Chapter Thirty Eight
In the Midst Of Lies
???
Birlissus Ocean, Loros.
Kyra.
A cascade of bubbles escaped Kyra’s mouth as she unleashed a horrified gurgled scream. Kawai’s blood instantly stained the clear water, so much so that she thought she might choke on the metallic taste of it.
Without thinking, Kyra threw herself through the plume of red and plunged her dagger into the mer’s grey, bony back, right between the shoulder blades.
But it was not fatal.
The creature screeched, unlatching her teeth from Kawai as her own black, oily blood spilled from the wound. The mer thrashed, taking Kyra with her as she held onto the dagger, desperate to draw her as far away from Kawai as possible.
Pain seared through her as the mer’s sharpened claws ripped open her shoulder. The mer bucked again and Kyra was thrown off her back, wrenching her dagger out. More blood seeped into the water and the mer writhed, her wound now openly bleeding.
With the mer consumed by her own agony, Kyra swam down toward Kawai.
Unconscious and slumped against the tomb’s doorway, his body swayed above the human bones of those who had suffered the same fate at the hands of another, if not the same, outlawed mer.
Kyra looped an arm through Kawai’s and kicked off the ocean floor, bones crunching beneath her feet. His heavy head lolled onto his chest, trailing thick blood behind them like a smear of paint as Kyra desperately propelled them toward the surface.
Blinding pain seared her leg.
Kyra looked down to see the mer’s face, contorted with frenzied rage. One of her hands was wrapped tight around her ankle, those talon-like claws pierced so deep into her flesh, she was sure they’d scraped bone.
With a great shove, Kyra pushed Kawai into the water above her, then swiped mercilessly at the mer’s face with her dagger.
The tip caught her right eye and she screeched, wrenching her claws from Kyra’s ankle and covering her face with both hands as black blood spurted from beneath her bony fingers.
There was no rhythm to the mer’s attacks. No careful planning, no strategic movements.
She was a wild animal, turned feral by the scent of Kawai’s blood.
And Kyra was going to kill her.
The mer was blinded in one eye now. But still she did not back down. Her face turned uglier, her screeches angrier. And when she beat her tail once more, angling her strong, lithe body to attack, Kyra knew exactly what to do.
The mer darted for her, jaws open and ready to perforate her skin with sharpened, black teeth. Kyra rolled in the water, barrelling herself into the mer’s ribcage. Claws sliced at her back, shredding clothes and skin alike, but Kyra held fast, her body wrapped around the mer’s like a blanket.
Just as she could feel that great powerful tail readying to beat again, she struck her dagger into the mer’s back.
Exactly where she knew her heart to be.
The creature relinquished another shriek as death swiftly came for her.
She slumped, dead, and her heavy body weighed Kyra down all the way to the ocean floor.
She kicked and punched the mer’s corpse until she was free, suddenly keenly and painfully aware of the insistent burning in her lungs.
She reached for Kawai, who had almost fallen to the seabed himself, and slung his arm over her shoulders once more, wrapping her own around his waist.
Pain and exhaustion plagued every inch of her body, and she may have been bleeding as much as Kawai was now.
Relentlessly she pushed through the bloody water, legs moving as fast as they could. She tried not to notice that Kawai’s head was lolling on his chest, focusing every morsel of concentration on the water above that was lightening, the moonlit sky that was just a few metres away-
She was going to make it. She had to. For Kawai. She had to make it.
Her lungs burned as though she’d inhaled acid. Three metres now.
Dark shadows swarmed her vision. Her head pounded with each kick of her feet. Two metres.
Her heart was slowing. She was slowing.
No… just a little further-
Her legs stopped working. The shadows became thicker, threatening to drag her from consciousness.
A hand wrapped around her wrist.
Had another mer come back to finish them off now she was weakened? Now they were almost dead anyway?
The hand was soft. The pads of their fingertips were gentle on her skin.
Lifeforce flooded back into her body. The heaviness on her entire body was lifting. But how? Was she not still under water? There was no air in her lungs, yet the darkness that had almost ensnared her was fading.
The hand was blue. And it was pulling her up. Toward the sky.
???
Wehyna, Loros.
Naal.
There was a chunk of flesh missing from Kawai’s left shoulder, blood coating his neck, face and torso. If Naal could not see and hear the steady, albeit laboured sound of his breath, she might have thought he was dead.
Kyra lay motionless next to him. She too was covered in blood, though her wounds did not appear as potentially fatal as Kawai’s. Her ankle was undoubtedly the worst; she would not be able to walk until tended by a great healer. The scratches and cuts all over her body were, thankfully, shallow.
Naal watched the young nymph girl at work over Kawai’s body. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her hands splayed over his chest, one over each lung, Naal presumed, as she syphoned the copious amounts of water from his lungs. A rather admirable piece of magic that even a mer could not perform.
Kano knelt by her side, his gaze flickering between the brother he could not remember, and the nymph twin. Her name, Naal had learned through the Water Warden’s surprised outburst upon seeing her outside Eko’s door, was Akraia.
Her surly twin sister stood behind them, arms folded tight across her chest.
Akraia's eyes flew open. ‘I think I’ve done it,’ she said fearfully, peering into Kawai’s face. ‘I expected him to wake when all the water was all out.’
‘You saved him from certain death,’ Naal said gently. ‘but he has still suffered greatly. He will need a true healer to gain consciousness.’
Akraia nodded, then looked to Kyra. ‘And what of-’
At that precise moment, Kyra gave a great splutter. Water trickled out her nose and mouth as she heaved herself onto her side. ‘Kawai,’ she breathed, reaching for his paled face. ‘Is he dead?’
There was pending despair in her croaking voice.
‘He is alive, Kyra,’ Naal said quickly, before she could work herself into a state. ‘You both are, thanks to Akraia and Akeria here.’
Kyra blinked up at Akraia. ‘It was your hand that pulled me up?’
The nymph nodded again.
‘Thank you,’ Kyra said breathlessly, laying her head back on the sand. ‘I thought we…’
‘What happened, Kyra?’ Naal said, sharper than intended.
A singular tear ran down Kyra’s cheek as she looked at Kawai. ‘We… we couldn’t sleep. Went for a swim. Got attacked by an outlawed mer.’
‘We found them just past the Lorish border, not far from the Birlissus reef,’ Akeria said shortly, shooting Kano a glance.
Something in Naal’s stomach plummeted. ‘The reef?’ she repeated, staring at Kyra. ‘That is… quite the swim.’
The Earth Warden said nothing. Naal could not shake the feeling that she was determinedly avoiding her eyes. Though perturbed, she pressed on, ‘We must hasten for Phaenon immediately. I fear if we wait until dawn, Kawai’s condition will worsen. Maida will be able to set him to rights.’
Kano suddenly found his voice. ‘You two need to leave,’ he said firmly, though he spoke only to Akraia. ‘If the kingsguard finds you on Lorosi lands-’
‘We know the risks, Kano,’ Akraia said boldly. ‘We knew them before we came.’
Her sister said none too softly, ‘Raia took one look at the man and knew he was your blood. Apparently saving him was worth the risk.’
‘Thank you,’ Kano said straight away, but he was looking at the sister now. ‘Akeria… thank you.’
Akeria held his gaze for a moment, then shrugged.
‘Eko,’ Naal greeted the waterling woman as she hustled over to them wrapped in a shawl.
In Lorosi, she said, ‘Could you part with your boat? I will endeavour to replace it as soon as I am able.’ The poor woman’s face blanched as she saw the copious amounts of blood staining the white sand, but she nodded fervently without uttering a word, moving to drag her boat into the water for them.
‘Kano, help Eko with the boat. Akraia, Akeria, can you carry Kawai between you?’
The physical strength of a nymph far surpassed a human, bordering that of a fae’s.
The girls nodded too, Akeria less enthused than her sister, but they both moved to lift Kawai from the sand nonetheless.
Naal sent a whirl of weightless air around Kyra’s ankle and helped her to her feet. ‘Thank you,’ she mumbled, still averting her gaze as she limped with Naal to the boat.
It was not quite how she had imagined going back home with another Warden successfully in tow. But alas, these things rarely went to plan.
More so when Kyra was involved, she wryly observed.
The nymphs laid Kawai in the boat, and with Naal’s help, Kyra sat next to him, her eyes glued to his face.
Akeria was already wading back into the water, but Akraia lingered by the boat next to Kano. ‘I didn’t think I would see you again,’ the nymph said quietly. A tint of rose blushed over her blue cheeks.
Kano seemed unable to look directly at her. ‘I…’ He cleared his throat. ‘I hope it’s not the last time.’
‘Me too,’ she replied earnestly.
Ah. The nymph had pulled on his heartstrings it would seem. Naal wished she could have given him more time to say goodbye. ‘Kano,’ she said, a gentle reminder that time was of the essence.
Glancing at her, Kano nodded nervously a few times, his feet shifting beneath him. He turned back to Akraia. ‘Goodbye, then.’
Akraia’s face dropped as he clambered into the boat.
Naal wrung Eko’s hands with her own, and said in her language, ‘Thank you, Eko. I can never repay you for your hospitality. And I will never forget your kindness, nor the risk you have taken in aiding us.’
Eko’s answering smile was watery as she said, ‘I am honoured, Air Warden, by you and the Water Mother for blessing me with this task. You need not ever repay me.’
With a gust of her wind, Naal pushed the boat into the water, then hopped in herself, occupying the space in the aft. Akraia’s head still bobbed on the surface, watching them as Naal guided them out to deeper water.
The wild, quick pounding of a heart filled Naal’s ears. She frowned at Kano, wondering why the scent of adrenalin had suddenly filled the air-
She wasn’t the only one who had noticed. ‘Kano,’ Kyra said softly. He turned to look at her. ‘Tell her.’
His breath dragged unsteadily. ‘What?’
‘Tell her,’ Kyra repeated, then gave him a knowing smile, her eyes still wet. ‘You’ll regret it if you don’t.’ Naal could have sworn her grip on Kawai’s limp hand tightened.
Blowing out a breath as though steeling himself to jump off a cliff, Kano leaned over the side of the boat and shouted, ‘Akraia!’
‘Yes?’ the nymph instantly cried back, as though she’d been awaiting his call.
Kano’s heart was surely reaching dangerous levels of beating as he blurted, ‘I love you!’
Akraia’s answering gleeful little laugh carried across the water like the tinkling of a wind chime. ‘I love you too!’
Akeria’s head appeared behind her, still and watching. Akraia waved, then both sisters dove back under the water.
Dazed in a way that only young love could make a person, Kano sat back down, and as he caught Kyra’s eye, the grin he gave her was nothing short of triumphant.
She returned it, but there was a cold sadness in her earthy eyes. Exhaustion plagued her; it radiated like an extreme heat. ‘You should sleep, Kyra,’ Naal said. ‘Allow your body to rest. It will be hours before we reach the Frozen Tides.’
Kyra rolled her neck and said tightly, ‘I’m fine.’
It wasn’t just that she was avoiding her eyes… it was that her demeanour was entirely hostile. Angry, even.
A thick unease began to settle on Naal’s heart, though she could not quite figure out why. ‘So be it,’ she replied coolly.
After warning both Earth and Water Warden to hold on tight to Kawai and the boat, Naal sped them away as fast as she could fly, holding onto the prospect of feeling the homely crunch of snow beneath her feet very soon.