9. Talon
Chapter 9
Talon
I lay in bed with Calista in my arms, the fire in the hearth barely alive. Shadows were across the walls, but they were dying as the flames slowly started to fade. My eyes were closed, and I was tired from the constant travel over the last few days. I was used to riding Khazmuda wherever I needed to go, but I felt obligated to ride alongside the queen and her soldiers to feel united.
The warmth was suddenly gone, and I felt a jerk that yanked me sideways. The softness of the bed was gone, the quiet room with the low-burning fire disappeared, and it was dark.
My eyes opened, and I heard a hum, the hum of a thousand tongues, a solid baritone that never faded. I sat upon a high-backed chair made of black wood, and my naked body was now covered in the uniform and armor I’d left on the bedroom floor. I looked at the table in front of me, also black with faded skulls carved by a sharp knife. Tall black candles formed a line along the center, wax bubbling down the sides.
A shadow passed—and then I saw him.
Seated at the head of the table in the midnight-blue uniform he always wore when he appeared before me sat Bahamut, God of the Underworld. His arms were flat on the armrests, and he stared at me with eyes that were gray instead of blue.
It was then I realized there was no color at all. Everything was in shades of black and gray. My eyes flicked left and right quickly, taking in the stone archway that rose high above, the black sconces on the wall that held flames in the color gray. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep in a warm bed, so was this a dream.
“I own you, Talon Rothschild. I can take you whenever I wish.”
My eyes found his once more, still unsure if this was real or a horrible dream.
“You were spared my wrath in Riviana Star because I’m barred from those lands, but the second you left that forest, you were vulnerable. If you thought the presence of your companion and the horde of elves that travel with you would prevent my visit, you were dearly wrong. Your soul is indebted to me, and I can take you whenever I wish.”
So, this isn’t a dream.
His jaw tightened noticeably as he suppressed his rage. There was a sharpness to his eyes I’d never seen, even in the absence of color. “You’re my servant, but you aided my enemy. A betrayal that runs deeper than a blade through the heart. How dare you defy me?” He cocked his head slightly, his anger rising like steam from lava.
“I didn’t defy you?—”
“You took up your blade and defended the God of Caelum. We don’t interfere with the living, but you decided their fate with your sword.” He struck with the speed of a vampire and slammed his fist hard onto the table. “And you thought I wouldn’t know…”
I heard a yelp from the other room, a screech from a frightened human. I wanted to glance to see, but my eyes remained on Bahamut. “You weren’t my concern, Bahamut. If the Great Tree had fallen and the Realm of Caelum was overrun by dark elves who sought to claim the afterlife for their own, then the souls of my family would have been at risk. The souls of the people I care for on this side of the veil would have also been at risk. Just because my soul is forfeit doesn’t mean I want the same for others. It was my choice—and they deserve to have the same choice.”
His eyes were still packed with rage.
“I don’t regret what I did.” And I would do it again. “You said you don’t interfere with the living, but if I fought with the dark elves, I would have also interfered. No matter what I did, it would have been an interference?—”
“You could have stepped aside and let the mortals settle their quarrel.”
“Stepping aside is still a choice—a choice that affects the living. I know I made the right choice, and you will receive no repentance from me.”
He continued to stare at me with a quiet rage he struggled to sheathe.
Footsteps sounded, slow and with an uneven gait, flesh against stone. Then someone, or something, appeared. Hunched forward with a spine so bent it nearly doubled back on itself came a creature that seemed human…at one point in time. Dressed in brown rags with flesh that looked burned by fire, it continued to make the painful walk toward the table where Bahamut sat, carrying a bowl in its shaky hands. Its breaths were deep and labored, like the unnatural bend of its spine made it hard to draw breath.
I shouldn’t stare, but I couldn’t not stare.
The creature reached the table and placed the bowl in front of Bahamut. It appeared to be a soul, judging by the steam that wafted from the surface toward the high-vaulted ceiling. The figure hissed in its breathing before it turned around and began the painful shuffle back to where it came from.
Bahamut hadn’t taken his eyes off me once.
It was the first time that unease prickled my skin, that I felt cold from the lack of light, that I saw a glimpse of the underworld. Every conversation I had with Bahamut had happened in the lands of the living, under the clouds and the sun. But now, I didn’t know where we were.
He grabbed his spoon then slid it into the bowl. When he lifted it, a ball of black slime stretched from the spoon, looking like burned cheese or black spinach. He stared at it and slowly watched the material stretch until it plopped back into the bowl with a small splash.
Then I noticed the smell…of burning flesh.
“Would you like some?”
I knew it was a question I shouldn’t answer.
“How does a god remain immortal?” He scooped the spoon into the bowl and repeated his actions, revealing the black sludge that slowly slipped off his spoon and splashed back into the broth again. “Souls.”
Fear didn’t latch on to me easily. I could normally deflect it with calm and determination. But it burned right through me and left a hole in my stomach. It made every muscle in my body feel tight, made me taste rotten fruit on my tongue, made me feel like a thousand spiders crawled across my body that very moment. Sensations I didn’t feel in the land of the living. “I haven’t fought my war. I haven’t met my uncle on the battlefield. Nothing has come to pass. I would like to revoke our deal. You can take back your command of the dead, and I will fight without it.” I’d come to rely on the ability so deeply, because I could unleash an army to fight my enemies within a second’s notice. It would be invaluable in the war to come, to occupy Barron’s soldiers on the ground as I focused on the sky, but I would do without. “I would like to dissolve our agreement.”
Bahamut rested the spoon at the edge of the bowl, and then a smile slowly crept into his face. He showed all of his perfectly straight teeth, the joyless mirth in his gaze. “I’ve noticed the woman in your bed.”
A shadowy creature had gazed upon me without my knowledge, haunted us like a ghost in the wind. Discomfort moved through my whole body. I felt violated without being touched. I’d signed my name on the dotted line without understanding the terms.
“But you should have thought of that before you came to me.”
“I was a different man when I sailed to your lands.”
The smile remained, like he enjoyed my resistance more than my cooperation. “Nonetheless, you conquered Scorpion Valley and Shadow Stone with the powers I gifted you?—”
“And the dragons whose allegiance I earned on my own.”
“You protected Riviana Star, not once, but twice. It wouldn’t have been possible without your command of the dead. You sail to the hidden location of the dragons, information you earned from Queen Eldinar because of the battle you won. All these events wouldn’t have come to pass without my aid. What’s done cannot be reversed, Talon Rothschild. Just because you’ve come to love a woman doesn’t change the terms of our deal. I warned you the day we met. I told you that this is binding and cannot be undone, and you looked me in the eye and pledged your soul to me for eternity.” His voice slowly started to rise as the angry passion flooded through him. “What is done cannot be undone. If the battle is won, you will have a brief moment to savor your victory before you’re brought here for eternity, to harvest the souls from those who are unfortunate enough to meet me. You will prepare them for me night and day so I can maintain a power so great it can be challenged by none other than a god. And if you lose the battle and this is all for naught…” He continued to smile like he enjoyed every moment of my suffering. “Then your fate will remain the same.”
Forfeiting my soul felt inconsequential when I had nothing to live for, but now it felt like the gravest mistake of my life. Khazmuda’s dark eyes were visible in my mind, the insurmountable sorrow he would feel when he saw my body on the ground, dead without injury. The tears he would shed would look like diamonds in the sun.
And then Calista… I couldn’t bear the thought.
“Enjoy the time you have left, Talon Rothschild.” He scooped his spoon into his bowl, and instead of letting the contents drop back into the liquid, he took a bite. Eating the soul clean off the spoon. The room darkened…and objects started to blur…and then, for just an instant, I saw rows of razor-sharp teeth from a dark mouth, a face large and jagged like pinnacles of rock, eyes red like a blood moon, and a snarl that could crunch bone. “Every soul tastes different—and I look forward to tasting yours.”
And then the world changed, and I stared at the fireplace once more. The flames had died long ago because the hearth was cold. The scent of smoke was absent from the room. My breaths were quick and labored, like I’d run straight from the underworld back to this room. I turned to the bed, where I expected to see Calista sleeping.
The bed was empty.
I looked at the bathroom and saw the door was wide open, and no one was inside.
I was rooted to the spot, unable to move, unable to get the image of the monster out of my mind.
Where did you go?
The sound of Khazmuda’s voice made my eyes clench shut, desperate to rid my thoughts of the unspeakable things I’d seen.
You’re afraid. What’s happened?
Just had a bad dream.
Talon…you’ve been gone for a day.
Dread dropped into my stomach, and the unease followed.
Our minds always touch, no matter the distance. But I couldn’t feel yours.
I opened my eyes and lifted my chin. Against the wall, he stood, dressed in his midnight-blue armor, eyes blue like the ocean. That same satisfied smile was upon his handsome face, basking in my misery.
Talon?
I continued to meet his gaze, haunted by a god who would feast upon my soul.
The door flew open, and Calista stumbled into the room. “Talon.”
Bahamut disappeared like a wind blew away the smoke.
She rushed to me and gripped me tight, her face moving to my chest. “You have any idea how scared I was?” She stepped back, her eyes both vicious and emotional. “Where did you go? Khazmuda said he couldn’t feel you, and I was afraid you drowned or…” She couldn’t think of another explanation because there was none. There wasn’t a single story to explain how I’d left the hidden port without taking a boat, how I’d broken the connection with Khazmuda without breaking the fuse, how I’d been gone for an entire day as people searched for me. Her eyes shifted back and forth between mine, angry and desperate for an answer.
I was in shock from what I saw and unable to speak.
I’ve never felt such fear in your heart. What has happened?
“Talon,” Calista pressed. “I felt you leave the bed, and you were just gone…”
Tell me.
I’m fine. Now, give me a moment. “I just needed to be alone.”
“To be alone.” She said the words slowly like she didn’t understand. “Why? Why would you need to be alone?”
“I just did.”
“And how could you be so alone that Khazmuda couldn’t feel you?—”
“Because I closed my mind to him.”
“Why would you disappear for a day when we’re supposed to set sail for the dragons? Queen Eldinar had men searching for you in the water?—”
“I’m sorry I alarmed everyone. It wasn’t my intention.” None of this was my intention. I didn’t want to leave the warmest bed I’d ever known and face a soul-eating monster across a dark table.
Calista continued to shift her gaze back and forth in disbelief.
“Let’s just drop it.”
“Is this because of last night?” Her anger started to fade and was quickly replaced by hurt. “Every time we get closer, I feel you pull away. And it fucking hurts?—”
“No, that’s not why.”
“Then…then explain to me why you just disappeared like that. Why would you scare both Khazmuda and me like that? Why you would hold up everyone for a whole day because you needed to be alone?—”
“Calista.” I couldn’t tell her the truth. Couldn’t tell Khazmuda the truth. It would kill them both. “Do you trust me?”
She hesitated when asked the question. “Talon, of course I do?—”
“Then let this go.”
Her eyes continued to flick back and forth in unease, like that wasn’t enough for her. But she didn’t say another word.
I pulled her into me and locked my arms around her, my chin dipped to rest on the top of her head, my arms like solid bars of a cage. I squeezed her against the plates of my armor because I didn’t want to let go. I wanted to feel her little body against me and close my eyes, get the horrible vision out of my head, to treasure the peace and joy in my life before it was savagely ripped from my grasp.
We boarded the galleon and set sail at dawn. The waves were calm at this hour, the sun barely crested above the horizon over the edge of the world. The winds were in our favor and filled our sails in the direction we wanted to head, and the large ship glided through the water with ease.
I stood at the bow of the ship and looked at the open sea beyond, still shaken by the image burned in my head. Movement in the air caught my eye, and I spotted Khazmuda soar through the skies, his black body distinct against the backdrop of blue and pink with fluffy white clouds.
I want answers, Talon . He turned his head to tilt his gaze to me down below.
Calista accepted my silence, but Khazmuda wasn’t so understanding. I’ll give them to you when the time is right.
What secrets do you keep from me?
Everyone has secrets, Khazmuda.
Not I. I keep nothing from you, Talon Rothschild.
I looked out at the ocean again, feeling the pain of guilt.
I feel the weight you carry. Let me carry it with you.
I ignored his words even though it pained me to do so. Queen Eldinar said it may be a week of sailing. Will you make it that far?
Don’t question my strength.
It’s not a matter of strength but endurance—and you weigh a great deal. You said yourself that you’d gotten fat. I hoped the tease would lift his mood, lure him away from the subject I wanted to avoid.
If I need to rest, I can float.
You don’t know what lurks under the surface.
I’m an enormous dragon. I’ll take my chances.
“You’re a sailor.”
I pulled my eyes away from Khazmuda when I recognized the queen’s voice. I turned around to face her directly.
“My men told me you gave a hand on our departure.”
“It’s a beautiful ship. A type of craftmanship I’ve never seen.” The ships I’d sailed had been well made and withstood the storms, but the attention to detail didn’t compare to the one built by the elves. “It makes the water feel still.”
“The ocean has a spirit just like all the flowers in our forest. And she shared her secrets with us.”
I’d touched the spirit of the ocean myself and felt her salty tears heal my wounds. I didn’t expect to share that belief with someone like Queen Eldinar.
She stared at the side of my face. “Do you enjoy being back at sea?”
“I do.” The smell of the salt. The spray of the ocean. The way the light danced off the surface in the distance. It was a moment of respite I desperately needed.
She looked ahead once more, no longer in her armor but in a white gown with long sleeves. She appreciated the sunrise in silence, standing a foot away from me as the breeze blew her hair over one shoulder past her face. “Calista is in your chambers?”
“Yes. She needed sleep.” Because she’d been awake for an entire day, worried for my well-being. Once we’d set sail, she’d climbed into bed and immediately knocked out.
Queen Eldinar pivoted her body to face me. “Then perhaps it’s a good time for us to speak.”
I didn’t face her right away, knowing exactly what she wished to discuss. “I’d like to watch the sunrise first, if that’s alright, Your Majesty.” I knew my sunrises and sunsets were limited. This might be one of the final few I’d ever see …if not the last.
She pivoted her body back to the ocean and watched the sun reflect off the surface of the water. “Of course. Let’s watch it together.”
She had the biggest accommodations on the ship, a full dining table where she could confer with her general and her soldiers. She sat at the head of the table with a glass of wine before her, surrounded by the glow of the candlelight.
I’d already had a glass of wine in the silence, and I helped myself to another. General Ezra was absent, and I was grateful for it.
With her hands together on the table, she stared at me, her eyes as blue as Bahamut’s.
It made me grateful Calista had eyes green like emeralds…that I could stare at endlessly.
“You know what answers I seek, Death King.”
I held her gaze, my fingers resting around the stem of my glass.
“I would rather you share this story with me as a friend. I respect you too much to interrogate you.”
I’d hated this woman when I met her, felt rage any time I looked at her. But now, I felt affection for her. I’d saved her life for Calista, but at this point, I would save her life because I wanted to.
“Not a single one of my men saw you leave or come back. And these aren’t ordinary men. These are soldiers and warriors who survived the great battle, the best, those who are entrusted with my protection. I’ve lived over a thousand years and have seen magic and found many secrets in this world, but I’ve never watched someone disappear into thin air.”
I wouldn’t be able to deflect her with a poor lie. Wouldn’t be able to ask her to pardon her curiosity. “I will speak to you as a friend. But will you guard my secret as a friend?”
Her intelligent eyes absorbed my words without reaction.
“Will you take this secret to your grave, Queen Eldinar?”
She continued to sit in silence as she considered the question.
“Even your husband cannot know.” He was the worst person to know.
“I never make a promise I can’t keep, but I’ve never made a promise to withhold knowledge without understanding the significance of that knowledge or its repercussions.” She stared at her hands for a long moment as she seriously considered the situation before her, comprehending the gravity. The silence lasted minutes, not seconds, her intellect at work. Then she lifted her gaze and met my stare. “It’s unwise to make this promise, but I will make it, nonetheless. I suspect you carry this burden alone, and if I don’t carry it with you, no one will.”
Her words elicited emotion from me that I didn’t expect, and my eyes immediately flicked away to recover from the unexpected blow. Her prejudice against me had made me question her faculties, but now there was no doubt she was one of the most intelligent people I’d ever met. “Thank you.”
“I’m ready to listen, Death King.”
I didn’t know where to start. Didn’t want to admit the decision I’d made had been reckless and foolhardy. “You know my father was the King of the Southern Isles. That he was usurped by my uncle. Not really my uncle…because the blood has been diluted over the generations. He used the dark elves who reside in that land to control the dragons we’d lived with peacefully for generations…and took everything from me.” My eyes dropped to the table as I spoke. “He burned each member of my family alive.”
I didn’t know her reaction because my eyes were down, but I suspected her expression hadn’t changed at all. Not because she was heartless, but because she was a monarch who had to face cruelty with a hard face.
“I loved every member of my family. My father. My mother. My sister. My brother…” All of their deaths still hurt me. “But what hurt most of all…” I’d had decades to accept the loss, but no amount of time would make this one better. The guilt wouldn’t allow me to let it go. “They burned my wife…and she was pregnant with my daughter.” I kept my eyes on the table and focused on the texture of the wood to stave off the tears. “I tried to send her away on a ship…but he knew.”
“I’m sorry, Death King.”
“Call me Talon.”
There was a long pause. “Then call me Eldi.”
I lifted my head to look at her.
“It’s what my parents used to call me. How my husband and other close friends address me in private.”
“I—I feel honored.” More honored than I’d ever been.
“Continue your tale, Talon.”
I held her gaze for a moment before I looked down at the table again. “Khazmuda saved me, and over those decades, I spent my time trying to forget what happened. I tried to take my life, but Khazmuda fused with me to spare me. I sailed the seas in the hope everything would just go away, but it never did. No matter how fast I sailed our galleon, I couldn’t outrun my misery.”
She listened with patience and didn’t try to rush me.
“When you’re a pirate, you meet a lot of people in a lot of places. My captain told me a tale of Bahamut, God of the Underworld. He told me where to find him, so I sailed there.”
The tension rose like a fire that was growing in intensity. She said nothing, but the air around her had changed.
I lifted my chin to look at her once more. “I asked him to make me powerful enough to defeat my enemies, to avenge my wife and child…and the rest of my kin. He gave me the ability to command the dead, told me free dragons still existed in the world, and gave me the tools I needed to reach this moment. But it came at a heavy price.”
“Talon…” Her hard confidence disappeared as the sadness flooded her eyes. Disappointment was in her voice, the kind that was heavier than a rain cloud in a storm. “When is this debt owed?”
“Once the battle is finished—whether I win or lose.”
She brought her hands underneath her chin and dipped her head slightly, her mind lost in thought.
“When I disappeared, it was because Bahamut took me. He’s angry that I defended the Great Tree and the God of Caelum when my purpose is to serve him. I made no apologies because I feel no remorse. The dark elves were foul creatures, and they deserved death.”
“They would have been good allies for your war.”
I gave a slight shake of my head. “I’d rather win it the hard way than the easy way.”
“What else did he say to you?”
“I tried to end the agreement and spare my soul, but he won’t let me go.” An invisible power had bound me to him. I couldn’t undo what had been done. And no living creature could undo it. As mighty as Khazmuda was, even he was powerless against a god. “I said I would forfeit the powers he gave me, but he said it was too late.”
“The God of Caelum has shared little of him, but she’s mentioned his unspeakable cruelty.”
A cruelty I would endure for eternity.
“I wish you hadn’t made that deal, Talon.”
“I was in a different place when I made it.” Too depressed to care about anything other than Uncle Barron’s death. I wanted him to burn in Khazmuda’s flames and scream just the way my family had screamed in agony. “But if I hadn’t made it, it wouldn’t have led me here.” It wouldn’t have led me to Calista on that starry night in the middle of the desert.
“You’re in a much different place now because you love again.”
I stared at the table.
“She doesn’t know…”
I shook my head.
“And Khazmuda?”
“No.”
A sorrow as heavy as mine filled her eyes. “Will you tell them?”
“I—I can’t.” I couldn’t tell Calista what was to come. It would destroy her joy and her smile. It would ruin what we had. It would ruin the first happiness I’d felt in a very long time. “I can’t see the look on her face. And Khazmuda…that would kill me.” I wasn’t sure who would be more devastated. “To tell them it’s coming will poison every day we have left together. It’ll be all they think about.”
She gave a slight nod in agreement. “You’re right.”
“I’ll just drop dead, and they’ll never know.”
She lowered her gaze to the table.
“I think it’s best if they never know.” It would be hard enough to lose me, but to know I would spend eternity in an insufferable existence when they couldn’t stop it was far worse. They couldn’t know.
Her eyes remained down.
“I—I loved my wife so much.”
She lifted her chin to look at me.
“I’ll always love her. So, I didn’t expect to ever feel this way for someone.” I didn’t expect to meet a woman who I would care so deeply for. Someone who would heal my wounds and make my heart beat again. Someone I would die for. Just when I touched the sun, just when I felt spring bloom in my heart, it was already dark and winter. “She needs me…and I’m about to abandon her.”