by Rosie Scott
In our absence, Vallen and Jayce had used their greater expertise of swampy land to build temporary lodging and defenses. They chopped more trees down in the north for lumber; the wood revealed itself in the small shacks built on pilings throughout the shallow water that crept farther and farther east. Barricades made of thick wood wrapped in thorny vines from the plants on the eastern side of the island blocked passage between lodges from the north. No ship awaited on the northern shores of the Forks, but I assumed that was where the last pirates disembarked if Vallen and Jayce prepared defenses against an assault from that direction.
Despite all the new buildings they erected, tents spotted the long grasses between the standing water of the marshes and the elevated hill we stood on now, many of them risking the angled land. It was necessary, because there were hundreds of people here.
Alderi, Vhiri, human, and some Celds worked together to build temporary housing and erect defenses. An eagle-kin soared over the swamps in the west, on the lookout for uninvited guests from the seas. A few fishers descaled and gutted their catches of the day. Hunters prepared meat from local fowl and mammal. Others rationed out rainwater for drinking or other tasks. I couldn't find Vallen, Jayce, or Cyrene from here; there were far too many moving people to search through.
A piercing whistle sliced through the air, tugging our gazes to a human woman who stood watch on the hill, bow in hand and her brown-eyed glare on us. Her warning made all those who heard it glance up from their tasks to assess whether or not we were a threat.
“Are you mercenaries?” the guard called out, her voice loud and tone confident.
“Yes,” I replied, hoping my gravelly voice reached her human ears clearly enough.
Behind the human and in the tiny makeshift village, a door of a shack burst open on its hinges so hard it bounced off the exterior wall with a crack. Within the millisecond, Vallen walked through, his dark eyes searching. As soon as he saw us, he grinned ear to pointy ear and exclaimed, “I'd recognize that voice anywhere, you damn chain-smoker!”
All my worries and fears faded for the moment, kicked out of my head by his incessant optimistic friendliness. Vallen jogged between structures and people to get to us as we descended the hill toward him. As soon as he reached us, I held out a hand for a casual shake, but he grabbed me into a lung-collapsing bear hug.
“You're unstoppable, my friends,” Vallen complimented as we parted, going on to squeeze Koby tight and then Jaecar like we'd been lost at sea for decades. He kissed Hilly noisily on the cheek before hoisting her up onto his shoulders, to which she grinned like an idiot at the attention. Holding tight onto her dangling stubby legs, he turned to me and asked, “Did you get my letter?”
“I did.”
“So you know about my suspicions that ol' Cale is coming back here sooner or later,” Vallen surmised.
“Your suspicions are right,” I said in affirmation. “We know he's coming back, and he's likely planning a larger assault. We're not just here to check up on you; we'll be staying until I rip him apart.”
“Ah,” Vallen flinched back a bit, surprised by my intensity. “It sounds like you have to update me as much as I have to update you.”
“Things have taken a turn,” I admitted, grimacing as I noticed Jayce hurrying toward us through the crowds after overhearing her brother's earlier boisterous greeting. It baffled me how I could fearlessly jump into life or death predicaments, yet a simple unfortunate conversation filled me with dread.
“Is everything all right?” Vallen asked, sobering at my somber mood. He put Hilly back down on the ground and asked, “You didn't lose the ship already, did you?”
I would've found his assumption humorous under other circumstances. “No. The ship is in excellent condition. It was a successful voyage, all things considered.”
Jayce jogged up the hill toward us, her eyes scanning our group for Kali. Fervent energy exuded from her; she visibly trembled with excited anticipation of being reunited with her lover. While searching, she called, “Kali!”
She didn't notice the morose expressions on our faces, but her brother did. Vallen's eyes started widening in understanding as I tried to work up the courage to deliver the bad news.
“Jayce,” I blurted to get it over with.
Jayce continued searching like she hadn't heard me. “Where's my girl?”
Nausea dominated my gut. I swallowed hard. “Kali, uh...she didn't...”
Jayce's eyes swept to mine and stuck, betraying a mixture of confusion and expectation.
Find your words. I cleared my throat. “Kali didn't make it.” I expected a reaction. Tears, anger, sadness, mourning. Instead, my words didn't seem to register in her mind. Though Vallen immediately cursed and ran a hand down his face in reaction, Jayce did nothing.
“What do you mean she didn't make it?” Jayce retorted, her confusion becoming fierce as anger added itself to the mix. “What didn't she make? What does that even mean?”
Perhaps she didn't understand because she didn't want to. I inhaled sharply and explained, “We ran across Cale near Killick. We thought we could take him out then—”
“Enough about Cale,” Jayce interrupted harshly, stalking over to stand just before me. “Where the fuck is Kali?”
“Sister,” Vallen protested. “Let him speak.”
“Kali's dead,” I said bluntly, hoping to get through to her. “Cale and I were fighting. He got the upper hand when he took to the skies. Kali came to my defense, and...” I exhaled shortly. “He killed her.”
Jayce was as stiff as a statue for the moment. Finally, her pupils intensely dilated and her trembling returned. A soft whistle alerted me to an object hurtling through the air; then, lights flashed through my vision as I stumbled back, at the mercy of a great force to my left cheekbone.
“It was your job to defend her!” Jayce's hoarse scream rattled through my skull, worsening the new headache that had its decrepit fingers burrowed in my brain. Iron permeated my taste buds from a split inner lip. Helpful hands at my back kept me standing; one of Jayce's bronzed fists swung across my view as she tried for another punch. Vallen grabbed his sister by the waist and pulled her back before her second hit could land.
“I could do nothing!” I shouted back, spitting a mist of blood, my voice heavy with agonizing guilt. “I was injured and in the seas. All I could do was watch. I have replayed that moment over and over and fucking over in my head to berate myself for the things I did or didn't do. Do you think I would've just let her die? I cared for Kali. If there was anything I could've done to protect her, I would have done it at risk of my own life!”
“Let me go, brother!” Jayce howled, thrashing back with fists and boots. “I will kill him! I swear to the gods, I'll kill him!”
“Calm down, Jayce!” Vallen argued, still holding tight to his sister's waist even as many of her punches landed. “Calder is not the enemy here!”
“We all tried to protect her,” Hassan interjected in my defense. “It was in doing the same for us that Kali died.”
“None of you,” Jayce blurted, hyperventilating in her brother's arms. “None of you care. None of you stopped it.”
“Sister,” Vallen said carefully, holding her close. “Please. Think about this.”
“Oh, I'm thinking about it,” Jayce retorted, giving me a crazed neurotic stare. “Tranferra sel ti kin a blud.”
“Shit,” Vallen cursed, letting go of his sister. She fell to the ground, convulsing with the first changes of her transformation. As Jayce's spine grew longer and broke through flesh and fabric to build a tail, Vallen turned to the gawking bystanders and screamed, “We need a tranquilizer!”
The directive rippled through the crowds. With my vision still vibrating from the brutal punch, I stumbled back from Jayce as her body bulked with muscle and rapidly thickening reptilian flesh. I couldn't tell if her violent reaction was because of the extremely volatile mix of emotions bombarding her at once, or if she'd snapped for good.
&n
bsp; “What do we do?” Koby asked Vallen in a panic. “If she attacks us like this, do we...?”
Vallen ignored the question for now, rushing down the hill. “For gods' sake, we need a tranquilizer!”
“I've got it, Vallen! I've got it!” Cyrene hurried through the crowds from one of the lodges, a blowgun in hand. I hadn't seen one of the weapons since my first transformation in Silvi, and I had never witnessed one being used. Hopefully it was powerful enough to prevent this unfortunate situation from becoming another tragedy.
Vallen skidded to a stop once he saw Cyrene and pivoted, running with her back up the hill to us. Jayce appeared more like a crocodile than a woman at this point; tatters of her clothes sprinkled around her writhing body, some shreds clinging onto her still-developing scales using her blood as an adhesive.
“Now, Cy,” Vallen pleaded, breathing hard as his sister's transformation came to a close. “If that doesn't penetrate her scales, you'll have to shoot for the mouth.”
Cyrene stopped a short distance away and lowered to one knee. She inhaled deeply and lifted the blowgun to her mouth. Exacting green eyes scanned over the thick scales of Jayce's body as the crocodile-kin completed her transformation. As our group scattered back in defense, Jayce whipped her giant head around, her crushing jaws spreading to reveal all her fangs with a sputtering hiss. Crazed reptilian eyes found me and thinned to slits.
Pfft!
Jayce's eyes calmed with the onset of languor. Painted feathers shone a bright orange from the back of a dart that had pierced the roof of her mouth. Her jaws shut with the clacking of teeth. The crocodile-kin appeared confused and disoriented. Her tail twitched sporadically as she spun in a slow circle. Her eyes zoned in on the nearby swamps, and she crept toward the water, her movements jerky and directed by instinct. Halfway to the shallow water, the drug finally reached her brain through the bloodstream; Jayce's giant scaled head slumped to the ground as she fell asleep.
Vallen bent over, putting his hands on his knees to try and calm his panic. “Good gods, Cyrene, your hesitation nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Cyrene stood, throwing her mane of golden-brown hair back over her shoulder. “I suppose now it's safe to tell you I had only one dart. Accuracy was paramount.”
“Yeah...” Vallen stood up straight and ran a hand through his dark hair, still appearing disquieted. “It's a good thing you didn't say that earlier.”
Holding the blowgun in a careful hand, Cyrene turned her gaze to me. She noted my split lip and upset demeanor. “This isn't the best time for greetings, but welcome back regardless. It sounds like you had a chaotic trip.”
I released a shaky sigh. For now, I didn't want to go into details until we could get settled and far, far away from Jayce. “How have things been here?”
Cyrene stared at where the crocodile-kin slept near the waterside, surrounded by leery bystanders. “Would you believe me if I told you they were uneventful until you showed up?”
Twenty-seven
A lone lamp sat at the center of the shack, aglow with a single magical light. I stared at its natural pulsation in silence as I lit the seventh cigarette I planned to smoke since moving indoors. Koby, Jaecar, Hassan, Cyrene, and Vallen surrounded the lamp, all sitting directly on the floor. I felt their stares and nearly heard the questions they mentally considered asking me before allowing them to leave their lips. Otherwise, the tiny lodge was quiet, save for Jaecar's chewing as he ate dried mushrooms as a snack and Cyrene's rustling in her knapsack as she looked for something that likely didn't exist just to take up time.
I inhaled from my cigarette, but I was already high. I couldn't get more high. The side of my face was swollen from Jayce's punch, and the inside of my lip was so split I still tasted the bitterness of the wound, yet I felt no pain. The ferris masked that, at least. Jayce's outburst and accusations coalesced with my own self-doubts, and the result was brutal to my pride and sense of self-worth. I was used to judging myself and all my mistakes harshly and unfairly; this was the first time someone close had taken that a step further and spewed more bitterness to dwell on. Kali had died half a year ago, yet the confrontation between Jayce and me made the tragedy seem raw and unsettled.
“Calder,” Vallen began tentatively, his voice low and hesitant. “I want to apologize profusely for what happened today. I should have been more vigilant. When Jayce is angry, she's so...quick.” He cleared his throat. “Regardless, that's no excuse. I failed you today, and I'm sorry.”
The stream of smoke that billowed into the air was uneven in shape and force, evidence of my shaky exhale. “You apologize to me without even knowing if Jayce was right.”
Even without looking at Vallen I could sense his bafflement. “Right? Right about what?”
“What if I could have stopped it? Kali's death?” I pondered aimlessly, still glaring at the magical light.
“Then you would have done everything in your power to do so,” Vallen replied.
“How do you know? You weren't there.”
“I wasn't there, but I know you,” Vallen said with confidence. “Do not let the thoughtless things my sister says during a time of unrest get to you. Jayce is mentally disturbed on her best day. Add tensions and tragedies and she can say or do things that don't make a lick of sense.”
“Should we avoid Jayce from now on?” Koby asked. “If it weren't for Cyrene's intervention—”
“Jayce would have killed Calder or died trying,” Vallen admitted. It was his turn to stare into the light as he contemplated our complex situation. “But I guarantee you, once she comes to, she will act like a different person. She might mention what happened, she might not. Either way, if you cannot find a fun or happy angle to something, don't mention it to her. Jayce tends to block out bad memories. She doesn't understand how to process sadness or mourning. She knows only happiness and anger.”
As easy as it had been to befriend Vallen, I'd struggled to get close to Jayce. Some people—like Neliah—were hard to get to know at first because they were purposely distant or distrusting. With Jayce, it instead seemed like something beyond her control kept her from forming normal friendships. Everything was surface-level with her, like discussing meaningless small-talk with an acquaintance one might never see again. Yet, after having spent so much time casually with Jayce over the last few years, she was prepared to maul me to death simply because I was the bearer of bad news. Suddenly, I came to a conclusion that was a long time coming.
“No matter how hard I try, I will never truly know her,” I stated, with just an edge of sadness.
Vallen sighed heavily. “I am the person who knows her most in the world, Calder. I have looked after her for two and a half centuries. I love her dearly. Yet, sometimes I still look at my sister, and I don't know who I see.”
Though Vallen had confided in me to sympathize, it only made me feel worse for him due to the heavy longing and regret on his tone.
Vallen noted my continued silence and looked to Koby. “Tell us about your voyage,” he requested. “I'm curious to hear how you got yourselves involved in a battle with Cale and still ended up safely delivering your goods on either end of the trip.”
Koby relayed the whole story from departure to return. Though he told Vallen and Cyrene about the leviathan's part in our battle, he left out my specific plans for it. It made sense; save for Ajax and our crew, we'd confided in no one about that in particular. But we could trust Vallen, and even if Cyrene thought the plan was dumb, she had no concerns other than Misu and had no reason to sabotage us.
“I have a plan,” I finally spoke up, putting my latest cigarette out on my boot. “That leviathan took out a handful of ships like it was nothing, so we're going to use it to take out the whole gang.”
Vallen chuckled. After a moment of silence, he said with realization, “You're serious.”
With Jaecar and Koby chiming in from time to time with their ideas, I explained my complicated master plan. Cyrene listened in silence, appearing not to b
elieve such a strategy would ever come to fruition. Vallen, on the other hand, hung on my every word, absolutely entertained by the prospect.
“I need a navy to lure these pirates and move them in the right position for this to work,” I concluded. “A mercenary navy. And to get that, I need to get men on my side. Lots of them.”
“Then you're in luck,” Vallen replied with a grin, leaning closer to the lamp so its light cast an eerie upward glow on his golden face. “Did you see all those warriors outside? They're all here in part because of you. The best thing you could've done to prove to them your crew is worthy of leadership is show up, which you have. You said you're here to stay until you exact revenge on Cale and squash out his influence. Once the battle is over and Cale is dead, I promise you're gonna have a whole lot of people willing to follow you into battle. Especially considering Koby's idea of picking small fights and freeing slaves on land and on the seas. You'll grow a navy of misfits in no time.” He clapped once with glee. “Hell, Calder, with the way you and Koby are growing your business and now a rebellion, when you finally decide to start that underground civil war, you're gonna have a hell of a chance of winning it.”
Time stopped. A heatwave pulsed through my chest as my heart pounded doubly as hard to abide by my rising panic. Not once in my life had I ever discussed the prospect of an underground civil war with anyone other than Koby, because it wasn't my idea. Koby evidently made going back underground his life's goal, while it remained my greatest fear.
The shack we occupied was already small, but it shrunk, gleefully suffocating me as I fought off an impending panic attack with drugs and heavy breathing. Vallen stiffened as he realized something had changed my tune; he looked over at Koby, who shrunk just as quickly as the room.
“You have plans to start an underground war with our sisters?” Jaecar asked, oblivious to the tension in the air. His voice echoed and repeated in my head, which only amplified the silence that followed his question.