AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Just as quickly, the sea releases me from its hold as if something has torn its voice away from me. All I can see are the bleak waters around me. But the energy of the rune-lantern still hums to me across the distance, faint but certain.
A surge of renewed hope spurs me forward. I dive down deeper, keeping equal distance between the stormy surface and the treacherous sea floor. My mind goes blank. I think only of swimming. On and on, weaving a deadly dance through the currents, until I finally see it.
The rune-lantern rests far below me, sending up a thin white glow from its perch among the blade-sharp rocks. I glance around quickly for any sign of the others, but there are no shadows on the currents and no feeling of their presences. I dive, each stroke stronger and more desperate than the last.
Ten more yards. Then five.
My hands are around the glowing sphere. I lift the small lantern from its cleft among the stones and hold on to it as tightly as I dare.
I’ve done it. Now I just need to get back to the surface without—
Weight slams into me. I’m being crushed. My chest expands involuntarily, and panic surges through me as water bursts into my lungs. I try to cough it out, but more water rushes into my mouth. I force myself to hold my breath, praying that the runes hold true. I glance down at my skin and see the tattoos there, their inky lines as strong and vibrant as ever.
A flicker of silver light catches my eye. It runs like a thread through the water, connecting with another thread, and another. Cold dread grips me as I make out more threads of light around me like a web. They form a rune—one I recognize.
An annulling symbol, used to cancel out the effect of other runes. Fool that I am, I charged right into it, never thinking the Seamother might have laid a trap around the prize. A rune like this would have no effect on the other contenders, but it is the perfect way to make sure I never return to the surface.
I swim desperately, cursing my stupidity with every stroke. My movements barely carry me. The water presses around me, turning my mind blank and smashing my bones and my veins. My lungs burn, hungry for breath. The threads of the annulling rune spread out wider and wider around me as I try to escape them.
All my prayers seem to echo in my mind. Images of Evya flash in my memory as I struggle weakly against the rune’s hold. Evya, my mate, whom I will never see again. Who will live bereaved and despised because of me.
My head lulls back as unconsciousness tugs at me. I’m almost beyond the pain now, but I fight to feel it. To feel anything. To stay awake for even a moment longer.
I’ve swum too deep. The currents pull me down—down into a black abyss I know from my nightmares.
Please, Eternal, don’t let it end this way.I send up the plea even as darkness wraps around me and carries me in its grip.
At first I think I’m sinking. Will I even feel the sharpness of the rocky sea floor when the water slams me into it? But there’s nothing, nothing at all except ...
“Wake up, Keliveth.” A deep voice growls in my ear, and something shakes me.
I realize I’m not sinking, but rising, gripped by strong arms and being towed upward. My body is no longer fighting to breathe, and the weight of the waters is lifting. I open my eyes. I’m outside the silvery web of the Seamother’s trap, still clutching the rune-lantern in my hands.
“You’re a fool.” The voice speaks again, and I recognize it. Arcorlan. He pulls me along in one arm as he swims toward the surface with powerful strokes. “Did you even think to look for a trap?”
“Nice to see you too.” My voice rasps from the water that is still lodged in my lungs, but at least I can speak again. I can think clearly, and I can swim.
Arcorlan lets go of me and shoves me out into the water. “Get to the surface. Look for the light of the beacon fire. I’ll keep the others off your tail.”
I look into his impassive face, stunned. My hands tighten around the rune-lantern. Will the Fethani warrior try to snatch it away? But Arcorlan doesn’t even glance at the prize.
“Why are you helping me?” I ask.
“Are you going to ask stupid questions or are you going to win your mate?” He gives the barest hint of a smile as he speaks. “You and Evya are not the only ones tired of war. Go and change the world, for all our sakes.”
Before I can stop myself, I grab him in a brotherly embrace, which he returns for a split second before he pushes me out into the water.
I swim. At first I only see gloom and murk, but then the bright orange light of the beacon fire springs into view. I clutch the rune-lantern and hasten my strokes, rising faster and faster toward the glowing fire of the beacon.
The water churns around me with greater rage the closer I get to the surface. Still I press on, challenging the waves to stop me. I’m so close now.
Just when I’m near enough to see the outline of the shore, a tremendous current catches hold of me and spins me around. I flail against it, fighting to regain my bearings.
But the beacon light is gone, and all trace of the shore along with it. The waves leap higher and higher, dragging me back out into the depths of the maelstrom.
I won’t make it. The realization hits me like a stone. I’ve escaped the Seamother’s trap and claimed the prize, but that doesn’t mean she will allow me to set foot on land again. All she has to do is keep the ocean in a frenzy until my strength gives out.
Each kick of my legs seems to mock me, reminding me that I never belonged beneath the waves. My limbs burn with exhaustion until the pain threatens to drown my thoughts and senses completely. Oblivion tugs at my soul. It would be so easy to give myself up to the currents.
