They raced back to the bow of the ship where Adela lay. Puck was already at her side, glyphs of light spinning underneath his palm as he moved it above her, murmuring Lightspinning words under his
breath. Eira slowed, both her feet and her heart, as she saw that Adela’s eyes were open.
Those frosty eyes turned to her. “You look worried.”
“You looked almost dead.” Eira knelt at her opposite side. “Do you need any help?” Alyss asked Puck.
He shook his head. “But if you don’t mind helping with the rest of the crew?”
“Not at all.”
“Thank you,” Puck said with a warm smile in Alyss’s direction. “We wouldn’t have made it without you.”
“I know.” Alyss grinned, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her shoulders were slumped as she went to attend to the other sailors. Exhaustion weighed heavily on all of them.
“It’ll take a lot more than that to kill me,” Adela said, and Eira’s focus returned to her. “Better people have tried.”
“I’m sure.” Eira rested her hand on Adela’s shoulder. “I see your magic has returned.”
Eira nodded.
“I told you I would see it brought back to you.” Adela had an air of smugness that Eira couldn’t help but laugh at.
“I don’t think you did much other than put me in a dire state. Which is what my magic always seems to respond to.” That, and Cullen…
Her attention drifted a moment, landing back on him. A breeze glided across her cheeks, as gentle as his smile. As if he knew without her saying a word. As if he was the one thanking her when she should have been thanking him.
“We’ll work on that.” Adela, oblivious to Eira’s thoughts, sat straighter and Puck shifted to her back. “You will learn to be as in control of your emotions as you are of your powers. So much of our magic is wrapped up in our conscious and subconscious intention that it is natural for many to see it respond to such triggers. But to truly gain the mastery you want—that you can attain—you need to gain a firmer control of it.”
It was surreal to have Adela be talking as plainly as Noelle might about magical theory and application. Part of Eira felt like the young woman she had been, getting a lesson from her uncles, or a tutor in the Tower. The other part was keenly aware that she was still on a boat with the pirate queen, speeding through a rainy night to the vast unknown. Yet…the latter bit didn’t terrify her nearly as much as she felt it otherwise should.
“I’d like that.”
“No doubt. Thank you, Puck,” Adela added as he moved away. Puck gave a bow of his head went to check in with Alyss. “Now that you have regained your powers, we can begin to work with clearer purpose.”
With the help of her cane, Adela rose to her feet. Eira did so as well, keeping an eye on the pirate queen. She still didn’t seem as stable on her feet as Eira would’ve liked, favoring her icy leg that fused with the deck and relying more than normal on her cane.
“Once we get some rest,” Eira agreed.
“The Stormfrost isn’t far now.” Adela looked to the bow of the boat. Eira could feel shifts in the water around them. She was reluctant to give up control to the pirate queen—as exhausted as she looked—but Eira relented. Adela had been at this far, far longer than Eira could imagine. And she no doubt spoke true about having recovered from much worse.
Like a ghost in the night, the Stormfrost faded into view. Its lanterns were the flameless sort, their pale glows illuminating the frosty haze that surrounded the ship and giving it a spectral appearance. The entire vessel was coated in ice. In the rain and lightning, it looked every measure of its namesake.
“I dreamed about seeing it,” Eira said softly.
“That is not something I hear often.” Adela chuckled.
“Seeing it meant I found you.” Eira shifted, meeting Adela’s eyes. The shade of blue that was so much like hers. Something in her expression gave Adela pause, her smile slipping from her lips. But only for a second, then it returned.
“Yet another thing I don’t hear often.”
Eira picked up on the clear clues that Adela didn’t want, or wasn’t ready, to readdress Eira’s questions about her parentage. So, instead, she said, “Isn’t that how you found most of your crew?”
“Are you saying you want to be a more permanent part of my crew now?”
Eira shrugged. “Do I have a choice? I thought I had agreed to as much in exchange for your help getting my magic back.”
Adela merely hummed. The gleam Eira was familiar with was back to Adela’s eye. But it didn’t have the same sinister sharpness as Eira might have once seen in it. Still, she didn’t press the matter. Being in limbo was better than being shackled again.
The boat slowed to a stop alongside Stormfrost. It towered above them
—larger than any boat Eira had ever seen. Larger than she ever thought possible for a vessel. There had to be at least three belowdecks, if not four.
A rope ladder had already been unfurled for them, reaching the railing of their small vessel. Pine went up first, then Fen. After that Adela motioned to eight of them. Ducot squeezed Noelle’s hand before he led her up, then the rest of the pack: Cullen, the two from Qwint, Olivin, Yonlin, until it was just Eira and Alyss.
Alyss stared up at the boat and made no motion for the ladder. She stood, hands limp at her sides.
Eira rested a hand on her back. “It’ll be all right,” she said softly. “I don’t think they’re going to hurt us.”
“Oh, I know.” Alyss glanced over at her. “That’s just a really tall ladder and I am…very tired.” She grinned sheepishly.
Getting her magic back had been a second wind to Eira. She knew the moment she sat, or lay down, it would all catch up to her. But, for now, she was able to keep going.
However, her friends did not have the luxury of regaining lost power to fuel their energy. They were coming off a hard-fought battle and narrow
escape. Clothes still stained with blood and sweat, singed and pockmarked with magic. The six of them were slow heading up the ladder.
Eira couldn’t imagine the amount of exhaustion Alyss felt. She had not only helped defend the boat, but also held it together throughout the relentless assault. She had been using her magic to an extraordinary degree for a length of time far greater than anyone could’ve ever expected of her.
“What’s the holdup?” Adela asked as she made her way over.
“Alyss is tired; she’s just catching her breath a moment.” Eira stayed close to her friend and gave Adela a hard stare, silently challenging the pirate queen to say anything about Alyss’s exhaustion.
But Adela continued to surprise her. “It’s incredibly understandable, given all the magic she has exerted.” Adela’s attention shifted to Alyss. “I can help you up, if you would like?”
“If that’s a genuine offer, I would be a fool to refuse,” Alyss said with a tired smile.
“You would be.” Adela smirked. “But so often I am astounded by the fools who end up in my company.”
With a soft laugh and a nod, Alyss agreed. Eira had been expecting to see Adela use the same technique that she had implemented to transfer Eira between the two boats on the river. But instead, she used ice and not water to bring Alyss up to the main deck.
Adela pressed her frozen hand against the hull of the Stormfrost. The hand disappeared into the thick layer of ice that covered the boat. She sank her arm in, up to the elbow, as though it were sinking into the ship. At their right, a similar icy hand emerged from the frozen hull. But this time the palm of the hand was as tall as Alyss.
“If you please,” Adela said with mock formality as she gestured to the waiting palm with her free hand.
“Don’t mind if I do.” Alyss played along and settled herself on the edge of the frozen palm, as though she were perching herself on a swing, kicking her feet with excitement.
“Now, don’t get used to this.” There was the usual edge to Adela’s voice.
The hand slid magically up the side of the hull of the Stormfrost, carrying Alyss with it. She let out a surprised yelp that quickly became a laugh of wonder and excitement. She passed the others in a swift blur.
All the while, Eira remained focused on the magic at play. The whole of the Stormfrost was completely covered in Adela’s power; it was as if the ship were more magic and ice than wood, rope, or tarp. But what truly amazed Eira was how seamlessly Adela could fuse different magical applications together. Everything she applied her magic to became one extension of her. One sustained, stunning act of control.
As soon as Alyss was deposited on the deck, she immediately leaned over the railing and called down, “Eira, you absolutely must learn how to do that!”
“I’ll do my best,” she called back. Eira didn’t want to sound too confident, otherwise Adela might second-guess teaching her, or having her on board the vessel entirely.
“I did not realize that was an option.” Noelle huffed from three fourths of the way up the ladder. She had slowed almost to a stop.
“You did not ask,” Adela said as she withdrew her hand from the hull. “You cannot expect to receive if you never ask what you can get.”
“Well then, will you take me the rest of the way up?” Noelle glanced over her shoulder.
“I think you’re close enough to the top it would be pointless,” Adela replied. Noelle made a noise that was halfway between a grunt and a groan, but she continued to climb. Adela glanced in Ducot’s direction. “I can see what you see in her.”
“She has a pleasant audacity to say the least.” Ducot’s voice oozed fondness to the point that Eira was surprised the Stormfrost didn’t melt from the warmth that radiated from him.
“That’s certainly a way to put it. She’s much like every other Firebearer I’ve ever had the pleasure, or displeasure, of knowing.” The last sentiment devolved into a mutter. Adela said, stronger, to the crew still around them, “Now, make sure everything that we need is off this vessel.” Then she turned her attention to Eira. “What’re you waiting for? I am not carrying you up there.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to.” Eira began climbing. It was a long climb, but not a hard one, thanks to how the ladder had joined at points with the ice, making it fairly stable.
Eira savored how the ice no longer bit into her fingers with sharp shards or piercing cold. The wind continued to blow and rain pelted her. But no
longer was it unwelcome. Every heavy drop was a kiss to her cheeks. Every curl of her fingers around Adela’s ice radiated with a familiar power.
She joined her friends on the main deck of the Stormfrost. They were corralled into a group by a semicircle of pirates, waiting awkwardly. The drawn swords made it clear that they didn’t have free reign of the vessel and still weren’t trusted. But their postures also didn’t feel hostile. If anything, Eira suspected they were simply awaiting orders—ready to kill or welcome them on a word.
But Eira took note about how none of them seemed particularly surprised to see them. Adela would’ve certainly communicated her mission before going ashore, at least to a certain extent and to some of the crew. So was the plan simply well-known among the crew and they expected Adela to take her “impostor” back aboard? Or was it common for them to gain new crew members this way? Given how the others of Adela’s crew had spoken, she could guess it probably was.
Eira’s assessment of their circumstances was brief. No sooner had she joined the group than Cullen pulled her into his arms. The embrace was long enough that she could hear him draw a shuddering breath, and exhale a sigh of relief that became a soft hum as his arms tightened briefly around her shoulders. But he let her go promptly. Though the slow pull of his hands across her back made it clear, if only to her, that he still wanted to hold tight.
“I’m so glad you’re all right,” he said. “When the pirates told us what Adela was probably sending you to do…I was worried you wouldn’t be able to get back to us. I know by now I shouldn’t worry about you. I know you can more than manage. But I worry anyway.” Cullen gave a slight smile and a nervous laugh.
“I understand; I was worried about all of you, too. I saw the fighting happening from a distance…I’m sorry I couldn’t help more.”
“Getting that gate open was incredibly helpful,” Noelle said. She turned to the two elfin brothers. “I suppose we have you two to thank for that as well.”
“It’s good to see you again.” Alyss smiled warmly at them. Then she said, just to Yonlin, “And it will be good to have a chance to properly get to know you.”
“Likewise, I’ve heard so much about you all that I feel like I know you already.” Yonlin glanced up at his older brother with an expression that was
only readable to Olivin, judging from the way that Olivin’s smile dropped briefly.
“I wanted to make sure he knew of all the people who he owed his life to,” Olivin said with a shrug, recovering his nonchalance in the process.
“Your brother did most of your saving.” Eira tried to keep her voice strong and hide the guilt that still lingered at the role she might have played in Yonlin’s misfortune.
She knew the Pillars were cruel, and it was likely that they would’ve put him through what he’d endured in that locked room, or worse, anyway. But she couldn’t escape the idea that if she hadn’t taken that key, then maybe…
She tried to force the sense of responsibility from her mind. Marcus had taught her that it did little good to focus on what could’ve been done, or what the outcome might’ve been if a different choice was made. The best thing she could do was to learn and keep moving forward.
“See, I told you I wasn’t just ignoring your plight.” Olivin nudged his younger brother, giving off the air of playfulness. But Eira could see the truth in his eyes—finding Yonlin in that state would be seared into him for the rest of their days. Even Olivin probably didn’t realize how deeply that wound ran yet.
Their conversation was cut short when Adela came over the railing, frosty steps rising to meet her feet before disappearing, as though she were walking on the crest of a frozen wave. The ice merged back with the ship, disappearing save for Adela’s cane. The pirate queen gripped her aid with white knuckles, leaning ever heavier upon it.
“Take them down and find them hammocks,” Adela commanded. “Among us?” one of the crew clarified. “Not in the brig?”
“Did I say to put them in the brig?” Adela’s tone was curt. “No.” The pirate shook his head hastily.
“And someone clear this.” Adela gestured to the skies. “Trim sails. Dog hatches. Weigh anchor.” She began to head toward the stern of the vessel. Eira had seen the windows lining the upper portion of the vessel and knew from growing up in Oparium that the captain’s quarters were always the best on the ship and usually in the back.
“You really expect us to just go with you?” Lavette was the one bold enough to step forward from among them.
Adela paused, half turning. The muscles in her face were tense, pulling her lips thin and eyes narrow. “Considering that you all now owe me your
lives—”
“We fought as much as your crew did,” Noelle objected.
Adela’s lips closed slowly. Then curled into a dangerous smile. She slowly stalked back over, coming to a stop in front of Noelle, staring down at her. The younger woman failed to suppress a shiver. There were goosebumps trailing down her arms, visible from where Eira stood.
“Whose ship are you on?” Adela asked quietly.
“Yours,” Noelle answered, finally, somewhat begrudgingly.
“Good. Now can you tell me, who sets the code of conduct on this vessel?”
“You.” Noelle’s stance was still defiant. She still stared up at the pirate queen with her chin extended slightly. But her tone was softening.
“That code of conduct has but one rule: what I say, goes. Don’t mistake my charity for fondness.” Adela leaned forward slightly. Eira didn’t miss the slight wavering in her hands as they gripped her cane. “So if I say sail, we go. And if I say to my crew, kill…”
“I’m dead,” Noelle finished quietly.
“Very good. The alternative is still shackles.” Adela eased away and turned, starting back for her cabin. She commanded, far more harshly than the first time, “Now, get them out of my sight.”
