A hefty man was at the wheel drinking a bottle of whiskey when Terrin woke up. He was chained to the side of an old boat that smelled like death and fish guts. He pulled against the chains, struggling to free himself from the bindings.
“It’s no use. Those chains are as tight as that bracelet yer wearing. I tried ta cut it off ya, but it wouldn’t budge, no matta what I tried. Feel lucky I ain’t in the mood to cut off yer hand. Too much blood. That stuff stinks like the pits of hell, it does, and ya wouldn’t be worth nothin’ in the mines,” he said as he took another gulp out of his flask.
The ugly, bald man gave Terrin a smile that could kill a walrus. Terrin turned away so he didn’t have to look at the man’s black teeth and the rotting food stuck between them. He looked back at the land they were sailing away from and tried to regain his bearings. Obviously, Nitiri had knocked him out and shipped him away.
I did always wish I could travel the seas, he thought, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.
He knew there was little hope of surviving in the mines for more than a few months, and rumor had it most people would kill themselves before even arriving because those few months were worse than death. He studied the steep shore of Lur Alava with longing, trying to memorize his last glance of the mainland before he slipped away forever. For a moment, he imagined he saw a blonde figure watching him leave from the cliffs and looked away, tears pooling in his eyes.
Goodbye, Snow.
Terrin's head hurt, and his heart ached. He’d hoped he would get a chance to leave Snow a note or scream to her over the wind, but he knew he wasn’t living in a fairy tale.
The cliffs of Lur Alava diminished on the horizon until there was only ocean surrounding him. He flopped back against the side of the ship and sighed dejectedly.
“What are you all huffy about, mister? Did’ja think you had some hope at escape or som’in? Well let me tell you, no one has ever escaped my boat, and trust me, they’ve tried. You’re stuck with me till the end, and which probably isn’t too far away,” the captain told him with a deep, throaty laugh.
Thank you for those encouraging words, Terrin thought sarcastically. If he couldn’t tell the man to his face, at least he could have the pleasure of insulting him inside his head. The man stopped laughing abruptly and glared at Terrin. For a moment, he was afraid the brute could hear his thoughts.
“You see, the reason yer up here is ’cause I wanted to keep an eye on ya, and I thought you would be some entertainment since she brought ya. But it seems yer gonna be sullen, so I guess I don’t have any use fer ya.”
With one hand, he motioned for two sailors to take Terrin below deck. They unhooked him from the side of the ship and shoved him down the creaking staircase. He lost his balance and rolled down the steep steps, whacking his head once again. He groaned in agony and tried to get up, but immediately fell back onto the splintered deck. The sailors laughed and yanked him up so roughly it felt like they dislocated his arms. Terrin stumbled behind as they dragged him through the underbelly of the ship, which smelled like feces and unwashed bodies. Lanterns cast dim light across the rocking hallway, which did nothing to dispel the ever-present darkness. He passed two other male prisoners, who seemed to be younger than twenty, but it was hard to tell at a glance. The slavers shoved him into a cell, and he failed to catch himself. Black spots floated in front of his eyes as his head cracked against the ground yet again, compounding his other head injuries. He heard the door slam behind him right before he passed out.
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Elurra glared at the ship as tears brimmed in her eyes. It grew smaller until it was only a dot on the horizon.
He will come back, she thought repeatedly in a futile effort to convince herself. She heard hooves on the path behind her, but she refused to take her eyes off the ship.
“Princess, what are you doing? You took the wrong path. I was shocked when I saw the tracks leading this way,” Aleah said as she dismounted behind her. Aleah approached cautiously, noticing Elurra hadn’t moved at all.
“Direi?” Aleah asked, worry for her charge filling her voice.
Elurra still couldn’t move. Her tears had turned to ice, and the mist from the ocean made her shiver in place. Aleah gently touched her shoulder, and she noticed how intensely Elurra was trembling. Elurra ignored her. The ocean breeze made her ears and lips go numb, and she welcomed the sensation, pointlessly hoping it would also numb the anguish.
“He’s gone, isn’t he?” she heard Aleah ask softly.
The question needed no answer. Elurra abruptly broke down, and tears flooded down her face. She tasted salt on her lips, and she couldn’t tell if it was from the ocean or her eyes. She had refused to give up in the Amorian forest, but she couldn’t see any way to possibly help her friend. She was useless. She turned and crumpled into Aleah’s arms and wept.
If he had never met me, he would be fine, she thought, despair crushing her.
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A cry of anguish escaped the Amorian queen when she saw her son’s body. The soldier who found him was standing in the corner of the room with the rest of the search party. Wails of distress bounced off the walls. The king rushed in, with a messenger close behind him. When he saw Kai’s corpse, he let out an outraged, guttural scream. He sounded like a wounded beast. He fell to his knees, and the halls of the castle echoed his agony.
Eventually, he lifted his head and demanded, “Who has done this? Who has slain my son?”
No one answered him. Everyone looked at him with wide, frightened glances. Amora’s king was known to be a jolly man, but his anger was just as notorious. Everyone had heard wild tales of those unfortunate enough to witness it, and no one was eager to discover if they were true. All eyes turned to the man who discovered the body, and he gulped nervously.
“Lur Alava is to blame. There are witnesses who say they saw a duchess from the ball meeting him, and she is nowhere to be found,” he said softly, almost too quiet to hear.
The king stood silently. Everyone backed up. He took two long strides to the body, and the observers winced as he yanked the knife from his son’s chest. The queen whimpered and turned away. One of her ladies comforted her as she wept into her shoulder.
“The land of Demons and thieves. I should have known something like this would happen when their leadership fell apart. That backward kingdom has existed long enough. Lur Alava will pay for this atrocity. Their blood will fill their valleys, and their snow will come down red from the heavens. Arrows will fall on them as rain, and their homes will be filled with corpses. I will call down the great war god Bast’s wrath upon them, and their castle will melt with the fury of my retaliation!”
The hall was silent as everyone held their breath.
“There will be war!”
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Nitiri smiled in her sleep, sensing all the chaos the first step of her plan had created. Her body had collapsed from all the magical exertion of the last few days, but her plan was starting to come together, even after all the problems her niece had caused.
She wished she was heartless enough to kill children and teenagers. Then she could get rid of nuisances like Terrin, Elurra, and Kai. She knew she could never do such a thing, though. When she saw Kai’s body with those haunting, lifeless green eyes, her flashbacks had resurfaced with a vengeance. She had attempted to kill Terrin in her fury. The knife had hovered over his heart, its point glinting in the torchlight. Right as she was about to end him, though, she recalled Elurra’s tortured expression when she ripped Terrin away. Nitiri had worn the same expression on her own face before.
Her mind forced her to recall all the death she had witnessed in her lifetime. The hollow eyes of the deceased stared at her; her bloodied hands haunted her. Nitiri pushed the images away and repressed her memories, fighting for a grip to retain one last hold on her sanity. She made herself relax, and the nothingness consumed her.
I won’t have to kill anyone else, she told herself. I’ll let the Demons do it for me. They don’t have any problems with killing on a whim.
They would be back from the edges of the kingdom soon. After they took care of her brother’s men, she would have them at her command.
No one will be able to stop me. Their end will be my beginning.