Sirens of Faldion: The Final Bond

by Anya Merchant

  She stroked faster and faster, each movement pulling him up slightly, causing his back to arch and setting his entire body aflame with desire. Kai reached out, rubbing his hand across her soft, slender stomach. She knocked it aside as it approached her breasts, but he didn’t care anymore.

  “Sky!” he moaned. His hips shot up a final time as pleasure surged through him, enough to almost make him miss what came next.

  Sky moved with sensual speed, positioning her free hand directly in front of his exploding cock. Strings of hot, sticky seed splashed into her palm, each impact releasing a tiny, resonant glow, similar to the flash whenever she stepped into the void.

  Sky quivered, either from the magic rushing into her or a strange, secondary sense of pleasure from the act. Kai just watched her, feeling dumbstruck by her beauty and bowed over by his own orgasm. She took a deep breath and laid down on the bedroll beside him, still covering herself as best she could.

  The moment only lasted a couple of seconds. Kai remembered Selene, and began moving.

  “Alright,” he said. “Let’s get moving. Right now.”

  He slid out of the tent and started pulling on his clothes. Sky shot him an irritated look.

  “We can take a couple of hours,” she said. “It won’t make a difference in the-”

  “You don’t know that,” said Kai, the words snapping out more than he’d intended. “I’m going after her, even if I have to do it alone.”

  Sky’s expression shifted. During their time in the tent, there’d been something vulnerable in her eyes, as though she’d uncovered a part of herself that she normally kept guarded and secure. Kai watched it fade away, replaced by sterile, passive coldness. She closed her eyes for a moment and then wordlessly began pulling her clothes on.

  CHAPTER 23

  Kai moved across the dry grasslands at a solid clip, his anxiety over Selene’s wellbeing growing with every step. Sky followed alongside him without speaking, her expression unreadable.

  The place where Sky had set up her tent had been further out toward the east than Kai had realized. By the time the sun was settling into position to drop over the horizon, the river camp was visible in the distance, a small smudge next to the brilliant blue of the river. It was only then that Sky chimed in, grabbing his arm and pulling him back.

  “Kai,” she said, her voice serious. “Don’t try to be a hero.”

  “I’m getting her out of there,” said Kai. “I would have managed it last time, if you hadn’t…”

  “Hadn’t what?” snapped Sky. “Saved your life? Do understand that you would have died back there in the compound, if it weren’t for me?”

  Kai scowled and pulled his hand away from hers.

  “And on top of that,” continued Sky, “The only reason you even had a shot at success was because I saved you from getting executed before that. You are nothing on your own, Kai.”

  Kai clenched his teeth, fighting to keep his anger in check.

  “Are you going to help me, or not?” he asked.

  Sky took a deep breath. For a moment, the cold expression on her face flashed with pain, but she suppressed it and slowly nodded her head.

  “I’ll help you,” she said. “But we’re doing it my way. I won’t see you get yourself killed over this girl.”

  “Over Selene,” snapped Kai. “And if it comes to it, I’ll gladly give my life to save hers.”

  “Then you’re a fool,” said Sky.

  Neither of them said anything to each other for a moment. Kai turned away from her and massaged his temples, trying to come up with a better plan than the one that had failed them last time.

  “Alright,” he said. “I’ll stay out of the way, to start. You can scout out the camp more effectively than me. We’ll figure out where Selene is and then wait until dark.”

  “I’ll clear a path,” said Sky. “All you’ll need to do is grab her and get her out of there. Most of the guards shouldn’t be an issue to take out, it’s Terrion and the other pacters under his command that we’ll have to watch out for.”

  “And don’t kill any of them,” said Kai.

  Sky looked at him blankly and then shook her head.

  “Are you daft?” she asked, glaring at him. “You must be, to think that this is something that can be pulled off with a gentle touch.”

  “Some of the guards are just slaves on watch duty,” said Kai. “And even the ones that aren’t don’t deserve to die for no reason.”

  “They die so that you can live,” said Sky. “So that you and your little girlfriend can live the idealized life you have planned out into your foolish head.”

  Kai closed his eyes, forcing his anger down and focusing on what needed to be done, and how far he was willing to go to do it.

  “No killing,” he repeated. “Feel free to knock them out, but I don’t want blood on my hands or yours.”

  Sky didn’t say anything, but Kai knew she’d obey, even without him giving an official command.

  “Alright,” she said, after a long pause.

  The two of them waited in a small clump of trees just outside the effective sight of the camp. Sky left to scout the camp out as soon as twilight fell, with basic directions from Kai on where Selene would most likely be. He waited in tense silence, staring at the waterfall’s mist downriver, watching a couple of slaves and a guard milling around a fire on the side of the camp nearest to his hiding spot.

  Minutes went by. Kai expected to at least see a few flashes of Sky disappearing or materializing to or from the void realm, but there was no trace of her in the distance. The sun set over the horizon as Vana and the stars slipped in to take its place. Kai watched and waited, his heart pounding, his palms clammy.

  “She’s in the biggest tent.” Sky’s voice caught Kai completely off guard, and he flinched forward, almost knocking into a jagged broken tree branch.

  “Ripping hell, Sky,” he muttered, taking a breath. “Alright. That means she’s in Terrion and his wife’s tent. This is going to make things… more difficult.”

  Sky flashed a cold smile at him.

  “There’s a fire in the grasslands to the north of here,” she said. “Just a tiny one, but the strong southern winds are pushing it toward the camp, bit by bit.”

  Kai felt his back tense up. He frowned at her and shook his head.

  “I said no killing. This could end up burning down the entire camp.”

  “Only if they don’t react to it,” said Sky. “And they will react to it, giving us our chance.”

  Kai didn’t say anything, and waited to see what would happen. Several of the guards on patrol around the camp did eventually take notice of the fire, standing up and hurrying off to do what they could. Kai watched Terrion’s tent, and saw a figure stand and exit it after another minute, though it was too dark for him to make out who it was.

  “Alright,” said Kai. “Let’s go.”

  He took a step forward, only to have Sky take him roughly by the arm and turn him to face her. Her face was shadowy, but Kai could still make out the color of her eyes, a deep red, contrasting against her pale skin, pretty features, and fine blonde hair.

  “Let me do the fighting,” she said.

  “I’m not a child,” said Kai. “I’ll manage just-”

  “You’re my master,” whispered Sky. “And I’m your spirit siren. This is just how it works.”

  Kai was in no mood to argue with her, so instead, he dropped into a crouch and started off, the chaos beginning to unfold in front of them.

  CHAPTER 24

  About half of the guards around the camp had been drawn away by the fire, enough to make it easy for Kai and Sky to slip past the perimeter without being seen. Kai adopted the hunched, vaguely submissive posture that most of the slaves naturally assumed, and tried to blend in, though with the clothes that Sky had insisted he buy, it would be impossible once they were in the light.

  Terrion’s tent was in the center of the camp, and at least one guard still stood at the edge o
f it. Kai glanced over at Sky as they approached the final stretch. She didn’t look back at him, keeping her eyes focused on the guard. In a bright flash of light, she disappeared, reappearing behind the guard.

  Kai saw her arm flick out to hook around the man’s neck. Surprisingly, the guard reacted as though he’d been expecting it, slamming his spear upward and getting the shaft of it in front of Sky’s arm.

  Sky twisted, throwing the man to the ground and splintering his weapon into wooden shards, but two more guards burst from within Terrion’s tent. Kai felt his heart skip a beat and charged forward.

  The guard on the right hesitated, looking back and forth between the two of them. Kai took the opportunity to throw a hard kick into his rib cage. The man grunted and countered faster with his spear than Kai had been expecting. Kai hopped back, but the razor sharp metal tip of the weapon sliced through the back of his hand, leaving a shallow, bloody cut.

  Sky was whirling, void stepping from place to place, disarming the other two guards and systematically knocking them out. Kai kept his focus on his opponent, though he wanted to do nothing more than to charge into the tent and find Selene.

  The guard facing off against him feinted a jab with the spear and then whipped it into a spinning, overhead strike. Kai dove out of the way, the weapon missing him by the breadth of a hair. He kicked low, sweeping the man’s feet out from under him and knocking him onto his back.

  His opponent still held the weapon in hand, and as Kai moved forward to slam his fist into the man’s face, he found the point of the spear there to greet him rather than a lowered guard. He jumped back again, knowing that any surprise advantage he’d had to start off with had worn thin.

  Kai was not a fighter, not even particular skilled in violence when compared to other slaves, but he also wasn’t prepared to back down. He met the guard’s eye and took a step forward, watching his opponent sizing him up carefully.

  Light flashed, and in less time than the length of a blink, Sky had materialized behind the guard, slammed a fist into his head, and void stepped back to her own battle. Kai felt a flash of exhilaration and appreciation flood over him, and immediately closed on his opponent, slamming his knee hard into the man’s stomach and taking his spear from him.

  Kai pushed his way into Terrion’s tent without a moment’s hesitation. In the far corner, he saw a figure in chains covered by a cloak. His heart pounded in his chest as he hurried over to her.

  “Selene,” he said. “It’s me. I’m here for you.”

  “Unfortunately,” drawled the sultry, sarcastic voice of Mariella, “I think you have the wrong person.”

  She smiled cruelly up at him, revealing her face and reinforcing the truth. Selene wasn’t in the tent. For a moment, Kai felt his anger boil to the point of almost pushing him to thrust the spear through the woman’s chest. He stopped himself and took a step back, and Mariella took the opportunity to roll underneath the bed.

  A deep, animalistic growl came from outside the tent. Kai hurried back out to find Sky standing over the unconscious bodies of close to a dozen men, and a couple of bound beasts, some of which were clearly dead. Kai clenched his teeth, realizing that he’d given her no instructions about sparing the animals.

  Terrion stood fifty or so feet away from him, his bound wolf at his side, holding Selene by her thick, curly hair. Kai couldn’t see the expression on his face, but his posture said more than enough. Terrion was already sure that he’d won.

  “Enough,” said Terrion, his voice sharp with an edge of annoyance to it. “Stand down, men. The fight is over.”

  Sky glanced at Kai, and he returned an apprehensive look and a shake of his head. He took several steps to orient himself in the shadows of a nearby tent, out of sight of any of Terrion’s hidden archers.

  Almost every slave in the camp was watching, some still in their bedrolls, others hanging just out of danger. Sky had taken out more than half of Terrion’s guards, but the one’s he had left were his personal bodyguards, the most dangerous of the rabble.

  Terrion stood next to the winding river, and seemed content to slow play the situation. He waited, watching Kai and Sky, letting their anxiety over what was about to happen build to a head.

  “You’ve put up a spirited fight,” said Terrion. “I’m impressed. Truly, I would not have expected as much from a slave.”

  “Let her go, or they’ll be more fighting,” said Kai. “This doesn’t have to end with you losing anything that you can’t replace.”

  “Oh, it doesn’t now?” Terrion pulled Selene up by the hair, and she let out a sharp cry of pain. He held a dagger to her throat and raised his gaze back to Kai.

  “Don’t!” he shouted. “Please… don’t.”

  “There’s no reason why I should have to,” said Terrion. “We aren’t so different. It’s really more of a matter of scale, isn’t it?”

  Sky glanced over at Kai and gave her head a twitch. She’d picked up a knife of her own at some time during the fight, and shot Kai a pleading glance. He shook his head firmly, watching Terrion and waiting.

  “Your new pet,” said Terrion. “The girl with the shifting eyes. I want her.”

  Kai blinked, the words so surprising that they almost didn’t register at first.

  “What?”

  “Give me the magic girl and I’ll give you this little slave slut,” said Terrion. “A fair trade.”

  Sky took a step closer to Kai and grabbed the back of his arm tightly in her hand.

  “Do it,” she whispered. “I can void step to safety, and we’ll all get out of this alive.”

  Kai hesitated, suddenly tempted by her logic. He could say the word, and it would happen. He could trade Sky, trade her like a piece of his property, a milking cow or a lamb with a fixed value and price. It was no different from any other transaction. The slaver had no problem with it, and a tiny voice in the back of his head questioned whether he should, either.

  “No,” said Kai, and then again, in a louder voice. “No.”

  Sky slapped him on the shoulder and made a sound of annoyance. Terrion flinched back slightly, as though surprised by his answer.

  “Truly?” he asked. “You’d rather die here, and leave both girls to their fate?”

  “Sky isn’t mine to give,” said Kai. “And your word isn’t yours to give, either, slaver.”

  Terrion let out a furious roar and did something that Kai hadn’t been expecting. He flung his arm to the side, flinging a terrified Selene into the fast flowing water of the river. Her arms flailed up in a desperate panic, and all Kai could do was watch, knowing what the end result would be.

  CHAPTER 25

  Kai sprinted down the river, keeping Selene in sight in the dark waters. The night did him no favors, throwing rocks and lumps underneath his feet to trip him up, while simultaneously limiting the distance of his sight.

  The sound of combat continued behind him. Kai could see the familiar flashes of Sky’s void stepping, along with brutal cries that seemed to be coming from outside of the direct conflict. It took him a moment to realize what was going on. The slaves, at least some of them, were using the mayhem as an opportunity to revolt.

  He didn’t stop to think about it. Kai’s focus was singular, and he sprinted like a madman, only slowing as he approached the massive boulder with the harness tied around it that he’d been introduced to on his first day in the river camp.

  He fumbled through tying the ropes around his chest, not bothering to double check that the knots had actually taken. Then, he charged, running toward the river and leaping out into the shadowy, wavy depths.

  It was cold, and the shock of the water hit him like a physical thing, pushing half the breath out of his lungs and straining his vision. He clawed his way up to the surface even as the current began to whisk him along, just as focused on what it did as he was on what he had to do.

  Selene was further ahead of him. Kai could hear her screams, half silenced and drowned by the crashing waves, noises of des
peration and resignation. He slapped his arms down hard against the water, swimming with the current and toward her.

  In the distance, Kai saw the fine white mist and accompanying emptiness of where the river dropped off into a waterfall. Selene was still five, maybe six, manspan away from him. He used every muscle he could put to the task in pulling himself forward. The waterfall was right there, straight ahead. Selene was nearing it. He could see her arms now, reaching out toward him.

  “Selene!” Kai lurched forward through the water and threw his hand at her. He felt it strike against something and clutched it out of pure reflex. Her warm fingers and soft palm were unmistakable. He had her in his grasp.

  The rope went taut without any preamble, and suddenly, Kai was fighting against the river to keep Selene in his grip. She had her head above the water, but only just barely. He couldn’t see her face in the dark, couldn’t do anything other than squeeze his hand into hers and hold, no matter what. The waves crashed against them, and the waterfall roared out where it struck the lake below.

  “Hang on!” he screamed. “Selene! I’ve got you!”

  Even as he spoke, he felt her hand beginning to slide against his. Kai bit into his lip hard enough to draw blood and focused all of his concentration on somehow making the now weaker grip into something strong enough to save a life. It was impossible.

  “Kai!” yelled Selene, her voice scared, high pitched, and resonant like a bell.

  “Selene!”

  “Kai…” she said again, her eyes locking onto his, even through the dark. “Don’t give up!”

  He stared at her for only a second, desperately digging in his fingernails, willing everything he had into the insurmountable task at hand. Selene was there, and then a harsh river wave crashed into the both of them, and she was gone.

  Kai’s grip clawed at loose water, and he screamed until his lungs burned. He looked downriver, watching for only a few moments before the shadowy outline of the only person he could call family abruptly vanished over the edge of the killing falls.