Four's a Party: Chapter 11 (Patreon)

The story thus far 

I don't have a backlog for voted chapters, and they're pretty ad hoc in how I write them (by design) so I think I might just put them all like this. anyway, hope you enjoy the first chapter for this month! Devil's Foundry to come a bit later.

Chapter 11: The Song of Freedom

The rocking of the boat made Caeo sick to his stomach.

He’d never seen the sea before; his tribe had been from the desert, too far away to go. Caeo heard about the sea from other Demons, people who went to work at the Demon Lord’s tower and came back with amazing stories of all the cool people who came through. One of them, a lizardman named Hertius, said the sea was like a lake with one shore. No matter how far you looked, you couldn’t see the other side, couldn’t even see where the land curved back around to encircle it.

Aunt Mrill, a cat-kin who taught Caeo and most of the other children in the village, told them that the sea was the opposite of a lake, so large that it instead circled the land.

Caeo hadn’t really believed them, but he always wanted to see one day. When he was big, he promised he’d go to serve Demon Queen Velverosa and get strong enough that he could travel to the sea. He’d find a way to take the water back to his village, and then there would be no more drought.

Now he’d been to the sea, farther than he ever thought he’d go.

At a whimper, Caeo’s ears perked up, and he leaned over, patting the head of the little girl who’d been thrown into the same wooden cage as him. “Shh.” He kept his claws in, trying to calm her down. The humans didn’t like it when they made too much noise. “Don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay.” He put on the best smile he could, ike how his parents used to smile when he or his younger brother asked about food, or about water.

Caeo finally understood that smile.

Slowly, the girl—Sivi, that was her name, Sivi—nodded, nestling into his side. Normally, that would have been enough to make Caeo laugh. He was a wolfkin, and him and cats never got along. Now, he just kept smiling, trying not to puke as the rocking of the ship went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

His sensitive ears picked out the sounds of footsteps on the deck above, the creaking of the ropes, and the way the wood groaned as the sea beat against it like an angry dragon.

A day into the voyage, and he didn’t know if he was more frightened of the humans or the sea. It was close. At the start, the sound of the water—more water than Caeo had ever seen in his life—almost drove him feral. The only thing that held him back was the other kids. Caeo was the biggest left from his village. That meant that it was his job to protect them.

If he attacked the humans, and died, no one would take care of Sivi and the others.

It was hard.

The trip was only supposed to take another day. Caeo had heard the humans talking. He didn’t know what came after, and that was scary as well.

But that was a distant kind of fear, not like the sea, or the humans, each of which were so close that the fear beat against his skull like the sea beat against the ship, until he barely had room for anything else. Until he felt wrung out, like a rag.

Caeo’s ear twitched as he heard the sound of footsteps increase on the upper part of the ship. That usually meant that the humans would be coming down soon. Was it time for food? He didn’t know, but it seemed wrong.

Then there was yelling, and Caeo stiffened, head craning about. In the dark belly of the ship, he could see other beastkin and demons with enhanced senses looking around in confusion just like he was.

Then he heard a massive boom like thunder. It shook the boards of the ship. Real lightning followed it, magic. The ship rattled as it launched attacks out over the waves, drowning out the sound of everything else. At his side, Sivi covered her ears, yowling. Caeo itched to do the same, but he was twelve winters old now, and he had to be a big boy.

So no matter how much it hurt, he kept his ears open, and his eyes focused on the door leading to the upper decks.

He had no idea what was happening, but if the humans were attacking something, then… maybe Queen Velverosa had sent someone to save them? Maybe there was a monster? Caeo tensed, holding Sivi tight against him. He didn’t know what he could do, but this time, he’d do something. He promised.

Just like he promised that one day, he’d go to the sea.

Then he heard it.

A song that rose up over the roaring of the sea, over the moaning of the ship, over even the cries of thunder and explosions.

It was a song that stabbed right into Caeo’s heart, stunning him in place. Around him, the other demons cried out in terror.

And then the entire ship shook like it was coming apart. Like a giant had come and smashed into its side. He heard wood shattering, cries and screams of alarm. The booming stopped, the thunder stopped—

But the song continued.

It pinned Caeo in place, like how Auntie Mrill used to pin bugs in place with her claws. It was a fear greater than the sea, greater than the humans, so great that there was no space left for anything inside of Caeo.

Then he felt Sivi in his arms, shivering. From the corner of his eye, he saw her ears pinned back in terror. Her mouth was open, like she was trying to scream, but she couldn’t even suck in a breath.

Slowly, his hand came up, trembling. He placed it on Sivi’s head, tucking her into his chest, covering her ears. “Shhhhhhh.” It took him a moment to realize that the sound was coming from his own mouth. “Shhhhhh. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay. Just breathe.” He repeated that over and over again, and Caeo realized there was a little bit of space left inside of him after all.

The song had pushed everything else out, but it had pushed out the sea and the humans as well. So there was a tiny sliver of Caeo, just enough to say, over and over again, “It’s going to be okay.”

“It’s going to be okay.”

He didn’t know when the rest of the demons stopped screaming, but it was when his voice grew loud enough to reach them.

He didn’t know when the screaming above stopped, but it was when he’d found enough space to talk to them, to tell each and every one that they would be fine. It was okay, because they were together. They’d make it through.

He promised.

He knew the moment the music stopped.

It was like someone took a knife to all the sound in the world. For a moment, Caeo felt like the gods themselves had struck him deaf.

But his own voice continued, “It’s gonna be okay.”

And then Caeo felt himself swell, to fill up all the space that had been taken up by the song.

He felt like he wasn’t afraid anymore.

“The locks! Get the locks!” He shifted Sivi to one hand, baring his claws. The cages were made of strong wood, but not so strong he couldn’t gouge a few slivers out if he really tried. The humans came down every few hours to make sure no one was trying to break through the cages; they’d thrown a pair of white orcs overboard on the first day, but if something had happened to the humans… “This is our chance!”

All around him, the other demons started attacking their cages as well. He saw claws and horns and fists; one girl even wrapped her shackles around her hands and slammed them into the wood.

Caeo bellowed, redoubling his attack on his cage. Sivi slipped out of his grip, adding her tiny claws to the assault. She was small, but that meant she could widen the wild divots that Caeo cut into the wood. He focused his efforts on the same spot as her, as they literally started to dig their way through the bars. His claws ached, but it didn’t matter. He had no clue what to do about their chains, but that didn’t matter either. This was the only thing that mattered.

“Almost there!” Caeo shouted. “We’ll get out, everyone! We’ll—”

Then the door to the upper decks slammed open, and a beam of light spilled down into the belly of the ship.

Caeo flinched. The inside of the ship was so dark that the light felt like someone was pouring sand into his eyes.

But he forced himself to power through, pushing Sivi behind him as he blinked, trying to make out anything from the solid wall of light that spilled out from the door.

Slowly, blearily, it resolved into a figure, standing alone at the top of the stairs.

The wind whipped her hair and cloak in the wind. Caeo saw a sword at her side, her human-colored skin and hornless head, and for a second his heart plummeted.

But there hadn’t been any women on the ship.

Then she raised a flute to her lip, and a different fear replaced the first. Caeo groaned. Not the song, he almost whimpered. He didn’t know if there was enough space left in him to survive it another time. Instead, he half turned, hands reaching towards Sivi’s ears, as if he could protect her from a song that had cut through the sea and the humans both.

The woman blew, and the song issued forth.

But it was not the same.

The melody billowed out like a gentle breeze. It swept through the dark interior of the ship like sunlight, whipping away the last traces of the terror from before.

It sang to Caeo of the open sands, stretching boundlessly and without limit. Caeo’s home, a home that could never be constrained, could never be confined, could never be anything but Free.

And all the locks, and all the manacles, and all the bindings snapped open, falling to the ground in clatter of metal, a ringing that joined the song.

Caeo found himself looking up at the woman, his mouth gaping speechlessly.

Now, truly, there was no room for anything else within him, save for awe.

She walked down the steps, gossamer black hair flowing behind her like a banner. She walked among them, still playing, letting the melody reach its end. The sunlight from above seemed to light her from within.

Caeo saw a scarab tattooed on her back. It was carrying the sun.

Somehow, that felt right.

The song drifted to its end, and the woman lowered the flute. All throughout the hold, demons looked at her with wide eyes. No one had any idea what to say, and in this case, Caeo was no different. What did you say to the woman that saved them all, that conquered both the humans and the sea for them? How could you say anything at all?

Then another voice came down from the open doorway. “Where’d you get that one, band camp?”

Another human came down the stairs, but this time there were demons with her.

The first woman laughed. “I got it from the Lord of the Lutes, actually.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up!”

And again, Caeo was rendered speechless, only to find a little part of himself that wasn’t quite so full of shock, or joy, or terror, or hope, that he couldn’t still do something.

This time, he chose to laugh.

This time, the demons all laughed with him. It sounded like pure joy.

It sounded like a song all its own.