Voidhawk - Lost Soul

by Halstead, Jason

  “I should die,” Celia moaned.

  “And you will,” Jenna promised. “But not until I’m sure you feel as much pain as you’ve given me!”

  Celia gasped, expecting another strike from Jenna’s foot or fist. When it didn’t come she dared to slowly turn her head and look through swollen eyes. Jenna stood there, staring with pure malice in her eyes. Celia whimpered and rolled over. Her breath caught in her throat as she moved, evidence to the injuries she’d received. She managed to make her way to her knees, then she bowed her head before Jenna.

  “I deserve this,” she whispered.

  Jenna forced her aching fists to unclench. “Why?” The question slipped from Jenna’s mouth without her intending to ask it. “You’re just a child! Why would you do this? When I was your age I just wanted to be free to sail the void and meet new people.”

  “He made me,” Celia cried. “He killed my best friends! He said my family would be next, and that he’d save me for last if I didn’t do what he asked. I didn’t know what he was making me do, only that I had to do it!”

  “What makes your family more important than mine?” Jenna barked.

  Celia cringed and sank down lower on her knees. She looked up, trying to see Jenna through the swollen flesh and red tint the blood in her eyes gave her. “I didn’t know he hurt your daughter,” Celia said. “And I didn’t know your family. I only knew mine. I’m so sorry, Empress!”

  Celia collapsed forward, reaching for Jenna’s feet to try and debase herself. Jenna backed away, denying her, but not before she saw the damage she’d done to Celia’s face. Both the girls eyes were swollen nearly shut, but the left one was red with broken blood vessels. Her nose was broken and splayed to the side, though the blood on her upper lip was darkening. Her lips were split and there were even jagged tears in the skin above her hairline.

  Jenna felt her stomach twist. She’d done that to Celia. The rage left her, making her feel heavy. She’d beaten and tortured Celia. Not for information, but because she thought it would make her feel better. She’d lost control and acted like any member of the Elven royalty or military would have. In short, she’d behaved just like the tyrants she and Dexter, with the help of the elders, had deposed.

  “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Jenna whispered.

  Celia glanced up and saw that Jenna wasn’t looking at her. Jenna stared through the wall behind her, her eyes unfocused.

  “We just wanted to sail the void,” Jenna continued. “We helped the elders and they helped us. They changed us so we could have a baby and so Dex would be around to enjoy our long lives together. The elves? That was temporary. A few years at the most to show them how to live, then we’d move on.”

  Jenna shook her head. She wasn’t shaking off her memories, she was reliving them. “Jia was so precious and vulnerable, we didn’t dare return to life in the void yet. A few more years, we figured. Time for her grow and learn, then we could set sail again and show her the wonders of the void.”

  Jenna looked down at Celia, focusing on the frail looking girl. “Dexter was a human, something most elves don’t think too much of even now. They hide it, knowing it’s not the new way of things, but elves have long memories.”

  Celia was nodding along with Jenna’s words. She was young but she’d seen it too.

  “They think nothing of the value of women, either,” Jenna said, feeling a little of her former fire return. “Dexter laughed in the face of all that. He could get fighting mad arguing with me, but he always knew the right of things. He always did the right thing, even when it came to putting himself out for others. We’re still here because he wanted me to do what I felt was right. Now look where it’s gotten me.”

  “You made a difference,” Celia said. “My father hated you for it. Many of his friends as well, other nobles. But many of the younger elves I spoke with, they were excited by the changes. Especially women. You made so much possible!”

  “And now I’ve lost everything I had and the elves have lost the promise of a brighter future,” Jenna said. She sighed and shook her head. “I regret hurting you. I’m not sorry – I can’t bring myself to feel that, but I do regret it. I don’t know what any of our futures hold but I promise you no one will lay a hand on you again. You may yet die for what you’ve done, but if that happens it will be quick.”

  Celia bowed her head again until it touched the wooden floor. Jenna turned away, walking swiftly to the door. She stopped, seeing the discarded bundle of clothing that Keshira had stripped from Celia. “You may get dressed,” Jenna said. She exited the hold and shut the door behind her, barring it before her vision became too blurry to see.

  Blinking and rubbing away the tears, she grabbed her weapons and hurried back towards the bridge. She stopped beside the same door that had defeated her earlier, but this time she opened it and pushed through before she let herself be stopped. Looking everywhere but at the figure on the bed she pushed a chair next to the bed out of the way, then knelt down next to it.

  Jenna raised her head to see the small body beneath the covers. She reached out and took her daughters still hand, then brought it to her cheek to hold. “Oh, Jia,” she whispered before the tears came.

  Chapter 5

  “Where’s Jenna?” Xander called as he walked across the deck from the rear stairway.

  Tasha turned from the railing on the forecastle. She’d been staring into the void ahead. Had Xander asked she’d have said she was keeping watch for hazards ahead. In reality she was struggling to make sense of what had happened. She wanted to lash out at someone, but there was no one at hand she could cut down. She wanted to save Jia as much as anyone did, if not more.

  Tasha frowned, it was an unfair thought. Jenna had been burdened with the affairs of state. Tasha had once held title and position, before she’d encountered the crew of the Voidhawk. Everything had changed then. She’d met the man her people worshipped as a god, her own ancient ancestor that hadn’t been seen in thousands of years. Rosh had turned out to be worth every tale that had been told of him over the years.

  Tasha had sacrificed everything to join the Voidhawk’s crew and to travel with them. She wanted to experience and learn more. And learn she had. She’d learned sacrifice and hardship like she’d never imagined, but she’d also found friendship and loyalty unlike anything in her life.

  Then Jianna had come along. Tasha was a warrior queen without a war, yet she found spending time with Jianna filled a void she hadn’t realized was in her soul. Over the years Tasha felt certain she’d spent more quality time with the princess than anyone save her father. Now that Jia was…

  Tasha took a deep breath and released it. Jia wasn’t gone. She was hurt. They’d heal her, they had to. Everyone was focused on it. Even the woman who had more than any one person had a right to had given up her crown. Tasha’s own position had commanded respect, but it was nothing next to being the Empress of the elven empire.

  It was unfair, but Tasha couldn’t help her bitterness towards Jenna at times. The woman had been born privileged and spurned it, then she’d had the luck to fall in with Dexter and earn his love. She’d won another game of dice thrown by the fates and ended up as the Empress, then she’d been blessed with Jia. It was easy to be spiteful, but anyone Jenna called a friend found it impossible to hate her. Even if sometimes it felt like she didn’t deserve her husband and daughter.

  “Tasha? Have you seen Jenna?”

  Tasha spun around, her hand going to the sword on her back. It was impractical, carrying such a weapon while working the deck of a voidship, but twice now they’d been caught by surprise. First Jianna, now Dexter. She shook her head and relaxed her hand.

  “Either with Jia or the Captain,” she said. She paused, realizing who it was she was talking to. Xander looked rough. For the first time since she’d known him she saw a hint of a beard growing on him. The stubble matched the dark shadows under his eyes. He’d locked himself away in his room for two days trying to figure out so
mething. Now that he was out it must mean something. “Can you help the Captain?”

  Xander reached up to scratch the stubble on his cheek, using it as an excuse to glance around the deck. He bobbed his head a short distance. “I think so.”

  “Come!” Tasha said, gesturing with her hand and heading for the bow staircase. Xander followed her to the companionway and into the Captain’s cabin. Dexter’s body lay unconscious on the bed. He was covered with a blanket but his skin looked sunken and his complexion pale.

  “Jenna?” Xander asked, turning to look at Tasha.

  “I’m here,” Jenna mumbled, stepping into the room from behind them. “What do you know?”

  Tasha stepped back, allowing Jenna to move closer to the bed and her stricken husband. Xander held out the ring that Celia had used on him. “I don’t understand the intricacies of necromancy,” Xander began. “But I can sense powerful magic and mystical bonds between Dexter and this ring. It’s different than what I can read from the princess, Dexter’s body is still attached to his soul, but the ring has a stronger bond for now.”

  “For now?”

  “It’s weakening. I don’t understand the nuances of the magic, but I can sense that it’s growing weaker. I want to put it on his finger.”

  Jenna hissed. “A prick from it did this to him!”

  Xander held up his hand to stop her. “I know, but Celia wore it without harm. I can find no danger for the wearer of the ring. I think contact may help. Or if not, then when it weakens enough if he’s touching it there will be no trouble allowing his soul to find its way back to him.”

  Jenna stared at Dexter then hugged her arms around herself. Her eyes lifted to Xander’s, searching his for hope. “Are you sure of this?” she whispered.

  Xander saw Tasha standing behind Jenna. She gave him a nod of encouragement. “Yes, I’m certain.”

  Jenna let out a breath she’d been holding. She nodded then blinked rapidly. Xander turned away, partly out of respect and partly to face Dexter. He reached down to pull the limp hand from beneath the blanket, then placed the small ring at the tip of Dexter’s pointer finger. It shifted in his hands, growing to slide onto the Captain’s finger. Dexter slipped it on and backed up a step, his vision focused on the ring.

  Jenna gasped. “Did you hear that!”

  Xander jerked his head to look at her. “Hear what?”

  “His breathing, it changed when you put the ring on!”

  “It did?” Xander turned to look at Tasha, she shrugged, the large scabbard slapping lightly against her back.

  “About time you figured it out.”

  “Dex!” Jenna gasped. She threw herself onto him, ignoring is weakened condition. His groan was muffled by her smaller body. He groaned again, prompting Jenna to back off of him just enough to let him breathe unobstructed. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “Port Freedom,” Dexter wheezed. He looked past Jenna at Xander and Tasha. “Who’s sailing my ship?”

  “’Shira and Trill are on the deck, Sayara is at the helm,” Tasha said.

  “Trill?” Xander echoed, turning to glance at the imposing woman behind him. Tasha shrugged. She’d used the short form of her name a few times and the elven witch hadn’t complained.

  “How long was I out?” Dexter asked as he tried to sit up.

  “Two days,” Xander answered. Jenna moved to help him, supporting him until he was sitting on his own.

  Dexter cursed. “Feel like I’ve been floating through the void for a month.”

  “You couldn’t survive a month without—”

  “I made it through a lot of things I shouldn’t have,” Dexter interrupted the wizard. He pulled the ring off his finger and flipped it through the air to Xander. “Don’t reckon I got a need for that no more, maybe you can find a use for it. Look like you could use some sleep and a razor too.”

  Xander nodded. “I expect we all could use some. But that won’t find your daughter.”

  Dexter nodded, turning his head slowly to study the room and the people in it. When his eyes found Jenna he stopped and offered her a smile. “Two days floating in a whole lot of nothing gives a man some time to think.”

  “What happened?” Jenna asked again.

  “What did you do to Celia?”

  “She’s in the hold,” Jenna said, looking away quickly. She glanced back at him and saw the question in his eyes. “She’ll live,” she added.

  “Time for a chat. Tasha, can you head back up to help out on the deck?” Dexter paused, tilting his head to the side for a moment. “You said Keshira is up there? That’s odd, I can’t feel her.”

  Xander’s eyes widened. “The temporary separation of your soul from your body must have broken the bond with her!”

  “So that’s all it took?” Dexter said, rising to his feet with Jenna’s help. “Gonna miss her. How’s she been since I…went away?”

  “Heartbroken,” Tasha said. “There’s no other way to describe it.”

  “Wait a minute, I thought you’d been trying to come up with a way to break the bond and set her free since you opened her crate?” Jenna asked him.

  “I have,” he said. “But that don’t mean I don’t miss her.”

  Tasha left the room first, heading back to the deck. It irked her to be excluded until she realized that she wasn’t being excluded, she was being trusted with Dexter’s ship. After his family and crew, the Voidhawk was the most important thing in the void to the Captain. She smiled as she climbed the staircase, determined to make sure nothing went wrong on her watch.

  “Sayara’s spent two days on the helm, or did you spell her for a bit?” Dexter asked his wife on the way to the hold.

  “She said she could handle it, she’d spent longer on scouting missions.”

  Dexter nodded. “I expect she’s right, but she’s got to be damn near done in. Xander, you’ve been stuck in a hole, I can smell you from here, so who’s kept the helm charged up?”

  “It made for a good lesson for Trilliana. She knows virtually nothing of practical artificing, so I…” Xander stopped himself from a lengthy and technical explanation. “I showed her how.”

  Dexter smirked. “I take a long nap and everybody’s growing up.” He paused at the door to the hold, then waited until Jenna slid the heavy bar out of the lock. He offered her an apologetic smile before pushing the door open and walking in.

  Celia looked up from where she sat in the corner and gasped when she saw him. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fainted.

  “That’s nothing,” Dexter quipped without missing a beat, “first time I saw Jenna she threatened to kill me. Come to think of it, she didn’t look too much better either.”

  Jenna studied the floor, not taking the bait.

  “She been fed since you tossed her in here?”

  When no answer was forthcoming Dexter grunted. “Xander, get cleaned up. Jenna, clean Celia up and bring her to the galley. Bring some food too, I’m starved and I been sleeping. Can’t imagine how she feels.”

  Jenna nodded and started to leave after Xander. She stopped and turned back to Dexter. She stared at him until Xander was out of earshot then said. “I’m so scared!”

  He took her in his arms, though they felt like they already had coils of rope dragging them down. “I’m back and I know where to go now. We’ll get her back.”

  “You were gone too,” she whispered, not trusting her voice to anything louder. “I thought I’d lost you both.”

  “I ain’t that easy to get rid of, haven’t you figured that out yet?”

  “We’ve been through a lot,” Jenna said, pulling back enough to look him in the eyes. “But this feels different. It feels worse. A scratch from someone we trust and that’s it, you’re gone.”

  “No more scratches then,” he offered.

  Jenna wiped at her eyes then shook her head.

  “Now go do as I ask. Don’t forget I’m the Captain,” he grinned and earned a roll of her eyes. Having just a brie
f glimpse of the Jenna he knew and loved was enough. She turned to do as he bid while he made his way, slowly, back to the bridge.

  * * * *

  “I miss Jodyne,” Jenna said after she sat the fourth plate on the table. She took the empty spot and studied the meager fair. Elven bread and a dry elven cheese awaited them. Water filled their cups. Jodyne had been the ship’s cook and the wife of Kragor, Dexter’s original first mate. Both had been lost in the battle between the elders and the elves, and both were sorely missed in spite of their heroic sacrifice that won the battle.

  Dexter sampled the bland food on his plate. He was tempted to agree with his wife, but a surge of self-preservation kept his mouth shut. He filled his mouth with more, surprised at how his body was calling for more of the boring meal.

  He noticed Celia was eating more like an ogre than an elf. Her face had been washed and fresh clothing provided, but there was no hiding the bruises and cuts. Her nose was freshly swollen after Jenna had set it. Now the girl stared at her plate, eating like a dog denied food by its master.

  Dexter waited until she finished. Her eyes darted around the table, searching for more food. He pushed what remained on his plate over to her, then saw her glance up at him. The fleeting contact was gone an instant later, but in that moment he’d seen surprise and hope.

  “Celia, I need you to tell me what happened.”

  Celia choked on the piece of cheese she was eating. She coughed it up, gasping for breath, and took a drink to sooth her startled throat. When she’d regained her composure she pushed Dexter’s plate away and risked a look at him. “I told them.”

  “I need to hear it from you.”

  Her chin quivered but Dexter held her eyes with his own. In a trembling voice she spoke. “I was with some friends at the Fluvian gardens when a man approached us. He wore a hooded gray robe so I never saw his face. He sounded funny too, like it wasn’t really him talking.”