Before the Sky Fell

[ Sequel ] Sneak Peek - Book Two

Sequel Sneak Peek

[ 2 ] Yasei

Yasei's restraints tugged at his wrists each time a wave smashed against Sun Serpent. Blood trickled down his arms, a darker black than the shadowed corners of the ship's hold.

A wave shook the hold violently. Yasei flew across the room. Barrels of spices followed him, rolling on top of him like sandworms on a scorpion. Hekicked at one barrel, pushed at the other, and then pulled himself up using the splintered wooden beams.

Yasei stood upright, naked but for a loin cloth. The brig was freezing. Water filled in around his ankles.  We will drown and I can't breathe in water, he thought as he shivered. His cousins could, the ones from Kolos, not the ones from Maulth. They could stay under water forever. Yasei didn't practice enough and now he was going to die for it.

The other prisoners hugged the beams, their chains dripping with water. The sear had already reached the heads of some of them when a wave turned the ship a certain way. When the ocean moved back, they seemed to hang lifelessly. He spotted Doanos among them, life still in him.

Doanos stood as the ship swayed the other way. His mustard shirt was torn from side to side. A gash ran along his belly, carving past his insides. His short-scythe hung from his belt, blood on it as well.

The barrels rolled back toward Doanos, but crashed against a center beam and changed course. They struck Mailo, another prisoner, but he looked to be dead already.

A wave tore through another corner of the brig. Sunlight poured into the room, and water. Through the gap, rocky cliffs rose in the distance. Sea spray surrounded them like a forest fog. The ocean surged in through the hole.

"You see this?" Doanos shouted as the ways tore open the hull.

 "I see this," Yasei shouted back.

"The ocean wanted you free."

Another wave smashed against the portside. Yasei's head struck the beam. His restraints pulled at his wrists. His coffee hair ran over his eyes. "Do I look free?"

Doanos laughed. A slimy coil pushed at his skin. His insides were falling out. Blood stained the brig. "As free I do."

Doanos' two-pronged beard hung wet and tangled. The blue paint below his eyes melted on his skin, and only yellow remained.

A wave smashed through the shattered boards and Doanos disappeared. A boot rose above the churning water, and then a scythe. Then they vanished into whites and blues.

Doanos is painting the ocean. The water filled in around him.

Another burst of sunlight poured through, this time from the stairs. Shiny figures ran through the opening, swords in hand. They shouted things, but Yasei couldn't understand.

Aman pulled at his wrists. Yasei's skin screamed. Another man came to his side. That one took the butt of his sword and pried it between the iron ring and the beam. His helm wasn't shiny at all. It was just wet and rounded scales. His eyes were huge, his mustache dripping.

Then they tugged at the iron ring that shackled Yasei to the ocean. Others filed in, shouting and pointing and pulling at shackles. Hestaf screamed near one of the portside beams. The boy thrashed about, yanking and clawing at the beam. They couldn't get him loose either.

Suddenly, Yasei's shackles gave way. His wrists fell against his thigh. The iron was warm against his skin. The water was cold. Yasei stared in disbelief. The scaled men wrapped him in their arms like a young one, bolting up the stairs and leaving the waves wailing behind them.

The deck of the Sun Serpent was torn to pieces. Beyond that, ships were strewn about the rocks. His captors jumped from railings. Others entangled themselves in the ratlines. The scaled men carried prisoners out of sinking ships. Masts cracked and echoed off the cliff side. Birds passed them by.

Yasei hung in the scaled men's arms, his brown skin tangled with their white. The sea spray washed the blood from around his wrists. He may have fallen asleep then, with the blurring whites and blues of the ocean. He couldn't be sure. In an instant the red was gone.

When Yasei awoke, he was wrapped in a blanket. A man without scales tossed a log on the fire. When Yasei looked to him, he smiled. He said something then as he poked at the fire with a stick. His face was young, but a bit old all the same. Older than Yasei, to be sure.

Yasei nodded and shook. His wrists were lighter now. The chains were gone and in their place was raw skin and bandages. Other prisoners sat by the fire. Some looked worse than others. Calai sat against a rock, shaking back and forth. He'll be moving on soon. Yasei shivered.

The foreign man looked at Yasei curiously. A thin line of golden hair ran down his jawline. He said something then, but nothing that made sense.

"He is checking on your health," came a voice from behind him.

Jelah walked beside the fire. He wore a dark green horse's blanket. His beard sat outside it.

"I will live," Yasei said. "Tell him that." Jelah did.

The foreign man said something else. Jelah nodded. "He wants to tell you that his name is Whik Winfield, and that you're safe now."

"Safe?"

"Safe." Jelah smiled. His black wrinkles curled around his mouth. "Free."

"I'm free," Yasei said. "Free?"

Jelah nodded. "Free."

Yasei pulled the blanket in around him.