Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows (14 page)

I tested out several areas of the cage floor
for comfort, then gave up when I realized there wasn’t one. I
sighed and settled into one of the corners with my back to the wall
so that I could face the narrow passage between the crates that led
to the door. The door opened again before the cold from the bars
could seep through my thin clothes; I rose to my feet and leaned
nonchalantly against the cage as though not bothered at all that I
was in there.

A flickering flame appeared and two sets of
footsteps made their way down the aisle. Dathien appeared first
with the torch in hand. He had to duck to avoid hitting his head on
the low ceiling, but he grinned when he saw me as if we were
meeting in a fine palace hall instead of a dingy ship’s hull. Axon
stepped around the giant Luminos, his eyes tight and face a wash of
light and shadow in the torch flame.

“
My lady,” Dathien said
with a bow. He nearly lit his eyebrows on fire and hastily hung the
torch in a holder tacked to one of the support beams.

“
My fine sir,” I replied
with a curtsy like the kind I had seen the ladies in the castle
make.

Dathien laughed, his voice low and pleasant.
“A fine evening we’re having.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, and
shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

He glanced at Axon. “Preparing, but I was
interrupted. Gladly interrupted,” he added hastily at Axon’s
glance. “It’s always a pleasure to see you under any
circumstance.”

“
And you,” I agreed with a
laugh.

Axon cleared his throat and Dathien nodded.
“I’ll meet you outside, my Prince.” He threw me another grin with
raised eyebrows this time and left the room.

Axon waited for the door to close, then
leaned against the bars. “This is ridiculous, you know.”

“
Us meeting like this? I
agree,” I said. I sat down casually on the floor of the cage near
where he stood.

He smiled and shook his head. “You spending
the night in a cage.”

I shrugged. “Worse things could happen.” At
his raised eyebrows, I pointed out, “I could be sleeping at the
bottom of the ocean feeding dark, murky things.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, you could.” He
sank down so that he faced me through the bars. “Life is strange,
you know?” He searched my face intently.

“
Very strange,” I agreed
quietly.

He slipped a hand through the bars and I
froze when he touched my cheek so gently it felt like the fleeting
brush of a butterfly's wing. His brow lowered and his icy blue eyes
were troubled. “Why do I care so much about you?” he whispered.

My heartbeat rose and I gave a little smile.
“That’s a nice thing to say.”

He shook his head and dropped his eyes. “My
thoughts get so confused around you. I can’t say what I mean.”

I turned away from his hand. “I complicate
things,” I said, quoting Marken.

Axon took my chin softly in his fingers and
turned me back to face him. “You do complicate things,” he agreed.
I glared at the floor and refused to meet his eyes. He sighed and,
putting his other hand through the bars, pulled me close and kissed
me firmly on the lips. When we parted, I could only stare at him in
shock. He smiled softly. “But it’s a good complication.”

I shook my head. “Axon, you can’t-“ But the
sound of the door creaking open interrupted my words.

Dathien spoke from the shadows. “It’s time
to go, my Prince. Sundown is near.”

Axon touched my cheek one last time and
rose. My heart beat in time with his footsteps long after the door
closed and they faded away.

I ate in Axon’s room the next day and
avoided the ship’s crew as best I could. Dathien, Dyloth, and Rasa
taught me a game with two dice and an odd assortment of other
items, a button, three marbles, a bent silver coin with the head of
a serpent on one side and the tail end of a horse on the other, a
gold cuff link, and a small, curved object Dathien said was for
putting on shoes. By the end I won more games than I lost, and I
accepted the crackers and cheese that we had bet upon, though I had
a sneaking suspicion that they let me win.

I took my winnings to the cage that night
and settled on several cushions Axon had been thoughtful to send
down. I wondered if he would come to see me before nightfall, then
tried to tell myself it didn’t matter when he failed to show up. I
ate my cheese and crackers and fell asleep holding the tiny,
tattered cushion we had joked about in Axon’s room.

When I awoke, I could feel that it was light
out even though no daylight penetrated so far below the ship’s
decks. I wondered why no one had come to free me when a crash of
thunder reverberated through the entire ship. The door to the
storage room creaked open and shut again with a bang.

“
Sorry,” Dathien called
out. The ship lurched and he stumbled against a crate. “It’s just
me. You alright, little minx?”

I braced myself against the bars and stood
up, holding onto them for support when the ship rolled again. “I’m
fine.”

His torch came into view first, held far in
front of him so he wouldn’t light anything on fire. He quickly put
it in the sconce and breathed a sigh of relief when it was secure.
“Gonna burn this whole place down if I’m not careful.”

I smiled. “Fire on a wooden ship doesn’t
seem like the best idea.”

He grabbed the bars against another shift of
the waves and snorted. “Surprised they allow fire on here,
especially with a Duskie aboard.”

I slapped his shoulder through the bars and
he grinned. Thunder roared again, sounding closer this time.
“What’s going on? Why am I still in here?”

Dathien frowned. “The Captain said that
because of the storm, there’s going to be no sun, and because we’re
weaker away from the sun, he’d feel safer with you still locked
up.”

I sighed and nodded. “I was afraid of
that.”

“
Do you mind?” he asked
quickly, his eyes searching mine with concern. “Prince Axon said
that if you minded in the least he would command the Captain to
hand over the key and he’d release you himself.”

I could hear Axon saying exactly that and it
made me smile. I shook my head and sank back into the cushions.
“No, I’m alright. I don’t want to cause trouble. Besides,” I noted
as Dathien fought to keep his footing against another roll of the
deck. “I think I’m safer in here.”

Dathien laughed, showing his jutting teeth.
“You probably are. Any room in there for me?”

I glanced around the cage and tried to
picture Dathien inside instead. He would have to hunch over even
more than he was doing right now, and he wouldn’t be able to lie
down at all. I shook my head and he sighed as though it was a great
loss. “Oh, well. Guess I better get back to the Prince.” He glanced
at the torch. “Do you want me to take the light?”

I nodded. “I can see fine in the dark, and
you’ll probably want it to help guide you back up.”

He glanced suspiciously at the fire. “I
don’t know if I want it, but I’ll probably need it.” He rubbed a
bruise on his forehead. “There’re a lot of low beams around here.”
Then he grinned. “Have a splendid day with your cushions. I’ll have
someone bring you down some food shortly.”

“
Thanks, Dathien. You’re a
true gentleman.”

He turned back with a smile. “And you are a
true lady, Nexa.” He bowed, took up the torch, and left between the
crates crouching low with the torch held far in front so that he
looked even bigger and more out of place than he already was.

I listened to him leave and settled back on
the cushions to catch some more sleep since there wasn’t anything
else to do in a big metal cage in the middle of a storage
cabin.

Chapter 16

I thought at first that another thunder clap
had awoken me, but in my dreams it had sounded different. I
listened quietly, my ears searching between the crash of waves and
the groan of wood for something that was out of place. After
several moments, I heard it, a low scratching, gouging sound not
far from where I sat. My heart jumped in my throat when I realized
it was the sound of claws working their way up the side of the
hull. I held my breath and listened closer. There it was again, the
deep scratching sound of razor sharp claws digging into wood. My
back echoed with the remembrance of those same claws.

A shriek escaped my lips. I grabbed the bars
and yelled at the top of my lungs, “Sathen! Sathen are climbing up
the side of the boat!” I listened as hard as I could, but a crash
of thunder was the only response. The claws continued along the
hull. They must have swam to the boat and climbed up the anchor
chain. I yelled so hard my voice cracked and my throat burned, but
no one heard me above the sound of the storm.

More claws sunk deep into the wood, but this
time they paused just below the level of the room in which I
waited. I froze and listened. The claws scrabbled and I heard
chunks of wood rip away. The storage room had to be either at water
level or below, and I wondered what the Sathen were up to.

More chunks were torn away and suddenly a
huge rushing sound followed. Terror filled my chest. I shook the
bars and started yelling again despite my hoarse throat. I used my
manacle to hit the bars and make more sound, but no one seemed to
hear me. Then screams came from above.

I fell back against the bars and slid down
until I sat on the ground. Yells and screams of pain made their way
through the cracks and under the door. I closed my eyes, but
pictured Luminos weakened by the lack of sun being torn apart by
the same sharp claws I had felt. I covered my ears, but it didn’t
help.

Something cold touched my foot and I opened
my eyes in fear that the Sathen had made their way into the room,
but ice ran through my veins when I saw that water ran across the
floor instead. I scooted to the end of the cage furthest from the
wall, noting how the floor sloped upward as I did so. The water
level slowly rose and I stood to avoid it, then rose on my tiptoes,
but soon the cold water lapped at my bare feet. I irrationally took
one foot out of it, then traded for the other, not thinking past
the cold depths below the ship and the ocean’s monsters beyond.

Water filled the room faster than I had
thought possible; the floor continued to tilt until I had to hold
onto the bars to keep from sliding back toward the wall. The water
touched my knees, then flowed past my waist. The floor tipped until
the cage itself rolled. I clung to the top and lifted myself above
the water, linking my legs through the metal bars, but the waves
soon lapped at my back. I held onto to the bars and closed my eyes.
My heart raced against the touch of the water and I wondered how
long it would beat after the water was above my head.

Panic filled me and I screamed at the top of
my lungs for help, but there was no one to hear me. My voice
cracked and soon the scream was barely above a whisper, but I
continued to shout in hoarse, strained tones, hoping beyond hope
that someone had survived the Sathen attack and would remember me.
I knew the hope was futile, but I wouldn't give up. I wanted to
live; I had to live. I refused to die in a cage.

Only an inch or so of air remained between
the water level and the top of the cage when I heard my name. I
pulled my head against the bars and turned so I could hear better.
The echoed sound of water combined with creaks and groans of timber
filled my lower ear, while the one I held above water strained past
the lap of water against wood and floating barrels that hit against
each other.

“
Nexa?”

My breath caught at Axon’s voice. I yelled,
but my throat was so hoarse I could barely force out a sound. My
heart dropped as the water rose further, then I remembered my
manacle. I lifted my left wrist and hit it as hard as I could
against the bars over and over again. The water level flowed past
the bars. I held my breath and continued to bang, despair chasing
away any hope that he could hear me, or that it had truly been his
voice at all. My lungs screamed until my last breath escaped in
slow bubbles. Blackness started at the corners of my vision and my
arm wouldn’t respond to my screaming brain. I fought the urge to
breathe in the water and end it all.

My hand slipped and I started to sink to the
bottom. My tears joined the water that chilled me to the bone. I
regretted not thanking Axon and his men for their friendship. I
thought of the Caves, and hoped that my parents, whoever they were,
were happy and had found a way to have a life together. I pictured
the other Duskies and wished I had found a way to give them the
freedom Axon had promised me. I thought of Axon trying to save his
kingdom, and hoped that he had escaped the boat and would make it
home in time to defend those he loved.

I held my favorite memory of Axon in my
mind, of talking softly in my room at the Lysus castle and feeling
the brush of his lips against mine for the first time. I had no
more air left to sob, but my body shook with the pain of never
seeing him again. I closed my eyes.

A hand caught mine and lifted me. Axon’s
strong fingers grabbed my arms and pulled me up to the bars, then
he put his mouth against mine and breathed out his air. I sucked in
and had to fight to keep from coughing it all out again with the
salt water that made it into my lungs along with his breath. Axon
squeezed my hand once and let go.

I gripped the bars and waited heartbeats
that felt like an eternity until his hands returned and I felt
something shoved between my fingers. I took it with my free hand
and found a hose like the kind used to siphon water from the fresh
water barrels. I put the hose to my lips and sucked deep. Water
filled my throat and I coughed it out, then breathed in again. Air,
glorious air, flowed into my starving lungs and tears stung my
burning eyes.