Chapter 43
S O R E N
T he moon is barely a sliver in the sky. Heavy clouds cover the stars, a rumbling in the distance that promises a storm. The ship sways more with taller swells. I’m up on deck, my armor fastened, my weapons sharpened, Jane’s blade at my thigh. My mask remains an extension of me, sensing out the peninsula just ahead. I can’t quite pinpoint the exact sensation, but it’s as if right ahead contains a massive amount of energy.
And Jane is there.
Oh, her feisty, determined heart is so much clearer, as if I could reach out and touch her.
I’m so fucking ready to get her home.
It’s absolutely silent on deck. The men that remain are all here to either die in glory, searching to keep their families safe, or are creatures of pure fucking madness.
None of us are noble men, and yet here we all are trying to save the Balar Coasts.
I’ve felt Misery’s powers too intimately to not at least attempt cutting off this poison before it seeps into our world. If he can affect me so greatly when he’s weak, him at full strength, with an entire cult behind him, would ruin everything .
This is even for my mother. A woman I wrote a letter to, handing to the men that remained behind. For my sister, wherever she is. A better world is never something one can hope will materialize, or stumble upon.
Corruption is a permanent sickness that we have to physically cull, and nothing is achieved without sacrifice.
I cannot leave this world knowing I failed two people that I love. And Jane has fought so fucking hard—chills wash over me as I think of what she’s done. She has to know we’re trying. That we didn’t forget about her, not for a single moment.
Someone climbs down from the crow’s nest, my gaze lowering slightly to peer at the blackness of the sea. “We spotted flickering fire in the distance, sir! Probably best to anchor here.”
Liam strolls the deck, peering around as if he can read details in the wind. “Let’s lower the anchors!”
My heart pounds, as it’s happening. Our success, or failure, will be unveiled very shortly. And I am not leaving that peninsula with failure; I will either return to this ship with Jane or die on that soil.
Turning around, I address my men. “Move to the edges!”
I pass by Liam, who gives me a nod. “I wish you fair winds, Zenith.”
“Be ready for us,” I reply.
There’s a tunnel vision one gets; at least, I know I do. I have a role to perform, and a task to achieve. Nothing else matters.
I move among the others as we near a gate the crew unlatches, everyone shouting at each other to increase our energy.
Ritter and his followers, along with mine and Basilisk, all stand and wait. Rorge is the only one to remain, along with a few that are either sick or otherwise incapable of joining.
Ritter no longer has his long coat, and looks more like the mercenary I heard legends of. His energy finally vibrates with consistency; he’s not only going to save his daughter, but finally claim his revenge.
“Do not fight the waters!” I shout. “The sirens are in there! Let your body sink and they will find you!”
I near the opening, ready to be the first to jump. I can barely see the swells that rock the ship, and even harder to spot are a few heads poking above.
The sirens.
It’s officially time.
It feels entirely wrong to willingly jump overboard into an ocean so vast and powerful, but I’m so fucking ready for this.
Stepping out, my body is weightless as I plunge below, tensing as I fall into the icy waters, my body sinking with this heavy armor. As I hold my breath, hands grip me from all over, a few blurry sirens in my face, a small glowing orb tied around their necks and floating around their heads. One shoves something into my mouth, my body seizing as salt water enters my nostrils and lungs, swallowing the thick, globby mess. It’s a substance that has to mix with the ocean water as it’s consumed, and once it’s down my throat, my body thrashes at the new sensation, gasping only to inhale water.
The sensation of drowning morphs into something almost pleasant, the pressure of the water eventually comforting. My throat burns on the outside, and I raise a hand to feel water suck in and push out from gills in my neck. My vision even sharpens. The frigid water is now refreshing. Two sirens keep me afloat as men drop through like pebbles, all sinking until sirens are among them and administering the transformation they need, the men thrashing until their bodies also adjust.
The sirens glide through the waters like the most elegant marine life, their hair effortlessly floating, swishing, and swirling. I’m handed a rope with leather around the handles, and a siren takes the other end as she begins to swim, pulling me forward. “We made these for your men, to make it easier to hold.”
My eyes widen at the sensation of being pulled underwater without fear of drowning; it’s such a weightless relief. The rope is long enough that I’m not directly in her wake, but I can feel the ripples of her tail.
The rest follow as we’re guided through the darkness of the ocean. I can’t even really tell that there are large swells above, or that a storm brews.
I glance back at the belly of Storm’s Fury, barely visible in this darkness. I can sense that Ritter and Basilisk are close behind, along with Bones. There’s a whole fucking armada of us being pulled to Ashfire, arriving under the guise of a storm.
The pulse of their collective energy grows more profound the closer we get, every one of their ripples a beacon of who is in the way of Jane. The razing of this place will be a message that if Jane’s targeted, they’re inviting my wrath.
And let this also be the clearest message to anyone even thinking about supporting Misery. He may be the god whose powers I use, but he wouldn’t be the first sire I sought to slay.
The initial excitement slowly ebbs into uncertainty, as there’s no marker for where we’re at. No indication that we’re actually making progress.
It’s for a long time that we swim like this.
At some point, I swear I can see the bottom without much transition; it’s concerning at first, thinking something from below was rising to us. Glancing up, I can see the waves above are no longer big swells but the smaller, collapsing ones with white peaks.
My heart thrums in my chest, my attention focusing. Breathing deeply, I ready myself for all the pain that will come, for the endurance I must call forth.
The depth of the oceans thins even more until the shoreline is upon us. My siren releases her rope, flipping in the water and moving like a snake to put her face in mine. “Walk out onto the shore, and the gills will be removed as soon as they touch air. The water from your lungs will spill out. Magic will remove it, so do not worry. It will be very uncomfortable, but temporary. You will not feel the effects of being cold once on land, either. This protection will last until your clothes are dry.”
“Understood.”
The discomfort means very little to me, not when Jane has faced so much. Not when Anya was tortured before dying.
The siren guides me until my feet touch the ocean floor, my leather boots walking over pressed sand. My head peaks through the waves, the salty ocean still filling my lungs. As soon as I intake the air, water pours from the gills, and I hurry forward to try and reach the beach. Saltwater drains from my mouth, nearly vomiting at one point until I gasp for air that feels just as clean as when my lungs filled with saltwater, choking and spitting out the last remnants of the ocean.
I stare up at the looming, craggy cliffs, and then higher still is the castle above, the ocean waves pushing against my body.
I can feel Jane.
Nearly laughing, I knew I’d fucking find a way into this land. That humor is quickly replaced by a growl as I trudge toward the shore, periodically glancing over my shoulders. Whatever moonlight breaks through barely touches the heads of the other men that surface.
The clouds rumble.
I near the man closest to me, pointing toward an alcove as water drains out of my vambraces. “We make for there once we all drain our armor. No speaking unless to spread the word.”
Water drips off of me like I’m a creature of the ocean, and nothing about this peninsula feels like a threat. They really don’t know, do they? We swiftly remove our armor once we’re able, clearing out any fluids that will weigh us down, reattaching it just as quickly, as practiced.
I don’t focus on what time has passed, only knowing that Jane is so fucking close and I won’t mess this up by rushing. And as soon as we’re out of here, if I’m still with her, we’re removing that fucking ruby in her skin. It’s just like with Ritter, where I can tell it’s him , but there’s no color to the aura, no crevices that emotions are hidden within. My mask only allows me to sense general emotions, not the complexities of Jane.
With as much love…
My teeth grind as there’s so much worship for Misery here that it nearly drowns her out.
They picked the wrong god to obsess over.
Basilisk approaches my side, running a hand over his wet hair. “I want you to stay close to Ritter in this,” I say. “He’s not in his prime, and I want Jane to see her father after this is all done. Ensure he doesn’t get killed.”
“Babysitting the Scorpion,” he comments, tilting his head side to side to get the water out. “What a task.”
I motion for everyone to get closer, a wall of men surrounding me. Once we’re all accounted for, I say, “We spare only children, possibly families that want nothing to do with us. Anyone with a red robe is to be killed under any circumstances necessary. Any person wearing armor is to be killed. And if you see Blackwell or Jesper, we want them alive .” I take a small pause, to ensure they hear me. “We might just be the very thing that stops Misery from ruining us all . Don’t forget that.” Clinking spreads as shoulders bump together in unison. “It’s time to fucking ruin these people.”
A quiet hum of approval spreads through the four dozen that are here. As we discussed, I move first, striding along the rocky wall as we form a line. Rounding an edge, the small outpost with a giant bell on one of Liam’s maps is far ahead, a bell that is no doubt to be rung if anything peculiar is spotted. A fire burns inside the building; a few braziers are lit around the surface of the stairs.The image of nearly fifty men rising out of the ocean’s water is pretty fucking abnormal, and yet everything is silent; calm—save for the irritable clouds. I can feel a man is in that outpost, but his attention is extremely bare.
I turn behind me, searching for Bones’s energy before motioning for him to come closer. “I’ll go alone. Come if I call the signal or shout for your name.”
“Can-fucking-do,” he says, the pent-up rage finally singing smoothly inside him like the serenade of death. He’s almost giddy at this.
I commit and move forward as quickly as possible, while staying low, pausing periodically to sense the man out; blank, again. Once I’m upon the stairs, I peer up, tilting my head to the side. I know I’m visible with the firelight, so I need to move quickly.
Placing a foot on the stairs to gauge the noise it makes, it creaks just enough that I bolt up, skipping steps, barging in as the guard is on his feet with a bottle of liquor in his lap. Pure terror seizes him, and I’m sure the mask I wear nearly makes him shit his pants.
He stumbles for the bell, but I unsheathe Jane’s dagger and hold it at his throat as my other hand clasps over his mouth. “Answer a question, and I’ll consider making this less painful.”
He doesn’t move.
“Where are the fire mages located?”
He tries to speak through my hand, and I gently lift my fingers as he shakily stammers out, “Inland. Near the outer battlements. There’s a tall statue?—”
“Where are they from here ?”
“Up that path, head through the gates, then it’s a long walk east, right at the base of the castle. Their buildings are right on the cliff’s edge.”
Perfect.
Jane’s blade slides through his neck. His blood fills the grooves of the roses, and I help him down onto the floor without making much of a sound before cleaning the blade on his clothes. First barrier is out of the way.
I slowly move back to the line of mercenaries waiting on me, motioning for us to continue forward. We move along the walls of the cliffs, just as the map indicated, until they drastically reduce to reveal a dirt road, firelight more clear now in the distance as we can see smoke.
Now that is a full camp, and the shadows of night can no longer shield us there. I lift my gaze up to the tall tower still visible from here, where I can feel her . To the castle where I know Anya took her last breath, and where Jane fights for survival.
I come to a stop and get in Bones’s ear. “The mages are exactly where we saw. We need to move past this and keep going. Should be dark up ahead, then we climb the cliffs.”
We both touch each other’s shoulders, and connect our gazes with a small nod, before I move forward and start the procession.
There was one building on the maps that was labeled as an apartment, one of the only ones along the cliff walls with no battlements. To which I brought rope and a grapnel. We’ll climb the rocks to reach the blankest room that I can sense out, and infiltrate from there.
My heart pounds so hard, and yet it’s alive with so much purpose.
One by one, we all cross into the darker path in this coverage of night, not an ounce of suspicion in these lands.
I’m here, Jane.