Aleksi felt the dark rage surge within his body and consume him. Letting out a wordless scream, he mounted Kefta’s chest and hit the young man in the face with his fists.
“Yield!” Aleksi shouted, hitting Kefta again and again. “Yield, yield, yield!” Aleksi felt nothing but anger burning within him. His heart was completely blocked off. There was only rage, fury, and deep, deep suffering.
Strong hands yanked him back. Everything was blurry, and thick tears stung at Aleksi’s eyes. Aleksi tried to wipe his face but he could not reach it, for someone was holding his arms back. Out of the corner of his eye, Aleksi saw that his hands were covered in red. He then saw Kefta’s face. Blood was flooding from the young man’s nose and mouth. It was pooling on his clothes and running in thick rivulets onto the wooden planks.
Aleksi’s head spun. If someone had not been holding him up, he would have collapsed. Looking back at Kefta, Aleksi saw that Marlen was trying to stop the bleeding. It didn’t seem to be helping. Suddenly, flashes of the carnage in Mindra’s Square assaulted Aleksi’s mind—the man with a blade stuck in his face, the dead soldiers’ lifeless eyes, and the pool of sticky blood covering the cobblestones. It all was so real, so terrifying. Aleksi looked back at Kefta.
His blood runs red, too. In death, they all look the same.
Aleksi doubled over and vomited on the planks. The smell of it stung his nose. Strong hands then hoisted him to the side of the ship. Aleksi wretched over the gunwale—again, and again, and again. The vomit came out in heaving lurches and splashed into the churning ocean below. Filth was stuck in his nose and caught in his teeth. Aleksi tried to spit it out, but that only made it taste worse.
“All done?”
Someone then pulled Aleksi back up to his feet. Wiping his mouth, Aleksi looked over his shoulder. Levain stood behind him, and the large man rested a heavy hand on Aleksi’s neck.
“Once you get it out,” Levain continued, “you always feel better.”
Whatever anger had been in Aleksi’s body was now gone. Replacing it was a feeling of hollow exhaustion. Aleksi looked farther behind the large man and saw Marlen and Domadred huddled over Kefta. Aleksi tried to go over to him, but Levain held him firmly in place.
“Oh, I think you have done quite enough for now. Doc and Cap’n are patching him up, you just sit tight.”
Tears welled in Aleksi’s eyes again. “I . . . I didn’t mean to—” Aleksi stopped short as Marlen swapped a sodden bunch of bloody rags for fresh bandages. Crimson quickly soaked the white cloth.
“I know, son,” Levain said softly. “I know.”
“Will he . . .” Aleksi’s voice trailed off as he saw Fa’ell and Nara stand over Kefta. Fa’ell looked very concerned and Nara was shaking his head.
“Well, girls won’t be calling him pretty for a good long while—but minus a few missing teeth, he should be fine. What about you?”
Aleksi looked up at the ship’s carpenter in confusion. Levain motioned to Aleksi’s hands. Looking down, Aleksi saw that his knuckles were bloody and gashed.
From Kefta’s teeth . . .
Despite the bandage on Aleksi’s right hand, blood was dripping down his fingers onto the deck. Before Aleksi had seen his knuckles, he hadn’t felt a thing. Now, however, his hands throbbed painfully.
“He didn’t yield,” Aleksi said slowly, looking at his own glistening flesh. “Why didn’t he yield?”
“At first it was pride,” Levain answered. “But, son, you then knocked the wind out of him when you threw him on his back. After that, he couldn’t have spoken even if he had wanted to.” Levain looked deeply into the youth’s eyes. “Aleksi, you’re very talented in the arts of battle, but you need to learn to control yourself. Enraged as you were, you could have killed him had we not intervened. A fury like that will consume you, son. Not only will it make you kill others, but deep down, it will do even worse to you . . .”
Aleksi looked up and saw Luka smiling from the far end of the ship. The nobleman was looking directly at him, and Luka’s green eyes glittered. The image was unbearable and Aleksi forced himself to look away. Aleksi then saw Brayden approach. The boy was still clutching Aleksi’s sword. Timidly, Brayden came over and presented the blade. Aleksi slowly grasped the sword with his bloody hands. He could not bear to meet the boy’s eyes.
Sliding the blade into his belt, Aleksi looked down at the small pool of blood below him. It continued to drip down his fingers and had left red streaks on his scabbard’s glossy black surface. Aleksi felt numb—no pain, no anger, no sadness. Just empty. Empty and, once again, alone.
“Let’s get you some bandages for your hands,” Levain said, breaking the silence. “After you clean up, the captain will want to speak with you.”
Aleksi slowly nodded his head and, despite his gashed knuckles, clenched his bandaged right hand. His palm burned and his Rune pulsed painfully. The youth could feel it slowly sending its black tendrils farther up his arm.
Rudra, where are you? Why did you leave me?
After the crew cleaned the blood off the deck, they once again went about their duties. An eerie silence then reigned over the ship as Aleksi was given a bucket of boiled salt water, salve, and some fresh bandages. To everyone’s surprise, however, the youth took them down to his room and locked the door. After hiding himself away, Aleksi washed and bandaged his hands, taking extra care to roll the gauze higher up his arm to cover his Rune.
Aleksi then laid himself in his hammock and stared at the ceiling, waiting.
It took longer for someone to come than Aleksi expected. The youth didn’t move as he waited. He just looked at the smooth planks of wood above his head, forcibly pushing away the feelings in his heart and the images in his mind.
Finally, a knock came at the door. Aleksi stood. Much to his amazement, however, when he opened the door, he saw Kefta instead of the captain. Aleksi instantly took a step back and his hand flashed to his blade.
“No, I’m not here for that,” Kefta said. His voice was nasal but steady. “I just want to talk. May I come in?” The young man’s face was badly bruised and he had two black eyes. His broken nose had been reset, but it was very swollen. Despite his wounds, Kefta wore a gentle smile. The dark splotches under the young man’s eyes, however, made the smile look strange and foreign on his face.
Aleksi stood back from the door. Kefta entered, favoring the leg that Aleksi had struck with his staff. Aleksi’s room had only one chair, and he pulled it out for Kefta. The young man winced as he sat.
“I just wanted to say—”
“I’m sorry, Kefta,” Aleksi blurted, interrupting him. Aleksi bowed his head and dropped to one knee. “What I did was wrong.”
“Hey, hey,” Kefta said, pulling Aleksi back up to his feet. “I came here to apologize to you. You gave me a chance to yield, but instead, I hit you. This all was my own fault and I deserve what I got.”
Kefta paused, motioning for Aleksi to sit on the hammock. “In addition, I want you to know that what happened with the boom was a horrible accident. Yes, I meant it to push you into the water and knock you down a notch in everyone’s eyes. But I truly had no idea the mainsheet would snap. It could have killed you, Aleksi, and for that I am very sorry.”
Aleksi remained silent.
“It’s no excuse, but after my brother . . .” Kefta swallowed hard. “Rihat had been training me how to fight for a long time. But, other than Brayden, I’m the youngest on the ship. I wanted to rank well in the arena to make him proud and prove my worth to the captain and crew. But then everything went up in flames in Mindra’s Haven, and when we got back . . .” Kefta’s words trailed off. “My brother was gone and you were here. I don’t know how you are so skilled. But when I’m around you, I feel like all the training I’ve done over the years has been for nothing. Rihat’s death, my promotion, everything—it all feels like it’s all just been for nothing. If I can’t even beat you, a teenager, then what good am I, right?”
There was an uneasy
silence.
“I wish I had a brother,” Aleksi finally said, shaking his head. “Even a dead one. I may be good at fighting, but for what? You have a family here on this ship. You have something worth fighting for. All I have . . .” Images of Rudra’s abandoning him and the young woman’s icy stare flashed in Aleksi’s mind. “I truly have nothing.”
“Well, for as long as you want it, you have a home here on the Diamond.” Aleksi felt his eyes began to sting and he looked down. Seeing the tears, Kefta hurriedly continued. “Well, my leg will be shot for a few days. That was a really good strike you did. Someday you will have to teach it to me.”
“I hit you where the tensor fasciae latae merges into the iliotibial band,” Aleksi answered slowly, still looking at the ground. “When done with enough force and in the right place, the strike renders the leg numb for anywhere from a few hours to a few days.”
“Yeah, I can tell,” Kefta, said chuckling. “My face hurts a bit, too. Although I think I know a little more about the technique that did that. The old pin ’em down, right, left, repeat is a classic on this ship when the boys have a bit too much to drink.”
Aleksi looked up and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, and my elbow into your nose helped, too.”
“That it did,” Kefta said, fingering his swollen face. “That it did.” Aleksi looked down again, but Kefta reached out and touched his arm. “Aleksi, can we have no hard feelings—this time for real?”
“I’d like that.”
Kefta nodded. “Well, do you want to get some food with me? Getting one’s face mangled really works up an appetite.”
“I think I’ll just stay here for now.” Aleksi looked into Kefta’s eye. “Maybe . . . tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.” Kefta slowly stood, bracing himself against the desk. Aleksi got up to help, but Kefta motioned him away. “Also, tomorrow the crew is having their sail-diving contest. It’s a bit of a ritual on our ship. It starts midmorning. Brayden usually does pretty well; I’m sure he would appreciate if you came to cheer him on.”
“I’ll be there.”
Kefta walked to the door. Opening it, he turned. “One last thing. Please keep teaching Brayden. He will be lucky even if you show him only a little of what you know. And if you’ll take me, maybe I’ll even join, too.”
Before Aleksi could respond, Kefta walked into the hallway and closed the door behind him.
Aleksi lay back in his hammock, once again staring at the ceiling. The youth let out a great sigh. Slowly, he then unwrapped the bandage on his right hand. As he removed the gauze, his knuckles began to sting. Unrolling the dressings, he saw the dark tendrils of his Rune embedded in his nerves. They scrolled up his wrist and forearm, etching deeply bruised tracks in his flesh. Their lines were growing more defined day by day, and he could feel tingling energy pulse within them. Aleksi realized his Rune would soon fully awaken and consume him.
Aleksi did not speak to anyone for the remainder of the day. He ate alone in his cabin and, other than using the washroom, did not leave his room. All he could think of was Kefta’s mangled face, the carnage of Mindra’s Haven, Luka’s green eyes, and the young woman’s frozen tears.
Despite the images that flashed through his mind, however, Aleksi’s heart felt numb. Deep within him there was only cold loss and a cavernous emptiness.
CHAPTER XXIV
The young woman was gone. At no time during the long night did Aleksi dream of her, and upon waking, he felt her absence sting his chest bitterly.
She has left me, just like Rudra.
After dressing, Aleksi exited his room. As he ascended to the main deck, he noticed yesterday’s clouds had all but faded away. He looked aft, and the vibrant light of a distant dawn met him. The Eastern Zenith now seems so far away. Due to the early hour, the sky above was a dark purple with only an orangey-red hue coming from the Zeniths. Looking behind the ship, Aleksi saw that the Eastern Zenith was missing even more of its sharp mountain spire and burning lower on the horizon. He then looked past the ship’s nose and saw that the Central Zenith before them had risen proportionately. In several more days, the light from Vai’kel’s Zenith will overtake that of the East . . . Suddenly, Aleksi heard a loud splash and a cacophony of shouts. Startled, he turned his head. It seemed that the entirety of the crew was huddled around the foredeck’s starboard gunwale, looking into the water. Aleksi hurried over and joined them. In the dark depths, he saw a murky figure clothed in a halo of swirling lights. As the sailor swam toward the surface, the luminescent glow slowly faded beneath the greater light of the Zeniths.
Breaking the surface, the man took a deep breath. He then grabbed ahold of a line tied to the gunwale and climbed up the side of the ship. Once he was back aboard, everyone looked at Domadred, who stood atop a barrel near the gunwale. While hanging on to the shrouds with one hand, the captain raised the other and extended two fingers. The dripping man then shook his head, and the crew gave him consolatory pats on the back as he dried himself off.
“Next!” Domadred yelled.
All eyes went to the rigging above. Aleksi followed their gaze and saw Brayden climbing out onto the foresail’s spar. The Diamond’s sails were all lowered, and the ship’s poles looked like a tree’s barren branches in winter. The crew yelled both taunts and encouragement as the boy moved his way across the rounded beam. Looking down, Brayden saw Aleksi and waved. Aleksi waved back.
Brayden stood motionless for a moment, but Aleksi’s breath then caught in his chest as Brayden raised his hands and sprinted to the spar’s edge. Coming to the tip, the boy bent his knees and, using his upper body for momentum, lunged into the air. Tucking his arms around his legs and turning his body into a graceful, spinning pike, Brayden plummeted down to the water below.
Aleksi had a hard time counting how many times the boy flipped before Brayden stretched his body into a dive. The boy then hit the water with a silent splash and the crew shouted their approval. Aleksi could hear men arguing about how many flips Brayden had done. Some said four, but most agreed that three was the accurate number. As Brayden’s glowing body came to the surface of the water, one man boasted that he could do better and climbed into the rigging.
In response to the banter, Domadred held up three fingers. Hoisting himself back onto the deck, Brayden nodded at the captain’s verdict. Moving through the crowd toward Domadred and Brayden, Aleksi looked up and saw that the man in the rigging had made his way out onto the spar. As the sailor stalked across the beam, Aleksi noticed that the Zeniths’ light was growing stronger and the purple sky was turning blue.
Aleksi reached Domadred just as the man above their heads ran and jumped. At first the sailor seemed to copy Brayden. With arms outstretched and tucking into a pike, he spun three times but then awkwardly came out of the flip and landed on his back with a loud splash. Domadred’s face contorted into a grimace as laughter erupted from the crew.
“Fynn will be feeling that for a few days,” Domadred said, chuckling. Seeing Aleksi, the captain smiled.
“Captain.” Aleksi placed his hand on the barrel and looked up into Domadred’s eyes. “I want to apologize for yesterday. What I did—”
“Say no more. You and Kefta settled your debt under the eye of Aruna and what is done is done. Besides, tensions have been high for everyone since Mindra’s Haven. Thankfully, we have made very good time on our voyage, so lucky for us, we can afford a bit of fun!”
“Kefta mentioned the diving,” Aleksi said, looking around at the crew. “But I didn’t expect such acrobatics. Brayden did very well.”
“Yes, indeed he did. He has had a good deal of practice, for it’s an old tradition on the Diamond. We throw the anchor over to slow the ship’s drift, and the man with the most flips and a successful finish wins a barrel of the captain’s finest.” Domadred then chuckled and used his boot to nudge Marlen, who stood next to the cask. “Good thing for the captain, however, he always wins!” Marlen muttered something unintelligible underneath his breath as
Domadred continued. “Brayden currently holds the lead with three and a perfect dive. Care to test your luck?”
“I think I’ll pass. Yesterday was exciting enough.”
“No need to do any flips,” Kefta said, approaching them. His face was still badly swollen, but he wore a warm smile. “Even just diving is quite invigorating, trust me.”
“Come on, Aleksi,” Brayden added, climbing over the gunwale. “You should at least give it a try!”
“I think I’ll just congratulate you,” Aleksi answered as the boy wrung out his hair. “Your jump was fantastic—there is no way I could hope to compete with such a performance.”
“Then I guess it’s my turn!” Domadred exclaimed, taking off his shirt. After kicking off his boots, the captain jumped on the ratlines and began climbing. As Domadred ascended into the rigging, the Zeniths’ yellow morning rays shone brightly across his back. Despite his age, the captain’s shoulders were strong and well defined, sculpted from his many long years of hauling lines and hoisting sails.
“Keep your eye on me, Aleksi!” Domadred yelled. “You won’t want to miss this!” Aleksi watched as Domadred climbed atop the spar and easily made his way out onto its tip.
“For all his bluster and peacocking,” Marlen said, climbing atop Domadred’s barrel, “the captain never fails to deliver. Just watch.”
High above their heads, the captain raised his arms and called to his crew. “No matter if I am made prime admiral or not, I’m still the best diver in all of Terra!” The crew gave a hearty cheer of agreement. Just as the boat came up on a swell, Domadred took a sudden sprinting leap and launched himself into the air. Grabbing the backs of his legs, he spun and descended in a blur. Right as Domadred was about to hit the water, he came out of the spin and entered the ocean with hardly a splash. The entire crew stomped their feet, shouting their approval.
As the captain swam back up, the water’s luminescence barely cast off a glow due to the brightening Zeniths. After breaking the surface, Domadred treaded water and, holding up his fist, raised one, two, three, and then four fingers. Marlen nodded his approval and, while the majority of the crew was cheering, several only grumbled their congratulations.
Rune of the Apprentice (The Rune Chronicles) Page 33
