His death had been too damn fast.
"I need help over here!" I yelled, reaching my hand out to the vrytra.
A loud clanging sound reverberated through the room and I froze, hand just inches from touching them.
"Kaiya. Turn around slowly. Very slowly," hissed Eli. "I'd prefer not to make the large vrytra in that cage any more angry than she already is."
Carefully, I turned to see what he was talking about. The creature in the left-most cage thrashed their tail wildly against the bars. I'd been so focused on the young one that I'd completely missed her.
Even from this distance, I could see the scars and lacerations along the entire tail where spikes protruded from every other vrytra I'd seen. Had they removed her spikes?
"That mage will have told his people that we're here by now," said Lynk, walking to my side. "We need to get moving."
I looked between the two vrytra, helpless and at the will of those twisted mages.
We couldn't just leave them here!
I crossed my arms across my chest, staring Lynk down. "You may go, but I’ll be staying. They need my help.”
He grimaced. "Gods be damned." Taking a steadying breath, he looked to Eli. "Well, kid. Are you ready to show off a little?"
Eli nodded, his face tense. Then he closed his eyes, and I felt something pop behind my ears …
"NOOOOO!" The scream reverberated in my skull as though it were a drum and the voice a mallet. "NO MORE!!!"
I dropped to my knees, my hands pressing into my ears to drown out the sound.
The sound was IN my head, though, so it made no difference.
My mind ached with the pressure.
Desperately, I turned towards the cage.
Eli stood between me and the adult vrytra, arms outstretched and eyes closed.
What was he doing?
25
Kaiya
I stared, wide-eyed, as Eli crept closer to the large cage. "We mean you no harm," his honey-smooth voice echoed in my skull.
"Weaaaaver — how dare you join with them!" The feminine voice that had been screaming a few moments ago still sounded furious. But at least she was talking now.
"I am not with whoever did this to you! If I'd known you were here …" the anguish in his voice was practically palpable, "I'd never leave a living creature to endure this."
The vrytra was quiet, her tail thrashing in time to my heartbeats. Finally, her large, angular head dropped into view and the thrashing slowed.
Scars crossed her face, and one eye was completely missing. "I can sense the truth in your words, but who is the other one?"
I stepped forward, dipping my head slightly. "I'm Kaiya, and I'm not here to hurt you. I'd — I'd like to help the young one. If you let me free them, I can help … you'll see we mean no harm."
The vrytra set her tail rapping against the bars again. I stiffened, but Eli kept his position, arms outstretched.
Finally, she sighed. "I'm Solyn and she is Lunei."
"Can you tell me what happened?" Eli's voice was soft … soothing, and my lower back burned, but I could feel an odd warmth flowing from me to him as I turned to the table.
A squelching sound made me look down. Lifting my foot, I gagged at the blue fluid that congealed there. The little vrytra's blood was everywhere.
Those mages were fucking monsters!
"I will show you," Solyn said just as a buzzing started at the base of my skull. It spread through my head quickly, taking me to my knees. Then images started appearing in rapid succession.
A happy family. Small vrytra swimming and playing amongst tall stone ruins. Peace. Then one disappeared. And another. Concerned, I went out searching for where my young were going — only to be caught by humans. They trapped me in a cage and no matter how hard I fought, there was no escape.
Then they started bringing my young in, too, and I was filled with desperation.
I started slamming myself against the walls until finally the wall collapsed and I was free. Exhilarated, I rushed to the other cages and set my young free. But I wasn't fast enough — humans swarmed the area, and I was too weakened to fight for long. A large man, as big as a giant, stepped forward with something glinting in his hands.
Searing pain cut across my face and everything went black.
When I woke up, they were operating on my young saying something about her viability to carry young. A small man stood beside them, gesturing wildly.
A mage … ?
Rage filled me and I tried to lash out again, but I'd been weakened in the escape … or they'd done something to me when I was out. Regardless, I had no energy left to fight.
Filled with despair, I watched impotently as they operated on my young, over and over, for many years.
Pain split my skull as the buzzing ceased. I cradled my head in my hands as I tried to process it all.
Was this why the wild vrytra wept?
Why would someone do something so evil? Didn't they understand these creatures were sentient? I looked up to the swirling white eye of Solyn, and bile filled my throat. There was no way that someone could see the intelligence there and not know …
My heart ached for her and her people. And that tall man … he was familiar.
The manservant with Lady Ellingsworth at the Harlsteds! She was part of this disaster? I should have KNOWN that viper was involved in this.
Anger burned in my chest as I stood on shaky legs, walked to Lunei's side, and reached out with my korra.
Her korra was bright, but I could feel the energy slipping away.
Panic twisted in my stomach. This felt all too similar to when Uncle Calix was sick …
A cool hand pressed into my elbow and I looked over to see Eli standing there, hand outstretched. "Try using this."
I held my hand out, curious, and gasped when the small relic from the cliff fell into my palm.
I picked it up gingerly, turning the warm stone in my hands as I tried to figure out what to do with it.
The relic's korra was a swirling mass of colors and life, but I had no idea how to actually connect it to Lunei!
"Feel for the life inside, Kaiya. The same way you use your intuition to "know" where relics are." Eli's voice filled me with a strange calm.
He was right. I could sense relics, and this was just a relic!
I closed my eyes and expanded my view of the relic's korra until I ‘saw' both it and another set behind it. The relic and Lunei?
But what did I do with it?
Suddenly, another set of eyes stared up at me from my memory, green and clouded with fever. The panic in my stomach shifted to my chest, and my breath stuck there.
My skin prickled with sweat, and I had to lock my knees to keep them from collapsing.
I'd failed him. I was going to fail Lunei, too.
Eli and Lynk said I had magic, but who the fuck knew what it could do? Wouldn't Eli be better for this?
"It's okay if you can't heal me, you know. I … I just don't want the knives and hands touching me anymore." The small voice quivered with sad resignation and the second cloud of colors pulsed to the same rhythm, bright blues and greens tangling with each other over and over.
My heart ached for her, but what could I do to help?
I felt powerless …
"Death is a kind of freedom, too," the small voice spoke again. "I've seen my sisters go, and I think they're happier there than they ever were here."
She was right, but far too young to know that truth.
No. I wouldn't let history repeat itself. I wouldn't let this young vrytra suffer any more for the human's greed.
Determined, I pulled on the relic's korra and pushed it toward Lunei's.
A delicate silver strand followed the path I set.
Oh gods. Was it actually working?
Green light pulsed along the connection, spreading from the relic to Lunei. But her korra was still fading.
The connection was too weak.
Again? What if I di
d it again? Surely it couldn't hurt anything!
I pulled strand after strand to Lunei's korra until it was a deep pulsing cord. A connection between her, the relic, and me.
"Fuck." Eli's voice filtered through the darkness of the korra realm, pulling at my focus. "Stop, Kaiya. You aren't strong enough for this."
I fought his voice, but it reverberated through my mind, breaking the focus I needed to stay with the relic and Lunei.
My mind slipped back to my body, and exhaustion crashed over me like a tsunami. Legs trembling, I opened my eyes and reached for the metal table.
It would be fine if Lunei was okay …
Anguish tore at my throat as past and present met in my mind. If I'd failed, it meant another life lost. If I'd succeeded, did that mean I could have saved Uncle Calix?
"Kaiya, you did it." Eli's soothing voice was a balm for my frayed nerves, his arms reaching around me the support I needed.
Heaving a deep breath, I looked up at the small vrytra, my stomach in knots. The wounds across her body had been healed and though the fin hadn't been regrown, there was a neat scar forming across the wound.
It had worked!
I wanted to yell with joy, but the weakness in my legs was spreading and I didn't know whether it was me holding myself up or Eli.
"She needs to drop the connection! It's draining her too much. Give her to me," Lynk said, voice tight. His hands gripped my waist, and he lifted me in one motion. I turned into his chest, the familiar scent of herbs and rain filling my nose.
What did he mean, drop the connection? My brain was too fuzzy for me to figure it out, and my tongue too large to ask.
As darkness closed in on my vision, an eerily familiar feminine voice spoke to my soul. "Let go … just let go, Forsaken."
26
Kaiya
The feminine voice tugged at me, pulling me deeper. I pushed against it desperately.
Wherever it lurked was not good … it was cold and empty.
I shuddered.
"Stop, little thief. Fight it!" Lynk's voice was hard in my mind, hard enough to break the pull the darkness had on me. "Come on, Kaiya!"
I came back to my body, noticing how one arm held me to his chest while the other hand pressed into my forehead, the warmth oddly comforting. It was like sunshine in my skull, and the longer it stayed there the more the pain and exhaustion faded until all that was left was him.
Intrigued, I pressed back against the feeling, exploring along the connection until I reached something colder … something dark and icy. "What is that?"
"No, little thief. That's not for you. Never you …"
Then it was all gone.
Warm sunshine washed over me, soothing all my frayed nerves as my breath slowed to a normal pace.
Finally whole, I opened my eyes to see three concerned faces around me — two human and one very reptilian. I smiled at them, then focused on Lunei. "I'm so glad you're okay, little one!"
"Thanks, mage! You saved me!"
"I suppose so … no more of that death talk, though. Okay?"
"Okay."
"Would you care to get down now, little thief, or do you plan to stay in my arms forever?" Lynk's voice rasped against my ear, sending prickles down my neck and arms. Oh gods. I'd somehow forgotten he was carrying me.
The heat of his chest enfolded me and I fought the urge to sink in.
Wriggling, I dropped to the ground and stepped away, glaring at him. The ass just stood there, those silver eyes emotionless. Of course! He was just saving some idiot kid. What was I thinking?
"Lunei?" Solyn's voice was tentative in my mind. Happy to ignore Lynk, I turned to watch as the young vrytra moved towards her mother. Lunei squeezed through the metal bars and I practically felt the love as the two embraced.
Heart aching, I turned to Eli and Lynk and motioned to the dozen remaining cages. "The rest. We have to help them." Most seemed to contain vrytra of varying sizes, but a few had other creatures, too.
Lynk nodded. "Kaiya, talk to Solyn and find out what's going on here. We saw the past, but it would help to know what idiocy spurred those mages to do this."
"Me?" I asked, heart hammering, "Wouldn't Eli be better at it? That's his gift!"
"And you just saved her young. I have a feeling she'll be more inclined to talk with you, right now …" He tipped his head towards the cage and the two vrytra embracing. "Besides, you're still weak from healing her. This will be a good rest for you."
Grimacing, I turned towards the cage. Gods be damned, why was he always right?!
"Thank you, Weaver, for helping Lunei." Solyn's voice was quiet and almost reverent.
"Weaver?" Why did creatures keep calling me that?
"Our people's name for your kind — those who bind."
A lump formed in my throat. What a nice way to describe whatever it was that I could do …"Of course. Anyone would have done the same."
"I think not — especially not after what you've been through. I hope you get the happy ending you deserve."
I could only nod, my throat too tight to speak.
"If I could ask one more thing of you?" she asked, leaning into the light and nudging something towards the metal bars … a small pile of pearls? They were disturbingly similar to the ones popular amongst the church attendees lately.
"What — why do you have those?" I asked, taking them. Unlike the ones I'd seen before, these had a slight tingly glow and they felt warm to the touch.
"They are my young; the last of them, I think. My body is too far gone now to produce more. I tried, but I fear that's why the young ones were caught and brought in. All that cutting … just to get more eggs." Fury tinged her words, and an answering emotion ached in my chest.
Her young were being butchered for a fashion statement? These were sentient, living beings!
Anger burned through me.
"I'm so sorry. I'll make sure they don't get these." I pulled the eggs towards me and tucked them safely into my bag. "But why don't you bring them yourself?"
She shifted in the cage, sending a rattling sound through the room as her tail twitched. "My future lies here, unfortunately." She shifted again, enough to show me the lacerations down her tail. It was a mangled mess. "I'll never swim again. The young ones will carry on for me, though. My oldest, Renhira, will be a good leader for them."
My heart ached, and I looked for Eli or Lynk, someone to speak some sense into her. Neither was close enough, though.
Chest tight, I turned back to her. "I'll find a way to get you out. You just have to fight it a bit longer!"
She shook her head slowly. "It's okay, Weaver. Really, it is."
My fists clenched. I'd force her to save herself, if I had to!
Footsteps echoed beyond the door Lynk had blocked. That damn mage had grabbed reinforcements and was coming back.
27
Kaiya
"Kaiya! We need to get going," Eli's voice called from across the room.
I looked between him and the creatures still being freed. There were at least a dozen vrytra of different colors, a few fleirals — their horse-like bodies with purple feathers and outstretched wings shimmered in the lyphos light, and a fiery red revyn let out a loud call and swooped to Eli's shoulder.
Perhaps we could split up? The water creatures could go through the pool, and the land creatures could go back through the ruins?
No. That wouldn't work. The ruins ended in a cliff with a hundred foot drop …
Our only option was through the water.
"You will be caught if you don't get moving," Solyn said. "Let Renhira assist you." She tilted her head towards a red-scaled vrytra that emerged from the tall cage beside her. This one seemed to be almost full grown and stared at me with swirling golden eyes. "She will take you underground through the caves humans cannot traverse."
"I'll keep you safe, Weaver," the younger vrytra said, her voice soft and melodic.
I looked between the two of them. "What about Solyn? S
urely we can't just leave her … especially not with the mages coming right now. They're going to be furious …"
"I'm old, little Weaver … too old for this world," Solyn scoffed. "Besides, we both know there's no way for me out of here."
"I could heal you!" I said, glaring at her.
She tilted her head to the side, that single white eye looking me up and down. "You're still too weak for that, and we both know it. Just — promise me you'll make them pay. Make those mages regret ever hurting my children."
I nodded. What else could I do? Regardless of my intentions, I couldn't save someone who didn't want to save themselves. Hot tears coursed down my cheeks as I turned away.
"Be careful, Solyn."
The cage rattled behind me, and I wiped away the wetness on my cheeks.
Lunei slipped into the water first, then the other vrytra and finally Renhira.
I climbed onto her thick red scales, and Lynk slipped on a large green vrytra beside us. Eli clutched that red revyn atop one of the fleirals treading water.
"Hang on!" Renhira shouted as we rushed for the far wall. Before we went under, I turned for one last look at Solyn, tapping her tail against her cage in a slow rhythm.
I'd figure out some way to save her and come back … it was the only way I could even consider leaving her behind.
Then the stone blocking the door shattered, sending a cascade that blocked the hall we'd entered through. People streamed into the room, their dark robed forms crowding the beach. Two had changed into giants, and another few were mist, like the mage in the cave.
Gods. How many of those twisted mages were there?
"Hold your breath!" Renhira said.
I sucked in a deep breath, careful to hold the air in my belly.
My throat ached at the thought of Solyn back there, dealing with those angry mages. We would be back to help her …
And then we dove and were flying through the water. I wasn't able to think any longer.
Forsaken Secrets: A slow-burn new adult fantasy romance (Isle of the Forsaken Book 1) Page 13
