by Ben Alderson
I must not have been the only one to catch Kell wince.
“I’ll try, that is all I can promise. Marthil is as much of a threat to the city as she is to you. He will want to make sure his own are secure and safe before he assists you,” Kell said.
“If that is the case”—everyone listened in to Hadrian carefully— “then we will do it with what we have.”
Kell wasted no time in leaving for the serpent, which soon headed off towards Vcaros.
“We will need scouts,” Fadine said. “To make sure that all perimeters of the camp have eyes alert to prevent any more surprise encounters with the demoness.”
“You know the soldiers better than me. Fadine, you are the best thing I have to a First Commander. Help me with them. I believe that no one can do this job better than you.” Hadrian took her shoulders in his hands.
“No need to panic,” she replied then rushed off into the crowd of waiting soldiers.
Emaline and I took that moment to head for the shore. Once our booted feet touched sea, we both looked upon the ship.
“She was held in the lower levels of the ship, that is where we will need to look.”
Emaline held a hand over her eyes, blocking out the sun which reflected off the glass-like ocean and into her eyes. “This is not good, Zacriah. If she has escaped, she has few places to hide within the Doom. I really don’t see her staying away for long. And now she is reunited with her element…”
“I know,” I replied, chewing the skin of my bottom lip. “I’d like to know what gave her the strength to escape in the first place. Being out in the water should’ve kept her subdued.”
“And if Simian is still alive?”
A bubble of deranged laugh slipped out of my lips. “Then I hope you can stop me from finishing what Marthil started.”
I was the first in the air. Emaline was a beat of her wings behind me.
The rock formation had been conjured from the bed of the ocean. It was wet, rivulets of sea water dripping down its sharp face onto the broken panels of the ship in which it had penetrated. The force of the rock had lifted the vessel clean out of the water, causing it to hang above from the sea’s surface. White gulls danced around the formation, their mocking calls irritating and unwanted.
When I flew close enough, they scattered in the wind, not wanting to get close to me. But soon flew back to the point of the spear of rock as if something that far up caught their attention.
I had to hover above the ship’s deck, scared that my weight would be all it needed to fall back into the ocean in two separate pieces. From this distance I could see enough.
There were no bodies strewn across the ship, and the absence of rowing boats suggested those who had to get off had done so in time. Or perhaps they simply jumped overboard like the broad solider had told us. But Simian. He would be here somewhere. He had to be.
I clenched my fists at my side, pointed talons cutting into the palm of my tough, scaled palm.
I looked to Emaline and pointed towards the open doors that would have led down into the prison cells in which Marthil had been kept. There should have been enough room for us to fly within without causing a tip in the scales. Emaline nodded, urging me to go first. I paused through the doors and into the corridors below. My wings at full stretch almost touched either side of the walls.
“I won’t fit,” Emaline said, hanging in the air above the door. “There is no way we can both go down there. Can you manage it alone?”
“I’ll be as quick as I can,” I replied.
“If you don’t find Simian, do not go looking deeper. One touch on this ship and it looks like it will snap clean in two—”
As Emaline warned me the groan of wood screamed around us. It echoed down the mess of corridor, followed by sharp clicks and screeches.
“Be wary,” she warned.
“Good luck.”
Emaline turned, wings flexing and buffeted wind atop me. She flew off out of view, which left me to the ruined corridors of the lower deck.
I tried to keep as compact as I could as I traveled into the pits of the ship. Only once did I brush my feet across the flooring, which had my heart skipping a beat. The ceiling at that part had caved in slightly, causing me to duck and be closer to the floor.
Ahead of me was the door to the cells, and it was open and waiting. Whereas before there was only a few beams of light, now an entire part of the room was lit thanks to that monstrous, jagged hole in the wall. It gave a view of sea. Nothing else. Where this portion of the ship was tipped and now facing downwards it sent my stomach spiraling. Water lapped up in greeting, so close that splashes dampened the floor of Marthil’s cell.
Now I could see how she escaped. Straight through the wall. No one had let her out, she had found it on her own. But how? Where did her power come from when she should have been kept weak amongst the water?
I flew close to the cell, stopping just before the metal bars which I leaned on. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the plate of rotten food that was resting up against a wall within the cell. I noticed something green beneath it, but it was turned upside down, so I couldn’t get a better look.
Reaching for my magick I extended my will and used my air to flip the plate around. It settled back down, giving me a glimpse of what looked like a plant growing from the rotten mound of molded food. I reached out again, forcing the plate to skid across the ground towards me close enough for me to pick it up.
Scrutinizing what was in fact a plant, I tried not to inhale the vile scents the rotten food gave, but there was also something sweet about it. Coming from the three plump, amethyst bulbs which dangled like lanterns from the fresh vine. These bulbs, the plant, I had seen it before. Forbian.
It was all beginning to make sense.
Marthil had told me she’d used the Forbian up, but perhaps she didn’t account for the seeds she would’ve carried without telling me. She’d grown a new supply from the rotting food that had accumulated during her imprisonment. She’d not eaten on purpose. Biding her time, she had waited for the right moment. Simian’s arrival must have just urged her to act sooner.
I lifted a stem with my finger. The jade green vine had been ripped. Marthil must have taken one of the bulbs and devoured it when he arrived. It would have masked her weakness and given her a renewed strength as it had when I fed it to her during the storm.
She’d played us.
“Zacriah! You need to come and see this,” I heard Emaline shout from beyond the ship. Even without seeing her I could hear the discomfort in her voice. A panic that was alien to her usual calm attitude.
Urged to rush and leave, I plucked the remaining three bulbs of Forbian from the stem and dropped the plate on the floor. It landed on its side, rolling out through the hole and landing within the sea in a loud splash. Pocketing the bulbs, I turned back for the door and flew beyond it, trying to reach Emaline with as much speed as I could muster still without touching the floor and walls of the corridor.
“Up here,” her voice came from above me. I looked up, shielding the suns glare to see her hovering next to the formations tip high above. Pushing as much power into my wings I flew up to meet her, unsure what it could be that sparked her panic.
The gulls had given her space but flew at a distance around her. Their angered cries cut right through my head.
As I got close to her the smell hit.
Simian.
The tip of the rock had burst right through his stomach from his back and all the way through. His arms and legs, lifeless and limp, dangled as he was suspended far above the boat. Dead. He was dead. Red stained the dark rock, dribbling down for as far as I could see. Sea birds hung in the air around us, waiting. It explained why so many had been here when we arrived.
As they flew around us, I spotted their red-stained beaks. This was a feast for them and we had interrupted.
“It would seem his plan truly did backfire on him,” I said into my hand, covering my own nose and mouth f
rom the stench of death.
Emaline held a hand over her mouth and nose which muffled her voice. “Do we leave him here or bring him back to camp with us?”
I contemplated leaving him, yet even after everything I knew we had to take him back. Not out of respect, but to show our soldiers what Marthil is capable of. She may have only killed one during her escape, but she would be back and could do it again.
“If we leave him, the Goddess will look down on us. On the other hand, every time we look towards this ship it will be a reminder of what happened here.” I couldn’t take my eyes off his face. His wide eyes were nothing more than empty sockets, black and crusted. Had the birds already devoured them first.
“In that case, you can do the heavy lifting. I am not touching him.” Emaline cringed away, waving her hand for me to start.
“I will.” I flew closer and stopped at something that was first unseen from the angle he hung at. “Emaline, look.”
Sticking out the side of his neck was the hilt of a buried dagger. I had not seen it before because of the angle we viewed him from, but it was clearly there. The dark handle stood out against his ashen skin, in death it had taken on a pearlescent tone. “This is what killed him first. He was already dead by the time the earth pierced him.”
This was more of a sign, a mark that she left to say she had been here. For me, I knew its meaning. My power is back, it said. I am the threat now.
“Let me,” I reached forward, wrapping my hand around the handle and pulling. At first, I thought it was just the reflection of the sun that caused the blood-coated metal to gleam gold. But then I felt the instant drain of my power and the violent turning of my mind.
Emaline slammed her palm against my fist, causing me to drop the dagger. We both watched from our height as it tumbled far below, landing on the ships broken deck. I didn’t hold it long enough to fully be drained from its presence. Seeing it fall from view stilled the sudden spinning.
My mind was still spinning from the quick interaction I had with the gold. Being so close made me feel weak in such a way that my lungs hurt to breath. Even Emaline looked flustered being close to it.
“We need to get away from here,” I said, noticing some of Simian’s blood had gone on my fingers from touching the dagger. I tried rubbing it on my trousers, but it only seemed to make it worse. Spreading the red down my fingers and into the belly of my nails.
“That would be wise.”
Emaline was already backing off from the body as I followed.
I reminded myself to send someone to retrieve it after we arrived. But my first port of call was telling them all what I had found. My initial thought about taking him back had disappeared the moment I’d pulled the golden dagger from his neck.
Our wings carried us away from the ship. Emaline didn’t turn back to look at the body the entire way. But for me, I couldn’t help but keep peering over my shoulder.
Once my feet touched down on the shore of the camp I looked back for a final glance. Even from this distance I could see the cloud of birds, each fighting for their turn to take a piece of Simian. Then a single thought passed through my mind, making me sick and ice cold.
Perhaps, when they returned to get Simian’s body, there would be nothing left to bring back.
HADRIAN PULLED OUT the items of dark clothing which had been brought back after being cleaned by the Morthi after I returned from Merrik. One by one he laid them out on the bed. When Gordex had given it to me, it was a way of using me as a representation. A costume. But here it was the best choice I had for protection if a fight were to come. It would allow me to shift freely without worry that I would rip and destroy the material.
The plated leather top was pulled over my head. Hadrian was careful not to catch my skin upon the silver points that the scaled armor presented. My boots went on last, something I could do by myself. The tent lacked a mirror, so I relied on my touch to make sure everything was in order. I ran my hands down the cold material, fingers bumped across the scale-like stitching of my skin fitted trousers.
Only my neck and face were free from protection, every other part of my skin was covered. The gloves which were part of the top part of the uniform only had slight slits at the tips in case my claws needed to grow free.
I flexed my fingers, testing the durability of the uniform for yet another time.
“It may be taboo for me to admit this aloud, but you look beautiful in it,” Hadrian purred, standing back and admiring me from a distance. He had his hand on his chin as his head tilted, eyes scanning from boot to head.
Hadrian’s hungry eyes had not stopped devouring me. Even with material to cover my body his eyes lingered across me.
“Beautiful? Some reason I don’t think that was Gordex’s incentive when he gave this to me,” I replied.
“Beautiful, deadly, wonderous, beastly.” Hadrian listed off words, counting with his fingers as he did it. “So many things I could say about you. All as true as the next.”
“Well, Prince Hadrian. Would you like me to list the many things I think about you?” I stepped close to him, running my hand down his Niraen uniform of purples, earth-browns and threads of silver which linked the different parts together.
“I would like nothing more than that,” he whispered. “But we must help our soldiers, and I worry that you have so many wonderful things to say about me that it could take us all day.”
We had only taken a short while away from camp and already Hadrian was itching to return. After Emaline and I had returned and informed them all on what happened with Simian we had got straight into cleaning up camp. Was it selfish that I wanted a few more moments with Hadrian to speak only with him?
“She will come back, won’t she?”
“Kell has strictly told us that besides Vcaros, the deserts are empty for miles. She has not got many places she could be hiding. Eventually, she will come back. But the difference is, this time we are all here. This time we will be ready.”
I released a sigh. “And when she does, we take her down?”
Hadrian tapped my nose. “Correct, Petal, we end her reign of destruction together. She has killed one of our own, again. We may not have agreed with Simian, but he is still a life lost. Marthil will be held accountable for that.”
“She had it planned all along,” I reiterated what the New Council had discussed when me and Emaline arrived back from the ship. “Savoring the rotten foods until she could grow the Forbian and regain her strength. Maybe Simian was right, I should never have trusted her to see the right and wrongs. I feel a fool. He warned me that the next death would be on my hands.”
I blinked, and in the dark I saw his red blood staining my palms as it had on the ship when we found his body.
Hadrian cupped my cheeks. “The only fool in this story is the one ready to go up against us. It is your ability to see the best in others that I find so endearing. Do not let this experience taint that part of you.”
“It is hard not to.”
“Well, let me help you. Once Simian is brought back and we show our soldiers that we care for each one lost in this war, we will restore your own hope in hope.”
“Hope in hope, how clever?” I forced a smile and a laugh.
“That is me all over… clever,” Hadrian said, handing rubbing my shoulder and trailing down my spine.
I went up on my tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips. It was a hard, passionate kiss one that helped take my mind off everything.
“Thank you, for staying by me,” I said.
“No need to thank me, Petal. It is my honor to be the one here with you. I do it for you because I know, if and when the tables are turned, you would be doing the same for me. Goddess knows you have done it for me. It is I who has been the burden, you have done nothing but try and help me.”
“I love you.”
“So much,” Hadrian replied, his lips pressing into my hair line. “As do I.”
The entrance to the tent burst open, followed by the t
wo soldiers who Fadine had chosen to retrieve Simian’s body. They were both shifters, my age, who I recognized from the initiations when we arrived in Olderim. I could not remember what it was they could do, but Fadine had suggested they both would not need to touch the ship to retrieve Simian. My guess was they both were birds of sorts.
I pulled away from Hadrian, waiting for their update.
“Forgive us for the intrusion but it is of utmost importance that we saw you.”
“No need for the apologies, please speak up.” Hadrian waved for them to continue whilst holding onto my hand and no letting go.
“The shifters body is missing your highness.”
The soldiers comment shocked us both. How could he have gone missing when I had seen him hours before? Surely he could not have been devoured so quickly.
“We searched the entire ship, but neither of us could find anything. There was blood on the deck, below the rock in which we were told he would be. It is as if he fell from that great height. But there is nothing more to see.”
“And you looked everywhere?” Hadrian’s brows creased in worry.
“Every possible place we could reach. The only other option is he fell into the sea once his body dislodged from the rock.”
The moment of paused silence caused both soldiers to hang awkwardly at the entrance of the tent. Behind them the sky was darkening into night, giving birth to the many stars that filled the clear sky.
“Thank you both—”
We all turned when a hearty growl broke the silence beyond the tent. All the hairs on my neck stood on end as the entire camp washed into silence. The silence lasted only a few beats of my heart.
Something was wrong. Only one creature in this camp could make such a sound.
Hadrian and I ran. The soldiers followed. Out feet kicked up sand as we moved through the darkening camp. My boots, plated underneath, made it easier to run across the sands making me get to our destination first when another growl sounded within the tent ahead. Emaline and Illera’s tent.
