Heirot

Tenele smiled, so thankful to know that Tenara was safe and well. "That's great," she whispered. "A few days isn't so bad. Vlad should be able to hold out that long. He mentioned that there was something I could do to help Atul take most of the load for your appearance, but he may have forgotten. Do you know what I can do? If you go away, he may be weaker than before. He says I can't give him anymore blood, but I'm feeling fine. Just a little tired... But, I didn't sleep well." Tenele clamped her mouth shut for a second. "I'm rambling."

Knight walked along the water thoughtfully. "I'm afraid what he said isn't true. There is no way to break the balance between Vlad and Atul. My existence draws from them equally."

Tenele frowned at him. "So he lied to me?" she asked him hollowly. Why would he lie to her? He'd been so sincere about it. She trusted him to tell her the truth. What else might he have lied about. "Well, you can't stay here. You have to go. I don't want him to weaken anymore than he already is, and I've got to yell at him for lying to me."

Knight looked at her steadily, unfazed. "I cannot leave, Tenele. He is at his limit already. If I go, he will attack you. This is his intention." Tears started up in his eyes. He blinked, and brushed at his face. "Excuse me. Atul is..." He paused, not knowing how to explain how he could be so many people at once.

She didn't know what he meant. What about Atul? She didn't know the man. Hadn't spent enough time with him to care. "What is wrong with him, this Atul guy?" Tenele frowned at him. "Vlad said he had a day or more. I'll go get him another muskrat. He can take a little more of my blood. It won't kill me. I can last a few days like that," she muttered.

Vlad lied to her. Now, because this man was made from him, she didn't know what she could believe or not.

Knight sighed and sat down on the shore. "Summoning me is a rapid system drain. For someone in Vlad's situation, it's suicide. He knows it. And now, Atul knows it."

Tenele blinked at him. "Why did he do that? We had another plan. Why was he so stupid," she growled angrily. "Stupid man. I don't know how I ever fell in love with him the first time. He's insane, angry, clingy, bipolar..." Even as she spouted all the things she didn't like about him her eyes welled with tears. "He could have lasted another day or two... He made me kill him."

"Without me here, he'd have killed you, Tenele," Knight said quietly. "You saved him from that."

"We had another plan!" Tenele yelled at him. "We were going to draw some holy thing around my shelter so he couldn't get in and wait it out. That' was our second plan. He could have gone with that first."

She was angry. Seething. And hurt. Why was she so hurt?

"He lied to me... and now I've murdered my daughter's father. What does he expect me to do now? I don't remember anyone! I don't trust anyone. I trusted him... I felt safe with him." Tenele ran a hand under her eye. "Stupid sand."

Knight studied her. He was thinking, hard. "You would not have left him outside the circle. You would have pitied him and let him in. He would have killed you."

He looked at her. "That is what he believes. Atul and I disagree."

"Maybe I would have if I were myself. I'm not. I don't want to die. I don't want him to die," Tenele murmured. She put her hands to her head. She'd just gotten used to him. Cared for him. Felt safe with him. She was stuck on this island. She didn't know who she was. She didn't know the man she talked to now. Now what did it matter. He was going to die.

Tenele spun in a circle, working to calm her racing heart. "Stupid," she muttered. Taking a deep breath. "This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't have lost my mind. We wouldn't have gotten on that stupid boat. If I fought a little harder that man wouldn't have thrown Vlad overboard. If I'd showed him on the first day there was no chance in hell I'd give him the time of day, he'd have left us alone. If. If. If." Tenele took another deep breath. "Stupid brain. Stupid. Useless."

This was all her fault.

Knight's head was spun with half-finished webs of ideas. He closed his eyes, and focused hard. When he opened them, he was ten feet away, red and blue energy tracing off of him.

They couldn't teleport on the sands. Neither of them.

But apparently, he could.

He scoured Atul's brain for details. "There is another option," he said, tense with worry. "It is much more dangerous than waiting here." His eyes met hers. "Choose, and I will do as you ask."

Tenele stared at him. She looked around at the island. Dangerous. What did it matter? "I'm not afraid of danger," Tenele lied. That might have been true, if she hadn't forgotten just how brave she could be.

Knight grinned at her bravely. He didn't question her. He gestured for her to follow and ran back up the rocks to the teepee. Without hesitating, he pulled loose one of the supporting trees like it was a pipe cleaner. "Flat soil," he muttered, running further up the slope. He smiled ruefully as he realized where he was heading. Just ahead, the lean-to was visible against the rocks. There was an open space, too high for the surf to wash away what he drew. The guardian struck the limb deep into the ground and began dragging it through the turf in a giant ring, large enough to lie down across. Then he began inscribing runes and symbols around the edges, connecting them with a pentagram. "You have salt in the tent," he said in quiet focus and he worked on the circle. "Bring it, please."

Tenele ran back to the dismantled teepee and gathered the salt they collected inside the coconut shells. She ran back to him with them. "I don't understand, what are you doing?" She turned her gaze to the lean-to. That was new...