Faith United

[Breaker]

My goddess struck me down, like an axe landing the final blow that fells a tree, like a horse swatting a fly so effortlessly. I did not attempt to fight back, or flee. I deserved all that her wrath would bring to me.

The walls of water that my will had held back collapsed upon me, driving me downward to the bottom of the ocean. Salt water filled my lungs as my back pressed against the rocky floor.

Why would you bind me? Am’aleh’s voice boiled in my ears.

I drowned without thought of resistance, inhaling the sea.

I entrusted you to bring me the Thaynebinder, she raged, and instead, you used it against me!

The relic swam into view, an adamantine collar and manacles. The dark metal hoops opened and fastened themselves around my wrists and neck. The weight of the artifact drove me down ever harder into the stony bed.

I remained conscious for a long time, trapped in the darkness of Am’aleh’s clutches with no air to breathe. I did not require oxygen like a mortal. Pain wracked my body. My chest spasmed, trying to expel the water in my lungs but unable to do so. My manacled arms thrashed, fighting to swim, but the weight of the goddess’ anger smothered me. Eventually everything became black.

The waves breaking on the beach roused me. Alive. I lay on the sand, next to the haversack which had contained the Thaynebinder. The collar and manacles were splayed across the sand, bone dry and shining darkly. The adamantine bracer remained on my right forearm, where it had become fused when I’d collared Am’aleh and temporarily stolen her power.

I attempted to seize control of the Eternal Tap, to draw the water out of my black sifan clothing and dark brown hair. I may as well have attempted to grasp a handful of smoke.

“You no longer bear my blessing,” Am’aleh appeared in the shallows, a woman woven from water, a shimmering statue of liquid movement. “If you wish to wield the Eternal Tap once more, you must prove your devotion to me anew.”

“I am yours to command.” I staggered forward and fell on my knees in the surf, reaching out a hand to touch the shimmering liquid of her leg. “Let me prove my love for you.”

For a moment she refused to look at me, and my world ground to a halt. The waves did not crash on the shore, the breeze did not trifle in my hair, and the seabirds did not swoop or cry. Time did not pass without Am’aleh’s attention.

She cast her gaze downward, and the world began again. Her azure eyes, endless and everlasting, examined me as if waiting.

“I was confused,” I explained, “when you sent me after the Thaynebinder, I questioned why you used me rather than seek it yourself. And the pirate I wrested it from put thoughts in my mind… he told me that the treasure hunters who found it placed credit for the discovery with you. I thought you tried to deceive me. I erred. Forgive me.”

“I did assist the seekers in finding the Thaynebinder,” she said, voice as smooth as water in a stream, “but only so that I might dispose of it in transit. That was your task.”

“Did I not succeed?” I asked, again clutching at smoke, “did I not deliver the relic to you?”

“Only after you used it on me,” she hissed like steam leaving a kettle. Her aqueous form shifted and swelled, growing as her rage towered. She raised a great hand to smite me, and then reached out to caress the Y-shaped scars on my cheeks.

“What did you learn while you wielded my power?” She asked as gently as a swirling eddy.

“That the Elder Thayne Khal’jaren seeks the binder as well, and that he may mean to come between us.”

“Is that something we can allow?” Her fluid fingers flitted beneath my chin and lifted me to my feet.

“No,” I said, my hazel eyes becoming steel, “no, it is not.”