Night Cursed

by Mark Albany

  Still, it had sails, and it knifed through the water fairly quickly. We hadn’t even needed to break out the oars yet.

  There had been a small problem in the morning while choosing the ship that we wanted. At first, I thought that it should just be Kalna, Leena, Eira, and me setting out on this mission, but no smaller ship would survive the crossing. The ones that could needed larger crews to man them. Thankfully, there had been no shortage of volunteers for the mission. Most were foreign sailors like Cameron, although there were a few from Radon who wanted a piece of the action rather than sitting around at home waiting to be attacked. Even a couple of the islanders—the Behranians—had volunteered to come back with us.

  “Is he still whining about the ship rocking?” I heard Leena ask as she came over. She had taken to life at sea rather well. In fact, so had Eira and Kalna. None of them had ever been to sea before either, so why was I the only one affected like this?

  I looked up and scowled at her.

  Just my luck, getting stuck inside the only person on this ship who’s prone to seasickness.

  “Shut up,” I muttered under my breath as I pushed myself to my feet. Leena was still standing there, barefoot, wispy strands of red hair escaping her braid as the wind of our passage tugged them free. She was dressed in a simple off-white woven shirt and a pair of drawstring-waist brown canvas pants with the legs rolled up. Looking at the simple beauty of her, lithe form balanced but relaxed as the ship cut through the waves, made me forget what I was going to say.

  “Yeah,” I finally said, still feeling my stomach rebelling.

  Her mockery softened, though it never quite disappeared as she came closer. “Well, nobody’s perfect. Maybe you just weren’t meant to be out at sea.”

  “And yet, here I am,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “Enough about me. What kind of headway are we making?”

  “The wind holds true,” one of the islanders said. He was smaller than Kalem, though still impressive, despite not looking a day older than fifteen. “We reach our home tomorrow. These insempurante ships may be horrid to work with, but they cut through water like… like…”

  “A hot knife through butter?” I volunteered a metaphor. I didn’t really need a translation of the foreign word he’d used to know it wasn’t complimentary.

  “Yes.” The man nodded, tightening a few ropes as he talked. “These Trelans are led by a prince, a son of their leader. The God-King, they called him.”

  “Another prince?” Kalna came closer. “I’m guessing this God-King of theirs prefers to have his blood relatives keeping an eye on the armies.”

  “It’s more than that,” I replied. “The Grand Marshall had some sort of magical power of his own. Maybe this power is hereditary, and these princes are the only ones who can control the power their armies rely on?”

  “We’ll destroy them, like we did the Grand Marshall,” Eira’s soft voice came from behind me. She ran her fingers down my back. Whether it was intentional or not, I could feel my stomach settle from her touch.

  The sailors who had been there for our battle nodded. The recently-arrived islanders looked confused. I still wasn’t sure how to control this power. When it came to fighting the Trelans, it seemed like I unleashed it rather than exerting any controlling influence over it. Of course, that was laying myself open to the Darkness, but I had to trust that I’d be able to rein myself in with the help of my friends.

  I had to.

  Kalna sensed my thoughts and smiled in encouragement, tilting her head and winking at me.

  “There’s something ahead!” one of the crew called out, snatching our attention toward the front of the ship.

  I jogged over to the bow, my keen eyesight detecting something in the water a few hundred yards away. It was difficult to place what it was until we got closer. When we did, we could see the planks of wood leading us to larger chunks of debris, which had once been ships. They were all stained with the same blackness we’d seen on the ship that had made it to harbor.

  “Those were our ships,” one of the islanders said softly.

  “Wait… We didn’t really see if all the sea monsters that attacked us died, or whether they just retreated. Is it possible that the survivors from our battle are the ones that did this?”

  I looked around, but there were no answers to my question in the eyes of the men and women that returned my gaze. It was a stupid question. A stupid thing to feel guilty about too, but I couldn’t help the nagging feeling that if I’d just made sure the sea monsters were dead before going off to face the Grand Marshall, maybe a lot of people wouldn’t have died.

  Ugh. Now I’m going to be sick.

  I said nothing. A moment of silence for all the people that had died here felt appropriate, after all.

  Yes, a moment of silence for people that aren’t even around anymore to appreciate it. Very fitting.

  I shook my head. If there was something better the Darkness wanted me to do, why didn’t it just come out and say it?

  Oh, you want something better to do? How about keeping our senses attuned? Have you noticed that the smell of rotten fish has been getting worse over the past couple of minutes?

  I looked up, taking in the air. The now-familiar scent of rot and decay had indeed gotten worse, to the point of stinging my nose. Then again, almost all the floating pieces of wood were coated in that black, inky stuff that gave off the same smell.

  I don’t think it would be that strong.

  I nodded, not wanting to respond aloud as I looked over the railing at the debris, not in front of us anymore, but all around us. A sinking feeling weighed down my stomach. I couldn’t be sure if the water was darker here just because of the veritable floating forest that we had around us now.

  I backed away when I saw some of the planks drifting contrary to the flow that the rest of them were lazily drifting on. Like something underneath had moved, causing a counter-current.

  “I think we should get ready.” Leena, Kalna, and Eira all turned to me, sensing my sudden mood shift.

  “For what?” one of the sailors asked. I turned back to the water, hearing bubbling. The foul stench was even worse now, making me gag as I instinctively covered my nose.

  “We’re about to come under attack.” I gripped my new and improved sword. The blackness reflected the harsh midday sunlight. As I gripped it tighter, I could see smoke starting to rise from it. Eira eyed the weapon curiously when I drew it, wanting to ask what had been done to the blade. Kalna seemed annoyed, though. I couldn’t tell whether it was because I had somehow sullied the elegant elven design, or because it was recrafted using the Darkness.

  There was no time to think about it now. Something massive struck the side of our vessel below the waterline. The whole warship shook under the blow, and everyone reached for something to keep their balance.

  Everyone but me. Odd, that.

  Do you mind?

  “Not at all.” I felt the darkness surging through my body, rushing like an unstoppable wave. Well, not that unstoppable. I could have stopped it if I chose to. I simply didn’t want to. Power surged through my arms and legs, keeping me from being moved by the sudden rocking of the ship.

  “Where was all this before?” I griped, remembering the amount of time I’d spent hurling over the side of the ship.

  Being suppressed, remember?

  I tilted my head, watching as massive tentacles surged out from the water. Clouds started to appear in the sky, covering the perfect blue it had been only seconds ago. The air temperature dropped sharply. My lips curled up in a smile as my eyes adjusted, the light around me seeming to brighten while everything else darkened.

  Now you know how I feel. All the fucking time.

  I shook my head, willing the water around the monster underneath the ship to freeze. It was difficult. The inky blackness in the water fought off the effects of my powers, as if it knew that it needed something to slow me down.

  The tentacles started whipping around the ship in a frenz
y, trying to find the source of power. Leena and Kalna both drew weapons, with Leena’s arrows finding the tentacles with unerring accuracy. Each shot hammered deep into the tentacles, making the squishy appendages quickly retract back into the water.

  But there was a limit to her arrows, and a limit to what the rest of them could do against the rapidly-moving limbs. A pair were wrapping around the main mast, and the wood started to crack under the strain.

  I jumped forward when the cracking sound got louder, giving up on covering the rest of the crew. Some had already been swept overboard, with the rest trying their best to fight back, but it wasn’t really enough. I couldn’t keep them safe if I just let the monster continue with its attack. It was time to go on the offensive. I gripped my sword with both hands, ducked under a sweeping tentacle that was reaching for me, and slammed my sword into the tentacle that was closest to the ground.

  The blade cut straight through, embedding itself in the wood of the deck. The tentacle quickly withdrew, slithering like a snake, leaving the severed end wrapped around the mast. The end quickly changed color and seemed to collapse on itself after a few seconds, shattering like glass as it impacted with the deck.

  Impressive, no?

  I ignored the voice, moving over to the next tentacle. I sliced it clean off as well, with similar results. As soon as the tentacle dropped to break into a thousand pieces on the deck, I realized that had been the only thing holding the mast up. The massive pole supporting the mainsail shifted and snapped, dropping next to me and landing with a booming crash.

  Anger burned in my breast as I jumped backward, narrowly avoiding being crushed by the massive sail. As my fury rose my power surged, and the ice in the water acted more aggressively. Massive spikes drove hard into the creature’s fleshy body, pushing it out from underneath the ship and driving it to the surface. The monster dripped with inky blackness. More and more ice spikes pushed up from the deep, driving it out of the water until the massive writhing globe of flesh was exposed.

  I moved over to the side of the ship, vaulting over the railing.

  “Braks, no!” Leena called after me, but I was already clear of the ship. Besides, I was perfectly safe. The murky water quickly solidified into ice before I reached it, shifting gently with my landing but otherwise holding my weight. A similar reaction spread across the water, leading me out to the quivering mess that was less than ten paces away. A few tentacles flickered out to try and intercept me, but a few swings of my blade sent them inching back. The monster seemed more concerned with trying to get its massive body as far away from me as it could. Huge, black eyes blinked. The dozens that had me in their range of vision stared at me as I walked over to it. I could feel Leena, Kalna, and Eira’s eyes also on me as I approached it.

  The smell was almost overpowering, but I now seemed more capable of shoving the effects aside. My eyes went to the pair of mouths that were opening and closing, seemingly instinctively, revealing needle-like teeth inside. The thought of how many innocent people had been fed into those foul, disgusting mouths only infuriated me more.

  “You should have stayed and died with your brothers.” My voice sounded different. Warped, rumbling, like it was actually coming from deep inside the water.

  The monster didn’t react. I wasn’t even sure if it could understand me. I didn’t care. I stepped forward and pushed the blade deep into the creature’s body. Ice covered it, freezing it through. In a few seconds the whole thing was solid, even the tentacles, which had stopped moving.

  I twisted the blade. The whole monstrous globe cracked in half with a sound that reminded me of a lightning bolt’s strike, parting and shattering into more and more pieces until there wasn’t much left of it. I looked down at my sword as it came free. It showed no trace of the black, inky blood I remembered the creature having.

  I pulled a piece of cloth from my pocket and cleaned the weapon anyway. A small smile touched my face as I did so.

  Is that a hint of enjoyment I detect?

  I didn’t answer. I put the sword back in its sheath and walked over to the ship again. The clouds were starting to clear as I climbed back onto the deck. I did my best to ignore the stunned looks of the men and women waiting there.

  “Let’s get the ship clear of the ice and get moving again.” I scowled at the main mast lying broken on the deck. We couldn’t fix it without getting back to land first, and getting there would prove difficult without a damned mainsail. I gritted my teeth, feeling the anger surging through my body again.

  “Hey, Braks?” Kalna called, as the rest of the crew got to work trying to get the ship ready to go again.

  “Yeah?” I turned to face her. She didn’t answer verbally. Instead, she moved in close, pressing her hands to my temples. A spike of influence pressed into my head as she pushed inside and pressed the darkness back. I gripped her shoulders, trying to move her away and break the connection, but she held on. As the seconds passed, I finally relaxed against her.

  “What—” I tried to catch my breath. “What was that for?”

  “Your eyes were still a different color.” She smiled as she ran her fingers through my hair. Leena stepped close to help me lift my full weight off of Kalna, which I only just realized was making her strain.

  “Sorry.” With the Darkness withdrawn, my body felt leaden, exhausted.

  You think you’re exhausted…

  “Shut up,” I hissed, making Leena and Kalna look at me oddly. “Not you. It.” I gestured at my head, and they nodded.

  “I’m still not comfortable with it having a voice in your head.” Leena ran her fingers up and down my back, sending shivers up my spine.

  “Yes.” I dropped onto a crate. “You and me both.”

  Chapter 4

  The damage had been more extreme than we’d initially realized. A quick look below deck revealed that those disgusting mouths had chewed at the wood of the hull, causing a flurry of leaks. Our crew hadn’t been all that big to begin with, and we’d lost some of them during the attack. The few that survived tried keeping the water from rising farther, but it was hard work to keep the ship moving.

  But keep it moving, we did.

  “Isn’t there something you can do to make us go faster?” Leena asked as we were carrying buckets of water up from the hold to keep the ship from flooding.

  “I’m not sure.” I cleared some sweat from my forehead. “All this power I have seems more geared to destroying stuff than fixing it. Anytime I try to control it, I just end up breaking more than I fix. I’ve learned to keep it down until some destruction is needed.”

  Well, aside from the army and their help with the kingdom’s repairs, I realized. But that was different, an external force.

  Leena nodded, but I sensed she wasn’t happy with the situation. I agreed with the sentiment. Despite feeling exhausted after the fight, I still had enough power in me to help with keeping the ship in working order. The changes had increased my strength and stamina, helping me do more than a regular man could. Even so, after many long hours of work, the muscles in my arms began to tire, and my knees were more and more wobbly with each step up those damned stairs leading out from the lower deck.

  “Land ahead!” came the welcome cry from one of the men on the top deck. I climbed the steps more eagerly, hoping it wasn’t a mirage or a manifestation of someone’s desire and need to feel solid ground beneath their feet.

  That was actually me more than anyone else on this ship. Even though my stomach had settled after the fight, I had already been daydreaming of not spending the night out at sea.

  I emptied a pair of buckets full of sea water over the railing before looking toward the horizon. The sun was already starting to set in the west, dipping closer to the horizon and spreading stunning reds and oranges across the sky. My eyes were drawn to the south though, where an island was already starting to inch closer.

  “I’m not complaining or anything,” I said, rubbing my sore arms, “but isn’t it too soon for us to be see
ing any kind of land?”

  “We made good time before the attack,” one of the surviving islanders said, coming up from the hold where he’d been doing his best to repair the leaks. “So, we should be coming close to the outer islands. We had some trading posts set up.”

  “These small islands were the first to be attacked, yes?” I narrowed my eyes.

  “Yes. Why?”

  I didn’t answer, only shook my head. It was too far away for him to spot, but I could see a collection of buildings laid out near the inlet we were heading towards. The buildings were mostly black, but not with the inky, sticky blood of the sea monsters. No, these were scorched with fire. There was no smoke rising, though, which meant all the fires had long since gone out.

  “I don’t think we should be expecting a warm welcome.” I picked the buckets back up. We needed to keep moving, and the water level still needed to be kept low. I wasn’t going to be any good at navigating, so I might as well keep working until we got closer to land.

  The sun was still setting by the time we reached the inlet and started pulling closer to one of the jetties projecting out into the harbor. I was one of the first to drop off the ship, even before we’d properly docked. My sword was out as I scanned the area, looking for any signs of life. For the moment, there were none. I looked back at the ship.

  “We should probably scout the area. This ship isn’t going anywhere, but if there are any Trelan troops in the vicinity, I’d prefer to know now rather than later.”

  A murmur of assent could be heard from the rest of the crew. A selection of the fighters, including Kalna and Eira, soon joined me on the jetty. I looked curiously up at Leena, who had elected to stay behind.

  “I know a thing or two about woodwork,” she explained before I even asked. “I’ll probably be more use here on the ship, getting the repairs underway, than scouting around for Trelans.”

  I nodded. I sensed there was another reason why she didn’t want to join us on land, but I didn’t press her. Whatever reasons she had, I was sure they were good. Besides, we were fast losing daylight, and I didn’t want to get lost in a new place after dark.