Sea Of Sparks And Shadows

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!

By the time the crew made their way up the ramp and into the ship, all the adrenaline had faded out of Amaris’ system. she could feel the infinite throbbing and stinging of her wound every time she shifted a muscle. She bit on her tongue when it got too much and pushed forward.

Wind Tuner was the first to welcome them on deck, having himself only landed from the sky a moment earlier.

Even Slygrin, the most cheerful of the bunch, gave Wind Tuner one tired glance and muttered, “I hope you got a good amount of whatever potions they have, ’cause we’re using them all tonight.” he trudged off to somewhere below deck leaving the skydancer with a puzzled look. He turned towards them waiting for a better explanation.

“Trouble with the guards.” explained ash. Wind’s eye’s widened and he opened his mouth to inquire more but was cut off right away.

“Wind. my cabin. We need to define a new route.” called the captain. His voice didn’t betray any of the day’s events. It sounded, amaris thought, just as if it was another regular day. She was too tired to wonder how true that may be. “Someone get Mirage at the helm. Hawk, take care of the potions and check if everyone is here or not. We’ll have to leave immediately. Anyone who’s not on the ship will have to stay with the ring until we get back.”

Amaris watched in amazement as the men who had been fighting all day sprung to work without a single complaint as they prepared to set sails. She, too limped her way to Hawk.

“What do I need to do?” she asked.

Hawk, who had been talking to Wind Tuner, took one look at her blood splattered face and ripped clothes then said, “with the amount of blood you lost, I’m surprised you’re still standing.” he pulled out a small vial from the bag Wind had given him and tossed it to her. She caught it but barely. “Take care of your wounds, kid. And clean yourself up while you’re at it.” before she could respond, he trudged away and left her standing in the middle of the busy deck.

*****

Amris locked the door to the cabin she shared with the boys and let out a long agonized breath. She leaned on the door for a few minutes unable to find any more power to move. Once her panting decreased and her shaking stopped, she reluctantly peeled off her pants. The blood sticking to them made it an impossible task. She hissed at every thread that touched her open flesh. It felt like hours before the black, torn piece of fabric reached her ankles.

She inspected the small vial before she opened it. A clear purple liquid glimmered in the dim light. She didn’t have any energy left to climb the three rungs to her bunk so she sat in Slygrins cot and mentally apologized for the traces of blood she was sure to leave on it.

She looked down at her thigh and wanted to vomit instantly. The injury was carved in an unfinished U, tracing the shape of her pocket. She could see so much of her flesh and veins covered only by the drying blood. Her skin was almost flapping and amaris didn’t even want to touch it. The vial shook in her hand as she held it over her thigh.

She held her breath and let a few droplets of the potion spill into her wound. She bit her tongue and swallowed her whimper at the intense burning, tears sprung into her eyes and she felt her foot trembling. But she was glad to see the effect of the potion instantly. Amaris forgot about her pain when she watched in amazement her flesh folding in on itself slowly like a ball of dough at the hands of a skilled baker. Soon, the pain dulled, then disappeared completely, as did every trace that the dagger ever touched her skin.

Even though she knew about these potions- the healers her grandmother brought always carried suitcases full of them- she had never tried them or so much as witness their effect. Until now, that is. She looked at the small, now almost completely empty glass vial in wonder.

A rap on the door sprung her from her awestruck moment and back into action. “One second.” she called as she pulled up her slacks. Painlessly, this time. She swung the door open and found Ash standing in the corridor, ready to knock again. He was still covered in blood and sweat and hadn’t changed out of his earlier clothes.

“Oh, i’m sorry i locked the door. It’s your room too i was just-”

“That’s alright. I just dropped by to ask if you needed this.” he gestured to the metal bowl he was holding. It was filled with water and a washcloth floated inside.

“Uh… yes, thank you.” she opened the door all the way and stepped back. She sat back on Slygrin’s bed and he sat beside her, the bowl between them.

A few too many beats of silent passed before ash cleared his throat. “So, uh...how’s your leg?”

“it’s fine now. I just finished treating it, actually.”

“And your shoulder?”

“Oh.” was all amaris said as she stared at her bloodied upper arm. Her ‘new’ blouse’s sleeve has been half torn and she could see the bullet wound clearly. “I ...uh, i actually forgot about it.”

She was so focused on the pain emerging from her leg that the hole in her shoulder had completely escaped her mind.

“You might want to get to it soon.” he said as he held her by the elbow and inspected it. He wordlessly tore what was left of the fabric and let the sleeve fall to her wrist.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked trying to pull away, a shot of pain coursed through her from the wound at the movement and she yelped with surprise and stopped stirring.

Ash picked up the wash cloth and squeezed the excess water before scrubbing away the blood that covered her arm. He then hesitantly parted open her injury slightly. Amaris bit her tongue to not scream out again.

“It’s still in there.” he murmured.

“What?” she asked, confused.

“I’ll have to get it out.” he said absentmindedly before dipping his hand in the bowl then wiping it on the mattress.

“What are you-” he inserted his fingers into her wound. She squeezed her eyes shut and dug her nails into her palms biting her lip once more to stop her pained cries.

“You have blood on your lip.” he said after a while. She opened her eyes and touched her mouth. Sure enough, she’d been biting it so hard that she split it. “Next time, try screaming.” he joked. “It hurts less.”

Amaris ignored him and the blush on her cheeks and reached for the small vial. She poured what was left of it in the wound and watched as it healed.

“Don’t be fooled.” ash said standing up. “It might be healed on the outside, but it’s not going to work as usual until after a few days. If Hawk would get over his fear of spell weavers among other things, we wouldn’t have that problem.” he muttered the last part as he stretched his arms over his head. The sleeves slipped down and amaris was going to ask about hawk when she noticed something on them.

“What’s this?” she asked, grabbing his forearm and inspecting it. It’s inner side had thick red lines running across it. burns.

Ash hissed as she touched the mark. “I don’t know. It was there since whitecastle. I don’t remember having it.”

“Burn marks.” amaris whispered.

“Yeah. and it hurts like hell. Makes me kind of sorry for the times i had to burn-”

“Like Slygrin’s”

“What?”

“He got burned too. From the cell bars.”

Ash fell silent. “That makes sense to why i got them too. Made by weaving, not fire.”

Amaris looked down at her hands even though she knew what she’d find. Not a single red mark. She’d been clutching those bars for so long and they didn’t hurt her in the least.

“How did you do it?” he asked.

“I don’t know.” she answered, still staring at her hands.

“Are you a spell weaver?”

“No.”

“Then what are you?”

Amaris still didn’t look at him when she answered. “Until today, I’d thought I was a non weaver.”

A beat of silence.

“Well you clearly aren’t.” she looked up and he was already watching her as if she was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. He was about to speak again when the door opened with no warning.

“You’re in trouble.” said slygrin before he lay down on his bed and covered his eyes. “Captain’s furious.”

******

“What the hell were you thinking?” the captain yelled as soon as she closed the door behind her.

“I-”

“I specifically told you not to follow us. I told you to stay outside and what did you do?” he was fuming. Amaris had never seen this much emotion on his face.

“I know, i’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t help much when you’re dead.” he said.

“But no one is. Everyone’s safe.” that didn’t calm his anger. If anything it fueled it more.

“That’s not the point. We are still alive by pure luck. This ship could’ve lost ten members today and the fact that you jumped in the middle of it didn’t tip the odds in our favor.”

“I just wanted to help.” she muttered, and twirled her bracelet around nervously. “Going back to get the others would’ve taken too long. It wouldn’t have made a difference.”

“At least it wouldn’t have put someone untrained in a damned crossfire.”

“I’m not untrained.” amaris defended. “I know how to-”

“A week of learning how to pull the trigger doesn’t make you an expert.”

Amaris huffed and twirled her bracelet once more. He wasn’t going to let her off easily.

“You shouldn’t have got involved. This is moon ring business. What if someone saw you and associated you with us? You’ll get your name on the wanted list too.” He paced the room some more, marching from one wall to the other before something caught his eye. He suddenly stopped and turned to face her. Or rather, her arm. He strode to her side and grabbed her wrist.

“What the hell?” she tried to pull her hand away but his grip was too tight. He clutched the silver bracelet and examined it.

“Where did you get this?” his face was paling.

“What?”

“Where did you get this?” he yelled.

“It’s- it’s mine a family gift.” she said, not exactly false but…

“Family… what’s your name?”

“Amaris.”

“Last name.”

“Medeis,” she said and he dropped her hand and took a step back.

“Asterin.” he whispered.

Hey everyone! This story has the last two chapters removed. To read them, please head over to Webnovel and search for this book. By doing so, you would be supporting me while also getting to know what happened to the Amaris and the crew. Thank you for reading!