Page 100 of A Game of Monsters

CHAPTER 23

A whistle rang out across the ship. I sat bolt upright in the bed, aching from the deep slumber I had fallen into. Light cut in from outside, proving some hours had passed. Dawn was upon us, and with it a new chance.

Erix and Duncan were still sleeping when the whistle cut the skies. Not wanting to disturb them, I rolled out of bed and made a move toward the top deck.

Rafaela stood where I’d left her, at the bow, as if she’d not moved a muscle in hours. The sun hung heavy in the sky above her, plastering uncomfortable rays down upon the wood. The scent of warmed salt and polish filled my nose, but it was not that which bothered me. Rafaela turned to me, tired eyes wild as she pointed at something in the distance, hand raised to her brow, blocking out the glare of the sun as it sank beneath the islands ahead of us.

“Look,” she shouted, a singular tear rolling down her cheek before being snatched away by the winds. I did as she asked, facing the distance, just in time to watch a collection of islands appear through the mist. One by one, formations of rock and stone revealed themselves, some large and others smaller.

“Home,” Rafaela muttered as more tears fell from her eyes. “I have made it home.”

I understood the feeling she was filled with, looking at a place she likely never imagined returning to. But it was not the islands that she pointed at, but something on them. I didn’t differentiate what she was actually referring to until the ship sailed closer. What looked like portions of stone protruding across the flat islands and rocky crops were actually statues. Hundreds of them. No, thousands. The clear outlines of Nephilim, forged in dark stone, looking out across the ocean as if guarding the shores.

This was our army.

This was Rafaela’s home, not the place but a people – all bound in labradorite and left behind.

What I witnessed was unlike anything I could imagine. The ship slowly passed into the collection of islands, sailing between them. One detail I couldn’t ignore was just how silent of a place Irobel was.

Far in the distance I caught a glimpse of a formation of buildings, white stone buildings of pillars and pitched roofs. But I didn’t get long to drink it in as my name rang out from across the ship.

“Robin.” Erix stood, face drawn in horror. I shivered at the use of my name. But it was the tone Erix called it with that made the blood in my veins thrum.

He must’ve just woken up to find me missing from our bed. Surely that wasn’t enough to spark such fear in his eyes.

Erix fixed his eyes on me, skin pale and wide eyes bloodshot. And an unspoken truth hit me with the force of a thousand arrows to the chest.

“Duncan,” I gasped, already reading the panic across Erix’s face, the taut posture of his body. I knew Erix well enough that I could read him and understand he was worried – no, he was terrified.

Erix broke my line of sight and locked eyes with Rafaela. She released a small gasp, like a broken chirp of a bird. There was only one possible reason she could’ve reacted like that.

Because my horrors where confirmed.

“No,” I whispered before the horror exploded in me like a dying star. Then I screamed, so loud it had the power to wake every Nephilim bound in labradorite. “No!”

Erix reached me before my body hit the floor.

My hands clawed at his chest, my eyes locked to his. “Tell me he’s okay. Tell me, Erix!”

Erix held me close and whispered his reply. “I’m sorry, little bird. I tried to wake him…”

I saw it then, understanding the truth that was held back in Erix’s apology. He wouldn’t lie to me, but he didn’t have the strength to tell me the truth either. All he could do was draw me close, whilst repeating a promise over me. “He won’t wake up, Robin. No matter how I tried, Duncan will not open his eyes… His breathing is–”

“We will save him,” Rafaela snapped, guided by her hope now we had returned. “But for that we must make haste.”

Gyah ran out from the belly of the ship in that moment, eyes heavy with her recent use of Gardineum. “Jesibel, she visited me in my – have I missed something?”

“Duncan is dying,” I said, voice trembling with my pleading. It hit Gyah so hard that any remnants of exhaustion left her expression in a second. “I can’t… I can’t lose him too.”

“What do we need to do?” Gyah asked, focus set across her brow.

“Get him to land,” Rafaela answered, thrusting a pointed finger in the direction of the islands. “Now!”

I jolted forwards but stopped as a firm hand clamped down on my shoulder. Rafaela held me in place, words scarred with command. “There is a chance Duncan will survive, but I still need your consent. I will not do this against your wishes.”

Duncan’s survival rested on the will of a god, a god whose children petitioned to destroy all of fey-kind.

I fixed my eyes on Rafaela, unable to ignore that this was my only option. Giving Duncan over to her for whatever judgement he had to face with the Creator. I didn’t have to like it to know that this was my only chance to save him.

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