Blood Moon (Blood Rain Book 2)

by Nancy Gray

  “Well, despite what Kylas might think,” Beryl raised an eyebrow and smiled wryly, “I for one am really glad that you did.”

  Mercy chuckled, her voice slightly hoarse from crying.

  Beryl closed his eyes and sighed heavily. For a moment, Mercy thought he had actually fallen asleep, but then he seemed to force them open again with a great deal of effort.

  “Well, I hate to break this up, but I don’t think I can stay awake much longer.”

  Mercy squeezed his hand again. “It does me good to see that you woke up. I think you probably should get some rest.”

  Beryl nodded. “I don’t know what hour it is, but I know that I’ve already been sleeping a long time. I get the feeling I’ll be sleeping a lot longer. If you’re feeling up for it, Pyron said he needed your help interrogating the prisoner. He said he might need your abilities too, Erebus.”

  Mercy frowned. “Interrogating him?”

  “He said that your gift might be useful, though I’m not sure what gift he’s referring to.”

  “Probably my natural gift,” Mercy said the words a little more bitterly than she intended. Erebus raised an eyebrow at her, a look of concern momentarily flashing across his face. She would have to talk to him.

  Beryl continued, “He was concerned that you wouldn’t wake up in time to help. He wants to get as much information as he can before the funeral.”

  Mercy flinched. “So I didn’t dream that, did I? Ailfrius really died.”

  Erebus sighed and said, “He was the only casualty on our side, but there were some very close calls all around. The captain says he’s going to give him a burial at sea. He’s hoping that the Mermen will attend.”

  Beryl said in a somber whisper, “If I wake up in time, I’ll make sure that they do.”

  Mercy shook her head. “Well, try not to worry about that right now. Just get some rest, Beryl. I’ll go and see what Pyron needs. ”

  Beryl’s eyes had already shut again. Mercy carefully tiptoed out with Erebus trailing silently behind her.

  As soon as they were in the storage room on the way to the brig, Erebus quietly whispered, “Are you okay?”

  Mercy leaned against the wall and rubbed her temples for a moment. There was a great deal that she wasn’t okay with, and she wasn’t sure where to start.

  She took a deep breath and asked, “Did you feed me blood?”

  Erebus flinched. His guilty expression spoke for him.

  “Why? Why did you do it?”

  “Because I thought it might make you heal up more quickly. I know that you aren’t one of us yet, but when I drink blood, the first thing my body does is heal any open wounds on it. I was afraid I might lose you.”

  Mercy sunk down and sat hugging her knees. She was glad that there weren’t many people below deck. She didn’t intend to move until their conversation was over.

  “I thought that might’ve been why you did it. It worked, but it had some terrible consequences.”

  “I know that you had nightmares. I stayed by you for as long as you could, but then Pyron told me that Beryl had taken a turn for the worst. I didn’t want to leave you, but I didn’t want him to die.”

  “I’m not upset because you left me. I’m upset because it was more than just a dream.”

  Mercy glanced in the direction of the blood stain. Despite the fact someone had finally cleaned it up, the wood was still discolored. It made Mercy realize that she would be glad when they were able to leave the ship for more than just one reason. There were so many memories here from such a short time on board, and most of them were bad. Being stuck in the cramped confines of the ship was increasingly reminding her of a prison. This storage room was where Erebus originally attacked her. That attack was what caused him to contact her through her dreams, leading to her deal with his “shadow demon.” It seemed ironic this was where she chose to have the conversation.

  Erebus’ eyes wandered to the spot as well. “What happened in your dreams? You seemed like you were arguing with someone.”

  “Your shadow was playing in my head again.”

  Erebus’ eye grew wide and he stood up, shaking with rage and horror. “No, that’s not possible! He can’t leave me while I’m awake. I was using my powers. He couldn’t have been contacting you.”

  Mercy didn’t bother to move, looking up at him impassively. “Well, whether it’s possible or not, he did.”

  Erebus leaned against the wall, running his hands through his hair in frustration.

  She could feel his fury, “Are you sure he was really there? It could’ve been just a dream.”

  “I don’t typically talk in my sleep, but if you want more proof, he told me something that I didn’t know. He told me that my ancestor was one of the Wood Kin. He insinuated that you had suspected that for a long time. If you did, I would like to know why you didn’t tell me.”

  He slumped down next to her and sighed. “Come on, Mercy. Didn’t you suspect the same thing?”

  Mercy shook her head. “The truth is, I didn’t think of it until your shadow said something. When I found out that having a gift meant that I had beast blood in my heritage, I immediately thought of the Blood Wings. I didn’t think about the Wood Kin. Our people never considered them beasts. ”

  “I’m going to chain up my demon so tightly even thinking of moving will make his wrists chafe.”

  Mercy stood up and realized she was raising her voice louder than she intended, but she didn’t care, “But you suspected, Erebus! Why didn’t you say something sooner? If I had known that I never would’ve made that deal. They are sacred beings and I corrupted my own ancestry.”

  “Mercy, you didn’t corrupt anyone. It was my fault entirely. Either way, though, your ancestry hasn’t changed.”

  “If my ancestors could see me now, they would disown me, Erebus! The Wood Kin were said to glow with an inner light. Flowers bloomed behind them wherever they walked. They had hair the color of spring and fall, and they were the guardians of the forest. Do you know what I looked like in that dream? I had hair the color of stained blood and my skin was the color of a dying tree. I was the personification of blight! If you knew something like that, then you needed to tell me!”

  He stood up as well. “I didn’t know for sure. What did you want me to say? If I had told you a few weeks ago you probably wouldn’t have believed me. Your people thought of them as a legend. The truth is, though, they were just people corrupted by magic themselves.”

  Mercy rested her head against the wall. Something about that truth hurt her most of all. Her people thought of the Wood Kin as spiritual beings. Erebus was right. What he said made perfect sense. They weren’t the servants of the forest gods, just people whose appearance changed due to the type of magic they used. It was yet another trick that her people believed without question.

  The Wood Kin could make things grow faster with magic involving light and plants. It was said flowers sprouted wherever they walked. Their magic made them beautiful and allowed them to live a very long time, but they weren’t gods. They were humans, and they passed a piece of their magic along to their children in the form of gifts. Her father was proud to be wed to her mother because she reminded him of a Wood Kin. There was a reason. She was clearly descended from one.

  “There’s just so much I don’t know now. I’m starting to have trouble differentiating what’s real and what isn’t. Everything that I’ve grown up knowing is a lie.”

  Erebus put a hand on her shoulder and whispered bitterly, “I know the feeling. I’m sorry, Mercy.”

  Mercy turned to face him. “It wasn’t just your shadow demon that I was arguing with in the dream. The version of myself that I was telling you about was actually talking to me. She looked like a corrupted Wood Kin, and she was the embodiment of every part of me that I hate.”

  Erebus suddenly seemed paler and the shadows beneath his eyes darker. “Please tell me that you’re joking.”

  “Do I seem to be in the mood to joke?” Mercy re
alized that she was starting to shiver just thinking about her personal demon. She hoped that it really was just an illusion created by Erebus’ shadow, but she was starting to doubt it.

  “Oh no! Please, Mercy, you can’t become like me! I never wanted that fate for you. There’s still time, though. You could use the favor. Use the favor and get rid of your powers.” Erebus was staring into her eyes pleading with silent desperation.

  “I might just take you up on that, but I need time to think about it. Even though it was terrifying to think about that creature as being a part of me, I have to accept that it’s there. Those feelings were my own. I just suppress them. Besides, I don’t think she’s fully formed yet. I think your shadow demon temporarily gave her power. She disappeared after I figured that out.”

  “But if you continue learning blood magic, one day she will manifest, and then you’ll have to fight her. If you lose, you’ve lost everything. You’ll be the one locked in the cave, and she won’t ever let you out.”

  “I know, but those powers saved Beryl’s life. I don’t know what challenges we’ll be facing in the future. I don’t know if I’m ready to give up what I’ve learned.”

  Erebus put a hand on her cheek. “Your bravery saved Beryl’s life. Besides, you don’t have to give up magic. Now that we know what kind of power is part of your birthright, you don’t need mine.”

  “You could teach me the magic of the Wood Kin?”

  “No, but someone still has to know it. When all of this is over, let me come with you. We can find out together. If what everyone says is true, then the blood oath of our ancestors will be over soon.”

  Mercy hugged him. “Thank you, Erebus. It means a lot that you would do that for me. When all of this is over, I would love to go searching for a teacher with you. In the meantime, I’ll think about using the favor to get rid of this magic. I lived without it before. I could again.”

  Erebus looked like he was about to say something else, but a loud scream of rage from the brig interrupted their conversation. The voice sounded like Pyron’s, but the raw fury that came from it was like nothing they had heard from him before. They rushed in the direction of the sound. Mercy had a feeling she knew who Pyron was interrogating, and it seemed his mocking cruelty had finally gotten to Pyron. She just hoped they would reach Pyron in time to stop him from killing the prisoner, despite the fact he deserved it.

  19

  Nicomedes was staring at Pyron with a smug expression on his bloody face. Pyron was standing over him with a hammer raised over his head about to deliver a devastating blow, but when he heard Erebus and Mercy rushing down the stairs he paused and turned in their direction regaining his composure immediately. Mercy felt ill as she saw the blood on the floor around Pyron and the condition that the prisoner was in, even though Nicomedes barely seemed emotionally phased by it at all.

  Mercy was surprised that the brig was already so dry. There was still standing water in the corners of the room, but most of it had been bailed out. The last time she saw it, a huge hole was in the side of the prison cell where Nicomedes was currently residing and Erebus was the prisoner instead. It seemed that Mercy had indeed been sleeping for a long time while the rest of the crew was working hard to repair the ship. The splinters were cleared away and she could see fresh wood and pitch plastered thickly against the wall. She wondered how the other repairs to the ship were coming and it made her feel sorry for the captain. He probably had barely had time to grieve for Ailfrius at all.

  Nicomedes’ nose was bleeding and his cheeks were swollen. Several of his fingers appeared to be broken. Mercy cringed for a moment as her pinky finger hurt in sympathy. The thought of Pyron actually torturing someone was enough to make her want to be sick as well, but then Pyron was a spy and the doctor had originally trained him. It wasn’t a surprise, but she found herself disappointed all the same.

  She looked around at the other cells in the room. At least it seemed that the other two prisoners weren’t given the same treatment. Even though a few of them looked as though they had been punched or roughed up a little, no one was as bloodied as Nicomedes.

  Nicomedes looked away from Pyron and regarded Mercy with a wide grin. A little blood dripped out of his mouth. Either he was extremely good at ignoring his pain or on some sick level he enjoyed it. Still, she didn’t like the way that he looked away from Pyron and concentrated on her when he realized that she was there. Something about the expression told her that he had plans for her and it made her feel as though he wasn’t really a prisoner. It made her feel as though she was the one who was trapped.

  Pyron glanced in her direction and frowned, suddenly averting his eyes away from hers. The expression was a guilty one, like someone caught in the aftermath of a crime, but at the same time she could tell he wasn’t sorry for what he had done either. The expression alone told her that he believed that if there was anyone that deserved torture, it was the man responsible for the suffering and murder of his wife. Mercy could sympathize and she tried to put on a brave face, as though she approved of what he was doing. The fact that Nicomedes was still alive showed a great deal of self-restraint on Pyron’s part. However, she was sure that her presence was probably what saved Nicomedes’ life.

  Pyron dropped the hammer and said, “I’m glad to see you’re awake, Mercy. I didn’t expect you to recover so quickly. Any news about Beryl?”

  “Yes. He was conscious but he’s asleep now. It looks like he’s going to recover.”

  Erebus asked, “So, what did you need us for?”

  “The prisoner isn’t cooperating. I can’t read him since all he does is laugh like an idiot no matter what I’m asking. I need to have some idea of what he’s thinking.”

  Nicomedes grinned, and Mercy cringed when she saw that several of his sharpened teeth were askew.

  He chuckled. “I can’t help that I find you so funny. It’s so easy to get under your skin, but you would love it if everyone thought you were unable to feel anything at all. It’s hilarious.”

  Pyron kicked Nicomedes in the ribs, and even though he flinched slightly from the pain, the grin remained on his face. Mercy tried to feel what he was feeling, to see what he could possibly be hiding, but his emotions were as plain as the grin on his face. He was smug, arrogant, and despite his situation, he seemed convinced that he had the upper hand.

  Mercy whispered to Pyron, “He’s definitely hiding something. He feels confident. I think he wanted to be captured, but I don’t know why.”

  “It just doesn’t make any sense. Why would he want to be captured? He’s stranded here now. We sank The Knave as soon as the battle was over. He has nowhere to go.”

  Erebus was staring intently at Nicomedes. Mercy could feel his worry and apprehension. She could tell that he was trying to figure out where Nicomedes got his power. According to Pyron, he was a member of the Ashen people. He shouldn’t have any magic, and yet he seemed to be part of the Waterbloods now. She remembered how Erebus’ shadow had remarked that he didn’t know what their captain was, and the thought made her nervous as well.

  Erebus whispered under his breath, “He’s thirsty for blood, but if you want to try to pry more information from him and you gave him a few sips his worst injuries would heal. Any more than that would be dangerous.”

  Nicomedes said in a slurred voice, “Well, perhaps the little forest girl would like to give me some of her blood. I see the bites on her neck, so she’s clearly donated some before.”

  Erebus kicked him roughly in the gut. “Never talk about Mercy like that in front of me!”

  Nicomedes spat out more blood, and Mercy felt the first rush of anger coming from him since she entered the room.

  He glared at Erebus and then grinned wildly at Mercy. “You’re the one who is responsible for me being here, you know. That trick with the arrow was very clever. I owe you, and I always repay my debts. Your friend here is giving me inspiration for what I’m going to do to you when I get out.”

  Erebus looked a
s though he was going to kick Nicomedes again, but Mercy stepped in front of him and just shook her head. Physical violence seemed to be encouraging Nicomedes, so clearly it wasn’t the best way to get what they wanted. They would have to think of something else. Besides, there was something more important that Mercy noticed when Erebus kicked him the first time.

  Mercy whispered to Pyron, “He still has blood left in his stomach.”

  “Are you sure? The first thing I did was make sure that he was punched in the gut repeatedly to empty out his stomach. I thought he was out of blood.”

  “No. He was angry at Erebus just then. It’s the first time he’s been legitimately angry since we’ve come down here. All of the torture and the fact you’ve been hitting him hasn’t made him angry, but losing that blood did. Somehow got more.”

  Pyron frowned. “That means someone must be feeding him blood. A traitor, but who would do it?”

  Nicomedes looked up. “I can hear you, you know. The girl is right, that wasn’t my blood, but knowing that doesn’t change the fact that I’ll never cooperate with you. You can break my body and my bones but you can’t force me to speak.”

  “Well, maybe you’ll feel more like talking after I brew up something special for you.”

  “Any concoction you make can only make me more inclined to speak, but that won’t make me tell you anything. You’re wasting our time with your sad attempts at torture. I’m starting to think I wish these two hadn’t come in when they did. If I was dead at least I wouldn’t have to endure your pathetic attempts to intimidate me.”

  Mercy frowned. Nicomedes was very stubborn, and she could tell he meant exactly what he said. It didn’t matter to him if Pyron broke every bone in his body. He wasn’t willing to tell him anything. He felt that Pyron was weak and no amount of torture would convince him otherwise.

  She turned to Erebus and whispered, “Can you tell anything about the blood?”

  He shook his head. “It’s too digested now. I can’t even tell the gender or the age.”

  She sighed, “Worth a try.”