THE SECOND CRADLE - BOOK TWO OF THE IRON CRADLE SAGA Chapter 12: CHAPTER TWELVE - The Ruins

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CHAPTER TWELVE ASCENDANCY -- The Ruins The current pushed hard against them. Hannah could feel it in the way Lily adjusted beneath her as they moved through the middle of the river. The water was deep here, but she could still make out the rocky bottom as it slipped past. Lily drove forward through the water, steady and unbothered. Hannah leaned forward against Lily’s back, her grip tightening as her leg throbbed. Heat pulsed from beneath the crude wraps, leaving her leg weak. She could still taste the copper of blood in her mouth. She kept her weight forward and gripped tightly. Even through the pain, it was the first time since Hannah had woken up in that black swamp that she had felt safe. But she knew better than to trust that feeling. The forest on both banks was unlike anything she had ever seen. The trees were extraordinary. They grew in dense clusters along both shores. The bamboo-like stalks rose high and thick to the forest canopy. They left only narrow bands of light that shifted across the water. The strange trees grew in straight columns along the sides of the river. The trunks were marked by repeating bands that ran their length. The moss clung to them and carried deep reds and purples, unbroken as far as she could see. The scale of them made the forest feel ancient. The river beneath them was all rocks, worn-down stones piled unevenly along the banks. Plants and roots pushed up through the gaps. Reeds rose tall between the boulders. Streaks of burnt orange broke through in sharp patches of color against the pale stone. The flashes of orange kept catching her eye. “You know, Lily? Those colors would look wrong anywhere else, but somehow they fit here.” The water slipped past her feet. It was cold against her skin and brushed along her toes as Lily moved through the river. Hannah was cold and wet and pressed herself against Lily’s warmth. After hours of traveling upstream, the strangeness never stopped surprising her. The change in the river came on gradually as the pull of the current eased. Hannah felt it in the way Lily moved beneath her. The long, fluid motions of swimming gave way as her feet found the bottom. Each step settled with more weight than the last. She pushed forward through knee-deep water. She moved up out of the river and into the trees, the ground rising beneath her as the water slipped away behind them. The forest closed in again for a short stretch, dense growth pressing tight around them. As they moved forward, the spacing between the trees widened. The tight wall of growth began to break apart, opening into uneven gaps ahead of them. The wall of greens, reds, and purples thinned and fell away. The savanna stretched out before them. Hannah drew in a breath as they stepped out of the trees. The light hit her all at once. It spread across her shoulders and face. It was warm against her and chased away the cold that had clung to her since the river. Her grip loosened on Lily’s neck. She lifted her arms and spread them out to either side as the motion carried her forward. She held them there, eyes half-closed, letting the warmth wash over her bare skin. The grass stood high, well above Lily’s haunches. From where she sat, Hannah could see out over the dense field, the horizon opening wide around her. It moved in long, slow waves under the wind, the surface shifting as the air passed through it. Sun-faded gold and muted browns rolled across the field. They were broken by streaks of bright orange. The bands cut through in sharp lines, catching and holding the light as they moved. From her perch on Lily’s back, Hannah looked out across the horizon and caught movement in the distance. At first, only shifting shapes marked the far line of the land. She kept her eyes on them as they moved, the forms slowly sharpening. They crossed through the tall growth and the scattered trees in the distance. Still, they rose, long necks lifting above everything as they came into view. She leaned forward, her focu