Nether Tears
Ainsley Shay
Miranda Hardy
Nether Tears
Copyright © 2017 by Ainsley Shay and Miranda Hardy
All rights reserved.
Nether Tears is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the authors’ imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means. The scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the authors’ intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher. Thank you for your support of the authors’ rights.
Quixotic Publishing
Nether Tears/ Ainsley Shay and Miranda Hardy. —First Edition
A.S. ~
for Kevin
* * *
M.H. ~
for Faith and Cody
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Also by Miranda Hardy
Also by Ainsley Shay
About the Author
About the Author
1
Blood saturates the white sandy shore. The impaled spear extrudes from the chest of the first person I healed on this island. A huge lump forms in my throat, and tears threaten to fall in large puddles. I’ve seen death before, but never one so violent.
Keyon blocks me from seeing anymore of the scene below. Sadness clouds his features, and his lower lip quivers slightly. “We need to keep moving.” He guides me into the farthest tree line on the northern side of the village.
“Why is there no one else fleeing in this direction?” A limb scraps against my arm, and a sliver of pain pinches the area near my elbow. I wince.
Keyon bends a branch in front of me, allowing me to move by it. “I imagine most my people have fled to the sea to hide where your people can’t get to them.”
Thoughts of them trapped under the water enter my mind. How many of Keyon’s people will perish under the hand of Makoa? Why is he even here? Is he truly upset over the fact we were not wed and I was stolen away to help these people? He never seemed too interested in me. I was merely a prize traded to him.
“Why did he attack like that?” I don’t expect an answer. I didn’t even mean to ask the question aloud.
“I’m guessing they came here for you and deem us the threat.” Keyon purses his lips together and shoves through the last of heavy foliage into a meadow. I follow.
Just beyond an enormous structure made of stone and mostly covered with moss, a meadow beams with wildlife. A few deer catch our smell and dash off into a dark forest on the other side. Butterflies flit through the tall grass without fear of us trampling through their home. For a moment, I forget the chaos in the village, but then the bloody scene fills my mind and the nature surrounding me no longer feels comforting.
We walk in silence for another hour. I imagine Keyon is thinking about his people on the shore and hoping they made it to the safety of the water. I wish for the same thing, but I think about my village... the one I was raised in and called home. I miss my brother, Apela, and his wife, Inoa. Surely, Apela didn’t come with Makoa and opt to kill these innocent people, but he must be worried about me, too. We are, after all, the only family each other have. And, there’s no way Apela left Inoa alone with a new baby. I may be an aunt by now, and I don’t even know if it’s a boy or girl, or what their name is.
Apela doesn’t know anything that’s been going on. I try to put myself in his shoes to figure out what he’s thinking at this moment. Maybe it’s best he doesn’t see the cruelty of his own people and what they’re capable of doing. Kahanu, my grandmother, was willing to trade me off to a village as if I meant nothing to her. Anger seeps into every part of my being. Someone I trusted all my life was willing to sell me off to a snake like Makoa.
My memories feel unreal to me. My entire life of preparation to help others was merely to make me a commodity... a trade of value. I wish Mother were still alive. Maybe I would have a different life. She was a healer, too, though. Perhaps Kahanu was angry with me since Mother died protecting me and that’s why she was eager to be rid of me.
My anger turns to sadness.
“We’re almost there.” Keyon points toward a distant green rock formation.
As we get closer, I notice the green color consists of vines snaking up the side of a large mountain that blocks our path. Keyon touches the surface of the shrubbery and moves down the side.
“What are you doing? We’re trapped here.” I look around to see the thick forest on either side of us and dread thinking about traipsing through them again. My feet ache, and my empty stomach growls.
“Tao and I used to come here a lot when we were younger. It was the perfect place to go when we wanted to get away from everyone.” Keyon disappears behind a group of vines.
I gasp.
He sticks his hand out of the heavy mass of green. “Come on. We’ve made it to our destination.”
I reluctantly grab his hand and use my free arm to move the leaves and branches away from the hidden opening. The thickness of the border offers good cover, and there’s no way I could have seen it had Keyon not known it was here. Hopefully, that means, no one else will be able to see it if anyone comes after us.
I push through to see one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen in my life. The vines don’t cover a large rock, but rather a huge manmade brick ruin. At least, I think it’s manmade, but it must have been so long ago. The structure traps us in a large square area, and the only door to the outside is the way we came in. Small trees jut up through several places inside, making it appear like a tiny hidden forest. Leaves blanket the floor, but when I walk on them, it feels like hard stone. I kick the leaves away to reveal a bluish pattern on stones.
Off to one corner is a stone staircase leading to an open second floor that seems to be at the top of the mountain.
“What is this place?” I ask.
Keyon shrugs. “Tao and I found it when we were little, and we used to spend the night here often. It’s the one place we never told anyone about.” Keyon climbs the stairs and looks out into the distance. “I think we’re safe here.”
“What can you see?” I stand at the foot of the stairs.
“Come up and find out.” Keyon watches me. “They are sturdy. I promise.”
I follow the wall with my hands and take each step slowly. They do seem sturdy for something so old. Once I reach the top, Keyon takes my hand. The platform at the top of the stairs looks like it once was longer, but the drop-off at the edge tells me it fell away long ago. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Look. It’s stone and attached to the wall.” He jumps up and down on the floor. “Tao thinks the rest of the floor was wood and has since deteriorated into nothing.”
I look out over the
structure and see the meadow in the distance. I can’t see any sign of the coast and wonder what’s happening down there. “I hope Tao’s not hurt.”
“My brother is smart. I’m sure he’s gotten a lot of people to safety.” Keyon squints his eyes, looking in the distance. He’s probably hoping to see the coast, too.
“Why did you save me?” I ask.
“Tao and I promised each other that whoever was nearest to you would be the one to save you.” Keyon slides down the wall and sits.
I sit next to him. “What do you mean? Did you both know this would happen?”
“We discussed it before taking you. There was a big chance your people would retaliate and come for us. It was a chance we were both willing to take to save our people, but I’m afraid we may have done more damage than good.” Keyon rests the side of his head the wall.
“I don’t understand why any of this is happening. If you both had merely asked me and been honest with me, I would have come to help your people.” I wasn’t sure if it would have been true then, but I want to believe I would have said yes. “The thing I don’t understand is why Makoa even cares enough to go on a hunt for me.” I cringe at the thought of being with him. “I never wanted to be married. Especially to him.”
“Why did they arrange it then?” he asks.
“It’s the way we do things. You have arranged marriages, too, right?”
“Not in the way you do. We don’t make anyone marry if they’re not happy with the decision. Both have to agree to it.” Keyon breathes out and looks out over the terrain. “Several marriages happen without arrangement. Even Tao chose his own.”
My heart aches hearing about Tao and Esther. “I see.”
“Tao and Esther were meant to be together. They knew it from when they were young.”
“What about you?” I ask, not wanting to hear anything more about Esther and Tao.
“My focus was always different. I thought I was in love once, but it had been foolish.”
“What happened?”
“She didn’t want the same things I wanted. She wanted to go on excursions to faraway lands and explore, but I couldn’t leave my father and brother,” Keyon says. “And, she made it apparent, she couldn’t stay on Malalo.” He shrugs. “If it was meant to be, it would have happened.”
We sit for a while and say nothing. Even though our worlds seem different, it appears we have similar occurrences. Keyon can’t leave because of his status and obligations, and I’m destined to aid a village and people I don’t know. Neither of us has much say in how we live our lives.
My stomach growls, and there’s no way I can mask the sound from reaching Keyon.
He glances at my stomach and gives a half smile. “I’ll try to find us something to eat.” Keyon hurries down the stairs before I can protest. He disappears out of the opening, leaving me alone in this wonderland.
As I study everything, I wonder what this building represented all those years ago. Was it a shelter that housed a family? Maybe it was a place for the sick. I decide it couldn’t have been. It’s too far from anything and people wouldn’t want to travel so far to be healed. Maybe it was a sanctuary for those who wanted to get away... a place to forget their many problems and have some peace and quiet. It’s perfect for that purpose.
I descend the stairs to study the place. Clearing away the leaves, I sit on the colorful stone and trace the pattern with my fingers. The faded blue pattern reminds me of the shape of the moon when it’s full. It’s perfect in every way. The pattern repeats on each stone. It’s coolness feels good against my bottom, and I decide to lie down to absorb it in my entire body.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Keyon stands over me, with something in his hands. “The trees have broken through most of them. It’s a shame really.”
I sit up, and he joins me on the stone floor. He hands me a large leaf filled with a few nuts. “What are they?” I ask.
“Pine nuts. They are hard to get out of the cones, so I don’t have too many of them. I’m sorry, but this is all I could find.”
“What about you?” I eat one. “Aren’t you hungry?”
“No. I can go a while longer without food.” Keyon looks up through the open ceiling. “I know where there are berries, but I didn’t want to leave you for too long.”
“This is fine, thank you.”
Rustling on the other side of the curtain of green gets our attention. Keyon grabs my arm and the nuts fall to the ground.
Like a shadow, Tao creeps through the hidden doorway. The tension leaves me, and I relax slightly until I notice the frantic look on his face.
2
“You have to come quick! They’re gone for now, but I know they’ll be back.” Tao bends over at the waist and breathes deeply, trying to catch his breath. As he stands, his gaze lingers on Keyon’s hand grasping my arm, and then he looks up to meet our eyes.
“No! It’s not safe.” Keyon tries to tuck me behind him.
“Father’s been speared!” Tao cries.
I come out from behind Keyon. The dilapidated walls of the ruins seem to close in around us. Keyon’s eyes are wide with disbelief. “Is he...?”
Tao shakes his head. “No, but he will die soon if we waste any more time.”
“We need to move,” I say. I don’t wait for them as I head out through the opening. The crunching of rubble and branches echoes behind me as the men follow me. I turn to face them. “Which is the fastest way to the village?”
Keyon races past me. “The way we came.”
The trudge back is worse. Lately, it seems I’m either running away from death or running toward it.
I follow Keyon with Tao behind me. My heart races as I run back to Devlin, their father and leader. He hadn’t been accepting of me, but it doesn’t matter. If I can save him, I will. His people and his sons need him. Difficult times are ahead, and without a leader, we could all be dead.
I want to ask Tao where the spear is lodged, but I don’t. I only pray it’s not near the heart. If it is, then ending his suffering will be the only humane thing to do.
I’m so lost in my thoughts I don’t notice Tao come up beside me.
“Alania.”
The sound of his voice causes me to falter. He catches my elbow and steadies me. Once I regain my step, I ease my elbow from his grasp. I take a brief second to look over my shoulder and see his dark eyes taking me in.
“Tao, please don’t.” Remembering what Keyon said about how Tao chose to be with Esther and have her as his wife still hurts.
I can’t be brought back to a place where I find myself trapped again. He belongs to another woman.
I turn around and continue after Keyon. My chest constricts as the feelings I don’t have the right to have lace their way through my aching heart. I draw in deep breaths and pick up my pace. Now isn’t the time to sort through my emotions, I have a life to save.
“When we get to the building of glass, we’ll stop and rest.” Keyon points ahead past several crumbled structures. The late afternoon sunlight glints off the dark shards of glass.
I don’t want to stop. A man’s life hangs in the balance of my return. The sooner I can get to his side, the better of a chance I’ll have to possibly save him. Though, I hate that my body is saying the opposite. My legs burn from running and trying to keep my balance while jumping over debris and limbs.
Keyon stops ahead of me. He leans over to catch his breath. I come up next to him and do the same. Not to sound like a spoiled brat, but it would have been nice if Tao had brought water. We have all exerted an extreme amount of energy.
Tao moves past Keyon and me. “We have to keep moving.”
Taking a final gasp for breath, I stand straight and run after Tao. After I leap over the next few jagged chunks of old-world materials, the scent of salt air replaces the ruins. We’re close to the shore. Relief, like the waves of the ocean, washes over me.
As I rise to the top of a crumbled building, I see the blue ocean. My nerve
s hum as I make my way toward it. Tao disappears through a crevice. I remember running through it as Keyon pulled me away from the danger and into the dilapidation of the old-world.
Just before I follow him through the narrow passage, Keyon grabs my wrist. I turn quickly to face him.
“I know you can save him.” His admittance is breathy and full of hope. “I’ve seen you perform miracles no one else can.”
The pressure of his words penetrates every cell in my body. I only nod. He expects nothing less of me as he releases my arm. I continue onward in the hopes I can fulfill the nearly impossible expectation.
As I exit the tapered path, I immediately stop when I see the carnage before me. Several bodies are scattered along the shore. The rising tide creeps toward them as wounded men and woman rush to gather the bodies and drag them to the coffin maker. Some of the water people have come onto the land. Gills, just under their ribs, open and close as they take gasps of air. It’s still something I haven’t gotten used to since I’ve been on their island of Malalo.
Tao takes my hand and pulls me past the devastation. It’s more than I’ve ever witnessed. Even when the coffins washed ashore, my heart sank with dread for the living left behind. The beach is scattered with the living and the dead. A woman hovers over her young son. His arm is wrapped with a bloodstained cloth. Closer to the shore, a man splashes water over the side of his face. As he slowly turns toward me, the ugly gash down the side of his cheek leaks fresh blood. Forcing myself to look away, I walk past the wounded. I’ll be able to help them after I see the critical shape Devlin is in and determine if I can save him.
Nether Tears (Underwater Island Series Book 2) Page 1