Torrents (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 3) (16 page)

     But my eyes had not left the figure who stood near the throne. His silhouette was as familiar to me as if I was looking at his face. I could see the way he held himself, always strong and powerful. It was the way I had seen him the first time. As my heart rejoiced at seeing it again, fear gripped my belly when he stepped out of the shadows and revealed his face to all who stood in the room.

     Gasps rose and were hushed within moments as the surprise of the merfolk died and blades began to flash from arms and fingers. Through the crowd, I caught a glimpse of Shaylee standing near Tunder, one hand placed protectively over her belly and the other covered her mouth.  I strained to see more, but the bodies before me shifted to create a wall that would forever block my sight.    

     “I offer my congratulations,” he boomed over the crowd and I felt my gut twist. After wanting to hear his voice for so long, I felt my heart thunder in my chest as the worry began to take over my mind. Couldn’t he see all the blades? With renewed vigor, I tried to struggle out of Elik’s grasp, but he held me tight against him as though I was only a child.

     “Should I call you king?” He asked with an air of nonchalance, the warrior’s mask in place. I so desperately wanted his eyes to find me in the crowd, but he only looked to the new king. I waited with baited breath for the king’s reply, but all the while my mind was screaming at him.
What are you doing here?!

     “If you’d like,” came Tunder’s response. I could hear the anger festering beneath the calm.

     To my right, someone hissed and my heart leapt into my throat. Feeling the tingling in my fingers once more, I pushed harder against the arms restraining me to no avail.

     “Why are you here?” Tunder asked, and as a mermaid shifted, I was able to see him adjust his stance. He looked casual as though there was nothing he wanted more than to speak with Zale.

     I turned my eyes back to the warrior who had interrupted the gathering and was stunned for a moment by how calm he seemed. His eyes never left the king, but even as he stood above the crowd, his face betrayed nothing of his thoughts. Even his hand, which I had often seen twitch in times of trial, remained still.

     “Where’s Lissie?”

     Hearing my name on his lips made my heart jump and I felt the beginnings of a smile pass over my lips beneath Elik’s hand, even as worry threatened my brow. My stomach trembled and I pushed against his arms again, only to feel them tighten. Calmric glanced back at his leader and nodded his head at some silent command. With a subtle shift of his body, he moved in front of me, hiding me from Zale’s sight and I pushed my head from side to side, only making Elik hold me tighter. His breath was heavy in my ear and I wondered how long he would be able to keep me silent.

      “She’s our prisoner,” Tunder’s voice boomed, establishing his dominance over the enemy he thought he faced.

     “I need to speak with her,” the intruder said, without a hint of respect for the newly appointed king. I shifted once more as a thought took shape in my mind.
You can persuade him
.

     No sooner had the thought become clear, then did I expel it from my mind. I wouldn’t tread along that road again, at least not when there were other ways of fighting.

     “No,” Tunder said sharply, “you still haven’t answered my question. Why are you here?”

     “Bring Lissie to me, and I’ll tell you.”

     “You don’t command me,” the anger in the king’s voice was mounting, and I waited for my warrior to answer, my heart pounding heavily. At the edges of my sight, more blades began to appear and Calmric drew his own. I shook my head violently, and Elik hastened to whisper in my ear for me to stop, but I ignored him.

     “No, I don’t,” was Zale’s answer and he chuckled.

     “Take him,” the words were calm but they struck a fire in my stomach and I raged against the arms around me. Pounding feet responded to the king’s words, and as they moved toward Zale, Calmric shifted, revealing the scene before me.

     Four mermen ascended the steps, their blades drawn, moving in with a careful and effective approach. They surrounded the warrior and upon some silent command dashed forward, but the merman they tried to restrain was too quick for them. He took them down one by one, faster than my eyes could see. Before I could really process what was happening, all four of the soldiers laid on the marble floor, their groans filling the room, though there was no blood spilled.

     Tunder stood to the side, his back to me, and his people behind him. His hand rose in the air and with a flick of his wrist, five more mermen dashed forward, moving up the stairs faster this time. Their blades flashed as they slashed at the warrior and I almost screamed as one came close to slicing his neck, but once again he defeated each one swiftly, and they lay groaning at the bottom of the stairs where he pushed them.

     His chest was heaving, and there were small rips and nicks in his grey shirt, but he appeared to be unharmed. He spread his arms wide, revealing no weapons around his belt.

     “I can do this all night!” His voice bellowed throughout the hall, showing his first real sign of anger at the man before him. “I’ve proven myself in battle time and again, and will continue until you bring Lissie to me. It’s only a matter of time. I will win. Don’t you wonder how I got through your three lines of defense? Wouldn’t you like to know how I was able to come here undetected by every single scout and guard on duty?”

     From what I could see of the scene before me, Tunder’s only reaction was the straightening of his back. His head stood above the rest of the crowd, and I could easily imagine the glare he was giving Zale, having seen it numerous times myself. The new king took a slow step forward and Zale watched his approach with an unwavering gaze.

     “Where do your loyalties lie?” Tunder asked, and somehow the already silent room grew quieter, I stopped in my struggles. “You dare to come here after what you did to my people?” Murmurs followed his statement and I heard someone hiss to my right.

     “I did as I was commanded. Same as when I didn’t harm you,” his words were followed by gasps. For the first time, some of the Lathmorians looked away from the intruder to their new king. “Now, bring her to me.”

     No one moved or spoke and I knew what had to be done. I didn’t care if it was seen as an act of betrayal or if the Lathmorians would even let me make it to him, all I cared about was his knowing I was there.

     A cry escaped my lips, the sound coming out sharp and gargled against Elik’s hand, but it was enough. The Lathmorians turned in my direction, but my eyes were focused on his.

     From across the room our gazes met, and my stomach lurched, as I found what I had been hoping and waiting for these past weeks. His brown depths were as clear to me as if I was standing directly in front of him, and I wanted to smile even though the fear tightened in my stomach. It was the first time I had looked upon his face since the night he had declared his love for me, and I declared mine for him. During my weeks of waiting and wondering where he was, I had replayed the moment in my head over and over again, thinking of the way he had said the words and letting them fill my heart with his confirmation of love. But none of these memories compared to the way he looked at me now. In one glance, the depth of my own emotion reflected back to me.

     “Come,” Tunder commanded, and Elik slid his arms from around me.

     The crowd seemed to part on either side, but I hardly noticed as I approached the throne where Tunder stood. My eyes were still focused on Zale’s and upon reaching the spot where the new king stood, I felt a hand hold me back. Glancing to my left, I saw Kryssa restraining me in a feeble attempt of caution.

     “You were saying?” Tunder prodded, and Zale pulled his eyes away from me.

     “I know what was done to Verna,” he said, and my stomach flipped as I realized he was aware of what I had done. “Take me as your prisoner and use Lissie to gain your truth.”

     My throat constricted at his words.  The thought of him being a prisoner was something I didn’t want to comprehend, but even more dangerous was what he requested. To use my voice, and to use it against him was a terrifying notion.

     “No,” I breathed. “I can’t.” Kryssa gave my hand a squeeze.

     “You can,” he said back to me, the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth, “and you will.”

     “And you would do this willingly?” Tunder asked, and I tried to focus my eyes on him, pleading with him to not allow this to happen.

     “You have my word,” the warrior said, and my hopes crumbled.

     “Done,” the king said and I felt trapped inside a cell. He glanced to a group of mermen behind him and nodded in the direction of Zale, “Take him.”

     Without objection, the soldiers moved forward, their steps more cautious than those who lay on the ground still recovering from their wounds. As they approached Zale, he placed his hands behind his head in surrender. When they laid their hands on him, he obligingly bent to his knees. A mermaid appeared carrying long silver cuffs, and when she approached the warrior, she snapped them into place over his forearms. With a quick jerk, they pulled his arms down behind his back and chained his wrists together.

     “Tomorrow,” the king commanded, “you will be interrogated in front of the whole of Lathmor for your crimes against us.”

     Zale didn’t acknowledge his words, instead his eyes met my own, and then traveled down to my wrist where my dagger lay. The carving of the entwined tails faced outward and when he looked back at me, there was a glimmer in his eye.

     Feeling heat rise in my cheeks, I couldn’t tell if it was from the way he looked at me or from anger, and as I watched them take him away, Kryssa whispered to me that everything was going to be fine.

     But I couldn’t see how it would.

Soon after Zale’s departure, I had been brought back to Kryssa’s room where I now sat on the bed, worrying away at my fingers. One leg was folded in front of me, the other tapped a disjointed rhythm on the floor as I picked at the sheets. I was waiting, uncertain of when the right moment would present itself.

     Outside the barred window the moon was shining bright against the pitch of the sky and the shadows of the trees swayed in the breeze. Every now and again, a great gust would bend all the branches at once, only to allow them reprieve as they returned to normalcy.

     As far as I could tell, no one in the castle moved, aside from the occasional guard passing through the halls. It had been exactly one hundred and forty-three seconds since I had last heard a guard pass by my door. As I counted in my mind, I waited for his arrival once again and knew it was almost time. Without thinking of the consequences, I dashed to the door and began to sing a soft tune, my voice gentle at first and continuing to grow as I poured my will into song.

     Sure enough, the footsteps approached my door and I pressed my lips closer to the crack between the wall. My voice traveled through, and with it, my desire.

    
I’m all alone, are you? Come here, come closer…

     Outside the door I heard the approaching steps slow down, as my voice swirled around them. I had caught this soldier off guard and pressed my advantage, knowing I didn’t have much time before he would begin to resist my attempts. Gathering more power behind my voice, I reached out to him with a stronger song, beckoning him to me, hoping he would do as I said. I could feel my grip on him was powerful, but I was pulling at loose strings without being able to see his eyes.

     
Come closer, come closer to me. I want to see your face, unlock this door. Come closer, come closer to me.

     
A soft footfall told me he was following my bidding and I tried to fight back the smile spreading over my lips. My concentration honed in on the last phrase, and I put all of my desire into the words, beckoning him to come and see me, to get closer. With satisfaction, I heard a key slide into the lock. The handle creaked as he turned it slowly.

     Stepping out of the way, I pressed behind the door and waited for him to enter the room, my voice softer now.

     The door opened with just enough space for him to slide through, and he stepped into the room with a befuddled slowness. I recognized him immediately and almost went back on my plan, but forced the thoughts aside.

     Moving gently, I slid up behind him and just as he was about to turn around, I wrapped my arm around his waist, all the while keeping my voice at a whisper. He turned slightly at my touch and just as Calmric’s dazed, golden-brown eyes met mine, his dimples formed on his cheeks.

     I smiled back, but with my other hand, my dagger rose in the air and I brought the hilt down upon his dark head with a loud crack. It had taken all the strength I could muster, and luckily, it had been enough.

     His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body went slack against me. I struggled against his weight, dropping my dagger to the floor and hoisting my arms beneath his, as I let him slide down to the ground at an awkward angle.

     Feeling guilty, I bound his arms behind him with a sheet, making sure to keep the fabric away from where his blades could cut through it. Using my sailor knots, I was fairly certain he would be unable to break free, but to make sure no one was the wiser, I gagged and blindfolded him with pillowcases. If he did wake up, maybe he would think the Hyven had attacked and captured him.

     With each passing moment, I could feel my guilt rising and hurried to grab the keys from Calmric’s pocket. I silenced their jingling with my hand, picked up my dagger, and hurried to the door. After a few attempts, I found the right key to lock it.

     A gust of a breath passed through my lips and I hurried down the halls to where I knew the staircase to the dungeon was located. At each corner, I waited to listen for anything which might give me a hint for another guard passing by on duty, but only once did I hear anyone. They were walking in the direction I was headed and all I had to do was wait for them to pass. Every now and again I had to skirt around a room where a guard was checking corners, their blades out and ready for an attack.

     Swallowing hard, I saw the entrance to the dungeon up ahead and hurried to reach it before getting caught. The marble archway led to a straight staircase descending directly downward, as though going to the center of the earth. Each step was an awkward height, and I kept a hand on the marble wall for balance.

     With each step I took, cool air rose higher around my body. It was different from the air in the Hyvar dungeon, where the room had been dank and musty. Instead, there was a coolness that seemed to come from the walls, reaching out from the marble as though trying to get inside me. Suppressing a shiver, I continued down the steps. Through the dim light, I noted the color of the walls change. Moving from white marble to black, the difference was startling and obvious, making me aware of the overwhelming chill.

     The staircase turned and retreated back in the same direction I had come, the steps seeming to grow larger. Being as careful and as quiet as possible, I darted down the steps and came to another corner. Taking a silent, but deep breath, I peeked around the edge and alighted my eyes on two guards standing duty at the front of the prison entrance.

     There were only three more steps down to reach the ground floor, and from there it would only be a mere fifteen feet to reach the entrance of the dungeon. But there was nowhere to hide or any way to sneak past the mermaid and merman, who had their arms folded across their chests as they stared into space. In particular, the mermaids eyes were glazed over, as though her mind was far away from where she stood.

     Realizing there was no other way, I turned my thoughts into song and let it stretch out in a soft murmur before me. The black marble felt like fresh-fallen snow beneath my fingertips as I leaned against it to peek further around the corner. The moment my voice reached their ears, they snapped to attention and I felt my grip on them slip. The use of my voice on Calmric earlier had drained some of my energy, but not enough to stop me.

     Casting my voice like a net over them, I strained to bring them both under my control at once, something I had never done before. In my mind, I had to concentrate on what I wanted them to do, pushing the thoughts in two different directions, splitting them in half, and putting as much power behind them as I could.

     For a moment, the mermaid looked in my direction, but I pushed her eyes away as I beckoned to her. The merman struggled beneath my voice too, and yet, he succumbed more easily. He gave way to my voice by trying to distract himself from what he was hearing. He was unaware that his attempts at distraction were making it easier for me to push my way in and persuade him.

     Taking the advantage he gave, I urged him toward the door where he slipped a key into the lock. He let the metal door swing wide, the chamber within as black as midnight. Having done his duty, he stepped back and I ventured out from my hiding place, still using my voice to keep their eyes averted.

     As I crept closer, fear began to work away at my insides. I could see both soldiers’ chests rising and falling as they breathed, though their heads were cast downward and they stared at the floor. My bare feet made not a sound as I whisked past them and grasped the key from the lock, only to slowly shut the door.

    
You are dreaming
,
I hummed to them, the tune musical and light, the sound passing through my lips with ease.
You are dreaming, the same dream. You are dreaming.

     Both heads bowed a little further and when I beckoned them to nod if they understood, they did. Feeling the exhaustion begin to grab at my mind, I pulled back slightly while shutting the door. As soon as the metal closed with a solid click, my voice came to an end, only to be echoed back to me a second later in the large chamber.

     I waited, straining to listen at the door, but no sounds came from the other side. They were either still nodding off, or at least thought they had. Either option was good enough for me, and after hearing nothing but silence, I slipped the key into my pocket and turned around.  

     My heart gave a tiny jolt in my chest as I took in the great expanse of the prison chamber. Black marble covered everything I could see. There was no light from the empty naked torches on either wall. I could barely make out a distorted picture of my own reflection in the scuffed marble floor. The appearance was haggard and ghostly, as my pale feet stood out against the pitch of the marble.

     The chamber was nearly the size of the throne room, its length the same, though its height was lower. Thinking back to where the staircase was located, I presumed I was beneath the throne room itself, though various floors below. At the end of the long room was an open hearth, but no embers glowed in the remains of the fallen and crisp-burned logs. All along the sides of the wall were lank chains and restraints attached to a metal strip, which ran about shoulder height.

     There were four pillars of incredible girth lining the room, they stood half way between the wall and the center of the room, two on each side. Around each pillar hung more empty chains. I counted twelve open cuffs on the one side visible to me through the shrouded darkness.

     “Zale?” I whispered and heard a clinking of metal to my left. My heart leapt once more in my chest and I side stepped around a pillar, the smile on my face fading quickly as I saw who sat on the floor, her eyes boring into mine. A shiver ran along my spine and I cringed back in fear.

     “Not who you expected?” she taunted, her eyes as dark as they had been the day I interrogated her. She looked paler somehow, her face gaunt and haunting.

     Verna sat on the floor, her back to the marble wall and her arms hung loose in her lap. Her hands were covered by large metal cuffs and the chains reached high above her head. Whenever she moved, the metal jangled with an almost whispering reminder of where I was. Without answering her question, I turned to leave.

     “Did they send you to torture him too?” she asked.

     “No,” I said over my shoulder and pushed back at the guilt threatening to overtake me.

     Stepping away from her, I tiptoed down the hall getting closer to the hearth, all the while scanning the walls for where he might be chained. As I reached the end of the chamber, I glanced back and noted I couldn’t see where Verna was held captive. The large pillars provided her with some semblance of privacy, and I bit my lip as I pushed my way to the right side of the room. Brushing my fingers along the icy stone, I rounded to the other side and met a pair of deep-brown eyes.

     “Zale,” I breathed. Before I could say anything else, I ran to him, throwing my arms around his broad chest and resting my face against the softness of his shirt. The chains clinked as he wrapped his arms around me, the metal brushing against my skin and sending goosebumps over my flesh. In a way he seemed larger somehow, as though I had forgotten the way he towered above me, the way my head could easily rest upon his chest and he could kiss my hair.

     Turning my head to look up, I whispered his name again, but it was silenced upon my lips as he covered mine with his own. All thought was lost to me in an instant. His hands tightened on my back and I pushed my body against his; my hands resting against the chill of the marble wall. Suddenly, he moved around me, the chains jingling, and it was my back instead of his pressed against the black expanse. One hand pushed at the wall near my head and the other wound its way to the side of my face, where he caressed my cheek before covering my mouth with his again. He smelled and tasted of the sea, the saltiness of his lips lingering over my own, as he breathed against my mouth.

     “I missed you,” he said after pulling away and bringing his lips to rest against my cheek, then my forehead, and down to my neck.

     “Me too,” I gasped and laced my fingers into his hair.

     “I can tell,” he said, and there was laughter in his voice.

     “Oh, stop,” I said and did just the opposite by groping in the darkness.

     I grasped his chin and pulled him back up to my mouth, but this time kissed him gently, the passion of the moment settling in the knowledge of being together after being apart for so long. I felt the tears of long awaited desire creep toward my eyes, but I kept them from falling as I leaned backward in the kiss, his lips moving gently against my own. He deepened it, but remained still, his arms encircling the small of my back, to press my body into his.

     With a sigh, he pulled back once more and looked down at me, the shadows making his face new to me. There was a sharpness in his features which reminded me of his warrior-self, but the tilt of his head was different. The side grin he wore contrasted the heaving breaths passing through his lips, and with each inhalation his chest moved upward, I felt my own rise and fall in perfect synchronization. His dark-golden hair hung longer than when I had last seen him. I brushed my fingers through the soft strands, reveling in the thought of being able to touch him.

     “I love you.” I reached up again to gently press my lips to his for a mere second. He smiled, and when I pulled back, he ducked his head.