The Duelist 11, page 6
The osprey-man paused as he mentally translated, and then he nodded and said something else as he patted me on the shoulder.
“We are all friends here, miss,” Sha-Kane then said in Aventollian. “None of us mean you any harm. We only chased you down because this vessel belongs-- well, belonged-- to one of our enemies, and we thought it might be preparing to ambush us.”
“There was no crew upon that ship,” the Lakuna woman said. Now that she was no longer screaming at me to let her go, I could hear her accent and the strange emphasis she put on some of the syllables. She was definitely fluent in Aventollian, but it was also definitely not her native language. “It is a beast of the sea and sails itself as if it were alive.”
“We’re familiar with such technology,” I said, and only when the Lakuna woman looked at me did I realize I was still holding onto her wrists. I let them both go suddenly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. Did I hurt you?”
“No worse than I hurt myself in trying to escape you,” the woman answered, and she rubbed at her wrists a little, but it looked more like she was checking for injuries than experiencing pain. “I… apologize for the panic I caused.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” I said, and I waved my hands at her. “We chased you down. If you were on that ship with Teivel Tas, I totally get why you wanted to flee.”
“But we’re not with Tas,” Horus added, and he pointed at me. “Alex killed him because Tas threatened us, our friends. We’re the good guys.”
“In my experience, land children are rarely ‘good guys’ as you put it,” the Lakuna woman told the falcon-man, and she eyed us all a little warily. “But you are not throwing me in a prison as we speak, so you are certainly better than the ones who brought me to this strange Island.”
That fascinated me.
“Wait,” I said, and I couldn’t help but stare at the woman. “You don’t know where you are?”
“An Island that is not my own,” the Lakuna woman said with a shrug. “A place that is far from my home and my people.”
“This is the Isle of Hearts,” I told her. “The home of the Heart of Aventoll. The strongest beacon of Mercedes’ power. Only the truly worthy, those who can travel the straight path across Aventoll, can even find this place.”
At my words, the Lakuna woman frowned a little.
“Some people cannot find this Island?” she asked, and she began to shakily get to her feet.
I helped her untangle her legs from the oversized cloak, but she refused my hand when I offered it. She did, however, take Sha-Kane’s arm when he offered it. I realized when she stood up she had to put all of her weight on her right leg, because her left ankle and a significant part of her calf and shin were a blotchy, dark purple color.
For a moment, I worried I’d caused that injury by tackling her, but then I remembered bruises didn’t show up that fast. She must have been injured days ago.
“Most people can’t,” the osprey-man told her. “The Lakuna children are thought to be among the worthy few who are not subject to the curvature of Aventoll. Mercedes curved the land to protect the paradise, but the Lakuna, descendants of the Sacred Fish, have always been among her most worthy.”
“You said you were surprised to hear Ashers were supposedly among the worthy,” Horus then said to his father, and I was pleased to see the falcon-man just looked focused on the task at hand and spoke to Sha-Kane as casually as he spoke to the rest of our group. “If Teivel had a Lakuna child on his ship, maybe he was lying.”
“That would make more sense,” Sha-Kane said with a nod. “There’s no denying Ashers are favored, but they are not inherently worthy. A power that is hereditary, and that is so linked to elevated status… corruption would be a great risk. But the Lakuna children have always been distant from the ways of the other peoples, and have always had more respect for the natural order.”
“It is not difficult to have more respect than the Land Peoples,” the Lakuna woman remarked. “Nightmare men destroyed my home and killed most of my people. We retreated to the waters for our own sakes.”
“I’m sorry your people have had to suffer that,” I said. “But I promise you, we mean you no harm. None of us. We actually have another Lakuna child in our Crew!”
The Lakuna woman’s eyes widened and then narrowed to slits. I could see where her mind was going, so I scrambled to clarify.
“She’s here voluntarily!” I told her quickly, and I waved my hands again. “Nova! She’s my… well, she’s my partner. I love her. I’d die to protect her.”
“You… love her?” the Lakuna woman repeated carefully, and I nodded. “She is… your partner, not your wife? Do you not have wives?”
“Well, I, uh… I do. I have three. And I’d like Nova to be my wife, too, because I love her, but only if she wanted to.” I felt my cheeks heat a little. It was weird to be discussing my romantic life with a stranger on a beach in the middle of the night.
“You call her your partner, your… equal,” the Lakuna woman mused, and a slow smile spread across her face. “The Ashers I knew would not think of their lovers so kindly.”
“I’m sorry for that.” I frowned. “But you’ll never have to see them again, I swear to you. We’ll keep you safe.”
The Lakuna woman looked at Sha-Kane, and he nodded firmly. The osprey-man had his hands clasped behind his back now, and despite his exalted status as a Councilman, he looked like a guard or something, assigned to protect a fair maiden who’d lost her way.
“What’s your name?” I then asked the woman.
“Sera,” she replied. “Daughter of Mira. And you?”
“Alex Brightwood,” I said. “Son of… uh… I actually don’t know. But you can just call me Alex.”
“Alex,” Sera repeated with a nod. “You are not from this world, are you? You Traveled here.”
I remembered back when I’d first come to Aventoll that Zoie had told Jenner I was a ‘nomad from West Alem.’ That had implied there were other people native to Aventoll who looked like me, but aside from the memory woman in the Heartcave, I hadn’t seen any human-looking people who weren’t at least part-human, like Rylan. And it seemed Sera hadn’t, either.
“I am,” I said to her. “But I consider Aventoll my home. In fact, my Crew and I are on a mission to help save it. Change it for the better.”
“Aventoll has changed a great deal, but not often for the better.” Sera’s tone was thoughtful and contemplative, and she reminded me a little bit of Anwaar. “I would like to see that.”
“Would you like to come back to our ship, Miss Sera?” Sha-Kane then asked. “We have food and medicine.”
I could see Sera was apprehensive about boarding a strange vessel, considering all the effort she’d gone to escape one only minutes ago, so I tried for my most disarming smile.
“I swear by Mercedes no harm will come to you,” I told her. “You would be our guest, free to leave whenever you wish. But we have the means to feed and heal you, and we have plenty of space for another person to sleep.”
“Lots of bathtubs,” Horus added. “You could sleep in water, if you wanted.”
“You could,” I agreed with a nod. “That’s what Nova does.”
“Nova, your… partner,” Sera said in a careful voice, and she rubbed at her left arm in such a way that the cloak’s sleeve was pulled up. There was more blotchy purple spread out across her skin, just like on her leg. “I think I would like to meet a Lakuna child who willingly consorts with the Land Peoples.”
“I know she would love to meet you.” I smiled. “She hasn’t met many of her own people. We all love her, but it’s not the same, you know?”
“You and your wives?” Sera asked as she cocked her head. “You treat her-- them-- as your equals?”
“Of course,” I said. “They’re not my property. They’re just… they agreed to marry me. Nova hasn’t-- well, because I haven’t asked her, but I don’t know what Lakuna traditions on marriage are. I didn’t want to do something that might… make her feel bad. Or more disconnected from her culture.”
She was already so disconnected it hurt to think about it. It made me want to strangle someone, or throw something at a wall, or gather Nova into my arms and sob with her until the sun rose.
“Lakuna do not marry, Asher,” Sera told me. “Not in the way the Land Peoples marry. We are the children of the sea and the Fish. We are one family. We do not own any claim to one another except for blood. Mother to daughter. Sister to sister. Lovers are cherished, but they are not owned. If you do not own your wives, then Nova may be your wife.”
“Thank you for telling me that,” I said honestly to the green-skinned woman. “Does that mean you’ll come with us?”
“There’s time enough for talk of marriage once everyone has been fed and their injuries treated,” Sha-Kane agreed, and he extended his arm to Sera.
I noticed the osprey-man didn’t offer his hand directly, instead he jutted out his elbow so Sera could take it if she needed. Even the most timid of individuals couldn’t have mistaken this for attempting to grab her, and I made a mental note to copy that motion. I’d already grabbed her when I’d tackled her, and then caught her hands, and I wouldn’t have blamed the Lakuna woman if she felt a little nervous around me, so I took a few steps back to give her distance.
“I… yes,” Sera said after a few moments of thought. “Yes, I would like to come with you and meet this Nova.”
“Thank you,” I said again. “And like we said before, you would be a guest, and free to leave whenever you want. You have my word.”
“I appreciate that, Asher Alex,” Sera said with a smile. She looked quite motherly when she smiled, and I wondered if she had any children, and what had happened to them when she’d been taken prisoner by Teivel Tas.
We led Sera back to the Manta, and I wasn’t surprised to see everyone was still waiting in the entrance hall. Zoie, Shay, Amaya, and Nova all ran to me when I entered, and I engulfed them in a tight hug.
“It’s okay, I’m okay,” I promised them, and I kissed them each on the forehead, saving Nova for last. When I pulled away, I took her hands and gestured to where Sha-Kane and Sera were standing. “Nova, this is--”
That was as far as I got before Nova let out a squeal and ran toward Sera. She stopped dead right before the older Lakuna woman and just gaped.
“You’re Lakuna!” she said. “Like me! Like Mother!”
“I am, child,” Sera said gently, and she raised a hand to stroke Nova’s hair. She then said something in the Lakuna language, but Nova just looked at her blankly.
Sera’s face went from pleased to hesitant a moment later.
“Nova had a difficult childhood, Miss Sera,” Sha-Kane explained. “She does not know much of her own language. Her father was… not Lakuna. And not a kind man, either.”
“Oh, you poor darling,” Sera breathed, and she pulled Nova into a hug.
Nova looked a little confused, but I could tell she was relieved by the physical affection, and she clung to the older woman like a child to her long-lost mother.
“This is Sera, everyone,” I said as Nova and Sera hugged. “She was being held prisoner on Teivel’s ship.”
“So Tas’ line about the Ashers being able to walk the straight path was a lie,” Zoie said, and I nodded. “Were there any other people?”
“No, his ship is some creepy machine that can sail itself,” Horus said, and I saw out of the corner of my eye that Nemis’ expression positively lit up, until Bodin elbowed him in the stomach and shot his cousin a glare that seemed to say ‘now is not the time.’ “It was deserted, except for Sera here.”
“You’re injured,” Shay then said, and the phoenix-woman took a hesitant step toward Sera. “May I heal you?”
“You…” Sera’s teal eyes widened at the sight of Shay. “You are the Incarnate, aren’t you?”
“I am.” Shay smiled humbly. “We traveled to this Island so I could heal its Heart and purge the demon Scourge from Aventoll. Your… jailer, Teivel Tas, he was sent to stop us.”
“And you killed him,” Sera said knowingly, and she looked over at me, so I nodded. “I sense this is a very long story, isn’t it?”
“Quite long,” I admitted. “And I bet you have one of your own, if a Lakuna child ended up in the hold of a Councilman’s ship.”
“I don’t know how long it is, but it certainly isn’t pleasant,” Sera said, and she pursed her lips. “But my people are a people of stories. They are passed through generations. I will tell mine, if you will tell yours.”
“Of course,” I said in my most gracious host voice, and I bowed a little as I raised one arm toward the family room. “How about we do it sitting down, though?”
“We can heal you, then,” Anwaar said, and she gestured to herself and Shay.
Sera looked them both over, clearly decided they were trustworthy, and nodded.
All of us filed into the family room, and Zoie made a beeline for her mothering nest. Amaya climbed in beside her, but Shay and Nova both sat on the large couch with Anwaar and Sera. As the phoenix-woman and ibex-woman began to heal Sera’s injuries, Nova sat at Sera’s feet and gazed up at her with a rapt expression.
“How did you come to be here, little one?” Sera asked Nova, and she stroked the younger woman’s hair affectionately, but there was an unmistakable sadness to the gesture.
“Father,” Nova answered, and with a little input from Jenner and Sha-Kane, where the journal was concerned, Nova explained how her mother had been kidnapped by Krev Alda because she was the Prophetess, how Krev had wanted the Prophecies translated, how it had killed her mother, and how Nova herself had been unable to do any of what Krev demanded of her, so he’d abandoned her.
“You poor thing,” Sera said again when Nova finished. There were tears in her dark teal eyes as she turned to look at me. “Thank you for rescuing her.”
“Of course,” I said. “We would never have left her there.”
“She’s family,” Shay added as the last of her healing light died away. She smiled at her handiwork. “There. You should feel a lot better now.”
“I do,” Sera answered, and she clasped Shay’s hand. “Thank you, child. You truly are a miracle. Not just for that, but for taking good care of Nova.”
“Would you like to tell us your story now, Miss Sera?” Sha-Kane then asked, and the older Lakuna woman nodded.
“I think you might find some parts particularly interesting,” she said. “Because the Lakuna settlement I grew up in was the same settlement Nova’s mother was taken from.”
“What?” I asked as my heart skipped a beat in surprise.
“You knew Mother?” Nova cried out, and she pushed herself up onto her knees so she was eye level with Sera on the couch.
“Her name was Esta,” Sera told us all, and she stroked Nova’s dark hair again. “You look a lot like her, child. You have her smile.”
This, of course, made Nova smile even wider, and Sera smiled a little, too, though it was sadder.
“I loved Esta dearly,” she went on. “We grew up together. Our mothers were friends, we sang songs together. We were inseparable. If the world had gone another way, I would have known you from the day you were born, Nova.”
“Auntie,” Nova said softly, and she rested her cheek on Sera’s knee while Sera continued to stroke her hair.
“It was clear from a young age that Esta was… special,” Sera told us. “She knew songs that hadn’t been sung yet-- or, as you say it, Mr. Sha-Kane, she was your Prophetess, blessed with Mercedes’ Knowledge. But all I knew then was that I loved her, and she loved me, and we truly believed we lived somewhere peaceful, where we would never be separated, and we would be free to sing. But… we were about your age, Nova, when the Nightmare came.”
The Nightmare. I could practically hear the capital letter, and I remembered what I’d said to Sha-Kane, Bodin, and Horus on the ship. I remembered what Sera had yelled at me on the beach. Kavo Alda styled himself as ‘the Nightmare’ in Gella Vane and Regent Sskorn’s minds, and Sera had called me ‘nightmare man.’
“The Nightmare split himself into two bodies that were identical, and yet they could both change their faces,” Sera explained. “From what you told me, one of them must have been this Krev Alda.”
“His brother, Kavo, can also change his face,” I said, and Sera nodded.
“One of them took Esta,” she said. “Right from my arms. I screamed and fought and tried to get her away from the Nightmare, but he batted me aside as if I was nothing at all. Esta tried to fight, too. She struggled against him, but he was so much stronger than her. The other Nightmare took great pleasure in hunting down the others. All my loves, all my friends, everyone I had ever known, I saw them slaughtered before my very eyes.”
“Oh, Mercedes,” Shay breathed, and she pressed her hands to her mouth in horror.
“He burned every hut, destroyed everything and everyone who crossed his path,” the older Lakuna woman continued with a haunted look in her teal-colored eyes. “A handful of our number escaped, but our home was utterly devastated. Our songs were broken, as were our hearts and our family.”
Tears were trailing down Shay’s cheeks now, and I moved from where I was sitting to perch on the arm of the couch, so I could hug her. She leaned back against my chest and held my hand tightly.
“But years later, the Nightmare returned,” Sera continued in a grim tone. “I refused to flee a second time, I refused to let him destroy what little I had left, and I wanted revenge for Esta, so I confronted him. I demanded to know what he’d done, and why, but he simply laughed. When I asked why he had returned, he said he knew there was a place only the Lakuna could swim to, and he intended for me to lead him right to it.”
“Kavo Alda took you prisoner?” I asked, and Sera nodded.
“That would have been… eleven seasons ago,” she said. “But I was only the prisoner of the Nightmare for a short time. He then handed me over to an Asher on the Council. The father of the man you killed, Tisen Tas. The Nightmare-- Kavo-- tasked him with finding the Island no one could find. He died before he succeeded, so the task passed on to Teivel, but it was largely forgotten in favor of whatever other schemes were being enacted. I spent seasons at a time being ignored while he worked on projects that took his greater fancy. And then, one day, he returned to me with new determination and words of the ‘upstart Traveler’ on his lips. I suspect that must be you, Alex Brightwood.”
