Once sure they were alone, Bayne blew out a hoarse breath and bent over. “Can’t believe we made it through that without bloodshed.”
“Small miracles, Alpha Bayne, small miracles.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Councilor Tallis Terayan was a name that had haunted Rayna for almost three months. Rhael’s deception, Garrison’s cruelty, all of it went back to Terayan–a man about whom she knew almost nothing, except that he wanted her dead. Why he did, how he knew anything about her–she had no answers to these questions. He was a mystery, a faceless enemy, a ghost. But as the Kyrean soldiers on the deck above her parted, he became all too real.
Terayan, the Kyrean Councilor, strode onto the deck of the Seadog. From their vantage point hidden in the staircase's shadows below deck, Rayna could not see all Terayan's features, just his side-parted sandy hair crowned with a golden circlet and a prominent, square chin. He was not a tall man—the average height of his people—and younger than she might have expected, around Bayne's age. But the crew's reaction made him impossible to mistake. They all bowed, the scent of fear rolling off them in waves.
Captain Arryks, a lean man with a steel gray ponytail, hurried from his cabin as Terayan’s men herded the other six crew members to the center of the deck, blocking the hatch leading below and Rayna’s view. Rayna, Channon, and Mina could still make out the voices from above, but could see nothing more than the trembling legs of the crewmen.
“Where is she, Captain?” The voice was deep, confident, appealing. “Answer me truthfully, and you and your crew will be free to go.”
“Councilor, I have our papers here. You will find everything in order. I am happy to serve in any way I can, but I don’t know who you refer to. We have no women aboard.” Rayna’s heart fluttered with combined guilt and relief. Captain Arryks was protecting them.
Terayan sighed. “My apologies, Captain. Let me be very clear.” A sickening crack of bone sounded, and one of the crewmen folded to the ground, his dead eyes staring down the stairwell. Mina gasped, but the uproar from the deck covered the sound.
Captain Arryks's shouts and the crew's panicked voices died in an instant when Terayan spoke again. “I’m going to ask you once more, Captain. Where is she? Lie to me again, and you'll watch every one of your men die, and not so cleanly as the first.”
Rayna had heard enough. They had nowhere to run, and she could not let more innocent men die for them. She took her wolf form, and Channon did the same. Mina loaded her bow in silent understanding. Rayna crept up the left side of the stairs as Channon padded up the right.
Captain Arryks was speaking, but Rayna did not hear his words. She focused instead on the heartbeats and breaths above them. Besides the remaining crewmen and Captain Arryks, she counted at least twenty men. She reached the deck, crouched low and hidden behind the crew. Channon’s ear flicked in her peripheral vision, their old ready signal. Rayna returned the ear flick. They leaped from behind the hostages and onto the nearest soldiers.
Rayna knocked the man to the ground, slamming his head into the deck, jumping onto the next soldier before he could raise his sword. This one wore a helmet, though, and did not pass out when she brought him to the ground. Instinct took over, and she tore into his exposed throat. The shock of human blood flooding her teeth froze Rayna for one precious moment. As the man went pale beneath her, the reality of what she had done sank into her skin. She had killed countless prey animals, destroyed Da’ Gammorn, and injured plenty of enemies, but never had she taken the life of another human being. Someone whose name she did not know was dead because of her. She was a killer.
The hesitation was all it took to lose her advantage. Seven Kyreans converged and surrounded her with a thicket of swords. She growled and snapped, but she could do nothing.
“Rayna!” In Terayan's glee, he almost sang her name. “Put the claws away and greet me like a civilized person, or I kill the boy.”
She shifted human, and the soldiers backed away, revealing Channon human-formed with his arms pinned by some invisible force. He hovered above the deck, and Rayna remembered the last time they had faced dark magic. Rhael had defeated them with ease, and he had been alone. Terayan seemed to have the same sort of despicable powers, as well as an armed regiment of men. Rayna advanced, facing the man who would almost certainly be her death.
Now only a few tail-lengths apart, Rayna could see Terayan in perfect clarity. His square face was clean-shaven, his scarlet robes pristine. A broadsword lay untouched at his side in its ruby-encrusted sheath, but he did not need the blade to kill. A pendant hung on a chain from his neck. A glass vial filled with what appeared to be blood gleamed from the center of the rune-inscribed medallion. The hairs along Rayna's arms and neck rose as if lightning had struck nearby.
“Rayna, what a pleasure it is to finally have you.”
“You have me,” the taste of blood was still thick on her tongue as she spoke, “so let Channon and the others go.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” He stepped toward her, his boot heel clicking against the deck. “Seven of my men are dead.”
Seven? She had only killed one. Rayna followed Terayan’s gaze over her right shoulder. Six men lay crumpled along a trail of blood, each missing part of their neck. Rayna turned back to Channon. Blood dripped down his chin and soaked his arms to the elbows. Mingled disbelief and horror ran through her, but there was no time to let the shock distract her. Mina had not attacked, and Rayna hoped she would stay hidden.
“Seven.” Terayan nodded to his remaining twelve men still standing. Before Rayna could understand what he intended, the Kyreans buried their swords in the chests and stomachs of the crew.
“No!” Captain Arryks screamed before Terayan flicked his wrist. The captain’s neck snapped, and he fell with the rest of the dead.
“Why did you do that? I surrendered!”
“The penalty for treason is death. Their lives were forfeit the moment they allowed a fugitive aboard.”
“Fugitive?” Rayna’s nails extended, biting into her palms. “You took me from my home and ordered my execution when I had committed no crime!”
“No, Rayna. Your existence is a crime, and it ends now.” Terayan’s eyes flashed gold, the same gold she had seen in Rhael and the Laevuls’ eyes, and he opened his mouth to speak.
Before he could, something whistled past Rayna’s cheek. A feather-tipped arrow embedded Terayan’s shoulder, and he staggered back with a grunt. Mina sprang from the hatch, slinging her bow over her back and wielding dual daggers in her hands. She sprinted past the guards, but a moment later, her legs flew out from beneath her. She tumbled forward as if she were dragged, smashing into the side of the ship. Terayan heaved a loud grunt as he tore the arrow from his skin. Blood spurted, but he waved his hand across the wound, sealing it.
“Enough!” Terayan surged forward, slamming his palm into Rayna’s chest. “Feilvath!”
Rayna collapsed to her knees. It felt as if a shard of glass had entered her ribs. She clutched at her chest, but nothing was there. Each breath was agony. She coughed and fresh blood–her own–leaked from her mouth. All strength left her limbs, and she fell onto her back. The blood filled her throat, blocking her breaths.
Terayan crouched next to her. He swept a sticky strand of hair from her face. “The Blood Drowning. Word magic, of course. An old hex, but a satisfying one.”
She gargled as more blood filled her mouth. It poured over her cheeks and chin, and more spilled from her nostrils. Her ears were clear, though, and she heard Channon’s helpless screams as he struggled to break Terayan’s spell.
“Stop! Let her go! I’ll kill you! Do you hear me? I’ll kill you!”
Rayna turned her head toward Channon. The veins in his arms bulged as he tried to free himself, but it was no use.
Terayan squeezed Rayna’s chin, turning her back to him. “Not a pleasant way to die, is it? Don’t worry. It will be over soon. You have, perhaps, thirty heartbeats to spare. I fear the
same can’t be said for Channon. I think I’ll take my time with him.”
Channon’s screams of pain and rage grew louder. Pinpricks of darkness burst across Rayna’s vision. She did not have long.
“How does it feel knowing that, after all you did to save him, this is how it ends? He really does love you. I can see that. But you’ll never be together now. Well,” he wiped his finger through the blood streaming down her neck, “except in death.”
Why? It was the only thing Rayna could ask in the dizzying space between awareness and unconsciousness, between life and death. Why was he taking her life? Why was she choking on her own blood leagues from home? The fact that she would never know was worse than the reality of death itself. The blood-soaked deck of the Seadog shrank into the end of a long, black tunnel. Even Channon’s hoarse voice calling her name slipped away as someone else’s replaced it.
Fight, Rayna! Alvo whispered to her. She cringed. Fighting hurt too much. It was easier to stop, to let death carry her away from the pain.
Fenear needs you! Lumae spoke. Channon needs you! Fight!
Then help me! she screamed. Someone help us!
A shock wave followed Rayna’s plea as something gargantuan slammed into the ship. The small part still clinging to her body felt suddenly weightless. A rash of images pierced the darkness like bolts of lightning. Wood splintered and flew through the sky. Bodies, both living and dead, soared into the air before splashing into churning waters. Blood curled like ribbons as she, too, arced upwards, dropping into the ocean.
Saltwater gushed down her throat, but the piercing pain had left her chest. Light overtook the darkness again, and she fought to the surface. Air, excruciating and delicious, tore through her, and she coughed up blood and saltwater. Something hard clipped her right arm. She turned to dodge a splintered board. If she'd had breath to spare, she would have gasped at the sight of the Seadog’s split hull. The schooner had torn asunder, and the remains of each half had already begun to sink. She spun, panicked, searching for Channon and Mina. Instead, she found Terayan clinging to a board nearby.
A gash marred his face, and his blond hair stuck to his forehead. “WHY WON’T YOU DIE?”
He grabbed her neck, forcing her underwater. She kicked and struggled, but had no strength to shift forms. She extended her claws and slashed at his wrists, but his grip did not loosen. Just when she thought she would drown, solid ground rose beneath her feet. She burst through the surface, gagging as both she and Terayan found themselves on the edges of a slick, barnacle-covered island. Except, Rayna realized as a silver eye larger than her head rose beneath her, it was not an island at all. Terayan scrambled to his feet, tightening his grip around his pendant to make sure it was still there. At that moment, a wall of water burst from the creature’s blow hole, blasting Terayan out of sight.
The child of Lumae is under my protection! The voice boomed in her skull.
Rayna remained where she was for several painful breaths, sure that Terayan would swim back to attack again. But he did not, and her relief soon evaporated beneath fear for her friends. She shuffled farther onto the huge creature’s head. She first thought of the whales she had seen off the coast of Fenear during their annual migrations, but even those were nowhere near the size of this creature. He was at least ten tail-lengths from eye to eye, and she could only imagine how large his mouth must be. Kellan had said there were monsters in this ocean, and it seemed one had saved her life.
I am no monster, Rayna Myana. At least, not to you. She could only hear the creature’s deep voice inside her head.
“You’re reading my thoughts?”
This I cannot help.
“Then you’ll know I had two friends on that boat. I have to find them!” Rayna shielded her eyes, searching the ocean. She spotted the bodies of several crew members, but there was no sign of the Kyrean soldiers, Channon, or Mina.
Behind you, child of Lumae. As for your Kyrean enemies, their armor was too heavy for them to remain on the surface. I'm afraid Terayan survived, but he is too cowardly to face me.
Rayna spun. The creature’s body extended far behind her—a hundred tail-lengths or more–and about halfway down, Rayna saw two shapes. Channon and Mina. “Are they–”
They both live. I am having similar conversations with them at the moment, though they still sleep.
Rayna inhaled, taking in the salty, driftwood scent of the leviathan. It was a strange scent, but comforting. “Who are you?” she asked. “How are you here?”
I am Sudmaris, Guardian of the Southern Seas.
Guardian. Rayna’s mind traveled to a legend Thera had told her of four mythical beasts who protected the oceans of Osterna. According to the legend, though, they were all dead, casualties of the Kyrean Invasion, if they had ever existed at all. So how was it that one of them had appeared and saved her life?
My brothers were hunted and killed long ago, but I have survived these many years. I came because you called, Rayna Myana. Your call and the magic of your spilled blood, that of an Awakened seer, allowed me to reach you.
“Oh. Thank you.” She awkwardly patted his head.
Sudmaris chuckled. You are welcome. Go to your friends. They’re about to wake up.
Rayna shakily rose and took her more stable wolf form. She trotted along the algae-coated spine of the gigantic Guardian. When she reached Channon and Mina, they had indeed regained consciousness. Rayna shifted human, falling beside them.
“Ray!” Channon pulled himself up, throwing his arms around her. “You’re safe.”
She collapsed in his hold, unable to find words for the joy of knowing he was all right. They separated, and Mina squeezed Rayna’s hand.
“How are you feeling, Wolfie?”
“Like I was in a shipwreck and nearly drowned,” she said, “but happy to be alive.”
“Aye, me, too. All thanks to our new friend Sudmaris.” Mina patted the Guardian with far more enthusiasm than Rayna had exhibited earlier.
It is a pleasure, Mignonette Delà Tsanclar.
“How do you know our names?”
I am very, very old, Mignonette. I know almost everything there is to know.
“How old are you?” Mina asked.
In years, I cannot say. Think of the oldest ruins you have ever seen. Think of the stone from which they were built. Now think of all the rocks that had been cracked, melted in the earth, and combined by time to create those stones. Now think of the dust that condensed into these rocks, and I am older than that still.
“So you’re a real Guardian, like in pup’s tales?” Channon asked, running his palm over the creature’s skin.
Precisely, Channon Lyallt. The being hesitated in his thoughts. I am sorry. I feel the suffering in your touch, young one. Channon pulled his hand back abruptly.
Rayna glanced at Channon. “You’re the last one?” Rayna asked, trying to change the focus from Channon's pain.
Yes. At one time we were four. In the north, my brother Baleen, in the west, Ketos, and in the east, Erelim. But the Kyreans and their dark mages hunted them down centuries ago.
“How did you survive?” Channon asked.
I had allies in the south. The Alvornian Priestess performed a rite to make the Guardians invisible to all except those we allow to see us. In return, I have protected the southern seas from anyone who means the Alvornians harm. Alas, it was too late for my brothers, but she saved me.
“Where are you taking us now?” asked Channon.
To Alvorn. You must convince the Alvornians to join your cause, and bring reinforcements to your people. I will take you within a few hundred tail-lengths of shore. Any farther, and the water is too shallow.
“Thank you, Sudmaris!” Rayna said. They would reach the Peninsula far sooner than she had thought possible.
Shall we pick up the pace? He laughed in their heads once more. Hold on tight, you three!
The salty spray created a sheer wall on either side of Sudmaris as Rayna, Mina, and Channon held on
for their lives. The waves skipped beneath the huge creature and despite the wet and the speed and her still weakened body, Rayna could not help but laugh as she clung to Channon for support. Mina shouted joyfully, raising her arms in the air. Channon’s smile reappeared, but it was one of determination. They were going home to war.
The truth of what it meant to fight in a war had become clear when Rayna had taken the life of the Kyrean soldier. All the other soldiers were dead, too, because she had called Sudmaris. Seeing the six men Channon had savaged had disturbed her, but she had just killed more than twice that number. The ocean may have wiped the blood from their skins, but Rayna would remember the feel, the taste, for the rest of her life.
She glanced at Channon. His smile had faded as he watched the waves. Was he having similar thoughts? Was he feeling the guilt of killing to survive? She wanted to ask, but feared his answer. She remembered how he had slashed the demon's throat, the one with Garrison’s face. He had known it would come back to life. How many times had he killed his captor? What other faces had he torn in an attempt to stop the torture? Maybe Channon did not regret what he had done to the Kyreans, because to him they were just more demons.
Rayna wished she could believe that herself, that she could dissociate from her enemies' humanity. Rhael was evil; he had abused her and tortured Channon. Killing him, as she had imagined many times, would be different. But Rhael would not fight his battles alone. Thousands of Maenorens would war alongside their leader and his undead monstrosities. Not all of those men were evil. They were people fighting for their country as she was. They had lives, names, and families. The Fenearen code said she could kill to survive, and she had lived according to that principle. Only now that she had taken a human life did she understand what that meant. She had survived. The Kyreans who would have allowed Terayan to kill her, who had killed Arrycks and his men, did not. But that did not mean she walked away unscathed.
She remembered what Rhael had said months ago: We’re all greedy, hungry creatures with a choice to make, kill, or be killed. In the end we all make the same decision. It's only a question of who the better killer is. She had thought him depraved, but in that instant at least, Rayna realized he may have been speaking the truth.
Hex Breaker (The Fenearen Chronicles Book 1) Page 38