by James Maxey
Just before Bigsby hit, Mako shot from the waves like a missile, wrapping his arms around the dwarf, absorbing some of his momentum as they splashed into the froth.
Tempest whipped his head back and forth, his body convulsing as he gagged. Cinnamon lost her grasp on his scales and was tossed aside. Sorrow hoped Mako saw her as the girl plummeted. Instead, it was Jetsam who came to her rescue, jumping from wave to wave, sprinting and vaulting until he neared her. He used the momentum of a cresting wave to kick into the air, spreading his arms to catch his sister before they both disappeared.
Tempest cut a long, slow arc through the air as he probed his jaws with his claws, plucking free the lightning rod.
“Poppy!” Slate shouted. “Pop me!”
The girl leapt into the riggings and jumped onto his shoulders. Slate zoomed into the sky, brandishing the Witchbreaker. Tempest turned his back toward the knight and lashed out with his tail, batting Slate back toward the ship. Rigger snared him in ropes as he fell, but Slate still hit the deck hard enough that Sorrow felt the impact.
Sage came back from the hold, dragging the masthead of the Freewind.
“Levi hasn’t died in vain,” she announced. “His life energy is soaking every board! It’s the same aura that used to envelop the Freewind when we’d cross into the abstract realms! We have to get Grandmother in place on the bow! If we free her, we can escape to the Sea of Wine!”
“Give her to me!” Rigger shouted, wrapping his ropes around the wooden figure. “I can lash her to the hull in seconds!”
Sorrow headed toward the front of the ship. “Contact with the blood may be enough to free her, but I’ll use my powers to blend the old figurehead to the ship!”
The figurehead was directly above Sorrow, carried forward by ropes. Without warning, a reptilian claw stretched from the clouds and tore the wooden bust from Rigger’s grasp.
“Was this precious to you?” Tempest snarled as he whirled above them. The sea began to swirl as he swept around them, sending the Circus in a dizzying spin. “As precious as the book was to me?”
“Where’s Jetsam?” Mako asked as he leapt over the rail, dragging Bigsby by the collar. The dwarf gasped loudly as he hugged the deck.
“He brought Cinnamon on board then went back into the air,” said Sage, “but he can’t fight the dragon alone!”
“He’s not alone,” said Sorrow, clenching her talons. She spread her wings, allowing the hurricane winds to snatch her from the deck. She didn’t want to be touching the Circus for what was coming next.
Tempest turned his jaws toward her. Lightning glowed in his mouth.
She opened her jaws and a jet of flies shot forth. They quickly burnt to ash as Tempest unleashed his lightning. Sorrow’s human skin felt as if it was boiling away.
But not from the lightning.
Because the second her feet had left the deck, she’d focused on the nexus of the dark energy, seeing it clearly in her mind’s eye like a wobbling black disk. She grabbed the portal with the fingers of her mind and stretched it as wide as possible. Her blood turned to ice as she stared into the void beyond.
The void stared back, with eyes devoid of all emotion other than hunger.
“Come out,” she whispered.
And it came.
Every time she’d killed by releasing flies, she’d wondered in morbid curiosity what it must feel like for those caught on the edges of her assault. These poor souls survived the initial wave of acid spewing insects only to have the few that burrowed into their skin multiply and devour them from within. Now she understood, as a billion unseen teeth chewed her muscles and gnawed her bones, erupting from her skin in black boils, until the whole of her body was covered in a shell of flies, gleaming black and chitinous. Her body swelled, doubling in size, then doubling again. She flapped her wings out of pure instinct, keeping airborne as she recovered her wits enough to scream.
Only, as the air rushed through a windpipe now several yards long, it erupted from her toothy jaws as a roar. All pain vanished as unearthly strength flowed through her new muscles. During her transformation, she’d lost sight of Tempest. She banked, curving her serpentine neck enough that she could see her new draconian form.
Pain returned suddenly as the plate-like scales along her ribs began to burn. Thunder nearly deafened her as it crashed into her eardrums, now larger than dinner plates. Tempest spit another gob of lightning, blowing a hole in her thigh. The damage would have disintegrated her human body, but she was now more massive than a whale, and the burnt crater in her side felt like nothing more than a solid punch.
There was no blood. She felt a flicker of panic as she realized that she had no heartbeat, but the panic quickly changed to understanding. Rott’s body was already dead, and had been for centuries. The strength she felt in her limbs was not the power of life, but the unstoppable elemental force of decay.
She blinked as she turned back toward Tempest and realized she was now seeing him through two eyes. Had she finally broken her connection with Avaris? She had no time to contemplate this, or anything, as she sailed through the sky toward the dragon.
Tempest’s jaws again glowed. She belched out a cone of swirling flies that met the lightning, the survivors flitting onward to speckle the storm-dragon’s blue gray hide. Sorrow glanced down to make sure the Circus wasn’t directly beneath them. She saw Poppy balanced on Slate’s shoulders, but the ship was in the clear if she or Tempest fell.
The distance between her and Tempest closed in seconds. Before she could understand what was happening, Tempest’s jaws snapped around her throat. If she’d still needed to breathe, the blow might have been fatal. Her fear that they would crash into the sea proved unfounded as a powerful whirlwind swept around them both, pushing them higher in the sky. She wrapped her tail around the storm-dragon and raked at his belly with her hind claws. Rott’s power flowed through her limbs and the storm-dragon’s scaly flesh sloughed away in massive strips of putrid meat. Her mind went clear, all thoughts silent as lightning boiled her blood from snout to tail. But as her human mind faltered, Rott’s draconian hunger came to the fore and she sank her jaws into the meaty flesh of Tempest’s powerful shoulders. Tempest’s jaws loosened on her neck from the shock of the blow and she vomited flies into his gaping wounds. Maggots bubbled up along the length of Tempest’s spine as he writhed in agony.
Sorrow was vaguely aware of something slamming onto her back, near her hips. She ignored the blow, focusing on the entropic energy surging through her jaws into her struggling victim. They lurched through the sky as one of Tempest’s wings suddenly tore from his shoulders, spiraling off, leaving a trail of engorged worms. The storm-dragon’s howls suddenly went silent as a loud, wet, gurgle came from his back. The maggots had eaten through his skin to open his lungs to the air. Tempest went still as Sorrow released his now skeletal form, and watched it fall lifelessly to the sea.
The bust of Jasmine Romer also plunged into the waves. She caught a glimpse of Mako leaping into the chaotic water. She spread her wings wide in the buffeting wind to keep from joining him. She climbed toward the roiling clouds. The weight that had slammed into her hips now shifted to the center of her back and clung there.
Then, to her dismay, the clouds bulged downward, as a dragon’s face took shape from the billowing vapors.
“Fool!” Tempest thundered as the clouds turned into jaws large enough to swallow Sorrow whole. His eyes glowed like twin suns as he turned his gaze upon her. “I am the will of the whirlwind! The heart of the hurricane! The soul of the storm! I am the lord of wind itself, a god of this world! Do you think you can stop me by destroying mere flesh?”
His new jaws shot toward Sorrow. She opened her mouth to release more flies, but to what end? If she destroyed Tempest’s body yet again, he would merely grow another one. Her touch could destroy all material things, but how could she attack his soul?
As she hesitated, the weight upon her back lifted and what felt like tiny footsteps ran the
length of her neck. As Tempest closed his jaws around her, ready to bite her in half, Slate suddenly ran between her eyes and along her snout, the Witchbreaker held above his head with both hands.
He leapt, shouting, “It’s not your flesh my blade thirsts for, monster!”
He landed upon the creature’s gray tongue and plunged his blade into the roof of the dragon’s mouth as it closed. She heard the blade bite through bone, plunging into the gray matter beyond.
Tempest’s teeth turned to mist as they sank through the scales on Sorrow’s back. She could see nothing around her but gray haze as the interior of the storm-dragon’s mouth changed once more to clouds.
Her body dove almost before she understood why it was doing so. She emerged from the clouds and spotted Slate falling toward the ocean. She flapped her wings to overtake him, snatching the knight from the air with her hind claws, leveling off as she charged toward the Circus. Ropes still snaked into the air around the ship. Did they understand that the black dragon approaching them was her?
She dropped Slate as she passed over the ship, counting on Rigger’s reflexes to catch the knight. She spun around and tried to call out, “I’m Sorrow! I won’t hurt you!” but no sound escaped her lungs. She’d forgotten to breathe since exhausting her lungs earlier.
Needing a moment of stillness to ponder her new condition, she landed in the sea. When she’d first encountered Rott, he’d been swimming through the Sea of Wine, so she didn’t fear sinking. The sea was calming as the clouds began to dissipate. It felt like mere minutes had passed since she’d leapt from the Temple of the Book, but the sun had only been low on the horizon then. Now, the moon slowly emerged from the thinning haze. The enormity of what she’d just done slowly sank into her.
The Circus pulled alongside her. The clown figurehead was gone, and Mako and Jetsam were at work with hammers, fastening the bust of Jasmine Romer beneath the bowsprit, guided by Sage, who balanced on a rope beside them. Gale and Brand stood at the wheel. Brand’s arms were wrapped around Gale, who sagged into his embrace, tears in her eyes. Bigsby was up in the riggings, stretching his stunted arms as far as he could manage, his fingers spread wide, as he snatched his fluttering wig from the air.
Cinnamon, Poppy, and Slate stood at the rail, staring down at Sorrow.
“You saved us!” Cinnamon shouted.
“I thought the horses were windswept!” Poppy called out. “I didn’t know you could turn into a dragon! By the seven stars, you have to give me a ride!”
“You’d ride her even smelling like that?” Cinnamon asked.
Sorrow wondered what was wrong with the way Poppy smelled, until she realized that Cinnamon was talking about her. Her sense of smell and taste were mercifully absent. She remembered Rott’s putrid aroma from the Sea of Wine and was grateful for her missing senses.
Sorrow lifted her head from the waves and made the conscious choice to breathe. “Perhaps another time,” she answered with a deep, guttural voice she didn’t recognize as her own.
Slate removed his helmet. He looked heartbroken as he asked, “Can you... can you change back?”
“I don’t know how. I think... I think I may be spending the rest of my life this way.” Assuming life was the correct word.
Her voice caught in her throat as she thought of it. She’d lived so long consumed by anger and grief that she’d never noticed the wonder of her mere human life. But as she looked at Slate and the others, she understood that her humanity was the most precious thing she’d ever possessed. She now had all the power she’d ever wanted, and more. She’d become the Destroyer that Walker had come to witness. She now had the strength to topple churches and crush kingdoms. She possessed the pure force to put an end to everything she hated.
She would have traded it all to be once more standing on the ship on human legs, with the music of a heartbeat pulsing through her.
“What will you do now?” Slate asked.
“I don’t know,” Sorrow whispered, or at least as close to a whisper as she could manage from her gargantuan throat.
I know.
“No!” Sorrow cried in anguish.
“What’s wrong?” Slate asked.
“It’s Avaris! She’s still in my head!”
We made a bargain, girl. Until you kill the person of my choosing, I’m part of you. But don’t despair. It’s time for me to name my chosen target. Obey, and you shall be free.
“It cannot be anyone upon this ship! Our bargain was that it would be a person I agreed to be guilty! Someone worthy of death! All aboard this ship are innocent!”
But what of those who swim beside it?
Sorrow swallowed hard, a very long and dramatic gesture given that her neck was nearly as long as the Circus.
Kill yourself, Sorrow.
Sorrow didn’t answer.
You’ve nothing left to live for. You’ve lost the last of your humanity. You’ve become the monster of flesh that you long ago became of the soul. Death will be a sweet release from the torment of the sins that burn inside you.
“How can I die?” she screamed. “This body is already dead!”
Slate could end your misery. He wouldn’t deny your request.
Sorrow stared at the clearing sky, toward the stars above, which took on halos from the dampness of her eyes. Avaris had chosen her victim well. Sorrow couldn’t dispute that she was deserving of punishment for all the things she’d done. But as she looked back at the Circus, and saw Slate studying her with tears in his eyes, she thought of his reaction on learning of his inhumanity. He’d left the Black Bog not in despair, but with an attitude of atonement. He’d chosen to fight for redemption.
She couldn’t surrender all hope. Whatever had happened to her body, her soul was still her own. Perhaps she’d trapped herself in this strange half-life, but she still could think. As long as she had free will, there was hope. Slate wouldn’t have given up, nor would any of the Romers.
Kill yourself now, or forfeit all!
“No!” Sorrow shouted. “I defy you!”
Once again, laughter filled her skull from the inside. She lost all sensation from her tail, then her limbs, then her torso. Her eyes lost all sight as she found herself gagging breathlessly in the foulest atmosphere imaginable. Despite herself, she filled her lungs in amazement as she realized that she once more had human arms and legs... even if they were encased in quivering acrid slime.
Suddenly, she found herself flying at great speed. Her sight returned as she passed between massive black teeth and emerged into the night sky. She tumbled head over heels, slime flying from her limbs as she skipped across the ocean, until at last she sank beneath the water.
She gasped as she kicked back to the surface. She ran her hands along her scalp and found that Rott’s nail was gone. There wasn’t even a scar. The whole of her head was smooth as she probed it frantically. All her nails were gone! Her reborn body at least had two eyes, and all her many wounds were healed, even the one left by the blood blade. But she was utterly powerless as Avaris rose from the waves in Rott’s body, her hind claws finding the bottom many leagues below. The ancient witch stood like a tower, her mighty lungs sounding like giant bellows as she inhaled, before setting the sea shuddering with her laughter.
“It’s mine once more!” she cried. “Rott’s will is completely absent! At long last I have the power to avenge the indignities I’ve suffered!”
Slate rocketed into the air toward the dragon-witch, propelled by Poppy. Avaris reacted with the speed of thought, snatching him from the air with one claw, plucking the Witchbreaker from his grasp with the other.
“Your glass armor insulates you well from my touch,” she said. “A pity it won’t spare you from your own blade!”
But as she fumbled with the weapon, tiny in her massive claws, it slipped from her grasp. Before she could snatch it back, a rope whipped out from the Circus and wrapped around the hilt. A dozen other lines knotted themselves around her claws, straining to pull Slate free.
In a dozen powerful kicks, he dragged her back to the Circus. He grabbed a rope and they rose toward the deck.
He didn’t look at her directly as he softly said, “I’m sorry... the other night when I kissed you –”
“It’s okay,” she said. “You’ve nothing to apologize for. It was a confusing night for both of us.”
Then they were both back on the deck, which lurched sharply as Avaris tugged at the ropes that tangled her.
“I can’t free Slate!” Rigger shouted. “The dragon’s too strong!”
“We’ll have to depart without him!” Sage answered.
“We can’t leave him!” Poppy screamed as she ran toward Sorrow and draped a blanket over her naked shoulders.
“Leave for where?” Sorrow asked as she pulled the blanket around her. “What’s going on?”
“Levi’s blood has soaked every inch of the hull,” Sage said. “He died to save us, and in his sacrifice he’s given new life to grandmother as well. We can travel once more to the Sea of Wine!”
“It seems remarkably cool-headed to think of freeing your grandmother after the shock of watching your brother die,” said Sorrow.
Sage nodded. “We’ll all grieve later. The important thing at the moment is to make sure no other Romers die today.”
The main mast creaked and groaned as it bent like a fishing pole. Avaris had stopped thrashing randomly against the ropes and was now coolly pulling the ship toward her.
“We can’t wait any longer!” Gale cried as she knelt on the deck. “Whatever Sage did, I can sense mother’s spirit spreading through the hull once more. We have to cross into the Sea of Wine before the Circus is torn apart! I’m sorry!”