Prologue
The cold wind coming off the water cut through her cloak like a knife. Shivering from anxiety as much as the chill, she hugged her arms and risked a glimpse from under her hood. Fear twisted her insides like serpents. What was taking so long?
She could see the dark silhouette of her companion as he paced, nervous energy evident as his long legs carried him quickly to and fro. They had taken a terrible risk coming here and they all knew it. The fog helped to conceal them on their dark pier, but the sounds of the taverns lining the docks drifted to them, a reminder that they were not really alone.
It had been so long since they had been out in the open among people, almost like another life. A life lived by a happy child. A child who would have been warm and safe in bed, sleeping snuggled into the warm embrace of a mother who loved her. That child would not be slinking in the shadows amidst the rancid smells of the docks and shivering in a damp cloak waiting for her only chance at survival.
She felt her lips quiver and she pressed her mouth into a hard line. She couldn't think of that child, not yet. That child was gone- as far from her now as the kingdom of heaven.
A hand on her shoulder pulled her wandering thoughts back into the moment and she realized she'd been staring towards the lights on the shore. Quickly she dropped her gaze and tugged her hood lower over her face. Stupid-stupid-stupid.
"It shouldn't be long now," her other companion said, patting her shoulder awkwardly.
She nodded in response, her throat tightening. Only days ago they had been almost strangers. Twins, Brynda and Brynden were much older than herself. It was a strange twist of fate that had brought the three of them together. There was no way they could have anticipated the consequences and now they were all attempting to fumble their way through this new life together.
Oh Mama...
She squeezed her eyes closed to keep the tears from falling. The memory brushed her mind and she could see the fires, hear the cries, and feel the warmth of the flames on her back as they fled. The last bit of warmth her mother would give her. She let the memory of their sacrifice linger and exhaled slowly, reigning in her emotions. She had to survive; crying was a luxury she would indulge when she was safe, but not yet.
"Someone is coming."
She jumped at Brynden's terse warning and risked a quick glance from under her hood. He had stopped pacing and now stood watchful, his left hand resting on the pommel of his blade. Brynda gave her shoulder a final, reassuring squeeze before dropping her hand. She knew without looking that the sister's stance mirrored her brother's. She resisted the urge to search the mist and shadows for approaching silhouettes and instead lowered her eyes once more; straining her ears for any sound that could be approaching footsteps.
"You're late." Brynden's voice was tight and accusing.
"Couldn't be helped," The stranger said, his voice deep and gruff, the voice of a life spent in service to the sea. "You've brought the child?"
Brynda's arm brushed hers' as the sister stepped passed her and into position beside her twin. "We were told you offer safe passage for tainted children, is this true?" she asked.
There was a moment of thoughtful silence before the stranger responded. "Our ship is often a haven to those with nowhere else to turn." He said. Brynden began to speak, but the stranger cut him off. "I must see the child."
She could hear their cloaks rustle as the twins stepped aside and she knew they had revealed her hunched shadow to the stranger. She felt his footsteps like the pounding of the waves as he approached her and sensed more than saw when he knelt down to her level. A bright light flared and she blinked rabidly- his boots and bent knee suddenly visible.
"Look at me child." The stranger said. She trembled with the effort to obey. She had not looked into the eyes of another person since she had fled her home. Not even twins, who had left everything from their old lives behind to save her, had seen her eyes since that first night. Slowly she raised her face towards his. Gold flashed across the stranger's weathered face like the flare of a match as her eyes reflected the light from his small lantern. He was an average man, smaller than she imagined from his voice, and very plain. An unremarkable sailor with dark eyes and a beard peppered with silver. She held his gaze as steadily as she could, her heart beating like a trapped bird in her chest.
"I'll take her." The stranger finally said, after examining her face intently for several long moments. He stood with a groan and faced the twins. "She is Blood of the Fallen, as you claim."
"Of course she is," Brynden hissed, "would we be here on this blasted dock at this blasted hour if she wasn't."
In the glow of the lantern she saw Brynda place a calming hand on Brynden's arm. Looking at them, she could see again the resemblance between them. With their nearly identical features, close cropped hair, and long cloaks over boiled leather there was virtually no way to tell them apart.
"You know the price," the stranger said, ignoring Brynden's outburst, "ship leaves before dawn. The sooner she is on board the better. The docks are not safe at this hour."
Brynden reached inside his cloak and withdrew a small coin pouch that clinked pleasantly as he held it out to the stranger. "It's all there, passage for three to Haven."
The stranger paused with his hand palm up, shocked. "No," he said "Only the child."
Stunned, she looked from the twins to the stranger and back again, terror hitting her hard in the gut. She clutched her arms so tightly she could feel her short nails digging into the skin and tears welled up in her eyes. She couldn't do this alone. The twins were near strangers, but they were all she had of her home.
"That wasn't our arrangement!" Brynden snapped.
"There was no arrangement." The stranger replied firmly.
"There must be a way," Brynda said, "what if we work on the ship?" She offered quickly, "we have experience; we'll work just as hard as anyone else. And…" She continued quickly when it looked as though the stranger would object. "Our passage is already paid." She took the coin pouch from Brynden's hand and tossed it towards the stranger, who appeared to catch it out of reflex as he considered her proposal.
Standing with the stranger between her and the twins she felt as if there were already an ocean dividing them. The truth was she needed to be on that ship no matter what. Brynden and Brynda might have forsaken everything to save her, but they never really had much to begin with and could start over as merchants or mercenaries, farmers or fishers, settle down somewhere quiet and build a new life. She could not. She could only run for so long before the black priests came and then she would burn.
She didn't realize she wasn't breathing until the stranger shook his head regretfully. Suddenly air rushed painfully into her aching lungs and she sank to her knees, dizzy with fear. Her heart lurched in her chest as she watched the sailor remove her passage in coins and toss the purse back to Brynden. "Only the child," He repeated, and reached for her arm to pull her to her feet.
How was she going to do this alone?
She didn't even spare a glance to the twins as the old sailor led her away, so consumed was she with fear.
Their walk to the ship was a blur of hurried boots and cloak hems as she kept her eyes lowered. The stranger, who introduced himself as Gennai, had extinguished his small lantern, but she dared not risk one of the hanging lanterns catching her eyes. Not when she was so close to freedom.
As they walked Gennai gave her a brief rundown of life aboard the ship, but she wasn't really listening. Whatever the hardships she would endure them for the chance at a life free of the fires. She would endure anything for a life where children like her were cherished for their abilities, not given over to the black priests for cleansing.
Her heart gave a nervous flutter. In her childish fancies she had imagined elaborate fantasies of adventure in far off lands, dreaming of a day when she would set off into the horizon pursuing excitement. Now here she was, boarding a ship bound for a new life… and all it had cost was everything she had ever loved.
On the ship she was escorted across the deck by a young sailor who couldn't have been long out of childhood himself. She hung back as they approached the door leading below deck where, by the dim light of the waxing moon she saw a ghostly set of stairs. Stairs that descended into shadows that wailed and whimpered.
The sailor noticed her hesitation. "It's hard for them," he said, "most of the children are too young to understand."
She looked up at him as he spoke and saw him flinch as the light of the moon caught her eyes. She felt that flinch in her soul and tears pricked her eyes. She managed to force a weak smile for his efforts to reassure her, but the sailor looked quickly away. Her smile wavered and fell. She looked back at the docks uncertain.
Brynda and Brynden stood out as shadows in the mist, their silhouettes the last ghosts of a home she would never see again. For the first time they were not strangers compelled by obligation and tragedy, but a family who had lost everything except each other. The tears spilled down her cheeks as she watched them, desperately grasping onto the last remnants of this life under the stars of her homeland before descending into the next.
After a few moments she reluctantly looked away and rubbed her damp eyes with the back of her hand. The young sailor cleared his throat.
"You'll have to stay down here like the other children," he said, "but it will only be a few days before we reach Haven."
She nodded and with a deep breath to steady her frantic heartbeat she turned away from the docks, straightened her shoulders, and descended the stairs.
As she stepped down into darkness the atmosphere of fear and loss enveloped her. It wasn't that the sounds of despair were loud; in fact they were eerily quiet for a cargo hold filled with confused, frightened children. Muffled whimpers emanated from the shadows like the cries of lost souls and she could hear the hiccups of a child who had already cried to the point of exhaustion. A nauseating miasma of human stench assaulted her and grew more potent with every step. The sounds of bodies stirring were all around her and she could hear ropes creaking in rhythm with the motion of the swaying ship.
She paused at the base of the stairs, struggling to see anything, but the darkness was absolute. What light there was came only from the open doorway above her and penetrated no further than the topmost steps.
Now that her survival was secured at least for the moment she felt weak and overwhelmed, the desperate energy sustaining her draining away. Everything she had been suppressing just to get to this moment began to rise inside her with an oppressive force.
Someone secured the door at the top of the stairs, closing her off from her old life with the same finality as the doors of a tomb. Unable to move, she simply folded herself onto the floor at the base of the stairs, buried her face in her arms, and joined her misery to that of the collective darkness.
The voyage lasted only a few days, short for such a life changing adventure, but the hours of unbearable tedium stretched until she felt she'd spent a lifetime in darkness and despair. There was nothing to alleviate the monotony as day and night passed indistinguishable so she slept and in her sleep she dreamed.
In her dreams she was running, always running. The house was large and ominous; her footsteps echoing on the marble as she dashed from room to room in an increasingly frantic search. Terror clenched her chest as she came to the top of the stairs and below her on the landing, beyond the bars of pale light cast by the high windows, stood the final door.
The light from the windows began to take on a warm glow as she descended to the ground floor, her bare feet echoing off the cold stone as she walked. She approached haltingly, an unnamed fear adding weight to her limbs with every step. The door loomed up before her, taller than any door she had ever seen and dark as ebony. As she placed her hand against the wood it began to smolder and a blast of heat singed her face as it swung open.
Fire raged all around her, an all-consuming, ravenous monster devouring the city. Figures writhed in and out of the flames, whirling and gyrating, their moans torn from them in an ecstasy of agony. Slowly she turned in horror as they danced like demons, crying out to her as the flames lept higher.
A giant man rose over her, an avatar of the divine, his body untainted by the imperfections of mortality. Strong and tall, his hair was a mane whipping about a face with dark eyes that burned with vengeful rage. His white robe billowed back from a chiseled body as he raised his arms high over his head, and in his hands, poised for descent; he grasped the hilt of a flaming sword.
Just as the fiery blade arced downward, as suddenly as he appeared, the robed figure was snuffed out, leaving only smoke where she had been. The city fell dark around her, save for the pillar of gray slowly curling upward.
As the smoke rose, it churned and moved like a living thing, twisting into the form of a large wolf. The eyes gleamed like silver coins as the massive head emerged and the lips drew back from a muzzle large enough to take her head off in one snap, revealing fangs longer than her fingers. Hot breath touched her face and a deep rumble emanated from the wolf, which grew and grew- reverberating through her bones as she stood frozen and trembling.
The tendrils of smoke curled around her as she watched the wolf's maw open, fangs glistening with saliva, eyes gleaming with blood lust. The rumble was like thunder reaching its crescendo and with a final roar the wolf's jaws snapped closed.
She jerked upright in the darkness, her heart beating rapidly and the smell of smoke lingering. Her hands were shaking as she pushed her matted hair back from her face.
The dreams were getting more intense.
She paused… something wasn't right. She blinked and lowered her hands, holding them in front of her face. She could see the outline of her fingers as she wiggled them… the first time she had seen anything since descending below deck.
The light was coming from the stairs and as she turned her head in that direction she could see that the door at the top was open. She squinted against even that scant amount of light and saw movement in the shadows of the doorway. Booted feet stomped overhead and muffled shouts reached her ears. After a moment her eyes adjusted to the light and she could see figures moving in the darkness as the other children came awake.
What was happening?
Slowly, she forced herself onto her hands and knees, her muscles stiff and unresponsive with fear. She could hear gasps around her as the other children's eyes were drawn to the light from the open door.
At the top of the stairway stood a large figure of a man, silhouetted against the night sky.
She scrambled backwards in sudden terror as the first boot descended the stairs and she could hear the other children scuttling for the corners to escape each approaching footfall.
On the last step the man struck a match in the lantern that hung there- the flame bursting to glorious life and bringing true light to their world of darkness. In unison the children cried out and shrunk away from the brightness, and she shrunk with them- her sight blinded by dancing red flames behind her eyelids.
She felt that something was very wrong… it was a sense that had been growing inside her as the days passed trapped in darkness with no food or water. This was to be their salvation, a ship come from the shining city of Haven to carry tainted children to a new world where they wouldn't have to fear the fires.
Her mother had died to put her on this ship… her village had burned… And yet she realized, squinting against the painful light as more boots stomped down the stairs, each man holding a stick with what appeared to be an iron collar on the end, that this was just another sort of fire meant to consume her.