Emily's Saga

by Travis Bughi

  “He wants us to hurry out of the city,” Adelpha said. “Doesn’t he?”

  “I think so. Come on, we have to leave,” Emily replied. “I don’t think Drowin will stay injured for long.”

  “I agree,” Adelpha said, still in the awe of the angel’s fading glow.

  They stepped out from behind the house and ran down to the shore. They were met halfway by the other amazons who had collected up their weapons and were running up to them. They all held their bows with arrows nocked, ready to release a barrage of death. It was comforting to have such power nearby, but Emily knew they would have had no effect on Drowin.

  “What happened to your neck?” one of the amazons asked Adelpha.

  “What was that screaming?” another asked.

  “And that light?”

  Adelpha held up her hands to ask for silence. When it was granted, she let urgency be heard in her voice.

  “I’ll explain everything, but we have to leave now. The graves will have to be left as they are, or we might end up digging more. Or worse, there will be no one left to dig them.”

  The amazons nodded, their calm faces accepting the possibility of death. Adelpha’s orders were carried out swiftly, and the three amazon women were lowered into their final resting places. The dirt was pushed over them and a hasty attempt to compact the graves was made. Then they were running, darting through the streets as quickly as possible, headed due west through the city towards The Kraken’s Eye. Stealth was forgotten now, because Adelpha and Emily did not know how long Drowin would need to heal his wounds. More importantly, they did not want to find out.

  They reached the tavern safe and sound. The hourglass-shaped eye carved into the sign watched as each woman passed inside, where they ran upstairs to grab whatever possessions they had brought. Chara was already packed—a tiny leather sack held all she had brought with her—and sitting at the table where Emily had tried her first ale.

  When Emily stepped inside, Chara showed no signs of shock or surprise, only relief.

  “There are fewer of you,” Chara said to Adelpha and then looked at her daughter before adding, “but at least you made it back, Emily.”

  “How did you know I left?” Emily asked.

  “Well, when you weren’t here after everyone had gone, it didn’t take long to deduce where you went.”

  Emily looked down, trying to shield herself from her grandmother’s disappointment. It was only now that she realized just how much Chara’s opinion meant. She’d only known her for a few days, yet her acceptance and encouragement had become something that Emily wanted. When Emily finally did look up to meet Chara’s eyes, Chara only sighed.

  “It seems you truly are your mother’s daughter. I had hoped the defiance would skip a generation, but I suppose I was wrong.”

  “Okamoto was killed, an arrow through his heart,” Adelpha interrupted.

  “Damn,” Chara said, and slammed her mug down. “Now we’ll have to find out who it is the hard way.”

  “Actually, Emily has a theory on that,” Adelpha continued. “We’ll explain at another time.”

  She said that last part as quickly and silently as possible. The other amazons were returning from their rooms now, and there was no need to spark any unnecessary curiosity. Emily noticed that none of them carried anything heavier than a leather satchel. They traveled lightly, that was for sure, and ate on the go as any good hunter would.

  Once they had all finished gathering their things, everyone waved a hasty goodbye to Margret and then headed out the door. They were running again, and Emily noted that Chara kept up well. Fortunately, The Kraken’s Eye was close enough to the outer edge of the city that they didn’t have to run for long. Soon, they were beyond the outer rim of the city and climbing the steep grade out of Lucifan. Soon after that, they were back atop the open Great Plains that stretched farther than the eye could see. In that darkness, they rested. Packs hit the ground, and the amazons followed, taking a break in the tall grass. Almost instantly, questions were directed to Adelpha. The women wanted to know what happened, and more importantly, what was chasing them. Adelpha was more than happy to tell them. She confirmed everything that Emily had forewarned, and not even Belen could deny the sights they’d seen that night.

  “So what happens now?” Emily asked her grandmother.

  They kept their voices low. Adelpha was still spinning her tale, infusing her words with feeling and anger. The amazons roared as she did, and it was clear that the amazon princess knew her audience well.

  “Now, we make our journey to Themiscyra,” Chara explained. “We’ll head west along the southern edge of the mountains to the forest, then south to the jungle.”

  “I mean, about the traitor. I think it’s Belen,” Emily said. “I saw her sneak out before the attack, and I think she went to warn Okamoto.”

  “Who did you tell about this?”

  “Just Adelpha, you, and Heliena, but there’s another problem.”

  Chara’s response was to blink, and Emily continued.

  “Adelpha and I were saved from Count Drowin by an angel, just now,” Emily whispered. “He warned me, the angel, to beware judging others. His brother told me that we humans are prone to accusing those we don’t like. There’s one more thing, too.”

  “You’re just full of information, aren’t you, Daughter? Go on.”

  “Count Drowin said he saw the traitor amongst us on the docks.”

  “That’s a good half of our group.”

  “And Belen was among them.”

  Chara shook her head and sighed. She nodded slowly next, as if thinking things over in her mind. The amazons cheered again when Adelpha explained how they escaped from the vampire at the docks.

  “Well, we’ll have to be careful then,” Chara said. “But there are others besides Belen. Heliena, for one. I would accuse her first before any others. Either way, it won’t do to outright accuse anyone of such a plot.”

  “So what’s the plan, Mother?”

  “The plan, Daughter, is to train you. You’ve almost died three times since I took you in, and that’s three times more than I would like.”

  Adelpha finished her speech, leaving out only Emily’s accusation that Belen had left the tavern in the middle of the night. The amazons were empowered by their desire to kill those who dared trifle with them.

  They started marching west, with a tilt to the north. The top of the basin outside Lucifan was not nearly far enough from the vampire’s clutches, and so they could not rest long. However, Emily wouldn’t be looking for Drowin. There was an enemy in their ranks, someone with fury and a desire to kill. Emily had only just begun her life as an amazon, and already she felt moments away from death. In truth, the only time she’d felt safe was in the presence of Quartus.

  But, for some reason, she liked that. One thing was for sure, being an amazon was much more exciting than being a farmer on the Great Plains. She would miss her family, of course. Her brothers who had been her best friends, her parents who had watched over her as she grew up, but for once in her life, she didn’t stare out ahead with a hunger for more. She didn’t look into her future and sigh in frustration. Emily was finally content.

  She was finally going beyond the plains.

  Epilogue

  “On three, ready?”

  “One, two, three!”

  Sir Gavin Shaw and Sir Duncan Macalister heaved and lifted the dead man off the ship’s planks. His clothes gave a tug, having dried and caked in a pool of blood on the wooden floor overnight. Together with Gavin leading the way, the two knights carried him up to the upper deck and laid him out alongside the others from last night’s massacre. They stayed a moment to catch their breaths. It was a hot day, or at least it felt like that thanks to the work they were doing.

  “Why don’t you have Matthew or Neil do this work?” Duncan asked. “We could be holding the mob back, and they could haul bodies. What’s the use of you being our squad leader if you and I do all the hard work?�
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  “You know why,” Gavin glared.

  Duncan sighed, and the two of them descended into the bowels of the ship once more. There were only ten more bodies to carry out, but to Gavin, he saw ten more sins to atone for. Duncan tried to hide his apprehension at the next corpse they found, but Gavin knew the signs of his squeamish friend. Bodies and fighting were a necessity to him, not a form of glory or a ritual to be sought after.

  “This is my fault, Duncan,” Gavin said as they stooped over the next body. “I doomed Okamoto and all his crew when I told the amazons where he was. It’s my responsibility to carry them out, each and every one.”

  “And I, your ever loyal friend, am doomed to help. If you insist on being so noble, perhaps you should tell Sir Mark about your slip as well, hmm? If you feel so responsible.”

  “That won’t help, and you know it,” Gavin shook his head. “Sir Mark would love for any chance to boot me from the knights. He hates my guts with a fire.”

  “Flames you love to stoke,” Duncan muttered.

  They heaved up the next one and carried him to the surface. Nearby on the docks, the rest of Gavin’s squad stood at attention blocking curious citizens from venturing onto the vessel turned tomb. Gavin took a moment to admire his men, both as a commander and as a brother.

  Duncan elbowed him sharply and nodded toward the ship again, a measure of impatience furrowed in his brow. They sunk below deck once more.

  “So, are you still in love with this farmer, then?” Duncan asked, his voice hinging on mockery.

  “She didn’t have a hand in this, I swear it,” Gavin responded strongly. “You’ve seen her. She isn’t capable of something like this. It was those amazons that did it, I know it. I should never have said anything with them so close to hear it. I never would have thought they’d disobey the angels’ laws.”

  “Amazons follow only their own laws,” Duncan said. “Also, can I just say, you are a hopeless romantic? You’ve seen this girl—what was her name?”

  “Emily Stout.”

  “Yes, her, you’ve seen her all of about three times, less than an hour each, and you’re convinced she’s the most wondrous girl you’ve ever met. It’s such a bold statement that I might believe you, if . . . you know . . . you hadn’t already said that about every girl you’ve met.”

  Gavin didn’t deny Duncan’s words as they swept down on the next corpse. This body was younger than the other ones, a boy maybe fourteen at most. He was the youngest on the ship, and it made Gavin choke back his anger. He’d seen worse in Lucifan, of course, but none that had been delivered by his mouth.

  He put it out of his mind by thinking about what Duncan had said. It was true, for the most part. Gavin was prone to falling for a pretty face and an innocent smile, and with his charm, women were prone to falling for him, too. Still, though, he could not deny what he felt in his heart. There had been something special about this one. Underneath her simple clothes and wide-eyed stare had been passion and determination. The way she’d struck that ogre, refusing to give up without a fight—that was something. Gavin closed his eyes and made a silent promise that he would not forget her for the first pretty tavern girl that flashed him a wicked smile.

  “So what do we tell Sir Mark?” Duncan asked. “Nothing?”

  “We tell him what we’ve found,” Gavin replied. “No arrows, no weapons, no bodies. Whoever came here last night killed everyone, took nothing, and left nothing. We tell him the truth.”

  “The selective truth, you mean. The truth that doesn’t include you slipping Okamoto’s name to a bunch of vengeful warrior women? You know, Ichiro Katsu is going to be furious his man is dead. In Juatwa, this would be an act of war.”

  “Most likely, but what can he do?” Gavin shrugged. “Lucifan is guarded by three colossi. The entire world would have to invade to do any damage, and still they’d lose. Honestly, Duncan, it’s the angels I fear the most. I could handle Mark’s scorn, but not what the angels would think of me. I’d climb down inside a bottle and never return.”

  They finished lining up the bodies on the deck just as Sir Mark and his entourage came soaring in on their pegasi. They landed behind Gavin’s squad, armored, armed, and bearing insignia that denoted their rank and status. Their arrival brought more attention from the ever-busy docks, and Sir Mark dispatched his men to assist Gavin’s in holding back the crowd. Alone, Sir Mark ascended the ramp to Okamoto’s tomb.

  Gavin and Duncan took a knee, bowing low before their superior.

  “Sir Mark,” they said in unison.

  “Rise,” Mark answered.

  They did and stood so erect that it would bring the envy of a colossus. Sir Mark, meanwhile, walked the length of the ship, looking over each body and taking in the scene.

  “What did you find?” he asked.

  “Wounds and bodies, sir!” Gavin said. “Nothing was stolen or even damaged. No weapons of those who attacked were left, either.”

  “Any idea who did it?”

  “None, sir,” Gavin lied.

  Duncan looked sidelong at him, but Gavin held a stoic gaze. Keep it together, old friend, Gavin thought. For mine and Emily’s sake.

  “Hmm, these certainly aren’t ogre wounds,” Sir Mark muttered. “No one is torn in half, nor does anyone bear chewing marks. It couldn’t be minotaurs either. The structure itself would bear damage.”

  Sir Mark kneeled next to one of the corpses, his metal armor clinking and grinding against itself. Gavin tensed and swallowed as Mark poked into one of the wound holes.

  “Gunslinger bullets, perhaps,” Gavin suggested.

  “Use your head, fool,” Mark snarled. “This many dead, we would have heard the booms echoing throughout the city. Either this entire place was assaulted by rapiers or these are arrow wounds.”

  “The amazons use bows, Sir,” Duncan spoke up. “They are quiet skilled with them, too.”

  Gavin’s jaw clenched, and he looked to his friend. Duncan looked back, his gaze steady with chin slightly raised.

  Damn your honor, Gavin thought. Of course he would cave when the opportunity came. Duncan had a very high sense of right and wrong. He hadn’t been born a scoundrel like Gavin, forced to steal to avoid starving. He treasured honesty as much as duty. Gavin could have hated him for it in this moment if it wasn’t the exact thing he respected most about his friend.

  Nearby, to Gavin’s distraction, Sir Mark had gone rather rigid. He tensed and froze in the sun’s warm light, only his eyes shifting from one corpse to the next. Gavin held his breath for a moment, until Mark stood and paced back to them.

  “Not the amazons, no,” Sir Mark concluded. “That makes no sense. There’s no motive. Besides, they’re not in the city anymore. We’ll have to explore other avenues, ones above the station of your squad. Collect the ship’s belongings and items and store them for Ichiro Katsu, should he ever come to reclaim them. Make sure you mark Okamoto Karaoshi’s sword, as such items are very valuable to samurai and their family. I’m under the impression Okamoto has a younger brother who would want it. As for the dead, bury them and mark their graves. I’ll speak with the angels on sending some formal apology to the shogun for this tragedy. Dismissed.”

  “Sir!” Gavin and Duncan shouted and saluted.

  They stayed rigid until Sir Mark left the ship and mounted up. His entourage followed him, and they took to the skies a moment later.

  Gavin and Duncan watched them go before turning to each other.

  “Thanks,” Gavin sighed.

  “You should have known better than to tell me.”

  “One day, my friend,” Gavin threw an arm over Duncan’s shoulders, “you’re going to be faced with a decision to either do what is right or what is lawful. I hope that day you’ll make the better choice.”

  Duncan snorted and shoved his friend off. Gavin laughed and pushed Duncan back. Then they turned to the bodies, and all humor drained from them.

  I did this, Gavin reminded himself. I must atone.

&n
bsp; Then he looked west, toward the Great Plains and sighed. He thought about the girl with short brown hair and a freckled face. Sharp eyes, an innocent smile, but a determined will. He knew he wouldn’t forget her so easily, and he hoped she wouldn’t forget him either.

  World of Myth II

  The Forest of Angor

  Prologue

  Emily Stout was dreaming again.

  It was the same dream she’d been dreaming since they left Lucifan. One of the angels, Quartus, was causing the dream, and Emily knew this with a certainty she could neither describe nor doubt. The grey haired angel—the oldest brother of the five, the one who could not speak—was making her dream the same dream every night. In Lucifan, he’d saved her life, pulled at her thoughts, and guarded her from the vampire, Count Drowin. All Quartus had wanted in return was for her to find the traitor among the amazons, the one who sought a basilisk with poison so strong it could kill an immortal. In this regard, Emily had yet to succeed. So now, either as punishment or as a warning, he was replaying a dream in her mind. Night after night, without fail, she would die.

  The dream opened on the Great Plains, the same plains where Emily had been born and raised. The endless, ceaseless, rolling hills that were covered in yellow grass and weeds stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. Only the occasional withered tree dotted the landscape, making pockets of meager shade under the sun’s harsh rule. The golden grass constantly danced in the heat, though it had no choice because the wind never died. Sometimes the wind was strong, other times it was weak, but it never ever stopped. It was in the dancing grass that Emily hid.

  The dream would start with a thunderbird’s screech off in the distance. That was the opening, the cue, the signal that greater things were being set in motion. Some of those things would be bad, others would be good, but none would be trivial. Above all else, the events that would unfold could never be undone. Only in her dream did she know what was coming.