by S L Mason
Ripping what was left of my sleeve off, I wrap it around my arm to stem the tide of blood, but the taste is already out there, and it floats in the water around us. Even my vision is clouded with it. The haze of diluted blood swirls around me with every move, like food coloring at an Easter-egg-dyeing party.
“Zephyr, so smart of you to call the others.” Aqualis voice is warm as liquid honey, and just as sticky and sweet.
“More? He called more with my blood?” I demand, hoping to hide my fear.
In the distance, I spy a wall of sea-green shadows. Mustering my strength, I dive for whatever it is. Slowly, the outline of a kelp forest looms in front of me. I can hide, but it can’t hide the sweet scent of blood trailing behind me in the water. I had to staunch the bleeding.
Water flows over my gills, but it’s barely a degree warmer than when it enters my chest due to my frantic breathing. Darting my eyes up and down, I’m as agitated as any animal who’s being chased by a superior predator. I can swim all I like, but with my wounds, they will follow me as surely as Hansel and Gretel followed the rocky trail home.
Not everything is what you think, though, black is white and white is black. Maybe up is down. I dive down, kicking my legs for all the power I can squeeze out of them and pull a dagger from my bodice.
This better work. The rumble in my chest rises, moving out from my body and into the shiny metallic blade. The silver glows pink, then bright golden orange.
Pulling the wrap from my arm with shaking hands and white knuckles, I can do this, I press the blade to the gash in my arm and scream. The water pressure in my ears rises, pressing into my skull. As I pull the dagger back, tremor's rack my body. I survey the wound — I’d only cauterized part of it.
Damn it, I shouldn’t have closed my eyes. Biting my lip, I let the rumble rise again.
A click and a snort is all the warning I get before the pressure of the water pushes me back and a horn punctures my side.
Aqualis giggles. “Yes, kill her now! Get it over with.” The bubbling laugh of treacherous water fills my ears.
My blade floats up over my head as my vision fogs with pain and blood. The sea horse continues pushing my impaled body through the water.
The rumble in my chest is still there, holding the unreleased magic. Locking my eyes on the unicorn’s horn, I set the magic free.
The sickening sound of bone snapping frees me from the Kelpie. It screams and turns to bite me. Using the force from the water, I allow it to push my body out of range.
Water enters the deep recesses of my lungs the rumble rises again. Pain radiates from my arm and impaled side. I can't swim away fast enough to survive this.
The Kelpie with the broken horn moves away, then turns for the next charge.
Magic moves around me like a mist, bending to my will and rushing out to the kelp forest. It comes alive, wrapping around Aqualis and the Kelpie at the same time. The ocean forest works itself over into a tangled jail.
Aqualis screeches in frustration. “This won’t hold me. I’ll be out before you can get away, and then I’ll free Ansta. She will feed you alive to her colts for taking her horn.” Aqualis taunts me with her vision of being eaten alive. I need to get out of here. Whipping my head around, I spy Zephyr charging me from a different direction.
Desperate to get away, I swim to Ansta’s trapped form and climb on her back. Her tail lashes as her body squirms around desperate to unseat me, but the kelp ropes hold her firm.
Ansta cries and snorts, causing Zephyr to pull up short, ceasing his forward motion. I twine the rope-like kelp around my good arm. The wakes in the water are a mess. I can't make out who they are coming from. They’re large and pained.
Aqualis calls out, “She’s weak, Zephyr, kill her now!” Aqualis aura wakes with fear and rage.
I pant to control my pain, laboring over every breath. The rainbow crystals of the horn protruding from my side aches and my blood clings to the scales on Ansta’s back.
Ansta’s head droops, with the loss of her horn, her color fading with every passing moment. I, too, feel the weakening of my body. The bleeding from my arm increases with every flex.
Leaning over, I press my face to one side of her neck. “I’ll give you your horn back, Ansta, and heal you if you take me to the surface.” Biting my lip and holding my liquid breath, I wait. She shakes her skin, letting it ripple from her mouth to tail. The wave of the ripple crests with her change from sea to land, scale to fur, fish to unicorn.
I pull out another dagger and cut us free from the kelp forest. A hum rattles in my throat, weaving the kelp around me and into the Kelpie’s mane. I hold tight to the dagger out of sheer fear.
As water pushes at me, trying to force me from the Kelpie’s back, blackness edges my vision. My muscles push at the horn in my side, causing pain to course over my belly and race down into every cell.
Stay awake.
CHAPTER 8
We push through the surface of the water like a finger through a balloon, and I choke as my nose meets the scent of wet horse and soil, but I can't suck in air. My body presses in heavy on me, pressure works both ways. I hum, but no sound comes forth. I changed my body for the water pressure, and now it’s crushing me.
The rumbling in my chest rises but is only enough to change my lungs not the rest. I remain heavy, and the weight crushes the air from my lungs, forcing it to leak out.
I lost my dagger when I passed through the surface of the water and I am left to unwind the kelp from my good arm, allowing it to fall away. Ansta neighs and tosses her head. But her color is dingey, all her gloss and glow gone with her horn. No magic wakes from her form.
I grope for my pouch and the energy vial Lavender left there. My fingers dig into the dark bag, landing on the tiny bottle, then bring it to my other hand. My arm muscles don't want to cooperate, they strain against the pressure of land. My fingers won't grip the bottle, so I wedge the tiny vial between my thumb and index finger, then squeeze. Pain tears up my arm into the tendons and muscles at my wrists and elbows. Panting, I twist the lid off with my other hand, but at the last second my grip slips, tipping the contents into my lap. I watch in horror as it cascades out.
The energy in the vail drains away, along with my strength. Searching the inside of the lid, I find a light film of moisture there, it could be enough. Licking the inside of the lid, I receive a split-second rush, but it fades far too quickly.
One drop remains on my bad hand. Using my other hand, I lift it to my mouth and suck the remaining potion off. It tastes diluted by ocean water. Power rushes through my veins, but it wouldn't last, I have to work quickly.
My fingers rip at the kelp, tearing it away and freeing my body. Bending my left knee, I shift my weight to the side with the horn protruding. My foot never makes it over the Kelpie’s spine. I slide to the ground, landing hard on my injured side, and a scream escapes. Ansta shakes her coat, forcing the kelp to fall away.
Digging my fingers into the soil around me, I push to stand up. Pain shoots through my flexing muscles. The movement around the horn loosens it, and blood oozes around its edges.
Panting, I implore Ansta, “Turn your head to me and crouch down, I can’t stand up.”
The oily black eye surveys my wound. She sniffs at my hands and belly. The Kelpie bends her knees and lowers her chest to the ground, followed by her hindquarters. She blinks at me, snorting and tossing her head while nudging my shoulder. The beating of my heart speeds up as my breathing grows ragged. I have to do this.
“Are you going to keep your word?” Aqualis demands in her watery voice, which pours over me like a raging river ready to burst its banks.
Panting, I reply, “Yes, if I can.” My breathing is shallow and labored. Tingles fire at my side, numbing me from the waist down.
She rushes on, “You gave your word. In Fae, you can’t go back. You can’t lie, or welsh once a deal is struck.” Aqualis’ voice has a pleading undertone. She needs me to keep my word.
&n
bsp; I slowly remark, “I don't lie. Fae do.” Then, I heave a sigh and move my left hand to the site of the wound. With quick panting breaths, I wrap my good hand around the horn. Then, squeezing my eyes shut, I pull. The rough edges of the horn scrape the meat as it exits my flesh followed by a sucking pop.
A roar rakes over my raw throat. My eyes open to blood pouring from the hole in my side. Tears stream down my cheeks and I shudder. Then, I tentatively press my left hand over the gaping hole. I can't stop the bleeding, not the way my left arm is since I am unable to create pressure.
The Kelpie lowers her head to my lap, and I turn the horn over in my hand. Wakes from the Kelpie's head and the horn reach out to one another. Aligning my broken end with the stump between her eyes, I fit it back together with a click. The magic around her is desperate to be mended. I let the rumble in my chest begin. The larger the magic’s pull, the heavier my eyes grow. I can barely fight to keep them open. The sweet sound of an opera invades my mind and my magic. Something from The Magic Flute fills the air around us, then crashes. My hand falls away from the Kelpie’s head, but the horn stays.
A smile touches my lips and I release a sigh. The sound of fur shaking drifts at the edge of my awareness. I let it slip away as I slide back onto the grass. The cavern roof is covered in the day-glo colors of a mosaicked Fae sky—I can finally see it. I wonder if the Fae painted it that way to remind them of the surface after they were forced down here?
My chest rises and falls, air entering and leaving through my nose. The pressure around my head is tight, like one of the nine circles of hell. When I turn my head, the bumps that encircle it acting like the notches on a gear. My torso presses back on my spine and the hunch growing there.
None of that matters, not the pain or loss. My heart pumps the blood from my body at a rapid pace, I can't heal it. Nick and Arty aren't here to help or save me. My eyes burn with unshed tears, and I try to swallow them, but they won't go down, instead sticking in my throat, and choking me. Rubbing my hot eyelids does nothing more than spread blood over my face. The fingers pressing at my wound grow slippery with viscous fluid pouring out. Pain pounds with my heart, every beat leaking my life away.
Aqualis cuts into my pained haze. “Don't die, my Lady! You must live, for we have great need of a Fae such as you.” The watery voice dripped with a promise of refreshment. Her hand bathes my face, covering it warm water, smoothing moisture across my lips.
“I swear fealty to you and only you. All the power of water is at your disposal. Use it as you may.” Aqualis’s whispered words meet my ears, but do not soak in.
A warmth spreads to every cell and I float away with it, riding it. If death is a wave, I want it to be just like this. The warm embrace of its deadly wet kiss soothes me, raising me up with a swell and bringing me down in a trough. I rock on this ocean of death. The surf carries me on my ride, bubbling and frothing around me.
“Sarah.” Vibrations so familiar meet me on my death wave.
I sigh, it’s easier now. “I’m swimming away,” I reply, allowing my words to drift to no one in particular. A fiery pain covers the left then right side of my face.
“Sarah, wake up!” Janice’s words filter through the watery surge. I love the sound of his voice, so deep and rich. I picture his lips, defined and full as he says my name. My only desire is to listen to his voice forever.
“Sarah! Stay with us, Sarah!” His voice colors my warm wave with desperation and fear. Why is everyone so afraid of death? The fire meets either side of my face once again. Eyes shoot open, then narrow, bringing an opening for the pounding in my chest to return.
“Lavender, give me another vial. I can’t heal her this close to death.” Janice’s brows scrunch together, creasing his smooth skin with worry. I want to touch his beautiful face, but my hand wouldn’t move. The beautiful wave of death recedes as desire pushes it back—my desire.
“Open your mouth, Sarah. Drink this!” Janice demands. His violet eyes are pinched and pleading with me.
My lips part for the liquid fire to drip down my throat. The first vial forces my eyes open wide. I choke on the second, and the third jolts my body up into a sitting position.
“Sing with me, Sarah, and I’ll close the wound.” Janice orders. Electric lightning runs through my veins. My vision fills with the giant purple mushrooms surrounding my body, like crumbs following me in a trail from the Kelpie to my present position.
“Sarah, focus on me!” Janice hand cups my burned cheek. He turns my face, forcing me to meet his violet eyes. I blink, to clear my vision.
“Janice, I…I had to save her. She was dying.” My explanation comes out weak and squeaky.
“Yes of course you did. Now I need to save you.” His lips part into a smile as he sings. Musical magic wakes wave over me, tickling my side and arm. The tickle becomes an itch then, a scorching burn. The sound of his voice fills my ears and cauterizes my wounds. Trembling with the vibrations of his magic, it tears at my muscles and tendons. Demanding my body to heal. My throat turns to raw meat with my screams. Every cell is lit on fire, and my belly roars with hunger. My face tingles and shivers when the magic abruptly ceases.
Pushing the hair back from my forehead, he lays a kiss on my brow on the scarred side. “I’m sorry I can’t heal anymore.” He turns to Lavender. “Quick, clean her up, make it look like a scrape and nothing more.” Janice is up and in two steps next to the Kelpie.
Ansta bows her head to him, and he runs his hand from her cheek down her neck. She touches him ever so gently with the tip of her horn and it glistens with a liquid.
“Thank you, sweet Ansta. Wait for the audience to pass on your gift. It will further our bid.” She tosses her head and snorts while pawing the ground.
“Sit up, my lady, quickly. We can’t let the others know you’ve been healed by anyone.” Lavender drags me up, clasping my injured wrist, forcing me to cry out. Searching my body, I find the gash in my side, and the skin is folded back allowing me to see the red, meaty flesh inside. It still oozes blood, but it’s more of a superficial wound than the gaping hole it had been.
My left arm aches from the tear in my shoulder muscle. Janice healed me just enough to live, but that’s it.
“Aqualis, get rid of the giant mushrooms or they’ll know we healed her,” Janice orders.
Aqualis sings of trees falling in a forest, and one by one they all fall in the water to be dragged away by Kelpie's, leaving behind only the small dribbled trail of mushrooms.
The energy rush from the vials lingers, but I’ll burn through that in no time.
“Did I pass?” I inquire absently. Why that even matters I don't know.
Janice responds with a smile, “Yes, you passed. Others did too, which is why we have this chance to help you.” His eyes say something, but I can’t follow.
My mind muddles with pain and hunger. “Why am I so hungry?” I demand, rubbing my hand across my belly careful to miss my wound.
Janice instantly responds, “Because you’ve been gone for three days. Did Ansta save you?” Janice’s wavers with his query.
“No, she stabbed me with her horn, and I broke it off. I promised to put it back if she took me back to the surface,” I absently supply.
He kicked at the kelp lying on the ground. “You were in the kelp fields?” he scoffs. “Kelpie hide their young there. You must have been too close to her colts, so she attacked.” He scratches at his hairless chin.
“Whatever her reason, that crazy water nymph over there rooted them on.” I wave my hand at Aqualis.
Lavender sniffs at Aqualis, then turns her back on Aqualis. I just want to get away from the wet bitch.
“I’m sorry, my lady,” Aqualis spouts, sporting a petulant pout.
“Don't my lady, me, you crazy bitch. First, you burn half my face off, then you tell the crazy unicorns to kill me and feed me to their young. Fuck you!” I reply, the fear of death sharpening my mind back from my deathly malaise. I didn't get to say more; slashing
water came from the river.
There seated on a Kelpie stallion is Nikki. Her white hair is plastered down her back, and a giant smile on her face. She is untouched and regal as if she hadn’t a single worry. A smirk hitches her face and she remarks, “Oh, Sarah, are you hurt? Did your Kelpie buck you off and have a snack?” All the while, she pretends to hide her giggle behind the back of her hand.
I retort, “I finished, though I’m not sure everyone else did. It isn't a laughing matter, Nikki. Don't you feel anything for all those girls that died? Or is this all about Nikki looking clever?” I want to stand up and face her, but my strength isn't there.
She never takes the smile from her face. She raises both eyebrows then slowly lowers them while narrowing her eyes then shifting from left to right. “I didn't kill them, so why should I feel bad or good or anything? I didn't even know them, these girls you say have died. Why should I care? When you’re done wallowing in the mud, maybe you can see it from my point of view. Peasants don't matter.” She clicks her tongue and heels her seahorse in the belly. They both trot away.
The ground around me is trampled and muddy. “Help me up please. Get me back to the arena,” I request.
Nikki’s words disturb me. How can she not care what happens to any of the other contenders? She’d called them peasants, like a Fae.
Janice grasps me under my arms and pulls me into a standing position. We still aren't eye to eye, but I had perfect alignment with his lips, and the full sensual pout they form. I force myself to meet his eyes. They bore into me, shifting from my lips to my eyes and back again.
His aura becomes a fiery flame. He hasn't removed his hand from under my arms. I don't want him to. Instead I want, him to lean in and…
“My lord, my lady, they come,” Lavender’s words break the spell.
Janice steps away and turns his back to me. The fire in his aura quickly dissipates with Deston’s arrival.
CHAPTER 9
I tear my eyes away from Janice’s fading aura.
