“Storgen…”
Krýo yanked the arrow out of his face, golden light spilling out from within the wound. “What are you doing here? Have you no sense of decency? I was trying to save this woman. I was trying to save everyone!”
“Yeah, you need to die.”
Storgen held out his hand and allowed the crimson stone to fall out, dangling by a silver chain. Red light filled the air, and the dragons and their riders reacted in shock and disarray.
The light from Krýo’s wounds began to dim, and his friendly face twisted into an abhorrent scowl of anguish.
“What…have you done?”
Storgen fought to remain in the saddle as the beast bucked and snorted. “I hate magic. It is used to hurt, it is used to enslave. But you don’t own it. You didn’t earn it. It’s stolen power. Take it away and see how weak and pathetic you are underneath.”
Krýo fell to his knees, his skin growing pale, his hair whitening. “What is happening…?”
“You should have developed your own strength, your own power. Now you are nothing without the crutch of magic.”
Erolina struggled to lift her cramping arm. “No, Storgen, don’t kill him!”
“Don’t kill him? Are you crazy?”
Krýo collapsed to the floor, his eyes clouding, his skin growing dry and cracking. “What is happening to me?”
“Silence the stone. Silence the stone or he’ll die.”
“He was slitting your throat. Why do you care?”
Erolina touched the cut on her neck, then looked over in pity towards the decomposing form of Lord Krýo Fidi.
“Because…it’s not his fault.”
Krýo rolled over, his skin flaking away, his teeth falling out. “Please…I have to save everyone…”
Storgen struggled, then yanked the stone back into his grip. The crimson light disappeared, and the dragon settled.
Golden light began to emanate again from the hole in Krýo’s heart, and his body was restored. With a vengeful hiss, he became a serpent of light and slithered down through a crack in the floor. A moment later, he burst out from the foundations of the chateau, in the form of a great hawk.
Storgen watched regretfully as the golden hawk flew away into the distance.
Erolina’s strength gave out and she laid her head on the floor. “Thank you.”
“Okay, you’d better start making sense,” Storgen said as Mov unstrapped him from the saddle and lowered him into the room.
“That’s not the real him,” Erolina explained. “He’s naturally the kindest, most gentle man ever. I made him like this. It’s not his fault.”
Storgen crawled his way over to Erolina, examining the cut on her throat.
“No, it’s all right,” she protested.
He ignored her protest and rummaged through his kit. “Here, you’re bleeding.”
As Storgen gently applied medicine and a bandage to her neck, she looked at the bandaged stumps below his knees where his legs used to be. She could feel his bandaged arm pressing up against her.
Her red eyes swam with guilt.
“You shouldn’t have come back, Storgen. I wanted you to be happy.”
She felt his rough, calloused hand touching her cheek, and she closed her eyes, a tear escaping.
“I could never be happy without you, Erolina.”
She felt his lips touch hers, and tried to pull away, but he held her close. He kissed her top lip, then her bottom, his fingers tracing back behind her ear.
She pressed her lips tight, too guilty to return his kiss, but he kissed her more insistently.
She could feel her heart crying out, beating against the inside of her chest, as a prisoner begging for release.
“No, please…” she struggled, but he placed his hand on the back of her neck and kissed her even more passionately. She could feel her will crumbling, her body submitting. His feelings called to her like a besieging army, and her defenses toppled one by one. His tenderness knocked against her shame, beat atop her guilt, and battered her regret. Within her fortress, her own heart called out for him, fighting against the bulwark from the inside.
“I don’t…deserve you…”
Storgen paused and looked at her gently. Her lips tingled from his touch. Her skin flushed with passion, begging for more. The deep blue of his eyes penetrated the red of hers, and she found herself utterly powerless against it.
“Isn’t that my choice?” he asked.
Her self-control shattered and she laid into him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him deeply. Tears poured down her face. It was the most inelegant kiss she had ever performed. She cried, she laughed, and she breathed out sloppy apologies. But it was honest, it was sincere. After a lifetime of hiding her feelings, she simply allowed herself to feel what she felt.
It felt like she was kissing someone for the first time in her life.
As she let him into her heart, she found that he was already there. In her thoughts, in her feelings, in her memories, he was everywhere, imprinted into her soul long before she became aware of it. Branded into her very being, not as a scar, but something everlastingly more fulfilling. It completed her, as if her heart was a jigsaw puzzle piece, and he was perfectly shaped to fill it.
Somehow she knew that she would never be able to live without him. It frightened her for someone to have so much power over her. Never again would she be in complete control of her life. The reins had been handed over, and he would forever more be able to steer her with the slightest tug of those reins. Yet, for all the fear, she also felt exhilaration. It was thrilling to give up control to another. Beautiful, natural, peaceful. It felt so right she couldn’t imagine how anyone could live any other way.
Storgen pulled away and looked at her. Blushing with passion, her eyes brimming with joy, she was radiantly beautiful.
“I love you, Erolina.”
Her expression became pained. “Please don’t say that.”
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No. In fact, it is something I’ve wanted to hear, no, it’s something I desperately needed to hear.”
“Then why do you look so sad?”
“Because we can never be together.”
“Says who?”
She looked up at the sky fearfully. “The goddess Raelyn. She created the amazon race. Not as a blessing, but as a curse.”
“What happened?”
She was reluctant to respond.
“Can’t you tell me?”
“No, it’s all right, it’s just…it is forbidden to speak of it to outsiders.”
“I see.”
She looked up at him with tenderness. “But you are not an outsider to me.”
She rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes as he stroked her hair.
“Calania was a mortal,” Erolina explained. “Not all that different from a human. Renowned for her beauty and grace. Her beauty was so great that it caught the attention of Warestus, the Hunter.”
“Ah, him again.”
“He appeared before Calania in the shape of her husband, and took her to bed. When his wife Raelyn discovered the tryst, she was furious. She cursed Calania and all her descendants, that they would never have the love of a man. That is why we have only daughters, for our sons would love us. Any man who gives his love to an amazon, will have that love turned into the bitterest hate. That is what turned Krýo into the monster he has become. And I…I don’t want that to happen to you too. I couldn’t stand it. Not again.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?”
“You mean besides the shame of disclosing my people’s deepest, darkest secret?”
“Yeah, besides that.”
She sat up and turned away. With her finger, she touched the scar running down her face. “Because I knew that if you knew, you wouldn’t want a broken woman like me anymore.”
She covered her face and began to cry. “I’m so sorry. I should have told you from the beginning.”
; When his hand rested on her shoulder, she jumped with emotion.
“Is that what you think of me?”
He wrapped his strong arm around her and pulled her in close, hugging her from behind. She struggled to resist it.
“Erolina, we’re both broken people. I think that’s why we are right for one another. The attraction we felt was our hearts recognizing someone who was a good fit. Perhaps between the two of us, there are enough broken pieces to make one whole person.”
She laughed, wiping the tears off her face. His touch was so soothing, his voice was so comforting. She leaned back and felt his warmth against her back, and could not imagine anything in the world being so wondrously calming.
Erolina leaned forward as a wave of cramping washed over her. Her muscles trembled and shook in pain.
“Erolina, what’s wrong?”
“Krýo has been drugging me to keep me compliant. Now that he has abandoned me, my body is going through withdrawal….ahhhh!”
Erolina fell on her side, curling up into a ball, her fingers and toes gnarling in anguish.
Storgen looked around in frustration. “What can I do to help?”
Slowly the cramping reduced to a simmer, but this was only the lull between waves. “There’s nothing you can do. There’s nothing anyone can do. My people, my mother, my daughter, they are all about to die, and it’s all my fault. Krýo knew what he was doing. Gods attack Themyskira from both sides. The amazons cannot hope to obtain victory through strength of arms, and their pride will not allow them to retreat. Everything…everything I’ve ever loved is going to be taken away from me, just like last time.”
“It’ll be all right.”
“It’ll be all right? Have you lost your mind? It’s not going to be all right. It’s never going to be all right. Why would you say that?”
Storgen smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Because defying the gods is my specialty.”
* * *
Storgen took a long look out the porthole of the wooden sailing ship. The sun was setting, the waves were lapping against the side of the hull, and the air carried a pleasant salty breeze. A dozen similar vessels followed as the ship slipped out of the gentle harbor and into calm open waters.
This was going to be the longest night of his life.
Traveling in cargo holds was nothing new to him. Sweltering during the day, bitterly cold at night. Damp air and constant harassment from rats, he could handle all of that.
But this…this was something he didn’t know if he could handle.
Storgen grabbed Erolina’s face and gave her a kiss. Her skin was cold and clammy to the touch, her hair damp with sweat.
“Hurry,” she bade.
Carefully he affixed the last of the heavy chains to her shackles. Each link as big as his fist, the bands held her wrists, ankles, waist and neck, securing her to the walls of an alchemically reinforced steel cage meant for some wild beast.
Storgen wasn’t sure it would be enough to restrain her.
Erolina groaned in pain, sweat dripping off of her chin. “Did you talk to the captain yet?”
Storgen nodded. “I told him I was transporting a demon howler. That should keep them from investigating any noises they hear from down here.”
“Good.”
“I’ll say, we paid them enough. I never thought I’d get the chance to charter a whole squadron of ships.”
“No, I mean because I don’t know how much longer I can keep my voice down.”
Erolina groaned again as her body convulsed in pain. Storgen moved in out of concern, but she bade him stay.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t come near me. No matter what happens, no matter what I say, do not remove these chains.”
Storgen looked at her with sympathy. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You must. The last time, I escaped from Krýo, the withdrawals nearly broke my mind. This time will be much worse. He has been increasing the dosage. As it stands, I don’t even know if my body can survive the shock.”
Storgen watched as her limbs writhed against the chains. She cried out in agony, her skin nearly tearing as her muscles swelled and stretched unnaturally. It was as if great worms were slithering beneath her dark skin. Her back bowed, her head flipped back, her fingers cramping into horrifying positions.
Storgen couldn’t stand to watch it.
The pain ebbed for just a moment, and her head flopped down. Her sweat was coming out as a dark green ooze, dribbling down her face.
“Go,” she whispered. “Go, before I lose myself.”
He looked like his heart might break. “Why must I go?”
She looked up, her red eyes trembling with pain. “Because I might hurt you, and I couldn’t bear the thought of that.”
Storgen scooted back to the door of the private cargo bay. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now, go, please.”
Another wave of agony hit her like a tidal wave, and she screamed out loud.
Storgen pulled himself up into a chair he had rigged together with some wheels. With the use of a broom, he could shuffle himself around well enough. He scooted the chair outside and closed the heavy wooden door. Even though the thick material, he could hear her howling in misery.
It was the most horrible sound he had ever heard.
She screamed for hours, her chains rattling and creaking with strain, the steel cage groaning against the metal ties that secured it to the floor.
Storgen sat there listening to every blood-curdling sound. He wanted nothing more than to cover his ears, but he felt doing so would dishonor her, and so he listened to every noise.
Her voice grew hoarse from her wails, but the screams kept coming. Raspy, exhausted screeches. At times she didn’t even sound like a person, but a bellowing animal, like a wounded rabbit. A high-pitched moan of terror, horrible to behold. The sounds made Storgen’s teeth vibrate with their shrill frequency.
After six hours, her strength gave out, and she could no longer scream, but the pain didn’t cease. Instead, she wept. Quiet, mournful yelps, too fatigued to fully find voice, but soul-crushing to listen to. She whimpered for hours like a little child, her tears and sweat pooling beneath her, and letting off little droplet sounds each time a new one fell.
Three times one of the sailors poked his head down in concern, and each time Storgen assured him that everything was all right. No one would be getting any sleep that night.
Round about the twelfth hour, she called out to him from her cage.
“Storgen…”
Her voice was so strained it was barely audible. A dry wheeze, like air passing through the throat of a cadaver.
“Storgen, please, let me out.”
Storgen’s eyes watered. She sounded so desperate, so tortured.
“Please!” she pleaded again. “Please, I’m begging you. Let me go. I can’t do this anymore!”
Storgen wiped his eyes. “You told me not to let you out.”
“I changed my mind. Please! I can’t go on. I can’t. Let me out. Let me out right now! It’s too much! It’s too much for me to handle.”
“I’m sorry…I can’t do that!”
“LET ME OUT!!!!”
Horrible sounds of rattling chains and straining metal came from within. She howled like a wild animal, any attempt at words completely lost amid snarling and grunting yelps. She yanked on the chains so hard Storgen could feel the sides of the hull shiver.
For the next day of the journey, Storgen waited outside of the door while she thrashed around in complete madness. Demonic howls and frothing, mewling gurgles of delirium emanated from inside from sunup all the way until sundown. Though he desperately needed it, Storgen could find no rest nor sleep. Even the midday sun brought no peace to him. The world felt cold, calloused, and dark.
When nightfall came again, the sounds from inside grew quiet. At first, Storgen hoped that she had finally managed to fall asleep, but his hope was in vain. Her labored sharp breaths slipped out from u
nderneath the door. A quick succession of snorting rushes, the way a lion breathes.
“Storgen,” she said. The word startled him.
“Storgen, I’m better now,” she said calmly. “You can release my bonds.”
“Are you sure?”
“Come and see for yourself.”
Slowly Storgen opened the door and peered into the darkness. From the cracks and seams she had torn open in the floor above, a few weak beams of moonlight pierced the dust and ash inside.
She hung there like a corpse, her silver hair gnarled and clumped, dripping down over her face. Her wrists and ankles were stained with bloody scabs, her fingernails torn off.
Blood dripped from the tips of her fingers. Along her arms there were deep bite marks from where she had tried to chew her own limbs off.
The floor was a horror. Deep gouges dug into the metal from her fingers, her shorn off nails scattered about. Splatters of vomit and blood were everywhere. The slick links of chain were cracked and flexed, many of the loops beginning to open up.
The smell of the room was incredible. It wasn’t just the blood and vomit, there was an acrid scent of suffering, a primal ploom as if pain itself was a scent and the room was full of it.
Storgen wheeled his chair inside warily. “Erolina?”
Her head jerked, his voice startling her.
“Erolina, are you all right?”
“I’m thirsty,” she said, blood trickling from her cracked lips.
Storgen cautiously wheeled himself closer and took out his water horn.
She remained perfectly still, betraying no signs of life, save for that ominous deep breathing.
He wheeled himself closer to give her some water, but then thought better on it. He attached the horn to the end of the mop, and slid it out towards her.
When the horn reached her lips, she snapped into action like a taught bow, biting down hard on the broom handle with her teeth and yanking back.
Storgen was pulled from his chair and came clattering to the floor. She pounced at him like a wild beast, biting and snapping, clawing and spitting. Her eyes were awash with red veins, her skin traced with glowing veins beneath smears of dried blood. Just the sight of her terrified him.
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