Heritage- Legends of Shadear

by Elina Vale

  Shea’s eyes flashed to red and black.

  Merrilon glanced at Cemara, tacitly urging her to stay quiet. “There is nothing I can give you, Shea.”

  Shea twisted her fist like she was turning a doorknob. The man beside Cemara simply gasped, and his head twisted around backward, snapping his neck. He fell to the ground, dead.

  Merrilon stared at the body in horror. There is nothing we can do to stop her. Nothing. He looked at Cemara, sorrow in his eyes. He would keep her safe, keep all of them safe from Shea’s cruelty for as long as he could.

  With sadness in her eyes, Cemara nodded.

  She understood.

  Merrilon bowed to Shea. “I will do as you wish, High Mistress. But don’t kill anyone else. Please.”

  Shea clapped her hands together. “Yes, yes! You will obey me!”

  “But the people...”

  “Don’t worry, your pets are safe.” She dismissed them with a wave. “Come along, then! We have so much to talk about!”

  Merrilon squeezed Cemara’s hand one final time. “In another world,” he whispered, “I would have loved you.”

  Cemara kissed him longingly.

  When they parted, he followed Shea with firm steps, crushed by the sense that he was leaving a part of his heart behind. The sun glimmered on Shea’s golden curls as she swayed her hips rhythmically.

  She stopped, twisted around and smirked. “I knew you would come with me. You know, you will look fantastic beside my throne.”

  She wants the throne. She is going to break Aviden.

  Merrilon revealed nothing of his inner thoughts and simply nodded. If he could play her game and keep her happy, maybe he could ensure Cemara’s safety. Taking one last look at the village, he stepped through the portal and back into his own world.

  CHAPTER 18

  THE SUN WAS SHINING. Shri ran through the old neighborhood, her bare feet stomping the sandy road. Familiar faces passed her. They smiled, some of them greeting Shri with a nod or with a wave. She waved back as she continued on her way. She passed the Iron Forge but didn’t enter, even if she knew her father was inside creating the most brilliant things with his hands. Beautifully crafted blades and daggers, those were his specialty. Shri kept moving, twisting and turning through the meandering alleys toward her destination: The Rag Tower. Mother was working somewhere in there, but the one Shri wanted to see was Summerhaze. She would be waiting for Shri at their spot, on the top of the building.

  Shri circled the corner and came to the back of the tower. As she placed her hands on the ladder and began climbing, a firm hand yanked her back down.

  She fell to the ground, coughing as the sand whirled around her.

  It was Dago, her friend. But something was wrong. He was grinning, holding a long knife threateningly before her.

  He stepped forward. “It’s time for you to die, Shri.”

  “No...” she pleaded, crawling away. “Please... Don’t kill me!”

  “I will do whatever Shea orders me to do.”

  She leapt up and raised her palms. A bolt of lightning burst from her hand, striking Dago in the chest and slaying him instantly. Just when Shri thought she was safe, something hit her upper arm. With a painful howl, she glanced down to find an arrow sticking out of her flesh. She turned to look and saw Summerhaze stood behind her, holding a bow.

  “Susu, why?” Shri wept. “I’m your best friend!”

  The white of Susu’s eyes turned red, dancing with black dots. Her face altered, and Shea Ziragh was standing in her place. “You can’t run from me, Shri. I could kill you with a snap of my fingers. But I won’t. Join me instead! Come to Ironflare and support my cause. Together, we will dominate this world.”

  “No!” Shri ripped the arrow from her arm and launched it at Shea, who swatted it away like it was a fly. Then, she began to change, transforming into a monster from Shri’s worst nightmares. Tentacles sprouted from her sides, her skin turned green, and she grew sharp, pointy teeth. She howled and growled like an animal, saliva spilling from her mouth.

  Shri turned and ran as fast as she could. Faster, she must be faster! As she sprinted into the shadows, she could feel the tentacles whipping at her feet. Remembering the way to the nearest gatehouse, she turned the corner... and stopped.

  The Iron wall rose before her, blocking her way.

  She pushed her back against it and screamed.

  Shri woke up to someone shaking her.

  Roxana’s scarred face came into focus. “You were screaming like a pig being slaughtered. What kinda dream was it, anyway?”

  Shri nodded and shivered. She was sweating and freezing. “I... I’m not certain.”

  “My Granny used to say that bad dreams are glimpses of the demons that’ll accompany us on our last trip,” Roxana said. “You screamed something like ‘Not the Pit, not Susu!’ What’s the Pit?”

  Shri gathered her breath and wiped her face, fighting to recover from the nightmare. Already, much of it had been forgotten. “I was born in the Pit.” She wrapped her blanket around herself.

  Roxana sat down on the floor. “That’s not a nice name. What city is that? I’ve never heard of it.”

  For the last few nights, Roxana had shared the room with Shri, sleeping in the upper bed. Apparently, she had discarded her punishment for now. Shri was sure that the weather had something to do with this; the brig was cold, and the damp boards weren’t the most comfortable place to sleep.

  “It’s not a city,” Shri said. “It’s a certain part of the city.”

  "Still sounds like a bad place.”

  “The people of the Pit are kept there by force. They can never leave.”

  “They’re prisoners?”

  “Yes. The senatai in the Spike keep them as slaves.”

  Roxana’s eyes widened. “That’s horrible! The Spike is the senatai tower, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you were one of the slaves?”

  “Yes. I was.”

  “How did you escape?”

  Maybe it was time for Shri to share her story. Carrying all those secrets and memories alone was hard. Roxana seemed trustworthy. “If I tell you, you must promise not to reveal what I say to anyone on this ship, or on the islands we’re going to.”

  Roxana frowned. “Why?”

  “I don’t like talking about it, and people will ask too many questions.”

  “You an outlaw?”

  “No,” Shri said. “Well... Not really.”

  “I’ll keep your secret,” she smiled. “Go on, tell me.”

  Shri told Roxana about the Pit, about what her everyday life there had been like. She told her about the Gate Run, and how she had always regarded the contestants as heroes. She described her desperation over her fate in the Pit, about her will to free the people in servitude. She even explained how Eavan had spoken inside her mind when she was a little girl. When Roxana requested more details about the Gate Run, Shri told her everything; she described the ghost-city, the jungle, Javid. She recalled the happenings in the cave and the moment she had killed a man for the first time. Then, the dragon, the desert, and the bulky black man who had fallen silently through the snow. The horrible labyrinth-house, and the death of Dago. She told Roxana all about the magic she had discovered within herself, and the loneliness she felt after Javid was gone. Ultimately, she described how she killed The High Master.

  When Shri was finished, her throat was sore from all the talking. Repressed emotions welled inside her. She had never talked about the events in her life like that. Roxana offered her a cup of water, which Shri gulped down.

  She looked at Shri and scratched her cheek. “I see that you’re a true warrior, Shri Moongale. Those places—the Pit, the Gate Run—sound awful. The love of the Mother hasn’t reached some people.”

  “Mother? Are you talking about the goddess?”

  “That’s right. The Creator, the Light of the Universe, the Mother of This World,” Roxana said. “You must know about her.” />
  “I’ve heard something.”

  “I can tell you a tale if you like. Maybe it will scare the demons of your dreams away.”

  “I’d like that.” Shri leaned back, covering herself with her blanket.

  “Our people tell this story to every child who turns twelve. The tale needs to be kept alive.” Roxana was quiet for a moment, staring into nothingness, gathering her thoughts. “At first, this land was empty. There was nothing. Mother had molded it and wasn’t sure what to do with it. She offered it to her daughters, Pearl and Petal, and her sons, Rock and Fire. Her children came to live in this land, but they found only sand, so one day they told Mother that they wanted something green. They wanted plants to eat, animals to play with, and water to keep those things alive. As a loving mother, she did as they requested. She planted the trees and flowers and the land turned green. She sent the animals to live with her children.

  “But then came the day that a stranger appeared on the land. It was a man named Jobar. He had hair of black fire, red, blazing eyes like the setting sun, and... he possessed magic. He was cunning, and he saw a land that he wanted to rule. Using his magic, he locked the brothers Rock and Fire underground. No matter how hard they fought, they couldn’t escape. To this day, they continue to protest. Mountains and volcanoes are the signs of their anger, and once in a while, we can still hear them roar.

  “Pearl, a daughter as fair and light as a feather, was captured and placed under the waters of the deepest sea. And Petal, the most beautiful of the children, Jobar lured into his bed. And so it happened that Petal was soon with child.

  “Mother had received no news from her children for a long time, and when she came to meet them, she was horrified. Petal had given birth to a demon child, a creature of wickedness. But Mother of All was not helpless, for she was a creature of power. She unleashed her rage and slayed Jobar, sending him to the underworld to stir the fiery streams for all eternity. However, Mother was also a gentle and sympathetic goddess; she couldn’t kill an innocent baby, no matter how horrible it looked. She decided to offer the child a chance, so she created more creatures like him, part light and part darkness, to share the world with him. And so, the race of man was born.”

  Sipping her own mug of water, Roxana fell silent.

  Shri lifted her head from the pillow. “What happened next?”

  “That’s it. The story tells that Mother and her children abandoned the land and left us humans to deal with our own problems.”

  Slumping back down, Shri commented, “Well, we aren’t doing a very good job, are we?”

  “Some of us, perhaps. Others, not so much.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “These people enslaved in your Pit: you still think about them, of course. How does the King of Aviden allow this Spike to get away with that?”

  Shri sat up and wrapped the quilt over her shoulders. “He is planning an attack right now. But it’s not going to be easy. The city is surrounded by iron walls.”

  “Has it always been like that? Slaves behind the walls?”

  “Not always, but for a long time. The gates were locked around the Pit over seventy years ago,” Shri said. “After that, no one was allowed to leave. No one ever saw the forest again. Or the sea. Only the sand around us.”

  “Never saw the sea again? Seventy years. How awful it must have been, especially for someone...” Roxana’s back suddenly straightened, and her sky-blue eyes stared at Shri for a long time, studying her with a calculative look. Hesitating, she glanced up at the ceiling and sighed.

  “Is something wrong?” Shri asked.

  “Not exactly. I... feel the need to tell this to you. I feel like the Daughters are leading me to some truth. You revealed your secrets to me; it’s my turn to tell you something.”

  The ship rocked lightly, and a small beam of moonlight shone into the room. By now, Shri had becomes used to the swaying motion. Roxana sat on the floor, her legs crossed. Her face was covered in dark shadows, her voice quiet when she spoke. “The people in the Thunder Islands are overly cautious. We don’t like to tell our secrets to outsiders. That’s why nobody will answer any of your questions.”

  “I’ve noticed that,” Shri admitted.

  “Listen to what I’m about to tell you, and after, promise me that you won’t mention anything to anyone before we reach the island, and before... well, just promise.”

  Shri nodded, intrigued. Finally, she would learn something about her captors. “If you keep my secrets, I’ll keep yours.”

  “Hopefully, I’m reading the Daughters’ signs right,” Roxana mumbled. “Many decades in the past, our land was ruled by the clan-leader Garmand. He was a kind, peace-loving man, who led his people with love and affection. He was deeply bothered by the cruel reputation of his people, but the council advised him to stay the course. The Mairas are proud to be called the Warriors of the Sea, did you know that? But that name was given hundreds of years before our time.” She sounded sad when she muttered the last words. “The name ‘rogue’, and all the violence that comes with it, is our given path. It is told that the Daughters directed us onto that path decades ago. To some, it seemed a long, dark fall from the proud warriors we once were. But when we fell from grace, our clan-leader was keen on learning why we had been set on the path of a pirate. Attempting to learn everything behind the Daughters’ will, he sent his only son to the mainland. The young heir to the throne took his new bride and crossed the ocean, eager to learn about the people who lived there.”

  “But something happened?” Shri guessed.

  Roxana nodded. “They went missing.”

  “Missing?”

  “Clan-leader Garmand searched for many, many years, but his son was nowhere to be found. And so, when Garmand died with no heir to the throne of the Thunder Islands, the ruling family was declared dead, and the throne passed into the care of a new family.”

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  Roxana stared intensely at Shri. “Because the name of the man who went missing was Perivalos Moon-Storm.”

  Shri’s heart skipped a beat.

  Roxana leaned closer, excitement in her eyes. “Is the name Perivalos familiar to you?”

  Shri nodded. “My great-grandfather bore that name. But he called himself Moongale.”

  “Moongale... Moon-Storm.” A faint smiled touched Roxana’s lips. “Shri Moon-Storm.”

  With conflicting feelings of fear and hope, Shri whispered, “I... I might be one of you?”

  “Indeed.”

  “I could be a Maira!”

  “Not just any Maira, but a living descendant of Perivalos, the true heir of the clan-leader Garmand Moon-Storm. If all of this is true, your family should be holding the throne of the Thunder Islands. And that, my dear...” Roxana fixed her with a stern gaze. “...would mean that you have many powerful enemies. Some are aboard this very ship.”

  CHAPTER 19

  THE SHADOWS WERE MURKY on the streets of East Sungarden. This was where all the scum lived. There were no brightly lit streets with couples walking romantically hand in hand to and from magnificent dining places. There were no magically created fountains, sparkling like diamonds in the dark autumn night. The oaks and maples were not to be found here, so there was no beautiful carpet of golden leaves on the neatly paved streets.

  This was a grim place. Small gauntlets of unfriendly people. Shadows. Violence and death. Every city had this kind of hole, where knives and swords dictated the king of the streets, and where gold and silver were the masters.

  Boa strode through the dank alleys, nodding once in a while to a charming courtesan but keeping an eye on the shadows all the time. If Shea could scout him, there was a chance she had sent someone after him. He needed a traveling gate, and now that he had parted ways with Eavan, he had to find someone else to create one for him. Fortunately, he knew the right person to do it. Teron was still in town. He was a third-year student, after all. And an air-talent senatai. It wasn’t permitted to use students for persona
l tasks... but this was war.

  Boa had left Teron in a scruffy tavern when he and Eavan went to meet the king. Eavan had advised Teron to keep studying the ghost issue and had promised to take him to the royal library of Sungarden to continue his research. But Boa had other plans, and Teron was the only one who could assist him.

  Teron started when Boa burst through the door. His papers and books fell from his bed to the floor.

  “What’s wrong?” His eyes were enormous in his skinny, pale face. “What happened?”

  “An attack.”

  “Is the king okay? Wait...” Teron rose quickly to his feet. “Where is Eavan?”

  “She is unharmed. She took the king to safety, and she’s likely casting some protection spells on him. But you and me... We need to leave.”

  Teron blinked a couple of times, realizing that his dream of seeing the most extensive library in the world wasn’t an option anymore. He sighed, straightened his shoulders, and delivered a confident look.

  A man, Boa realized. Teron’s not a boy anymore.

  “Very well,” Teron said. “Where are we going?”

  “I need you to make a traveling portal to Ironflare.”

  Teron’s eyes widened. “Ironflare? But...”

  “Yes, we need to... I need to distract Shea Ziragh long enough for our plans to develop. We need to buy more time for both the King and Shri. Shea’s mind needs to be on other things.”

  “H-How?”

  Boa knew he shouldn’t get Teron involved. Eavan would surely let him hear about this. As he took his pendant from around his neck, he immediately felt an utter longing to put it back on. The curse he had suffered all those years ago was gone, but without the pendant, he was out in the open. Shea could find him.

  “This is the Pendant of Absent. Once you have taken me to Ironflare, leave me behind. Go and make sure that this pendant finds Shri. She needs it more than I do.”

  Teron took it into his hands and examined it. “Pendant of Absent... I’ve heard of it, but the records said the map to its hideaway had been stolen by some foolish mayor from a tiny town somewhere up north.”