Drowned Secrets by Ben Stoddard

Author:Ben Stoddard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zmok Books
Published: 2020-05-02T01:49:17+00:00

Fourteen

Family Ties

Magdolon bent under a low branch as he stalked quietly back toward the cave where he’d left Ashal and Yvette. In his arms he carried enough deadwood sticks he’d gathered from the forest floor to make a small fire. He’d left the cave with his excuse of gathering fuel for a fire, but his hands still shook when he stood and replayed the scene in his mind of what had happened in the village market. He’d watched Ashal tumble through the air after Laurine had blasted her with infernal magic. He’d also watched before then with horrified eyes as she’d pulled Ashal’s spear from her gut and then stand to deliver her blow to Ashal. His eyes had misted over in red as he’d stared at his ward’s crumpled body on the stone cobbles and after that was a flurry of memories, each of them violent. He knew he’d killed the other two sisters with their warped and hungry faces, the details of how were a bit fuzzy to him, but he knew that it had involved a lot of blood.

Yvette had been what snapped him out of his frenzy. She’d managed to get his attention and pointed at Laurine. She’d climbed on his back and had whispered in his ear, using the same tactic she’d tried before, but this time it had worked. This time she had clung on harder and her urgent whispers found purchase in his ears as she spoke.

“If you want to save your child, you must listen!” she had hissed, and the words had stopped him cold. If you want to save your daughter, you must distract Laurine!

Yvette’s voice echoed in his brain, her words hanging around his neck like a sack of stones as his focus drifted back to the present. She had called Ashal his daughter, and that label sent thrills of adrenaline through his veins. Families in the Ai-ellain’s household were a different affair than among the surface dwellers Magdolon had observed. In the Depths, Ai-ellain could spawn dozens of children over the course of her lifetime, just as her mother before her and their parents before that. Birthing offspring was not as laborious as it was for humans, where the female would carry a single child in her belly for the better part of a year before finally freeing their spawn. While the head of their household loved each of their offspring, they were less emotional about their children, out of pure necessity. It was difficult to form lasting bonds between so many children. Many spawnlings would be raised as much by servants as their own parents, and the kingdom which they would be raised to serve would act as something of an extended family in many instances. This was a good thing as it bred loyalty into their children and a sense of duty to their kingdom.

Placoderms in Ai-ellain’s household were similar in how they were raised, although there were some significant differences. Magdolon remembered much of his younger

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