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!

Amaris’ head pounded from the hit she received when she was turned. “Ash.” she wheezed but he didn’t move. He watched her wordlessly and with an emotionless mask.

“Such a sweet speech, but I’m afraid it won’t work.” Amaris shifted her gaze to the door. A Manticapi, not a guard, judging by his uniform, he seemed of higher rank, stood smirking down at her. “Unfortunately, it won’t change anything. You see, he’s still under my control.” he strolled over to her.

“Don’t you dare touch her.” Ash sneered. But his words weren’t directed at the man, but at her. Her eyes widened as she understood what was happening.

“Fascinating, isn’t it? How easy it is to sculpt a friend to an enemy and an enemy to a friend.”

“Ash…” she murmured, it was getting harder and harder to breathe. “Hang in there. I’ll get you out, I-”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible. Only I can do that. These cells are well cursed, but I like to think of them as blessed so no one can touch them but me. Let alone open them. So, no. You will not get him out. But I’m sure he would appreciate some company.” His smirk widened and his red eyes gleamed. “So why don’t you give him that pleasure?”

“You can’t weave my mind.” She blurted and he raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, please. I hope you’re not counting on those seeds you keep in your pocket to save you.” he pointed at the pocket she was reaching for earlier. “Those are an inconvenience, but not quite the shield your people give them credit for. All I have to do...” he pulled out a dagger and Amaris swallowed a gasp. “Is take them out.” Amaris pulled at Ash’ hand with her free hand. She yanked and squirmed but to no avail.

The man’s smile widened as he witnessed her futile efforts. He approached deliberately slowly and held up the sharp dagger for her to see before lowering it to her thigh. Amaris thrashed in Ash’s hold once more. She could do nothing but scream as the knife cut through her skin and into her muscles. She gritted her teeth and glared at the man as he carved out her pant pocket, and with it, her flesh beneath it. He watched in fascination as the blood stained the fabric then trickled down her leg, the seeds falling one by one to the ground. “Beautiful.” he said as he brought the knife up to watch the blood trickle and drip to the ground before plunging it back into her thigh.

Oh how she wanted to be free and fight back. She just wanted to_

That was when she remembered. She could. Her fist tightened on her pistol. Ash was still holding her wrist but she could move it slightly. He was close, she didn’t have to be a trained shooter to hit him.

She struggled some more, this time to aim it and then-

“Shit!” the man roared as he fell to the ground, the dagger a few feet away from him. Amaris could already see the blood painting his coat at his right side. Ash’s grip weakened and she took the chance to step out of his hold. The man crawled to his dagger but before he could reach it, Amaris shot again. This time, to the back of his head. He fell to the ground. Lifeless. His blood pouring out and onto the stone floor.

Amaris panted, both hands still clutching the pistol and shaking uncontrollably. “Oh, heavens,” she muttered as she realized what she had done. She watched in horror the pool of blood forming around the body. She shook as she stepped back and held onto the bars for support.

Distantly she heard Ash say something but she didn’t know what. Her eyes were glued to the murder she had committed, her ears, only filled with the sound of her own heartbeat and the echo of the gunshot. Her gunshot. She pulled the trigger on a living person today. Twice. And she had killed h-

“Listen to me!” Ash grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her to face him instead. “Amaris, I need you to look at me.” He gazed at her frantic eyes and repeated. “I need you to look at my face and nothing else.” Amaris clutched the bars tighter and let out a whimper. “I’ll take that as a yes,” he said. “Focus on my voice. Listen to me closely, alright?” She gave a small nod. “Alright. Take deep breaths now. Deep breaths.” She did as he told her but her eyes strayed to the b- “No.” Ash gently turned her head around to face him again. “I said look here,” he said in a calm soothing voice. “You did well. He was going to kill us. You saved as both. You did well.”

“I …” Amaris mumbled and Ash nodded.

“Yes, you did well,” he repeated, leaning his forehead on hers, all the while keeping eye contact. “Everything is going to be alright.”

It took Amaris a few minutes to completely calm down. She closed her eyes and exhaled. Then opened them again with determination instead of fear. Ash examined her for a moment before squeezing her shoulders. “Good. now let’s-”

Amaris hissed and pulled back.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. She looked down at her shoulder and for the first time he noticed the bloodies arm sleeve. “You’re hurt,” he stated.

“We need to get you out of here.” she said instead.

He nodded. “Yes, that would be very nice. But are you-”

“Ash, focus.” She snapped. “Do you still have your matches?” he checked his pockets then shook his head. “Great,” she muttered before looking round the room. There was only one piece of furniture in the room; an old desk. She hurried towards it and searched its drawers until she found Ash’s gun and matches. She tossed both to him and he caught them easily.

“What am I supposed to do with these?” he asked.

“We’re in Whitecastle. The cells are cursed,” he swore but she continued. “We’ll have to melt the bars or dismantle them.”

“Oh,” he said before a grin formed on his face. “This will be easy.” He lit up a match and pressed his thumb on it. The flame instantly turned dark blue and Ash’s smile widened. “Step back,” with a flick of his finger, the flame grew larger and he slowly approached it from an iron bar. Suddenly, the flame went out. “What the-” Ash lit up another match. And another, and another. They all extinguished as soon as they touched the bars.

“No,” Amaris murmured, “this can’t be.” Her eyes scanned the room for another option then landed on the dead body. What had he said? Only he could open the cell…

With trembling hands, Amaris grabbed the corpse and dragged it to the edge of the cell. It left a red trail behind it. Before she could change her mind, she took hold of its hand and pressed it against a bar.

“What are you doing?”

“No,” she muttered again as she pressed it against another bar, this time, wrapping the cooling fingers around it. Still nothing. “It’s not working,” she said out loud. “Nothing is working.”

“Amaris tell me what the hell is going on!” Ash demanded.

“He- he said that he was the only one who could open this cell and- and it’s not opening.”

“He’s dead.” He stated. “If the curse is truly tied to him then there’s no way to break it.”

“No… there has to be a way. There just has to.” Amaris tugged at her ponytail in frustration.

“Amaris…”

“Alright then we just have to wait for Sly to get back. He has a- a knife. And we can dig out the stones and then dislodge the bars and-”

“Amaris…” he said again.

“Heavens! Where is he?”

“Amaris.” he repeated, louder this time.

“What?” She looked up and didn’t like the grim face he wore one bit.

“You need to leave.”

“What do you mean, leave?”

“Get out of here. All of you. There’s no use.”

“We’re not leaving without you.”

“Yes you are. If you know what’s best for you.”

“No!” she shook her head. “Are you insane? That’s not going to happen!”

“Listen to me Amaris, this is the only way. It’s either I stay here and you all get back to the ship or we all die here. I don’t like the latter much.” she shook her head again and clutched the bars between them tightly. Her eyes stung but she refused to release the tears.

“We’ll get you out.” She said again. “Just wait for Sly to-”

“There’s no use. If my weaving didn’t work and even his touch didn’t,” he nodded towards the body. “Then there is no way taking out a few brick or two will get me out of here. It’s useless. You’re just wasting time.”

She shook her head stubbornly, forcing her tears to stay hidden. “No, let us try. Please, maybe...”

“shhhhhh…”Ash held her face in both hands. “It’s alright.” She looked up at his brave facade and a tear slipped out despite her efforts. He wiped it away gently. “It’s alright.” he said again.

Amaris shook her head again, much weaker this time. The clear determination in Ash’s eyes was draining any hope she was reaching at.

“Go.” he lowered her head and kissed her forehead gently. Amaris squeezed her eyes shut as his lips touched her skin willing the tears to stop. He finally let go and took a step back. She tightened her fists and refused to open her eyes. She hiccupped and tried to control her tears.

“A-Amaris…” She didn’t respond and focused on gathering her thoughts. “Amaris!” he said again. She snapped her head up and watched as the metal bars she was clutching melted like a burning candle’s wax. Her jaw fell open as she stared in amazement at the silver pool forming at her feet.

“What in the heavens-” Soon, the two bars were nothing but a small puddle. She looked down at her now empty hands and then up at Ash. He was just as dumbfounded as she was.

“What was that?” he asked as he stepped out of the cell, careful not to touch the liquid iron.

Amaris shook her head, still speechless. “I...I don’t-”

“What the hell happened here?” Suddenly, they heard a clatter behind them and turned to face the entrance. “Well I guess we won’t be needing this.” Slygrin stood at the door, with a relieved grin on his face. A long ancient sword lay near his foot.

“Where did you get that?” Amaris asked looking at the artifact.

He ignored her and walked to Ash. “How much is five and five together?” he said with a straight face.

Ash blinked, “what?”

Slygrin’s smile widened. “Yes, he’s back alright. As stupid as ever.” Ash laughed and nudged him away. “Thank the heavens. I was worried I’d be stuck cleaning the canons for a second there.” he joked. He fixed his bandana back into place and Amaris noticed his burned hand.

“What happened?” She nodded towards it.

He looked down at it surprised as if he had forgotten about it. “Oh, that? It’s when I tried to open the cell.” he shrugged. “Like you said, it’s cursed.”

A loud cry reminded them of where they were. “I hope they’re still alright.” murmured Slygrin.

“They? How many of you came?” asked Ash.

“Too many to get out of here safely. We were lucky we caught them off guard to get this close. Still, there’s like fifty of them out there.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Amaris.

A beat of silence passed before Ash spoke again. All traces of laughter left his voice as he asked. “Where are we exactly?”

Slygrin dipped his finger in the fresh puddle of blood around the soldier’s corpse and started drawing a rough sketch of what they knew of the floorplans as he recited the names of everyone who came and how they got in. Amaris looked away from the bloodied drawing feeling her breakfast stir in her stomach. “Last I checked, they’re in trouble. Another ten minutes and they’d be out of ammunition.” He finished and wiped his hand on his pants.

They all stared at the bloodied map, much to Amaris’ dismay, until, “I need you to go back to them.” Ash said, still staring at the drawing.

“What?” Slygrin and Amaris looked at him incredulously.

“Not you,” he said to Amaris. “Too much risk.” he looked at her bloodied arm and then at the leg she has slightly lifted off the floor. She shifted it slightly backwards to hide it from his sharp stare.

“Then why me?” complained Slygrin.

“Because,” answered Ash. “You will have to go and tell them my plan.”

“Now we’re talking.” Sly said gleefully. “Do I get to kick some ass?”

****

“Come on, we don’t have much time,” said Ash as he trotted out of the room, Amaris limping a few paces behind him. Ash made a point not to look back at her and instead searched the next rooms with a gun in hand. She had insisted to walk by herself. And Ash was doing all he could to not lift her up and run. “No windows…” he said as he opened another door. “No windows…” and another. At last he reached the last room, some kind of office, and let out a cry of relief when he saw the low window. He opened it wide and took a look below. “No guards,” he muttered. “They must all be in there.” He put his pistol back in his pocket and turned to face her. “I need you get on my back.”

“What?” she asked and took a step back.

“Look. We’re going to need to jump out that window. Do you really want to put that kind of pressure on your leg?”

She glared at him for a long moment and then huffed. “Fine.” She reluctantly stepped forward. He turned and crouched down silently and she did as he said. Ash secured her legs around his waist, careful not to touch her wound, then stood up and in one fluid movement, leaped out the window.

Amaris readied herself for the crash but it never came. Instead, she heard the soft crunch of grass beneath them before Ash spoke again. “You alright?” He asked. Amaris swallowed and looked up at him. He was looking down at her with a mix of worry and urgency. She nodded silently. “You want me to put you down?” Only then did she notice just how tightly she was clutching him. She blushed at her fear and, despite her muscles’ complaints, nodded again. He gently lowered her down and she jumped to her feet. She regretted her movement less than a second later. Amaris hissed at the pain shooting up her foot. Ash was at her side in a heartbeat steadying her by the elbow. “Are you sure you can walk?” he asked again.

“Yes,” she scowled and stepped back, leaning on the wall instead. “I just… I just need a minute.”

He opened his mouth as if to say something but then his gaze shifted to something behind her. Before Amaris knew what was going on, he pulled out his gun and shot behind her. She whipped her head to see yet another dead guard. Ash grabbed her hand and started running the other way, dragging her behind him. “Come on. We don’t have a minute.” Amaris swallowed her pained cries and forced herself to match his pace.

Thankfully, there were no guards on the other side of the castle. They quickly made their way to the wall surrounding the estate and to the horses waiting there. Ash didn’t waste time lifting her by the waist and placing her on the saddle before she could claim that she’s able to do it on her own. Then he got up himself and willed the horse to a gallop.

“Wait, what about the others?”

“What about them?”

“Aren’t we going to wait for them?”

“Don’t worry, they’ll be out at any moment now.” Just as he said that, Amaris glimpsed a familiar troop of horses making its way towards them, a thick cloud of smoke escaping the building behind them. “Told you.” Ash said with a proud grin.

“What about the prisoners inside?” When Ash proposed to have Mecheye weave a fire wall to give the crew enough time to escape, this was the only part of that Amaris didn’t particularly like. “I’m sure those guards would want to save their own skin. I doubt anyone would think to free the men in the cells.”

“Manticali may not like Sinsecria’s king, but they still obey him. All prisoners are taken to him. They have a ship ready to take them every week. And since today is the first day, I don’t think they have any in there. Their crime rate is pretty low.” He gave a low bitter chuckle. “Like every other country in Orbis with Sinsecria taking the criminals to its king. That’s probably the only thing that man is good for. If at all.”

“But what if there was someone in there?”

“I don’t think there was relax and stop worrying.”

“You don’t understand!” she shook her head the image refusing to leave her. “On our way here, there was… there was someone they were taking there. What if there were more?”

“I doubt they would’ve made two trips in one day.” he shrugged. “I was a special case. A wanted rebel, they had to take me there as fast as possible. But for a normal thief, they would’ve kept them in town until the end of the day.”

“But-”

“Race you to the dock.” Amaris hadn’t realized how much they slowed down until Slygrin zoomed past them taunting them with a huge victorious smile.

“You’re gonna regret it.” Ash called to him as he nudged the horse to a gallop. Amaris yelped and wrapped her arms around his waist to steady herself.

Soon, Amaris’ only thought was how to get back to the ship without throwing up.

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!