Fire and Fantasy: a Limited Edition Collection of Epic and Urban Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  “I did. He shouldn’t have woken until tomorrow morning.”

  “Well, something didn’t work. Cook and I had to knock him out to get him contained.”

  “So he believes we murdered his adopted daughter?”

  “Yes.” Blair stared at her resolutely. “If he has the chance to kill you, he will.”

  Lilja let that settle for a moment. If she was in his position, she would feel the same way. “I can’t say that I blame him.”

  “No,” Blair added. “This week is going to be brutal.”

  “I can only imagine.”

  It was brutal.

  Hayjen raged in the belly of the ship, bellowing himself hoarse.

  The girls cried and cursed, then kept to themselves—speaking to no one but each other.

  The whole ship filled with tension that set Lilja’s teeth on edge.

  When the Sanee port came into view, her frayed nerves settled a bit. They could rid themselves of the women and Hayjen, gather some supplies, and be on their way in a handful of days. Lilja adjusted her long flowing hair and dress as The Sirenidae glided into port. She waved to a few merchants smiling brightly. Most of them knew her as an eccentric lady merchant. When her ship shuddered to a stop, she swept from the rail towards the women’s makeshift barracks. All eyes turned to her when she sauntered through the door. There were no welcomes or smiles, but rather blank faces and angry scowls.

  It broke her heart that they’d lost the friendship and comradery they had built since she rescued them from the slaver ship. From the look in their eyes, she was no different than the monsters that hurt the girl, and that cut deep.

  Lilja brushed it off as best she could and looked over the group. “We’ve arrived in Sanee.” Emotions washed through the group; excitement, nervousness, apprehension, joy, resignation. “My first mate has arranged for transportation and some coins to help you start a new life or better your old one. You deserve happy, long lives.”

  “What of Mer? What did she deserve?” Lera growled.

  “She deserved happiness, and a family.”

  “You’re a monster.”

  Lilja schooled her face from betraying how much that hurt. “That may be so, but today this monster is returning you to your homes. I wish you every happiness and joy. May your lives be filled with love.” With that parting remark, she swept from the room, saddened that she wouldn’t see the group of girls again. One by one, her crew helped the girls disembark the ship. She watched with a sad heart as they hugged and cried when they left each other.

  Once all the girls had left, there was just one to let loose. Lilja abandoned her perch and made her way down into the belly of the ship. The ship creaked as she halted in front of Hayjen’s cell. He looked like a broken man, even worse than how they’d found him. It killed her that she’d done that. He’d survived so many things. She’d broken him.

  “What do you want?” Hayjen lifted his head and locked eyes on her. Rage and hate blazed in his eyes as he lunged for her, slamming into the bars, his fingers barely skimming her dress. So close but not close enough to harm her. “I’ll kill you.”

  She maintained a calm appearance even though her heart was pounding. It was the first time she’d visited him since returning Mer to her family. “I understand what you must be going through.”

  “You know nothing, murderer.” His hands moved back to the bars. Hayjen shook them, a maniacal smile on his face. “When you release me, you better be prepared, captain—because there’s nothing that will keep me from you.”

  “Indeed?” She arched a brow and cocked a hip. “I think there are many, but most importantly your sister.”

  Hayjen stilled. “What about my sister?” he growled.

  “I have it on good authority that she’s been taken in by another family, but I’m sure you would like to make sure of her welfare.”

  “How?”

  “How do I know?” Lilja scoffed. “It’s my business to deal in secrets. We’ve been in port less than an hour and I already know what is afoot in Sanee.”

  Hayjen just stared her with disgust. “Apparently you deal in death as well.”

  “Not everything is as it seems,” she whispered.

  “You’re right,” he rumbled. “I thought you were a decent person, but you’re a bloodthirsty pirate without a conscience.”

  “How uninventive.” She waved a hand. “I’ve been called worse.”

  “I’m sure it was appropriate.”

  Lilja glanced at the stairwell. She wasn’t going to get anywhere. She wasn’t sure what she had hoped to achieve by coming down those stairs, but it wasn’t this.

  “We’ve arrived in Sanee,” she said in a monotone, not even bothering to turn back to face him. “My crew has arranged for transportation and coins for you to start a new life with your sister.” She turned then to cast one last pitying look at the broken, angry man in her cell. “Good luck.”

  Her dress whispered around her legs as she ascended the stairs up to the deck. She sucked in a deep salty breath and blew it out.

  “How was he?” Blair asked, stopping at her side.

  “Angry, depressed, reckless.”

  “Can you blame him?”

  “No, I cannot. But there’s nothing we can do except get him off our ship.”

  Blair squeezed her shoulder and walked away.

  Lilja’s eyes slammed shut as yelling and fighting echoed from the belly of her ship, becoming louder. She turned and opened her eyes in time to watch her men drag Hayjen by his arms up the last of the stairs. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, causing her stomach to drop. She’d made a lifelong enemy.

  He bared his teeth in a feral grin, teeth stained red. “Take a good look at my face, Femi. It will be the last thing you will ever see.”

  She kept her cool façade, just arching an eyebrow as he was pulled off her ship and thrown onto the dock below. “I doubt that, but you’re welcome to try.”

  He pushed from his hands and knees, tipping his chin up to glare at her. “I don’t try; I succeed.”

  The hair along the back of her neck rose. She didn’t doubt him.

  As she stared down at the man she’d broken, one thought was absolutely clear. He would come for her. It wasn’t a matter of if, but of when.

  Seven

  Hayjen

  Everything in his body screamed at him to storm the ship and wrap his hands around the pirate’s slim neck. Rage, helplessness, and despair tumbled through him one after another like waves beating against the shore.

  Mer.

  Pain.

  Rage.

  Death.

  Mer.

  Helplessness.

  Despair.

  Rage.

  Death.

  He glared at the exotic captain and made a promise to Mer and himself that there would be justice. Her mouth stretched into an arrogant grin that said do your worst.

  Hayjen was stunned for a moment.

  When the captain smiled, she was breathtakingly beautiful. It was wrong that such beauty masked such evil and corruption, but her arrogance would be her downfall. He smiled inwardly; the young captain underestimated him. She wouldn’t see him coming until it was too late.

  Hayjen sketched a sarcastic bow and then forced his feet to move away from the ship. His neck prickled at all the eyes witnessing his departure. Take a good look. You won’t see me the second time. He picked up his speed, anxious to see his sister and set his plan in motion. When his boots touched dirt, Hayjen’s eyes grew damp.

  He had made it home. Against all odds.

  Fishers, merchants, and sailors scurried around him as he closed his eyes and reveled in the solid ground beneath his feet. When he opened them, Hayjen was a little lost. Where would his sister be? Even with their small savings, she wouldn’t have been able to afford their home by herself with him gone. Where would she have gone? They didn’t have many friends that could take on another mouth to feed. He shook his head and focused. He needed to ch
eck their old home first—if Gwen wasn’t there, then he would speak to the neighbors. They were kind people, but nosey. They would have information about his sister.

  Hayjen wove through the throng of people, putting the fishing district behind him. The tension in his shoulders released a bit as he passed familiar streets and homes. He swung around one last corner and spied his home. It was a rustic little shack made of dark stone with a well-kept wooden porch and two small windows, windows that were currently dark. The stairs complained as they always did as he stepped up to the door. His hand hesitated over the knob for a moment. Did he really want to see what was inside? He took a deep breath and entered. Light poured in through the doorway, illuminating the empty space. What had been such a cozy home was now an empty space with four stone walls and a fireplace.

  “Gwen?” he called, knowing she wouldn’t answer.

  Nothing.

  He moved further into the home, investigating both bedrooms. Both cold and empty. Hayjen turned and followed the tracks his boots made in the dust covered floor. He paused in the living room, despair clinging to him. He knew his sister wouldn’t be here, yet some part of him hoped to walk through the door and spy Gwen sitting and reading in her favorite chair by the fireplace. He gazed in through the open doorway, dust floating in the air. He felt like his life had been erased.

  Moving back outside, Hayjen took one last look at the place and closed the door to his life. He stared blankly at the homes around his. It still looked the same, but nothing was quite right. There were little changes here and there that left him feeling out of touch with the world. A ringing filled his ears, disorienting him.

  “Haaaaay,” a distorted voice called, but he couldn’t even bring himself to search for the owner of the voice. All he could do was stare at the space in front of him as it undulated and changed colors. Nothing was right. He swayed as the world blurred around him. His sister, Mer, the Scythians. Nothing would be normal again.

  “Hayjen!”

  A sharp voice snapped him from whatever that was. He blinked a few times and noticed an old hand clutched his arm. Hayjen shook himself and squinted at the owner of the hand. A wrinkled old face with serious, grey eyes peered up at him.

  Helva. An elderly neighbor.

  “Well, sonny, I didn’t expect you to show up here.”

  He stared.

  Helva raised a brow. “You are Hayjen, aren’t you? My old eyes aren’t so good these days.”

  “It’s me, old mother.”

  She smiled a crooked grin. “Stars above, I can’t believe it! Come, come. Let’s have some tea.” She pulled on his arm with surprising strength and towed him towards her home. “Edwin!” she bellowed. “Edwin!”

  “What are you shouting about this time, you old bat? Don’t you know you’ll irritate the whole neighborhood if you keep carrying on like that,” Edwin shouted as he shuffled out the door with his cane. “I—” the elder man paused mid-rant when he caught sight of Hayjen. “Hayjen, my boy. Is that you?”

  The little old man moved down the stairs and enveloped Hayjen in a hug. He still smelled the same, a bit like pine and smoke.

  “I made it home,” Hayjen choked out.

  Edwin leaned back and scowled at his wife. “Why didn’t you say Hayjen was home?”

  Helva rolled her eyes. “You didn’t give me a chance.”

  Edwin’s eyes twinkled as he bent to give his wife a kiss on her weathered cheek. “Sorry, my love.”

  “Mmhmm…” she murmured with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

  “Come inside, we’ll feed ya, and you can tell us what has kept you all this time.”

  Hayjen froze. The couple had overwhelmed him such that for a moment Gwen had gone right out of his mind. Carefully, he pulled Helva’s hand from his shoulder and kissed it. “Thank you for the invitation, but I need to find my sister. Do you know where she is?”

  Edwin’s open face turned wary. “Have you not been to see her?”

  Hayjen dug deep for patience. “No, I have not. I don’t know where she’s been staying.”

  “She’s with the Blackwells,” Helva piped up.

  “Blackwells?” His brows furrowed in confusion. “What in the blazes is she doing with the Blackwells?”

  Helva patted him on the arm. “It’s her tale to tell, but she’s been well looked after. She visits us several times a week.”

  “That’s nice,” Hayjen remarked absently. He didn’t know much of the Blackwells except that they were swordsmiths and the lady of the house had died years ago. “I need to go. Thank you for your information.” He hugged the couple and sprinted towards the forge. His hairline had grown damp with sweat by the time the forge came into sight. Hayjen burst into the forge and gulped in a deep breath. Gwen stood in the arms of a very tall man. Her eyes widened in shock.

  No.

  “Hayjen?” she whispered.

  “I’m here,” he panted as he opened up his arms.

  With a cry, she flung herself out of the man’s arms and slammed into him. Hayjen wrapped his arms around her, buried his face in her hair, and began to cry. He had held the pieces of himself together for so long that they crumbled into nothing when his sister began to sob in his arms.

  “Where have you been?” she cried. “I thought you were dead. I searched for months.”

  “Shhhh…” he soothed through his own tears. “I’m here, I’m alright.”

  “I thought you had left me like papa and mum.”

  “Never,” he choked out. “I’ll never leave you.”

  Gwen pulled back, tears glistening in her hazel eyes. “Are you okay?” Her hands smoothed down his arms and then up to the tears on his cheeks.

  Hayjen stared at his sister, his only family in the world. She kept him grounded. He had survived many things, because he had known he had to get back to her. “I’m okay, just happy I found you.”

  She clasped his hands. “Did you go by the old house?”

  He nodded.

  A smile bloomed across her face. “Helva and Edwin?”

  Her smile pulled one from him. “Who else?”

  A light-hearted laugh tumbled from her that eased all the tension in him. Gwen was safe. She was happy. He was home. It would be okay.

  A large hand settled onto Gwen’s shoulder. Hayjen’s eyes narrowed as he met the moss- green eyes of Colm Blackwell. They crinkled as he smiled at Hayjen. Why was he smiling? Gwen cleared her throat, pulling his attention from the boy he faintly remembered. She blushed as she met Hayjen’s gaze. His eyes jumped back to the smiling man and back again to his sister. No.

  “Hayjen, you know Colm Blackwell,” she paused, “my betrothed.”

  Hayjen opened his mouth and closed it and kept staring at the damn hand sitting on his sister’s shoulder. Betrothed? “How?” he asked stupidly.

  “The traditional way, you know. He asked, I said yes,” Gwen joked.

  His spine straightened. “Now is not the time to joke.”

  “Now’s the perfect time. You came back from the dead.”

  He blew out a breath, trying to control the frustration and confusion that bubbled just beneath his surface. Nothing was right. Something was wrong with him. He should be happy for her, not feeling betrayed. “Could we speak outside?”

  Gwen looked to Colm—the interloper, Hayjen thought.

  He dropped a kiss on top of his sister’s head. “Go spend time with your brother. I’ll tell papa we have another guest.”

  “Thank you,” Gwen whispered before taking his hand and leading him out of the forge.

  They walked around the forge to where the forest came right up to the edge of the backyard. Hayjen pulled his hand from hers and stared at his sister. “What the bloody hell, Gwen? What is going on?”

  “Let me explain.”

  “Please do.”

  “I’ve always liked Colm and his father.”

  “I can see that.”

  “When you disappeared, there weren’t any who could take me in
, so I needed a job. Colm’s father Joseph had taken sick and they needed someone to help take care of the customers. I approached them and they gave me the job.”

  “Okay. What about the betrothal?”

  Gwen scowled at him. “I haven’t gotten that far. You need to calm down.”

  Hayjen took a deep breath. He did need to calm down.

  “Thank you. I began working in the forge and they paid me as well as they could. I traded some of my needlework for things I needed and lived as carefully as I could, but it wasn’t enough to keep our home. I looked for other places to live, but no one would lease to a single woman of no means. I had nowhere to go.”

  His throat tightened. “Surely Helva and Edwin would have taken you in.”

  “They could barely take care of themselves. As it was, I was taking baskets of food to them so they didn’t starve.”

  Gwen had such a generous heart. “Were you at least feeding yourself?”

  “Yes.”

  He raised a brow. Hayjen knew his sister better than that. “You gave them your food.”

  She gave him a lopsided smile. “They took us in when mum and papa died. They had nothing and yet they took care of us until you found us a place to live. I would never let them go without when it was in my power to help. You would have done the same thing.”

  “I understand, Gwen. But at what cost?” He ran his hand through his hair. “You had to sell yourself. I’m so sorry.”

  His sister gasped, looking like he had slapped her. “What happened to you? Surely you’re not my brother. He would never say something like that to me.”

  He rubbed his eyes with his fists, angry that he had let something like that out of his mouth. “I’m sorry, sis. I didn’t mean it.”

  “I know.” She touched his arm and stared up into his eyes. “The Blackwells offered a home when I had none. Nothing improper happened despite the rumors floating around.” Her face hardened. “My reputation was ruined the moment I stepped through their door.”

  “Did you accept a proposal to save your reputation?”