Dark Swan Ebook, page 25
“I haven’t.” I took in a sharp breath, trying to ease the knot in my chest. “Why do you think I’m doing this? I could leave, steal my sister away and survive here in Inder. But I’m stealing a stupid Box for him! I don’t even know who I am anymore, Cerie. I see me—but it’s not me. A child who I was once, but I don’t remember. It’s almost like it’s someone else’s memory. How do you think that makes me feel?” I shook my head, my breathing unsteady. “I love Setizar. I know he meant something to who I was before, and I feel it now. The connection. I want to save him, not only because I love him, but because I should be the one in Redrim. I should be the one under Inanna’s blade. I owe him a debt. But I also owe it to my sister to save her as well.”
Cerie nodded, her posture changing as she releases an uneasy, labored breath. “Then we'll save your sister.”
I jumped and grabbed her, hugging her tight. “Thank you.”
“It doesn’t mean I feel good about any of this. I have a really, really bad feeling.”
–– ☾ ––
I found Julna in the courtyard, drenched in a subtle blue light, twisting the ring on her finger.
A cup of steaming tea rested on the table in front of her as she sat by candlelight. Not that she needed the candlelight since the moon was bright enough to take a long walk and not worry. A book rested in her hand, and her head was angled so she couldn’t see me. I knew the guards were located everywhere, but if I did this right, I would have her and be in the field in no time.
I had to augue. With a sharp breath in, I began to walk her way. The blue light was a cold, weeping color, the kind that invited and warned at the same time. I crept closer, staying as quiet as possible.
A twig snapped below my right foot. Great.
“Meris?” Julna looked at me, her smile appearing. “What’re you doing up?”
“I wanted to talk with you.” I slid closer. Would she call for the guards? Was I safe?
“Alright.” She gestured beside her. “What do you want to talk about? Ah, I suppose that’s a silly question to ask.” Her face flushed and she closed her book, flipping the cover face down. “Maybe we should start simple.”
“Yeah.” I just needed to touch her. Grab her hand. It was as easy as that, right? “Julna, what if—”
She shook her head. “No more talk about the other land, please.” She grasped my hand. I felt wrong about doing this to her. Ripping her away from what she knew. “I’m going to call for a doctor and see if the stress has gotten to your head.”
I bit back every pointed word I wished to bark out and instead thought about Cerie—where she was in the field, waiting and pacing, fingers clasped around the Box and codex, no doubt. I thought deeper—about the portal, about Setizar, about Yamira . Fire burst around us and light flashed in my vision. Spots of red and black danced in the corners of my eyes and wind whipped at my body.
Julna screamed.
Slowly, I looked around. My heart sank so low in my gut that I couldn’t seem to form words. We didn’t go far, in fact, I saw the Ka’zor still standing ominously in front of us like an undaunted titan.
A thousand lifetimes flashed before my eyes as it dawned on me. I failed. My knees wobbled and my arms went limp. Languid light illuminated Julna’s disoriented features for only a half second before everything shifted. Her brows were a series of tight lines, tracing her anger.
“What was that!” Julna screamed, balling her hands into fists. I couldn’t have her screaming. This wasn’t good. “Meris!”
“Please, be quiet?”
She shook her head, arms flailing in the air as she spun to face the Ka’zor. “Help! Guards! Help!”
47
My pulse pounded through my veins. Nerves made my teeth chatter, and chills rolled up and down my spine. I wasn’t ready for this. Fear writhed in my chest, squeezing my lungs and stunting my breathing. I couldn’t stand.
Everything became bleary. Every sound, every light, every smell, every touch burned my skin, my ears, and my eyes. I couldn’t move without pain searing through my body and the smell of metal bombarding my nose.
Julna was shouting something beside me, but I couldn’t hear it over my thundering heartbeat.
Soldiers.
The beat of soldier’s feet marching toward us rattled my nerves, the clap of their armor too loud.
“Halt!” the men yelled. I couldn’t do anything.
My wings spread out, opening like the arms of the Reaper. I was choking.
My heart beat.
Once.
Twice.
Silence.
Arms wrapped around me, and I looked up, meeting a flash of poppy-red eyes. Tatum?
“Alecto.” He rolled his shoulders, a frown pulling at his lips.
What was he doing?
Fire exploded around me and Julna. It was warm, like sunshine—and dark like the night sky above us. My knees knocked against each other as it stopped again.
“Remember, Alecto—” Tatum kneeled down, a gentle smile on his features. “You should never view anything in this life as random. Everything happens for a purpose.”
“Why?” Pressure formed around my leg and I looked down. Leather boots? He was tightening my leather boots. Right. I was about to go into battle.
“If you believe things are random and without purpose, then what is the point in learning? What is the point in life? There is a beginning, an end, and most importantly,” he pulled a sword from his side, placing it in my hands, “there is a middle. What we do with that middle affects the ending.”
I nodded. “Is this the middle then?”
He smiled. It was a wicked thing, between care and mischief. “No. This is the beginning.”
With a sigh, I sheathed my sword at my side. His eyes stayed locked with my own, flickering with answers to my many questions. “I’ll be sure to make this a beginning worthy of your approval.”
Tatum patted my head; such an informal gesture, one that warmed my heart. “Try to stay alive, Alecto. Things would be rather complicated if either of us die.”
“Well, I’m not dying.” I grinned. “So you’re the one likely to pass first. And if you die, I will have to raise you until you’re old enough to remember everything again.” I lifted my brow, muscles taut as my wings snapped open.
Tatum laughed, taking a step toward the stairwell. “There’s already a plan in place, but thank you for thinking of me.”
“What’s the plan?”
He paused, tapping his chin. “Perhaps if you paid more attention in your studies, you would have heard me explain it all.”
I balled my hands into fists. “Do you mean to tell—”
Screams.
So many, many screams echoed around me. Slivers of shadows slithered along the ground. Julna was laying on the ground, her body limp. She was unconscious. Was that her screaming? Or was that something in my memory?
Click.
Click.
Click.
The ticking of a clock chimed somewhere in the surrounding air. Just off to the left, a strange white figure appeared. The rabbit.
“You’re late.” He tilted his head to the side. Those giant black eyes seemed to be looking at me. Searching my soul for something.
What did he want?
“You’re late.” His voice wasn’t coming from his mouth, but from my head. Inside my head. He spoke in my mind.
I staggered to my feet, scrambling to Julna and pulling her up. Aether, she was heavy! My hands were full just holding my sister up off the ground. “Help?”
The creature tilted its head, as if I'd confused it.
“I can’t do this on my own.”
Soldiers barked orders in the distance, shouting to one another to do something. I couldn’t focus on anything—just on the small being that stood in front of me. It stepped closer, the watch swinging back and forth on its neck.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
My dull heartbeat stuttered into a gallop. I spun, my body balking at the motion. “Tatum!”
He was on the ground, his chest slowly rising and falling. His skin was muted against the silver moonlight.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
“I used all my magic. I can no longer stay…” His voice dripped with pain. A fissure broke in my soul, ripping the emotions out of my body. “I couldn't save you, Alecto. I promised you.” He grabbed my hand, but our fingers didn’t touch. He could no longer touch me. “I suppose this is my way of making it up to you.”
No. No one should vanish this way. “Tatum, stay with me. Wait a little longer! We can get you through the portal—”
Shouts and echoes reverberated in the skies. The soldiers were searching for us. “Go. You can make it into the portal.” He pointed toward a nearby tree. In the winking twilight, the lamp and codex were visible. “Remember me.”
“I can’t leave you here.”
“You can’t pick me up,” he whispered, voice was something between agony and worry, “And I can’t stand.”
“Tatum—”
He coughed, shudders of smoke and shadow flickering from him. “Go.”
Hot tears stung my eyes. I didn’t even know who he was, who he was to me, or who I was to him. I only wished to know, to give him that. To let him know I remembered him.
But, I couldn’t. I couldn’t remember anything but fragments. This was my fault.
I should have listened to him.
I was a stupid girl, wasn’t I? So blinded by what I wanted that I forgot there were others involved. Tatum’s breathing was uneven. Every second passed like a thousand, pouring down on the moment with shards of glass.
“Alecto.” Tatum’s eyes squeezed shut. “Break the glass.” His voice was a strangled, hissing thing, barely audible.
“What?” I heard nothing but ringing in my ears.
I shouldn’t have been standing then. Not with this pain in my body—in my heart. Who was he to me? His figure shuddered. A shadow swept over the ground, and, as the languid light vanished, so did he.
PART SIX
RETURN TO YAMIRA
48
Following the rabbit was like reflex. I had Julna, and Cerie had the codex and the Box. I wasn’t sure why I trusted such a creature to guide us back into the realm, but somehow I did. Watching it, I realized the small creature was something else entirely. How it did what it did, I didn’t know. The creature must not be bound by magic.
We dropped through the portal. Wind and rain ripped at my body like the claws of an angered fiend. I could barely keep my eyes open. Everything was so harsh, so brutal—
Water, as icy and frigid as the first time I arrived in Yamira, greeted me. We plunged down, down, down into its biting depths until my wings were numb and aching.
Up.
I swam upward as did Julna, who must have woken from the shock. Her struggle was only momentary, lasting a half second as she realized we were underwater. She locked her arm with mine and we both paddled upward, kicking against the current and breaking through the surface. The air was frosty, coating my lungs in bitter ice.
“What—” she gasped, her breath uneven. “Where are we?”
I urged her to the bank, our clothes sticking to our freezing bodies. “We are in Yamira. No one is going to hurt you—”
“Why!” Julna’s blue lips quivered. Every ounce of energy she had seemed to be in her exclamation. “Why did you do this?”
Why was she asking me this? She’d been sold to Farelyn. She was still a version of a slave. “To save you.” I couldn’t make sense of her reaction.
“No!” She stood, legs wobbling, and grasped a nearby branch for support. The sharp thorns of the tree pierced her skin, digging into her flesh like a dagger. Fresh blood bloomed along her palm, dripping into the snow. It was morning here, and the sun bathed fresh yellow light on the white earth, illuminating the drops of crimson beside Julna. “No, no!”
I staggered a step back, my mind a gray void. “What?”
“Why?” Her voice crumbled, breaking off bit by bit. “Why would you do this to me?”
“What? You—”
“Stop!” Julna screeched. “Make it stop! Bring me back!”
I shook my head. “I—I can’t do that. The portal is closed.”
She fell.
Blood smeared on her beautiful face as she cupped it with her hands. Sobs wracked her body, her shoulders convulsing as she cried. What had I done?
–– ☾ ––
The walk was slow and agonizing, every step weighed down by lead. Julna was as silent as the grave beside me, Cerie was shivering worse than us, and the rabbit was nowhere to be found.
I was so stupid! Why did I do this? I should have listened to Cerie and Tatum. I should’ve left Julna and made my way back to Yamira with the Box in hand. He would still be here, helping me along the way. Instead? I killed him.
I killed him and ruined my sister’s life.
It was all my fault.
Something snapped in the corner of my eye. Bright and glowing, like the embers of a still kindling fire. I turned, craning my neck over a large bush. “Jack?”
He bowed, an open gash of a smile spreading over his face. “Yes?”
“What’re you doing here?”
He flicked a snowflake from his shoulder, how it got there with his flaming head, I didn’t know. “Well you see, a small rabbit told me.”
Just as he spoke, the rabbit appeared beside him. “You’re late.”
Jack slid his hands into his trouser pockets. “Well, well, well.” He pivoted his body around, looking at Julna. “Who’s the guest?”
“Oh!” I turned to her, smiling. “This is my sister.”
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Is it now? You look nothing like Megaera.”
Julna straightened. “Who?”
I stood between them, my breath ragged. “Jack, she doesn’t know everything.”
He seemed unconvinced. “We have the Box and the codex. Now all that's left is to rescue our beloved Lord.”
I stopped, fingers trembling. “How are we going to do that?”
“Ah!” Another voice joined in, stepping into the area. Sir Libby, the invisible man. “That part will be bloody difficult and easy to botch. Since we know Inanna won’t abide by the law, we’ll have to get into Redrim and not get caught.”
“Libby,” Jack’s voice was low and gruff, grinding against my bones like shards of metal. “You can’t be scaring them.”
“I doubt Alecto is frightened of anything.”
Not true, but alright.
Jack turned, looking up at the bright skies darkening with clouds. His black eyes settled on me, Julna, and Cerie. “You three look wretched. If we start moving, I will begin drying you off. Come on, Libby.” Jack released a ball of fire in the air, which split into three parts, licking our outfits with warmth. Steam wafted up into the air, floating into the sky and mingling with the clouds.
“Rightly so.” Libby tucked his cane under his arm, walking behind Jack. “Alecto, Cerieandria the Unicorn, and…” Libby paused, as if pondering what he was going to say. “And, sister.”
Seemed like Jack wasn’t the only one who didn’t believe me about Julna.
“Why don’t you or Libby believe Julna is my sister?”
Jack looked at me, lowering his voice as Libby began to tell Julna about the world. “She looks very different. However, Megaera was a reclusive creature, and not many saw her. But I did. You look a shade different too, but otherwise you look relatively the same. I can’t be the judge, but something doesn’t settle with me.”
I looked at Julna, who had scooped up the rabbit in her arms and was listening intently to everything Libby was saying to her. There was no possible way she wasn’t my sister. If she wasn’t in my past life, she was now. I couldn’t expect him, or anyone else, to understand that.
“Aether!” Libby gasped, still as a painting. If it weren’t for the monocle, I wouldn’t have known where he was looking. “Really now, Jack?”
“What?”
“You aren’t exactly whispering. The entire frozen wasteland can hear you.”
Jack crossed his arms. “Then you better keep your voice down, Libby. I’m sure Feng can hear your wheezing voice on the wind.”
49
Hunger pinched my stomach. Every aching bone begged me to stop and rest, however, the fact Setizar was in Inanna’s clutches pushed my tired body onward.
“How far?” I looked at Libby, my wings beginning to weigh heavier than lead.
“Until what?” Libby’s monocle reflected my face. I looked absolutely horrid. “Until we die, or until we rest?”
“Until we get to Redrim.”
“Ah.” Libby rubbed his fingers together. “Until we die, then. Well, I suppose a half day journey. Shame none of us can portal.”
They bickered, and late afternoon pulled crooked shadows along the path, promising darkness and death. A jumble of emotions and thoughts bombarded my mind, ranging from mundane to horrific.
My stomach gave me nothing but pain, reminding me I haven’t eaten—and Julna hadn’t either. And yet my sister remained cautiously quiet, rather undisturbed by Jack and Libby’s less-than-optimistic conversation. She was subdued, holding tight to the rabbit as if it was her last line to her sanity.
I didn’t blame her.
I pulled her into this world, and she was in the company of a winged girl, a unicorn, an invisible man, and a living pumpkin. I should’ve been smarter and listened to Tatum.
Aether! I wished he was still here.
“Alecto,” Tatum said, his eyes shrouded in the darkness. “Do you know who I am?”
“Of course I do.” I slipped my sword into its sheath, casting him a sideways glance. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I have a feeling one day you’ll forget me, and you won’t remember who I am to you and how much you mean to me.”
I laughed. It seemed silly, that question. “And what do I mean to you?”
His hands were warm as they wrapped around me, his arms tightening about my waist. “You mean the cosmos to me, Alecto. You’re my—”
