“Aristial,” she said. “You did an extremely stupid thing.”
“Stupid, but it…” Ari trailed off, bringing a hand to his mouth and coughing into it. It came back thick with phlegm and blood, too disgusting for him to even wipe on his ragged tunic. “It worked, didn’t it?” he managed to finish.
“It worked,” said Kerys. “But is this what it was supposed to do?”
“We’re safe, or at least it seems that way,” said Eva. “Let’s take some time to rest within the tower before planning our next move.”
“Mud and blood,” he said. “You’re too careful. I didn’t run out during the storm just to put off seeing the results of whatever I managed.”
He stood up, fighting off a bout of vertigo as he headed for the door. Eva sighed, and Kerys muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “Aristial Stoneblood,” but he ignored them both. He opened the door and walked outside the tower.
They were somewhere other than where they’d been. That was all Ari was able to say with any certainty. There was no grass, but rather the ground was coated with a rich, sandy soil and an array of knee-high foliage. There were a few trees in the distance, but the surrounding area was almost suspiciously level, as though it had been flattened by a giant hand.
The sky overhead was clear. The sun was in the process of setting, and both moons were already visible in the other side of the sky. Ari waited for Eva and Kerys to join him before straying further from the tower.
“We assumed that the wards on the tower were to activate its defenses,” said Ari. “I guess in a way, they were. What better defense could there be than to teleport the tower somewhere else?”
“True enough.” Eva flashed a genuine smile at him and drew a little closer in.
Kerys was holding the hand of his good arm, and she brought it to her mouth and kissed the back of his knuckles.
“You’re really stupid, Ari,” she whispered. “But you did it. It all worked out, in the end. We—”
“Whoa!” Ari drew to a stop and drew both her and Eva back a little. “Do you see that? Ahead of us?”
“What is it?” asked Eva.
“That’s just it,” said Ari. “Nothing.”
They continued forward, moving more slowly now, and soon discovered why the ground was so level. They weren’t in a field, or on a beach, or even on an island, as Ari had been leaning toward assuming. They were on top of a massive stone structure, ancient enough to have accumulated sand, dirt, and inevitably, the droppings of thousands upon thousands of birds over time.
There was a five-foot-tall stone lip surrounding the edge of the structure. Ari peered over, seeing ocean below them and in all directions. They were so high up that it was impossible for him to even guess at the size of what they were on. As far as he could tell, it was a spire that came directly out of the ocean, or at the very least, the island it had been built on had been completely covered.
“It seems safe here,” said Kerys. “For the moment.”
Several miles across the ocean in the distance, a spray of white seafoam erupted from the water, followed by a massive water snake. It was impossible for Ari to guess at its size from so far away, but judging from how long it took the creature’s entire body to complete its berth, he would have been shocked to find it smaller than a thousand feet long.
“Way to jinx it,” said Ari.
“I believe those are the leviathans that Lady Rin spoke of,” said Eva. “I’m not sure if it is possible for us to tell just yet whether they pose a threat to us up here.”
Ari looked down the side of the massive spire again. It was completely smooth, lacking any doors or windows that he could see down its entire length, and they were too far up to even see the waves crashing against it at the point where it entered the water.
The three of them completed a circuit of the spire’s upper level. It was at least a half mile across in diameter, with a significant amount of overgrown vegetation and even a few mango and palm trees.
Birds were everywhere, most of them white, or white with black spots, calling out to each other constantly. They didn’t seem to have any innate fear of Ari or the others, which he decided would work in their favor if they decided to try to hunt any of them.
“This is so weird,” said Ari. “The tower teleported us… on top of another tower?”
“Calling this thing a tower is like calling that leviathan we just saw a fish,” said Kerys. “This thing is something else entirely.”
“Deepwater Spire,” said Eva.
Ari and Kerys glanced over at her.
“Do you know something about it, Eva?” asked Ari. “Was it built by your people?”
Eva shook her head, bringing one hand up and pressing it against her face. She looked uncomfortable and more than a little vulnerable, which made Ari feel a little guilty for asking the question, innocuous as it may have been.
“I do not know the exact details,” she said. “I remember enough to know that it was a mystery, even to my people, but I cannot say whether it was built by the Sai or was an artifact of a previous time.”
Ari accepted her answer and continued his survey. On the north-facing side of the spire’s roof, he found a circular hatch buried in sand and bird droppings after noticing the different sound his feet made as he walked across it. He brushed it off as much as he could and grinned as he inspected it more closely.
“Mud and blood,” he muttered.
There was an essence lock on the hatch’s center. If he’d had even the slightest reserve of essence left, Ari would have pulled it open and taken a look without hesitation. Even now, he felt a slight temptation to try his luck a second time and use his own soul essence, in case there was something on the other side worth finding immediately.
“I know that look, milord,” said Eva. “It would mean your death. You already stripped a decade, at least, off your life through the foolishness you committed to during the storm.”
Ari looked her straight in the eyes.
“It was worth it,” he said. “I have no regrets, Eva. It saved Kerys, and it saved you.”
Eva blinked and glanced away. An uncharacteristic blush blossomed in her cheeks.
“It is possible to safely open essence locks over time,” Eva said, still not looking over at him. “It’s unwieldy and slow, compared to shifting all of the essence at once, but it can be done without danger. It might take a week or maybe longer, but we can still get it open even if we have no further unneeded enchanted items to draw essence out of.”
The three of them made their way back to the tower and took seats around the common room table. Ari tried tapping on each of the twelve wards that were placed in a circle near the table’s center, but none of them did anything, despite remaining visible.
“It took so much essence to activate all of the tower’s outer wards,” he muttered. “And it turns out that it was all just for a single teleportation.”
“That means we’re going to be stuck here,” said Kerys. “Maybe for now. Or maybe… forever.”
“We’ll be okay,” said Ari. “If we can make it past the essence lock on the hatch and raid the inside of the spire, there’s a good chance that we can find more enchanted items. Or maybe even more mesmers to absorb essence from. There’s no telling what we might find inside.”
He refrained from pointing out that he also wasn’t sure if there was even a point in going back, at least not immediately. He remembered what Rin had said about the length of the hurricanes that often followed windstorms. There was no point in hurrying back to a place that was only slightly more familiar to them if it meant throwing themselves back into danger.
Kerys looked around the tower and discovered that Jarvis and his lackies hadn’t done as thorough of a search as they’d initially thought. They still had some rice and dried meat left in one of the kitchen cabinets, and she drew water from the shower to start the former cooking in the pot.
“We should ration what we have left in the water bas
in until we can figure out whether it actually rains here,” she said.
Ari winced at the thought of fishers rising from the sand and guano coating the spire’s surface. Though, in the unlikely event that rain was uncommon where they were over the ocean, they’d probably be in an equally life-threatening situation.
“Yeah, I guess we should,” said Ari. “At least it rained right before we left. We should be fine for a week or so, at least.”
“Lord Aristial,” said Eva. “As calm as it might seem on top of this spire, I must insist that one of us keeps watch from the tower’s roof at all times until we are certain that we are safe here. I’ll take the first shift.”
“I’ll go up with you for a minute,” said Ari.
He followed Eva up to the tower’s roof, and the two of them stood looking out over their locational circumstances. They were on top of a tower, on top of a spire, amidst the ocean. It was a curious feeling, and Ari felt a laugh bubbling up in his chest that he had to tamp down on.
“Hey,” he said. “We haven’t really gotten a chance to talk in a while.”
“No, we have not, milord,” said Eva.
Ari smiled at her. “For some reason, it sounds so unnatural when you call me that.”
“I do not have to, if you do not like it,” said Eva. “I could use your name in its place, if you wanted.”
“You can keep using whatever feels like it suits you best,” said Ari. “I wanted to ask you about what you said before, after I removed the runestone. About not wanting to strengthen our bond anymore.”
He felt that annoying lump in his throat again. It reminded him a little of asking one of the girls down in the Hollow for the specifics on why he’d been turned down as a suitor. Of course, down there he’d always had a firm understanding of what the reason was, as an orphan.
Eva was quiet enough to stir all of those feelings of nervousness, insecurity, and shame within him. It felt strange, waiting to hear what she had to say. Almost like he didn’t really want to hear it.
“The stronger our bond grows, the more I will remember,” said Eva. “It scares me to know that. The thought of losing my body and becoming no more than an inanimate object… is also something that scares me.”
Ari listened, taking one of her hands into his and giving it a soft squeeze.
“I do not understand why you turned down my offer to use my essence for the tower’s wards,” said Eva.
“What isn’t there to understand about that?” asked Ari. “Doing it would have killed you.”
“You care so much about me that you would risk your own life to prevent me from sacrificing mine?” asked Eva.
Instead of answering her with words, he ran his hand across his cheek. He waited for her to meet his eye before planting a soft kiss on her lips, letting his face linger near hers as it ended.
“Of course I care that much about you, Eva,” he said.
“Milord,” said Eva. “Aristial. Do you care about me as… a man cares about a woman?”
He had his answer ready when a call came from downstairs, echoing up the tower and out the open roof hatch.
“Dinner is ready!” called Kerys. “There’s plenty to eat. We’ll start rationing tomorrow, but I want us to have a proper meal tonight.”
Eva turned away from Ari, breaking away from the moment.
“Yes,” he said, to her back. “The answer to your question, Evastria, is yes. You should have known that already. Not everything about strengthening our bond was for the sake of survival. Not even half of it.”
Eva let one of her fingers play with the tip of a lock of silver-blue hair.
“Can we start from the beginning?” she asked. “I was so aggressive with you at first. I wanted to remember as much as I could, as quickly as I could. Now… If I have no choice but to remember, I would like to do it at a pace I can handle.”
“Sure,” said Ari. “But you should probably be clear about what you mean, so I don’t do anything that’s over the line for you.”
He came up behind her as he spoke, pulling her into a soft embrace and speaking his words against her neck. Eva’s body was so soft, so easy to touch.
“Our bond can still be slowly refreshed and strengthened through small gestures,” said Eva. “Hugs. Kisses on the cheek. Holding hands.”
“That sounds nice,” said Ari. He slid his hands across her stomach, and let his crotch meet her butt.
“Milord,” said Eva. “Will this be hard for you?”
“Only if you make it hard,” said Ari.
“I will do my best to avoid that,” said Eva, turning around. “For the time being.”
The moment stretched for several painfully heated seconds before Kerys’ voice came from downstairs again.
“It’s starting to get cold!” she shouted. “What are the two of you doing?”
CHAPTER 49
Eva remained on watch, so Ari brought her up dinner on a thin rock that Kerys had used as a plate and then headed back down to the common room. Kerys fawned over him as they ate at the table, even going so far as to wipe a few stray specks of rice off his cheek.
“I keep thinking about how badly I want to tell everyone down in the Hollow about what we’ve been through,” said Kerys. “It’s all just so surreal.”
“They wouldn’t believe us if we told them,” said Ari. “I probably wouldn’t have believed this, if someone had told me back before we’d left.”
“I… I’m really proud of you,” said Kerys. “I didn’t believe it at first when you made that silly promise to protect me. I thought you were just lying to me again.”
“When have I ever lied to you?” asked Ari. “Stretching the truth isn’t the same thing as lying. And before you ask, neither is making a joke at your expense.”
He expected her to snap at him for that and was almost a little disappointed when she didn’t. Kerys was leaning her head against her hand, with strands of beautiful blonde hair falling across her pretty, petite face.
“I still miss them,” said Kerys. “My mother and father. My brothers.”
“I know you do,” said Ari. “You’re lucky, you know, Kerys. You have people to miss.”
She nodded, and her expression took on a far-off quality.
“Do you really think that we’ll never see them again?” she asked. “That we’ll never get the chance to go back to the Hollow, or to bring them outside?”
“A couple of hours ago, I would have probably said it was a stupid question,” said Ari. “I think I did say something to that effect, actually.”
“Aristial, be serious,” said Kerys.
He smiled at her. “Honestly? After being teleported by this tower over a distance that I can’t even guess at, or maybe even comprehend, I’ve become a little more open-minded. Anything is possible, Kerys.”
He reached across the table and set his hand across from hers. She looked down, and her face grew red over the span of a few seconds.
“Aristial,” she said, in a quiet voice. “When your shoulder heals up, and when things are a little safer, and when we’ve figured out more about this spire and our little tower… I want you to be with me.”
Ari blinked. “What do you mean by that, exactly?”
“You know,” she said. “Be with me properly. As though we were married. In a… bedroom sense.”
Ari’s surprise must have shown on his face, because Kerys’ face turned an even deeper shade of red.
“I didn’t want to just spring it on you out of nowhere,” said Kerys. “Sorry! I just felt like I should say it. I’ve been feeling more things, lately. In general, and for you.”
Ari nodded slowly.
“My shoulder is basically healed up already,” he said, patting it with his hand and hiding a wince. “And what’s there to know about this tower? It teleports, mystery solved. The spire is just an ancient structure rising out of the ocean, and we’re the safest right now that we’ve been in over a week.”
He grinned at her, standing
up and extending his hand. Kerys rolled her eyes.
“You lie too much,” she said. “You’re cocky, and you take too many risks, and sometimes you can be incredibly selfish.”
She put her hand in his.
“I’m done eating,” said Ari. “I think my bandage could use changing, and my wound could use some tender care, along with a few other parts of me.”
“I’m not giving my virginity to you tonight, Aristial,” said Kerys. “I made my conditions clear enough.”
“You might not be giving me your virginity,” said Ari. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t take it, right?”
Kerys rolled her eyes at him. “Did that sound better to you before you spoke it aloud?”
“You’re such a tease, Kerys,” said Ari, grinning at her. “Fine. I’ll be a good boy. There’s other stuff we can do, anyway.”
“Other stuff?” said Kerys.
“I know how much you like peeping, so I figured I could call Eva down and—”
“Aristial Stoneblood!”
THE END
Thanks for reading. I had a lot of fun writing this book and can’t wait to introduce you to more of the world with the sequel (Vision Voyage, will be out on February 8th). For updates and occasional freebies, sign up for my newsletter.
Edmund
Heartgem Homestead
CHAPTER 1
And as such, Lady Eletha demanded supreme fealty from Billick. She strode into his palace flanked by her valkyries, wearing the sensual, open cut dress of the elven dawning ceremony. Billick, defeated in both battle and pride, stood naked in his court room. His contemporaries watched on, knowing that their only hope for thriving in the next era lay with the heir about to be conceived.
Before the war, Billick had boasted of his intent to bed Lady Eletha. Perhaps that was part of the irony of her demands, placing the burden of conception into his lap along with complete surrender. Now, she walked toward him with long, languid steps, the horizontal slits in her dress revealing glimpses of pink nipple as they shifted across her bosom.
Sword Sirens Page 33