Immortal sacrifice, p.31
Immortal Sacrifice, page 31
“You think I want this?” She rested her hands on her hips. “To be tied to a mule and a jackass for all eternity. I didn’t. I didn’t ask for any of it. Alas, here we are. Somewhere along the lines, the Fates decided that we needed to be tied together. Who are we to argue?”
“Who are you and what have you done with my queen? And I don’t give a shit what you say about not marrying me, fine, we can set it aside–for now. But that conversation is far from over.”
Zamara flared her nostrils. “We can only go forward from here. I won’t force either of you into anything. But I hope you understand what is at stake and what you would be giving up by walking away from this.”
“What you say holds some weight. A little.” Cassian sighed and massaged his forehead. He growled. “Go let him out. I will think about it. This is at least something us three should discuss together. Let me get these guys organized and I will meet you in Nevrine’s workshop. Your theory is sound, but I would like to hear what he has to say as well.”
Zamara barreled into him and flung her arms around his midsection “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet, little one.” He wrapped his arms around her and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
“I suppose you will be wanting this back.” She pulled back and reached to remove her ring.
“No.” He grabbed her hand. “Keep it. It is yours. I want you to wear it. Keep it on a different finger if you must. It is supposed to protect you.”
She bit her lip and nodded.
The keys jangled as Zamara’s trembling hand shoved them into the lock and turned. The barred door creaked open on rusty hinges.
“Finally figured out you need me?” A dry voice said from the corner.
“We need to talk, Sideon, and you will not like what I have to say.”
“I see you are still wearing your ring.”
“Yet I am not still engaged.”
“Oh?” He gracefully unfolded himself and rose to his feet. “I don’t dislike this news.”
“That isn’t it.” She ambled to him, took his wrist, and held a magnet to the bracelet. It popped open and hit the floor.
He disappeared, rematerialized behind her, brushed her hair to the side and purred in her ear. “Does this mean you are freeing me?”
“It’s about Ander.” She closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. When she opened them, Sideon’s worried blue gaze hovered three inches from her own. She jumped in surprise.
“What about him?” He snatched her hand. “Tell me.”
“He—” Zamara swallowed. Her stomach writhed in knots. “He’s gone, Sideon. Kain figured out how to break the bond and murdered him. Kain—he sent Ander’s head to Dragon Tower in a box—Merida opened it. I tried to stop her but—We gave her a tonic. She is resting in my chambers.” Tears welled in her eyes. She fisted her hands in his shirt. “I’m so sorry, Sideon.” She choked on her words and rested her forehead on her fists. Strong arms tensely enveloped her. The vibration of their dancing energies gave her strength to continue. “So sorry it hurts. I am wracked with guilt and shame. I should have told you sooner. Then, there was a situation. Giselle’s Magai turned on us. They slaughtered Aera’s army. And I needed to be there… I should have sent someone to tell you—but—I wanted to do it myself. I should have just let you out to begin with…”
His soothing hum of energy turned dark as she sobbed. It draped itself over them like an ex-lover. The temperature in the room plummeted. Hairs rose on her skin.
She pulled away and watched him, felt him, becoming something entirely different from the Sideon she knew and loved. An ancient and alien power, waking up from a nap and stretching its wings for the first time in centuries. His eyes faded to black. Wrath and malice emanated from him with such force it sucked the air from the room. Her eyes widened. She instinctively let go and took a step towards retreat.
“You would shy from me?” He snaked his arm out and pulled her to him. “After all we have been through, you still think I would hurt you. What more must I lose for you to trust that I am on your side!”
“Nothing.” Only your soul. “… and yet… everything.” A stray tear fell as she looked at the floor.
He got himself in check and released her.
Zamara stilled herself. “Why do you think I am letting you out? I have never felt the extent of your power before. It caught me off guard is all. You are right. I have taken so much from you. Your brother. Your crown. Your freedom. Your ships and soldiers… part of your soul. This is all my fault. All because I was too naïve and blind, too stubborn to acknowledge the world outside my walls. Too blissfully ignorant, I didn’t even care. I didn’t have to go mad. I could have continued warring for the good of all of us. My willful ignorance and skepticism have led to despair for us all. I understand if you despise me.” She looked away. “I despise me.”
“I do not hate you.” He pinched her chin and turned her so he could look in her eyes. His were blue again. “I hate my father. I hate Giselle. I could never hate you. I hate them for making you think it is your fault. I hate them for killing my brother. I hate them for driving us apart. This is not your doing. I don’t blame you for anything. I blame them. It’s their fault… we don’t need Akashi. I will destroy them all.”
“We will destroy them all.” Zamara grasped his hands. “I know how we can use Akashi now…but I don’t think you are going to like it.”
He growled. “Why do I have the feeling this has something to do with the dragon?”
“Because it does. We are Ceterus, Sideon. We share a life force. It will always have something to do with us, until the end of time. That is just the way it is now. Might as well get used to it. I will either have both of you in peace, or neither in war. We could spend the next hundred years working together and shaping worlds, or the next hundred years at each other’s throats while we destroy this one. You decide.”
He quirked a smile. “Well, when you put it like that it doesn’t seem like much of a choice.”
“Exactly,” She grabbed his hand and took off, “welcome to being my other third.”
Zamara and Sideon entered Nevrine’s lair. Having Sideon around was extremely useful when hundreds of stairs were involved.
Cassian leaned against Nevrine’s mad scientist bar and nodded his head. She didn’t know whether he was agreeing with Nevrine or if he was only doing it out of respect.
Their approach garnered attention. The pair stopped talking and watched as she and Sideon closed the gap between them. Why do I feel like I am marching to my death?
“Have you decided, Cassian?” She asked.
He glanced at Sideon and back at her. “Nevrine thinks it will work. If you are both in agreement, he can help us with the ritual.”
“When you did it before the journey, child,” Nevrine smiled, “You did it wrong. The only thing left to do before we can begin, is give me your consent, each of you. Blood bonds are serious. They might be easy to create, but they are near impossible to break and last for all eternity. I need to know that all three of you have given it some thought, and this is what you genuinely want. Is this truly what you desire, Zamara?”
No. “Yes.” She crossed her arms.
“Cassian?”
He cleared his throat, “Yes.”
“Sideon?”
“Let’s do it.”
“I need to hear a yes, your Highness.”
“Fine.” He waved his hand. “Yes. Who wouldn’t want to be tied to a beautiful woman and a colossal stinking beast until the end of time?”
Cassian barked a laugh. “The feeling is mutual, pirate.”
Zamara rubbed her temple with two fingers. This is going to be a long eternity.
They moved plush chairs and coffee tables out of the way in the sitting area.
Nevrine covered one of the tables in a crimson cloth and meticulously set up an altar with tools, ingredients, candles, and little figurines. Beside the statues, a white rabbit munched on some lettuce in a cage.
Her legs strained as the three of them sat cross legged around a bowl of red wine, at the base of the makeshift altar.
Nevrine sprinkled a circle of salt around them, chanting something in ancient Magai.
After completing the circle, he lit five candles, placing them at specific points on top of the salt.
The three of them joined hands, chanted to close the circle and summoned Var, the goddess of oaths.
Taking an ornamental dagger, they ran the blade across each palm and held their fists over the bowl as they let their blood flow into the wine.
Joining hands, they chanted again.
She broke the connection and grabbed a femur bone. With it, she stirred the bowl counterclockwise and passed it around the circle as they each took drinks.
She placed the empty bowl in the middle, and they rejoined hands.
Zamara observed them with sweaty palms and a racing heart.
Cassian’s jaw muscles ticked.
Sideon was unusually quiet, which made her worry.
The tension in the room was almost suffocating.
I am forcing two men who hate each other to bind themselves together forever. Are we doing the right thing?
No, I know it’s for the best, even if they don’t like it.
Power flowed through all of them.
The hairs on her arms spiked like magnetized metal shavings. Blood and energy intertwined through the trio like a river of lightning, hard, fast, and unforgiving.
The power was so great she felt like her bones would explode.
She started to wonder if this was such a great idea after all, if their forms could even hold the power… or would it tear them all to shreds?
Her entire being was ripped apart and stitched back together, creating a beautiful golden tapestry of their conjoined souls.
A golden cord shot forth and knotted around them in a series of three interlocking triangles. It glowed hot and bright before fizzling into nonexistence.
The storm calmed and the only sound that could be heard was that of their heavy breathing.
“That should be all.” Nevrine’s soft voice brought her back from her thrall. “You three are now bound by blood together and forever as Ceterus. Why don’t you take your new powers for a spin? See what you can do while you are still within the protection of the circle.”
Zamara frowned and focused. Akashi flowed from her. She commanded it, smooth and sure as a limb attached to her body.
They gave their thanks to the goddess by sacrificing the rabbit as an offering and painting their faces with its blood.
The circle was dissolved, and the three Ceterus set out for Dragon Tower. Zamara had some citizens to win back.
Fires blazed from two massive hearths in the great hall. One of Nevrine’s concoctions was infused with the wood to produce red smoke, a summons from the queen. Bells in the clock towers tolled throughout the settlement, signaling every citizen to immediately gather in the hall.
Zamara rested upon her throne, staring at a clock on the far wall. Her people trickled in and settled down. She could tell some of them arrived with intentions of telling her off but thought better of it after approaching the dais. She didn’t blame them. She looked intimidating: black leather armor, armed to the neck, Akashi sparking from her antlered crown, face still covered in blood. Zamara didn’t wash it off for this purpose alone. She did not look like a queen who had been doing nothing but partying at the tavern. Her people wanted a warrior queen who paid attention to them and fought for what was theirs, that was what they were going to get.
Cassian sat on his throne to her right. Sideon occupied the one to her left. She felt more powerful than ever with them at her side. It was a bottomless well of magik. She couldn’t burn out if she tried. In fact, she almost had to keep her crown sparking just to dull the incessant buildup of Akashi tightening her skin.
Knowing they were with her gave her the strength she needed to win back her people.
She took a shaky breath and projected her voice across the hall. “I owe you all an explanation. I realize when I had you evacuate and then halt, it made me look like an incompetent ruler who couldn’t make up her mind. I realize I haven’t been here for you in the way you need me. I have been shirking my duties as queen, pawning them off on my council so I can do whatever I want. I have been selfish. I am ashamed of my behavior. You deserve better. You deserve a responsible leader that puts you first, above even their own wants and needs. We are all working towards a common goal, ‘peace, sustainability, freedom’. And that means the freedom to choose your own paths. And the very person you trusted to uphold those things, took your freedom away. I understand that you may feel betrayed. I know I was wrong. I let my emotions get the best of me. But if you can find it in your hearts to forgive me, I vow to you that I will be the queen you deserve from here on out. Remember the queen who led her people through the Reckoning and not only survived but prospered? I can be that again. I will protect your lives and your rights with my dying breath. I will embrace the responsibilities. I realized that Rose is my sister, but you are also my family. I hope you will allow me to explain why I did what I did, and then allow me to give you the details of current events so you can make up your own minds. When I am done, each of you will be left with three choices. One, stay and fight. Two, stay and hunker down in your houses or Dragon Tower. Three, continue evacuation to safety.”
She stood and laced power into her voice. “People of the Mystic Lake settlements. We are at war. Kain’s army of reapers has assembled in the Forbidden. Their numbers are vastly greater than ours. If I do not hand over the Akashi Stone and the settlement, he has threatened to kill Princess Rose and will attack at sundown. This is why I called for the evacuation. But, after much contemplation, I have decided not to give him that power over us. It is what Rose would want. I have no plans to give in to his demands. We are officially under siege.”
A collective gasp filled the room.
“This is our home. Our walls have never been breached. They will not be tonight. I will fight for what is ours. All that is left for you to decide is if you will fight alongside me.”
Zamara and Sideon rowed across Mystic Lake in their armored diving suits while the others prepared for battle.
Everything hinged on them finding the Trisector.
Sideon pulled the oars into the boat and gestured to his suit. “Are these even safe?”
“If they weren’t, do you think I would be doing this?” Zamara drew her oars in.
“Yes.”
She bit down on a smile and checked to make sure their breathing hoses were attached to the boat. If they fell into the water, things could get disastrous. “If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”
“Didn’t you crash your last invention?” He smirked. “—and let’s not forget what you did to that frog.”
“Shut up, they work. They have been tested. I used them when Dante and Levi fried the water mill. They just haven’t been tested beyond twenty feet.”
“Oh, that’s comforting.” Sideon snorted.
Zamara glared at him. “They should work. We just have to go slow. Don’t get tangled up in your air hose. Besides, why are you so scared? If you get in a bad situation, you can just veil-walk out. I’m the one who is putting my life in danger.”
“Our lives in danger, you mean. Good point, you should stay top side while I go down there.”
Zamara rolled her eyes, put her helmet on, and fell backwards into the water.
She could hear the water flowing around her helmet and recalled being trapped under the ice.
Her heart viciously beat against her chest as they slowly sank past the mill, its house sized paddles lumbering through the water.
Deeper.
Her breathing quickened. All that gave her air was the hose attached to her helmet, one-hundred feet above.
If something happens to the rowboat, if it tips and the hose falls into the water–if it gets tangled or bit by something…
Deeper.
The water grew darker. Mystic Lake was bottomless. She had no idea what was lurking in these waters, could be a serpent–or a giant octopus… A chill crept down her spine.
The metal of her suit creaked with the pressure change like chair-legs scraping across the floor.
A sheen of sweat stuck to her face. Spying the mouth of the caves, she slowly swam into their darkness.
She couldn’t see a thing in the tunnel and hoped Sideon was doing ok. This was a bad idea.
Trying to swim in a metal suit was cumbersome. Her arms and legs ached.
Zamara’s helmet slammed into her shoulders as she heard a loud thunk, metal hitting rock. She reached out, disoriented, scraping her gloves across a hard surface. Her eyes widened. It was a dead end.
No! Her stomach dropped. This was all for nothing.
Hot tears burned her eyes.
With a heavy heart, she turned to go back and felt a hand on her arm, pulling her upwards.
They swam up for a while when she was yanked back again.
No matter how much she paddled and flailed, she made no headway.
Zamara opened her mouth to draw breath and found there was none.
The hose must be crimped somewhere…
Panic clawed at her throat as she tried in vain to drag air into her lungs.
Sideon yanked on her arm to no avail.
I’m going to have to lose the helmet and pray to the fates there is an air pocket up there.
With shaky hands, Zamara ripped her helmet off and swam hard. She felt light headed. Spots swarmed her dark vision.
She broke the surface and gasped. It was musty and smelled of minerals, but it was air, and it was delicious.
Exhausted to the bone, she crawled out of the water, onto a rocky surface, worn smooth over the years of lapping waves, and collapsed.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the shadow of Sideon flopping beside her and heard him remove his helmet. His breathing was labored. “Let’s not do that again.”
