Nehmasis

Prologue

I pull Henni from under her arms. The progress is slow, but I can't leave her in the tomb. The cold, empty crypt feels like it's mocking me. Her dead corpse rotting away inside would be worse. I can't bear it.

"This is what mourning feels like," I let the words hang in the air, a whisper flitting around my ears. It makes it real, this grief, this heavy, onerous thing.

It makes me feel alive.

With my hand still clenched over my heart, I force myself to turn away from the crypt. Soft gasps of air swirl around my head in a fog. It hurts a bit to breathe.

"I am Righteous Vengeance," I whisper, watching my words in the foggy breath around my face.

"I am the hand that strikes when torment has come due."

I look at the city lights on the hill above me. Globes of fairy-flame glimmer softly as larger bonfires chase away the chill. It is a merry, happy sight. Up there, the noble clans of the city are celebrating.

Not for much longer.

I don't stumble. My feet are ever sure, always nimble, deadly. I never learned to walk. Walking is for mortal blood, Papas would always say. I learned to dance the graceful lethality of war and death before I ever took a step. 

Agony crushes my heart. I look at Henni one last time. I want so badly to go home with her. I want to show her the beauty of the afterlife. I want to show her my family. To let this beautiful soul know what a mother's love feels like.

A breath, a heartbeat, and I am watching Henni's body sink below the churning surface of the sea below.

"I am the strength in the shadow of the wronged, the suffering, the scorned, the despised," I whisper to myself.

I hear the faintest screams. The fairy lights in the hills bob and weave, dancing wildly in the wind. Some of them are blown so violently that the strings break and globes crash to the ground, shattering into flesh-piercing slivers.

Cold air buffets the bonfires. The rain that pours from the sky a moment later drowns the flames. The city falls into darkness. The noblest of blood retreat inside.

A grand entrance is appealing, but this is a night of stealth. I am my mama's shadow.

"Nehma?" Kili is huddled in her bed, her tiny body shaking in fear from the storm. "What is happening?"

"Henni is dead," I reply flatly.

Her eyes widen on me. "H-Henni is gone?" she sobs.

"Come with me, Kili. Bring Havela and Jaia." I will save these three. These strong, sweet females that are scorned and imprisoned for being weak. Just like Henni.

Turning, I walk to Henni's room. I have little time. I know that. Reaching out, I spread the blood on my hands on her pillow, smearing the linen with the only remains of Henni left in the Above.

I pick up the silver medallion Tarj gave her and crush the pendant in my fist. Silver warps and the ruby, his heart, is crushed to dust. I leave it on the bed for his guards to find.

"Nehma?" Hevela is creeping down the hall, her right hand pressed to the wall as to guide her as she blindly seeks a way to escape the darkness. Her left is clutching Jaia. The darkling girl is so terrified that she is mute with fear, shaking as tears stream down her face. Kili joins us as we pass her room. All three females tremble and shake, but they follow me.

I wish I had done this before Henni had died.

"Flesh is flesh," I whisper brokenly. I will see Henni again. Death is no mystery to me. I have nothing to fear.

"I can see nothing but you, Nehma," Kili murmurs.

"I am all you need to see, Kili," my words are sad. I know the price they will pay for this night.

"Don't be sad, at least she's not suffering any longer," Kili whispers.

I blink away my tears. The ache in my heart is nearly unbearable. It hurts so powerfully that I clasp my hand over my chest futilely.

"Do you trust me?" I ask.

"Like a sister," she says softly, "with my life."

"Me too," Hevela adds. Jaia is silent, but her hand seeks mine, cold and shaking.

"Blind, but free," I can't explain any more. Emotion makes my throat swell and traps my words. I know the price they will pay for this night. The Other will be clear as day to them, but all else in the Above is lost.

I lead them out of the palace into the storm. In the barn, I find the wagon the newly-Bound couple was going to use to go their wedding bower tonight. It is laden with supplies. Blankets, food, a lamp. It only takes a moment to saddle the mule.

The mule will be blind after tonight, as well. It can't be helped. I'll make sure he lives a life of leisure after this. In a field of grass with fruits as treats.

I help the females into the wagon and steer them outside. The mule, a faithful animal, plods into the fury-filled night.

We make good time, leaving the city behind as walls of water from the sea crash into the barrier that protects the city.

"Stone is stone," I murmur.

My mother burned her city to the ground. I will drown mine.

When the wagon winds up into the hills I hear the crashing stone, the screams. I feel the pain as those who aided in Henni's death are buried under a torrent of seawater.

Few will survive. Her lover will be one of them. I am not finished with him. Not yet.

"We are Death."

A/N  Mara's baby girl is all grown up and killing people. Sniff.