by Eric Vall
I tightened my grip in the pirates’ minds and their small rowboat slowed to a stop in the water just outside of the cove. I glared down at them and motioned with my hand for them to row closer to the main ship. They did as they were instructed, and the captain scurried away from the helm to retrieve a rope ladder for us. He slung it over the side and then turned to me with anxious eyes. Whatever was here was already working on him and the pirates but I wasn’t finished with him just yet.
“Wait for us here.” I commanded in a booming voice and the captain bowed his head.
“Yes, Master, as you wish.” the portly man murmured as I swung my leg over the railing onto the ladder.
I climbed downward into the back of the boat and settled myself down. My women hurried after me and sat down on the last two empty benches of the boat. Once we were settled in and ready to go, I raised my head and connected eyes with the leader of the pirates. His shoulders tensed, and his whole body shook but he lifted his arms and pushed off towards the entrance of the cove.
“What do you think is in there?” Carmedy asked as she leaned forward.
“Something powerful,” I nodded as we came within a few feet of the entrance of the cave mouth and leaned my head back to take in the lanterns pressed into the rocky walls. “Not a god, but something else.”
“How can you tell that it’s not a god?” Rana asked as she sat up from Annalise’s lap finally and looked me in the eye.
“All gods can sense each other out; you all know this from experience. Each god’s power imprint is unique, and no two are alike. What I’m sensing now is not of the god’s realm but something fabricated from earth. It’s not a natural power; everything about this place is... forced. Even this cavern isn’t natural to the island.” I told them as I pointed to the rocky walls.
“So, it’s all an illusion?” the high queen asked as she reached for Bloodscale and rested her hand against its pommel.
“No, it’s real, you can reach out and touch it, it’s real rock, but it’s transplanted here,” I said as I reached out and touched the porous rocks with my leather gloved hands. “Carmedy, are there any volcanoes on the islands of Canarta?”
The feline’s brows furrowed as she thought then she shook her head doubtfully.
“No, the islands are tropical, but there aren’t any volcanoes on them or anywhere near them,” the petite alchemist stated as her ears swiveled as if listening to something far off in the distance. “I think the closest island with a volcano is at least a two-day journey by ship.”
My eyes shifted to Rana as the fox’s black tipped ears flicked twice then the left one turned all the way around to listen to something behind us. Rana’s baby-blue eyes were distracted, and her paws drummed anxiously on the wooden bench as she fidgeted. Our eyes connected, and she stared at me for a second as if she were looking directly through me. Annalise’s heightened senses kicked in as she glanced at me then her redheaded sister.
“Rana, what’s wrong?” the swordswoman asked as her hand tightened on the grip of her sword. “You and Carmedy’s ears have been going crazy, can you hear something?”
“I keep hearing something like the wind, but it’s not the wind, maybe like a whisper?” the feline whined in distress as she rubbed at her black ears then looked to Rana for her explanation.
“I’m not hearing a whisper, it’s a song,” the redhead admitted as her head turned straightforward, and her ears stayed frozen and alert in the air. “I don’t know it, but I could swear I’ve heard it before.”
“What are the words? Can you hear them?” I questioned as I reached out and stroked a lock of her fiery hair.
“No, they’re in a language I can’t understand, but I feel like I know it…I know it from here…” Rana answered as she pressed her paw to her chest where her heart was, and I squinted down at her.
“Maybe it’s a lullaby your mom sang to you as a kid?” Carmedy tilted her head and gave Rana a small smile, but the redhead shook her head vehemently.
“No, my mom doesn’t know any other languages,” the fox-girl whispered as she concentrated hard, and her blue eyes wavered in their sockets. “I feel like…this language is something I’ve always known but never learned, does that make any sense?”
We looked at the fox confusedly and shook our heads except for Carmedy. Surprisingly the cat had a strange look in her eyes as she gazed over at Rana. The feline bit her lip and cupped her chin for a moment before she opened her lips tentatively to speak.
“I think I understand what you mean, it may sound stupid but the cat language, not Nekokian or any of the other native languages of the islands but the dialect of full-blooded cats. I feel like if I concentrate really hard, I can understand what they’re saying to each other in meows.”
Annalise’s lips pressed together into a thin line as she suppressed the urge to argue that statement and Morrigan’s white eyebrows lifted slowly in astonishment but Rana’s bright blue eyes cleared, and she sat up straighter. It seemed as if Carmedy’s words had struck a chord within her, and Rana pressed her fingertips to her temples as she listened harder. The redhead stayed like this for a few more minutes as we were plunged into darkness between lanterns. I could barely make out her silhouette in the dim light, but she stayed in this position as she slowly rubbed at her temples.
“The fleet fox that runs is a coward.” Rana struggled out through gritted teeth, and my eyebrows shot up in shock.
“What?” the high queen asked as she leaned forward in her seat.
“The lazy fox that doesn’t run is a fool.” The redhead growled as she tightly squeezed her eyes shut and listened harder than ever before.
“Holy moly, you’re …you’re actually translating it?” Carmedy cried excitedly.
“The crafty fox that slips between the shadows is…clever.” The fox-girl said in a pained voice as she held her head, and I reached out for her as I sensed her whole body seizing up from the strain.
“If it hurts, then you can stop,” I whispered to the fox, but she shook her head violently.
“No, it’s important, I can feel it.” Rana panted as her paws dropped from her temples and rested on her knees in tightly clenched fists. “The old fox that lives in the in-between is sly, and sharp…the old fox understands the trap. That same saying from the coin.”
“The fleet fox that runs is a coward, the lazy fox that doesn’t run is a fool. The crafty fox that slips between shadows is clever, the old fox that lives in the in-between is sly, and sharp…the old fox understands the trap,” Annalise recited as she went through the lines of the song then looked to me. “What does it mean, Master?”
“I don’t know for sure but I can tell you this, it’s a tale of caution. ‘The old fox understands the trap’ means that experience comes with age. The older we become, the more we know and have gone through. I’m unsure of the other lines, though I believe we’re about to find out.”
I pointed down the tunnel where it opened up into the massive cove I’d seen before from the mind of the pirate leader. My minion’s eyes swiveled from me towards the rippling water and floating lanterns ahead.
The pirates fidgeted in their seats, and when the closest one turned his head to look back, I saw the tears building in the corners of his eyes. I couldn’t tell if they were from fear or the overwhelmingly warm and fuzzy aura in the cove. His head snapped back forward mechanically, as if someone had grabbed him by the back of his head and turned it against his will. I could sense it within the pirates, a need that neither my minions nor I felt. The need for affection, the longing for the touch of another person’s skin against theirs and somewhere in this cove, there was a being that promised all of those things and more. Even if I weren’t a god with a will made of iron, I didn’t want for those things; my minions gave them to me willingly and without question.
The structure I’d seen in the leader’s memory came into view, but this time, I could see it clearly for what it really was. The free-floating structure was made from
hulls and bodies of hundreds of ships mashed together to create one secular building. It towered into the sky tall enough to nearly reach the opening in the rock formation, and burning lanterns flickered in stained-glass windows of what once were the captain’s quarters of each vessel.
Hundreds of figureheads peeked out of corners from every direction, and I felt as if all of their eyes watched us as we cut through the water. The being’s presence hidden within the structure was massive, and I was able to feel it take up all the empty space of the air as it attempted to choke all of us off. I could feel its powers clamoring and ripping at my mind to enter, but I kept it locked away. I peeked over my shoulder at my women, and none of them seemed to notice the presence at all. It was just as the pirate leader said, this being didn’t want women, it only wanted to ensnare and entrap men.
I wondered for a moment what type of being this could be. Rana had said that it reached out for her with a song, and the only types of creatures that I knew could do that were sirens and mermaids, though sirens were much worse than the latter. Comforting heat brushed my face as we pulled up to the dock, and the pirates struggled to stand in their seats. The men were still tied down, and they pulled and fought against their bindings to get inside of the structure. I looked up at the huge building made entirely out of wrecked ships then back to the entranced pirates. I unraveled their binds with my powers, and they rose from their seats like dead men, their movements stiff and rigid as they clamored up onto the dock. They moved in a panicked horde towards the dark entrance, and my minions and I hurried after them.
The pirates rushed inside, and we followed after them, using them like bloodhounds on the trail of a darting rabbit. If we followed after them, then they would lead us straight to the being inside. A set of stairs led upwards right after the entrance and just like in the memory, they were uneven and set at angles. I could tell from the different colors and grains of wood that all the stairs were taken from different ships, even the wooden walls were planks mashed together in no particular order. The oddly romantic aura in the air and the jarring structure of the building contrasted each other greatly enough to make the whole place comforting and unsettling at the same time. It seemed as if the being built this place entirely to get whoever entered lost but plunged them into such a state of complacency that they didn’t mind. The stairs twisted upward, and I strained my neck to see where they led, but the light was dim and the lanterns were few and far between.
I sensed the power of the being inside, but it was so foreign to me that I couldn’t pinpoint its exact location. It seemed that the harder I tried to find it, the farther away it got from me with tittering laughter. Each time I stretched out my ethereal hands for the being’s essence, it would slip through my fingers like slick velvet. We tramped upwards for what seemed like eons, and Rana grumbled loudly from behind me.
“Why are there so many goddamn stairs?” the redhead muttered under her labored breath. “I should’ve taken off these stupid shoes before we started. Why don’t these damn dungeons and caves have signs outside that say ‘warning, thar be stairs here’.”
“Well, I think that would defeat the purpose of a dungeon, you know?” Annalise chuckled in her raspy voice over her shoulder. “They’re not going to put warning signs outside of dungeons, who would even do that?”
The redhead paused and raised a single finger in the air as she scrambled for a legitimate reply then gave the swordswoman a smirk and a shrug.
“In a perfect world, then maybe,” the fox snickered as she climbed higher. “But you got me.”
Annalise turned back as she laughed lightly at the fox’s antics, and it warmed my heart to see them still in good spirits even though the pirates up ahead acted stranger by the minute. Their bodies twitched and moved jerkily as if they had trouble controlling their limbs on their own, but I suspected it was the work of the being. I couldn’t hear their thoughts anymore, not that I’d been shut out by the deity but because they weren’t thinking at all. My minion’s inner thoughts were loud and clear, which meant they weren’t affected by the strange, red aura that floated around us this whole time.
The stairs stopped abruptly, and a few of the pirates ahead of us stumbled onto the uneven flooring of a hall made from more salvaged parts of ships. The corridor stretched on for what seemed like miles, and in the far distance, I could barely make out more lamps than ever before. I felt the presence here stronger than any time we’d been on the stairs, and I knew the being watched our movements closely. I sensed it before anyone else did, something was coming or something was about to happen, and I kept myself on edge as I reached into my void pocket for the God Slayer. I pulled out the weapon and slammed the haft down on the mismatched floor. The polearm came to life as the three blades shot out, and a few of the pirates jumped at the sight of the weapon.
“What is it, Master?” Morrigan whispered to me as her eyes turned wholly black.
“The being has come out to play,” I smirked as I eyed the walls and flooring as I took my first step forward.
The lead pirate turned back toward me and bit his lip anxiously. I saw now that he wasn’t just teary-eyed but full-on sobbing as his chest heaved for air. Tears spilled from his blood-shot eyes and stained his cheeks all the way down to his chin where they dripped off to the floor below. His eyes were huge, and his body wracked with tremors as he struggled to stay in place. Whatever last scrap of his mind that wasn’t taken over by the being begged me to turn back and never return. I couldn’t do that, nor did I want to; I wanted whatever this being had to offer. I felt the air around me change, heated up to the point that I felt sweat bead on the back of my neck. The being in this massive puzzle box masked as a building wanted to play with the god of the Underworld, and I’d happily oblige.
“She’s here,” the leader sputtered out in a constricted voice.
“She?” I asked as I tilted my head curiously.
The leader’s head snapped back and rested unnaturally against the middle of his shoulders. His eyes clouded then swirled with deep blues and electric amethyst smoke as the corners of his lips pulled up into a wrinkled, forced grin. Laughter poured from his mouth, and my minions reached for their weapons at the sound. I held the God Slayer loosely at my side, not feeling any malevolence from this presence. The leader’s hands twitched and shook wildly as he fought for control of his own body, but the fight was in vain as they lifted, and the fingers tensed in the air. He turned and took a staggering step closer to my women and me, but I grabbed the God Slayer in both hands and held it defensively in front of my body and theirs.
“Welcome.” The leader’s lips barely moved as the word came out, and I knew the being used him like a puppet to speak through.
“Oh, what the fuck, I’m not into this puppet-master shit, no thank you!” Rana cried out from behind me as she held up her elven daggers as if to lash out at the leader if he came any closer.
“And you are?” I questioned as I looked deeply into the colorful swirling mass of the pirate’s eyes.
“They call me by many names,” the feminine voice called through the leader’s mouth, and I pulled away from its lulling and comforting sound. “Hora, Amkae, Binbo, to name a few. Words hurled at my back as I turned tail and run off into the night.”
“Then what is your true name?” I asked as I took a step closer and tilted my head curiously.
The leader’s eyes glinted with pleasure as the forced smile curled up even higher. His body bent backward as the possessed eyes watched me eagerly.
“No, no, no,” the being laughed as it raised the pirate’s hand and waggled a single finger at me. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
In an instant, the pirate leader’s eyes cleared, and his mouth went slack. His body went limp, and he crumbled to the floor in a heap as the being retracted her power. The rest of the pirates shrank away from his unconscious body as more tears poured down their faces. I pushed my way to the front of our party and felt the vibration of laughter through ever
y scrap of wood. I stepped over the leader’s body and started down the hall as the being’s laughter rang out louder and heightened to a single note that rang in all of our ears.
My minions followed after me with their weapons drawn and the sad little group of pirates lagged behind them. The hall widened in spots as I pushed in deeper, but the end never seemed to get any closer. We dragged on, but no matter how fast we walked, the end of the hall seemed the same distance away. The heat inside the space sweltered us, and all of my women wiped at their brows for some type of relief.
We walked quickly and ran at some points for what seemed like hours, and I knew this was a trick or some sort of trap. This being wanted to toy with us as the lava god had, but this seemed different. The lava god gave us riddles to solve while this being gave us no clues, only an endless hall of wooden boards nailed together haphazardly. I glared down the hall at the exit and hoped that the next step would somehow bring it closer, but each time, it never did. I felt distracted and reminded of the lava god and his dungeon, all the puzzles we’d been forced to solve before he faced us then it hit me. I stopped in my tracks, and Carmedy almost collided with my back. I turned and looked directly into the redhead’s baby-blue eyes.
“What was the first line of the song again?” I inquired, and Rana’s ears twitched as she thought.
“The fleet fox that runs is a coward…why?” the redhead asked as she fanned herself with a paw.
“What have we been doing this whole time since entering the hall?” I prodded, and Annalise’s brown eyes lit up as she realized what I meant.
“Running, or at least, power-walking,” the high queen answered.
“So, we’re supposed to just stand here and what? Wait around?” Rana asked as she peered into all of our faces in the dim light.
