The Last Empath of Doctsland

by Leah Putz

  The roaring of the wind and the rain lessened significantly when I closed the door behind me and shut my eyes. Leaning against the door, I steadied myself and took the opportunity to reinstate my mental barricades, then sighed at the relief it brought. When I opened my eyes, I found the prince pacing back and forth. “Prince V, are you alright?” I asked tentatively, guessing that his pacing was indicative of how upset he was.

  “I’m fine,” he said dismissively. “And please just call me Vik.”

  Deciding it was best to leave him alone, I crossed the room and sat at the table we had had our kick off dinner at almost two weeks prior. Thankfully it seemed to be secured to the floor so it wasn’t lurching around the room as the ship did. “Doesn’t it drive you crazy?” The prince, Vik, I corrected in my mind, spoke. “Being cooped up in here when we should be out there helping?”

  I turned towards him. “Do you know much about sailing?” I asked.

  He looked up, confused. “What?”

  I repeated the question pointedly.

  “I mean, no,” he answered. “Not much. Capital City is landlocked. I’ve been out on the warships before to christen them with my father, but that’s about it.”

  “Me neither. I’ve been on boats on the Loch, but I’ve never been sailing in open water on a vessel such as this. It seems like in this scenario, people with seafaring experience are needed. I’m not sure how much we could help. It seems more likely we would just get in the way. And Siofra is right, the two of us are indispensable.”

  Rather than reply, he threw himself onto his bed in a huff, reminding me of a petulant child. My instinct was to say as much, but I held my tongue, and reminded myself that this wasn’t the common annoying fisherman’s son I was used to in Loch. This was the future king of Doctsland.

  The struggle of withholding my thoughts was soon the least of my worries, when the entire ship was thrown sideways. Water burst in, breaking the window above the prince’s bed, and showering him in shattered glass and seawater. Releasing my grip on the table, I allowed myself to slide across the room over to him. “Are you okay? We need to get out of here!” I yelled over the rushing water.

  He nodded, blood running down his face, and grabbed the hand I offered to him. I glanced around the room, panicked, trying to figure out a way out. Panicked, I saw that the cabinet containing Gaisgea and other items of the prince’s had been thrown across the door, blocking it from being opened. My eyes scanned the room, searching for another exit. “That window!” The prince shouted, gesturing to the window on the other side of the room, now almost directly above us. “I’ll boost you up so you can grab onto the table. Once you get to the window, throw the curtain down to me.”

  I couldn’t come up with anything better under the circumstances, so I agreed, stepping up onto his clasped hands. Reaching my arms out, I stretched as he lifted me until I could finally get a tight hold on one of the table’s legs. I thanked the Kelps for his height. If he was any less than six feet this would not have worked, and we would have been stuck. Using all of my strength, including some I didn’t even know I had, I pulled myself up and around the table until I could reach the curtain and yank it down. After quickly fastening it to the table leg closest to me, I threw it down to the prince. I watched to make sure he was able to grab a hold, then turned my attention to the window. It was fastened shut, and I stood on my toes using the table for balance as I reached for the latch to open it. My height was so disadvantageous that I could barely brush my fingers against it. Grimacing with frustration, I tried to push myself higher, reaching, and in the process lost my balance.

  Thankfully the prince had reached me, and snatched my arm to hold me steady before I could tumble back down into the swirling water below. I glanced up, not bothering to take the time or spend the energy shouting it when it was doubtful he’d hear over the storm and the wreckage anyway. He nodded and reached up to undo the latch and open the window. Clasping his hands, he motioned for me to step into them again for a boost. I did so, and he lifted me until I could reach the window sill and pull myself up and out of it.

  As soon as I breached the side of the ship, the wind and rain began whipping around me. When I realized the Prince had not followed me, I turned, looking back through the window and searched for him. “Prince Viktor!” I screamed as I saw him heading back down into the room. “You need to get out of there!”

  “Just wait! I need my mother’s sword!” he called back, pulling it from the cabinet near the door and fastening its belt around his waist before crawling back up and out of the ship. I grabbed to help him get steady on his feet, though it was difficult for either of us to maintain because of the strength of the storm swirling around us. “What do we do now?” I yelled over the noise.

  The prince looked at me and then at the sea around us wildly, clearly unsure, until he suddenly seemed to brighten. I followed his gaze and saw a small life boat, holding Jion, Siofra, and several members of the crew. They were beckoning to us, and yelling something, though we could not hear them from the distance.

  “We jump!” Prince Viktor replied, leaping off the ship after grabbing my hand and pulling me along with him.

  Though it had seemed a long way down, the fall happened quickly, and before I knew it I was plunging into the deep, cold water of the sea. It filled my nose and I tasted salt on my lips as I began to fight my way upwards against the current, my connection with the prince sundered due to the violent churning of the sea.

  Once I broke the surface, I looked around frantically, trying to locate the position of the boat. It was difficult to see anything in the darkness of the night, but a sudden flash of lighting brightened the world around me. I thanked the Kelps for growing up in Loch, as all citizens of the town spend a significant amount of their childhood swimming in the Loch, making nearly all of us exceptional swimmers. The life boat became visible, a mere ten or fifteen feet in front of me, but the prince was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he got to the boat already, I thought. The flash had been bright but swift. I’d seen the boat but couldn’t make out any of the figures inside of it. It seems they’d been able to make me out as well, because suddenly a life saver attached to a rope was thrown my way. I grasped onto it immediately, and was pulled towards the boat and into it. As soon as I climbed aboard I glanced at each person, searching. “Where is the prince?!” I asked, panicked.

  Siofra stood, a look of horror spreading on her face. “We thought he was with you!”

  “He was, but we lost each other when we jumped,” I explained, rushing to lean over the side of the boat and search the water. It was too dark, and the rain was too heavy. I couldn’t see.

  “I’m going in,” Jion said, standing up and preparing to jump into the sea.

  “Wait!” I yelled, stopping him. “It’s too dangerous for anyone to jump in. We can’t see anything. The chances of you getting lost are too high.”

  “It’s better for me to get lost than for us to lose Vik. We’re losing time.” He moved to jump.

  “No! I think I can locate him. Just give me one moment,” I said, opening up my mind. It had been a long time since I’d searched for a person this way, and I prayed it would work. I focused an image of the prince in my mind, zoning in on his unique voice, trying to push all the others to the side. I found him, almost directly below the boat, only two or three feet beneath the surface, but the heavy blade strapped to his waist was pulling him deeper. “I know where he is,” I said. Once I had him in my mind I held on tight and, not wanting to waste a moment more, leapt into the water to find him.

  He was right where I thought he was, near the boat but too far under for us to have seen him from there. Floating, the wound in his head from the window still gushing. I grabbed him and pushed him up, breaking the surface and hollering for a rope right away. Whether or not they heard me or just saw us pop above the water is a mystery, but regardless the rope was thrown, and I latched on to it immediately. They began reeling us in at once, and it didn’t take lo
ng before I was once again being pulled up over the side and into the boat, this time along with the prince.

  “Is he breathing?” Siofra asked, and I saw Jion laying the prince on his back and leaning down to listen to his breath.

  “I can’t tell. The storm is too loud!” Jion yelled back.

  I focused again on the flicker of life that came from him. “He’s still alive!” I exclaimed. “I can feel him. He’s weak, but alive.”

  Jion began to pump his chest, counting the compressions and watching closely for any signs of life. It was only a matter of seconds before the prince began coughing up water. We breathed a collective sigh of relief as he opened his eyes and appeared to regain his senses. “Where are we?” he asked when he awoke.

  “We don’t know,” Siofra replied, clearly worried. “We have to be getting close to Bushand, considering how long we’ve been on the water. But there’s no telling how close, or how far.”

  “Hopefully the shore isn’t far. We’ve got very few supplies, all of our food either went down with the ship, or became soaked when we jumped. Thankfully Siofra had the mind to grab as many water skins as she could before the ship went down, but those won’t last long,” Jion said.

  Everyone remained silent, fear and concern growing and I put up my walls to ensure that I was only burdened with my own. As soon as I felt I was the only one occupying my own mind, I drifted off into a fitful sleep.

  Chapter Eight

  Viktor

  For the first time in two long weeks I felt earth beneath me. Sand, to be exact, was cushioning my body and sticking to my damp clothes as I lay face down among it. Blinking, I pushed myself upright and looked around. I had to squint and shield my eyes with my hand due to the brightness of the sun, but once my eyes adjusted I could see the beauty before me. Jade colored sand as far as the eye could see, dipping seamlessly into turquoise blue water, which contrasted drastically from the sea I remembered from the previous evening. I turned, looking behind me and was met with a bright green jungle, with tall trees the like of which I had never seen before. My eyes followed up the long trunks to the large lanceolate leaves, which had to have been bigger than my torso.

  “Where are we?” I said, not knowing if anyone was even around to hear me.

  Suddenly a familiar face poked out amongst the trees. “Bushand, I hope,” Lisalya said, emerging from the foliage.

  Brushing as much sand off myself as possible, I grinned up at her as I briefly remembered being hauled aboard the lifeboat. “I think I may owe you my life. Thank you.”

  She bowed her head, black hair falling into her gaze. “You’re welcome, Viktor. We all have a duty to each other, I was merely upholding mine. Is everyone else alright? I don’t remember landing here…”

  I began to panic as I realized we were separated from the rest of our crew. Where were my friends? “All of us that were on the life boat survived the wreck.” I let out a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding as I heard Siofra’s voice. “Thankfully, most of the crew managed to lower a second life boat and escape in it. There were very few casualties. We were incredibly lucky. The waves crashed us onto the beach after dawn, but no one was injured. I just came to wake you up, the others are a few years into the jungle. We’re trying to stay under its cover while we figure out where exactly we are.”

  “We are in Bushand at least?” I asked.

  Siofra nodded. “Jion recognized the sand. He said all the beaches here have this strange color.”

  “Well I’d like to help as much as I can. Lead the way, please.”

  When she turned and strolled back into the thick grove of trees Lisalya and I followed closely.

  “It’s not a far walk,” Siofra explained as we trudged through the jungle. “We’re all exhausted. We didn’t want to trek too far into the jungle. But we needed to get off the beach, out of sight.”

  “The beach looked empty...” Lisalya said, confusion evident in her stormy eyes.

  “For now,” I spoke up. “But if I know Siglind, he’s going to be anticipating an attack. He’s paranoid. He will have guards patrolling all his borders, especially those on the sea. He knows our strength is in our navy.” I said, coming to a sudden stop behind Siofra as I saw the bustling friendly faces of our Doctsland crew.

  “I lost the map.” Jion said, strolling out from among the crew to meet us. “It was in my bunk, and went down with the ship. I’ve no idea where we’ve landed, and without it it’s going to be damn hard to find out.”

  I tried to hold off the panic that was building in me. We were stuck in enemy territory with no map and no clue where we were, or how far we were from Nul. Lisalya must have sensed my growing agitation and rested a comforting hand on my forearm which, to my surprise, helped to steady me slightly. I turned to Siofra, putting my faith in her to come up with a plan as I often had before. “What do we do?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

  Siofra turned to Lisalya. “Can you sense anyone nearby? Maybe if we can find someone to approach, we can ask for a map and discern our location as well as gaining some people to our cause.”

  Lisalya closed her large eyes, a look of deep concentration settling over her features. “I can only sense us. There is no one else anywhere nearby.”

  “Kelps,” Jion grumbled, turning and kicking a log. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to gather himself, and sighed before speaking again. “We need to get moving. It’s hot in Bushand, and we’ve only got a few water skins Siofra managed to grab. Not to mention the fact that we’ve got no food. We’ll need to make a camp as soon as possible, but we should try to get oriented first. It has to be before noon, and the sun is in the east and on our left. We were going to head south to land near Green Marsh before the ship wrecked, and I also don’t remember there being any forests like this in the south when I was here as a child. I think we’re too far north.”

  “Then let’s start heading south. I think we should move further inland and try to find the river. I remember a bit of the map, and Waterford River runs along the length of the east coast of Bushand. If we can find it, we can follow it all the way to Green Marsh,” Siofra said, and I thanked the Kelps for her wisdom and gift of memory.

  “Lisalya, is it possible for you to keep searching as we move and let us know if we are approaching anyone?” I asked as we began to collectively head further into the jungle, keeping the sound of the ocean in range and on the left to ensure we had a sense of our direction.

  She chewed her lip. “I’m not sure. I haven’t done that before, but I will try.”

  I nodded. It wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for, but I prayed to the Kelps that she’d be successful, accepting that that was all I could do. “Well, let’s start moving.”

  Taking the lead, Siofra and Jion hacked a path through the jungle with their swords and we moved forward, following in their footsteps. I hope we don’t have to go very far I thought. They’ll burn out hacking through this thick brush before long, but they’ll both be too stubborn to say anything until I call for us to halt.

  We had moved perhaps only a Kelpstep inland when we found the river, and we all shared relieved grins. “Let’s get some water and rest a bit, then move on.”

  “We cannot rest for too long this close to the water. Waterford River is likely a large source of transportation. We don’t want to be seen by anyone unless it’s on our terms,” Siofra said.

  After spending a few minutes catching our breath and refilling the water skins Siofra had saved, we were ready to be on the move again when Lisalya stopped short, grabbing my arm. “Someone is coming.”

  My eyes widened. “Where? Can you tell from where?”

  Her eyes seemed glassy as she spoke. “From the other side of the river, but moving closer. Moving towards us.”

  Siofra took the lead, speaking in a low and quiet voice. “Quick! Everyone, back into the trees. Hide yourselves and remain silent.”

  We had only just finished following her orders when voices
began to rise up over the sound of the river. “Captain Carthoc! It is just his father’s sword, a keepsake. He gave his life for Bushand!” an old woman howled.

  They came into view, a pale man dressed head to toe in black Bushanian armor, dragging a young man behind him. A flock of soldiers followed him, along with the wailing woman.

  “The law is clear. There is no reason to have any weapons under any circumstances. Having one in your possession is proof that you are conspiring against the king. The punishment for treason is death.”

  “He’s my baby! He’s only a boy!” she sobbed, reaching out for what I could only assume was her son. I gripped a branch in front of me in frustration, wanting to intervene and save him. But we had no way to cross the rushing river, and were sorely outnumbered by this Captain Carthoc and his men. All we could do is watch and wait.

  “There are no exceptions to the law. King Siglind does not care how old a traitor is.” The Captain spat before turning to the soldiers around him. “Mark him as a traitor and hang him over the river as a warning to others that may think of rising up against our beloved king.”

  We watched in horror as they tore open the tunic of the boy, who could not have been more than fifteen, and carved a large, deep ‘T’ into his chest as he screamed in pain. Lisalya, who was crouched between Siofra and me, winced with tears streaming down her face. Siofra put an arm over her shoulders and a hand over her mouth to silence her, and Lisalya turned into her embrace. I hoped she was able to build her walls up enough to protect herself from his pain, though that wouldn’t protect her from the torment of witnessing such an event without being able to do anything to intervene.

  Once they were finished marking him, they strung him up over the river, hanging him by his neck. The only solace provided was that they had dropped him from a great height, and it appears his neck snapped at once. He was no longer suffering.