“Huh,” I mused, fading onto my elbows. Slurred speech tumbled from my thick tongue in a mess of consonants. “That would explain why you’re getting all blurry.”
Dragging one heel back, Hades shifted his weight to face me. “It would be my humble pleasure to help. But I’m afraid I have to ask for one small favor in return.”
Unable to hold up my own weight, I slumped to the ground. “Name your terms,” I mumbled, darkness seeping in from all sides.
The crystal around his neck pulsing with a hypnotic sapphire luminescence, Hades crouched beside me to whisper against my ear. “You are a soldier, driven by honor before all else. Are you not?”
Fading fast, I forced my heavy lids to blink to stop my eyes from rolling back. “Yes, m’lord.”
With the side of his knuckle under my chin, Hades lifted my head and caught my wavering stare. “I know your kind. You believe that by doing what’s right, the gods of fate will reward in turn. I call upon this sense of honor, now. Pledge yourself to me. In exchange, I will help you.”
Something in his words sent icy fingers prickling up my spine. “I pledged an oath of fealty to King Triton, Ruler of Atlantica. I serve his majesty.”
Expelling a disappointed sigh, Hades released me and drew himself up to full height. “I really hoped you wouldn’t say that.” Stalking a slow circle around me, he smoothed the front of his threadbare robe. “You see, King Triton is the reason you’re lying there right now. Had he not forced his agenda upon Vanessa, she would have had time to perfect her spell. It was his pride, and fear of losing that coveted throne, which prevented him from granting her that.” Pausing next to my hip, he stomped one sandaled foot down on my oozing wound.
Cannon blasts of anguish tore a scream from my core.
“Triton’s only power is in his title. You know that, as well as I do. Do you believe your finned king,” he spat the words as if they soured on his tongue, “could help you now?”
Forehead falling to the crook of my arm, my lip curled from my teeth as images of a young Triton wrestling with baby manatees played through my mind. “No, he couldn’t. But … it doesn’t matter. I stooped before him and made my vow.”
Removing his foot, Hades edged back a step. Head tilted, he considered me with wry amusement. Making the most of the momentary liberation, I rolled to my side and filled my lungs with greedy gulps of air.
“I appreciate your valor. I do. It’s so rare a trait these days. Unfortunately, in this particular situation, it’s preventing you from grasping the magnitude of my offer.” Relying only on magical influence, he hoisted me from the ground. An unseen force gripped me by the throat, causing my eyes to bulge as I kicked for freedom. “You can swear yourself to me, or count me as an enemy. Those are the only options available.”
Casually curling one finger, he summoned me to him. My slack body floated the distance between us by no will of my own.
“This might hurt a bit,” Hades warned, and stabbed his fist into my chest cavity. I could feel his digits wriggling within me, nails dragging over my spasming heart. “My strength surpasses that of Triton in ways you can’t begin to comprehend. Reject me, boy, and face the full fury of Hell. Or … avoid all that with your humble vow of servitude. I don’t want to say it’s a simple choice, but my pinkie finger is touching your spleen right now.”
Chin falling to my chest, I choked out a gasp. “Mercy. Mercy, m’lord.”
Retracting his hand, if only by an inch, he allowed me to suck down a breath. “Will you pledge yourself to me, Alastor?”
Knowing my options were that or death, I spat the words that left the bitter taste of loathing and regret on my tongue. “I … pledge myself to you.”
A victorious smile brightening his maliciously beatific face, Hades lowered my crumbled form to the floor.
“It really is so rewarding when a peaceful resolution can be reached.” Blue wisps swirled from his fingertips. Their rolling tendrils licked at my wounds, knitting me back together and chasing away the smothering pain and exhaustion.
Clarity returned with a jolt of alarm at my newly declared fealty. Pushing up onto my elbows, I opened my eyes to a world that no longer made sense.
The ocean was gone.
What was left of Lemuria, and the sea of bodies surrounding it, had all been washed away.
In its place loomed towering trees, with their trunks twisted together in an elaborate braid. Mountains, sponged with thick tufts of green, crowned the valley around me. The crisp scent of earth and foliage replaced the stench of war.
Head snapping in one direction, then the other, I searched for answers among the flora. “Wh–what did you do? Where are we?”
“Oh, this?” Hades glanced around, as if he, too, had just noticed the change in scenery. “Hmm, it appears to be somewhere green, lovely, and far from the boundaries of Atlantica.”
“You said you were going to help me.” A fist of rage tightening in my gut, I pushed myself to my knees. Thankful to find my legs could hold my weight, I puffed my chest and rose in challenge before the deceitful trickster. “You said you couldn’t fault me love. You healed my leg! What’s the point of any of that if it doesn’t return me to the water and Vanessa?”
“You foolish boy.” Glaring down the bridge of his nose, Hades’ lip curled back in a vicious snarl. “If it was within my capabilities to return to the sea, don’t you think I would have done it already? Failure to do so cost me the love of my life, and my child. I will thank you not to assume you own the market on loss. You claim you love the girl, yet how far you’ll go to find your way back to her will decide if you are worthy of her affections. Your journey begins with a day’s trek in that direction.” Folding his hands in front of him, Hades lifted his chin to the east of us. “There, you will find a kingdom welcoming to travelers.”
“Why?” I spat, and took a threatening step forward. “Why would I ever listen to you, instead of finding my way back to the sea?”
One corner of his mouth tugging back in a sardonic smirk, Hades kept his tone calm and measured. “I’m sure you’ll find basic human needs, such as food and clean water, will be quite convincing motivators. Plus, if you did get back to the ocean, what would you do then? Stand on the shoreline, and scream for your beloved? Serve me well, mortal, and we will both find our way back to the welcoming embrace of Mother Ocean.”
The crystal around his neck pulsated once more, and Hades’ form rippled. His solid stature began a slow fade into nothingness.
Lunging for him, my hand swiped through the mist that lingered were his arm had been only a moment ago. “Please, just tell me what you want from me! What do I have to do to get home?”
With nothing except a villainous smile left of his corporeal form, Hades chuckled. “A day’s journey, hero. That’s where it all begins.”
Chapter Four
This was not the dabbling with humanity I underwent thanks to Vanessa’s spell. During that experience I never ventured out of ear shot of Mother Ocean’s steady lapping, its soothing rhythm holding the promise of home. Here, my bare feet were chaffed and bloody from the rocks and twigs I trudged over in a march to … nowhere. Every tree looked like the last. Every jog in the path thrust me farther into the maze of green. Enormous birds, larger than any I had ever seen, swooped overhead. Beaks held high, they screeched their calls at the late day sun which filtered down through slits in the canopy of leaves.
Time moved at a turtle’s pace, its passing marked only by the dark shadows stretching across the damp earth. Before long, the visible slivers of sky were kissed by night’s delicate violet hue. I may have found it lovely, had I not been torn from everyone and everything I cared about and experiencing crippling thirst for the very first time. Funny thing, thirst. At home it’s a moot concept lost in the rolling current. Here it depleted what was left of my strength, and threatened to turn my bones to stone.
Forced to shuffle on, a vine caught my ankle and hurled me into a boulder twice the size of my head.
Ribs crunched, the air leaving my lungs in a pained huff. Gasping, I rolled onto my back, and tried to blink my way through the ache. Directly above me, a splinter of moonlight illuminated a single flower. One bloom. A vision of perfection in a forest of stifling chaos. Its beauty exploded from a long stalk, silky black pedals tapering down to a blush shade of plum at the tips.
“That’s a wild orchid,” a playful voice taunted from everywhere, and nowhere. “Its enchanting bloom is an exotic beauty that rivals all other flowers. You once claimed that’s what your princess was to you, did you not? It was the night before we walked ashore, and already you missed her to the depths of your core.”
Pushing off my elbow, I rolled onto my knees. “Sterling? Is that you? Where are you?” My gaze swept the tree branches in search of him.
“I … end up places.” His chuckle echoed all around me; bouncing off every trunk, vibrating from the rock-covered earth. “That terrifying man with the blue-tipped hair was preparing for a jump. I thought I’d tag along. So rarely do I get to travel with company.”
Craning my neck, I located him in the bend of a lofty branch. Rising to my feet, I squinted to get a better view. Only the glow of his ethereal green eyes could be seen, peering down with vexing curiosity. “I didn’t understand a word of that, but perhaps we could discuss it further when you’re not in a tree?”
A dry snort of disbelief wafted down from above. “I’m not in a tree. What a ludicrous— Ow! Oof! Hunh!”
Tumbling down from his perch, Sterling smacked several sturdy, unforgiving branches and twigs before crashing to the ground in a heap. Groaning, he flopped onto his back. “Huh. I was in a tree.”
“Did you come back here looking for me?” I offered him a hand up, only to have him bat it away and leap up unscathed.
“That depends, who are you?” he asked, face blank of any inklings of emotion or recognition.
“Uh … Alastor?” I offered hesitantly, wondering if this was a joke with a punchline only he was privy to. “We fought alongside each other on the beaches of Lemuria. During which time, I told you that wild orchid story you just repeated, remember?”
Jabbing his hands on his hips, Sterling’s eyes narrowed. “Are those questions, or answers? Because, if you don’t know who you are, how do you expect me to?”
“I do know! You acted as if you didn’t!”
With a sympathetic shake of his head, he clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Thick scars sliced his cheeks, morphing his smile into a maw of madness. “Such low self-esteem. How do you ever hope to be king?”
“I have no desire to be the king of anything.” Pulling back, I rapidly blinked my confusion.
“Then, there’s nothing to argue about.” He beamed, brushing leaves from the shoulders of the frayed cloak he wore—which he definitely didn’t have the last time I saw him. “You are a fickled pickle!”
My mouth opened to argue, only to be cut off by the voice of common sense pointing out what a useless cause that would be. “You’re mad.”
“True, but I’ve found all of the best people are.” Digging into a newly acquired leather satchel strung across his body, he pulled out what appeared to be a red, shiny ball. After polishing it on his shirt, he tossed it to me. “After a jump, you should always find food, clothing, and water as quickly as you can. You’ll learn that with time.”
His claim sprouted a slew of follow-up questions, all of which were momentarily forgotten the instant the morsel settled into my palm. Mouth watering, I made myself hold back a beat. “This … is safe to eat?”
“It’s called an apple. They’re plentiful in most realms, and—conveniently enough—grow on trees which makes them easy to snag.” Gathering an armful of small sticks, Sterling arranged them in a neat pile.
“Most realms?” I asked. Teeth bursting through the apple’s outer skin, its glorious sweetness exploded in my mouth.
“You’re new. You haven’t seen many yet. But you will. So many worlds, so much to see. When you return to this spot, who will you be?” The last part he chanted to himself in a singsong voice, hands stilling from his task.
“Sterling?” I ventured, wiping my mouth on the back of my hand.
He snapped to with a jerk, picking right back up where he left off. “There’s no real term for it, that I know of at least. Jumper, Explorer, Traveler, Leaper: call it what you will, we’re the real truth keepers. I saw you down here, looking all lost and bewildered, and recognized your plight. One large piece of advice? If you insist on camping out in the open like this, you need something to deter the hungry predators prowling about. They will eagerly pounce on the chance to make a meal out of you.” Shrugging off his satchel, he set it in the dirt beside him.
“Predators?” I pressed, pausing between noisy bites.
Glancing up, Sterling’s lips pulled back in a wide smile that showed all his jagged teeth. “Meat-eating kitties and pups with sharp fangs, all with ravenous appetites.”
Swallowing hard, I forced down a lump of dread with my latest mouthful.
As he snickered to himself, Sterling rubbed two sticks together until they sparked. Bowing his head, he gently blew on it until the smolder grew into a flame. “A fire will keep the beasties away while we sleep. Speaking of, your grass nappies must be getting rather scratchy by now. There’s clothing in my satchel you’re welcome to. If I may make a suggestion? All the worlds I have traveled in, for some reason layers translate to wisdom. I don’t understand the logic, but the more I bundle the more respect and kindness I’m shown. Which is a far cry from popping up nude places. People do not like that one little bit. One woman threw a pigeon at me! Where did she even get the blasted thing?”
While I found it impossible to follow his zigzagged line of reasoning, a change of attire sounded incredibly appealing. When the Royal Guard prepared to burst from the sea, we girded our loins with seaweed supplied by Mother Ocean. In the time that had passed since then, it had dried to an unforgiving irritant. Translation? My bits were sore and chaffy. “Proper dress here is to cover all skin? Like you have?”
Glancing down at his ensemble, Sterling gave himself a cursory once over. His loose-fitting pants and shirt were covered by navy-blue cloak peppered with moth-eaten holes. At one hip, a wide-brimmed straw hat was tucked into his belt for later wear, on the other a canteen sagged with the weight of its cargo. “Yes,” he confirmed to himself as much as me. “I covered everything. Give that a try.”
Flipping open his tanned cow-hide bag, I pulled out an extra pair of pants, a shirt, and a hooded cape the same hue as the seaweed I was anxious to be rid of. “Where did you get all of this?” I asked, tugging the shirt over my head.
“I take what I need to survive, but never hurt anyone. There was a time when the guilt ate at me. Then, I got my first case of frostbite. Turns out the anguish of that screams louder than the nag of guilt.” Freeing the canteen tied at his hip, Sterling slid it over. It bumped against the side of my foot, the contents audibly sloshing. “Drink up, you’re looking a little … off.”
Pondering the irony of that statement coming from him, I slid on the far more comfortable breeches before treating myself to a series of greedy gulps. “Where is it you’re headed?” I gasped when I finally came up for air.
After throwing leaves on the growing fire, Sterling scooted back against a fallen tree trunk. “There’s a kingdom not far from here that is opening its doors to all kinds—for a brief time at least. The king issued a royal decree in search of … something. I missed the details when that horrible woman began swatting me away with a broom. Still, there should at least be a hardy meal in it if the royals are hosting.”
I eased myself to the ground, crossed my legs in front of me, and watched the beautiful waltz of the red and orange flames crackling toward the sky. “This kingdom, is it the only one nearby?”
“Aye.” Crossing his arms, Sterling settled in with his chin to his chest.
That had to be the kingdom Hades told me about.
With Sterling’s help, I stood a better chance of reaching there alive. “Would you mind if I made the journey with you? New to these parts, I can’t say I won’t get in your way, but I’ll—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Sterling’s head snapped up. Lurching forward, he balanced on the balls of his feet, his wild eyes boring into mine. “You … wish to travel with me?”
“Yes?” Taken aback by the urgency of his response, I tentatively tried the answer on.
Lacing his fingers, as if in prayer, Sterling brought his knuckles to his lips. “I had people once, so very long ago. Where they are now, I fear I’ll never know.” Brow knit tight, he beseeched me. “If we get separated, can you stay right where you are, that I may find my way back? Can you … promise me that?” An ocean of loss and sorrow swirled in the depths of his stare, begging for an ounce of acceptance and compassion.
“Yeah.” Wetting my lips, my guilty gaze shifted back to the fire. Thrust into a world I couldn’t understand, how could I honor such a vow? Still, I feared denying Sterling such a request would shatter what was left of a broken man. “I promise.”
“Good … good,” Sterling exhaled, easing back to his resting spot. Settling in, he muttered the exact sentiment that had haunted me since the moment my feet first sank into the sand. “Wander too far, and you can lose who you are.”
Chapter Five
“Out of my way, appetizer!” An ogre with a drastic under-bite slammed his elbow into my shoulder in his lumber past.
Stumbling to steady my footing, I shot an exasperated glare in Sterling’s direction. “What prompted the king to invite such a wayward lot to his domain?”
The second leg of our travels began before the sun crested the horizon. After a lengthy hike through the slick terrain, the peaks of the kingdom swelled before us. The closer we got, the more creatures, of every conceivable kind, swarmed the stone perimeter. While the iron gates were thrown open wide, horseback guards sifted through the crowd for those they would allow passage onto the grounds.
The Unfortunate Souls Collection Page 24