. She pulled the map from the bag while she was at it. The black ink was barely visible in the silver lights bobbing around them.

“We have directions to Apep,” Xix said to no one in particular. “All we have to do is make our way there.” She read the symbols Ema could make no sense of aloud. “It says, ‘Follow the Serpent’s path across eternal night to where Apep slumbers, fangs forever sinking into follower and prey.’” Xix’s features broke into a grin. “Of course!”

Ema, confused as ever, followed her friend clueless. The clouds had lifted so Xix was scanning the stars. Ema had no idea why but assumed it had something to do with the riddle, if it could even be called a riddle. The fact the clouds rose now was awfully convenient—

“There!” Xix exclaimed, pointing to a spot in the sky. “The U.F.W. has a constellation known as the Great Serpent.”

Following her finger, Ema begun to see the outline. The snake was massive, covering almost an entire line of the arch of the sky. Its tail was on one side and, on the other, its mouth was slightly ajar. Within the mouth was a star. No, wait. That wasn’t a star. The lighting was wrong. Ema narrowed her eyes. It was a planet!

“According to the stories my father told me,” Xix explained, “there was a revolution on Apep ages ago. They tried to overthrow their King and it resulted in a civil war. A lot of people were killed and most of the planet turned to ruins. From what I learnt in the Mines, very few people still live on that world.”

“It would be the perfect place to hide,” Ema said excitedly. “But how do we get there? That could be years by ship!” She snatched the map from Xix, ignoring the sharp pain in her arm. She pointed at a symbol. “This arch thing. That’s a gate, right?”

“I would assume so.”

“But, look! It’s directly below the Serpent’s stomach.”

“Like we are,” Xix murmured, catching on. “There might be a gateway on this word, or one of the others in the U.F.W. It could still take a while.”

“No, no, no. It’s on this one.” Ema, with some difficulty, pulled out her phone and fumbled to pull up a holo-image of the constellation above the entirety of the U.F.W. “See? We’re right below it. It must be somewhere here! I’d bet all my coin we’re close.”

Xix grinned. “Have I ever told you how much I love having you around.”

“By me a drink at our next stop, then,” she joked, handing the map back.

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As Ema held the star map to the sky, she found herself getting yet another lecture from Xix about how she was doing it wrong. Ema had been told at least five times now how one doesn’t use a star map by matching the paper to the sky, and how one needed dates to check positions and their accuracy. Ema already knew all this, of course, but she had a feeling this was the right way. She’d told Xix as much after each lecture.

Xix remained unconfident with Ema’s theory on how the gate moved with the stars. Kept saying it was a crazy idea that only happened in books written by people who’d never used or seen a star map in her life. And there was no way for Ema to back up her theory short of actually finding the gate. According to the map, it was on the other side of this hill. This big hill.

“Come on,” Ema said, beginning to hike up the knee-high blue grass of the Azure Field. “If I’m wrong about it being over this hill, we’ll do it your way.”

Xix rubbed her ankles with clear irritation. “For your sake, I hope it’s here.”

“It will be.”

Her friend huffed but kept pace.

The hill became steeper than expected, turning to a almost a ninety-degree climb. Ema had to use her hands to climb to the top. She grasped a bit of rock and pulled herself up—

Pain shot through her arm. She slipped.

With a scream, Ema begun to fall. Xix caught her hand, struggling to pull her up. Ema found a new handhold and sent her friends a look of thanks and, once again, begun the climb. She was careful this time. The pair reached the top in minutes.

Xix braced her hands on her knees. “By the Gods!” she panted. “I thought this was a hill, not a mountain.”

Ema laughed. “It looks like it flattens out now.”

A groan.

“Aw, come on.” Ema punched her friend’s arm playfully. “Where’s your sense of adventure.”

“Back at the casino,” Xix muttered, but followed.

Ema had guessed correctly. The rest of the climb turned to a plateau covered with the same blue grass. Ema placed her hands on her hips triumphantly at what she saw up ahead. A brown stone arch. Nothing special from this distance, but it stuck out from the grass directly beneath the belly of the Serpent above.

Ema gestured toward it with her good arm. “Boom. Portal.”

Xix rolled her eyes. “Okay, yes, you were right.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

“There’s no way in the worlds you are making me repeat that.”

They shared a smile and moved toward the arch.

It was far more impressive up close. The brown arch was actually discoloured gold which, with a wipe of the hands, shone in the starlight. Patterns in the shape of stars surrounding a snake were carved into the gold, the mouth and tail meeting at each base of the arch. Ema found it beautiful in an old, rundown sort of way.

Xix pulled the map from her pack, frowning at the symbols. “This doesn’t seem to have anything about how it works.”

Ema shook her head slowly. “It’s never that simple, is it?”

“I suppose we just . . . go through it?”

“You don’t sound very certain.” When no answer came, Ema said, “Fine.” She held out a hand.

Xix grasped it firmly. “This will either work or be utterly humiliating.”

“Aiming for working.”

“Agreed.”

The pair squeezed each other’s hand. Together, they stepped into the arch.

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