Chapter 15
T he soft breeze tousled Calder’s dark curls and tickled his forehead, urging him into semi-consciousness. It was far gentler than the shrill cry that broke the afternoon air.
The rhythmic crashing of the ocean against the rocky cliffside threatened to return him to sleep, but pain drew him back. His head pounded. His side ached. This time, when Alabaster called, it was fainter… farther away.
In time, with a thunderous clap of the ocean, Calder inhaled. The breath was painful and he curled into himself. One arm wrapped his abdomen while the other pressed into the ground. After a moment, he pushed himself off the carpet of clovers and grass, their luckless little forms crushed as his hands clenched into fists.
The motion of rising to his knees caused his surroundings to bend around him as the memories of how he found himself in this state slowly returned. The tender flesh around his split eyebrow throbbed. The pain was a lightning bolt, pulsing behind his eye and striking through his skull. He rocked back on his heels and brought his hand to his head, drawing fresh blood from the gash.
“Elders’ damned man-eater,” he stuttered out.
Each of his movements was labored and stiff from his time in the elements. He huffed a derisive laugh that Emer had managed to knock him out for so long.
He staggered on his feet, wiping the blood from his ruined brow before it could cloud his vision.
Merrow fucking indeed.
His frustration began to ebb as he recalled how her eyelids flickered from lack of air as she panicked. The horror that overtook her features as he tried to hold her together. He saw it in her eyes. She feared herself as much as she did him at that moment. They were all things he realized too late. A heartbeat before the flash of steel turned everything black.
He sighed.
Tipping his head back, he studied the sun, slowly slipping beneath the sea. The day might be coming to an end, but his hunt was just beginning. His gaze turned from the cliff to the forest. He did not hunt like other men. The white raven called out to him again.
“Yeah. I fuck’n hear you,” he gritted out.
The mere sound of the creature formed tension that settled between the blades of his shoulders like an anchor. He closed both eyes and ignored the throbbing behind them.
Focus.
He pushed his vision away and felt the magic bleed over his eyes like cold water. When he opened them again, the blue was devoured by the deepest of onyx, and the view he had was no longer his own.
From the vantage of the white raven soaring overhead, he could see her path clearly. While Alabaster’s eyes aided him with the vision, his tracking knowledge made sense of the scene as they soared.
The echo of her movements as she ran seemed to lift off of the earth, her small boot prints carved into the forest floor. The large puddle she had bounded through made his lip turn up, confident that she had hissed like a splashed cat in that moment. He could see where she became tangled in a group of yew saplings. More scars for her collection. His jaw worked as he found more evidence of her carelessness. She made no attempt to conceal which direction she had fled in.
Calder released a disapproving tsk.
He wondered if it was because she was too lost in visions of what happened at the cliff, too desperate to escape the keep, or if she did not have the instincts to hide her tracks. He would need to ask her once he found her.
And find her, he would.
The large white abomination in the sky cawed loudly, sounding almost proud at what he had to show the man who looked through his eyes. Calder usually found the creature tiresome, albeit convenient; he could not help but appreciate that the raven seemed to want to keep track of Emer as much as he did.
“Follow her,” Calder demanded.
She needed time to come down from the shock and he needed time to hide the cause. They would be reunited soon enough, but until then, he wanted eyes on her. Either his or Alabaster’s.
His back muscles rolled as he shifted, pulling his sight back. It took more effort than usual. Probably due to the head wound. Alabaster made a noise of dissent.
Judgmental asshole bird.
He’d have flipped the rat-with-wings off if he was a lesser man. With a rumbling growl of resentment, he turned from the tree line and faced the drop-off of the cliff.
The sea had hewn steps into the stone cliff as if his dear friend knew he would need them one day. Peering down, he could see where Dempsey lay broken on the rocks below, just out of reach of the high tide. Causing him problems even in death .
He descended the steps, his boots scratching upon the stones as he went. The constant spray of salt frosted the stairs, the rocks, and the cliff. Not even the brine in the air that rushed towards him could mask the iron tang of blood. The gore that met him as he reached the rocky outcrop at the base was equally as vibrant as the seascape around it. The few placid pools of seawater surrounding Dempsey were thick and shaded with crimson.
As he weighed his options, Calder ran his hands through his hair, damp from the wet breeze. Carrying dead weight up the narrow stairs would be harrowing even if his ribs weren’t bruised and his head wasn’t splitting. He had little interest in joining Dempsey like a broken doll at the base of the cliff. Rubbing his hand against his chest, he spared the corpse another long look. If the man had a soul, the Elder of the Sea would be able to collect him from the waves just as easily as one of the others could the shore.
Crouched over the body, Calder was preparing to drag him to the water when the sound of falling stones caught his attention. His eyes snapped up to the cliff edge to find Banner casually nudging rocks off the edge with his boot.
“You know,” Banner spoke around the rolled skullcap lit between his lips. He pinched it between his fingers, inhaling deeply, before pulling it away.
“Shit like him floats,” he said as he raised his brow conspiratorially.
Calder let out a snort and shook his head. When Banner returned his friend’s smile, smoke curled from his lips.
Calder moved to the cliff’s base and began collecting rocks. He stared up at Banner, who now sat with his legs dangling off the edge as he tipped his head back and exhaled a cloud of thick white smoke.
“You gonna help me?” Calder hollered.
“I did. I suggested the rocks. Besides, I am doing a perimeter check like the good little knight I am,” Banner remarked with a wicked grin as he looked back down to Calder.
“And how are things looking?” Calder groaned as he made his way back to Dempsey.
Banner tilted his head and watched as Calder began stuffing Dempsey’s clothes full of rocks.
“Fuck’n fantastic,” he chuckled, making no attempts to hide his amusement.
Shallow streams from oncoming waves washed across Calder’s boots as he pulled Dempsey’s body to the edge of the rocky shelf. Weighed down and within reach of the sea, Calder stood, stretching his back and neck before taking one final look at the body.
“May what lurks in the dark find you before anyone else,” he mumbled. Planting his foot against the body, Calder knocked it into the frothy surface and the sea greedily accepted the offering. Within moments, the body was lost from sight. He knelt down to one of the uncorrupted pools of water and submerged his hands, quickly turning the water murky. Then, in silence, he scaled the rough stone steps.
“So,” Banner stretched the word as well as Calder’s patience. “Care to share who fucked up your face because methinks it was not him,” Banner asked, tipping his head to the open water.
Calder scowled, and it pulled on the fresh gash. Ignoring Banner, he continued his ascent.
“What did you want to do with this?” There was an air of mischief in Banner’s voice.
Calder stopped mid-step, turning to see the bag he had not previously noticed, resting at Banner’s feet and filled to bursting with Dempsey’s things.
Calder gave him a questioning look before releasing a grunt of approval.
Banner assessed him in kind.
“You thought they were here for her?” he asked, biting back a slight smile when Calder rolled his eyes. “You’re pretty shit at reading ravens,” Banner added as if it was obvious Death had not been here to claim Emer.
Li had often remarked that Calder was, in fact, shit at reading ravens. It was hardly his fault the birds were so damn cryptic.
“Fuck off,” he gritted out, staring off into the tree line.
Banner laughed.
“I’ll just leave this on the beach then, where the Northerners last landed?” he offered without further commenting on Calder’s evident concern for the green-eyed ghost that had been haunting the keep.
Banner slipped his boot through the bag’s strap, bringing it into reach and slipping it over his shoulder.
Its weight drew his tunic away from his neck and revealed the dark ink of his tattoo. A raven immortalized on his chest, its wings stretching across his collar bones and curling over his shoulders.
While many did not make a note of the raven feather tucked into his braids, the tattoo was an unmistakable mark shared by many of the Sea Ravens.
Where Calder wore his wings on his back, Banner had a tally of the souls he sent across the Array. A number no one could be sure of. His companions never saw his back—if anyone else did, it was because they were already dead. Some just didn’t know it yet.
Calder turned to him and nodded before heading back to the keep.
“Why do you never say bye? To your BEST FRIEND!” Banner called across the distance that Calder had quickly created.
Calder’s head ticked to the side and Banner’s dark chuckle carried on the wind.
Calder made his way to the keep’s tenant-in-chief. Kadell was a ruddy-faced man who was one of the few who actually knew why Calder remained at the keep. Calder’s presence and the services he provided were entirely voluntary. Any debts he had to the Isle were paid long ago in the common currency of Sea Ravens—death.
Staying at the keep kept him on the coast, leaving only an ocean between him and the Isle of Rest, home to his mother’s murderer.
While it was not ideal announcing to Kadell his intentions to depart at the same time as Dempsey’s disappearance, Banner’s efforts would sow doubt, and if that failed, Calder’s temper would sow discord—two things Kadell very much disliked and would not be subjected to for the likes of Dempsey.
With a formal release in hand, Calder made his way back to his room, stopping only momentarily to glare at the tree line. The last bit of gold sky streaked over the green canopy. He paused, needing to blink away the memory of Emer’s eyes. It was infuriating that she seemed to be able to distract him despite the distance.
Strange magic.
It took little time for him to collect his belongings. His possessions fit back into the bag he packed them into several years prior. Carefully filing papers into the pages of his books, he tucked the items in tightly and tied off the bag.
Rather than packing his weapons, he slipped into his battle leathers, straps that spread over his chest, back, and shoulders, and began donning his swords, knives, and ax. His body was braced for a fight, and at this point, it was one he welcomed.
The last item he grabbed was the small metal butterfly necklace that he moved from where it had rested amongst the books when he saw Emer toying with it. The pendant of polished iron shined up at him as it sat leaden in his palm. It made the center of his chest burn as it warmed to his own body heat. His mother loved this necklace. With a shake of his head, he stashed the jewelry into his pocket and made his way to the door.
He did not bother glancing back as he left the room. He did not say goodbye as he exited the keep. He was now between the shadow of Obanes and home. The realization that if he returned, he would do so without the answers he left in search of had his fingers searching for the pendant in his pocket once more. They traced over the lines and curves he knew as well as the night sky. If he did return, it wouldn’t be empty-handed.
Not if he returned with her .