by B J Hanlon
Head first, the cold water hit him quickly. It was a shock, much more than the initial dip and swim. All the air left his lungs and he sucked in a gurgle of cold salty water. His legs continued and he flipped, his back crashing hard into the sea.
He wrenched and coughed out the seawater that sent him into uncontrollable spasms. It went on for what felt like minutes. Hours. The burning in his lungs and throat made his eyes well.
Then, Edin was finally able to move, to see... At least as clearly as he could beneath the waves of the dark blue ocean.
He was on his back, looking toward the sky. He waived his arms down like a bird trying to take flight and broke the surface. Edin spun and faced the cliff, then the sky, then the mountain… and the empty pier below.
He froze because he saw the black shine coming toward him. His chest thumped.
It was far away but gaining rapidly. Edin’s eyes somehow glanced toward his friends. They were still on the rocks and looking in his direction. There were muffled screams coming from them, screams that could barely be heard over the waves pounding the boulders.
Edin turned back around, he fumbled at the smooth stone boulders in front of him. The stone he’d fallen from was easily ten feet above him. Edin used the side-stroke toward the strait, the water grew choppier quickly.
He stuck his head underwater and under there, he heard a high-pitch cry that took over any sort of cognitive function in his mind.
Edin nearly forgot to breath and the shock of this woke him.
The water was carrying him toward the strait. The rocks were feet from him. He saw an outcropping of rock with a short almost pier-like stone. He reached for it and pulled himself back out onto the small stone. Edin climbed another until he was free of the waves. Then he spun back to see his companions.
They were staring at him, waving their hands like he was about to win the joust.
Edin was confused. For a moment. Then the brief glimpse of them was interrupted by a large black tentacle bursting forth from the dark sea.
The slick appendage was easily twice as wide as he and towered nearly to the top of the cliff.
Edin jumped to the side as the tree like arm slammed into the cliff face.
Large and small chunks of rock crashed all around him chipping and shattering into shrapnel that pecked at his skin.
Pushing back to his knees he drew his sword and watched as the tentacle slipped back into the water like a loose noodle being sucked down to a giant’s gullet.
Edin crouched and pressed his back into the cliff. His heart thundered as he slid into a small crevasse. It gave some protection, but no room to move. The boulder he stood on was fraught with gaps where he could trap a foot.
In his mind, he heard Dephina, the beautiful bard, the brilliant assassin. ‘Be conscious of your surroundings.’ That day, in the rock-strewn mouth of the cavern, she taught him. It was so long ago he’d almost forgotten… I’ll never forget.
He waited, though he didn’t have to wait long. The thick black tentacle burst up again, it rose higher into the air, above the cliffs behind him and hung there for a moment. There were large bowl-like suckers the size of his skull rising up the underside of the monstrous arm. It swayed briefly and he felt a burst of wind that nearly knocked him over. Then out of the corner of his eye a great flash and brilliant explosion.
Edin glanced over to see his friends. They were yelling frantically trying to get the beast’s attention. The attack did nothing but distract Edin.
Suddenly, it dropped, like someone had cut a marionette’s string, the loose, boneless arm fell atop him.
He summoned a culrian as it slammed down. Loud, pounding concussive waves ran through his body as he dropped to a knee. There was power. Deep and impeding power pushing down. Then the tentacle slid to the side and then began retracting back to the sea.
He collapsed. Edin’s ears rang as he pushed himself up. He had a chance. Steadying his barefoot on a large stone, he swung the blade.
It bit into the hard flesh of the beast.
Edin thought the weapon would slice completely through it, but no. The blade dug in and got stuck. To his right, water began to bubble as if someone was boiling it. A moment later, another tentacle burst forth.
Edin used all his strength to hold onto the grip of the blade as the beast tried to pull back the first tentacle.
Somehow, it jarred loose and Edin fell back, landing into a V between two large boulders. The fall was a few feet but it caused him to feel… stuck.
Another tentacle rose. Edin wrestled to get unstuck.
In the sea, he noticed a black orb surrounded by white. It was twice maybe three times the diameter of a standard shield. Then it blinked, an eye, and it was looking directly at Edin.
He felt the rumbling, stones fell, then a moment later he heard a crack. Edin glanced up waiting for the fall of the arm or some huge boulder to slam down into him.
Instead, a chunk of rock burst forth like a miner blasting a rock.
The rubble flew over his head. Some slamming and knocking back the tentacle, but most began to rain onto the huge eye. Edin covered his body with a culrian and a moment later, he felt unstuck. The left side had shifted just enough for Edin to pull himself free.
It was just quick enough. Edin grabbed an outcropping of stone and vaulted out of the area as the second tentacle flew down crashing into the spot he’d just been.
The strike hurt. A lot. It had such force that Edin was thrown forward over a set of stones and was diving, unintentionally into a wall, head first.
A wind buffeted him and he threw an arm out to brace his deadly crash.
This beast wasn’t just fighting Edin, it was fighting his friends too. A fireball crashed into its eye and a geyser of water blasted up in front of Edin.
He glanced toward them and heard a muffled piercing cry that made the water boil. Edin covered his ears as two more tentacles burst free. One slammed into the water where the geyser had been.
Edin felt a charge of electricity rolling through him. He aimed a bolt at the eye. Edin loosed it and sent it flashing toward the beast’s face. An instant too soon, the thing blinked and the bolt seared into its lid.
Another earsplitting cry. Rocks rumbled and Edin stumbled barely keeping his feet.
A tentacle came down, Edin, watching his steps moved just out of its way and let the blade slash into its skin. This time, just the tip sliced through the skin. The second came down and Edin leapt back over the first to get out of its way. He dove and slid down an angular stone and came to a stop just over a foot-snagging hole. Edin twisted as the third attack struck where he’d just been. Three consecutive earth-shaking strikes.
He stumbled and Edin threw out an arm to brace himself. His legs were screaming. He didn’t have much left.
Breathing hard and fast, Edin spotted another fireball aimed at the eye. The beast blinked and it dissipated on the wet skin with a hiss. More stones flashed down from above, some much larger. It blinked again. The rocks bounded off the eyelid. It was like a shield…
It had quick reflexes and could see the attacks from any direction with its one great eye. It defended the eye as if it were his one weakness.
There was no way out of this, their magi talents were useless against this. Edin panted, sweat and saltwater was raining down him and for just a moment, he thought about giving up.
Edin’s eyes dropped to Mirage… the ground beneath it shimmered like… well a mirage. It reflected light, made it so opponents couldn’t exactly see him.
The large tentacles were back in the air. He didn’t know exactly how the sword worked, but he had a feeling that throwing the blade would be a terrible idea.
“Arianne!” He shouted across the strait. His friends were almost exactly across from him now, maybe thirty yards away. They all seemed exhausted. He could see red faces, huge breaths. “Send me there.”
“No!” Arianne called back.
Le Fie turned to her and said something.
Edin leapt to the side on a more or less flat rock that was about a yard above of the waves.
He stepped back and raised his sword. Edin swayed it in front of him mimicking the tentacles. He wasn’t sure she’d help him, she may just throw him back into the wall or send him up and over the top of the cliff.
Edin pushed off, sprinting toward the edge of the boulder. He reached a spot a finger’s breadth from the edge and leapt.
He nearly prayed to the gods as he felt the apex of his leap and knew he was about to drop into the water far short of his goal.
Then, at the last moment, Arianne caught him and pushed upward. As Edin rose higher he noticed a small white spec in the eye. It was moving, almost spinning.
Edin flipped the blade upside down and hoped Arianne didn’t overshoot.
She didn’t.
Edin came down directly into the eye. His sword drove deep into the eye, up to the hilt. His feet slid on the slimy surface and flew out from under him.
There was a moment before the world shook. It would’ve thrown him off had he not been holding onto the blade. He then began to feel it thrashing and the world disappeared to blue and white. Edin sucked in as much breath as possible before he went under.
He was being pulled down at a speed that was far too fast for him to understand. He wiggled his blade causing more thrashing.
The pressure rose in his ears splitting his head. Edin pressed his feet to the eye and pushed up holding the blade with everything.
He could see nothing, it was black and the salt stung his vision. Then, with a jerk, his blade was loose.
Edin spun around and looked up. He saw the light far above him, how far he couldn’t tell but the sun was barely a spec. Edin began swimming, pumping his arms and legs. His lungs were burning. He thought wouldn’t make it.
He had to try to propel him… please. He closed his eyes and tried to feel it around him. For a moment, he didn’t have it… then, he did. He held the blade out in front to pierce the water as the surface flashed toward him.
Edin’s ears popped. He blinked and burst out of the water and was flying. A second later, he splashed down with a stinging belly flop. He laid like that, face down for a moment. He felt the waves lapping gently as he floated. It felt almost serene.
Then he started sinking and flipped over and got his bearings. Nearly at the mouth of the strait and the water was pushing him toward it. He saw his friends waiving him over a few yards away. He swam as fast as his weak body would let him. Edin reached a small rock like an arrowhead and pulled. Hands reached down and pulled him out as if he were weightless. A moment later, his ears popped and a world of sound came back.
Arianne bent down and kissed him. Le Fie and Placisus slapped his shoulders.
“I’m not kissing you,” Dorset said.
Edin shook water from his ears and looked around. They were all grinning. “Too bad,” Edin said.
Then there was an eruption of cheering. They turned their gaze up toward the suspension bridge. It was packed with people cheering. The noise rose louder and louder. Edin leaned his head back and rested it on Arianne’s lap. She grinned down at him.
An hour or so later, someone had thrown a rope ladder down. The respite was barely enough and the ascent was slow and long. Edin finally reached the top after Le Fie.
When people recognized the spymaster, there were exclamations, some praying to one of the gods, others of disbelief.
‘He was dead I thought…”
Edin collapsed on grass for a moment before he saw a group of broson thugs pushing their way toward them.
One pulled out a pair of manacles and said something. Edin heard “under arrest.” Two more appeared, weapons drawn. This however didn’t sit well with the crowd as one of the blade wielders was suddenly rushed, grappled and thrown over the edge of the cliffs splashing somewhere in the strait below.
“You are ordered by the Premier…” a second began to shout.
Le Fie interrupted him with a blow that sent him spinning at least twice on his feet and then tumbled like a falling tree.
The last broson dropped the manacles and held up his hands.
Edin turned to help pull Arianne up, then Dorsett, and Placisus. After everyone was on solid ground the crowd began moving, surrounding Edin and the group like a human culrian. He was tired and stumbling when someone reached over and took part of his weight. It was Henny.
“Hi ya friend,” Henny said.
Edin nodded.
People were doing the same for the rest of the group. It took Edin a while to really look at them. It was large, too large to count and consisted of at least a few sailors, merchants, uniformed farmhands, and ranchers. Dotted in between all of these people were artisans and some magi with brilliant colored robes.
Over a few heads he saw men trying to penetrate it. A man, standing on a second story balcony of a pink house, with a huge horn called for everyone to disperse. He was knocked back by a gale force wind and clattered into the wall behind him and dropped. Edin turned toward Arianne who shrugged.
A long hike later, they were walking down the lane of mansions. He glanced over and saw Mersett’s home. An older woman stood in the gate’s entrance with her arms crossed. Behind her were younger men, women, and children.
Dorset pushed himself through the crowd and walked toward her. He held his head low and his shoulders heaved in a sob. The woman took him into her arms and held him while the crowd continued to push them forward.
Edin closed his eyes and remembered the last look Mersett gave him. Strong and knowing. He trusted Edin, defended him against Pharont, then gave up his life for them, for family, and friends.
This woman, probably his wife, was now a widow.
They entered Le Fie’s family home. The gates opened and he was helped to the bottom of a grand staircase, bigger than Belo’s. A stern man and a skinnier version of Pharont, with brushed back silver hair.
He quickly descended the stairs and grabbed his son and hugged him.
Edin heard, “I thought you were dead…”
A woman came out, rushed down, and joined the hug. Edin, Arianne, and Placisus just stood there for a moment with the crowd.
Le Fie whispered some words and then began to ascend the steps with his father. He started to speak but his voice cracked. He cleared it and restarted.
“I was held captive… tortured by my uncle for my belief, my faith in our dear friend Mersett Bolisona. He died today helping us all escape. But it wasn’t I who he wanted to save, it was him. Edin de Yaultan, son of my friend Rihkar Harlscot.”
There was an odd feeling that passed over him, Edin was exhausted. He felt his body shutting down as if a servant was moving methodically through it blowing out the oil lamps. Edin’s eyes closed and he felt a hand on his lower back.
“Traitor…” Someone yelled, but there were a lot more sshs from the crowd.
There was a slight push in his back and Edin looked. Le Fie was waving to Edin to join him on the steps. A twist rolled in his stomach as a hand grabbed his and interlocked her fingers in his. Arianne smiled, she’d join him. Her smile, the one he’d fallen for so long ago, was hemmed on her face.
Edin trudged up the stairs, not sure how much further he could actually make it before he passed out.
“This man, who you’ve all seen leap head first and slay the giant corrinbomon off our shores is the prophesized one. The Ecta Mastrino…”
Edin cringed and suddenly he knew why the label always pressed him the wrong way, its connotation had always implied destiny. The stories of old told of prophecy as a matter of when and not a matter of if. And if it was a certainty, then his life wasn’t in his control. The freedom he’d always wanted, always craved was an illusion.
“Look,” Arianne whispered.
Edin glanced at her and then out toward the crowd. He saw their hushed, expectant faces staring up at him as if he were some sort of king… or worse.
After a moment he whispered,
“I don’t think it is dead, just blinded.”
Something caught his eye then. A commotion moving through the onlookers. Something started near the gates and began winding like a snake, or the tentacle of that massive beast. A man, dressed in robes and holding a parchment above his head so as not to get ruined in the swell of humans.
He stopped before the stairs, took a few steps up, and turned toward the onlookers. It was a town crier. The one who announced Pharont’s entrance at Belo’s ball.
“Premier Pharont has been murdered. This man,” he pointed at Edin, “murdered him.”
15
The Attempt
The words floated in and out of Edin’s head doing nothing. For a moment, then he felt Arianne squeezing his hand. Somewhere he heard the metallic clamping of armor.
“He was alive when we left,” Placisus said, his voice rising above the rising murmurs. “I saw him with my own eyes.”
“The crime was witnessed by Casitas, the son of the Premier, who is distraught. He stated that the former guard captain and the vixen left first, fleeing through a window to leave him to his fate!” He shot his finger back toward Edin, “alone with the Premier. He pierced the Premier’s heart.”
“Liar,” Edin tried to yell. His voice was weaker than the rest of him and it only came out as a whisper. “He was alive…”
“A summit has been called for the day after the morrow, all citizens of good standing are requested to attend. Until then, it is ordered by the newly ordained Premier that Edin de Yaultan is arrested.”
“Who is this new so-called Premier?” Placisus said.
“Casitas Otembo.” The man bowed his head. “I am only reporting what I was told.”
“Get him inside. I’ll deal with this,” Le Fie’s father said.
Edin was thrust inside the door and whisked upstairs through another small, almost invisible door in the wall. They climbed three stories to a wood-wrapped hallway and Edin was left with Arianne in a bedchamber about the size of the cabin on the ship.