by Thomas Green
“You had just risked both your mission and your life by saying this, and I consider you smarter than that. So, what is this about?”
She placed her face before his. “I love danger. I’m not young, not anymore, and it becomes harder and harder to get excited as the years pass. You are so terrifying I couldn’t even imagine it possible. It makes my blood sizzle. So what if it ends up killing me? At least I will die knowing I had my fun toying with the devil himself.”
He did his best to fake disinterest. “Why would you call me that?”
Zoey put her forearms on his shoulders, piercing him with a calm gaze. “To kill demons is pointless because their souls stay in Limbo and eventually reform their bodies in the physical world after being killed. This is why I thought whatever was happening with the demon nests was meaningless, but then Kayleanne arrived at the Voidspire to ask for help. With no space for doubt, she is the strongest and one of the most powerful rulers on the continent, but she seemed afraid.”
She pushed her body onto his, turning his breath hasty and shallow. “And yet she came, making me wonder what type of terror is coming for her to evoke such reaction. I realized it the second I met you. She noticed the demons you kill cannot be reborn, meaning you can destroy souls within Limbo. No immortality, no heaven, no hell, no afterlife, no rebirth, nothing. If I were to guess, I would say you are the one they call the Traitor.”
He laughed, enjoying how her body froze from the harsh, joyless sound. “You are correct.”
She reached for a sponge to start washing, clearly using the movement to calm herself down. “See? This is what I was talking about. There is no place in this world where I could hide because you can find anyone through Limbo. There is no being that could shelter me, leaving nothing I could do to stop you from enslaving or torturing my soul for eternity if you ever so desired. It’s been over sixty years since the last time I felt this alive.”
Lucas sighed, enjoying her pale, youthful, flawless skin more than he would have allowed himself to. “I wonder how you have survived to this age.”
“By being loveable, how else?” She giggled and slid her hand down to his crotch. “Hard enough to penetrate steel plates. At least this part of you is happy to have me around.”
Lucas grabbed her back, pulled her in, and darted his mouth forward, aiming to catch her into a kiss.
She jerked her head up, making him land on her throat. “Not so fast.”
Lucas returned to the relaxed position, the taste of her soft skin lingering on his lips. “Is this how you want to play it?”
She rose and stepped out of the bath.
“Running so soon?”
“Running? I came here to wash, now I’ve done that I have no reason to further disturb you.”
He frowned. “I believe you have left here some unfinished business.”
Zoey went to crouch down behind him, putting her head next to his. “You strike me as the type who gets any girl he wants within an evening, so I will make you work for it. I told you I want to toy with the devil. What I left behind is how I desire it to be,” she whispered, bit his ear and headed toward the door, carrying her clothes in her arms.
Lucas followed her with his gaze, noticing a dark spot by her left side. “You have reopened your wound.”
She turned with a charming smile. “Would you like to look at it?”
He motioned to the table. “Lie down.”
She walked to the bed to grab the duvet and put it on the table before she lay on top, face down.
Lucas rose from the bath, reached into his soul chamber for leather trousers, dressing before he brought the tall candle holder. He picked a smoldering piece of wood from beneath the bath and used it to light the candles, gazing at the wound that marred the side of her lower back.
The edges of the gash were rough, gaping apart while blood dripped from its sides. This needs to be stitched.
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “You look like you know what you are doing.”
He formed an unhappy smile. I used to. But I haven’t practiced medicine in so long I can barely remember the last time I did. He reached into his soul chamber to withdraw a thin needle and a suture. After he attached the thread to the needle, he raised his hand before his face. It was trembling.
She smiled. “Shouldn’t you clean the wound first?”
“I’ve got nothing better than the bath you used.” His eyes stayed fixed on his hand, hoping the trembling would stop. It didn’t.
She raised an eyebrow as he hadn’t moved for a while. “What’s wrong?”
I can’t steady hand. He shook his head. “I need a moment.” Lucas fished a cigar from out of his soul chamber, lit it by the candle, stepped to the window and opened it. A strange hollowness filled him, a feeling he had long forgotten.
Zoey rose. “I think I should go.”
Lucas sighed. “Wait.” He motioned his hand, and a sealed jar appeared on the parapet next to him.
Zoey approached him and pried it open, cringing at the horrendous stench of rotten flesh it released. “What the hell is this?”
“A balm made of the soft tissue of demons with natural regeneration. Put it onto the injury, and it will seal it and remake the skin.”
“Now this is interesting, especially that you wanted to test if you could stitch me manually beforehand.” She dipped two fingers into the substance and applied it to her wound, not wincing from the pain. “Thank you.”
Empty, Lucas forced out a smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and swung to his front, pressing her chest against his, their lips an inch away. He leaned in, inviting her for a kiss.
She chuckled. “You are so good at this I’m almost speechless.”
He arched an eyebrow.
She slid a finger by his cheek. “You look like a poor, wounded animal any girl would love to comfort. And I don’t think it’s accidental.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Awfully perceptive, aren’t you?”
“Amuse me, how many girls fell for this move?”
He grinned. “Many.”
“Honestly, if this happened a century ago, we would be banging ten minutes from now.” She weaved away, running her hands by his back, leaving behind an electrifying sensation. “But I’m such an easy prey anymore. Also, you didn’t fake being unable to do the stitching, did you?”
He nodded, watched her dress, and leave. Once he was alone, he put his hand before his face. It was as steady as a statue made of marble.
A memory flashed before his eyes. He saw himself standing in a medical tent in a different world, in a different age, when he was a different man. The nurses dressed in white leathers brought away the man lying before him as he successfully finished a complicated surgery where he removed shards of a shattered skull from the patient’s brain.
A strikingly attractive woman with golden hair and sky-blue eyes, wearing a golden armor while carrying a spear over her shoulder entered through the side, throwing him a smile. “They said the surgery would take half a day, yet you seem to be done in mere minutes.”
His face split into a broad, cheeky grin. “You know I’m better than them.”
She laughed. “Always so full of yourself.”
He stepped to his wife, grabbed her by the waist, pressing her against himself. “What can I say? I am that good.”
She let go of her spear and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I hope you remain so.”
As he leaned in to kiss her, the memory disappeared, and he was back inside the room, staring at a moonless sky. A tear slid down his face. I’m not that good anymore.
11
Luna
Luna roared in frustration as she attempted to hit Zakuma with a slash for the ten thousandth time. He dodged with the same ease he did in all previous attempts. Nothing she ever tried worked. It was barely the morning, but she was already burning with frustration.
Zakuma smiled. “Let’s take a minute break to calm down and before we try again.”
/> “I can’t calm down!”
“You will fail if you cannot keep yourself focused.”
She stomped her leg onto the wood of the forecastle deck. “I have done that and what’s the score? Zakuma, nine thousand and one, Luna, zero? I am not supposed to be this pathetic!”
He kept his voice steady, trying to soothe her. “I am experienced, so it isn’t easy to land a hit on me.”
“Not easy? I can’t touch you even when I’m ignoring my defense. This is a thousand times worse than training with James. Sure, he used beat me up so hard I had to eat through a straw for a week, but at least I got to hit his smirking face a few times.”
“It wouldn’t count as practice if it was easy. Take deep breaths, drink water, and focus.”
Luna crumbled by the railing, her heart sinking as the frustration turned into disappointment. “I suck at this.”
He shook his head. “You don’t. Yet now I believe our training is about to be interrupted.”
Luna followed Zakuma’s gaze and saw Chief Bull approaching. She ensured all the buttons on her uniform were closed and straightened her collar, sleeves, and back. She greeted him with a perfect salute. “Chief.”
He sighed. “We have a mission. Get ready, for we leave in an hour. Have Dan take you to the armory.”
Luna nodded. He spun on his heel and left. Happy to be released from her torment, she headed to seek Daniel, her heart pumping with excitement to go on her first mission. She found him in their compartment where he was packing his backpack with Nancy pacing around him with a bag fixed on her back. Luna’s heart leapt to her neck while she stared at them. “Why do you two have backpacks?”
Daniel raised an eyebrow. “We are going on a mission, so we have packed our provisions.”
Nancy smiled while motioning beneath Luna’s hammock. “I have picked up yours already.”
Luna blinked a few times and pinched herself. Nothing changed. Her eyes widened. “Tell me you are joking.”
They stared at her with awkward smiles. Daniel cleared his throat. “We are members of the army as battlefield medics, Luna. We aren’t here to watch.”
She gulped. The first mission turned from an exciting change of routine into the most terrifying task she has faced since the ritual. “I need about twelve feet of bandages. Do you have any?”
Daniel forced out a hesitant smile. “You don’t want to use them to bind us, do you?”
“Dan!” Nancy shouted. While he aimed his gaze at the ground, she reached into her backpack to give Luna the bandages.
Luna slipped out of her uniform. Despite seeing her naked for more than a few times, both Daniel and Nancy blushed, awkwardly staring at the walls. Luna ignored them and tightly wrapped bandages around her breasts, ankles, and wrists. Once done, she tightened the bandages to make sure her bust wouldn’t bounce under the armor and that her ankles and wrists were fixed so they would regenerate faster if they were damaged. She dressed back into the uniform, closing every button, centering her belt. “I’m done,” she uttered and packed her backpack, putting in two days’ worth of rations and dozens of feet of ropes before they walked to the armory.
Inside the compartment filled by endless racks of armor and weapons, she spent too many minutes picking her gear. While it seemed promising at first, whatever armor was long enough to cover Luna’s body had too wide shoulders and whichever had the correct width of shoulders was too short.
As she watched Daniel and Nancy finishing, she settled for a size too small brigandine since she figured the leather would succumb and stretch to fit her. For her weaponry, she picked a shortsword and six daggers, from which she tucked two into her boots and four around her armor.
She saw Daniel waiting for her with a scale armor shining from beneath his robes and a tower shield attached to his back. Next to him stood Nancy, wearing chain mail with a shield strapped to her back, a shortsword, and a quiver of crossbow bolts by her waist.
Luna measured them with a glare. “You two are not going anywhere like this.”
They stared at her, awkwardness filling the air. Luna stepped to Nancy. “You first. Stand straight and do what I tell you to.” The girl turned red but obeyed. Luna adjusted the straps on Nancy’s armor. When the armor was fitted to perfection, she changed Nancy’s crossbow for a newer one, bolts for sharper ones, the shield for one without a crack and added a longsword to her shortsword, because if she had to kill someone, the short weapon would be useless in her hands given how small she was.
Daniel protested, tried to defend himself, but had no chance. She readjusted his armor, gave him a different shield and almost froze when she realized he had no weapons. She straightened her back to glower down at him. “Where are your weapons?”
He offered a peaceful smile. “I don’t need those since I refuse to take lives.”
Luna gulped, hoping he was kidding. He wasn’t. As she stared at him, speechless, Nancy caught her in a hug from behind. “Don’t worry. He’s great at running away and hiding.”
Luna’s heartbeat sped up as the soft touch made her relax. “Okay.”
The door opened, and two young men waltzed in. She recognized them from the sleeping compartment but didn’t remember their names. While Nancy detached from the hug, Luna shrugged and threw them a smile. “Hi. I’m Junior Petty Officer Luna.”
The thin man with glasses on his nose smiled at her. “Hi.”
The tall man next to him patted the glassed one on his back. “This is the point where you introduce yourself.”
“Sorry,” he blurted. “I’m Adam, but everyone calls me Sparks. I’m the company’s alchemist.”
The tall one offered her a hand. “I’m Private Willem Penterghast, a fresh graduate of the University of Xona assigned to this company.”
Luna shook the hand so strongly Willem had to bite his tongue not to shout out in pain. She threw him an awkward smile, not knowing what to say while her insides tied into a knot. Sorry.
He put on the toughest face he could. “You have one hell of a grip.”
Daniel laughed. “I guess we are the weirdo squad.”
The door flung open, and Lieutenant Redeye entered, flanked by Chief Bull, and Rod. Luna, Nancy, Daniel, Sparks, and Willem straightened their backs for a salute.
“At ease,” the lieutenant said and advanced to the racks. In awkward silence, he, Bull, and Rod grabbed heavy armor, tower shields, crossbows, arming swords, sets of daggers, and heavy weapons, a great axe for the Chief, a glaive for the Lieutenant, and a spear for Rod. Sparks and Willem took gear similar to Nancy.
Luna glanced at the shortsword sheathed by her belt and couldn’t help herself but be embarrassed. A quick glance over the others confirmed they all felt the same. The lieutenant motioned them to follow him once he was ready to lead them to a rowing boat his men had prepared beneath a net by the port.
The eight of them climbed down, sat into the boat and grabbed oars. After five minutes of rowing in silence, Lieutenant Redeye took the word. “This is a scouting mission. We are to map the enemy defenses around the town named Vlatton and bring back a full report. Upon landing, we will split into two groups where I will go with Willem, Sparks, and Nancy while the rest will follow the Chief. Our point of arrival is a half-a-day of marching away from the city so we will regroup by the boat at the dawn of the day after tomorrow.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” everyone responded as a single man.
Luna tried not to look worried when she met Nancy’s gaze. She failed. As she blushed, she turned her eyes to the sea painted red by the light of the dusk, her insides tightened. Am I… afraid? The fear made a memory flash through her mind. She saw herself lying on the roof of a house in Grimdawn. Agonizing pain and cold wreathed her body while pieces of her shattered teeth lay scattered around. Parts of her spine struck out of her chest like pale towers bathed in crimson. Akin to a God of Darkness, above her towered a man, the one who killed her. His clothes made of blackness, his hair silver moonlight, his face calm and compa
ssionless.
She blinked and the memory, the last memory from before she woke up within on the ship, was gone, but the dread filling her veins remained. Her entire body shook.
“Are you all right?” Daniel asked as he was rowing next to her.
“Yeah… I guess… no.”
“Don’t worry. I heard it’s normal to be nervous at the first mission. Or at least I hope so because I am.”
Luna shook her head. “It’s not that… I remembered something.”
Rod threw her a smile. “It’s fucking good to sort the fucking shit in your brain before starting the fucking mission, Stilts, so keep fucking going.”
“I’m sorry,” Luna whispered.
“Don’t be,” Lieutenant Redeye said. “Rod is correct. We all have our nightmares, our memories we wouldn’t want to have, our insecurities. The important thing is to shove them aside when going on a mission, especially for new recruits.” He slid with his gaze over Luna, Nancy, Daniel, Willem, and Sparks.
Nobody said anything, so the lieutenant continued rowing. Luna looked at the sailors around her, realizing she didn’t care about the war, about the Order or the demon princes it was set to kill. But she cared about them, not just about Nancy and Daniel, but all of them. She decided she will make sure they make it back alive, all of them.
Two hours later, they arrived at the tree-covered shore, where they dragged the boat beneath a willow to masquerade it among the bushes. Were someone to walk nearby, he would notice it, but they had little options for better camouflage.
As they were about to split into the squads the lieutenant decided, Luna stared at her interlocked fingers.
Nancy stepped to her, putting her hand on Luna’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. I will be fine.”
Luna peered at the frail girl before her, wishing she was right. She didn’t believe her. Nancy weaved her arms around Luna’s torso, catching her into a hug. Reluctantly, Luna wrapped her arms around her back. While she drew Nancy’s scent into her nose, she relaxed for but a moment. “Be careful.”