by Thomas Green
“Because I can. If you go out now, you can head east and reach the coastal forests, where you have a chance to survive.”
“We can’t move until Illia gets better!”
“Let me look at her. Maybe I can help.” Luna saw the conflict in his eyes, the struggle between his desire to save his beloved and the fear of letting her approach.
He stepped aside.
She examined the girl, seeing her charred lips and neck, feeling her faint breathing. “The burned throat won’t get better by itself, so she needs a healer. Do you know anyone who might be alive and help her?”
“If I did, I would have taken her there already.”
“What’s your name?”
“Nirtu.”
Luna steeled herself to sound as confident as she could, despite her insides writhing in the cold. “Listen, Nirtu, the only way she might make it if I bring her to Palai priests to heal her. I can take her, search for one and convince him to help her, but I have to go with her alone.”
“I won’t leave her!”
Luna’s expression hardened to stone. “Then she will die. She, the children, and you, all of you will die here in this cellar.”
He cursed as tears filled his eyes. “Swear you will help her!”
“I swear.”
He ducked above the girl. “Listen, Illia, it will be fine! She will take you to a healer who will heal you and then I will find you. I swear to you, I will find you, and we will be together as we promised.”
The girl groaned, unable to speak. Nirtu handed her to Luna, who took Illia into her arms.
Luna gently put her on her shoulder. “I will go first. If you hear me whistle, the air is not clear, and you need to wait.”
She didn’t wait for confirmation and spun to scale the ladder. There was nobody outside, safe for the terrified girl huddled by the collapsed beams. She gasped when she saw Luna exit.
Luna forced out a fake smile. “Your friends are alive, and Nirtu will take you away from the town.”
The girl’s weeping softened. “Is Illia… alright?”
Luna kept the expression, giving herself the confidence she lacked. “Don’t worry about her, for I’m taking her to a healer.”
The girl almost smiled. “Illia was so nice. This was her house. She brought us here. Please, help her.”
Luna gulped and walked away to hide beyond a smoldering ruin of a house to observe the exit of the cellar. Soon, Nirtu came out with the children, picked up the little girl into his arms and led them east as she told him to.
She tried to smile, but couldn’t. She rose and spun, seeing Daniel watching her with wide eyes. He was at a loss for words.
Luna sighed. “You weren’t supposed to see this.”
“Is she… alright?” he stammered, his voice weak.
She shook her head but didn’t stop him from approaching. “Let me look at her,” he said. Luna put her down onto the rubble, letting Daniel run his hands by the throat and listen to her breath.
He remained sitting above her, petrified. “I… I can’t help her.”
“That’s why you weren’t supposed to see this.” Luna raised Illia in her arms and dashed away before he could stop her.
She ran through the town, glimpsing the withdrawing army that was reforming the units, and tending to the wounded. She sprinted to the outskirts of the city where she found a quiet spot and put Illia onto the grass.
Luna glanced around to ensure nobody, especially not Daniel, watched her. Tears burst into her eyes, but she steeled herself to speak. “I’m sorry, Illia, but I lied. It’s not your throat that is burned, but your lungs. No healer among the priests can help you. I’m sorry, but the children would have died too if I let you stay there. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,” Luna squeezed the words out of herself as she started crying. Her eyes stung, her throat was stuck, and her insides were tangled and heavy. “I’m sorry, the only thing I can do for you… is to end your suffering… I’m sorry.”
She felt a soft touch on her cheek. Illia gently held Luna’s face in her palm. While her eyes were filled with tears, but she seemed calm, almost grateful.
Luna closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, turned her fingertips into claws and sunk them into Illia’s skull. She opened the eyes only to see the light of life leave the girl, to see her last breath. Luna sat back and exploded into tears. When she re-gathered herself to function, she dug up a shallow grave, put Ilia’s body into it and covered her with mud before she sprinted away to rejoin her unit.
She tried to meet Daniel’s gaze, but he stared into the ground, ignoring her.
14
Zerae
The war room of Ur’Thul’Gar was a circular hall with a massive, stone, map-laden table in the middle. Around it stood the pirate lord himself, flanked by his six captains, while at the opposite side were the leaders of the Sil Haen force, Mathilde Hellwind with her daughters, Alicia and Zerae, next to whom stood Hilmeria Darkscream and Chloe Voidwalker by her flanks.
They had spent days meeting in this room, planning the war. Yet the news that arrived this morning was not from among the options they had considered. The Palai fleet leveled the town of Vlatton, one of the major fishing hubs of the region, killing everyone within. The three hundred year history of the city once founded by Strauss Laen’Ash, the Immortal King who ruled the continent during the times of the Old Kingdom, reached its end.
Their plans for a counterattack had so far resulted in nothing, for the firepower displayed by the Order meant any large-scale battle on the sea was doomed for failure.
Paulsgrave, the oldest of Ur’Thul’Gar’s captains, took the word. “Since we cannot engage them directly, we need to use bait. I suggest we load old ships with drake food, which will appear to be important supplies, but isn’t, and make the boats move in a pattern the Order can figure out. Once we see their scouting vessels, we have the convoy stretch like a noodle. That will force the Order to do the same upon the attack, allowing us to fight only a part of their fleet at a time.”
Zerae shook her head. It was too early for this. One couldn’t set traps without having a good read on the opponent’s offensive capabilities. So far they knew the Order was capable of a massive bombardment, extensive enough to burn down a city in a single night and that was it. And that they weren’t utter morons, which was not sufficient to lay a snare.
Mathilde straightened. “We can be the bite. Our warriors are ready to use the sea drakes, so can attack their pursuing ships to split their fleet through the confusion, chewing off the front,”
Zerae waved her hand in dismissal. “That would be reckless. We will need months before we get enough experience with the sea drakes while we have had mere days. And this exposes us in case our move is read, making us an easy target.” He heart stopped the second she realized who she was speaking to. I should have phrased this differently.
Mathilde glowered at Zerae. “We can always escape by diving underwater. Are you afraid, daughter?”
Zerae exhaled, steeling herself to hold her ground. “It’s an army, so they will have a way to attack underwater targets.”
The matron clicked her tongue. “Like what?”
“I don’t know, but I’m certain they do.”
Mathilde turned to the pirate lord. “Tell me, Ur’Thul’Gar, do you have any knowledge of the Palai scum having means of attacking an underwater target?”
He shrugged. “No.”
Zerae froze. This was a trap. One she waltzed into by being careless.
Mathilde threw Zerae a callous smile. “Any other objections, daughter?”
The pirates planned to use them to scout out the Palai fleet weaponry at the expense of their lives. However, could Zerae win this argument? Mathilde would push against her to the point of beheading her, for her mother would do anything to protect her pride. She screwed up. She shouldn’t have made it an attack on her. Fuck! Zerae bowed and stepped back. “No, matron.”
Worley, another of the pirate capt
ains, nodded. “I like this, and we can put our fastest fleet into our second wave, so we hit the isolated front simultaneously.”
And be the fastest to run when it doesn’t work. Zerae focused on keeping her voice steady. “We should combine the trap with multiple feint attacks to split their attention.”
Worley shook his head. “That’s risky because we can end up losing the distraction while not triggering the ambush.”
“Better lose a small distraction than the entire ambushing force.”
Mathilde stomped, directing all attention to her. “Enough! You have said enough, Zerae! Leave and await me in my chambers!”
Zerae’s heart sunk into her stomach. “Yes, Matron.” She bowed and left.
***
Since the door of Mathilde’s chambers was locked, Zerae had no option but to wait within the stone corridor. The matron came hours later, her black-red gown weaving behind her as she walked. She pierced Zerae with a glare. Zerae bowed as her mother approached.
Without a word, Mathilde slapped Zerae so strongly she fell to the ground. “Get up.”
With tears in the corners of her eyes, Zerae rose to her feet. “Mother, I—”
“Shut up.” She slapped her again and then four more times. “You have said enough. I never believed I would ever be so ashamed of a child I brought into this world, yet here I stand. I hereby demote you to a regular warrior, and I will pray for you to come back to your senses. How I wish you were never born, the cursed child, sister killer, the plague of our clans… you, Astril, and Leena. If you defy me once more, I will have the three of you publicly tortured to death. Is everything I said clear?”
Zerae bowed, unable to speak as the hollowness inside filled her throat.
Mathilde slapped her again. “Begone from my sight, you failure.” She whirled past Zerae, passed through the door and slammed it shut behind her.
On wobbly legs with bright, swollen welts on her cheeks, Zerae stumbled to her own chambers. The simple room that made her bedroom and the tiny bathroom by the side were barren of any decorations. Zerae locked and punched the wall.
Pain shot through her arm, yet she welcomed it. Rage exploded within her, blending with her sadness, filling her mind. She drove her fist into the wall, feeling her bones crack. Punch after punch, Zerae slammed her fists into the stone, covering her hands with her own blood.
When the rage left, all that remained within her was sadness and emptiness, so endless it devoured her soul. Zerae crumbled by the wall and cried herself to unconsciousness.
***
Zerae woke up in the bed of her chambers, her hands exploding with pain. She blinked and saw bandages covered her arms while Chloe Voidwalker, the timid brown-haired girl, stood above her, working her aether around the wounds.
Zerae tried to sit up, but a hand firmly pressed against her chest stopped her. She followed the arm until her eyes met Astril’s. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Astril smiled. “Despite your best efforts, I’m having you healed.”
Zerae scoffed. “That’s an utter waste of time.”
“You may have gotten demoted, but you are still one of us.”
Zerae shook her head. “I spent my entire life clawing my way to my position, and for what? Now that I could have finally used it for something, Mathilde discarded me like old garbage.”
“Then why don’t you let me kill her? I could get us rid of her and Alicia by lunch.”
Zerae’s heart froze. Do not tempt me, Astril. “That’s not how it works. She is my mother and the founder of our clan while Alicia is my sister. I cannot have either of them killed, much less by you.”
Astril clicked her tongue. “You keep saying that, but then I find you lying unconscious in your own blood. Your approach doesn’t work.”
“I am the one who doesn’t work. I am the outcast, the black sheep, the failure. I am the problem, Astril, not them.”
“Not for me.” Astril leaned in to kiss her. If only for but a moment, the soft touch of her lips washed away Zerae’s pain and soothed her soul.
Wait for a second, how come Chloe didn’t react to what Astril said? She turned her gaze to Chloe. “You don’t seem to be surprised about what you just heard.”
She formed a hesitant smile. “Astril disagreeing with her matron isn’t anything new.”
Zerae pursed her lips. “Am I the only one who thought it was?”
Chloe shrugged, saying nothing.
Zerae let her heal her arms. While she could do little to dull her pain, Chloe used her aether to reconstruct Zerae’s bones and repair her muscles, making her function once more.
Chloe frowned. “I wish I could do more, but we need to go.”
Zerae raised an eyebrow.
“We have a stupid mission on the sea drakes,” Astril said and helped Zerae rise.
She covered her hands with heavy, leather gloves, grabbed her executioner sword and followed Astril to the gathering place for the warriors.
As they stood in a gigantic cavern dominated by a provisory throne, the mood among the warriors was awkward despite them heading for their most significant battle in years. It was also the first time in decades that Zerae wasn’t leading the force, standing next to Astril together with the other lowest rank warriors. Zerae paid no attention to the ceremony, where the Matron would call the new War Leader, Alicia, give her the mission and blessing of the Goddess. Alicia would thank her and command the warriors to head out.
Zerae went through it a hundred times, yet that she wasn’t the one giving the speech felt surreal. She threw a glance at Astril. “Were my speeches also this uninspiring?”
“Nah. They were great… most of the time.”
Zerae pierced her with a glare. “You know how much I hate being lied to.”
“They were so boring they made me want to cry.”
Zerae smiled. “Thanks.”
Astril scratched the back of her neck. “Anyway, they said something about launching an ambush on the sea. How are we to hide there? Because last time I checked, you could see there far.”
Zerae shrugged. “I’m not the War Leader anymore, so you will need to ask someone else.”
Astril raised her hand and shouted from the top of her lungs. “Excuse me, New War Leader, but how do we hide on the sea?”
Alicia spared her a quick glance. “We will dive so only our heads are above water, which will keep us hidden.”
“Have you tried that before? It’s easy in the ponds, but the sea has waves that will hit you. I did it yesterday, and it’s exhausting to stay still like that.”
Zerae couldn’t help herself but smile. Their plan was so stupid Astril could see the holes. Her smile froze on her lips because her sisters would pay for their stupidity with their lives.
Alicia scoffed. “We are warriors, so we can handle a little discomfort.”
Astril’s expression did not cheer up. “And what’s the plan B? I mean, if we are caught, we will have nowhere to hide.”
“We will dive, escape underwater, and regroup at the Tirbou Island. Our mounts are faster than their ships.”
Astril stretched her neck. “After we are exhausted from the waiting? Can we get ten minutes to change? I feel like I need a swimming suit for this.”
Alicia shook her head in disbelief. “Do you want to go into a battle in a swimsuit?”
“What battle? We are going swimming, and there will only be a fight if everything goes right, at which point I will rather be fresh and naked than armored but exhausted.” Astril turned to leave, alone.
“I haven’t allowed you to go!” Alicia shouted.
Astril didn’t look back. “I will return in ten minutes.”
Most of the warriors looked like they wanted to do the same, but a glance at Mathilde convinced them otherwise. Nobody followed.
Alicia crossed the room to step before Zerae. “What the fuck, Zerae? Are you undermining me like this from my first mission? You are not the War Leader anymore, so g
et over it!”
Zerae shrugged. “Astril has a mind of her own. I didn’t make her do anything.”
“Lies! You are just vengeful about your rightful demotion. Stop acting like a spoiled child, you failure!”
“The War Leader must handle the warriors, not me.”
“Fucking hateful bitch!” Alicia whirled to return to her post.
Barria, one of Alicia’s warriors, lingered behind, piercing Zerae with a glare. “Seriously, let it go. You have never been good enough to lead, sister killer, so let others fix where you failed.”
Zerae wished the words did not hurt her as much they did. Sister killer. That cursed moniker was always there for her. But she deserved it, for accident or not, it was her who killed her twin sister. She swallowed the pain, scratched the skin itching beneath her collar, and proceeded with the others to mount their sea drakes.
Astril returned to Zerae’s side fifteen minutes later. She wore shorts and a bra, both made of rough leather. Over her back hung the harness that held the sheaths of her falchions. “You should have changed.”
Zerae shook her head. “I have a different role to play, one that requires me to look the part.”
“That sounds more like you. Got any mission for me?”
“Help the others survive.”
They left Stormshriek, crossing the sea on the backs of the drakes. Even Zerae couldn’t help herself but smile as the monster she sat upon pierced the water, splashing her as it crashed through the waves.
Three hours later, they reached their positions and submerged, keeping only their heads above the water. The sea spread around them, endless, yet to their side stood an island, small, uninhabited and embraced by sharp cliffs. One of the many islands that lay scattered across the Sea of Serpents.
They waited.
***
The sun retreated from the sky and fog filled the air. In the distance, Zerae could see the long string of ships that weaved between the islands, the bait.
