The Gift

Ripley moved slowly through Tānāśāha’s destroyed streets. The bruises on her chest from Ash’s massive fist throbbed worse than ever and the still-healing bones beneath seemed to creak with each breath. It could have been worse, though; she would have died if it hadn’t been for Ikuutayuq taking over her body at the last second. But she didn’t want to think about the demon’s blood magic and ravenous hunger.

The damage didn’t seem as bad as she had thought. True, Delphine had destroyed the palace and Rhetta’s tower, but the city seemed otherwise intact. Ash’s berserkers had rebuilt the gates using scraps and boulders and Arawelo’s army had patched any holes in the walls. Though they weren’t Ash’s berserkers anymore, were they? Ash had given her life to save this city, to save her people, and met her end at Ripley’s hands.

Arawelo and Tarabai moved through the streets toward Ripley. The Matriarch cut a fine figure in her dress the color of human and Ṭhaḍā blood; a loose, flowing gown accentuated by a golden breastplate, gauntlets, and sword belt. Tarabai wore a full set of armor that matched Arawelo’s and walked with a confident swagger that brought a smile to Ripley’s lips. It was good to see them happy.

The Suṭō had once been the bogeymen of Cēna Barēkara, the thing people feared most. And they were right to fear them; not only were the Suṭō bloodthirsty and cruel, they looked human or Ṭhaḍā but had enough differences to make them look alien. Shades of purple skin, white hair, fangs, bone structure so sharp a person could cut paper on their cheekbones. But Arawelo had changed that. She had put her entire country on a new path and she had become Ripley’s trusted ally and friend.

“Hey, guys,” Ripley greeted them as they got closer. “What’re you up to this late at night?”

Arawelo smiled and took Tarabai’s hand; she did it smoothly, with none of the awkwardness they’d had only a few days ago. It was heartening to see people move past all this darkness and pain to find love, even if they had caused each other some of that pain.

“We’re just making sure everyone’s bedded down for the night,” Arawelo replied with a shrug. “It’s been a long day.”

“I know what you mean. I’m exhausted.”

Tarabai cocked her eyebrow at Ripley. “If you’re so tired, why aren’t you asleep?”

“I’m enjoying not being in armor,” Ripley told her as she held up the hem of her thin shirt with a smile. “And Maddox hasn’t come back from his patrol yet. I want to wait for him. He insisted I needed to rest and practically tied me to the bed so I wouldn’t follow him.”

“Every inch the doting husband.” Arawelo shared a smile with Tarabai. “A good man. And a good friend.”

Ripley laughed and stifled a yawn. “Well, if the doting husband could stop playing war games with your Titans, I’d be pretty happy.”

Hurried footsteps behind Ripley brought her around to see one of the Daughters of Tiamet. She’d clearly been on patrol; she wore black armor and carried her sword bare in her hand. The woman hurriedly saluted Arawelo with a clawed hand over her heart and Arawelo frowned.

“What is it?” she demanded.

“We found something,” the warrior huffed out. “A suspicious package, just outside the gates. It’s small but we don’t know who left it there.”

“Could have been left by the Patriarchs,” Ripley mused. “One last little ‘screw you’ before we wiped them out.”

“Call the Titans,” Arawelo told Tarabai then she turned back to the warrior as Tarabai loped away. “Show me where it is.”

Ripley followed them as they made their way out of the gates. The space between her shoulder blades tightened as they left the safety of the city walls and she drew her pistol from its holster on her right thigh. Maybe she wasn’t wearing her armor but she never went unarmed, not here, not with so many threats still lurking around. She racked a round into the chamber and held the pistol low at her side.

“Here.” The Daughter took a torch from another Suṭō then handed it to Arawelo. “See?”

“Alright.” Ripley eyed the little package in the flickering torchlight then waved at the Suṭō warriors milling around. “Secure the area! Cordon at two hundred meters and don’t let anyone in here except Maddox, Graeme and Onyx. Watch your step; if this is a trap, there may be secondary devices."

“It is small, isn’t it,” Arawelo murmured as the warriors set up a perimeter and left her and Ripley alone with the torch. “Maybe the size of my hand.”

Ripley knelt a few feet away from the package. Someone had wrapped the little thing in brown paper and tied it with a white string. It could have been a fetish or a hex; Ripley didn’t know much about the magic in this world, but she knew a little bit about magic in fiction and this could be some sort of spell. She said as much to Arawelo and the woman shrugged.

“To be honest, I don’t know much about southern magic. All I know is our corrupted magic, the cold of Ikuutayuq. We don’t need anything like that to direct our spells; we point, we cast, it’s done.”

“But Delphine was getting into some ancient stuff,” Ripley countered. “Is it possible that she gave the Patriarchs something to use before she died?”

“Anything is possible when it comes to the Mad Matriarch,” Arawelo said with a lopsided grin then made a small harrumph as two men in charcoal grey armor hurried up to them from the city. “Ah, Graeme, Onyx, good of you to join us.”

Graeme nodded and cracked his neck as he crouched down to look at the package. “What is it, Matriarch?”

“We don’t know,” Arawelo admitted.

“City is on high alert,” Graeme announced. “Cleared the streets and locked all non-essentials down.”

“We’ve evacuated the people on the other side of this wall,” Onyx added. “In case this goes boom like their other potions. And Tarabai is leading the Titans on a search party to make sure we haven’t been infiltrated.”

“Well done.” Arawelo picked at her forefinger and frowned. “How should we go about this?”

“Want me to poke it?” Onyx asked with a teasing grin.

“I could search it with my empath’s powers,” Ripley told her. “See if I can pick up any sensory imprints.”

“If it’s a trap, it might be primed to go off if it senses magic,” Arawelo warned.

“I’ll stand back.” Ripley waved them away and holstered her pistol as they hurried to stand behind her. “Just, you know, keep an eye out.”

Ripley closed her eyes. Calling the Light was now second nature; she’d used it nearly every day for the past year. First in the Emergence, then the Suṭō attack, then here, helping Arawelo win her war. But what Ripley was, first and foremost, was an empath. She gathered emotions to her, funneled them into her seat of power, then turned them into a weapon. Most of the time it was an unconscious thing, something as simple as breathing or blinking.

But now she needed to focus. She closed her eyes and reached out with imaginary hands toward the package. The magic wanted to wander; it sensed living beings and wanted to sample their emotions. Arawelo, concerned and strong; Onyx, ever cheerful no matter how dire the situation; Graeme, dogged and loyal to the core.

Ripley focused harder. She forced the hands away from the living and sent them into the package. They drifted along the edges of the package, probed the corners of the brown paper, flicked at the string holding it all together. It would have been easier if Ripley could have touched it but she didn’t want to risk it. She’d feel so stupid if she survived Iraq and Afghanistan only to die by a magical IED on a planet that wasn’t even in the same realm as Earth.

“What do you feel?” Arawelo asked.

“Well, it’s hard to pick up emotions from an inanimate object without touching it,” Ripley replied with a shrug. “But I’m not picking up anything negative. I’m going to open it.”

“Ripley—”

“It’ll be fine,” Ripley interrupted. “Trust me. Besides, this is what the demon is for, right? Anything happens, Ikuutayuq can get me out of here.”

Arawelo looked unconvinced but she nodded as she took a few steps away. “Very well. Do as you wish, but don’t be offended if I watch from back here.”

“No offense taken.”

Ripley knelt beside the package. She really felt nothing negative, no lingering hatred or malice and not even a trace of corruption. Usually when she found a trap she could sense the person who had planted it, like when she’d sensed Gwin’s traps the week before. She let herself focus on that as she reached out to grasp the string.

The knot unfurled. Ripley peeled back the layers of brown paper with extreme caution and trying to ignore her pounding heart. The package looked smaller and smaller as she went until it could have fit in the palm of her hand. Ripley frowned and cocked her head to the side.

“Arawelo, come here. It’s safe, I promise.”

Arawelo knelt at Ripley’s side. “What is it?”

“It looks like…jewelry? Here, aim the torch over here.”

A silver chain sparkled in Arawelo’s torchlight. Five white stones, each the size of a quarter, seemed to glow with a rosy internal light. Arawelo let out a low whistle and Ripley nodded in agreement.

“It’s gorgeous,” Arawelo breathed. “Is that sea glass?”

“Looks like it.” Ripley squinted at the necklace. “I think I saw something similar to this at Śānta, our port city on the Surakhi'ā Strait.”

Arawelo let out a heavy sigh. “Did we really put the entire city on lockdown just for someone’s shopping bag?”

Ripley shrugged. A group of people left the city gates armed with a torches and her heart sped up a little at the sight of her husband, Maddox. She’d never get tired of seeing his broad shoulders encased in all that golden, knightly armor and his curly black hair held back in a bun. At his side walked Tarabai, who looked like she was holding back laughter.

“Bebe?” Ripley asked as she pushed herself to her feet. “What’s up?”

“Maddox has something to tell you,” Tarabai said with a little nudge to Maddox’s shoulder.

“Yes, well.” Even in the weak torchlight Maddox’s bronze cheeks looked flushed with embarrassment and he shuffled his feet. “That is yours. It was meant to be a surprise, but it fell out of my pouch when I was on patrol. That is why I am so late returning; I have been searching for quite a while.”

“Babe!” Ripley cried with an exasperated laugh. “You had us all so panicked!”

“I know. I am sorry.” Maddox paused and rubbed the back of his head. “Do you like it?”

Ripley held the necklace up. “I love it. Put it on for me.”

Maddox looped the chain around her neck and secured it beneath her hair. “It looks gorgeous on you.”

“Well, all’s well that ends well. Pull everyone back into the city, Graeme, and make sure the patrols are still running smoothly,” Arawelo said as she wrapped an arm around Tarabai’s waist. “Let’s all get to bed. We have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Right, Thessalonica, Abyss realm, taking out Delphine.” Ripley waved Arawelo away and pressed herself against Maddox. “See you in the morning.”

“Do you truly like it?” Maddox whispered as the group wandered away and left him and Ripley alone.

“I love it,” Ripley told him with a smile. “And I love you.”

“I love you, too.”