Orion's Fall

by Cheree Alsop

  They motioned toward my chest as if I knew how the tattoos got there. They threatened to cut out my glowing eyes with motions that were more easily read than the fear, anger, and awe I saw on their faces. They asked things in tones of demand and sentences I didn’t understand. Their sounds were muffled, false, and their eyes were shifty and frightened as if they feared I would retaliate against their beating in some magical way. But no matter what I tried or how I struggled, the chains held and my own pleas fell on deaf ears until I stopped talking. They didn’t understand me as much as I didn’t understand them, until she spoke.

  “Why?”

  It was a simple word, yet it was the exact one that had repeated itself over and over while I hung in the cage. With the mention of that one syllable, her others had made sense, too. The language she spoke fell into place like a puzzle receiving its final piece. When she was dragged away and my captors came to investigate, I made the mistake of speaking back to them.

  “They know who you are!” the man with one eye and a strange contraption of gears built over the other said. “They can’t leave now!”

  “Who am I?” I had asked.

  The rage that filled the man’s gaze and the faces of his companions made my heart quell inside my chest.

  “You understand me?” he asked.

  “Now I do,” I replied.

  I tried not to sound afraid of the fire that burned in his one eye, but with my understanding of the language came another realization. They had known exactly what they were doing when they put me in that cage.

  “You lied to us!” a man with a tall hat and wrappings over both of his hands said.

  They were wrapped because he had bruised them on my body. I took a grim satisfaction in his discomfort.

  His eyes narrowed and he lifted his fists. “You were supposed to save us.”

  I shook my head and tried to lift my hands in protest, but it was impossible with the way I hung. His first punch cracked my head back and stars danced in my vision. I wished they would stay there. Stars were so much less hostile than my captors. His second punch caught me in the stomach. I wanted to double over with the pain, but the chains kept me from moving.

  “You’ve made shark fodder of us,” the one-eyed man said. “They know the prophecy, and we can’t outrun a Class Seven Warship!”

  “Class Seven, are you sure?” one of the others asked.

  The one-eyed man glared. “They can pretty her up and turn her into a Trader, a Flit, or even a Hauler, but I’d recognize a Warship anywhere. Keel gun holes and reinforced masts are hard to hide.” He turned his glare back on me as he spoke to the men around him. “I told you this haul wouldn’t be worth the bounty, prophecy or not. Now he’s the death of us.”

  He hit me again hard enough to make the chains rattle. A blow to my ribs made the breath leave me in a harsh whoosh.

  “My turn!” another called out.

  Fresh knuckles connected with my jaw and everything went dark.

  The next thing I knew, the girl was trying to free me from the chains. Three of the manacles were unlocked. I had to get away before they returned. Only her plea for me to trust her calmed the whirlwind of my thoughts.

  Now she hung lifeless in the water, her eyes closed and the remnants of fear still visible in the clench of her jaw and the furrow of her brow. Her long blonde hair hung around her face in a golden wave. She was beautiful in her stillness. She had given her life to save me. I refused to let that be a fatal decision.

  I swam to the floor beneath the ladder. Crouching, I gathered every ounce of strength I had left. I leaped upward and used the ladder rungs to propel me faster. I hit the closed hatch far harder than the girl’s assault had been. The force jarred whatever had been above it free and the hatch opened. The water surged upward into the new space. I grabbed the girl and let the momentum carry us without struggling.

  It took only a few strokes to reach the next hatch and rise up with the water. The girl sputtered and then sucked in a breath, but didn’t open her eyes. The pallor of her skin worried me. After the bravery she had shown, I wasn’t about to let her die in some raggedy ship if I could help it. I held her head above the water and struggled toward the next hatch.

  It wasn’t until I reached the deck that I realized how much trouble we were in. Rain poured from roiling clouds nearly as dark as the sea below. Waves crashed over the deck in quick succession. A sizzling sound was drowned out only when the thunder rumbled. The ship crackled as though the entire hull was charged with lighting. With each wave that breached the deck, I could feel the ship slipping lower into the water.

  There was nobody else in sight. A quick check showed that any escape crafts were gone. I stood there with the unconscious girl in my arms and the water up to my knees. Instinct warned me that there was death in staying with a sinking ship, though the darkness of the sea beyond whispered the same.

  I shifted the girl to my right arm and grabbed a wooden crate with my left. I had no idea how long we would be in the water. All I knew was that it was cold, dark, and the waves were rising to heights higher than my head. We would need all the help we could get.

  I levered the girl onto the crate the best that I could and lowered into the water. I shoved us away from the boat and swam hard, pushing the crate in front of me. The waves tried to drive us back toward the sinking ship, but I refused to let us be caught in the vacuum it would create when it went under.

  A buzzing sound intensified behind me. I glanced back and my heart clenched.

  The giant blue orb that resided at the front of the ship had become almost completely submerged in the water. As the liquid closed over it, the orb grew. It expanded to take up the front of the bow, then all the way back to the mast. As the waves crashed higher, the sizzling, buzzing sound increased. A glance to my right showed a wave taller than the ship. I should have pushed the crate faster, but I could only watch as the massive wave crashed over the top of the orb.

  When it was submerged completely, a deafening silence fell over the sea. The sound of the waves, the rolling thunder, and the pounding rain fell away to leave a nothing that was more terrifying than the anger of the raging storm. Everything was sucked toward the orb. I struggled with the crate, pulling backwards against the waves, but the force was too strong.

  Just before we reached the boundary of the ship, the orb exploded. The force of the water hit us so hard we flew into the air. I tried to hold onto the girl, but her hand slipped from mine. The shadow of a massive wave fell over me. I sucked in a breath. The wave crashed and I was shoved deep into the water.

  I swam frantically for the surface. As soon as my head breached, I looked around for the girl, but she was nowhere to be seen. The rest of the ship was going under, and the orb on the other end began to grow. I rode the waves, struggling to keep my head above the water. I crested the top of a huge surge. The sight of a crate with a pale hand holding onto it made my heart skip a beat.

  “Hold on!” I yelled.

  I swam down the side of the wave and struggled up the next. Each glimpse I caught of the girl showed her to be further away. My arms and legs felt as though they weighed a thousand pounds. My head ached from the beating I had taken, and it hurt bad enough to breathe I knew they had cracked at least one rib. With each wave, I could see the girl getting farther away. It felt hopeless, but I refused to stop trying. I yelled for her, but she didn’t respond. Soon, she was only a tiny figure on the top of the dark water.

  The last orb exploded. The force threw me across the sea as if I was a leaf. I slammed into the side of a wave so hard it jarred my senses. I couldn’t see which way was up. The water was so dark, I had nothing to use as a reference. My ears popped. I fought to hold onto the small breath I had managed to gulp before hitting the water. Something smashed against my back and the breath escaped. I sucked in the water involuntarily.

  To my surprise, instead of choking on the liquid, my lungs took in the water. When I breathed it back out, I felt as though I
had taken a small gulp of air. I drew in another mouthful of water. It was against everything I knew to take it into my lungs, but I was out of options. I sucked in, fought back the urge to gag, and was surprised when it filled my lungs without a problem.

  The water wasn’t nearly as fulfilling as air, but each gulp I took in and let back out at least kept me from drowning. Though I couldn’t say why that should be, I was very grateful. A bubble escaped my lips. I stared as it made its way toward my feet. Air was lighter than water. The bubble was heading toward the surface. With at least some sense of direction restored, I was about to kick in the trail of the bubble when something caught my eye.

  A light wove through the darkness. It looked at first as though it was a simple, beautiful golden orb. The water around it glowed and the circle of light waved back and forth in a mesmerizing motion. It looked as though it was a great distance away, but when I blinked, I realized the globe was nearly to me. I shifted my gaze slightly to the side and fear gripped me in its tight grasp.

  The orb was connected by a long antenna to a sea creature so big I could only see its teeth which were nearly transparent and as tall as I was. The creature was moving from side to side in an attempt to dislodge something from its fangs. A closer look revealed it to be the crate.

  I dove beneath the orb and peered into the enormous mouth. There, with her hand still caught in the crate, lay the girl along the fish’s tongue. More of the massive teeth spiked around her, but where she lay, they had been flattened back. It looked as though she was trapped in a cage. Only the crate stuck in the fish’s teeth kept her from being swallowed completely. She didn’t move and her color wasn’t good. My heart clenched at the thought that she was probably dead.

  The girl’s head tipped at that moment and a bubble escaped her lips. The tiny bit of air gave me hope. If she had any left in her body, she might still have a chance.

  The crate was wedged between two of the fish’s crooked fangs at the corner of its mouth. It opened and closed its jaws in an effort to free the annoying object. I swam to that side and waited with my heart thundering in my ears. The moment it opened its massive mouth again, I grabbed the teeth and used them to propel my way through. At the feeling of something else in its teeth, the sea creature tried to close its mouth again, but I was past before it could skewer me.

  I stepped carefully on the teeth that were bent inward. They moved with my weight, designed to flatten for objects to be swallowed, but to raise up if anything tried to escape. A shudder ran down my spine at the thought of being impaled on the massive, deadly sharp fangs.

  I knelt next to the girl and touched her face. Her head lolled back and her eyes stayed closed, but her body convulsed. The lack of air was killing her. I sucked in several mouthfuls of water and felt the strange way my lungs worked to separate the oxygen from the liquid. It took some concentrating, but I was able to force up the precious air.

  I put my lips to the girl’s, pinched her nose, and blew the breath into her mouth. Her chest rose as her body accepted the air. The girl doubled over. She opened her mouth to draw in more water, but I put my mouth to hers again before she could drown herself.

  Her eyes flew open. I found myself looking into her fear-filled blue gaze lit by my glowing eyes. She coughed and I drew back, but waved my hands before she tried to breathe. Panic overtook her expression when she realized she was under water and to breathe meant death.

  Carefully, gently, I took her face in my hands and put my mouth against hers. She breathed in as I let the air into her mouth. It was the strangest, most unsettling feeling knowing that her life depending on the air I gave her. It felt like far too much power to have over someone, and yet, when I drew back, her hand gripped my arm tightly in fear.

  I motioned toward the teeth. The girl’s eyes widened. Her gaze flickered to the crate. She tried to pull her arm free, but her wrist was wedged between two thick slats. I grabbed one of the pieces that had broken free in the creature’s mouth and jammed it between them. A quick shove was followed by a crack, and then the girl was out.

  She tapped on my arm. When I looked at her, she motioned toward her mouth. I sucked in another breath and gave it to her. My head spun when I moved back and I had to grab one of the fangs for support. Whatever my body was doing to draw the oxygen from the water couldn’t support us both for long. We needed to reach the surface before I passed out.

  I motioned toward the teeth. The fish had stopped opening and closing them, apparently content with the crate as long as it meant we couldn’t escape. I picked up the same piece of wood I had used and hit the teeth with it. Instead of opening like I hoped, the fish’s jaws closed tight enough that the girl and I had to crouch to avoid being skewered by the teeth that lined the top of its mouth.

  The girl held out her hand. I set the piece of wood in it. She approached the teeth with a determined look on her face. Instead of attempting to pry them apart like I thought she would, she grabbed the wood in both hands like a spear and stabbed it into the fish’s gums at the base of its fangs.

  The creature’s mouth flew open. The girl swam through and I followed. The fish’s teeth snapped shut just short of my ankles. I kicked hard and sped toward the surface. The girl clawed frantically at the water. I could tell her air was almost out, but I was afraid if we stopped, the enraged fish would catch up to us.

  A glance behind me showed the giant fish shaking its head back and forth in an attempt to dislodge the stick. The piece dangled from between its teeth. As I watched, the wood detached and floated free. The fish’s gaze locked on me. I swore the intelligence that simmered there rivaled what I had seen in my captors’ eyes on the boat.

  I kicked to catch up to the girl, but the beast was faster. Its mouth opened and the pointy teeth glimmered as it prepared to make us its dinner once more. The girl looked down at me and her eyes widened in fear. I put myself between her and the fish. At the last second, I grabbed the orb that dangled in front of the fish’s mouth. It jerked in surprise, but continued its rush. I grabbed the girl’s hand before she could be swept up in its mouth.

  The fish’s momentum carried us to the surface and above. The scaled body writhed in the open air. The fish arched with us holding desperately to its antennae. It dove back toward the water with surprise in its gaze at the breech. We would be easily picked off if it brought us to the depths again, but letting go would also make us an easy target. The girl sputtered beside me as she held tightly to my hand. We both watched with terror as the water neared once more.

  Lightning flashed and for a split second illuminated the water below. My heart sped up at the sight of a mouth far bigger than the one we had been trapped inside. White, serrated fangs broke the surface. The girl let out a shriek. The fish writhed beneath us, but couldn’t change the path of its decent. It plummeted toward the closing jaws and carried us with it.

  The teeth snapped shut just before the antennae was completely inside, leaving us hanging on the tip of the creature’s snout. To my surprise, it didn’t immediately dive and take us back to the midnight depths. Instead, I found myself looking down at a slit nose that twitched back and forth. Long whiskers wiggled from either side of the snout. Short brown hair covered the muzzle.

  The antennae twitched as the fish protested its capture, but I didn’t regret being on the outside of the fangs while it was on the inside. On impulse, I lowered my legs and stepped onto the snout.

  “What are you doing?” the girl asked in a voice close to panic.

  I tried to reply, but when I sucked in a breath, it warred with the water in my lungs and sent me into a coughing spasm. I doubled over with one hand on the antennae and the other on the nose of whatever creature held us at its mercy. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be in a huge hurry. Despite the waves that thrashed around us, the animal stayed afloat and waited as I fought to clear the water from my chest.

  By that time, the girl had slid down as well. She stood next to me with a hand on my back.

  “Br
eathe,” she said. “Just concentrate on breathing.”

  I closed my eyes and let the soothing cadence of her voice calm my frantic thoughts. I coughed and the water came up. I turned my head and spit it to the side as discreetly as I could manage given the circumstances.

  “That’s it. Just breathe. You’ve got this,” she said, her voice calm as though we weren’t in a tumultuous sea with the fangs of our doom inches from our feet.

  The thought struck me as hilarious, and when the next round of coughing broke out, I could hear the edge of hysterical laughter kept just at bay.

  I sucked in a shuddering breath, held it long enough to ensure I wasn’t about to go into another coughing attack, and straightened.

  “Are you alright?” she asked.

  Her blue eyes were full of concern when she looked up at me. In my mind’s eye, I saw her unconscious in the water, her blonde hair a pale cloud waving around her as her body moved at the whim of the waves. She had all but died, and she was concerned about me?

  “I’m fine,” I croaked through my worn throat. “Come on.”

  She followed me to the top of the nose. We both looked down and I heard her gasp. Big round brown eyes stared up at us from a domed head sleeked with mottled fur. Bony spikes ran in ridges from the top of each eye down its back and disappeared beneath the waves. The creature was keeping in place waving flippers tipped with massive claws back and forth in the water.

  “What is that?” I whispered for fear of alarming it.

  “I don’t know,” the girl replied.

  Very slowly, with its eyes locked on us, the animal lowered its head. I climbed onto the bridge of its nose and helped the girl do the same. As soon as we were level, the creature opened its mouth just enough to grab the rest of the antennae. In one gulp, the fish moved from its mouth to its belly. The animal blinked, but kept its gaze on me, which made it nearly cross-eyed since we were now standing closer to it.

  “I think your eyes are controlling it.”

  I glanced over at the girl’s voice. Her eyes shone bluer with the reflection of my own. When I looked back at the animal, I found the same blue reflection in its irises.