by Lexy Wolfe
Ash reached over, touching the scar lightly with his fingertips. "Taylin could probably heal that if you wished."
Storm merely smiled, and Ash would have sworn there was an almost innocent shyness in her smile. "You should return to your journeyman." At his consternated expression from the unexpected response, she asked simply, "Can’t you sense her glaring daggers up here? She has been pacing like a small thunder cloud down there since shortly after you climbed up here."
Ash glanced down and sure enough, the Forentan woman was walking circles below, occasionally yelling at sailors to get out of her way. He shrugged dismissively. "She can wait. I prefer your company over her incessant, brainless chatter."
"She is not very patient," Storm observed, not even bothering to look down. Looking back towards the horizon, she fell silent for a time. "Is she typical of Outlanders?"
Heaving a resigned sigh, Ash nodded. "Unfortunately, some of them, yes. Thankfully not all of them are like her. Most are content to ignore things so long as it does not interfere with their daily lives."
Nodding, Storm pondered for several more moments. "She seems to be an unusual choice for a student for you."
Ash frowned, asking in harsher tones than he intended, "What do you mean?"
Storm only smiled faintly at the man’s bristling. "She does not apply herself to her training. She does not give anyone the respect they deserve. She especially gives you little to no respect. She is petty and spiteful and has a completely unwarranted jealousy towards me. You do not think highly of her, I think. I would have believed you’d have chosen a higher caliber of student like you had with Terrence."
Ash blinked several times and made a face. "Amelana was assigned to me by the Edai Tredecima... the council of mages... as a journeyman because the second highest ranking Edai Magus is of the Avarian family. To get Terrence as my student, I had to agree to take her as well." He could sense the confusion from the Desanti woman. "Master mages do not have the complete freedom Swordanzen have, especially if they are lowborn, not highborn."
"Lowborn?" she echoed. "Highborn? I do not understand these terms." The whales forgotten, Storm gave her complete attention to Ash, a slight frown marring her features. "Explain to me, please. I want to understand so I do not embarrass Lord Almek."
Ash smiled a little ruefully at having to explain something often indirectly spoken of in his homeland, if discussed at all. "Family status in Forenta is based on how old the family is, how rich, how much power ancestors had before and how much now. If you are born into a well placed family, you are highborn. If you are born into a family not as strong or powerful, or you have no family at all, you are lowborn. Many lower born families try to marry their children into higher born families to raise their own statuses."
Storm looked insulted. "You are judged just by how you were born? You do not have to earn your place? Or prove you are worthy?" The mage did not bother to answer. "That makes no sense. How does that keep the blood strong?"
"It used to. When the highborn families had the best and most powerful mages among their numbers. Families would match their strongest children with the strongest of other houses, and that would produce even stronger children usually. Now..." his voice drifted off and he shrugged. "I am not sure."
Storm leveled a narrow eyed gaze on the Forentan man as she considered his words. He could tell the moment she understood the underlying facts behind his words. "She considers you lowborn. Despite your skills and power and her obvious lack of them." Storm snorted. "Stupid bitch. You would have better breeding with a lame drizzen."
Ash regarded the Desanti woman with a quiet admiration and asked quietly, "What do you mean Amelana's jealousy is ‘completely’ unwarranted?" Storm looked confused and had opened her mouth to speak when something distracted their attentions downwards at the same moment. The ship abruptly listed, forcing the two to grab onto the ropes on the mast to keep their seats.
Her reaction, a heartbeat before his own, was not lost on the mage. "You could sense that?" Ash looked down at the water around them. "There is something else here."
"There is something large near..." Storm clung white-knuckled to the mast. "There! See the dark shape in the water?" In the brief moment she took to try to point to the shadow underwater, the ship listed sharply to the other side and she lost her grip. Ash lunged to grab her wrist. His grip was secure, but before she could find purchase on the mast, something jolted the ship again and he lost his grip. She hit the water feet first and disappeared beneath the surface. Without hesitation, he dove after her near where she hit the water.
In the cold, silent underwater world, it took a moment for Ash to get his bearings, and then to locate Storm. He got behind her and put an arm around her waist. Holding her tightly, he pulled her upwards, the two gasping for air as they broke the surface.
Coughing water out of her lungs, Storm wheezed. "I thought... I thought you could not... could not s-swim."
"I can’t," he said in her ear, holding her against him tightly. "I can just about keep my head above water."
"Liar," she coughed, trying to laugh to hide her absolute fear. They both looked down as something snaked around the two of them, jerking them underwater.
The world oddly silent again, sunlight shimmered off the surface far above them. In the murky water, they could only dimly see the thing attacking the ship, a looming shape with a great beak and huge eyes. It pulled them towards that mouth.
At the same moment, Storm jabbed her two-edged blade into the nearest eye and Ash cast a spell that sent a shockwave into the thing. The water went black as the monster fled, wounded and completely unprepared for such dangerous prey that threatened its own survival. A flailing tentacle knocked the wind from both as it turned and swam away.
Finding his bearings, Ash kept his arm tightly around Storm and kicked back towards the surface. His lungs screamed for oxygen, but he focused on getting back to the air above. He gasped, coughing up black water.
Storm hung in his embrace, unmoving. He lifted her head up, patting her cheek. "Storm," he wheezed, desperate for a response. "Storm, wake up. Answer me!"
"Lord Ash!" Skyfire yelled from somewhere above them. "Mureln! Lord Almek! Over here!"
"Storm," Ash said intently to the woman who was not breathing. "Come on, don’t give up on me now." He grabbed the rope the sailors threw down to them, wrapping it around them both.
He would not release Storm when they were pulled aboard, laying her on the deck, touching her cheek. "She isn’t breathing," he said. "Storm!" He shoved someone trying to get near and felt his arm caught in a firm grip.
Mureln shook the mage a little to get his attention. "Turn her on her side. We need to get the water out of her lungs." The mage nodded, letting the bard help shift Storm. The change of position helped, the woman coughing up inky water. Unconscious, she still held the two-edged blade in her hand in a death grip. It took both Skyfire and Mureln to force her to release the blade. She relaxed minutely the moment Skyfire returned it to its snug sheath.
"Come on, let’s get you both down below," Mureln said. Skyfire carefully gathered Storm in his arms as Mureln put his shoulder under Ash to keep the man on his feet.
Taylin blocked Amelana from following. "You will stay away until they have recovered, Journeyman. They need rest and you will give neither any."
Amelana scowled, starting to shove past Taylin. "Get out of my way, Sevmanan b-" the Forentan woman began when she gasped in shock then screamed in pain, collapsing into a miserable, quivering ball.
"I said," Taylin stated coldly, her fingers curled like claws and haloed in shadow from the anti-healing magic she used, "stay away. Next time, I will do worse than just cause you pain." The healer turned away, leaving the woman collapsed on the deck. Neither Almek's students nor the Wave Dancer's sailors bothered to even look at the Forentan woman.
Chapter 50
THE sound of Storm's weak coughing roused Ash from his fitful slumber. Squinting as he tried to fo
cus in the dim light, he saw the Desanti woman in the bunk across from him, curled on her side in a fetal position. Her breaths came in wheezing gasps between the coughs wracking her body. "Storm!" The mage was shocked how weak his own voice sounded to him.
He looked up at a hand placed on his shoulder, a sense of grateful reassurance in the touch. He looked up to see Skyfire. "Lord Ash. It is good to see you awaken finally. We have worried how much of the black water you swallowed."
Ash closed his eyes, putting a hand to his head, feeling as though the room were spinning. "Black water?"
"The Vodani call that thing that attacked the ship a giant squid called a kraken. They say when the beasts are alarmed, they send out a cloud of black venom into the water to keep their attackers from following." Skyfire reached over to rest a hand on Storm's head, worried. "The small amounts small squid make only irritate. Large amounts can be... fatal." Shaking his head sharply, he spoke more briskly. "You lost consciousness shortly after we brought you below."
"How long?" Ash reached deep to find the strength to push himself to sit up, keeping his hand on his head, and grateful the Desanti man did not try to force him back down to rest.
"You were unconscious for four days."
"Storm?"
Skyfire's silence drew Ash to look intently at his grim visage. The Desanti shook his head. "She wakes up... now and then. The coughing drains whatever strength she manages to recover." Before Ash could speak, Skyfire continued. "Mureln said we are heading to a place called Water's Resonance. They have medicines that will help you and Storm."
"How long?" Ash looked at Storm, her sickly pallor worrisome.
"The ship's weather wisdom has done what she can to keep the winds strong. They are hoping we reach it in the next day or two." Skyfire looked from Storm back to Ash. "You should rest, Lord Ash. You need your strength."
"I am fine," Ash argued before a wracking cough seized him. Skyfire put a hand on his shoulder as if he could will the mage some of his strength. When it finally eased some, the mage looked embarrassed. "Thank you."
"No, Lord Ash. Thank you for keeping her alive. Again." Skyfire paused a moment, embarrassment creasing his features. "I am... not ready to stand in her place. Not to stand and face your god on behalf of ours." The Desanti man smiled wanly.
"Mage," Storm whispered weakly.
"Shhh." Skyfire dipped a cloth in a bowl of water, placing the cool damp cloth on her brow, murmuring reassuringly. "He is here, Storm." The quiet reassurance calmed the fever-stricken woman.
Ash tilted his head, looking at her. "She calls for me?"
"And you for her. You both kept trying to find each other." Skyfire's expression was unhappy. "We brought you to Storm's and my room. We tried taking you to your own." Ash looked quizzically at the Desanti. Skyfire said darkly, "We must take turns standing watch to ensure you both can rest. It is easier when you are together."
"Amelana," Ash said tonelessly. Skyfire nodded, his expression grim. Both men started when a fit of coughing overwhelmed the Desanti woman again, leaving her even weaker than before, breathing shallow and a trickle of blackish blood appearing at the corner of her mouth. "Taylin cannot heal her?"
"Taylin says healers can mend the body, but have no power on things like alcohol or poisons. She does what she can to mend the damage to your lungs, but the black water is in your blood. The Vodani on this ship say the body can purge it, but as much as you both got in you, it will kill you before you do." He dabbed the blood from Storm's cheek. "Mureln says the Vodani medicine at Water's Resonance is the only thing that can draw the black water out of your bodies quickly and completely." Listening to Storm’s weak wheezing, he got to his feet. "I will go get the healer. Storm is worse than before."
As the door closed, Ash turned to the sound of his name. With only the need to reassure her, he moved to sit on the floor by Storm, taking her reaching hand in his and felt much of her tension ease. "Shhh. I am here, Storm."
"Ash?" She opened fever hazed eyes. "Ash, I am afraid. I can’t-I can’t breathe."
"I am here," he said reassuringly, clasping her trembling hand tighter and resting his head on his other arm. He was not sure how much time passed when he was dimly aware of others in the room. There was some argument about getting Ash back in his bed, but it ended with a note of resignation. A moment later, Ash felt a blanket draped around him.
Chapter 51
LIKE the essence of rainbows captured in watery crystal, the violet spires of Water’s Resonance reached into the sky like delicate needles. Grand arches over the water dwarfed the many Vodani ships that docked within and without of the strange island’s embrace. Much like at Home Port in Desantiva, Vodani crowded balconies above the cavernous harbor to catch a glimpse of the strange group, particularly the Desanti.
A willowy woman hurried to the group as they disembarked on the main landing, touching Ash’s cheek, then Storm’s. "Come, come! There is no time to waste!" She led the group into wide halls, waving her hands imperiously at the gawking Vodani, scolding them in an almost musical voice. The Vodani moved away like the parting of the sea.
"Tulis, quickly." The woman pointed to an ornate couch for Skyfire to lay Storm on, Terrence guiding a barely coherent Ash to a similarly designed chair. Sending the pair's companions out, she crouched by Ash, offering him a crystalline glass filled with a strangely shimmering liquid. "Drink." She spoke in a tone that brooked no disobedience. Holding the glass for him, she would not lower it until it was empty.
Ash grimaced, feeling strange as the liquid seemed to sit in the pit of his stomach like a heavy weight. He wanted to ask questions, fighting the urge to gag, feeling as if his stomach was being ripped from his body.
"It will be harder on this one," the woman said. "There is a lot of the dark water in her. Stay with her, Tulis. The purging will be especially hard."
"Of course, Ilsa."
Without warning, Ash felt his stomach rebel completely, unable to stop himself from vomiting. He was vaguely aware of a comforting hand on his back and a basin placed in front of him. After what seemed an eternity, his stomach kept heaving though there was nothing more to purge. Eventually, the spasms finally eased, leaving Ash drained. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and stared at the smear of blood-stained blackness.
He looked up sharply when suddenly Storm was caught in the throes of vomiting as well, the sounds making his own insides twist. By the time she was done, she curled in a ball on her knees, the dry sobs he was familiar with tearing at her more than the dry heaves left after the purging.
The sounds of gentle music seeped into Ash's consciousness and he felt himself being drawn towards the oblivion of sleep. The mage shook his head, fighting the lethargy, determined to get to Storm to comfort her. Too weak to fight any longer, he sighed and closed his eyes, succumbing to the darkness.
"I have never seen it take so long for your music to put someone to sleep, Mureln." The woman draped a blanket over Ash. "Especially two who nearly succumbed to the black water. It almost put me to sleep."
"They are two of the strongest souls I have ever met," the bard murmured, his eyes on his mandolin as he continued to play. He dared to flick a worried glance upwards to the impossibly slender woman. "You are sure they will recover, Ilsa?"
Slender eyebrows rose as the woman put a delicate hand over her heart. "Mureln, I am insulted. When have you ever known me to lie about such a thing?" The willowy woman leaned down to touch Storm's brow. "Tulis, keep changing the rags until her fever comes down." The man nodded, giving the woman a bland look that spoke volumes of her speaking to him as if he were novice. The look was lost on Ilsa whose attention had returned to Mureln. "I had only heard stories about Githalin Swordanzen all my life, and you bring us two. And a Forentan Illaini Magus! I can hardly wait for them to awaken so I may meet them properly!"
Mureln pressed his lips together in annoyance. "I did not bring them here for your personal entertainment, Ilsa."
Ilsa s
wept behind the bard, putting her hands on his shoulders and leaning to whisper in his ear. "I have missed your entertainment, Mureln. Won't you stay for a while longer this time?"
"You know why I cannot. My duty is to the music and to the Dusvet Guardian."
Tulis glanced at Mureln with an apologetic expression. "Ilsa, the Desanti woman's fever has broken and the Forentan man is not showing signs of fever. Do you wish me to have the guest hall prepared for the Dusvet Guardian and his party?"
"Yes, of course, Tulis." Ilsa went to the man to kiss his cheek lightly. After Tulis had departed, the willowy woman sighed dramatically as she moved over to a cabinet in the room, taking down two glasses. "You always did favor landwalkers over your own people, Mureln. Those two brutes—"
"They are like brothers to me, Ilsa." Mureln's annoyance lent an edge to his music. The sleeping pair began to rouse, their expressions reflecting the agitation in the music, until Mureln mastered his emotions and returned to his quiet playing. The two quieted again back into a sound sleep. "I would appreciate if you would stop distracting me, hm?"
Ilsa brought over two glasses of dark colored wine. "Please, Mureln. You have put me off ever since we were children. Just this once, could you not at least pretend to be my husband?"
"I am grateful to you for saving the lives of my friends, but I am not going to play your games just to amuse you." He looked up at the woman with a displeased expression, taking the glass to drain quickly. "Our parents arranged our pairing. We never formalized it. We are not now and never will be married."
"We could be if you would just stay," Ilsa pouted, resting a hand over his heart. "Please, Mureln. I am lonely."
"You have Tulis." Mureln gently but firmly removed her hand from his shoulder. Noticing both mage and warrior struggled to awaken, he quickly resumed playing his music. Both went still again. "There is no more patient man in Vodanya than him. But right now, my friends need to rest and recover from the black water. Show your patients the compassion and consideration you have denied me all our lives."
