He closed his eyes. Garen still refused to move. Sinbad held his sword ready and his body alert, all his senses listening. His mind, however, was divided. This man had killed three of his crewman, wounded his brother and his best friend almost fatally, and injured the woman, Reza, in some ways beyond repair. He wanted to kill him. On the other hand, he knew that he should not kill. He had bound himself by an oath long ago to never take another life. Yet, he so desperately wanted to kill him.
He remembered the time that he'd killed last. She hadn't meant to get in front of the blow. As Sinbad had delivered the final blow to a man that had truly done wrong, Delali stepped in to save him. Tegas, Delali's brother, had destroyed several villages, raiding their supplies, then burning them to the ground with the villagers bound in their homes. The next blow killed Tegas, but he was still at Delali's side as she took her last breath. It was an apology, one that he still cursed himself for today. He took her necklace, an amulet he had given her several years before as an unspoken gesture of his feelings for her. She felt the same, he knew, but they had never gotten close for fear of this very type of incident. He was heartbroken.
Sinbad opened his eyes to find all as he had left it. Garen stood before him, a wreck of a man, battered, bruised, and broken apart. Sinbad was in a similar position, his ribs damaged, though not broken, and his leg slashed. That would require stitches. His senior-most crew stood stoically behind him, no one thus far had tried to interfere. He knew Reza was there. His brother, Dubar, lay unconscious, but apparently stable enough for the moment. Feruz was tending Dubar as best he could. His ribs were broken and he had been dealt many deep wounds from a sword on his chest and arms. Rungar stood there quietly, Sinbad knew, contemplating the world at hand.
Sinbad watched Garen. Garen was numb, his body and his senses. He was too far-gone to feel fear of Sinbad, but he knew that he didn't want to die, and that was quickly becoming a possibility. He didn't realize, or care, that he couldn't move. He pondered how he could have been so stupid as to board this captain's ship so unprepared. He knew then that the girl was valuable, but he wanted her for himself. He knew that he would have to be the first of the hunters to her, or she would be wasted in death. But she kept getting in the way. During the fight, when he slashed her arm while trying to kill Sinbad; whenever he tried to get her, she would run, which he didn't understand; every time he got close to completing his task she ruined his chances.
He just wanted to get the power that was rightfully his, what was so wrong about that? This was Garen's last thought.
With one simple stroke, Sinbad took Garen's head clean off and his head flew nearly three yards before it landed with a sloppy thud. There was an audible gasp from all those behind him, except Rungar, who lacked a voice. Sinbad realized how this looked. How they must see him as a monster. How Reza would cringe. His heart ached. Unknowingly, Sinbad had put Reza over the scar that Delali had left behind. Now, she had been hurt. He realized with a sense of disgust that that had been his primary reason for this revenge. He had wanted it for his brother and friends as well, but not as much. He fell to his knees and cried.
Sinbad didn't see Garen's body disappear into black smoke, leaving behind a dead, black spot in its place. His head still remained. For a moment, no one moved, but quickly Reza, overcome with grief, ran to Sinbad. She pulled the sword from his hands, and threw it to the ground.
"How could you?" Reza screamed at him. "I thought you don't kill! I thought you lived by YOUR WORD! I don't understand what you just did! He was my brother! Garen was not the evil! He was being controlled! I - I could have saved him! I know I could have! I - I." At that moment, Reza, too, fell to her knees, crying. Sinbad went to her, wishing only to ease her pain. His heart broke as she pulled away from him. She didn't stop.
Reza stood up and stomped over to Garen's head. Reza stood above Garen's head for a moment, as if deciding. Reza knew she had two options. She could simply let it go, never knowing if he had truly been turned into what she had seen. She could call his spirit into his head and ask him. She was truly afraid of the answer. At the same time, she knew the answer all along. The telltale black shadow left behind, the head staying. These were daemon death signs. She had killed enough daemons to know.
Mentally, Reza began an incantation, picking up Garen's severed head. Aloud, she said, just loud enough for all to hear, "I call you Garen, I bind you. You will tell me truth and no more. You will do as I command or I will send your spirit to the neither realms."
With a slow suddenness, Garen's head came to life. His eyes blinked. His skin was still the pale of death, but he moved. He smiled evilly and looked at Sinbad.
"Look at me, Garen."
Garen's gaze shifted to Reza. "Hello, Sister-Wife."
"Do NOT ever call me that, you incestuous bastard." Reza nearly lost her cool. The incantation still filled her head. "Are you daemon spawn?"
"I have been many places, Reza Sister- Lover. You know this."
"You will refer to me as Priestess. Nothing else. Understood?"
"Yes, Priestess. As you command."
"Answer my question," Reza spoke with true authority. Sinbad felt a chord run deep inside him. She would now have her revenge.
"Yes. Do you remember the night our parents died?" Garen's smile widened and became almost mischievous. His eyes glittered, though dead, at Reza. "Our parents cried for mercy, Priestess." Garen began to laugh.
"QUIET!" Reza nearly lost the incantation. Quickly, she strengthened it, and made her decision. "I will send you to the far neither realms of pain; you will never again be born onto any plane!" Reza brought her hand up to Garen's head. Garen's eyes were wide with fear.
"Stop, Reza." Sinbad was not loud; he did not make it a command. He simply said it.
Reza turned to him. "He killed our parents. Raised me, raped me, beat me; he hurt me. He's killed three of your crew, and, believe me, hundreds more. He has no sense of grief; no regret. He deserves nothing less than the worst punishment!"
"Do you want to be like him?" Sinbad could see that almost visibly hit Reza. "Like me?"
Silence. Reza's eyes seemed to go dark, like she was hiding away, but he could feel her powering up her energy. She held up the head. He knew he couldn't stop her and he wouldn't try.
Reza stopped her control incantation. She knew that the daemon would infest her, to take the living body, instead of the head of a dead one. She felt it leave the head and slowly work it's way down her arm, into her body. Sinbad suddenly realized what she was doing.
"No! Reza don't! It will kill you! You aren't strong enough yet." Reza shook her head as tears streaming down her face. Her body was shaking, her sight slowly failing.
She said quietly, through the tears, "It's not okay to kill, right?" The daemon entered her body. She dropped the head and fell to the ground. Garen's spirit visibly left the head and disappeared in a white flash. Sinbad dove next to Reza. He grabbed her up into his arms and cried out to her. She couldn't go; it wasn't fair. Not again.
Reza's body shook. She could feel it, even though she was far inside her own body. Reza could see the daemon seed, weakened by the death of its host. It was still large enough to pose a problem to her barriers. She had put up safe guards, energy barriers to keep anything from immediately taking control. Long enough for her to kill her body, from the inside. If she died, so would the daemon, because it was locked to its host. She would eventually be reborn with the daemon, but she would have to deal with it then, even if her chances of winning were slim.
Reza connected herself to her heart, steadying herself to stop it. She gave the command, but felt a barrier. She was overwhelmed with an emotion stronger than she was. She was weak, but this would top her at full strength. It came from the barrier constructed around her solar plexus, containing her heart and spirit. She hadn't put it there. She couldn't understand. Reza touched this strange, unknown barrier. Immediately, she felt a charge hit her. She expected to feel pain, but felt regeneration and warmth. She wanted to cry tears of happiness, but she had something to attend to. She took as much of the barrier's energy as she could sustain, and turned to the daemon seed.
"You took my brother, and my friends. You have taken hundreds more. Injured thousands. Now, daemon, you will end." On her final word, Reza dove into the seed very center.
Suddenly, Reza's body stopped shaking. Sinbad felt suddenly weak. He was worried. He felt for her heartbeat, on the neck where Feruz had shown him. Nothing. His heart skipped a beat. How could she be dead? What would he do? He couldn't think. Nothing seemed to make sense. Sinbad felt Reza's body grow warmer, almost uncomfortably so. He let go of her in shock as a bright light emanated from her chest. For a moment he thought that her spirit had left her body, dead and gone. Sinbad started to cry again, tears stinging his eyes. He felt himself tear apart. Then Reza started coughing. Sinbad instantly had her in his lap, cradling her again. He discreetly pulled his dagger out of its sheath on his back. By now, everyone had encircled them, worried. Sinbad ignored their curiosities, focused on Reza. Her eyes blinked. He feared that the daemon had won the fight for her body, and shielded her from those around him. If she would attack, he would die with her. He held his dagger ready, pressed into Reza's ribs.
"Reza? Are you alright?" His words were hopeful. He couldn't stand to lose her this way.
"Sinbad? Take that dagger out of my side. My ribs are too sore. Besides, you have to turn it to do any real damage." Sinbad had aimed the knife parallel with the ribs. To cause the most damage he would have aligned it perpendicularly. He was stunned.
"Prove - who you are." He wanted to believe whatever she said, so long as he got Reza back.
"Do you remember the day I came on board? When we were down in your cabin. When I first explained my curse. It was only about three weeks ago, I think. When I told you, your eyes changed. Something shifted and I could feel your wanting and your pain. You apologized and told me you would help if you could. I still refused to tell you the cure. I told you that if I told you it would hurt you."
Sinbad remembered that day well. Since that day, he had lusted after Reza, trying to soothe his aching, wanting to soothe her's. He wanted to help her, that had been what he'd said, and he still meant it. However, he had no idea that she had felt him. It made him look away.
"I didn't want to tell you, Sinbad, because I knew you would do it. That would hurt you. It's no virtuous act. Don't fret over it. Just help me up and to the nearest tree." Sinbad followed her words as though they were commands.
Once Reza reached a tree, she placed both palms onto its trunk and started taking very deep breaths. Sinbad couldn't help watching her. She almost seemed to glow, but at the same time took the color of the dark, brown bark. She seemed to heal before his eyes. Soon she took her hands away and turned to him.
"I am well enough to travel." Reza walked past him without another word and started toward the ship. All Sinbad could think about was how beautiful she had looked encased in the bark and glow of the tree. Sinbad looked at the tree: several blooms had withered and many leaves turned brown. In awe, Sinbad followed her. Reza helped Feruz, Rungar and Sinbad moved Dubar. They reached Sinbad's ship, the Nomad, in a quarter hour. They rested on the deck, Feruz checked Dubar.
"He will live, but he will need to rest for a week or so."
"He has the constitution of a stubborn mule," Sinbad touched Feruz gently on the shoulder. Then he turned to Reza. He didn't want to talk to her at the moment. He was scared of her and his reactions to her. She could drain the energy from living things and he was absorbingly attracted to her. "Reza, what happened?"
"Do you want the full story, or just a brief summary?"
"Well, I think knowing the history might make this all make sense."
"Well, about six cycles ago, when I was ten, my parents were brutally murdered in our home. We didn't know who did it. My brother took on caring for me. He did unspeakable things over the coming years. I didn't realize that he was possessed; I just phased it all out. When we were invaded, shortly after my family's death, I was imprisoned. There I got my curse, and I learned many things. Nothing changed for a long time. But then I saw Garen working with the Heralder and I realized that he was possessed. I thought that was all it was, but they had turned him. He was now half daemon, melded with one. He had to have done it with some willingness, for that is how those daemons live. When I released Garen, I took on his daemon half by the fact that I was alive and Garen was not. The daemon will always save itself. My brother is now pure again and will be reborn. When I was alone with the daemon, I was not strong enough to beat it, and it grew too fast. I went to my heart to stop it and found a barrier I hadn't put there. I couldn't kill myself. When I touched the barrier it gave me energy. It gave me enough to destroy the daemon seed that had infested my body. Then I simply woke up."
Following this narrative, Sinbad sat for a moment as he soaked up the information. He had felt a drain during the event, but he couldn't figure out where this fit in. Could she have drained energy from him? Did he create the barrier that saved her life? If not, what did? He felt a little lost.
"Sinbad. I need to talk to you privately. About your brother." Reza seemed subdued, but she was plainly not asking. Sinbad took her downstairs, into his personal cabin. Feruz and Rungar took Dubar down to the Quarantine.
"What is going on?" Sinbad watched her carefully. He wasn't yet sure what she had to say.
"Your brother will sleep for forty days. If he survives it, he will come out strange. He is in a fight with himself. He was hit with a daemon sword, Sinbad, and they are not average weapons. They ARE daemons. Some of the daemon transferred. He may come out of this possessed or turned."
"No! They can't turn him. He's too good, Dubar wouldn't hurt a fly! Well, not unless it hurt him first, and even then!" Sinbad looked at her, and she could see his heart breaking further. She could feel the anguish that surrounded him.
"If he is strong enough, he may be perfectly fine. He has forty days, Sinbad. That's all I can tell you." Reza sat down on Sinbad's bed, hands in her laps and head down.
"How can I help him?"
"Give him more energy. Positive energy to draw off of."
"How do I do it?"
"Link with him and push energy into his personal reserves. If you put the energy in the wrong place, the daemon will take it over."
Sinbad's heart sank. "I - I don't have that kind of control. I can't." He stopped and stared at the wall, awestruck and anguished.
"I do." Reza's words were so quiet that Sinbad was scarce sure he heard her.
"You can do this for him!" Sinbad ran to her, reaching taking her by the shoulders. Reza cringed. Sinbad stopped dead where he was. All expression drained from his face. He became like stone.
"I - I can, but not yet."
"How long?" His voice was ice, and it chilled Reza's spine.
"It's no-not really a matter of time."
"What must I do?"
"You would have to break my curse and release my original magick." Reza hesitated, and then added, "or I can take all of your energy and dump it into Dubar. That would most certainly kill you."
"You still haven't told me the how to break this curse you keep talking about. Tell me, Reza." This time he spoke with authority, giving her a command as her captain.
"I told you it is not virtuous. It's - hidden behind my virginity." A tear rolled down Reza's cheek.
"BUT YOU ARE NOT A VIRGIN!" Sinbad blasted at Reza.
"No, not in the way you are thinking!" Hot tears seared down her rosy cheeks, her eyes were swollen and red. She sniffled heavily, trying to calm down. "My curse must be broken by someone of virtue, to give me back my virtue, while still taking it away!"
Reza shook with sobs, heaving quietly. Sinbad instinctually took Reza into his arms and this time she did not cringe or back away. She pushed into his chest and sobbed louder.
"Shhhh. Relax, Reza." He cradled her and felt his compulsion to protect her re-ignite. He held her close and gently rocked with her until she quieted down. "I will help you, if you help me. I need to tell you something first." Reza was silent, but made no motion to move. He knew she was listening.
"Years ago," he began, "I knew a woman. She and I were close, but never truly close. I - I killed her, trying to kill someone else. She stepped in the way. I swore there never to kill again. I killed Garen today. I thought it was for my crew; my friends and my brother. I realized, when I thought you were dead, that I killed him for what he did to you. He hurt you. You have become the woman I lost to me. You remind me a lot of her. I don't know how to express what I've felt since I met you, but I didn't hurt anymore. It scares me as it comforts me." Sinbad was silent, anxious about his words.
"I - I know that he did not hurt me," Reza said quietly, between labored sniffles. "The daemon did, using my brother's body. I forgive you for killing him, Sinbad."
Sinbad was stunned. He hadn't expected forgiveness, but he realized that was what he needed. That was the point of telling her about Delali. He whispered, "Her name was Delali."
Gently, Sinbad shifted Reza so he could bend her head up to face him. He looked into her eyes.
"Reza."
Gently he kissed her. Her eyes closed, and her body tensed. She knew what he was supposed to do, according to what had been done to her by her late brother, but this was not part of it. Her head swirled and she felt herself losing her grip on the reality that she knew. The next two hours came as a revelation, showing her a part of herself she thought non-existent. Pleasure had never been a concept, until Sinbad; only pain, anguish, and the determination to find something better.
Sinbad avoided looking at Reza as he dressed. She lay on his bed, asleep. It was odd, because she said she was not a virgin, yet she had broken like one. The barrier that existed inside a woman would be broken upon losing her virginity, but, despite the lack of virginity, Reza had possessed that barrier until an hour or so before. Sinbad felt as though he had actually taken something from her. He was no stranger to this act, but he'd never experienced it as he just had. All his thoughts had centered on her and the pleasure she produced in him. Every other thought in his mind had been flushed out. It made him uneasy, because he almost felt like he's fused with her body during that time.
As Sinbad went out the cabin door, he took one last glance at the woman lying in his bed. Her long, dark hair was strewn across the pillow; her chest fell in the rhythm of sleep breathing. She was beautiful, intelligent, and an asset to anyone she was near, and Sinbad had finally realized it. He wanted to stay there with her, if for nothing more than to see her face when she awoke. His heart ached to stay, but he started toward the Quarantine.
"How is he, Feruz?" Sinbad looked down on his brother. Rungar had gone on deck to watch over the evening weather and the crew. Feruz had stayed behind to tend to his fallen comrade.
"He is well. He does not respond to me, but he seems calm enough," Feruz looked as though his spirit had been broken by this and it tore Sinbad apart.
"He will live, my friend." He put his hand on Feruz's shoulder again. "We will see to that, I promise you." Sinbad's look of determination put fear in Feruz.