Page 145 of Salt in the Seas
Aeliana looked to Gaeren and Riveran. The faithful friend’s eyes were closed, his lips moving in a silent prayer, but Gaeren’s gaze rested on her like a fire that burned from the inside out. He gave her a solemn nod, and she wished more than anything that she had kissed him in the alley.
It couldn’t end like this.
Lady Merinnia had said good would come from their visit, but Aeliana hadn’t seen anything good yet. They would have to use their magic and fight now, then find the starbridges later. They were out of time.
Just when she was about to kick her guard and pull out her hiddendagger, Nori stepped forward, slicing at her father’s trousers with her own dagger, and the starbridges fell to the dais. At first, no one moved, but as confusion and surprise spread, Nori snatched the starbridges from the wooden planks and raced toward Riveran to saw his rope with her dagger.
The guard manning Gaeren’s noose was quick to pull the rope to raise Gaeren up, cutting off his air supply. His face turned red as he clawed at the rope, and the guard reached for his arms. Aeliana wrested her dagger from beneath her sleeve and flung it at the guard, pinning his arm to the wall and freeing Gaeren’s hands, but the rope still pulled tight, and Aeliana ran for him.
A guard tackled her to the hard wood of the dais, and she lashed out with a light shield. But he was already too close, his grip already too tight, and her shield was pitifully weak. She kicked him away, remembering all of the combat skills Lukai had ingrained in her, allowing her starlock to build her energy even higher. Velden and Sylmar joined the fray, and she prayed they were all careful not to kill any of the Sayhleens, or they’d end up right back where they started: in the gallows.
When she finally fought off her guard, she caught sight of Gellen freeing Gaeren, and all their obstacles suddenly seemed surmountable. She built up her light shield around them, drawing her comrades into a tight circle. It flickered, her confidence wavering with it. Why was her magic so weak after it had been so powerful? Especially now, when she was far enough from Durriken that the brand shouldn’t override her somatic skills.
It didn’t take long for her comrades to form a defensive ring, their hidden weapons revealed along with the larger ones Gellen had retrieved. Aeliana even saw her bow on Lukai’s back, a sight that brought her an unreasonable amount of relief. But the Sayhleen soldiers also had their weapons drawn, arrows nocked for whenever Aeliana’s shield fully faltered.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take long.
“It should be clear to you now that we could have escaped at any time,” she called out. “We’ve done everything in our power to beworkable. As we’ve said before, we don’t want to harm anyone. We just want to go home.”
She turned to Nori, who stood near the gallows with Gellen, the Sayhleen soldiers hesitating over whether to incapacitate their own people. Nori still held the starbridges tight in her grip. They were the Vendarans’ only way home, and they rested outside Aeliana’s circle of safety, a circle that was quickly growing smaller and dimmer. Her shield flickered long enough that one of the Sayhleens fired an arrow. It struck the shield just as the light flickered back into position, but all the Vendarans stood a little straighter, recognizing their time was limited.
“If you and Gellen still wish to return with us as ambassadors,” Aeliana said to Nori, “you are welcome. But we are not kidnapping you or taking you against your will. It has to be your choice. I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to return soon. We’ve promised the starbridges to Orra, the grounded Star we told you about.”
Nori’s eyes lit up, and even Gellen’s interest seemed piqued. The two exchanged a glance, and when Gellen nodded, Aeliana caught a flash of hope in Nori’s eyes that held more than just gratitude. Gellen reached for Nori’s hands, and together they stepped toward Aeliana’s light shield, the guards too shocked to stop them.
Aeliana tucked her dagger in her belt as sweat dripped down her forehead. Her starlock had faded to lukewarm, and she knew she couldn’t hold the shield much longer. She gripped Gaeren’s hand, then reached for Iris’, urging the others to follow suit.
Nori and Gellen stopped before Aeliana with the starbridges, but then Nori dropped Gellen’s hand, bringing hers to his cheek. Her eyes filled with tears, and as Aeliana dropped the shield to let them in, she barely caught Nori’s whisper. “You’ll understand someday.”
When Nori shoved Gellen to the dais floor, Aeliana was too stunned to notice Nori coming for her next. When the other woman launched herself at Aeliana, the whistle and thud of an arrow met Aeliana’s ears just before the weight of Nori knocked them both to the wooden planks. Bright light flashed all around them. Had someone used a starbridge without them?
“Nori?” she called out, her eyes shut against the blinding whiteness, but her voice was lost in the sea of shouts and confusion.
Nori still huddled over her, surprisingly heavy for her small frame, but she made no move to harm Aeliana or defend herself, which just left Aeliana more confused. Had the other woman been attacking her? Or…?
Realization dawned as her memory recalled the sound of an arrow. “Oh, no. No, please.”
She blinked away the white spots, rolling Nori off her to find wide vacant eyes staring back at her.
“No!” she screamed again before tearing at Nori’s tunic, looking for the wound. “I can heal you.” The arrow had pierced deep through Nori’s chest, the location and lack of blood registering in the back of Aeliana’s mind as bad signs, but still she tried drawing the last vestiges of her starlock’s power from her own body and out through to Nori’s. But it was like throwing energy at a brick wall until it bounced back at her.
Scaly webbed hands joined hers, but instead of trying to save Nori, they cradled her, pulling her away from Aeliana, who stubbornly refused to let go.
“I healed Marnok,” she murmured. “I can heal her too.”
A new set of arms pulled from behind, and Gaeren’s voice was at her ear. “That was Marnok’s magic. He gave you his magic. It’s too late now. Nori’s already gone.”
She still resisted, but Gellen’s grip was stronger, and as he sobbed and pulled Nori into his arms, a small object fell from Nori’s hand, a golden shell that looked identical to the pink one Nori had found in her mother’s box.
A starlock.
“Go.” Gellen’s voice came out raw. “The others won’t understand. But she sacrificed herself for you.” He wouldn’t look them in the eye, but he shoved both starbridges across the planks toward them, along with a familiar clamshell—the one holding the gemstone gifted to Aeliana after their underwater visit to the Coral Cove. His face contorted with his grief, and greyish scales surfaced. “She had a reason, and that alone is proof that you need to return. All of you.” Then he turned away from them, burying his face in Nori’s neck.
The dismissal brought Aeliana’s pinpoint focus wider, making herrealize the people around them were still in shock, the soldier whose bow was still raised turning white with his horror.
“I’m so sorry,” Aeliana whispered, her gaze catching Elder Algaen, who held his hysterical wife, his own tears evident on his scale-blotched face.
She snatched up the starbridges and shell, then turned her back on people she feared had become enemies as she passed the golden arrow to Gaeren and the silver fish to Cyrus. Gaeren and Iris gripped her hands once more, and if Cyrus said the words, Aeliana didn’t hear them. She gratefully let the bright light and the shift from solid ground to nothingness envelop her.
