Chapter 42
"My, my… you've been causing quite a stir, Godwoken," Malady said as we arrived back on the Lady Vengeance an hour before sunset.
"You mean with our run-ins with the Magisters, battles with the Voidwoken, or our confrontation with demons?" I said.
"A… combination of the three, actually," Malady pondered. She then eyed me inquisitively. "I'm going to assume you've completed your little to do list here on Reaper's Coast. You absolutely brim with Source."
"We sure do," I said. "And the gods had the courtesy to give us the location of the Nameless Isle."
I pulled out a map and pointed to the exact location that was burned into my mind: far north of Fort Joy and northwest of Reaper's Coast. Malady squinted at the spot under my nail. She grinned smugly.
"There's no time to lose then," she said. "We'll set course immediately if you haven't any last-minute errands to run here in Driftwood."
I closed my eyes and ran through everything. We honored Meister Siva's request and left her alone when we passed through Driftwood. Ifan checked on Lohar and said he already sent a band of his people to travel with Beast to Arx to stop Queen Justina. The Red Prince had the Source books we took from the Bloodmoon Archive. Finally, Ifan had the pieces of Anathema for Tarquin.
"We have everything we need," I said.
"Splendid," Malady looked down the length of the ship. "All hands are accounted for. So, it's time we have a change of scenery. If things go smoothly, we should arrive at the Isle by midday tomorrow."
Malady took ahold of the wheel. The Lady Vengeance rattled as the anchor was hoisted from the sea below and the sails were unfurled. With grace, the ship turned around and proceeded out of the cove into the open sea. The four of us, watched from the railing as the port of Driftwood slowly passed our view. In a few moments, it would become a blip on the horizon and disappear.
"Mahalia!"
I turned around to see the three children running towards me. They must have been inside the ship and headed up when they felt the ship started to move. I walked over and knelt to give them all a large hug. From the corner of my eye, I watched as the Red Prince walked down the stairs while Ifan walked over to Tarquin who was enthusiastically waiting for the delivery of Anathema.
"I'm so happy to see you again," I said to the children once our hug was finished. "How are you all doing?"
"I'm great," Trice said.
"Me too," Sandy said.
I looked over at Paulie.
"Are you doing okay, Paulie?"
"Better now that you're here," Paulie said with a gentle but very hopeful smile. "Whenever you're around, I always feel brave."
"Well I'm happy knowing you're okay," I said. "All of you."
Everyone grinned. Sandy glanced over at the waters as the Lady Vengeance pulled further away from Driftwood.
"Are we leaving Driftwood now?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "We finished our adventures here and now we're going to the Nameless Isle to complete our quest for Divinity."
Everyone's eyes widened.
"You mean we're going to the place where you'll become the next Goddess?" Sandy asked.
I felt a lump in my throat hearing him say I was going to be the one.
"Well… we've yet to determine who'll become the next Divine. Only one of us can be it after all."
"Well, if there has to only be one, it should be you," Trice said.
I raised my eyebrows.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you are the nicest and bravest person in the world," Trice replied. "You'd be able to do incredible things to help the world be a better place."
I was silent for a moment, trying to come up with something to say.
"Well, w-what about Ifan?" I said stumbling on my words. "He's nice and brave, isn't he?"
All three children looked behind them just as Ifan handed over the shards of Anathema to Tarquin. The necromancer retreated hastily into the ship while Ifan slowly strolled down the steps after him, most likely looking for some place quiet. When he was out of view, the three children looked over at me.
"He is nice and brave," Sandy said. "If two people could be become Divine, you and he would be perfect gods to protect the world."
My eyes widened.
"Well… I thank you for the kind words," I said. "But I think it's time we head downstairs and have a spot of dinner don't you think?"
The children were about to reply but I felt a hand on my shoulder, and someone clear her throat next to me. I looked up.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sebille said with her smug smile. She then rolled her shoulders back and forth in a flapping motion. My eyebrows shot up.
Of course!
How could I have forgotten? I would have shown them yesterday when we returned, but it wasn't the best time after I had to be the barer of bad news for Paulie.
"What? What is it?" the children's excitement grew.
"I'll show you," I said with a smile. I stood up and took a step back. Sebille then walked behind the children and pulled them back a few steps. She gave me a wink. I closed my eyes and inhaled. I felt the magic serge from my shoulder blades. I widened my stance and felt the magic emerge from my body. I stretched my wings wide open and felt them graze the winds that filled the Lady Vengeance's sails.
I opened my eyes to see exactly what I expected. All three children's eyes and mouths were so wide I thought their eyeballs or jaws would fall out. They tried to speak but the only sound they made were speechless murmurs. Trice was the first to get her words back.
"A-are…are you a… a d-dragon, now?"
I felt myself blush.
"Not quite," I said. I held up my amulet and pointed to the blue gem. "I found this new gem two days ago. Now I can fly short distances and breath ice."
The children remained speechless and kept their eyes glued to my wings. Sebille managed to take them out of their trance by placing her hands on their shoulders. All three of them turned around to face her.
"Now that she has wings, would you like to fly with her?" she asked.
All three of them squealed and immediately turned around to run to me. But Sebille stepped in front of them. All three of them stopped.
"One at a time, young ones" she said. She looked them over several times until her eyes rested on Trice. "I believe Trice should go first. She is the one who loves dragons the most after all."
Trice squealed in glee while Paulie and Sandy said "aw!"
"Don't worry you two," Sebille said. "You'll have your turn."
The two boys nodded begrudgingly. Meanwhile, Sebille stepped to the side allowing Trice to scamper over to me. I kneeled to her level.
"Put your arms around my neck and hold on tight," I said.
She did so and put her small hands around the base of my neck. I held her firmly against my chest as I stood up.
"Here we go."
Trice held her breath. I bent my knees and jumped as hard as I could. I heard Trice gasp. As I beat my wings. I felt her body shake, not in fear, but in excitement. I felt this was as close she was going to get to flying with a dragon. But I had a feeling she was very happy either way. I kept flapping my wings and glided around the ship until I gracefully landed back onto the deck. I loosened my hold on Trice and she let go of me. She backed away and looked into my eyes.
"Did you have fun?" I asked.
"It's what I've always wanted to do," she said with a very big smile on her face. "Thank you, Mahalia."
"You're very welcome," I nodded and patted her on the head. She walked back to the boys. It was Paulie's turn and soon after, Sandy had his go. Once my flight with Sandy ended, the sun was setting. We retreated into the ship and for the rest of the evening, we ate our dinner and told the children of our adventures on Reaper's Coast; minus the few unsettling and mature details they weren't ready for.
We slept peacefully that night. No attacking ship woke us up. But I did remember Ifan gasping awake in the middle of the night. I imagined it was a nightmare about what happened to his elven family. When morning came, he secluded himself to the workshop and worked tirelessly on maintaining his bow and looking through his new Source book. Some part of me wanted to talk to him again. But the other part told me it wouldn't do anything. I already did what I could for him. It was up to him to deal with his grief. I just hoped he would find his way before we arrived at the Isle within the next six hours according to Malady.
I decided to use that time wisely along with the others. While the Red Prince practiced his sparing on training dummies and Sebille practiced her acrobatics in the cargo hold, I sat alone in the mess hall and read through my three Source books quietly. With Tarquin occupying the State's Room for his work on Anathema, the mess hall was the last quiet place to read in. The children were up top playing ball with Han and under the watchful eye of Gareth.
The material in the books were fascinating. Growing up in the Empire, the amount of Source I could muster was limited to only small uses of alchemy and my Dome of Protection. But within these books, I came across spells that were far more powerful than any of the standard spells I learned from the books I bought from the Driftwood market. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to practice them because I needed to conserve my source for the battles that lay ahead. But If I remembered the incantations, I wouldn't have a problem casting them in the field of battle.
After about an hour looking through the pages, I took my nearby mug of water and brought it to my lips. But I paused before I took a sip. I looked down at the liquid while I listened to the silence around me. My eyes shifted to my right to look down at my wand on my hip. Then, I jerked the mug over my shoulder, sending the liquid into the air. I heard a splash and a yip. I casually looked behind me to see a familiar face of the person who's hand almost snatched my wand.
"You're becoming very perceptive," Sebille said with her face and hair drenched.
"Either that, or you're starting to lose your touch," I retorted with a mocking grin. Sebille hummed a chuckle before reaching for some nearby napkins to dry her face. She then walked around the table and sat on the opposite side of me. I closed the book I was reading and slid it aside.
"Taking a break from the Source learning?" I asked.
"You could say that," Sebille said. A brief silence followed. Then a thought popped into my head.
"You know, I didn't have a chance to mention this last night," I said. "You were pretty good with the children yesterday."
Her eyes wandered to her right in a reflective manor.
"Yeah, I guess I was," she said.
I tilted my head when she looked back at me.
"Did you not expect to be?" I asked her.
She rolled her eyes down to the table. She sighed.
"When you forget the life you once had and have your current life be molded into one of a killer, you'd never assume to be able to connect to other people. Especially children."
Hearing her say that felt haunting. But from that haunted sentence, I felt a tinge of hope.
"Well, when this is over, maybe you can start over and connect to others. Maybe have a peaceful life without having to kill again."
Her eyes wandered to the nearby window as she pondered.
"I suppose that's one path I can take," she said. "I haven't put much thought about what I want to do after I'm rid of the Master."
Her voice suddenly took a darker tone.
"All I could ever think about ever since that moment I escaped his clutches was finding him and driving my needle into his throat."
She paused. She moved her eyes away from the window and looked directly at me.
"But now that I think about it, what I want to be afterwards seems more complicated. The Mother Tree, Divinity. It seems I'm not going to be as free as I once thought I would be."
The reminder of the Mother Tree gave me an unsettling feeling in my stomach. But the mention of Divinity caught my attention.
"I… get the feeling you're not very fond about Divinity, aren't you?" I asked.
Sebille shook her head.
"The prospect of Divinity makes me think," she said. "Is it a blessing or a burden? Would we be truly omnipotent, or merely the servants of an unruly universe, as desperate for control as we are now? Moreover: would we still be ourselves? If I were the one to ascend, would I remain Sebille, or would my mortal soul die upon gaining divine immortality?"
She looked over at me awaiting my answer. It took me a moment to do so.
"I… honestly don't know." I said. "I guess we'll just have to find out when the time comes."
Sebille cracked a smile.
"Take the plunge and don't look back, huh? As good a plan as any, I guess."
I chuckled even though I didn't find anything about what we were talking about funny. She did too before she sighed deeply.
"Such a silly game we play. To be a god. It's quite wasted on mortals if you ask me. We are all of us too blemished to become immaculate."
I couldn't do anything except think about what she said. One of us was going to become the sole god of this world. One out of four highly flawed individuals. What was going to happen once we drank from the well? Would we be ourselves and only have more power. Or would we run the risk of making choices like what Lucian did to Ifan and the Elves? But at the same time, somebody had to do it. If there were no Divine, the Godking and Voidwoken would overwhelm and destroy our very existence.
"Listen um…"
I lifted my head to Sebille when she broke the silence between us.
"I don't want to keep the mood down, but actually came to you because I really need to talk to you about something."
I tilted my head.
"About what?" I asked.
She didn't respond immediately. Instead she closed her eyes and inhaled. Keeping her eyes closed, she started to hum a song. The melody sounded beautiful, yet somehow menacing. Then, she opened her mouth and started to sing.
"Sebille, sh'ialyinou. Sebille, na charlen de'vot."
She opened her eyes when the tune ended. My entire body froze. A chill ran down my spine. The blood drained from my limbs and my heart sank.
"That's…" I spoke hauntedly. "That's your slave song, isn't it?"
Sebille glanced down at the table shamefully for a moment.
"I truly believe you're a good person who wants to do good things," she said. "But In my situation, I can't defeat the Master alone. As soon as I get close, he only needs to utter a note, and I'm his again. Unless…"
"…someone else sings," I finished. She nodded.
"I mean it when I say you're the best friend I've ever had. That's why I'm placing my life and liberty into your hands. But I won't force you to do this. I know how much this sort of thing disgusts you. It's your choice."
I felt the words of Sebille's request weighing on me. She had given me the very thing that would allow me to enslave her. I had the power to do to her what the Master did to her. I remembered the shameful taste the song left in my mouth when I woke the Lady Vengeance. The songbook was gone, but I could never get rid of the taint the song left on my reptilian tongue. I wanted to be the furthest thing from what Dallis, the Master or even the Red Prince were. But if Sebille, my friend, was to be free, I'd have to do what I never wanted to do ever again.
I stared at the table for a while until I propped my elbow on it. I held my head on my hand and gazed through the window at the cloudless sky.
"Ironic, isn't it?" I sighed. "In every other culture, songs are sung to elicit happiness. Both those who sing and those who listen. But for lizards, songs are sung to elicit dominance. Only those who sing benefit while those who listen suffer."
When I looked over at Sebille again, she pursed her lips while she rubbed her thumb on the back of her palm. I took my elbow off the table and let my head hang down.
"But…" I said softly. "…I can't let my best friend be bound to a monster for the rest of her life."
I took a deep breath and looked up at her.
"I'll sing the song."
A flicker of hope sparked across her eyes.
"Thank you," she said. She adjusted herself, placing both of her hands flat on the table. "You can begin whenever you're ready."
I felt my heart racing. I flexed my fingers while exhaling an uneasy sigh. Eventually, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
"Sebille, sh'ialyinou. Sebille, na charlen de'vot."
I repeated the verse three times until I had the melody down. When the tune rolled off my tongue, I could feel something within me. It was a powerful feeling. A feeling of control. Total control. Control that a lizard master had over their servant.
When I finished my fourth incantation, I opened my eyes and looked at Sebille. She stared at me. My heart sank. At first, I would have thought she had the lifeless look of a silent monk, only without the black hue around her eyes and mouth. But when I looked closer, I could see there was still life in her. But only a small shred of it. Everything else was replaced with a single entity: submission. Absolute submission. To me.
Everything I knew about her. Her smile, her voice, her warmth. All of it was gone. I had taken everything from her.
Imagine a black room. It's been your room for years. You know it by touch because it's always dark. You're either in the room or in the box that you travel. You're only left out in the night because you only hunt in the night with the Master's voice in your ears urging you on. And after it's done you lie down in the box once more with wet hands, and mad red thoughts.
I stared at the table for five minutes, keeping my gaze away from her eyes. Eventually, I heard her exhale. I looked up to see her blink slowly and lock her eyes with mine. I could see that she had returned. Everything that I had taken from her in that sparse amount of time was given back. But when the song rung in my head, I could feel the power to easily take it away. All it would take was a note of my tongue, and she would be mine again. I lifted my hand and slowly reached out to her. She didn't move. Only her eyes tracked my hand as it drew closer to her face. I gently traced my nail over the lines of her scar. She closed her eyes as I did so. I felt the soft flesh of her cheek contrast with the rugged blemish of the scar.
This horrible thing was what my race took pride in creating. I wanted so badly to take it off her. If that thing truly lived as the Red Prince said, then I wanted it to die a painful death. But I couldn't do anything to it. It would stay there for the rest of her life. She would always be at the mercy of those who knew the song. And those two people who knew were the Master, and me.
I stopped caressing her cheek and dropped my hand to the table. Sebille opened her eyes and looked at me. When my eyes met hers, my face started to wince, and my eyes started to wet. Sebille sat up from the bench and moved around the table. I immediately did the same. We both fell to our knees and warped our arms around each other. I held my hand against the back of her head as she nestled her cheek into my long neck. I rested my chin atop her head and shed a pair of tears from my eyes. I felt her arms pull me closer, embedding herself deeper into my chest. I could feel her heartbeat and the warmth of her body pass into mine.
She spoke no words. But I knew she forgave me.
"When the time comes," I said. "I will do what I have to. Nothing more. I promise."
"Thank you."
Author's Note: I'm very happy with how this one turned out. Especially the last exchange between the two girls. I admit, I got rather emotional as I wrote it. Really looking forward to writing about the encounters for next chapter.
As always, thank you for reading my story and a review goes a long way. See you next chapter.
