The Forsaken

God, that was close,” Rika says.
    Markus and Gadya are trying to get us warm. David is soaked from head to toe. He’s not going to make it long out here unless he gets warmed up. None of us are. Hypothermia is going to kick in soon.
    “We need to start a fire,” I say, teeth chattering. “David fell in saving Rika.”
    “I saw,” Gadya says. She’s looking at David in a new way now, with new respect. Like she’s reevaluating her opinion of him.
    “I’ll get the fire started,” Markus says. “I have a lighter.”
    It’s too cold to stay lying down, so I stagger to my feet, colder than I’ve ever been in my entire life.
    I glance over and see the Monk sprawled on the icy mud of the beach. His drone is sitting next to him. Somehow in the chaos of escaping the lake, the drone lost his blade again.
    Gadya looks at me, her face ghostly white. I think she’s going to say something about David and his act of heroism, but instead she says, “The Monk is dying, from the cold and his wounds. He can’t survive here. We need to find out everything he knows before it’s too late.”
    She looks over at the drone, studying him. But the drone doesn’t notice, because he’s too busy attending to his master. Ice crystals have formed on the Monk’s mask.
    “I can’t believe Sinxen is dead,” I murmur, looking back out at the water and ice. This awful lake has become his grave.
    Gadya just nods, trying to hide her pain. I know the emotions are too much for her. She turns away from the lake and gestures at the weird shimmering wall about a thousand feet beyond us, in the forest ahead. “If the Monk’s right, then we’ve almost made it to our destination. We might still find a way off the wheel.”
    Off the wheel. It’s what I thought I wanted. That, and information about my parents. “Unless we get warm and dry, I don’t think we’re going to make it,” I reply.
    Markus has gathered a few pieces of wood and is trying to get them lit. It’s going to be hard, because everything is cold and wet. David is trying to move around, swinging his arms and legs so they don’t freeze up.
    “Please—” I suddenly hear a voice say. To my surprise, I realize it’s the Monk’s drone. We all stare at him.
    “You can speak?” Gadya says derisively, her voice as cold as the ground under our feet.
    “The Monk needs my help.” The drone looks away for a moment. “I need to take off his mask. Ice got underneath.”
    “Then do it,” I tell him.
    He hesitates. If I didn’t know better, I’d think the drone felt sheepish. “Can you please not look?”
    “Why not?” Gadya asks. “He’s gonna die anyway, just like my friend Sinxen did. And before he does, I plan on interrogating him.” Her hands become fists. “You can’t stop me anymore.”
    The drone blanches. “You know he has the Suffering. We can’t gaze upon his holy face. No one can.” He knots his fingers together nervously.
    “You’re completely nuts,” Markus says. “Are you aware of that?”
    “And you really thought I was one of them?” David mutters, his whole body trembling from the cold. “You couldn’t see the difference between me and some brainwashed lunatic?”
    Markus doesn’t reply. He just keeps trying to get the fire started.
    “If you gaze upon the Monk’s naked face, you’ll be blinded forever by the sight!” the drone continues gibbering. “It is our way. It’s our belief.”
    “Okay, fine, whatever,” Gadya says, sounding disgusted. “Do what you want. We won’t look.”
    So we turn away to give the Monk his undeserved privacy. I hear latches clicking, as the drone removes the Monk’s mask and starts uttering soft, soothing words.
    Right then, Gadya spins back around and leaps at the drone, kicking him off the Monk and pinning him to the ground. The Monk’s mask was in the drone’s hand, and it goes flying across the icy mud.
    I turn, startled. Gadya is crouching over the drone with a small knife at his throat. She took it out of her ankle sheath, where it must have been hidden this whole time. “I’ll kill you right now!” she snarls, teeth bared. The drone looks shocked. The Monk curls up, covering his ruined face so we can’t see it.
    Markus moves forward. “Gadya, I hate the Monk too, but we might need him later.”
    “Stop!” she snaps. When Markus pauses, she turns her attention back to the drone. “You have two choices. I can cut your throat right now. Or I can let you go—if you promise not