Sordid Depths (The Cursed Seas Collection)

by Heather Marie Adkins

  Lesya turned. She hadn’t taken a proper look around, but how had she missed the gorgeous, snow-covered mountain range behind Marina’s modest cottage?

  “That biggest one there. Mount Kamen. Legend has it the meteorite struck somewhere near the summit and has been guarded by the mountain ever since.”

  “A meteorite.” Lesya recalled the amateurish scrying session back on The Black North. The first scene they’d been shown had been a bright light streaking through a night sky, and the letter itself had stated the elders of the 13th region believed the legacy stone to be a fragment of a meteorite. Lesya shared this information with Marina, who nodded sagely.

  “I would venture to guess you didn’t end up on my doorstep by accident,” Marina observed. “You were guided to that ship, to that letter. The very fact that you now have a direct metaphysical link to the stone speaks volumes.”

  Marina brushed the dirt off her hands and met Lesya’s stunned gaze. “I believe your next step is waiting for you at the summit of that mountain. Your friend Rivka might be correct in assuming the universe has carefully crafted a search and rescue party for this stone. Starring the two of you.”

  17

  Rivka

  “These little feather balls are going to follow us the whole way, aren’t they?” Rivka eyed Fork as he trailed too close for comfort.

  Andrei chuckled. He walked just ahead of her, Marina’s pack of provisions sagging against his back. His presence irritated her almost more than the puffins.

  “And tell me again why you have to come with us?” Rivka growled at Andrei and turned her head in time to see Fork’s beak snap near her ankle. “Lesya!”

  Life was hard enough without having trust issues with half her crew. And when she thought half, she meant Andrei and every single one of these feathered fiends.

  Lesya snapped her fingers and stopped to point a menacing finger at the puffins. “Back to the cottage. Now!”

  The puffins stamped their webbed feet but didn’t make any move to turn around.

  Viktor added his finger to the standoff. “Now, guys!”

  Miraculously, the birds listened. Lesya’s mouth fell open as she watched her crew had back to the cottage in the distance.

  “It was my tone,” Viktor assured her. “Alpha. Deep. You just gotta know how to talk to them.”

  Lesya rolled her eyes, though it didn’t hold quite the annoyance it used to.

  As the group continued moving—sans puffins—Andrei fell back to walk beside Rivka. “I’m more than just my good looks, you know,” he said. “You’re going to need muscle to help carry things. Plus, who wouldn’t want to go on an adventure?”

  “I’m with him,” Viktor cut in. He held out a fist, and Andrei bumped it with his own.

  Andrei smirked. “See? He gets me.”

  Men. She couldn’t deny that a little muscle would be good. Her own strength wasn’t what it should be on land. And Lesya, though her leg was healed, didn’t need to be carrying tons of weight. Healed or not, that leg had been broken just a day before. No matter how well the mage had healed her friend’s leg, the risk wasn’t worth it.

  At the thought of the fixed leg, Rivka’s wrist itched. She rubbed at the bandages softly, trying not to irritate the sensitive skin too much.

  Andrei didn’t miss the motion. “You gonna tell her?”

  “No. She doesn’t need to know.” She poked him in the bicep, attempting her most threatening glare. “You’re going to keep your mouth shut.”

  “She’ll find out eventually.” Andrei ducked in time to miss the punch flying his way. He held his hands up defensively. “Damn, you’re a quick one.”

  “You’d best remember that!” Rivka squinted and pointed her index and middle finger at her eyes and then toward him. “I’ve got my eyes on you.”

  Lesya turned around from her spot at the front of their hiking party. “What are you the two of you bickering about?”

  Rivka pointed at Andrei. “He started it.”

  “I’m so sure,” Lesya intoned, obviously not believing Rivka in the least.

  Andrei scoffed. “I’ve never claimed to be innocent in anything, but she’s the one being difficult. Is she always like this?”

  Lesya laughed. “Unfortunately, being tenacious is one of her better attributes.”

  “Excuse me?” Rivka crossed her arms.

  “That’s enough,” Viktor soothed as he stepped between the three. “We have bigger things to worry about. And like it or not, this is the team we have.” He looked pointedly at Rivka.

  Rivka hung her head. “You’re right.”

  “Geez, didn’t take much to take the wind out of her sails,” Andrei remarked.

  Lesya jammed a finger in Andrei’s chest. “Play nice! I don’t care how cute Rivka thinks you are. Get out of line, and I’ll kick your ass.”

  “Lesya!” Rivka shrieked, whirling around in a cloud of rage. “Are you delusional? I never said Andrei was cute.” Her cheeks flamed, betraying her. She turned away and marched ahead, trying to ignore the others behind her.

  “No, you didn’t,” Lesya snorted. “But you answered that question.”

  Damn them all, Rivka thought as she itched her wrist again.

  Once things settled down, the four of them fell into a companionable silence as they climbed steadily on the safest path up the mountain. The further they went, the thinner the air, until Rivka’s chest ached from the effort it took to breathe.

  They came to rest near a cliff face without any clear path to continue moving.

  “How much farther?” Rivka asked, huffing the words out between shallow inhales.

  “Not much.” Lesya bent over, holding her side. “I didn’t sign up for this much manual labor. Can I have my money back?”

  Rivka collapsed onto a nearby rock. “If you’re getting a refund, I am, too.” She blew out a breath, then pulled in a deep one. She repeated this process until her head cleared. When she opened her eyes, Andrei held a water bottle in front of her face. She snatched it from his hand, pissed that he’d anticipated her needs.

  “How’s the leg feel?” Viktor’s pack slid to the ground as he knelt in front of Lesya. He pulled up her pants leg to check on the area. Just as smooth and unblemished as before.

  Lesya knocked his hand away. “Stop fussing. I’m fine.” She shook her leg to get her pants to fall back down. “My leg works. I just can’t breathe.”

  There wasn’t anywhere else to go but up from here, though. Rivka stared up at what was practically a cliff, wondering how they were going to traverse it. She narrowed her eyes at the sun and noticed a fluffy disc of sticks resting on the edge of the cliff.

  “Lesya. Look up there.” Rivka indicated the mass. “Is that a nest?”

  Lesya shielded her eyes and followed Rivka’s gaze. “Not just a nest. I see more than one.” Lesya picked her steps carefully, being mindful of the rocky terrain as she moved as close as possible to the cliff. “This is it!”

  “Do you remember what the nest looked like in the urn, er… bowl?” Rivka asked.

  “They all look identical to the nest in the urn.” Lesya backed away from the cliff, her long dark hair shining in the sunlight. “I can feel it just out of reach.”

  Crestfallen, Rivka replied, “How do we find which nest holds the stone? There must be dozens up there.”

  “Give me a minute,” Lesya murmured. She walked away, staring at the nests with her finger in the air as if she were testing the water. “No. No. Not that one.”

  “Has she lost her mind?” Andrei asked.

  “She’s connected to the stone,” Rivka explained. “From the spell we did to find it.”

  “There it is!” Lesya called, waving her arms from several yards away.

  Rivka snagged her bag off the ground and motioned for the guys to follow her.

  The nest in question was much higher up than most of the nests and filled with puffins. As Rivka’s gaze moved over the mountain, she noticed every single nest ne
ar the stone was full of demon birds.

  “What is with all of these puffins? Are they yours?” Rivka accused. “They’re yours, and they all want to kill me, don’t they?”

  Lesya snickered. “No, those aren’t part of my colony. Mine are back at Marina’s waiting for us. I don’t know these birds.”

  “Who’s going to make the climb?” Viktor asked. He placed a protective arm around Lesya’s shoulders. “You don’t need break your leg again.”

  “I’m not half bad at mountain climbing, actually,” Lesya huffed.

  “I’ll go.” Rivka released a deep sigh of resignation. “I have the smallest hands and feet. I’ll be able to find better hand and footholds.”

  “You’re sure?” Andrei dropped his pack to the ground. “I can go if you want.”

  “No.” Rivka’s jaw set into a stubborn line. She could do this. She would climb this cliff, retrieve the stone, and prove that she could do great things. She and Lesya may not have been the siren and mage the letter had in mind, but they were the only ones available to do the job right now.

  So she would do the damn job.

  Choosing her footholds carefully, Rivka gripped nodules and crevices within the cliff face and hoisted herself up. She fell into a rhythm, her confidence growing the higher she climbed. However, the closer she came to the nest, the louder the chirps and squawks became from the puffins above.

  “Hush! I’m not coming after you!” Rivka snapped breathlessly. The places to put her feet were getting harder. This part of the mountain was crumbling underneath her. “I just need a stupid rock. You all don’t need it. It’s not an egg. You can’t hatch it.”

  She raised a leg to place her foot on a small outcropping, then grabbed a new handhold and shifted her weight onto the rock. For just a second, it held, and she reached for her next grip.

  But then the outcropping collapsed beneath her foot.

  She slid backwards, scrambling at the face of the mountain for anything to stop her fall. A cloud of dust rose up around her, clogging her throat and lungs. More rocks shifted beneath her grasping hands, and then she was airborne.

  This was it. She’d survived gun-wielding humans in the forest, sea bears, maniac pirates, rogue sirens, and it was going to be a mountain that did her in.

  Her hoarse screams echoed throughout the valley as she plummeted to the ground below.

  She prayed for a quick death.

  18

  Lesya

  Lesya watched in horror as Rivka’s body hit open air and tumbled in a deadly spiral towards the ground.

  She threw up a hand, calling on her magic. She snarled the spell to slow down an object, though granted, the only other time she’d used it had been practicing on the puffins. But for once, her power actually listened to her, and Rivka’s fall slowed. Minutely.

  Minutely was enough. Andrei placed himself squarely beneath Rivka’s screaming form and opened his arms. She landed elegantly in his grasp, cradled in his arms as if she were his bride and the mountain his threshold. He grunted at the impact and stumbled backwards but remained on his feet.

  Rivka stared at his face, breathing heavily. “I thought I was dead.”

  “So did I,” Lesya added.

  “So did I,” Andrei murmured.

  Lesya noted the red flush creeping up his face as the two continued to stare at each other. A red flush that was mirrored on Rivka’s delicate scales.

  “Alright, lovebirds,” Lesya said loudly, earning a laugh from Viktor. “We still have a stone to retrieve.”

  As if a spell had broken, Rivka shoved away from Andrei and leapt elegantly to her feet. She straightened her dusty clothes and put her hands on her hips. “I’m not trying that again. Tag, you’re it.” She punched Andrei in the shoulder.

  Andrei shrugged. “I haven’t had the pleasure of climbing a cliff yet in my life. Happy to give it a try.”

  “Don’t fall,” Rivka said sweetly. “I’m not strong enough to catch you.”

  Viktor held up a hand for a high five. “I’ll catch you.”

  “I’m not going to fall,” Andrei argued, obliging Viktor with his high five. “It can’t be that different from swimming.”

  Lesya exchanged amused looks with Rivka. The siren had just discovered how much more difficult climbing was than swimming.

  Andrei barely made it halfway up the cliff face before the puffins attacked. For such an imposing guy, he sure could back away fast to get away from the nipping birds at his heels. By the time he skidded down the last few feet and landed next to Viktor, Rivka was in the dirt, laughing so hard, she couldn’t breathe.

  “I’m glad someone was amused,” Andrei said wryly, brushing clumps of dust and dirt from his clothes. He looked at Lesya, who hadn’t gone so far as to collapse to the ground with laughter but was grinning with glee. “You live with those devil birds?”

  “They’re sweet,” Lesya said with a shrug. “Not my fault you’re a fish.”

  Viktor cracked his knuckles and eyed the cliff. “Guess it’s my turn.”

  Viktor clearly had more experience climbing than the sirens. He clambered easily up the cliff like a monkey swinging from vines in a forest. He made it past the puffins, who seemed to welcome him into their herd, but couldn’t get past the sheer cliff face just beneath the nest. He turned around and threw his arms up in the air, defeated.

  Lesya sighed and tossed her water bottle back into her pack on the ground. “I’m going up.”

  Rivka ran forward to grab her arm. “What if you fall? You just had a broken leg!”

  Lesya put a hand over Rivka’s cold fingers and squeezed. “You know how you thought we were destined to find that letter and save the world? Marina agreed. I’m going.”

  Rivka bit her lip and then threw her arms around Lesya. “We’re going to save the world!”

  Laughing, Lesya confirmed, “We’re going to save the world.”

  The climb wasn’t easy, which she’d already seen by watching her three companions make the trek and fail. But because she’d watched Rivka, Andrei, and Viktor climb, she also knew where the mountainside was loose and crumbly. She knew what potholes to avoid and what handholds to skip. Not to mention, they’d hit most of the soft spots on the journey, leaving sturdy ground for her.

  Viktor grabbed her arm and hauled her the final stretch. He helped her find her balance, waiting as she caught her breath.

  Lesya put a hand on her back and raised her face to sky, sucking in the thin air. “Shit. I don’t wanna do that again.”

  “Bright side? Going down will be easier.”

  She laughed. “As long as we don’t fall. If Andrei tried to catch both of us, we’d probably break him.”

  Several puffins hopped out of a nearby nest to greet her. She leaned over to pet them as they danced excitedly around her boots. They repeated the same excited dance around Viktor. As he picked one up and stroked its dark feathers, Lesya felt a pang in her chest, an unfamiliar sensation.

  She liked Viktor. She had a crush on Viktor.

  And so did the puffins, clearly.

  “It’s funny how they like us but don’t like the sirens,” Viktor said as he bent to release the excited puffin.

  “I have a theory about that. They’re fish. Puffins eat fish.”

  “Surely they’re smart enough to know sirens are too big eat.”

  “They don’t want to eat them,” Lesya clarified. “They just don’t like them. Fish aren’t friends, they’re food. Thus, the puffins pick on the sirens. And I laugh and laugh...”

  “No lie, it is hilarious,” he agreed with a crooked grin. “Especially Andrei running from them.”

  “As if he were running for his life!”

  They shared a chuckle, and Lesya realized how much she liked his laugh. She turned away from him to look up at the nest. From the bottom of the cliff, it hadn’t seemed so far above Viktor’s head. Now, the smooth, featureless rock seemed to go on forever.

  She looked at the pirate. “Give me a boo
st?”

  “You got it, little witch.” He kneeled, oblivious to the way her heart had skipped a beat at the pet name. “On three?”

  Lesya placed the toe of one boot in his cupped palms and found grips on the rock face. “Ready.”

  “One, two, three!” Viktor stood, using his legs to leverage Lesya’s weight.

  Lesya pushed against his hands and zoomed up the cliff face, fast enough to almost startle her into a freefall. She leaned against the rocks as she waited for Viktor to find his footing beneath her. Her cradled foot was barely at his chest-level.

  “Not close enough!” Lesya called down.

  “Step...on...shoulders!” Viktor grunted.

  Going slow, she slid her free leg around and felt around for his shoulder.

  “That’s it!” Viktor confirmed before she could ask.

  In a swift movement, Lesya pushed against his shoulder and rose another foot, just enough to clutch the top of the cliff. Faced with the prospect of removing her feet from Viktor’s person and attempting to scramble over the edge of the cliff, Lesya froze.

  But she didn't have to worry long. Viktor lifted her boot, wedging his body beneath her. Inch by inch, he was able to raise her just the amount she needed.

  She got an elbow over the edge and kicked her right leg up, hooking it over the cliff. Then a burst of strength and determination got her on solid ground.

  She lay on her back, sucking in the thin mountain air. The blue sky above seemed even brighter here.

  “Lesya?” Viktor called up from below. “You okay?”

  Lesya waved a hand over the edge of the cliff. “Fine! Catching my breath!”

  After her breathing returned to normal, Lesya rolled to her knees and stood, using the rocks for purchase. She recognized the nest as soon as she saw it. It was definitely the same one from the scrying bowl.

  The nest was empty but for two sleeping puffins, some old, broken eggshells, and a pockmarked stone that damn near radiated power. Lesya climbed over the edge and reached for the stone.