Secrets of the Tally

by Halie Fewkes

  “Well I don’t care,” Liz said, “I’m not going to abandon you if you’re in trouble. What kind of a sister would I be?”

  “Be quiet, Liz. Please.” Not that it mattered anymore. Gat had seen us.

  We came nearer to the ships, where one was obviously not Human in any way. The Shadow’s Doubt was made of a deep red wood and polished to perfection. The mast held lines of beautiful white and golden sails, making the Human ships next to it look worn and weary.

  As our group approached the ship we were meant to board, Sav showed up next to Gat with the black falcon on his arm, whispered to him, and they both veered off in a different direction from everyone else. We were headed away from the ships, back toward the bridge, and out of the crowd’s sight.

  I hoped somebody would see the twins redirecting our group, but nobody seemed to notice. As soon as we were around the central tower and hidden from view, Sav and Gat both stopped and turned to us. Turned to me in particular.

  “Tell the rest of them to go,” Sav said. “We only want you.”

  I obviously couldn’t respond with everyone else around. I silently matched each scoundrel’s stare and said nothing.

  “They can go or we can kill them. Your choice,” Sav said. Everybody was focused on me and confused. Shanking life! This would be the end my secret. It didn’t matter anymore.

  “You guys can go,” I said without taking my eyes off Gat’s malicious face. Nobody moved.

  “Liz, just take everybody and leave.”

  “I’ll stay with you,” Liz said with bold determination. Everybody else was of the same opinion — not wanting to leave me by myself. I could only see one option left to keep the rest of them safe, and I was going to take it.

  “Liz, please go,” I whispered, meeting her frightened gaze and glancing right behind her to the entrance pit that separated us from the bridge.

  “Not without you.”

  “I’m going to miss you Liz — have a good life!” I took two steps to gain momentum, leapt into the entrance pit, landed with a roll, and then took off across the bridge at a speed that could only be matched by Sav and Gat. It took them hardly a second to see me making a run for it, and they sprinted in pursuit, leaving everyone else behind.

  I turned into the forest as soon as I was across the bridge and trees whirred past as I dodged in and out. Sav cut off to one side and disappeared while Gat continued on my heels. I realized I didn’t have a plan, and my run couldn’t go on for very long because they were faster than I was. So much faster, and I wasn’t even headed in any particular direction.

  Improvising became the strategy as Gat and his predatory sprint closed in. A massive cliff on my right dropped abruptly down to the bay where the boats were preparing to leave, but the water was too rocky to jump into. Dense underbrush and unending trees impeded my view to the left. Up ahead would be the river that turned into the waterfall seen from Dincara, but the Escalis might not have realized that yet. I had an idea.

  I pushed my legs vigorously to make it to the river, and Gat was almost even with me by the time I got there. One tree stood on the bank, and I changed my course to head straight for it. Without slowing down, I got all the way to the riverbank and grabbed the trunk to stop myself. Gat hadn’t realized the river was there and tried to stop, but was going too fast and slid down the bank. He turned around to come back, but I was already far ahead of him, running back towards Dincara.

  I knew I didn’t have long before Gat caught up, and Sav could be anywhere. I needed to take the opportunity to hide from them. Nowhere seemed safe enough. I looked back over the edge of the cliff and saw six of the ships in the water already, the Human ones being towed by the Shadow’s Doubt. Its mast was so tall that it almost broke even with the plane of the cliff. If I timed a jump just right…

  No time to think it through — I saw Sav closing in from the side, so I ran straight for the cliff and jumped over the edge. I hadn’t factored in the fact that the ship was moving, so I almost missed the mark and barely managed to grab the mast, landing my feet on the sparkling white ropes holding the sails. Success!

  Yelling came from behind me, and I heard Sav exclaiming, “She just jumped!”

  Gat swore loudly in Escalira and then started shouting, “She’s on the boat! She’s getting away on Shadow’s Doubt!”

  Sav lowered his voice so I couldn’t hear him, and I saw both figures start running along the cliff line, racing the boat. It wasn’t over yet.

  I climbed slowly down the mast, lucky that the ship was gigantic so I could stay inconspicuous. The entrance to the cargo hold was visible from where I was, and easy to get to, so I dashed for it and ducked inside, shutting the door behind me. All the light in the hold came from the slots in the entrance and a couple holes in the sides of the walls. Even with my Tally eyes, I could barely see a thing.

  I descended a set of stairs until I felt my feet hit the floor. A couple steps forward and my shoulder brushed the side of a large crate, definitely big enough to hide behind.

  Rough Escali voices clashed above, and I heard a cascade of water rejoining the ocean as something sopping wet was hoisted onto the deck.

  Sav’s unmistakable laugh reached me over the thuds of footsteps, and he said, “We’re fine. We just didn’t realize what time the boats were leaving.”

  “Did your group of Humans get on a ship?” someone asked.

  “Yes, yes,” Sav answered, “They’re all in the third one.”

  “Alright. Go get yourselves dried off. It’s a long trip and you’re soaked.”

  “Right, we will,” Sav laughed again and a few other Escalis chuckled before going back to their work.

  It only took a couple seconds before I could see the silhouette of Sav’s face at the slotted entrance, and then he whispered, “She’s down here.”

  Gat appeared right next to him and growled, “I smell her,” then wrenched the door open.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  I maneuvered myself behind the crate and crouched as Sav grabbed Gat, yanking him back. “Are you sane?” he whispered.

  “You want to leave her down there?” Gat asked, as though he wanted his brother’s approval.

  “Yes, I do. It’s darker than a cave — she can ambush us with anything she finds. But think, it’s six days until we touch land again. If we go down there then—”

  “Then it’ll be easy,” Gat finished his sentence. “But anyone getting supplies down there will see her.”

  “She’s smart enough to stay out of sight. And there’s Human stench everywhere, so I doubt anyone will notice hers.”

  “Ok,” Gat said, backing out of the hold and shutting the door once more. “I’ll take first shift.”

  “Alright, just call if you need help. Remember, you can’t kill her yet. She still knows something we need.” Sav walked off and Gat’s silhouette planted itself outside the door. There wasn’t much to do then besides sit down and watch him.

  Darkness fell, by which time I had retired to looking out one of the knotholes in the wall to watch the ocean. Two full moons lit the sky and cast reflections off the frothy water, completing the ominous feeling. I saw Sav come out and trade places with Gat in the night, but everything remained silent otherwise. Morning couldn’t be too far off.

  I almost drifted off to sleep when a small bird started singing and woke me again. It was the part of the duskflyer’s song that I heard Archie whistle every once in a while, and I liked the tune of it. It continued singing and repeating until I pulled myself together and realized what it was.

  I cautiously moved to the other side of the hold and peered around. “Archie, where are you?”

  “On the other side of the wall,” came his muffled whisper.

  “How did you get there?” I wondered, pressing my ear against another tiny knothole in the beautiful wood. That would be on the outside of the hull.

  “I am hanging… from a rope,” he said, straining his voice. Forgetting all that was going on, I had to la
ugh quietly.

  “Do you know that you’re barely out of Sav’s sight?”

  “Yeah, I got this rope from right behind him.”

  “Why didn’t you strangle him?” I asked quite seriously.

  “I would have if Gat wasn’t so close by. Do you have a plan for getting out of here?” he asked.

  “Not really… Would it really be such a bad idea to get the other Escalis involved and get those two into trouble?”

  “Yes, bad idea. They’re royalty, and the Escalis up there don’t know who you are. If you got caught… It’s just a bad idea. And anyway, my hands are starting to hurt, so let’s figure out how this is going to work.”

  “What do you have in mind?” I asked.

  “I want you to use that magic you have to blast a hole in the back of the ship.”

  “I would love to, but it doesn’t work like that. I can’t just use it when I want.”

  “When can you use it?”

  “I don’t know… When I’m really scared, or angry about something.”

  “And you’re not now?”

  “I said I didn’t know! Believe me, I would use it if I could.”

  “Alright, well that’s the end of that plan. I’ll come back in a while when I think of something, or when you think of something.”

  “Ok, don’t leave me here too long,” I said, wishing he could stay.

  “If they come in after you, I’ll be right there.”

  “Thanks.”

  I heard Archie’s feet touch the hull of the ship as he climbed back up, and then I was alone again. As hard as I tried to stay awake, I couldn’t do it. In one moment, I was trying to keep my eyes open, in the next, I was being killed in my dreams — killed in many ways, and then I found myself waking to hear an Escali descending the stairs.

  I was behind a crate, so although the Escali had a lantern in his hand, he didn’t see me. He stacked the lantern on top of a barrel, picked the barrel up to bring above deck, and I breathed again once he was gone.

  Morning came, and I spent the entire day thinking things over, waiting to hear the duskflyer whistle from Archie again. It was too much time to think. I wished I had something else to occupy myself.

  About halfway through the day, as Sav waited outside, I heard him whispering. I was curious because nobody else was near him, and I moved slightly closer, only to hear that his words were directed at me. He was goading, obviously trying to make me show myself. As transparent as his intent was, I could still feel the anger growing inside me with each word.

  “It won’t be hard to find the city’s escape tunnel either,” he whispered. “As soon as we get back, Gataan and I plan to follow it and find where your cowards fled to before the battle. I’m sure Dincara’s children will love to see us. I have such great plans for them.” He paused in thought, and I tried to back off so I couldn’t hear him, but his next words drew my attention. “That’s always where you fail, Tally, trying to protect those Human kids. I wish you could remember the shame of losing the Epic to me. You sacrificed everything you knew to hide your secrets, but you had already shown us where she was. I’m sure we’ll get those other secrets from you soon.”

  I grabbed tightly to a crate as I tried to steady my breathing. The new Epic was a she?

  I lost my memory protecting our new Epic, and now Sav had her?

  “And what a pity that you can’t recall the fun we all had just a few weeks ago, before your Tally friends showed up. I can tell you why you don’t remember anything. Come up here and I’ll tell you all about it.”

  The edge of the crate splintered under my grip, and I slowly released my hand, watching the remnants fall. I didn’t like being confused. Sav knew what happened to my memory, and I wouldn’t be above strangling him to find out.

  Sav leaned back as though thoroughly relaxed, and continued on. “What else is there to talk about?” he pondered slowly. “I met a few of your fellow mages in the battle. The one with the orange hair in particular, she was intriguing. She almost had me at one point, but was too slow. She only left a couple of burns on my arms when Gataan got her from behind. They’re gone now, of course, and her flames stopped burning quite so brightly once she realized everyone in the room was at our mercy.”

  I didn’t want to hear any more, but couldn’t convince myself to stop listening.

  “And we were merciful too. We gave her the option to beg for their lives. We were both slightly surprised when she did. Yet… not as surprised as she was when we didn’t keep our word,” Sav chuckled at the memory. “You should have seen the looks on their faces when we killed her anyway. Gataan—”

  I heard a vicious snarl escape and then realized it was mine. I was momentarily blinded by rage, but then realized that I wasn’t blinded at all — my hands and eyes were illuminating the entire hold. I aimed at Sav through the grated door, but before I unleashed my magic on him, I heard a tiny voice in the back of my head urging me not to.

  It won’t kill him, the voice advised. Maybe it wouldn’t. I didn’t care. Gat will come running. That didn’t matter either. I could blast him out of my way as well. Then you’ll attract everyone on the ship and you can’t handle all of them. What was the alternative — sit here with my magic and do nothing?

  I remembered what Archie wanted me to do. Though I wanted to cause Sav as much pain as possible, I forced myself to turn around and unleash my wealth of power on the back wall. The wood splintered and disintegrated, ripping a large hole in the exterior, much bigger than I needed.

  I heard Sav shouting for Gat behind me, and a general commotion above as everyone came to investigate the sound of destruction. I whistled a very hurried version of the duskflyer song before I heard Gat’s snarl behind me, and I bailed off the ship.

  The moment I hit the cold ocean, I heard yelling from every deck.

  “One’s in the water!”

  “Escape!”

  But above all was, “Shoot it! It deserves to drown — shoot it!”

  I dove under the water as several sasperan and thistleweed arrows pelted the surface, and then I watched as they floated to the top. I resented being underwater almost as much as being shot.

  I was able to stay under as the Human ships passed by me, but I needed air. I really needed air. My plan was to surface, take a breath, and then dive again, but as soon as I breached the surface an arrow pierced through the water and buried itself in my left arm. The cheers and congratulations to the Escali who made the shot weren’t as loud as my scream when it hit. Through the pain, I realized what I would have to do to live, and it was going to take all my willpower.

  I relaxed my legs and arms and floated motionlessly on top of the water as my blood seeped into the ocean. The arrow in my arm had been laced with thistleweed, and I thanked the moons that I had already had the fever and was immune to it. Immune or not though, it was an awful pain, and my eyes watered uncontrollably. I closed them, didn’t move, didn’t make a sound, and the Escalis on the ship fell for it. They didn’t shoot any more arrows, and I heard their voices growing farther and farther distant.

  I stayed that way after I ceased to hear them, and didn’t even move when I felt something gently touch my injured arm. I did however open my eyes and see—

  “GAH, SHANKING LIFE, ARCHIE!” I shouted as he jerked the arrow out.

  “Pain’s over!” he said, quickly holding up both his hands in apology.

  “Pain is not over!” I howled as the saltwater rushed into the wound and I clamped my good hand over it with all the strength my cold fingers could muster.

  “Give it a minute, and it’ll be gone.”

  “Right, let me just give it a minute. Be careful with that arrow, it’s got thistleweed on the end,” I snapped.

  “Thanks,” he said, turning and throwing it as far as he could. “At least it wasn’t sasperan. We would probably both be dead.”

  “Why would we both be dead?” I asked irritably.

  “I don’t think I swim well enough to get us
both back to land. I don’t know… Maybe I could do it if—”

  “How far is land?”

  “After that long on the Shadow’s Doubt, several miles at least.”

  “Several miles!” I tried to kick him under the water, but ended up crushing my foot when I hit his shield. “I hate swimming!”

  “Well that’s hardly my fault.” He backed away from me in his treading. “I’m not the one who chose to hide on a moving ship.”

  “But it was your stupid plan to bail into the water. Now we have to swim for miles!”

  He laughed through a disbelieving frown. “You’re right Allie, my apologies. I should have found a way off the ship that didn’t involve water. I just don’t even know what I was thinking.”

  I tried to stare him down, but the amusement on his face made me break into a reluctant grin. I looked away before he could catch it. “It’ll be a long swim back if you’re mad at me the whole way,” he said, disarming the situation. “Can we call a truce?”

  “I guess,” I said, getting rid of the smile before facing him again. “It’s not as though it’s your fault… I’m just angry in general, I suppose.”

  “I figured that when you blew a hole in the back of the Escali flagship.”

  “Yeah… I’ll probably be in trouble for that too, won’t I?”

  “We’re Tallies. We’re always in trouble. What got you angry enough to use magic?”

  “Sav. He and Gat killed Anna, and he had the nerve to sit there and tell me about it.”

  I saw Archie’s jaw drop. “I can’t believe they got her.”

  I realized my arm had stopped hurting, and I let go of it to see the wound almost healed over. “They have our Epic too. That’s how I lost my memory. I was trying to protect her.”

  Archie gaped. What else was there to say? I didn’t want to speculate about the horrors she had already faced if Sav had her. I said, “We should probably start swimming. We can talk while we go.”

  We started off with slow strokes, but neither of us mentioned the horrible idea any further. Actually, neither of us said anything for close to an hour, so I had full concentration on my dislike for the water and the royal twins.