by Alyssa Breck
She dropped the empty magazine and reloaded. Leaning forward, she pushed her behind against him, and it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. Alayah smiled as she unloaded the second magazine into the imaginary paper man down range.
While she filled the empty magazines, she decided it was a good time to bring up what Finn had told her.
“I spoke with Finn.”
“And?” Silver was pulling more boxes of ammunition from a bucket on the ground.
“He thinks our mission is for naught.”
“Are you ready to tell me more about your quest now?”
“Hmm. I don’t know. But I need to return to Rheyn. I must speak with Glenn posthaste.”
“After the chaos, you and your warriors left in your wake, the people of Rheyn won’t warmly receive you.”
“I know. I don’t know if we would’ve made it out without your help.” Men were easy creatures. Cater to their egos, and they were putty in hand.
“Are you asking me to accompany you back?”
“It would be helpful.” Alayah batted her eyelashes at him. She didn’t play the damsel often, but she’d feel better if Silver Wind joined them.
His lip curved up into a smirk. “So you do need me.”
She shrugged.
“Tell me what business you have with Glenn?” Silver guided her back into position.
A fresh target had been hung for her. Alayah took aim, pushed her ass against Silver, held her breath and filled the center mass with holes. “He can lead me to a mage.”
Chapter 23
The trip to the outpost had been tiring enough for the horses. Alayah had wondered how they were supposed to get out of those jagged crevices and steep-sided canyons. Her questions had been answered two days after she requested Silver to go back to Rheyn.
As the aircraft left the base of the hall and into the light of day, she took a brief headcount. There were about forty armed men on the craft. Each would ride one of the motorbikes that were stacked on each other on the other side of the huge flying device. They had also loaded hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
The other sirens seemed as mesmerized as Alayah as they looked down.
Alayah looked back. “How can this look like a boat but fly like a bird?”
Silver was beside her with his hands behind his back. “Old technology repurposed. Humans used to fly around all the time. They called them planes and they were three times bigger than this aircraft.” He secured his hands to the railway. “The earth is dying, but there’s a lot from the old world that’s been preserved.”
The craft flew over the rugged terrain with much ease. Underneath, the ship sucked the surrounding air. Alayah felt the air currents quiver and shake, it became a river that buffeted them on. It felt like moving in water, only, this time, it lacked the fluid tangibility of the ocean floor.
“Here, have a mint candy,” Silver said, offering each warrior one. “Don’t bite, just let it melt inside your mouth.”
Alayah looked at the small, round, black wrapper. She looked at Marina and Lyra, they were putting it in their mouths.
Rose brushed her hair out of her face and took one from Silver’s hand. Kiera was already extracting a green colored piece from one of the wrappers.
Silver placed his hand in front of her. “Come on, you’re gonna like it.”
She took it and placed the green drop inside her mouth.
“What’s the tingly thing in it?”
“It’s called mint.”
Alayah tasted it slowly. The drop had different layers of taste; sweet on top, a lower one she couldn’t place, and then a final one that held the others together.
“Mint,” she mouthed.
“Yeah. It used to be a plant, a shrub, that is almost extinct. It was from Asia, and we still cultivate it in my kingdom.”
Alayah glanced at him. His smile made her stomach drop, and she stretched her lips.
He placed his hands inside his pockets and watched the horizon. Breathing deeply, he closed his eyes and felt the wind on his face.
Alayah leaned closer to the edge of the hovercraft and looked at the ground.
“Are you afraid of heights?” His voice felt sweet in her ears.
“No. It’s not that different from diving in the depths of the ocean.”
“What happens if the device falls?” Lyra asked.
“We die,” Kiera replied.
“We aren’t going to fall,” Marina said, narrowing her eyes at Kiera. Then she looked down. “Even if we fall, there’s water all around us in the form of clouds. We can use our powers to soften our fall.”
“True,” Silver spoke. “We are safe. Unless there’s a flying Titan coming our way. Even like that, we have weapons to defend us from it.”
“Weapons that can kill Titans?” Alayah asked with wide eyes.
“Bullets don’t just kill humans or small animals,” Silver explained. “We also have fire throwers in this machine. We are fully prepared.”
“I wonder if bullets would work underwater,” Marina mumbled.
Rose looked at her. “I was thinking the same thing.”
Alayah shook her head. “Silver says they can’t.”
“The water density slows down bullets, not to mention that the water would wet the gunpowder. Other weapons can be used underwater, though,” Silver spoke again.
“I really appreciate you doing this for us,” Alayah said to him.
He smiled and leaned closer to her. “You were the one who made Finn talk. I’m just here to keep you safe.”
Averting her eyes, she looked at Marina and the other sirens talking among themselves as they pointed at the view.
The rest of the trip was silent for Alayah. A few minutes later, Silver Wind left to give orders to his men.
A half-hour later, the aircraft landed on a clearing, and Silver’s men brought out four motorbikes.
“It’s time,” Silver Wind said, his face had assumed a hard edge, “we’ll use the motorbikes to enter the city, so we don’t draw attention to us. My men will wait here for our return.”
Alayah patted her hair. She felt the hairpin properly in place. “We are ready.”
The beers came. The waiter dropped them in front of the guests with a deliberate thump, spilling some of it on the tin table.
“Our best stuff,” he said and toddled off.
Alayah and the sirens didn’t touch their drinks. Silver Wind put a thumb in the mixture, it looked like someone pissed in it.
Tasting the beer, he wrinkled his nose at the flatness and promptly put it back down. “Piss must taste better.”
“I counted four men behind you, Commander. Mages. Powerful ones,” Marina said.
“It was a bad idea coming here,” Silver mumbled.
Alayah rubbed her hands against her leather pants. “We are dressed as humans, we have our guns, and we need information about Glenn’s whereabouts.”
Marina spoke lower. “We have no idea what he looks like, and the guy behind the counter seems too young to be him.”
Two heavily built men entered the bar. They wore leather clothes and packed guns under their coats. Their faces were covered with orange dust as if they’d just arrived from a long journey.
They walked past, threw a cursory glance at Alayah’s party, and headed for the bar where they sat.
The young lad behind the bar served them without a word.
“More mercenaries,” Silver mumbled.
“Shouldn’t we expect that since Glenn hires mercenaries?” Alayah asked.
Silver shrugged. “I wish you’d let me bring my men inside the city instead of making them wait with our carriages and rides.”
“It’s best if we look as if we are just another mercenary group passing through. The display of fortune would be a mistake,” Alayah reasoned with him. “Plus, we can handle a few mercenaries, can’t we?”
“Probably,” he replied. “If the beer was better.”
Marina and Kiera giggled.
&
nbsp; “They are looking for a team of sirens, not for three women and a mage,” Alayah retorted.
“We’ll stick with the plan,” Kiera spoke. “I’ll talk to the bartender, put my best smile on, and ask for Glenn.”
“I should be the one doing that,” Marina protested.
“You couldn’t play coy and seductive to save your life,” Kiera snorted. “And Alayah is too much of a prude to flirt with a random guy.”
“I’m not a prude. I …” She quieted herself and looked at Silver and then at Marina. Waving her hand in dismissal, she mumbled, “I’ll leave it to the group’s flirter.”
“Thank you,” Kiera said with a pleased grin, fluttering her eyelids at her commander.
It turned out that the only one that would have had a shot at seducing the skinny guy behind the counter would be Silver Wind.
The sirens’ plan failed miserably when Kiera tried to flirt with the bartender, and the guy ignored her completely. Things would’ve ended there if the drunk guy at the counter hadn’t grabbed her, and she hadn’t had to break his nose and bounce his face against the counter. His friends were keen to get up and attack Kiera, but Marina and Alayah had their guns ready and joined the fight.
Silver stood quiet, watching a bunch of grownup men be battered by three sirens pretending to be humans. Nevertheless, his senses were on the mages in the corner of the bar. Their eyes were on him, too. Since they didn’t make a move to join the confusion, he assumed that they were good at assessing other people’s magical powers. It would be an unfair fight anyway. His powers would turn them into ice cubes if they tried anything against the women. Though, he was sure that they could take care of themselves. Their commander was a force to be reckoned with, and he couldn’t help but admire her more each day. It didn’t hurt that she was a sight for sore eyes, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her.
The sound of punches and painful noises stopped, and Silver noticed that the majority of the clients had wisely left the premises.
Turning around, he saw that Marina had pinned the bartender to the wall, placed a knife under his chin, and pushed it just enough to stretch the skin, but not enough to cut it and spill any blood.
“If you need information, just turn to Glenn, they said.” Marina looked him in the eyes. “But Glenn is kinda quiet today!”
With a bloody face and swollen eyes, he chirped, “I’m not Glenn. Glenn is gone. I’m just the guy he sold his tavern to!”
Marina’s lips stretched into a smile. “That’s interesting. Tell me more.”
The skinny bartender looked at Marina with bewilderment in his eyes, probably trying to figure out how to get out of an extremely unfavorable situation for him. “W-what do you want to k-know?”
“Where’s Glenn?”
“I-I don’t know. I swear!”
Meanwhile, Alayah swept her eyes over the room and faced the guests who hadn’t dared to move. She and Kiera had turned parts of the inventory upside down to show their seriousness and determination. At the moment, they were pointing their guns at the mages who sat at the corner of the tavern. They didn’t look too concerned about the bartender’s well-being, and Silver hoped it stayed that way.
“This is your last chance before we gut you like a fish,” Marina threatened.
“I don’t know where he is. I swear!”
“But you must know something. Do you plan to spit it out or you want me to introduce you to all the methods of gathering information using only a knife?”
“Okay, okay,” the guy cried, putting his hands up as if trying to protect his face. “Glenn sold me this place cheap. He was in a hurry and didn’t tell me where he was going. But his cousin, he came here yesterday and got drunk. He was rambling stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“I have no idea if it’s important or not.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
The bartender looked past Marina to Alayah and then mumbled, “Bryan, the cousin, was saying that Glenn asked him for money and left in a hurry.”
“Oh, did he?” Marina put on a smile. “And Bryan can be found where?”
“He lives in a small hut near the Grey bridge,” the guy said. “I hope your smile means that you won’t show me what you can do with that knife, pretty lady.”
“Only if you show me where he lives, and you aren’t lying.”
Silver got up and stood by Alayah’s side. “We should leave before they call the enforcers.”
Alayah nodded and trekked to the table to grab her bag.
Kiera walked to the counter and kicked the guy who had tried to grope her in his stomach, though he seemed out of commission already.
“Let’s get out of here,” Alayah ordered.
Marina let go of the bartender and smirked at him before exiting the tavern with the rest of them behind her.
Chapter 25
“No! Don’t let me go, I beg ya!” Bryan squealed like a baby.
It was somewhat understandable for a man hanging from a bridge, about fifteen feet above the river, held only by one leg, with the arm of a warrior woman.
“Spit it out! Where is your cousin, and what kind of business is he dealing in lately? Or, prepare to die!” Alayah threatened.
Bryan waved his arms. “Okay, okay! Just put me back on the bridge!”
When Alayah dropped him on the dusty road, he stayed on the ground with trembling limbs and bulging red eyes.
Alayah placed her hands on her hips while the rest of her crew stayed behind with a pondering expression. Even Silver seemed determined to let her do her thing and get the information they needed to continue their quest. Finding Glenn was paramount.
“I’m waiting, Bryan,” she muttered. “Or would you rather become a bag of dry skin?” She raised her hands to threaten him to speak quicker.
Gulping, he stuttered, “It’s l-like this. Glenn, my c-cousin, mentioned a few days ago that he met someone with a higher rank that bought his services. I did not believe him. It sounded too incredible.”
The sirens’ commander frowned. “Why?”
“Well, the mages don’t normally need our help.”
“How do you know it was a mage?”
“He described him to me. Hooded with an educated accent, wearing black clothes that displayed a red dragon emblem on its collar, and the ability to appear and disappear into thin air. He said that he thought that the Commander of the Dark Emperor showed himself to him.”
“The Dark Emperor?”
Bryan nodded. “The ruler of the Risen Ashes Kingdom.”
Alayah shrugged.
Marina spoke from behind them. “The majority of the kingdoms and cities we’ve been to belong to the Risen Ashes Kingdom. A few decades ago, a powerful mage offered his services to save them, and they owe him tribute and taxes. He calls himself the Dark Emperor.”
Silver mumbled, “He tried to make a deal with my father, but he had no intention of using his services. He’s ruthless. I should have thought of him when Finn talked about the Dark One. But the rumors are that the emperor is sick, and his new commander is the one calling the shots.”
“Why wouldn’t he want us to find the stone and save the world?” Alayah asked, looking back.
“If the world was saved—at least, this part of the world—then the kingdoms would prosper, and the rulers wouldn’t need his services. They would rebel once they had more men and the means to survive without the help of magic or his dark soldiers to keep the supposed peace,” Silver explained as he headed to Alayah’s side. “I wonder if he has any idea where to find the stone or if he needs you to find it.”
Alayah mused, “That still doesn’t explain where Glenn is and why the White Mage sent me to find him. Do you think that the White Mage sent me into a trap?”
“Maybe this guy knows more,” Silver suggested, aiming his gaze at the shivering human.
Bryan sucked in a long breath. “All I know is that this person wanted to hire Glenn for a service. He didn’t say anything ab
out the White Mage of Blyst. Plus, no one would dare to refuse a job from one of the Dark Emperor’s men.”
“What service?” Alayah asked.
Bryan looked her in the eye. “You and your squad must be the ones he’s running from after his men failed. The mage wanted you to be captured. There was talk about a powerful, magical item being in your possession. The mage would give that as payment to Glenn if he brought you to him alive.”
Clenching her jaw, Alay asked, “Where’s your cousin now?”
“When the men failed, he ran and hid. He even asked me for money. He loaded all of his belongings into a carriage and rushed out of town.”
Alay leaned closer to his face with a grin. “You don’t happen to know where he was heading, do you? It would save us both time if you didn’t lie.”
Bryan grinned back, showing his crooked teeth. “What’s in it for me if I tell you? A person needs to earn a living, and you look like the people of means.”
Alayah grimaced at the fetid smell of his breath. “The only reason you are still alive is because we need you for information. I’ll give you your life in return for the Glenn’s location. What do you think?”
“My life isn’t that great. I’d rather have pearls, so I can eat and provide for my family while I look for a new job. Now that Glenn closed up shop, I’m unemployed, and I’m assuming that a lot more people will come looking for me when they don’t find Glenn.”
Alayah straightened up and looked back at the other sirens. Marina and Kiera shrugged and glanced at Rose.
Rose searched in her backpack for a few pearls.
Alayah approached her and brought a small bag with beads to Bryan. “Now, tell me what you know.”
With a grin, Bryan raised his arm to reach for the bag. “For Scythe Citadel, he went.”
Alayah pulled the bag back. “Are you lying?”
He shook his head.
The commander let him grab the pearls.
He got up and tucked the bag inside his jacket. “Can I go now?”
With Alayah’s permission, he ran into the woods.
“We need to act quickly,” Silver said.
