Sea Born (Chaos and Retribution Book 3)

by Eric T Knight

  “That’s where we’re going,” Liv said, pointing. Over it all, behind the trees, loomed the dark shape of the tower. “C’mon.”

  Liv led her onto a brick path that wound through the fruit trees and a minute later they were before the tower. Aislin saw that a tall stone wall had been built around the tower, which was itself built right on the edge of the high cliffs overlooking the sea. There was a heavy, wooden door with a big padlock on it set in the wall.

  “They built the wall because of the vine,” Liv said, her voice quieter now, as if she were awed by it all. “Look. You can see it up there.” She pointed.

  The part of the tower that was visible above the wall was completely covered in a thick vine. Aislin had seen the vine before, on the day when she found the secret room with the red glowing thing in it. She shivered a little at the memory of it. There was something wrong with that vine.

  “They had to build the wall because the vine eats people,” Liv said in a spooky voice. She gripped Aislin’s hand a little bit tighter, and Aislin didn’t pull away. She didn’t like the vine at all. She remembered the eyes she’d seen looking out of it.

  “Why don’t they kill it?” Aislin asked.

  “They tried, but no one can. That’s because it’s not from this world.”

  Aislin looked at Liv, trying to see if she was smiling. Was she joking about this? But Liv wasn’t smiling.

  “I swear it’s true,” Liv said. “My father told me all about it. Do you want to know the story?”

  Aislin nodded.

  “It was during the war against Melekath and his Children, before either of us was born. The vine comes from a place called the Pente Akka, or something like that. It’s another world and it keeps trying to get into our world so it can swallow us all up.” She shivered as she said this. Aislin thought about what Ya’Shi and the Ancient One had said about the Devourers. Did the vine come from the same place they did?

  “There’s things living in there, terrible monsters with knives for fingers. During the war they almost broke through. My daddy and Quyloc were trapped in there and almost died. But they got free just in time and fought the monsters back. They saved the world.”

  Aislin listened almost without breathing, trying to imagine it all.

  “They stopped the monsters from coming through, but they couldn’t kill the vine so they built the wall so it can’t hurt anyone. I like to sneak out here and look at it. Sometimes I think I can hear it moving.”

  Aislin remembered the sound of the vine moving on the stone steps under the tower. She took an involuntary step back.

  “Don’t worry,” Liv reassured her. “It can’t get out. We’re safe here.”

  “Here, what are you girls doing?” a voice said suddenly nearby.

  Both girls jumped and shrieked a little. The only reason Aislin didn’t run away was because Liv gripped her hand tightly and stopped her. But her heart was racing and she could hear her blood pounding in her ears.

  A man stepped forward out of the fruit trees. He had a sword hanging from his belt, and he was wearing a steel cap and chain mail.

  “It’s you, George!” Liv cried. “You scared me so bad I almost died!”

  “I’m sorry for that, young miss,” the guard said, “but you know you’re not supposed to be back here. Your mother will have your hide if she finds out.”

  “But you won’t tell her, will you, George?” Liv said in a wheedling tone.

  “Of course I won’t,” he replied. Then he sighed. “You won’t stop until I’m busted down to latrine duty, will you?”

  “You won’t get into trouble, George. You know I’ll never say anything. I swear.”

  “That’s enough for me, I guess. Who’s your little friend?”

  “This is Aislin. We just met. She’s a little shy, but that’s okay.”

  “I imagine you talk enough for the both of you,” he said with a chuckle.

  “I’m trying to make her feel comfortable.”

  “Well, I’d better be on my rounds. You two move on now, okay? There must be something else you can do.”

  “I was thinking about showing Aislin the pond Daddy had put in.”

  “That’s a fine idea. I’ll be seeing you around,” he said, touching his cap and walking away.

  “Come on,” Liv said, taking Aislin’s hand again. “I think you’ll like this.” She led her around the side of the palace toward the front. They came to a wide lawn bordered by flowers. In the middle was a small pond a dozen paces across.

  “What do you think?” Liv asked, when they were standing beside it. She crouched and stuck her hand in the water. “I just love water, don’t you?”

  Aislin’s opinion of Liv went way up. She crouched down too and put both hands in the water. “More than anything,” she agreed.

  “There’s fish in it and everything,” Liv said, peering into the water, “but you can’t see them right now. It’s too dark.”

  Aislin didn’t need to see them. She could feel them, every one of them. There were dozens of them.

  “I come out here whenever it’s warm enough and swim in it,” Liv said, again raising Aislin’s estimate of her. “I’m glad summer’s coming. Then I’ll be able to swim every day.” She splashed in the water a little bit. “I wish we could go swimming right now. I bet you’d like it. But I’m not supposed to swim at night.”

  Aislin was sure she would like to go for a swim.

  Liv looked around. Seeing no one nearby, she began taking off her shoes. “Oh well, I haven’t been in trouble for almost a whole day.” She put one foot in the water. “Brr. It’s a little cold. Are you coming?”

  Aislin didn’t need to be asked twice. She quickly kicked off her shoes and dove in, splashing Liv. When she surfaced, Liv was standing near the edge of the pond and giggling.

  “You got me all wet!” she cried.

  Aislin wasn’t sure what to make of that. Wasn’t the point of swimming to get wet? She gave up puzzling over it and dove underwater, reveling in the feel of the water on her skin, the freedom she had when she was in it. When she was in the water, she was another person. There was nothing to hold her back, nothing she had to do or think about.

  When she surfaced Liv was staring at her. “Wow. You were down there for a long time. How’d you do that?”

  “I don’t know,” Aislin admitted. “I just can.”

  “Teach me, teach me!” Liv cried. Holding her nose, she jumped into the deeper part of the pond and then surfaced a moment later and splashed around. “It’s so cold!” she said, but made no move to get out.

  “It feels good to me,” Aislin said.

  “You’re not cold at all?”

  “No.”

  “What are you, some kind of fish?”

  Aislin stiffened, remembering the kids teasing her about being a fish back when she lived in Seaside. She’d been teased a few times since living at the Tender estate too, though not nearly as often.

  But Liv continued on, oblivious. “Oh, I wish I was more like you. What else can you do? Can you teach me?”

  Aislin hesitated, trying to figure out if Liv was making fun of her or not. But the other girl seemed sincere. There was no undertone of mockery.

  “I can call the fish,” Aislin said, taking a sudden chance that surprised even her. “Would you like to see?”

  Liv’s eyes got very round. “More than anything,” she said breathlessly.

  Aislin sang one of her little fish songs then. It didn’t take much, since the fish were so close.

  “I can feel them swimming all around me!” Liv said delightedly. “One just bumped into my leg!” She clapped her small hands together. “I wish I could do that. You’re amazing, Aislin, you know that?”

  Aislin felt a smile spread across her face. No one had ever thought she was amazing before. Mostly people were afraid or mean. Even her mother only seemed to tolerate her abilities. She didn’t really like the things Aislin could do. But here was this other girl and she not only
tolerated Aislin, she liked what she was able to do.

  Aislin decided then and there that Liv was right: they were going to be friends. The thought excited her. She’d never had a real friend before.

  “What else can you do?” Liv asked.

  But before Aislin could respond, someone new came strolling up.

  It was a boy a few years older than them. He was carrying a lantern, and he held it up to see better.

  “You’re not supposed to be in there, Liv. Mother is going to kill you.”

  “What are you doing out here, Brecken?” Liv asked.

  “Looking for you, what else? Mother sent me to find you. It’s time for your friend to go home. Mother has half the servants out looking for you.”

  Liv was getting out of the water while he spoke and Aislin followed her. They both stood on the grass, dripping wet.

  “She doesn’t have to know,” Liv said. “Please don’t tell her.”

  “You’re soaking wet! I won’t have to tell her, she’ll know,” he replied. He held the lantern so he could get a better look at Aislin. “Your mother is looking for you too,” he said.

  Aislin nodded, not sure what to say. For some reason Brecken didn’t lower the lantern but kept staring at her. He had a frank, open way of looking at her that reminded her of Rome. She looked away, embarrassed for some reason she didn’t understand.

  “Maybe if we take our time getting back, we’ll dry off. Or we could run to my room and change clothes really fast,” Liv said.

  “No chance of that,” Brecken said. “Mother said to fetch you and I’m fetching you. We’re going straight back.”

  “You’re being awful,” Liv said. “You know that?”

  “Whatever,” he replied. “Do you really think you’d get away with it anyway? Mother would know instantly you’d changed your clothes. You know what a hawk she is.”

  “You’re probably right,” Liv said sullenly. “Do you think she’ll be very angry?”

  “I think she’s already very angry. You two were supposed to come right back.”

  Liv gulped. As they started following Brecken back, she said softly to Aislin, “I wish I could turn into a fish right now and swim away. Fish never get into trouble for getting wet.”

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  “You went swimming?” Bonnie’s face was red and she was shaking her finger at Liv, who was looking down at her feet.

  Aislin looked at her mother. Mama wasn’t saying anything, but she could tell from her expression that when they left she was going to have some things to say.

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” Liv said quietly. “I only wanted to show Aislin around.”

  “So you showed her the fish pond? By getting into it?”

  “It was an accident?” Liv said hopefully, looking to her father for help.

  Rome started to laugh, but when Bonnie whirled on him, her hands on her hips, his smile faded and the laughter died away. “It was very bad, what you did,” he said, trying his best to be stern, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the traces of smile that hung around the edges of his mouth.

  “You’re a lot of help,” Bonnie snapped at Rome. “Really. So much help. It’s like having three children instead of two.” Rome did his best to look properly chastened, lowering his head and picking at some food stuck to his shirt.

  “We’ll be going now,” Netra said, taking Aislin’s hand. “I’m sorry for any trouble my daughter caused.”

  “Oh, it wasn’t her fault, I can assure you of that,” Bonnie grumbled. “If I know my daughter at all, and I do, she was the cause of all of it.”

  Before Netra could lead Aislin away, Liv cried, “Can Aislin and I play tomorrow, Mommy? Please?”

  Bonnie scowled at her. “After you went into the pond at night even though I’ve told you over and over not to? You’ll be lucky if you get to see her in a month!”

  “No, Mommy!” Liv cried. “Please! I’m sorry, I really am!”

  “Not as sorry as you will be.”

  “Daddy, help me!” Liv cried, hurrying to where her father sat and throwing her arms around his knees. “You said I needed to make a friend and finally I did. Don’t take her away already.”

  Bonnie put her fists on her hips and glared at Rome, who cleared his throat.

  “We have been wanting her to make new friends,” he said, wincing as Bonnie’s scowl darkened further, “and really, how bad is it, what she did? All she did was go swimming. She didn’t really hurt anything.”

  “It’s not the swimming, it’s the disobedience,” Bonnie growled.

  “Couldn’t you punish her some other way?” he asked.

  “Please, Mommy?” Liv chimed in, looking at her mother appealingly.

  “Don’t flutter your eyelashes at me, young lady,” Bonnie said, pointing at her daughter. “It won’t work on me like it does your father and you know it.”

  “So I can play with Aislin tomorrow?” Liv asked. Rome added a hopeful look of his own.

  “It’s pathetic, that’s what it is,” Bonnie said to Rome. “You, a big, strong man. The mighty Black Wolf, feared far and wide. Brought down by a little girl. You should be ashamed.”

  But Rome didn’t look ashamed. He was fighting to keep his smile under control. Bonnie turned to Netra.

  “Sometimes I wonder what it’s like, raising a child without a man interfering.” Before Netra could respond, she continued on. “If it’s okay with you, the children can play together tomorrow. But I’d like to have them here, where I can keep an eye on them.”

  Aislin squeezed her mother’s hand and looked up at her. Netra looked down at her for a moment, then nodded. “She should probably be in trouble for getting her nice dress all wet and muddy, but it is good seeing her make a friend.”

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  When they got back to the cottage, Netra sat down and pulled Aislin into her lap. She squeezed her tight and pressed her face into her hair. Usually such displays of affection bothered Aislin, but this time she was too busy feeling excited about tomorrow.

  “I’m proud of you,” Netra said. “I’m glad you finally have a friend of your own to play with.”

  “Like you and Cara were friends when you were little?”

  “I don’t know how I would have survived without Cara. So much of the time she was the only one I could talk to. I hope you find the same thing with Liv.”

  Later that night, lying in bed, Aislin wondered what it would be like, having a friend. She had so much she wanted to share, but before this she’d never had anyone to share with. The thought both excited her and frightened her. Part of her was still afraid that Liv was only pretending, that she’d make fun of Aislin sooner or later.

  Thinking about it, she started to feel really afraid. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. Who knew what Liv was really up to? Look at the fat man. He’d seemed nice at first too, but then he turned out to be bad. Maybe Liv would turn out to be bad too.

  She tossed and turned for a long time before she was able to fall asleep.

  Chapter Four

  Aislin felt awful when she woke up the next morning. Her head hurt and she didn’t think she’d slept at all. Her dreams had been filled with children chasing her and laughing at her.

  She crawled out of bed and realized that her mother wasn’t in the cottage. She went and sat down at their little table and put her head on her arms. Her mother came in a few minutes later carrying a sack with some vegetables in it.

  “So, are you excited for your big day?” Netra said brightly. “I bet you can’t wait to see Liv again.”

  Aislin didn’t respond except to bury her head deeper into her arms. She heard her mother walk over next to her.

  “What’s wrong, Aislin?”

  “I don’t want to go,” she said without looking up.

  Netra sat down in the other chair. “Why, honey? I thought you were excited about it.”

  “I’m not.”

  Netra stroked her hair. Aislin pushe
d her hand away. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

  “No.”

  “Okay,” Netra said gently, “but I think Liv is going to be really disappointed. I know she was really looking forward to playing with you.”

  Aislin raised her head, but didn’t look into her mother’s eyes. “You’re wrong.”

  “Are you sure? She seemed really excited last night.”

  “She’s just pretending.” Aislin wondered why it hurt so much to say the words when she didn’t care. She didn’t really need friends anyway. The sea creatures were her friends. That was all the friends she needed.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because it’s true!” Aislin blurted out. “Other kids don’t like me. They always make fun of me!”

  “I don’t think Liv is like other kids.”

  “Yes, she is. You don’t know.”

  They sat there in silence for a while. Aislin finally got up and went outside and sat under a tree. She’d go down to the sea today, that’s what she’d do. Randel would take her.

  But for some reason her decision didn’t make her feel any better. It actually made her sadder. Now she felt like crying and that made her mad. This was all Liv’s fault, she decided. Liv should’ve left her alone. She was perfectly fine before.

  Her mother came outside a minute later. “I’m going to go send word up to the palace now, to tell Liv you’re not coming,” she said. She waited and when Aislin didn’t respond she added, “It’s only the polite thing to do.” She waited another minute and then started walking away.

  As soon as she did, Aislin felt like her heart would break. She started crying, even though she tried not to and told herself she was only being a baby. She hated everyone. She wished she’d never met another person ever.

  All at once she leapt to her feet and ran after her mother, crying and yelling for her to stop.

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  When the carriage rolled up before the palace Aislin didn’t jump out like she normally did. Netra got out and stood there, holding her hand out. “Come on, Aislin. We’re here.”