Dance of a Burning Sea

by Mellow, E. J.

  Pulling one of her daggers from her hip, she pricked her finger. Then, holding the token with a smear of blood, she whispered a secret into it, one she’d only recently realized she carried, and flipped the coin into the air.

  Before it hit the floor, a portal door rose up.

  And Niya ran through.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  In a remote part of the southern sea, a sandglass hissed the passing of time while a pile of treasure winked, vulnerable, atop a captain’s desk. A portal door glowed open in the center of the room while a pirate slumped unconscious in the corner. A strange sight indeed for any of the Crying Queen’s crew to have found, had they dared enter. Luckily for Niya, the pirates hardly desired to go near their captain’s lair when summoned, let alone when they were strictly not allowed.

  So the room held quiet, an unmoved spectator as the sun slowly rose higher outside the paned windows, sending rays of light stretching along the floor and walls.

  A commotion barreled into the calm as three figures in black hooded robes and gold masks slipped in through the portal.

  “Darius will not enjoy me missing another dinner,” grumbled Larkyra.

  “You’ll be back before he’ll notice you’ve left,” assured Niya, snatching up the portal token.

  The door to the Thief Kingdom disappeared with a snap, and Niya turned to regard her sisters, disguised as the Mousai.

  It had taken longer than she would have liked to gather them both together, and her nerves continued to buzz chaotically through her veins.

  Go. Run. You are out of time.

  “I think it will be hard to miss his wife gone from his bed when he wakes,” pointed out Larkyra, eyes narrowed behind her mask.

  “Then perhaps you should have told him goodbye upon your leaving,” suggested Arabessa, straightening her robes.

  “I left him a note. I didn’t want to wake him after last night.”

  “What happened last night?”

  “Let’s just say he put in a very thorough perform—”

  “Never mind.” Arabessa held up a hand, stopping her. “I just ate breakfast.”

  “Niya.” Larkyra studied Kintra’s body beneath the bookshelf. “Who is this?”

  Niya glanced to the woman, relieved to find her still unconscious. “Our quartermaster.”

  “Is she dead?”

  “No, but help me tie her up before she wakes.”

  Without question her sisters aided in securing Kintra to the metal hook bolted to the floor.

  Niya didn’t miss the irony, in that she had once been bound to that very spot, kneeling, bruised, and bloody, and now was tying up another to save someone she had left bruised and bleeding.

  “All right.” Niya stood. “Now to take care of the rest of the pirates.”

  Niya pulled open Alōs’s door, gliding down the hall with her two sisters in tow.

  As soon as they stepped on deck, the echoing sound of metal singing, blades being pulled from sheaths, quickly told her they had been seen.

  A ship full of armed pirates circled them, more still hanging above from ropes and clinging to masts. All eyes beady and ready for a fight. Saffi stood the nearest, her gray magic a haze around her as her gaze was pinned to Niya’s.

  “We didn’t realize we had the pleasure of visitors aboard,” said the master gunner. “Especially ones as esteemed as you three.”

  Though her words were cordial, her tone was anything but.

  “How would you like us to handle this?” asked Arabessa from behind Niya. She could sense the vibration of each of their gifts gathering.

  But the last thing Niya wanted or needed was to waste any more time with a fight.

  “We have come to retrieve your captain,” said Niya, deepening her voice slightly. These pirates had been around her enough to most likely know her tone by now. “We were told he is in need of help. We are not here to harm any of you, but if you try to fight us, we will. Now stand down so we can pass.”

  The sound of the sea hitting along the ship and the screech of gulls above were the only responses for a beat.

  “Our captain has sent for you?” asked Saffi suspiciously. “Where’s Niya? And Kintra?”

  Frustration gripped Niya then; she had no time for explanations! This could be sorted out later.

  “We have no time for this, pirate,” said Niya. “Now will you part and let us pass? We merely wish to get onto the island.”

  Saffi glanced to the crew then, and Niya watched each of them grip their weapons, smiles spreading. “If our captain be needing help,” said Saffi, eyes shifting back to Niya and her two sisters, “it is we who will give it.”

  Stupid prideful creatures, cursed Niya silently.

  “As you wish,” she said. “But know it is you who asked for this, not us.”

  The master gunner frowned. “What—?”

  But she was cut off as Niya spun, shoving out her magic to send Saffi flying.

  “Knock them out!” shouted Niya to her sisters. “But try not to hurt them.”

  “It is impossible not to hurt someone if you want to knock them out,” explained Larkyra as she ducked and twirled from Boman and Emanté charging her.

  “Then don’t hurt them too badly,” clarified Niya in a huff as she sent another wave of her magic into Green Pea and Bree.

  She hated shoving her friends away, watching their heads smack against wooden crates before they slumped unconscious, but it needed to be done.

  They’d wake up eventually, she reasoned.

  Larkyra began to sing a tune of the sea from behind her, a lullaby that spoke of rocking waves and sleeping babes. Yellow tendrils of her gifts curled around pirates, glazing their eyes to eventually droop closed.

  Arabessa knocked a fiddle out of Felix’s hands, snatched the bow from the air, and strung out an accompanying tune.

  Mika charged her from the side, but Niya watched her sister twirl out of the way, not even missing a note as she continued to play.

  The rest of the scuffle went fast then, with the ship being doused in the conjoined serenade of the Mousai, their powers a thick shimmering of red, yellow, and violet to send every last pirate to sleep.

  Niya regrouped with her sisters along the port side as their performance drew to a close. She stood by the railing, breathing heavily under her black robes as she took in the scene of bodies slumped about all over deck.

  “Well, that was fun,” said Larkyra. “We’ve never taken down a whole ship of pirates before.”

  “Yes,” agreed Arabessa. “And this fiddle was even an out-of-tune mess.”

  A twist of guilt gripped Niya at her sister’s words, given she had actually done this once before to this very crew. A crew who had only just begun to treat her with kindness again.

  They don’t know it’s me, she reasoned.

  Plus, when they woke up, especially once their captain was back, all could be sorted. Currently, however, Niya couldn’t have any of the crew trying to follow and getting in her way.

  It would assuredly have them all ending up meals for giants.

  “All right.” She turned, pushing away the nagging of remorse to stride past her sisters. Gripping the railing, she peered over, down toward the rowboat still tied far below. “Who wants to help row to shore?”

  Niya crouched in the shadows of a thick bush atop a hill, Arabessa and Larkyra at her side. Their gold masks now removed, they looked down into the massive sprawling city of giants in the center of a gorge, three serpents coiled as they planned their strike. As it was morning, however, it was an altogether different scene than what Niya had experienced last night. The town was now alive with the massive green and blue beasts. The rumbling of each of their footsteps echoed against the valley walls, their deep voices carrying far in the wind.

  “This place is extraordinary,” whispered Arabessa.

  “Wait until you see inside the chief’s home,” said Niya, unable to disagree. “The entire thing is a pristine garden.”

&nb
sp; “How fascinating.”

  “Yes, fascinating.” Larkyra stifled a yawn.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” snapped Niya. “Is sneaking into a city of giant cannibals boring you?”

  “I told you,” said Larkyra with a frown. “I was kept up late. It is not my fault I didn’t predict you’d be pulling me from bed mere sand falls later.”

  “I still do not understand why we are even here,” added Arabessa, letting go of the branch she had been holding down, covering up their view of the giants’ city with a whoosh. “Isn’t it a good thing if Alōs dies? Your binding bet would end immediately, and so would all of our headaches regarding the insufferable man.”

  Niya chewed her bottom lip, uncertainty swirling. “Things have changed,” she admitted.

  Arabessa narrowed her gaze. “Changed how?”

  “They just . . . have.”

  “Nope. Not good enough.” Arabessa crossed her arms, sitting back on her heels. “You dragged us all the way here, without us putting up a fight or peppering you with questions, I might add. We understand the need to find this final piece to the Prism Stone, but why must we save Alōs in the process?”

  A flutter of nerves ran up Niya’s spine. “Uh, actually there is something I haven’t mentioned yet, about the Prism Stone . . . well, we actually found it.”

  “That’s great!” said Larkyra, clutching Niya’s arm.

  “Yes,” agreed Niya.

  “Why do I sense a but coming?” asked Arabessa.

  “But,” began Niya, “it’s back on the ship, with the rest of the stones. I put it there before I went to get you both.”

  Her sisters blinked, tense silence stretching, before Arabessa abruptly stood, retracing their earlier steps back into the woods.

  “Wait!” hissed Niya as she chased after her, Larkyra following on her heels. “We still need to save Alōs.”

  “No, we don’t.” Arabessa ducked under a vine. “Your mission is done. Once you return the pieces to Esrom, your oath to him will be complete. The city will be saved.”

  “And how do you suggest we get to Esrom?” Niya reasoned. “No one on board the Crying Queen is from there to give us access to the kingdom.”

  Alōs had told her that Kintra knew the means necessary to take them to Esrom in case he didn’t return, but Niya wasn’t about to admit that to her sisters. Not now.

  Arabessa waved a hand. “Father will know someone.”

  “Arabessa, please”—Niya tugged at her sister’s robe, forcing her to stop—“I can’t let Alōs die!”

  Her demand echoed into the treetops, sending birds into flight.

  Arabessa regarded her with raised brows. “By the Fade,” she breathed. “You’ve fallen for him.”

  Niya drew back, defenses rising. “No, I have not.”

  “Don’t lie to us. We are your sisters. We know when you lie.”

  “Niya,” said Larkyra gently, coming to her side. “Is this true? Do you . . . have feelings for Alōs?”

  Niya felt like a cornered animal as she glanced between her two sisters. She wanted to hiss and claw away their confused expressions. Panic swirled around her, her magic spinning with her terror, but instead of lashing out, she did something even she was not prepared for.

  She covered her face and cried.

  And it wasn’t a gentle cry. No, Niya let loose ugly, gulping tears that racked her entire body as every emotion she had grappled with for the past few months surged out of her.

  She hiccuped a breath as arms suddenly wrapped tightly around her.

  Larkyra and Arabessa hugged her, which only seemed to set off more tears.

  But by the stars and sea, it felt good.

  Even as it pained Niya to be so vulnerable, it felt like the first real breath she had taken in so very long.

  “Get it out.” Arabessa stroked Niya’s hair.

  “Yes, all of it.” Larkyra’s arms tightened. “Arabessa doesn’t mind getting snot on her robe, do you, Ara?”

  “I’m sorry.” Niya wiped at her face, stepping back. “I don’t know what’s come over me.”

  “You’ve been through much this year,” said Arabessa. “And it appears much more has come to pass between you and the pirate since you stepped aboard the Crying Queen than we had originally thought. We had our suspicions when we watched you both in the Thief Kingdom but were not quite sure what to make of it.”

  “Neither do I,” admitted Niya.

  “I mean, after all that he’s put you through, threatened our family with,” said Larkyra, “we didn’t think it possible that you’d . . . but of course now, understanding his past with his brother’s sickness, yet still—”

  “He saved my life.”

  Larkyra’s brows drew together. “Excuse me?”

  “With the giants,” said Niya. “You know how we were forced to fight for our freedom?”

  Her sisters nodded.

  “Alōs didn’t lift a finger to hurt me. He just stood there, letting me hit him. Over and over.” Her fists ached at the phantom memories of them connecting with his jaw. “He sacrificed himself so I could go free.”

  “He . . . he did?” Larkyra blinked.

  “Are you sure?” asked Arabessa.

  “Quite.”

  “Well then . . . ,” breathed Larkyra.

  “That does rather complicate things,” admitted Arabessa.

  “Yes,” said Niya. “But it also can’t. He and I . . .” That familiar pain in her chest again. “Beyond what connects us with this binding bet, our duties afterward do not lie on the same path.” She shook her head. “So it doesn’t matter how things might have changed. The only importance right now is that we find him, preferably before he dies, so he can save Esrom as he is meant to.”

  Her sisters watched her a long moment, no doubt wondering whether that speech had been meant to convince them or her.

  “So what’s our plan?” asked Arabessa.

  A wave of relief fell over Niya. “We have to find where they are holding him.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that?” asked Larkyra. “Their city is huge, with huge citizens lumbering about.”

  “Yes,” agreed Niya. “But I have a good hunch that he’ll be kept in the chief’s manor, which is at the edge of the town. We just need to—”

  Niya’s words died away as a shiver of cold caressed along the back of her neck.

  She swiveled around, gazing into a tangle of trees.

  But the jungle stayed quiet. Shards of sunlight pierced through the canopy, highlighting dancing pollen and creeping phlox.

  “What is it?” asked Arabessa.

  The cool touch ran along Niya’s neck once again.

  “That bastard,” she muttered, stomping into the forest.

  “Where are you going?” asked Arabessa as she and Larkyra scrambled to follow her.

  “To kill someone,” Niya growled.

  “That seems counterintuitive.” A silky voice wafted through the forest then. “Seeing as you came to save my life.”

  Alōs stepped from behind a moss-covered boulder, his large form not at all diminished by his surroundings. Despite his bruised face, he still moved like the prince he was, beautiful and dangerous and utterly sure of his standing.

  Certainly not at all concerned that he was meant to be caged inside a giants’ city just a few paces behind them.

  Niya’s entire being fought with a cacophony of emotions at seeing him here, alive.

  “Lord Ezra.” Arabessa spoke first. “We were led to believe you were about to be the centerpiece of a giant’s barbecue.”

  Alōs’s gaze moved from where it had been pinned to Niya to take in the eldest Bassette. “I was. Until I wasn’t.”

  “Should we be preparing to run, then?” asked Larkyra.

  “Not unless you desire exercise. I walked away a free man.”

  A bird called in the distance, filling the dubious silence as his words slammed against Niya.

  “‘Walked away a free man’?” she r
epeated, incredulous.

  “Yes. With a rather warm send-off, in fact.”

  “No.” Niya shook her head, confusion swirling. “No.”

  “I think it’s true,” said Larkyra. “He’s standing right here, after all, and no giants appear to be giving chase.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Niya insisted.

  “How can you not believe what you see?” asked Arabessa.

  “Because!” yelled Niya. “We were forced to fight for our freedom. I bruised up your face! You were to be eaten. Why, then, would they merely let you go?”

  “Perhaps they realized he’d taste gross?” suggested Larkyra.

  “It’s idiotic!” Niya threw out her hands, irritation soaring along with her magic. Tricks, it whispered. Tricks. “You’re telling me I made Kintra my enemy, summoned my sisters from the far reaches of Aadilor, fought the entire crew until they lay unconscious, and then sneaked back to this horribly humid, giant-infested island in an attempt to save you, just for you to walk away a free man?”

  A softness settled into Alōs’s features as he held her gaze. “I’m flattered you went to such lengths, fire dancer. But yes, it appears so.”

  A frustrated growl ripped from Niya.

  But instead of shoving him with her coiling powers, Niya found herself throwing her arms around him instead.

  Alōs stiffened beneath her, no doubt just as caught off guard, but then his hands slipped across her back, hugging her tight.

  “Hello,” he said softly.

  Niya breathed him in, savoring Alōs’s cool sea breeze hidden under a layer of dirt. Her gifts swirled around his, hot and cold reunited.

  He was here.

  He was not dead.

  He was—

  A throat clearing pulled Niya from the moment.

  She stepped quickly back. Cheeks no doubt ruby red.

  “Well,” began Arabessa. “Now that we’ve had that . . . reunion checked off, shall we return to the ship? I’d rather not dawdle while hungry giants roam behind us.”

  As they walked toward the beach, Alōs fell into step beside Niya, washing her in his cool presence. She did her best not to meet her sisters’ stares. Stares that she all too easily felt aimed at her back as they kept close behind.