The Wildest Woods

by S. K Munt

  ‘Walk the plank?’ I stepped forward and touched his shoulder, my breath as smoky as his now that the temperature had dropped again. ‘You said his men got you? Was he a pirate?’

  ‘Captain Egan McIntyre,’ he said nonchalantly, and looked back at me when I sucked in a breath. ‘You’ve heard of him?’

  I had! Egan McIntyre had terrorised the coast of Janiel for years before I had been born, and it was common knowledge that he’d been slain back when I had only been a few years old. I couldn’t recollect anything from when he’d been alive as I’d been too young but like Bastien Birch, the name was notorious enough to have hung around since. No one had known how he’d died, but the stories I’d heard all contradicted one another- some people swore that he’d been killed in a mutiny, some said that he’d been slain by a rival pirate, Paris Kingslater and others swore that he was still alive. Good God, had he truly been brought down by a seven year old kid? He’d been a beast! Seven foot tall I’d heard, with three feet of wild, red beard that had been immortalised in portraits.

  Yeah… so what on earth is his twice-as-evil murderer like? Shit! I shouldn’t be alone with a guy like this, wings or not!

  ‘Drop the rock or speak your mind,’ the boy said then, turning back to face me more so that I could see his frown. ‘I can’t read your face and it’s frustrating to me. Have you heard of him or not?’

  ‘I have,’ I said quickly, snapping out of my reverie. ‘And I’m sorry if I went silent… but to be honest, I was just wondering how evil you are in comparison to your father, while wondering if I should be inching back from the side of the mountain and away from you…’

  The boy snorted. ‘Seems like I’m not the only brutally honest one around here… although that’s no news to me- I worked it out earlier. You say an awful lot of stuff that you’re thinking and to be honest, that’s one of the main reasons why I’m still here.’ He made a face. ‘I can’t tolerate people who hide their real thoughts and feelings for long before I feel the inclination to thump them or in the least, expose them to the people they’re lying to. That was one of the many reasons why I couldn’t live with- or even like- my folks.’

  ‘And why everyone else hated you- your community was a ship!’

  He nodded and took another draw of his cigarette and moved to sit on the same rock that he’d been sitting on earlier, crossing his arms across his chest and regarding me frankly. ‘Exactly, and I need to be at least two hundred metres away from people before it goes quiet in my head, so no, there’s really no getting away from my gift on a boat. Anyway yes my father was a very evil man and no the apple hasn’t fallen that far from the tree- a fact that I proved when I took him out like a savage at such tender age. I don’t know why I took such an exception to his horrid ways because I’ve proven time and time again that I can be just as horrid, but I suppose my ability to see inside other people’s heads means that I can see things from their perspective too, and that can be unsettling and limiting. It’s one thing to steal someone’s coin pouch when you suspect that they really need the money inside- but quite another to steal it when you can read their fear for their sick, starving child, you know? When you can actually picture their crying baby’s faces...’

  ‘You’re a thief?’ I asked, resting my hand over the diamond necklace at my throat and narrowing my eyes at him when he smiled proudly.

  ‘A damned good one. I’ve had to learn how to steal well in order to survive, but if I was going to take that shiny necklace of yours Larkin, I would have done so by now- trust me.’ I didn’t and that was probably obvious so he shrugged. ‘Suit yourself. Anyway, back to my story... those men actually did make me walk the plank that day. I was bound and gagged and forced off the side of my father’s ship and into shark infested waters while they cheered.’ My heart fluttered empathetically, but his face and eyes became stonier, not more emotive. ‘I began to drown straight away and couldn’t get loose of my binds, and as though that wasn’t terrifying enough, I could still read their thoughts as I struggled- could hear their delight regarding my demise,’ he cleared his throat, ‘could hear my own mother thanking God for taking me off her hands.’

  ‘Thanking God?’

  ‘Yes- that’s not uncommon, Larkin, and that’s one of the biggest misunderstandings that there is on the subject of Nephilim: having dark powers and thoughts and feathers is indicative of where they’ve come from- but has no bearing on where they’ll end up because of course, God takes anyone that believes in him in the end.’

  ‘Because Satan can only communicate with the ones that purposefully open their minds up to her…’ I rubbed at my forehead with my free hand. ‘Christ, this is so confusing…’

  ‘I know.’ He sighed. ‘Anyway when I realised that no one was coming to save me, I started praying to Satan again- asking her to save me. This time she responded that she could do as asked, but that it would come at a very high price. She was weaker then you see, and more desperate than she is now, so I had to swear myself to her- forever.’

  ‘Like Bastien did?’ I asked, feeling hollow inside for him.

  ‘No, I went one further than simply pledging allegiance in exchange for an extended life,’ the boy tucked his hands under his arms nonchalantly before admitting: ‘I swore my soul to her that day Larkin.’ He met my eyes and said: ‘And now you’re stuck with me until I can earn it back.’

  All I could do was stare at him.

  6.

  Eden Palace, City Of Arcadia

  Karol Barachiel

  I felt good when I first exited the royal meeting room, but I’d only just closed the door behind me when I remembered that despite the fact that my army was probably in the bag, the sun was about to set on the worst day of my life, and that the dawning of a new day would not change the fact that my mother was unconscious and locked up in a basement, my father was dead, my brother had lost his memories, my other brother seemed to be keeping a million secrets locked up behind his too-blue eyes, my best friend was furious at me and the girl I loved had proved out to be a demon. Like the golden sunset that had just been washed out by ash clouds, my proud smile faded and the pounding in my chest became an ache that almost knocked the breath out of me. Yes, I had made it through my first official meeting as king, but would I make it to the end of this godforsaken day without falling apart, let alone the next? Or the over-morrow?

  ‘You must get over your fixation with your brother’s whore…’ I remembered my mother once telling me then- back when Larkin had been a fifteen-year-old girl that I couldn’t keep out of my dirty dreams. ‘There is something about her that is off, Karol. I’d have her blood tested for traces of dark Nephilim if I didn’t think that doing so would and being proven wrong would only cause you all to scorn and ignore my advice more than you already all do!’

  I’d laughed when she’d suggested that, but now I wanted to cry. Had she truly not wanted to test Larkin’s blood because she was afraid that she’d be proven wrong and considered paranoid… or because she’d been afraid to push for blood-testing, knowing that she herself might end up on the wrong side of a needle one day if it became a common practice?

  Confused and lost to myself, I collapsed back against the door and closed my eyes now, holding my sanative hand to my own chest, and moaning in dismay when I realised that not even my healing powers were helping- my heart was broken, and not even I, one of the most powerful Nephilim beings left in the world- could numb the pain that Larkin had inflicted upon me, or ease away the majority of my anxiety and grief. She hadn’t really broken my heart by rejecting my love no, because my feelings for her had been a manipulation that I’d only mistaken for love... and I knew that now… didn’t I?

  Yes, yes I did- but the damage she’d done to my psyche, my family and my home had been real and I was not sure that I would ever fully recover from so many losses, especially the loss of my mother, whom I’d always thought of as my best friend. As though that wasn’t bad enough, there was that other thing that made my testicle
s shrivel up in fear- the idea that I could have been spawned by a dark Nephilim- and that soon, everyone would learn of it.

  I may have convinced the royal assemblage to approve of my demands … but how am I ever going to approve of myself now that I suspect that I have dark Nephilim blood inside me? And it has to be dark, doesn’t it? Because if I was as light as I always believed, wouldn’t I confess the truth to mother’s lineage to Shepherd, instead of trying to cover it up? Wouldn’t I tell someone that mother is alive and in need of real medical care? God, should I visit her? What would you have me do?

  ‘Karol?’ a timid voice asked, and I looked up to see that Amelia-Rose was standing in front of the opposite door to me, dressed for dinner in a tailored linen dress and watching me with anxious eyes as she ducked into a brief but flawless curtsy that flashed me a glimpse of her cleavage. It was one of the flattest chests that I’d ever seen, but she had lovely bone structure around her collar and shoulders so I snuck a peek out of habit if not desire. ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’ She took a meek step forward and bit her lip, searching my face with her gaze. ‘Anything at all?’

  I was embarrassed that I’d been caught in such a fragile, private moment, but comforted by the knowledge that she was just the Shepherd’s daughter- a man that would be relieved to hear that I was struggling to deal with the twists my life had taken, and not unnerved by it like the other men in that room would be.

  ‘I’m fine,’ I said gruffly, pushing off the door. ‘I’ve just had a long, tragic day and am in need of sleep and solitude, that is all. Speaking of which…’ I looked around me, confused. ‘How did you get into this wing, Amelia-Rose? And why are you hanging about in the halls?’

  ‘I came to check on you,’ she said, coming closer to me, her eyes bright with concern as she reached up and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. ‘I’ve been worried about you all day, your majesty. You have so many burdens to bear right now and though I do not doubt that you will rise from the ashes of that harem like a phoenix, I am sad that you will have to try to do it alone now…. You know... now that you and Ora have called it off…’

  ‘Called off …?’ I realised then, and snorted. Of course. I’d spent most of that week with Ora, pretending to be romancing her when really she’d just been helping me plot a very different love affair in secret. That love affair had come to a screeching halt before it had even started, but even though people would hopefully never find out that it had been Larkin I’d been hoping to marry all along, they were going to notice that Ora and I weren’t exactly looking at each other with starry eyes anymore, so not only was I going to have to explain why I was no longer besotted with the object of my affection, but I was going to have to deal with the fact that the single women in the nobility were going to start regarding me as eligible again.

  What am I going to tell people? How can I explain that no, I’m not getting married but no, that doesn’t mean that I have the slightest interest in courting or joining with anyone anytime soon, if ever? Can I feign heartbreak? Or can I get away with using mourning my parents as an excuse?

  Ora and I had already had one, fervent discussion on the subject of keeping certain secrets, we’d neglected to come up with a story to explain why we were no longer sneaking off together that we could both adhere to- a story that Amelia-Rose was clearly anxious to hear now even though I didn’t have the faintest clue as to what to tell her.

  ‘Yes. You have called it off, haven’t you?’ Amelia-Rose asked, stepping closer. ‘I heard rumours that you were planning a lavish proposal last night, but that never eventuated so-’

  ‘I was dying, Amelia-Rose,’ I said shortly, stalling. ‘I couldn’t get off my back, let alone down on one knee.’

  ‘But you’re no longer getting engaged are you?’ Amelia-Rose pressed. ‘I heard her hiss at you that she was getting on the next ship back to Rabia the second that she could so-’

  ‘Ora and I are not seeing eye to eye on a few things right now, Amelia-Rose,’ I said crisply, wondering how the fuck she’d overheard so much and praying that she hadn’t heard Ora and I bickering over my feelings for Larkin. We’d fought all right, not because Ora was disappointed that I didn’t want to marry her- but because she was staggered that I’d turned on Larkin so swiftly without sitting the twisted little swan down for a cup of tea and a heart to heart first! Like I’d even had the chance while lying prone on the deathbed that the strumpet had sent me falling to!

  It was preposterous that anyone would give someone like Larkin the benefit of the doubt, but it spoke volumes about Ora’s ability to forgive and to believe in the best in people- an ability that I respected, but did not share, not anymore. Rabia’s first daughter had agreed to allow me to hunt Larkin down without fighting me, but she’d refused to take a ‘side’ until she’d heard Larkin’s first too, and I knew, would condemn me if I burned the bitch at the stake without giving her the chance to explain herself first.

  ‘Think of your soul, Karol!’ she’d begged me, actually lowering herself onto her hands and knees so that she could cling to my scorched and torn pant legs while she appealed to me to call off my hunt for the demonic Companion. ‘Think of your heart! They are both so beautiful, and you have been glowing with radiance this past day as you imagined loving that girl forever! Perhaps you are right and she tried to kill you all, or perhaps I am right and this is just one big misunderstanding that she has chosen not to stick around to clear up because she fears what will happen to her now that people have seen her wings...but either way, her actions should only be reflected in her character, not yours! I can already see your heart twisting, shrivelling, blackening in response to what you perceived to be her cruelty… and I can see the resolve in your eyes to never love again, and although I understand why you are hurting so, you must understand that you cannot allow yourself to deteriorate like that when your goodness and kindness is what is truly needed! No matter what damage Larkin had done to you, you cannot ignore the fact that much damage was done to her here too, and that it is up to you to heal yourself and this kingdom for everyone’s sakes! Think of what God would do, or Miguel! Don’t dedicate your life to cursing her- pray for her instead! Bring her back here if you can by all means, but spread the word that she will be given a fair hearing if she returns willingly and maybe, just maybe, she’ll take you up on the chance to explain herself!’

  ‘Why would I give her the chance to explain herself?’ I’d demanded. ‘She killed my father! She tried to kill me, and all I wanted to do was love her! She’s evil, Ora, and she has taken everything from me!’

  ‘As your family once took everything from her, Karol!’

  ‘I had no control over that! She was a third-born, and she was born the same year as a prince! It was fate that dropped her into that harem, not I!’

  ‘If fate dropped her- a dark Nephilim with such a sharp mind and a beautiful, magnetic character- into your harem, then it had to have been for a greater purpose than as a plaything, didn’t it?’

  ‘I tried to make her a QUEEN!’

  ‘After twelve years of treating her like a whore!’

  ‘She IS a whore!’

  ‘She is what you made her!’ Ora had screamed, and I’d actually shrunk back. ‘You trained her, you toyed with her, you pressed yourself against her and you offered everything she could ever dream of in exchange for tolerating being fucked by as many of you as possible, and yet you wonder why she fucked YOU? I don’t; sex and deception was the only currency that she had access to here!’

  I had winced, and had barely been able to croak out: ‘I had a change of heart. I tried to change and save her from her fate but-’

  ‘But you were too late and so now you’re changing back, right? Unbelievable!’ Ora had turned away from me in disgust. ‘There have been several reports of the history of time, of dark Nephilim being forced into the darkness by the actions of the light. Perhaps you interpreted the Creation Story differently, but what I got from it was that Satan would ha
ve been just fine, if Miguel had opened his heart to her in the first place instead of denying her it because of his lust!’

  ‘Miguel was a saint! You’d condemn him for his one weakness, and then ask to know why I would condemn Larkin for several?’

  ‘In the end! Miguel was a saint in the end, and made the ultimate sacrifice for mankind... but he created a monster first- with God’s help and his blessing, and it almost took the destruction of the earth to make him see the error of his ways!’ Ora had shaken her head, keeping her back to me. ‘So close your heart to Larkin now, if that’s what it takes to protect yourself, but do not expect me to believe that you are doing so for anyone but yourself, or that anything good or just will come of it. Or that burning Larkin will burn away your own sins- not in my eyes, and not in God’s either!’

  I stared at her back, utterly lost. ‘So what are you saying? That if I hold her accountable for her crimes, you’ll condemn me?’

  ‘I’m saying that if you hold her accountable for her crimes and your own without first hearing her out, you’ll condemn yourself.’ She turned back to face me. ‘It’s not punishing a criminal that upsets me about all of this Karol, because if Larkin truly was plotting against you all, all of this time, and is unrepentant for it all now then yes, she’s evil and the world will be better off without her.’ She held up her finger. ‘But if there’s the slightest chance that your brothers did as she said they did and tried to rape her together last night, then I don’t blame her for one fucking thing she did after, not even killing your father because he has been fighting as hard to keep her here, as you were to freeing her! By ordering her to take that brand he was as good as holding her down for your brother’s pleasure!’

  ‘And if she denies it?’ I’d asked, feeling raw- and exhausted from my efforts to ignore the truth in all she was saying. ‘What then?’