Palace of Moonlight

by Payton Taylor

  Finally, the creature launched itself at the woman and Westin's eyes widened as he saw it transform in midair, growing to the size of a small bear as it tackled the woman to the ground, its teeth lunging for her throat.

  Westin was moving before he even made the conscious decision to do so, the wind whipping past him as he surged forward at top speed.

  He reached the two, the creature's teeth grazing the woman's throat before Westin wrapped his arms around its thick neck and pulled it off her.

  The creature thrashed in his grip.

  "Quick, stab it!" the woman cried.

  Westin whipped out his knife, but before he could plunge it into the creature's neck, it shrank quickly to its original size and slipped through his grasp.

  Westin watched it carefully as it darted back and forth, its speed almost a match for his own. The creature stopped mid-step and launched itself at Westin, growing as it flew through the air.

  Westin was ready, though, and caught it mid-leap before turning and bashing it against a tree, whipping his knife up in the direction of its throat.

  However, it was quick and shrank once again, his knife stabbing deep into the tree as the animal dropped to the ground and took off.

  Westin growled and yanked the knife out of the tree, sheathing it in his belt as he watched the little demon circle them once more.

  "Give me your bow!" he shouted to the woman, without taking his eyes off the creature. The woman threw him her bow and he caught it, then caught the arrow she threw him immediately after.

  The creature was zipping around them in a complicated pattern. Westin watched it closely, and time seemed to slow down as he forced his mind and his speed to match that of the animal. He aimed for the spot the creature had crossed several times and waited until he knew it was about to pass through again. He took a deep breath.

  He loosed the arrow.

  The creature let out a squeak as it struck home, falling limply to the ground. He walked over and picked it up. It was so small it fit in the palm of one hand.

  "Thank you," the woman said as she came up behind him. Westin whirled around, reaching for his knife and the woman stopped, holding up her hands, palms out.

  Her cool grey eyes looked him over and Westin noticed the fine lines and wrinkles in her copper skin that he hadn't seen from far away. She was about his mother's age, her brown hair shot through with grey, and she was as tall as he was and almost as muscled.

  They eyed each other distrustfully.

  She spoke first. "I propose a bargain." She kept talking despite Westin's narrowed eyes. "I'm no fool, I see the odds are stacked against me right now. You have my weapon and you're clearly a capable fighter. However, if you kill me, my gang will come find you."

  Her eyes scanned over him, lingering on the scar across his torso, "You're out here alone, aren't you?" Westin remained silent. He wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't say a thing.

  The woman chuckled harshly. "So you are alone. Don't worry, I'm not going to come back here, this is well out of my territory. I'm only here because I was running from that thing. But I owe you a life debt. If you're ever in the south and you need help, ask for Asta."

  Westin frowned, "You'd give away your location, just like that?"

  She smirked, "I never said my exact location, I only said south. Ask around and you'll find me. But don't get greedy. I owe you a life debt, but don't go thinking this makes us friends."

  With that, she walked away into the woods.

  Westin watched her go until he could no longer see her. And when she was gone, he went back to his hut.

  That night, he sat on the floor in front of the door, his knife at the ready, waiting for her to come back and attack when she thought he was asleep.

  He sat there night after night, refusing to sleep, knowing she would come and try to kill him if he did.

  After about a week, he lost the battle and fell asleep, slumped against the floor. He wasn't sure how long he slept, but when he woke up, he was exactly the same. He circled his hut and found no new footprints or human scents.

  She hadn't come to kill him.

  Chapter 9

  Leo

  Writhia, 5220

  Ettria

  "Alright, so now what?" Leo asked, looking around the group that had assembled in the Ettrian forest. There were eight of them altogether, including him, Noelani, and Jo. He glanced over the group, mildly surprised to find the Viannese queen's advisor and the princess of Moriana camping out in the Ettrian forest in the middle of winter.

  Noelani and Jo had only been in Vianna for a short time, and yet these people were out here in the bitter cold, waiting to help them. The strangest part was that he understood. He had only known Jo a short time before he agreed to try to help her escape the Ettrian Palace.

  His attention snapped back to the reality at hand. They were only a few leagues from the palace and if they didn't move soon, their escape would have been for nothing.

  He was getting anxious as Jo and Noelani greeted their friends. He knew they were happy to see them, but this was taking too long.

  "Hello? Guys!" he called a few moments later, after Noelani was finished having her arm patched up and seemed intent on greeting each new arrival with a hug, "Evil king, scary mind control, thousands of soldiers all hot on our tail. Does any of that ring a bell?"

  Noelani turned to glare at him as a dark-haired man struggled to free himself from her ferocious hug.

  "Will you let me go?" the man grumbled, pushing against her.

  "Oh just embrace it, Kian," Noelani told him. "I'm just so happy to see you guys!"

  "Hey, hands off my man!" A short, plump woman with long, beautiful black hair came stomping up, placing her hand protectively on Kian's shoulder.

  Noelani stepped back. "Who are you?" "That's Zahra," said a man who looked like a slightly younger version of Kian. "She's Kian's Match." "Whoa, Kian, I can't believe you're Matched. I had no idea!" Noelani said with a grin.

  "It's nice to meet you, Zahra. I'm Jo and this is Sunny, my sister, also known as Noelani, also known as the pain in my ass," Jo nodded to the woman, who smiled back.

  Noelani grinned. "I try."

  Zahra turned to Noelani, "I can't believe he's Matched either, and I'm the one who Matched with him. Most anxious day of my life, proposing to this grump." She wrapped her arm around Kian's waist and, though he shifted at the public display, he smiled softly at her.

  "As touching as this is," Leo spoke up again, "they're going to be looking for us. Did you guys have a plan on how to get back to Vianna? Or was a camping trip all you prepared for?"

  "Who's this guy?" Zahra asked, her dark eyes roaming over him with disdain.

  "That's Leo," Jo said, "He's. . . umm. . . he's Leo."

  Her expression was lost as she looked at him.

  Leo shot her a glance that he hoped said, "Thank you for trusting me, I hope this means you don't hate me anymore." It probably just came across as pained, instead.

  "Leo is right," Khione stepped forward. "We need to get out of here. According to Seren, we need to go to the Wastes, but we're not sure how to get there."

  "The Wastes?" Leo asked. "You mean the country filled with endless deserts and jungles, dangerous creatures, and the worst criminals to ever live? No, thank you."

  "Yeah, why the hell would we go there?" Noelani asked.

  Seren stepped forward, fingers playing with the charms on his necklace. "My vision shows us there, so we need to go."

  "Seren, I just don't think it's a good idea," Noelani started, but Seren cut her off.

  "Westin is there."

  She went quiet, her eyes flying to her sister. They were obviously having some sort of mental conversation.

  Westin, Leo thought. So, he is alive.

  He'd been scouring the country for the general, looking for some scrap of hope to hand over to his family who missed him dearly. He felt a little worse every time he checked in on them without any knowledge about their
son and brother. But if he was in the Wastes. . . well, now it made sense why Leo hadn't been able to find him.

  The only question was, how had he even gotten there?

  "Westin?" Khione asked, "As in Westin Airoldi, the

  Ettrian general? He's a wanted criminal, that's where he belongs. Why would we go there for him?"

  The rest of the Viannese group spoke up in agreement.

  Sunny broke eye contact with her sister to meet Khione's gaze. "He's my Match," she said quietly, causing the rest of them to fall silent. "He helped me break into the Ettrian Palace. He risked everything for me. He's no criminal."

  She looked around the group, meeting each person's eyes.

  Surprisingly, Kian and Zahra were the first to nod, the rest of them agreeing a moment after. "How do we get there?" Sunny asked. The group was quiet. Then Leo spoke. "I have an idea."

  He took out his contact and pulled up the holo-chat.

  Elara's transparent face sprung to life above the screen, her freckled cheeks full of whatever food she was currently chewing on.

  She pushed her red hair out of her eyes and squinted at the camera, "Where in Tamsus' Fire are you? The woods? Did you go camping without me?"

  Leo smiled, "I didn't think you'd want to come, since there are no McGillicuddy Nutties out here," he said, referring to her favorite snack.

  She screwed up her face. "Yeah, count me out. I prefer civilization, where I have access to culture," she shoved another nutty chocolate bar into her mouth.

  The rest of the group were looking at him with wide eyes.

  "Who is that?" Noelani asked, coming closer.

  "What? Who?" Elara asked. "Leo, are there other people there? Turn me around so I can see."

  Leo sighed and turned his contact to give her a view of the group.

  She touched her hair self-consciously, "If I had known this would be a conference call, I would have brushed my hair or something. Well," she continued, "introduce me."

  Leo rubbed at his face. "This is Elara Black, hacker extraordinaire. Elara, this is. . . everyone."

  She frowned, "Which one is Jo?"

  Leo glowered at Elara as Jo slowly raised her hand. "Why do you want to know who I am?" she asked.

  Elara glanced back to Leo with a smirk, "It's just nice to put a face to a name," she said sweetly.

  "Alright, enough of that. I need you to connect me to someone. It's important," Leo told her, talking over her when she opened her mouth as if to say more.

  Elara straightened, her hands hovering over her controls, at the ready.

  "Sure, who you need, boss?"

  *****

  "Are you sure this is going to work?" Kian asked three days later as he hunched over their table at the Thirsty Whale.

  "Of course it is," Leo told him, "he won't turn down what I have to offer. They never do," he finished with a grin.

  They were huddled around a table in a tavern on the Ettrian coast, the sound of the ocean and huge ships loud enough to be heard through the walls.

  The winter air was cold enough that even the heating system wasn't enough to completely warm the place. Next to him, the warmth of Jo's arm seeped into his through the layers of her cloak and his, a single warm spot in the cold room.

  Thankfully, Seren and his group had brought transportation on their little camping trip in the form of a transport hidden in the foliage of some bushes. They'd been camping there for over a week, knowing that Noelani and Jo would escape, but not knowing exactly when. After Leo had told them his plan, they'd all argued about it, wasting several minutes of precious time before Jo had snapped at them to shut up.

  "This is the only plan we have, so until someone comes up with a better one, we have to try it."

  While the rest of the group had stared at her, shocked that she'd snapped at them all, Leo had tried to meet her eye, glad she'd taken his side. She'd refused to look at him.

  So, after days of driving, squished into the military grade transport, Leo constantly on his contact trying to put things into motion, there they were. Ready to meet.

  Aloka, please let this work, he prayed to the Goddess of Night, the patron Goddess of Shadows. He didn't usually get religious, but he'd prayed before he attempted to break Jo and Noelani out of the palace and, though it didn't go exactly as planned, it had still worked out. So, maybe it would work this time.

  A screen across the room showed the faces of Noelani, Jo, and Leo to everyone who entered. The three of them were now wanted more than any criminal in Ettria.

  They'd even surpassed Westin on the list of Ettria's Most Wanted. They'd had to dodge patrols of soldiers as they entered town, using their Gifts to sneak around them.

  Next to him, Jo pulled the hood of her cloak closer around her face, her eyes shifting nervously. He'd been surprised when she said she could manipulate the minds of the people in the tavern, making it seem as if their group wasn't there. But she was doing it and not a single eye looked their way.

  She’s gotten so much stronger, he thought. It was a little unsettling.

  His thoughts were interrupted by the clanging of a bell as a man entered the tavern. He was tall, with golden skin, his auburn hair glinting dully in the dim lighting.

  Leo nudged Jo, "That's him."

  She focused on him, accessing his mind to allow him to see them. After a moment, his eyes settled on their group and he strode over, sitting down across from Leo.

  "Hello, Jean," he said, a coy smile forming on his lips.

  Leo smiled at the name he'd originally given the man when they'd met in the brothel in Vianna all those months ago. "Captain Ayven Eris, good to see you again," he greeted the renowned Pirate Lord.

  Ayven Eris was known far and wide for his prowess as a captain and pirate, having taken down ship after ship from countries all over Writhia. Ayven had been angry when Leo had contacted him, upset that someone had gotten the drop on him. But after some hasty apologies and promises, he'd agreed to meet and hear Leo out.

  As Leo introduced the people around him by first name only, the captain's eyes locked on Marzanna and he smiled a charming smile that she, of course, returned because, as Leo was learning, Marzanna didn't seem to have a mean or suspicious bone in her body.

  Next to her, Khione stiffened and glared at him.

  "So, talk," Ayven told him when he was done telling Marzanna how much he admired the flowers in her hair.

  And Leo talked.

  He told the man their plan to sneak into the Wastes, the most heavily guarded place in Writhia. He told him how access by air was impossible, but by water it was only mostly impossible, as long as they had the right kind of ship and the right kind of captain.

  He didn't tell him why he wanted into the Wastes. "It's to save my only friend, and also because this guy had a vague vision," as an answer would probably only make Eris laugh.

  When he was done, Ayven snorted. "No." "NO?" Noelani asked, voice raised.

  He looked at her and did a double take as if noticing her for the first time. He stared at her for a moment, something like recognition in his eyes, before saying once again, "No."

  Noelani snarled and opened her mouth, so Leo spoke over her before she could ruin any chance they had. "I have something you want."

  Ayven glanced at him, "How do you know what I want?"

  Leo grinned, "Call it a gift." He pushed his contact forward for Ayven to see.

  The captain picked it up and scanned over it, his expression intense. "Where did you get these?"

  "I have my ways," Leo said, and next to him Jo snorted and rolled her eyes, causing him to smile. "That's only a fourth of them. A fourth up front, one fourth after you drop us off in the Wastes, and the other half after you pick us up safely when we call you to retrieve us. Sound good?"

  Ayven scanned his face. "These are the shipping manifests for every importing and exporting ship in Ettria. Are the others for Ettria as well?"

  Leo smiled, "No. The others are for Thaerene and Pocaea." />
  His eyes widened and he glanced down at the contact again before meeting Leo's eyes. "We have a deal."

  Chapter 10

  Jo

  Writhia, 5220

  The Lussen Sea

  Jo had never been on a pirate ship before, especially one like the one that belonged to Ayven Eris. It was an actual, real-life pirate ship, and much larger than she had ever imagined.

  It was constructed of dark, navy blue wood that blended in with the surrounding water. She had a feeling it would be hard to spot at night as well. The massive black sails billowed in the wind, shifting with each snapping breeze or adjustment of the extensive rigging. The interior cabins were richly decorated in velvets of rich jewel tones, the furniture, and decorations outlined in gold. Sharp, glittering weapons lined the walls. The coldness of Ettria was replaced with warmer weather and the scent of saltwater wafted in the air.

  Though it looked more old-fashioned than Jo had expected, it was also outlined with every modern convenience, from hot showers to the odd telecast. Sunny's first remark had been that the ship reminded her less of Pirates of the Caribbean and more of Carnival Cruise Lines, only with more sharp things.

  And more. . . fornicating.

  Despite the fact that Ayven and his spouses, Cianna and Rivan, were in a committed relationship, the same could not be said for the rest of the ship's crew. The crew consisted of thirty-one people, Jo had counted, and every night she saw each person go into a different bedroom.

  Most of the time, several went into the same room and didn't come out till morning.

  She could have ignored that. What she couldn't ignore were the vulgar thoughts. The pirates were shameless, concocting elaborate sexual fantasies about their crewmates and, now, their new guests. Kian had broken more than a few bones in his anger over their leering and suggestive comments toward Zahra. His Match had only laughed as he snapped their bones.

  The attention had a different effect on each of them.

  Sunny and Khione were ready to bite someone's head off. Seren seemed oblivious, unless someone tried to touch him, which led to him Judo-flipping several people. Jo knew he was always much more alert than he seemed.