The Lotus Thief novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: The Makara Price

The water was warm.

That was the first thing Ton noticed, before he noticed he was drowning.

He came up with his mouth open and got one breath and went under again.

Something took the back of his collar and hauled.

He came up a second time and this time he stayed up.

Bua had him by the shirt, treading water with one arm, face streaming.

"Kick," Bua said.

Ton kicked.

They got to a rock.

It was flat and black and big enough for both of them, and it came up out of the water like a table.

Ton crawled onto it and lay on his side and coughed until his ribs hurt.

Bua sat with his knees up and his hands hanging.

They were in the middle of a lake.

The water went out in every direction and there was no shore.

It was flat and still and the color of tea.

Above them the sky was white the way it had been on the branch.

"The forest's gone," Ton said.

"The forest was never there."

Bua wrung out his sleeve.

"Your arm," Ton said.

Bua looked at his forearm.

The rope had taken the skin off in two long stripes. He hadn't noticed.

"It's fine."

"It's bleeding."

"It's water. It'll stop."

Ton sat up and got the bag off his shoulder and checked it.

Wet, but whole. The cloth bundles inside were soaked through.

He pulled out a root and bit off a piece and held the rest out to Bua.

"Chew it. It'll close the skin."

Bua took it and chewed.

The water moved.

It moved once, out at the edge of what Ton could see, and then it was still again.

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