Act II

The Gathering

Two days later on the Sea of Rubies, Kiera abruptly woke up with a gasp, sitting up straight in bed as she noticed Areiya touching her shoulder. The creaking ship rocked over the calm waves.

"I'm sorry to wake you up. You seemed to be having a bad dream."

Kiera ran her hand over her sweaty forehead and shook her head. "It's fine. Are we there?"

Areiya nodded. "Yes. Prepare for the heat, though. It's way cooler on the sea than on land. Dress up, and we'll be off to our first stash."

Kiera nodded, "Okay." before the tribal girl left the crew quarters back on deck. She sat on the edge of her bed and dug her face in the palms of her hand, rubbing off some more sweat while releasing a sigh.

Areiya provided her with a new set of clothing for the blazing desert, folded up on the end of her bed. A white leather padded garb with a brown scarf around the waist. She climbed into the outfit and inspected her own arms and lower body.

"Not too bad," Kiera mumbled to herself. She also noticed the garb had a hood and another brown scarf around her neck. Judging by the clothing, she might've been underestimating the treacherous path ahead. She discarded the thought and went on deck. Areiya commanded a few sailors around, towing down a boat into the water. Most of them were topless.

"Vote for your new captain. But if I have any to recommend, it's Sewa. He's a great leader. Now go and prepare to turn this ship around."

The sailor nodded. "Aye, captain."

Kiera went to stand beside Areiya, looking at the vast desert in the distance. Heat mirages were coming off of the ground, blurring the dunes with a shimmering effect.

"Volaria...don't you think it's the most beautiful continent in Oryn?" Areiya asked while she kept her squinting eyes on the horizon. The sunlight reflected in her eyes.

"It is beautiful," Kiera said, already feeling the blazing heat on her face. And she wasn't even off the ship yet. "I heard there are a lot of nomads and bandits roaming the desert. Is that true?"

Areiya nodded in response. "It's true. They stay away from the Melachir tribes though. If you stick with me, we will be fine."

Those words didn't comfort Kiera further in any way, but did she have a choice at this point? One of the sailors shouted that the rowboat was ready.

"You hear that? Let's do this." Areiya smiled, heading over to the ladder to descent onto the rowboat. She gave Kiera a hand to get her on as well. With a final goodbye to the crew, Areiya started rowing towards the shore.

A moment later, they beached onto the shore. The crashing waves rushed over Kiera's feet as she looked back at the ship on last time. Areiya had a similar garb as her; it only suited her more than it did to Kiera.

The heat was almost unbearable. Two minutes out in this desert and Kiera's face already dripped with sweat. Areiya took out a map and then looked at the sun.

"Alright. I know where to go. Stay with me, and don't lose pace. The quicker we are at the stash, the better."

Areiya immediately started climbing the first dune. Kiera pulled up her hood and covered her mouth and nose with the scarf around her neck before following Areiya. When they reached the top of the dune, they had a better view of the rest of the waste. There was nothing but sand on the horizon. It shocked Kiera a little. Other than the oasis of Jiron, she had never been to the Silent Waste before.

"Welcome to the home of my people." Areiya said, descending the dune.

The entire fleet anchored around the main island of the Ferronian Islands, and the shores crawled with pirates and improvised tent camps. In the biggest one was the leading force of the fleet. Valmir and Marlock. They stood around a war table in the largest tent, the entrance protected by a pair of pirates.

"Kiera and Areiya are out to unite the tribes in Volaria. If they succeed, we will be at least fifty-thousand strong." Valmir said, pacing around the table while looking at the map that was displayed, "With those numbers and their skill in combat, we'll probably beat them in the open field. But that won't be enough. They're not trained for sieges. We need a backup plan, and I have a proposal for that."

"What proposal?" Marlock asked, leaning over the table with his fists supporting himself.

"My sister, Saenna, abandoned my family and is rumored to have her own city in the Forbidden Land. She might have the men we're missing." Valmir said.

Marlock looked at him as if he said something wrong. "I thought your sister fled to that forsaken land to escape exactly what we are doing right now?"

"She did. But perhaps I might convince her. I'm her brother, after all." Valmir replied.

"And what if that fails too? Huh? How can we be sure she won't take your head the moment you set foot in that place? We'll lose the only force we have, and we'll have no chance left to gain back people's freedom." Marlock asked.

The deadly pirate captain took a step closer to Marlock, looking him straight in the eyes. "I'm her brother. She despises Areyn, so if she has a chance to stop him, she'll take it. Besides, if you have any better ideas, feel free to inform me." He headed to the flaps of the tent to leave. "If I haven't returned within a week, consider me dead. Harper is my second. He will continue helping your cause when I'm dead."

And then he was gone, leaving Marlock alone in the tent. He couldn't say anything back. After all, Valmir was right. Without other allies, the dream of having a free world would crumble into pieces. He let out a sigh, and one of his assigned pirate guards entered his tent. The pirate guards were equipped with scavenged leather armor and looted swords.

"Captain, one 'Ayska,' wants to speak to you."

"Let her in." Marlock said, "And it's commander. Not captain."

The pirate nodded and left the tent, letting Ayska replace him. The gorgeous eastern healer in a white robe, and long, loose curly hair

"Do you have a moment, commander?" she asked.

"Of course," he said.

"The only reason I did not go with Areiya and Kiera is that I don't have a home in Volaria anymore. The emperor destroyed it all. But these pirates...I cannot stand them. They're obnoxious and loud. They're like children." Ayska said. Only now, Marlock noticed the bags under her eyes.

"I know. But when it comes to fighting, they're reliable."

"Since when are pirates reliable?" Ayska whined, her voice carrying an angry tone.

Marlock approached her with a calm posture. "Look, Ayska. I know everything doesn't look great right now. Especially after we lost everything in Jiron. But we have to rebuild. We cannot do that without these pirates."

"Is it even worth our time to try to rebuild? Every time we tried, the emperor brought us back to the ground. Do you really think these tribes will all unite with each other against the crown? They've been each other enemies since the dawn of men, and you expect them just to forgive and forget? That is ridiculous, even for you." Ayska growled, but immediately realized she might've gone too far with her words.

"Watch your tongue, Ayska. You may be my friend, but I'm still your commander." Marlock said, raising his chest in front of her. A stern look on his scarred face. "Right now, these are the only options we have. No matter what happens, whether one or both fail...our cause will never die. Not when I still live."

They both paused as Marlock sat down on his chair behind his desk. "Anything else?"

Ayska glared at Marlock disappointed. He wasn't even looking at her anymore. "No."

"Then I'd like some time for myself. I need to think." Marlock said.

Without saying anything else, Ayska left the tent. Once again, Marlock was left alone in silence. He sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples.

Bells chimed in the Citadel. Flocks of birds flew by the White Tower, where the emperor was looking through the window with a golden goblet of wine on the top floor. The throne room. He wore a black doublet embroidered with gold thread. His golden crown rested on his short and black curly hair.

The doors leading into the throne room opened, creating an echoing sound within the hall. He turned towards the footsteps. It was a guard in steel armor.

"Your highness, he's here," he said, bowing respectfully.

"Bring him in," Areyn said, walking up to his throne and sitting down. Two more guards entered the hall, dragging a man in dirty, ragged clothes across the marble floor towards Areyn. When they reached him, they threw the man on the ground. The man wanted to stand up, but one of the guards kicked him back on the ground.

"My apologies, I can't remember me saying you were allowed to stand up...Sir Graham." Areyn said, lounging in his throne.

Graham raised his head, covered in bruises and sweat. His hair wasn't looking that great either.

"What do you want from me?" Graham asked. He stared Areyn right in his eyes. Those cold snow-white eyes.

"I don't like the way he looks at me," Areyn smirked. Both guards grabbed Graham by his hair and pushed him down with his cheek on the marble floor. He growled and resisted, but this only made the guards push harder.

"You should know why you're here, Sir Graham." Areyn stood up, still with the goblet of wine in his hand. He paced towards the grounded knight.

"When I make you an anointed knight to serve within my royal guard, I expect you to be loyal. After all, you made a sacred vow in front of the Three Deities. Did you forget?" He crouched down in front of Graham

"I have served you loyally since I started growing hair on my fucking balls," Graham growled. Suddenly, Areyn grabbed him by his chin and forced him to look in his eyes while screaming with anger.

"I am your emperor!" His face flushed red, "Chop off his thumb for lying to me."

The guards grabbed Graham's arm and fixed it on the ground, which made him flail about, trying to squirm free from their grasp.

"No! No, no, no, no! Wait!"

"Do you really think I don't know about your talk with Gillian? Do you really think I am that stupid?" Areyn yelled while the guards were fixing Graham's hand for the chop. At that point, Graham wasn't even listening to Areyn.

"Stop!" he groaned.

"You're all big mouth, Graham. But when it comes down to it, you're smaller than a bloody peasant." He slapped Graham's chin up. "Look at me."

And before Graham knew it, one of the guards chopped off his thumb in one swing. Blood poured on the floor as he screamed in pain. His thumb lay separated from his hand. The guards released him, and Graham curled up on the floor trying to stop the bleeding on his hand. Areyn stood up and took a sip from his wine.

"I hereby discharge you from duty, and renounce you from your knighthood...bring him to the dungeons after the healers fixed his bleeding. I'm not done with him yet."

The guards pulled Graham up and dragged him out of the throne room. When everything was silent again, the emperor sat back into his throne, his face showing no emotion at all.

Areiya and Kiera roamed the blazing desert of Volaria. Kiera was a bit behind, clearly slouching through the sand.

"Areiya..wait.." she panted. Areiya looked back and noticed she was getting behind. Kiera's face dripped with sweat.

"How much water do we have left?" Kiera asked.

"One bottle, but we should be close to the stash. It's at an oase. We'll be able to rest there. Will you be okay?" Areiya asked. She was sweating as well, but not as much as Kiera.

"I will. Does the sand sneak up in your pants as well?" Kiera whined, which made Areiya let out a giggle.

"You'll get used to it. Now come on! You're slacking off!"

"I'll slack off your face," Kiera mumbled.

Areiya was the first to get to the top of the next dune. "You have to be kidding me...it's not here?"

Kiera's eyes opened widely as she picked up her pace to get to the top as well. "No no no no..what?"

When she reached the top, her panicked expression transformed into annoyance when Areiya started laughing. "Do you think that's funny?"

In the distance was the oase. It had a few groups of palm trees and a small pond. It surely was a sight for sore eyes after wandering the dry desert for almost the entire day.

"Oh come on, admit it, you almost chuckled!" Areiya smiled as Kiera walked past her, sulking.

They quickly reached the oase, and Kiera sought up the shadows to collapse into the grass.

"Shadow...I love you..." she groaned. Areiya was only out for the stash, looking at her map.

"According to this map, it should be close to the pond." Areiya looked around, "I don't see anything."

It took a while for them to notice, but the tribal warrior was first. She perked up her head and froze. Then Kiera heard it as well.

A distant trampling sound. It could've been horses, but it could've also been a stampede. Though, Areiya knew better.

"We have to leave," she said in a quick and severe tone. Kiera crawled up and followed Areiya.

"But what if it's your people?" Kiera asked, barely catching up with her. The trampling started to sound more like a stampede of horse hooves, which confirmed Areiya's worries.

"No questions, just-" but the trampling horses surrounded them. Areiya took a halt and darted her head around in a panic, swearing in her own language.

"Sekh!"

The rhythmic thudding sound of the horse hooves digging in the sand revealed many tribal mounted warriors, wearing light padded clothing and curved swords. They all had black hair and red war paint around their eyes.

"Don't...make a sudden move," Areiya mumbled, raising her hands as Kiera did precisely what she was told to do. The warriors surrounded them completely. Their horses nickered and trampled impatiently as a warrior moved up front, seemingly the leader of this group.

"Osmani nizze sa satjinsat gieri merji?" the warrior asked. (What are you two outlanders doing here?)

Areiya responded in Volarian. "Jin'gi jin satjinsat. Jin'jinven geh qafnisatjin Melachir. Qaf nizze gi sat fehqaf!" (I'm not an outlander. I'm with the Melachir Tribes. We are not your enemy!)

The warrior gazed intimidatingly towards Areiya before deciding what to do. "Qisqaf geh Melachir firqaf, zze geh satjinsat gi geh fehni'." (Seize the Melachir one and throw the outlander to the hyena's.)

"Areiya?" Kiera asked as warriors were approaching her. Areiya didn't even look at Kiera as she closed her eyes and remained silent as the warriors grabbed her.

"No, wait! Get off of me!" Kiera screamed while trying to struggle free from the warriors' powerful grasps. "Areiya!"

They dragged her away as they captured Areiya as well, forcing her down her knees. Though she didn't fight back. They tied her up on a horse to force her to walk along. As for Kiera, they stung her with a strange dart.

Immediately after, she felt dizzy. The warriors in front of her doubled, and then...darkness. Finally, Areiya looked back to see Kiera's unconscious body being left behind. Every signal in her brain told her to stay, but the mounted warriors continued their travel, tugging Areiya's bindings on the horse. Once again, she left Kiera to die, and it pained her dearly.