Witch Born

by Amber Argyle

  Keeping her behind him, he backed them toward the banister.

  “The Witch is escaping!” Someone yelled.

  Wrapping her arms around Cord’s middle, Senna threw them both over the side of the ship.

  32. Velveten

  Senna’s bones thinned and elongated as she plummeted. Half-transformed, she hit the surface so hard her skin stung as if she’d fallen into a bed of nettles. Her bones reformed as she writhed in the sea’s cold embrace. Slowly, so slowly, the pain receded. For the first time in hours, she didn’t feel bone-deep cold.

  Righting herself, she gathered her bearings. The sea was dark and full of bubbles, making it difficult to see and harder to swim. The current yanked her furiously this way and that.

  Cord curled his tail under him and stared at it in disbelief. She swam to him and bumped him with her nose. He gaped at her with liquid seal eyes. Using her sensitive nose and whiskers, Senna swam toward the smell of seaweed.

  When she reached the side of the island, she swam until she found the telltale sign of seaweed growing in the shape of a gibbous moon. She discovered the entrance to the cavern—a black mouth almost completely obscured by seaweed—and swam forward.

  Something lunged out of Velveten’s mouth. Senna only had time to register the flash of steel in a burst of lightning before Cord threw himself in front of her. His back arched and he let out a bark of pain.

  Pain reeled dizzily through the link. The metallic taste of blood filled Senna’s mouth above the salty, mineral taste of the water. With horror, she saw a harpoon sticking out of Cord’s side. Rich blood clouded the water around the wound. Senna pivoted, searching for their attacker.

  Flaring his limbs and then pulling them tight like a frog, Pogg shot through the water. He was already loading another harpoon. Haven must have sent him to guard the entrance from any Witches in a seal’s disguise. She barked at him, but he couldn’t understand.

  Gently taking Cord’s flipper in her teeth, Senna pulled him through the water, pumping as hard as she could for the entrance. She shivered. The realization that she felt cold shot through her—the first sign the potion was wearing off. There was no way she could swim the distance as a human. She had to get them out of the water or they would drown.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pogg aim the second harpoon. She dove, taking Cord with her. She bit too hard into his fin. Blood seeped into her mouth, but there was nothing she could do. The harpoon sliced through the water above them. Senna shot forward again. Her skin shuddered and a tingle started in the middle of her tail, where her legs ached to split. Using her fins to steer, she pumped her tail, weaving along the bottom of the sea.

  Pogg aimed at her. She put on a burst of speed and shot into Velveten’s mouth as another harpoon embedded itself in the rocks behind her.

  It was pitch black inside. Senna had to rely on her keen sense of smell and her whiskers to guide her through the cavern. Far above her, she saw a circle of wavering firelight. The tingling in her tail became painful before her skin split apart. Fins became feet and hands.

  Her speed floundered as her spindly legs kicked at the churning water. She gripped Cord under his arms and pulled for the surface. Already her lungs were burning. She wasn’t going to make it, not with Cord’s extra bulk.

  He wanted her to leave him—wanted it without restraint. But she couldn’t bring herself to abandon him, and he was too weak to fight her.

  Pogg burst into the cavern behind them, the harpoon clutched in his hands. He aimed it at her before his eyes went wide. He dropped the harpoon, then snatched Senna’s and Cord’s shoulders with his padded fingers and burst upward. It wasn’t a steady progression, but one filled with stops and starts.

  Senna’s vision was beginning to go black around the edges. She touched Cord, using the link to tell him how sorry she was.

  Pogg put on a final burst. Suddenly, Senna broke free of the water and took her first desperate breath. Pogg shoved her toward shore. Her muscles were locking up from the cold. Knowing he would see to Cord, Senna swam for the dock.

  “Helps her!” Pogg cried.

  “Pogg?” a voice called uncertainly.

  “Helps!”

  Senna tried to pull herself onto the dock, but her muscles refused to bear her weight. Panting, she dug her numb fingers into the wood. She felt the vibration of footsteps. She looked up to see a dozen muskets pointed at her face. It had happened so much over the past few days that she simply waited for whomever it was to decide whether or not to shoot her.

  “Brusenna?”

  She forced herself to look past one of the black barrels to the face of the man holding it. “Collum?”

  He set the musket down, then gripped her arms and hauled her onto the dock. “Brusenna? What? You’ve been banished. How did you get past the Tartens—swim in this freezing water?”

  She pointed to Cord. “Help my Guardian. He’s hurt.”

  Two of the Haven Guardians bent to take hold of Cord.

  Climbing up beside them, Pogg trilled a high-pitched keening that made her ears hurt. He hugged his knees and rocked back and forth. “Poggs not knows seals was Senna! Poggs not knows!” He repeated it over and over again.

  Collum’s eyes widened. “Who’s this?”

  Senna crawled to Cord’s side and gaped at the harpoon sticking out of him. “He needs a Healer.”

  “You’re the only Witch who isn’t fighting.” She recognized the speaker as Beck, Reden’s second.

  Shutting out Pogg’s wails, she searched desperately for some kind of solution, but if she didn’t heal him, no one would.

  The harpoon had lodged deep into Cord’s side, and blood leaked out around it. His face was gray instead of its usual warm brown. His lips were a dusky blue. He gasped for each breath, as if he couldn’t fill his lungs.

  A mountain of inadequacy crushed her heart. This was so far beyond her skill. “Cord,” she breathed.

  He couldn’t seem to focus on her. Confusion and loss rolled through the link. He reached up and touched her face to reassure himself she was really there. She couldn’t help but wince at the sight of the bite marks in his hand. “Senna?”

  She studied the harpoon helplessly. “I can try to pull it out. If I can get the bleeding stopped, I might be able—”

  Cord winced and took a shallow breath. “No. Leave it.”

  She opened her mouth to argue.

  “You came to warn them,” he reminded her.

  “I have to—”

  “Senna, I’m dying.” Each word seemed to cost him.

  His words wounded her deep inside. He had to be wrong, and yet she knew he wasn’t. She felt it. His body was slowly shutting down and taking the link with it. There was nothing she could do for him.

  He smiled and brushed her cheek with the crook of his finger. “You care. I can feel it.”

  She bit her lip to keep from crying. Holding herself together with the last gossamer threads of her determination, she faced Beck. “There are Tartens heading for the cliffs. You have to stop them!”

  Her eyes widened as she really took in the dozens and dozens of Guardians—so many that Velveten was full. “Where did you all come from? What are you doing here?”

  “Guarding Velveten,” Collum answered.

  She pointed toward the nearest stairwell. “They’re not coming through the pool! They’re coming from the cliffs.”

  Beck shook his head. “That’s impossible. Any ship that got close enough to use ladders would be smashed to pieces against the cliffs. The only way in or out of the island is that pool!”

  Senna gritted her teeth in frustration. “They fitted cannons with some kind of modified anchor and ropes. The Tartens are climbing them towards the cliffs right now!”

  Beck gestured to two Guardians. “Tomes and Thayer, go scout those cliffs.”

  She shook her head. “You don’t have time for that. They were more than halfway there when we left.”

  Beck studied her. “The Head
s don’t trust you. How do I know that dozens of Tarten boats won’t surface the moment we leave the caves unguarded?”

  She held out her wrists, raw and bruised. “I risked my life to escape and warn you.” She saw by his expression it wasn’t enough. She grasped for anything else that might convince him. “Reden trusted me enough to come with me when I left. He did it because he knew only I could save Haven.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Beck started shouting orders, “Double-time for the cliffs. Keep your musket under your coat until you need it—damp powder means a worthless musket.” The Guardians hustled from Velveten. “Pogg, get back in the water and watch for any more seals who might really be Witches!”

  Pogg paused in his mournful trilling to turn to Senna. “Poggs not knows.”

  She took a steadying breath. “I know you didn’t. Go. It’ll be all right.”

  Pogg jumped into the water and sank, the water cutting off his high-pitched keening.

  Beck paused at the cave mouth. “Collum, keep her here and watch the entrance. If she tries to escape, shoot her. If the Tartens come, collapse Velveten.”

  “But Leader, that was our last resort.”

  Beck shook his head. “If she’s lying, it’s our only resort.”

  Senna lifted Cord’s head onto her lap and stroked his hair. His cold hand squeezed hers. “Go. Help them,” he said.

  She didn’t know tears were running down her cheeks until one dripped onto his face. She brushed it away. “I can’t leave you.”

  He squeezed her hand. “Didn’t. Stayed with me. In the water.”

  She felt as if her insides might shatter. A part of her was dying with him. “Cord—”

  “Go.” He pressed something into her hand. Senna looked down to find the Ioa potion in her palm.

  “You might…need…it.”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Now…we’re even. You saved…my life. I saved…yours, twice. Yes?”

  She nodded as a tear ran down her nose. She brushed it off with the back of her hand. “We’re more than even.”

  He grunted and the corner of his mouth quirked. “You’ll succeed. Known it…from the beginning.” His eyes rolled up and he was still except for his shuddering gasps.

  The place he’d gone—she couldn’t reach it through the link. Bending down, she pressed a kiss to his forehead, and this time, she thought only of him. When she pulled away, the link between them was gone.

  Thunder boomed. A flash blinded her, but she didn’t blink.

  Collum started beside her. “By the Creators, that was close.”

  Senna cradled Cord in her arms. He had betrayed her. He had saved her. In his own way, he had loved her. How could she leave him? But the Guardians couldn’t keep the Tartens back forever. There had to be less than two hundred of them—no match for Tarten’s thousands.

  If the Witches’ songs were added to the Guardians’ guns, they might be able to slow them long enough to move the island. Senna couldn’t help Cord, not anymore. But she could still help her Witches.

  She looked up at Collum. “You won’t leave him alone?”

  Collum shook his head. “Not if I can help it.”

  Gently, she laid Cord’s head down. “Goodbye, my friend. I hope to see you again someday.”

  His eyes averted, Collum held out his cloak.

  She remembered her sopping wet, nearly transparent shift. Embarrassment seemed such a small thing compared to men dying. “No. Cover Cord with it.”

  Collum didn’t move. “I’ll find a blanket.”

  When she didn’t take it, he took a deep breath. “He doesn’t need it, Senna. Not anymore. You’re freezing.”

  Grudgingly, she took the cloak, shivering at the lingering warmth. “You’re not going to shoot me?” She was banned from Haven after all, and he had his orders.

  He pursed his lips. “I trust you.”

  She almost wished he didn’t. Men who trusted her ended up dead. “You’ll keep him safe?” It was a futile question. Nothing could ever hurt Cord again. But she had to ask.

  Collum nodded. “I will.”

  Forcing herself not to look back, Senna left the smoky light of Velveten for the murky light of the storm. Lifting the bottom of her cloak, she ducked her head against the onslaught of rain and ran through the island. She heard all the Witches, their song so well matched it sounded like a single voice. The choir stopped and Senna recognized Chavis’ forceful voice as she released the combined power of their songs.

  Heat and light and power,

  Strike the ships beyond our bower.

  Lightning bolts to turn aside,

  Waters roll back the enemy tide.

  Senna reached the Ring of Power as Chavis finished the song. Light and sound exploded around her, throwing her to the ground and knocking the air from her lungs. Unable to draw breath, she watched as arcs of electricity shot across the barrier. They diminished before stopping altogether.

  In a handful of heartbeats, dozens more lightning bolts streaked across the sky and shot beyond the cliffs. Some were intercepted and arched harmlessly across the clouds. Others seemed to hit their marks. Thunder shook the world.

  As Senna struggled to her feet, Chavis was already singing another song.

  A counter song rose from beyond the cliffs.

  Chavis paused to draw breath, and Senna shouted into the expectant silence, “The Tartens are on the island!” Over two hundred pairs of eyes riveted on her. A few days ago that much attention would have paralyzed her. But shyness seemed another silly thing in the face of men dying. “We have to move the island now.”

  Stunned silence followed her pronouncement. Drenelle waved her hand, her rings flashing. “Pah! The Tartens are just men. It’s the Witches we have to fear.”

  Dozens of women erupted into speech at once.

  “How did she get on the island?”

  “What makes you think you have the right—”

  “It’s a lie!”

  Above the cacophony, Senna’s mother cried out, “Brusenna?”

  Their gazes locked for a moment, long enough for Senna to see the relief and regret on her mother’s face.

  “Silence!” Coyel shouted.

  Drenelle said, “We’ve been over this. All we have to do is sit tight while they beat their fists bloody against our walls.”

  “Tarten soldiers have nearly reached the cliffs—too many for our Guardians to hold off. You have to move the island.”

  Chavis stroked the butt of the pistol strapped to her chest. “That’s impossible.”

  As if to punctuate Senna’s words, musket fire bloomed along the cliffs. All the Witches’ minds were linked, so they moved as one to turn and see the battle illuminated by spills of lightning.

  Prenny gaped at Senna. “By the Creators, she’s right.”

  Like snake eyes, the gems on Drenelle’s fingers flashed with a lightning strike. “It’s a moot point. Our song isn’t strong enough to move the island. Not anymore.”

  Coyel studied her. “You’re absolutely sure?”

  Drenelle nodded.

  Chavis closed her eyes as if she were in pain. “You shouldn’t have come back, Brusenna.”

  Senna ignored the grief in her voice. “With my song, you’re strong enough.”

  “No!” her mother shouted.

  Chavis snorted. “No Witch is that strong. Besides, you expect us to give control of the entire Circle to you? I think not. Even if the Tartens are on the cliffs, we’ll collapse the ground beneath their feet, blast them with lightning.”

  “Your Guardians are up there!” Senna threw her hands out at her sides. “Besides, the Caldash Witches will protect them!”

  “Caldash Witches?” someone said.

  “Calden Witches who renamed themselves Caldash after Haven tried to destroy them centuries ago. They’ve been hiding behind a barrier.”

  There was a heartbeat of stunned silence. Only the Heads seemed to understand.

  Prenny
spoke up for the first time. “We didn’t listen to her before, and look what’s happened. I’ll not stand by and watch you make the same mistake again.” The old woman slowly stood, careful to keep her connection with the other Witches. “You are afraid of her—of what she’s becoming. I understand that. I was afraid too. But Brusenna is not Lilette.”

  Chavis rounded on Prenny. “And if the song isn’t strong enough and disintegrates after we release it? The island will collapse in on itself and we’ll all die!”

  Senna thought of Cord. Joshen. Reden. All dead for helping her deliver this message. She’d faced worse than old women’s fears, and she’d come out stronger for it. She wasn’t afraid anymore. “Perhaps you deserve the fate coming for you.” She pointed at the others. “But the Witchlings? The Apprentices? All the other Keepers? I came back for them too. And if you deny the truth, perhaps they won’t.” There was a time for insurrection. Perhaps this was it.

  “You’re asking us to trust your word that you’re strong enough?” Chavis asked.

  Senna narrowed her gaze. “Yes.”

  “I don’t.” Chavis twisted to look at Drenelle. “You?”

  Drenelle shook her head. “The kind of power to move that much earth…we’ve nowhere near what it would take.”

  Senna squared herself in front of Coyel, who held the sway vote. “It always comes down to this, Head. You and me.”

  Coyel studied her. “And if you manage to move us, what then? The Tartens will just come again and again.”

  “You’ll have to abandon Haven and go into hiding or join Caldash,” Senna said.

  “As if we can trust Caldash,” Prenny ground out.

  Drenelle winced as a bolt struck dangerously close. “Now that we know how the Tartens plan to invade, we can defend against them.”

  Coyel held herself as still as death. Finally, she slumped as if the weight on her shoulders was too much. She eyed the women around her. “This song requires us to move to the cliff’s rim. Spread yourself behind our Guardians and use wind to buffet the Tartens back. When the Guardians are behind us, we’ll create a corporeal barrier.” She paused. “And Brusenna will move the island.”