by S A Edwards
Spiky balls, silent now to my Mortal ears, whizzed away from me effortlessly, never touching my skin.
My lungs strained for air. I shook my head, desperate to inhale. My knuckle turned white over the vial, and I kicked my feet, hoping to move us faster. It made no difference. Panic began to cloud my mind. My lungs burned.
Sabina’s skin sparkled brighter, and her long hair trailed behind her, flat with her speed.
I reached to the sunlight. Dark spots clouded my vision.
Sabina glanced back.
My head broke the surface.
I gulped in the air, fighting to stay afloat. My stomach churned. Water splashed and sprayed around me, but Sabina didn’t react to the drops. She floated beside me, her diamond gaze on the land.
I clasped the vial to my chest, kicking with aching legs. The weight of my soaking tunic threatened to drag me back down, but I refused to let it.
I’d done it. I survived the Herron, made a deal with the Daemon, and got back to the surface. Giving in now wasn’t an option.
I twisted toward the land.
Siren stood near the edge, expression sorrowful. He shook his head. “They got you,” he whispered.
“Kind of.” I pulled my arms through the water, gliding closer.
He retreated a step.
“Oh.” He thought I was one of them now. A threat. “It’s okay.” I reached the edge, only to find it too high to reach. The fresh scent of Riparians filled the air, though I couldn’t see them from my angle.
Siren stared at me with tears brimming.
“I’m me.” I reached out my hand. “Help me up.”
He shot me a knowing look.
“No, really. See? I still have legs.” I tried to hold them up, but lost control, and my head dipped below the water.
Sabina grabbed me and tugged me back into the air.
I spluttered and fought to regain control, longing to lie down. Fatigue plagued my muscles, but I was careful not to drop the vial.
She grabbed my waist and shoved me high enough to reach the grass.
Siren’s eyes widened, and he rushed forward. “Clara.” He took my arms and hauled me up beside him, staring at my legs.
I tugged the hem of my tunic lower.
“How?” He shot a wary glare at Sabina. “Why haven’t you changed her?”
“She has an accord with the Queen.” Sabina nodded at me. “Now, go. We’re counting on you.” She pushed away from the side and dived below the surface.
Back beneath the touch of the sun, the heat warmed my bare legs, yet I still shivered.
Siren slipped a cloak out of his pack and wrapped it around me before retrieving my pack.
Padding sounded on the grass. Chimera emerged from over the hill and bounded over to sink down beside me. His warm fur smelled musty and damp.
“Did it rain?” I wondered, feeling the dirt beneath me. My weak fingers brushed over dry soil.
Siren shook his head. “He tried to jump in after you when the Herron attacked.”
I leaned back and surveyed Chimera carefully. The same size as before, he nudged my shoulder with his nose.
“They wouldn’t let him anywhere near them,” Siren said. “They held him back with a mountainous wave.” He nodded at a set of clothes hanging over a branch, still wet.
“Got you, too, then?”
“What happened?” he asked. “I felt you change, felt your despair, your hopelessness.”
“So, your gifts are back, huh?” I flashed him a relieved smile, remembering his flames around him when he tried to part the water. Being out of the lake lifted some of the weight off my shoulders. But for the accord with the Queen, I might actually feel happy.
“When the Herron attacked, my gifts returned,” he said. “I guess my desperation pulled them back.” His worry added to mine, but he shrugged, his confusion and relief beaming through in his smile. “I tried to help you.”
“I saw. They were just … too strong.”
“I did everything I could to repel them. Even tried to make a deal, but once I felt you change, they left and wouldn’t come back.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
He pulled out new boots, a tunic, and a pair of black trousers. “Tell me what happened.”
I pulled off my tunic, careful to keep the cloak around me, and slipped behind Chimera to change, resting the vial on his back. He remained still and seemed to listen as I recalled my time in the depths. When I got to the part about the conditions of my temporary release, Siren’s eyes darkened. “You can’t go back to them.”
“I don’t exactly have a choice aside from making another deal with the Daemon, and I don’t think he’d agree to help me. Did you know he was the original Hellion? All of them have come from him. But … I’ll get to that in a minute.”
“There has to be a way, a loophole, a way to break her hold on you.”
“Sure.” I leaned on Chimera and ran my finger across the glass bottle. “We could make sure peace is never restored. Watch people die for nothing. Or I could just move to the desert and never drink water again.”
Siren shot me an irritated scowl.
“It’s my fault,” I said. “I trusted the book. Some fool, to trust in something only I can read.” I glared at my pack.
“What do you mean?”
“It said I could get through with a Healer. Only I didn’t.” I moved to grab the bag, yanked out the heavy book, and flipped through the pages on my knee. It wasn’t long before I found the page with the Gates of Omen.
“To reach it, one must wield the gift of a Healer.” I read and slapped my palm against the parchment. “Whoever wrote it didn’t know what they were talking about.”
Siren frowned at the page. “Where’s the point?”
“What?”
“The point at the end of the line, to mark the end of the sentence.” He tapped the final word. “There’s no point. One must wield the gift of a Healer …”
Mouth dry, I slowly turned the page.
… who is Nephilium. Only their power can compel the Herron to allow passage.
I ran my fingers through my hair. A Healer who is Nephilium. Hanrel needed to be Nephilium.
“He died for nothing.” Guilt swarmed in my chest, twisting my words to barely a whisper. “If I’d looked properly … if I hadn’t been in such a hurry …”
“You can’t blame yourself.”
“Yes, I can.” A tear broke through my restraint. “I did this. He drowned. Because of me. If I still held use of my gifts, if I even knew what Nephilium was, I could have got through. Without this. Without the accord. Without death.” I threw the book.
It landed with a thud on the grass.
Siren stayed silent for a moment, and then he spoke, “What do you mean you could have gotten through?”
I stared at the book. “Just something the Daemon said.”
“What did he say?”
I sighed and continued with the story.
He didn’t speak again, even after I finished. He stared off across the water, mind on thoughts I could no longer sense, although a rising curiosity tugged at my guilt, and I wasn’t sure it was mine.
“The book said a Nephilium’s power can compel them to allow passage,” I said, “and the Daemon said I’m Nephilium.”
He didn’t move.
“Could that mean I have another gift, one I still don’t know about?” Thoughts of not being completely powerless brought hope bubbling to the surface.
“I doubt it. Not after you used the whisperleaf.”
The hope crashed down again, somehow succeeding in bringing me to a whole new low.
Siren picked up the vial from Chimera’s back. “So, this potion. I drink it and touch the prison?” He blinked. “Sounds simple enough.”
“Wait, what?” I clambered to my feet.
“That’s what he said, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean you drink it?”
His brow creased. “I thought you understood. You’re no
t coming with me.”
50
“Are you crazy?” I asked.
Siren’s lips tightened. “I thought under the circumstances, you’d agree.”
Agree to staying behind? To hide like a coward whilst he risked his life trying to get past the Hellions swarming the expanse? At least, he’d stand a better chance than me. He still held his gifts.
I would only get in the way.
Bitterness rose. I’d always been a part of the battle before, always had a part to play. This new helplessness threatened to cripple me, and I sank back down beside my pack. “You’re right.”
“I’ll take you back to the Might,” Siren said, “and meet you again when it’s done.”
I couldn’t bring myself to reply. Is this what my life would be like now? Memories of the silver city I’d seen when I first arrived in this world returned to my mind. Maybe I belonged there. With the Mortals.
Perhaps when the Keepers were free, they’d let me go home. I’d find a village, build a home there, work on the land. Or teach. In the eighteen hundred years since my first birth, I’d learned a lot.
It would be an option, if the Herron’s threat wasn’t hanging over me.
Chimera nudged my shoulder, pulling me back to the present. “You should drink that now,” I said. “Knowing our luck, it’ll get broken.”
Siren let slip a small smile, pulled out the cork, and held it to his lips. He tipped his head back.
Confusion crossed his features.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He surveyed the vial with narrowed eyes and tried again.
Still, the liquid swirled within, unaffected by gravity.
“It won’t come out,” he said.
“That’s not possible.” Anger burned my cheeks. If the Daemon double-crossed me, he could forget about his favour. No bond could hold if he didn’t keep his end of the bargain.
I took the bottle from Siren and tipped it over my lips.
The potion slid out at once, coating my tongue in sweetness. It slipped down my throat without me swallowing.
I coughed, choking on my surprise.
Siren grabbed my arm, and I touched my throat, eyes watering against the burning sensation inside.
“Here.” He pressed a flask into my hand, and I drank deeply, easing the discomfort with each mouthful.
“I don’t understand,” I rasped.
“What were his words, exactly?” Siren asked.
“The Daemon?”
He nodded.
“I drink the potion, I touch the prison,” I said.
Siren scowled at the lake. “The Daemon must have cast it to only work with you. You made the deal. He’s very careful to follow through exactly to the word.”
“Is this from memory?” I asked.
He rubbed the back of his head. “It’s fuzzy, but yes.” He sighed. “I guess you’re not going back to the Might, after all.”
I slipped the book back into my pack and swung it over my shoulder. “We better get going, then. I don’t know how long the potion will last.” Assuming, of course, it worked. The thought of having any kind of magic – even just the effects of the potion – helped.
Chimera pushed his nose against me and crouched down.
“You want to carry me?” I asked.
“Things are escalating,” Siren said, shoving his wet clothes back inside his pack. “The Hellions will undoubtedly be branching out from the expanse, scattering villages, claiming new territory. The faster we arrive, the better.”
He had a point. Grasping Chimera’s long, almost-dry fur, I clambered awkwardly onto his back, wondering if my gifts would have made it any easier. Perhaps my Beast gift made me more graceful.
Chimera took off in an instant, streaking across the field and between the trees.
Shadows engulfed us, plunging the surroundings in a green glow.
A whoosh of wind drew my attention to the sky where Siren soared, white scales gleaming above the canopy.
A cool breeze chilled my wet hair, and I clung on tighter.
Chimera’s muscles beneath my legs rippled in a steady motion, leading us closer to the expanse and farther from safety.
Time passed monotonously. Chimera didn’t slow, not even when we passed a river, despite turning his head toward it.
I grew used to his movements in the hours of running, so reached around to my pack. My blind feeling around touched a familiar object and produced a cob of lemon-corn.
If Chimera could smell it, he showed no signs, although his breathing sounded more laboured than earlier.
I leaned toward his ear. “Why don’t you stop for a break?”
He only shook his head, mane flapping, and pressed on.
I ate as much of the lemon-corn as I could, savouring the citrusy scent, but my legs and rear ached and the consistent jostling didn’t help.
Trunks blurred past, cutting a wall through my vision. Thoughts of Hellions touched my mind. Could Chimera outrun them if we found any?
So far, though, all appeared silent.
Fatigue weighed heavily on my body, willing me to sleep. I fought to focus on the path ahead, to guess which way my protector would turn, but the temptation to rest became too much, and I lay my head on his warm, mane-covered shoulders.
*
A violent shaking and a sudden jolt woke me from an uneasy sleep.
My hair – dry now – covered my cheek. I brushed it away when I sat up. My body ached from sitting on Chimera for so long. I moved to dismount but he jerked, knocking me back into place.
He no longer ran, and instead stood still, hackles raised. Deep growls broke through his heavy breathing.
The shaking continued, sending tremors through the foliage. Leaves dropped from the canopy, spinning like a seamstress’s wheel.
Dust burst from the way ahead, and a gaping crack opened in the earth. It zigzagged toward us, sending dirt skyward in its wake.
“Chimera!” I gasped.
He streaked to the left, racing through weeds and thorns.
The crack cut after us, casting bushes and roots into the abyss.
Surely, not a natural occurrence.
As though in answer to my thought, a brown vine reached through the gap and whipped the ground behind us, sending a new crack branching outward.
What kind of creature could create something like that?
The trembling grew worse, and the crack shot to Chimera’s heels.
“Go faster,” I screamed.
Siren screeched above us, heading right.
Chimera veered after him, and a moment later, burst into a clearing and tore across the open space.
The grass behind us exploded in a mountain of dust.
The ground burst open beneath us.
A roar crackled.
Then, we fell.
51
Vines whipped around us, slamming into the rocky sides of the freshly broken chasm.
We tumbled toward the waiting monster, its jaws open wide.
Chimera roared.
My stomach lurched.
Then, Siren’s white claws grasped Chimera. We soared upward, away from the Hellion until the crack lay far beneath, and the forest canopy brushed against our feet.
In the distance, the black of the expanse stretched out, crawling with hundreds of Hellions. Figures buzzed back and forth through the air.
My pulse pounded in my ears, reminding me how powerless I was now.
Though, not completely.
My hands didn’t look any different, but knowledge that my touch could free the Keepers gave me hope.
I wondered if the potion’s magic could release Charlie, too. After all, a part of him was still alive. A part I wouldn’t know. An evil part. A stranger to me.
But still Charlie.
Though, if it wasn’t strong enough to release the Daemon, chances of it unlocking the Underworld Gate were unlikely.
We neared the expanse, and the scene below became clearer.
<
br /> It wasn’t hundreds but thousands of Hellions that covered the ground and spanned over the green lands around it.
Smoke billowed between the trees on my right. Another attack? Images of people dying flashed in my mind, and I forced the thought away.
In the centre of the expanse, a circle of light met the clouds and surrounded two tiny figures. The Keepers.
Days had passed since their imprisonment. No doubt they would be weak. Perhaps on the verge of death. It occurred to me that escaping the expanse might be harder to do than getting in. Hopefully, they had the strength to transport out.
I searched the chaos below for any sign of Kyne or Rickson. Would they still be down there, protected by their own monstrous guards?
Judging by the shifting creatures, our arrival hadn’t gone unnoticed.
Black, threadlike wings stretched. Two Hellions took to the air. Long snouts protruded over glaring, pointed teeth, and black eyes reflected the beginning of the dusk.
They screeched and propelled themselves toward us.
Siren didn’t react.
“Siren?” I called. “Below us.”
He kept straight, attention fixed on the prison and the expanse ahead.
The Hellions extended blackened claws, and a burning scent reached my nose.
“Siren!”
He dropped lower and dipped below the canopy moments before they slashed through the air.
My breath caught in my throat, and I clung to Chimera whilst Siren twisted and wove between oaks and untamed branches.
Wind battered my cheeks and stung my eyes.
We burst into open air and whizzed over fields.
The creatures followed, spinning after us and gaining fast.
Another cry pierced the air, foreign to the screech of the creatures. Flaming, liquid gold crashed against their backs, tearing agonised screams from their jaws.
The Hellions fell.
The rhythmic pounding of wind pulled my attention to a huge, golden Ancient some way behind us. The symbol of the Ancients glowed on his armoured chest.
He nodded at me.
“Prudens?” I whispered.
Siren dipped, wings folding around us.
More black-winged creatures sped in pursuit, dropping out of the sky like rain.
Siren jerked out his wings, ending our freefall with a jolt, and careered sideways, speeding high over blackened ground.