Surrender (22 page)

Kaliel sighed and rolled over onto her side, pulling her knees to her chest. Part of her envied Pux, he wasn’t regarded with half as much scrutiny. She thought back to the days in Evennses when they spent hours running and laughing in the forests, when she escaped at night to swim with the merfolk. Those days were so far away. She wanted to turn back time. She wanted to be able to sit with Desaunius in her little cabin and talk about the Lands of Men. She squeezed her eyes shut as memories of the catacombs came back to her. She used to revel in the endless wonders of the Lands of Men, unsure of when she would be called to service. Instead, she trembled with fear at the words that she would never forget:
He comes for us.

She tried to distract herself with images of the waterfall. She imagined Krishani’s gaze on her and the warm feelings that invoked. She pictured his fingers trailing down her back, his lips nipping at her collar bone, her cheeks, and pointy ears. She felt the warmth of him surround her, the elation in her heart—then an ache in her chest intensified as reality set in. Three moons felt like forever. She hugged the blanket to her chest and closed her eyes.

• • •

The corridor was modern, with thick, elaborately-embroidered rugs, covering the floor. Wainscoting plated the bottom half of the walls, the top covered in creamy wallpaper dotted with dark red flowers and green leaves. On the walls, candles flickered inside glass bulbs, casting an eerie glow on the mahogany doorframes.

Kaliel stood at one end of the corridor, watching as tall, shadowy shapes billowed across the floor, smoke rising from the tips of their heavy black boots, the clank of metal sounding as they steadily swept across the carpets. They banged loudly on doors, opening each one in succession, peering in, then moving to the next. They were getting closer and closer to her, but she couldn’t move, helplessly staring at their faceless hoods. She thought she had heard of their kind before—Daed, though she had never encountered any before.

A door swung open to her right and another shadowy figure emerged, a girl with long black hair and a silky pink dress stretched across his arms. Her glass-like face lolled to the side, and Kaliel noticed her rose-colored eyes. They looked pleading and hopeless. She stared at them, unable to remove her gaze, waiting for the faint sound of the girl’s voice in the back of her mind, but it never came.

Instead, there was another bang on one of the doors, a flash and sizzle of fire, followed by alarmed screams and deep laughter. One of the shadowy figures removed their hood to reveal shoulder-length black hair and tattoos scattered across his face. The ink seemed to crawl along his skin like a series of snakes. He punched the doorframe, his fist moving like lightning towards something inside the room. He pulled back and there was a girl, identical to the other, same glass-like face, but crimson hair and bright, piercing red eyes. Her arms curled around the doorframe, pulling away. She was clad in a black and red gown, a black corset pulled across her torso. Her eyes shimmered like fire, but she remained still, sword tip poised at her gut. Her eyes were on the other sister and she went to cry out, but the hand that gripped her throat squeezed harder. Kaliel noticed metal scales covering the shadowy figure’s fingers, skin and bone still visible around the elaborate armor. Quickly, they pulled the girl out into the hallway. She kicked and screamed, but they silenced her and her body went limp. The other shadowy figure followed them, carrying the other girl, his face a mask of darkness. Kaliel watched until they disappeared. The candles went out, covering her in smoke.

She didn’t wake up as the dream faded away, however, she felt her eyes open, the scene around her completely changed.

Krishani’s eyes were different; one shone gold, the other a rich brown. She traced the patterns in the irises, noting their intricate architecture. There was something about him she recognized, but all she could concentrate on were those eyes. A gold band wrapped around his forehead, a headdress attached to it, golden snakes hanging off it. It resembled a chandelier, aside from its obvious use as a crown. He had olive skin and a narrow nose. His mouth was drawn up in a bright smile and his warm hand was on her shoulder. Something begged her to look at the sun, but her eyes were locked to his. Nausea kicked in and her heart raced.

Something is wrong!
she thought.

Kaliel tried to move, but his grip and his focus on her sharpened. His eyes pleaded with her, imploring her not to look up. She closed her eyes; there was no way she could let it go. She felt the chalice in the other hand. She had drawn this scene over and over in her journal. She fought to lift her head to look at the sky.

“We have fulfilled our purpose.”
His voice was even and calm. She feared that he caused the reasons for her distress.

“What purpose?” she asked.

“The war is over,” he said.

Why would that scare her? She fought to gain control of her emotions, but her knees buckled and heat rose up around her feet. It burned, sending pain shooting into her torso. She cried out and tried to pry her eyes open.

“Relax, my love. It will be over soon,” he said.

“Krishani?”

“Nay, they call me the Ferryman.”

“What?”

She tried to fight, but the fire was intense. It wrapped around her body, threatening to crush her insides with its intense heat. There was something else though, a barrier between herself and the heat, a shield. She felt the violet aura surrounding her. It spiked off the edges of her body in its own wisps of flames, protecting her from the final axe of destruction.

“And you are the Flame.” There was no compassion in his voice.

The flames engulfed her face in their fury and she forced herself to look up. Smoke covered the sky. Flame-laced pieces of molten rock rained down on them. She gasped and tried to fight it, but with his hand on her shoulder, and his eyes on her, they seemed lost in their own world. She looked at him, his body engulfed in flames, only his mismatched eyes staring into hers through the waves of heat. “It’s over.” His smile faded as fire licked away his flesh.

“Kaliel!” A new voice. “Kaliel!”

Her eyes opened. She was drenched in sweat, her body trembling uncontrollably.

“What did you see?” Mallorn demanded.

She put a hand to her head, trying to shake away the stinging images. Her mouth moved, trying to form words, but her tongue was dry and her throat was scratchy. She longed for water—the
waters
. She needed to go to the lake. She pushed the covers aside, refusing to explain what she saw, anything to keep him from knowing her dark secrets.

“I can’t stay here,” she said as her feet found the floor.

Mallorn had his hand on her arm, but she wrenched it away and ran out of the cabin into the night. The moon waxed, half full. She took a deep breath and tasted the air. The pulsating waves of the waters lapped against the shore in the distance. She darted to the east, following the thin path leading through the scattered forests towards the lake. On her left were patches of evergreen trees and on the right the familiar young red cedars and birch trees. The ground below her moved from grass to mud, but thankfully it was dry. She traipsed along the land, desperate to get to the lake. It had been so long since her last visit.

She forced the images of the dream into the crevasses of her mind, refusing to listen to anything that could cause her pain. The Flame inside battered around like a banshee trying to overtake her. She fought to keep it suppressed. Her lungs burned as she ran; her mouth parched and sticky. There were no roots in her way, but she skipped along the ground as though they were there, an ingrained old habit.

The moist, fresh scent of water wafted through the air as she neared the shallow cliff. Her toes curled over the edge as she frantically searched for another way to the water. Stars swept across the sky, the half-moon brighter out in the open. She stumbled down the hill on the right as it sloped towards the lake. It curved around the cave and the sand, concealing the beach from the forest. Finally, she heard waves gently lapping against the oars of a boat.

She tumbled on the grass and glanced at the boat. It resembled a canoe, except the stern had a wooden figurine of a woman carved into it. The woman had pearls for eyes. She thought the woman was staring at her.

Ignoring it, she desperately shed her nightgown and moved to the ledge. There were moss and weeds along the edge of the island. She sighed and closed her eyes; the Flame encasing her in her dream wouldn’t leave her mind. Without another thought, she took a few steps and plunged off the grassy ledge, straight into the deep water.

She pulled herself down, not bothering to call to the merfolk. They were never going to return. She kept her eyes closed as she felt the cool waters rush around her body, erasing any memories of fire, Flames, Ferrymen, the Great Oak, the foe. She held her breath as she traveled deeper and deeper. Her arms brushed along the prickly weeds floating through the waters. They scratched at her skin as she fought to free herself.

She sank deeper.

Pressure built as she turned and turned in the waters, trying to escape the weeds. She let out a few bubbles of air. She didn’t have much time before all of it was gone. Her eyes opened as she tried to find her way to the surface. It was so dark she could barely tell which way to go until her body tumbled around and she caught sight of a glimmering light. She lay limp between the weeds, allowing them to float away from her, desperate to get to the surface. When they cleared, she kicked and pulled upwards.

Her head breeched the water and her eyes beheld the horizon in the distance. If she hadn’t been so tired she would have paddled towards it. She thought of the boat, but remembered the foe. She turned to the shore.

Mallorn stood there with an exhausted look on his face. “Please, child, give me the chance to help,” he said as he held her nightgown out to her.

Kaliel swam to the shore and nodded. He really wasn’t like the others. She felt his compassion for her as she pulled herself out of the water. Mallorn turned as she grabbed the nightgown and slid it over her head.

• • •

Kaliel nestled into the big wooden chair in the living room of the Kiirar’s cabin. Her body barely filled the chair, but she was content to feel drowned in it. She stared ahead at the cup in front of her, full of chamomile tea. Mallorn sat across the way, eyeing her carefully. He took a sip of tea and leaned forward, placing the cup on the stump between them.

“You know there are merfolk off the shores of Avristar,” Mallorn began.

Kaliel glanced at him, her chest tightening. “Not anymore,” she said softly as she turned her attention to the fireplace. She closed her eyes and tried to put the idea of fire out of her mind. The merfolk in Evennses were something she never talked about anymore. The last time she tried to go to the lake was the first time she bloomed the weed.

Mallorn frowned, seeming not to understand what she meant. “They came centuries ago, when Avristar was rebuilding. They are the protectors of the Avristar Stones that grow at the bottom of the lake.”

Kaliel groaned. “Those stones belong to the merfolk.” She thought about the nights she swam with them. That was long before the Great Oak sent her to Orlondir, long before she had been with Krishani.

“Istar has an agreement with them. They give us one stone for every kinfolk.”

She grabbed her tea, took a long sip and fell back into the chair, staring into the fire again. This conversation was much more unnerving to her than he could imagine. “The merfolk are dangerous.” Those were the same words of her elder Desaunius.

Mallorn sighed and put his tea on the stump. “That they are, which begs the question of why you would go diving into the lake at such a late hour?” He shot her a stern glance, his eyebrows pulled together in disappointment.

Kaliel sighed. “Old habit, I suppose. The water calms me.”

“You’ve been in the lake before?”

She kept her gaze on the flames devouring the log and stifled a sigh. Her heart clenched from the images in her dream. She tried to push them away, but watching the fire made her think of Krishani covered in flames. “Aye, many times when I lived in Evennses.”

“Did no one mention the lake is forbidden?”

“I’ve heard that.” She glanced at him. He sat back in his chair and followed her gaze to the fire.

“Why did the dream make you go there tonight?”

Kaliel looked at the tea cups, closing her eyes she tried to imagine the forests, the merfolk that went away, and the stone she almost stole from them. “I was burning.” She licked her lips, trying to moisten her mouth, but it was no use, it remained dry and scratchy.

“You are a Flame, flames burn.”

The dream frightened her, but what Mallorn said was amusing at the very least. She glanced up to see him smiling and turned her attention to the stump between them. “Bloom the weed of temptation and expire the great garden of life.”

“A parable? From the Great Oak?” he assumed.

Kaliel could almost hear what he wasn’t saying. She was troubled and he wanted to help. He was also afraid he wouldn’t be able to do it in the time allotted. Besides, in the end, all this came down to was more time away from Krishani. She didn’t know if she could stand that.

“What does it have to do with the dream?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”
Krishani was burning,
she thought. If Istar hadn’t told Mallorn about Krishani, she wasn’t about to either. She wanted to pull away from The Kiirar’s gaze. Something about him said he was trying to understand, that he wouldn’t be as harsh as the other elders, but she was afraid of how he would react if he knew the entirety of the truth about her.

“Something makes you very different, Kaliel.”

She scooted forward on the chair and took hold of her tea. She took another long sip, finishing it. She set it down and yawned, arms stretching above her head. “I think I should try to rest.”

Mallorn shot her a stern glare. “Aye. We will continue this conversation later.”

* * *