by Noëlie Frix
“Far be it from me to judge,” the ship’s white-haired captain started, “but I have never seen siblings get along so well. Or kiss so passionately,” he said after a pause.
Heka stopped dead in her tracks. She turned sideways, almost imperceptibly, though to the trained eye, it was obvious she did so to offer a smaller target, just in case. Captain Johnson turned around, his grandfatherly wind-burned, wrinkled face showed no malice. His eyes crinkled as his lips stretched into a knowing smile.
“Nope, you really don’t look like siblings, but you do seem meant for each other.”
“How did you know?” she asked, still on guard.
“I was steering the ship, remember. And it was hard not to see the two of you when you were directly in my line of sight.”
“Oh,” she cursed her carelessness, “right. Did you hear anything?”
“Nothing at all,” he shook his head. “Like I said, I understand wanting some privacy. I do not care that you lied to the guard. Surely you had your reasons. I just wish you had told me the truth,” he stated simply, forgiveness already a given.
Heka relaxed and started walking again, “I am sorry we lied to you. And I can’t thank you enough for taking us in. My friend and I.”
“You are welcome. And if it’s alright with you, I can think of a way you can repay me. Just help out around the ship.”
“We would love to!” she honestly relished the prospect.
They entered the dining room where Jason and five members of the crew were eating. Shadow smiled, and the crew greeted them. Apparently, Captain Johnson had already talked to Jason this morning.
“Ready to work?” he asked her.
“You know it! I haven’t had the opportunity to be at sea in a while. Climbing the mast, pulling ropes, all that fun stuff! I am looking forward to it, to tell you the truth.”
“Really?” Hector, the first mate, asked perplexed.
“Yes. Believe it or not, I’m pretty good at manual labor.” Hector simply nodded. There were no prejudices among the disparate crew whose members came from three different continents; women were considered men’s equals.
The next day was pleasant, nothing out of the ordinary occurred, as the sea and sky remained calm and a peaceful routine existed on the ship. Yet Heka went to bed that second night with unease knotting her stomach. Her Warrior’s senses remained on high alert throughout the night, so despite calm seas, it was a turbulent one as every small creak and groan woke her up. Jason used his abilities to glean information from the shadows, and confirmed her suspicions. “So it’s starting already,” she grumbled and a string of foul language followed.
“Here I thought I dated a lady,” Jason tried to relieve the tension just a tad, but he couldn’t conceal the somber look in his own eyes.
She approached Captain Johnson a little after midday. “You should remain on high alert, there are pirates ahead of us.”
“I wouldn’t worry too much,” he tried to reassure her, “pirates aren’t known to roam these waters. The trade routes between Adalr’s capital and Syra are well-patrolled.”
“I’m not saying there might be danger,” she snapped, “I’m telling you pirates are heading straight for us. If you have any weapons on board, now would be the time to tell your crew to prepare themselves to defend this vessel. Though I would focus your efforts on maneuvering this ship out of harm’s way. Jason and I will board theirs and fight them.”
“What are you rambling on about?” Captain Johnson would have been mad, except he was old enough to recognize the sincerity and warning her words carried.
“There,” she pointed to their eleven o’clock position, just as the sailor on lookout shouted a warning down to the rest of the crew. “Your ship is swifter, please focus on preserving it and your lives, wait until we are just short of their cannons’ range then veer hard to port, it will make it harder for them to correct their course.”
“I know that,” the Captain grumbled.
Heka smiled, “Sorry, reflex.”
“What will you—” he stopped, realizing she had already vanished from sight. The experienced sailor barked orders to his crew.
Jason kept Heka and himself hidden from view. Two seconds before the captain jerked the ship sideways, Heka dived into the ocean, while Jason vanished, leaving a wisp of black smoke behind. The two of them reappeared on the pirate ship’s main deck. The well-trained pirates wasted no time encircling them, armed to the teeth. Scarred, buff and mean-looking, they outnumbered them ten to one, even with half the crew focused on correcting course in pursuit of the nimble, lighter Santa Sia.
“You don’t make them more stereotypical than this,” Heka joked, pointing to a bare chested man whose wind-battered, sunburnt skin bore dozens of tattoos ranging from unnerving to grotesque and outright vulgar, he held a curved dagger between his yellowed teeth, an ear with more piercings than she cared to count, and an eyepatch. The man held a cutlass in his broad hand. The dried blood on it proved to Heka two important things: he was talented enough to have caused serious injury and death to his foes, but not disciplined enough to care for his weapon properly so that the blade had dulled.
“Tsk,” she clicked her tongue, “a weapon as beautiful as that one deserves a better owner.”
“Enough dillydallying,” the pirates’ leader angrily yelled from the high deck, “kill them!”
*****
It wasn’t fifteen minutes later when Jason reappeared in the shadow of the Santa Sia’s main mast and Heka resurfaced pulling herself up onto the main deck, while the pirates’ ship sank behind them. She was drenched from the swim, which was probably for the best as it had rinsed off most of the blood.
“What happened?” Hector asked, breathless.
“We just had a nice chat, we’ll be safe from here on out,” Heka shrugged as though nothing had happened.
“You’re not harmed?” the captain called down to them.
“No,” Jason replied.
“Can’t say as much for the pirates,” Heka boasted.
Jason elbowed her in the ribs, “Tact and timing, my love. Work on those,” he whispered the reminder.
“I don’t know where you two came from,” Captain Johnson shook his head with disbelief, “but you have our gratitude.” He never pressed them for information, and he reprimanded the few members of his crew he caught prying, but he did insist on one thing—if they ever needed his help again, he would answer the call.
The next two days were pleasant. Though the sea and the sky seemed more turbulent as they approached Syra, Heka’s promise held and no more trouble came their way. She and Jason enjoyed the work around the ship, the ambient calm that reigned despite the previous day’s attack. As soon as they docked, both Immortals knew that even the relative calm and peaceful days they experienced during the sea voyage would become but a faint, faraway dream, banished from their lives for a while.
On the fifth morning, a city skyline rose up from the mist on the horizon. Many lights shone through the numerous buildings’ windows, the streets broad and clean. In the center of the city stood a tall edifice that towered above all others. It was a gray, metallic structure with four feet at its base, its sleek shining panels spiraling up and up into a sharp point at the top. Uninhabited, or so most people thought.
“Syra,” announced Captain Johnson, “City of Lightning!”
Heka grunted. Of course, “City of Lightning.” Her sister just had to have a city named after herself. Man, she really wished she could turn the other way. She had faced entire armies, but her sister was a whole different matter. Jason looked at her as if to say: “It’ll be okay.”
They thanked the crew and captain, who insisted they owed them greater thanks for saving them from the pirates, but Heka and Jason both brushed it off, as though implying it was the least they could have done in return for the merchants’ kindness.
“Good luck. Enjoy Syra!” Captain Johnson, Hector and the rest of the crew bade them farewell.
“I guess there’s no turning back now,” she sighed. “Come on. We need to climb that tower. Not only did she have to name it after herself, but she also had to be the center of the city.”
They walked toward the tower at a brisk pace, but something seemed out of place here too.
“Is it just me,” Jason ventured, “or are the streets too…quiet?”
Heka nodded silently. The city was a major trading port. It wasn’t the capital of the country, but it boasted its largest population and most prosperous economy, with all the banks and commercial hubs located along its coastline. The streets should have been overcrowded, full of brokers, criers, pickpockets, children running errands, mothers haggling over the price of eggs and fish as they prepared for lunch, tourists come to see Syra’s unusual architecture and beaches. It was the high season, the country was at peace, piracy on the decline, as Captain Johnson’s surprise had indicated. The only thing that could have deterred activity was the weather, often inclement, yet storms were so common in Syra, its residents often acted the same way, come rain or shine.
Thunder rolled across the city, lightning flashed in the distance, signaling a more important storm was on the way. As the rain began to fall, even the few individuals who had been wandering outside hurried back in. By the time they reached the tower, the bustling metropolis of Syra resembled a ghost town. Jason didn’t even need to use his power to get them both inside the tower unnoticed. They took the metallic maintenance stairs up as far as they went.
“What now?” Jason asked as they reached the end of the stairwell where they were still several stories from the top.
“Now, we climb. There are plenty of handholds. Just follow me.”
They started the steep climb, but it was fairly easy; as Heka had said, there were plenty of places to hold onto. She stopped suddenly and Jason almost ran into her.
“Little warning next time?” he asked.
“Sorry. The entrance is right here.”
“Um…there’s noth…” but he stopped. Warrior had just pushed against a metallic panel, and it had opened, giving way to a couple of stairs that led into Electra’s home.
They pulled themselves up over the incongruous steps and into the small hallway. Heka didn’t bother to knock and opened the door, stepping into her sister’s house. It was quite an impressive sight. Although, not visible from below, the walls of the top part of the tower were made of clear glass, so you could see the city spreading below and the lightning blazing above. It was so high up it swayed in the wind. It had been built as a way to attract lightning, so it would not fall on the city. Ironically, lightning often came from the tower. A cream-colored couch sat invitingly in front of a burning fireplace, a steaming mug laying abandoned on the white, polished coffee table.
A flash of steel greeted Heka’s entry into the room, which she dodged effortlessly, only to be confronted with a bolt of electricity hurtling toward her face. Had she been anyone else, Warrior probably would have been electrocuted, but she pulled her sword, infused with her own power, and absorbed the shock, before throwing one of her hidden daggers to the side. She heard a satisfying cry of pain. Which she echoed involuntarily as her sister crashed into her and indiscriminately discharged another bolt of electricity.
Jason still stood in the doorway, unscathed and aghast.
Electra may have had the joy of a very brief victory, but she had made the crucial mistake of getting into close range combat with her much more practiced and adept warrior sister, who slammed her to the ground, effortlessly immobilizing her younger sibling.
“Hehe,” Electra breathlessly mocked, “you must be getting old, I managed to hit you.”
“Says the one who’s obviously been defeated,” Heka mercilessly pulled her dagger out of her sister’s thigh.
“I’m not a barbarian like you,” Electra tried to shrug but still couldn’t really move, and using her power at this point would not have made enough of a difference for her to bother expending the energy and effort required. Her sister would just retaliate with more violence. “You masochistic, sadistic demon-child.”
“I’d rather be a demon than mommy’s favorite little angel,” Heka crowed.
“As long as I’m not the favorite niece, I feel pretty good about myself,” Electra replied with a taunting sneer.
Jason, an only child, watched with a mix of amusement and bewilderment. “Doesn’t all this seem a bit petty?” he ventured and realized his mistake from the twin death glares he received. “Or not, my bad,” he raised his arms in a defeatist gesture.
“Glad your boyfriend can at least keep a cool head and his priorities straight,” Electra gruffly complained.
“Shut up, it’s not like I started it,” Heka retorted, reluctantly considering backing off. “Either way, we should probably get back to the problem at hand.” She released her sister and stood back up. Electra dusted herself off as she nimbly hopped back onto her feet, trying to conceal a grimace of pain from her bruised shoulder and still-healing thigh. Jason was suddenly struck by the sisterly resemblance as he observed them side by side. It wasn’t obvious at first. Everything about Warrior was much brighter, exuding a kind of fiery energy, while Storm appeared cold and gray. Electra’s hair was curly and long like her sister’s, but jet black; her eyes gray like thunderclouds. She was pale, though not as much as Heka and just a tiny bit shorter and more slender. They looked like sisters, both beautiful and deadly, similar in appearance and character, though they would never admit that. But Jason was not easily fooled, and despite the cool, calm collected surface, he could tell Electra’s temper was just as stormy as Heka’s. Torrents of emotions ruled the sisters, even if they expressed it in different ways.
“Come on in, take a seat,” she sniffed with displeasure as she gestured to the couch, while she took the armchair and picked up her mug of hot cocoa.
“Thanks,” said Jason, trying to normalize things. “Nice place.”
“Thank you,” she curtly, but politely replied. “I like it. I like this city. It really suits me.”
Heka huffed, “Yeah, obviously. Little sister had to have a city all to herself.”
“Uh, I think…” Jason did not have time to finish.
“Look, lightning’s pretty common here, anyways,” Electra snapped. “I just enhance it. If there’s a fight going on, where do you go, huh? Well, same deal!”
“I never had to name a war for myself.”
“True. You’re too busy kissing your dream boy over here!”
“How in the world do you even know this, by the way?” She frowned, remembering this was the second time Electra alluded to her awareness of hers and Jason’s relationship.
“It rained that day, remember?” Electra smiled slyly.
Warrior struggled to refrain from bludgeoning her sister. “Why, you little…”
“Listen,” Jason said forcefully before Heka had time to say anything. “You’re siblings, I get it, it’s tough to get along. But there’s a bigger problem at hand, and we should really focus on that, okay? Could you two try to set your differences aside for now? It can’t be that hard.”
“Sure,” said Electra grudgingly. “Should be as easy as getting along with a hornet’s nest.”
“It’d be more convincing if you didn’t immediately follow that up with a snarky comment,” retorted Heka.
“Fine, I’ll refrain from hurting your precious feelings,” she acquiesced sarcastically.
Heka rolled her eyes. “In the spirit of elder sibling maturity, I’ll overlook that. From now on, no taunting on either side. Or at least, minimal,” Warrior added with a smirk.
“Deal!” her sister gruffly capitulated. Outside, thunder boomed and lightning flashed, more beautiful than fireworks.
“Is that your doing?” Jason asked, pointing to the storm.
“If you’re done gawking at your own handiwork,” Warrior started impatiently, “can we discuss the more pressing matter?” Jason looked at Heka so she reluctantly added, “Please.”
“You know why we’re here?” Jason asked.
“I know why you need my help. But I am not sure you’re fully aware as to why.”
“That makes sense! We came all the way here, knowing I’d have to put up with you, but we don’t know why we need you,” Heka said ironically. “Maybe it’s because War has decided to launch a massive attack against humanity?!”
“As I thought, you do not know how bad it is,” for once, Electra didn’t seem mocking, but rather serious and brooding.
“What do you mean?” asked Heka annoyed.
“War has made an alliance. A dangerous one. Not that he couldn’t do plenty of damage by himself, but it seems they want to rid the world of humans completely. Or at least, shatter civilization and rule like gods.”
“Who? It cannot possibly be that bad,” Heka said hopeful.
“Well, actually, it is. Imagine if Disease, War, and Death joined together in a concerted effort to destroy everything.”
“All three of them?” Jason murmured after a stunned silence.
“I’m sure you noticed something was off coming into Syra?” Electra grimaced. “There are reports of plague spreading throughout the coastal towns. It didn’t seem like the plague to me, but there’s definitely something nasty infecting the people of this town.”
Jason looked somber, “And War is also already on the move, we got attacked on our way here.”
“War. I can handle my uncle,” Heka said. “But dealing with three of the worst Immortals at once…”
“I don’t even want to entertain the thought of how quickly things will deteriorate once Death makes his move,” Shadow anxiously anticipated the carnage the old Immortal would wage upon humanity.