The Sea Devil's Eye - Mel Odom [84]
"What is this?" he asked.
Designs surfaced on the rainbow bracer, distinct whorls and loops that looked like nothing the young sailor had ever seen.
It is your gift, Jherek Whale friend. A gift that makes you one of our pod, a gift that will protect you in your direst need, and it. is a weapon that will serve you against the Taker. It is also the first step you must take on the path to your destiny.
Turning his attention from the shiny bracer to the sapphire whale, Jherek demanded, "What destiny?"
Again, it is not for me to say.
"I won't accept that," Jherek declared.
He pulled at the bracer, managing to get a finger down inside the tight fit along his arm. Even then he thought the bracer only allowed him to do that so he wouldn't hurt himself. As he continued to dig, the bracer turned liquid under his questing finger-for just a heartbeat-and he pulled through. The bracer flowed back together almost instantly and was solid once more.
You have no choice.
"I will always have a choice," Jherek said.
You came here. You are the one, the sapphire whale told him. You are the Taker's Bane. Every choice you make will be right for you and for your destiny. There is no wrong way for you to go. You have only to accept the power and responsibility that will be yours.
"And if I don't?"
That will be your choice, and it will be the right one.
Jherek looked around at the dead whale and the scavengers covering it. The birds grew bolder, hissing and crying out as they closed on him. He beat them away with the flat of his blade.
"I don't understand," Jherek said. "I won't accept anything without understanding it first."
You have accepted the bracer, and it has accepted you.
Jherek barely restrained his angry frustration. 'T'here was no acceptance," he claimed. "It attached itself to me."
If it had not been time, if you had not been right, that would not have happened. Only the One may wear Iridea's Tear.
Jherek held up his arm and the sunlight glinted off the rainbow bracer.
"Is this thing alive?" he asked.
No, but it will serve to help keep you living. It will shield you and be a weapon. As you become accustomed to it, you will find that you can shape it to fit your needs. Now be silent, for we must finish the Binding.
The sapphire whale lifted its true voice in song, an ululating chorus that echoed over the water. The other whales joined in and the prickly sensation of an approaching storm blanketed the area.
Questions flooded Jherek's frenzied mind, but before he could ask the first one, blinding pain flared along his left arm where the bracer touched him. Unable to stand, he dropped to his knees, certain that someone had set his arm on fire.
He howled in agony and crawled toward the edge of the whale's carcass, scaring birds from his path. As the song continued, he reached the edge of the corpse and thrust his arm into the seawater, sure the wound he was undoubtedly suffering would kill him-or cost him his arm at the very least.
After what seemed an interminable time, the pain lessened, then went away.
Jherek drew his arm from the water expecting it to be burned clear through the flesh down to the bone. Instead, his arm seemed perfectly healthy, as if nothing had ever happened. Even the multi-colored bracer was gone.
Not gone, the sapphire whale corrected. The Binding has been completed. You and Iridea's Tear will never be separated as long as life remains within you.
Still on his knees, the young sailor held his bare arm up for the whale to see. Water droplets clung to his skin.
Iridea's Tear will be your badge, Jherek Whalefriend. In time, you will come to be known by it. But there will be times that you won't want to be known at all. The Binding allows this to happen. Think of the bracer upon your arm.
Jherek didn't want to, but once the thought was in his mind he couldn't help remembering the image.
Crimson, scarlet, yellow, and pink strands erupted from his skin. The strands quickly wove themselves into the bracelet, again running from his wrist to his elbow, the iridescent