Blood Rain

by Nancy Gray

  Carmine pulled a wine bottle and a crystal glass out of one of the crates in the corner of the room. When he poured the wine into it, something about it seemed a little too thick and too red. He took a deep sip and made a raspy sound of pleasure. Mercy smelled the coppery smell of blood and fought against the need to wretch.

  Carmine smiled in satisfaction. “I believe you know your own way to the door, unless you’d care to stay for refreshments.”

  As they turned to go, a tribal woman in an elegant white silken gown opened the door and stared at them with irritation.

  Her eyes fell on Mercy, and she snapped, “Carmine, are you going to chat in here all day, or are you going to help me at the bar?”

  “I told you she would be jealous.”

  Mercy’s mouth hung open in shock. She recognized the woman immediately. Even though she hadn’t seen her in years, Mercy was staring at her fiancé Wind Runner’s twin sister, Wind Dancer. She had the same deep brown eyes, white hair, and tan complexion as Wind Runner, but her form was feminine, and her features more delicate. As she stared at Mercy, her eyes widened with recognition as well.

  8

  A choked sound escaped Mercy’s throat and all she could do was stammer, “Wind Dancer? You’re alive.”

  Pyron and Beryl looked between the two women in awkward silence.

  Even Carmine seemed puzzled. “You two know each other?”

  Wind Dancer said, “I never thought I would see you again. It seems so long ago now.”

  “I know what you mean. It’s been the longest two years of my life. Seeing you again is like seeing a spirit.”

  Carmine asked, “Twirl, Love, who is she?”

  Wind Dancer was still staring at Mercy. “I go by Twirl now. I knew her as Stealer of Secrets.”

  Mercy interrupted, “I’d rather go by Mercy here.”

  “Very well, Mercy, then. This girl was betrothed to my brother. But her brother…”

  There was a complex array of emotions coming from Twirl as she stared at Mercy. She was angry to the point of raw fury, but she was also relieved and even felt happy to see her on some level. There was sorrow and regret, but also a certain contemptuous pride.

  Feeling all of those emotions at the same time made Mercy almost feel faint, and she guessed that Twirl probably felt the same way. It also left her wondering if Twirl wanted to hug her or stab her in the gut. Mercy noticed that the anger and rage only began when she mentioned her brother. While she and Wind Dancer were never best friends, they liked one another enough to look forward to becoming family. Whether the feeling was mutual or not, Mercy was glad to see her.

  Mercy pointed at Carmine. “I don’t want to be the one to tell you, but you deserve to know. You’re married to a monster! Carmine is one of the Blood Wings.”

  Carmine threw his arms up in feigned shock. “Mercy, I’m hurt.”

  Twirl laughed. “Did you think I didn’t know what my own husband was? How much of a fool do you think I am?”

  “I thought he might’ve deceived you, but apparently you’re enough of a fool to willingly marry a beast. I was going to ask you how you survived, but it seems you were in league with them the entire time.”

  “How dare you! I would never betray my own brother.”

  “Well, you’re married to one of the creatures responsible for his death.”

  Carmine coughed loudly in irritation.

  “Carmine was never responsible. If it wasn’t for your brother’s reckless behavior Wind Runner would still be alive.”

  “My brother couldn’t have known it would happen.”

  “What sort of weak excuse is that? If he hadn’t insisted we track the beast men all the way back to their colony, they would’ve left us alone. It’s Pack Leader’s fault, but it’s mostly that bastard Green Arrow’s.”

  Mercy paused. “What does Green Arrow have to do with it?”

  “You really don’t know, do you?”

  Mercy frowned and slowly sat in the chair across from the little table. “No. Green Arrow came back to the village, but I don’t think he told us everything.”

  Twirl laughed bitterly. “You could say that.”

  Beryl gave them an awkward look. “Perhaps we should go.”

  Carmine said, “I’m not going anywhere. This is getting interesting. Besides, I played a part in this story as well. I should stay and say my piece. My wife might even need me here for moral support.”

  Pyron frowned. “I’m not leaving you two alone with Mercy. We promised to protect her, and I don’t trust either of you.”

  Beryl nodded and sat down on an unopened crate.

  Twirl smiled. “Well, it’s your call, Stealer of Secrets - oh, sorry, Mercy. I’ll tell you what you want to know, but it seems we’re going to have an audience. Are you sure you really want to know the truth anyway? It’s going to hurt you.”

  Mercy looked at the floor, recalling all of the tears she had already shed for Wind Runner. She never knew exactly what happened, and that was what hurt the most.

  “Yes. I want to know.”

  “Then, I’m going to need some wine.”

  Carmine stood up and walked towards the back of the room. “On it.”

  Carmine began rummaging through more crates and eventually produced a bottle of white wine and two glasses. He offered one of each to the two women and stood up, offering his wife his chair. She took it, and Mercy remained seated across from her. She had a feeling by the end of the story she would be glad that she was sitting down. Her heart was already pounding too fast as she realized that she was finally going to know the truth about what happened to her best friend, and to her brother.

  Twirl started, “First of all, I have a question for you. Why didn’t you come with us that night?”

  “Because the four of you left before I even found out what happened. Wind Runner left me a note. He said he didn’t want me to go because he didn’t want me to get hurt, so he wasn’t giving me a choice.”

  She felt Twirl’s pain, like a biting cold wind after coming out of a warm building, as she said, “Yes. That sounds like him. I never understood why you weren’t there. I was afraid that you might’ve been disloyal to my brother with Green Arrow.”

  Mercy snapped, “I would never have been disloyal to Wind Runner, especially with that conceited bastard.”

  “Show me the betrothal tattoo to prove it.”

  Mercy put her ankle into the light. One of the traditions of her people was that if they were engaged, they got a circular tattoo around their ankles to symbolize the circle of the union of their souls. When one of the partners died, particularly before a wedding, the circular tattoo was usually turned into something symbolizing the loss such as a snake or an anklet of thorns. Mercy had chosen the thorns since after Wind Runner died, she felt as though she couldn’t escape her sorrow, that his loss was strangling her on the inside. If she became engaged to another, there would be a different band above the marred one.

  Twirl visibly relaxed when she saw the band of thorns, and Mercy felt her relief flooding through her.

  “Green Arrow is worse than conceited. He’s the one most responsible for my brother’s death. A snake would’ve probably been more appropriate for your ankle, but we’ll get to that.”

  Twirl drank the glass of wine down in a few large swallows and asked, “Do you remember what the beast men took that night?”

  “Yes. Two children, two women, and five vitulae. The five beast men were disguised as the hunting party that we sent out earlier. No one even knew they were there. It was the first night my brother was on guard duty.”

  Twirl nodded. “It seems you’ve thought about this almost as much as I have. Your brother was furious and took it personally.”

  “He was always very prideful.”

  “He asked me and my brother to come with him because we were the best trackers in the village. Even though we weren’t warriors, he knew about our plan and respected us for it.”

  Mercy looked at
the floor. “I’m sorry, that was my fault. I should’ve never told him about it. I was just so excited for both of you...”

  Pyron cleared his throat. “What plan?”

  Twirl sighed. “My brother and I were orphans. We couldn’t become warriors given our caste, but anyone who kills a behemoth in our tribe is revered for their skill. They’re given the status of warriors even if they’re of low birth. We were planning to do it, and practicing every day. So, Pack Leader knew that we were skilled enough to defend ourselves. He told us if we could rescue the captives, we would be given the status that we wanted. Of course, we agreed.”

  Mercy felt her hands balling into fists. “I can’t believe he manipulated you like that.”

  “I don’t even know if he meant to. He was charismatic, like the chieftain, but at least he usually kept his word. After we agreed to go, he asked Green Arrow. He knew that Green Arrow would come if nothing more than to prove himself, and he felt we needed another warrior. Even though there were four of us and five of them, we were pretty confident.”

  Twirl chuckled with a cynical grin on her face and refilled her glass of wine. “We took our vitulae and headed out after the beast men. We tracked them for days, but one day the trail just disappeared. We didn’t know it at the time, but the beast men knew we were following. Some of them flew ahead and dropped off their human cargo at the colony.”

  “I thought the colony was hidden somewhere close to our village. You tracked them for days riding on vitulae?”

  Twirl seemed to fluster for a moment, and Mercy felt her concern. She clearly wasn’t supposed to talk about the location of the colony. Carmine was even giving her a warning look that Mercy caught from the corner of her eye.

  Twirl shrugged. “Well, like I said, they knew we were following. They were leading us in circles so we wouldn’t find an entrance to their lair. They got us good and lost. Even when we flew above the canopy, we were in unfamiliar territory.”

  “I think I can guess where this is going, then. The hunters became the hunted?”

  “Yes. That first night, after their trail disappeared, the beast men attacked the vitulae. They were hiding in the canopy, and they dropped down and shredded the vitulae wings. They were so fast that we didn’t have time to react.”

  “They were just hidden in the canopy? Couldn’t you see them?”

  “The beast men can do more than just change shape. They can change their coloration as well, like mirror snakes. If they hold perfectly still and change their coloration to match their hiding spot, they’re virtually invisible at night.”

  Carmine demonstrated. For just a moment, his skin changed into the exact tone of the dark wood around him. The pattern on his skin even changed so that while looking at him from her angle, Mercy thought that she could see the chair and the crates behind him. The only things about him that she could see clearly were his strange purple eyes. But, as he concentrated harder, even his irises changed into an amber color that matched the wood. Then, without much effort at all, he changed his skin coloration back. It made her shiver as she wondered how many times unseen eyes had watched her in the village from a nearby tree.

  Twirl continued, “The next day, we wandered around looking for the entrance, but still had no luck. That night, I was the first one taken. We were out of vigor ash root, so we had to take turns sleeping. It was on my watch. Wind Runner was awake with me, but they just moved too quickly. We were watching the canopy, so we didn’t expect the one on the ground hiding behind one of the trees. He rushed in grabbing me with his legs, and flew up into the canopy. I stabbed him in the leg with my dagger twice before he finally put me down. When he did, the others surrounded me and tied me up.”

  Carmine smiled wryly. “And, I still have the scars to prove that.”

  “Be thankful you didn’t have me for one extra second. Your man bits would’ve been my next target.”

  Carmine cringed but then smiled. “I think you’re glad that didn’t happen either.”

  Twirl raised an eyebrow at him and smiled, and then took another sip of wine.

  Beryl frowned. “Wait. You were the one that kidnapped her, and you’re both married now?”

  Carmine laughed. “I know. I’m a hopeless romantic.”

  Mercy rolled her eyes. “Please continue, or I’m afraid I’ll end up punching Carmine in the face.”

  Carmine grinned but stayed silent.

  Twirl chuckled. “A punch in the face might do him some good.”

  Her expression became somber as she continued, “Anyway, they fed me some sort of concoction that made it difficult for me to move, but I was still aware enough to watch. The others looked for me, but I was gagged so tightly that I couldn’t make a sound. The others even walked close enough that I could hear them. They vowed that they wouldn’t give up searching until they found me.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. Wind Runner would’ve never given up on you, and my brother would be too proud to return to the village without you. I’m surprised that Green Arrow went along with it.”

  “Well, to his credit, Green Arrow did try to talk some sense into them before he betrayed them. He told them that if they didn’t leave that night, the beast men would pick them off one by one. He was right. I wanted to shout for them to go back and save themselves, but I couldn’t. Like I said, I was gagged and the beast men were shielding me from view with their wings.”

  “It must’ve been hard for you.”

  “I’ve never felt more helpless, but it was nothing compared to what happened the third night. After searching for me all day, they took turns sleeping like before. But, this time two were on watch while one slept. Green Arrow and my brother were on watch duty together.”

  Mercy cringed. “That wasn’t very wise. I’m sure my brother knew how much they hated each other.”

  “If Pack Leader was to sleep, eventually it had to happen. Green Arrow just kind of pretended my brother wasn’t there. Anyway, while I was watching them, Carmine untied my gag. I should’ve known it was a trap.”

  Carmine sighed. “Sorry, Love. We couldn’t afford to let them get close.”

  “I know. We’ve talked about this before. Anyway, he took it off just long enough for me to shout which made both of them stand up. Then, one of the other beast men dropped down and grabbed my brother while he was looking away. The beast man gripped him with his legs like Carmine did to me.”

  Mercy felt Twirl’s anguish as she prepared to tell her about the coming memory. The emotion was so intense it was as though Mercy was experiencing it herself. Mercy looked in the direction of the door, trying not to let anyone see the tears beginning to form in her eyes. Twirl seemed to notice and put her hand on Mercy’s, pouring more wine for her with her other hand.

  “Wind Runner struggled and stabbed the beast man four times. He stabbed him in the ankle, the leg, the groin, and the other leg before the beast man finally dropped him—but they were so high up. When Wind Runner landed, it was bloody. He had so many broken bones...”

  Mercy sobbed but didn’t say anything. Her pain, combined with Twirl’s, was making her body shake. She also felt sympathy from Beryl and something stronger from Pyron. He was not only sympathetic, but he seemed to feel her pain exactly almost to the point of being empathic. His pain amplified hers. She almost wanted to stand up and run out before she found out what happened next, unsure if she could handle the intense feelings anymore. She felt it would be disrespectful to Wind Runner’s memory, so she sipped more of her wine and waited for Twirl to continue.

  Twirl said in a choked voice, “Green Arrow found him before Pack Leader could catch up. He just stood over him, as still as a wooden carving. I could tell that Green Arrow was terrified, but there was something smug about his expression, too. I still remember exactly what they said.

  Green Arrow stood over him, saying, ‘I knew you would just keep getting in my way. First, with Stealer of Secrets, and now you get yourself taken on my watch. I could lose influence as a war
rior for this.’

  My brother was in too much pain to even respond, so Green Arrow kept taunting him.

  ‘No, I won’t lose my reputation for you. Pack Leader never saw that you were taken. I can still cover this up. As far as I’m concerned, you wandered off to take a piss before we heard Wind Dancer scream, and I never found you.’

  My brother said, ‘Please, help me bandage my wounds. I can’t move. If you help me now, you won’t lose any status. You’ll gain it.’

  And do you know what that bastard Green Arrow said?

  He actually said, ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to take care of Stealer of Secrets for you.’”

  Mercy closed her eyes. Her body was twitching with rage. She could almost hear their voices from Twirl’s description and could almost see the contemptuous look on Green Arrow’s face while he stood over her betrothed, her best friend, her first love…

  Twirl continued shivering with her own rage. “And then, Green Arrow just walked away. My brother’s body was mangled, and all I could do was just sit and watch him bleed to death. Carmine…”

  Twirl just shook her head and began to sob.

  Carmine put his hands on her shoulders. “I tried to bandage his wounds for her. I knew what it was like to see someone you care about hurt and helpless. I couldn’t just let her watch him die, but the injuries were too extensive. He lost too much blood from the fall. I told him that I was there on behalf of his sister and that she was safe, and then he died. Naturally, Pack Leader showed up right then and saw me crouching over his body.”

  Mercy frowned. “But Wind Runner stabbed one of your people. You still tried to help him, just so that Wind Dancer didn’t have to see him die?”

  “Well, my pack mate didn’t die for one thing. And, even if I could’ve saved Wind Runner, he would’ve been too injured to be a threat anymore. But, I would have done it anyway. After seeing someone betrayed like that by his own people, wouldn’t you?”

  Mercy looked at the floor. She wasn’t sure if she would’ve done the same if one of the beast men was in the same position.