"The Sun started making changes to the kingdom as soon as he reached the throne. He called back the men who were away at war far to the west on Ollen Island and put an end to the conflict immediately. He simply let the northerners have the land.
Yriaa spans the full territory of a rather isolated island. As such, we used to struggle to connect with the wider world for trade and opportunities of expansion. We're too far from our closest neighbors to make it worth their while to trade with us, particularly because we don't grow or mine any goods that they consider valuable. Precious stones, metals, spices, we have none of that. The strength of our kingdom is agricultural, good for self-sustenance and bad for proliferation. The bigger players wanted nothing to do with it. It's not profitable to trade with a territory months away with no salt of its own to preserve its goods. Our leathers and rough fabrics were no novelty to them, either, so they left us alone, in our peace and food aplenty.
Yriaa used to belong to the larger lands in the southwest long ago, but when we fought and at last achieved our independence from the Carmeem empire, we became mostly self-sufficient. Aside from the occasional independent tradings here and there with our former, ancestral empire, we remained an entirely secluded realm.
The only piece of land Yriaa ever conquered was a small island in the far northwest, a good distance away from the motherland but not so far as to make it inaccessible. It was a key to the development we sought, and the whole kingdom was in an uproar at its initial discovery. I hear King Artlan was able to mine Ollen Island for all sorts of metals and precious materials for a few years, and that he'd been in the process of establishing a large Yriaan settlement out there, before the war started.
This was overwhelmingly positive progress for our people, you see, for it would have provided us with a path to the larger world. Yriaa's ships and technology were not advanced enough to allow us access to the lands in the far north or even the south, our closest neighbor, to be able to form any sort of allegiance. Ollen was to become our kingdom's only outpost and treasure trove.
When we extended a hand to the north to initiate trading agreements, however, we were encountered with hostility. Ollen was theirs, they claimed, won in a sweeping conquest in an earlier war amongst their people. So, when we came to their doorstep to announce we'd taken it, they deployed forces to fight us away.
Our king at the time, Artlan, had his mind fixed on it, however. He saw a potential in the land the northerners had not, and he was convinced that they wouldn't try so hard to hold a land they hadn't even cared to inhabit until then. He fought them back intelligently, conservatively, trying to wear them out. He was making good progress, I think, when the Sun came and surrendered Ollen to the north.
The Sun God chose to focus all his attentions on the mainland, and his first order of business, strangely, was to recognize the pirates who roamed the eastern islands and our busier coasts as privateers for the Sun reign. He put out a widespread call to all the experienced criminals of the Seas to make them an advantageous offer. They did not need to swear to him to serve him, he insisted, when they refused to give up their freedom and said they preferred a quick death over a life of slavery. To this day the Sun's privateers remain a band of free outlaws, pirates in spirit but much better dressed. They guard the coasts of Yriaa in their fancy uniforms, along with the Sea's sirens. They've been allies from the beginning, those two snakes.
But, what I was saying was, I never understood the sense in the Sun's actions. But that was what he decided to do with his newfound power, and hastily, too.
The Sun reign taxed the free folk mercilessly in those initial years, even worse than in current days, in an attempt to lure more followers to his side. My parents didn't budge, though, and that was where it all went wrong for me.
That is the real beginning of my story.
We had led a somewhat comfortable life, until then. We ate well, and trade was good, facilitated by the throne. My family sold crops directly to the crown, and in exchange we were allowed to inhabit and farm the land, rightfully owned by the king, and received modest payments in the form of coin and other goods.
The Sun dismantled all those systems that had allowed our previous rulers to build peace within the kingdom. He left us all to either fend for ourselves, battling his crippling taxes and the constant danger of the more hostile Gods, or to surrender to his new order in exchange for protection and financial advantage.
My parents struggled during those days to keep us fed and clothed, so it was only logical that, when an opportunity arose to rid themselves of a daughter, they'd take it. They chose to discard their most useless mouth to feed.
And so I was given as a bride to the worst man I'd ever met shortly after I turned thirteen."
Teela sat with her shoulders hunched forward and caressed Homely in her tightly clasped hands. Her small friend was asleep, his beady little eyes closed and his head hanging loosely onto her fingertips. She could feel the beat of his tiny heart faintly pumping within his chest and his talons gripping the skin of her palms.
She felt slightly anxious to return to her larger friend, Clover. They'd left him, along with Mantis's black mount, at the nice Sea people's stables, and she was sure he was being treated well, for the strangers had shown Teela and her companions nothing but kindness, despite Mantis's warning that they had ulterior motives. Regardless, she felt impatient to see to her beloved horse herself, as she wasn't used to being apart from him for long or leaving him in the care of strangers.
The fishing vessel's return to the pier from where they'd departed was quick and tense. The sailors continued to glower at Mantis, Leroh, and her, even as they performed their duties on the ship. Teela feared that they might attempt some sort of foolish retribution for their fallen man, but Mantis's threat kept. The remaining Seamen did not speak to them, or interact with them beyond the poisonous glares they threw their way.
Leroh sat by her side with his hands covering his eyes and his head bent over his crossed legs. His brown curls hung forward over his face, still damp from when the God's drenched hand had reached over to him, and his rough tunic of soft brown linen was crumpled and wet. Teela shuddered at the thought that the God of the Sea himself had put her brother in such a state.
She did not dare to speak to him, or Mantis. What they had experienced, what had almost become of Leroh because of Teela, it all lay too heavy among them.
He had almost been devoured.
As a consequence to her actions and decisions, her brother had nearly become food for the Sea God.
It was an odd feeling, the guilt. Teela did not often consider the consequences that her behavior might bring upon Leroh, because she'd always believed it his own fault that he found himself suffering on her behalf.
When Teela got herself yelled at by the townsfolk of Pirn or the traveling strangers she approached at the tavern with her inappropriate talk, or when she was threatened with violence and vague hints at danger in an attempt to repel her, she knew it as her own adversity to face. She decided being screamed at or worse was a fair price to pay, if it resulted in her attaining bits of information previously denied to her. The repercussions were her own, and she'd always been ready to face the results of her decisions when she went poking at the unknown.
But Leroh believed, had told her countless times, that whatever trouble she brought upon herself was his to deal with, that he was responsible for cleaning after her messes. It was not true. It was a self-imposed burden, she knew. But he wholeheartedly believed it, and hated her for it.
This time, however, Teela had finally come to face the unpleasant truth in his words. He was committed to "protecting" her no matter what, even if only for their mother's sake, even if just to avoid being seen as a coward or a failure. Nothing Teela could say or do would ever change his mind about what he believed to be his life's duty as the man of the family. So he would follow her, as that was the only thing he could think to do.
And so, whatever trouble she got herself in, he'd get himself in. He wouldn't help, or truly protect her in any significant way; he didn't know how. But he would follow in her step toward whatever risk she chose to bargain for in a petty attempt to dissuade her from doing with her own life what she wanted. It was stupid, irrational, but it was so.
And Teela did not even need him! If anything, Leroh was a hindrance and an unwanted presence in her journey toward discovery, but he was too set in his ways to understand that, having believed for most of his life that his duty was to raise her. He would come along wherever she went and take the brunt of any ramifications come her way, mindlessly, stubbornly refusing to even consider leaving her alone and returning to his own, happy life.
That day, Teela saw with daunting clarity that she truly was more likely to get him killed than herself. She had not thought it possible, considering their different dispositions and reactions to the magical perils of their world, but it was, unfortunately, the reality of it. He would die for her, and not even by his own volition. It would not be an act of brotherly love and honor, when he inevitably sacrificed himself for Teela; he thought it his responsibility to forfeit his life before he failed in his task to look after her. Leroh feared death, but, ultimately, he feared Mother's judgment of him more.
It was not fair.
Teela had to return to Pirn.
Perhaps, she told herself in a rogue string of thought, she could escape him. If he didn't see her go, if he had no opportunity to follow, he'd have to give her up, wouldn't he?
Unless he went out looking for her anyway when she was already gone, searching aimlessly in a world very hungry for their kind.
She frowned at that upsetting conclusion and decided to push the whole topic away, later to be dealt with. Teela transferred her attention to the auburn-haired woman beside her.
Mantis had killed that innocent man for her.
It was somehow extremely important to Teela that it had been done as punishment for a transgression to her. She could not shake the feeling that she'd decided the sailor's fate when she'd foolishly strayed from their tight group and wandered away, if only by a few paces. If Teela had stayed sitting with her companions like her instincts had suggested, would that man still be dead? Probably not, she decided,
Teela had not been happy with the sailors' approach, and she'd known an unpleasant sense of uncertainty and shame when she'd understood the group of men were laughing at her behind her back. She still didn't fully comprehend what had occurred then, but she was able to imagine the sort of mockery that might have taken place to provoke such a response from Mantis.
Nevertheless, it had not been an infraction punishable by death, nor close to it. Teela was certain of it. If she'd been given a chance to mete out punishment for the offense against herself, she would have considered a reprimand from the captain a more than reasonable retribution. But Mantis had simply murdered him. Right there and then, behind Teela's back and within the blink of an eye, she'd put an end to the young man's life.
It was wrong, Teela knew, immoral.
Since she'd met the fascinating woman, Teela had been internally building an image of Mantis that painted her as a tormented, reluctant servant to a ruthless God. She killed, yes, but her victims were always bad people. Rapists, she'd said, those among us who deserved it. Mantis had also killed the other two men at the tavern, but Teela knew they had intended to attack her, and that made the act much less reproachable in her mind.
The idea of serving a God and acting on their great command, however removed from human values, didn't seem so bad to Teela. Gods had the power and authority to make decisions beyond her comprehension, and she had no right to question their will.
This, however, had been Mantis's will. It was clear that her Goddess had not ordered her to kill the sailor. She'd made that decision alone, and that did not seem right or just to Teela.
Inexplicably, the last thing on her mind as they neared the pier and the fishermen eagerly raced to their tasks, was the Sea God. Certainly, he had been beyond her wildest imaginings, more overwhelmingly powerful and permeated with magical strength than she could have ever envisioned. But, despite being larger than anything Teela had ever laid eyes on and as majestic and foreign to her as the ocean itself, he'd still not made an impression on her as lasting and insidious as Mantis's revelation of her true character.
They soon disembarked the fishing vessel where so much had occurred and hurried to retrieve their horses from the beautiful stables where they'd left them. Sea servants continued to gawk and smile at them as they passed, but their friendliness seemed less genuine to Teela, now that she'd met their master. One such Sea gentleman greeted them at the stables with a warm grin and invited them to sit on a shaded bench just outside the entrance to the elegant building to await their rested mounts.
In the same thoughtfully lavish way as the other homes and establishments in the wealthier areas of Okedam, the stables were built of sturdy white stone, roofed with exotic orange tiles and accented with various lovely decorations in shiny metals and artfully carved woods. Teela had no names for any of the building materials used in the picturesque port town, but everything there seemed far more rare and expensive than what she was used to in Pirn. She was thankful, at least, for that. The opportunity to admire such delightful prosperity was not one to ignore, for an ignorant serving girl from a poor traditionalist community such as herself. Especially if, as her earlier conclusions had so harshly informed her, it might be her last peek into the wonderful, magic-rich world that surrounded her bubble of enclosure.
The kind man returned, leading their horses by the reins. Clover looked well, much better than he had when Teela had last seen him. They had washed him down lightly from the collected dirt and sweat from their traveling, brushed and groomed him, and it was likely that he'd drunk and eaten much better during his stay at the stables than Teela herself had in the last few days.
She took his reins from the Sea man and rubbed Clover's long neck with affection. It was embarrassingly reassuring to see him again. She needed his loving presence more than she'd known after the traumatizing events aboard the fishing boat. Her friend lightly nudged her with his big muzzle and Teela felt a sad little smile spread on her face.
"Do return anytime, miss. We'd be happy to look after your beautiful stallion again, if you find yourself in town," the man said to Mantis after taking two shiny little coins from her extended hand. The woman kept her mouth firmly shut throughout the whole interaction and had their little group away from the stables and walking down the neatly cobbled streets at the earliest opportunity.
"Do you rob your…victims? For coin?" Teela asked Mantis in not quite a whisper. The thought had just popped into her mind, and she hadn't cared to suppress it.
The woman spun to give her a scowl and Leroh, strangely enough, seemed to not have even heard her rude question. He kept his eyes on the road ahead, his expression blank if not a bit incredulous. Teela only gave Mantis a sideways look and continued to walk by her side, pretending to be unaware of her own forwardness.
"Yes," she replied at last.
Teela turned to give her a long, assessing look. Then she said, "I think it's time for Leroh and I to go home. We can ride back to Pirn, just the two of us."
"No," Mantis said.
"I…I don't—", Teela fumbled for words as she tried to find a response to her curt answer. "I wasn't…asking permission. I want to go home."
"You are in danger at the moment. The Sea is not happy with me, or you, by extension. I will not have two defenseless, unsworn children traveling two days alone."
"Then, what? We have to follow you to stay safe? Where are you even going?" Teela did not want to accompany the woman anymore, knowing the likeliness that she'd continue to kill people, unjustified, as she pleased.
Would Mantis choose to give the Sea God two more people like Ennet, whose attitudes she disagreed with? People who she alone deemed acceptable to sacrifice? If so, Teela wanted nothing to do with it.
"You will accompany me for protection, yes, eastward, to fulfill the Sea's bargain. Or would you prefer to be hunted down by his people until you're dead? He's not the forgiving type, and I only have two days to get him his lives. Once that's done, I'll take you home."
"But-but I don't want…" she stuttered with confusion and frustration. "Leroh, you can keep us safe, can't you? We should go back to Pirn." Teela tried to appeal to her only ally. She quickly found that she could not count on him, either.
"No. I can't protect us. We should stay with the Mantis."
Both women stopped in their tracks to stare at him then, but Leroh only motioned with a hand for them to continue walking. He seemed eager to get away from the port town, even if it meant following Mantis into something potentially awful. Teela then resolved to acquire some answers, if nothing else. She would at least go knowing what the woman planned to do, this time.
"Who are you going to kill? Will it be more innocent people, like that man on the ship?"
Mantis glared at her for a long moment. Her eyes were as mesmerizing as ever in the softening light of the late afternoon, strange speckles of bright orange appearing to dance in the swirling chestnut brown of her irises. It was a sight both hypnotizing and frightening in its intensity. Her crimson mouth was pressed into a flat line, disappointment and anger plainly visible in her expression. Beneath it all, however, Teela sensed a wave of despair that threatened to topple her over. The emotions roiling inside Mantis were ever a swirling pit of darkness, she realized. Now that the overwhelming discomfort the woman had been feeling had dissipated, the sense of dread wafting off her had changed in color, but it was still there.
"I only kill bad men, or in self defense. Any person who doesn't fall into either of those categories is safe from me," she said at last.
"You said that man was not a rapist," Teela accused her.
"He wasn't, yet. But I do not take risks."
"What does that even mean? You can't know what someone is going to do—"
"I can. I've seen into the minds of enough of them to know."
"How many?" The question escaped Teela's lips before she'd had a chance to consider it.
"Thousands."
Her brother's head snapped up then, as if he'd been poked with a needle. He had become paler than before, and his tight curls now hung at his temples damp with sweat.
"You look into their minds?" Teela asked.
"Their minds violate me with their memories is more accurate."
"Did…did you see into his mind? The sailor's?" She tentatively dug further, still resolved to extract the truth from her.
"I take their knowledge into myself when I eat them. I cannot just look into anyone's mind."
"Then you did kill him for mocking me!" Teela was indignant, perhaps more than was normal for her, but she could not put the Seaman's death to rest in her heart. His youthful, tanned face, the oddly accented sound of his voice, even the smell of his simple, work-soiled clothes haunted her thoughts. He'd never see another day, and those who loved him would have to continue living without him forever, because of her. Teela could not forgive so evil a deed. "You murdered him for nothing."
"He didn't only mock you. He revealed something far deeper about himself to me, and it is my duty, to my Goddess and to my people, to eliminate filth like him from our midst. If it weren't for me, Yriaa would be swarming with vermin like that man. If not for the threat of the Mantis looming over all their heads, you, little girl, would know a much worse world today. Do you not understand?"
"I understand justice, fairness, a wrong punished accordingly. What you did today was not that, and I think you know it!"
"Please," Leroh stepped in front of Teela with his hands raised at his chest, showing her his palms. "Please, Teela. Leave her alone. Just stop. We need to leave this place, now. M-Mantis?" He cowered as he addressed her by her name for the first time, to Teela's knowledge. "How long will it take to find him the two lives? How far must we travel?"
"I can't be sure. It might be half a day's ride away, or longer. I sense two, I think, in that direction," she said and raised a hand to motion vaguely down the coast, "but I can't tell how far away."
"Then we should probably hurry, to account for the way back and the time it will take to-to find another ship to take us to him… But what if it's a full day away? Or even longer? What happens if we're too late?"
Mantis raised a delicate copper eyebrow and then, infuriatingly, shrugged at him in response.
Teela was seething, her heart pounding against her chest and her brow tightly cinched. They were brushing that innocent man's death under the rug like he meant nothing! All three of them had seen his corpse, limp and lifeless, a few paces away from where they stood on that deck. His eyes had remained half-open, as had his mouth. The image would not vanish from her thoughts, and yet her brother and Mantis were having no trouble moving past it. Teela could not allow that. She would not ever forget that sailor and the cause of his early demise.
Initially, Teela had dared to hope that Mantis would take her in as a sort of apprentice, or, at the least, agree to teach her the ways of her kind, to communicate with her Goddess so she could pray and become a God servant, too. But the incident aboard the ship had disturbed all her assumptions of the woman.
She had seemed such a kindhearted person, beneath her hardened shell. She'd brought Teela back to life when she'd accidentally killed her, and her behavior toward her since they'd met had only spoken of gentleness, of a sweet and unfamiliar caring protectiveness. Like a fool, Teela had taken her for a caring, trustworthy guardian, someone she could harmlessly attach herself to in her pursuit of growth and adventure.
A strong, luring magic permeated the beguiling woman. She felt, to Teela's every sense, magnificent, barely short of a Goddess herself. How could a person so dazzling and lovely be anything less than wonderful, she'd thought.
Evidently, Teela had misjudged what was before her, fallen victim to some sort of charm, like the siren's. Mantis was a corrupted woman who possessed a great power, and nothing more.
Unless… Could her Goddess have made her so? Teela wondered whether a God servant's morality might be altered with magic, if Mantis's master could be the one responsible for her heartlessness. If that were the case, it was a lucky thing they'd part ways soon, she decided. Perhaps Mantis had saved Teela from a grim fate by denying her any information pertaining to her way of life.
Leroh helped Teela to mount Clover first, offering her a grounding shoulder to push herself up with, which was unusual. She looked him up and down, confused. His posture and gait had changed. He moved slower and his back was stiff, and a grimace of pain came to his face any time he made a strenuous movement. The drop onto the deck of the ship had been rough. Teela imagined he was suffering from his bruises and bumps, but he'd told her nothing felt broken. Aside from that, however, his behavior had been peculiar since his encounter with the Sea God. He was quieter, and less hostile. Maybe he had not yet shaken the fright of the experience.
They rode down a crowded street lined with quaint businesses of all kinds. Teela was busy observing the charming facades, but was soon distracted by a strange realization. Too many of the people around her were close to her age or younger. A much larger portion of the population than she was accustomed to was very young there. Children of all ages were everywhere in sight, moving about in groups or on their own, largely outnumbering the adults among them. A cluster of boys and girls not yet past the awkward bump of early adolescence chatted amongst themselves with familiarity in a bright street corner. They laughed together as if nothing but their happiness at that moment mattered, not seeming to care about appearances, decorum, or responsibility whatsoever. Before her very eyes, a golden haired boy of twelve or thirteen wrapped his arm around the waist of a pretty girl in bright yellow skirts, leaned over, and placed a long, smacking kiss on her cheek, causing her to burst into delighted giggles.
Teela had been told, over and over, how grateful she should be for her 'freedom', that she should count herself lucky for her independence from the Gods. As she watched the Sea's children then, she wondered what that had ever meant at all.
Mantis led them back in the direction they'd come from, and, confusingly, came to a stop as they reached the harbor. The port was busier than it had been earlier in the day, with fishermen and workers of all sorts occupied about their ships, loading and unloading cargo, barking commands, or generally bending their backs at some task or another. It was fascinating. Teela saw three men handling a fish as big as a sheep, and marveled that there existed a species that large. Others carried boxes brimming with foodstuffs she could not even name that looked like small, smooth rocks, with a seam down the middle. She longed to be able to discover what such a thing might taste like, how it could be cooked or eaten.
The smell of Sea food in the air was dizzying. It was not a particularly pleasant scent, but Teela had only had the opportunity to consume fish a number of times in her life, and so she'd grown to appreciate the exotic aroma. What lived in the water had a large cost, her mother had always said. It was a food for special occasions or times of plenty in their home.
"Yilenn," Mantis called out in a stern voice and brought Teela's mind back to the present.
The brightly colored siren had returned to the little white booth where they'd initially encountered her. Or been encountered by her, Teela supposed. Her neat red eyebrows shot up with surprise at the sight of them still astride their horses at the mouth of the harbor.
"You live," she said with a little smile, her deep blue eyes fixed on Mantis's face.
"Again I must remark on your observational skills, I see."
Yilenn stared at the woman for a moment, then her eyes crinkled with a suppressed smile. She said nothing.
"Is there a settlement in that direction?" Mantis asked with more seriousness.
"Yes. Rather small, two or so days' travel on horseback, I think."
"Two!" Leroh cried out and covered his mouth with a hand. "Two days away! We'll never make it in time!" He was aghast. Teela's breath started coming faster, too, with a sensation much like fear, but shamefully tinted with curiosity. Or excitement? No, not excitement.
"What is it?" the siren asked.
"He gave me two days to bring him more lives. There are two at that settlement, but we won't have enough time to get there and back."
Yilenn looked confused. "There are two what? Unsworn lives? We have plenty of those nearer than that—"
"No." Mantis cut her off. "I don't kill innocents."
Yilenn gave a jolt of astonishment and shook her head a little then, blinking repeatedly. The words had shocked her. She and Mantis stared at each other for what seemed like a long time. When Teela started getting restless and uncomfortable, the siren spoke again. "You only kill a certain kind?"
"Yes. Bad people."
"But how? Does your God let you choose?"
"My God chooses." She was very grave then, her mouth pinched and her posture rigid.
"I never heard of such a thing," the red-haired woman muttered. Mantis gave a tight nod at that, as if it confirmed or explained something. "Well. I'll help you, then," Yilenn said.
"I was hoping you would." Mantis gave her a sideways glance and an almost imperceptible tilt of her red lips. "You do owe me that, after that whole thing earlier, when you tried to eat me."
"I meant to drown you, not eat you."
"You wanted to get me eaten. Let us not argue over semantics." She was amused.
"What is happening?" Teela interrupted their…teasing?
Both God servants turned to her then, eyebrows raised as if her words had caught them by surprise. A silence stretched for a long moment before the siren finally said "I will help, with her task. To make it faster." Her words were soft and kind as she replied to her question literally and ignored the true meaning of what she'd said.
"We must leave now," Mantis declared.