The Misadventures of Annika Brisby (33 page)

an old friend

The scent of salty air hit Annika’s nose long before the pine trees parted, and when they did, they revealed a sizeable fishing village that catered to merchants as well. The frothy edge of the shore was lined with boulders and docks and a long boardwalk that led to different businesses, and most importantly, a pub. Not only was it a place to relax with a much needed tall glass of local beer, but it was the place to make inquiries and connections about crossing the Sea of Forneus. Annika and the samodivi weren’t even finished with their first pints when Justinian walked up to them, laughing and joking with a wraith-like creature dressed in Viking armor.

“This is Captain Kovachev. He’s generously agreed to take us on board his ship,” the broad-chested paladin beamed. The captain’s sinewy smile faded as he looked at Sariel with a curious expression.

“Sariel? Is that you?”

“You two have met?” Justinian asked. Captain Kovachev looked astounded as Sariel stood up and stepped forward.

“Silef, it can’t be. Is it possible?”

“I thought you were dead!” they both said to each other at the same time.

“What are you doing here?” they both said at once. They laughed and he reached out to touch her face with his bony hand.

“Sariel…it’s been over one hundred lifetimes since I’ve seen you last.”

“I know,” she breathed. “You’re still trading then?”

“Yes, for an eternity. I wouldn’t give up the life for anything. My men and I belong on the water; you know that. Seeing you brings back ancient memories, but we’ll have plenty of time to catch up,” he said with a spooky grin. “We set sail in an hour.”

Astounded by their good fortune, Annika and the wood nymphs watched as the men guided the horses and deer into the steerage. Konstantin waited until all the animals were secured below deck before boarding with the wolves in Captain Kovachev’s private quarters. The other sailors were curious about having a vampire for their passenger, but had nothing to fear since there was no harming those that were already dead. Just as promised, they set sail right away, designating separate sleeping quarters for the men and women. While everyone was getting situated and settling in, Annika walked out to one end of the ship, where Sariel stood gazing at the sea. Her fierce expression was long gone, replaced with a forlorn sadness. She glanced over at Annika, but didn’t move.

“How do you know Captain Kovachev?” Annika asked.

“Silef…” Sariel whispered. “Silef and I…we fought side by side when the children were babies.” Annika figured she meant Runa, Magda, and Hilda.

“Do you want to hear what the world has done to me?” she asked. Her warrior queen demeanor had vanished, and they were now simply two women speaking to one another.

“Sariel, I’m really sorry about what I said that night.”

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I’ve held onto this anger far too long. It’s tarnished my soul. Seeing Silef has made me realize that by remaining angry, I’ve only given
them
my power, not taken it back.”

“Given who?” Annika asked. Sariel sighed heavily and looked at her with sadness in her eyes.

“It’s a grim tale. If you’re willing, I will tell you. It’s part of your history.”

“Maybe it will help you deal with things, if you talk about it?” Annika suggested.

“I haven’t spoken of it in centuries, but perhaps it’s time.” Sariel’s gaze scanned the water, and then she looked at she began to speak. “When I was first taken as a new bride from my home on the river, the Viking who stole my clothes and brought me to his home was kind enough to teach me how to use a sword. I fought alongside my husband and Silef, defending our ship, and our livelihood. Back then women fought as shield maidens, and I had become as great of a fighter as any man. What I lacked in size, I made up for with agility.”

“However, I soon had my hands full with three young daughters, and the sea was no place to raise them. It was a hard life, with their father traveling for months at a time, but I was always so happy when he returned. I was so in love with my husband and with our children, and we were expecting another. He and Silef had just returned from delivering their cargo, when their ship was ambushed by pirates. I had left the girls at home with a neighbor and went with Silef’s wife to meet him and my husband, but the pirates killed them before we even had a chance to greet one another. They kidnapped me and Silef’s wife and took us back to their ship.” Sariel’s voice choked and she stopped speaking.

“If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to,” Annika said, but Sariel shook her head.

“No, I want you to understand what made me the way I am. No one walks through life unscathed, and it’s how we react to being tested that becomes our legacy. So there we were on the ship, and all I care to say is that she and I were violated and tortured in the worst of ways. She was blessed to lose her life quickly, but not me. At first I tried to fight them, but that was what they wanted. Then I begged mercy for my unborn child, but they didn’t care.” Annika was overcome with horror and revulsion.

“They ripped my body to shreds,” Sariel continued bitterly. “When I wouldn’t stop bleeding, they threw me overboard for the sharks. I don’t know how I reached the shore, but as soon as my feet touched the sand, I lost the baby I had carried for five months. The trauma was too much, and there was nothing I could do for my little boy…my only son. He was so small that he fit in one of my hands…he weighed nothing.” Sariel looked down into her palm and tried to fight back her tears, but they rolled down her cheeks until Annika was watery-eyed as well.

“I buried him in the hard soil of early spring. Sometimes, at that same time of year, I can still smell the ground where my cheek rested.” Sariel took a long deep breath and was quiet for a long time. Annika couldn’t believe the story she was hearing. She couldn’t think of anything more dismal, more horrendous, more hideous to happen to another living creature. And yet, with every detail that Sariel shared, she knew it was true. “I cried until I was dry,” she continued. “And then I cried more. I didn’t move from my son’s resting place for a moment. I lay watch over his grave, waiting to die.”

“But you didn’t die,” Annika said in a cracked whisper. Her voice seemed a vulgar thing to pervert the memory that Sariel was reliving.

“No. Instead I was rescued. Her name was Nadira. She appeared before me, white and pure and beautiful, and she told me I must live for my daughters. She gashed a vein in her foreleg with her horn and demanded that I drink.”

“A unicorn?” Annika uttered softly, drawing in her breath.

“Yes. A creature so rare and pure, so sought after for her own precious blood—and here she was, urging me to take from her very life force. She lay by my side through the night to keep me warm, and told me to give a piece of my skirt to the raven you know as Cazadora. She brought the fabric back to Silef, to let him and my daughters know I was alive. He was my husband’s closest friend, and he alone knew my former life as a samodiva. This is perhaps why Nadira wanted me to have a second chance at life. My body healed quickly with her magic blood and she bade me to sit on her back, to ride her as if she were nothing but a common horse, and when she delivered me to the outskirts of my village, she disappeared as quickly as she had come to me, before I could offer any thanks to her. I gathered Silef and his crew and urged them to take me aboard their ship and hunt those pirates down, for I had sworn my revenge, and I was determined to see it through.” The sorrow in Sariel’s eyes had been replaced by an intense ferocity as she continued her story.

“Our ship found theirs quickly, since we were carrying little cargo—only a bit of lamp oil, and as soon as we boarded we hobbled their feet so they couldn’t escape, yet they couldn’t bleed to death too quickly either. They repented for their sins against me, but for the crime committed against my son I never heard a single word. It was really quite compassionate of me to give them their deaths, since I was to live through my nightmare for the rest of my immortal life. I cut off the vile organs that had violated me with such hate only days ago, every last one of them, until those beasts were nothing but a pile of useless flesh. We doused their ship with the lamp oil before returning to ours, and with one beautiful, blessed arrow, I set it ablaze. Silef’s crew and I watched as the ship burned every one of those bastards to ashes. I waited until their ship had sunk, and only then did I return to my daughters. I brought them back to my homeland just outside Srebra Gora and raised them where I knew they would be safe. We’ve never returned to the sea, until now.”

The story was finished. This dreary window into Sariel’s past explained so much. It explained why she disliked men, why she was so passionate about tracking her children, why she seemed perpetually melancholic and angry, why she was so unyielding in her beliefs and opinions, and why she relished in violence. Every time her sword or arrow killed someone, it also killed a little bit more of the pain she’d borne for the past thousand years.

love and fear

Below deck in the cramped little kitchen, some of the sailors had opened a keg of ale in honor of Sariel and Silef’s reunion and were guzzling it down. The only problem was that their half-decayed wraith bodies couldn’t hold the liquid very well. Instead, it was leaking onto the floor through holes in their stomachs and ribs, and was gathering in golden puddles at their feet. They found this extremely amusing, as did Justinian, and their shrieking laughter was contagious. Annika walked through what she hoped was beer and was promptly handed a glass from a man with half a face yet all of his smile. Dardis was drinking and doing parlor tricks for the sailors, Nikola had a glass in one hand and was thumb-wrestling a wraith with the other, and Runa and Zaven were stealing kisses behind Chivanni’s back instead of following his cooking instructions, although the heat was definitely turned on. Finn and Hilda were discussing how sirens and samodivi were once related, but that the wood nymphs migrated away from the sea and lost their scales and fins, along with the deadly potency of their song. And then there was Talvi.

Annika knew that plants needed sun and rain to live, and lots of it to thrive. Apparently for Talvi, wine was what watered and warmed his well-being, because he’d snapped up a case from the pub and was joking and laughing with the sailors like he was among old friends back at the Tortoise and the Hare. When his met hers from across the room, there wasn’t a trace left of the sullen creature she’d been traveling with; now there was nothing left but smoldering seduction as he subtly nodded his head towards the door. Amidst the commotion in the kitchen it was easy for him to slip away and lead her below to the storage deck underneath the living quarters. They walked blindly in the darkness, until he lit a small candle he’d been hiding in his pocket. The light was weak, but they could see great big chests filled with goods that the sailors traded among the ports they visited. Rows of ceramic jugs lined one area, and hanging from above were countless woven rugs. Talvi pulled down one of the softer carpets, laying it down on the floor and sat upon it. He dripped a small bit of wax inside the handle of one of the jugs and planted the candle into it. They were completely hidden from view, and she lay on her side and propped her head up with her hand, beckoning him to lie next to her. He ran his hand up and down her thigh and let his eyes wash over her as they had so many times in the past, full of desire.

“It’s been such a long time since we had any privacy,” she moaned. “I can’t believe you’re not going crazy by now.”

“What makes you think I’m not?” he asked, stroking her hair, and then her arm. But instead of giving her one of his more lecherous expressions, there was a lost look in his eyes; the same look that he’d worn when he confessed that he’d been the one who was conquered, not her. She reached for his pants but he pushed her eager hands away.

“Don’t you dare tell me you’re not in the mood!” she hissed at him. “You’ve turned me down enough already.”

“Annika…just slow down. You’re acting like a bloody animal, and for once I don’t want to fuck you like one,” he said as his intense gaze met her own.

I want to make love to you. Let me love you,
she heard him say in her mind.

I don’t care what you call it, I need you,
she answered him.

Do you really?

“Yes,” she said into his mouth as she kissed him fiercely. He held her in his inhuman grip so tightly she could barely breathe; their tongues tasted and explored each other like long lost lovers, and this time the hallucinations she experienced were ten times stronger than before. His hands managed to entangle themselves in her red hair, run up and down her back, squeeze her breasts, and curl around her waist all at once. His nails dug into her skin, but the repressed desire that had been unleashed only served to excite Annika further. In the dark, she was vaguely aware of him pulling off her clothes before bringing her to life when his hot mouth kissed a trail from her breastbone to her navel, moving to each hip and biting the flesh as if he hungered for her and her alone. His lips wandered freely along the insides of her thighs, and she could feel his nose nuzzle the sensitive crease where her legs joined her body. He flicked at her folds with his warm tongue; taunting, teasing, and toying with her in between his gentle biting kisses. His sideburns tickled her legs; his delicate ears were blazing, and that mouth grew hungrier and more insatiable with every moment that passed. She ran her fingers under his jaw, relishing the feeling of him drinking her in, and she spread her legs even wider. He hummed in approval and slipped a finger inside, then another, building her anticipation while he sat up and unfastened his belt with his free hand. He brought her ankles up to his shoulders and she felt the acute sensation of him plunging deep into her. The steady grind of his hips pushed her backbone into the rug, causing the friction to burn her skin, but she didn’t care. The pleasure he lavished upon her was more than worth it. He gave a few more thrusts and then withdrew his member, replacing it with his flickering tongue. Every nerve ending was reveling in his swirling kisses, offering themselves to him like flower petals begging to be pollinated. She moaned with frustration when he lifted his head and laid her back down on the rug, then sighed in relief when he crawled over her and kissed her with his wet, salty lips. She wrapped her legs around him and guided his body into hers. Annika’s head was swimming as he dove in again and again to the rhythm of the boat while it rocked and swayed on the waves around them. His nose was inches away from hers and his eyes were staring into her soul with longing and need for something beyond physical desire. She wondered if they were reflecting that same longing and need that she felt in her own heart, the need to be loved for who she was, not what someone else wanted her to be. And in that private moment, he grinned and nodded, and she realized that he’d heard her thoughts and felt exactly the same way.

Annika’s gasps were coming closer and closer together until they became as uncontrollable as the waves of the ocean, and her hands flew up to her mouth as she tried to subdue her surrender. He pulled her hands away to hear her sing, and joined her with harmonious notes of his own. That divine instant was pure rapture. It was the hypnotic chord of every song she’d ever held dear in her heart. It was more exhilarating than any drug, any ride, any feeling or sensation she’d ever experienced.

He wrapped his arms around her and rolled onto his back, holding her close as she rested on top of him. For a long time all he did was caress her skin and occasionally kiss the top of her head, and without her having to ask, he found the rug burn on her back and settled his warm, healing hand upon it.

“I wish I could keep you,” she sighed as she caught her breath.

“Is that what you’d like, my little dove?” he murmured.

“Yeah. You could heal my blisters every time I break in a new pair of shoes,” she joked. “Plus, you’d make a great sex slave.”

“
That’s
the only thing that holds your interest?” He sounded utterly disenchanted.

“No, it’s not the only thing,” Annika quickly tried to assure him. “But it’s not like you can actually come home with me. You don’t even have a social security number.”

“What kind of number is that?” he asked innocently, but she only laughed at him.

“It doesn’t matter. You don’t have one, and I sure can’t smuggle you into the country in my fairy box. You need documents, like a visa or a passport. Besides, it’s ridiculous to even think about.” She shook her head at the thought, but then something she hadn’t counted on happened. The more she thought about it, the less it sounded ridiculous and the more it sounded feasible.

“Why is it so far-fetched?” he asked, picking up on her ideas. “I’ve traveled to the modern world plenty of times, so why not America? You can teach me how to operate your car, and we can drive down one coast of the continent and come back up the other side! Wouldn’t that be an amazing adventure?” Before the romance of the idea could register, she found a way to crush it.

“Come on Talvi, get real,” she said as she pulled her shirt back on. “That’s not going to happen. I’m going back to my life, and you’re going back to yours. I just hope we can open the portals back up soon. I miss my family so much, and I know they’ve got to be worried sick about me. I’ve been gone over a month and a half now…actually it’s been almost two months.”

“What if…what if we never do mend the portals?” Talvi asked slowly. “What if you were trapped here forever?”

“I don’t know. What if I was? What the hell would I do? Get a job waiting tables at the Tortoise and the Hare? Help your brother translate documents? Live with Runa and Hilda in their cave?” She snickered, but he didn’t think it was funny. “What’s wrong?”

“I thought at the very least that you’d want to come home with me,” he said quietly. She felt slightly sick to her stomach and a lump formed in her throat, somehow managing to make her eyes slightly tear up, but she swallowed the sadness away.

“Even if I did, what am I supposed to do? Hang out making
banitza
for your dad until I drop dead in front of you fifty years from now?” His wore a wounded frown, but he didn’t answer her. “If there was a way for it to work out, I might let myself…I might not…things could be different. Maybe you should pay attention to those stories.”

“What stories?” he asked.

“You know, like the one about the elf lady who married the human guy, and all their kids were born human and died except the one boy? And then she couldn’t deal with it so she threw herself out of the tower; remember that story?”

“Believe me, I know that story by heart,” he said wearily. “I am so sick of hearing it.”

“So don’t you ever think about how it relates to us? Because I sure do.”

“Blast it all, Annika! I think about it every
day
!” he cried in exasperation. “It’s rather difficult to not look out my bloody window at that bloody tower and be reminded of that bloody story!” Annika shivered in response to the tone in his voice.

“You mean the tower back at your house?”

“Yes! It was my grandmother who threw herself out of it—
that’s
the reason why no one goes in there,” he huffed, his voice wavering just enough for Annika to realize how strong his emotions ran. “She couldn’t cope with outliving her husband and all but one of her children, which happened to be my father. By the time he found her on the river rocks at the bottom of the cliff, it was too late. No one survives a fall like that.”

“I’m sorry Talvi. I didn’t know,” she whispered, aghast.

“Well now you do,” he said as he looked to the side. “I never knew her. But that’s why Father won’t allow us in there. He only visits it every few years or so. Sometimes I sneak up there just for the view, but it’s unsettling. I swear, the only thing that lives up there are bats and melancholy.”

“Why doesn’t he just tear it down then, if it makes him so sad?”

Talvi’s eyes riveted to hers.

“Would you tear it down?”

“Hell yeah, if it was that depressing to look at.”

“You would destroy the last memory of someone you loved that much? And I thought I knew you.” He was looking at her with a strange perplexity. Annika didn’t know how to respond, and she lay next to him in uncomfortable silence for a while.

She imagined him having the same fate if she were to stay, and she imagined being more than a little blue without him around anymore. As many faults as she could find in him, there were so many qualities that won her over. How many times in her life had she ignored her instincts and instead followed her unseasoned logic down a more difficult or painful path? How many times in her life had she trusted her impulsive heart and everything worked out as if by magic?

“Do you love me or not?” he asked her, point-blank. “Would you really tear down that tower?”

“I…I…” Annika faltered. She’d built a wall around her heart ages ago, back when she was still with Danny and still of the mindset that a lifetime of sitting on the couch with him was as good as it was ever going to get. Now she felt as if Talvi had popped out of nowhere and taken a bulldozer to the very foundation of that wall. For a moment she entertained the notion that maybe he
could
love her the way she’d always wanted to be loved, the way she’d always dreamed of being loved, if only for a brief part of her life.

“You try to act like you’re only interested in being physical with me, and yet you know I can hear what you’re really thinking,” he accused. “You don’t want to admit it to anyone, including yourself, but you went so far as to write it down in the same journal you write your music in. Obviously your music and your beliefs are important to you, so why do you continue to push me away?”

“Because I don’t want you to go through what your grandma did! I don’t want you to hurt like that!” she stammered, trying not to cry.

“Stop worrying about me, about what hasn’t even happened. That’s no way to live a life. Spending all of your time wondering ‘what if’ will rot you from the inside out. It hurts me more that I have you in front of me and yet you hold me at arm’s length! What for? Just let me love you. I don’t think it’s asking too much,” he implored, and stroked her hair. She felt cold and guilty, hearing his words of devotion and wanting to walk away from them. How could he be so sure about her? How could he throw such caution to the wind? She wanted to be that fearless, that brave. She wanted so desperately give in, but she couldn’t allow it.