Descend (Awakened Fate Book 2)
Page 1
Descend
Book Two of the Awakened Fate series
Copyright 2014 by Skye Malone
Published by Wildflower Isle | P.O. Box 17804, Urbana, IL 61803
www.wildflowerisle.com
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this text and any portions thereof in any manner whatsoever.
This book is a work of fiction. All characters, names, places and incidents appearing in this work are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ISBN: 1-940617-10-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-940617-10-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014906857
Cover design by Karri Klawiter
www.artbykarri.com
Sign up for Skye's mailing list
Pronunciation Guide
Aveluria (av-eh-LUR-ee-uh)
Dehaian (deh-HYE-an)
Driecara (dree-eh-CAR-uh)
Fejeria (feh-JER-ee-uh)
Greliaran (greh-lee-AR-an)
Ina (EE-na)
Inasaria (ee-na-SAR-ee-uh)
Jirral (jur-AHL)
Kirzan (KUR-zahn)
Lycera (ly-SER-uh)
Neiphiandine (ney-fee-AN-deen)
Niall (nee-AHL)
Nialloran (nee-ah-LOR-en)
Nyciena (ny-SEE-en-uh)
Ociras (oh-SHE-rahs)
Renekialen (ren-eh-kee-AHL-en)
Ryaira (ry-AIR-uh)
Sieranchine (see-EHR-an-cheen)
Siracha (seer-AH-cha)
Sylphaen (sil-FAY-en)
Teariad (tee-AR-ee-ad)
Torvias (TOR-vee-ahs)
Velior (VEH-lee-or)
Yvaria (ih-VAR-ee-uh)
Zekerian (zeh-KEHR-ee-en)
Prologue
Noah
Waves rolled into the shore, their white-noise rush undercutting the cries of the seagulls overhead. The afternoon sun glinted on the water, turning the ocean into a rippling fabric of light.
Chloe was gone.
No fins broke the water’s surface, no scales flashed above the waves. The dehaians had disappeared as though they’d never come to Santa Lucina at all.
And if what they’d said was right, there was every chance that, in Chloe’s case at least, she wouldn’t be back for a very long time.
Not with the strength of those drugs in her system.
I turned from the water. The thought hurt, twisting in my chest in a way I’d never experienced before, and I shook my head, trying to drive it away. She was safer out there, safer with her own kind. I hated it, but it was true. Her life was in danger here. Letting her go was the best thing I could do for her.
No matter how hard it was to make myself believe the words.
I reached the shore, my clothes dripping and my sandals squelching under my feet. Shifting my shoulders against the cold fabric clinging to my skin, I glanced back at the ocean, wondering how far away and how deep she was now.
“Well, aren’t you just a picture?”
I turned, tensing as much from surprise as to keep my skin from changing. The greliaran defenses were hard to control, and the last thing I needed was some tourist running off with stories of meeting a monster with fire in his skin on the Santa Lucina shore.
My uncle Richard came down the wooden stairs from the top of the bluffs.
“What are you doing here?” I asked warily.
“Your dad called. Asked us to keep an eye on the place while you all were at the cabin.” Richard looked me up and down, disgust twitching his lip. “You’ve got a lot of nerve.”
I didn’t respond.
“Letting her go,” he continued. “Keeping any of them alive.”
“She’s gone now. She can’t come back. It doesn’t matter.”
His mouth curved, though only the most naïve would’ve called the expression a smile.
“You better hope not,” he replied. “I’d hate to have to kill her for you.”
Chapter One
Chloe
I kicked hard in the water, trying to keep up with the dehaians in front of me.
“You doing alright?” Zeke called from a short distance ahead.
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t, really. Everything was new now. The wide, partially translucent fin that had replaced my feet. The iridescent scales that ran down the long tail that my legs had become and up over my chest like some sort of bizarre evening gown. The skin of my arms and shoulders glistened, as if they were covered in gold dust. Instincts I hadn’t known I possessed had kept me moving with the others for the past hour, though every time I started to think about what I was doing, I floundered.
Though that wasn’t the real problem.
I’d left everything back on the shore. Friends, family, everything I’d known.
And Noah.
I drew a breath, trying to push away the ache that the thought caused, though fear just followed on its heels. Crazy men had injected me with some kind of drug that had forced me into the dehaians’ underwater form, making it impossible to survive outside the ocean. I could barely breathe normal air and rising above the water’s surface made my skin hurt like I had the world’s worst sunburn. Half my body was locked in a permanent tail now, and changing back seemed utterly beyond me.
But the drug had to wear off eventually, I reminded myself. And if willpower had anything to do with that timeframe, I’d have the chemicals out of my system within the hour.
I pushed myself to swim faster. I’d come back to Santa Lucina. I’d see Noah again. Drugs and fins and total psychos wouldn’t stop that.
Zeke dropped back to match my pace. “Chloe?”
“I’m fine.”
He didn’t seem to believe me, if his hesitant expression was any sign.
“We can slow down if you want?”
I was silent. I could tell by the way the others shot ahead every so often that they were already moving at a much slower pace than they ever would normally.
His mouth tightened. “Hey,” he called to the men.
“It’s fine,” I insisted, keeping my voice low as they looked back.
“That stuff the Sylphaen gave you might hurt you if you push too hard,” he replied, his voice as quiet as mine. “Besides, it’s a pretty decent trip across Yvaria to Nyciena. Even if we don’t stop, we won’t make it there till long past midnight anyway.”
I grimaced. Truth be told, I was tired. I’d never been swimming before in my life, and even though Noah had told me dehaians were strong, obviously I wasn’t. At least, not anything like them. I wanted to get back to the doctors Zeke said could help me, but the pace was starting to make my muscles hurt.
“Okay,” I agreed reluctantly.
Niall turned back toward us. Zeke had introduced him as his older brother and with his black hair, silver-dusted skin, and scales only a few shades lighter than Zeke’s own, he certainly looked like it. As he swam closer, he smiled at me, his sapphire eyes glinting with a roguish touch that probably melted hearts back where he was from.
“Everything alright?” he asked.
“Let’s camp here,” Zeke said. “Pick back up tomorrow.”
Niall glanced from me to Zeke, and then he shrugged. “Yeah, okay.” He looked back to the others. “Guys. Find a spot to set up camp.”
The dehaians altered course, diving down to the seafloor several dozen yards below us. I had no idea how deep we were – or how we were surviving in whatever pressure there was at this depth, for that matter – but we’d been coasting just above the bottom of
the ocean for quite some time. I knew I shouldn’t have been able to see it; this far down, even the ghost of the sandy terrain below should have been invisible. But I was also fairly certain that, similar to the others, my eyes were glowing and somehow amplifying even the tiniest traces of light, compensating for darkness that otherwise would’ve left me blind.
At a spot like any other on the mostly featureless seafloor, the dehaians stopped, and one of them shrugged off the bag that was slung crosswise over his bare chest. Tools unlike anything I’d seen emerged from the bag, tugged out by the man and handed around to the others, who took off without a word. As I came closer, one of them circled the campsite, a stone in his hand with glowing white runes carved into its surface.
The sand seemed to shiver, and then a curtain of tiny bubbles rose from the seafloor, forming a dome over us all.
I looked to Zeke.
“Refractive veil,” he explained. “Or just a veil for short. Bends light and sound in a way that renders us pretty much invisible to anything passing by.”
My brow furrowed. We were at the bottom of the ocean, God knew how far from the coast. What could see us?
He read the question in my eyes. “You know, deep sea explorers. Dangerous fish.”
“Crazy people,” Niall added.
I swallowed. Right. Of course.
A flicker caught my eye and I turned. Blue flames rose from a spot on the sand, snapping and twisting like a campfire but without the wood. A dehaian leaned away from the impossible fire, another weird stone device in his hand and a satisfied look on his face.
“Water-torches,” Zeke said. “When we’re not moving as much, we get colder, and they…”
He trailed off as I looked back at him again.
“There’s a lot to explain,” he finished. “A lot that’s different down here.”
I gave a vague nod, my gaze slipping back to the campsite. Heat came off of the fire, warming the water that had just started to feel cold around me. Over our heads, the veil reflected the glow and turned the dark water to pale twilight. With the agility of eels, the other dehaians darted around the camp, clearing away the larger rocks and shells amid the gray sand or setting up glowing blue stones by the base of the veil.
Different wasn’t the half of it.
“Come on,” Zeke said.
I followed him. On the seafloor, he sank down next to the flames, curling his tail beneath him. I attempted to do the same, succeeding only in toppling sideways. Pushing back upright, I braced myself with one arm, using the other to shove the fin that had been my feet out of the way. Blushing with embarrassment, I glanced to the others, but none of them were looking my direction.
A frustrated sigh escaped me. I missed my legs. At least I knew how to operate those without falling over.
“Hey Zeke,” Niall said into the awkward silence. “You remember that time I got stuck in the fejeria?”
Zeke chuckled. “I remember the way you were yelling for someone to get you out of there.”
Niall grinned. “There’s these plants, right?” he said to me. “They grow in Nyciena and we use them kind of like doors. Well, when you want, you can make them seal up so people can’t get inside your place. It’s like a security feature. So, I’d snuck out to see this girl – what was her name again?” he asked Zeke.
“Taliana, the Lyceran ambassador’s daughter. He tried to use your visit as a bargaining chip with Dad.”
“Oh yeah. Well, anyway,” Niall continued to me, “I’d snuck out and I thought I could get back in time. But as I was coming inside, someone set the security code and…” he laughed, “the damn things sealed up right around me. Pinned me good and tight, smack in the center of the doorframe.”
“I think Dad wanted to leave you,” Zeke added. “Teach you a lesson or something.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t that’ve looked good? Though he did end up sending me to the west garrison for six months as punishment.” Niall glanced back at me, grinning. “But then, that’s nothing like the time Zeke here–”
“Hey, tell your own stories,” Zeke interjected.
“Why?” Niall protested innocently. “Yours are so much fun.”
A smile tugged at my lip as Zeke glared at him.
“I could tell her about the time Ren threw a tantrum and got his spikes stuck in the nursery wall,” Niall offered.
“Oh, come on. That’s not fair. He was six.”
Niall shrugged. “Still funny.”
Zeke shook his head, though he couldn’t quite hide his amusement as well.
I glanced between them, grateful for how they were trying to make me feel better, no matter how strange this all still seemed. I was breathing water, as far as I could tell, though it felt as effortless as taking in air. Scales were my only covering now, running the length of my tail and continuing up over my chest to taper away near my shoulders – although from what I could see, my back was still just skin. The guys around me didn’t even have that, however. Their scales ended at their waists, and their chests were bare. It had felt awkward at first, being surrounded by a dozen well-built, essentially shirtless guys, but over the hours, my awareness of their appearance and mine had begun to disappear.
Which was also strange. I’d expected this dehaian thing to seem more alien. It made me feel ungainly, yes. But it was also inexplicably natural.
And that was more disturbing than anything.
Overhead, one of the dehaians swam back through the veil surrounding the campsite, and the others glanced up. In his hand, he held a ring attached to a rope of seaweed, and multiple fish on hooks dangled from it.
“Nice,” Niall commented at the sight.
The man pulled up by the ocean floor. With fast motions, he removed the fish from the hooks and then cleaned them with a small knife. Reaching back into his bag, he drew out a brown bowl and quickly set to cutting the fish apart, trapping the pieces in the bowl as he went.
Zeke smiled at me as the man brought the fish over to us. “You ever had…” He glanced to Niall. “What do they call it again?”
“Sushi. Or sashimi. That’s the one without the rice.”
“Right. That?”
I shook my head. Like water, pictures of the ocean, and the color blue, sushi had been on my parents’ list of things they’d get furious about if I came near.
“Okay, well, this is basically the same thing. Minus the rice.”
I nodded, though I couldn’t keep the dubious expression from my face. I waited as Zeke and Niall drew pieces out with their fingers, and then I did the same. Trying not to wince at the odd feeling of the fish, I lifted it up and took a cautious bite.
It tasted amazing.
I looked to Zeke.
He grinned. “You–”
Niall made a tense noise, cutting him off as the glowing stones by the base of the veil went red. Brow furrowing, I followed his gaze upward.
From the gloom above the campsite, a dozen dehaians emerged. Straps crisscrossed their chests, with stone knives in slots along both bands, and belts with long swords encircled their waists. Vicious scars puckered their skin and scales, and one wore an eye patch beneath his fiery hair. I swallowed at the sight of them, my heart pounding.
In silence, we watched them swim past, and it wasn’t till they disappeared into the shadows again that I remembered to breathe.
“Mercenaries?” Zeke said, his quiet voice incredulous. “What the hell are they doing east of the Prijoran Zone?”
Niall shook his head, still studying the direction in which the dehaians had gone.
Another moment crept by and then Zeke let out a breath. “Weird,” he commented idly.
Niall glanced to him, meeting his gaze for a moment. “Yeah, no kidding,” he said, his tone the same.
They went back to eating.
I looked between them, knowing what they were trying to do.
“Are we in danger?” I asked, keeping my voice down.
I watched Zeke.
He twitched his head toward the dehaians around us. “These guys… well, let’s just say they’re very good fighters.”
“And we’re not half-bad either,” Niall added between bites of fish.
Zeke scoffed at his brother, and then gave me a smile. “We’ll be fine. It’s just unusual for Vetorians to be around here. But they won’t mess with us.”
“Because they didn’t even see us,” Niall pointed out.
“And we’ll be home tomorrow.”
I nodded, trying to take the reassurances at face value. Zeke had said the dehaians with us were guards, though he’d been vague on what exactly it was they typically guarded. They didn’t have any weapons that I could see – besides their spikes, anyway – and their only uniform seemed to consist of a black armband with a strange, mountain-like symbol stitched in glistening blue thread on the side. But regardless, the men did appear able to take care of themselves; there wasn’t a one of them whose muscles weren’t practically chiseled onto their torsos. For that matter, Zeke and Niall were making a good show of being unconcerned too, and hadn’t glanced at the water overhead again.
Which was nice. Those guys had still looked terrifying, though.
I swallowed hard and picked up another piece of fish, trying to force my appetite to return. I didn’t know what I’d expected upon coming down here, though safety from people who might want to hurt me had probably been on the list.
And maybe that could still be the case. Maybe once we reached Zeke and Niall’s home, I’d finally stand a chance of being someplace mercenaries and Sylphaen and God knew what else couldn’t find me.
At least, I hoped.
Chapter Two
Zeke
“So what do you think those mercenaries were doing here?” Niall asked me quietly. “The border patrols should have stopped them ages ago.”
I didn’t answer, watching Chloe while the guards swam around us, getting ready to leave. Curled on the sand, she slept, the blue-white light of the fire flickering against the iridescent sheen of her cream-toned scales. Currents twisted through her hair, which was redder than it had seemed on land, and occasionally the gold-dusted skin of her brow furrowed, as though she was fighting something in her dreams.