by Nancy Gray
“Yes, anything free from them would be at too heavy a price. Your plan might work, but I can’t just banish you, Mind of Mercy. I won’t banish my own daughter.”
“You have to for now, but maybe my crimes can be forgiven if I make it up to our people by finding out who really is behind the rain. After that, maybe some evidence could come to light to make it known that through my actions, the bat people left us alone long enough to recover.”
“That’s the part that worries me. How do you know that you’ll be able to stop them from fighting us long enough for us to enact your plan?”
Erebus said, “Leave that part up to me. I have more sway with my people than it might seem. I can convince them to leave you alone long enough to recover your strength. Whether we like it or not, my people need you. We didn’t go to all that trouble of making ourselves seem like monsters to have our main blood source become enslaved by the Ashen capital.”
Mirilee chuckled.
Catches the Eye glared at Erebus. “Lucky us. Mind of Mercy, this isn’t the ceremony that I had in mind for you.”
Mercy felt a lump forming in her throat. “I know.”
“I love you, Mercy.”
“I love you too, father.”
“Go and get some sleep. I’m going to call the elders back for another meeting and tell them about your confession.”
Erebus stood up but paused and said, “I know that I don’t have a right to ask any favors of you, but please, don’t tell them about my people. If they found out that our numbers were thinned by the attack…”
“Don’t worry. I don’t intend to. I’m not going to mention that the beast men are keeping our people as slaves, either. I’ll have to tell them eventually, but now isn’t the time. Be ready to leave tomorrow morning. And, Erebus?”
“Yes?”
Her father snarled, “I’ll have a word with you alone.”
Mercy and Mirilee left the tent together.
Mirilee turned to her. “Tomorrow, may I go with you when you leave the camp?”
Mercy frowned. “You shouldn’t. I’m going with Erebus to the colony of the beast men. If anything should go wrong you would die with me, or worse, we would live as slaves.”
“But I need to find out who is responsible for the blood rain, too. I’m gifted, like you. I can see visions of the future, and I’ve foreseen that if things remain as they are, then what happened to your village will seem like a blessing.”
Mercy shivered, thinking of what remained of her village.
“Okay, but aren’t you afraid to travel with us? Erebus is one of the Blood Wings.”
Mirilee grinned. “I like a challenge. We have beast men in the desert, as well. They’re very different from the Blood Wings. I’ve seen what they can do when they’re angry. The way I see it, they’re a great deal like we are. Your friend is brave and kind. He’ll keep his end of the bargain.”
“He isn’t kind, he’s just afraid of what will happen if he breaks the blood pact.”
“You say that, but I wonder if you really believe it. The chieftain says you’re the one with the gift of empathy. I wonder, can you read everyone’s emotions but your own?”
Mercy shook with rage. “How dare you? You’re pretty presumptuous to act like you know what I’m thinking when you don’t even know me.”
“I’m not presumptuous. I’m perceptive. He likes you, you know.”
Mercy muttered something rude in her own language under her breath, but Mirilee just grinned and sat down in front of the tent, leaning against the rough leather. Even though Mirilee was blunt, something about her was very likable, and Mercy couldn’t stay angry for long. She could tell that Mirilee’s tendency to say exactly what she was thinking was more out of mischief and habit than spite. It was refreshing to meet someone open enough to say what they were feeling rather than dodging awkward questions like Erebus always did. Mercy sat down next to her.
Eventually, Erebus came out of the tent. He looked slightly paler than he had before, and Mercy noticed the bandage on his hand immediately. She was glad that there weren’t any other people waiting by the tent. She needed to talk to him, then and there.
“You didn’t, right? I know that you wouldn’t be dumb enough to do something like that.”
Erebus looked away for a moment, and he put the bandaged hand behind his back for an instant. She could feel a quick flash of guilt and embarrassment from him like a child caught stealing something sweet. His demeanor quickly became controlled.
“Didn’t what?”
“You entered into a blood pact with my father. Are you insane? Do you realize what you’ve done?”
Erebus stared straight ahead at the crowd. “I’m not insane. I simply made sure he was going to keep his end of the bargain. You know him and how shrewd he is, so you know he had no intention of burying the dead from my colony.”
Mercy gasped in horror for a moment. She felt stupid for not realizing it sooner. Of course, her father wouldn’t bury their dead. He would use them to show the Ashen spies just how many of the beast men his people killed as a further testament to their power. The thought made her sick.
Mercy reluctantly said, “Then, you did right, but what did you offer him in exchange?”
“I tend not to divulge information about my pacts if I can help it. Suffice to say, it was something that I intended to do already.”
Mirilee made a loud coughing noise, apparently to signify that she was still there and listening.
“Mirilee wants to come with us tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”
“Sure. After all, you were in a hurry for me to find another food source. I wonder if the blood of her race will taste too dry, though, desert dweller and all...”
Mirilee grinned. “Just try it, Bat Boy.”
Mercy rolled her eyes. “No. I can still provide blood for you.”
“I thought you didn’t want to be my one source, and if she’s coming with us, then she might as well make herself useful.”
Mirilee scowled but her eyes twinkled playfully. “Keep talking. But, if I knock out those pointed teeth, it might make drinking blood more difficult you know. You’ll be the only one of your kind that has to drink it through a straw.”
Erebus laughed. “I like her.”
Mercy rolled her eyes. “I was serious that if I can just get a cup then I’ll provide it for you. I just don’t want you biting me to get it. Not anymore.”
Erebus shrugged. “If you insist. As long as you feed me, I’ll be your guard dog.”
Mercy, Mirilee, and Erebus walked away from the tent as she heard the hollowed out behemoth horn that was used to summon the elders deeply rumbling. She didn’t want to hear the conversation about her fate that would follow. Instead, she walked along the outskirts of the encampment to find a place to sleep. Eventually she found two palm trees about ten feet apart and set about to make her bedroll into a hammock. Mirilee didn’t bother. She just pulled her bedroll close by, sleeping on the forest floor. Erebus didn’t use a bedroll at all. Instead, he crawled into the closest tree and nestled in among the branches.
He leaned down and asked, “Don’t you think we should camp closer to the others? These are your people, and this might be the last time you see them in the near future.”
“You think I don’t know that? If I spend the evening among them, it’s just going to make things more painful tomorrow.”
Mirilee sighed. “I still think that they shouldn’t banish you.”
“I couldn’t think of another way to fix things.”
Erebus growled in frustration and said, “We could leave tonight, you know. I’m sure they could forbid you from returning without you being here.”
“No. The ceremony is important. I wish that I could skip it, though. I really do. Erebus, are you hungry?”
“As part of the agreement, your father spared some of his blood. I’m good for at least another two days.”
“You’re sure? You won’t be hungry tomorrow?”
�
��I’m fine, Mercy. Don’t worry about me. You’d better get some sleep. I think we’re all going to need it.”
Mercy didn’t say anything, turning away from the others onto her side. It wasn’t entirely Erebus that she was worried about. There was something about the ceremony that she hadn’t told the others, afraid that they would try to convince her not to go through with it. It wasn’t just going to be emotionally painful. Since she had lost her honor, they were going to mar her flesh with the mark of the banished. It would be bloody and violent, and Erebus could lose control.
15
“They’re killing me with their eyes, please make them stop looking at me like that,” Mercy thought as she stood on the platform.
Her arms were bound to a pole in front of her, and two guards were standing close by, as though they expected her to break free at any moment. She tried to endure with as much dignity as possible. She kept her eyes insolent and fierce and didn’t turn away from the accusing faces around her, even though she wanted nothing more. All of the familiar faces that she knew were contorted with expressions of rage.
They looked at her as though her betrayal had cost them everything, and in a way, she knew that it had. She had robbed them of their revenge. In their minds, it didn’t matter that the Ashen People were a greater danger than the Blood Wings, and now they had a face to blame for their inability to avenge their loved ones. Occasionally, she felt her side pelted with garbage or a rock, but mostly, they just looked at her in silent fury and that was enough. Mender of Spirits had tears in her eyes and wasn’t even looking at her, and somehow that was worse.
Her father had taken her advice and lied about how the Ashen People had found out about the condition of the village. In his speech he told the entire tribe that Mercy had betrayed their secrets to an Ashen lover that she took in Concord, a spy for the capital. That way, in their eyes, she had betrayed her people over a simple tryst, and she deserved a far harsher punishment than she was to endure.
The elders had agreed that the Ashen People were now a more pressing threat than the Blood Wings, and so her people would return to what remained of the village and enact the chieftain’s plan to protect them. It was Mercy’s plan they would be enacting, but they didn’t have to know that. Normally, the chieftain would be the one to apply the mark, but because she was his daughter, the elders allowed him to decline. They chose a different person to apply the punishment for him.
Mercy thought, miserably, “I should’ve known it would be him.”
Green Arrow’s expression was cold. The knife in his hand gleamed and glistened in the morning sun. He shifted it so that the reflection glinted into her eyes, but she still just squinted defiantly at him.
He whispered in her ear, “You should’ve listened to my proposition, you little whore. Maybe your name should’ve been Lays on her Back.”
Mercy snarled, “I would rather be remembered as a whore than to take you up on your offer. You murdered my betrothed and you’re responsible for whatever happened to my brother.”
Green Arrow looked around, guilt sweating from him like oil from his pores, but none of the elders were paying attention. They were too busy giving testimonials about why what she had done was unacceptable, and that she would never be able to return to the village. Several of them also praised her father for being strong enough to banish one of his own bloodline, whether she was acknowledged or not.
Green Arrow whispered, “What am I worried about? Who would believe you, especially now? I might be able to forgive your indiscretions, if you could forgive mine. Beg me. Beg me like the frightened bitch you are, and I’ll intercede on your behalf.”
“May you return in the next life as a sea pig. Then at least your appearance would match your slimy, shriveled heart.”
Green Arrow didn’t give her the chance to flinch away from the blow of his knife. He savagely grabbed her shoulder and thrust it in nearly two inches deep, carving a gash like that of a behemoth claw into her back. She tried not to scream, but the sound escaped her throat anyway, a pitiful wail that hardly even sounded like her own voice. For one instant, her eyes locked with her father’s, and she saw a solitary tear glide down his cheek. She quickly turned away and glanced around the crowd.
Mirilee and Erebus were in the front. Erebus had one hand in front of Mirilee, holding her back. His other hand was in his mouth. He bit it with his canines until the blood nearly flowed down his chin. The expression on his face was terrifying. Even when he attacked her in the jungle, she had never seen such a look of raw fury on his face. His ferocious wrath was overshadowing the sympathy he felt with stifling blood red rage and hunger. Mirilee was shouting something, but Mercy could barely hear her over the sound of the crowd and the sound of her own heart thumping in her ears. The crowd was screaming for more.
Green Arrow’s knife cut small trenches into her skin. She was starting to feel weak with blood loss and felt her knees giving way beneath her. He just pushed her down until she was only held up by the ropes on her wrists and continued to cut. Even though she couldn’t see what he was carving into her skin, she knew what it was. It was the symbol of banishment; scrawled across every achievement and acknowledgment she had ever publicly been given.
The marring of her tribal tattoos would be as obvious to any of her people as a brand on the face of a thief. And, when she felt the final character slice through the edge of her back, Green Arrow took the knife and dug a groove into the skin of her ankle. He meant to destroy the symbol of her engagement to Wind Runner.
Mercy screamed in a raw voice that she barely recognized as her own, “No, please!”
But, it was too late. She felt the red hot pain of her skin being pulled away before she blacked out, unable to bear it anymore.
16
Mercy couldn’t remember where she was when she opened her eyes. It was dark outside and there was a campfire in front of her, and oddly, she didn’t feel any pain. It was strange not to feel pain. Pain was all she could remember from the time the ceremony finished to the time that Erebus and Mirilee made camp. It was the most intense pain that she had ever felt, and every instant of it felt like a lifetime, especially the pain in her ankle. Her ankle…
Mercy tried to sit up to see if her engagement tattoo was still there, but even though she didn’t feel any pain, her muscular spasms protested too much for her to move. She wasn’t wearing a shirt, but her bandages covered her chest as well as her back. She didn’t have enough energy to feel embarrassed or angry that Erebus had probably seen her shirtless. Besides, to him she was just an animal anyway. It was difficult but she held back her tears, suddenly remembering where she was and that everything that happened to her was real and not a dream.
Erebus said softly, “Don’t move. You need to rest. You’re feverish now and your wounds are bad. He almost went too far and killed you.”
“Feverish? I told you not to feed on me.”
“You begged me to feed on you after we tried to bandage you. So, I did. That’s the only reason that you’re able to move at all right now. The pain is going to be dulled for at least a few more hours. I thought that would be worth a mild fever. Trust me, you insisted.”
Mercy just groaned. She tried to concentrate and slowly began to remember what happened after Green Arrow dug the groove into her ankle. She had blacked out for a moment, but the elders stepped in and interceded for her, pulling Green Arrow away.
He was struggling like a wild horse, shouting obscenities and slicing at the air with his dagger. She had a vague memory that someone had accused Green Arrow of dipping his dagger into fire spider venom to make the wounds feel as if they were burning, as though she was being branded rather than simply being cut.
Fire spiders were small, fast, orange spiders that usually were found on fire blossoms, a common plant of the forest. The spiders were known for their painful bites that felt almost like bad burn wounds as opposed to that of a normal spider. She wouldn’t put it past Green Arrow to kill enough of them to
collect their venom sacks to coat the dagger. He clearly wanted to cause her as much pain as possible for her imaginary slights against him.
During her punishment, Mercy’s vision was blurry from the pain. When she was able to fight the darkness away from her vision, she remembered seeing Erebus and Mirilee rushing up on the platform to cut her ropes free, helping her stand. Mercy was glad that Erebus and Mirilee had gathered more supplies earlier in the day, because after Green Arrow was caught using the venom, the ceremony was disrupted and the Elders told them to leave and never to come back.
As they were preparing to leave, Mercy saw Mender of Spirits walking up to her as though she wanted to say something, and her anger burned Mercy almost as much as the fire spider venom.
Mender of Spirits said, “Tell me it isn’t true.”
Erebus whispered, “It isn’t.”
She frowned. “Your friends are kind to defend you, but I need to hear it from you. Mind of Mercy, just tell me you didn’t do it. I’ll believe you.”
Mercy just looked at the ground and remained silent.
Mender snapped, “Your silence says enough.”
Even though she hadn’t seen it, Mercy knew Mender of Spirits was crying when she walked away. Her mentor felt heartbroken and confused. Mercy secretly hoped that after thinking on it she would choose to believe Erebus, but she knew that she would never know.
Mirilee got their belongings while Erebus carried Mercy to the horse, but she was thrashing with pain because his arm kept accidentally sliding onto her back. He draped her across the animal and rode out, with Mirilee on one of the riding birds behind him.
When they were about five minutes away, Erebus and Mirilee took her from the horse and started tending her wounds. The pain made her shiver and thrash, making it difficult to bandage her. Every touch, even close to the wounds, was enough to make her cry out in pain. Her last conscious memory was of begging Erebus to lick the wounds, anything to dull the pain. Finally, he had obliged her.
“Thank you. I did beg you, didn’t I?”
