Down in the Wicked Depths Below
Woe to the man
The dark-eyed sailor
Ship’s adrift
And the sea’s his jailor
Drag him down
Down, down, down
Down in the wicked depths below
Woe to the man
The dark-eyed sailor
Ship’s adrift
And the sea’s his jailor
Drag him down
Down, down, down
Down in the wicked depths below
Lost at sea, the sailor cried
I will not die
The sea shall bow to me
“That was quite a display,” Finnegrin said as he rummaged through the piles of assorted junk on his desk. His gruff voice drowning out the singing voices of the crew on deck. “All that talk about how love makes you stronger, but the second you see that elf girl in pain, you completely lost yourself.”
Callum looked away.
The tidebound captain wasn’t wrong. Seeing Rayla like that – writhing and screaming in pain, skin turning blue as if she were already dead – it did something to him. Just like it always did something to him when he thought he’d lost her.
That spell had simultaneously caused a pain in Callum that was so deep that he couldn’t think or see straight. He’d forgotten any spells or tricks that could have helped him and instead did the only thing he could think of.
It had at least been a solid hit – something his younger self would be in awe of for several reasons. A lot of good it had done him though.
At that moment, Callum caught sight of Bait’s empty cage and for a terrible, brief second, thought perhaps the little guy had already been cast into the depths. However, Finnegrin stepped aside and revealed the glow toad had been crammed into another smaller cage.
“What are you doing?” Callum asked, feeling confident he already knew the answer.
“Oh, don’t worry. The cage is for his protection,” the captain replied with a smug smile. “This way, he lures us a leviathan but doesn’t get eaten.”
He crossed the room and stood before Callum, looking down at him with the black-hearted confidence of a man who had spilled more than his fair share of blood. “The one getting thrown into the sea serpent’s hungry mouth is your elf girl.”
He may as well have been strapped to an anchor and dropped into the sea for how quickly Callum became submerged in the crushing weight of dread and panic. He struggled against the chains that bound him to the post, but there was no give.
He couldn’t lose Rayla. Not again. Not ever again.
“No, no wait!” The words leapt from his tongue without his consent. “A dying breath, blood filled with hatred, and a unicorn horn. That’s the dark magic you want. Just…just let her go.”
They could deal with the ramifications. They would find a way to protect Domina Profundis, but Callum had to protect Rayla first.
A beat passed as Finnegrin paused in the doorway before he began to click his tongue in disappointment like a parent about to scold their child. “Oh, my poor lad,” he said. “That deal was no longer on the table.” He chuckled, pulling the door open and quickly disappearing through it, leaving Callum alone as he sunk even deeper into despair.
“No!” He called out to no avail. “No!”
Again he struggled and again the chains around his wrists did not budge.
Hot tears began cutting their way down his cheeks. This was really it. Rayla would die and a piece of him would die right alongside her. They had only just begun to truly mend their relationship. The last few weeks began replaying in Callum’s mind
Staying in his and Ez’s old, adjoining rooms had been his idea. After Umber Tor, he’d shed the last piece of the already-cracked and crumbling armor he’d built around his heart over the last two years. He’d opened himself back up to her, and it was wonderful. They’d often stayed up late during those nights, fretting over Ezran and the others or just talking like they used to.
Then they’d traveled to Lux Aurea, retracing the steps they’d taken together on that first world-changing journey. The route had been easier this time. There was no dragon egg to hide and protect, no duplicitous aid from Soren and Claudia, and no race to outrun an impending battle with Viren’s corrupted army.
And with the border open, the route itself had become more traveled, leading to amenities like the inn they’d stayed at. Seeing Rayla happy and at peace that night had filled Callum’s heart in a way it hadn’t been in two years. He’d wanted to kiss her again, to hold her and tell her he loved her.
Now he desperately wished he had.
He could hear shouts and thuds from above him and his heart began to pound. He didn’t have much time.
Looking around for something, anything he could use to free himself, Callum spotted it. The slug Finnegrin had offered as a dark magic conduit.
No. No he couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
He’d sworn to himself that he would never do dark magic again. It wasn’t him. It wasn’t who he wanted to be. He’d vowed to write his own destiny.
…But what would that destiny look like without Rayla?
The question seared his heart like a brand because he knew the answer immediately. Without Rayla, he had no destiny. If he allowed her to die when there was something, anything , he could have done to save her, the anguish would fester in his body like a blight and consume him from the inside out.
He would do anything for her.
Anything.
Pulling against the chains one last time, Callum reached out and grabbed the slug.
~
The sunrise was beautiful, almost mockingly so after all that had happened the night before.
Callum sat at the base of the mast, feeling no modicum of triumph or elation at their victory. He felt like a liar, a sham. He was the first human mage to do primal magic and still he’d resorted to dark magic.
He thought he was better than this. But was he? Was he any better than Viren or Claudia if he would dirty his hands with the lives of innocent creatures if pushed far enough?
“So…” Came a voice through the fog. “Two primal sources? Now you’re just getting greedy, mister mage.”
Callum saw Rayla as she sat down next to him, felt the warmth of her living, breathing body, but he didn’t feel any less ashamed. If she knew what he’d done to save her, she’d be disgusted and furious, as she should be.
“Callum, are you okay?”
Was he? He let the question sink deep before nodding his head and letting his eyes finally unfocus from the abyss he’d been staring into.
“Yeah,” he said, pulling a smile up along with him. “Yeah, I’m okay. I am.”
He looked at Rayla as she smiled back at him, his heart feeling full and complete as she brought a hand up to his cheek.
“I’m glad,” she said softly.
She pulled him into a hug and Callum felt guilt wrap itself around him along with her arms. Below them, somewhere in the guts of the hull, two dark magic snakes now slithered and slunk because he’d brought them to life.
He’d broken his oath, and as Rayla sighed contentedly, holding Callum like she had when they’d first fallen in love, he knew that he would do it again in a heartbeat to save her.
And that’s what scared him more than anything.
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