Reign of Darkness

by Michaela Riley Karr

  The wren squalled and darted around the campsite as nothing more than a red, feathery blur. James cried out and was suddenly holding his elbow, Jaspen dove to the ground as it soared above his head, and Sam crouched down over our kids even as the bird delivered a hard peck to his scalp. I barely saw the bird before I felt a sting of pain in my neck.

  “H-How do I stop it?” I cried, searching in vain for the magical cord that I had felt with the first, powerless Einanhi I had made that had allowed me to reabsorb it. It was gone!

  “There’s only one way now,” Evan answered, eerily calm even in the midst of the insanity.

  He stood, angling his finger at the lightning-fast bird, waiting and watching as it scurried around from person to person. I wondered what he was doing until the wren dashed toward Rachel, who had been cooking our supper over the fire.

  With a clang, Rachel raised her greasy, iron skillet in the nick of time to smack the Einanhi bird before it could injure her as well, all without dropping a single piece of browning meat. The thing gave a shudder before it slid off the skillet, dissolving into that familiar sand that all dead Einanhis turned into before it could reach the ground.

  Five pairs of Ranguvariian eyes and two human pairs turned to level their gazes at me. Only Evan spared me from his as my teacher not wanting to embarrass his student.

  Heat flooded my face and neck. “I’m so sorry, everybody…”

  Bartholomiiu began to laugh as Jaspen tapped Luke on the shoulder, and the two walked away from the fire to take first watch. James rubbed his elbow and then delivered it into Bartholomiiu’s ribs along with a jab in Ranguvariian. Sam just stared at me sadly, still in his strange little world separate from me that I just couldn’t wrap my mind around, until Rachel came around with bowls of her finished stew. Kylar seemed to be the only one he showed any attention all these weeks, but he diligently kept the boy safe and fed him before himself. I couldn’t argue with that, no matter how strange things had turned.

  Evan returned to my side as Cayce accepted her own bowl of stew while cradling their son, and he seemed content to tuck in as if nothing had ever happened. Rachel handed me a bowl quietly. I let it warm my hands for several moments even though they didn’t really need it in the warming springtime, staring at the bobbing chunks of rabbit and carrots in their brown bath. My throat closed upon sight of it, so I focused on shredding all the chunks as it cooled before feeding my bouncing toddler who had raced back to me with a goofy grin and a shiny rock in her pudgy hands.

  After I finished feeding Rayna her dinner, I guided her over to where Sam and Kylar were curled up in a blanket made up of some sort of animal hide that I didn’t recognize. I knelt and stretched my weary body before gathering Rayna into a warm little ball and scooting backwards until my shoulder blades met Sam’s. Even though I couldn’t understand Sam’s behavior, my heart was still his, and it craved being near him even through it all. While Sam didn’t so much as twitch in response, I fell asleep quickly.

  It was mid-morning when the horizon suddenly stopped expanding out in front of our caravan. It appeared like an optical illusion in my mind’s eye, the road just continuing into the sky even as we were rapidly approaching the edge of Nerahdis itself. The stench of salt was overpowering now, and the moisture in the air was palpable even though beyond the road’s end was simply gray sky. As Rachel continued to lead us forward, I actually began to wonder if her horse would either sprout wings and fly or plummet to an unknown death. Where was the ocean?

  My horse was a few feet behind Rachel’s when hers reached what I thought was the end of the road and pivoted to the left a full ninety degrees before beginning to descend. Confusion skittered through my veins as my horse also reached “the end” and turned to follow. There was a very narrow, zigzag path carved out of what was actually a cliff wall, and I had to look straight down to see what was beneath us.

  Hundreds of feet below this sheer drop-off and terrifying path was the town of Canis nestled between the towering edge of Lunaka and the lapping waves of an ocean far lower than I’d ever imagined. I gaped at it the entire way down after using a long, leather cord to tie both Rayna and Kylar to me, Sam having given me the latter for once surprisingly. Even then, I kept my hands firmly planted on both of them.

  As we grew closer, it appeared that Canis possessed its own kind of culture just as Soläna and Lun were both unique for being in the same kingdom. It didn’t have the height or wealth of Lun or the distinct social districts of Soläna. Instead, Canis seemed to have a ramshackle layout of taller buildings back toward the cliff wall and shorter shacks closer to the water’s edge with all the other heights in between. After an hour or two, I could make out the roofs of the buildings closer to the shoreline. They were constructed of heavy, green tarps and old, blackened fishnets that seemed centuries old. I could only wonder if their colors were original or mold as we finally reached the bottom.

  “There it is,” Rachel breathed, although her voice was still drenched in apprehension. She gestured beyond the village to the docks. “The Moon Jumper. The ship that will deliver us to Caark.”

  My eyes roamed from the buildings and the stocky frames of their inhabitants to something that I’d only ever seen illustrations of in books or paintings. A rocking wall of wood rose from the frothy waves just beyond the farthest dock, and its hull was blackened from its hundreds of voyages. Tiny, circular holes dotted the upper portions of the ship while rising from its deck were trees of stained, navy linen. These massive sheets billowed in the breeze along with an entire network of ropes that appeared to me as a tangled mess.

  As we rode through the town and grew closer, I could see dozens of thick, rugged men hauling ropes and chests to and fro, and the part of me that remains a child wondered if any of them had done any pirating in their days. I turned to Rachel, aiming to elbow her as I voiced this funny thought, but I paused at her stressed, vacant expression. I asked, “What’s wrong? We’re here, aren’t we? Not much longer and we’ll be in Caark.”

  “It’s not that,” Rachel answered, swallowing hard.

  “Then what is it?” I implored. I began slowing my horse to stop and give her my full attention, but she tugged me along toward the docks.

  My red-haired friend sighed and lowered her voice so that only I could hear, “I just learned that there are new rumors spreading among my people. That Rhydin has been trying to capture a Ranguvariian. Apparently, he’s been spotted close to our camps, and he’s been scouring the countryside trying to find our little caravan.”

  “But why?” I shook my head. “What would he gain by capturing a Ranguvariian?”

  By this point, we had reached the docks. We all disembarked from our horses, but I kept Kylar and Rayna aloft on each of my hips away from the waves and the unsteady, wooden walkway. Rachel gave several rapid, short instructions to a sailor who was missing all of his front teeth as Luke and James began unloading our horses of their cargo for the last time. Jaspen and Bartholomiiu had remained at the top of the cliff, and they would join us on the ship after it had departed in order to draw as little attention to their seven-foot frames as possible. Sam met my eyes ever so briefly, his face ashen. I briefly found myself wondering if he was the type to get seasick.

  Once the sailor nodded at Rachel and he had stridden away to gather help for loading our miniscule amount of luggage, she turned to me once again and whispered, “My grandfather thinks Rhydin may be trying to study Ranguvariians. To figure out how our magic works. After all, if he can somehow remove us from the equation, you Allyens wouldn’t have nearly as much help.”

  My heart sank, and my eyes widened. “But there’s no way he could succeed in capturing a Ranguvariian, right? I mean, you guys are like warrior extraordinaires! You even scare me sometimes.”

  The corner of Rachel’s mouth twitched upward and back so quickly I nearly missed it. “I know. But Rhydin is Rhydin. I’m the next Clariion, and I must protect my people. We have certainly learned by now never to und
erestimate him.”

  “True,” I conceded. A new worry entered my heart, and I wondered how many I could bear.

  The lot of us followed our belongings in the hands of the sailors along the crowded docks, and I found myself needing to firmly focus on each step I took. I had never walked on something that wasn’t solidly rooted in the earth before, and each step made me feel like I was falling one way or another. Of course, Rachel walked surefootedly as if she was flying, and I jealously wondered if it was more Ranguvariian magic at work. The number of people bustling around to and from other ships didn’t help.

  When we reached the gangplank, a homely little thing that had absolutely no spare inches to give, Rachel took Kylar and Rayna from me without even asking so that I could focus on my balance. I shimmied my way up without daring to look back, although I was somewhat sure that Evan, with his years of living in watery Auklia, was braced to catch me from behind if necessary.

  I gave a big sigh of relief when I reached the main deck, which was also bustling with activity. The ship rocked slightly less than the docks below, so I stared at my feet a couple of seconds, trying to acclimate myself to this new feeling that wasn’t going away anytime soon. The salty wind ripped through my hair relentlessly up here in the open, and I peeled the strands away from my face as I turned back toward the gangplank.

  Both Evan and Cayce had reached the dock now with Luke’s head and shoulders close behind. When James’s head appeared, I began to wonder if Sam would be okay without anybody behind him, seeing as he was just as unused to being on the water as I was. I took a few careful steps to the battered railing that seemed awfully short to keep anyone from falling overboard, and to my confusion, there was no one behind James on the gangplank.

  My brow furrowed as I shot a glance around the deck, thinking that perhaps Sam came up without my noticing. Plenty of people, but no six-foot, bandana-wearing farmer types.

  Panic took hold as I leaned over the railing, desperately scanning the crowd below for some sort of ruckus, some sort of evidence that Sam had been detained by one of Rhydin’s people or something.

  A woman tugging along a squalling child. A man yelling out his prices for his catches of the day. A girl running up and down the dock with a messenger bag.

  A man pulling a hood over his bandana as he carefully disappeared among the crowd heading back into the town, no confrontation in sight.

  Chapter Seven

  M y heart shattered. But I wasn’t about to stand around and do nothing.

  I flung myself back over the railing and slid down the gangplank, knocking into a woman in a large, lacy dress in the process. She shouted at me, but I sidestepped her and trotted as fast as I dared up the perilous dock. Rachel’s confused calls were drowned out by the creaking wood and deafening chatter of those around me.

  I’d lost my visual of Sam as soon as I left the ship, but I continued running and diving through people and cargo, fishnets and their slimy inhabitants. The crowd spread out significantly as soon as I reached shore, and the steady ground beneath my feet shot me forward faster. I ran back the way we had come, reaching out with my magic frantically and becoming frustrated when my senses returned with nothing.

  Sam was a Rounan. Most of the time, you could only sense Rounans by being within eyesight, but I could usually sense Sam within probably a quarter mile regardless of whether I could see him or not due to our bond. Of course, we discovered last year that Evan and I’s combined power could sense him anywhere in the world, but that wasn’t at my disposal right now.

  People stared at me like I was a lunatic, but I kept going. Lightning struck my system once I was maybe halfway between the docks and the treacherous path up the cliff. Sam’s earthy presence resonated in my mind, but it wasn’t straight ahead. Instead, I jetted off onto a sideroad, which was dim because of the amount of fishy laundry stretched out above my head. Yet, there was no mistaking the tall, cloaked figure that loomed ahead of me.

  “Sam!” I yelled, gasping for breath through the stitch in my side. When he didn’t turn around, I shouted again as I slowed to a stomp, “Sam!”

  My husband silently turned and simply stared at me, his brown eyes blank.

  I swallowed hard, trying to contain my ragged breathing as I reached for him. “Sam…what are you doing? Why…didn’t you board…the ship?”

  “You know why, Lina,” Sam answered tersely, his voice gravelly. “Now, go back, and get on that ship.”

  I looked at him like he’d gone mad. I grabbed onto his wrist as tight as a shackle. “No! Not without you!”

  Sam shook his head and made to continue moving in the opposite direction, trying to pull his wrist from my grip. “You don’t understand.”

  “I don’t understand? Seriously? You are not the only person feeling like they’re abandoning their duty here!” I argued, my voice pitched high with anger. “How many times do we have to have this fight, Sam?”

  He stopped moving, but he didn’t look back at me, his wrist suspended behind him.

  “Do I think hiding in Caark is a good idea? Of course not! But I know we at least have to get our children to safety before trying to reevaluate and return!” I said firmly, my voice falling slightly. A knife pricked my heart as my next words tumbled out. “Even then, I would never walk away from you.”

  Sam whirled around, his face red. “Lina, this was the only solution I could come up with! How many times do I have to tell you that I. Can’t. Leave? Not during my people’s biggest crisis in three hundred years!”

  “So, what, you were just going to vanish? Thinking none of us would notice that you simply weren’t on the ship with us?” I started screaming at him, my arms crossing over my chest as I released him.

  “Do you think this was easy for me? To push you away from me to get used to the idea of you not being in my life?” Sam’s temper exploded.

  “Then why didn’t you tell me?” I cried.

  “Because you would have done exactly what you’re doing right now!” he yelled. “Lina, I need you and our kids to be safe!”

  “There you two are! You’re about to miss our ship, what’s going on?”

  Both of us froze briefly at the sound of Rachel’s call from the end of the sideroad. She stood there expectantly, her pale hands in fists on her hips. She shouted again, “Come on! This is the last ship to Caark for the whole week!”

  I turned back to Sam and snipped out of Rachel’s earshot, “I’m not going without you. And if you think I’m some sort of damsel in distress who needs protection and can’t fight alongside you, then I don’t know who I married anymore.”

  Pain entered Sam’s eyes, and his voice turned quiet and frightened. “Lina, please…”

  “We go to Caark. We see what good we can do from there. We reevaluate our plans when we can. Got it?” I stated matter-of-factly, my emotions shutting down completely.

  Sam slowly nodded, his temper dissolving completely into sadness and hurt, which only fueled my anger. He reached for me cautiously, threading his fingers through mine and going for some sort of hug, but I began walking briskly back toward Rachel before that could happen.

  I kept holding his hand tightly, a link I wasn’t willing to break until we were safely out into the open ocean where he couldn’t simply disappear. I swallowed the tears that threatened to spill forth as we passed Rachel, and she said nothing as she ushered us back toward the docks and onto the ship that was getting ready to pull away.

  Evan, Cayce, Luke, and James all stared at us as we reached the deck, but mercifully, none of them said anything. I maintained my hold on Sam’s hand until the gangplank was hauled away and the sails were repositioned into the wind. The ship moaned underneath us as she caught the powerful western wind and propelled forward. Just as I was getting ready to drop Sam’s hand, Rachel elbowed me and gestured discreetly back toward the gray, soggy town of Canis and its menacing cliff.

  At the very top was a figure I’d recognize anywhere, although at this distance he loo
ked more like a very tall, orange smudge. Clariion Arii, leader of the Ranguvariians, was seeing us off from the mainland of Nerahdis.

  He could likely see me a lot better than I could see him, so I placed my hand over my heart, where my locket lay, and gave a respectful bow to acknowledge him.

  To my surprise, he bowed much deeper in return, the orange smudge doubling over.

  I stared at Arii a few more moments before he and the rest of the cliff, the town, and the docks melted away into grayness. Until it all was just gone. Struck from existence by a painter’s brush, yet I knew it was still there underneath. Waiting for us to rescue it.

  People wandered about around us, chattering to their companions or staring wistfully at the foaming waves beneath us. Nearly all of them appeared Lunakan by their clothing, although there were a handful of Auklians mixed in. They stood out like sore thumbs with their rainbow-colored silks and bright hair colors. I hoped maybe they would keep our large, ragtag group out of the spotlight.

  It was only seconds before Rachel approached an elderly Auklian couple standing at the railing, him in a set of scarlet red robes and her draped in ornate, sapphire sashes. The Ranguvariians were still doing their best to discover the identity of the woman in Archimage Dathian’s miniature and if she was the rightful heir to the throne.

  As the ship really got underway, the sailors minding their jobs and the passengers dispersing to find either their rooms or their dinner, I finally dropped Sam’s hand like it had burned me. Evan continued to stare at me, his arms laden with my two children as Cayce held their own child, and I felt in my bones that he could probably guess what had transpired.

  My brother nodded at me, and I took that as permission to spin on my heel and head to the ladder that led belowdecks. I had no idea where I was going or where our compartments were, but I had no desire to see Sam now that we were where he couldn’t disappear again.