Vessel of the Gods Boxed Set

by Jada Fisher

  They collided in a mass of limbs and rolled down the stairs. Ukrah was aware that several parts of her body hit hard, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Pain was temporary. She needed to alleviate the threat. She had to be healthy and whole in order to protect. And her whole life was to protect them. Her family. The people that meant the most to her.

  The man punched her, full in the face, and she responded with a slug of her own. They continued rolling down the stairs until he was flat on his back on the floor, her posted over him.

  So she punched him again. And then again. She punched him until someone grabbed her and threw her elsewhere.

  Despite the slippery grip she’d had on her magic, she felt it well up in her. Her vision started to slide, and darkness seeped into the edges. It was like that night in the desert all over again.

  That same acid burned on her tongue as ash rose in her mouth. It was so tempting to let go, to have the whole room crumble. But she realized if she let go, if she gave into that urge to smite the room with all the justice that they were owed, that every single person who wasn’t a vessel would turn to ash. Just like the children in her village. Just like all those innocents.

  That wasn’t justice.

  She shoved that feeling down, down, down, down and rolled to her feet just in time to catch the punch flying toward her.

  It bit into her palm, the pressure making her arm ache, but that was good. That grounded her. She brought her knee forward, missing him, but she followed through with a headbutt. He blocked that, so she bit his arm.

  He ripped it away, throwing her to the ground again. He took a step toward her, but his next one was halted as a brindled dragon tail slammed right into his ribs. He crashed into the wall and slumped down to the floor.

  Finally, she managed to get onto her feet, and when she stood, there was no more attack. No tackles or punches. Her jaw hurt. Her whole face hurt. Scratch that, her whole body hurt.

  Looking around the room, she saw a few stragglers running, and just a handful of thieves still trying to fight, but for the most part, the floor was awash with their fallen enemies.

  She didn’t want to see how many were alive, how many were just knocked out. How many were wounded irreparably and how many would heal. There were already too many deaths in her history, and she didn’t have time to think about that at the moment.

  Her gaze flicked over to where Crispin, Cassinda, and Athar were. There was a veritable pile of folks around them, along with broken furniture and dropped weapons. Ukrah wanted to move toward them, to look over all of their bruises and cuts, but she stopped when a short cry sounded out.

  Ethella’s jaws snapped just in front of someone before pulling back. It took a moment to see who she had trapped against the wall, but then the leader came into view.

  Except he wasn’t alone. He had a hold on Helena, an arm around her neck and a dagger resting just under her eye.

  “Don’t any of you move,” he snarled, his eyes wide and blood trickling down his forehead.

  That was possibly the worst choice he could have made.

  For a moment, the world blinked out entirely, and when it came back, vines had burst up from the floor, shooting him up toward the jagged ceiling.

  He was hurtling straight toward the jagged and broken bits, all bent to impale him. And perhaps they would have if he hadn’t let out a strangled cry before bursting into a cloud of ash.

  They stood there a moment, watching as dark bits gently rained down over the vines and Helena fell to her knees, breathing hard.

  “What did you do?” she whispered, not even willing to look up at Ukrah.

  “Protected you,” the desert girl answered honestly, approaching the woman and offering her hand. “Where is your son?”

  “He’s… He’s one of their runners. I don’t know how to find them.”

  “That’s alright,” Athar said, his loud steps sounding behind them. Ukrah looked over her shoulder to see he had a bruised cheek and some cuts across his arm, but he was otherwise alright. “We have resources. We can find him. I promise. He’ll be safe, just like we promised.”

  A broken sound came out of Helena’s throat as she allowed Ukrah to pull her to her feet. “I can’t believe it. They’re… You beat them all.”

  “That’s the kind of power you have inside of yourself too.”

  “I… That’s a lot to take in.”

  “That’s alright,” Crispin said gently, taking the woman’s other arm and placing it over his shoulders. “You’ve got time. For now, let’s go rest up, then we’ll take you to your new home. I guarantee you’re gonna like it.”

  She nodded and they led her out. There were no longer men standing guard at the door, and Ukrah guessed that they had joined the fray when things had escalated. Poor choice on their parts.

  They made it back to the woman’s hut, sure that the town would have no idea what they had been up to for another hour or two. They let Helena lay in her bed, giving her water and some bread from her small larder before going about packing up her stuff and placing it onto Ethella.

  It was only after several trips walking back and forth that Ukrah had the mind to stop Crispin, her hand on his arm.

  “You alright?” he asked, his eyes flicking to her. She was sure that she looked plenty busted, but there wasn’t time to tend to any of their wounds. It grated her nerves, especially considering that he had a welt on his forehead and a dreadful gash on his lip.

  “You tricked that leader.”

  “Well, it wasn’t exactly hard. Pride comes before a fall and all that. I just thought that maybe he would actually keep his word.”

  “But how did you know you would win every round?” she asked, finally able to voice the thought that she had turned over and over again while the game was going.

  “Oh, that?” He shrugged and gave her a rueful grin that was so entirely him. “What can I say? I’ve always been real lucky with dice.”

  7

  The Journey Homeward

  As much as Ukrah would have liked to let Helena sleep for the rest of the day and into the night, she knew that they needed to get out of town before word got around of what they had done. Maybe the town would be grateful, maybe they wouldn’t, and they were all far too weak to have to fight off an entire village.

  So it was only a couple of hours later that they were taking off into the sky, Crispin and Voirdr crowded behind Ukrah again while Cassinda, Athar, and Helena were on Ethella. The great red dragon was flying a bit slower, weighed down by the seamstress’s belongings, but they would still be able to put good distance between them and the village.

  “We’re going a different way,” Athar said as they flew along. “I don’t want to risk running into the same spot we had trouble before. It should only add a half-day to our journey.”

  “Why, are you in a hurry?” Helena asked, her voice ragged and groggy. Ukrah felt her stomach twist at that. She didn’t want the woman to sound in pain or tired or hurt like she did. She wanted Helena to be happy. After all, she was found now. That was important…right? All of them being together? It felt important.

  “Yeah. My wife is with ch-child. I’m anxious to s-s-see her again.”

  “A child?” The woman’s face brightened a little at that. “Oh goodness, I do so love a babe. I’d be happy to help her. I remember when my boy was a little one. They grow so fast!”

  “I hope ours will get the chance to.”

  Athar’s haunted tone just twisted the knife of Ukrah’s emotions. Would the god-woman be upset how Ukrah had endangered him, or was it just par for the course? At least they were coming back in one piece. Even if they were a bit battered for their efforts.

  “Hey, relax,” Crispin murmured behind her, his arms coming around to grip her waist. She could tell that he would have been hugging her, but the thick bulk of Voirdr was wedged happily between them. “You did it. You found the vessel. She’s safe.”

  “I know,” Ukrah murmured back, sure that the o
thers couldn’t hear her over the wind and beating of the dragon’s wings. “But we were too messy. We all got hurt. I can’t help but feel, as we find the others, it’s going to get harder and harder. More dire.”

  “Then we’ll handle it. Yeah, maybe we’ve been flying off the cuff a little, but it’s not like we’ve had much time to plan. From what Lady W’allenhaus has told me, sometimes she and her friends would spend whole weeks studying and researching to find clues. I don’t think we had that kind of time.”

  “No,” Ukrah agreed, but that guilt still pushed at her middle. “We didn’t.” She needed to get a better handle on her magic. She couldn’t vacillate between being not able to do anything and murdering everyone in sight. There had to be a middle ground. One that she could consciously find, not end up there after a knee-jerk reaction to a threat.

  But how could she control a magic that nobody understood? It wasn’t even her magic, really. Rather an ancient, primordial entity that sometimes took over her and did whatever it wanted. It… changed her mind sometimes, but it felt so natural, she didn’t notice it until it was already happening.

  “I can feel that you’re not relaxing.” She felt a gentle pressure on her shoulder and then his blond hair was just in her peripheral vision. He was leaning his head in the crook of her neck. She could feel his warm breath against her skin. But instead of being annoying, it was comforting, reminding her that he was with her. That he was safe.

  “I don’t know if I can until we’re back home,” she breathed. Even though they were in the sky, a place that was usually so safe for them, she couldn’t help but feel like there were threats all around them.

  “Hey, you have all of us here around you. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but when we’re all together, we’re pretty unstoppable.”

  “I don’t know if that’s the right word for it,” she muttered back. “You remember that once I was impaled through the back with a sword and you almost lost your eye?”

  “Yeah, but that was when we were all separated, see?” His hands squeezed her sides gently, the closest he could get to a firmer hug. “Come on, take some deep breaths for me, and when we set up camp tonight, I’ll let you patch me up and then I’ll patch up everyone else. Sound good?”

  Ukrah smiled slightly at that. “You have gotten fairly good at field aid.”

  “All my practice from when you were at the academy. You sure did have a knack for getting banged up.”

  “Again, I was recovering from being run through with a sword. It caused some balance issues.”

  “Uh-huh. I’m sure that was it and not the fact that your feet are like…two times too big for your body.”

  “I’m going to grow into them!”

  “You’re fifteen. Aren’t ladies supposed to be done with the upwards part now and just go outwards?”

  “Since when have I been a lady?” Ukrah huffed, a little indignant. It was only after a beat that she realized he was distracting her, her shoulders relaxing slightly.

  “Could have fooled me.”

  Ukrah huffed a little louder. “I’m not soft or pretty or noble. So, not a lady.”

  “What are you talking about? Being soft or noble doesn’t make a lady. Ale’a’s a lady and she’s not soft. Helena’s a lady and she’s not noble. And you’re definitely pretty.” He laughed ever-so-slightly behind her and the breath across the back of neck made goosebumps raise along her arm. “Especially when you get that look in your eye.”

  “That look?”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “No, I don’t,” she said, wishing she could turn around to face him, but she knew that Fior wouldn’t like the movement on his spine. “What look?”

  “Oh, you know, when the odds are against us and there’s someone threatening one of us, and you just get this look in your eye like you’d turn the world inside-out to make sure we’re safe. It’s… It’s a good look on you.”

  Ukrah flushed at that, her heart seeming to beat a little too hard in her chest. “That look is dangerous.” Especially considering that look often preceded her killing or punishing a massive amount of people.

  “Huh, that explains it then.”

  “Hmm?”

  He turned his head to the side, snuggling further into her, Voirdr letting out a hum of approval at the comforting pressure. “I guess I’ve always had a thing for danger.”

  “Some would claim that foolhardy.”

  “Yeah, but those same people probably wouldn’t have helped a wild desert girl in the middle of the forest.”

  “…I suppose you have a point.”

  “Exactly. So maybe turn down the guilt and anxiousness for a bit and let’s just fly. It’s just us up here.”

  “Yeah,” she murmured, trying to tell herself to relax. “Let’s just hope it stays that way.”

  True to Crispin’s words, he did go about patching them up once they landed. Of course, Ukrah made him attend to her last, after she put what they had on his bruises and wiped his cuts.

  Helena sat beside her as she did, offering to help every few beats, but Ukrah managed to convince her to just sit back and watch. She needed to be proactive in taking care of them. It was her fault that they had been hurt in the first place.

  But Helena’s presence did calm her. Soothed her frayed nerves. It wasn’t the same warm happiness that she’d felt in her house, but it wasn’t bad either. In fact, it was rather lovely.

  “Gosh, Ukrah, you’re gonna have some nasty swelling,” Crispin said as they traded places. “You really took some bad hits.”

  “Here, let me tend to them,” Helena said, reaching forward.

  But the boy pulled the cloth away. “Hey, you’re really great, but this is… This is our thing. We have a pattern.”

  “Oh?” the woman asked, thankfully not looking offended as she sat back. “Do you get beaten up often?”

  The two of them exchanged a look. “Actually…probably a bit more than we should.”

  “Huh, a couple of troublemakers, are you?”

  The twinkle in her eye belied her humor and Ukrah let out a mild chuckle. “Maybe. Crispin did once tackle a student over a puddle of dragon pee.”

  That seemed to be about the last thing Helena expected. “What now? Dragon pee? That sounds like a story.”

  “Oh, was it,” Crispin laughed. “But he definitely deserved it.”

  “Why don’t you tell me then?” She looked to the fire where a bandaged Cassinda was cooking some rations. “Keep me occupied so my mind doesn’t get ahead of me.”

  Ukrah knew exactly what she meant by that and nodded to Crispin. He seemed to think for a moment, dabbing at some point on Ukrah’s face that hurt quite badly, before he seemed to find the words he wanted to say.

  “Alright, well, it all started when I was just going to do some washing for one of the maids that was sick at my old manor…”

  Somehow, they managed to sleep through the night without any interruptions, rising with the dawn and heading out again. Ukrah was sure that all of them were just as sore as she was, shoulders and rears aching along with all the bumps and bruises from their battle. She had a good number herself from what she could see, and she was sure she had even more on her face judging by the upset expression Crispin had every so often when he looked to her.

  Helena, for never having ridden a dragon or horse before, was doing particularly well. Then again, Ukrah wondered if it was because the woman had a bit more padding than she or Crispin. Another advantage to that column. Maybe she would let herself eat a few more of Braddock’s biscuits next time she had the chance.

  Her mouth watered at that and she ended up calling over to Helena and telling her all about the massive Baeldred cook. He was almost as old as Elspeth, which was impressive in and of itself, and nearly as big as Athar. Perhaps not the wisest thing to do, but Helena certainly seemed to perk up at the mention of all the delicious food.

  And that conversation went on for most of the morning, transitioning into
Athar telling stories of how the academy used to be during his training there. It wasn’t until nearly afternoon that Helena suddenly interrupted him from one of his rare musings.

  “Wait. Are you… Is your wife the Lady of W’allenhaus?”

  Athar’s cheeks colored adorably as she said that. “Uh, yes. Was th-that not obvious?”

  “I just, when the young lady told me about the god-woman last night, I didn’t add it together. But I’ve heard about the tiny woman that saved our entire world and her giant of a husband. Is her name really Eist?”

  Athar made a strange sound. “What’s wrong with the name Eist?”

  “Oh, nothing particularly! I just… I figured I would have known if she had a traditionally Baeldred name. I thought she was some hero from Rothaiche M’or noble pedigree.”

  “Her mother was actually from Baeldred. Her father was a lesser noble’s son. But legends don’t care much about history.”

  “No, I suppose they don’t.” The woman seemed to think for several long moments, and Ukrah felt anticipation rise inside of her. But then Helena just chuckled and sat back on Ethella’s broad back. “Well, I’m just that much more excited to meet her.”

  “S-soon,” Athar said with a heady sigh that only someone lovelorn and homesick could make. “Granted, after I get to say hello to her, of course.”

  “Oh, naturally,” she laughed outright. “I wouldn’t dream of interrupting you.”

  For the first time since she started to realize the depth of her journey, one of their plans went exactly how it was supposed to go. After another full day’s ride, they saw the outline of Rothaiche M’or in the distance, the spires of the city cutting through the sunset behind it.

  It really was beautiful, but Ukrah was a bit too anxious to enjoy it. She wanted to be in her bed. She wanted to talk to Eist. She wanted to introduce Helena to the god-woman and Mrs. Kaldonner and then swaddle the woman in blankets until she was impervious to all harm.