24.

Artificial Respiration

Sianna knew she had been right in placing no trust in Kota. That jewel wearing bitch was going to have a new accessory: Sianna's armadura blade straight through her stomach. She didn't care how much Iari liked Kota. That Nayichi cunt was going to be beheaded and her body set on fire.

But I'm dead.

Sianna was startled by her own thought, despite knowing it was the truth, and that startled her even more.

A bellowing sound pushed against her, encasing. Sianna opened her eyes, unaware they had been closed. She saw funny. Colors were more vibrant but seemed stretched and distorted like they struggled to stay on the objects they dyed. She still managed to recognize the massive, swaying mass above her as Zerahdin, the sound vibrating around her as his laughter.

His giant shoulders shook, and the violent purple and blue colors of his robe waved like rays from a florid sun. Mist, the tendrils fine like sand through Sianna's gaze, escaped out of his open skeletal mouth in time with each of his chuckles.

"You are more than welcome to help," Sianna heard Kota say but couldn't see her.

"I am," Zerahdin answered. "Why do you think they're not using their magick? But it is fun to see you struggle a little bit."

Sianna stood up, the action feeling slow and disconnected. There was a tree growing a few feet from her, but she'd never seen one made out of only branches and leaves with no trunk. Kota stood next to it, still as stone. One leg was in front of the other, arms outstretched as if perched on a thin thread in midair.

Sianna realized the branches were Kota's hair. They sprouted from her back and skull, locks fanning out so thick and plentiful they reminded Sianna of an oil painting of undersea coral banks she saw in one of the Citadel library books. The Nayichi's locks dug into the crystalline ground creating giant spider web cracks, and caged behind the branches were Calera, Deneck, and Reth. The Rhokin's limbs were restrained by the tendrils of hair, tiny, green leaves caressing their bodies.

"You killed my ser!" Reth struggled, a snarl on his lips as he looked at Kota.

Deneck was more animated, his chest puffed out as he strained against his bindings. "You slaughtered my Meryl! I'll kill you!"

"Ser!" Calera called out to Lycin.

He was on the ground, blood pooled around his head, green eyes dimmed in a way Sianna had never seen. Several feet away, Aldermeck and Iari were also on the ground, giant halos of red around their skulls. The sight didn't register in Sianna's mind. She understood what it meant, but she couldn't find the will to react. She took a hesitant step towards the scene, unsure what she would do once she reached it.

"Ah. She finally woke up. This one is called, Sianna, hmm?" Zerahdin said.

Sianna froze as the Lich King lowered his skull next to her. It was twice her height, and she looked dead on into one of his eye sockets. She had thought them black and empty, but there was a glimmer in the darkness. Stars. Millions of them against splotches of purple, blue, and orange.

"What the fuck is going on?" she whispered, absorbed by the eerily beautiful sight.

She frowned. Why was her voice a croak? Sianna threw off her armadura gauntlets and brought a hand to her throat. Decimated flesh clung to her fingers. She dared dig into the meaty hole and felt the pads of her fingers tickling the back of her neck. "What the fuck is going on?" she repeated.

"Ser!" Reth turned towards her. He gazed at her with worry. "Are you all right?"

"No, Reth. I have a fucking hole through my neck."

The last thing on Sianna's mind was Reth's imprisonment. What Sianna wanted was the damn Nayichi. Her legs twitched with the desire to charge at Kota and follow through with her earlier thought of stabbing her through the stomach, but something about having Zerahdin's skull with his galaxy eyes next to her kept her rooted. As if aware Sianna had been thinking of him, he chuckled. His released mist raked across her skin.

Sianna didn't know whether to aim her glare at Kota or Zerahdin. "What did you magickal bastards do?"

"Sianna, don' be mad," Iari said. His raspy voice chopped up his words more than his accent. He was sitting on the ground, an apologetic smile on his lips. Sianna could see there was a hole clear through his neck too.

"And this one is Iari?" Zerahdin said, moving his cracked skull over to the user.

Iari stood up and walked away from the Lich King, his unease evident on his scarred face.

"I don't know why you are asking these stupid questions, Zerahdin," Kota spat. "I already told you who was who. You are just teasing now."

The Lich King laughed, enveloping Iari and Sianna with his haze. "Yes, but it's more fun like this."

Sianna stared at Iari's neck and turned towards Aldermeck and Lycin. They both had their throats speared. Kota had attacked all of them, even Iari. Sianna recalled Zerahdin saying something along the lines of humans only leaving The Fresh Corpse if they were dead, but were they really? Her body felt sluggish and her senses were off, but she still felt whole and alive.

"Ser!" Reth called her again. He had been released from his bindings, a red ring around his neck, but he was still behind Kota's unusual hair prison.

Sianna held a hand out at him to silence him. Her head hurt, making the puzzle pieces around her harder and slower to fit together. Kota had killed them in order for them to leave The Fresh Corpse and head towards the temples holding the Eye of Artemis, but what did that mean for them? Would they be the living dead forever? Multiple questions were spinning inside her head, but there was one that stood out the most.

Sianna glared at Kota. "What the fuck made you think you could just kill us without saying a fucking thing?" She marched towards the Nayichi, her drawn sword in her bare palm. The hilt's leather scrapped against her in an unfamiliar and unpleasant way.

An oversized skeletal hand blocked her path like a wall. Tiny fissures spitting glistening fumes curled around the ivory digits decorated with fine, golden chains. "Let's wait for the others to wake up."

"Wake up?" Deneck asked, pausing his struggling. He looked at Aldermeck. "She will wake up?"

Zerahdin seemed to smile. "Yes, so calm yourselves until they do."

Deneck glanced at Sianna and back to Aldermeck. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?" he asked Zerahdin.

He chuckled, but didn't answer.

Sianna was slow in sheathing her sword, throwing a frown at Zerahdin as he lifted his boney hand from her path. She locked eyes with Reth and felt a sliver of guilt at the worry in his eyes. She had ignored the concern he had for her, too preoccupied with her own anger.

"It's okay, Reth. I'm fine. At least as fine as it's going to get. Just wait in there until I figure this out," she said to him.

He nodded, her words wiping the rare emotion off his face.

Sianna hesitated before asking her question. "Are you fine, Reth?"

He raised his eyebrows, but other than that, his face remained stoic. "Yes, ser. I am fine."

"Just release them Kota. They know Aldermeck and Lycin are coming back."

Zerahdin was the one that answered. "From the way they attacked her, I think she'd feel better releasing them once everyone is up and walking."

"Then release Reth," Sianna said.

"I will," Kota said. The tendrils binding the other two Rhokin slithered away, but the prison remained standing. "Soon."

Sianna crossed her arms, biting the rising obscenities on her tongue and pushing down the urge to charge at Kota again.

"It is fine, ser. We shall be alright," Reth said.

"We will, but Kota is right in keeping me locked up. If Meryl doesn't wake up soon, I will indeed kill this Nayichi nuisance," Deneck said with a smile that disturbed Sianna.

Calera, who had also stopped struggling, nodded, staring at Lycin.

"Fine." Sianna sighed and turned away from the Rhokin.

"Sianna," Iari said, "are you alrigh'?"

"Why do I keep getting asked that question when it's clear there's a fucking hole through my neck?"

He seemed abashed. "I'm sorry. I was jus' worried."

She stared at him. "You know what's going on, don't you?"

Iari's eyes darted away.

Sianna grabbed his bloody collar. "Tell me or I'll shove my fist through your damn neck hole."

The way he looked at her suggested he was used to her violent nature, diminishing the intensity of her threats.

"I'm no' sure myself," he said, brushing her hand off his neck, "but we're no' dead in 'ow we believe death to be."

"Dead is dead, Iari."

"And we are, bu' jus' no' in wha' you're thinkin'."

"Iari, there are holes through our necks. You say we're dead, but we're walking around like people that are alive do."

He sighed. "Jus' relax, Sianna. You always ge' so upse'."

"Relax? There's a-"

"I know, Sianna, a 'ole through your neck. And I 'ave one too."

She gave him a stare that appeared to unnerve him. He scratched his head, not meeting her eyes for a moment.

"I'm gonna explain it to you, but jus' listen. We are dead, bu' because we died 'ere in the Fresh Corpse, we 'ave our bodies. Our minds and essence are still intact," he said.

"So we're wights?" Sianna was appalled at the thought of being a ghoul.

"I'm no' sure."

"No," Kota said, her voice floating to them. "There's a way to get yourselves back, but I'm waiting for everyone to wake up. I will explain it then."

"Why not now? I'm tired of all this magickal nonsense," Sianna said.

"Well, you have Iari there explaining some of it to you, no?"

That was true. Sianna glowered at Iari. "And how do you know all this?"

"I don' know. I jus' feel it." He grasped the necklace Vulharis had given him.

She stared at the charm dangling under his fist. There's not much we can do now but wait, is there?

"Come here, Iari," Sianna said, pulling a rag from her pocket. "You have blood all over yourself." She rubbed his cheeks and neck, cleaning off as much as she could from his blushing face.

"Thanks," he mumbled when she finished.

She didn't answer, letting the bloody cloth fall as she sat down on the ground to wait. Iari took a seat next to her, drawing his knees to his chest.

Meryl woke up first, and after some slight cursing, went back to her collected self. She washed the blood out of her hair and off her face with the last of their water, insisting they weren't going to need it since they were dead. It was while she was talking to Deneck that Lycin regained consciousness. He also shot some colorful words to Kota and Zerahdin, but other than that, he accepted the situation with more ease than Sianna thought he would.

"Hurry up and release our Rhokin," Aldermeck ordered, her wet hair framing her stern eyes. "And explain to us what the hell is going on."

Kota turned her head, and the thick branches emerging from her head snapped off. She took a few steps forward and the tendrils from her back also disconnected from her body. The protruding stumps shriveled off her skin, save for the ones on her head. Those separated into thinner strands, growing until they all meet between her shoulder blades and dug under her skin, fusing with her spine. She faced Aldermeck and smiled, her orange eyes gleaming more than usual.

"The barricade will come apart once it's touched," Kota said.

Deneck punched the twisted wall in front of him and it fell to the crystal ground as powder. Reth mimicked his action with the same result, and Calera brought down her confinement with a kick. Each Rhokin went to their ser's side.

"Now speak." Aldermeck rested her hand on her sword as she stared at Kota.

The Nayichi placed one hand on her hip and the other pointed up. "I had to kill you all because of his stupid rules."

The Lich King himself had floated high above them so only the bottom of his frayed robe was seen. Sianna expected to see skeletal feet and endless rows of bones but instead the same mind fraying constellation of stars and galaxies was seen.

"That' pretty," Iari said under his breath.

Sianna gave him a look, but he just shrugged with a smile.

"Rules?" Lycin asked. "I'm some sort of undead bastard because of some giant skeleton's rules?"

"What rules are you talking about?" Aldermeck asked.

"I think I can explain it better than Kota. She tends to make things sound so grim and boring," Zerahdin said above them.

The stars under his robes exploded, and all Sianna could see was whiteness. When her vision returned, she saw she was standing up in a night sky. Surrounding her were stars, clusters of them arranged in magnificent patterns. Most were of creatures or objects Sianna didn't recognize, but she spotted something she did.

There was a pair of dragons in front of her. One had its slender neck bent out under unfurled wings, its body bathed with wavy, iridescent clouds. The second dragon was curled within itself. It was colored a black so dark Sianna couldn't distinguish its head from its tail.

"Don't be scared," Zerahdin's disembodied voice spoke, "your essence is being released out of The Fresh Corpse. I rather like how that name sounds in your language. I think I'll call my kingdom that from now on."

Kota sighed. "Get to the point. These humans are not very patient."

"With their lifespans I can see why."

"Hurry up and say what you have to." Aldermeck crossed her arms.

Zerahdin chuckled. "This one seems to be extra impatient."

Sianna sighed, signaling she wasn't the only one.

Zerahdin's tone changed as he started speaking. It was less playful, more authoritative. "Whenever a human enters Ayodite, it is always through The Fresh Corpse because they will never leave it alive. If they don't leave, they'll die here, and if they do, I collect their essence and throw it into the flow of magick within this world. We don't want humans here because of an incident that happened centuries ago." He paused and his hmm sounded amused.

"The only reason I'm not taking your essences is because, well, I'm doing Kota a favor. I'm sorry she had to kill you in such a crude way. If only I could kill her too to even things for you, but that would be in vain. She can go through Ayodite as she pleases. The same applies to your partners there. They are created, neither dead nor alive, but their magick allows them to also go through this world as they please. But I see that what really pleases them is whatever pleases you humans." Zerahdin chuckled again.

Sianna was starting to get annoyed by his constant laughter, but there was something about what he said that irritated her even more. He had mentioned Rhokin were simple creations, neither living nor dead, but they couldn't be. Sianna had felt Reth's heartbeat several times up against the palm of her hand. It was on the nights she was camped outside the Citadel on patrol when she would wake up cuddled against him. Each time she did, his heart was alive against her cheek and she always had to check to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She would place her hand against his chest, feeling not only his heartbeat but his warmth.

"You know, now that I think about it, any magickal creatures from Ayodite can also travel to your world as they please, but let's not go into that," Zerahdin said, his joking tone from earlier returning. "What you need to know is how you can come back to life. You'll need to drink from the fountain in Paradis Ripav de Luz at Rez a'lla Lovox which Kota tells me is where your destination is anyway. Lovox's Prayer, I think you called it? Well, how lucky for you guys. Not so lucky is that you have a timeframe. Your essences will only last so long in your dead bodies. You must reach the fountain in four cycles or else I will reap you all with a bony smile."

Aldermeck clicked her tongue. "Cycles? What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Days is probably a better word," Zerahdin said.

"Days?" Sianna was the one to voice her aggravation now. "We can't even tell what qualifies as days down here."

"Not to mention this whole situation is bullshit," Lycin added. "I didn't ask to be killed."

"You shouldn't have tagged along."

He grinned. "Well now I can say I have died for you, sweet Sianna."

"It is done, Gabard, so suck it up. You too, Sianna," Aldermeck snapped, and Deneck next to her smiled. "Zerahdin, I am waiting for your answer," she added, scanning the night sky that surrounded them like she was trying to find him.

"Oh, you really are so impatient," Zerahdin said. "Your answer is in that Nayichi you all seem to adore so much. She will keep the count for you."

"I rather not put my faith in her."

"I'm not trusting something that killed me!"

"Like hell I will."

Aldermeck, Lycin, and Sianna's words overlapped one another and Zerahdin laughed. Thin coils of mist fell from the starry sky, framing the constellations with wispy fingers.

"Oh, yes, Kota. They do really like you," he said.

They Nayichi hissed. "Get on with the rest of it."

"I still like you," Iari meekly said to Kota.

"And you're still the only one that does," she told him but there was a grin on her lips.

"There's not much else to say," Zerahdin said. "I'm currently transporting you out of The Fresh Corpse and into the Tier'ra Volandora as a favor. It is the closest I can get you to Lovox's Prayer. After this, you are all on your own."

The mist disappeared and the constellations spun around in a nauseating swirl. The stars curled together like a visible breath of wind, then scrunched into waves of water. Zooming away from each other, the streaks of white blurred into branches and bloomed into leaves upon a mighty trunk of silver. White fire devoured it, flames dancing and dancing until Sianna had to close her eyes, but the image had burned into her eyelids. Explosions of blinding light fired off in her head.

She opened her eyes.

Her vision blurred, but she saw enough to see a blond looking over her. Sianna sighed. "You don't have to hover over me all the time like some stupid mother hen, Reth."

"Uh. He's over there." The fuzzy blond that sounded like Iari pointed across him.

When Sianna turned, her vision cleared, and she saw Reth's face, indifferent as usual. No, not as usual. There was a warmth in it now that hadn't been present when she first met him, and she could see it more prominent than before because his face was also peering into her own. "You're still hovering over me, Reth," she said.

"I am sorry, ser," he said, drawing away.

Sianna sighed as she sat up. "So where the hell are we now?"

Iari looked up. "Well. See fo' yourself."
The sky was blue and vast, a familiar sight that heated Sianna's chest with relief. Then she saw the horizon was dyed fiery red, a crimson shoreline to an incredible ocean, despite the oversized sun that hung in the middle of the sky. And there was something else in the sky too. Swarms of creatures flew through the air, gigantic winged shadows that patched the sky.

When the wings beat down, Sianna could see their textures. Some appeared like leather, sunlight filtering through, while others looked webbed or feathered. They were attached to slim torsos with long legs, limbless bellies with three tails, floating heads with swirling hair, or to some other creature that Sianna couldn't comprehend. The flying bodies were as odd as they were spectacular, but they didn't compare to the creature that slithered through it all.

Its body was slim and flat, a colossal never ending ribbon that could wrap around the sky itself. It spun with the sunrays that ignited a war of water and fire on its scales, a beautiful battle that had Sianna staring with her mouth open.

"Our clothes and supplies were left behind," Aldermeck said, irritation ripe in her voice.

Sianna blinked, giving one last glance at the twisting creature before turning to see her ex-Lenient pacing with her arms crossed.

"We're dead. What good is all that to us now?" Lycin said, sitting on a jutting boulder. "Besides, you used to water to wash your hair."

"It will be good for us once we drink from that fountain," Aldermeck said, ignoring his last comment.

Their nonchalant conversation and the fact they weren't gawking at the sky led Sianna to believe she had been the last one to wake up from their journey from The Fresh Corpse to wherever they were now.

"How long was I out?" Sianna asked Iari.

"About 'alf an 'our," he said, "but you were the only one."

"The only one?"

Iari looked at Reth.

"Ser, we all arrived here still conscious. You were the only one that was not," the Rhokin said.

"Is she awake now? I told you to tell me as soon as she was up." Aldermeck walked over to them. "Sianna, how do you feel?"

"I am fine," she answered, agitated by all the people surrounding her.

"Sianna! Were you sleeping so well because you were dreaming of me?" Lycin shouted to her from his seat on the boulder.

"Dreaming you were gone," she said as she stood up and clapped the dirt off her hands.

Dirt.

She stood on actual land with green grass and trees with brown bark and jade leaves. Sianna smiled at the welcoming sight, but it faltered when she noticed something strange. "Are we...?" Her words left her, gaze affixed on the landmass off in the distance.

It was a floating archipelago.

The larger islands were connected by vines so thick they looked like bridges. Rings of earth and clouds encircled them, and each earthy section was thick with crawling plants, massive trees, blooming flowers, and prominent boulders. Nestled within the vegetation were broken portions of a castle.

Walls housing windows and doors were worn out moaning faces, green veins their thin tears. Pointed roofs shadowed dwarfed trees. Broken staircases and half standing entryways supported by ropes of vines and branches led to phantom rooms. It was like the land had decided to divide and take the building apart with it.

"Yes, Sianna. We're on a floatin' islan' too. They're everywhere," Iari said, answering her forgotten question.

"How the hell are we supposed to get anywhere when we're stuck in the damn sky?" Sianna asked.

"Because Zerahdin is an idiot and forgets what can fly and what can't. Our destination is in the sky, but to get to it we have to reach it from the ground," Kota said.

She had dropped from one of the branches above their heads. Though she still wore her clothes, Sianna had seen more than she wanted when her skirt-if it could be called one-flapped open with the force of her jump.

"We can only access it from the ground?" Aldermeck asked. "That is strange."

Kota shrugged. "It's how it is."

"And how are we supposed to get down there?"

"Maybe we can jump down?" Deneck suggested with a smile.

Lycin laughed. "We are already dead. What's the worst that can happen?"

"No," Kota said, "you'll only end up destroying your bodies and chances of coming back to life in one piece."

"The vines," Reth spoke. "They seem to connect some of the islands together. Perhaps we can use them to at least travel through them and find a way down."

Sianna grinned. "Good to know you haven't lost your brains after all we've been through, Reth."

He lifted his chin. "Thank you, ser."

"It is also good to know one of our Rhokin has brains," Aldermeck said, a hand on her curvy hip. Even in death, her figure was as tempting as ever.

"Why, Meryl, that hurts my feelings," Deneck said though his smile hadn't faltered.

"We'll have to find the edge of this floating island. Even up in that tree, I couldn't see it. I can scout ahead since I'm the fastest here," Kota said but her words were met with glares. "What? Why do you just stare at me?"

"Um. They don' trus' you to go off alone," Iari said, appearing embarrassed for her.

The Nayichi swept the air in front of her with outstretched arms, the jewels on her skin glistening. "It was the only way to get you out of there! Zerahdin himself told you. You understand that, yes?"

"It's not about that, you damn Nayichi. Next time you need to kill us, let us know before shoving your fucking magickal hair through our throats." Sianna pointed at her neck.

"However, it is best to scout ahead. Time is not on our side." Aldermeck looked up at the sky, a hand on her neck as well. "If we are dead, then does that mean our Rhokin do not have their magick?" she asked Kota.

The Nayichi looked stunned. "I don't see any reason why not. The Rhokin's magick is said to be strengthened and dependent on your bonds to them, yes?"

Sianna again remembered the feel of Reth's heartbeat against her skin. "Yes," she answered for Aldermeck.

"Your essence is intact which means any magick you have is intact and any magick that your essence feeds is also intact," Kota said.

"So I still 'ave my magick too!" Iari had a wide smile.

Aldermeck shot him a glare that told him not to interrupt anymore. His joyous expression faltered into an apologetic one, and Sianna couldn't help but giggle at how animated Iari always was.

"How about it, Deneck? Feel you can keep up with a Nayichi?" Aldermeck asked.

He grinned. "Always."

"Then it is decided. You and Kota will scout ahead to find this island's edge. We will tread after you for a faster rendezvous. Understood?"

Deneck gave a single nod and Kota a defeated sigh.

"Wait." Sianna's word escaped before her mind could process it. "Reth will go too."

She froze at her own sentence and bit her tongue as if to punish it for speaking, but her mind was racing. At the beginning of this journey, Sianna had taken command. Even when they had been separated, her group had followed her, but somewhere along the way up to this point, she had lost the reigns.

Now, Aldermeck was back in command, a silent retaking of power that told Sianna Aldermeck had seen something unfit in her to continue her lead. Sianna should've welcomed this change in authority, but instead she wanted to show she was still capable.

"Most of the creatures in the sky are bigger than the floating islands around us, and if they decide to attack, they have an aerial advantage. Reth's magick can be effective against them. With Calera and Iari here with us, we can spare him to go with Deneck and Kota," Sianna said, but she kept her eyes on Aldermeck.

The ex-Leitnant smirked, crooked teeth giving it a sly appearance.

"Ser, will you be all right without me?" Reth asked Sianna.

"I'll be fine, Reth. Like I said, Iari and Calera will stay here with us," she answered.

His silver eyes-eyes that all of a sudden appeared alive to Sianna-flickered to Lycin. "Iari I am confident in, but Ser Gabard I do not like."

She gave a laugh. "You and me both, but don't worry, Reth. Lycin may be an ass, but when it comes to matters of the Guard and battling our foes, I do trust him."

The face he gave her made her laugh again. "It's the only time I trust him in anything," she said.

He handed her something. "These are yours, ser. I'd feel more at east knowing you have them."

Sianna accepted her gauntlets, a burst of panic surging through her at the thought of having forgotten them. "Thank you, Reth."

He nodded. "Of course, ser."

"Are you done with your farewell speech, Reth? I think I died myself waiting here for you," Deneck called to him.

"Come back quickly and keep an eye on the Nayichi," Sianna told Reth.

"Yes, ser," he answered and joined Deneck and Kota.

"Before we leave, I should tell you how the days pass by here," Kota said and pointed to the sun. "When it fully eclipses, you can say night as fallen. Uneclipsed means day has come again. That is one cycle. We have four eclipses before you're all truly dead."

"All the more reason for you to go," Aldermeck urged.

Sianna watched them dart away and disappear into the thick foliage, leaves hardly rustling from their swiftness. The sun above was still a perfect, unblemished orb. "We should follow them till dusk, assuming it darkens here, and hope they come back by then," she said.

Aldermeck nodded, but didn't add anything else to Sianna's command.

"Walking until nightfall? Let's hope we don't die from exhaustion," Lycin said as the group began its trek.

"I'm tiring of your stupid dead jokes," Sianna said, but regretted speaking to him when she saw him make a beeline towards her.

With Aldermeck talking to Iari and Calera silent as the grave, no one was around to save her. She had to wonder what fascinating conversation Aldermeck felt she could only have with Iari. Sianna had been hoping to voice her concerns about Kota with her, but then again, having Iari around would only hinder such a conversation.

Iari irked her, but not in the way Sianna expected him to. Despite Iari's obvious liking towards Kota and the fact he always seems privy to her plans, Sianna found it hard to place the same cold suspicion she does on Kota to Iari. Sianna's anger towards the Nayichi was infinite and vindicated, but whenever she confronted Iari, it was like she was scolding a little brother that stole and ate her sweets. And it irked her, but for some reason, it also made her smile.

"I know I didn't cause that smile, but I am enjoying it," Lycin said.

"It's gone now. You can take credit for that," Sianna said, avoiding his gaze.

"Why do you hate me so much, Sianna?"

His absurd question drew her scowling face towards him. His usual grin was on his lips, but for once there was a different shine in his eyes.

"If you don't know the answer to your question, then you're more of an idiot than I thought," she told him.

"Let's see. I'm a smug, narcissistic, spoiled, nobleman that received a Rhokin as a Centurio because his father is the Ward of northern Dracarr. I'm also a bit of an ass too. Whatever is there not to like about me?"

Sianna couldn't stop the grin that pulled at her lips. "You forgot perverted."

He smirked too. "There. I got a smile out of you."

"Is that all I needed to do to get you away from me? Have another one so you'll shut up too."

"But I finally got you talking to me." He moved closer.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sianna asked.

"Trying to touch you. What else?"

She sighed. "Not that, you ass. What do you think you're doing by being here? By having followed us? Are you that obsessed with touching me?"

Lycin laughed. "I wasn't following you. When we met at the docks back in Penshaw it was because I was stationed there. It was by chance that I ran into you."

"At Penshaw? Didn't the Captain assign you to stay at Caister with your family?"

"No Captain or even a thousand Magus can keep me at Caister."

She remembered Lycin odd behavior while he was at home. He appeared embarrassed by his dad and annoyed by his brother. "You don't like your family?"

Lycin sighed. "It's not that. I love them as much as a son loves his father and a brother another, but when mother and my sister died, they changed. It had all changed, and I disliked being around them. I was young when the accident claimed their lives, but not that young that I couldn't tell the difference it made to my family.

"My father became overly cheerful, laughing at anything and everything. Throwing his affection at everyone. Torm acted as if he was Lord of the castle already, taking over duties my father started to neglect, and my other brother decided traveling was more important than anything else. I wanted to leave as soon as I could, and as soon as I was old enough to join the Guard, I did.

"Father opposed it, but I told him either he gave me his consent or I would run away. He finally allowed me to leave on the condition I allow him to give me a Rhokin." Lycin paused. "I wanted to earn one."

Sianna was in silent awe at the outpour of sentiment she heard in Lycin's words and in the stiffness she saw in his face as he said them. For the first time ever, she struggled to find words to tell him. "That's quite the story there," she could only say.

He chuckled, usual slyness back in his expression. "Then tell me your story. How did you end up in the Guard?"

She shrugged. "I didn't want to be at home either."

"Come now. I poured my heart to you, Sianna. You have to tell me more than that."

She licked her lips, focusing on the grass so neatly folded beneath her feet. "Fine. I honestly don't remember how many siblings I had, much less how many were older or younger than me. I also don't remember my father much. He would leave for a few days, come back with money and food, and leave again. I think he was a good man because he always came back.

"The only thing I remember was my mother's songs. She sang them to me and my brothers and sisters as we would fall asleep, but I always felt like she was singing them especially to me. It was the only time I could believe to be somewhere else, forget the hunger in my belly or the fleas in my bed. I could instead be the brave knight in a wondrous tournament. Or I could be the pirate sailing into waters unknown. Sometimes I even pretended to be the princess waiting for her prince." She gave a small smile at that.

"But when my mother died, so did the songs. There was nothing there for me anymore, so I walked until I found the Guard, and here I am, dead on a floating island." Sianna raised a hand to emphasize her point.

"Your mother's songs. That would explain why you would hum so much during your duties," Lycin said.

"How would you know that?"

He chuckled. "It's what you were always doing those times I would run into you in Jabel."

She frowned. "I didn't know I did that."

"That and fidget with your necklace. Is that by any chance something your mother gave you?"

Sianna resisted the urge to touch it. "It was my mother's."

He nodded. "I don't have anything to remind me of my mother. And the only thing I have from my father is a Rhokin, and I use that well."

"Yes, we all know how well you use her."

"Would you rather take her place?" His fingers brushed the hair away from her forehead. His touch was cold. "Though I do wonder if we can fuck even though we're dead. Would you like to find out with me?"

She slapped his hand away. "We are done here."

He feigned a sad look. "Done? But I was about to have you confessing your love for me."

Sianna increased her pace to catch up to Aldermeck and Iari, and as soon as she did, their conversation stopped.

"Sianna!" Iari smiled.

"Iari?" she said.

He had his hands in front of him, gusts of wind flowing out of his palms and flattening the vegetation before them. Sianna felt silly and a little guilty at the sight.

"Isn't that draining you?" she asked, recalling the last times he collapsed after using his amplified magick.

"No," he said, smile growing. "Bein' dead 'as its advantages."

She chuckled, but then she noticed Aldermeck's somber face.

"Meryl?" Sianna called to her, knowing that name always coaxed a smile from her. It did, but it appeared halfhearted.

"Sianna," Aldermeck said. "I did not notice you there."

She gave half a scowl at her out of character inattentiveness, but felt it was better not to ask. The only thing that broke through the quite was Iari's billowing wind magick and the occasional screeching cries from the creatures circling above, but it all sounded alien to Sianna. Even the words she had shared with her companions rang differently and not because they had holes through their throats.

The world around her was emphasized in odd ways. The dirt she had touched scrapped against her skin like jagged rocks. The smell of grass attacked her nostrils as if the blades themselves were up her nose. The abundant green around her waved like an emerald ocean threatening to swallow her. It was like her body was dramatizing her senses to make up for the lack of living it was doing.

Sianna didn't like it, and the sooner they got to that damn fountain, the better, but something about it was bothering her. It went back to the waterfall and the bizarre episode she had when she had seen it. It was something she didn't want to experience again, but it was something she felt she would once she reached the fountain.

Too many fucking somethings are happening here.

And Sianna felt there were too many someones not talking about it.

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Author's Note: Congratulations! You have now read over 100k words of Calathus! Yay!