The Eventide Child (4 page)

“Hurry!” her father cried. She knew how this dream ended. Darkness. A never-ending, all consuming darkness. She had seen it before, felt it before. She had lived this moment so many times throughout her life. A thousand times she lived this moment and it never changed. This would be the end for her.

She tried to cry out. Tried to muster a reply to her father, but she found herself unable to put words to purpose. All she could do was run. Run and pray to whatever God might be listening that salvation would deliver them from this apocalyptic nightmare. The darkness gave chase, rushing toward them.

“I’m scared!” she finally managed, though her voice was lost in the chaos of the battle. The noise grew louder and the people around her all clamored for reprieve. Some shouted final curses, others called to the Gods to save them, while others screamed for their Messiah as The darkness consumed them. She didn’t see what happened to those who fell into the fog, but she dared not stop long enough to find out.

You were but a child in the dream. Do you remember?
The whispering voice plagued her, gnawing at her thoughts, and yet it brought an illuminating truth. She
had
been only a child in the dream. Why was this different? She wanted to know, but at the same time, the idea of being roasted alive hardly appealed to her.

“We’re almost there!” her father screamed. She could feel the sensations her dreams had prepared her for. The pain gripped at her legs, biting into the muscles, while the ash filled her lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Cold. She felt cold. A cold that pierced the flesh and gnawed at the bone. This was the climax to her dream, the final act.

She had seen this a thousand times. Her hand felt weak, her fingers loosening as her chest heaved. The absence of the sun became present in her mind. She was too cold. Too weak. Too sore. Nothing had changed from her dream. The whispering voice lied to her—she was still a little girl, even if she thought of herself as older. There was only one word to describe her now. Powerless. The mists of darkness swirled around as she attempted to breathe, though the ash blocked all relief. Her resolved faded, fingers loosening.

“Hold on!” her father’s distant voice echoed faintly. She loved him. She loved him for all that he had done, for all that he had provided for her. He was the best father she could have possibly had, but even she knew she was slowing his own escape. She would let go. It would be a good death for her, to die with dignity so the one she loved might escape. The darkness enshrouded her, like the embrace of an old friend. That’s what it was by now, the feeling an all too familiar one as her fingers slipped free of her father’s. This was it. This was goodbye. Her eyes closed and she allowed herself to be embraced by the darkness

“I’m sorry...” she whispered between gasping breaths. Her chest burned and her legs allowed her to run no farther as she came to a halt. She opened her eyes again, still able to see the outline of her father ahead. Collapsing to her knees, she watched breathlessly as he struggled against the wave, fighting to reach her, but the mob would allow him no reprieve. The fleeing mass of human flesh, however, seemed to simply part around her until finally, her father was gone, and her eyes shut once again.

Rest, child.

Darkness had taken her, now.

The rolling of the sea stirred her sleep.

The sounds of chaos had long since left her. Had it all been a dream? She tried to listen, daring not to open her eyes, lest she find herself once more upon that ashen field, facing down the very abyss as it rose to swallow humanity in its entirety. Birds. She heard birds, gulls, specifically. That wasn’t all she heard, either. No, there was more; the sound of waves breaking, the creaking of wood, and the dull clamor of voices above finally prompted Alexandra to open her eyes.

A ship
? She was on a
ship
? She couldn’t possibly be on a ship! She shot upright almost instantly, looking to and fro in a panicked frenzy as she tried to make heads or tails of what happened. The dress Tullius had given her was gone as well, replaced instead with simple seafaring garments. But what of her father? What of the people?

“Finally came to, eh?” The rough voice echoed, raspy and hoarse, but most definitely feminine.

Alexandra scanned her surroundings only to fall stop upon a woman wrapped in black fabric. Her fiery red locks framed her freckled face, and a pair of emerald green eyes stared right at her as if the two were the best of friends.

“E-excuse me?” Her voice was timid, but she was tense. Her body language showed it, too, as she drew her legs in closer to her body. Alexandra tried to make herself look as small as possible, but the woman across from her seemed to struggle to suppress a giggle.

“I’m sure you’ll have a lot of questions for me, but now’s not the time. You’ll just have to trust me when I say you’re safe. If I wanted you dead, I’d of done you in while you were sleepin’,” the woman replied, a gloved hand tapping a dagger at her belt.

“But how am I...”

“Alive? We rescued ya. Can’t say much about the rest of them, don’t know if they beat back the beastie, but they might have done.”

“It was real?” She was dumbfounded. She couldn’t believe her nightmare could possibly be real. She suddenly found herself wondering about her father and Uncle Caius.

“Yea. Old Magic. The kind that burns up the soul of the one usin’ it. It wasn’t meant for mortals to mess with, really. Anyways. We’ll be landin’ soon, so you’ll want to get topside.”

“You don’t...”

“Sound normal? No, I’d imagine I sound fairly strange to your ears, love, but I’m just from a different place's all.”

Alexandra watched the stranger with a curious quirk of the brow as she marched her way to the exit. Everything still seemed to sway before her eyes still. The woman stopped, pausing for a moment before she shot a glance over her shoulder.

“Most folk just call me Cass.”

Alexandra couldn’t even respond in kind before the fiery haired woman ascended to the upper decks. It took her a moment to steady herself. Alexandra never traveled over sea before in her life and found it incredible difficult to maintain her balance.

With clumsy steps, Alexandra made her way to the exit, pulling herself up the ladder and into the sunlight. It hurt her eyes, and she lifted a hand quickly to shield her face and allow her eyes to adjust.

“That ‘er nen?”

“Aye, that’d be her. Got five-hundred Aureus say she jus’ some spoiled sort.”

Their voices muttered quietly, as if Alexandra couldn’t hear them. She was more worried about keeping her footing as the boat rolled over another wave. She shifted her weight, bracing herself against the nearest solid object.

“So the princess is awake? Who is she, then?”

This voice was different and it commanded even Alexandra’s attention. The gossiping crew fell silent as they returned to their duties. Before the captain could even reach her, Cass intercepted the man as she stretched an arm out.

“Mind your business, captain. Ya aren’t bein’ paid to ask questions. Just deliver us. You’ll not talk to her.”

Alexandra had honestly never seen anything like that before. Here was this rough looking captain, clearly curious about his newest passenger, and the only thing standing in his way was Cass. The redhead kept one hand on the hilt of her dagger, the other arm preventing his approach. She thought it might turn to violence, the captain looking rather disgruntled as he mumbled curses beneath his breath.

“Thrice damned Frumentarii whore....”

“Aye, move along.”

Just when Alexandra thought it might come to blows, the captain backed off. That should have never happened. In her world, women generally did not wield power like that among men. Sure, the women took care of the land while the men fought, but the men were squarely in charge. The captain sure didn’t seem to like it.

“BACK TO WORK YOU DOGS!” The Captain bellowed. The harshness of his voice started Alexandra and made her jump. Meanwhile the crew quickly dispersed back to their duty stations. Cass stood with a smug grin on her face before finding a solid piece of wood to lean against.

“They took to calling ya Princess on account of that fine dress you were wearin’ when I brought ya aboard. Dun worry, I didn’t let them peek. Besides, they don’t know your name. Breeds curiosity, I suppose.”

“He called you something...”

“Oh? That. That was nothin’. Just a bit of anger.”

She was almost positive Cass wasn’t being entirely honest, but she didn’t have the grounds to challenge the older woman’s claim. However, she folded her arms squarely over her chest while Cass lifted a hand up and pointed to a mass of land in the distance.

“That’s where we’ll be gettin’ off. There’s a place where we’ll be safe for a while. Shahzad’s men aren’t interested in disrupting the Island for whatever reason, thank the Emperor.”

Alexandra's brow quirked. She’d heard of the existence of those that had venerated the Imperial family as divine and she was almost positive that cult had faded into obscurity.

“How long has it—”

“Been since I found ya? Five days. You slept like a babe. Had to carry you to the port. Was able to barter us passage. You drifted in and out, kept mutterin’ in ya sleep for awhile then ya settled down.”

Alexandra grew increasingly annoyed at Cass’ interruption of her speech. To have no say in where she was traveling was pretty normal for the young woman, but to be denied the ability to finish her own sentence was wearing thin on her.

“Could you—”

“Not do this? Sorry, love. People are predicable. I’ll try and mind m’self from now on.”

A smile crept across her lips as she gave Cass playful little shove, snickering before she turned her head toward the distance. The land seemed to be incredibly close now, each heave of the oars brought their ship closer and closer. Alexandra grew curious about what had been happening when she was asleep and Cass so far hadn’t offered many answers. It would be sometime before they would make port, which meant there was still time for her to try and pry some answers out of Cass. There was so much she wanted to ask that she could hardly keep the thoughts straight in her head.

“Come on, you must be hungry.”

Alexandra perked at the mention of food, her stomach rumbling in discontent. It had been entirely too long since she had eaten and the pain of hunger was finally settling in on her stomach. Cass took the lead and Alexandra followed, trailing behind the older woman as she was led back to her room.

“Best not to disturb the crew,” Cass explained, sorting through the provisions, “they’d likely make a fuss, so I kept most of our supplies in here.” A couple of rolls of bread were tossed hastily on a bit of plate along with some salted meat. Alexandra didn’t know what it was exactly, but she didn’t ask. The moment the plate arrived in her hands she was devouring it and filling her stomach with the much needed nutrients.

“Gods this is good.”

The last bit of meat was swallowed down, Alexandra quickly downing the water that was handed to her in a small wooden cup quickly. Clean water was the most important resource on a ship like this. Cass’ laughter filled her ears as Alexandra leaned back.

“So…Magic is…real?”

“Yea. Don’t see it as much these days less you go travelin’ like I do.”

Alexandra definitely seemed interested, but she still dare not talk about her dreams. Could she have changed anything if she had? Maybe she would still be in Arkadia with father if she had told him.

“Where is my father?”

“Don’t know.”

Alexandra didn’t like the reply, her hands clenching at her side.

“You surely must have seen him, he wouldn’t have just left me!”

Anger punctuated her voice as she tried to make sense of everything, while Cass remained as placid as ever. She only gave a sigh.

“When I found ya, no one was with ya.”

“So...is he, is he dead?”

“Could be.”

She was brutally honest and it caused a sinking feeling in her stomach. Alexandra wanted to believe that her father could survive something like that, but she knew he wouldn’t have just left her if he had.

“There was a strange Darkness, I remember it. It covered me right before I passed out.”

Cass gave pause for once, seemingly reflecting on the moment she had found the girl before turning her head back toward Alexandra.

“Didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”

“Why me?”

“Pardon?”

“Why save me!”

She was livid, the anger etched on her face along with guilt. Guilt and regret. Thousands of people had certainly perished that day and of all of them she was protected. She didn’t understand it, she didn’t want to understand it.

“You don’t think a hundred other people asked that question? You were alive and alone when I found ya. Sometimes, the Gods just favor ya. There’s no rhyme or reason to any of it.”

“So where are we going?”

“Can’t say.”

Alexandra gave a defeated sigh, slumping down. They were words that her father had used when she was a child. The Gods did not answer to the schemes of man, but rather worked on the grander scale of things. It was pointless to wonder why one might be spared when others perished, the Gods always had some masterful plan. They were words he had comforted himself with to explain the loss of his men, to explain why he had survived. Cass seemed annoyed by her original line of questioning, so she allowed the subject to pass.

“So what is a Fru-men-ta-rii?”

“…Bit of a secret,” Cass replied, an aggravated sigh escaping her by that point. The woman might have been wonderful at keeping her calm, but it seemed even Cass could be annoyed.

“You’ve taken me from my home, you can’t tell me why I survived, if anyone else survived, or where you’re taking me. The least you can do is explain who you work for?” Alexandra’s voice took a desperate tone at that, fingers curled into balls as she stared at the woman.

Cass finally groaned and rolled her eyes. “Right. Everyone knows about the senate and the legions, but nobody knows how they make all that work. That’s where the Frumentarii come in. Scouts, agents, spies. Wee lil fingers stretched throughout the whole Imperium. Used to report directly to the Emperor, but we’ve been actin’ a bit autonomously as of late.”

“I see…”

Alexandra yawned, body slumping onto the hard bed. It almost felt like home to her despite the persistent rocking of the ship. She closed her eyes and tried to will herself to sleep, her body still feeling exhausted and her mind hoping that sleep would give her release from the nausea of the voyage. Night fell without incident and Cass stood her vigil over Alexandra.

The next day was a bit more pleasant as she was able to eat a solid breakfast from their provisions before she moved on deck. Being at sea was a totally new experience to her, but it seemed her nerves were finally calming. Cass stood no more than five feet away from her, looking over the side of the ship and into the waters below.

“We should be arrivin’ today.”

Cass turned to face her, Alexandra giving a small nod as she leaned over the side of the ship as well. The weather had been favorable in their endeavor, it seemed. She went about the deck with Cass, watching and observing the woman before Cass decided it was in her best interest to show her the very basics of self-defense. There was no telling what dangers they might face. Before she knew it, the ship was pulling into port.

There wasn’t anything special about it, but Alexandra still looked impressed. For a girl that had only known a shepherd's life until just a few days ago, the entire world seemed so vast and extraordinary. Still, worry gnawed at the back of her mind. Why did she survive? Did anyone else survive? Would she ever see her father again? Her mother? Should she even try to return home?

“We’ve a bit of a walk inland, girl. You’ll want to lose those sea legs fast," Cass announced, drawing her out of her own thought.

She nodded, watching as the ship was tied with several lines before a wooden gangway was lowered to the docks. She slowly moved toward it, Cass standing directly behind her and facing out toward the crew as if daring a single one of them to pass her.

Alexandra, however, soon found herself touched down upon dry land once again. It was a welcome feeling and she’d half a mind to bend over and kiss the ground with all the relief of a forlorn lover. The first time was always the hardest, she imagined. First time sailing. First time riding. First time herding. She could remember plenty of ‘firsts’ in her life and the hilarious time she had of it. The dock fostered a sparse town, the people, seeming mostly fishermen and merchants, stopped over for supplies on their way elsewhere.