38. Leela
LEELA
Leela clutched the ship’s edge and stared at the horizon on the fifth morning.
The further they ventured, the warmer the air swirling over the dunes.
Ripples of ridges and mountains spread before her in red shadows, aglow each morning underneath the pale moonslight before it disappeared.
Every now and again, Leela was lucky enough to see the giant bones sticking out of the ground.
Arched ribcages or smooth skulls with giant eyeholes staring back at her.
Fingers split the sand as the dead Flames grasped the ground.
Most of the bones were stained red or buried below ground. But sometimes she would spot them in the distance. A constant reminder of what the Flames had lost to destroy the monsters.
“I haven’t seen you around,” Hema said. “I knocked on your door a few times, but you didn’t seem to be there. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Leela said, refusing to look at Hema.
She didn’t want to talk to anyone about how her body worked.
Most people didn’t believe her. Others just sat there and judged her, and that made her all the more panicked about it.
It was one thing to have a hormonal condition.
It was another to have to be in an unsupportive society when it occurred and have no escape.
“Are you sure? I’m happy to sit and listen,” Hema offered.
Leela gazed at the woman, the tiny black flecks in her eyes looking like constellations against the dark brown.
She liked Hema. Leela might admit she was beautiful, and under different circumstances, she might have wondered if Hema would be interested in something more.
But she didn’t have time to mess around with anyone, not when her head was a mess with Rajesh, the Viperess, and the Scorpion.
“Thanks.” Leela sighed and forced a smile. “But I’m okay. Really.”
“If you want to pick up where we left off, just let me know,” Hema said, nibbling on her bottom lip. “I wanted to be a teacher before I became a Vessel, you know. So I was really excited when Rajesh told me to personally train you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Anyway, I’m going to get something to eat. Do you want some food?”
“I’m okay, thank you.” Leela hadn’t had much of an appetite for the last week, and she was almost too scared to eat now. “You go on ahead.”
Hema smiled and then walked away.
Leela turned back to the dunes that looked like pregnant bellies and watched as they sped past them.
The air grew hotter; she could tell they were making their way north across the Southern Deserts, the red sand turning yellow the further they reached the center.
She had studied the giant map in her village’s room, the five continents slathered with oceans of all kinds.
The desert island was divided into three parts, with Nihikia sitting right on the edge of the Southern Desert, and Kithium sat on the northern parts.
Jhuna Rin was their third desert kingdom, situated further west. If she were to look at it on the map, the desert kingdoms were like a messy circle, split into three uneven parts while the storm blazed in the center.
“You look like you need a drink,” Rajesh said.
Leela looked over her shoulder as he approached. His black shirt billowed in the air, his soft mop of hair waving over his steady gaze. He held a dusty green bottle toward her.
Her gaze jumped between his and the bottle in his hands. “Fine. Thank you.” Leela grabbed it and sniffed the contents. A creamy, butterscotch smell hit her, and she crinkled her nose. “Actually, no thanks.”
“Not a fan of whiskey?” He took the bottle back with a smirk etched in the corners of his mouth. He tilted his head back, bottle to his lips, and downed a good mouthful.
The bulge in his neck showed the scar she’d left on his skin. She turned away.
“No. Not a drinker, really.”
“I remember a few times when we’d sneak a few.” Rajesh leaned over the railing.
Leela searched her mind for something else to say. She didn’t have time to draw on the old memories between them. Not after what she’d done.
“When will we find the monsters?” Leela asked. “We’ve traveled far enough.”
“At this time of the year, most of the monsters drive further south. Toward the waters and Kithium borders, to find sanctuary between the mountains,” Rajesh said. “Be glad we haven’t run into more.”
“What sort have you killed?” She glanced around the ship to make sure no one was nearby and leaned into Rajesh. “Or rather, made? How does it work?”
Rajesh dragged a hand over his face and heaved a sigh. “I had a feeling you were going to ask that.”
“Does that mean you’ll tell me?”
Rajesh shuffled closer, his whiskey breath hot against her face.
Leela stilled, refusing to let it affect her.
“There is the furybeast, which, by the name, makes sense,” Rajesh said.
“Born of fury. Then there are the drakion, which are wilder emotions, like splits of happiness or sadness. Emotions I can’t quite change but happen every day.
Then, the gullomer, which is when I’m guilty of something.
The soulkisser, which is when I might feel high spits of anxiety. ”
Leela frowned. She understood the others, but the name of the last monster made no sense.
Rajesh caught hold of her expression. “Anxiety sucks out your soul, right? The thoughts that are forever going? Tearing parts of your soul apart?”
Leela understood. She also understood that the angstent was born of anger. “And then the lustisha, born from heartache.”
Rajesh refused to move his gaze away from hers. “Lust and heartache sort of go hand in hand. And heartache creates the biggest monsters of all.”
Leela sucked in a breath, her pulse thundering in her ears as she saw how the words impacted Rajesh in that moment. She almost tumbled, losing her hold on the railing. She caught herself and righted her footing, a blush riding her cheeks.
Rajesh raised a brow. “You okay, damiji?”
“Yeah. Fine. Just… weak,” she said, fumbling for an excuse for how he looked at her.
His brow raised higher, then lengthened into a smirk. “I don’t ever remember making your legs weak.”
Leela shoved him, and he chuckled. “My legs work perfectly fine, thank you.”
“Oh, I’m aware.” His chuckle deepened.
Her cheeks burned. “Can’t you just control it?”
“My words or…? You know I can’t pass up an opportunity to taunt you, damiji. You squirm easily.”
“Your emotions.”
Rajesh snorted. “You don’t think I try? To control emotions in my profession? It’s quite hard to do, really, damiji. Have you ever tried?”
Leela turned away. She thought of the last week and the sort of monsters her emotions would have made. She had no control over it.
“I understand,” Leela said. “Emotions, bad. Monsters, bad. You… bad.”
He smirked. “Am I?”
“Yes.”
A strange glint nestled in his eye, and Leela mentally prepared for what he was about to say. She didn’t like where this conversation was heading, especially with how close he was, with the whiskey hanging off his tongue.
He leaned closer, lips brushing her ear. “How about we give that theory a try…?”
Leela flushed. “What happened to hating each other? I thought we made it clear—”
“Yeah, and then I realized that it’s kind of hard to do when my emotions need to be leveled,” Rajesh said. “It’s best I keep hatred from my system. One way to stop that is with this—” He shook the bottle in his hand.
She was about to respond when the ship rocked, and her vision swayed. She was smacked against the railing, her hip ricocheting against wood.
Rajesh jolted, crashing into her. He steadied her as the ship groaned and bucked.
“Shit,” Rajesh said. Snapping around, he unsheathed his godsblade.
Leela steadied herself against the railing and gasped.
When her vision cleared, she noticed darkened skulls and fingers breaching the surface, and a horde of skeletons, some with weapons gleaming in the sun, thundered toward the ship.
Others charged with jaws wide, screams splitting the air.
Skeletons hauled themselves over the sands, one by one, until there were hundreds scattered across both sides of the ship.
“Shit,” she said.
Rajesh straightened and cursed. “Get everyone up here! We’ve hit the Haunted Sands!”
Haunted Sands…?
Leela’s heart raced, beating against her ribcage.
The Gilded Thorns grabbed weapons. Others ran below deck.
The whirring of cannons sounded, and moments later, they fired balls into the mass of bones.
Despite them being skeletons, they were stealthy, movements agile as if they were covered in muscle.
Animals emerged. Bats, Tigers, Foxes, and Hawks. Each formed a Flame and attacked the skeletons.
Someone grabbed Leela’s arm and turned her around. Rajesh shook his head at her, giving her a stern look.
“Get below the deck,” Rajesh ordered. “We can deal with this.”
“I can fight,” Leela argued. “Not well, but I can!”
Rajesh tilted his head. “I don’t have time to protect you and worry about my crew.”
She ripped her arm out of his grip. “I can take care of myself. I’ve been doing it for so long anyway.”
A vein popped in Rajesh’s neck, and she knew it took everything inside him to agree.
“Fine,” he said. “But use a jawblade.”
Leela nodded and bolted off to the weapons rack on the other side of the deck.
Hollow skulls leered back at Leela from across the sands.
Skeletons climbed aboard the ship. She knew before the Flames split the realms apart that the mortals had their own monsters in their world.
The skeletons were representations of all the souls lost to the sands near the Kithium border.