Adela sat quietly as Eira gave her the summary of where everyone stood and what they wanted to do next.
The pirate queen hadn’t talked much this morning and Eira wondered if her relative silence was related to their conversation the night before. She wouldn’t be surprised if Adela felt a margin of shame for having been seen in a weakened state—not that she should feel shame. But such emotions were rarely logical.
When Eira finished speaking, Adela lifted the delicate teacup off the table next to them, taking a thoughtful sip. She stared out the windows at the churning blue and white waters the ship left in its wake.
“You think you will be able to defeat him as you are now?” Though fair, Adela’s skepticism was still a glancing blow.
“Perhaps not as I am now,” Eira admitted. Cullen’s words from the tournament cautioning her against killing Ulvarth—the risks that’d create of another taking his place, of turning him into a martyr—had lingered with her. “But I have an idea of how I might be able to use my magic to get the upper hand.”
“Which is?”
“The echoes.” It was a far-fetched idea and Eira knew it. “Though, I admit, it hinges on theories you sparked in me that I don’t yet know if they’re viable or not.”
Adela seemed to preen at that. But her expression turned serious once more. Whatever curiosity she held toward Eira’s plans, she kept it to herself, for now. “Regardless of if you have the means or not, I am the
pirate queen, not a delivery service. Moreover, I will not be returning to Meru.”
“I understand.” Eira had expected Adela to say something of that variety and had been preparing her response. “None of us expect charity.”
“Then what is your barter?” Adela turned her cold stare to Eira. “Do not forget that you already owe me for the restoration of your magic.”
Eira refrained from pointing out that Adela hadn’t really done anything to return her magic. It had more or less returned on its own. Though, she didn’t have proof that what Adela’s actions over the days before hadn’t helped her. And…Adela had kept her word that her and her friends would stay safe. They were fed, sheltered, and still weren’t shackled. It wasn’t worth splitting hairs over the details.
“I will help you work on any magical techniques you desire, as well as show you my own…and I will open up your channel as I’m able.” Eira thought that was all she’d promised. Which felt like more than enough. But any deal with Adela was going to have to favor the pirate queen if it was to be successful. “We understand our help on the ship covers nothing more than our room and board, and your good will—if that much. So we will work hard to make ourselves useful and follow your and the crew’s orders. What we ask for is that you grant us a vessel of our own once we have earned it.”
“Excuse me?”
Eira couldn’t decide if the surprised expression that Adela wore was a good sign or not. She continued, “Ducot mentioned that it is easy for you to acquire boats when you need them. I’d imagine, as the pirate queen, you have many at your disposal. Or know of a few ways to get one. We would like to find a way to earn one. Then, you don’t have to ‘deliver us’ anywhere. We can sail ourselves to where we need to go and, in the process, remove ourselves from being a burden on you and your crew.”
“And you think that you have the capacity to sail yourselves?”
“With the right boat, yes.” Eira nodded. “I grew up in Oparium; I would work on ships in the summers when they were in port.”
“Coiling some rope or scrubbing the deck of a ship in a wharf and managing the sea are different beasts.”
“I realize. But we’ll have time to learn on your vessel—and we don’t need anyone to teach us; we’ll pick it up as we go. We also have the exceptional talents of a sorcerer of each affinity, two Lightspinners, and two
runic sorcerers from Qwint. I think we can manage whatever comes our way.” Eira leaned back in her chair. “What happens to us wouldn’t be your concern. We’d be well out of your hair.”
Adela rested her elbows on the armrests of her chair and steepled her fingers in thought. She pressed the edges of her index fingers to her lips and hummed thoughtfully. “There is a vessel I could get for you. One that’s nimble, easily managed by a smaller crew.”
“And what do you want in return for this vessel?”
Dropping her hands, Adela smoothed her palms over her thighs. Eira noticed how her left hand massaged just above her knee—the leg that was missing and replaced by ice.
“The ship I will grant you is currently in Carsovia. And to get it, I want you to help me get something in return.”
“What is that?” Eira dared to ask, even though the malicious glint in Adela’s eyes already assured her that she wasn’t going to like what was said.
“The head of Salveus D’Astrov.” “And he is?”
“The overseer of the flash bead mines of Carsovia.”
 |
It wasn’t until later that evening that Eira had a chance to relay Adela’s information to her friends. She had spent the day in Adela’s cabin, working with the pirate queen on the art of channel manipulation. But rather than feeling exhausted, Eira was invigorated.
“Impossible” didn’t seem to be in the pirate queen’s vocabulary. Everything could be done, if one was clever and strong enough. Unlike her parents, who always seemed to shy from Eira’s magic—a mystery long solved, or her uncles, who disregarded many of her theories because they were nervous how Eira’s pursuit of them might impact her, Adela wanted to pursue every avenue. Debate. And discuss openly.
But Eira’s enthusiasm quickly waned as she reported back to the group on Adela’s demands. Specifically as Varren’s face fell. His stare became as vacant as the ocean they’d been sailing through all day.
“We can’t attack Carsovia—especially not the flash bead mines,” Lavette said when Eira finished. “She’s sending us to certain death.”
“We’re not attacking Carsovia, or the mines, really. We’re going after one man.”
“The overseer of the mines is handpicked by the empress herself. There are few things more precious to the empire than flash beads,” Lavette said gravely.
“I know their power…I can understand why they’d be so precious,” Eira admitted. “But we don’t have much of a choice. Look at it as going in, killing one man, and getting out. Nothing more.”
“We’re going to die,” Varren whispered. “No one makes it out of that place alive.”
“You did.” Lavette wrapped her arm around his shoulders and turned back to Eira. “Qwint is in a precarious enough position as it is with the treaty falling apart. If they see us infiltrating their mines”—she held up her wrist covered in runic bracelets, as though that would be enough to signify their origins—“Carsovia will use it as an excuse to attack.”
“I understand,” Eira said. She didn’t know enough about the politics of Qwint and Carsovia to object. Though, everything she heard made Carsovia out to be a monstrous empire with little regard for the sovereignty of others…much like Solaris was under the first emperor.
But Eira also suspected that their hesitation was about more than political reasons. Varren continued to stare past the table. She didn’t know his full story and wasn’t about to pry, but whatever surrounded a past escape from Carsovia for him…she could tell wasn’t a matter that should be pressed.
“By that logic, should we be worried about how this might reflect back on Solaris?” Cullen mused.
“We’ll change our clothes and dress like pirates. No one from Carsovia was at the tournament so they won’t know us by our faces; we’ll just be Adela’s crew,” Eira said.
“Assuming Carsovia didn’t have spies at the tournament.” Olivin tapped the table in thought. Lavette made a humming noise akin to agreement.
“It’s possible,” Eira relented. “But are they really going to be looking for us all the way in their land? And even if there were spies at the tournament, that information likely wasn’t reported to this overseer. They might not have even made it back alive.”
Olivin tilted his head left and right, then shrugged.
Yonlin leaned forward. “I, for one, am ready to attack this overseer.”
“You just want to see how flash beads are mined and refined.” Olivin sighed. “You are twisted, brother.”
“I am a man of science and magic.”
“You should be nowhere near those mines.” No sooner had Olivin said the words than Yonlin was giving him a cutting glare. The two had a staring contest that the rest of them readily left them to.
“What about you two?” Eira looked to Noelle and Alyss.
Noelle cracked her knuckles, sparks flying with each pop. “Kill one man? I think we can manage that.”
“It’ll be good experience for when we go after Ulvarth,” Alyss agreed. “We could use all the practice we can get when it comes to cutting off the head of a snake.”
“Then the six of us will go.” Eira looked to Lavette and Varren. “You two can stay on the Stormfrost.”
Lavette nodded. Varren inhaled deeply. She expected he was going to caution them a second time about marching into the mines. But he surprised her when he said, “If you’re going there, you’ll need all the information you can get.”
“Varren,” Lavette said softly. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know.” He lifted his chin with a determined gaze. “I might not be ready to confront the monsters of my past, but I can tell you all about their cages. And, with any luck, you’ll finally kill the man we called ‘nightmare wielder.’”
Over the next hour, Varren told them of the Carsovian mines. How the flash beads’ discovery and refinement had changed the empire, giving it a unique military edge by overpowering most other magics, and arming Commons with powers that they weren’t born with. He told them of an empire built on power and cruelty. Of extreme wealth and stunning poverty. Small wonder the other kingdoms had tried to unite to stand against the tyrant that he made Carsovia out to be.
But the parts that stuck with Eira, long after they’d gone to bed, were the parts that Varren didn’t say. The moments his words broke and thoughts trailed off. The silence that followed the briefest mentions of life at the mines. Like the rest of them, he had his scars, and the monster behind them still reigned supreme over mines of flash shale and blood.
