Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows (15 page)

I squinted and watched Axon make his way
down the side of the cage to the lock. He put something metal in it
and twisted. The water echoed the quiet snap as the lock sprung
open. I took one last gulp of air through the hose, then kicked
against the cage floor and swam through the open door.

Axon pulled me to the surface and gathered
me in his arms. Blood streamed from a gash on his forehead and his
light blue eyes were full of pain. “I was so worried,” he gasped
out.

“
You came for me,” I cried,
tears streaming down my cheeks.

He wiped them away and kissed me. “I
couldn’t let you drown in a cage.” He grabbed my hand and we swam
toward the door.

I was so glad to feel the touch of his hand
again I barely cared we were in a ship that was possibly sinking to
the depths of the ocean as we swam through its belly. “Is everyone
else gone?”

Axon turned away from me and pain colored
his voice. “I think they’re all dead.”

I stopped and stared at him. Horror flooded
my limbs so that I couldn’t move. “All of them?” I whispered.

He turned back. “I couldn’t tell. The Sathen
killed so many people. There’s blood and body parts everywhere. I
don’t think anyone escaped.”

Energy faded from my limbs and I held onto a
beam. “What are we going to do, Axon?”

His jaw clenched and his eyes met mine with
ferocious intensity. “We’re going to live. I’m not getting off this
boat without you.”

I could only nod past the lump in my throat.
Axon led us between floating crates and barrels and pushed his way
to the hatch. The scent of carnage and death met us as we climbed
up the ladder to the main cabin floor. Limbs, open chest cavities,
and heads, some with eyes still wide with horror, littered the
hallway. I gasped and turned my face against Axon’s chest. He
guided us through the hall, up the second ladder, and onto the
roiling deck.

Carnage and blood drifted in the waves that
lapped at one side of the tilted ship. The Sathen were nowhere to
be seen, but I didn’t doubt they lurked in the dark corners. Axon
took us to the highest edge, but the rowboat used for supplies and
taking the crew to shore was gone, its beams and pulleys smashed to
bits by the storm. We both stared at the vacant place it had
been.

My mind reeled from everything that had
happened and I couldn't think of what to do next. I felt numb and
ice cold at the same time, and the rain that pelted down on us hit
our skin with the sting of angry hornets. We stared at the angry
sea and white-tipped waves crashing against the sinking bow. Then a
guttural growl sounded behind us. The ice in my veins turned to the
pure heated adrenaline of terror. We turned to find a dozen Sathen
baring rows of pointed teeth in expectant grins. Axon took my hand
and we jumped overboard.

Somehow the fathomless water seemed colder
for its depth and anger. Wave rode upon wave to crash above our
heads with white froth and pieces of the ship. We tried to hold
onto each other and swim at the same time, but as the ship went
down, the suction kept pulling us back toward it.

“
We’ve got to find
something big to hold onto,” Axon said between waves. He turned to
look behind me and his eyes widened. I twisted around to see what
was wrong just as a whole wall of wood torn from the boat was
thrown toward me by the waves. I put my right hand out in a futile
attempt to stop it, and felt it buckle with blinding pain beneath
the blow. The wood crashed into my shoulder and side with the speed
of the waves and pinned me between it and the boat. Each wave drove
the wood harder against me. I heard Axon yell as another wave
picked up the wood. I turned to push against the ship to escape,
but the wave rose higher and slammed the wooden wall against the
side of my head.

I awoke to Axon huddled over me in the
storm. I don’t know how we got on top of the wooden wall, or where
the ship was. It was impossible to tell anymore if it was night or
day. Lightning crackled through the livid black clouds and cast
Axon’s face in shadow. He held my arm in one hand and touched my
face gently with the other. I realized what he was doing.

“
No, Axon! You can’t heal
me without sun. You’ll kill yourself,” I protested weakly. But I
already felt my wounds closing and bones knitting under his touch.
The pain of the healing was almost as intense as the wounds and I
cried out. Axon’s hands shuddered, he met my eyes for a brief
instant, then crumpled against me. “Axon!” I shouted. I pushed to
my knees and turned him over so that his face wasn’t in the water
that flowed across the wood. His eyes were shut and his mouth hung
open. His chest rose slightly against my hand.

I dragged him to the middle of the crude
raft made of the wall that had smashed into me, and ran my hands
quickly over his body to check for wounds. Except for the blood
streaming from the gash on his forehead, I couldn’t find anything.
I ripped off the bottom of my white shirt and tied it around his
forehead to stem the flow of blood. He didn’t respond to my
touch.

Something large smashed into our makeshift
raft. I clung to Axon as the wood separated and we were thrown back
into the ocean. I managed to hold onto one of the logs and lifted
Axon weakly against the current so that his arms draped over the
wooden beam.

He lifted his head groggily. “What’s going
on?”

My heart rose at his voice, but his eyes
wouldn’t focus and he stared past me at something I couldn't see.
“Just hold on,” I told him. “Whatever you do, don’t let go.”

Axon’s hands tightened on the log. Something
snaked about my arm and I grabbed it. The rope came loose in my
hands and I wrapped it quickly around Axon, securing him to the
log. The waves rose and more debris drifted past, just missing us.
I knew we had to get out of there before we were both killed. I
tied the end of the rope to my manacle, grateful that I still had
it, and began to swim against the powerful waves.

Wave after wave crested over my head. I
checked time and again to make sure Axon’s face was out of the
water, then paddled as hard as I could. My only swimming experience
had been the few times I slipped into the icy pools at the bottom
of the Caves, and then I had done little more than float on my
back; but as fear gave strength to my limbs, they fought
efficiently against the waves. Little by little, we drew away from
the logs, body parts, and debris that were all that remained of the
boat.

I don’t know how long I swam. My arms and
legs grew numb and responded only sluggishly to my weary demands.
My side and shoulder ached from being hit by the wooden wall, and
my wrist throbbed from the partial healing Axon had performed. The
rain still pounded down, but the winds lessened and the waves began
to let up. I floated on my back for longer periods of time trying
to catch my breath and will energy into my exhausted limbs. My
wrist burned where the manacle rubbed from pulling Axon and the
log. Salt water bit into the raw skin and kept my mind focused.

I had to hold onto the log several times to
keep from sinking below the surface out of sheer exhaustion. On one
such occasion, Axon lifted his head and met my eyes, his own
surprisingly clear.

“
Nexa, what
happened?”

I fought back tears. “The ship was attacked
by Sathen. Everyone was lost. You saved my life and we’re adrift at
sea.” A knot formed in my throat. “I don’t know where we are or if
we’ll ever find land.”

Axon tried to reach out a hand but couldn’t
past the rope that bound him to the log. He frowned and his brow
furrowed, then he followed the rope to my wrist and his eyes
widened. “Let me go, Nexa. You’ll kill yourself trying to save
me!”

“
Like you were going to
kill yourself to save me from the cage?” I shot back. I hated the
tightness of my voice and the fear that tainted my words. I didn’t
believe we would survive no matter what I did.

“
You’ll have a better
chance surviving by yourself,” Axon replied. He struggled against
the rope, then gritted his teeth. “I can’t feel my arms or
legs.”

“
It’s the cold water,” I
said. I feared it might also be the effects of performing a healing
without sunlight, but I refrained from saying anything. “You’re
going to be fine.”

Axon’s eyes lost their sharp look and he
glanced out at the ocean. “I don’t feel fine.”

I touched his cheek. “Stay with me, Axon.
You can’t leave me, not now, not like this.”

He smiled and his eyes closed. “My little
cave rat,” he said, his lips barely moving. “Making things
complicated again.”

I pushed off into the water and swam as fast
as I could against the waves. They beat me back every time I
paddled forward until I wasn’t sure if I was making any progress. I
didn’t even know if we were going in the right direction or if I
was taking us further from land. I pushed my body until I woke up
under the waves and had to force my way back up the rope to the
surface and cough out the sea water. I put my arms over the log,
set my cheek against its rough surface, and closed my eyes.

Chapter 17

“
Surround her!”

“
She looks dead,” someone
pointed out.

“
Do as your told,” the
first voice snapped.

The sun beat against my face. I rolled over
and opened my eyes, squinting against the sunlight.

Feet surrounded me and metal tipped spears
were pointed at my body. I groaned and then coughed, spitting out
mouthfuls of salt water. I vomited and then couldn’t stop retching.
My arms shook with exhaustion until I finally collapsed again in
the warm sand.

“
What is her connection to
the Prince?” someone questioned, disgust in his voice.

My mind cleared at the mention of Axon. I
pushed up to my knees, afraid to find him dead. “Where is he?” I
managed to croak out. I glimpsed a red cloak with a body resting on
it. The log was gone and tatters of the cut rope littered the
beach. I crawled toward Axon’s body to see if he was still
alive.

Someone hit me on the side of the head with
the handle of a spear. “Keep your distance, Duskie.”

I landed on my side and curled into a fetal
position, holding my throbbing head. My thoughts wouldn't focus and
fear knotted in my chest.

“
I say we kill her. She
held the Prince hostage. She deserves to die,” one of the voices
said. Several spoke in agreement.

“
What if she saved the
Prince?” a softer voice pointed out.

Another man laughed. “One less Duskie in the
world wouldn’t be a bad thing.”

They debated until the first voice I had
heard cleared his throat. In the following silence, he commanded,
“Kill her, throw her body back into the ocean, then get the Prince
to the castle. Send riders ahead to have the healers ready.”

Eager steps moved forward and I cringed,
expecting the bite of metal from all sides.

A voice shouted, “Stop!”

I opened my eyes just wide enough to see
Axon fling one of the soldiers to the ground, grab up his spear,
then crack two more soldiers in the head with the staff. He
crouched and spun, throwing another onto his back and catching a
fourth with a blow to the knee that dislocated it backwards. Axon
backed up and crouch over me, his free hand on my shoulder. “I’ll
kill you if you so much as touch one hair on her head!” His eyes
rolled wildly and I knew he suffered from the effects of the salt
water and the healing.

“
Back up!” their commander,
a blue-eyed man with square shoulders and a thin frame cloaked in
green and gold shouted. “Lower your weapons from the Prince!” The
soldiers stepped back in surprise and lowered their spear tips to
the ground. The Commander fell to his knees in the sand. “My Lord,
we feared you were dead. We thought,” he gestured vehemently at me,
“That
she
tried to
kill you.”

Axon gave a grim laugh that ended with him
coughing up blood and spitting it on the sand. “She saved my life,
you fool. Do you think before you kill?”

The Commander sputtered and looked at his
men for help, but they were busy watching Axon. The blue-eyed man
bowed, his head nearly touching the sand. “Forgive me, my Lord. We
didn’t know. Let us get you back to the castle. The healers
there-“

“
Will heal whatever wounds
she has first,” Axon said, cutting him off.

The Commander gaped and then nodded
helplessly. He motioned and the sound of wheels on the sand drew
near. Hooves stopped near me and Axon threw his spear to the
ground.

“
My Prince-“ the Commander
tried to protest.

But Axon ignored him and picked me up in
arms that were surprisingly steady despite all we had been through.
He carried me to the carriage and lifted me inside. He glared one
more time at the soldiers and their commander, then stepped up and
shut the door with a bang.

Axon sank to the floor next to the bench
where I was still curled up and took my hand. “We’re safe, Nexa.” A
tear slid down his face. I reached out with my free hand and wiped
it away. Axon held my fingers against his cheek and closed his eyes
as the sound of sand faded away and the carriage rolled onto a
harder surface.

I caught glimpses of being carried under
vaulted white ceilings hung with green and gold flags. Muscles I
didn’t even know I had screamed in defiance of the abuse I had put
them through. My partially healed wounds burned and ached even
though Axon carried me gently through his palace as though I
weighed little more than a kitten.

Soldiers marched in front of us and headed
off questions. We went up several flights of stairs and turned down
vast corridors until I lost all sense of direction. I closed my
eyes and breathed in Axon’s scent, centering myself on the fact
that he was alive.