Rivalry (War of Nytefall Book 3)

by Charles E Yallowitz

  One of the beasts abruptly flies out of the pit, but it is upside down and has a circular wound in its chest. The body suddenly soars away from the ship, its form twisting like a ragdoll trapped in a gale. None of the zombies react to the odd occurrence, but the vampires are back on guard and ready with their weapons. One of the swimming giltris snorts as it is driven underwater and it is soon followed by another. Sensing danger, the creatures stop moving to help those who are trapped and sniff the air while bobbing in the water. Three more are dragged beneath the surface before they begin to drift back towards the ship, which momentarily tilts from a gentle impact to its hull. Looking over the railing, those onboard notice a hole in the vessel that is a few feet above the water level. Decker hisses to stop the halflings from rappelling down to repair the damage and signals for them to wait. Within a minute, a pod of dolphins rushes through the confused horde to batter them and drag a few more into the depths. The playful animals click and whistle as they flip out of the water and land with their tails smashing the giltris. In the midst of the entertaining assault, an invisible figure lands on the railing and an odd bundle is dropped next to Lost.

  “That was more fun that I expected,” Bob declares as he materializes. Raising his lance over his head, he makes a series of clicks to thank the animals for defending the ship. “Did any of you know that you can ride a dolphin? It nothing like riding a horse, but they assure me that it’s a lot of fun. Safer than using a shark too. By the way, we need to pay them in fish, so they’re going to follow us until we deliver. Was there something else I was supposed to report?”

  “You forgot everything as usual,” Luther replies while taking his true form. Before he can speak, the forest tracker dives to catch Lost, who curls up and begins to snore. “I hope that’s a good sign. We got some message from her about a call for help, so Mab dove off that tower and disappeared into the catacomb shadows. Prior to that, we learned that Jewelz made this fake Apelios as a trap or clue. I can’t figure out which, so my guess is that she started with one idea and switched to the other. The real Apelios was moved and hidden long ago. I assume Mab knows where it could be since she’s the target of this whole mess.”

  “What if she went there and left us behind?” Archillious asks, his attention more on the zombies. He casually fires fangs and bolts at those climbing out of the broken ground, but stops when it becomes too easy to hit them. “All of us were thinking that just now. Mab hasn’t been happy about our company since this mess started. Sure, she’s talked about being thankful for the help and let you two tag along on that little jaunt through the wilderness. That doesn’t mean she hasn’t been itching for a chance to abandon us. Come on, Decker, you know the wise Archillious has a point here.”

  The soldier picks up the tattered remains of his night cloak as he admits, “You could be right, but I want to believe you’re wrong. As I told her once before, this incident transcends the war between our kingdoms. We need to work as a team, which could build a level of trust and open the door for peace. I know I sound hopelessly optimistic and foolish, but there is too much at stake for both sides for her to go wild. That goes for us as well. We need to believe that Mab had a reason for disappearing and will return. Does anybody know who contacted Lost? She couldn’t recognize the voice.”

  “I assumed it was Clyde, but I can’t be sure,” Luther says after tossing Bob his polished boots. Holding up Mab’s jacket, he lays it on the deck and takes a few steps away. “If there’s one shadow she can easily return to then it’s this one. That’s all I can do. Maybe she’s more shaken than we realized. Her maker had been turned into a jewel golem up there, which could have upset her. It’s hard to tell lately since Mab has become a lot more guarded. All I taste from her is rage.”

  “Well, this has been really hard on her,” Bob casually states.

  “I guess even vampires care about their blood siblings,” Archillious says with a shrug. He is about to take a drink when he notices that the others are giving him odd looks. “Did I say something wrong again? The only reason for her to be this messed up is . . . Oh, I get it! She means that type of partnership with Clyde. They’re doing some private breaking and entering if you get my drift. That explains this whole-”

  A blast of ice freezes the assassin’s mouth shut and Decker grunts from the exertion of moving so quickly. “Do you think we should set sail? I don’t know if Mab requires that we be stationary for her to return. She’s appeared on moving targets before, but I don’t know if that takes more concentration than she can muster.”

  “Welcome home!” Lost shouts while jumping up.

  The crewmen stop in their tracks when Mab’s jacket shifts and bulges as something emerges from underneath. Grunts and coughs can be heard as the garment rises and becomes draped over a slumped figure’s back. Decker rushes to take Titus by the arm, but avoids moving him out of fear of eliminating his shadow. He struggles to hold onto the heavy Dawn Fang and tries to adjust his grip only to find that the man’s legs have been torn off at the knees. When the other Vengeance Hounds come to help, they carefully lift the warrior until there is enough space for Mab to crawl out from under her brother. The burglar is still bright pink and her clothes are soaked with sweat that continues to pour from her body. She silently waves her friends away and bends down to pick Titus up, but her eyes suddenly roll back in her head and she collapses on top of her brother.

  *****

  “Thanks to Bob calling over a few whales, we had enough blood to get Titus’s body to start healing,” Decker announces as he follows Lost into the room. He flops onto a bed in the corner while the womb-born takes a seat at the table. “Mab is still asleep, but Titus is awake. So, he was able to answer my questions. I didn’t want to push him too much, especially with someone being dangerously overprotective.”

  “The patients need their rest,” Lost loudly declares. She yawns and lays her head down on the table for a moment before remembering that Archillious is sitting nearby. “I’m awake and alert. I tried to talk to them through their minds, but I kept taking over their bodies because I got bored. Jewelz is having a fake tournament to choose her Vampire King, which will be Clyde, who she has under this growing crystal curse. The real reason she’s doing this is to enslave him and draw Mab to the real Apelios where she can get some revenge. Xavier was taken to be a catalyst for the curse and Titus is a loose end. The people there don’t wear a lot of clothes, there’s an old-world vampire working as a butler, and I think my boss mentioned something about howling at the moon to reach the island.”

  “Which one?” Bob asks, his head sticking out of the porthole.

  Luther pulls his friend back inside as he answers, “It can’t be that simple. Otherwise, Apelios would be reached by dogs, wolves, and shamans. Could it only be accessible during a four moon eclipse?”

  “But we haven’t had one of those in months,” Decker says before the pair can get into their usual debate. Reaching under the pillow, he pulls out a flask of whiskey and blood, but only stares at a dent on its side. “Titus said he was attempting to escape using a supply ship, but he was captured. His punishment was to be thrown to a demon called Dark One. Our enemies must believe he’s dead, which means we might have gained a little extra time. Mab had to have seen the island since she traveled there. Maybe she can do it again. My worry is more for Lord Tempest, who is going to be sacrificed to Clyde. I doubt they can keep their truce going once they’re pitted against each other. Titus said there had to be around fifteen more competitors in the tournament. So, maybe a week left?”

  Archillious growls and gets out of his seat to throw darts at a board. “It could be a day if she decides to throw all of them into one fight. We need directions and the only people who could possibly have that information are in another room. Considering the big guy was kidnapped to get there and back again, I doubt he knows what to do. He has a ridiculous clue, but at least he mentioned a supply ship. That means the way to Apelios is constant instead of moving. Probably h
idden to avoid people like me getting to the Vampire Queen. Mab has to know where we’re going. Even if she traveled through the shadows, she needed an idea of the path in order to save her brother.”

  Sitting up straight in her seat, Stephanie makes a strange cat-like noise before vanishing from sight. The door to the room is instantly blown off its hinges by the Dawn Fang’s hasty passage. Within seconds, she is back at the table with a cauldron that she fills with blood from her eyes. A quick incantation causes the ichor to roil and the ritualist plunges her hand into the middle of the whirlpool. She licks her lips and purrs while focusing on feeling around the other side of the small portal. For a moment, she looks confused and makes a motion with her arm that makes the others think she is shaking something off her hand. Nearly putting her face in the cauldron, Stephanie finds what she is looking for and pulls a book out of the swirling blood. She wipes a thick layer of dust off the leather cover, which is embossed with a picture of the four moons of Windemere. In the blink of an eye, she has moved the cauldron back to her room and is sitting on the table with the tome in her lap. Coming to a page near the back, the calico’s tail rapidly flicks in random directions and she excitedly points at a faded picture that gives off the faint smell of blood.

  “Lady Sylvan gave me this book of moon rituals forty years, two months, and three weeks ago when we thought they would help against the council,” Stephanie explains before spinning herself in a circle to show off the page. She yanks it away from Lost and gnashes her teeth when the girl’s bunny tries to land on her shoulder. “This is a precious gift from my mistress, so nobody gets to touch it except me. As I was about to say, the person who wrote this talked about the moon’s shadow. This is a giant circle of light on the ocean, which is a combination of colors that correspond to Vir, Canst, Tavon, and Ult. Many believe it’s moonlight that was trapped by the Great Cataclysm. Others think it’s a phenomenon that nobody noticed before because it took place in an unexplored region. There’s a possibility that Jewelz either created or is using this to act as a gateway to Apelios.”

  “Titus mentioned chasing the rapid moon,” Decker says while he stokes his beard.

  “Feels like an extra word is in that clue,” Luther softly whispers more to himself than the others. With a jolt, an idea comes to his mind and he gestures for Stephanie to turn the book towards him. “Thank you and I promise not to touch it. What if the theory that this was once on land is right? The riddle could be from that age. It’s all about traveling, so the rapid part of the clue may be in reference to a river that once carried people to this gateway. While I was flying over the fake Apelios, I did see sections that resembled a riverbed that had dried out and been partially consumed by trees. Jewelz could have taken pieces of the old pathway to build the decoy. This is all conjecture though and you don’t find rapids in the ocean. Why is your head out of the porthole again, Bob?”

  The vampiric elf holds up a finger for a minute as he finishes his conversation with the animals swimming alongside the ship. “Thanks for the help! So, Murray the dolphin asked Gertrude the sea cucumber about what you were talking about. Gertrude didn’t have the answer, but knew a shrimp named John or Nathaniel who heard a few things. Unfortunately, John Nathaniel was eaten last week by a salt spider. Don’t worry because an Euyric squid who wishes to remain anonymous had the answer, which he shared with Murray. Many of the rivers that disappeared during the Great Cataclysm are still running through the ocean. Sailors keep mistaking them for strong and winding currents, but they’re really freshwater pathways. The one we need might be nearby considering we found parts of the land it was once sitting on. Can you scry for a river?”

  “I’m offended by such an insulting question,” Mistress Talon quickly replies. She is already stripping off her clothes and dripping aromatic blood from her eyes as she walks to the ocean side wall of the room. “Of course, I will have to design the ritual from scratch. There’s one I use to follow roads, so I can use that as a base. Not knowing the name of the river is a problem, but I can try to scry the moon’s shadow and trace it back to us. This may take a few hours and I cannot be disturbed, so please leave me to my work.”

  “I think I’ll stay and watch,” Archillious states with a grin.

  “Bad pervert!” Lost snaps before launching the assassin into the hallway. She is about to follow when she notices that Decker is still on the bed. “She said all of us need to leave. Don’t be rude and deny a lady her privacy, General.”

  “This is my room,” the dwarf points out as his eyes close. Tucking his hands under his head, he is about to kick off his boots when he remembers the womb-born’s aversion to socks. “I need rest since I spent so much time in the sun. Mistress Talon knows I’m not the type to interrupt, so my presence shouldn’t be a distraction. Besides, I would rather be here to make sure nothing terrible happens to my friend. Untested rituals can go wrong and I’m determined to bring everyone back home from this mission.”

  “Oh . . . Sweet dreams then.”

  *****

  Strapped to a chair by thick chains, Titus can only sleep in short bursts and always wakes up with a gasp. The sensation of tendrils wrapping around his body lingers for several agonizing seconds, but he retains enough control to avoid struggling against the imaginary threat. Moving his injured legs, he tries to get comfortable without removing them from the blood-filled barrel. Tapping the limbs together, he guesses that another three inches have regenerated since he fell asleep. A harsh cough from across the room gives Titus a chance to focus on something other than his recovery. He waves to Mab when she sits up in the messy bed and looks around the room until her eyes fall on the warrior. With a crooked smirk, he attempts to wave to his sister, but his arms are still restrained by the chains. No longer feeling sleepy, he flexes his muscles enough to snap the metal bonds. The burglar’s piercing gaze causes him to freeze and wonder if he might have been safer with the hungry demon.

  “Don’t leave the barrel because I want you healed before we reach Apelios,” Mab says in a hoarse voice. Grabbing a bottle, she turns it upside down only to get a single drop on her swollen tongue. “The wards Jewelz has over the island nearly killed me, so I expect you to be a well-behaved patient. Let’s get to answering questions, little brother. What can you tell me about her operation? What’s going on with Clyde? Do you know how to get to the island? Do not even think about asking why I’m this color. Tell me everything you know about Apelios.”

  “It’s nice to see you too,” Titus replies with a pout. Seeing a flicker of anger on his sister’s face, he reaches over to a table and flings a bottle of water onto her bed. “First, Decker wanted me to tell you that Stephanie knows a way to fix that skin problem. It’s only on the top layer, so she can cast a ritual that kind of flays you and then regenerates-”

  “I want to know about Jewelz and Clyde!” the burglar shouts before she watches the room violently spin. Refusing to give in to the dizziness, she gets out of bed and stumbles a few feet to reach a stool. “All I need to know is what she’s done and how to kill her. You don’t even have to let me know what powers she has. I can handle whatever that woman throws at me. All I need is one opening and her head is mine.”

  “The Vampire Queen is going to slaughter you,” the warrior bluntly states. He meets her furious glare with an emotionless stare that succeeds in keeping her quiet. “Jewelz wants you to go in angry, which is why she took Clyde. The only way she can beat you is if you’re sloppy and that’s what I see now. Do you really think she seduced him away from you? He’s being put under a curse, Mab. The entire point of this is to draw you to Apelios, enslave Clyde in front of you, and then take you out as you succumb to your rage. Honestly, I thought you were smart enough to see through her tricks and not give her what she wants.”

  “That greedy witch is trying to ruin my life.”

  “You don’t have to help her succeed.”

  “She put Nytefall in danger.”

  “That’s not what you’re
angry about.”

  “She took you-”

  “I want to hear the real reason you’re angry.”

  The answer is on the tip of Mab’s tongue, but she jams the end of the water bottle into her mouth. Feeling nauseous and on the verge of collapsing again, she slides to the floor and lays on her back while drinking. The cool liquid helps to calm her nerves and she lifts an arm to stare at her bright pink flesh. Curious about how deep the dye has gone, the burglar uses a single claw to slice the skin off the back of her opposite hand. The pain causes her to suck in a breath and she focuses on healing, but the color reappears as soon as the wound has vanished. Her fury returns with a sense of helplessness, but Mab finds that she is unable to stand and can only pull herself into a slumped sitting position. With a loud scraping noise, Titus pushes the blood barrel with his unfinished legs and jumps his chair until he is within reach of his sister. She growls at the way he pats her on the head, but there is an odd comfort from the contact.

  “We both know the reason Jewelz took Clyde,” the warrior says as he tries to make himself comfortable. Wanting to sit on the floor with his sister, he closes his eyes and tries to will his legs to heal faster. “She’s been following us very closely for all of these years, so she had to know you two weren’t together anymore. Yet, she still thought taking Clyde was the best way to draw you to Apelios. Jewelz is a lot of things, but she has always been fairly intuitive. One doesn’t have to be that aware to see what’s going on with you and Clyde. Honestly, everyone has been waiting for one of you to push for the next step.”