Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  “Yes.” He nodded gravely. “Leviathan eat people, and I love you too much for you to be eaten, so please stay out of the water, for me.” Hayjen watched her emotions flicker across her face until settling into resignation.

  “I guess. I don’t want to be eaten.”

  “Me neither.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. She could have died. Those bastards threw her in the water expecting her to be eaten. Fury boiled through his veins. She was just a little girl. Dropping a kiss onto the crown of her head, Hayjen pulled back and chucked her under the chin. “It’s time for bed, little one.”

  “Awww…” she pouted.

  “None of that. Let’s go.”

  Mer skipped ahead, and bounded down the stairs leaving him behind. He took one last look at the sea, and put his fantasies of freedom behind him. There wouldn’t be any escape for him tonight. Hayjen strode to the stairs and descended into the belly of the ship. He wove around hammocks swaying from the ceiling, filled with sleeping slaves. He was one of the few men captured. Hayjen hadn’t believed the rumors that Scythians were stealing people. He was minding his own business fishing one day when he was stolen. His rigging was tied up, the ship approached and offered him help. They looked like a run of the mill merchant ship right up until the moment they knocked him out. When he woke up, he was cuffed to the wall bleeding with no idea where he was. He was alone at first, that is until Mer was captured a few weeks later. She looked so pitiful, sopping wet and shaking like a leaf. When she wouldn’t stop crying, one of the men cuffed her so hard behind the ear, she flew forward into the mast unconscious. Hayjen made a decision then. He’d protect her.

  She was a peculiar little girl, but she had wormed her way into his heart immediately. Even now, months later, he still didn’t know much about her family. Mer couldn’t remember much. He didn’t know if it was due to the blow to her head, her age, or her mind protecting her from a traumatic event.

  Hayjen spotted Mer swinging in her hammock. Carefully, he caught it, and gave her a stern look. “It’s time for bed.”

  “Okay.” She snuggled down and looked up at him expectantly. “A song?”

  Her angelic face, so full of hope, ensnared him. How could he say no? “One song. Just one.” He knelt down next to her and sang a song his mum used to sing to him as a child. Her eyes hooded as sleep tried to take her. At the end, she slipped her hand into his.

  “Prayer?”

  “Anything for you, baby girl.” He didn’t feel particularly thankful at the moment, but it calmed her. After uttering a few words of thanks, her little eyes closed and stayed closed. Hayjen brushed the blond fuzz from her cheek, admiring the planes of her face. She reminded him of his sister Gwen. After their parents died, he would tuck her into bed and say a prayer with her, even though he was only a handful of years older than she was.

  Mer released a soft sigh and smiled in her sleep. He could have lost her today. Rage bubbled at the thought. They had thrown her into Leviathan-infested waters. How did she survive? Leviathan were known for being extremely aggressive and eating just about anything. It didn’t make sense. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and wove through the swinging hammocks. He needed to have a word with the captain. He most likely would receive a whipping for saying anything. It wasn’t the first time, nor would it be the last.

  When Hayjen spotted Leth, it was all he could do not to tear his head off. Leth was an extremely tall, widely-built man with cheekbones so sharp you could cut yourself on them. The first mate had a particularly mean streak. He enjoyed causing suffering and pain. Hayjen had received lashes for just looking at the man the wrong way. He blew out a breath—he needed to execute this with care. Steeling himself, he strode toward Leth. The Scythian first mate spotted him and jerked his chin towards Hayjen, pulling the other Scythians’ attention. He clenched his jaw at the slurs thrown his way and halted before the group. “I need to speak with the captain.”

  Leth pushed off his chair and moved to stand in front of him. “The slave demands to see the captain. What does a slave need with the captain?”

  Hayjen tipped his chin up to meet the first mate’s eyes. “One of his slaves almost died today.”

  Leth chuckled, his cronies joining in. “Why would the captain care about that?”

  “Mer was thrown into the sea.”

  Leth’s face screwed up in disgust. “She was unscathed the last time I saw the little brat, unfortunately.”

  Several men crossed themselves. Something about Mer unnerved them and stirred their hate something fierce. “You threw her to the Leviathan.”

  “What concern is it of yours? She’s not your daughter.”

  He wasn’t getting anywhere arguing with this lout. “I think our captain would be very concerned that his first mate threw one of his valuables overboard.”

  The laughter cut off and Leth’s eyes narrowed, taking on a menacing glint. “Are you threatening me, slave?” His tone took on a dangerous edge.

  “No,” Hayjen replied softly. “I am giving you my oath that if the little girl is harmed, I will make the Leviathan look tame.”

  Waves crashed against the ship as the air around them filled with tension. “You dare to speak to me this way?” hissed Leth. “You are nothing but a blight on this world. Tonight you will be taught a lesson you will never forget, boy.”

  “So be it. It will change nothing.”

  The first mate seemed to swell in size, towering over Hayjen. “Tie him to the mast.”

  He didn’t fight as he was roughly seized and dragged to the mast. It didn’t matter if he fought. In the beginning, he had fought, but quickly he had learned they were all unnaturally stronger than him. Every once in a while, he would land a blow, but the majority of the time it was he that was hurt. Chain clipped into his metal manacle and bit into the abused flesh around his wrists. His hands were lifted above his head and his shirt cut from his back, exposing his healing lash marks to the cool air. This was going to hurt. He had calmed down for the sake of the girls on the ship to protect them as much as he could. One of the girls, Lera, had refused to sleep with a Scythian and was sentenced to forty lashes for disgracing her betters. He had stepped in and taken the punishment for her. She wouldn’t have survived the lashing.

  “Slave,” Leth’s voice leered. “Your very existence sickens me.”

  A sharp whistle, and then blinding pain. Hayjen choked back a cry as tears stung his eyes. It never got easier. He never became immune to the pain.

  “You think you’re better than us, but you’re not.”

  More pain.

  “You’re worthless.”

  His flesh opened.

  “When the time comes, taking your life will be a pleasure.”

  Another lash. The pain was so intense he couldn’t help the bellow that escaped his lips.

  “When you’re gone, little Mer will be mine,” Leth whispered in his ear.

  Hayjen threw his head back, crashing it into the first mate’s face. A satisfying crunch sounded. No one would hurt the little girl.

  “You’ll regret that,” Leth spat. “And so will the little slave.”

  “I think not,” a feminine voice purred.

  Hayjen froze. He didn’t recognize the voice. Slowly, he turned his neck and stared at the woman perched on the railing. Her shocking magenta eyes met his.

  “Let’s play a game, shall we?”

  Two

  Lilja

  Scanning the deck, Lilja took pleasure in the way the crew of Scythian men gaped at her. She doubted they had ever encountered someone like her and lived to tell the tale. No sign of any of the slaves, other than the one tied to the mast. They must be below. The tall warrior with the whip drew her attention as he turned towards her. His smile was sensual with a cruel edge. He was dangerous—she could see it in the way his body moved and the intelligent glint in his black eyes. She assumed he was one of the warlord’s older creations, a warrior bred and altered to be perfect. She had to be car
eful with this one.

  Cocking her head, she shifted so her naked thigh peeked out of her skirt, the moonlight highlighting her pale flesh. Would he take the bait? Most of the warlord’s warriors had so much testosterone running through their bodies that they couldn’t help themselves. The ringleader’s eyes followed her movement and relaxed a fraction, his gaze running over her exposed skin.

  Men. They were so easy to distract sometimes.

  She held back her disgust when he licked his lips. “It’s not safe for you to be wandering around at this time of night.” His cronies laughed around him.

  How unoriginal. Did they have a book that they all memorized? One with cliché lines to use on women? She shook her head, and allowed a smoky chuckle to emerge. Time to get down to business. “No, I assure you I am quite safe. It is your own health you should be worrying about.”

  “I highly doubt that.” The ringleader glanced at his men before meeting her eyes with a challenge. “You are quite alone. I, on the other hand, am surrounded.”

  Surrounded. How appropriate. He was surrounded, he just didn’t know it yet. Her crew was as silent as the night and just as deadly. Little did he know that they lurked in the shadows. There would be blood shed tonight, but it would not be hers. Her eyes sharpened when he took a step towards her.

  “I feel like I need to remind you that you are trespassing on my ship, Sirenidae whore.” The Scythian leader spat.

  So he knew what she was. Good. She wanted him to know it was a creature he deemed unworthy of life that had bested him. It would make her victory that much sweeter.

  “Do you know what we do with your kind? We use them and then toss them back to the Leviathan where they belong.”

  The threat hardly registered. She’d heard worse over the years from indoctrinated Scythians. Their hate for her kind was legendary. Anything different was condemned. That was part of the reason the Sirenidae disappeared into the sea hundreds of years ago. Scythia was becoming too powerful, too dangerous, too radical. Lilja’s eyes narrowed as his eyes scanned her again, lingering on areas he had no business looking at. His beastly nature was showing itself.

  “But I’ll make an exception for you. I like my women a little wild with some fight.”

  She slipped to the deck in a fluid movement and leaned against the rail, fighting to keep her disgust from her face. “When I spoke of games, that wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

  He shifted and Lilja tensed, knowing what would happen. In the space of a heartbeat he was pressed against her, his arms clasping the rail, caging her in. She wasn’t a short woman, but he made her feel downright delicate. The warrior was uncommonly large. Her jaw tensed when he dipped, his lips by her ear. She hated this part.

  “What kind of games would you like to play?” he hissed.

  She ran her hands up his huge chest and ignored the flare of heat she saw in his eyes. Her fingers fluttered along his collarbone, drawing designs as his breathing became labored. Lilja met his eyes and tipped up onto her toes. He wrapped his hands around her waist and dipped his head so she could speak to him. She met the eyes of a burly man strapped to the mast as she whispered in the warrior’s ear. “Lesson number one of hand-to-hand combat. Never let your opponent get too close.” She pressed at the base of his skull, using the death touch. His body went slack and crashed to the deck.

  There was a beat of silence before the other Scythians charged her. Lilja reached into the folds of her sarong and pulled her twin cutlasses from their sheaths. Her men exploded from the dark and scrambled up the sides of the ship, cutting Scythians down as she cleared a path to the slave tied to the mast. Several Scythians rushed into the fray from below deck, only to be mowed down, despite their biological advantages.

  Lilja eyed the slave’s back and grimaced. His flesh was laced with old scars and healing lashes that the new beating had ripped open—it was literally cut to ribbons. Would he survive such injuries? Lilja doubted it, but she wouldn’t leave him there to die tied to the mast. She slipped to the side and jerked back as his ice blue eyes clashed with hers. Pain, hate, and rage simmered in them, just waiting to be released. She leaned forward until their noses almost touched. “I am going to release you. Don’t attack me.” Lilja gave him a warning look before straightening and slicing open the ropes.

  “Behind you,” his hoarse voice warned.

  She ducked and slashed her cutlass across the calf of the Scythian attacking her. He bellowed and fell to his knees still viciously stabbing at her. Lilja deftly avoided his attacks and danced around him. She darted in and smashed her pommel against the back of his head. All fight went out of the giant as he crashed to the deck. Breathing hard, she pulled her eyes from the defeated Scythian to the carnage around her. Scythians littered the deck, moaning and cursing. Her gaze swept over her crew as they took care of any stragglers. Female shrieks, curses, and crying floated through the air announcing the arrival of the other slaves. Bedraggled women and girls poured out of the stairway led by her men. From the corner of her eye, she saw the male slave shuffle painfully over to the group.

  “Hayjen!” a little girl with silvery blond hair cried.

  Lilja’s eyes zeroed in on the child. Mer. They had found her niece. She glanced at Lilja as she wrapped her arms around the male, causing him to cry out and fall to his knees. Lilja’s heart pinched when there wasn’t any recognition in Mer’s eyes. This was the price of her ignorance and morals. Her family. Her niece should know her, but life wasn’t always fair.

  She cocked her head, intrigued as the group of girls surrounded the man, offering help. Curious. Every woman gazed at him with concern or adoration. She’d seen looks like those before. Hero worship.

  “Are you okay, Hayjen?” One of the girls asked.

  “I’m okay, Lera.”

  “Captain Femi?”

  She pulled her attention from the spectacle and raised an eyebrow in question at her first mate Blair. “Yes?”

  “Everyone on the ship is accounted for, Captain.”

  “Thank you.”

  “What would you have us do with all the slaves?”

  “That’s the question of the night, isn’t it, Blair?” What would they do with the other slaves? Their priorities were to retrieve the little girl, return her to her parents, and ruin a Scythian ship. It wasn’t until they had spotted the ship that they’d found out it was holding more kidnapped victims than just her niece. “I will deal with it.”

  Lilja strode to the group of slaves, halting five paces away. “Do you have a leader among you?” her voice cut through the dark night.

  The man hefted himself up, a groan of pain slipping out. He wiped at the sweat beading across his forehead and pushed his shoulders back, the corner of his eyes pinching. “I am.”

  He must have been in an inordinate amount of pain, yet he stood before her like a warrior. Lilja was impressed. The little Sirenidae girl placed her little hand on his large, weathered one.

  “I have a few questions,” Lilja stated.

  “I am sure you do, but how about you answer mine first?” His ice blue eyes narrowed. “What do you want with my people, pirate?”

  “Nothing, actually.” Pirate. She loved being called a pirate. “I hadn’t planned on a bushel of slaves being on this ship when I attacked. We love to cause the Scythians grief when we can. I fully intended to burn the ship.” The women gasped. “But rest assured, I don’t plan on leaving you on this ship while it burns. While I may be in the business of thievery, mayhem, and vengeance, I am not in the business of murder. So if you’d be so kind as to board my ship The Sirenidae without carrying on, I would be much obliged to you.” Lilja didn’t think his eyes could get much colder, but they did.

  “And what are you planning on doing with us once we board your ship? Do you have plans to sell us? Because I can tell you, we won’t go down without a fight if that is the case.”

  Lilja eyed him. “A prideful one, aren’t you? You’re beaten and broken, yet you stand before
me with dignity and demand answers. That takes courage.” She dipped her chin. “I’ll answer your questions. I despise slavery.” Lilja jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Just ask my crew, most of who I have rescued from some form of slavery. It’s a vile, evil practice that I have no aspirations to indulge in. I plan to drop you safely on Aermian soil, hopefully to never see you again.”

  He studied her, his eyes moving over her face like a physical touch. “What is your name?”

  “Captain Lilja Femi at your service,” she said as she dipped into a bow. “And to whom am I speaking?”

  “Hayjen Fiori.”

  “Well, Hayjen Fiori, what say you?”

  He looked at the women around him before turning back to her. “Do I have your solemn oath none of these women will be harmed in any way, and all will be returned to their families?”

  “I promise to give them means to reach their families and that they will come to no harm, but getting to their families will be their responsibility.”

  Lilja placed her hand on the railing to watch the sea as Hayjen whispered to the women surrounding him. She turned back around when the whispering subsided. Hayjen dipped his chin, his mouth pulled tight by pain. “We accept your terms.”

  “Great!” She slapped her hands together, and smiled at the women warmly. “Blair!” Her second in command started moving in her direction. “Blair will organize you so that we can move you safely to our ship The Sirenidae. If any of you need a healer, please let Blair know. May I speak with you for a moment in private, Hayjen?”

  He nodded and moved towards her in jerky movements, eyeing her like she was a Leviathan circling him. “Are any of the children yours?” Her question surprised him. He jerked and glanced over his shoulder at Mer, who was sitting on a barrel watching them.

  “Yes, the little one with the blond hair.”

  Lilja pursed her lips. He was lying. Why? Did he know Mer’s worth? “I have to say, she looks nothing like you.”

  “She’s adopted.”