Desert Wind

Chapter 11

***

I was torn from my sleep by sounds. At first, they were incomprehensible, mixed-up melodies, but over time they formed a whole. Individual sounds turned into the screams of sailors.

"Pull the rope!" one voice reached me.

"Check the lifeboats!" another shouted.

"Everyone on deck! To the guns!" he yelled.

Every now and then, the ceiling above me creaked and groaned. It was probably caused by the heavy footsteps of the crew. At that moment, they resembled a herd of elephants more than sailors.

Consciousness slowly, drop by drop, began to pour into my mind. Memories returned one after another. And with them appeared uncertainty, fear mixed with curiosity and hope. The mixture immediately took over my body and mind. For a moment, it paralyzed me. I lay still and counted to ten.

I opened my eyes. I had to admit that I was afraid of what I would see. For a moment, I focused on the brown ceiling boards above me. They swayed steadily. I took a deep breath and turned my head. My gaze slid to the familiar room where I had spent the last few days on the ship. Someone must have moved me here when I was unconscious. Questions pressed into my mind. They circled, seeking answers; but at that moment the room seemed so pleasantly familiar. So solid, perhaps even in some incomprehensible way, safe. Slowly, I remembered everything.

Lysandra was on the same boat as me. Or was she still here? She wanted to kill me! It was so close. So close to tragedy. She almost succeeded, I thought, and then another question came to mind. A whole bunch of questions, actually.

Will I get in trouble for sneaking out? They will definitely want to punish me somehow. They will lock me up here; but god, what happened in that cell?

"Klelio?" – a familiar voice reached me. Soft, warm. I smiled for a split second and covered my mouth with my hand. When I raised it to my face, I noticed something strange. Something that certainly hadn't been there before. On my right hand, there was some kind of mark. I looked at it carefully, examining every millimeter of it. I stared, speechless, at the black line. It was perfectly even. Incredibly precise. It represented a black circle.

What the fuck is that?

I remembered Kasander's and Heliasz' tattoo. The memory hit me like a bolt from the blue. I opened my eyes wider.

Does it have anything to do with magic?

"Klelio... You look like you've seen a ghost. You're pale. Is everything okay?" A familiar face appeared next to my hand. Kasander sat down in the chair by my bed. I hadn't even noticed when he approached me. But now, it didn't matter.

Where did this come from? How long had I been unconscious? It's always the same. I don't understand anything, damn it. No matter how hard I try.

I gathered my courage.

"What happened?" I finally asked. At first, I wasn't sure if I even wanted to know the answer. I knew that nothing would be the same afterward. But I had to ask. I had to know.

"You did it," he touched the tip of his index finger to the black line on the back of my hand. "A mark is created when a magician unlocks their source of magic. You did it, Klelio." His finger slowly traced the black path. A shiver ran through me. I tried to calm myself, hoping he hadn't noticed my reaction.

"Why is my mark black? Yours is gray," I noted, hoping to distract him from my stupid reaction.

He hesitated before answering, or at least it seemed that way. He ran his hand through his thick hair.