by Mark Albany
“I can guide us using the stars,” one of the older men said with a firm nod. “And I know the currents.”
“How far away are we from… what was the name of the largest island, again?” I asked.
“Kalames,” the man repeated, sighing patiently. “With the currents and if the winds are with us, it should be less than a day or night’s sail with the smaller vessel. But are you sure that’s where you wish to travel? That’s where the Trelans are the most…populous.”
I nodded firmly. “I came here to investigate their numbers so we know what to prepare for back in Radon. Which means I’d rather get to where their numbers are the densest, though I understand if you’d rather not come.”
The man shook his head. “If there is vengeance on this quest against the enemy, I will gladly join.”
The rest of the crew nodded in agreement. I looked over at Kalna and Leena, who both nodded as well.
“What’s your name?” I asked the older man who had been talking.
“Meerus,” he replied with a nod.
“Well, Meerus, I guess you have the job of guiding us through the night.” They seemed more than happy with me giving orders, even though my orders thus far had cost us dearly. I could only hope I was worthy of their trust.
Meerus nodded. “We’ll get to work fixing the vessel immediately.” He turned to the rest of the islanders and barked a few orders in their language. They jumped up and hurried over to the boat. The single man left raised his eyebrows, not understanding what was said, but after a few seconds, he followed the others to start repairing the parley boat.
“I can help with that, too.” Leena shrugged. Her father had been a woodworker, and she’d learned a lot about the trade before turning to bounty hunting instead. She leaned in to give me and Kalna a light peck on the cheek before turning to join the rest of them.
“As for you and I,” Kalna drew her daggers and gave the edge on both a close inspection, “I have a feeling that even crossing at night, our progress won’t go unimpeded. The monster that tore up our ship is probably waiting for us to head out to open water before striking again, and I’d rather not be unprepared. We should probably train.”
I nodded. It sounded a lot better than sitting around, waiting for people to tell us how we could be useful. Besides, a bit of training might be able to keep my mind off all our problems. Kalna was a good enough fighter that she could keep me busy for a while.
I grinned. “I look forward to seeing what you have in mind.”
Kalna shrugged. “I have a few magical tricks up my sleeve, but they’re mostly the kind that keep me from being seen. Nothing with the kind of brute strength you or Eira have. I was thinking you could show me a few of your tricks.”
I nodded, making a face. “I’m not sure how I do any of it, but if nothing else, it’ll make me focus on controlling the power.”
Kalna shrugged. “And if we’re lucky, we might just be able to do both.”
Chapter 8
We were lucky.
Over the next few hours, Kalna and I managed to get some good training in. Her magic was based more on spells, the elven way of connecting to their environment. It was subtle and, in many ways, beautiful. My power, while stronger, was a lot more like a wooden cudgel compared to her metaphorical dagger. By using some of her breathing and moving techniques, I found myself being able to access the power inside me without having to draw up the Darkness. I could feel that it wasn’t too happy about this, and it didn’t speak with me for the rest of the day.
I have to say, I didn’t miss its presence as much as it hoped I would.
As the sun went down, we all paused to rest and gather our strength, setting up fires to cook whatever we had left after filling the packs that’d been used to offload some of the supplies before the ship sank. To fit eight people on that small boat, it wasn’t like we could carry much with us anyway.
A studied silence fell upon us all as we ate. We knew it wasn’t going to be an easy trip. If the Trelans were patrolling the waters, even in the darkness, there was a chance that they would find us. I wasn’t saying we couldn’t fight a single ship off, but in the end, we didn’t want our presence to be advertised to every fighter from here to Radon.
Besides, patrolling Trelan ships weren’t the only terrors to be found between us and the Behran Isle of Kalames.
Kalames? I tilted my head. These foreign names were difficult for my brain to grasp for some reason. Yes, Kalames. That was how he’d said it. I didn’t even want to think about how these men spelled the names. I found it amazing they’d learned so much of our language at all, allowing us to communicate with only a hint of confusion.
I sighed, gripping my sword and slipping onto the ship. I took my place at the bow as we all piled in. There wasn’t much space on the tiny craft, but as we started moving, I realized we didn’t need it. The winds filled our small sail well, and it wasn’t long before we were out of the inlet and slipping out into the open water.
I’d assumed that under the cover of night, there would be enough darkness to disguise our arrival, but as I looked up at the clear night sky with its massive expanse of stars and even a half-full moon shining down, I could see that wasn’t going to happen.
“Not even a cloud in sight,” I whispered, almost in awe. I’d never realized just how beautiful the night sky was before.
“Thank the gods.” Meerus kept his eyes on the stars and his hand on the rudder of the boat. “A small cloud brings many, and with it, the howling winds of the Bevira.” The name was unfamiliar to me, but it sounded like it was a massive storm.
I didn’t want to be caught by even a small storm with only a little parley boat between me and the angry sea.
Speaking of sea and angry, I turned my eyes back to the relatively calm waters. We weren’t alone out here, and I didn’t want to be caught off guard if we ran into one of the monsters again.
I felt a gentle tug on the ship and saw that we were starting to pick up speed, faster than the wind had been carrying us. I looked around, worried about what could be doing this, but none of the islanders looked concerned. A few moments later, I felt silly about it.
“It’s the current,” Meerus explained, seeing my look. “It’s what connects Kalames to the rest of the islands, allowing us to grow.”
I nodded. “I knew that,” I said with a grin. Leena chuckled softly, while Kalna simply shook her head, keeping her eyes on the water below.
A few hours passed in silence. The sea was calm, and the gentle waves barely rocked the small vessel as the current pushed us forward. The wind seemed to be there only to nudge us in the right direction. We were making good time. Even so, it was a while before we saw any land.
Before that, Kalna tapped me on the shoulder. In the moonlight, I could see the ripples of something moving against the current, pushing toward us. I pulled my sword out from the sheath, seeing it steaming gently as it usually did. Like it was telling me that it was ready for a fight.
Allow me.
I shook my head, pushing the feeling back. I needed to do this my own. I inhaled, drawing air into my body and releasing it, leaning over the edge of the bow as close to the approaching monster as I could. Then I slipped the tip of the blade into the water.
My consciousness slipped into the water too and pressed forward faster than our ship was moving. Less than a hundred paces ahead, I could feel the blackness. The inky, gooey, fleshy body of the monster moved toward us against the stream of the current.
I sank my consciousness into the sea around me. The temperature dropped, and spikes appeared in the water. I inhaled, and as I exhaled I used the power to send those ice spikes knifing through the ocean. Five of them spun through the water, and a second later, a roar vibrated through the night. Black, inky blood floated up to the surface, and inch by inch, the monster fell back, dying slowly and losing the power to fight against the current. It sank under its own weight, disappearing into the darkness of the water below.
I inhaled deeply, and now I was back on the boat again. A few moments of disorientation made me feel like I was going to fall off the small vessel, but Kalna caught me before I could.
“How do you feel?” she asked once I’d recovered.
I looked around, blinking, then looked down at my sword. “Good. Not bad at all. A little tired, though.”
Kalna chuckled. “That’ll pass shortly. How is the monster?”
“I’d imagine feeling a lot worse about its prospects.” I nodded as I slipped the sword back in its sheath, then smiled. It was an interesting accomplishment, to be able to use my power to that degree without needing the Darkness to take control. A small piece of hope started to fill me as I resumed my place at the bow, looking over the sea.
Long hours passed in silence as we kept careful watch over the water. As calm as the ocean was, I couldn’t imagine that it wasn’t heavily populated, but nothing else showed. No Trelan ships. No sea monsters. Nothing. As the moon disappeared and stars started winking out of view, I looked to the southwest, the direction the current was carrying us. A slip of land curled over the horizon. As we drifted closer, it grew larger until it filled the horizon in front of us.
“Kalames,” Meerus breathed with a small smile. “We’re on the far side. Since this is where the storms come, most of our towns and villages are built on the other coast.”
I nodded, again pretending that I knew anything about what he was talking about, and kept eyeing the island as it came closer. Eventually, the current broke away from the island, and we, in turn, broke away from it. Wind filled the sail again. Our pace was slowed to the point where the dark blue sky had started to turn grey as we approached the coast. It was a beach that went as far as the eye could see. I couldn’t believe this was only an island.
When we were close enough, the islanders jumped into the sea, splashing in the shallows as they started dragging the boat toward the beach. The other sailor joined Meerus in taking the sail down as Kalna, Leena, and I dropped out of the boat after grabbing our packs. The water was only about two feet deep, and the waves gently lapped at our calves as we waded toward the sand.
Once the boat reached the beach, the islanders dragged it onto the shore.
“No dock,” one of the sailors informed me. “We don’t want the high tide coming in and taking the boat away.”
I nodded.
“Get down!” Leena called before I could reply. I turned around to ask her what the problem was, but before I could do that either, I felt a gentle splash of warm liquid across my cheek. I turned to see the sailor staggering back, an arrow puncturing his throat. He coughed, choked, and fell back a few paces.
“Braks, get down!” Leena called urgently.
I knelt next to the poor boy. I hadn’t even asked his name. He couldn’t have been older than twenty—there wasn’t even the slightest hint of a beard on his chin.
More arrows cut through the air. Meerus dropped, another pair of arrows sticking out of his broad, bare chest. Leena had strung her bow in record time and was already returning fire. Kalna ducked behind the boat, but the rest of our crew were nursing injuries.
Something knocked the breath out of me as I rose to my feet. I looked down to see a long, black-feathered shaft jutting out from my chest. The pain made it difficult to breathe, and I could feel blood rising from my lungs into my throat.
“Braks!” Kalna called.
“Braks, no!” Leena shouted.
Allow me?
I nodded. “Fuck yes,” I roared, seeing blood splattering the sand in front of me. The pain withdrew as the Darkness rushed in to replace it. I reached down to grab the arrow that was stuck in my chest and dragged it out. Agony tore through my chest and shoulder as the barbed shaft came free, but as I looked down, the Darkness was beginning to fill the wound, healing it quickly as I flung the arrow back into the woods. I could see about a dozen or so men in black scale armor toting bows and shooting arrows at us.
The arrow I threw hit one of the men in the eye. He screamed in pain. Good.
I drew my sword and, with a roar, hurled it through the air as I charged across the sand toward the thick cover of trees the Trelans were using to protect themselves from Leena’s arrows.
One of the men slipped out of cover at just the wrong time. The sword took him through the chest, impaling him with enough force to send him back almost three feet, pinning his already-dead body to the tree behind him.
I attacked the Trelans with the force of one of Meerus’s gales. One man tried to draw his sword, but I was on him before his hand even reached the hilt. My hand punched through the black scale armor and carried right on through his ribs. I kept pushing until I felt a beating heart, and dragged it clear. The man coughed once before dropping to the ground, dead.
I didn’t need to be cruel. For all I knew, these men were slaves to the God-King’s will, fighting in the armies of the men that had enslaved wherever their home was. I could end their lives quickly and put them out of their misery.
“To hell with that,” I heard myself say. I could feel myself grinning as I charged into the rest of them. I didn’t even bother recovering my sword, using my hands and feet to cut them down, beating them into submission, reveling in the blood I could feel touching my face, my arms, and my hands.
“Braks!” I heard Kalna calling from far away. I turned. Was she hurt? Did she need my help? Oh gods, let her be calling me because there are more Trelans to kill, I thought.
Her hand gripped my shoulder like a vice and dragged me away from the man whose skull I was crushing.
“Braks, stop!” she shouted.
“Why?” I roared back, pushing her away and returning to my kill. I could feel her mind trying to invade mine through our link, but I savagely shrugged her off there, too. These men deserved it. They needed to die.
I suddenly felt her hands wrapping around my head, and like a knife, her consciousness invaded mine. She pushed at the Darkness swamping my body, fighting it back, forcing it down inch by inch. I didn’t want her to. It hurt. I screamed in agony, and I could hear that she was screaming too as my will to fight her off drifted away. All I could feel was her lying on top of me, her mind connected and fully melded with mine.
I opened my eyes, seeing her looking down at me. Her hair had come free of the bun and was covering me in a light, pearl-white curtain.
“Oh gods,” I whispered.
“Is that you, Braks?” she asked.
Of course, it was me. I nodded, closing my eyes again. Where had that come from? I looked around. The ground, the trees, and the sand beyond all bore the red print of what I’d just done. My fury had torn into those men. I couldn’t blame the Darkness anymore.
Hey, I just saved your life—
I pushed the voice down and locked it away in the back of my mind.
“Oh gods,” I said again, my eyes wide with horror. I turned around when I heard footsteps. Another man in black scale armor stepped out of the underbrush, his dark eyes showing the very same horror I felt soaking into every part of me.
Leena stepped closer, an arrow drawn and ready to be loosed, but the soldier tossed his sword away and quickly dropped to his knees.
“Mercy, Great One,” he begged, tears starting to stream from his eyes. “Mercy, please. We did not know of the arrival of one of the Blessed. Please, spare me your wrath. We did not know.”
I narrowed my eyes and looked up at Kalna, who shrugged.
Leena lowered her bow, looking equally confused. “Wait, which one of us is this great one?”
Chapter 9
Leena tied the man up while Kalna worked on helping me recover. One job was decidedly easier than the other, as Kalna found out. As I’d unleashed the Darkness, still refusing to call it by the name it had given itself, she was finding it difficult to push it back down and keep it there.
The captured man, for his part, showed no such resistance. As Kalna sat down with me, I found my focus being challenged by the fact that h
e was staring at me. I took a deep breath, trying to keep my mind on not letting the Darkness interfere with the elf’s work.
It was nice to feel Kalna gently massaging my temples. That was distracting, but in a very different way. The man’s almost reverent gaze could be pushed aside for the moment as I closed my eyes.
Kalna’s presence in my consciousness was soothing and calming, but there were images in her mind. The kind that I really didn’t want to have to consider. The view of me roaring, screaming bloody murder as I tore through the Trelans made me wonder just how much control I had.
There was a touch of amusement from her side of the connection as she leaned in closer, pressing a light kiss to my cheek.
“I know you feel out of control,” she whispered. “But you have us to help you.”
I smiled and nodded, letting her move in closer. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but the sensation was placid, like slipping into a warm bath on an icy day. Everything seemed to smooth over, and in a few moments, thoughts of killing and death—and more importantly, the enjoyment derived from them—were pushed under the surface. They were all still there, surging and fighting against it, but for the moment anyway, there was some semblance of control.
I wondered if there was any connection between Eira leaving and this sudden lapse. I’d had a connection with the three of them, and maybe with her moving farther away, my reliance on having everyone here with me for support allowed for that kind of breach.
There was also that tiny issue of having an arrow in your chest.
I shivered at the amount of anger that was in the voice now. Feeding its need for blood and gore had done little to sate its appetite. In fact, it only seemed worse.
I ignored the voice, closing my eyes and letting Kalna continue her efforts without any interference from me or it.
Almost too soon, I felt the warmth withdraw, leaving me with an aching need, but I opened my eyes and smiled, gently stroking her cheek.