by M H Ryan
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I searched for this creature’s mind. It stood out among the Crultar like a banner. Its brain was an inferno of energy compared to the rather dull minds of the Crultar. I didn’t waste one second and slammed into its thoughts. I got slammed back, though.
“Shit,” I said, grasping my head with both hands.
It felt like a hammer had just hit me on the skull. The Mulshar’s brain might as well have been a solid block of steel. My ears rang, and I felt a wave of nausea spread over me.
“Jack?” Benji asked, putting a hand on my arm.
“I’m okay,” I said, not feeling as okay as I tried to show.
This lizard bastard had to have a barrier around him, but if it was anything like the Crultar, I knew I could peel it away if I could just find the seams.
I spent the next five minutes carefully moving around the creature with my mind, and I mapped out what the king had done to this thing, but I couldn’t find a single way to get it off of him. It was as if it had been melted into the very essence of it, and trying to break through would only result in more layers.
This thing wasn’t like anything else I’d ever seen from the king. It seemed to have been cast from scratch, a whole creation, made entirely from the king’s power. The idea of that terrified, shocked, and disturbed me.
If I spent enough time, I might have a chance of finding a way in, but from the Mulshar’s emotions, we didn’t have a long time.
“Emma?” I asked and nodded toward the beast held by four Crultar.
“You want a boost?” she asked.
“No, I don’t have anything to grab to boost, but you have another ability when it comes to touching males,” I said.
“I don’t know if it will even work, Jack,” Emma said. “I’ve only been in your mind, and I’d like to keep that way.”
“It’s hiding something from us. That much I can sense,” I said. “It has seen the girls.”
“I think that’s a bad idea,” Hanna said. “We don’t know what that might do to Emma and she’s pretty freaking important part of this group.”
“Yeah, it could spread some kind of disease to her or something,” Cass said, sneering at the Mulshar.
“We won’t be able to get anything from this thing unless we do this,” I said.
“It’s okay everyone. I’m only reaching for the girls in that things mind and that’s it,” Emma said, tentatively taking a step toward the Mulshar.
“Jack?” Hanna said, but I kept next to Emma.
I walked with her and a bit closer. “Make sure it can’t hurt her,” I said, and the Crultar nodded, gripping the creature even tighter.
It groaned in pain and snarled at us.
“Hold out his arm, please,” Emma said, getting closer.
She looked at me with a frightened expression as she inched her hand closer to his. I sensed the creature, and while it’s face displayed a growling hatred for us, underneath, it was excited.
An inch away from touching the thing, I grabbed Emma’s arm and pulled it back.
“Don’t do it,” I said. “We’ll find another way.”
The Mulshar pushed forward, reaching for Emma, and pulling with him four Crultar. I had my blade out in a second, but Du’Khupa got there first, but none of us were fast enough. As the blade sliced through its throat, the beast touched the tip of Emma’s hand. Emma screamed, grabbed her hand, and fell backward on the sand.
A wave of anger and regret washed over the Crultar as they descended on the Mulshar, making sure he didn’t have another chance at getting to us. I knew it didn’t matter. The thing was already dead even as they pinned to the sand, beating its body.
I felt a deep guilt wash over Du’Khupa, but I fell to my knees, sliding my hand under Emma’s head.
“Emma?” I asked as she stared at the sky. “Emma, are you okay?”
I inspected her hand, but it didn’t appear harmed.
She sat up with my help and looked around.
“I saw…” Emma said.
“Saw what?” Hanna asked.
“The girls, Molly and Areo…”
“Are they okay?” Sherri asked.
“They were transporting them when they were attacked by… monkeys. The monkeys took one girl and chased this Mulshar all the way to the great divide. He fled over the wall and right into the hands of the Crultar.”
A tear streamed down her cheek and dropped down onto her chest.
“Monkeys…” Benji said. “I hate monkeys.”
“There’s more,” Hanna said. “What else didyou see?”
“He’s evil. He’s killed others like us, so many others,” Emma said, breathing hard.
“Did he know where the girls are now?” I asked.
“Yes, he knows who the monkeys belong to. He knows who took one of them, but the other was taken by his kind… taken to…”
“Taken to the king,” I said, finishing her sentence.
“Yes,” Emma said, more tears spilling from her eyes.
“Shit,” Aubrey said and walked away.
“Who do the monkeys belong to?” I asked.
“They belong to Lyra, and I know where her island is,” Emma said, getting to her feet with my help.
Emma pointed to the horizon, to where the sound crackled, the earth rumbled and the king reigned.
“They’ve both been taken over the great divide,” Emma said.
Chapter 29
We had gathered what resources we could and made repairs to the ship. The Crultar had become a great asset to have. They made the tasks that would have taken our group much of the day and finished them in less than an hour.
We left Hanna’s island, and the Crultar guided our ship to the great divide.
As we approached the divide, the crunching and rumbling sound seemed near-continuous. The choppy ocean sent water crashing over our deck at a constant rate. The sea felt angry, but when I reached out to its shallow depths, it felt lifeless. Besides the Crultar, I only felt a scattering of crustaceans and other bottom dwellers.
The sky had darkened as well, even though there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The sweet smell in the air had faded, replaced with something more like recycled and repurposed air. The great divide stood out in front of us, demanding most of the attention.
A chain of black rocks, not unlike a levy to break the waves for a harbor, but this one stretched as far as I could see in both directions. Twenty feet tall, and there wasn’t a single break in its rocky barrier. The rocks ramped up to the peak, easy to climb, as there were many sizes of, from the kinds you’d skip to ones big as a car. All were black, though—as if they had been dipped into Tar Island.
“It’s just a bunch of rocks,” Carmen said. “What’s the big deal?”
“We can get over this easy enough and then get to them, right?” Cass said as our boat reached the edge of the rock wall.
It rumbled and cracked as if in answer to her and our presence. The water around the wall shook and splashed around like an angry kind in a bathtub.
Cass glared at the great divide in defiance. I saw the fear in her face as well. We all felt it, as if there was a reason that the Crultar could not or would not pass over the divide. I couldn’t see the other side of it from the deck on Luna, but I could see what was between us and it.
“This is not a good place,” Kara said, holding her hand out.
“What do you think, Eliza?” I asked as our craft rubbed the rocks.
“I don’t think we have a choice. The next part of our journey is on the other side of those rocks, and I think my mom is, as well,” Eliza said.
“Why do you say that?”
“I remembered the picture of the island. I burned it into my brain, and one of the strange things I noticed was that it was darker than the rest. I see that same darkness past the divide,” Eliza said, staring at the sky in front of us.
The Crultar were around the boat, and I felt the fear in them, the apprehension and conc
ern for us. It overwhelmed them. They wanted to drag us back and away from this place. I searched for the creatures on the other side, but it felt as dead as it did on this side.
“Well, I don’t think we should get on those rocks.”
“Yeah, it’s giving me the heebie-jeebies, if you know what I mean,” Aubrey said.
“Please, it’s just rocks,” Sherri said. “I want to see what’s on the other side of this bitch.”
I stepped to the edge of the craft and jumped onto the large, black rock we were parked next to.
“Jack!” Kara said.
“Get back here,” Benji said.
The rock under my foot looked wet and slick but felt rough as sandpaper. It vibrated under my feet and then rumbled. I did a balance check as the girls gasped.
“This is a bad idea,” Kara said.
“I need to see what’s on the other side,” I said.
Sherri jumped off the boat and landed on the same boulder with me. She smiled and took a big step up to the next rock. I climbed with her.
“Come on, I want to see what all this fuss is about. It’s just a big dumb pile of rocks. I think we’re all giving it too much credit,” Sherri said.
“Yeah, it’s only the barrier dividing this entire world and is continuously moving and expanding,” Hanna said. “The amount of energy it would take to do this…” She stepped onto the rock under us.
“Wow,” Sherri said, and I realized that she was already on top of the pile.
I rushed up the rocks and stood next to her at the top.
“It’s more ocean,” I said.
“No, it’s different,” Sherri said, reaching her hand out. “The water isn’t the same there. I don’t…like it. It’s dark.”
I stared at the water, and then looked back down at the girls and the water that surrounded them. It was darker, almost a dark gray versus a deep blue color. Something splashed in the water, near the edge of the rocks. I reached out for it and found a hint of something. It felt small but mean and hungry.
On the horizon, there was nothing but more ocean. No islands that I could see.
Emma got next to me and reached for my hand. I took her hand in mine.
“We have to get to them, Jack. They aren’t safe,” Emma said. “If you saw his mind, the way I saw it…”
“We’ll find them.”
“You hear that?” Sherri yelled at the dark ocean. “We’re coming for you.”
“You should use your…helpers, to carry the boat over the wall. Twenty of them should be able to handle it,” Hanna said as she studied the rocks under her feet.
“I can’t feel these rocks,” Benji said with a horrified expression on her face. “They’re dead to me.”
“All rocks are dead,” Aubrey said. “I feel the air. It’s lost some of that luster, though. That sweetness.”
“Du’Khupa, can you and your men carry the boat over these rocks for us…please?” I asked.
“Yes, Jack,” he said and dipped under the water.
“Girls, get off the boat,” I said, and they rushed off the boat and onto the rocks.
“Gross,” Cass said as she scrambled over a rock.
“Ugh, I hate this,” Kara said.
“This isn’t going to go well for them, Jack,” Eliza said.
“This is like, better than that island we were just on,” Carmen said, touching the black rock with her hand.
“Don’t even think of looking for one of those evil stones again,” Benji said, touching her bow.
“Okay, Mom, I won’t. These aren’t even the right type of stones anyway,” Carmen said, throwing one into the water.
The Crultar lifted the boat out of the water and onto the rocks. Many of them came out of the water and helped with the craft, far more than the twenty Hanna suggested. They strained with the large boat and got it to the top of the rock pile, where they set it down.
“Taking a break or something?” Cass said. “Like, I don’t want to be on these stupid, moving rocks any longer than I have to.”
“We can’t go any further,” Du’Khupa said. “Those waters are not friendly for my kind.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t be going in those water either then,” Benji said.
“Du’Khupa, we can’t get that boat down there without your help,” I said, not quite demanding but leaving little room for anything else.
“As you request, Jack.”
He made a few hand motions, and they all lifted Luna back off the rocks and made their way down the backside of the rock pile.
As they reached the water’s edge, I felt a predator in the water and just as quickly saw the splash.
“Watch out!” I yelled, but it happened too fast.
A long, lean creature that might have been a variation on a shark launched from the water, grabbed the front Crultar by the waist and pulled him into the water. A moment later, another slender shark launched and grabbed another one.
I rushed down to the boat and pushed my sense into the creatures in the water. I couldn’t believe I didn’t sense them before, but I slammed the thought into them that they needed to leave. The sharks swam back as blood surfaced to the shallow waters. It created a feeding frenzy near the surface of the water, where many more of the shark-like creatures fought for the pieces of Crultar left and floating to the surface.
The Crultar kept moving toward the water, and I felt the sense of duty from them, they knew they were likely going to die, and they accepted it since they were in service to me. The idea they were dying on my orders didn’t sit well with me. All for moving Luna from one side of the world to the other.
The raft stayed at the water’s edge as Du’Khupa and his men retreated back to the rocks without another death.
“We can’t go in there,” Cass said. “Did you not just see those…things grabbing those guys? They are warriors and didn’t stand a chance. A snack like me will get gobbled up in two seconds down there.”
“Oh, please,” Carmen said, skipping down the rocks and jumping onto the boat. “This place isn’t that bad.”
“We’ve seen worse, Cass,” Eliza said and jumped onto the raft as well.
Du’khupa and his men stayed back. I sensed their fear of the dark sea, and it took everything in them not to run back up the hill. The sea creatures were already forgetting what I told them and were making their way back to the Crultar. I took a deep breath and sent a violent message to them, to leave the girls and our boat alone.
“What are you going to do with them?” Hanna said.
“They can’t go with us,” I said. “They won’t make it.”
“Then give them a sock, Jack,” Benji said.
“What?” I asked.
“A sock, to set the house-elves free…? I swear, Jack, if you haven’t seen Harry Potter, I am going to be second-guessing our marriage.”
“That show with the kid wizards?” I said, giving her my best dumb look.
“Show? It’s only the most successful book since, I don’t know, the Bible,” Benji sputtered.
“I’m just messing with ya. Master can give Dobby his sock,” I said. “Du’Khupa?”
“Yes, Jack?” he said, keeping his head down with a partial bow.
“I apologize for what happened to your men. I know you can’t go with us, so I want you to go back to the other side, where you will be free.”
“Free?”
“Yes, free from me, the king, and any other asshole out there that thinks they can force their will on you. Okay?”
“Don’t know what to say,” Du’Khupa said, tears welling in those big eyes.
“Don’t you start crying, big guy,” I said. “Now get out of here, go on.”
“Did we do something wrong? If any of us have not performed well enough for you, point them out and I remove their head—”
“Whoa, there, big guy. I’m just saying you’re free and can do as you please now. I don’t own you.”
“I am of no service to you, Jack?” he asked.
>
“No, you are free now. You don’t serve anyone,” I said.
Du’khupa brought out his long, curved blade and placed it at his own throat.
“What are you doing?” I asked, reaching to him. “Stop it.”
He stopped and lowered his blade.
“What are you doing?” I asked again.
“If I am no service to you, my king, then it is custom for me to move on to the greater seas where they may need me.”
I sensed no irony in him and knew that he was about to end it all.
“Listen, okay, I do need you still,” I said.
He brightened up, sheathed his knife, then kneeled. “Say it and it will be done.”
“I need you to go back to the other side and do what you can to… I don’t know, build me an army to help defend our home.”
“I will make this happen,” Du’Khupa said and got back to his feet.
With a few hand gestures, I watched the twenty-plus fish-men walk up the rock pile, where I spotted a fish-lady standing at the top, staring down at us.
“Shaya?” Benji said.
Shaya dropped her knees and started crying.
I dashed up to the rock and kneeled next to her and held her. She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug as she cried into my shoulder.
“All dead,” she whispered in my ear.
“I’m so sorry,” I said.
The rocks rumbled, and we fell to our sides as the stone rolled. I glanced down at the girls, who were all standing wide with their hands out. All the hours on the boat gave them plenty of experience with balance.
“We need to leave these rocks,” Eliza said.
“You okay?” I asked as we lay in the crack between two rocks.
She nodded, and we got to our feet together.
“Can you walk?” I asked.
She nodded and picked up her knife. I offered my hand to guide her down the rocks, but she refused and deftly maneuvered over the tricky terrain until she got face to face with Hanna. Shaya’s hand touched the stained blade at her hip.
“You killed them,” Shaya said, glaring at Hanna.
“Don’t even think it,” Hanna said. “I’ll fry you up before that hand leaves your hip.”