A spattering of rain started to fall and Rook twirled around, delighted. Like marionettes the riftspawn danced to her rhythm, swirling closer and closer. The energy they sparked was euphoric, reeling her in, and she felt it intertwine with her own. A wailing song harmonised with the ebb and tide of power, swelling with each note. Sailors pressed hands over their ears as she danced and danced and danced, every nerve electric with feeling.
“Rook!”
The lights of the riftspawn blended together until all she could see was a kaleidoscope of vibrant colours, wavy like the rippling water beyond. It was so pretty and the energy so warm that all she wanted was more. More and more.
“Rook!”
Voices drifted around her ears but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. To hear she would have to slow down and she couldn’t stop her dancing feet.
ROOK.
The voice reverberated through her and shook her to her very core. Her feet skidded to a halt as she jerked her head in the direction of the sound. Eyes widening, she took a step back, the ship’s railing pressing into her spine. Before her stood a man both strange and familiar, standing apart from the others upon the deck of the ship. Wreathed in flames, he stood tall while his eyes blazed, and he drew the riftspawn towards him in droves until all around him was the flaring lights of their pulsing energy. The power that radiated from him was so strong it made The Rook recoil inside.
She could see the bonded spirit behind him, great fiery wings spanned wide across the expanse of the ship. The long bowed neck and piercing eyes made the hairs on her neck stand on end as she stared her fill, unbelieving.
“Viktor?” She shook her head. “Who are you?”
The man frowned and turned to Janus. “What did you give her?”
Janus shrugged. “She was in pain. Just wanted to help.”
Rook approached him tentatively, admiring the way the green flared between shades of turquoise and emerald and viridian. She stopped with a body’s width between them, tilting her head.
“What is it?” Viktor stared back and then turned to look at the smugglers still watching the sea. His eyes met hers again. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
The aura was fading as he pulled back on the energy he exerted but the image was still vibrant behind her lids. “Who are you?”
“I’m Viktor! You know this! You––”
The boat lurched heavily to one side and she crashed into him as several shouts rang out throughout the deck. She winced out of habit rather than pain, searing rapture still gushing in her veins, and she picked herself off the ground with clearer eyes, realising that she and Viktor had drawn so many riftspawn to the ship that it was lit up like a beacon. The riftbeast in the water nudged the boat and it tilted again, Rook barely managing to ride the wave as seawater sprayed her face, stinging and sticky.
After his quartermaster whispered in his ear, Captain Yigor snatched his eyeglass and squinted into it. After a few minutes he turned to them with a murderous glare. “Just knew you’d cause me trouble. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you now.”
Kilai stepped up between Rook and Viktor. “If that’s a ship on the horizon, you’re going to need us. That is, if you want to get away with your lives intact.”
Yigor looked like he was going to say more but he was silenced by Red’s hand on his shoulder. “Pah!” he spat. “You better fix this mess.”
Kilai turned to them. “Well? Fix this.”
“What am I supposed to do about it?” said Viktor.
“You caused this!”
Rook grasped Viktor’s arm to steady herself as the boat continued to rock but the buzz of his signature gave her such a shock that she yanked her arm back, skin fizzing and sparking. She tried to speak but was cut off by a yell erupting from one of the crew. One of the riftspawn in the mass wreathing above them drifted down towards him, eyes locked on his form, and he stumbled back, attempting to cut into it with his cutlass. “Stay back, heathen.”
It took her a few tries to get her footing right, but Rook stumbled to his aide across a swaying deck, cutting out with her own scythes and slashing the creature in two. Another swipe was enough for it to fade completely, leaving behind a residual shimmering in the air. The energy she gained helped to clear her head, wiping away a layer of fog that had clouded her thoughts. Pain flared at her side again and she gasped, clutching the wound. Her hand came away wet and sticky.
“Rook, are you all right?” Viktor grabbed her to stop her from crumpling to the ground. She sneezed.
“That’s a Sonlin ship!” yelled the captain. “To your posts, now! Torgan, trim the jib!”
Rook’s grip tightened on Viktor’s arm despite the way the contact made her head spin. It seemed no matter what they did they just could not catch a break. She couldn’t help but feel it was partially her fault, for if she hadn’t been hallucinating she might not have drawn the ship their way. No matter what the situation, it seemed she had a knack for making it worse.
Kilai had joined the sailors in handling the sails which still flapped tremulously in the ensuing storm, wind catching their shouts and carrying them far off to sea. She pointed to one sailor in the rigging, already taking control over a situation like it was all she knew how to do. Rook drew strength from it, an idea forming in her mind.
“We need to send the riftspawn behind us!” she called over the wind.
Viktor leaned in to her, water running in rivets down the planes of his face. “I don’t know how to do that!”
“Together!”
She grabbed his hand, sending a pulse of her own energy into him. “You’re stronger than I am!” She couldn’t tell how much so but she knew that it was true. “I’ll guide you but you need to lend me some of your strength.”
Viktor frowned, staring at their interlinked hands. “I don’t know how I do it.”
“Remember how it felt back at the temple. What did you feel? Your body remembered, even if you didn’t.”
Viktor squeezed her hand, gritting his teeth.
On the horizon, she could make out the dark shape of the ship when she used her spirit sense, cutting across the tempestuous sea. Her side throbbed where the wound bled and it made her dizzy but she tightened her grip and closed her eyes, letting the cadence of her breathing match the constant rhythm of otherworldly energy around her. The wind whipped her hair into a frenzy around her face and the roars of the crewman cut through the howling of the storm but the sounds all faded as she focused.
“Can you feel them?” Rook could feel each presence around her, shivering each time her consciousness brushed against the riftspawn all around her. The strongest of them was the creature below, still swimming alongside them with its echoing cries. Even stronger still was the way fire radiated from the man next to her, the sensation of burning overwhelming her senses. She could taste it, acrid on her tongue.
“They’re gaining on us! Get her turned around now!”
“I… feel something.”
“Focus on it. Try to distinguish between them.”
“The cold. Is that you?”
Her eyes opened, sweeping over his frown and the shine of hazel eyes lit from within by green light. “Is that what it feels like?”
“I can see her. The Rook.”
Around him swelled the green firebird of legend. She knew it; even if she couldn’t believe it. The wingspan spread out across the expanse of the deck, impervious to the piercing rain that pelted her from one side. Heat flared from them, keeping her warm against the chill of her dripping clothes.
“Can you see me?”
The phoenix. Could it be?
“Yes, I can.”
“What––”
The ship swung out to one side and they both stumbled, grasping one another as it sluiced jauntily through black waves, a barrel rolling past them and smashing into the railing in an explosion of wood. The deck was slick enough that Rook slipped against its surface, having to steady herself against the mast as she struggled to
see past the fog of rain. It felt like she was making the journey into Var Kunir’s Locker itself, doomed to an afterlife of torment beneath the waves.
“Ready the canons!”
“Viktor!” she cried, locking onto the emerald shine through the grey haze. “Viktor!”
Wild-eyed, he crashed towards her. They met at the foot of the mast, gasping for air beneath the tyranny of the rain. Somehow Viktor’s hand was hot against her freezing skin and this time when their energy met she didn’t recoil. They settled into one another, falling into the same rhythm. Scrabbling against the wood of the mast to stop herself from sliding with the slope of the ship as they stormed a wave, she tugged on the joint pool of their strength and felt Viktor’s resistance.
“Breathe with me! Focus!”
“I feel everything,” Viktor whispered, and somehow she understood.
“We need to send them back. If we don’t the ship will catch us!”
Viktor nodded; just the barest inclination of his head.
It was terrifying to know he was following her lead. Nothing good had ever come of anyone following her lead. Still, onwards she plunged. “First, draw them to you.”
Rook reached out, beginning with a gentle nudge. Viktor’s own signature followed tentatively, pulling the gleeful riftspawn in towards them. Increasing the strength of that power, she opened her eyes to see the lights dance around the corner of her vision, lighting up the roiling sky. “More, Viktor! More strength.”
His energy was pure fire itself, burning and crackling. Riftspawn danced to her rhythm, but they stopped for him; pure obedience. They hung on the wordless command of his flame, aura flaring around him in the shimmering, morphing shades of green. Their spots of their energy flared and burst as they crashed into one another in their haste to be near him. It was as if he was their king.
Suddenly she felt another presence touch her mind. Something ancient and terrible, slipping like oil against the confines of her senses, and she shuddered.
“Dawn rise again,” she heard, gasped from the mouth of a sailor.
Rook’s eyes cracked open, sensing a shift in the air. She could still feel the creature, drifting closer and closer. Then the deck began to tremble beneath her feet and she felt her stomach plunge as she dove towards the railing. A gasp escaped her when her eyes alighted upon the creature beneath the waves, blinking as if it was merely a figment of her imagination. Water slid over a course hide, punctuated by huge spines along the creature’s back. Its girth was so huge it dwarfed the tiny riftbeast barely a third of its length, seemingly stretching out for endless meters beyond their tiny boat. Stripes down its back glowed a soft but vibrant red, like veins of blood in the black water.
The commotion around them hurtled to a stop as all stared at their own impending doom. If the creature arose any more from its current depth it would capsize the boat, and if it didn’t devour them the storm surely would, pounding eagerly and ravenously on. Rook felt her heartbeat in her throat as she gripped the railing, unable to move. This was a creature of legend; something ancient and unknowable. A dweller of the Locker’s depths, having been stirred by the combination of her own strength and Viktor’s.
Perhaps her musings about their descent into the Locker was not so far off, after all. She did not consider herself a believer in the teachings of the Zorashir, for she was sworn godless, but the sight of this beast was enough for her to re-examine the thought.
The click of a pistol finally broke the spell over her as she turned to see Captain Yigor level his gun at her. His eyes darted between her and Viktor, as if unsure who was the real threat. She, still clutching her wounded abdomen and unable to stand unaided. She, who merely wanted to help. Somehow it always came down to this. Cold, hard eyes and the barrel of a gun.
“Put it away.”
Rook squinted in the rain, seeing the shadow of a taller man in the rain. Janus. His own revolver was pressed to the back of Yigor’s skull and his face was twisted into a sneer. “I’ll blow your brains out.”
The crew that weren’t trying to control the ship quickly drew their weapons, surrounding them. Closer and closer, she could feel the presence of the bodies on the Sonlin ship nearing. The ancient being beneath the ship continued to stir, mind awakening from a long slumber. This fight was so useless, she wanted to scream. Of all the things they could be fighting, couldn’t they see how pointless it was to turn on their own allies? At least wait until they were all safe.
A lifetime of fear had instilled in her a certain wariness around the first rumblings of anger. Normally she would be quick to quash it, trying out the various breathing techniques for stilling the mind that had been drummed into her by Grey. But not now. She let it simmer; let it warm her against the bitter chill of the rain. Let the embers burn and crackle into a fire beneath her skin. The Rook thrilled, whispering in her ear promises of blood and vengeance.
Rook plunged onto the tightrope.
Her senses latched onto Viktor’s burning aura until their signatures intertwined once more, energies clashing wildly against each other with their starkly different rhythms. Across the deck she met green, green eyes and nodded.
“You witch! What are you––”
Janus tapped him on the head and his mouth snapped shut, face scrunching with ire. “Go on then, boy. On with it! Kill me!”
Dark eyes flicked to hers. A question.
But Rook was no longer there. At least, not entirely. Her mind drifted between her physical senses and the ones heightened by the Rook, gathering up the riftspawn around her. She could feel Viktor do the same. Together, they spiralled down into the water below, probing the oil-slick alien mind that lurked there. It resisted her call, flicking her off as if she were nothing but water rolling off its back.
Viktor surged forward, boring in. The rumble resonated through her entire body as the creature’s mind flared to life, the deck trembling in its wake. Go, he commanded in a voice that did not sound like his own. Heed my call. Still, the creature resisted. Still, Viktor channelled his energy towards the beast, until it erupted in a roar that stirred the marrow in her bones.
The flick of a spiny tail rocked the boat, waves cascading against the sides and spilling across the deck. Rook latched onto the railing and held firm, eyes squeezed shut against the torrent. The creature was truly one of another time; one where legends walked the land and swam the seas, unrestrained by pages in a book. Its mind was a flare of light against her senses, growing stronger by the seconds, and although it tried to resist, it could not help but be sucked into the force of Viktor’s strength.
The enemy ship was close enough that if she squinted against the slant of rain she could make out the flag of the Sonlin Empire flapping wildly in the storm. Beads of lantern light shone in the darkness like the riftspawn surrounding their own ship; tens of fiery eyes honing in on them, ready to strike. Rook grasped for Viktor’s hand in the darkness, finding purchase on wet skin and calloused fingers.
“Now!” she cried.
The force of Viktor’s power nearly sent her staggering backwards, the wild, crackling flames overwhelming her senses until all she could smell was burning. Her grip tightened as The Rook howled in protest. Below, the creature grumbled a weak protest, more reverberations rocking the boat as she glimpsed red streaks through black like blood, dripping. Too many memories barrelled past her and she pushed the thoughts from her mind, struggling against the weight.
“They’re moving!” cried Viktor, peering down at the huge shape beneath the sea.
Rook looked up at the swirling lights; a cloud of colour that picked up speed as the spirits surged towards the ship behind them. The beast below followed suit, although all she could make out was the flowing veins of red light beneath the surface. Had the circumstances been different she would have been fascinated by such a creature, content to track and study it until she had some understanding of what it was. But freezing, bone-weary, still pained from her wound, and aware that the worst of the danger was
not over yet, Rook slumped into Viktor instead.
She barely had the strength to lift her head. In his widened eyes, she saw the truth, anyway. “It’s working! Look at the size of that thing! I did it, see? Did you see?” he turned to look at her, euphoria fading as frown lines deepened. “Rook,” he nudged her. “You with me?”
“I’m fine,” she mumbled. “Just fine.”
Energy sagging, she blinked through heavy lids, swaying. Her eyes caught light out of the corner of her eye, the distant screams of men, and then the sight of great fanged jaws parting around a toy ship. It was the last thing she saw.
*
The storm raged on through the night, Viktor huddled between Janus, Rook and Kilai. While the others slept he remained, restless, skin thrumming with a power he could not turn off. The boat rocked and shook, just as anxious as he. Every sensation felt so much more alive than before. The spider’s crawl across the far wall echoed in his ears. The stench of meat slowly going off in the galley, and the buzz of eager flies, waiting patiently. Even the distant cry of a whale, haunting enough to pierce the rattling and groaning of the weathered ship. It was too much.
As the storm finally settled, the wind died and a sense of calm nestled into his exhaustion, unable to fight any longer. His eyelids fluttered, and he must have drifted off, because when he opened his eyes again it was to golden light beaming in from the porthole, a warm coin of dawn against the wooden floor. Somehow, they had survived. On his hands and knees, he crawled to the glass and peered out into a calm line of endless blue, brushed with the softest strokes of an attentive sun. Viktor rocked back on his haunches and felt the breath escape from him in a fell swoop.
They’d survived a broken rift, a terrible creature from beyond its door, a storm, and the Sonlin Empire itself. Freedom called to him, the same feeling that the open horizon evoked deep in his heart. Hand still pressed against the cool glass, Viktor blinked as the first suggestion of landfall pierced the clear sea. Heart speeding up, he craned his neck to try and see more. What would it look like? There was a whole world beyond the city of Nirket and he was finally free to see it.
The Broken Door Page 33
