“That’s enough about it, missy,” Nila grabbed the book from Eden’s grasp, shutting it with a thud and placing it high up on top of an unreachable cupboard. “No more stories. I think it’s time for bed now, dear.”
With some resistance, Eden was put to bed. The straw mattress she shared with her parents was uncomfortable, but mama and papa had promised Eden her own bed when she was old enough.
As the night rolled on, Eden couldn’t sleep. Her mind was far too distracted, imagining all sorts of strange scenarios.
Where did it come from? Why is it here? Did I really see a sprite?
She was certain she had.
Nila eventually came to bed, changing out of her grubby clothes and into a thin white nightgown.
Eden faked being asleep, shutting her eyes each time Nila looked her way. She knew she should have been asleep by then.
Eden always thought her mother looked so angelic in that gown. Eden shut her eyes tightly as she could, pretending to be asleep as Nila rolled over beside Eden, gazing down to check if she were asleep.
The evening was cool and still as Nila drifted off to sleep.
In the dark, Eden thought she heard a rustle by the small window. She glanced up through Rea’s cold blue moonlight. The noise had come from outside.
Eden rubbed her eyes and yawned. She looked down to see Jasper lay beside her on the floor, fast asleep like the little guardian he was.
Probably just a bug or something.
She rested her head back down, darkness beginning to overtake her thoughts as she drifted off to sleep.
“Psst.”
Eden shot up out of her bed. She was sure she had heard a voice that time, almost like a loud whisper on the wind.
She quietly tip-toed to the window and peered outside but couldn’t see anything. Only the dark silhouettes of the ash and oak trees swaying gracefully in the breeze, showering the fields with a light blanket of leaves.
And then it appeared, so suddenly that Eden fell backwards in shock.
A sprite buzzed in through the window, sounding like a wasp. Its wings fluttered so fast and delicately that she could not even see them move.
The moons’ light shone brilliantly off its blue and black glossy exoskeleton. Its huge round eyes glowed as it hovered mid-air, staring back at the gawking Eden.
“I knew you were real!” Eden announced with glee.
The sprite shook its head and flew closer and brought its little finger up to its mouth, almost like it was indicating for her to keep quiet.
“Shh,” the sprite whispered.
It gestured for Eden to follow it outside. Transfixed by the sight before her, Eden eagerly did so, tiptoeing out of the bedroom.
As she left, Eden made sure to remain silent. She did not want to wake Jasper or her mother.
Eden stepped out into the brisk night. She ran barefoot over to the window where she had seen the sprite, and gleefully smiled when she spotted it once again.
The sprite smiled and waved back at her. Eden thought its huge bug-like eyes were adorable.
“My name is Eden.”
“I am Kesh,” the sprite said. Its voice was high-pitched like a squeak. “Come, follow me! I have a gift for you.”
“A gift?”
The sprite flew off towards the woods. Eden turned back to double check that Nila hadn’t awoken. She remembered what her mother had said and the rules she promised not to break again.
The sprite hovered several metres away, gesturing for her to follow.
Eden looked back and forth, unsure of what to do before finally deciding to follow the beautiful creature. She sensed she could trust it.
The midnight winds howled as Eden ran barefoot into the woods, following the buzzing of her newfound sprite friend. In the distance, she could hear Jasper barking.
Was he alright?
Eden could smell the damp, earthy texture of the forest as it enveloped her. She was beginning to feel intimidated by the scary winds, the huge pine trees surrounding her, and the dark of the night.
Nonetheless, she trailed after Kesh. Eden needed to know what it was and why it was here.
“Where did you come from?” Eden asked as she climbed over a fallen log.
“I come from a land far from here,” Kesh squeaked.
The way the sprite talked was different to how people in Eden’s life spoke. It was blunt and never seemed to say any more than what was necessary.
“Are you… really a sprite?”
“That is what your kind calls me, yes.”
Eden couldn’t help but smile. A real sprite! The stuff that old songs and legends told of. And here she was, talking with one on an adventure through the woods!
Papa is never going to believe this.
“So, what do you have for me?” Eden was full of curiosity. “Is it a treasure? A map? Something magical?”
“Come and see!”
“Everybody thinks that sprites don’t exist no more! Even mama thinks you aren’t real.”
Kesh droned around with great agility through the air. “We exist. We are real.”
“Are there more of you?”
“Yes! Come and see!”
Eden gasped with excitement at the prospect of seeing more.
The pair trekked deeper into the woods. What was ahead kept her going, her curiosity overcoming her fear.
Eventually they arrived at a large rocky formation surrounding the mouth of a dark cave. The rocks were covered with old vines, moss, and rotting leaf litter.
Kesh pointed. “In there.”
Eden was confused. “What? What’s in there?”
“Your gift!”
Eden stepped up to the entrance of the gloomy cave and looked ahead. She saw nothing within but darkness. It smelled odd, like rotting vegetation and still water.
“I don’t want to go in there,” Eden said, shaking her head.
“You must!”
“It’s too dark, I can’t see anything.”
Kesh floated for a moment. It held its hand out flat and blew a puff of air into the space above it. Suddenly, an orb of glowing blue light the size of a stone manifested above his hand.
Eden was gobsmacked.
The orb hovered mid-air, humming.
“Here, take this,” Kesh said. “It will guide you. It will…protect you.”
Eden held out the palm of her hand, exactly like Kesh had done. The orb floated over to her hand. It was slightly cool and the bright light glowing from it was sufficient to where Eden could begin to make out what was before her.
She stepped inside the cave, climbing over some fallen rocks and a thin stream of water. The orb continued to hum and glow, illuminating the cave like moonlight.
Eden turned around to see where Kesh was, but the sprite had vanished.
“Kesh?” Eden called out, but there was no answer. Only the moans of the wind and the distant dripping of cave water.
Eden decided to continue going inside, driven by curiosity and excitement. Despite her unease of being alone in the dark, somehow the orb made her feel safe and protected, like a special aura just for her.
Deeper she went, and darker the cave became, until Eden couldn’t see the entrance behind her anymore. The walls of rock closed in, but Eden continued onwards, determined to find the gift that Kesh had told her about.
Up ahead, Eden heard a faint buzzing sound. It sounded like Kesh!
She sped up, carefully climbing over a large boulder. The buzzing grew louder until it sounded like a hundred flying insects.
Eden stopped and held out her palm, her orb hovering along with it. Her path was illuminated in a blue haze, and there, Eden saw it.
Dozens of sprites, flying around the walls of the cavern. The smell of rot was strong. At first, she was stunned, and then she became horrified.
In amongst the bustling sprites, Eden spotted a shape stuck to the ceiling. She saw no discernible features, only the form of the body covered in a blue gelatinous slime, like
a cocooned bug captured by a spider.
A dog? Eden wondered. Or some animal?
The shape wriggled and let out a muffled shriek.
It was a child.
The sprites buzzed around the trapped child. Eden screamed when she realised that some were eating it, their heads sticking deep inside the slime and ripping out chunks of bloody flesh.
The shape let out another muted scream and wriggled.
It was still alive.
Then she realised there were more. Half a dozen other child-sized shapes cocooned against the walls and ceiling.
Eden turned and bolted.
The sprites on the cave walls erupted in a mass of buzzing wings and teeth, flying after Eden like a swarm of angry bees.
In a panic, Eden lost the glowing orb, and her world went black.
She collapsed before being lifted into the air by what felt like hundreds of fingers across her skin and clothing. The sprites pinned her against the cave ceiling.
Eden thrashed and cried out for help, but it was futile.
She felt hot, sticky resin covering her arms, her legs and eventually her face as the creatures entrapped Eden with the thick slime. It solidified near instantaneously, and in a matter of seconds, Eden was completely enveloped by it.
In the darkness, Eden wailed for her mama and her papa.
But the cries were drowned out by the swarm.
Interlude - Ruin
“Archers! Prepare to fire!”
The Sergeant’s order echoed out over the seawalls of Port Denarim and were followed up by the bellowing call of war horns.
Cendel took in a deep breath of the moist sea air through his mouth, tasting the salt as he inhaled. He nocked an arrow from the quiver at his hip against the body of his longbow. The arrow’s shaft rested on his forefinger as he raised his well-defined arms into a firing stance.
Elbow pulled back in line with his chin.
Arms straight.
Eyes on the target.
Just as he’d been trained.
On each side of him, Cendel heard the men of the Port Denarim garrison nocking their arrows as well. Dozens of archers, preparing to fire. They were situated behind stone parapets, the archers filling the gaps between the man-high defensive structures.
The tug of holding the arrow at full draw was tough on the muscles in Cendel’s back and shoulders. But he waited, waited for the order.
“Hold!”
Several hundred yards ahead, Cendel saw the flickering lights of flaming torches aboard the dozen or so Akurai ships as they sailed yet again into the bay.
He heard them screaming and chanting, smashing their weapons against their shields and the decks of their ships in a violent, fear-inducing chorus.
The tides were high tonight; they would probably breach the walls.
The outer hulls of the wooden ships were sparsely decorated with mounted pieces of metal and hanging shields. Adorning the bows were menacing figureheads of foreign deities, intricately carved into the black wood with expert precision.
Cendel still felt the sting of panic lingering in the back of his mind. An unrelenting instinct to flee.
He had been a townsguard most of his adult life, but never had he faced danger such as this.
I thought by now this feeling would have worn off.
To his surprise, two days of fighting the Imperial Akurai invaders had done little to quell his nerves. It helped ease his conscience, though, knowing that his sister and little nephew were able to flee town before the attacks began.
Where are Enoia and Rastin now, I wonder? Miles away from here, I hope. They were all he worried about anymore.
Sergeant Reneda waited until the ships were within range, indicated by the Imperial flaming torches being adjacent to the small pyre that sat alight on a lone rocky island in the bay.
He gave the order.
“Loose!”
Cendel released his arrow at full draw, his green eyes still locked on one specific ship straight ahead. He felt the force of the bow whip through his body like a surge of energy.
All around him came the symphony of zipping arrows fired from the seawalls, straight into the dark abyss of night.
A chorus of death.
The arrows screamed through the sky, peppering the Imperial fleet. Many arrows met their mark. Imperial soldiers cried out as they were hit. The constant thud of metal on wooden decks and shields came from their ships. Other arrows missed and simply flew into the sea.
Another volley was fired into the air. Hundreds of arrows.
But the intimidating double-masted ships kept coming, riding the sea winds and rushing tides closer to shore.
“Archers! Fire at will!”
The men in the garrison drew arrows and fired into the bay. As the ships approached, they became more visible. Easier targets.
Cendel lined up a shot, drew the bowstring and fired. The arrow sliced through the air and hit an Imperial soldier, sending him stumbling backwards and off the side of his ship.
Not bad.
The garrison had used oil for dipping their arrows in the first few attacks to set the ships alight but had run out the previous night. There was little left to help repel the ships’ advances, only the defences of the port itself and the men of the garrison still standing.
The piers in the bay had all been wound back into the walls, their iron portcullis gates sealed shut. The only way the invaders would make landfall at Port Denarim would be to go over the walls.
Cendel knew this was probably going to be the last night of fighting, one way or another. He held on to the few slivers of hope still remaining that he would see Enoia and little Rastin again.
One hundred yards out.
The shots were becoming easier to land, but the men were now in range of the Imperial crossbows as well.
Cendel spotted a crossbowman lining up a shot. He fired first, sending an arrow straight through the front and back of the Akurai soldier’s helmet with a spray of blood.
The Imperials armour shone green and black, lit by torch and moonlight. They stomped up and down and bashed their breastplates to try and sound menacing, standing taller than any man.
Other crossbowmen ran to the bows of their long ships. Bolts began whizzing past the walls. Cendel ducked. Several men to his side were hit and flung backwards. They were quickly replaced by others.
Cendel drew an arrow before taking up his position again and firing. Another hit.
There was a loud, metallic clink sound from beside him. Cendel eyed the man standing next to him, a bearded acquaintance named Donn. Donn shuddered, thinking he’d been hit. He swiftly removed his helmet and spotted a large dent and streak in the temple where a bolt had hit but ricocheted off the metal.
“That was lucky,” Cendel said. “Most bolts pierce metal armour.”
“Too damn right!” Donn cheered joyously, thankful to have been so lucky. He laughed out loud.
Another bolt came out of nowhere, striking Donn through the back of his unarmoured head. A shower of skull fragments and bloody chunks spurted out as it broke through his head like it was nothing.
Donn dropped like a bag of sand.
Cendel closed his eyes, wiping the brain matter from his face. Damn.
Stunned, he looked back out over the battlement.
Fifty yards out.
The garrison had failed to stop the advancing ships. They would be on the walls within minutes.
A war horn sounded from behind.
“Archers, retreat. Take up secondary defence positions. Infantry, replace the archers on the wall!”
“Alright, let’s go,” Cendel called out to his comrades.
He did not want to be the idiotic brave soldier who stood their ground, ignoring the retreat. He wanted to survive the night. The archers around him fired their last volley before turning and fleeing down the steps of the seawall, back into the town.
Crossbow bolts sliced through the air. Some pierced the stone walls. Some found
their mark in the bodies of defenders. It was a harrowing feeling. Cendel anticipated to feel a bolt strike his own body at any moment.
The archers took to any elevated positions they could find- watchtowers, building windows, rooftops. The infantry of the garrison raced to fill the void left by the archers on the seawalls. Most did not bother with shields this time; the melee was going to be close range and violent.
Cendel raced through the street to find Sergeant Reneda, pushing through soldiers and around groups of reinforcements.
Baron Jun Pica had been commanding the defence of Port Denarim until the previous night, when he was struck with a spear and plummeted from the seawall into the ocean.
Sergeant Reneda was now the highest-ranking commander. He was inexperienced, and Cendel knew the men was not thrilled to be in command. But none of them wanted to be there fighting to protect their homes and their lives.
Nothing like this had been faced by the men of Port Denarim before.
He needs my support. Now more than ever.
Cendel found Reneda at the base of the Port Tower ordering his men into position. The obelisk-shaped tower shot up a hundred yards into the sky, its smooth sides glistening in the moonlight. At its peak had an open space within, where archers continued firing.
“Send more archers into the Port Tower- we need eyes over the bay! We will only be using the stakes as a last resort if they overwhelm the walls.”
Reneda was clearly stressed- his face was dripping with sweat, and his moustache was twitching as he spoke. But he took the role well. He had a loud, booming voice, and his presence was that of a leader.
Doom was upon them all. From word of mouth along the Broken Coast, the Akurai were vicious fighters who took no prisoners and spared no others.
Bowmen sprinted into the Port Tower’s entrance before beginning their climb up the winding stairs in the interior of the structure.
“Ser,” Cendel said, catching his breath. “The Akurai ships will soon make contact.”
As he finished his sentence, a monumental crash came from the bay. And then another. The ships were ramming into the walls and coming to a sudden stop. The very ground the soldiers stood on vibrated.
“Sooner than I expected, ser.”
Reneda nodded just once before shouting orders to the walls. “Prepare for ladders, men!”
Starfall (The Fables of Chaos Book 1) Page 13