The Nightshade Chronicles

Chapter 4

Gemma walked forward, her eyes down and her back hunched. Every time she tried to straighten up or stretch, her chains either bit into her or one of the guards' spirit animals did. Out of the eight that were escorting her, three of them had a spirit animal. Gemma observed a small fennec fox, a toad, and a chipmunk. Another guard had a tortoise tattoo, but Gemma wasn't sure if it was a spirit animal or just for show. She spat some toxic thoughts at the people around her, halfway thankful they couldn't hear and halfway hoping that they did. Kya hadn't been reunited with her yet, and she desperately craved at least a glimpse of the clouded leopard to tell her that she was all right.

The guard didn't seem to have that in mind, though.

Gemma wasn't walking in the dark back paths of the city anymore. No, she was being shoved along in chains in the middle of a crowded street. The people parted around them, murmuring to themselves. Gemma wasn't sure what they were looking at, or why they let the group through so easily. Maybe it was because Purple Woman was an important person, and they respected her status.

It was though, more likely, that Purple Woman's spirit animal had something to do with it. A muscled, gray cougar stalked in front of them. His teeth were bared and he was snarling at the crowd. Gemma had no doubt that he would be roaring if he could, but thankfully cougars could only growl, hiss, purr, and sometimes chirp.

It certainly didn't make him any less intimidating. Gemma caught sight of a few young children crying as the cougar looked on with an evil-looking smirk. Soon, Gemma heard the clicking of Purple Woman's boots on something that didn't sound like the stone streets of Amaya. It was hollow sounding, and soon Gemma realized they were walking on wood.

The docks. . . The docks? She wrinkled her nose, rather confused, but was yanked along again before she could pause to think. Water churned below the planks and Gemma raised her head, defying the complaints of her sore neck.

"I don't believe it. . ." Gemma grumbled as a regal-looking ship came into view. Sure, it had iron bars for windows and was obviously designed to keep people in, but it was absolutely majestic.

Red stained planks swept along the side of the ship, forming the bow and the railing. Gold fabric cascaded down the edge, almost sweeping the water. More gold was added as decorative trim on the sails, and an intricately carved dragon head was rising up at the front of the ship. Pure white stones, probably marble, were set into the railing and the red mast of the ship. The effect was breathtaking.

Except for the fact that the stones soon revealed themselves to be carved. Carved like small, shining, horrifying human skulls. Gemma almost choked when she saw another, larger, more chilling sight. She realized that the dragon head at the front appeared to be slowly crushing a skull in its jaws. Cracks ran along the wooden skull that had at first blended in at first glance.

The captain of the ship was standing at the bow of the large vessel, and his eyes widened as he saw the group approaching. He let out a boom of laughter, then motioned to one of the crew members. She scurried off and returned with a sharp looking weapon. Gemma couldn't determine if it was a spear or an ax, but it looked lethal.

And what exactly are they planning to do with that? Gemma wondered, right as the captain stepped up to the dragon head, leaned to the side, and used the long spear-ax to strike the side of the human skull the dragon was smashing. Immediately, long cracks splintered out from the point, and Gemma soon realized that the other fractures on the skull were man-made.

The captain grinned down at her with his rotting teeth. Gemma felt queasy, the only thing keeping her lunch down was the fact that she hadn't had any for the last few days. That stands for me, she realized. That crack. I wonder what they're planning to even do. Where am I going? Her stomach churned. And what happened to all the other people? There were many cracks, obviously all made from the same sharp tool that the captain had just used.