Rosh had been expecting the question. Expecting and dreading it. He shrugged carefully, not wanting to upset the woman that lay cuddled up next to him. It was another reminder of a time long ago when things had been different. “Long story—“
“Rosh, we got nothing but long stories and regrets of things that we done wrong. Maybe you got time enough left to not think about it, but I don’t. I can accept it, I have to. I’ve missed you lots. Hated you for a bit, a year or two maybe, but I came around and figured out hating you wasn’t doing me nor Koda no good. Guess I got wisdom with old age.”
Rosh winced at her admission. “I reckon you ain’t the only enemy I made. Volera, she’s a demon — a Fury. Was a demon, at least. I got in the way of something some wizard was making her do. She tried to kill me but I beat her and that made me her master I guess.”
“A Fury? What’s that?” Willa sat up in the small bed and looked at him.
Rosh took the opportunity to sit up as well. Pleasure was over, it looked like it was time for getting back to business. “Ask her. She said there was only a few of them, they’re good at fighting and bedding people.”
“Your own personal demon.” Rosh didn’t look at Willa but he heard the disapproval in her voice.
“She ain’t no more. She kept acting like me beating her was a fluke, so I made her fight me again. Nothing held back that time, we went at it all day and night until she finally gave up.” Rosh left out the part where the majority of the time spent fighting involved a lack of clothing. “Me beating her once and for all was something none of her kind had ever had done. They kicked her out and she ended up stuck to me or else she’d fade away to nothing.”
Willa grunted, pretending to not care. “I wanted to let her go and do her own thing, but she says she ain’t got no soul. She’d end up sucking the souls out of others to keep alive, lots of them too. Long as she’s bonded to me she gets the energy she needs that way.”
They fell into a moment of silence that stretched on, each lost in their own thoughts. “They really done something to you, I ain’t never seen a man the size of you.”
Rosh chuckled and stood up. “All the ladies say that.”
Willa slapped him on the thigh and scowled. “That’s big too, but you know that ain’t what I meant!”
The warrior couldn’t help but grin. “Seems like the more I need to be strong, the stronger and bigger I get. Fighting Volera did this to me. I was big before but I could still find a shirt that fit me. Now I gots to pay extra for them.”
Willa rolled her eyes. “What, can’t Volera pretend to be a decent woman and use a needle and thread?”
“She used to do a lot more than that. Guess when she got kicked out of Hell she lost most of her powers too. Says she got to learn how to use them again.”
“How do you forget ?” Willa’s tone was doubtful.
Rosh shrugged. “I don’t know a thing about all that magic stuff. She said something about her having to learn it like anybody else would. I figure as long as she don’t start talking nonsense like Xander used to, she’ll do fine.”
Willa smirked at the reference to the wizard they had sailed with on the Voidhawk, but the smile faded quickly. “So now what Rosh? You accepted Koda right quick. Quicker than I figured I had any right to expect.”
“You ain’t the only one growing up,” Rosh muttered. He pulled on his breeches and tied them before turning to see her staring at the floor. He sighed. “Look, I don’t mean no harm by that. I spent a lot of time thinking after them elves – young and old. Tasha being related to me and all that but me not being around for none of them. I never figured there’d be another. Truth of it is I don’t know what to do, but I been stumbling around most of my life that way.”
Willa looked up at him, a tear running down her cheek. “I don’t know what’s next either. I didn’t know if I’d ever catch up to you, or if I’d do it before I couldn’t go no further. I never put any thought into what might come after.”
Rosh finished dressing and held out his hand to help Willa up. She joined him and began the process of dressing herself. Her skin was aged but it lacked the typical sag brought on by the years. She was still attractive, and he knew well how that fiery inner spirit still burned in her eyes.
When Willa was ready Rosh opened the door and led the way out and back up onto the deck. Volera and Koda remained, with the boy glancing at her repeatedly with interest. Rosh fought back the smirk and the swelling of pride he felt. Any son of his should damn well be interested in bedding a creature as fine as Volera. Then again, Volera wasn’t exactly a simple farmer’s daughter to be tossed amongst some hay bales.
“She’s off limits,” Rosh noted the blush that swept across Koda’s face. “Where’d Doya go?”
“He said he’d return,” Volera offered, rising fully to her feet from where she reclined against the forward railing.
“Return from what?” Rosh grumbled to himself. He shook the thought off and turned to his son. “Koda, you know your way around a ship?”
Koda stood up from where he sat on the other railing and faced Rosh squarely. Rosh saw the light of challenge in his son’s eyes. It filled him both with irritation and with pride. “My mother and I been sailing this ship since I been born.”
“Since you been born?” Rosh asked, wondering how a newborn could have possibly helped to sail a voidship.
“For about a year now Koda and I have been the only crew. Took a lot of modifications and we had to be careful since we have trouble maneuvering at full sail, but we done it.” Willa answered. “It’s getting easier as Koda gets bigger and stronger, but I been getting weaker lately too.”
Rosh grunted. Not so different from how the Voidhawk had been trimmed back to allow for less crew. Difference was between him and Keshira, they’d had the strength to handle the mainsail while the others could tend the rest of the ship.
“One man on the deck, one on the helm – well done.” Rosh nodded, impressed. “I got no way for knowing what comes next, and from talking to Willa, she don’t know either. I reckon we put our past behind us, or at least well enough to know better than to be strangling each other, what say we sail together?”
Willa blinked rapidly and looked away, then turned back to Rosh with a close lipped smile on her face. She nodded. “I’d like that,” she managed.
“You good with that?” Rosh stared pointedly at Koda.
“Don’t see I got much choice, at least until something better comes along.”
Willa gasped. Rosh’s eyes narrowed and he acted. Three strides had him standing in front of the boy. One meaty fist clenched his son’s vest under his neck and twisted it to pull it tight. “Don’t care what she told you, you got no way of knowing what your ma been through for you. What she’s going through for you still. You do right by her or else. You hear me?”
Koda’s lips parted in a snarl, but Rosh saw that it was an act as well. He was scared. His nostrils were flaring and his pupils had gotten so wide they nearly hid the color of his eyes. The same color as Rosh’s, the man noted. “Or else what?” Koda managed, his voice slightly strained.
Rosh lifted, picking the boy up with a single hand. Willa gasped behind them and even Koda’s snarl faded as his hands grabbed onto Rosh’s forearm in a vain attempt at breaking the grip. Rosh opened his mouth to respond when Doya climbed off the ladder and cried out in surprise at the unfolding scene. “Gods Rosh — That boy is bigger than me!”
Rosh glanced at Doya, then turned back to Koda. “Or else I toss you over the side. I do it now and you’re lucky – there’s a deck down there. We get up in the void and it’s a long fall.”
Koda clenched his teeth and nodded. Rosh set him down and turned in time to see the brothers that Doya had mentioned climbing aboard the ship. Rosh’s eyes narrowed at the sight of the scruffy looking pair. Both needed a bath and a shave, if not some decent clothes. Even worse, Rosh was fairly certain they did not need any lessons in how to stick a knife in someone’s
back or in how to nick a purse.
“Got all the crew we’ll be needing,” Rosh said, nodding towards the two.
Doya shook his head. “Thought we had a deal, Rosh?”
“You had a deal, I was asking questions. All three of you can get off this boat right now or you’ll get to feel what I was telling the boy firsthand.”
Doya pulled out a pistol from behind his back. Rosh scowled at him, but noted the brothers had drawn long knives as well to support him. “If you really been up in the void, you know what this is Rosh. Rare down here, but I got one and I know how to use it. Even more important, you know what it can do to a person.”
“I don’t like giving stupid people second chances,” Rosh growled. “And I never give them a third.”
“Rosh!” Willa whimpered behind him. He glanced at her even though he knew it was a stupid thing to do. The terror in her voice scared him. He couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever heard her that upset.
“Maybe you’re not afraid, but the old lady is. If she means something to you, you’ll be taking your own advice and helping her off this ship,” Doya’s pistol was now aimed at Willa instead of Rosh.
Koda growled and started towards Doya. Rosh stopped him with an arm held out in front of him. “You want a fight, you pick it with me.”
Doya chuckled. “Come on Rosh, what chance would I have in a fight against you? I can keep you in line better if I use grandma instead.”
“Rosh, it’s okay – we can go,” Willa pleaded.
Rosh turned to face her, surprised to hear her giving in so easily. He turned back in time to see both of the brothers had moved to put themselves closer to Volera and himself. He almost laughed. The fools had no idea what they were doing. If only he could put himself between Doya and Willa, the fight would be all but over.
“No!” Koda blurted out, slipping under Rosh’s arm and rushing the closest brother.
Doya jerked, surprised by the rash action. With the jerk his finger pulled the trigger, sending a violent roar that rolled across the lake and shocked Rosh with the nearly forgotten noise. The warrior reacted though, leaping forward and striking Doya down with a fist even as the man drew a dagger and thrust it at him.
Volera spun into the brother near her like a dervish. She slipped inside his arm and cut deeply into him with smaller knives that had appeared in her hands from whatever concealment her tailored outfit offered. Rosh turned and saw Koda holding the other brother over the railing, one hand clenched tightly around his throat and the other squeezing the man’s wrist and bending it back. With a strangled gasp he dropped his knife and tried to beat Koda’s arm away from his throat. When that failed he kicked out, catching the youth between the legs and forcing him back and to his knees.
The small deck allowed Rosh to kick the brother in the side as he bent low to pick up his fallen knife. The muffled crack of ribs was barely heard over the explosion of air from the man’s chest. He slammed into the railing and lay curled into a fetal position. Rosh picked him up and forcibly threw him to the wooden planking below the ship, turning away even as he heard the unmistakable snapping sounds of multiple bones.
The scene on the deck of Willa’s ship was calm again. Volera stood up fully, blood glistening on her hands, arms, and patches of her clothing. The man she had slain lay lifeless beneath her, a surprisingly large puddle of blood under him given the short period of time. Doya moaned but did not move from where he lay.
“Damn,” Koda hissed, rising to his feet slowly. One hand was held over his stomach, the other cupped his bruised groin.
“Breathe through it, you’ll be all right,” Rosh told him. He started to turn away when he noticed the discoloration on the boy’s vest. “He have a knife in his boot?”
Koda glanced up at the sudden concern in Rosh’s voice. He shook his head and pulled his hand away, revealing a slowly spreading redness from beneath his sleeveless shirt. Rosh stared at it, not understanding how the boy had been hurt. He looked up and saw Koda staring at his mother, the boy’s eyes wide and mouth hanging open. Rosh followed his son’s gaze and saw Willa laying on the deck with her own hands clutched to her belly. Blood ran freely over her fingers.
Chapter 7
“I knew it was coming,” Willa whispered when Rosh knelt next to her. Tears ran from her eyes. “The Elders gift was more than just my son — our son — They left me knowing when my time was done.”
“Thought they fixed you up,” Rosh said.
She shook her head. “We’re linked, Koda and I. Our lives, I mean. I don’t understand it, but they said this would happen. Saving us both like that was too much, we was joined. Our spirits are tied together.”
Rosh turned and motioned Volera over. She stared down at Doya, who was shaking his head and coming around. He blinked to focus his eyes as he stared up at her. She smiled at him and kicked him in the head with her tall boot, knocking him unconscious again. A moment later she knelt next to Rosh.
“I can’t save her Master,” Volera told him. “I don’t know how – and if I did it would be borrowed energy that would always have to be replaced. She would become like me, someone who must feed on the energy of others to survive.”
“But she’s got a soul,” Rosh said, remembering her words from before more clearly than he thought possible. “How she going to be like you?”
“Not the same, but similar. Over time subsisting on the energy of others weakens the soul. But it doesn’t matter, Master, I can’t give her such a thing, it is beyond me.”
Rosh scowled and looked at Koda, who was breathing hard and looking scared at his abdomen. He had pulled his shirt up and saw a wound that looked identical to Willa’s. Volera followed Rosh’s gaze. “They are joined, as she said. If she dies, he will die.”
Rosh swore. “Our spirits are bound,” Willa whispered almost deliriously. “They said that. He would wax and I would wane, but if either perished the other would follow.”
Rosh punched the wooden deck of the elven ship hard enough to crack the planking and send a shudder through the vessel. “All this damn strength and I can’t do nothing,” Rosh muttered. “Damned elves.”
“Master, I can help.”
Rosh looked at her, eyes narrowed. “Thought you said you couldn’t do that?”
“Not that, something else. The woman’s body will perish. She will die. Nothing can stop that.”
“She ain’t just some woman,” Rosh growled. “So what can you do?”
Volera bowed her head. “I can protect her soul. Take it into me and make it my own. Your heir will be unharmed, but he will then share this bond with me. If either of us is stricken down the other will suffer.”
Rosh stared at her, then turned when he felt Willa’s blood-slickened fingers on his hand. “I ain’t scared o’ dyin,” she whispered. “Not for me, but Koda…Rosh, you do what’s best for him.”
Rosh turned on Volera. “This thing you’re talking about, is it like what you done before? That man a while back?”
“No, this is different. I am different. I can’t harvest souls like that anymore. This body is of this realm of existence. Much can be done with it, but it can only possess a single soul. I would be able to sustain myself if you released me.”
Rosh’s eyes narrowed. Was this just a ploy for her to escape? “What of Willa?”
“Willa will die. She has little time left. If I do this her soul will live as long as I do. I can be destroyed, by you or by others if the damage is unrecoverable, but if left to age alone, this body is ageless,” Volera explained.
Willa’s fingers clenched Rosh’s hand then relaxed. He stared at her fingers and then at her, fearful that she had slipped away already. Her eyes were open and she offered him a faint smile. “The pain’s almost gone,” she whispered.
Rosh squeezed her hand and smiled, then looked away quickly. He’d lost her once before, now it was going to happen again. He turned back to Volera, feeling every bit like he was making another deal with a devil. “You s
aid you got to be honest with me. Do that now. This just some way you can weasel your way free of me?”
“No Master,” Volera said, her empty black eyes meeting his and then finally dipping. “I speak only of options, Master. It would aid me, yes, but possessing her soul will change me too. She will die but her essence will live on in me. I will be affected by it. Her feelings and perhaps even some memories will become mine. And you, My Lord, I have never met a being like you. I would not leave you if I could, unless you wished it.”
Rosh stared hard at her then sighed. He turned to Willa and found her eyes closed. “Willa?” He whispered, his heart suddenly in his throat. She nodded and opened her eyes. “Just knowing some part of me will be with you forever does me good.”
Rosh looked away again, noticing the alarming amount of blood on the deck. He nodded to himself, then turned to their son. “Get over here and say goodbye to your ma.” Rosh’s voice was a growl. Anything else, he knew, wouldn’t sound like him.
Koda winced as he tried to move. He fell back, gasping. Volera walked to him and helped him up, then all but dragged the large boy over. He collapsed next to Willa, taking her other hand in his. With considerable effort her forced himself to his knees and stared at the only permanent companion he knew. Tears fell from the boy’s eyes as soon as Willa met his gaze and smiled.
“Shhh, I knew this was coming Koda, it’ll be all right. You got Rosh now, he’s a hard man, but he’ll be fair with you. He’ll love you too, I know that now. Might not act like it, but he will.”
“Hurts,” Koda whispered, one hand holding his belly. If possible, even more blood had drained from him than from Willa.
“Breathe through it, it’ll be gone soon. Just as soon as you let me go. You’ll feel better and a part of me will live with you forever.”
Koda nodded, then knelt down and touched his forehead to Willa’s. He shuddered, then kissed her forehead. “Bye Ma…I…”
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