Chapter Sixteen
Serena follows Kai's lead, swimming beside him. They haven't strayed far from the kingdom, and soon they emerge into the caves, walking the corridors just below Vancouver Island. Serena breathes in the smell of wood smoke before she sees it, and knows where they are headed. The armory.
They walk in, greeted by the loud banging of hammer against metal. Ronan, the armorer, barely glances up at their entrance. The rest of the room, as crowded as it is, falls silent. Most of the guard hovers behind Murphy, who stands closest to Ronan, overseeing his work.
As withered and knobby as Ronan's hands are, they maneuver the metal on his workbench with skill and strength. Ronan is mated to the orphanage keeper, Rayne. The couple is as close as a mother and father to Serena than she ever had. Though Ronan always spent long days in the armory, he would often eat dinner with the calflings, saying very little. For that reason, Serena always tried to sit close to him. For the quiet and for the smell of wood smoke.
Serena looks at the fire, contemplating if Armorer Assistant would be a better job than Werewolf Liaison. Ronan's blackened scales represent long days that grew into years and then decades working over the fire. Most of his body is covered, as scales are better protection around the searing heat required for melting metal. Some have experienced so much exposure they are curling up. He looks as spiky as a sea urchin.
But each job inflicts its own scars. Serena looks down at her scratched legs and arms, surveying the gashes left by her most recent trip to The Dry. When she looks back up, she catches Ronan watching her. He grunts, a monotone, disinterested noise. Serena has learned he uses it for many emotions—anger, dissatisfaction, approval, humor.
"I have something for you," Kai says as he steps toward Ronan. Holding out his fist, Kai retracts his scales and peels his fingers open, displaying the charm of her mother's necklace. "Can you incorporate it somehow?"
Ronan looks down at the piece of metal on his workbench.
Serena rises on her tiptoes to try to catch a glance of what is there, but it is obscured by a myriad of tools cluttering the edge of the high table.
"Not here," says Ronan. "The metal is too far set to hold the piece in place." He rises from his seat, slowly. "But…" Ambling over to a series of weapons hanging on the wall, Ronan is slow and walks with a limp.
Serena scans the wall before he gets there. Broken and rusted tridents hang from hooks. Old knives, weakened by their time exposed to water lie in wait for melting into stronger metals. There is one weapon that stands whole and gleaming amidst a boneyard of armaments: a bow and arrow set.
The arrows are splayed out on the wall, the metal of the spearheads so clear Serena can see her own image as she nears. Next to them is a long, thin bag—their case fashioned to the back of an armored breastplate. Serena frowns. The breastplate is short and would cover little more than half a guard's torso.
The bow itself, a thin crescent, looks fragile. Serena approaches and flicks the string looped from one end to another. It is so tight it barely gives. The bow holds it strong, not bending to the pressure. The bottom edge of the bow bears Ronan's mark, a curved wave giving into flame— Ronan Sea-Fire.
Ronan holds the charm up to the center of the breastplate. "I'll have to make some adjustments to ensure it stays, but I think I can do it."
"Wait, that was my mother's!" Serena protests.
Ronan turns to look at Serena and grunts.
"The bow and arrow is for you," Kai says, standing behind Serena's shoulder.
Serena looks from Kai to Ronan.
Murphy crosses his arms. "We'll begin training tomorrow. You aren't to go to The Dry again without knowing how to use a weapon."
"But…" She looks from Murphy to Ronan. "I wouldn't know how to repay you."
Ronan's lips part. Serena thinks it is his version of a smile, but she can't be sure.
"You don't have to repay me. You were always my favorite." He holds the charm up to the fire to inspect the light that shines through.
"Your favorite?" Serena frowns, trying to remember if they've spoken two words together, until now.
Ronan flips the charm up, catching it in a solid grip. He looks at Serena and grunts.
As he walks back to his workbench, Serena tilts her chin down, hiding her smile. Ronan returns to banging away on his workbench. The guards avoid her gaze, wiping smudges from their own weapons.
Serena searches for something to distract from the suddenly awkward atmosphere.
"By the way, thank you for leaving your trident, Kai. It came in handy," she says.
"Did it?" he asks.
"It took some getting used to. Those things are heavy," says Serena. She eyes the group of King's Guard behind him. Some smile at her comment. "But my trip to The Dry would've gone very differently had I not had it with me."
"So you did see one?" Murphy asks. "A werewolf?" He stares, tensing for her answer.
Serena pauses, considering the looks from the men in the room. Usually she can decipher moods, but the King's Guard is a different story.
She nods. Murphy tenses more, if that is even possible.
"One was out there tonight." Kai says, almost under his breath.
All heads turn to look at him.
"Are you certain? It isn’t a full moon tonight." Murphy says.
Kai nods. "I was at the surface myself and we heard the howl." His hand twitches, as if moving for a trident that still isn't there.
"Then how can you be sure the howl, and what you saw…" Murphy says, glancing at Serena. "Wasn't a regular wolf?"
"Same as you can tell the difference between the ocean and the sky, Murphy Air-Spirit," Serena chides him.
Murphy takes a deep breath and looks at Serena. His spine going rigid, and he seems to grow a foot taller and his shoulders a foot wider. Serena stands fast, refusing to cower for whatever rebuke is coming. Belittling the head of the King's Guard in front of his own men is as bad as stepping on the kings toes—if he were actually able to transform them.
The entire room grows silent, except for the crackling fire. Finally, Ronan's hammer resumes its steady banging. Like continual air bubbles floating up from the Earth's crust, diffusing pressure, the hammer beats the tension out of the room. Murphy's eyes flit to Ronan, and he takes a cue from the older man to move on.
"So they've found a way then," says Murphy. "To take form without the full moon." He shakes his head, looking down at his feet. "If only we could've found a way to birth our young without the full moon, or the beaches."
Behind the workbench, Ronan grunts.
Serena scratches the back of her neck, still eyeing Murphy. Kai pats Murphy's shoulder twice, hard. Murphy seems to have let Serena's remark go. She is just glad he didn't pull out his trident. Her eyes flit from Murphy to Kai, then to Ervin standing behind them. None of the three have their weapons though several others do.
"Where are your tridents?"
Their eyes snap to her, then over to Ronan. Behind her, Serena hears one last clank of the hammer at the workbench. Then a ring of metal on metal, its echo resonating around the room. Serena turns toward the bench.
As she nears, Ronan steps away. She walks around to where Ronan stands. Pushing an overturned bucket closer to the table, she steps up onto it. This side of the table is clear of tools, and the object Ronan has crafted comes into view.
A new trident, freshly sharpened and gleaming under the light of the fire, sits on the table. Serena has not seen this one before. The three tips do not contain the barb extending backward from the point. It will be easier to remove the trident from trees—or from anything—this way. The curve on the outer two prongs is deeper, and the center prong is the longest of the trio. Instead of a smooth single pole as the stem, the trident twists, convenient for a sure hold. It separates into two spiraling rods, which merge back together at the bottom.
The trident is almost the same height as her, by far the smallest of its kind to have ever existed. This trident is for Serena.
Her breath steals away, as sharply as when she fell from the tree. She recognizes the coloring. The gold of the King's Guard is mixed with magnesium alloy, a rare metal extracted straight from seawater that takes a lifetime to collect. The material is lighter than aluminum itself and is solely used to render tridents for the King's Guard.
At the stem of the weapon is a mark. It isn't Ronan's, though by all rights the sea-fire mark should be there. Instead, there is a double circle; the shape above smooth and whole, the shape below choppy. A full moon and its shadow falling upon the ocean. Moon-Shadow.
Her breath comes back, accompanied by a lump in her throat. Aside from the dolls she received from Rayne every year on her birthday, all of which had almost always been destroyed within a week by the other orphans, this is the first real gift anyone has given her. And never has she received anything so beautiful, so meaningful, and so…personal.
She reaches out, tentatively, toward the Moon-Shadow etching, her heart thudding in her chest.
"Don't touch it. Not yet." Ronan stops her hand with his own. "The metal will need to set overnight." He pats her hand. His fingers feel rough and leathery, but warm.
Serena turns her hand and grasps, pulling Ronan into a full hug, for which she receives only a grunt in response. Her body shakes as she struggles to keep silent sobs from surfacing. She keeps her face buried in Ronan's shoulder, hidden from the King's Guard. She feels Ronan's hand move to the back of her head and stroke her hair.
"You'll be just fine calfling. Just fine…" Ronan says under his breath. Though Rayne used the term of endearment for all the children in her care, never once has Serena heard Ronan use it before.
Serena takes a deep breath and steps away. Ronan smiles down at her, then turns back to his bench, cleaning his tools for the night.
As the heat in her cheeks ebb and the lump in her throat subsides, she turns to face the rest of the men. The few that were sitting stand up, and the rest turn toward her. They are large with sinewy muscle, wide shoulders, and powerful legs. They are a dream for many Undine maidens, the true fantasy of a paired partner. But Serena doesn't see that now. She sees brothers, a family she never knew she had.
And three of the elite warriors of the Undine kingdom have just watched their revered tridents be melted down and combined into a weapon for her.
"It took three of them to make mine?" she asks, looking from Ervin to Murphy.
"There was some trial and error," Murphy says.
Behind Serena, Ronan clears his throat.
"We needed it to be perfect," explains Murphy, covering for Ronan.
Her gaze falls on Kai. Ervin is Serena's best friend, and Murphy would be expected to give his weapon before he asks any other, but what motivation does Kai have?
"They were all given willingly, Serena—and for good reason. We do not see the sacrifice as a loss," Kai says. "The Werewolf Liaison is ultimately charged with saving our race, and we will do anything we can to help you, if it is you that must be out there."
Serena's chest wells with the mixed emotions of guilt, gratitude, sorrow, and pride.
One of the many guards standing behind him clutches his own trident tighter. "We tried offering ours, so the Head of the Guard, The Second, and our youngest member don't have to be—"
"And I said we will not hear of it again," Murphy turns to bark at the guard.
"As you say," the guard mumbles, dipping his head.
She smiles, stepping toward Murphy. He breathes out, and his shoulders lower as he watches Serena come closer. He holds up one hand, stopping her in her tracks and declining the hug Ronan endured. Instead, he takes his hand and lays it across Serena's shoulder, diagonal to him. This is the warrior's salute, performed before each changing of the guard when one is relieved of duty and the other assumes command.
Serena returns the salute, extending her own hand toward his shoulder. It falls short, laying to rest on his bicep. Murphy's large hand covering her entire shoulder and draping down the side is a sharp contrast to her thin wrist and wiry fingers that lay across his massive arm. They both look down. Serena laughs and Murphy cracks a smile.
Finally, Murphy pats her shoulder. "You need to get some rest for tomorrow. Ervin will take you home."
Serena nods, releasing her salute. She turns, finding herself face to face with Kai.
He doesn't give her a salute. Instead, he nods his head, that playful smile still on his face. "Thanks for showing me what is worth saving," he says.
She returns the smile. "And me," she says.
Ervin takes Serena by the arm, leading her out of the armory. A quick glance back before she turns the corner reveals Murphy and the rest of the King's Guard behind him, staring at the fires, mouths tight and grim. Kai is still watching her.
Guilt that her mind is on Kai when she should be showing more gratitude over the sacrificed weapons, overcomes Serena and she leans into Ervin. When she finally looks up, she realizes they are headed in the opposite direction of Serena's cave.
She looks at Ervin. "Home?" she asks.
They turn down the corridor that used to be filled with the chatter of a dozen Undine orphans. Now it is ghostly silent.
Ervin nods. "Home."
The Rising Page 20