The Blood King - Chapter Three (Patreon)

Nemyra

What have I done? I would say I’ve saved lives. But judging from Peyra’s reaction, that is not a good thing in this instance. The cloak that would have hidden my identity is in her hands, her grip trembling from how tight she holds it. Not that it matters at this point. The river and the surrounding area are covered in frost, the river itself a thick slush that moves more slowly than it did before. 

Peyra looks back and forth between the woman and me frantically, trying to figure out what to do in this moment. The woman and her son shiver so violently next to me that it makes me realize I feel normal. I am not too cold, nor am I too hot. I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time.

I ignore Peyra, reaching for the woman.

“Are you okay—”

“Don’t! Don’t touch us!” she screams, scurrying back with her son. I am taken aback by her reaction, but I lower my hand anyway so as not to startle her further. She looks more frightened than she did when she was in the river as she looks at me. Peyra doesn’t give me a chance to say anything more. She quickly wraps her arms around me, pulling me up.

The woman watches us with wide eyes, shifting her attention to Peyra.

“You will burn for this…” she murmurs.

Peyra ignores her, pulling me along. “Come. Don’t look at her.”

“He will burn us all for this! This is a transgression against him!” the woman screams, clutching her son closer to her chest.

I don’t know what she means, but I am still shocked by her reaction. I saved her and her son’s lives. But she’s consumed by her fear and anger as she looks past me to Peyra. She won’t even acknowledge that I exist. She is focused on reprimanding Peyra. She even releases her son, rising on her knees as she points at her, her frustrations growing. 

“You have doomed us all to hell! He has returned, and he has come with thirst bloodier than before! You have ruined life within these forests!” she screeches.

I pause, narrowing my gaze as I step toward the woman.

“Is that seriously what you have to say after I—”

“No! Do not engage with her. We must leave, now!” Peyra hisses as she drags me into the trees. But I keep my eyes on the woman who screams obscenities at Peyra. She curses until she is red in the face. Throughout all of my years, I have rarely interacted with humans. The few times that I have, I’ve been in a disguise. This is the first time a human has seen me for what I am and had this kind of reaction to it.

Peyra continues to pull on me, but I don’t take my eyes off the woman, my disgust building as I watch her. Peyra finally pulls me into the forest, hiding the woman from my view. She keeps her grip on me as we travel upriver, the woman’s obscenities slowly disappearing as we place distance between us to find our horse.

Once we reach our horse, Peyra releases me. She shifts her gaze behind me, as if she is checking to see if we were followed, before settling her attention back on me. She shakes her head in disappointment.

“How could you? How could you be so…foolish?” she whispers.

Her words pull me out of the corner of my mind that forces me to remain silent, and I give her an irritated expression.

“Foolish? I saved their lives,” I snap.

“At the expense of your own!” She shouts.

I scoff in disbelief, raising my hand to push the stray hairs away from my face, but Peyra’s attention is caught by the marking that peeks through the necklaces I keep wrapped around my arm. She snatches my arm, her eyes widening.

“What—when did this happen?” she asks. I note that her voice trembles as she studies the marking. I follow her gaze, my heart sputtering when I notice that it's grown. It now stretches past my elbow, towards my inner arm. The edges stretch in different directions, mimicking the way frost grows.

I pull my hand out of her grip.

“I noticed it last night,” I say, moving my hand behind my back.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispers.

“I don’t have to tell you everything. It’s not like me telling you this would change anything. We would still be hidden and on the run,” I say.

Peyra gestures in the direction that we came.

“And what you did back there? How long have you been able to do that?” she asks.

“That was the first time. I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened,” I say.

I shudder as I recall the rush of power I felt before everything stilled. I’ve never been able to access my power as an Ikniri on that large a scale. And due to Peyra being human, she had no idea how to help me over the years. I never thought I would be able to use my magic like the stories say.

“…How did you hear them?” Peyra asks slowly.

I slowly lift my hand, studying it as I speak, recalling the feelings coursing through me in that moment.

“I don’t know… I was just breathing, and suddenly, everything became so clear. I could hear them as if I were right there,” I say. As I hold my hand out in front of me, trying to summon it once again, I realize that I can’t. I take a deep breath, squeezing my fist in controlled anger as I lower my hand.

“I don’t know how to do it again,” I say.

Peyra is quiet.

“What’s done is done. We must put distance between ourselves and that woman,” she says, turning to mount the horse.

“Why—” My words hitch in my throat as my entire body seizes, and I can no longer control myself. My muscles lock up, and my mind shuts off as the world spins, and darkness envelopes me. I barely register my impact with the ground as I collapse, Peyra’s voice sounding distant until there’s only silence.

* * * * *

My body feels heavy. I can’t lift my arms or my legs. Even the small wiggle of my fingers and toes is a task. As I slowly come back to consciousness, I am bombarded by pain. I may have felt fine when I was by the river, but something has happened to my body since—something that has put me in this weakened state.

“Nemyra?” My name drifts through the fog, and I slowly open my eyes, blinking the world into focus. I note that I’m lying on my back, a soft ball of fabric under my head. It’s night, but the light from the fire blocks out most of the stars.

I flinch when I feel a hand on my face, pushing my hair away. It’s Peyra, her worried gaze roaming over me as she calls to me again.

“That’s it, come back to me,” she says gently. Her expression is worried, a much different one 

“Ngh,” I groan, trying to move, but she stops me. 

“Don’t move. It is best if you rest,” she says, reaching away from us. She grabs a gourd filled with water, gently lifting my head as she brings it to my lips. The water is warm, but it still feels nice as it slips down my throat, making the pain dull slightly.

“What happened?” I ask, as she puts the gourd away. She is quiet for a moment, as if thinking of a proper answer. She takes a deep breath, looking at me with sad eyes.

“You are changing,” she says.

I ignore the pain as I force myself to sit up. I can tell she wants to tell me to lay back down, but whatever it is she needs to say is more important than an argument.

“I had hoped your brother would return for you before this day. I prayed it would never come. Not in my lifetime, anyway,” she says. 

She sounds sad as she lets the words leave her lips.

“Not in your lifetime?” I repeat in confusion.

“There is so much you don’t know…so much we needed to keep from you to protect you. But with the return of the blood king, and your power coming to life—”

“W-wait, just stop,” I say.

Silence envelops us, and I use it to try to calm my rapidly beating heart.

“What have you kept from me? What does any of this have to do with a myth no one can seem to get right?” I ask.

The sadness in Peyra’s eyes seem to deepen if possible as she watches me. Tears swim in her gaze, and she looks away from me, into the fire as she finds the words to speak. But the longer she remains silent, the faster my heart beats.

“Peyra—”

“At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do. We thought this was only a setback and that we only needed to regroup. But with your injuries, and the destruction of your home, your brother felt it best if things were kept from you until the time was right… things that I cannot reveal to you because I have taken an oath,” she says.

I blink in confusion.

“An oath?” I ask.

Peyra nods.

“I wasn’t thinking at the time. It didn’t feel possible that this could be the outcome. And with the return of the blood king—”

“The blood king? Peyra, this is my life we are talking about. I am changing, and I don’t know the first thing about why, and you are bringing up fairy tales?” I almost shout.

Peyra’s eyes are serious as she looks at me.

“He is not a fairy tale,” she says. “And he will not rest until—” her breath hitches, and she shudders as she fights against herself. I don’t know what to do as I watch her struggle to tell me something, forcing me to realize she is telling the truth. She took an oath preventing her from telling me anything about myself or my past.

She’s known all along—all these years. And as I watch her struggle to breathe in front of me, I see why she never told me anything about myself.

I growl in anger, clenching my teeth as I force myself to stand.

“What are you doing?” she asks, standing with me.

I ignore her, making my way to the wagon. I hear her calling to me as I reach for my things. My weapons, and the little clothing and herbs that I have.

“Nemyra, just talk to me!” she shouts.

I pause, turning to look at her.

“There is nothing to say. You’ve lied to me my entire life. You’ve let me feel like I am the last of my kind, and that there was nothing you knew. You saw what it was like for me growing up, and you waited until I manifested my power to tell me?” I shout.

Peyra’s tears fall, and she looks like she’s genuinely hurt by my words. But I ignore it.

“It wasn’t my choice!” she says.

“And now? Now it suddenly is? Now you suddenly have autonomy that was lost to you for twenty years?” I say.

“It was different then. You were just an Ikniri in name, not in mind or spirit. There was no threat. But now, you have shown signs of maturing when you have no connection to your people, and that is a dangerous thing,” Peyra says, reaching for me.

I step away.

“What am I supposed to do now? Continue to hide? You have just revealed to me that there is more to my life—my story, than what I thought. You expect me to keep hiding in the forests and not seek answers? Or at least my brother?” I ask.

Now Peyra grabs me. Her grip is strong, her eyes wide with desperation.

“This is exactly why he wanted to keep things from you. A lone Ikniri in this world is a dangerous thing. You have no idea how vast this world is, how out of your depth you will be,” she says, her voice trembling.

I narrow my gaze, ripping my arm from her grip. I’m still weak, but I’m strong enough to pull away from her.

“And whose fault is that?” I hiss.

Peyra opens her mouth to respond, but I hear something. The quiet whistle of an arrow.

“Get down!” I shout just as an arrow hits our wagon. More arrows follow immediately, and as I push Peyra behind me, I note that the arrows are covered in flames. The wagon catches fire easily, the fabric becoming engulfed in fire. I watch the flames in quiet panic as our life goes up in smoke. But I can’t put it out. I am weak, and I have no idea how to do what I did at the river.

I tense as I hear the thunder of horses. 

“We have to move,” I say, moving to the front of the wagon to cut our horses loose when more flames rain down around us in a calculated circle. They’re trapping us—trapping me. I quickly push Peyra behind me as our attackers finally reveal themselves.

They are men, atop horses, their eyes filled with wicked intent as they take us in. A man who is obviously the leader rides forward, his cold eyes roaming over me, until he smiles.

“Well, I’ll be damned, she was right. I thought all of you were extinct. Looks like we’ve found an Ikniri.”