Broken Aro (The Broken Ones) (11 page)

"Kei will rip out the cell door and we'll jump
ship. Hopefully we're close to shore," Cain answered.

"I'd assume so," Kendric said. "I don't
know what else we could've hit. Reefs or rocks I'm guessing."

The ship lurched suddenly and the screams of the
others in the hold intensified.

"We're caught up on something?" The others
nodded as Kei reached her and she looked at him.

"Don't worry," he said quietly, noting her
increasing panic.

"But…but I can't swim," she whispered. "Not
at all…I can't…"

"We'll help you," Kendric said quickly,
apparently hearing her. "The rain has stopped, and the moon is giving us
some light, it shouldn't be a problem."

"There will be lots of floating debris we can
hang on to," Cain added. "Just grab something and point yourself in
the direction of the shore and kick."

She took a deep breath. That didn't seem hard. They
made it sound so easy.

The ship lurched and seemed to swing suddenly before
hitting something with a deafening crack. Before the movement could knock her
off her feet, Kei sprang forward and pushed her backward so hard she crashed
into Prince and sent him down as well.

She came up out of the water sputtering. Blinking
water out of her eyes, she choked. A beam had broken loose collapsed where she
had been standing.

It pinned Kei to the side of the cell.

"Kei!" She floundered in the water trying to
get to him. Blood ran from his mouth. His eyes were squeezed closed and teeth
clenched tightly in pain. His hands clawed frantically at the beam across his
chest. The sight tore her breath away.
No!
This couldn't be happening.

The men reached him first, their curses loud enough to
be heard over the continued screams of the other captives.

"Hold on, we should be able to move it,"
Kendric said quickly.

Kei shook his head. "No. Get out."

She didn't understand, but the others looked up
suddenly and she followed suit. The beam angled up toward a new hole in the
cell's ceiling.

"Kei," Avery groaned.

The Fey shook his head violently. "The waters
coming in too fast," he said, speaking so quickly his words tumbled into
each other. "You'll not get me out in time, and I…I won't be able to open
the door now." He grimaced again. "Go!"

Kendric stared at him a moment before he rested his
hand gently on the Fey's head. He blinked and scowled suddenly. "Let's go
then."

She stood in shock as Cain and Bo both hopped up on
the beam and began scurrying up. "Wait…no…" She couldn't breathe,
couldn't move. They were going to leave him?

Avery took Kei's hand. "Kei, look at me. You get
out of here, you hear me?" His voice cracked. "I'll see you on the
beach. Agreed?"

"On the beach," Kei repeated quietly.

Avery squeezed his hand. "I'll be waiting.
Understand?"

A faint, bloody smile crossed the Fey's lips and he
winced. "Go already."

Avery paused a moment but Kendric reached out a hand
to help him up onto the beam. Once the young solider had scrambled up, her
brother's friend looked at her and held out his hand. "Let's go, Aro."

She stared up at him a moment while she tried to get
her mind to work. Ignoring him, she flung herself at Kei, wrapping her arms
around his head and burying her face in his wet hair.

"Go. I'll make sure she comes." She
recognized Prince's voice. Why was he still down here? He would hate her for
certain now, because she wasn't going...and she really didn't care.

"Aro…"

She blinked back tears and leaned back to look at Kei.
"I'll stay with you. I won't leave you. I'll get you out."

He smiled so very softly it nearly broke her heart. He
took her face in his trembling hands, forcing her to look at him. She looked
into his eyes and saw they had lit with that strange inner light again, though
this time they glowed more of an orange than a yellow.
Did the change in
color mean anything? Was he dying?

"You have to go. I'll try to get out. I promise.
I'll come and find you."

"Kei…" She choked through her tears as she
frantically shook her head.

He looked over her shoulder and suddenly reached out.
She turned to see he'd grasped Prince's arm and they were staring at each other
intently.
Men. Still fighting
.

"I'll take care of her," Prince said after a
moment, shaking the Fey's hand off.

She glared at him before turning back to Kei.

"Go, Aro," he said quietly, his voice
cracking in pain.

"No."

He closed his eyes in frustration. "You promised
you'd listen to me."

She clenched her teeth as tears streaked down her
face. "I…I can't leave you like this," she whispered, leaning forward
to press her cheek against his.

A faint sad smile crossed his lips as he gently pushed
her back. His fingers brushed her cheek. His eyes were wet, too. He held her
gaze a moment and then looked over her shoulder and nodded.

Prince grabbed her waist from behind, tearing her away
from Kei. Before she could even fight him, he tossed her up into the air.
Kendric caught her flailing arms and she screamed in frustration. "No!
Kei! Kei!"

She couldn't hear if Kei said anything more to her.
She stood shaking on the deck. Kendric's arms wrapped around her, holding her
tightly as she sobbed and tried to escape him and return to Kei. "Please,"
she sobbed. "We can't leave him here! You don't leave men behind!"

A moment later Prince climbed out of the hole and she
glared at him for his treachery. She couldn't breathe, couldn't speak for the
wreck of emotions tearing through her. They couldn't do this do her. They
couldn't make her leave her brother behind. Her heart shattered and broke. She
couldn't do this again. She couldn't take losing someone else. Shadows blurred
her vision as pain crushed her chest.

Kendric spun her around and pointed in the faint light
of the moon and stars. "There, see the dark line. That's the shore."

She shook her head, her mind locked in despair. "No.
Please..."

"Look, Aro!"

The anger in his voice forced her to look up. The
shore seemed so far away, and scattered in between…

"Try to avoid the rocks," he added more
calmly. He took her hand, moving it up to her face. "Grab your nose, take
a deep breath."

"What?" Everything was happening so quickly.
Even as she numbly did as she was told he lifted her up and tossed her
overboard.

Chapter 8

Take a Deep Breath

She hit the water with a hard, painful slap along her
side. Immediately she sank, the cold, raging waters surrounding her, taking her
in and holding her tightly.

Kei hadn't gotten the chance to break her chains. She
panicked, struggling to move back to the surface. Twisting, turning, thrashing,
and kicking, her struggles proved to be in vain. She didn't know how to swim.
She didn't know what to do. Slowly, or so it seemed, she kept on sinking.

She was going to die.

Keeping her eyes squeezed closed, she held in a sob.
She tried to keep the little air she had in her lungs. She didn't want it to
end like this. If she was going to drown, why couldn't she have done it holding
onto Kei? Why did she have to be alone?

Why had Kei made her leave? Stupid boy
. She was so angry at him and at Kendric and Prince
and the others who'd left him and hadn't let her stay with him. But it didn't
matter. She'd never get to tell them, because she was still sinking. Into the
dark. Maybe her brothers would be waiting for her. Maybe Kei would be, too.

Something pulled her hair suddenly and then brushed
against her head, her shoulder. Her panic grew. She twisted and kicked,
hysteria pulling at her throat. Had the fish come for her already? Would they
try to nibble away at her when she wasn't even dead yet?

Something grasped her arm, lost its hold and then
caught her tight. She wouldn't open her eyes to look, not that she'd see much.
It began pulling with jerking movements, pulling her deeper, closer to death.
The water became a vise around her body. Her strength ebbed out of her as
exhaustion pushed aside her fear. She struggled weakly, but it didn't matter.

Cold blasted her face, startling her, a shock to her
system. It struck her something had pulled her
up
, not down. Someone.

Her eyes flew open. Salt water burned her eyes.
Gasping for air and choking on waves she kicked wildly, struggling to stay
above water. Air. She could breath. She sucked in a great lung-full, her heart
beating furiously in her chest. She grasped frantically for the one who'd saved
her.

Prince.

He was saying something but she couldn't hear over the
crashing of the waves.

She yelled at him, kicked him, and hit him with her
hands and the chains that bound them. "It's your fault!" His fault
she wasn't with Kei. His fault Kei was alone. "You left him! How could
you? I hate you!" She hit him again. "I hate you!"

He grabbed the chain between her wrists and jerked. "Be
still!" His bellow was so loud, so full of anger, it actually made her
stop.

She started to sink and the panic came again, the fear
of the crushing darkness below. She reached for him, hands grabbing at his face
and shoulders as incoherent screams ripped from her mouth.

"Shhh. Hush. Do not tread the water. Be still."
His voice, though still loud, had become calm.

She stopped screaming, though the sobbing would not
stop. After a moment her body even listened and soon they just floated, the
waves bouncing them gently about.

"There. See. Be calm, be still, and we will be
fine. I've got you."

She tilted her head to look up at him and her fingers
curled into his shoulders. "I'm scared. I'm scared."

"I know. Do not worry, child. I won't let you go."
They were words of comfort...and probably lies. But they made her feel better.

A wave caught them suddenly and twisted them about
violently. It yanked her out of Prince's arms. She screamed, the sound cutting
off abruptly as he again caught hold of her. She started to shake. It wouldn't
stop. She knew fear caused the most of it, however the terribly cold water
didn't help any either.

"Aro. This is not working." She looked up at
him again as he continued, "I won't let you sink, but you must let go for
a moment. You must trust me."

She didn't. But she did release him because it didn't
really matter. If he wanted her to drown she would. All he had to do was let
her go.

He moved his arms. "Grab my shoulders." She
did so quickly before she could go under. His arms were raised now.

"What are–"

"Now put your chain over my head."

She understood suddenly and struggled to do as he
asked. As soon as she did his arms lowered around her, holding her close to him
and she could feel his chain across her back.

"There. Even the waves won't part us now,"
he said into her hair.

She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck. He
shifted and they floated quietly, his body tilted back as she rested across
him.
How could he possibly be floating?
She let the strange thought slip
away. She didn't really care. She wasn't sinking, and if the waves constantly
splashed her face and she choked on water more than air sometimes, she could at
least breathe.

The only sound was the crashing of the waves. It
frightened her. She turned her head and looked around. Though night, the moon
lit the world with a soft, eerie glow. "The others?"

"I don't know."

She turned her head again and bit her lip hard. The
ship, at least a small chunk of it, hung on the rocks behind them. Even as she
watched it banged against the rocks, pieces falling into the water. Unable to
tear her eyes away she could only stare silently until eventually the last
piece fell and the waves claimed it. "Kei."

She closed her eyes to try to keep the tears away and
then gave up. It didn't matter. She held on to Prince while she shook and
cried.

She stopped crying sometime. She didn't know when, but
the shaking continued and her teeth chattered. They kept floating on the rough
waves. She could feel Prince's legs moving steadily but slowly under her as he
kicked. Sometimes his arms would shift across her back as he steered them
through the growing debris around them.

She looked up sharply once, when for just a moment
everything became dark.

"Just a cloud," Prince assured her. She
relaxed her grip on his neck, unaware she'd held him too tightly.

Her eyes scanned the starry sky. She didn't see any
clouds, not anywhere near the moon anyways.

Every once and a while, wood bounced off of them,
hitting her legs or shoulders. It didn't hurt. She was numb from the cold and
the waves had finally started slowly growing calmer. It was almost peaceful.