7
Kora
Cadell! Stand back!”
“I am standing back.” Erick’s smooth tone wrapped around Kora’s mind, coaxing her from the depths of slumber.
“I mean it. Get any closer and I will use this weapon,” the familiar voice threatened.
“I’m five feet away, as per the rules, Garvan.
” Frost coursed through Erick’s reply, and Kora shivered, slowly sitting up.
Agatha hovered behind Erick, her curled, knobbly hands resting on his back.
He’d put on Blake’s jerkin, the leather stained and reeking from waste, and it barely tied around his wide chest.
Kora’s gaze swung to the cell entrance. Blue-steel armour covered Garvan’s body, and his shining bald head blazed in the sombre red torchlight. Not one hair graced his face, and those once kind brown eyes had hardened, as well as his clenched fists.
“If you make any moves, don’t think I won’t kill you where you stand, traitor.” Garvan gestured to the huge sword strapped to his back.
Erick sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We do this dance every morning, Garvan. I promise I won’t touch you.”
Garvan grunted. “Tell that to the guard you put in the infirmary last week.”
Kora’s ears pricked and her lips curved.
She’d barely survived a week in this hell, yet somehow Erick was thriving.
Garvan stepped back, allowing two meek looking guards to shuffle in, holding a metal tray each.
Disappointment weighed heavy that neither of them were Ivar.
They donned the original Talmon Empire uniform, with their lances abandoned, propped against the railing of the spiral walkway.
Kora shifted, ready to pounce for the weapons.
The two guards sneered at Erick, spitting at his blackened feet, before dropping the trays onto the floor.
Cups of water rattled, and Kora’s throat burned, her organs screaming for it.
The secondary tray had a singular bowl of gruel, and three stale sea-biscuits.
Her gaze darted between the water and weapons, her mind warring between the two.
“Filthy traitor,” one guard leered at Erick, whilst the other taunted Agatha, poking her shoulder. She cringed away, hiding behind Erick as he raised a protective arm, shielding her. He caught Kora peeking over the den, noticing her stare sliding to Garvan, and he ever-so-slightly shook his head.
An imperceptible no.
“Enjoy it while it lasts,” Garvan huffed, slamming the door shut after the guards, before sauntering away. “Your vacation will be over soon.”
Erick collected the trays, carrying them over to the den and Agatha promptly followed, her chin raised defiantly as Kora helped her sit back down.
“Here, have mine.” Erick offered Kora two cups of water, and she paused, glancing to his body, realising why he was covered in bruises and a small ember of anger ignited.
Despite maintaining his muscular frame, she could tell his strength was waning.
“I’ll be fine, I can survive a day without water. ”
“What have they been doing to you?” Kora whispered, as she held the cups of water in her hands. The cool metal jolted her skin, and she stared down at the ripples of liquid in almost disbelief.
“What the empire does best,” Agatha replied, and sipped her water. “Destroying everything that you are.”
Erick’s jaw ticked. “They see me as a rebel now, a Galen sympathiser.”
The fire wrenching Kora’s body became too much, and she gulped a cup of water in one mouthful, beads of liquid dribbling from her lips. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand with a moan, as it blissfully quenched her throat.
Erick’s face pinched as Kora grabbed the second cup. “Take it easy and sip it. There won’t be any more until tomorrow.”
She faltered, irritation flashing at his paternal manner.
She wasn’t sure if she could ever accept him back into her life, whether as a friend, or her adoptive father.
The betrayal ran too deep, and although she could trust him within the confines of a cell, where survival was paramount in the heart of the enemy, she wasn’t sure if she could trust Erick out there.
“Isn’t that what you are now, a rebel? Haven’t you switched sides?” Kora croaked, her vocal cords rubbing together, and she took another sip, relishing it.
Silence pulsed, Erick’s stare flattening as he gauged her.
“Kora, I’m so sorry. I can’t even begin to explain how sorry I am for what I did.
I betrayed you, I hurt you and I lied to you.
And I have spent my life trying to repent for what I took from you, and I will continue to until the day I die.
I don’t deserve you, I don’t deserve to even be here with you.
But please, know that I will never stop protecting you. ”
“Erick . . .” His eyes teared at her tone, the lowering of her gaze. “I . . . I don’t know if we can be the same as before. Even if you wish to choose the right path now, it doesn’t change the past.”
Erick’s eyes shuttered, his lips pressing together as his chin wobbled. Kora’s resolve wavered. He had never cried in front of her, ever. But gods, this was crushing her soul enough to wish to take back her words.
“I just needed you to know that,” he replied sombrely. “It’s not about which side is right. It’s about a future for all.”
“I’ve tried countless times,” Agatha chittered, her white gaze staring at nothing. “He doesn’t believe in the rebellion.”
“What?” Kora frowned. “How? Barron is murdering innocents. He’s campaigning across the islands right now and rounding up humans for slaughter.”
“And you think the rebels are any better? They killed Eleanore. They killed my baby.”
Silence fell upon the group, and Kora took another sip of water, unable to hold back.
“I’m truly sorry for what happened. It’s honestly awful, I can’t even imagine .
. . nothing I can say will . . .” Kora inhaled a shaky breath.
“Do you not think that allowing Barron to continue is the same injustice? You could prevent others from losing their families, their children. Spare them from suffering.”
“I agree, Kora. I do. But how do we know these rebels won’t seize that chance at power? And return the same level of violence, in the name of justice, or revenge. They already did once.” Erick prodded a sea biscuit, slowly tearing it apart.
Kora shut her eyes, squeezing out the torment wrapping around her mind. It was all too much. So much death, so much destruction. Years of history repeating itself. Gods, Erick might be right, the rebels had targeted attacks on civilians before.
“That’s not true,” Agatha said. “The rebels have been led by the Skytors for decades. They honour the values of freedom, of equal rights. They’ve protected mages from the Azarian laws and kept the lower-districts as safe as possible from the empire.
I refuse to believe they would mass-murder on a whim for information. ”
“She’s also right,” Kora added. “I found the Skytors in Aldara. They had a safe space for mages. They tried to rescue me from Blake.”
And she’d killed them in the desert. The punch still gutted her, her actions haunting her like ghostly chains dragging her down.
“They’re self-serving,” Erick argued. “They worked for me, Kora. They only want money, and that is all.”
Agatha scoffed. “This man knows nothing more than the end of his sword.”
“A shopkeeper isn’t experienced in politics. You know nothing of the world outside of your store,” Erick snapped.
“I know more than you, boy.” Agatha’s ethereal gaze landed on him and a chill swept through the room, followed by a faint ring. “Do not test me.”
Calypso spare her.
“Will you both stop bickering?” Kora sighed, sipping her water again.
It was nearly empty, and she grimaced. “Barron has declared war on all populations. Anyone who doesn’t possess magic that he values is on his kill list. Whatever happened in the past is history.
We must look forward and stop the war, before he destroys the islands. ”
Erick’s gaze flickered at her words. His past was excluded from this equation. For now.
“Or before Azaria invade once again,” Erick added. “I’m sure the king will know by now his son is missing.” Kora’s heart skipped, wondering where Theron was being held in the Citadel’s labyrinth, or if he was still alive. Hopefully Ivar would find him soon.
“Erick . . . I need to know,” Kora placed her cup down, squeezing her fingers tight as she braced herself for a question that’d been burning within her mind for over a month. “Is my father Davy Jones?”
“Yes,” he answered simply. Kora was shocked to hear the truth spill so quickly.
“And you sent him to the bottom of the Black Abyss?”
“Yes,” his voice wavered, and he shifted uncomfortably in Blake’s tunic.
“Is he still alive?”
“I . . . I don’t know. I’m sorry, you deserve only the truth, but it’s been ten years. I’m not sure if Davy could even survive.” Erick attempted reaching for Kora, but she shuffled back, deflation smothering her, the hay biting into her skin, and he winced.
“What about my mother? Did I have any other family?”
Erick froze, his hand still outstretched. “No. Davy said it’d only ever been the two of you. When I tried finding out more he . . . let’s just say he wasn’t happy. I promise I don’t know any more than that.”
Kora frowned. What did that even mean? Who was her mother? Where had Kora come from? Erick sat back, the hay crinkling around him leaving tiny red marks on his exposed skin. He rubbed his chin, and sighed as he visibly braced.
“Please believe me when I say that I tried protecting you after what happened. Barron was obsessed with capturing you. He never alluded to what his plan for you was, but I suspected it was the . . . unfavourable kind. I couldn’t let him.
I couldn’t live with what I’d done. I tried to hide you from him for so long. ”
“You should’ve tried harder,” Kora snapped, a tide of anger rising within her, laced with disgust at Barron.
He was still obsessed now, his thunderous gaze always lingering too long, leaving an iced hole in her soul.
“I refuse to be his trophy. I refuse to play his game. I won’t stop until his head rolls. ”
“You’ve grown into a fine woman,” Agatha mused, placing her weathered hand on Kora’s knee. “And your power has been re-born.”
“It’s gone.” Kora waved a hand, straining as she tried manipulating the final droplets of water in her cup. “My essence is empty.”
“An essence is never empty, my child. It will return, I can sense it.”
Erick sighed as he swallowed a hard lump of sea biscuit. “I thought I’d been protecting you all this time, shielding you from the old world. But you still found it.”
“And good thing she did,” Agatha scolded. “She would’ve been lost if she remained under your wing. At least I taught her about her heritage, about Devania.”
“Don’t start fighting again,” Kora moaned.
As Erick’s warm eyes captured her, she spilled her secrets to him.
From visiting Agatha, learning about Devania, magic and the gods, to becoming fluent in its language.
How she came across the talisman, and it unleashed her power, resulting in the mess they were now in.
“And there’s something else,” she whispered, her gaze darting from Erick’s paled face to Agatha’s cunning twinkle in her eyes. “Remember I said I heard a voice, when I first recovered from the . . . attack?”
Agatha smiled as Erick nodded, and Kora’s words tumbled from her lips. “Well, it never left. I heard it for ten years . . . and it was Raiden the entire time. I thought he might come for me, rescue me from Barron . . . but it’s been over a month. I’m not even sure if he heard my call.”
Agatha cackled in response, her hands waving up in joy. Erick gaped, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. “You knew Raiden all this time?”
“No . . . I thought the voice was my imagination. But during the battle with Galen, I realised it was him.” Kora glanced at Agatha.
Had that dream been real? Had Agatha entered the void and encouraged her to let Raiden in?
Her eyes were still white, and not the dazzling array of colours within her precious mental dome.
Perhaps that was it all had been. A dream.
“The gods’ fate will always run its course,” Agatha hummed, delight gracing her face as she beamed at them both.
“And what do you know about the gods?” Erick sighed, sitting back against the hay as he nibbled on a biscuit, a frown etched so deep into his brow Kora worried it’d become permanent.
She laid down next to him, taking tiny bites of the stale bread.
Her stomach revulsed at the invasion of food and the haunting memories of the dungeon.
“A commodore isn’t experienced in faith,” Agatha chirped, Kora’s revelation elating her. “But the gods will retaliate. As I said, my child, power is never lost, it is simply reborn. The Devani gods created these lands, and they never abandon their creations.”
You are worthy in the eyes of the gods.
“They’ve been gone for centuries, Agatha.
” Kora forced down a chunk of sea biscuit, its bland, dried texture scratching her throat.
Thanos seemed intent on remaining out of the other gods’ business, as well as the events in the mortal realm.
His only goal was aiding and caring for passed souls within Umbra.
Gods, she wasn’t even sure if he could access the mortal realm.
“They will return. For he is coming. And he will bring darkness so deep, no life will walk again.”