by Rosie Scott
Generat le shouer, I thought, desperate to save the last remnants of the town as the fire spread. I reached both hands up to the sky, releasing water energy. Then, I fell back to the grass, collapsing from the immense pain of the power crushing my mind.
Twelve
An excruciating headache throbbed through my temples, searing my brain. I felt like I was drowning only until I realized I was lying in a puddle of my own tears.
“Jakan, give her your illusion spell! Please!” Cerin.
“She wasn't hurt, Cerin! How is she in pain?” Jakan retorted.
“It doesn't matter. Give her the spell.”
“Muta te sensa.” Warmth settled into the skin of my forehead. The spell worked as it always did, but a piercing pain still rolled through my head in spasms. Even after the magic dulled as much pain as it could, I still felt like I was halfway to death.
I opened my eyes, which was hard to do considering they were sopping wet with their own tears. My eyelashes stuck together as I rapidly blinked, finding the two men I'd been listening to standing above me. I was back in my own bed at the Tal inn, and the first pink glow of the sunrise was leaking through the windows facing east. Outside, I heard nothing but desperate sobs.
“Where...” My eyes slowly moved through the room.
“You're at the inn,” Jakan murmured, his eyebrows dipped with concern.
“I know...” I trailed off, before squinting my eyes shut with more pain. “The...others...?”
“Outside,” Cerin said softly. “Going through the dead.”
“The town...” Jakan trailed off before he sighed heavily. “It's ruined, Kai. A town of thousands, gone.” I heard a snap of his fingers. “Just like that.”
“No survivors?” I questioned, before forcing my eyes open again.
“Maggie,” Cerin replied. “And a few others. Maybe a few dozen people overall. Not enough to rebuild, that's for damn sure.” His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed before he laid his hand on my forehead. “What did he do to you?”
“Hades did not hurt me,” I said, my voice rough with trauma. “I hurt me. By trying to hurt him.”
“Does that make any sense to you?” Jakan asked Cerin softly.
“Not...really,” Cerin admitted.
“He has too much power,” I murmured. “I leeched from him for minutes, and he let me do it. He did not worry about dying, and the power was too much for me to handle. He wanted me to join him.”
“I saw him touch you,” Jakan acknowledged. “Why did he want you?”
“Wait...what?” Cerin blurted, alarmed.
“He wanted me, Cerin. To join him.” I grimaced as I pulled myself up on the bed to sit. The light of the sunrise felt many times as bright as my headache tried to come to terms with it. “He found me attractive. Sounded like he's been lonely. He finds necromancers hot, apparently.” I chuckled dryly, though it was cut short when it sent a spasm of pain through my head.
“Sounds like you two have something in common,” Jakan mused in jest.
“Hades said much of the same to me, only for a different reason.”
“Fucking pretentious bastard,” Cerin cursed.
“It got him to end his attack,” I pointed out, trying to stand. Jakan and Cerin both helped me by taking an arm. I felt wobbly on my own feet. I was not tired in the slightest; after all, I'd leeched enough energy to keep me awake for weeks, if not longer. The pain was simply incapacitating. “I was apparently convincing enough.”
“He may have ended the attack, Kai, but thousands are dead.” Cerin lifted one long arm to the window, where he pointed. I glanced outside. The grasslands were littered with bodies, ash, and blood.
“Thank the gods that he left,” Jakan breathed. “I think the fact that Hades liked you at all is the most luck we've had in Eteri yet.”
“I think you're right,” I agreed. “How is Azazel?”
“Terrified of the things he heard and ashamed of not being able to help,” Cerin answered.
I ambled through the inn room, preparing to go to the archer. I had such an abundance of energy that I felt it couldn't hurt to give most of it to his eyes.
The door to Nyx and Azazel's room was unlocked, so I figured Nyx must have come into the inn at some point when I'd been overcome with misery. The archer was lying in bed, bandages over his eyes that hadn't come off since his surgery. The growing light of the sunrise was inching through the room toward the bed. I grabbed a blanket that was bunched up on Nyx's side of the bed and handed it back to Cerin.
“Cover the windows.”
Cerin did so, blocking out most of the light. Azazel was so quiet that I thought he was asleep until I went around to his side of the bed, where he turned his face toward me.
“I'm sorry I couldn't help protect everyone,” he murmured.
“Don't you worry about that.” I brushed his long black bangs off his forehead, getting them out of the way of his eyes. I put a hand over his bandages, seeking injuries with life magic. As had been the case over the days after his surgery, they found nothing. After all, the budding scar tissue had been removed. The magic could not find blindness itself.
“Is it time to remove them?” Azazel questioned.
“It's been a week. I thought we might try today. Are you ready?”
“...I think so.” Azazel hesitated before he swallowed hard and asked, “What are the chances I'm blind?”
My stomach ached with uncertainty. I wasn't sure how to answer that. Complete blindness was very rare when it came to the situation Azazel had been in, but the power of the sun was great. Even so, we'd done everything we could for him. I had made sure the surgery went impeccably. I'd been funneling energy into his eyes every chance I got, and I was a skilled healer. I was able to heal a person's injuries at many times the rate they would typically need, but I'd never had to treat such delicate organs before.
Promotus le imun. I increased his immunity before starting to drain my own excess energy into the organs in another healing spell. Azazel gave up on receiving an answer to his question and only exhaled in pleasure as the warmth spread through his eyes.
“Where will I live? I planned on coming with you. Settling down in Sera, once you took it,” the archer murmured.
“You're not going to live anywhere because you're coming with us,” I replied, not giving in to negativity. “And then you'll live in Sera as you said because I want you there.”
Azazel smiled softly. “Cerin, is she lying to me?”
“I don't think so. She seems to believe it,” Cerin replied honestly.
“I'm going to take these off now,” I informed him, putting one finger beneath his bandages as I pulled scissors up from my new surgery kit. “Keep your eyes closed until I tell you otherwise.”
“Okay.”
I snipped through the bandages until they loosened around his head. I lifted up the front part of the dressing, looking over his eyes. They had crusted near their corners as the organs produced fluids to protect themselves. I glanced over to Jakan.
“Bring me that bucket and rags,” I requested, pointing to the tools I'd left in here for this moment, sitting on a corner table. Jakan brought them over to me a moment later, and as he held the bucket, I filled it with water from my magic. I cleaned Azazel's eyes with the wet rag, before drying them with another.
“I can see light behind my eyelids,” Azazel murmured.
“That's a good sign,” I told him, before nodding to Jakan to put the things away. I pulled the bandage out from behind the archer's head. Then, I put my hand over his closed eyes again, draining more healing energy from my own reserves until the pain that throbbed in my head started to subside.
“Where did you get all this energy?” Azazel asked.
“The god who decimated this town,” I replied.
“Ah. You killed him?”
I chuckled dryly. “No. It's a long story.” I pulled my hand away from his eyes, and added, “Try opening your eyes. Slowly.” I guarded the
m with a hand from the side as he started to flutter them open. Though he squinted them at times, he glanced around the room, his black eyes open and aware.
“Things are blurry...” he murmured.
“That's normal,” I told him, hope building in my heart. “Things may be blurry for weeks yet. The important thing is that you can see at all.” I held a hand before his eyes, holding up two fingers. “Can you see how many fingers I'm holding up?”
“Mm...two?”
I smiled, my own eyes heating with overwhelming relief. “Yes. Can you tell me where Cerin and Jakan are, and any details?”
“Uh...Cerin is by the wall, holding up...a cloak? Blocking out the light, I think?” Azazel turned his head, stopping when he found Jakan. “Jakan is by the table in the corner. And his...hair is down, which is odd. And he looks dirty.”
Jakan chuckled. “Thanks,” he teased. His bronzed face was clouded with the dark gray ash of a vampire which had exploded too close to him. The fact that Azazel could see that at all from across the room was a fantastic development.
I immediately collapsed over his torso, squeezing him tight. “Thank the gods, Azazel. I was so terrified.”
“No, thank you. It was that other god who did this to begin with.” I felt his arms come around me to hug me back. “You are such a good healer, Kai, and a better friend. I'm so happy I met you.”
I smiled into his shirt. “I'm happy I met you. And I'm happy you decided to come back to us. We still have to be careful with your eyes. You'll need to wear your hood at all times, and we'll find something for you to tie over them when you can, okay? They need to heal for a while yet.”
“Whatever you say I need, I'll do,” Azazel agreed.
After giving Azazel even more healing energy, I finally made my way outside of the inn to see the extent of the destruction myself. When I first walked into the open air, I noticed it was a beautiful day. The skies were bright blue and clear, and during my time with Azazel, the sun had finally risen in the east, leaving the long grasses glistening green with its light. Long shadows were cast across grass and sand alike from the stone buildings. A light breeze whistled between homes, making Tal the perfect temperature.
...but below the beauty, there were the remnants of a massacre. A hint of sulfur was carried along the breeze while holding hands with the stench of blood. Shrunken, emaciated bodies were scattered throughout the town. Long grasses to the north of town were shortened and scorched where Hades had thrown his burning cloak. Thankfully, I noticed my rains had stopped the fire before it could get to town. But even if it had reached the rest of Tal, it wouldn't have mattered.
There was an eerie silence that floated between racking sobs of the handful of survivors. I followed sounds of crying to the west, where the grasslands met the sands of the beach. Nyx was sitting beside Maggie on the edge of the grass, one hand patting the large woman's back for comfort as she cried. Before them both on the beach and docks were dozens of bodies of giants and Vhiri alike. I recognized the giant I'd greeted the first day we'd been here, who had given me directions. I also recognized the bartender Maggie had been so friendly with. I felt a tug on my heart as I realized the engineer had nothing left. The only town that had ever accepted her had been wiped off the map.
I walked up to the two women slowly. Nyx heard my presence and glanced back at me, smiling sadly. “Glad to see you're up,” my best friend greeted.
Maggie followed her voice to find me with swollen eyes. “I'm glad ya made it, Kai. I'm glad anyone made it at all.”
“I'm sorry for your losses, Maggie,” I murmured, standing beside her. Her blonde dreadlocks were thick with ash, proving she'd been up close and personal with our attackers.
“I appreciate the sentiment, love.” Her ordinarily jovial, strong voice was weak with mourning.
“Kai.” I turned at the sound of the voice, finding Altan coming toward me, his red eyes even more troubled than they had been a week before. As he neared, he acknowledged Maggie with a sad smile. He'd clearly already talked with her over the losses here. Altan exhaled heavily before he crossed his arms and watched out over the ocean with me. “Talk to me about what happened.”
“Hades was too strong. I tried for minutes to kill him, and he barely noticed. Was looking for Bhaskar, of course.”
“Did you tell him he was here?” The Sentinel questioned.
“I told him I came here looking for him and had been searching for two days. Got him to call off the attack, but it was already too late. He believed me when I said he wasn't here.”
“He went off to the north, Kai,” Altan murmured, troubled. “I worry he may attack Mistral.”
“He only knew Bhaskar was here because of his magic last week,” I replied.
“But he has come across him before. Hades knows where he is at all times.”
“No he doesn't, Altan, or Hades would have never come here. Bhaskar left a week ago.”
Altan nodded slowly. “I suppose that's true. Kai...I hate to bring this up again, but we need to depart for Mistral as soon as possible. Everything that has happened here needs to be reported and discussed. How is Azazel?”
“I took his bandages off this morning. He can see, but his vision is still blurry. He'll need to heal for weeks yet, but if we protect his eyes from the sun, he should be ready to depart from here with us.”
“Thank the gods he can see at all,” Nyx breathed a few feet away in relief.
“At least that's one bit of good news,” Maggie murmured in agreement.
“We will leave first thing tomorrow, then,” Altan decided, his eyes moving over the dead. “We need to do our best to clean this place up. I can send people down to give the populace proper burials when we get to Mistral.”
“Can I come with ya?” Maggie asked, her voice low.
Altan leaned forward a bit, looking past me to the giant. “All of your ships are here.”
“These are not my ships. They've never been my ships.”
I turned to her. “Why do you want to go to Mistral?”
“To give Queen Tilda my resignation in person,” Maggie replied dryly.
Altan sighed beside me. “Gods, everything is unraveling, and all because of one test. Thousands are dead.”
“I really hate your queen,” Nyx told the Sentinel.
Altan chuckled dryly, surprising me. “I know. She makes it easy, doesn't she?”
“Do you fear that any of this will be blamed on you?” I asked the Sentinel.
“Mm...I told you I'd be honest with you, Kai, so yes,” Altan murmured.
“Off the record, Altan, if you ever fear for your life, you are welcome to stay with us.”
Altan glanced over at me, his eyes softening in my own. “I appreciate that, Kai. I pray it doesn't come to that. I have served the queen for almost four hundred years. She likes me well enough. I have made mistakes before. She can be harsh to me, but she likes me.” With a small smile, he added, “Kirek is her favorite, though. Always follows orders without question.”
“Unlike you?” Nyx retorted sarcastically.
“You weren't there to see her giving me my orders,” Altan replied. “I had questions. I had concerns. So many of them, in fact, that I nearly thought she'd relieve me of my position. I think that's why she chose me to come here, in a way. To test my loyalty.”
“After four hundred years of service?” Nyx laughed dryly.
“Perhaps she expects others to be like herself,” Altan suggested, which amused me given I had said much the same a week before.
We were all quiet for a few minutes, keeping our eyes on the ocean. It was calm today, the waters having no care in the world as if they simply hadn't been present to witness the slaughter of the night before. The moisture that had hovered over the seas after their evaporation had finally rejoined the ocean just a day or two ago, which left the skies clear and open. The sea level had returned to normal, so the warships were floating beside the dock, though they were now unattended. Beneat
h the tranquil surface of the water, however, was a destroyed and tattered ecosystem.
“Altan...” I murmured.
“Hmm?”
“The queen knew this could happen. She was willing to risk losing this town and all of its people to test Bhaskar and I. You expressed your concerns. Bhaskar expressed his concerns because he knew the damage he could do. Sure, she took some precautions...” I trailed off, my eyes following the coast along the cliffs. Having Maggie maneuver the ship so far down along them meant most of the sunlight and heat of its power had been kept from ruining Tal. “She may be amoral, and she may take great risks with the lives of her people, but she did not succeed in leading Eteri over the centuries by being stupid.”
“What are you suggesting?” Altan questioned.
“Bhaskar said the queen wants Vertun dead, and that's the reason she's gotten him to agree to work with her. But all of this cannot be over the death of a single god. There is a great threat to Eteri that neither you or I am privy to. I don't know if Chairel and Hammerton are planning an attack, or if the gods themselves are planning an assault, but this is much, much bigger than you or I could possibly know. Even if the queen were the cruelest person in the world, she would not have wanted to lose Tal. This town was too economically important, and its loss will hit Eteri considerably.”
“Then why would she risk losing it at all, Kai?” Nyx asked, confused.
“Because the threat that she wants Bhaskar and me to face together has the possibility to ruin much more than Tal,” I replied. “She would rather lose this town than everything else. Eteri is in grave danger.”
Thirteen
39th of High Star, 421
Queen Tilda watched us with annoyed eyes as we walked into her throne room for the first time since we'd signed our agreement. Nyx had decided to sit outside on a bench and wait for us because she couldn't trust herself not to go off on the queen. Seeing the pretentious royal woman sitting safely up on her throne was going to do enough to test my own diplomacy skills after all she'd put us through.
