by Lisa Daniels
She saw a many-legged insect on a tree that made her squeak in fright. How was it possible for something to have that many limbs?
“I can hear you wheezing in fear,” Lissa said dryly, navigating the uneven terrain with ease. “There’s nothing that will hurt you in these parts.”
“Except the coal-demon creature that was sent to kill you?”
“That, and people, I suppose. The neighbors are okay, though. We have about five air witches with their partners, living the quiet life. Air witches tend to be the most common out here because they can easily get around the islands and ferry little tugboats around if we want to visit friends.”
As much as Kelsey appreciated Lissa giving her more information about the place, she did wish Lissa had done it earlier. The woman had been too focused on the training, and reluctant to engage in much small talk. Kelsey had tried to pry into Lissa’s life as well, how she knew Perran, but the only thing she really understood was that they were both children on Serpent Isle. They were linked by that long-ago event, but ever since then, had drifted apart. Something caused this woman to live alone on a faraway island, with a damaged face.
Maybe she hid from society? Maybe… maybe she was abused? Kelsey didn’t know, but the woman had some solid walls up around her persona. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever get to know Lissa. Though last night, Lissa might not have ever had the chance to speak again…
“Almost there,” Lissa said, panting a little from exertion. She drew up her long, ankle-length dress to hop over a tree root before pointing to something. When Kelsey peered over Lissa’s shoulder, she saw a strange, mossy stone with patterns etched upon it, and what looked like a tiny, ivy-covered entrance to a cave that couldn’t have been much bigger than Lissa’s hut. It was surrounded by trees, some of them cut to stumps to create more space around the shrine. The grasses there were all downtrodden, and some gravel had been scattered along the narrow, winding pathway there, which crunched underfoot.
The heady scent of pine and something overripe, sweet to the point of going sour, permeated the clearing, and Kelsey’s every breath sounded too loud in her ears. Her eyes kept darting around for those strange black beasts but found nothing. “Do you think the person who did it is in there?” she whispered, pointing at the shrine.
“They’d have to be quite slow of wit if they were. But maybe we’ll find some evidence of what they were up to.” Lissa turned, glaring at Kelsey with her coal-black eyes. “You make sure you’re in touch with your magic. There could be something dangerous lurking in wait.”
Kelsey gulped visibly, and something shivered in her stomach. Every muscle in her tensed, and she wondered whether they should be doing this at all. “Should we… shouldn’t we maybe get reinforcements?”
“Depending on if I was the only witch targeted,” Lissa said grimly. “I’m planning to check the air witches’ houses later. I have a bad feeling about this.”
Creeping closer, Kelsey felt Lissa draw upon her magic until the air around her crackled, infusing her entire body, so that a single touch, or even just coming within two or so meters of the storm witch, would zap the offender. Unless it was Kelsey, who could redirect the energy.
Lissa at first prowled around the shrine, and Kelsey stood dumbly in front of it at her orders, waiting for something to emerge. She couldn’t quite see past all the ivy vines there and kept imagining one of the beasts loitering just because, ready to pounce and kill—which raised her stress levels and snuffed out the little magic she had been able to accumulate.
What a great and mighty storm witch I am, Kelsey thought in frustration. What’s the point in having this kind of power if I can never use it properly?
Although she certainly had progressed from not realizing she had any at all. And, technically, she did save Lissa. So, she wasn’t as useless as she thought. Not that it was much of an encouraging viewpoint at this time.
“There’s stains on the back of the boulder,” Lissa said in faint disgust. “Looks like blood, and an oily, green substance, which…” She fell silent. When she didn’t answer for a moment, Kelsey’s worry increased.
“Lissa?”
The storm witch moved away from the stone, her face pale, her eyes distant, her magic extinguished. Wordlessly, ignoring Kelsey’s questions, she moved to the vine-draped entrance of the cave and went straight in, showing no caution at all.
Not willing to stand there and do nothing, Kelsey edged through the vines as well, letting some electricity snake up her right arm. She had little time to feel pride in doing so, as the light from her arm revealed a cave dripping with a sickly, greenish tint, like the veins of a poisoned heart. A dog lay on a stone slab with a sword rammed through its body—it resembled the shape of the coal-demon that had attacked them the night before. An overwhelming, creeping sensation burned through Kelsey. She looked to see a green droplet on the top of her hand, and felt something moving through her, thirsting—grasping for magic.
This is…
Throwing all caution to the winds, Kelsey lunged inside and seized Lissa by the shoulders, hauling the mute storm witch out. She had to push the witch hard, and only when they had cleared a reasonable distance away from the shrine did light return to the storm witch’s eyes.
“It’s the Creeping Rot,” Lissa whispered, eyes wide and horror-struck.
Exactly what Kelsey had suspected and feared.
Which meant the both of them were now infected, the disease raking through their insides, infecting, killing them as they spoke.
“If it’s there...” Lissa said, now starting to look dizzy, unfocused, “then this island doesn’t have long left.” She winced. “And we still haven’t found the person responsible for this...”
Kelsey continued walking forward, until at the edge of the clearing, she collapsed, Lissa falling down with her. Neither of them moved. Pain burned Kelsey’s limbs, but thankfully, she was spared from enduring it for long. Unconsciousness rushed to meet her.
Chapter Eight – Perran
The good thing about being a dragon was the sense of smell the form offered. He abandoned his tracking efforts quite soon, simply because he was bad at it, even for a cop, and shifted into his dragon form to enhance his olfactory intake. Lissa and Kelsey’s scents didn’t seem old to his nostrils—perhaps two hours, at most. He followed on the ground, shifting in and out depending on whether he could make it through the overgrowth or not.
The center of the island. There was another scent he didn’t recognize, though it was older than the two women, and tasted faintly of charcoal. He broke quite a few twigs in his shuffle to the island’s center, where he knew a shrine to be. Almost all the outer islands had them, and islanders held themselves to a different religion than others.
An awful, noxious scent dug into his nose, coated his throat. He wanted to gag. Fear picked up his heart rate. That scent was familiar. That scent was—
No! He almost stepped on the two women underneath his claws. He tilted his head so his eye could take them in, and a growl left his throat. Green veins crept along their skins, faces pallid, unconscious and sweaty from the fight warring in their bodies. The stench came from the tiny cave within the island’s heart, but he didn’t need to check to know exactly what was in there.
Creeping Rot! Desperate, he bundled the two limp women together, so he could scoop them securely in his talons. Once there, he felt the taint of magic entering his body—but dragons could resist for lengthy periods. He could make it back. Flapping from a standstill point, his wings tore apart branches, foliage, as he lifted into the air, lurching for a moment, before speeding off to the Elegant.
The sight of them both under the veil of creeping death continued to stir a sickening, sloshing wave in his stomach, and he had to keep checking his claws, making sure he still gripped them firmly, because of the numb coldness spreading from the magic.
Making it to the Elegant within a few moments, wings aching from the speed of his flight, he had to circle the deck a f
ew times before they cleared enough space for him to land. Puffing, he laid the women down on the deck and transformed, sending panicked orders for all their witches to stay away from them, and to get Alex.
“They’ve been infected, so have I—just—help!” Perran glared at Evelyn and Rukia, who had headed over to see the damage, before freezing. Vash, Meridas’ sister, quickly went to seize Rukia by the hand, dragging the woman away. Haut dashed downstairs—apparently Alex was busy with Luan over something—and emerged back up with her a few moments later.
“Seriously,” Alex said as Perran slumped to his knees, starting to feel dizzy, “when are you going to stop touching the bad stuff?”
A strange, creaking groan drew Perran’s attention to the island below their ship. They were anchored in the air, and all of the people on deck still conscious watched as the island rolled onto its side, with things falling off. It happened fast, like waves lurching a boat on rough seas, before spinning rapidly downwards.
Crashing thousands of feet below.
Alex, slightly white-faced, looked into Perran’s eyes. “Talk about having a close call…”
Perran stared numbly at the spot where the island once was. “I came here early. I… if I didn’t…” The thought sent a numbness inside. Fifty or so people on that island now dead. Most likely due to the person he was chasing, and still hadn’t found. “We should have brought the cure.”
“We don’t have that much of it,” Alex said, now touching Lissa, beginning her war to defeat the disease. “We want to save it for the most serious cases. Since visiting the place where we get the cure is… dangerous. And the Zamorkans don’t fully trust us yet.”
“Funny, because I don’t particularly trust them either.” Perran watched blearily as Alex strained the disease out of Lissa. A part of him wanted her to start with Kelsey, but he kept himself silent, not wanting to appear ungrateful, like he was somehow more desperate for Kelsey to survive…
A non-magical human dragged Lissa away from the others as the disease was cleared, and waited for Kelsey to be cured. Alex’s face contorted in pain as she pulled it out. “I’m not sure I have the strength for three in a row… this is…” Wincing, she yanked the green out, tugged from Kelsey like tiny snakes wrapped around the skin. A horrible sight, but not nearly as horrible as the one of her near death. With Kelsey dragged away, still unconscious, Alex turned to Perran with an unnatural sheen of sweat on her forehead.
“Maybe you shouldn’t push it,” Meridas advised, clearly not wanting to witness his partner go through more pain. Alex, however, scowled at him, before rather stubbornly placing her hands on Perran’s, leeching the darkness out of him.
“I thought you said you weren’t sure you could do this,” Perran whispered.
Alex gave a thin smile in response. “Yeah, well, I can’t risk you infecting anyone else. It’ll give me even more work to do. Luckily… it’s not as deep in you yet as the witches.” She grimaced and tugged out thin, thread-like strands of green from his hands. Such a weird sensation, like something cloying and cool being sucked out of his cells, leaving them warm and healthy again. By the time she had finished, she could barely sit up straight, and allowed Meridas to carry her in his arms, crooning to her and admonishing her for using too much power.
When he felt secure enough to stand and not topple over instantly, he headed straight for Kelsey, grasping her frame in his arms and carrying her to the cabin. She took light, peaceful breaths, and her head lolled against the front of his shoulder. He placed a kiss on her forehead before tucking her more comfortably into bed. Afterwards, he headed to Lissa, who had woken up and looked incredibly pissed off with herself.
“What happened, Lissa?”
“Attacked,” she grunted, accepting a bottle of alcohol from Vash. Lissa wore her favorite bear fur robes, which bulked out her frame more so she looked like she had some meat, rather than the stick insect Perran remembered that lay beneath. “Coal-demon.”
Alex frowned, confused. Rukia, Evelyn, and Luan gaped in sudden horror—the same horror Perran felt.
“A coal-demon? Who in the underland would be summoning something like that?” Luan scowled, folding her arms even as Evelyn let out a snort.
“A Zamorkan, of course. Specifically, the one you’re chasing, right?” She looked pointedly at Perran.
“Unless someone can magically turn up with the fugitive right now, we need to go back. We’ve run out of police funds, and there’s only so much I can invest before I end up being unable to pay taxes. I’m not as rich as some people,” Perran said with one eyebrow raised at Meridas.
“I said I’d help,” the shifter replied coolly. “I just don’t think we’re going to get the results you want to get.”
“Did you see anyone leave?” Lissa hissed. “The attacker was definitely on the island last night. It’s possible you might have encountered their skyship.”
“No. We saw nothing.” Perran sighed. “They could be miles away by now.”
“Just be careful,” Lissa advised. “I don’t think this person or persons have finished, yet. They’re experimenting. We’ve not seen the last of the Creeping Rot.”
“I know we haven’t,” Perran said. “But right now… I need to rest. We head back. Results or not, we can’t afford to waste any more time.”
Evelyn nodded before heading back to the alcove, activating her wind magic and propelling them away. Perran, instead of going into his quarters and resting, headed straight to Kelsey.
He didn’t intend to leave her side. Maybe it was a little early as well, but he wanted Kelsey to know that he cared for her. More than he wanted to admit, really. He didn’t know why, and neither could he find words to describe his feelings. But for one brief moment, when he’d thought she was dead…
Everything had turned cold. Happiness he’d been building up threatened to shatter itself into pieces. The easy manner he possessed around her was from more than a desire to maintain respect. Even him pushing her, wanting her to just rise out of the misery she’d once been in—he was desperate to see her succeed. To prove what so many other woman had not. And it would break his heart to see her revert, to have all her efforts end in death.
Sitting by Kelsey’s side on a hard, rickety, wooden chair, he grabbed a book to read, How to Maintain Your Ship, and absently flicked through the manual, sneaking glances at her all the while.
Chapter Nine – Kelsey
Waking up, Kelsey felt a huge sense of relief that she wasn’t lying in dirt, with poison surging through her.
Instead, she saw Perran seated stiffly next to her, a book slipping through his hands. He wore oddly formal clothes for such a mundane event—not that she was complaining or anything.
Was he the one who found me? Us? She studied his features for a few peaceful, uninterrupted moments. She liked his thin nose, his gentle jawline, and the lightly curving ears. His dark hair had several layers, helping to give it volume, and his hands seemed big and delicate, somehow.
What about Lissa? She propped herself upright, and the rustling sound alerted Perran. He jerked awake, the book thudding onto the wooden floor. “Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” he replied, face breaking out into a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’m not infected with the Creeping Rot,” Kelsey said, grinning. “Is Lissa okay? Is she here, too, on the Elegant?” She glanced around, though she couldn’t quite see the view through the port window properly.
“Lissa’s fine. I found the two of you collapsed nearby that shrine. I… took you back, and Alex did the honors of drawing the poison from your magic.”
“Thanks for saving me,” Kelsey said, crawling out of the bed. “I need to thank Alex, too. Where is she?”
“Speaking to Lissa,” Perran said. His eyes were soft, full of concern. The dim light of the cabin made her focus harder on his face, tracing the contours of his jaw, his nose. She still hadn’t quite processed all her thoughts about him. Nor did she really know if he l
iked her.
Then again, he did just claim to have found her, which meant he might have been frantically searching once he realized they weren’t at the hut. And he’d sat in a chair next to her for who knew how long, just to make sure she didn’t wake up alone. Now he stared at her with such tenderness that certainty rose inside her. He liked her, probably far more than he was willing to admit, and a lot more than she wanted to. For all her attempts to call him Perran, her mind kept slipping to refer to him as Master Rus instead.
Perran filled her in on the status of the island she had stayed on—namely that it was lost to the world. Fallen some hours before. “No one had any idea how close it was to falling,” Perran said. “It must have already been infected when we landed a month before to drop you off.”
“Skies,” Kelsey whispered. “You mean we could have died at any point during my training?”
Perran looked deeply uncomfortably as he nodded. “You could have.” He clasped his hands together. “I was careless. I should have thoroughly investigated the island. I thought… since it’s the furthest one away from the main cluster points, you’d be safe…” His lips twitched. “I’ll be surprised if I don’t get fired for incompetence.”
“It’s not your fault,” Kelsey said, thinking that for all the time she’d been there, at least it had been peaceful—right up until the moment that unnatural beast had crawled in through the window and attempted to assassinate Lissa. Just like how it had been used to kill the other witches on the island. But what purpose did it serve the killer to target people on remote islands who didn’t want anything to do with normal society?
It didn’t make sense. Seeing Perran still upset, she hastened to comfort him. “You can’t always prepare for every mistake. At least we’re alive, so that’s one worry off your mind. Though… Lissa lost her home, didn’t she?” Twice, Kelsey thought with a small pang.
“There will be others to inhabit. I’m just glad you both are safe.” He held her hand, and she accepted the gesture with a little smile. She could probably get used to that. Already, her mind began playing through possibilities. Such as being bold. Saying the things she wanted to say and not feeling terrified to do so.