Sword Sirens

by Edmund Hughes

  Ari and Kerys both looked at Eva. She blushed and gave a small shrug of her shoulders.

  “I do not know,” she said, in a soft voice. “I was not even aware that the Trium were once mortal. If that was common knowledge amongst my people, it is knowledge that I’ve forgotten along with the rest of my missing memories.”

  “We’re in a library,” Kerys pointed out. “The answer is probably here, somewhere.”

  “Feel free to research to your heart’s content,” said the old mesmer. “In fact, it would please this old soul immensely to see you making use of my resources.”

  “Eva,” said Kerys. “Would you mind translating for me?”

  “Of course,” said Eva.

  The two women fell into step, moving from shelf to shelf, Eva reading labels and discussing whether the books of each section were relevant in hushed tones with Kerys. Ari waited by the door, feeling as though his skillset wasn’t currently needed.

  It took a while. Longer than he was comfortable with, and far longer than they’d spent in the other chambers. Finally, Kerys and Eva’s voices grew excited as they pored over a volume they’d found in the corner. They marched over to the old mesmer, who smiled at their enthusiasm.

  “Have you found the answer to my question?” he asked.

  “The Trium’s archetypal persons were Lucia, Sarai, and Kresio,” said Kerys. “Lucia and Sarai were twins, daughters of King Plutark. Kresio was a young orphan who became their protector after the death of their father and stayed with them on their quests across Maiya, which eventually led to the creation of the Saidican Empire.”

  “Very good!” said the old mesmer. “You would make a fine scholar. If you still wish to traverse the old passage, I can open it for you. It leads to little other than storage rooms and the city above, however.”

  “Thank you,” said Kerys. “I’m curious. Do you know anything about Dormiar, by chance? The great prophet and the Herald of the Sanctums?”

  Ari winced as he saw the old man’s expression shift from a genial fondness into something irritated and stern. His opinion of the venerated human prophet appeared to be rather negative.

  “Dormiar was a coward,” said the old mesmer. “And a traitor. And a heretic. It would behoove you to rinse your mouth after speaking such nonsense, young lady.”

  “…What?” Kerys shook her head. “Dormiar saved my people. He led the humans to safety and preserved our culture.”

  The old mesmer scowled at her and then spat on the floor, or at least attempted to. Ari slipped forward to insert himself between them in the interaction.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” he said. “Namely, what happened here? Do you have any knowledge about why the surface is the way that it is?”

  “You speak of the Weatherblight,” said the old mesmer, with a slight grimace. “A fitting punishment, is it not? The Cousin of Lumas was sent to curse our lands because of the vast numbers of heathens and rebels who chose to forsake the Trium’s natural order.”

  The ethereal old man shot a severe glower at Kerys and shook his head.

  “The door is unlocked,” he said. “Be on your way.”

  “Hold on,” said Ari. “The ‘Cousin of Lumas?’ Do you mean the second moon? Was it also responsible for creating the mesmers and putting you in the state you’re in now?”

  The mesmer let out a low chuckle, followed by a tired sigh.

  “Young man,” said the mesmer. “We did this to ourselves.”

  He let his words hang on the air for a moment and then flashed with blue light, reverting into his glowing sphere form. Ari’s curiosity regarding the true history of the Saidican Empire was more pressing than ever, but he forced himself to push it aside. He set a reassuring hand on Kerys’ shoulder, who looked like she had a wealth of unasked questions of her own.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s keep moving.”

  CHAPTER 33

  Ari tried the door, and as the mesmer had said, he found it to be unlocked. There was a hallway on the other side that sloped downward. Kerys and Eva walked on either side of him as they started down it.

  “Hold on,” said Ari, slowing to a stop after a few dozen feet. “That looks like water.”

  The hallway ahead of them was completely flooded, and the sloping of the floor meant that the only way forward would be to hold their breaths and dive their way through. Ari crossed his arms and resisted the urge to release a torrent of choice curses.

  “There’s no telling how far we’d have to swim to make it through,” said Kerys.

  “That is true,” said Eva. “This is not as dangerous as an obstacle as it may seem, however. If I go first, we have little to fear.”

  “How do you figure?” asked Ari.

  “If I begin to run low on breath, I can shift into my sword form to avoid drowning,” said Eva. “At the very least, we can get a sense of whether it would be possible for all of us to make the swim without risk.”

  Ari nodded slowly. “Take the rope with you, and I’ll hold this end. If something happens, give one hard pull. If you manage to make it to the other side, and the swim seems to be short enough for Kerys and I to also make it, give two pulls.”

  “Wait,” said Kerys. “I’m… not a confident swimmer.”

  Ari thought back to their first encounter with water, shortly after leaving the Hollow. Kerys had almost been swept away by the river, and half of their supplies had been lost to the current.

  “All you need do is hold your breath,” said Eva. “As long as Ari is comfortable with making the swim unassisted, I can use the rope to pull you through to the other side.”

  Kerys hesitated before slowly nodding her assent.

  “We have a plan,” said Ari. “Let’s put it into action. I’m starting to get sick of these tunnels.”

  Eva tied the end of the rope around her and stood at the edge of the water. Ari set a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and she gave him a quick nod before hopping forward and breaking the surface of the pool. She disappeared from view almost immediately, and several tense moments passed by in silence as Ari and Kerys waited to see what would happen.

  Nothing, at first. Finally, close to a minute after Eva had first entered the water, he felt a pull on the rope, followed shortly after by another.

  “She made it,” he said. “Your turn, Kerys.”

  “How is she going to know when to start pulling me?” asked Kerys.

  “We’ll give the rope a hard pull,” said Ari. “Eva’s smart. She’ll figure it out.”

  “But… what if something happens?” asked Kerys.

  “Like what?”

  “I could get water up my nose,” said Kerys.

  “Then hold your nose,” said Ari. “It’ll be okay.”

  He took her hands into his and gave her a gentle kiss. Kerys didn’t really move her lips in response, but that didn’t surprise him. He thought back to the previous night and how he’d seen her in the doorway. He considered asking her about it, now that Eva was out of earshot, but it didn’t seem like the appropriate time or place.

  “Ready?” asked Ari.

  “Not really, but I’ll do my best,” said Kerys.

  Ari tied the rope around her waist, pulling it taut first. Then, he helped Kerys into the water. Her teeth chattered as she walked far enough forward into the hallway for it to come up to her neck. Ari gave the rope a hard pull, and then Kerys let out a surprised squeal as Eva began to haul her forward from the other side.

  “Take a deep breath!” shouted Ari.

  Kerys gasped, but it basically amounted to the same thing. Ari tried not to worry too much as the water returned to its baseline stillness in the wake of her departure. He waited for more than a minute before readying himself for his own passage.

  He hadn’t given thought to the fact that he’d be swimming with both his pack and the sword’s scabbard. The weight wasn’t as much of an issue as how both items would affect his movement through the water. He’d done enough swimming in t
he underwater caves of the Hollow to know that it was far easier when naked, with each additional bit of equipment adding to the challenge.

  The flooded hallway was the only way out, and he still felt fairly confident. He walked into the water until it was up to his waist, tensing at the chill of it. He forced himself into a calm state, took a deep breath, and then dove under the surface.

  The hallway was wide, which meant that at the very least, he didn’t have to worry about the scabbard or pack catching on anything. It wasn’t as he’d been expecting, either, with patches of luminescent algae growing on the walls that reminded him of glowmoss.

  Ari pumped his arms and legs at a steady rhythm, trying not to make any unnecessary movements for the sake of preserving the air in his lungs. The hallway evened out, and he could see it begin to slope upward ahead of him. There was a small alcove at its lowest point, and he paused as he coasted by it, noticing something lying within it.

  It was a small bundle, and Ari’s curiosity got the better of him. He made a quick detour to grab it, only realizing how heavy it was as he heaved it up under one arm. Had he not been under a time constraint, he would have stuffed it in his pack to keep himself from having to swim unbalanced. Unfortunately, he could already feel a familiar burn beginning to take root in the depths of his lungs.

  He kept hold of the heavy bundle under one arm, kicking his legs and trying to keep steady forward momentum. As the hallway began to slope upward again, he realized that he could just kick his feet off the floor and basically perform an underwater version of walking, which was far easier to achieve than continuing to swim.

  He gasped as he finally broke the surface. Kerys was staring at the water with her hands clenched in worry, and Eva was behind her, both her hands set on Kerys’ shoulders in reassurance.

  “Aristial!” shouted Kerys. “What took you so long? We were terrified!”

  Ari dropped the bundle onto the floor, recognizing the clang of metal as it landed. He crouched down and began investigating. It was a workman’s belt, he realized with a touch of disappointment. There was a hammer, a thin saw the length of his forearm, and leather pouch full of nails.

  “Of course,” muttered Ari. “The one time I risk my life for the sake of treasure, it turns out to be a bunch of boring tools.”

  “These are of Saidican make,” said Eva. “Notice how none of them are rusted, despite having been underwater for an extensive period of time.”

  “They could be really useful,” said Kerys.

  “I guess,” said Ari. “The hammer, at least, could make for a simple weapon, I suppose.”

  He rolled the belt back up and deposited it into the pack, which made it a significant amount heavier.

  “Kerys and I explored ahead,” said Eva. “There is another hatch similar to the one that led down here.”

  “I guess that means we’re done for today,” said Ari. “Pity. We didn’t really manage to find much of value.”

  “Do you have any essence left absorbed within you?” asked Eva.

  “Some,” said Ari. “I doubt it will be enough to activate one of the defensive wards, though. Maybe we can manage to get one inside activated.”

  “You also have the option of storing it within the enchanting altar,” said Eva. “There is no need to expend essence just for the sake of ridding yourself of it.”

  Ari shrugged. He shouldered the pack and started down the hallway. There was a ladder identical to the one that had brought them down into the labyrinth, and he climbed up it, breathing a sigh of relief as he managed to push loose the hatch at the top.

  He pulled himself up and immediately lost his balance as a powerful gust of wind almost knocked him over. The hatch had placed him in the outskirts of the ruined city, further from where they’d entered than he’d been expecting. That, combined with the grey sky overhead and whipping wind, sent a cold chill down the length of his back.

  “We need to move,” he said, as Kerys and Eva joined him. “This weather doesn’t look good.”

  “It doesn’t feel like it’s going to rain, though,” said Kerys. “The air doesn’t have that humid smell to it that it did last time. Though I’m still too new to the surface to say for sure.”

  “The Weatherblight are not limited to just the rain, remember,” said Eva. “There are some that come out during windstorms, though I cannot recall their nature.”

  “Then we really need to move,” said Ari. “Come on.”

  They traveled at an easy run, retracing their steps through the city before cutting south in the direction of the tower. The wind only grew stronger with each passing minute, stirring up dust in the distance and making the trees in the nearby forest hiss as they swayed from side to side.

  “Hold on!” said Eva, shouting to be heard over the rushing wind. “Look!”

  She pointed a finger toward the southeast. In the distance below them, at the bottom of the slope, were Rin and her fellow Ravarians. They looked to be in the process of doing exactly what Ari and the others were attempting, trying desperately to get out of the way of the oncoming weather.

  It was evident, at a glance, that they were struggling with it. The cadre of Ravarians would take to the air and travel a few hundred feet before one of them dipped low, trailing feathers as she fought and failed to maintain height. The entire group would follow her down each time, resting on the ground for a moment before trying again.

  “The one struggling,” said Ari. “That’s Rin. The one who I fought.”

  He’d cut a tuft of her feathers loose from her wing, and the loss had apparently been too much for her wings to endure in flight. He watched Rin gesturing to her fellow Ravarians, and then waving off into the distance. An argument seemed to be taking place between them, but eventually Rin seemed to prevail.

  A new Ravarian took the lead, and after giving Rin a deep bow, he led the remainder of their group into the air. The Ravarians flew east at a fast clip, leaving Rin where she was on the grass. Ari waited until they’d disappeared into the distance before waving a hand at Kerys and Eva and starting down the slope.

  “Are you insane?” hissed Kerys. “She’s our enemy.”

  “I know,” said Ari. “But she might have some useful information.”

  “Lord Stoneblood, we do not have time for this,” said Eva.

  “I’ll be quick,” he said. “Trust me, this will be worth it.”

  He made no attempt to conceal his approach, jogging down the slope and watching Rin turn as she heard the sound of her footsteps. He was again struck by how beautiful she was. It was a raw, seductive kind of beauty, buxom breasts and curvaceous hips, along with her sharply refined facial features and pouty lips. Had she been human, she would have had her pick of any of the men down in the Hollow, even the married ones.

  “The cave man returns,” called Rin. “Have you come to mock me in my time of distress, chala?”

  “You don’t seem all that distressed,” said Ari. “Why did your friends leave without you?”

  “Because I ordered them to,” said Rin. “It would be a disaster if my entire cadre remained in this area until the vodakai showed up.”

  “The vodakai?” asked Ari.

  Rin smiled at him. “Yes. You’ll see, soon enough.”

  Eva and Kerys came to stand next to him, watching Rin with open wariness in their expressions.

  “What can you tell us about the monsters that come out during this kind of weather?” asked Ari.

  “A fair amount,” said Rin. “More than you currently know, certainly. But my information is not, ah… what’s the word? Unpriced? Freely offered?”

  “Lord Stoneblood, we cannot stay here any longer,” said Eva. “Please.”

  “I can tell you where to find more of your kind,” said Rin. “More cave folk turned land folk, who’ve settled and found ways to deal with the dangers of the surface. I can point you toward them, chala.”

  “And what would you want in return for this?” asked Ari.

  �
�Simple.” Rin held her arms out, gesturing to the sky and the area around them. “I wish to be sheltered against the oncoming winds.”

  “It’s a trick,” whispered Kerys. “She tried to kill you before and steal from us. Don’t listen to her.”

  “She’s as desperate as we are,” said Ari.

  “I saw the way you were looking at me,” said Rin. “Is it possible that you desire something other than knowledge?”

  Rin slowly ran her hands up her body, cupping her breasts and letting go of them with a jiggle that was undeniably pleasing to Ari’s eyes. He coughed and tried to ignore the warmth in his cheeks.

  “I just want answers,” said Ari. “Can you keep up with us without your wings?”

  “Milord!” snapped Eva.

  “Aristial Stoneblood!” said Kerys. “This is a bad idea.”

  “I can keep up,” said Rin. “Can your companions be trusted to stay docile?”

  “They’re fine.” Ari shot a look at both Eva and Kerys, knowing that he’d get an earful from them later. “Let’s get moving.”

  CHAPTER 34

  The sky grew darker by the second, though sunset was still a few hours off. The wind was scarily strong, buffeting them around like oversized leaves and occasionally knocking one or two of them entirely off their feet.

  “You should instruct your companions to link arms with you,” said Rin. “That is, unless the idea of them being stolen by the wind appeals to you, chala.”

  “It’s going to get that bad?” asked Ari.

  Rin flashed a dark smile and gestured to the south as they crested the hill they were on. Ari’s jaw dropped at the sight of the weather in the distance. Rin had called it a windstorm, but it was more like multiple, individual chaotic events. He saw half a dozen dark, swirling funnels moving at different speeds, stripping away vegetation and snapping apart trees with winds as strong as any sword blade.

  “They are called ‘tornadoes’ in the slave tongue,” said Rin.

  “Are they the vodakai that you spoke of?” asked Ari.