by Sam Ryder
Lace said, “We’re twinsies,” revealing her own set of wicked fangs. That didn’t make me feel much better, but I managed a smile.
“Guess so,” I said.
“Is that it?” Beat asked.
There was that one other thing. “Vrill said to have lots of ooze ready.”
“For what?” Lace asked, crinkling her nose.
“No clue,” I said. “She asked me to trust her. And I do. She was fighting the will of the Morgoss when she said it.”
“What if they were making her act like that to fool you?” Lace said. “She’s under their control, remember?”
I didn’t reject the notion outright. The Morgoss were crafty and creative. They’d fooled me before. I’d almost died multiple times by their hands. They’d found a way to extend the Black. More recently they’d managed to supersize their monsters. But no, I’d felt the real Vrill fighting through the demons’ commands. “I believe what she said. We need to gather as much ooze as we can.”
Lace and Beat exchanged a glance, and then looked toward Millania. Though the quiet Oceanian hadn’t been Leveled up to Protector yet, in all our eyes she was an equal, regardless of Level. And she had a quick mind and good judgment. She cocked her head, seeming to consider all the facts. Her eyes met mine. “We should trust Vrill. She’s helped us before. She’s saved us.”
“I agree,” Beat said.
I released my held breath. Lace still hadn’t thrown her skeptical hat in either way, but that was typical of the cat woman. She liked to hedge her bets.
The rest of the Warriors seemed content to accept our decision. Except for Uva, of course. The dark-haired firecracker stood up. “So we’re going to just give our supply of primordial ooze to a woman on a dragon who’s working for the enemy? That’s the plan?”
“A pretty good summary,” I admitted. I didn’t blame her for being skeptical. She didn’t know Vrill. She’d only heard of her, and how she’d brought her dragon to destroy our ward shields on multiple occasions.
But then Uva said something surprising. “If you all trust her, I trust her,” she said.
I raised an eyebrow, my eyes naturally falling onto Beat’s. She offered a small, knowing smile. “What happened while I was gone?” I asked. I hadn’t asked before because the most important thing I’d immediately noticed upon my return was that no one had died during the three Blacks I’d been gone.
“We killed a bunch of fucking big ass monsters,” Beat said, waxing poetic as usual.
All around the circle, the Warriors and Protectors began to laugh. It felt weird, like I’d stumbled into the middle of an inside joke only to find myself looking in from the outside. It was the price I’d paid for becoming a Seeker. I didn’t mind. It was worth it. “Fair enough,” I said. “Have your secrets.” Then I spotted the area where the collection of demon’s blood had been gathered before I’d left. Only now the supple was enormous, at least a hundred clay pots set out in neat rows. “Are those all full?” I asked.
“Hells yeah,” Beat said. “We’ve been working overtime.”
Yes. Yes. There was enough flammable blood to create the ring of eternal fire we’d talked about for a long time. It gave us a chance. A slight one, but still.
I paused, not wanting to do what I knew I had to do next. Just another thing that made me an outsider. “Go,” Beat said before I could say anything. “Tell the Three what you told us. We’re going to need their buy in if we’re going to give all our ooze to Vrill.”
I nodded a silent thank you and started up the hill.
~~~
Uva caught up with me halfway up the hill.
“I’m sorry,” she said, grabbing me by the arm.
I turned, seeing the way her chest was heaving from the quick run. She must’ve been sitting, waiting, watching me go, deciding whether to give chase. Making a decision.
“For what?” I asked.
“For looking at you the way I did when you showed me you…” She pointed to my mouth.
“Vampire fangs?” I said.
She managed an uncomfortable laugh. “Yeah, those.”
“I get it,” I said. “It must’ve been disconcerting.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that, it’s just…” She paused, looking at her hand, which was still on my arm. “Your skin’s not cold,” she said.
It was my turn to laugh. “I haven’t gone all full vampire.” In truth, I wasn’t sure what I was becoming exactly. The Syrene weren’t vampires, though they did seem to like the taste of blood.
“I always had a slight fear of vampires,” Uva said. “Growing up. I saw this scary movie once, about Dracula…I had nightmares for days.”
“No biggie,” I said. She looked at me skeptically. “Really,” I insisted. “I know you probably feel even weirder about it since we…”
“Fucked like rabbits?”
The breath left me. “Yeah, that.”
“Screw it,” she said, stepping closer, rising onto her tiptoes and kissing me full on the lips.
She tasted…awesome. Different. Warm and moist and kind of sweet. I felt my fangs respond, tingling, but I was careful not to poke her.
I wanted to poke her, to draw blood, to taste it…
I pulled back, trying not to show the fear I felt on my face. At what I’d wanted to do.
Uva offered a sly half smile. “We could, you know, make up for lost time,” she said, jerking her head back down the hill, toward the hut we’d consummated numerous times before I left to find Vrill.
It was a powerful temptation. Her beauty was the thing of legends. But if I almost lost control just kissing her—I couldn’t imagine what might happen if we went further. It scared the shit out of me. “I want to—trust me, I do,” I said.
“But you can’t right now,” she finished, looking slightly crestfallen.
“Can I get a raincheck? I’m sorry, time is of the essence. The army coming is moving quickly. We need to be ready when they arrive.”
She nodded, rising to kiss me again. “I’m being selfish. You’re right. When the battle is over, however, I’ll cash in that raincheck.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
~~~
“No,” Persepheus said, because she was Persepheus. And because Vrill was Vrill. The two women didn’t exactly have a smooth history. In short, they despised each other. I didn’t know what Vrill’s feelings were toward Minertha and Airiel, but I suspected most of the strain on her relationship with the Three stemmed from Persepheus.
“No?” I said.
“No,” Persepheus confirmed. “You can’t take all the ooze. You already asked for ooze armor and we delivered. This will wipe out our stores entirely.”
“It’s a risk we have to take,” I said.
“You think just because the Syrene’s blood is working its way through you that you’re now an equal? We are the immortals here.”
So she’d noticed my fangs. Not surprising.
Minertha started to speak, but Persepheus cut her off. “Stay out of it,” she said.
Normally Minertha wouldn’t take that from her sister, but now she just looked exhausted. She slumped back onto the feather bed where she’d been resting before I arrived. I felt awful for her. She’d always been kind to me. Even though the earth goddess’s heart had been stolen by the Morgoss, she acted like she had one—something I’d rarely, if ever, seen from her sea goddess sister.
“What am I becoming?” I asked. I needed to know what to expect.
Persepheus shrugged, as if new fangs sprouting out was much the same as a zit on one’s forehead. “You aren’t becoming anything. The Syrene blood is interacting with the ooze running through you. If anything, it will make you stronger, but it shouldn’t change you much.”
What the hell did that mean? Maybe even she didn’t know what might happen to me. That wasn’t a comforting thought. I changed the subject. “Where’s Airiel?” I asked, frowning. If anyone would back me up, it would be her. By now she s
hould be getting stronger, not close to fully recovered from her near-death scare, but approaching Persepheus’s strength.
“Resting,” Persepheus said. Though she said it with her usual sharp conviction, her tone sounded odd. Like it was both a lie and the truth. Strange, I thought.
“Look, Persepheus,” I said. “We are trying to save your lives. You Leveled me up for a reason. Beat and Lace too. We are all in agreement.” Well, maybe not Lace, at least not entirely, but Persepheus didn’t need to know that. “It’s time for you to start trusting us a little. This has to be a two-way street. All the secrets and withheld information needs to stop.”
I saw the flash of anger cross her face and waited for the rebuke that was surely coming with the speed of an approaching hurricane. I was ready for it. I’d been here. I would take every shot she had to give, because this was for Vrill.
The rebuke didn’t come. Instead, the anger morphed into pain and she fell back, her legs crumpling beneath her, as if unable to hold her own weight.
Had the fiery goddess just…fainted?
Minertha, her own eyes closed, said, “Nice job. I’ve been trying to win an argument with her for years.”
Had I won? Not really. But I’d take it. Whether she agreed or not, I was taking the ooze.
Because I trusted Vrill as much as anyone in this world, Beat included.
~~~
“That’s the last of it,” Beat said, emerging from the ward shield as if stepping from a wormhole to another dimension. She had two large pots filled to the brim with primordial ooze. I took one from her and set it down next to the others. “Now what?” she asked, placing her own pot down.
The other Warriors milled about, watching me. Occasionally their eyes flickered up toward the distant mountains. There were still a few hours before the next Black, but that didn’t mean the sight of the Morgoss stronghold didn’t make us all uncomfortable.
“Now we wait,” I said. Together we’d hauled all the ooze to this spot. Several Warriors had also been assigned to spreading the pots of demonblood in a wide arcing circle that would soon become our battle arena. Now that the work was done, it felt weird, like we had too much time on our hands.
“For what?” Asfandiar asked. The ripped Warrior maintained an easy stance, as if he could conquer the world without breaking a sweat. We were lucky to have him on our side.
I shrugged. I wish I knew exactly. “For Vrill and her dragon to come.”
Beat said, “You really think this will work?”
“I have no clue,” I said. “But I trust Vrill.”
“What if the Morgoss made her say—”
“They didn’t!” I snapped. I immediately regretted the outburst. “Look, Beat, I’m sorry. It’s just…I can tell the difference. It was her. She was fighting them when we spoke.”
Beat nodded slowly.
Lace stalked over. She hadn’t carried a single pot of ooze, though she’d supervised her own crew as they’d helped. Still, it was obvious she was skeptical of the whole thing. I couldn’t really blame her. The concept of using ooze against our enemies didn’t make logical sense. But Vrill isn’t your enemy, I reminded myself. Although I knew that, it was kind of hard when she and her dragon has been forced to attack us on multiple occasions. Lace snapped me from my reverie when she said, “We should get behind the ward shields. Just in case.”
She was right, of course. We’d likely have plenty of warning if—when—the dragon crested the mountains, but that didn’t mean we shouldn’t take precautions. I nodded and Lace and Beat gave the commands to their Warriors to fall back. One by one, the Warriors passed through the wards, vanishing. Lace followed, then Beat, though she turned back to look at me. “Coming?” she asked.
“In a minute,” I said.
She paused, but then vanished as well. Though they were all only a few yards away from me in distance, behind the ward shields it felt like I was alone on a raft in a calm sea. Everything was still.
I gazed at the mountain peaks, marveling at their shadowy majesty. I wondered if they’d once been covered in snow, reflecting the silver and bronze suns. Now they were dark and foreboding, like burnt knuckles preparing to slam down upon us.
I thought I heard a sound and I craned my ear toward it, holding my breath. It had sounded like…a distant screech. It had sounded like the hunting call of a dragon.
Seconds ticked by, restless, the world feeling frozen, like it was encased in a block of ice. My lungs began to burn with my held breath. My throat ached. Finally, I let it out in a whoosh. The initial sound I’d heard had not been followed by another. Perhaps my ears had played a trick on me. Or perhaps Vrill was trying to tell me something, like an announcement or a warning. I hoped it was the former. I’m coming, Sam. I’m coming. Wait for me.
“I will,” I promised. I wouldn’t fail her again.
I wouldn’t.
I melted through the ward shield to join the others.
~~~
Time passed slowly as we waited. The strangest thing was that I enjoyed this period of waiting. It was something I’d missed as I’d Leveled up. The feeling of comradery, of being part of a group. There were moments of levity and those of seriousness. Lace threatened to eat two of her Warriors. Beat was loud and hilarious. All felt right in the world.
We’d lost so much, but I needed to remember what we’d gained. This ragtag group of souls was all I had left. Well, them and Vrill.
Every few minutes, one of us would poke our head through the ward shields to check that nothing had made off with our ooze.
“So what’s up with this army that’s coming to attack us?” Beat said when there was a lull in the conversation. “You said there were thousands of them and that they were like reptiles with fur, right?”
All side conversations stopped as the Warriors looked at me, curious to hear my answer.
“Uh, something like that. But that’s all I know. They were far away. It was hard to see much else.”
“The Narzani,” a soft voice said, surprising me. It was Millania, the gilled Oceanian who’d always had a quiet confidence about her. I respected her as much as anyone on this planet. She’d been integral in carrying out my plan to train and grow our army of Warriors.
“The who?” Lace said, her face naturally falling into a scowl.
“Nasty creatures,” Millania said. “They almost overran the Morgoss, a long time ago. The Morgoss eventually managed to push them back to the firelands, where they retreated into holes in the rock. They haven’t been seen in decades.”
“Who told you this?” Lace demanded, hands on hips. She was the most experienced of us, so I could tell it bothered her that Millania, who was even newer to this world than Beat or I, knew something she didn’t.
“Eve,” Millania said, which sent a pang through my chest. “We talked sometimes. I have an inquisitive mind and she didn’t mind sharing with me.” Damn. I missed a lot when I was out on missions. I hadn’t ever seen the two exchange even a single word when I was around.
“What else did she tell you about the…Narzani?” I asked, trying out the name.
She spoke slowly, her voice low. Had there been any other noise, it would’ve been hard to make out her words. As it was, however, she spoke into complete silence. “They are a swarm of death. They do not fear death, only the missed opportunity to spill blood. That was why they hid from the Morgoss’s forces all those years ago. To survive. To replenish their numbers. To one day come forth and cover this world in blood once more.”
“You learned all this from Eve?” Beat said.
Millania shrugged. “I filled in some of the blanks on my own. I have a sense for these things. I can discern intention better than most. This is typical of my people.”
“It’s true,” the new Merlin interjected. “Especially in female Oceanians.”
Another layer of Millania fell away. I had a feeling she had more layers than a massive onion. I hoped we’d survive to see them all one day.
; Lace growled. “So Vrill and her fucking dragon decided to unleash the Narvani upon us?”
I knew she was just doing that thing she always did—casting blame when there wasn’t anyone but the demon overlords to blame—but it still pissed me off. “She was forced to do what she did. She’s trying to protect us any way that she can.”
Lace bared her fangs and stalked off, commanding her group of Warriors to follow her.
So much for enjoying a rare period of calm. So much for comradery. Lace was a valuable fighter to have on our side, but her temper was difficult to work with.
Beat also shepherded her Warriors away, and soon the sound of training rang out in the waning minutes of daylight. Millania hadn’t followed either group, and for a while we sat in silence, watching the shimmering silver sun angle toward the dark mountains.
I had a million questions for the Oceanian, all about her ability to discern intent and whether Eve had told her anything else about the Narzani, but I didn’t voice them. The quiet, green-skinned woman wasn’t one to rattle off information until she was ready, and I didn’t want to pressure her.
“You don’t need to know anything about my past to achieve your objectives,” she said eventually, not meeting my eyes.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” I said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not important.”
Her lips pursed, which I took for an expression akin to anger. Since I’d met her, she’d never worn her emotions on the outside, her self-control evident in her every act. Even in battle she was methodical, each swing or jab of her trident well thought out and planned in a way that would give her the best chance of victory. She didn’t rely on bloodlust or hatred of her enemies to win. She was a thinker. I respected that.
“You want to know about my past?” Her voice was strained as she asked the question, the pain of memory seeming to clench her jaw as tight as a clamped vice.
“It’s your story to tell,” I said, curiosity gnawing at me. “But yes. I do.”
She muttered something under her breath I couldn’t make out. She repositioned her webbed hand on her knee, lifting her jaw resolutely. I watched her from the corner of my eye as she went through several stages of decision making before finally appearing to come to a conclusion.