Page 35 of Unseen Lord

Oh, it's only Imenath. Sorry, I thought it was actually someone dangerous.

"We meet again," screams Imenath, stepping forward from behind a tree, his entire body covered in silver armor resembling a skeleton. His head masked behind a helmet sprouting horns. He carries his giant spiked mace on his hip and grips it with his hand.

"Imenath?"

"Imenath the Great has returned for you, Watcher!"

Lightning blazes in the sky, striking at the tree next to me, which groans as it prepares itself to collapse.

I'm about to hop out of the way when Imenath plows into me, knocking the air out of my lungs and landing on top of me in all his—very heavy—armor.

"Get. Off. Of. Me." I push and strain until he rolls over, then sit up, panting, wet, covered in mud now, thanks a lot for that. "What are you doing here, buddy? How… " I'm perplexed. How did he hop worlds and find me on a secret island? This dude might be more useful than I gave him credit for. "I can't fight you right now. I'm on a pretty important mission and a lot of people's lives are at stake."

"I came here not to fight the great Watcher, but to save her. I am your hero! Your knight in shining armor!" He puffs out his chest to show how shiny his armor indeed is. "Fear not, Watcher, Imenath the Great is here! See? I have already saved you from this ferocious and terrifying tree! Now I shall save you from your kidnappers."

I try not to laugh. I swear I do. And I think I cover it well, what with the thunder and storm raging and all. He doesn't notice. Instead, he sees me smile. "You're amazing, dude. Truly." I groan as I stand and brush off what I can of the gunk. This white outfit isn't going to survive. "But right now, I don't need saving, I need to do the saving. We have to warn the village. We're being attacked and there's an unstable power on the loose here."

Imenath roars into the storm. "I am greater than any powers. And that ship is here to help. I snuck on to it and came here, secret like. Imenath is truly a master of stealth."

"I'm genuinely impressed. But can we walk and talk? I gotta get to the village stat, dude. And this storm is making my progress slow."

Imenath reaches into the bag tied around his waist and pulls out something small and fluffy. "Imenath also brought Watcher's trusty companion."

"Theo!" My eyes fill with tears as the little ball of wet fur meows at me plaintively, clearly unhappy with his current circumstances. I grab him and hug him close to me.

"You did good, Imenath. Great, even! When this is all said and done, there might be a place for you with the Hunters. What do you think of that?"

His eyes widen and joy fills his face. "Truly?"

"Truly!" I set Theo down and give him a look he knows well. The tiny meow turns to a mighty growl as Theo shifts from pint-sized to Manticore, gray and white fur turning gold, wings growing from his back. "Now, let's get to the village and save the innocent!"

I hop onto my baby, so happy to see him and have him here finally, and Imenath joins me as we take to the sky.

Chapter 9

Elias

The sun has setwhen we are close enough to see the shores of the island that match the coordinates Callie gave me.

Aya has been preoccupied with her crew, so we haven't discussed our strategy for approaching shore.

When a cannon launches from our ship and explodes on the sand a distance from us, I realize she decided the strategy without me.

I can see someone at the edge of the ocean. A woman in white. But then my focus is pulled towards an outcropping of rocks, where a giant sea creature is emerging.

Can it be? Does the Water Druid live here?

I holler for Aya's men to cease fire as I seek her out, but she is nowhere to be found. Smaller boats have already left the ship with members of the crew on them. "Where's my sister?" I ask one of the men. He shrugs. "Dunno. She be telling us to bomb the place, then loot and riot. My boys be more than happy to oblige," he says, grinning with a mostly toothless smile.

This makes no sense. If Iris is on the island, we can't just blow it up. We might kill her. Plus, there are likely innocent people living here. Why didn't she consult me? Why are we going to war without knowing the facts first? Facts such as whether or not she's actually here, or are we just bombing an innocent village, or both?

There are too many missing pieces, and I can't wrap my head around it all. Her approach makes no sense, which is probably why she didn't tell me about it. I shout at the crew once again to cease fire, but they ignore me, too caught up in their blood lust.

I search the ship—and her private quarters—seeking my sister, but do not find her. So Duke and I slip away from the men and take a small boat, making our way to shore as far away from their war party as we can. I don't want to be seen with them. I want to find out what's going on first.

The water is brackish and the storm makes paddling difficult. Taking a roundabout way also adds time and tedium to the journey, and we are both soaked to the bone when we dock on the white sand.

At first glance, it's a beautiful place, especially so if the weather wasn't destroying it.