River’s End ch 66: An Ember in the Waning Light

The cool scent of yewn churned and blended with the spice-tinged sweetness of dasrii blossoms. Brows furrowed, I inhaled deeper, sure I was mistaken. Dasrii required coastal moisture, and I associated their warm aroma with Seallaii’s royal palace balanced on a narrow strip of land between the Northern Ocean and the Bejeweled Sea.

As I blinked the room into focus, I found that I had not misidentified their unique perfume. I lay in a sprawling bed, yewn flowers carefully sewn into the cushiest of pillows hugging every nook of my body. Dasrii vines formed a canopy, each mauve leaf larger than me.

I sat up, and a chilled, humid breeze caressed my face. A translucent ceiling lay across rows of pillars in three directions, each side framing a waterfront view. Curtains tied to those pillars danced with the breeze as much as they could.

I blinked several more times. This was my sister’s room, even if it wasn’t exactly as I remembered it from the few times I had gotten to sleep alongside her on my capital visits.

“How...?”

With a jolt, I looked down at myself, relieved to find I was not in possession of my sister’s body. However, my lacy nightgown covered about as much as a leopard’s spots did.

“Where is the key?” a masculine voice demanded, and I threw my limbs around myself in an attempt to cover what the dress did not.

“What key? What’s going on?”

My frantic glances revealed no one. The wall behind me was solid stone, and though someone could have hidden behind the pillars, I doubted I would have heard him so clearly above the rush of waves.

I was about to check beneath the bed when he repeated his line, calling my attention upward. The feet of an enormous metal bird dropped through the canopy, and I tried to roll away but couldn’t. A hand dug into my calf, arm disappearing within the mattress. With a shriek, I slapped and pried at it, dodging the chrome talon as it slashed at my chest. The harder I pulled, the further my leg sunk as if beneath a clouded sea.

Wait, a sea.

I paused. Last I knew, I had been strapped to a medical bed with wires attached all over my body. I wasn’t actually in my sister’s room, battling a giant metal bird and a disembodied hand. This was my mindscape, but why did it look like this instead of its normal expanse?

None of this was real, but each piece represented something in the physical world. The sharpness and size of the bird claws were a warning not to let them touch me, and I paid for my pause when one slashed across my back. Instead of blood, fire poured from the wound, ripping it wider. I choked on my own screams, all other sound lost to me.

To spite my desperate twirls, the grip on my leg tightened, then climbed. Thigh, hip, ribs, shoulder, neck—no part of me was sacred to its touch. It clamped down and pulled, but instead of dragging me under, a delicate figure rose.

A crumpled, black void stood in for the left side of Alaysq’s face, and what remained of her petite features sagged with fatigue. Garbed in a flowing gown of delicate chiffon, she clung to and curled around me, single hand pressed to the wound on my back. Ease spilled through that touch, dousing the fire and sewing the tear in my skin.

Tears dripped off my chin, wetting her messy, purple hair. “Alaysq, you don’t have the energy to spare.”

“Nor can I endure your pain, so do not let it happen again.”

With a nod, I acknowledged the wisdom in that and ducked the next talon swipe. Holding her tight to me, I rolled beneath a second and off the side of the bed. The wind roared, tearing at the curtains and the skirt tangled with my legs as a storm covered the sun.

“The scenery is a memory,” Alaysq explained. The mosaic of marble tiles beneath my feet was just as intangible to her as the bed had been. I couldn’t set her down, but despite her missing parts, she was heavy, every cell filled with lead.

“Distorted as memories tend to be,” I agreed, barely dodging as the talons pounced again. “I have been in a similar version of this room, but I’ve never worn anything like this.”

“The room is a memory, but you and your attire represent your mood.”

I balked and gave her an incredulous look. “Excuse me, but I’m not really in the mood to be running for my life in lingerie now or ever, thank you.”

She laughed. “Sweet child, something has invaded our mind. You feel vulnerable and exposed. That is what the dress represents.”

I didn’t like that “our mind” business, but we were bonded. She had a proper place in my mindscape. It was because of this bond that Ishiyae thought I could save her. He had told the Shlykrii-na doctors what I was and how the three of us were connected.

My heart slithered into my throat, and my voice strained past it. “When Ishiyae tried to kill me and you revealed he and I were bonded, you said the science team had their fill of vedia, that they needed to see the other side of the bond, my side. You told him not to tell them.”

She stiffened, eye like an ember in the waning light. “Did he?”

Evading the talons again, I dove under the bed, and in this planked position, it was even harder to keep Alaysq from sinking. “He thought giving me to them would save you.”

“That boy.”

Invisible chains rattled, accompanied by a yelp. The chains jerked again, and they might as well have hauled my insides out through my nose. In no condition to move when the bird tore through the bed and scooped me into its talons, I could do nothing but scream and burn.

“Where is the key?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” I cried, skin curling like paper with every lick of flame.

Yet, the same question repeated as if those were the only words the voice knew.

“Alaysq! Alaysq?” The first wail was a plea for her to do something. The second expressed my surprise when she let go of me to stretch her incomplete body between the talons and shove them apart.

Still burning, I fell on snow. Bitter cold nipped at me as fiercely as the fire did. The fountain in the courtyard of my citadel home loomed over me, every stream frozen in crystalline ice.

“When—”

“It is not your memories that shape this world, then,” Alaysq whispered. She stood upon the fountain’s rim, inspecting her lone fist as it opened and closed. A ghostly outline of her other arm stroked that hand, and the left side of her face had lost some of its darkness. Most notably, the ground beneath her, while forgiving as mud, allowed her to stand.

Splayed upon a mound of snow and gnawed upon by fire and wind, I couldn’t point this out to her, but she likely didn’t need me to.

“This happened centuries before you were born, when an eteriq sarquant decided he could control the weather. He nearly killed everything in Menyaza with this blizzard, and with him among those lost, we had to scramble to undo whatever he had done. I was young then, the vedia of the crowned princess.” She turned to gaze down upon me. “Every time that thing hurts you, it rends into me, too. It is torture, and yet with it, I grow stronger.”

She knelt, and as soon as her hand lay across my stomach, the fires waned, then vanished. Smoke sashayed like thread above my flaking skin, sewing down its curling edges, and warmth radiated in my core, banishing the cold. The snow did not melt, but it felt no different than sand.

I would have thanked her, but I wasn’t in a grateful mood considering she was part of the reason for my pain. I panted, and my words would be limited anyway. “I think…they’re forcing the bond…to work backward.”

“That would kill us both, unless…no, it is absurd.” Yet she continued to ponder it, a faraway glint in her good eye. The other side of her face sunk into darkness again as she returned the energy to me.

I closed my eyes, welcoming a peaceful void. No, I did not trust Alaysq, but if she had one goal, it was to keep me alive. Distant chains jangled again, and intuition said she tried to tow Ishiyae here to take responsibility for what he had done. She would make him give me energy, too.

His pain was lightning behind my eyelids, immersing me in glimpses of his surroundings: Rablah-na soldiers, the bird-shaped ship from before, and—

‘Fredo! Fredo, can you hear me?’

Alaysq pulled me upright, and we were no longer in her memory of the citadel. This place was gray, from the thick clouds and distant hills to the lush forest and sparkling lake. White fur and woven metal formed an intricate and regal gown befitting an empress. “The claws speak to you. What do they say?”

“They’re looking for a key.” My attire had also changed, likely to represent my shift from vulnerability to confusion. The white frock was so complexly wrapped, I wasn’t sure how far I could lift my arms.

I stepped closer to a table replete with unfamiliar food—fried meats, steaming vegetables, sliced fruit. Beyond it, a thin railing warded against a fall of at least eighty stories into the lake. The building stretched taller still, and though it was difficult to tell from this angle, I pictured it as a set of gargantuan wings rising out of the forest.

“A key?” Alaysq clucked, tapping her fingers against her lips. “What was the exact wording?”

I stared at the distant, gray horizon. This was a dream, of sorts, a painting of something Alaysq had once seen. What was this place? If I hopped over that railing, would I fall, or could I make these wing-like buildings my own and fly? Alaysq didn’t know what lay between the trees. Could I flee back into my own mindscape and hide from the wires that doctors had placed on my head in the real world?

I just needed time. I could contact Fredo. He was here on the River’s End. He could come for me, punch or kick whomever he needed, and make them undo whatever they’d done. He could tear off the straps and awaken me from this nightmare. A true heroic mykta.

Distractedly, I gave Alaysq the exact Laysis words I had heard, “Nonste efelye.”

“You translate that second word as key?” She cackled. “You give it such eloquence. Toggle, switch, lever—it could be any of those mundane things.”

“But it’s still just as meaningless. What lever would be within me?” I frowned but didn’t bother looking at her, gaze locked beyond the railing. One more breath, and I would jump.

She wrapped her arm around me, her chin on my shoulder. “These Surra-na doctors already stopped the bond from consuming me once. They learned so much from their trials on Kel. A sweet boy he was, but always walking on the walls of danger.”

“They should find a way to save you that doesn’t involve ripping me apart.”

“Oh, my precious, that is why they want the toggle.” Her hand slid over my heart. “Right here.” Sharpening into talons, her fingers dug into my chest.

I clawed at her hand, kicked and jabbed, but for a woman with half a face and one arm, she was incredibly good at holding on.

She clucked again. “Hush, child, and let it happen.”

“You’re killing me,” I choked out, sinking to my knees.

“Hardly.” Her nails wiggled between my ribs, sawing at bone. “When I show them the toggle, they will give me your body as mine, and I promise to take excellent care of it.”

“How is that not killing me?” I threw us backward and fought with everything I had, elbow repeatedly thrusting into her stomach. I wished it would become a sword, but I had no idea how to make the symbolism here in my mind work to my advantage like that. Perhaps my own inhibitions limited my ability. Did I truly want to stab her, stab anyone, even in a dream?

The thought made my blows more powerful, at least, my writhing more desperate, and the instant her arm loosened, I tore free. She moved with me, scrambling to regain her hold. My foot crashed into her abdomen as my backside hit the rail. Arms flailing, I tumbled over it.

This wasn’t the brave jump I had imagined, instead a plunge head-first into unseen environs. The building did not become my wings, nor did I grow any of my own. I simply fell, watching the gray sky churn as the wind whispered a thousand lines in my ears at once.

I fell for much longer than I should have. Fog replaced the sky, a subtle but darker difference, both literally and in what it represented. Did this dive have an end, or would I plummet forever as Alaysq’s clouds leeched away every drop of my soul?

Mountains sprouted all around, hinting that the ground would find me eventually. Scenes flashed on their blackened sides to accompany a rain of whispers.

“[My child? Where is my child?]”

A stalwart Slykrii-na stood with his hands behind his back. “[Our Napix allies gave us a gift, and our king returned the favor.]”

Alaysq clawed at his shirt, and the view blurred into smudges of color. “[She is a baby! You should have given me instead.]”

“[The king in his wisdom would not give them damaged goods, for the Napix are not to be offended. Our lives balance on their goodwill.]” He pulled her hands off his front and straightened. “[Our king has other plans for you if you behave. First, he wishes for you to see the creature that was given to us in hopes that you may tame it. Second, in replacement for your child, you may care for this one. We estimate it to be of a similar age.]”

A toddler filled the scene, hair as red as a lava flow and one eye like a glittering amethyst. The other hid behind a bandage, and a freshly bloodied lip added weight to his pout. Alaysq tried to pull him into her arms, but while he stared in awe, he would not fold into her as she wanted.

“[What is his name?]”

“[If it has a name, we neither know it nor care to. We simply keep it alive as ordered.]”

What a terrible childhood Ishiyae had.

As if summoned by the thought, he was at my back, and I no longer fell. With the impact, the ground audibly cracked beneath his feet, and it was a wonder he didn’t simply drop me.

He did a moment later, when I subconsciously took from him to heal my wounds. I landed on my feet, stance unstable on the icy valley floor of Alaysq’s section of our mindscape. He could barely move for all the chains she had him wrapped in, some mounted to the cliffside, others anchored below the ice. This time, they did not break at my touch. Instead, they burned, and he hissed.

With a flutter of wings, Alaysq alighted behind him, and the chains tightened. “It would not be like this if he would just behave. Or if you had availed yourself of my lessons, precious, I would not give up on you now.”

Ishiyae’s gaze flew to me, panic in every line as she placed a palm against his cheek. As his color faded, the missing half of her face and her left arm filled in.

I dropkicked her, and she flew further than she would have in real life. This was still my domain, even if I didn’t know how to do anything right in here.

I made sure not to touch Ishiyae or the chains. “Tell me how to defeat her.”

He didn’t answer, just stared into the distance, every muscle slack.

“Ishiyae!” I barely held back from shaking him. “Ishiyae, please. You wanted to save her, but she’s trying to kill me, and the doctors are helping her. She’ll take over my body forever, and I’m not sure you’ll live through that.”

“He will live,” Alaysq purred, gown waving in the strengthening breeze. “Why would I discard a perfectly fine battery?” She draped her arms over his shoulders as she swung around him, and he winced.

I kept to his opposite side, and maybe it was shameful to use him as a shield, but this predicament was partially his fault. I could have been sailing back to Grenswa on the Star’s Serenade already.

“Though, he might be drained entirely if you keep up these theatrics. Really, precious, you will live in here, safe, I promise.” Still clinging to Ishiyae, she held out her new left hand to me.

It flickered as I stepped back.

“That’s like saying you’ll cut off my index finger instead of my thumb. I’d prefer to keep all my digits. Wouldn’t you, Ishiyae?”

“I hate you both so much,” he growled through his teeth. “It doesn’t matter. Just stop. Make it stop.”

With a tsk, Alaysq adjusted her hold and made to kiss his cheek. “Is that any way to speak after I have cared for you so long?”

When he twisted away as much as the chain would allow, she licked him instead. I wasn’t sure if the disgust that roiled through me was his or my own. Probably both.

An object appeared in my hand, and a lingering moment later, I recognized it as the same type of blade-less hilt Hent had stolen from Ferrina. It would have been just as useless now except Ishiyae hadn’t only provided me a weapon. He bestowed the experience of using it. Hours of instruction and drills downloaded in my head in an instant.

‘Distract her,’ I pled as I stepped to the side, thumbing the handle’s sensor along its longest edge.

With another wave of revulsion and exhausted ache, he pressed into Alaysq’s caress, and she didn’t notice me circumvent her, not until I stood at her back, hilt held to her nape. Ishiyae’s direction was to aim for the heart, but he was too close. If I did, when the blade turned on, it would stab him also.

My hand shook, but nothing else happened, and she was turning.

River Guardians don’t kill!

My conscience screeched, and I recalled how awful I had felt when I thought I had killed Yol. This was a dream, but if I did this, Alaysq would die just the same. I couldn’t do this.

Her eyes found me, wide at first, then narrowing to make room for her knowing grin. I couldn’t follow through, and she knew it.

My hand fell, but Ishiyae caught it, adjusted its aim, and slid my thumb along the invisible toggle. A laser blade flashed into existence through Alaysq’s heart, shining some holy shade between white and blue.

My own heart twinged as if I was the one pierced, and I clenched my teeth, blinking through the pain and guilt as she reverted to fog.

My voice was a mere gasp, but I had to know before she was gone. “You didn’t want Su to learn the truth about me because he wants to recreate the bonds. Why? What is he planning?”

“It is too late. He has you now.” As the last of her wisps dissipated, the mountains shook with agonized growls and mocking laughs. Boulders crashed all around us.

Without thought, I cut Ishiyae free and dragged him after me. He was a silhouette, only the smallest of stars blinking with the beating of his heart, but he lived, and so did I, standing once again upon my central sea.

All fog was sucked into the abyss where Alaysq’s area had been, leaving blankness visible in the distance. It was too bright, too empty, but there was nothing else to look at aside from Alaysq’s black hole. All currents led to it, yanking and tearing, chiding me for my stillness.

I spun in countless circles in search of Fredo, but his corner was gone, too, replaced with level ocean as far as the eye could see.

I shouted, screamed, and wailed. I hadn’t done the right thing, but it was all I could have done. I couldn’t let her have my body. She should have died long ago with my mother. I had simply put nature back on its course.

It wasn’t nature that decreed a vedia should die with their royal, though. It was a cruel River Guardian design. But who was I to think I could have spared her the fate they ordained?

I shouldn’t have yelled. I should have been a quiet child and hid. The bird found me again. Over and over it dove, demanding the key, and I said nothing, hunched over Ishiyae as if I could protect him. Why was I even protecting him? The bird didn’t care about him beyond being a means to get to me, and this was his fault, all of it.

With drugs and electric shocks, the doctors still fought to save Alaysq’s body. I felt each one, losing count when they blurred into a continuous deluge of pain. Time meant nothing, but still they tried. Alaysq’s mind was gone, fragmented memories like confetti swirling in the wind and sinking into my sea.

“Ishiyae,” I called, shaking him, “come get me. Wake me from this.”

He didn’t open his eyes. “I have no sway over the doctors. I’ll have to fight them to get you back, and I’m in no condition to do that.”

I couldn’t doubt the latter statement. Through every repeated wave of hurt, he drowned alongside me. No, beyond that, he was the driftwood that kept me afloat, worn away to a final sliver. I had no reason to believe he wouldn’t vanish any moment and add a second void to my plight. Then I would be utterly alone.

Gripping him tighter, I shook him again. “No sway? What about our charisma?”

Teeth gritted, he shoved at me. “How do you think they tortured and killed my family?”

Of course. Like the Shlykrii-nas still on the homeworld, they had Equal or something like it. Their loyalty to the king was not based on pheromones and would not be overridden by a prettier scent. Otherwise, Ishiyae’s family would have taken back the ship. By now, Ishiyae would have taken the ship. Instead, he served them out of misguided allegiance to a promise that should never have involved him.

He shoved away harder and crawled feebly across the choppy surface of our shared inner sea. “Save yourself. Get up and tell them they got what they want. Tell them you’re Alaysq.”

Continued in chapter 67

Thank you for reading!