Page 101 of Flame and Sparrow

The space was large and mostly empty of furniture, save for a few cabinets housing rusted weapons. Stairs twisted along the curved walls on either side of me, leading to floors above and below. Through one of several tall windows, I could see the ocean rising and restlessly slamming against the fortress. With every wave that thrashed against the outside walls, the beast inside grew more restless. A particularly violent crash sent it into a frenzy, and it twisted toward me again, its jaws opened wide.

I instinctively started to lift my sword, but stopped as I recalled the Ocean Marr’s instructions.

“Soothe the ocean-forged beast inside the fortress,” I reminded myself. “Soothe it, not slay it.”

I pulled my sword in and leapt out of the beast’s path at the last second. It swiped toward me, a powerful, watery paw catching on my hip and sending me sprawling. As I scrambled back to my feet and appraised the beast once more, I felt my heart drop into my stomach.

It was a long way fromsoothed.

What the hell was I supposed to do to calm it down?

Sing it a fucking lullaby?

It let out another wail before shooting toward me once more. I sidestepped its path. Its tail lashed out, trying to wrap around my ankles and jerk me off my feet.

I leapt over the lashing tail once, twice, three times until I finally lost patience and whipped my sword back, preparing to strike—only to again resist the urge to swing. I’d had an opening. I could have cut the beast’s tail off and no longer had to worry about the sharp barbs on the end...but I’d hesitated.

Istillhesitated as the monster crouched, tail whipping threateningly about, and watched me through its shining, deep-blue eyes. Its lips peeled back to reveal jagged grey teeth—almost like a grin. Like it was mocking me.

“Sootheit,” I reminded myself.

The gods did not speak idle words, based on my experiences so far; if Kelas saidsoothe, then I had to believe doing the opposite would lead to terrible consequences—the least of which would be failing this trial.

I lowered my sword to my side and bolted toward the door, thinking a change of scenery might help me think more clearly.

The beast followed.

Would it keep following me, no matter how far I went?

Could I lure it to the shore and try to deal with it there?

I never found out; as I reached the door, a wave rose up and crashed into the fortress, cutting me off. I struggled for balance as water rushed in, reaching nearly to my waist.

The beast melted into that same water, its body shifting to the exact shade and consistency of the deluge. Though I could no longer see it, I could stillfeelits lithe body winding around the space, occasionally brushing against me. Playing with me. Mocking me again.

I looked at the sword I held, frustration rattling my breaths and shaking my hands. Why give me a weapon if I wasn’t meant to kill anything?

What was I missing?

I searched the blade over and over for a pattern, for a clue, for anything I’d missed. The sapphire jewels of the hilt glinted wickedly, again giving me the unsettling feeling that I was being watched. Watched, and judged, and found severelylacking.

The beast’s head poked above the surface as the sea began to recede.It seemed much calmer now that it had bathed in that sea. Its gaze became more calculated, less wild, and I noted how similar its eyes looked to the sapphires in the sword’s hilt. They blinked every time I twisted the blade even the slightest bit. And its movements…

It wasn’t followingme, I realized.

It was following the sword.

Ocean-forged beast, the god had called it. He’d also told me that the sword I carried was forged of the sea. The two creations were made of the same energy…was that why the beast followed the blade so closely? Why the rodent creatures on the path outside had also kept diving for it?

Maybe it was similar to what Mairu had explained earlier—the way a place’s gathered magical energies could pull her from one spot to another.

The energies pulled toward one another.

The water receded completely, and I straightened to my full height, twisting the sword this way and that. Whatever direction I moved it, the beast’s body also moved, often reflecting the same speed and power I’d used. Its glare was fixed upon the sapphires.

“You want this, don’t you?”

It answered with a hiss and a thump of its tail.

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