Of Sea and Song

by Chanda Hahn

  I grimaced and rushed toward our dinner. Using my apron, I quickly pulled the stew from the hook over the fire and almost burned my hands. The soup was not quite ruined. I could save it. I gave a quick taste and added a cinnamon and wine vinegar solution until I disguised the burned flavor.

  “Here.” I held the spoon out to Maeve.

  She flicked her dark braid over her shoulder and glared at me. Her jade-green eyes filled with distrust. In a show of wariness, she pinched her nose and opened her mouth. I watched her take a spoonful, chew, and then look at me in astonishment.

  “I will never figure out how you do that.”

  I grinned, patting my belly. “One should never waste food.” I sliced a fresh loaf of bread and laid out three place settings as Rhea came down the stairs.

  “Oh good. I’m starving.” Rhea hopped over to the table and pulled out her chair.

  The table felt empty with three vacant seats.

  Rosalie, the oldest and strongest of us, was forced into an arranged marriage to marry the Prince of Baist. What started as hate eventually turned to love.

  My sister Eden traveled to Candor and caused quite a ruckus. She not only ended up getting engaged to the crown prince but murdered his family at her wedding. The last I heard, she was on the run with the magical menagerie troupe after having found her birth parents.

  My eyes flickered to Honor’s seat. She wasn’t gifted in the magical arts like the rest of us. Her training was not done around a cauldron or over spell books but up north in the woods with Lorn, an elf, and a dear family friend.

  I filled a bowl of stew for Rhea and placed it in front of her. Rhea with her golden-brown hair and tanned skin. Her gift wasn’t so much magic but alchemy. She had her own forge out back by our small barn and spent most of her time out there, melting and casting magical artifacts.

  Maeve served herself and waited for me to take my portion, and we sat down to enjoy our meal.

  “Thank you, Divine One, who watches over us and guides us. Let our paths be true,” Rhea prayed.

  “So be it,” I intoned.

  I took a bite and sighed in pleasure. The soup had successfully been saved. I was about to take another bite when a bright yellow light flickered about the room in warning. All eyes rose to the living room fireplace where the ward crystal was flashing.

  “The outer ward has been activated.” Maeve pointed to the yellow crystal. Each one tied to a ward on our land, and the color told us they crossed one. The yellow was the farthest, the orange the second, and red was the bridge. We armed most of our wards to dispel unwanted visitors with a confusion charm. But we couldn’t ward all of them with the same spells. Less we spend eternity chasing down travelers in a mindless fog.

  “Maybe it’s just a stray animal,” Rhea said hopefully.

  Maeve shook her head as the second ward activated, and the orange crystal flickered about the room. She and Rhea jumped from the table, their dinner forgotten as they raced to the window.

  “Not an animal. This seems to be larger,” Maeve answered.

  The room flickered as more light danced across the walls. It wasn’t from the crystals but from outside our tower.

  Pushing my chair out from the table, I went to stand by the window. The night was cloudless. Nothing hid the mob who stood on the other side of the bridge. All of them were wary of crossing into our land without permission.

  “Maybe they just came to seek help from Mother,” Rhea suggested.

  I shook my head. There was no mistaking their intent. They were armed with pitchforks, axes, and scythes.

  “They’re here because of me,” I mumbled.

  Maeve’s inky hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes glittered dangerously as she slammed her hand onto the windowsill. “Then they shall rue the day they came for a daughter of Eville. I shall make them suffer for trespassing.”

  “Meri. What’s going on?” A soft voice came from the stairwell. Aura stood barefoot on the bottom step, her face pale, her shaking hands clutching her thin shawl.

  “It’s nothing. Go back to bed,” I lied.

  Aura looked toward the window, and I knew the moment she opened her senses. Her face crumpled up in pain, and she immediately crouched down on the stairs, clutching her head and tears filling her eyes. “No!” she cried out and rocked in place. “No. It’s not true!”

  “Aura. What’s wrong?” Rhea asked. But Aura was in agony, lost in her mind as she tried to shield herself from the mental onslaught of the mob.

  Maeve stood by the far window, staring at the same sight I was. Looking out at the men, her eyes filled with hate as the townspeople kept inching forward, pushing one of their own toward the wooden bridge.

  “How dare they come here?” Maeve murmured. “Do they not know that to do so is to exact Mother’s wrath? Or worse, my own?”

  Aura was still curled in a ball, her hands over her ears. She mumbled out an answer. “So much hate and fear… and something else. I can’t quite understand. It’s too much. It hurts so much. The agony,” Aura cried again.

  My teeth clenched in anger as I watched my sweet sister reduced to so much pain because of the men outside. She read their emotions and felt their hate.

  “Make them stop.” Rhea turned to me. “Make them go away. You have enough magic.”

  “They will… eventually,” I said. “They always try, but they can’t get past our guardians.” I pointed to the river that surrounded our lands and the wooden bridge, which was the only way to get to our tower. Even from a distance, I could see the shadows under the water, converging toward the bridge, rallying to protect the sorceress’s daughters if one so dared to cross it.

  A brave soul stepped forward onto the bridge. He was lanky, in worn breeches, a sickle held out before him in shaky hands. He took two steps, and a purple tentacle shot out of the water, wrapped around his leg, and flung him through the air, his cry echoing into the sky before he crashed into the crowd, knocking the others to the ground.

  Maeve chuckled in delight.

  Diesel, one of the fae water beasts that lived under the bridge and protected our home from intruders, laughed in return. The water bubbled up and churned, showing his pleasure, as he writhed beneath the murky water. Diesel was only one of our many protectors.

  The horde of angry men took the bridge in force, and five men raced across. A great roar came forth as our second protector crawled from the eaves under the bridge to stand in their way.

  Traygar, the troll, was an intimidating sight at over ten feet tall, his arms hanging past his knees. In his hand, he clutched a club. The few strands of hair he still had were red, belying that he was of the northern clan who weren’t known for being peaceful. His lips pulled back in a snarl, showing his lower tusks, and he let forth a deafening roar. He swung the club, aiming for their heads. One man jumped into the water and tried to scramble to shore before Diesel dragged him under. Two others ducked under the club, one tripped and fell backward, while the fifth man was unfortunate enough to take the full brunt of the swing. He cried out as it knocked him unconscious. Traygar picked him up and tossed him into the other men, knocking them down like a child’s bowling toy.

  Rhea dragged Maeve back to the center of the room. Rhea’s arms wrapped around Maeve in a bear hug. I thought it was in fear, but then I realized she was trying to keep Maeve from transforming and heading out to fight the crowd.

  I could still hear the horde of men, and it terrified me. What if they killed the guardians? What if they made it into the tower? What would happen to us? I glanced at the expressions on my sisters’ faces. Maeve’s anger, Rhea’s concern, Aura’s pain.

  I sang under my breath, intending to send a wave of the water over the people, but then Armon’s dead body flashed in my mind—the repercussions of my last attempt at helping. My fear silenced the song, my mouth went dry, and I couldn’t sing.

  All I could see in my mind was his angled neck and dead body because I used my magic. His death tai
nted my hands and soul. I knew I couldn’t do it again, despite my training.

  Aura gasped, her head fell back, and she called out my name. “Meri!”

  I ignored my predicament, kneeled down, and grasped Aura’s chilly hands between mine. “What is it?”

  “Sorrow. Grief. Pain. They have lost so much. Please don’t harm them.”

  I shook my head. “Listen to them. They’re angry. They’re here to harm us. You must have misheard.”

  Aura’s nails dug into my hand, and her eyes widened. “No, you are hearing wrong. Listen.”

  I did. I stood and moved to the window and heard the word they were chanting over and over.

  “Murderer!”

  Aura used the wall to steady herself as she stood and tried to explain what she learned. “When you saved me from those men.”

  “Hush, Aura. Don’t think about it,” I soothed, knowing what was coming.

  “The one who fell down. He... he’s dead.”

  “What?” Rhea and Maeve gasped in unison and stared at me.

  “You didn’t tell us you killed someone,” Rhea accused.

  “Relax,” Maeve interrupted. “Meri’s not a cold-blooded killer. If she killed him, then he probably deserved it. Now me, on the other hand….” She grinned. I shivered.

  Aura’s chin dropped, and her hair fell forward, covering her face. “They blame you, Merisol, for his death.”

  “I know,” I said softly. “I used my powers and harmed a living soul, and now my magic has rejected me.” I tried to justify that what she said was wrong, but deep down, I could feel the truth.

  Traygar roared in pain, and I winced. They shot him with an arrow, and he was now retreating beneath the bridge. The first battalion of men rushed the bridge, and the red warning crystals lit up within the house.

  “Why would you do that?” Rhea hissed and lessened her grip on Maeve.

  Maeve pulled her arm free. In a flash, she was in raven form and flying out the window toward the bridge.

  “It was an accident. I was just trying to protect Aura.” I felt sick to my stomach at what happened. “I never meant for anyone to get hurt, much less die.”

  “I understand,” Aura whispered. “But they don’t.” She turned her face to the window. “They are here, because they have lost someone they loved and are afraid.”

  Maeve transfigured in a flurry of black feathers back into a woman. She used glamour to cloak herself in darkness, to impose an even bigger threat. Her dress was made of feathers and fur, and black mists pooled around her feet as it curled out like deathly fingers reaching for them. The crowd retreated, not wanting the black fog to touch them. Her hands glowed with magic as she raised them high in the air. I saw her mutter a word, and the sky answered her with lightning, screams coming from the crowd.

  “Cower before my wrath!” Maeve flung her hands again, and lightning struck a second time. “Come here no more or I will use your skull for my goblet.”

  Rhea snorted as Maeve put on a show. “She’s always loved theatrics.”

  “They shall find no sympathy here for what they did to Aura,” I snapped.

  Maeve walked forward, her long glamoured dress trailing behind. “Leave here. Never return. Or I will curse you and your children’s children. Your second cousins, your dog, and even your cow.”

  Rhea snickered.

  “You can’t hide her forever,” the mayor spoke up angrily. He was a portly man in a suit that could barely contain his belly. “We seek retribution for what was unjustly done. If you won’t turn over the murderer. We will send someone who will make you—the bounty hunters. Then you and all your sisters will be cast from the land.”

  Maeve didn’t look impressed. She placed her hands on her hips and dropped her head back. Smoke billowed around her, and she raised her voice and chanted in an ancient dead language.

  As she chanted, the crowd clambered over themselves in their hurry to vacate the area.

  “What is she saying?” Rhea asked. “Is she really cursing them? This could lead to even more problems.”

  Aura closed her eyes. The corner of her mouth turned up. “She’s reciting the recipe for turnip soup... in elvish.”

  Rhea snorted. “It seems to be working.”

  Maeve didn’t stop with her silly chant. She sent a few stray bolts after the crowd and heard their cries.

  “That should do it.” Maeve patted her hands together and nodded at the effects of her spell. I couldn’t see the damage but didn’t need to. One did not mess with the daughters of Eville and walk away unscathed.

  Rhea gasped and ran to the window. “They’re leaving.”

  Aura rose from the stairs and crossed the room to stand before me. She sighed as she listened to their thoughts. “But not for long. They won’t give up easily. They will keep coming back until they have gotten justice for Armon.” Aura looked right at me. “The mayor has already decreed it so. A life for a life. He will contact the Brunes Guild.”

  The Brunes Guild were the deadliest of bounty hunters. My heart quickened. I tore my gaze from hers, and I looked down at my hands. Even though they were clean, I couldn’t help but imagine the innocent blood that coated them. I murdered someone. I did something forbidden to do, and that curse would haunt me forever. I destroyed the balance of the earth and brought down trouble upon my family. They would keep coming back for me. They would continue to seek justice… unless I left. Only then would my sisters have peace. I had barely come to the conclusion of what I must do when Aura’s eyes flickered open and she grabbed my hand.

  Her beautiful pale eyes filled with tears, and she whispered so only I could hear it, “Don’t do it, Meri. Don’t go.”

  Carefully, I built an imaginary wall in my mind and shielded my thoughts from her. She frowned when she could no longer read me, and I looked away. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anyone harm you. I promise.”

  “That’s not what I’m worried about,” she murmured. “I’m worried about you.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t,” I snapped irritably.

  Aura winced at my tone.

  The witch-hunting horde that tried to attack didn’t faze Maeve. In fact, she was closing the door and humming while trying to keep the smile from her face. Only Maeve, our shapeshifter sister, would find pleasure in fighting off hordes of villagers. I shuddered.

  The humming stopped as she held up a giant conch shell that was on the floor. “Where did this come from? I don’t remember summoning it.”

  I studied the shell. The shape and color seemed familiar, and I had a desire to possess the strange trinket. Before I could act, Maeve crossed the room, tossed the shell into the trash bin, and sat back down at the table to finish her dinner.

  My normally unquenchable appetite was lacking. Dinner was silent, filled with fear and anguish and my own silent thoughts. If only Mother were here or any of my other sisters.

  But without Eden, Rosalie, Honor, and Mother, would the four of us have the courage to fight off the town if they came back again, thirsty for my blood? Yes, we were powerful, but it was against our nature to take lives.

  My hands shook as I reached for my cup to wet my throat. Our table was too empty. We were stronger together. As soon as dinner was over, we cleaned.

  I broke the silence. “We must tend to the wards on our land and give offerings to the guardians for protecting our home.” I picked up a basket.

  “Now?” Rhea asked.

  “Yes, now,” I said. I filled the basket with raw meat for the troll, fish for Diesel, gold coins for the gnomes, and flowers for the fae folk and handed the basket to Rhea. Maeve looked irritable and slammed her plate in the washbasin with a loud clunk. I winced at the sound of her displeasure.

  “Fine,” she snapped. Maeve grabbed her cloak off the hook by the door and stomped out into the night. Rhea followed.

  Aura stood by the open door and waited for me. She gave me a strange look as I kneeled by the fire and stared into the blaze.

  “Go on w
ithout me,” I said. “I will be there in a minute.”

  Aura bit her lip, and I could see her internal debate. “You should come too.”

  “I will pay my respects to the guardians,” I promised.

  Aura danced in the doorway and then decided. She grabbed her wool cloak and basket and followed our sisters out into the night.

  I kneeled by the trash bin and, using a spoon, pulled the shell out of the refuse.

  I recognized the shell from my studies. It was a sacred shell from the kingdom of Isla, said to tell the future to those who sought guidance. I lifted the shell and placed it to my ear, closed my eyes, and listened. Waiting for my future to be foretold. For an omen, perhaps.

  At first, there was a low thrum, but then I heard a whisper. Unable to decipher the word, I waited until it came again—though stronger, like a hiss.

  “Mur—” It sounded like the shell was speaking my name. I listened closer. “—der.”

  I dropped the shell, and it clattered to the ground. Deep-red blood seeped from within it to spill onto the stone floor. I backed away in horror, my hands covering my mouth to withhold my scream. It was an omen. A death omen.

  I blinked, and the vision was over. The shell lay harmless and pristine on the floor. The blood was nothing more than an omen of what was to come. Murder and death. I looked around our small home and fretted. Was it the townspeople? Would they come back again? Would more people be injured because of my carelessness?

  No. I couldn’t allow it. I must protect my sisters. Just the thought of Aura being in pain again sealed my decision.

  I had to leave.

  Chapter Three

  The conch shell shattered beneath my fingers. It wasn’t enough. I raised the rock again and battered the pieces repeatedly until nothing but dust remained. Leaning back on my knees, I watched as the smallest pieces blew away with the wind. I picked up my basket of offerings and headed to catch up with my sisters as we tended to the wards and guardians.