The Hyven and Lathmorians clashed together; their blades, their bodies launching into the air as they took one another down. I couldn’t be sure where to look or even who to fight, until I felt a hand on my arm pulling me forward.
I gasped in shock, and looked desperately at his face wanting to see some of the courage I knew he could give me, but his eyes weren’t on me. He yanked me forward, I felt like a child as he placed me beside him and continued to launch the daggers from his belt, keeping the Hyven at bay.
Two approached and he dealt with them quickly, their bodies falling at my feet. When one grabbed at my ankle, I cried out, but not so loud for it to be heard over the shrieks of battle. Scrambling backward, I avoided his grasp.
My heart throbbed in my chest. I was somewhere else, watching everything around me happen as if from above. I could see the scores of Hyven, running down the hill from the castle, meeting the Lathmorians with wind-cast knives and launched arrows. All around me, Patrick danced, protecting me and I couldn’t move. My only thought was of a wave, the wave that had taken me from my father’s ship and hurled me into the depths of the ocean. On that night, I hadn’t known what was up and what was down. I had tried to find air, and I couldn’t reach the surface.
It was the same, I was struggling to breathe, to move, to do something to survive, but my body wouldn’t respond.
Come on Lissie, pull yourself together. The thought ran through my mind and I felt a stirring of something deep within my gut.
The tug at my stomach was enough to bring me back, to the battle. When my fingers twitched, I knew it was only moments before I launched myself into it. With a shuddering breath, one thought filled my mind and I honed it into the foresight of my thoughts.
The night I was swept overboard, I had been taken into the arms of Morven. He was the reason for all of this.
Merely thinking of it, my hands moved to the belt of daggers around my waist. Grasping one, I flung it at the nearest enemy. The release of the blade took the locking-fear from my entire body and I moved to fight another mermaid. She retreated, only to be taken down by the passing form of Voon. I pulled two more daggers out of my belt and assumed the crouching stance I had been taught.
Glancing over my shoulder, there was only a mere flash when Patrick’s eyes met mine. In that small instant, his relief was apparent, and I knew we would survive this night.
We fought together, a blur and a shadow, ducking and dodging blows, and dealing hits where we could reach. My belt grew lighter by the moment, and the blades from my fingers sprung forth to meet the oncoming assault of Hyven soldiers.
A roar issued from behind me as a merman bore down on us. I threw a dagger, clipping him along the side. It didn’t stop him as he barreled into me, knocking me into the sand. I struggled beneath him for a moment as his blades tried to find purchase. One clipped my left hip and when I gasped in pain, there was a sharp intake of breath from somewhere above. A wave of anger coursed through me, a surge of something unknown, filling my veins with boiling fury.
With a cry I didn’t know I possessed, I slashed my blades along his side and when he screamed, a pair of arms pulled the soldier into the air. The merman’s eyes widened as his body left mine and the arms holding him disappeared from his waist. They reappeared, grasping his neck. Patrick’s head was visible just over the merman’s shoulder, his eyes a raging storm. I looked away before the final snap took the soldier’s life.
There was no time to breathe. Rolling to a crouch, two mermaids were headed directly for us, I threw my daggers at them, feeling a sharp pinch on my hip from my new wound. They both fell to the sand and I advanced forward. The sight of everything around me was causing the wave of anger and fury to grow inside. With every throw and every slice, I felt it creeping toward my throat.
“Got him,” Patrick said gruffly. Appearing as if from nowhere, he threw a dagger directly at the merman I had been aiming for. His voice was sharp, reminding me of Zale. I felt the bubble of a vicious laugh fill my throat, but held off.
We were back to back, his large shoulders bumping against my head as we kept our foes at bay. I wasn’t fool enough to not realize how the Hyven seemed to be more concentrated in our area. Whether or not they recognized me, they knew who Patrick was, and who he had been. They wanted him dead.
We were slowly making progress toward the castle together, our feet shifting forward as we stayed close to one another. Our arms often brushed, but as we ran out of daggers to throw, we had to separate more often to take on our foes with hand to hand combat. I was tripped and clipped, over and over again. The stinging pain of blades hitting my flesh was vibrant and new. Red seemed to be the only color I could see, and yet, I was able to keep going.
With each passing moment, the anger I felt inside grew. I knew it wouldn’t be long before my voice would ring out over the battle field. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I wasn’t supposed to use it, but the urge was there all the same. Why shouldn’t I use the best power I had at my disposal?
Gathering the words in my throat, I fought another mermaid off, rolling her over my back as Zale had done to me on Lathmor. I left her there with a cut along her leg. Eyes searching the battle, I couldn’t tell who was winning. I spotted those I knew. Kryssa and Nixie fighting near one another—Daggin not far off. Up ahead, farthest along the shore was Tunder, his soldiers rallying behind Elik and him.
My voice stirred, the anger rising in the cacophony surrounding us. The fury shook my limbs and I reached deep toward the voice crying inside. The words gathered in my throat and just as I was about to let them pour forth from my lips, my eyes found the face of a blonde soldier; the same mermaid who had heard my voice in Lathmor.
She stood at a distance, staring at Patrick, her expression filled with pure maliciousness. My voice grew in my throat, concentrating toward her. Patrick had given me her name. The very thought of her brother, Bolrock, sent throbbing fear coupled with raging fury through my limbs. She wanted Patrick dead. Let her try.
My mouth had only just opened when her eyes snapped to mine and the sound hitched in my throat. When she smiled, I remained frozen for a moment, and her lips pulled back further into a snarl. She suddenly charged in my direction, her strides short but powerful. It was only when she was ten feet away I realized another mermaid was with her. Crouching into my stance, I prepared for the deadly blows she was surely going to cast upon me.
Readying my hands, I waited as she launched herself in my direction. I was about to slash out when she feigned to the right, making me stumble and lose my balance. I regained it quickly, but she came at me again. Her blades clipped my left shoulder, where her brother had left his mark and I grimaced in pain even as I dashed forward, trying to pay her back for the blood she’d drawn.
She sauntered away from my blows, always just out of reach. With a lithe move, she sidestepped a parry and punched me in the left hip where the Hyven soldier had cut me. I wanted to gasp in pain, but no sound came out. Again I darted forward, and once more she averted my blows, only to reach in at the last second and place another cut along my back.
A creeping worry began to fill my mind as I wondered why she didn’t go for the mortal blow. She had had her chance, at least twice, and I was still standing. I was contemplating this even as my body moved, when again, she clipped me along the back and I spun to follow her as she passed by.
Everything suddenly became clear.
Before my eyes, I saw it all as though I wasn’t really there. Patrick was still fighting, but we were separated, nearly twenty yards apart. He was slashing against those who came near, his stance protecting the blonde girl beside him, her frame and hair the same color as my own. I watched in horror as he blocked blows for her, taking down Hyven as he kept her safe, not knowing she wasn’t me.
My voice gathered and I tried to scream out to him, even though I knew it was too late. Ressa had me in her arms before I could blink. A gag was thrust into my mouth and every single word and sound I could
think of strained in my throat, only to be silenced by the gag. Even the call of the siren couldn’t break around it.
I struggled against her, trying to spit out the filthy rag, and she knocked me down to the ground. I pulled my arm back to slice at her with my blades, she blocked them easily and punched me in the gut.
All voice and wind left me, as I choked on the moldy taste of the rag in my mouth. Fear and anger were battling with one another, I was desperately trying not to panic even as she clasped my hands in the cuffs I had seen Verna wear. My blades would be of no use.
Kicking at her with my legs, she called to a merman nearby and he came over to join us. My view of Patrick was blocked in the midst of the battle. I felt the tears reach my eyes as I tried to find some way to tell him where I was.
The soldier lifted me to my feet and though I kicked against him, he was a solid barrier blocking me from everything I knew. The ground beneath my feet changed from sand to cool grass and still I struggled against the strong arms wrapped around me. My hair was hidden behind the black-clad arms of this Hyven soldier and even when I kicked him in his most vulnerable place, he never relented his grip.
I fought with everything I had, but it wasn’t enough. The sounds of the battle retreated behind me. We were hidden now in the shadows of the trees and as the tears of panic filled my eyes, everything became blurry.
The soldier stumbled over a root, and the small loss of balance was enough to give me room. I didn’t have my blades, but the metal cuffs were tougher than any punching glove. I swung my free arm at Ressa, knocking her aside. When the soldier’s arms slipped from my shoulders, I ran, not worrying about the gag as I didn’t have any fingers to pry it out.
My hair flew behind me as I struggled to make it to the edge of the trees. I knew if someone could just see me, then everything would be fine.
The edges of the battle were barely visible when all of the sudden a body stepped into my line of vision and knocked me to the ground. My head snapped back and hit the dirt with a painful thud. Before I could protest, I was on my feet, my arms secured behind my back as my head lay against the chest of this new merman.
I felt the tickle of his hair, before his words reached my ears and filled me with more fear than I had felt since I had last seen him.
“Hello, dear.” He said, and I nearly whimpered as I tried to pull away from him. I could just imagine the satisfaction in his gray gaze and the smile on his lips.
His fingers were like ice along my arms. When he started to pull me backward up the hill, I fought him with everything I had, to no avail. We broke through the last of the trees, the battle unfolding before my eyes.
The remains of bodies were strewn all across the shore, and in the center of it all was Patrick. His golden hair glinted as he fought off any who dared to come his way, while beside him remained the blonde girl he thought was me.
They were all fighting to the death, thinking they were winning. But I had no way of telling them the battle was already lost.
Straining against Morven’s arms, I searched frantically, as though it was my last chance of ever seeing them alive. Tunder was at the front of the group, leading as always. His left pant leg torn and I tried not to notice how he favored it as he moved against the Hyven. His men gathered around him, some falling during the onslaught. Kryssa was nearing the edge of the water, a heavy-set merman pushing her back. My breath caught in my throat as he knocked her down into the frothing foam and for a moment she was lost until the merman fell, his arms cut from his body. Elik stood above him, his chest heaving and his shirt torn over the back.
It was then I heard a strangled cry and my last glimpse was one I would never forget.
Daggin was on his knees, kneeling over Nixie’s still form, her red hair falling like drops of blood over his arms. He screamed out his agony as a Hyven soldier stabbed him in the back. He never moved from his wife’s side.
I must have cried out in terror as sheer panic built within me. In horror, my eyes found Patrick once more. I screamed for all I was worth, desperately trying to bring my voice into pitch around the gag, but no sound I made was loud enough to cover the cacophony of the battle.
My warrior never looked up, thinking I was standing beside him. And when the door to the castle slammed shut, cutting off my view of the battle, my world fell apart.
The things I had seen ran through my mind and I remained stunned, as my eyes welled up and the tears ran down my cheeks in icy trails of abandon. All the heat drained from my body and my skin felt frozen as I continued to stare at the door.
The silence became a looming presence and I wished with all my might Patrick would burst through the door to save me. But there was nothing.
It wasn’t until Morven’s arms slid from around me and caressed my sides, guiding me to turn around, that I was forced to look away. His solid fingers pressed against the small of my back as he gestured forward, with his other.
“Right this way, Marina.”
22. Seized
This can’t be happening. It isn’t real. You’re just dreaming. It’s just a nightmare. It isn’t real; it can’t be. Nixie’s fine. Daggin’s fine. They have to be fine, they can’t be gone. It can’t be real. Tell me it’s not real.
My hopes were falling away one by one. Terror flooded my veins, sweeping through my mind. My breaths were ragged—each one passing through my nose with giant stilted huffs.
But you know it’s real, the thought began to take hold. Logic threatening all security and sanity. He isn’t here to protect you and still it’s real. He thinks he’s keeping you safe, but he isn’t…he said he would…but he isn’t…It can’t be real. It just can’t.
And yet, I knew it was. I was dragged through corridors while the image of Daggin holding onto Nixie’s lifeless body replayed in my mind over and over again. When I tried to push it from my thoughts, all I could see was Patrick fighting beside the decoy they had used to draw me away—a living nightmare in my mind.
The anger still churned deep within my veins. I ignored it for the time being, knowing I would need it, and soon. My head was hanging forward, my hair falling into my eyes as I tried desperately to come to terms with what had happened. I slowly came back to myself, the reality of where I was nearly knocked me backward in fear.
It’s not a dream, this is real. Breathe. In, out. Good. Again. In. Out.
Morven had one hand pressed against my back, the other wrapped tightly around my arm. Ressa and the merman who had helped her walked behind us, their steps soft and barely audible over the pounding of Morven’s boots on the stone floor. Swallowing heavily, I peeked out from beneath the curtain of my hair to glance at the merman beside me. All I could see was his chest from this vantage point and there was nothing I wanted more than to use my voice on him.
The raging girl, the one who had taken control when I interrogated Verna, lay just beneath the surface. She was waiting to take charge and unleash herself, relentlessly, upon this creature.
Wait. I told her, trying to calm the nerves thrumming through my veins.
He stormed down the halls, his fingers digging into my arm and though I tried to count corridors, I knew I was lost inside the castle. There was nothing familiar about any of these halls, each one was darker than I remembered. I had no way of knowing if we were headed into the middle of the castle or toward the back. I was lost, alone, and at his mercy.
A massive wooden door stood before us after we rounded another curve in the hallway. Morven seemed to pick up speed as we got closer and on instinct my knees locked. I stumbled, but the death grip he had on my arm kept me from falling flat on my face. When he pulled me more tightly against his chest I whimpered, even though the sound was silenced by the disgusting cloth.
The soldier moved ahead of us, to pull back on the metal door handle. I tried not to notice how his arms strained beneath the weight of it. If this powerful soldier could barely get the door open, how was I going to escape?
The wood swung out and I
peered around it to get a glimpse at a dim room beyond, where shadows loomed. My heart in my throat, Morven pushed me forward and my toes scrambled for purchase against the stones. Shoving me inside, I fell to the floor with a clang, my knees hitting the stones with a painful crack; my hands were still secured behind my back by the metal cuffs and the rest of my body hit the floor.
“Sound the retreat,” Morven commanded.
His face was hidden in shadow and I scooted along my back across the floor, bumping into something heavy. Shifting to the side, the hovering shadow of a large table spread to the right of me. I had hit my shoulder against one of the table legs.
“But my Lord,” the merman rebutted. He sounded breathless.
“No,” Morven’s dark hair hung along the side of his face, the lines of his brow etched in shadows. “You will sound the retreat. The battle ends, now.”
“Yes, my lord.” Ressa said, seeming to understand the gravity with which her leader spoke.
I wasn’t able to see the expression of the soldier, but he gave a perturbed sigh before turning to leave the room with Ressa. My thoughts were for those outside these walls and as I worried away at the gag, I knew I was in more danger than them. The fighting would end, but my battle had only just begun.
The creature before me pushed against the wooden door and it shut with a resounding clang of finality, echoing throughout the chamber with a spacious resonance. The room was larger than I previously thought.
He turned back to face me. I knew he could see my shrouded form in the darkness. A part of my mind knew I was able to see him more clearly than he could see me. Somehow, the thought of it gave me some confidence, even as I quaked in terror when he moved closer.
His silence was unnerving. When he stepped closer to where I lay stretched upon the floor, my eyes widened as the fury in my blood turned to chilled horror. Just when I thought he was going to stand before me, he moved on, walking toward my left and releasing me, if only for a moment, of his presence. His steps echoed off the high chamber walls and it wasn’t until I heard the distant spark of a match, the room suddenly sprang to life around me.
Torrents (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 3) Page 31