by Tara West
Jae swallowed, a knot visibly working its way down her throat. “This is how they control the non-magics—fear.”
She shook her head. “Why would they need fear to control you?” Why, when the witches could use magic? Dianna had seen a child bind a dragon. Surely the witches of Kyanu could subdue a few mortals.
“Their numbers are far greater than ours,” Simeon answered.
Dianna arched a brow. So far she’d seen mostly golden-eyed witches in Kyanu, with only a few dark-eyed servants and garden workers. “How great?”
“Kyanu runs deep,” Jae said. “You have only seen a fraction of our levels.”
Dianna straightened. From what she’d already seen of the mazes and tunnels, Kyanu was indeed vast. It was incomprehensible to imagine there were more. “How many levels are there?”
“Hundreds,” Simeon said.
“Hundreds?” She gasped. “And the dwellers are all mortals?”
He nodded.
She couldn’t conceive how there could be so many more caverns, tunnels, and levels. “What do they all do?”
“You have only seen one garden.” Simeon paced the floor in front of them, his brow creased with lines Dianna hadn’t notice before. “There are many more, plus there is a whole level dedicated to dying fabric and another for weaving.” He held up his hands, counting on his fingers. “Then there are brothels, metal workers, carpenters, millers, miners, jewelers....”
“And they are each assigned to their own level?” Dianna asked.
“Yes, depending on their skills.”
This society was sounding more like a prison. It had taken Dianna a considerable amount of time and careful traversing down treacherous steps to reach the level which housed her chamber. How long would it take her to reach the lowest levels? Days? Weeks?
She tried not to become unnerved by Simeon’s continued pacing. “What level are we on now?”
“The third.” Simeon pointed at the ceiling. “The ones above us are used for storage.” He gestured at the floor. “With the exception of the servants, the non-magics live beneath us.”
Dianna couldn’t imagine living so far underground. “It must take them days to get to the top.”
Jae said, “We are rarely permitted to leave our assigned levels, and we are not allowed up top.”
Mortals were never allowed to experience the outside Elements? The child stirred in her sleep, striking out with her fist before rolling over. Dianna had almost forgotten the girl was there, but her heart wept when the child moaned for her mama.
Jae leaned into the girl, stroking her back and murmuring in her ear. “Sleep,” she whispered. “You are safe here, Maya.”
Watching the tender interaction between Jae and Maya, Dianna couldn’t fathom how The Seven could convince other witches that mortals had no souls. Maya’s mother must be worried about her daughter. Dianna had been so preoccupied with escaping The Seven, she hadn’t thought about searching for the girl’s mother when they’d left the gardens.
Dianna leaned over the bed. “We should return her to her mother,” she whispered to Jae. “She’s probably worried.”
Jae looked at her with watery eyes. “Maya’s mother was a pixie sacrifice when she was just a tot.”
Her heart caught in her throat. She looked from Jae to Simeon through a sheen of tears so thick, ’twas as if she was looking through a sheet of ice. “I’m sorry.” She wiped her eyes. “I wish I could help.”
Simeon stopped pacing. “You can.”
Dianna shifted, resisting the urge to disappear behind a tapestry. “How?” She regretted the question as soon as it left her lips, for she feared she wasn’t going to like Simeon’s answer.
The gleam in his eyes made her feel like a hapless mortal cowering beneath Tan’yi’na. “Overthrow The Seven.”
Dianna’s extremities numbed as she gaped at him. “Simeon, you would ask me to defeat your mother? This might not end well for her.”
“I pray it doesn’t.” Storm clouds brewed in his eyes as he leveled her with a look so sinister, her soul quaked with fear.
He prayed for his mother’s death? She didn’t know what to make of it. She knew Zephyra was a prejudiced monster by how she treated mortals, but for her own son to wish her dead? She hadn’t realized Simeon had such a dark side, and she wasn’t sure she liked it.
She looked away from his penetrating gaze, toying with a stem of grass that was stuck to her breeches. “I-I don’t know.”
He knelt next to her, filling her personal space with the warm scent of his musk. His nearness didn’t help clear the fog in her muddled brain. If anything, he made it worse.
“Do this for me,” he pleaded, taking her hand in his, “and I will help you overthrow Eris and your mother.”
“I can’t ask that of you.” For the first time, she thought of the ice witch as the woman who’d birthed her. Though she’d never wanted to consider the cruel goddess as her mother, the sand dwellers reminded her enough that she had her mother’s face. Even if she somehow found the magical strength to destroy her mother, would her heart let her do it?
“Dianna, isn’t that why you’ve come to the Shifting Sands?” Simeon batted impossibly long lashes, his expression shifting from grim to charming, as if he wore two completely different faces. “To find a safe haven for your people?”
She pulled her hand out of his grasp, instantly missing the warmth of his touch. “Well, yes.”
Much to Dianna’s chagrin, Simeon stood and wedged himself between her and Jae. She wanted to cry out to Jae to come back when the mortal crawled across the bed, lying down beside Maya and closing her eyes, making Dianna feel very much alone with Simeon. He reached for her hands again. Fool that she was, she didn’t pull back.
“The world will never be safe as long as evil witches are in power.” His voice was mesmerizing, as if he was speaking to her in a dream, luring her in with words coated in honey.
“But I am just one witch.”
His mouth hitched up in that dimpled, sideways grin. “One very powerful witch.”
“I think you overestimate me.” She didn’t want to tell him ’twas the stone that wielded most of the power. It had taken Dianna weeks to heal Alec’s injuries, and the experience had been so draining, she’d had to rest in bed for several days. That was before Markus gave her the goddess stone. Without it, her magic was weak at best.
He squeezed her hands. “And you underestimate yourself.”
She jumped at a loud banging on the door. Jae and Maya shot up from bed.
Grumbling, Simeon stood and marched to the door. He heaved it open, scowling as two beefy guards pushed their way inside.
A tall, dark man with hazel eyes stepped forward. “We have orders from The Seven to return the mortals to their levels.”
’Twas then Dianna noticed the other guard remained silent, staring straight ahead, as if he was looking into a void. She had noticed earlier the eye color varied among the guards but until now hadn’t made the connection that the guards were a mixture of witches and mortals. She wondered how these mortals had been elevated to positions of power.
Jae swung her legs over the side of the bed, standing with Maya straddling her waist. “I knew Zephyra wouldn’t leave me here forever. I’m surprised she let me stay this long.”
“Come.” Simeon held a hand out to his sister. “I’ll walk you down.” He cast Dianna one last look when they reached the threshold. “We’ll talk more when I return.”
She shivered at the thought. She didn’t want to talk. At the moment, all she wanted to do was fly far away and never come back. First, she needed to locate her brothers and ensure they were safe. Next, she had to find a safe haven for her people, not spur a war among witches and goddesses. Elements save them all should it come to that.
* * *
When Alec came to, the first thing he noticed were the heavy chains weighing down his wrists, followed by rough wood chafing his legs. His tunic and soles were missing, and his body
throbbed as if he’d just survived one of his father’s brutal beatings. Though it was hard to move his sore neck, he cast a cursory glance at his surroundings. There were rows of benches with other men there, all chained like him, but they rowed with long wooden oars that disappeared under the wall’s wood planks. He realized he was in the hull of a ship controlled by Eris’s soldiers.
He looked up at the sound of soft feminine sobbing. A girl’s spirit hovered over an old bald man who was rowing beside him. She was probably no older than Markus, with long wavy hair and luminous amber eyes. If she hadn’t been dead, Alec would have thought her quite pretty.
Odd that he could make her out so clearly. His mother had told him tales of spirits and how they disguised themselves as whispers in the wind and movement in the shadows.
Like my father when he follows me.
Alec regretted the thought as soon as it entered his mind. His father wouldn’t waste his time on him. Alec shut his eyes, resting his head against the wall until a guard approached.
“Why did you chain a sleeping man to the oars?” a deep voice bellowed. “We need every able body to tow the giant.”
“He was only struck with one dart,” a soldier with a scratchy, serpentine voice answered. “He will wake soon.”
“Throw him to the sirens if he doesn’t,” the first soldier boomed. “I refuse to haul dead weight.”
That was enough to make Alec open his eyes. No sooner had he grabbed an oar than he heard a loud crack, then cried out at the sting of a whip lancing his back. He stifled a curse and began rowing, which was no easy task. The oar was heavy, and his shoulders and back were sore.
“Thought you could fool us, boy?” Serpentine Voice sneered beside him.
Alec stole a glance at his captor. He looked part snake, with a twisted scowl and a bronze, bald head, save for one long braid that sprouted out of the top of his shiny skull and ran down his back in a tight weave. With one hollow eye socket where his right eye should have been and his left one covered in a white film, it was a wonder the man could see Alec at all.
He rowed harder as the reality of his situation hit him. The soldier had said they were towing a giant, which meant he and Gorpat were prisoners of Eris’s soldiers. Two ice men had been captured as well. Grim and Tar had possibly been taken or killed. Alec hoped Des and the other dwarves hadn’t followed him and gotten caught. He felt horrible enough for leading Gorpat into the fray.
Though it pained him to crane his neck, he glanced over his shoulder. He peered through the translucent skirts of the ghost beside him, who was still crying near the bald old prisoner. Surprise and relief washed over him when he saw Ryne and Filip rowing behind him. That meant Luc and Ven had been eaten by the sirens. Alec sent up a silent prayer to the Elements to guide his friends’ souls into the light. He also prayed for the families of the fallen. They would need comfort when and if they ever learned what had befallen their sons.
Where the soldiers were taking them, he had no idea, but he suspected their fate would be grim indeed, as prisoners on a ship belonging to the malicious sea goddess. He thought about praying that Eris would show them mercy, but he had little faith in such a request. Instead, he prayed that the Elements would watch over young Des and keep him safe until Dianna’s return.
The spirit hovering beside him cried harder. Her feet and hands were obscured like twirling wisps of smoke. “Please let my father go.” She spun toward Serpentine Voice, who paced between the rows of benches. My father takes care of my crippled cousin. Tung will die without him.”
The cruel soldier responded with a laugh, swatting her. “Good. Then the cripple won’t be a burden anymore.”
She hissed when the guard passed through her. “Curse you, son of a siren!”
His broad grin, revealed two rows of rotting teeth. “I’d rather be the son of a siren than the dead daughter of a slave.”
Her pale eyes lit with the glow of twin suns. “And I’d rather be dead than serve a wicked sea witch.”
“How dare you blaspheme my goddess!” He raised his whip and slashed through her translucent form.
She disappeared, then materialized a moment later, laughing as he struck her again and again.
The soldier turned to her father and whipped him across the back.
The spirit’s unholy scream shook Alec to the marrow of his bones, drowning out all other sounds. The old man hunched over his oar, pain twisting his weathered features. The soldier repeatedly struck the old man as the spirit wailed, the sound ricocheting through Alec.
Finally Alec had had enough. He heaved the oar away and stood on shaky legs. “Leave him be!”
Serpentine Voice regarded Alec for a long moment before letting out a low and sinister chuckle, and aiming the whip at him.
Alec stared into the soldier’s one foggy eye, shrinking back in horror. That was no ordinary eye, for the fog swirled like a funnel cloud. Was the man’s eye a sky-scape, a window into another world?
When Serpentine Voice raised his whip, Alec’s knees weakened, and he fell back, bracing for the attack.
Crack!
Alec sucked in a curse, biting down on his lip when the whip tore open his flesh. He closed his eyes against the beating, thinking back to the days his father would pummel him for the simplest mistakes. He’d survived that. He could survive this.
The sting burned like hot pokers. His shirt was cut to tatters while blood dripped down his raw skin. He did his best to separate himself from the pain of his mortal body, a technique he’d learned to survive his father’s brutality.
Alec fell against the oar, buckling over from the agony. He imagined himself floating high above the ship, looking down on its billowing sails, surrounded by the endless ocean waves.
If only.
“Stop! You’re killing him!” the spirit cried.
A ghost pleading for his life. There was irony. He fought the urge to vomit as his flesh split open. Then the hull tilted, and the soldiers tumbled onto the benches across from Alec. The boat dipped and swayed before righting itself.
Serpentine Voice grumbled and cussed as other soldiers helped him to his feet. “What in the Elements is going on up there?” he bellowed. He cast one last glare at Alec before marching down the aisle and climbing a ladder into a hold above them, sparing Alec from any more torture.
Alec knew the reprieve would be short-lived. It always was with cowards. Alec let out a slow and shaky breath, trying hard to ignore the throbbing agony that felt like an army of fire mites burrowing under his skin. He grabbed the oars and heaved with a grunt, the gashes on his back widening with each stroke.
“Thank you,” he thought he heard the ghost whisper.
Alec tried to answer the girl, but all that came out was a groan as he put all his energy into rowing. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the ghost’s father grab his oar, easing Alec’s burden. At the moment, he considered himself fortunate to be counted among the living, a far cry better than the fates of Ven and Luc. Now all he had to do was find a means of escape before their lives took yet another grim turn.
Book Two
A Goddess Awakened
Chapter Ten
Eris pulled herself up from the shallow edge of the lagoon and slithered across the smooth rocks until she reached her throne. She climbed onto her perch, sneering at a young servant boy who dared to step forward and offer assistance. Though she despised her fish tail, she was no invalid. She was a goddess and had more magic and might than a weak mortal.
Once seated, she ignored the cursed tail that twitched and slapped the stone slab. She peered into the swirling mists, frustrated and angry when the Elements, once again, failed to show her the progress of the expedition. She’d sent out her best men to retrieve the human called Khashka, knowing his daughter’s spirit would follow. She desperately needed the child’s soul to complete the ritual.
Had Eris known fifteen years ago, when she took the body of the mortal girl child, that it possessed great magic, she woul
d have taken the soul, too, discarding it so she could claim the body as her own. Now the child had bloomed into a beautiful young woman with smooth skin, large, almond eyes, and two long, lean legs. She was perfect. All Eris needed to do was banish the spirit of the child to the Elements, cast her upon the foamy sea, where she would wash away and never trouble Eris again. Eris had tried claiming the body many times before, but the cursed vessel, sensing its true owner wandered the earth as a spirit, wouldn’t allow Eris’s soul to enter. Only after the child’s spirit was no more, could Eris claim the girl’s body as her own, freeing herself of her unsightly tail for good.
Oh how she despised the Elements for making her this creature. Her sister, Madhea, had been gifted with two legs and wings. She could fly to the heavens, untethered and free to explore the world. Their sister Kyan had been luckiest of all. The Elements had created her in the form of a mortal, so she could walk among them as their goddess. They built shrines and worshipped her. A handsome king had even pledged his love to her.
Eris chuckled when she thought of how Madhea had turned Kyan and her daughters to stone. How she wished she’d been there to see that—Kyan reduced to rubble while her handsome king was forced to flee with the two sons Kyan had bred from dark magic. Eris remembered seeing the king’s image once in her swirling mists. How she’d been struck by his beauty: hair the color of sunlight, eyes a vivid blue, like summer waves under a cloudy sky. His bright features complemented Kyan’s dark skin and golden eyes. In the mists, he’d been holding Kyan, kissing her and whispering words of love into her ear, their bodies melting into each other like daylight fading into night.
No man had ever looked at Eris that way. Or if he did, his admiration soon turned to horror when he caught sight of her tail. Because of her repulsive fin, Eris had no king, and the mortals who obeyed her did so out of fear, not love and admiration. Soon all that would change. Soon she would have a new body, and she would finally be free to walk among people. Perhaps she’d find a king of her own, and the mortals would adore her and build shrines in her honor.