Chapter 38: A Piece of the Past

Nahana gave her no time to consider her non-distinct offer of revenge and lead her straight below the palace via a staircase on the opposite side of the bath. Walking through corridor after corridor and turning corner after corner, Sylph lost her orientation after a minute.

Faint voices echoed through the dimly lit passages, but the many corners and low ceiling made it impossible to follow or estimate the direction. She glimpsed upward at Nahana’s ears, which twitched and turned as her own. Intentional or not, the innards of the palace perfectly confused Aer.

Nahana stopped at a reinforced wooden door that looked like all other dark and foreboding doors they passed. “Behind this door,” her voice turned colder than ever before, “is one of the humans that stole your egg. She is all yours.” Nahana pulled the door wide open and turned to leave. “I’ll be waiting up top. Do whatever you want with her.”

Sylph’s dragonheart fluttered in surprise as her head caught up with the words she heard. One of the people responsible for her theft, they were here? Imprisoned? Why had Nahana not mentioned that before?

She barely registered the silhouette of a shadowy figure at the back as she entered. Sparks tickled her chest from the inside, like a storm blowing over embers. All the repressed memories boiled forth and took hold in every muscle. She had dreamed of meeting somebody responsible. With a growl and bared teeth, she stepped closer. Every claw sat heavy on the end of her pfod as her focus narrowed. The intoxicating smell of blood entered her nostrils and filled her head like a red mist. Muscles tightened and the tension inside built with every slow breath she drew, as if she was about to pounce on her prey when it least expected it.

The dark figure moved, and Sylph exploded forward. It recoiled and threw itself into the chains against the wall. Sylph caught her sense with the last remnants of composure and stopped a few feet ahead. Questions! Her mind yelled, she should ask questions.

“YOU!” A light globe at the ceiling sprung to life at the sound of her thundering voice. It took her eyes a second to adjust. “What, by the six?” Her dragonheart extinguished and made way to a cold, pounding hollow as the tension fled her body.

Sylph barely recognized her as a human. Chained to a wall just high enough to not allow her to sit, Sylph could count every bone through her ghostly skin. Black and blue bruises blanketed her body along with yellow, festering boils where the iron chains rubbed against her wrists. Old claw marks covered her entire torso and legs next to a strange electric burn spiraling out from her upper torso. The skeleton in Linz looked livelier than her.

“Do your worst. Hurt me, use me, whatever. I don’t feel it anymore,” she croaked with what was once a voice and slumped backwards, held only by the chains. Sylph gagged as the acrid smell of the room hit her and forced herself to swallow the contents of her stomach back down. “What did she do to you? Who are you?”

The human did not answer, only raised her head, revealing her gray, lifeless eyes. “Ha,” she coughed and spat up a blob of yellow slime. “That’s not the usual question. Forgot it, have you? Forgot it?” She cocked her head sideways. The single strand of hair fell downwards like a fat slug.

“No, nonononono, you are not her!” A jolt went through her body. “You look like her, but, the voice, it’s close- but different!” She drew hasty breaths. “You are her- son. She found you.” The figure gasped for air and forced herself to stand on shaky legs. “She found my brother?! No, she can’t find my brother. If she hasn’t found him, how are you here?”

Sylph did not know what to answer. Did Nahana do this? Not even the ones that took her deserved this. “I know nothing about your brother. I found Nahana by myself. I am her daughter. What’s your name?” Sylph asked, and found her voice wavering.

The woman sunk back down. “Told you you’d never find him. My name, Mary- Man- Mariny. Her daughter. That is who we stole then.” She cackled with a desperate howl. “After all this time, you came on your own. She tried so hard, but I never told her a word. Hid my brother and you from her. And now you came on your own, without my brother.” Mariny bent forwards, staring at Sylph with gleaming wide eyes and missing teeth in her smile. “I can die now, can I? Please?”

Sylph swallowed hard. Nahana had searched for her and her prisoner never spilled where they sold Sylph, all to protect her brother. “You were the one that stole me, right? How did you end up in here? How long did she keep you?”

Mariny let out a clogged scream. “I told you so many times! He had no reason. Our captain took the egg for no reason. Dust helped us. Idiot. I wanted to throw it overboard, but no, no, they sold it, yes. I-I don’t know how she found me. They came at night, my brother escaped.”

Sylph studied the chained human. Then she stared at her claws. Death is the penalty for slavery, she recalled and clenched her teeth. Her thoughts clashed. She no longer knew what to feel, what to think about having Mariny right at the end of her own claws. This was what she always wanted. She had imagined what it would be like, a lot of punching and scratching and yelling, but now, when she looked at the dangling husk of a human in front of her, she could not bring herself to hurt her further.

Significant questions that philosophers pondered for years and years barged into her mind. What was justice? What was a fair punishment? And why did Sylph have to decide right now? Her legs moved without a goal, dragging her around in a circle as large as the room. She hated Mariny, without a doubt. Killing her might be the lawful decision; It would also solve nothing. It would not bring back her wings, nor change the past. Sylph glimpsed up at Mariny as she figured out what justice would entail to her. Mariny backed up to the wall.

Sylph yelled out and smacked the stones near Mariny’s stomach with an open palm. “I will have my justice for what you did. I will have you released. Then you can go find your brother. Once you find him, go find your captain. I want you to drag him, by the balls if necessary, to Carthia’s gates so I can tell him to go fuck himself sideways with an oar. And if you don’t, I swear I will find you.”

The woman merely cackled. “Aye, I can try. With pleasure even. But she will not allow that.”

“She told me it is my decision.” Although she was not so sure that it was. Nahana was a monster. This was a present in her mind. Veria would never do something this cruel, even to the person who stole Sylph. Who knew what Nahana would do if Brandon as much as said the wrong thing?

Sylph stepped into the corridor and took in the silence. The poor woman had gone mad. While Sylph did not doubt her answer, there was somebody else that should know; Dust.

She made her way back towards Nahana, who smiled smugly as could be. Like she had just fulfilled Sylph’s greatest desire. She was not wrong, or so Sylph had thought, until about half an hour ago. “I am done with her. You can let her go. I gave her a task to fulfill for me.”

“She is still alive?” Nahana sounded astonished.

“Yes.”

“Intriguing. Very well, if that is your decision, I shall set her free.”