Chapter 30 #3
the lower half of her face already covered. One might have thought her broken, but her expression as she glared at Yazid,
hatred and vengeance scorching in her eyes, showed how very alive she was.
“For the villagers,” Dalila snarled. Then she ripped her fingers through the ribbons of her cap, breaking away the glass vials— all of the vials, what must have been a decade of work—and flung the contents at his face.
I was already clamping the end of my turban over my nose and mouth, turning away before the fumes hit me. Even through the
cloth, the vapors were so acidic and foul I wanted to vomit. Yazid was screaming, shrieking and howling in pain.
He fell to his knees beside me, and I scrambled back in horror. His eyes were gone , the melting flesh of his cheeks bubbling and dripping away. Dalila—standing behind him like some sort of avenging angel—picked
up my stolen sword from where Yazid had dropped it.
“Dalila,” I gasped out, the air still burning. “I can—”
With a heartbreaking cry, she shoved the sword into Yazid’s throat. She had to throw her whole weight into the blade before
it finally pierced through and she let go, stumbling away.
Yazid collapsed with a thud.
There was a long moment of shocked silence.
Dalila was trembling and breathing so fast I was surprised she didn’t collapse herself.
Her hands were bleeding badly and the ribbon cap lay discarded at her feet in a heap of broken glass and torn cloth.
But she didn’t drop the sword, not even as she turned to me.
If anything, the wildness in her dark eyes blazed higher, grief and sick fear twisting across her expression.
“Falco killed you,” Dalila said hoarsely. “Are you... is this like Asif?”
Tears burned in my eyes. “No, my friend. I am different. But not like—”
I didn’t have to finish my explanation. Dalila dropped the sword and flung her arms around me. Tinbu was there the next moment,
the three of us hugging and crying.
“We thought you were dead,” Tinbu wept. “They said he stabbed you and threw your body overboard.”
“I thought I was dead too,” I whispered, stroking his hair and pressing my brow against Dalila’s. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry
I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry it took me so long to get back.”
“ Amina! ” It was Majed, staggering across the sand, a wary Raksh behind him. My navigator threw himself around us, his long arms wrapping
our group in an even tighter hug.
“Please, not so hard,” Tinbu croaked out. “I am fairly certain I rebroke my leg.”
I immediately let him go, relief flooding over me as I spotted the rest of my crew emerging from the cave. Magnun’s fighters
were mopping up the few of Falco’s men who remained—with one critical exception.
“Where’s the Frank?” I demanded. “Where’s Dunya ?”
“Gone,” Majed said, sounding sick. “As soon as the scout told Falco someone was attacking, the rat grabbed her and ran off
deeper into the cave.”
“I need to go after them,” I said urgently. “Right now. Before—”
The land gave a great tremble.
It was followed by more shudders, like an earthquake warming up.
With an ill feeling of premonition, I turned toward the water.
I had been too busy not being murdered by Yazid to keep an eye on the sea battle, but I was now partly relieved to see Magnun’s ship was still afloat.
But only partly relieved, because even though they were still shooting arrows and aiming naft at the marid, the creature—perhaps at Falco’s
magical command—was rushing in our direction, its skittering steps causing the quakes.
“God preserve me,” I whispered as it approached. If I thought the marid looked intimidating earlier, that was nothing to how
it compared now, surging through the breaking waves. Its titanic bulk and lethal tail blotted out half the stars in the sky,
the foul air from its festering wounds noxious and thick, competing with Dalila’s concoction. This close, I could see something
else as well: spectral bonds similar to the tethers that Falco’s men had sported.
But not one, oh, no. That would be too easy. Instead, scores of glittering seaweed bonds held tight to the marid. They clung from its skull and its tentacles, wrapping its mighty stinger
and hanging from its broad abdomen. They were even brighter and thicker than the chains I had severed, so vibrant I could
follow where the great mass of them led—all trailing across the beach and vanishing into the depths of the cave where Falco
had fled. Not just tethers, then.
Leashes . With revulsion, I looked upon the shackles tying the mighty creature to the diabolical sorcerer. How did it feel to be forced
to obey the whims of something so much smaller?
However, my empathy was tried when the marid scuttled onto the beach, going entirely, eerily still. The only movement was
the seawater streaming from its raised pincers, falling from such a height, they might have been waterfalls. Its segmented
tail was raised and ready to strike, the bladed stinger twice the length of my body. All of us froze. My companions, Magnun’s
warriors, even what was left of Falco’s men.
The whoosh of air was the only warning.
I shoved my friends away and dove to the side. The stinger plunged into the ground where we had been standing with enough
force to send rocks and clumps of dirt flying.
“Get to the cave!” I cried. “All of you! The tunnel narrows quickly. It will not be able to follow.”
“We’re not leaving you!” Dalila shouted. The marid skittered forward, enormous pincers clacking.
There was nothing my friends could do here other than potentially die, though. Me, however...
Living things liked being free . That’s what Khayzur had said, and I could only pray the marid felt that way as well.
“I’ll be right behind you, promise!” I shouted and then grabbed Raksh by the back of his cloak before he could flee. “Oh,
no. You’re with me. Distract it .”
“Do what ?”
I pushed him down the rocky slope. “You heard me!” I’d shoved him a bit too hard though, sending my husband rolling like a
runaway barrel to land directly beneath the marid’s body. It screeched in triumph, its attention briefly diverted.
Perhaps not entirely what I’d intended, but it would serve.
Meteor blade in hand, I raced for the nearest cord of glowing oath bonds. My heart rose into my throat, but the blade cut
through them as easily as it had sliced through the tether on Falco’s man. However, unlike the mercenary’s cord, these bonds
writhed and wriggled like snakes, twisting away from my hands. I kept at it, furiously severing as many as I could. Beyond,
Raksh screamed and cursed my existence, racing to avoid the marid’s pincers.
BAM .
An enormous insect leg slammed into the sand, nearly crushing me. I flew to my feet, dashing away, but the marid was blocking my access to the remaining bonds now—as well as the cave. About a dozen chains remained, three around its legs and the others hooked about its head.
Great plan, al-Sirafi. I ran down the beach, ducking its stinger and weaving through the sea scorpion’s dancing limbs as I slashed out at the bonds
around its legs. But there was no way to sever the ones near its head unless I got closer. Much closer.
“To hell with this job,” I swore, bracing my feet and waiting for the right moment. “To hell with Falco and Salima and that
lewd fucking moon!”
One of the severed bonds hanging from the marid’s neck swept past. Before I could think better of things, before I could allow
a moment’s fear or hesitation to change my mind, I seized the bond.
And began to climb.
I shall like to go on the record in saying that ascending a magical seaweed rope no one else can see—and that may or may not
disintegrate at any moment—up the moving body of a warship-sized scorpion as it shrieks and tries to stab you with its stinger
remains, hands down, one of the worst fucking experiences of a career that involved having Falco’s foul maggot potion shoved
down my throat. I clung for dear life to the spectral tether as it swung wildly, narrowly avoiding being dashed on the cliffs
twice.
The marid did not like being climbed. Not at all. Its tentacles flailed and darted about, trying to seize the impertinent mortal who dared
to do so, but I was swinging too erratically to catch. Even so, it hit me in the back once so hard that I nearly let go of
the cord, gasping in pain.
Finally, finally , the top of the creature was in reach. I gripped the barnacles and coral growing from its slippery shell and hauled myself
up, breathing hard and thanking God when I could finally stand on its armored back, the terrible ascent complete.
Which is when a tentacle, a skinny little baby one, snaked around my ankle and yanked me off.
I went flying through the air, but as though by a miracle, I ended up tangled in the oath bonds, swinging around the creature’s moving legs yet again.
“You ungrateful oversized bug,” I cried, “ I am trying to free you! ”
There was no way to tell if the marid understood any of that, but it did seem like the tentacles were slightly less determined
to murder me as I climbed a second time. When I made it to the top, I kept one hand on a tether, quickly scrambling into the
remains of Falco’s ship. I was fascinated by the merging of lumber and beast, yet didn’t hesitate as I raced for the shining
bonds connecting the wreckage to the marid. The last two cords were located on the other side of the marid’s skull. I darted
across, grabbed the chains, and severed them.
The meteor blade had no sooner finished slicing through the final one than the tether crumbled in my hands, all the severed
oath chains turning to dust that blew instantly away on the ocean’s breeze.
The marid wailed, a heartrending cry of pain and what sounded like confusion (or what I believe was confusion—God knows best
the inner life of leviathan-esque monsters).