Page 51 of Beneath the Veil of Tides
No…
When I finally looked, it wasn’t sudden. My eyes pulled to find Zahara’s still body as if they were dragged against every instinct I had. For a heartbeat, I almost convinced myself I’d misunderstood what I saw. But reality settled in like a heavy, unbearable weight.
Zahara was going to die.
We waited in dreary silence, Jun’s fingers cupping the captain’s neck to keep her pulse. His lips moved in rapid succession, counting the space between her heart beats. Her severed hand still clutched the blue cloth she always used to fidget with, like even in the moment everything was taken from her, some small, familiar habit refused to let go. Jun slipped it from her fingers, unfolding it meticulously.
A child’s shirt.
It wasso small. So incredibly small. Everyone looked at it in question, but I knew. I knew exactly who Zahara lost to the sea two years prior. It was no wonder she played the part of mother to Jun and Calvin so well. She knew exactly what it was like to love and lose.
I was ready to burn the worldforZahara. For her loss.
Laziel burst through the water, his legs shifting back in mid-air as he crashed before us.
“Here,” he breathed, extending his hand to Jun. Sludge covered his palm, a sickly blend of gray and brown mush that oozed and breathed like a monster in a marsh.
“Are you wanting an infection?” Jun seethed, his face dropping in disappointment.
It hit me. I knew what Laziel offered, like a memory resurfacing at once when my eyes planted on the mush.
“It’s safe,” I blurted, shocking myself at the intrusion. “A kelp and living coral mix. It will slow the blood loss and heal the wound.”
I knew, because I’d watched my mother use it to reseal the scabbing gashes that she scratched into her flesh and the sores beneath the dull hair she pulled from her scalp.
Jun searched my eyes for truth, then hesitantly scraped the slop into his hands and stooped down to Zahara’s severed arm. His eyebrows drew downward in harrowing concentration.
The belt wasn’t enough to stanch the blood that trickled from her wound. It painted the wooden beams and Jun’s once brown pants. Zahara’s chest only faintly rose and fell. It slowed with every passing second.
Jun lathered the slop along the dismemberment, and I half expected it to slide right off at the slick wetness the blood created. However, it stuck firmly, shifting without a touch. It spread around the tethered remnant of her arm just below the shoulder, forcing itself into all the caves of the stump and skin around it. It pulsed faint green like a festering blister, and we all waited in dreadful silence.
The waves crashed into the ship, rocking us fiercely, regardless of Noctis’s attempt at containing the wheel with his powers. The sails were shredded and careening us to the motion of the ocean.
And even in the chaos, the crew waited for Zahara’s breaths to even out. To strengthen.The strength of a motley crew is nothing without their leader.
“She will come back to us,” Calvin whispered, reaching for Jun’s hand. Their fingers intertwined for a second, but Jun quickly retreated. His eyes held haunted gazes, as if the woman fighting for her life brought him back to his past. Like it was all his fault, and he deserved no good.
The sea froze—stopped in time and space. Laziel conducted the water with palms outstretched, the currents obeying his command, waves waiting for his word.
“How…” I murmured in disbelief. The amount of power the male controlled brought an uneasy feeling.
“So you can see if she’s breathing normally again,” the merfolk replied, nodding toward the captain.
The rise and fall of Zahara’s chest steadied, each breath stronger than the last, a quiet but unyielding proof that she lived.
“A crew that keeps defying death,” Calvin chuckled, but the pain in his words was palpable.
With the help of Laziel’s oceanic manipulation, the ship glided gently into the port of Corvenwald Isle. Noctis worked to tie the mooring line to the harbor while Jun and Calvin carefully carried Zahara to the captain’s quarters below deck.
I leaned against the ship’s railing, overlooking the bustling market side and village that guarded the entrance to Aetherkin Bound, just like I comfortably did before any excursion beyond the waves. It buzzed with energy, melodic tunes traveling to my ears from the horse-drawn carriages that transported live bands of musicians. The island was beautiful, grassy hills and lively people, and secretly, I found it comforting.
Solace arrived not in the end of the day’s chaos, but in its fading edge—when Zahara’s survival was no longer a question
Noctis and I would make the venture to the Aetherkin Bound together, leaving Calvin and Zahara behind to rest. Jun refused to leave their sides, and Laziel couldn’t be trusted yet to travel to another Bound in search of the third trident piece. We did, however, tell him his powers would be necessary to get the ship to safety if they were attacked again in our absence.
In the moment, I bit my tongue, stopping myself from telling the full truth, since the merfolk man was nothing but helpful since our meeting. But running the risk was too great as we approached the end of collecting the trident fragments.
I wasn’t entirely sure what the plan was once we forged the trident. I didn’t even know exactly what a titan was, but I trusted my crew. Each step closer to finding the Aetherkin Bound piece was sooner that I would have to travel to the Oceanwrought Bound. I would have to relive the part of my life I’d worked so hard to bury.
