Page 51 of Death’s Kiss (The Order of the Tide Raiders #1)
For the last hour or two, a steady rocking beneath my feet, alluding to the ocean's presence, has been my only companion. I pick at the stray skin around my fingernails, not needing my sight to do so, while playing a mental game where I try estimating how many knots we’re doing .
My best guess is 19.5, and I'm almost certain it's correct.
It isn’t until whatever carrier I’m journeying on comes to a halting, squealing stop that I begin feeling the first real jolts of nerves.
I’m yanked from my sitting position a moment later without any sort of gentleness.
My blindfold is then removed but not my ear plugs, and my hands remain tied behind my back.
So I stare blankly at Preceptor Oplon's moving mouth for almost a full minute, not hearing a single word he's saying. After a moment, I shake my head at him in complete confusion.
“So sorry about that, Captain Boreas. You can hear me now, yes?” He asks after taking out the earplugs and untying my hands. Preceptor Oplon appears to be almost as nervous as I am.
“Yes,” I answer, repressing my own grimace while rubbing my newly freed wrists.
“Good—great. Now this is going to be a bit of an unorthodox task set before you today.” I nod and he continues, “Obviously, with Raider Dornon and the TideLords absence, the cardinals are having to put on this trial on our own. So it has been decided that you are each going to complete your challenge entirely separate from the other captains.”
I dip my chin in understanding and Oplon smiles briefly before finishing. “We’re doing this in order of rankings. Both the west and south have each had a captain go already this morning.”
Incredible.
I’m next brought up to the deck of the small ship to see where exactly I’ll be performing this ‘unorthodox’ trial. It’s then that my breakfast decides it just might make a grand appearance.
I gawk at the sight before me, my stomach rolling over in succession.
A massive skull, perhaps larger than the North Order's fortress itself, rests just about a mile out in the ocean before us. The colossal thing is angled slightly backwards with its monstrous jaw parted. It looks like a sunken giant’s skeleton screaming at the sky.
Looking back over a shoulder in disbelief, I spot our Grand Regent as she makes her way towards the ship's starboard railing to join me. I turn forward again and silently stare at the otherworldly sight, barely even noticing Beldham’s quiet presence.
My mouth feels more like sand the longer I continue to gawk.
“And the trial is what, exactly?” I finally manage to ask, hoping terror isn’t obvious in my voice.
Beldham answers in her typical matter-of-fact tone. “Enter the grotto of the Veil Keeper and retrieve a single athanasia bloom.”
My head whips ‘round to face the old bat. “A flower? You’re sending us in there for a godsdamn flower?” My voice is high with incredulity but I’m too shocked to apologize for swearing.
Our Grand Regents face remains stern but something softer resides in those cornflower eyes. Not that I would ever dare comment on it.
“Yes, Captain Boreas. You are going in there for a flower. One of priceless value and incredible importance to The Order, especially now.” She sniffs the sea breeze and I squeeze my hands into tight fists in order to stop myself from retorting another snappish comment.
After a moment, I dare to inquire, “And how will I know it’s this, athanasia bloom?”
Her lips look like they might have moved in amusement before answering, “They have petals of amethyst with stems of blue and they smell like death itself.”
Of course they do. I huff a long sigh and return my gaze to the giant skull we’re quickly approaching.
“I would expect you are aware of the other things you may face in there?” Beldham asks lightly.
Clenching my jaw tight, I nod.
“Good. ”
It’s been a few years since we studied the Veil Keepers and their various ocean grottos but what we learned of them is terrifying enough that there’s no chance of me ever forgetting.
The three realms of Nawai, Pontus, and Celestial used to coincide together with the drowned gods watching over them all. But when the Great Deluge occurred, something else happened. A veil fell between the realms and separated them from each other entirely, or so legend claims.
The Veil Keepers are said to be guarding posts, maintaining the veil. They uphold the necessary walls between our worlds and help to keep those terrifying creatures from Nawai and the Celestial realm out of Pontus. The kinds of creatures that only gods could hope to defeat.
Our boat approaches the open skeletal mouth until we're almost perfectly level with the beast's mandible.
The Veil Keeper's closeness jolts me out of my grim thoughts, and my hands move automatically to inspect myself.
I pat down one leg and the next with growing panic-fueled horror until Beldham holds up my sling of various small blades.
I’m then informed that the cardinal ship will be waiting for me at a safe distance from the extremely dangerous grotto. After that, I’m given a small flare gun and instructed to fire it once I’ve made it out with the bloom in hand. I’m able to read in between the lines.
Don’t bother coming back without it.
Taking a leap off from the small boat’s edge, I land with a rather annoying splash in the waters before the massive skull topper.
The behemoth head must have belonged to some sort of ancient god or other malevolent creature that roamed Pontus long before the massive flood. Preceptor Chie’s musings over myths suddenly don’t seem so insane, as I literally stare one right in the face.
The vessel behind me makes quick work of turning around and speeding back out to a safe distance from the Veil Keeper.
I snort in renewed disbelief before removing one of the many blades now slung snugly around my middle.
The hilt in my palm is as comforting as a child's blanket and I grip it tightly before angrily stomping through the ominous mouth.
The bad mood I’m in, stemming from the twins and their stunt this morning, is only further heightened when I stumble and trip within the first two seconds of entering the Veil Keeper.
My hands and knees promptly slam down onto what feels like stone and I swear so loudly that I’m sure even the gods in their watery depths can hear my fowl mouth before forcing myself up.
Furiously scanning my surroundings, I find the reason for my spectacular fall. The direction I chose inside the Veil Keeper is framed by a large lip of limestone and its presence hidden under the shallow waters. Just my fucking luck.
I next discover a single pathway extends out before me into the chamber beyond and my throat tightens at the sight it leads to. This can’t be right.
This massive skull's interior is basically empty.
The singular pathway leads out to a ring of extremely tall stones set upon a strange circular platform in the middle of the watery cavern. There is no oceanic garden and certainly no flowers to be seen. My pulse quickens with concern— is this the wrong place?
Is that possible? There is quite literally nothing here except those monoliths.
Unless I’m meant to search the water?
A chill runs down my spine as I recount the various monsters and terrifying netherdepth creatures said to haunt the Veil Keepers like they’re some sort of Nawai graveyard.
I decide to at least inspect the stones. Maybe there’s an inscription on them with directions or perhaps this is just some big misunderstanding. Maybe we went to the wrong Veil Keeper?
The scuff of my boots against stone fills the enormous skull’s hollow inside as I make my way over to the solemn rocks. I begin flicking the blade in my grip around my hand and through my fingers anxiously while reaching the monoliths rising all the way up to the gray cranium ceiling .
To my surprise, they do in fact have inscriptions etched into them but nothing I can make any semblance of sense out of. The swirling script embedded in the rocks is one I’ve never seen before, which is intriguing but ultimately doesn’t mean much.
A few of them appear to have intriguing wave-like symbols further up along the stones.
Curiosity gets the better of me and I step into the center of the ring to get a closer look.
That’s when the fog rolls in.
It's thick and heavy and absolutely wasn’t there a moment before but suddenly the grotto is absolutely teeming with it. The white haze hovers over the ground, covering the waters below and completely hiding the one and only walkway available for exit.
I squint at the mist for a moment before turning around to face the towering boulders again, only to find that the strange script and symbols are now gone. That can’t be possible.
My hand stretches out instinctively to graze over the stone and it is met with an invisible wall.
I watch as my fingers simply bounce right off of it. The sensation of the unseen barrier reminds me of Kleio's affinity and the violet-colored energy shields she’s able to create.
“Weird,” I mutter softly.
The word rings out and around the grotto, echoing loudly as if I had shouted it rather than whispered. I quickly rescan the eerie mist that’s begun creeping up the sides of the monoliths and find it somehow has not entered the small circle inside them where I currently stand.
Deciding I’d better hurry up and get back out to let Beldham and the others know they were wrong about the bloom’s location, or possibly even the Veil Keeper itself, I aim for the lip of the pathway. But when I try stepping over it, I am again met with that invisible wall .
“What the fuck?” I grumble, not bothering to keep my voice low. As before, my words repeat outwards in an irritating echo that seems to only grow louder with every repetition.
I try again and again. Each time I hit that same barrier.
Growling out in frustration, I grip my blade tighter.
Fine. I’ll just slip out one of the other narrow openings between the monoliths and scale back around the edge to the mist-shrouded walkway.
I won’t dare touch the water beneath that fog unless I have to.
Only the gods know what lurks down there—likely creatures capable of breaking through ice with minimal effort.
Choosing the space between the closest set of rocks nearest me, I try again to exit and run smack into the concealed barrier. Spewing out a lengthy string of choice words that would make any raider proud, I have a brief moment of terribly irritated stupidity.
Without thinking, I hurl the knife in my hand straight at the invisible barrier in a fit of rage. I immediately recognize my own idiocy as the weapon rebounds off the barrier and comes racing back for its owner.
Ducking with the reflexes attained only through years of The Order’s training, the blade whistles harmlessly in the air over my head.
I’m expecting the clattering noise it makes upon landing but I’m not expecting it to sound as distant as it does. Spinning backwards, I discover the knife has flown through the stone opening directly opposite me and landed on a previously unseen path beyond.
My eyebrows knit together and a lip slides between my teeth in confusion.
I'm positive that pathway wasn’t there before. There was only one exit and entrance.
I'm sure of it.