Page 139 of Tides of Fire

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Page 139 of Tides of Fire

Yeung stepped forward to help, but Seichan warned him away with a scowl, protective of her mother in this debilitated state. Guan-yin was still the triad’s dragonhead. To show weakness risked humiliation. Seichan intended to guard her mother’s honor.

A small door opened down to the dive platform. Once extended, the small deck sat even with the sea. They gently carried Guan-yin down to it. The others stayed atop the deck. They lowered Guan-yin to the edge, dropped to their knees, then lifted her out over the layer of ash.

Resting in the sea, buoyed by the water, she felt even more weightless, nearly insubstantial. Her robe billowed outward into wings. She sighed, as if the cool water offered some relief from her fever.

Gray and Seichan supported her there, though it took little effort.

They waited, silently praying for a miracle, for the promise of a cure hidden in old papers and ancient rituals. Unfortunately, their efforts were ignored. The shining creatures rode the waves and surged through the ashy water, but they came no closer.

“Why aren’t they helping?” Seichan asked.

“I don’t know.”

Gray avoided voicing what was in his head.

Maybe they don’t deem her worthy.

Guan-yin had a noble honor, but her name—goddess of mercy—was more sardonic than factual. She had lived a hard life and exacted the same from those around her, especially her enemies. Her hands had been deeply stained by blood, some of it undoubtedly innocent.

Then again, so are mine.

He had demons of his own that might chase away such gentle creatures.

A noise rose behind him. He turned to find Xue holding up his cell phone. He played his recording of the bullroarer. It wasn’t the thunder from before. The lone call sounded forlorn and mournful.

Gray turned back to the sea.

The motion of the serpents slowly stopped, as if listening. One by one, they sank into the sea. The ash settled over the water, erasing them from sight.

Gray frowned.

Had we inadvertently dismissed them?

Seichan gasped, stiffening in surprise.

All around her mother’s body, tentacles rose into view, weaving through the air, looking very much like snakes. Their bioluminescent shimmering slowly grew in synch, spiraling one radiant color after another, from one tentacle to the next. It formed a whirlpool of shimmering beauty—as if a rainbow had settled to the water.

The tentacles slowly lowered and gently probed, running over Guan-yin’s pale skin. Smaller tendrils sprouted from their lengths and touched her all over. Each dab rose a welt that spasmed her flesh. They fell everywhere, snaking under her robe, over her face. They seemed to concentrate on those blackened marks from the venomous coral stings.

As they worked, Guan-yin gasped in stuporous agony, her eyes pinched with pain.

Still, the serpents continued their ministration.

Unable to restrain himself any longer, Heng stepped down to the platform. He intervened with much apology and bowing. He explained himself: “If this is a cure, more will need it.”

They shifted aside to accommodate him. Gray knew the doctor had patients back in Cambodia, but it wasn’t just them he was worried about. Guan-yin was surely not the only one who had been envenomated in these waters. The region needed the cure as much as Heng’s patients.

As the doctor knelt, he held out a glass collection dish. He must have had it in his pack of supplies. It was why he had come on this journey, in the hopes of discovering a cure. Several of the tendrils probed the glass, dotting it with their fiery solution. He waited until the glass was wet and running with the tonic. He got stung several times in the process, his eyes wincing, willing to suffer for this cure. Once he had enough, he withdrew his hand and sealed the container. He repeated this process with a second dish, then set the sample next to Gray’s knee.

“I will share whatever we find,” Heng said. “If you’ll do the same.”

“Of course,” Gray promised.

Heng withdrew with a small bow.

Guan-yin’s fiery baptism continued for another few minutes, demonstrating the creatures’ attentiveness and thoroughness. Finally, as if obeying some unknown signal, the tentacles all drifted away.

Once they were gone, Gray helped pull Guan-yin back onto the dive platform. He let her rest there, watched over by Seichan. He stood and stared across the dark sea.




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