by Thomas Green
Luna paused. As far as she knew, there was nothing on her back. “I have nothing there.”
“You do.” Nancy’s eyes widened. “It’s a black tattoo, an oval for a face with four horns sprouting from its forward.”
Luna shrugged. “I have lost a part of my memory, so I have no idea.”
“Sorry.” Nancy blushed and rushed to the door. “I will get you the sewing kit.”
How did anyone ever make a tattoo on me? Luna watched Nancy dash from the cabin, not sure what to think. Luna stumbled to the door. She hit the frame with her forehead and crashed into the ground, feeling like an idiot. With a mouth full of curses, she clawed back to her feet and limped to the main deck. On the way, she grabbed a broom the sailors were using to clean and used it as a cane. She cared little for how ridiculous it made her look because relieving the pain from her legs was worth anything.
To her fortune, she soon found the brown-robed man since he was assisting the sailors with repairing of the broken railing at the ship’s port. He greeted her with a smile, rising as she approached. He was lean, clean-shaven and had a wildly grown hair while he was as tall as her, which she estimated to be close to seven feet. While his face appeared young, his eyes were not.
Luna forced out a smile. “Do you know how I got here?”
He formed a grin and motioned her to follow him. He led her to the forecastle deck where she sagged down by the railing. Her legs wanted to file their resignation while the rest of the body didn’t feel much better.
He sat down next to her. “Roughly. You arranged with the Order to help you do the ritual to remake your spiritual bindings.”
She raised her chin. “Why would I have done that?”
He shrugged. “You probably had enough of the wolf taking you over at its whim.”
“I meant the Order part. There is no way in hell I would ever conscript into an army!”
He laughed in a way that pissed Luna off. “Love changes things.”
She gawked at him. “Love?”
“I don’t know the details, but from what I’ve gathered you joined the Order to keep your relationship with your lover, General Miranda Darkscream.”
She stared at him, gaping. “That sounds nothing like me.”
“And yet here you are, with your own cabin at the Order’s capital ship, the Angry Judith.”
No matter how much she glared at him, he did not seem to be joking. “Okay, sure… right. Is this Miranda person around?”
He shook his head. “She’s commanding a ground force, but she will surely partake in the upcoming holy war.”
Luna wasn’t certain if she was supposed to be angry she wasn’t there or happy she didn’t have to go through meeting her lover without remembering her. “I need to regain my memory before we meet. Also, how’s Wolfie doing? I’m not saying I miss him, but I liked the regeneration.”
He chuckled. “The important parts should come back to you by themselves. As for the wolf, he should eventually recover from the ritual.”
“Okay.” Luna squinted. “I thought you were a random grunt James sent to keep an eye on me. But you know too much for that. Who are you?”
“I am Zakuma. Yes, I once served under James, but I’m here as the assistant priest.” He pulled an amulet from beneath his robes, bearing the symbol of the sun, the symbol of Alnil, the God of Life.
She threw him the you are an idiot look. “That’s the wrong amulet.”
He laughed, his voice thundering across the deck. “I didn’t believe James when he told me you were a lot like him. And yet here you are.”
Luna measured him with a long glare. He was talking of her father in a too familiar manner, suggesting Zakuma used to be somewhere high in his chain of command. “Okay, so, what did James have you do by calling on the old favors?”
“I was to get you through the ritual, ensure you recover and then see if you aren’t worthy of learning from me.”
“Okay.” She arched an eyebrow. “What makes you think you can teach me anything I would like to know?”
“We will get back to that when you regain the rule over your spirit.” He reached into his robes and pulled three raw mackerels to toss them to Luna, two of which still twitched. “This is your breakfast.” He motioned to the wooden bar attached to the foremast. “The plan for today is five hundred pull-ups. You will get more food as you progress.”
Luna eyed the dying mackerels in her hands. I never liked fish, but maybe I do now. She bit into one, disgusting smell punching her nose. She gagged as its slimy skin, and rigid flesh passed through her throat, remembering why she ate nothing cold-blooded. Nope. I hate fish.
Zakuma laughed as he watched her twisted face. “Talk about having tough luck, because you are eating nothing but raw fish for the upcoming months.”
Luna gulped, and her whole body shook as she took the next bite. “I suppose having it cooked won’t work, will it?”
“No, you still need your food as alive as possible to absorb aether. On the plus side, you don’t require as much as you used to so you won’t have to eat humans anymore, at least not unless you let the wolf take you over.”
Luna smiled, the warm feeling of relief filling her body. She was alive, had a lover and wasn’t doomed to spend the rest of her life as a human-eating monster. The fish stopped tasting so bad, and the idea of becoming a soldier became tolerable. That Zakuma was sent by James meant her father approved of her being here and doing this. Who was she to argue with him?
3
Luna
For the upcoming weeks, the forecastle deck turned into their training ground. Hour after hour, day after day, week after week, Luna did nothing but eat, sleep and exercise. The training became tougher and tougher. When using her own body weight stopped being enough, Zakuma tied weights onto her. Despite the raw fish still being as disgusting as they were the first day, she got back into shape.
Yet her memories did not. Nobody knew anything about her. From what Zakuma leaked out when she barraged him with questions, the ritual to redo her spiritual bindings took two years, and the memory block was an intended effect. Apparently, the ritual was so horrifying she would have gone insane were the memories not to be blocked. From the end of what she remembered to the start of the ritual, there was about half a year missing. But nobody knew what she was doing during that time and the veil wreathing her mind remained impossible to pierce through.
With nothing better to do, she focused on the exercising. That left Luna crumbled on the deck for the good part of the evening, but she enjoyed Nancy collecting her too much to take it easier. The worried look on the young girl’s face was the best drug she ever tasted.
This was one of those days. Luna lay on the forecastle deck while soreness echoed from every single of her muscles, making her stiff. She waited for Nancy to come to pick her up and help her return to the cabin, watching the blood-red sky. She wondered if her body wouldn’t file an injunction against such blatant abuse.
Steps approached, but heavier than Nancy’s. Luna turned her head and saw a handsome young man wearing the red and gold robes of the Palai clergy over his uniform.
He bowed with a smile. “I am sorry, but could I bother you for a moment?”
She tried to hide how strange this felt for her. People didn’t use to smile at her and nobody ever bowed. But she liked it, more than a bit. “With?”
“My name is Daniel. I am the assistant priest of the 47th Company, and I have been chronicling our campaign.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “I thought Zakuma was the ship’s priest, but you two wear different robes.”
Daniel stretched his neck. “He is rather the exception. While he does and knows the prayers of Palai, everyone has noticed him upholding all rituals of Alnil.”
“Aaha, okay, so I suppose you have come to chronicle me.”
“Yes.” He sat by the railing next to her, his hazel eyes staring into the distance. “I am writing a short note of every person on this ship.”
<
br /> “What did Zakuma tell you about himself?”
“I apologize, but I do not reveal what I have been told by others until the campaign is over.”
“Okay, but I won’t be able to share much.”
He laughed. “How come?”
“I don’t remember the past three years of my life.”
“Oh.” His face turned serious, almost sad. “Would you like me to show you around?”
She frowned, measuring him with a long stare. He seemed to bear no ill intentions, but she couldn’t help herself but be suspicious. “I’ve been told I don’t have the clearance for anything in the ship, so why would you come document and show me around now?”
“Zakuma said you will soon be ready to partake in your duties.”
Right. All the exercising made her forget she was an enlisted sailor. Her hope of it fizzling out had not borne fruit, making her sigh. She forced her face into a pleasant smile, grabbed the railing and dragged herself to her feet. Like everyone else, he was smaller than her, so she hunched her back not to tower above him. “I am ready to be guided.”
Below the stairs from the forecastle deck, Nancy almost bumped into them. “Sorry. Hi, Daniel.”
He formed a broad smile. “I’m showing Luna the vessel. Would you like to join us?”
She blushed. “Sure.”
He showed her the galleon, leading her through every major compartment while explaining every weapon the ship possessed. Luna paid little attention to it, focusing more on enjoying the company. By his story, the vessel was once named Judith after Admiral’s wife but was renamed to Angry Judith a divorce later.
The deep call of a blown horn echoed through the air, interrupting their tour. Luna turned to Daniel with a puzzled look.
He waved over the sea, his face turning grim. “Whales.”
Luna licked her lips. I wonder if whales taste better than the salmons I’ve been eating for past weeks. She gazed over the ocean, noticing a fin splitting the water near the ships. Can one eat a shark?
Sailors rushed onto the deck while Zakuma appeared behind them. “Please excuse my intrusion, but our day is not over.”
Luna threw Daniel a smile. “I will catch up with you later.”
He shook her head, disapproving of what was about to happen, and watched her leave with Zakuma while Nancy shouted after her to be careful. He led her to a rowboat tied to the side of Angry Judith.
With help from three sailors, they unstrapped the boat to lower it into the water. Once in, he handed Luna a harpoon with a rope attached to its end. “Have you ever hunted a whale?”
Luna shook her head and weighed the harpoon. This is a lot heavier than a spear.
“First thing, you hit it with the harpoon. The whale will try to swim away, but the blood-loss will tire it, and the rope connecting the harpoon to the boat will keep us close. Once the whale tires, we approach and stab it to death.”
Luna looked over the sea painted in the crimson of the dusk, excitement of hunting her dinner filling her veins. Around her sailed dozens of other rowboats, all advancing toward six whales. Men in the other boats threw their harpoons but missed.
While she narrowed her eyes to avoid the slapping wind, Luna braced her legs to keep balance. Once she glimpsed the top of the whale peak out above the water, she shifted her weight in to throw.
The harpoon boomed through the air while the boat swayed beneath her step. The rope behind the harpoon scratched her leg above her ankle. Luna cursed and dodged on instinct, making the boat yaw further. Her legs remembered today’s training and gave up no her. She crashed into the water, her eyes and mouth filling with the salty liquid that made her lacerated ankle sting.
Zakuma towered on the rowboat, laughing. Luna shook her head to clear her eyes and spat out water.
A sharp pain burst from her ankle as rows of vicious teeth bit into it. She screamed in pain.
Zakuma motioned the sailors. “Nobody help her. She will manage.”
The teeth dug deep, pressing onto her bone while the shark shook as it wanted to tear her leg off. She submerged to see a ten-feet-long, gray shark biting her calf. The pain got worse, shooting through her legs in one blinding barrage after another.
Panic flooded her veins. Luna shot her head above the water to shout. “Help!”
Zakuma threw her a sour glance as if to say pathetic.
Maddening pain exploded through her body as the teeth reached her bone, digging into the marrow. The shark shook, trying to tear off her leg. The surrounding water stained with blood while she kept losing strength.
Zakuma raised an eyebrow. “Would you stop playing with your food?”
The shark pulled her underwater. She reached for her aether, filling her body with strength, trying to free herself. But the shark was stronger, tearing at her flesh and bones, ignoring her attempts to punch him. The panic within her veins turned into dread while her oxygen ran out.
What do I do? Wolfie, this would be a good time to wake up! Nothing. And then the beast growled into her mind. Tears shot into Luna’s eyes. She would never admit she missed him, but she did. She hated the furry bastard for everything he made her do in the past, but being alone in her head was worse. Way worse.
She reached within, and her spirit answered, pouring its aether into her. She sprung her leg to drawn the shark closer and grabbed its head. The animal thrashed and struggled, but her grip was that of steel. She prolonged the tips of her fingers into ten-inch long claws. As terror filled the shark’s eyes, she held it firmly in place while guiding her claw toward its eye, through its skull, and into the brain.
The fish became limp. Luna forced open its jaws, freeing her leg. New skin stretched over her wounds, muscles regrew, and bones repaired themselves. Luna grabbed the corpse of the shark and swam to the surface where she threw Zakuma a defiant glare. “I feel ready for the combat training.”
He smiled. “After we are done with the whale. Since your harpoon hit, you have the honor of being the first person to dive in to help to scrape out its fat.”
“How does that work?”
“We cut a hole into the whale, take the fat into a barrel and then someone, by which I mean you, dives into the hole to reach the insides until we get all we can.”
Luna's stomach turned while her face twisted with disgust. “That will stink, won’t it?”
Zakuma laughed. “We have to earn our food.”
***
Upon the dawn of the next day, Luna met Zakuma for the usual practice, still stinking of the whale. No matter how much she washed, irrespective of how many nice-scenting ointments Nancy produced, Luna carried around her the thick odor of rot. She wished she could stop her nose from smelling it, but couldn’t.
Zakuma welcomed her with a serious face. “From today, the training and your regime will change. Since we are approaching the Sea of Serpents, you will need to become a part of the company you have been assigned to. A man named Chief Petty Officer John Bull will teach you how to be a soldier, I mean, sailor. After we are done with the morning practice, you will put on a uniform and meet him.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “I don’t want to be rude, but I see no one acting as a soldier in here. Sure, they wear uniforms, buuut—”
“Things have changed since the times of the Old Kingdom. What did James teach you?”
“The first clothes he ever gave me were a uniform. Once he taught me how to wear it, he nicknamed me Private Claws, assigned me daily duties and called everything he made me do a mission. And yes, that’s part of why I never even considered becoming a soldier.”
“Oh.” Zakuma chuckled. “Take it easy on the sailors.”
“Okay. What about the training? Am I worthy of learning something from you?”
“I don’t know yet.” Zakuma stared at her in a way Luna did not like. “Hit me with your claws.”
Luna scratched her head. “Errr… when I do that, people die, and I don’t want to hurt you. Not that badly.”
“Have
no worry, for you shall not land a hit soon.”
Luna shrugged, turned her fingertips into claws and charged. She bolted her hand forward for a swift stab at the middle of his chest. He whirled, avoiding the strike with her not as much as scratching his robes. She stepped in to slash. He averted the swing, the one after and every other attack she threw. Two hours later, Luna was panting and burning with frustration. She could not get close to hitting him.
He scoffed. “Done already?”
Luna gritted her teeth and attacked again, slashing wildly. He weaved between the strikes, making all of her attacks miss by inches without him as much as parrying. By the time noon came, she wasn’t any closer to succeeding. “How are you doing this?”
“Technique.” Zakuma’s face turned serious. “Your combat style has all the basics, but fighting powerful opponents takes more than instinct and experience. We will continue with this practice for the foreseeable future.”
Luna’s eyes narrowed. “Will you teach me this thing you call… technique?”
“I have been planning to take my art to my grave, but I will give you a chance to prove you are worthy of learning it. Until then, however, we will do this training. Now, you have an officer to meet.” He spun on his heel and left.
With no better options, she returned to her cabin. Nancy stood inside, trying to straighten a black uniform by using a heated lump of iron.
Luna threw her a smile. “Hi.”
Nancy’s face brightened. “I got your uniform.”
Luna approached, eyeing the black, undecorated uniform with a symbol of a sword with wings on the chest. “Why isn’t it gold and red like everyone else’s?”
Nancy shrugged. “They told me it’s a special-forces-business thing.”
Luna’s expression twisted into an awkward smile. “I don’t want to stand out. Isn’t there some normal uniform I could use?”
Nancy shook her head. “Not that I know of, sorry.”
“Did they tell you what rank will I have?”