“You think pirates knew before I did this morning I would be on the waves studying?” He smiled in an attempt to offset the sass he knew those words were sure to be read with.
“You still have a difficult time learning your role in this kingdom sometimes, it seems,” Selene said. “You have a duty to Argos not to get yourself killed. Your father and I won’t be around forever. It would be nice to know we’re leaving the city and the family line in good hands.”
“I expect you to stick around a fair time longer,” the prince insisted. “But I can’t offer much in the way of wisdom if I don’t get out there and live life a little. What kind of ruler would I be if I couldn’t empathize with the people? Besides, if anything should happen to me, Helios could carry on the Drakos name.”
Selene bore a weary grin. “That is a kind thought, but your brother doesn’t have the distinction of being the crowned prince. He hasn’t been as big a part of life here in Argos the way you have. He’ll make for an excellent advisor in certain regards, once his training with Icarus is complete, but you have an insight into the city the way he doesn’t. I think we’ll just have to send along some of our guards in the future to verify you haven’t been lost to the ocean or stolen away on an excursion into the wilderness. Perhaps they’ll carry along one of Kenneth’s flock so they could keep us current on your well-being.”
Kelvin arched an eyebrow. “You’re considering messenger sparrows now?”
She returned a challenging stare. “It’s either that or you return home at an appropriate hour.”
“I’ll see to it I’m more careful about which expeditions I go on in the future,” he conceded.
“See that you do,” she said, and her voice had returned to one filled with less authority. “Get yourself some rest, so I can do the same.”
The prince nodded and reached for the doorknob once more. “Mother?” he asked before she could turn down that adjacent hallway. “Have you ever been forced to reevaluate the way you thought of someone?”
“Pardon?” the queen asked.
He was already shaking his head. “I don’t mean you,” he assured. “And I don’t mean me. I’m just speaking in general terms. I thought I knew someone and the way they presented their character, but it seems like things can change so quickly.”
Selene looked at her son, trying to uncover the secrets he kept hidden from her. Whether it was fatigue or discipline that kept his visage so unrevealing, she could not say. She was forced to look back at her own experiences to answer that question instead.
“There was a time, once, when I thought someone could do no wrong. Everything that person did was perfect, and one day they made a decision I couldn’t understand. It made me question all those other things I had thought. How could this person, who I had commended in my mind a hundred times, make a choice I disagreed with so wholeheartedly?
“I found it in my heart to forgive them of that one transgression, however big it was,” Selene went on. “There will never be a person you’ll meet who hasn’t done or will not do something we find fault with. The best we can accomplish is to take the values we respect of that person and try to imitate those while we ignore the things we do not agree with.” She sighed and nodded and brought her gaze up to her son again. “Is there anything specific you’ve been at odds with? Do you want to talk?”
Kelvin bowed his head. “Perhaps we could in the morning. For now, I can’t get the sea out of my head. I feel like I’m still rocking back and forth on the waves. I don’t know if a good night’s sleep will cure all my ills, but it’s a good start.”
He couldn’t have known that just beyond the door to his room, someone was waiting for him.
*****
When he opened his eyes, everything was displayed in a shade of blinding white or gray. He could see darkened silhouettes of the strange objects in the room, but he couldn’t make sense of any of it. When color came back to his vision, he was still at odds with his sight. Everything in that room—the furniture, the boards on the wall, the distant door—wobbled to and fro like flotsam upon the waves of a choppy sea.
Gerard tilted his head back, stifling a groan.
“Ah, I didn’t think you’d wake up this soon,” he heard. That voice felt familiar and foreign at the same time, as though he’d only heard it once or twice before that moment. Though the sound wasn’t shrill or pressing, it still hurt to hear it. There was another sound struggling to reach the constable, but he couldn’t determine what it was.
When the old fellow appeared before him, Gerard recoiled. He couldn’t place him at first, and the room was still spinning, but he would recognize an evil grin like that anywhere.
The killer who roamed the streets of Argos had captured the constable before the same could be done to him.
“I really must commend you, Mister Purdell. You and the coroner had been getting closer and closer to finding me every time I claimed a new victim. You understand, of course, that I could no longer allow you to investigate anything.”
As his vision stabilized, a new clarity washed over Gerard. That tanned fellow before him—that familiar gray hair and a white mustache reminding him first and foremost—had been seen just that morning.
“You’re the man from the harbor,” the constable growled.
“Antonio Gannon,” the killer confirmed. “I’m glad you remembered me. It’s a strange thing, you understand. All anyone truly wants—especially as they grow older—is to be remembered. We strive to be the best, and we want to leave a legacy. Of course, you see, someone in my position is in a bit of a dilemma in that case. What kind of killer would I be if I was found out? No, I couldn’t let you apprehend me. There are still many more victims to be had. I've had my eye on quite a few of them, you know? It’s been a fun game, stalking you while you’ve been hunting me.”
Gerard struggled against the straps that kept him tied to the chair in that dingy room. Antonio raised his finger and stepped closer, tightening the straps further.
“But that’s the rub, you see,” the killer said. “No one will remember me at all if I am the best that ever was. Of course, they’ll latch onto the memories of those who have been lost, the actions that were taken, and the failed hunt to find me. But knowing that just for a little while I was remembered—by my nemesis, no less—now that truly fills me with a deep well of pride.
“My only regret is that we couldn’t play this game of cat and mouse any longer. Alas, too many mistakes are made by someone too careless to understand that things can go wrong. I knew that you and the coroner would prove to be a problem if I left you on the board. But now that Argos is down two important pieces, I have free reign over all the pawns that are left.”
“Gannon, let’s talk about this,” Gerard protested. “We can work something out.”
“The time for talk is over, Mister Purdell,” the killer insisted with a saccharine tone. “I’ve already worked everything out.”
“You start doing this, and it’ll be too late to redeem you!” the constable shouted.
Antonio froze and bowed his head. He raised his eyebrow, then, and clicked his tongue as he looked at the man who he had trapped. “I had hoped that you would have had more couth than this. Who would have guessed that the great Gerard Purdell, a legendary sailor for Nathaniel Drakos’s navy, would cry for mercy?” He shook his head and reached behind his back. He brought forth another length of leather and circled around the restrained constable. “As I said, planning for all of this was the paramount thought in my mind. Caution really does wonders, wouldn’t you say?”
He pulled the leather strap against Gerard’s mouth, then. Though his prisoner struggled, Antonio tugged at it until it made its way past the fellow’s teeth and stifled his protests.
“Now don’t you fret, Mister Purdell,” the killer said. “You were a wonderful rival, and I won’t forget that. You seemed to truly enjoy all the gifts I left for you about the city. I have one last one for you, and this one should be the most extrava
gant of all, don’t you think?”
Gerard objected once more, but his words were lost behind the gag in his mouth. Antonio clapped him on his shoulder and spun the chair around, until he faced the opposite side of the room, and a large, red curtain that was draped before him.
“Here you are: my final prize to you,” the killer said.
Without wasting any more time, Antonio clutched the end of the curtain and tugged it away, letting it fall to the ground just beside him.
All of Gerard’s protests seemed hollow and foolish, then, for there was someone in worse shape than he was. The curtain had hidden a glass container, as well as the naked woman who was trapped inside it.
She shouted as best she could while she fought against the pull of her own gag, and she pulled at her restraints to no avail. Her eyes were red from the tears that she could no longer cry. Her long, raven black hair was unkempt and fell over her face, but Gerard could see the pain and fear through that obstruction.
“I could think of no greater gift to give you,” Antonio said. “I am going to show you the moment the spark of life leaves her eyes.”
*****
As the door swung open, he sensed movement there, but his eyes didn’t focus on anything in particular. His mother moved down the adjacent corridor, and when he turned back to his room, he knew something was amiss.
Kelvin stepped inside, but it wasn’t until he saw the red eyes there blink that he truly understood what was going on. He stifled a gasp and reached for his shoulder before he realized his bow wasn’t there.
“A little jumpy this evening, are we?” the Watcher asked. Rowan closed his eyes again, and in mere moments, the stone that encased him faded away, absorbed inward, leaving the man beneath instead.
“What are you doing here?” Kelvin asked in a hushed tone and shut the door. “You know who I am?”
“You asked me to watch over the city,” Rowan said. “I’d say I’m doing my job well enough, if I could make sense of the Silver Serpent and her companion.”
The prince narrowed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest. “I thought it was implied I meant you should watch over other people.”
“Ah, well, that’s where I can help out,” the Watcher said. “Part of what I’ve been seeing in Argos is the goings-on of a local criminal organization. They call themselves the Brotherhood.”
“I’m aware of them,” Kelvin said. “They haven’t exactly been a blessing for the Silver Serpent and me.”
“Well, you may be interested in knowing there’s been some infighting between some of them. One of them was nearly killed outside town earlier tonight. If I hadn’t arrived when I did, chances are he’d be dead.”
The prince considered saying something cold, but with everything that happened out at sea that evening, he held his tongue.
Seeing that internal battle, Rowan took a step forward. “That lone survivor asked for you.”
“Me?”
“Well, he didn’t come out and say ‘Kelvin Drakos, the crowned prince of Argos,’ but yes, I believe he meant you when he asked for the Silver Serpent or her sidekick.”
“Sidekick?” Kelvin repeated. “I’m out there running the show.”
Rowan grinned. “I didn’t see a lot of silver in your outfit.”
“Semantics,” the prince said. “So this person who survived the attack,” he went on. “Where did you bring him?”
“A few years ago, the Harding Company imported stone from a quarry in Blacklehn. One of our shipments was infested with scala worms.”
Kelvin arched an eyebrow, unfamiliar with those creatures.
“They were worms that ate through stone. Bad enough for a company committed to stonework, but things only grew worse when a few of our workers were bitten by the things. They tear through stone like butter—imagine how soft flesh and bone is to them.” He threw up his hands to dismiss that idea. “That’s not important. The point is, the Harding Company owns the warehouse by the harbor, but they haven’t used it since that last shipment from Blacklehn. The harbormaster had all the stone brought out to the sea and dumped, but there’s no telling how long scala worms could live without food. Mister Harding forgot all about the warehouse, leaving it the perfect place for me to bring someone who needs to hide.”
“Do you trust him?” Kelvin asked.
“Well, I have a hard time trusting anyone these days, after what Kiefer tried to do to me. But this man is injured enough where he shouldn’t be a threat. By the time I reached him, a wagon had fallen atop him, and his boots were on fire.”
The prince grumbled but bobbed his head. “Take me to him.”
“Get yourself in costume, Your Highness,” Rowan teased. “As much as I trust this man, I wouldn’t allow him to determine your true identity. I’ll wait for you at the eastern side of the wall, and together we can venture to the harbor.”
Before Kelvin could offer up a question or a suggestion, the surprise guest spread his arms, and once more he became encased in stone. His wings were drawn across his back, and he nodded at the prince before he leapt from the window.
The lad who remained blew out a deep sigh before he fell to his knees and reached under his bed. He pulled a chest out from beneath and popped it open. Inside, he saw what he was looking for: a spare outfit and supplies for just such an occasion.
*****
“What’s that, dear?” Antonio asked. “I can’t quite hear you.” He swung open the back of that glass box, and reached out to her, pulling the leather strap taut until she coughed against that pressure. Only a moment later, he pulled it away though, leaving her mouth free of that muzzle. “There we are.”
“Please, sir,” she wept, looking at Gerard. “Please, you have to get me out of here.”
The glass box slammed again, and Antonio wore that devilish grin once more as he returned to the side of her transparent cage. “What’s the point of something like this if you can’t hear the pleading words of someone as they beg for their life?”
She was still trapped—bound to that chair that she couldn’t shake at all. It was bolted to the floor, past the bottom of that glass box, and it was tempered strong enough to withstand the meek stamping of her feet.
“My dear, you haven’t even begun to struggle,” the killer spoke. His words lacked the typical poise he liked to display, replaced instead with only seething evil. He moved to the back of the room, far enough away for both of his victims to be left wondering what he was doing. They both heard the flow of water, then, and seconds later, water began pouring from a hose at the top of the glass box. The woman yelped at the sudden appearance of the liquid, and true to her captor’s words, she did struggle harder, tugging up with her arms until they were raw and red.
A second hose expelled more water then, just as she resigned to her fate. That sudden second onrush had her thrashing again, but just as before, there was no hope of escape.
Antonio emerged from the back of the room again, his hands covered in rust and grime. He wore that sinister smile, and leaned up against the tank of filling water, gazing at the poor woman inside with devilish intrigue.
The water reached the bottom of her thigh, and she recoiled. She tried to speak again, then, but the sound of her weeping flew through her lips instead. Her body heaved as she came to the conclusion that she was not going to regain her freedom.
Gerard growled and looked away, but Antonio was there the next moment, grabbing a clump of the constable’s hair. He pulled him up, and forced him to look at that woman. In that short while, the water was up past her waist, filling up in the tank until her hands splashed the surface as she offered a superficial resistance.
“Take a look at her,” Antonio said. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Watch as all the hope escapes her. Some people say the soul leaves the body when it dies, but I think this proves that it can leave sooner.”
“You’re disgusting,” Gerard snarled.
“Quiet now,” the killer bade. “It’s about to begin.”
>
The water was up to the woman’s breasts then, and she gasped as she felt the cold liquid reach another sensitive area. She looked out at those two men on the other side of the glass, and the light was gone from her eyes.
“I don’t blame you, sir,” she said. “I know you would save me if you could.”
The constable didn’t hear her though.
Antonio leaned closer, and whispered in his ear. “Don’t trouble yourself too much with regret, Mister Purdell. After all, you’ll be joining her in due time.”
But Gerard didn’t hear him either.
A glow seemed to emanate from the woman behind the glass. Though the water was up to her neck, she already seemed submerged by that glazed look in her eyes.
No, Gerard heard someone else—someone that wasn’t there.
“Save me, Riptide. Rescue me and you can do whatever you like with me. I will give myself to you.”
Antonio held fast to his prisoner. If he had squeezed any tighter, he would have been sure to rip out some of Gerard’s hair. But the killer kept his eyes locked to the tank before him. His amusement was all that he cared about, and as the water rose up past her lips, he let out a little gasp. His body jerked, and by reflex he wrenched the constable backward.
But Antonio was too preoccupied by his sinister actions. He never considered that something plagued with an even greater darkness was within his grasp.
As the woman took her last deep breath, she opened her eyes wide. She shut them a second later, but she couldn’t help feeling as though more than just the tank was filled with water then.
Gerard let his gaze settle upon his wrists. Tied to the arms of the chair, he mirrored the other victim, but he noticed as his arms turned that transparent blue he had seen before.
With one fierce tug, he was free of his bonds. His arms splashed through the leather straps, rising into the air.
Antonio was still distracted by his lascivious pleasures. He wasn’t aware of the danger he was in until the constable wrapped his arm around his neck. His eyes went wide as he felt the odd sensation.
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