Page 13 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

“I am tired of this dance, ferryman. What must I do to help Estrella?” I growled, the warning climbing up my throat. Even a God would be useless against something crafted from the Fates and used as their instrument, but that wouldn’t stop me from taking a piece of them with me.

“There is a place in the human realm. A hollow in the earth that connects to all the areas of the Underworld. It will enable a traveler to enter the Void via the river of life, but you will not be able to control where you land. Left to your own devices, you may be swept into Folkvangr or Valhalla as easily as Tartarus,” Kharon explained, gripping their staff tighter.

“There must be a way to make sure I go where I need? Something I can do, otherwise this is a risk I’m not sure I can take. If I go to Valhalla without Estrella, this is all for nothing,” I said, digging my oar into the silt at the bottom of the river. It held my boat steady, waiting for the answer I needed even if the magic in that boat knew my natural time to return to Tar Mesa had come.

“Come to the entrance in three nights’ time. I will be waiting for you on the river of life, and I will pull you out of the waters before you can go too far and take you to Tartarus,” Kharon conceded, gritting their way through each word. As the souls inside of them fought against one another, trying to remain impartial while a father tried to love his daughter.

“Where do I need to go?” I asked, watching their face shift. Thegold in their eyes glowed a little brighter, their words coming out pained and through clenched teeth.

“Go to the place where you first wronged your mate for selfish gains,” the ferryman said, making my brow furrow in response. “I cannot tell you any more than that.”

“My life depends on this riddle, you realize? Estrella’s life could depend on a fucking play of words,” I snapped, even knowing I would not receive any more information than that from them. The way their features shifted constantly, twitching as if they couldn’t control the uprising happening within themself, led me to believe that this issue needed to play itself out inside of them.

I would be on my own to figure out where I’d first wronged Estrella.

“Caldris,” they called as I turned my boat to return to Tar Mesa. “There is one important thing before you go. Only your soul may enter the river of life. Your body will be consumed if it touches the waters.”

Fucking wonderful.

NINE

ESTRELLA

Hours passed in pure darkness, the sounds driving me back into the alcove slowly. I didn’t want to consider the violence that existed in a place so defined by pain and suffering. Feeling so painfully alone with all this suffering to surround me, I wanted nothing more than to curl into my mate’s arms and allow him to drown out the sound. As the fires lit, slowly rising off the rust-colored earth beneath my feet, a horrifying screech pierced the air. A bird made of fire streaked through the darkened sky, his feathers burning like flames. A trail of ash followed him, drifting down to land upon everything below as he followed his path.

I stepped out onto the plains, grateful for the coverage of my new armor as one of the cyclones of flame came too close. Fenrir emerged from beside the entrance to the alcove I’d called home for the night. His white fur was matted around his face and on his chest, stained with the red of blood. I tried not to think about what kind of creature he might have gotten ahold of in the night, resting my hand upon theclean fur at the back of his neck. Lupa and Ylfa approached slowly, walking through the middle of the flames to come to stand beside me. A single raven flew over their heads, its black feathers such a stark contrast to the bloodied gore of the wolves’ gleaming fur.

The raven transformed into the three Goddesses of the Morrigan, and they landed smoothly in a way that I didn’t think I’d ever manage. Two small birdlike wings separated into six humanoid ones, all hurrying across the sand to come to a smooth stop just in front of me.

“Is night always like that?” I asked, rolling my neck to the side. I’d only managed to get a few hours of tremulous sleep, the noises of slaughter interrupting it periodically. It was only the familiarity of Fenrir’s growl that allowed me to take any comfort, knowing my wolf companion wouldn’t allow me to come to any harm so long as he was near.

The Morrigan turned on their heels before answering, starting to walk farther into the prison of Tartarus. I swallowed before I followed, reaching over my shoulder to take comfort in the blades strapped across my back. It was so reminiscent of the way Caldris chose to carry his swords that it brought me extra comfort, making it feel as if he was closer than he was for just a moment. Imelda’s satchel was a reassurance in my pocket, the presence and weight of it there a reminder of the friends who waited for me in Tar Mesa as well.

“Many predators hunt in the night,” Nemain said, glancing over her shoulder at me and nodding her head to motivate me to follow. I did as instructed, shoving down my fear of what might be waiting for me farther inside.

My fear was irrelevant when moving forward was the only way to rescue Caldris.

“That is the way of things where you come from as well, is it not?” she asked, allowing her sisters to surround me. Nemain walked on my left, Badb at my right, with Macha taking up the rear. The Cwn Annwn guided the way, moving with an assuredness that spoke of the time they’d spent in this place.

“It is. It seems to happen more quietly somehow,” I said, then laughed at the ridiculousness of such a statement. The predators in the human realm were fine, because generally speaking you didn’t hear them fighting?

Okay.

The phoenix crossed his way over the sky again, cutting a different path than he had before. This time the ash rained down on us,coating my skin in warmth that didn’t burn. The bird was enormous, a sprawling beast of flames. It glowed with deep red light at the core of its being, its wings and tail fading out into bright yellow at their tips. A man screamed in the distance to my right, the sound coinciding with the path of the flaming bird.

I took a step toward him, ready to intervene in whatever pain could cause a scream that shrill. “Any who suffer here are beyond your aid,” Badb said, blocking my path. “To interfere in their punishment would be to incite the wrath of the Primordial responsible for putting them here. Unless you would like to risk taking their place, I suggest you leave well enough alone.”

Lupa circled back, taking up position between Macha and I. She pushed her head into my back, motioning me to continue on even as I still hesitated. It wasn’t in me to leave people to suffer, to let anyone feel pain.

“What did he do to deserve his punishment?” I asked, refusing to take my eyes off the distance to my right where his screams continued to echo through the void of the underground cavern.

“Never mind that,” Macha said, walking forward until I had little choice but to move lest she run me over. “All you need to know is that every soul suffering here deserves it for the wrong they committed. These people are not kind. They are not misunderstood. These are the murderers who enjoyed the kill. The rapists who violated more women than you can count. They are the very kind of people you yourself would condemn if you knew them, Tempest,” she added.

I found myself nodding along to her words, knowing that my constant seeking for justice would likely bring me to do just that. If I knew Mab could never escape, would I send her to Tartarus rather than give her a swift, merciful death?

The answer to that question didn’t come as quickly as I wished, and I didn’t want to stop to consider what that said about me. “Why do you call me that?” I asked, studying her intently.

The Morrigan shrugged with the slightest of smirks playing on her face. “A tempest is a violent storm, is it not? Would you not consider yourself to have wreaked havoc on the world that existed until he refused to let you die?”

---