Ch 31

Corinna called out to Erik twice when she saw him walking away from the Inn. He ignored her and continued toward the river, stumbling along the dusty street and walking into startled couples. She wondered if he was heading toward the river ferries to return to Dareesh.

Her pace slowed. Wherever he went, Corinna didn't want him to go alone. The news of his father's death had left him devastated. The look in his eyes had sent her heart into her stomach.

She silently cursed the sari that prevented her from running after him. Lifting the end to the middle of her shins, she rounded a corner and started after him. Before she knew what had happened, a figure stood in her path. The impact of her colliding with the man nearly knocked the air from her lungs.

"Ravi?"

"Where is she?" he demanded.

Corinna attempted to maneuver around her cousin. She gazed over his shoulder. Erik had disappeared down a narrow alley. There was no time to waste conversing with Ravi.

"Corinna—"

"Who are you looking for?" she snapped. She shifted her weight and stared over his shoulder. Erik had disappeared. She was falling further behind.

"Anisha."

Corinna waved her arm toward the Inn. "She went back a while ago."

"She's here then?"

"Yes, she's here. Why would you ask if she was here and then sound surprised?"

Ravi grabbed Corinna by the shoulders before she could move away. "Don't you ever speak to me in that manner again. It is an honor for a half-breed to be associated with the Patels. Remember that until the day you die. Do you understand me?"

"Let me go."

He pressed his fingers into her upper arms to steady her. "Why are you alone? Where is Ursula?"

Her aggravation quickly escalated. "I'm going to her right now. Stop it, Ravi, you're hurting me."

"Why aren't the two of you together?"

"I needed to return to our room."

Ravi's eyes narrowed. "How long have the two of you been separated?"

Corinna shrugged. "Not long. We just had dinner with Anisha and Mr. Levesque. What are you doing here? I thought you wanted to stay in Dareesh."

"Aunt Sunila is looking for Anisha."

"Well, you know where she is. Now unhand me."

Ravi lifted her up from the ground and shook her. "Where is he?" he asked through his teeth. Corinna twisted and struggled until he put her on her feet again. "Is he with her?"

"Who? Erik?" she asked.

"Mr. Levesque, yes."

"He's by the river. He's most likely with Ursula by now. Have you gone absolutely mad?"

Ravi ignored her question. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Not long."

"How long," he asked through his teeth.

The look in her cousin's eyes alarmed Corinna. Ravi was supposed to help translate Tamal and Hindi for their guest. "A half-hour ago," she answered reluctantly, knowing that it had at least been twice that long. "You would know where he was if you had come with us."

"Watch your mouth, girl. When did you last see Anisha?"

"About forty-five minutes ago. One of Er—Mr. Levesque's friends went back to his room to retrieve a watch. He walked Anisha to her room while his wife stayed at the table with Ursula, Mr. Levesque and me."

Corinna started to walk away but Ravi grabbed her by the wrist. With a sigh she attempted to explain when Anisha and Erik had left in greater detail. Once she finished and he seemed satisfied, Ravi released her.

"When you find Mr. Levesque tell him to return to Dareesh."

"Is something wrong?" Corinna asked. "Have you heard from my father?"

Ravi didn't reply. He turned toward the Inn and walked away.

0-

Water gurgled unseen several feet from where Erik laid down in the tall grass. The steady breeze turned the hollow reeds along the riverbank into wooden wind chimes. For a while he had simply stared at the skeletal figures swaying back and forth with the darkness as an endless backdrop and crickets singing all around. Distant lights along the river danced among the reed's lithe frames.

The serenity of night finally calmed Erik enough where he could breathe again. He was still in mourning but the worst of it was slowly passing, receding like the river tide.

The celebration further down the river was coming to a close. The music had stopped, although Erik wasn't sure if the performers were taking a break or if the festivities had ended completely. The sound of laughter and conversation still carried across the water.

Erik knew he was separated from the world in a way that was profoundly painful. Like an ignorant child he hid, drawn from the rest of society by his resentment and despondency of everything surrounding him. He closed his eyes and listened.

As a small child he had despised solitude. His mother frequently punished him for his wrongdoings by forcing him into his room alone. Now he punished himself.

Footsteps issuing through the grass prompted Erik to open his eyes. His hands balled into fists as he expected to find Joseph and his friends searching for him.

"Eck."

At the sound of Ursula's voice he struggled to sit upright.

"You sleep here?"

"I'm not sleeping here," Erik mumbled. He sat and pinched his shoulder blades together, discovering he had lay in the grass much longer than he first thought. The middle of his back hurt as did his knees. He yawned as he scratched a mosquito bite on the back of his hand. Within moments he knew there were more covering his body.

"Eh?"

"I said I'm not sleeping here," he snapped. His voice rose in an attempt to have her understand a language that was foreign to her. It was futile, he knew. He had spent three years in a rock quarry yelling at men who had no idea what he wanted and who cared even less.

With a sigh of disgust with himself, Erik ran the palms of his hands over his calves. His pants were wet from the river water saturating the ground. He shivered as he realized something was running down the back of his neck.

"I hate this damn place," he said as he stood up and brushed off his pants.

"Dis place hate you too."

"I see that." Something else bit him low on the back. He turned away from Ursula and ran his hand up the back of his shirt. A wriggling bug had latched onto him. He cursed and scratched at the unseen insect until he finally had it in his grasp. With a flick of his fingers he discarded it into the tall grass.

"Inside?" Ursula asked.

He solemnly nodded. "Where is Corinna? The two of you shouldn't be separated."

"Dee Inn. She look for you."

He glanced at Ursula briefly before nodding.

"You lose father?" Ursula questioned.

He nodded again. There was no point in explaining anything to her. She didn't speak French well enough to understand most of what he said.

"You no know?"

He shook his head. "To them, I became a ghost," he muttered.

"Ghost?"

"Apparition, phantom…ghost. You know…" he waved his arms around and made an 'ooooo' sound for a second before realizing how ridiculous he looked. "Forget it."

"You ghost?"

Her confusion brought a smile to his face. "Never mind."

"Spirit?" Ursula asked.

Erik thought for a moment. "Not exactly." He sighed in frustration and tried to think of a way to explain. "I don't exist to them."

"Why not?"

His eyes narrowed. "You understand me, don't you?"

She smiled slyly. It was the first time he had seen Ursula without her usual stern face. When the outside corners of her eyes creased and her thin cheeks showed the dimples constantly hidden, Erik thought she was fairly pretty. Not exotically beautiful like Anisha or delicate like Corinna, but he could imagine men nudging one another when she passed.

"Why are you smiling like that?" he asked warily.

"You man. No one understand you."

Erik smirked. "I suppose not." He continued to scratch at the mosquito bite on the back of his hand until the skin was so raw that the bite wound broke open. "Thank you."

"Thank you?" she questioned.

"For walking out here."

"Corinna look too."

"You should have stayed inside. I was about to come back."

"You sleep by river. Very dangerous. Someone come kill you."

Erik didn't say anything. He had attempted to choke one man yesterday and today he had tried to suffocate another. He was the danger.

Ursula looked back at the road leading to the Inn. "I lose many babies," she said. "And man. Now dar no one."

Erik nodded despite Ursula standing with her back to him. He had forgotten that there was a reason for her gruff disposition.

Corinna had told him one night at dinner that Ursula had lost three babies in two years. One was a stillborn while the other two were born too soon to survive. Her husband died a month before Ursula's last pregnancy ended with a baby boy strangled by his own umbilical cord.

It was a shame that a woman of her young age had suffered so greatly. She was bitter for reasons Erik couldn't imagine experiencing at his age let alone his lifetime.

"I'm sorry to hear about your babies and your husband," Erik said solemnly.

"You live still," she said after a long silence. She glanced at him. The hardened scowl he had grown accustomed to was settling back on her face. "You leave des spirits to be spirits. You no turn ghost. Have life be lucky to keep it. No sit in dark and wait for kill. You understand?"

There had never been words spoken with better clarity than Ursula's broken combination of English and French.

"I do," he answered. "Completely."