45. Evanee
Evanee
Three days at sea on a ship that was so huge and magnificent at first, now felt as tiny as a shield.
Ryker avoided me, I avoided Lyra, while she avoided Brax for some unknown reason.
Everyone was getting a bit touchy after the incident with the sea monster and Ryker throwing that sailor. The sailor was fine, although his arms and legs were now broken but quickly healing, thanks to Veda.
Malachai’s wings were fully functional again, so he and Ryker took turns doing patrols at night.
I overheard Gideon say there was no movement reported by them for miles, which made me grateful on the one hand but nervous on the other.
It was only a matter of time before the Fae King and Aiden made another move.
Whether the Council and Fae King were regrouping or something greater was being planned, no one could know.
My thoughts also drifted to Aniah, hoping that she was okay.
Malachai didn’t speak about her, and I knew it was because it pained him to lose her as soon as he got her back.
Then again, I think I’d rather deal with not seeing Ryker at all than feel like my heart was being sliced with a dagger every time we crossed paths. Which was often on this watery prison.
With my shoulder already healed, I started working on strengthening my wings.
Malachai had given me a few exercises to do with him as he strengthened his own.
I did manage to hover above the water for a solid thirty seconds before I fell, splashing below.
Malachai had to dive in after me—I forgot to shift back, my Gargoyle form too heavy in the water.
It didn’t escape my notice that it gave the crew a good laugh.
I’d been so angry, Malachai bear-hugged me to keep me from lashing out.
I’d been below in my own small quarters when the bell began ringing, and the most beautiful words were being yelled out above.
“Land ahead!”
I ran out so fast I almost didn’t get my boots on all the way. My heart raced at the thought of seeing our lands once more. The mountains—oh, our beautiful mountains surrounded by the sweet-smelling moonflowers. The waterfalls and endless green fields. We were going home.
The moon was bright, and the dark mass of land was visible in the distance.
I ran up, squeezing between Ryker and Malachai, not even caring about my proximity to him. They’d already changed into their forms and were towering over me.
Malachai growled.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Unwanted occupants,” he responded, voice deep.
“It would seem the Fae left behind soldiers and skurs,” Ryker said, his talons turning to fists. “Drop anchor here, captain. We’ll fly ahead,” he demanded.
“I want to go,” I said firmly.
“You can barely hover in the air,” Malachai responded with a side glance at me.
“So leave me if I fall. But let me try.”
Malachai looked to Ryker, who nodded, not sparing me a glance at all, which only made me more resolute in my determination.
I slipped off my tunic, leaving me in the coverlet wrapped around my breasts and leggings, as I transformed between them. The sailors kept their eyes firmly pointed down, some even turning their backs to us, all terrified of ending up like their comrade.
Ryker sheathed his swords. Malachai turned toward me, buckling a sheath onto my back that was made to go around our wings, and placed a lighter sword in it.
“This is lighter than normal steel. But it'll still add weight to your flight,” he said gruffly as he inspected the buckles. I nodded, adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“Don’t come after us if we don’t return. I left you other coordinates in your quarters. Do not speak them aloud in case spies are listening in the waters,” Ryker instructed Gideon, who nodded solemnly.
Malachai pushed off the deck in a powerful thrust, the moon catching his shimmering red form as he spread his wings wide.
Ryker briefly made eye contact with me before doing the same.
“Be careful,” Lyra called as she stood hand in hand with Brax. I offered her a smile, as I took a deep breath, and pushed off the deck.
My back was screaming, every muscle already taut from the movement, but I hadn’t fallen yet as I wobbly flew between Malachai and Ryker.
Our lands were in view, and I gritted my teeth through the pain as I chanted in my head—almost there, almost there, almost there.
We flew silently and swiftly until we finally reached the beach.
I nearly fell face-first into the sand, but Ryker caught my hand as we landed, holding me upright.
I quickly pulled my hand back, stumbling away from him.
The proximity to him was bad enough. Physical contact was a different sort of anguish.
It was eerily quiet. Not even the sound of the waves lapping over rocks reached our ears as we pulled out our weapons. Malachai held a finger to his lips before motioning us forward, and he went to the woods.
It wasn’t easy navigating the trees in our forms, but we had to be ready for anything. Ryker stayed behind me, and every once in a while, goosebumps covered my flesh as I sensed his eyes.
I refused to look.
After a while, we heard them.
Skurs.
Malachai motioned to some cliffs ahead to get a better vantage point. The plan had been for Ryker to be high enough to see how many enemies there were and, hopefully, be able to wipe most of them out with lightning, but we had to be sure none of our people were here.
We climbed the cliffs in silence. My muscles shook, and I lost my footing only to have Ryker catch me.
“I’m fine,” I hissed, pulling away from his touch, his brow creasing.
We made it to the top, where we saw an encampment of Fae with endless rows of tents and a huge cage of skurs in the valley below. Thousands of them. Even from here, we could smell blood and death from shredded carcasses the skurs left scattered.
“Shit,” Malachai breathed as we looked. “There are too many. There’s no way we can safely ascertain that none of our people are there.”
“I can fly closer,” Ryker suggested.
“No!” I snapped on instinct, forgetting my anger with him. “They could see you.” I knew my green eyes were lit just like their eyes were, but Ryker cocked his head to the side.
“Evanee, your eyes—”
Bells rang, shouts erupted, and the skurs’ shrieking had me cover my ears as all three of us tried to figure out what was happening below.
“Well, well, well. I do believe I’ll get a promotion for finding you three,” snarled a Fae soldier who'd snuck up on us from behind.
We all moved to pull our weapons.
“Ah, ah—I wouldn’t do that,” he taunted as he aimed an arrow at Ryker, and two more armed Fae came from behind him.
Ryker took a step back to the cliff edge as thunder boomed overhead.
“We heard about you,” the Fae sneered at him. “What a prize you are for our King.”
Cressida must have come here right after the fight and warned them to watch for us. Stupid. So stupid for us to think we could come home. My eyes darted side to side, assessing each threat as I took a defensive crouch.
Malachai moved impossibly fast.
He dove after the Fae in front of him, dodging his arrow before tackling him to the ground and slicing the male’s throat out with his talons, the flesh landing with a wet thump near my feet.
In the split second of distraction, Ryker unsheathed his swords and threw one at the other Fae, the blade lodging in the soldier’s gut, then sliced off the head of the leader, blood spraying all over us.
“We need to get back to the ship. Now,” Ryker growled.
My back ached at the thought of having to get back into the sky so soon, but Malachai and I nodded our agreement.
“I need a minute,” I said.
“I’ll carry you—we need to go.” Ryker stepped toward me, and I shook my head, stepping back.
“No, I’ll only slow you down. Just go, I’ll be behind you.”
He gritted his teeth, but he and Malachai got into the air, hovering as they waited for me. I grumbled under my breath, wishing they’d just leave—but of course they were too damn chivalrous for that.
I worked my wings, feeling the strain burn through them, like my muscles were about to snap clean off bone.
But just as I pushed to rise, movement below caught my eye. The Fae wheeled out some twisted contraption, a bolt as large as an Empyrean locked in place—aimed straight at Ryker.
Everything happened at once.
I called their names, but the crack of released wood swallowed my voice.
Panic seized me, sharp and merciless, as the spear screamed through the air toward them.
It moved too fast, yet time slowed.
One heartbeat, I shouted his name—the next, something inside me tore wide open.
Something that had been lurking there just out of reach for a long time.
Shadows and darkness exploded out of me, shrouding the land and all in it, blocking my view of Ryker and Malachai and whether or not that spear hit its mark.
I screamed in rage, and another wave tore loose—this one born not of fear for them, but of something darker clawing up from inside my soul.
As the shadows swept out across the realm, I felt it take hold—it choked the life from every Fae and skur in its reach, until nothing remained but silence and the cold bite of death settling over the realm, trapping my soul within the darkness I’d unleashed.