by Sohan Ahmad
Damn. Archonis peeked through the cracks of their door, hoping to find her safe, but it was too late. “It’s the Crowned Skulls, Your Holiness,” he whispered.
Known throughout the four kingdoms by the gold skull, wearing a crown of bone, that smiles against their black sails. Ramses did his best to calm the tremble in his fists, but this was more than a simple raid. Which one of them betrayed me?
Most were ignorant to the Cardinal’s presence and those few that knew, kept their silence. However, panic began to ripple through the crowd as a member of the Crowned Skulls tapped the edge of his curved blade against one of the passengers’ sweaty heads. An eerie whistling accompanied each slap of metal against skin and ended with a scream. At first, it was a man and then a woman, each one dragged by their hair toward the plank before a fat blade plunged through their gut. When the corpse splashed, and sank to oblivion, the song began anew and the Crowned Skull returned for his next victim.
The next tap tapped and a high-pitched voice rang loud, “I beg you. Please, spare me. I know who you seek.”
Archonis reached for his sword, but he hesitated. Isa! He glanced behind. Should I tell them?
With every passing moment, Cyrus’s grimace grew. What are they not telling us? The Paladin kept silent, but the boy’s mother did not.
“Be silent Girl. Your lies will kill us all,” Isa warned her sister slave, hoping to deceive their captors.
“Was that Mother’s voice?” Cyrus asked from behind the commander’s crimson mantle.
Archonis wished he could tell him, but Ramses wouldn’t allow it. “Quiet, boy . . .”
But it was too late. Isa’s sister slave pulled free of her grasp. “I will not die for them!” She yelled, pointing out her masters. “Cardinal Ramses and his son hide beyond that door. Take them and release me!”
The whistler snapped his fingers, and five of the sea rogues went in search and soon discovered Ramses with the brothers, hiding behind the steady steel of Archonis. “Stand down, my friend. Your sword is wasted on these rats. Gold is all they seek; I will speak to their leader and make terms,” his friend and master ordered.
The Paladin shook his head. “They do not deserve a single coin, your Holiness. Please stay back, and I will end this raid; do not burden yourself with concern for my life.”
Ramses placed a hand on his commander’s shoulder, the bass in his voice as evident as ever. “Stand down at once, Commander.” Every cell in the Cardinal’s body resonated with dread, but he would not show fear in front of his son. To the surrounding rogues, he said, “I am Cardinal Ramses Elijah, ruler of the southern holy lands. Take me to your leader, and do not harm the others. I will not resist.” The pirates separated them and shoved Ramses toward the main deck.
The captain was a surprisingly conspicuous thief, long and slender, perched along the bow with his back turned, his arms dangling to his knees. A pair of silver daggers sat in tiny leather scabbards upon his black buckled belt. “Very clever, Cardinal. Noble folk are too proud to hide, but not you it seems. Too bad we are smarter,” he claimed as he laughed at the Isirian betrayer drowning within the blood red waters below.
Ramses gritted his teeth behind closed lips. Swine! Insult me all you want. I have dealt with worse. “You Skulls are renowned for your expensive tastes. Surely, a clever fellow like yourself would prefer profit over bloodshed. Allow us safe passage, and you will be handsomely rewarded, I swear it by the Divine Serpent,” Ramses urged as he was slowly distanced from his son and bastard. Their captor remained silent, one minute crept by and yet there was no answer as cold beads of sweat began to form beneath the Cardinal’s chin.
Then the slender cutthroat casually hopped from his perch. With the second snap of his fingers, one of his men kicked Ramses in the back, forcing him to his knees as the Skull captain flicked a handful of coins to the deck. Leaning down toward the Cardinal, he whispered with foul breaths of yellow teeth into his ear, “Apologies, my lord, but your crown lacks the weight of our standing offer. There is nothing, I fear, the King of Hardship holds to tip the scales in his favor.”
Chapter 4: Bound by Hate
Corbin’s final words terrified Tara, but what of his first wife? She turned to Elize, expecting to see pupils of fire and a snarl of grinding teeth, but instead, the volcanic wife remained cordial and allowed the day to end without incident. She lingered with Edward while Tara left with Thomas, in search of Sebastian. Perhaps I worry over nothing. She could never hide her hate for me. Hope tasted sweeter than fear. Is it possible? Could we coexist?
Hours later, as the cawing of crows ushered in the night, Edward and his mother broke silence, their breath reeking of an Isirian summer red. “That traitorous fool!” The rage that had laid dormant finally erupted within Elize’s cobalt eyes, smothering the air like a cloud of black ash. “I should have known he would spite me up until his last gasp. How dare he leave everything to that lowborn filth?”
Edward was round with a pompous posture, his golden hair cleanly parted down the middle like the cleft between a woman’s bosoms. “Please, Mother, ease your mind,” he said with his long nose pointing down to a pronounced double chin. Lips of ratlike teeth puckered close as he sipped the bitter red from his chalice. “We can resolve the matter just as we did with Father.”
Elize rushed a putrid, wrinkled finger to her lips. “Quiet, Edward, what if someone was to hear you?”
Unhindered and unmoved, Edward caressed his hands along her sweaty palms. “Relax, Mother, the servants have been sent home for the day. If some unexpected problem were to arise, resolving it would be but a simple matter.”
Her tension finally eased. She cackled and let sips of the red vintage tickle down her throat. The flickering candlelight deformed her shadow into something closer to its true nature. “Please forgive your silly mother for her endless paranoia. I nearly forgot that you, my precious boy, are still master of this house until that despicable insect turns of age. We have plenty of time to plot their destruction.”
Edward grinned a mouth full of rodent teeth. “Why wait? A Shadow has already been summoned.”
Elize gasped for a moment. “So soon?” Edward’s ambition inspired a tear. “Oh, how it warms my heart to see that the apple has fallen so close to the tree.” She took another sip as the twisted tear dripped into the already better wine. “I hope this Shadow is capable of spilling the blood of women and children.”
To which Edward responded, “He better be, for how much I paid, or should I say how much Father paid.”
Like demons that scour the scarlet skies of the underworld, the two screeched at the irony of Corbin’s coin buying the deaths of his beloved. Drunk with greed and arrogance, they failed to notice the presence outside their door.
I must warn my lady, Thomas whispered to himself. Inspired by panic and terror, he moved like the wind, quietly and quickly in search of Tara and Sebastian. There was no time to devise a proper escape, a brutal truth he made sure to impress upon Tara when he found her in the kitchen. “You must flee my lady. Both of your lives are in danger. We cannot waste a single second, take what you must and meet me by the stable.”
She felt a terrible chill crawl down her spine. I must hide the truth from my sweet darling boy. There will be no room for doubt.
Tara found him sitting alone on his bed, sobbing over the memory of his father. “We must hurry, my love. Your cousin Simon has taken ill. Gather your things; Thomas awaits us by the horses.”
Sebastian’s eyes began to glaze with fresh tears. “Will Simon die like Father?”
Ashamed, Tara dropped to her knees and embraced him, kissing him on the forehead. “Please be strong for me, darling. I promise to protect you from all sadness, but we must leave now. Can you be a good little boy and be strong for me?”
He wiped the moisture from his cheeks. “Strong boys do not cry?”
Forgive me. She smiled back. “Exactly, my brave little hawk.” They moved with a feverish haste. Peril looming closer
with every minute, they reunited with Thomas who stood beside a carriage that brimmed within the glow of its box lantern.
As Tara and Sebastian neared the wagon, the boy paused. Why does Thomas look so worried? Sebastian looked to Tara, the blue in his eyes wavering with uncertainty. “Mother, is there something you are not telling me?”
Tara froze for an instant, unsure of what words could make him understand. “My darling child, I love you with all my heart, so please have faith and trust me.” She could no longer hide behind halfhearted lies. “I will explain everything as soon as I can. I promise, my little Hawk.”
The boy had never doubted her love, but...Mother lied to me?
Thomas had to do something. Every second brought the Shadow closer. “Sebastian, do you think Thomas is strong?” he asked as he put his calloused hands on the boy’s shoulders. “You know that I would never let anything harm you, don’t you?”
Sebastian nodded. “Thomas is the strongest!”
“Lies.” A voice whispered from within the dark as wet crimson began to ooze through Thomas’s lips.
The boy’s face twisted in horror at the sight of sharp metal slipping through his protector’s gut. Thomas, no! “I’ll save you Thomas,” he said, moving his hands towards the point of the blade.
“Stop, Sebastian,” Thomas shouted as warm blood steamed off cold, hard steel. “Go to your mother, now!”
“Please don’t die, Thomas,” the boy cried, “how can you protect me if you die?”
The hand of death stepped out of the shadows, a slender man with long hair, black as the abyss, wrapped in a tight braid that dangled along his spine. “Child, you should not trust others so easily—they will only disappoint.” Scraped flesh marred his right cheek under a pair of cold, black eyes.
Tara was too terrified to think. She grabbed Sebastian’s hand, and they ran as fast as their legs would allow, their lungs pumping heavy with the brisk night air. The boy’s flowing tears were carried off on streaks of wind as if the night itself was crying. At their backs, the stranger had a small grin on his face.
His clothing did not resemble any style seen in Chronos. The foreigner looked as if he had risen from a pool of mud. “There is no point in running, woman. It is a pity, but your death was guaranteed the moment they purchased my blade,” he whispered to the darkness.
Before the Shadow could continue his trot, a haggard voice called to him. “Stay away from them, you monster!” Thomas said, clutching at the Shadow’s foot as blood spewed from his mouth. “I will not let you hurt them. Whatever it takes, I will slow you down.”
Without a word, the wet blade slashed clean through Thomas’s grasping wrist. The Shadow turned and plunged steel once more into the poor man’s back, putting an end to the servant’s futile valiance.
With Sebastian and Tara still in sight, the killer yelled out, “Run, shudder, struggle with everything you have! A slow death is all that waits.” As he began to stalk like a panther hunting its prey, he considered his position—And here I was, dreading a dull night.
Tara and Sebastian escaped into the forest, barely able to see what lay ahead as darkness and leaves obscured their vision. Hoping to evade their would-be killer, they ran hard, petrified by the thought of death, never looking back for fear of whom they would see. After ten minutes of constant pursuit, the boy halted. “Mother, can we please rest?”
His words were dry, stuttering between gasps of heavy breath. Exhausted herself, Tara scanned the perimeter with dreadfully open eyes, praying that the man had stopped following, and to her surprise, they appeared to be safe. She knelt in front of her son. “Of course, my love,” she said, brushing away his tears with the back of her hand.
Before the tears could dry, a small dagger flew past Sebastian’s face, slicing a slim line of flesh from his cheek. As the warm blood began to trickle down his cold face, the boy looked up to see the Shadow lurking atop a nearby tree. “Mother, behind you!” he screamed.
Tara turned to see Thomas’s killer drop swiftly from his perch, and without hesitation, she used her body to swallow her son whole. The Shadow crept toward them with his sword still sheathed, yet Tara could not move, so stricken was she with dread. Her heart thundered in her chest as the man inched nearer and nearer. All hope is lost. She closed her eyes and gave into the nightmare. Please just let it end quick. My sweet little boy has been through enough.
The killer was close, so close his breath could have singed the hairs on her neck, and yet he took one more step. Rather than end it, he knelt before Sebastian, offering a piece of cloth for his wound. He spoke just loud enough for Tara to hear. “Not yet. The night is young and I am not satisfied. I will wait until you can run no more, until your dreams become nightmares, until your bodies and minds have nothing left to give. Once life becomes such a burden that you wish for the end, I will kill her in front of you.” A smile twisted along his face. “After all, no mother should have to see the death of her only child. Only when misery has choked the breath in your lungs will I save you from your torment. Am I not kind?” he asked. “Do I not deserve your praise?”
Sebastian stood frozen in terror; his sweat turned to ice as his mind and heart pounded like a thousand drums, threatening to shatter his soul. Tara, however, found a glimmer of hope. Regaining her courage, she grabbed Sebastian’s hand, and they darted off. The Shadow did not look or move; he simply stood motionless. That’s the spirit. Make me earn it.
Barely twenty minutes had passed when Sebastian’s legs stiffened in pain once again. Before his fatigue could fade, another knife flew to the grass near their feet. “I never said I was going to let you rest, but if you can no longer run, I suppose I should just kill you now. This little game is beginning to bore me, and my mercy has its limits.”
Desperate, Tara lifted the child and carried him as she ran. Every muscle in her slender body tightened like taut rope, but her mind still burned with hope, sending constant signals to push forward. At the point where any other would succumb to madness, she did not. “Hush now, darling,” she whispered with ragged breath, “close your eyes and go to sleep, my beautiful boy. This is all just a dream. Mommy will let nothing hurt you.”
Sebastian found solace in his mother’s words. This is all just a dream. Exhausted, he closed his eyes and lay faint in her arms. In a moment of comfort during this never-ending nightmare, he began to dream. What is this meadow doing here? As he waded through it, the grass split into two figures within each of his hands. Mother? Father?
“Father, you are alive!” he said to the figure floating within his grasp, but there was no reaction. The boy kept trying. “Father, why won’t you answer?” He raised his voice until his yells echoed within his dream. “Mother, Father! Why won’t either of you speak?” Yet still, his words did not reach them. Instead, the silent image of his parents began to fade; first his father and then his mother’s. Alone once again, the sun began to crack and the sky splintered, revealing darkness as rain poured down upon him. It grew more violent by the second, until a bolt of lightning erased it all, shattering Sebastian’s peaceful dream.
“Mother!” he yelled as he woke, only to realize that he still lay in her arms. “Mother, are you okay? Please say something!” The boy shouted, but Tara was on her knees, soaking in tears and sweat.
She had run far beyond her limits, impressing even their Shadow. I truly wish I could release you, my brave lady, but sadly, I am bound by word and coin.
Sebastian broke free from his mother’s desperate grip and struggled to drag her collapsed weight with his tiny arms, but she could not move. With what energy her body had left, she shoved her son forward. “Run as fast as you can, my brave little hawk. Leave and never look back.”
The Shadow’s patience had finally reached its limits. He stood over Tara, sword aimed at her, yet words aimed at the child. “Avert your eyes.” Sebastian refused, and so the killer kept his word by running his sword through her pounding heart under her son’s eyes. When the bloody task wa
s done, the Shadow closed her lids with as gentle a touch as he could, kissing her on the forehead. “Sweet dreams, my brave lady, I will send him to you shortly.”
The boy found himself with nothing but the squeeze of death’s bony fingers around his soul. Shutting his eyes, he limped on as hard as he could. “Be wary of your next step,” the Shadow warned. Sebastian opened his eyes to see a dark green horizon stretching beyond the edge of the cliff at his feet. “Cease your struggles, child, come here and I will wake you from the nightmare,” the hunter said as a gust of wind swept through the air.
There was nothing left for the boy, no hope and no possibility of escape, but he recalled his mother’s words. This is all just a dream; I will leap and fly to safety. He heeded her words and stepped off the ledge, hoping to join her in the afterlife, but as the reality of death set in, Sebastian screamed, “No! Help! Someone, please save me!”
When the boy’s body finally crashed to the earth, the Shadow wished that his contract had been satisfied. However, he knew…Shadows do not hope; they know for certain.
Broken branches scattered across the dirt as blood watered the hardened soil. The Shadow’s assumption was correct, for Sebastian still had breath in his lungs. Though, it seemed that his cries for help found only the ears of nearby squirrels. The boy lay motionless, his vision beginning to blur as a stream of scarlet seeped continuously from his head. Through the glaze of blinking eyes, he saw an obscure figure walking slowly toward him. This is the end. His strength faded with every second, as did hope. He could no longer resist the call of slumber. Just before his consciousness collapsed, a pair of brown boots stood before him. I will see you soon, Mother.
Chapter 5: A Slave’s Price
Ramses argued his cause, but a dank boot to the jaw sent him crashing to the floor. “Our patron prefers you alive, but since you continue to misbehave . . .” The Skull captain released his daggers and began twirling them around his fingers like coins on a string as two of his thugs pinned the Cardinal’s face to the deck. “Boys, feed the rest of them to the sharks.”