Chapter Fifty-Four – The Feast

  Midj was cooking up something that smelled good. The fire was hot, but everyone was crammed into the kitchen, anyway, talking and laughing. Except for Tomi. The cat girl sat in a chair at the table with her arms folded across her chest, fast asleep.

  Ames stood awkwardly by the back door with a dizzy smile on her face. Yellow was next to her, trying desperately to look at everyone at once as if he was having trouble figuring out who he wanted to pet him first.

  Rynn was helping Midj, the two women talking a mile a minute. When Rynn relaxed completely, she didn’t care at all she was rambling.

  Gray stood in the doorway.

  Ames smiled at him, her eyes twinkling, but she didn’t say a word.

  One Tomi’s eyes opened a crack. “So, he’s not dead. We thought you were dead.”

  “I didn’t,” Ames whispered. “I knew he was alive. I felt the flowers inside of him bloom. There was sunlight here, sunlight on an endless lake—Midmere, the lake, the waters, between heaven and hell. There, the water is deep and cold and refreshing. Even the gods went there to drink from that lake because they were so very thirsty. They would drink all of our blood if they could.”

  “Don’t I know it!” Midj said loudly from the stove. “I have to tell you guys, I was shaking in my boots coming into Old Town. I know we’re supposed to end up here in a kill squad, but that’s after we go through the Testing, the Training, and all that other stuff. I’m too young and pretty to die!”

  “No one is dying,” Rynn said with a sigh. “I think your dumplings are burning.”

  “Not burning. Getting crispy,” Midj said, defending her cooking.

  Gray could only laugh at the spectacle. “Where did you get the food?”

  “Don’t ask!” Midj said.

  “Stolen,” Ames whispered. “A theft of food, taken from the kitchens of the coliseum. It is a scandal. It is a sin.”

  The goblin girl sighed. “Better to ask for forgiveness than permission. Come on, Ames. Work with me.”

  “The work is done for the day. There is love and feasting in the air.” The dark elf stopped peaking abruptly and simply stared at Gray for a long time.

  Rynn laughed nervously. “Yes, because we won! Can you all believe it? If we keep winning, I’ll keep loving each and every one of you.”

  “Just the one.” Tears filled Ames’s eyes. “Just the one who has the sea and sunlight inside of him.”

  Gray felt the mana around the dark elf, and it somehow felt familiar, like a perfume of a former lover you smell on someone else. Again, he felt the energy, and he could’ve used it, if he knew how, but he didn’t. He still had so much to learn.

  A tear rolled down the dark elf’s face. “There is a whole world of sunlight in him that will one day light up even the place of water and stars.”

  A shiver touched the back of Gray’s neck. “How do you know my dreams?”

  Tomi chuckled, eyes half-open. “Ames says all kinds of things. She’s repeated my dreams back to me. Don’t know how she does it, but we’ve come to accept it.” The cat girl seemed even more sleepy than normal. Had she been drinking?

  “They are not dreams,” Ames said. “It is the past, the distant past, at the beginning of time when there wasn’t even a sun. You were there, light filling you. To dance in the light. To drink the light. To know your own soul through the soul of another.”

  The dark elf then glanced over at Rynn, who stood, looking uncomfortable. Rynn wasn’t saying a word, which mean she was probably holding in a long ramble that might betray her true thoughts.

  Gray realized that she didn’t want them to know the depth of her connection to him. Maybe she regretted kissing him in front of their squad, but he didn’t think so. This was different. They were bonded. There was no going back.

  A frightened thrill went through Gray, and he smiled. Good. He didn’t want to go back.

  Ames turned back to Gray. “You are wondering who is in the shack. You hear the women, laughing, like we are now. But who are they? Some of the women are in this kitchen, others have yet to join us, and some…some won’t survive. They are there too. When the sun shines, the dead will sink down into the depths to be forgotten. Yet they are a part of the water as well. You swam in souls, the souls of all, the mana of butchered gods.”

  Midj grunted. “Come on, Ames. Let’s not lean too heavily in prophecy. This is a party. The fried dumplings are almost done. Best way to eat them is fried and not steamed in my humble opinion. I think I have the sauce right. Hope I do. Dipping them in a good sauce is the only way to go.”

  “I like my dumplings with a side of prophecy,” Tomi said with a grin. “You’re right about having the right sauce. Let’s dip our dumplings in the blood of butchered gods.”

  “Gosh,” Midj said. “We probably shouldn’t be talking about any of that, not where we are.”

  “We’re safe her,” Rynn protested. “The captain’s wards are very powerful. And Yellow will bark if anything gets through. Then? We’ll fight them off. We have the mana for it.”

  “Speaking of which, the captain wasn’t too pleased when she came in. What did you get in trouble for?” Midj asked.

  Gray found himself without an answer. He couldn’t tell them the truth. But how long could he his relationship with Rynn a secret? He’d have to talk with her. They would have to tell their squad about their bond sooner rather than later. Ames, though, seemed to know already.

  A lie came to him, which was a kind of half-truth. “She was mad that I risked myself to win. I emptied my core.”

  “He gave it all to me,” Rynn said, then blushed. “So I could keep the dais clear. I thought we both might die.”

  Tomi smiled even as tears filled her eyes. “If we’re going to make suicide a requirement for being in the squad, well, count me in.”

  “I know!” Midj yelled. “That stunt you pulled, holding onto the ball while you clung to the side of the stands. What were you thinking, Tomi?”

  The cat girl smiled so much her eyes closed and a tear slid down her cheek. “I wanted to win. And I didn’t want that bitch dragon to get the ball. I liked playing with her. She got so upset, it was funny. Gotta be honest, it made the pain worth it.”

  Ames then burst into laughter, laughing and laughing, until tears leaked down her face.

  She was so strange! And Gray had a thousand questions for her. Make that ten thousand. She just might know who Oma was and what his visions meant.

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  Midj finally started bringing food to them, but it was so hot in the kitchen, they took the table out into the living area. Yellow bugged them until they didn’t have a choice but to give him a dumpling.

  Gray started eating the cheeses, the sausage, the bread as well as the fried dumplings and the corresponding sauce.

  He was sitting next to Midj, keeping up with her as she ate. She smiled at him. “There you go. That’s how a man should eat. You don’t nibble, you taste, you savor, your enjoy. Those dumplings are just shy of burnt, but it’s that crispy edge that does it. Crispy, doughy, then meaty and then bang, you got the sauce that smacks you with salt. Tell me that I’m wrong, Grayson Fade. Tell me that I didn’t cook them up perfectly.”

  He smiled at her. “I would say you warmed them up. We still need to see you cook.”

  The goblin girl’s whole body was lit up with mana, and every bit of food made her brighten. It was easy to see her resonance at work, and yet, there was something else there, something hidden. Her core was becoming more familiar to him, and yet, she still had a mystery to her.

  All of the women at the midnight feast still had so many secrets for him to discover.

  As he ate, Gray felt his core reacting to the food. The more he ate, the better he felt, even as his stomach stretched. Yes, this was gluttony. This was the divine act of eating, which wasn’t just about fighting hunger, but about savoring the experience of food, spices, textures, tastes, spices. Their little meal was the best he’d ever eaten, however simple, and it wasn’t just because Midj was a good cook. No. There was so much more happening to him as he ate.

  As he ate, he realized he had a third resonance, the Food Instinct. Stuffing himself was giving him energy. A second later, with his heart pounding, he could feel a sense of pride in having three resonances and that pride gave him mana. Being resonant with four of the instincts was rare, very rare, but he wanted more. Was he being greedy? Yes. And that gave him mana.

  With his head spinning, he knew the truth. He had all seven resonances. Emptying his core had done something to him, had gotten him unstuck in some profound way, and a whole new world had opened up for him.

  The captain came down bearing a bottle of wine.

  Rynn lifted her cup. “There is our captain! Let’s raise a glass to Captain Sette Sevanya, who is the only reason why we are. My Aunt Florence would say that the only thing more powerful than a dream is that dream coming true!”

  They all toasted the captain, and she looked at them, brow furrowed for several long minutes.

  Gray watched the dragon woman carefully, trying to see what she was feeling, like he had before. He couldn’t for a moment, but then he reached out, feeling for her core. There was a different kind of energy going through her, a kind of honest truth about her role. Yes, she had brought them together, and yet, her plans had come undone. It was only because of the strength of the five souls she had gathered that they had won the day.

  Should he tell her that he had all seven resonances? Not that night. He wanted to make the midnight feast about his squad and not about him. That humility—like so much that night—fed his soul like nothing else.

  There was a moment of quiet. Gray and his squad were waiting for Settie to say something.

  Tomi had been napping across from him, and she suddenly came to life. “Yes! A toast! For she’s a jolly good fellow.”

  The captain scowled. “Not a fellow, Tomika Ka.”

  They all laughed, even Tomi, who smiled even though the cat girl was a bit embarrassed from her sleepy outburst.

  The captain uncorked the bottle and all poured them a glass. “This came from Alastria, now called the Crumblelands. It is a rare vintage, the most expensive bottle in my collection. Ancient magic has kept it pure even as it aged and such sorcery has made it powerful, delicious, and potent. Though manafied, I think now our Gray might be able to handle it.”

  “Handle that and more,” Ames whispered. “The wine will turn to dust in his sunlight.”

  Tomi rolled her eyes. “No more talk of sunlight, Ames. It’s midnight.”

  “After midnight,” the captain said. “Outside, there are demons who would kill us for our cores. In Wrath City, we have enemies, who are trying to undo us. But here, in this house, in my house, we…” Her voice died. Her emotions had silenced her.

  It was telling that she referred to it as Wrath City and not Pit City. Like she had been there when the Wrath tower fell.

  The captain fought to keep her voice even. She was a storm of resonances, her soul so complicated from her millennia of living. She tried again to say the words she so desperately wanted to express. “In this house, in our house, we are safe. This is our sanctuary, for all of us, and I’m glad to share it with you. I toast you, Squad 23. I toast you.”

  They all drank, and Gray had manafied wine for the first time. He expected to have the kick of an ironbite, but even when it was in his mouth, he felt like he’d drunk a gallon of boozy sludge that arena slaves drank in Cradleport.

  Then he swallowed, feeling the warm burn. In his stomach, he felt the glow. For a second, time stopped. Everything felt right with the world. It was a perfect moment. Eyes closed, he felt the magic of the women around him, those six souls that blazed with such bright beauty.

  Ames was wrong. There was sunlight inside them all.

  * * *

  Later that night, with the house silent, Gray wasn’t surprised when Rynn crept into his room and slid in next to him. He held her as she fell asleep. Listening to her breath was so relaxing, and yet, he couldn’t sleep. All of the other women had found their rooms, and though they were lacking some linens and pillows, after living in Third Barracks, the place was a paradise. There might be demons, but there wasn’t a single scorpion in sight.

  He’d thought he’d dream of Oma and the place of water and stars, but instead, he found himself back in Cradleport, walking on a sandy beach as the waves rolled in. Ames was there, in the surf, watching him.

  He waved to her, but she didn’t wave back. Something was wrong with her.

  He was on his way to check on her when Rynn shifted, waking him up. For whatever reason, Gray found himself wide awake. Yellow, at the food of their bed, let out a whine. The dog was having a nightmare.

  Gray got out of bed and pet the dog. Yellow’s eyes opened, staring at him. For some strange reason, he knew Yellow had been dreaming of Ames as well. Maybe the dog had soothed the Quelling elf. Gray hoped that was the case.

  He petted the dog until he as back asleep. Gray then left his room to walk the house. Somehow, having six of the rooms of the filled made him happy. He couldn’t stop smiling. Ruin Manor was full of people again. It just felt right.

  Down in the living room, he was surprised to see the captain awake, in the chair by the window, looking outside. The ageless dragon woman held his stick in her lap.

  He went to her. “That’s my stick.”

  The captain smiled, and it was rather sad. “It is. It is filled with your very special magic. There’s something that I picked up yesterday. I didn’t tell you about it. I didn’t want you focused on anything other than Culling Day.”

  He knew what it was. Somehow.

  “It’s a letter, isn’t it?”

  Settie nodded. “It is.”

  “It’s not from Master Kreef or the arena.” Gray said, knowing the truth. And yet, it did have something to do with Blind John’s fate.

  The captain held up the letter, stained, marked, even a little burned. It looked like it had gone through hell to get to him.

  “It’s from the princess,” Gray said.

  Settie nodded.

  “One moment.” Gray walked away from her, went into the kitchen, and got a cup of water. He sipped it, looking out into the alley. He remembered the princess’s bed and how they had talked of the world. He’d been so sure the tales of magic were just stories, and that the Belly and the Crown were just faraway places where normal humans lived out their lives as mundane as Cradleport.

  Then, he’d taken her necklace, and found himself in a new world. The Widow Stone said it was enchanted but how could that be? Just one more mystery. That necklace was upstairs, in a very fine room, in a very fine house, even though it was slowly falling into ruin. There were piles of dirt growing weeds in the hallway outside of his room. They had to repair the roof, replace windows, and fix things up, but that was the work of another day.

  Gray returned to Settie in the living room.

  The dragon woman went to hand him the letter, but instead, Gray took his stick. “I shall deal with that later. For now, I’ll take my stick upstairs, just in case your warding failed.”

  The captain frowned. “My warding will not fail.”

  “I know, but I’ll feel better with my trusty staff around.”

  “It’s too short to be a staff.” Settie studied him. “Aren’t you curious?”

  He nodded. “I am. But I’m also weary. Reading that letter will not help me sleep. I’ll go back to my room, to my bed, and I’ll satisfy my curiosity in the morning. My mind is not master.”

  The captain tucked the letter back into her coat. “Who is your master?”

  “No one,” he said.

  He left her, crawled into his bed, and found himself on his back with Rynn using his chest as a pillow. When the worry, when the curiosity, when the chatter started, he merely focused on his breathing, on his strong heart beating, on his powerful magical soul, and then?

  He found sleep. He had earned his peace that night.

  THE END