noveltune Book 5: Chapter 39: Thoughts and Prayers
Book 5: Chapter 39: Thoughts and Prayers
Book 5: Chapter 39: Thoughts and Prayers
Heretical Fishing
Eustace hit Theoris’s mast at terrible speed. She had accepted her death the moment she’d launched the attack. To strike out at a fledgling deity could bear no other outcome. Despite her acceptance—and that her foolish action had stopped her apprentice from being burned alive by the sonic waves of the god-empress’s wail—she couldn’t help but despair at her life coming to an end when she was so close to earning her freedom.
The pain was excruciating. Her lower body was blessedly numb, but her shoulders and spine felt like they’d been shattered. They probably had been. If she’d hit the mast of a normal ship, it would have exploded under such a forceful blow.
There’s something to look forward to, at least. The anguish will soon vanish...
When it didn’t, she blinked, her vision slowly returning. A dreadful sight greeted her: the underside of Anius’s jowls. He was holding her upright. He had saved her. Cushioned the impact with his power. It was the only explanation.
“You look...” The wet wheezing of her lungs confirmed just how much damage she’d sustained. “Terrible from this angle.”
Her old friend ignored her. “I beg your forgiveness, God-Empress! Seer Eustace had no other option!”
“Explain!” A wave of authority came with the command. It would have scoured Eustace’s skin, perhaps even killed her, if not for Anius’s divine shield. Panicked, she reached for her essence. Fern was unprotected. But no matter the weight of Eustace’s resolve, her body was too damaged, her spirit too broken.
Anius held her down. Though he averted his gaze, he remained facing their leader. “Your power is too great, God-Empress. If Seer Eustace had not interrupted your war cry, the unascended crew would have been annihilated. The only reason those aboard the sister galleon Elegos survived is because of the Prime Cadre’s swift intervention.”
Eustace probably should have felt relief at learning Fern was shielded. All she felt was pain.
Their holy leader’s face remained a mask of indifference.
“Even Sven would have passed, Your Holiness, and I know how important he is to you...”
That brought a flicker of the old Aletheia to the god-empress’s face, but it was replaced by fury a moment later, as if that glimpse of humanity shamed her. “Weakness should be burned away, should it not, Seer?”
He faltered for a fraction of a second, then changed course. “Yes, God-Empress, but we believe our enemies have embraced the abyssal. The death of a divine cultivator might have alerted them of our approach.”
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“I see.” With the casual flick of the god-empress’s wrist, a giant cone of divine energy blasted across both wings of the fleet. It healed Eustace’s spine. Awareness of her broken lower body roared into her mind, and then the agony vanished altogether. She and the rest of Phostheia’s forces were healed so aggressively that the Prime Cadre tried to shield against it, assuming the wave to be another attack. The golden light evaporated their attempted protection like thin fog under a rising sun.
“I apologize, everyone. I will compensate you upon our victorious return to Phostheia.” That was it. That was all their magnanimous leader had to say, her uncaring mask firmly back in place.
Eustace would have liked to claim she had to fight down her fury. Would have taken great pride in needing to beat down raging columns of indignant light with her soul. But all she felt was joy and relief that her pain had been lifted from her.
The anger didn’t arrive until she landed back onto Elegos’s deck, having lingered only long enough on Theoris to see the message that’d triggered Aletheia’s outburst—another Maker had arrived, an apprentice with the dread-inducing moniker of ‘Corporal Claws’. That too should have been a cause for celebration, but now that she saw the fear and numbness lingering on Fern’s face, all Eustace cared about was comforting the woman. She marched toward her. She had brought Fern on this trip. This was all her fault—
A firm hand gripped her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks. She turned to find Anius glaring. “You should have tried a less-direct method of interrupting our god-empress, Eustace.” His expression grew severe, the lines of his face sharpening. “I only just saved you in time. Next time, I might not get there.”
The words were carefully selected. Their insane leader wouldn’t understand the true meaning. Eustace, however, grasped the subtext. He would not intervene on her behalf again.
“Understood, Anius.” She slipped on an indifferent mask of her own. “I’m sorry you had to save me. I felt compelled to action by our shared purpose. Do not worry yourself—I won’t expect you to step in again.”
A part of her had hoped he’d join her and Fern when they fled. She now understood how foolish that was. He would never risk himself. Only one question remained: would he stop her, or would he let them slip away?
She turned away and faced the mages of the Prime Cadre. “Thank you for protecting the unawakened. Their lives matter to Her Holiness.”
Evan nodded, doing his best to emulate Aletheia’s stoicism, then leaped back toward Theoris. The other four followed him.
Eustace focused on Fern, whose expression remained fearful. She hated seeing her apprentice—this proud and strong woman—wracked by such emotion. Like a puppy kicked by its owner, Fern had just learned the brutal truth of pain’s effectiveness at guiding behavior. Hardly surprising, considering part of her skin and most of her hair had been burned away by a temper tantrum.
“Come, child,” Eustace said, holding out a hand. “Let us find some privacy. We must get you new robes and even out your hair, lest your appearance impugn the kingdom’s presence.”
Fern accepted the offered hand. Anger flashed in her eyes, and before it could leak out, she circulated chi the way Eustace had taught. Good. She hadn’t forgotten her true enemy.
Eustace led her down to the lower decks, hoping—praying—that someone in Tropica had heard the god-empress’s scream.