Page 38 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)
“ B rek!”
“Brek!”
“Brek!”
Dancing back and forth on my bare feet, I find the gritty, sand-dusted wood beneath my soles is almost a comforting feeling. I move left to right in time with the familiar chanting tune of the northern raiders gathered around. Fresh blood paints my white cloth-wrapped hands crimson.
I hold them up before me in the proper stance we’ve been drilled on since level-one. Narrowing in on my opponent, I watch the rise and fall of his chest as he struggles to catch his breath.
“Brek!”
“Brek!”
The rowdy crowd of levels one-through-eight continues their chorus in the background. I work quickly to zone them all out completely and hone my focus on the rival opposite me.
There’ s a spot around the far bend of our tiny wintery island that we northern raiders call ‘The BoneYard’.
It’s comprised of ancient ships broken beyond repair, whose current usage is for nights such as this one.
When northern raiders of all levels slip out and away from our dark fortress quarters in order to gather and either watch or join in on affinity fighting.
I’m pretty positive all the preceptors know about it, but I’m not positive whether they’re exactly allowed to acknowledge it. They turn a blind eye and deaf ear to our unsanctioned activities.
“Come on, Rivo!” A faceless voice shouts from somewhere in the tightly knit crowd beneath our wooden pedestal.
Kleio calls up to me with a sharp laugh, “Quit playing with the kid—end it, Boreas!”
My opponent, a level-seven named Roan Rivo, wipes the sweat from his bloody face and looks at me with renewed determination.
I let my mind go absolutely blank as he lunges forward with a fist raised in distraction before switching into a kick for my ribs.
My reaction is solely based on instinct; I shift my front leg to the back and block his attacking foot with my fist.
He loses his balance, and I take advantage of his off-kilter sway with a perfectly arched high-kick to the head. My foot makes violent, concussion-worthy contact, and Raider Rivo goes down with a powerful wooden ‘thunk' to an uproar of riotous cheers and feet stomping.
The level-seven lies there stunned for a moment. His eyes roll upwards before blinking hard, and I lean down with a hand out to pull him back up. It takes his gaze a troublingly long minute to focus on me, but once it does, he reluctantly accepts my help.
“Don’t go to sleep until you’ve seen the leeches,” I shout near his ear before thumping him on the back. He glances down at me and nods in agreement.
His expression remains dazed as he exits the wooden makeshift arena. Raider Rivo is set to be one of next year's captains. It’s no wonder why, with his affinity for anticipating an opponent's next movements, he’s an undeniable threat and therefore an asset.
It’s taken me a while to find the trick in defeating someone with his particular skill set. Forcing myself into a zone of complete instinct seems to be the solution. The downside is that I also have to shut out my affinity in order to block his.
I scan the crowd while catching my breath.
My hair is piled high atop my head in a tight knot, and the loose strands framing my face are plastered to the sides of my temples and cheekbones with sweat.
A droplet of perspiration slides down the bridge of my nose from laughing while watching the twins weave through the crowd, cashing in on bets made against me.
“Alright dipshits—pay up! Let's go!” They shout before aggressively shaking down a group of level-fives and sixes.
Raiders grumble as coins, small jewels, and other minor oblations are tossed into their pail.
Being that I’m a bastard-born castaway, I did not arrive here with the usual pouch of small treasures that others do.
There was no offering made to the gods on my behalf.
No oblation from my parents with which to declare my reputable bloodline and potential inheritance of power.
It's safe to say I spent a lot of time down here in The Boneyard trying to amass my own.
But winning silvers isn’t why I’m here tonight, nor is it why I’ve been coming here several nights a week for the last month.
That would be due to the recurring nightmares driving me from my bunk just about every eve since the last trial.
Flashes of amber eyes and mutterings of whispered foreign words right before a blade is plunged into my heart haunt me from dusk till dawn.
I’ve found that if I go to bed utterly exhausted, they don’t seem to be able to find me.
So I’m down here to avoid those shadowy terrors, and it’s also become a necessary release on my restraint due to my resolution to ignore Captain Agni entirely.
And if I’m feeling honest, perhaps a small part of me is also down here to regain a bit of the self-assurance that Agni has managed to steal by beating me. Twice .
The admittance, even to myself, is so enraging that I have to physically shake my sweat-drenched head in order to remove it. That’s when I spot them.
Across the blown-out ship hold we utilize to host these little fights come the other six cardinal captains. They slink in through the makeshift door, the one crafted from a massive discarded porthole long before I arrived here.
Several members of their crews aren’t far behind, and soon I’m not the only one aware of their presence.
The crowded ship hold goes silent as all raiders turn to view the intruders.
I catch Kleio’s eye from where she waits below on my left.
My second nods once in understanding before quickly passing up the sling of weapons I’d discarded earlier.
“What do you fuckers want?” Vash shouts, now having climbed the steps of the wooden arena.
Both the east and west captains have the good sense to look slightly uncomfortable.
Corvina appears annoyed to be here at best, downright pissed at worst. Captain Agni meets my quiet study from across the crowd, having to look slightly upwards to do so.
I can tell he hates it from the clench of his jaw, so I flash him a smirk that's sure to spike his annoyance.
Captain Tetsuo’s charming voice speaks up for the group. “We all heard the shouting and thought it best we come check to make sure you weren’t under attack.” There’s a sincerity in his pale eyes as they meet mine that makes me glad for the blood already hot in my cheeks from my latest fight.
Brisa nods her agreement from beside him, two of her own crew members near the porthole door. I watch Reed and Dhara dip their chins in wordless agreement to Captain Tetsuo's explanation.
Do those two ever talk?
“Speak for yourself west.” Captain Agni’s voice rumbles from his menacing form as he sends a dark look towards Captain Tetsuo. His amber eyes flash back to mine before adding, “We thought it would be some sort of freakish northern ritual we might get to sneak a peek at.”
Corvina’s previously annoyed frown becomes a feline smile, and her eyes dart to mine.
Vash and the other northern raiders appear to size Agni up. Some of the lower levels nearer to him actually back away from the tenebrous blades hovering menacingly above his shoulders.
If he’s intimidated by a room full of raiders who clearly dislike him, he doesn’t show it. On the contrary, Captain Agni’s scathing eyes never so much as flicker from mine.
"Well, it is a northern ritual of sorts.” I join the conversation at last, coming to lean over a railing along the edge of the platform.
"But it's not one that we'd ever allow little southern pricks like yourself to gawk at," I croon before flashing a sickeningly sweet smile at the southern captains and their arriving crews.
Laughter from my crew and others below ripples throughout the room; it serves to darken Agni’s countenance further and uplift my own mood.
Before either of them gets a chance to retort, I explain, “You all have a choice.” My eyes scan the lineup of captains.
“If you do wish to stay and observe our little games, then you’ll have to partake in them as well. ”
Their dubious expressions have me glancing down at Kleio, her smirk the twin to my own.
“Who wants a shot at challenging a cardinal captain?” I shout in question to the mob of raiders.
Chaos breaks out at once. Raiders of all levels raise their hands eagerly while scrambling closer to the raised platform in order to be chosen. Level sevens and eights start roughly shoving the lower levels out of their way left and right, impatient to test themselves.
I jump down to the ancient shipwrecks' sticky paneled flooring, and Vash takes over choosing raiders for matches.
The twins, along with Captain Larceon's second and third, have already begun taking down names, affinities, and odds.
The wall of bodies around me now is too high to even glimpse the cardinal captains as they weave through the madness.
“So what—you too good to challenge me?”
Turning around, I find pale gray eyes shimmering with humor and fight back a smile at Captain Tetsuo’s jest before answering, “No, I would just much rather watch you parade about up there than have to get my hands any bloodier.” I wriggle my knuckles, stained scarlet, for emphasis.
Captain Tetsuo flashes me a pretty grin. "Ah, of course, I knew you only liked me for my body.”
Tilting my head to one side, I ask, “And when did I ever say I liked you at all?”
He places a hand over his nicely sculpted chest before proclaiming much too loudly, “Captain Boreas, you wound me! Truly.”
My eyes roll up so far that I think they might get stuck there. “Is that all you came to find me for? To heal your fragile ego?”
Captain Tetsuo laughs for real before admitting, “No. That’s not the only reason.” His voice is slightly more serious than before. I note the way he keeps shifting his weight from one foot to another before studying his face again.
“Oh?” I probe, intrigued.