Great Chief

by Lindsay Buroker

  It occurred to Yanko that he didn’t need to use Kei to see the bay that the ships were anchored in. There weren’t any other birds, not that he’d seen, but there was plenty of sea life. He reached out with his senses again, wondering what it would be like to see the sea through the eyes of a kraken.

  He didn’t sense any krakens floating around underneath the ships, but a few hammerhead sharks swam about. He tried not to think of the ones that had chased after the pirates earlier as he touched the mind of one, its thoughts hungry and alien. It was already flitting about between two of the vessels, so he didn’t have to manipulate it or even communicate with it.

  For a disorienting moment, he saw the world both through his own eyes and also the shark’s, but he focused on the shark and was soon underwater and skimming along underneath the gray metal hull of a long steamship with metal propellers at the back. The second ship was the same size and shape.

  The shark swam out from between the two vessels and toward a third. That one was smaller, the hull painted a dark blue, but it was also made from metal—steel—with a modern screw propeller.

  “Yanko?” Someone tapped his shoulder.

  He shook his head, pulling away from the shark. “Yes?”

  Tynlee lowered her hand. “You weren’t blinking.”

  “I don’t think sharks blink,” he said, as if that explained everything.

  “You’re not a shark, Yanko,” Lakeo said. “Your eyeballs will dry up and fall out. Women don’t find missing eyes sexy.” She smirked, but then glanced at Dak, apparently remembering belatedly about his one-eyed state.

  Dak merely arched an eyebrow. “Mine didn’t fall out from lack of blinking.”

  “That’s good,” Lakeo said.

  “Someone stabbed me in the eye with a sword.”

  “That’s less good.”

  “I concur.”

  Yanko rubbed his eyes. They did feel dry and sore. How long had he been staring at nothing while his mind saw the world from the shark’s point of view?

  “What did you see?” Tynlee asked.

  “I’m fairly certain Turgonian ships are waiting for us around that point.”

  He doubted pirates would have such state-of-the-art vessels. They might have stolen one, such as with that airship his group had battled a couple of weeks earlier, but a whole fleet? Yanko couldn’t imagine it.

  “Ah,” Tynlee said. “Then that fog might be wise.”

  Yanko nodded, though he knew he would have to deal with the Turgonians sooner or later if he wanted the continent for Nuria. But when and how?

  He looked at Dak. His face was a mask.

  Yanko couldn’t attack a bunch of Turgonians with Dak at his side, not that he wanted to attack them, regardless. But he felt more limited by his presence, by knowing that any actions he took down here in this remote section of the world would eventually be reported back to the Turgonian government.

  Full nightfall had arrived by the time the yacht glided around the point, and the fleet of Turgonian ships came into view, anchored in a secluded bay with rocky outcroppings on both ends. A moon had come out early, providing enough light for Yanko to pick out four warships almost identical to the one that had carried him in its brig for a week. They had shell guns rather than cannons, the monstrous weapons mounted all over the deck.

  The Turgonians would have been able to see the yacht, but as promised, Yanko tinkered with the air and the water around it, hiding the craft with a foggy haze that shouldn’t be that noticeable at night.

  “Those aren’t that Admiral Ravencrest’s ships, are they?” Lakeo whispered. “Did he get sent back here?”

  “I can’t read the names in the dark,” Dak said.

  Yanko couldn’t either, but he didn’t care that much. What did it matter if they dealt with Admiral Ravencrest or some other -crest?

  There were four other ships that roused his curiosity, the smaller vessels with the blue hulls. They carried a few cannons but also harpoon launchers at the front that made him think they were for whaling. Or had been once. He was close enough now to sense that the cabins on the upper deck were filled with crates and equipment and what his rural mind thought might be laboratory stations.

  “Would your people send a science team to research this place?” Yanko asked Dak. He and Tynlee stood to one side of Yanko, while Lakeo was on the other. “A science team protected by military ships?”

  Dak glanced at him but didn’t answer right away. Was he weighing whether providing information would be a possible betrayal to his people?

  Yanko wondered if he wanted to make contact with these Turgonians. He also wondered if Dak outranked the senior officer here and could be convinced to order the ships to leave. That would be a tidy way to get rid of the Turgonians without bloodshed—until the Turgonians reached home and were punished by their superiors.

  But even if Dak did outrank the mission leader, Yanko knew he wouldn’t give that order. And it wasn’t as if mind-manipulation magic would work on him. After all they had been through together, Yanko would feel like an ass for even making an attempt to manipulate him.

  “It’s possible,” Dak finally said. A very neutral answer.

  “To see if it’s worth fighting for before making a claim?”

  If that was their mission, was it possible Yanko could find a way to convince them that the continent wasn’t worth fighting for?

  “It’s possible,” Dak repeated.

  Yanko looked past him to Tynlee. “Have you ever successfully read his thoughts?” he asked, more out of curiosity than because he thought she would share intelligence that she had gleaned that way.

  Dak’s eyebrows twitched. He didn’t look that worried about the possibility.

  Tynlee laced her fingers together and rested them on the railing. “I have always found it difficult to snoop into the mind of Colonel Starcrest. And more recently, I have promised him that I would not attempt to take advantage of him when he is… distracted and less likely to have his mental defenses in place.” She smiled at Dak.

  His eyebrows twitched again, more in her direction this time.

  She wrapped her hands around his biceps, squeezing him through the material of his Turgonian uniform. “I was going to say relaxed, but those moments have been quite vigorous, haven’t they?”

  He didn’t speak out loud, but his eyelid lowered to half-mast.

  “Uh.” Yanko had been rooting for Dak to find someone who liked him—or even loved him—since he deserved it, but it was disturbing to see the man making bedroom eyes—bedroom eye—at a woman. “Lakeo, can I talk to you?”

  Yanko shifted farther down the railing. She shrugged and followed.

  “Honored Consul,” the first mate called softly, “are we sailing past this bay or staying here? I know you said some magic is hiding us, but it makes me terribly nervous to lurk near four Turgonian warships.”

  “Stay for now. Yanko is snooping and conspiring, and we are accommodating him.”

  Thank you, Yanko told her telepathically, though her words wouldn’t exactly put Dak at ease.

  Certainly, Tynlee replied without looking in his direction. She leaned against Dak, her hands still wrapped around his arm.

  Are you distracting him so he won’t pay attention?

  No, I’m appreciating his muscles through the material of his shirt. Earlier he did numerous physical exercises on the deck with his shirt off. It was quite delightful.

  Yanko grimaced.

  You shouldn’t have asked if you didn’t want to know, she said.

  Yanko wasn’t sure he had asked. Not that. I don’t suppose he’s mentioned anything about going off to warn his people that we might try to convince them to leave.

  He hasn’t mentioned anything to me, no, and I genuinely have a hard time reading his thoughts. I’ve decided not to try. As much as I want your mission to succeed and to help our people acquire this land, it was very difficult to earn even a small amount of his trust. I won’t do anything to bet
ray it.

  No, I wouldn’t ask you to. Yanko realized she might think he had with his question. I mean, I don’t want to betray him either. I just want to gather as much information as possible, so I won’t be surprised.

  Of course, dear. But perhaps you should gather it from the Turgonians out there. I imagine most of the crews aren’t trained in mage-hunter ways.

  Right. Thank you. Yanko felt like he’d been chastised, but a part of him was glad Tynlee liked Dak enough to want to protect him from manipulative mages. Even from him.

  Dak wrapped an arm around Tynlee’s shoulders, though he kept gazing thoughtfully toward the ships. Yanko decided to assume he would report to the officers out there eventually, that he would feel his duty required it, and that he would keep his plans to himself.

  “Are we actually going to talk?” Lakeo asked. “Or did you want to watch them canoodle from a distance instead of up close?”

  Yanko jerked his gaze from the pair. “We’re going to talk. I just want to check something first.”

  “Your level of interest in their canoodling?”

  “No.” He glared at her. “I want to see if I can detect any Turgonians on land out there. There’s not much life, so it shouldn’t be hard, if they haven’t gone too far inland.”

  “What’s your range?” came Jhali’s voice from behind them.

  Yanko jumped. He hadn’t heard her coming, and his senses had been focused on the Turgonians.

  Lakeo scowled at her. “Nobody asked you to come over and talk.”

  “Because Yanko didn’t know I was here,” Jhali said blandly.

  That was true. Yanko wouldn’t mind having them both as confidantes.

  Logically, Jhali was a better choice, since neither Tynlee nor any other mages they chanced across would be able to read her thoughts and learn what they’d discussed. But he’d known Lakeo longer and felt more comfortable sharing ideas with her. Jhali was still… an unknown. Even if she had nice collarbones. Which were, alas, covered again by her mage-hunter wrap.

  Lakeo turned her scowl on Yanko, and he sensed she wanted him to send her away. He also sensed protectiveness from her, that she didn’t want Yanko to be hurt or taken advantage of.

  He lifted his hand, appreciating the sentiment but not wanting to deal with the two of them arguing right now. Nor did he want to send an ally away.

  “Let me do my search first,” he said, “and then I’ll share my ideas with both of you, and you can tell me what you think.”

  “You have ideas?” Lakeo said. “Should we be alarmed?”

  Jhali came up to Yanko’s other side and leaned against the railing while she scrutinized the ships.

  Ignoring Lakeo, Yanko closed his eyes and swept his senses inland. If the ships did carry only skeleton crews, as Tynlee believed, it suggested that people had gone ashore. Simply to scout the land? Or to do research? If the latter, what manner of research would interest Turgonia?

  The land was as barren and devoid of life as Yanko had suspected. During his first wide-ranging search, he didn’t detect anything alive out there. He pushed his senses as far inland as he could, and at the edge of his range, he spotted a pair of people, each wearing heavy packs and carrying a crate between them as they walked toward the mountains. They were too far away for Yanko to tell what was in that crate, but the people walked without hesitation, as if they were heading to a known destination. A camp of their people somewhere out there?

  “There are people out there,” Yanko said quietly. “I think they’re exploring the land.”

  “To see if it’s worth investing time and resources into claiming, yes,” Jhali said.

  “If that’s true,” Yanko said, “maybe all we need to do is convince them it isn’t.”

  Maybe. There would still be those privateers to deal with, but Nuria could raise a sufficient force to deter a pirate fleet. Or so he hoped. Who knew what resources his nation would have left after all the in-fighting?

  “You don’t think they’ll figure that out on their own?” Lakeo waved at the miles of bare exposed rock and crinkled her nose, though the stench of death and decay wasn’t as bad here.

  “It’s possible they will,” Yanko said. “But if there’s a way to hasten that along…”

  “Can you manipulate the minds of the people in those ships?” Jhali waved toward the warships.

  “Tynlee would be better at that than I,” Yanko said, “but I suspect those are just the people who transported the scouting teams here. We may need to take a trip inland and find the rest of the Turgonians to see what they’re truly up to.”

  “You’re not going to find any krakens on land to throw at them, you know,” Lakeo said.

  No, he wouldn’t find any animal life at all. That was sad. He longed for the war to finish so he could start in on populating the island with numerous species that would propagate and create a balanced ecosystem. The idea of doing the research to figure out which species should live in this climate excited him.

  “I’m not going to pick a fight with the Turgonians,” Yanko said. “Krakens shouldn’t be necessary.”

  “What are you going to do with them?”

  “Talk to them. Try to find out what they’ve learned so far. Try to suggest that there’s nothing here that Turgonia wants.”

  “They’re not going to share what they’ve learned with a Nurian kid,” Lakeo said. “You don’t even speak their language. Or are you going to try to get Dak to accompany you and translate?”

  “No, I thought I’d leave Dak here to canoodle with Tynlee.” Yanko would feel much freer to manipulate the Turgonians without him along.

  Lakeo snorted. “Good luck.”

  5

  Yanko didn’t mention his plan to go ashore to Dak, but when the yacht set anchor in a tiny inlet north of the bay and prepared to lower its sole dinghy, he found Dak waiting for him with his weapons and a bulging pack. Yanko’s senses told him that it contained a few explosives as well as water, food, and first-aid supplies sufficient for a journey into the unknown.

  “Good evening, Dak,” Yanko said, walking up with similar items in his own pack, sans the explosives. Moonlight brightened the deck of the ship—and Dak’s stern face. “Are you also going on an expedition?”

  Jhali and Lakeo walked up behind Yanko, also carrying weapons and packs.

  “I’m going on your expedition,” Dak said flatly.

  “Oh? Don’t you think Tynlee will miss you?”

  “She said she would pine in my absence.”

  “Perhaps you should stay with her, thus to alleviate her distress.”

  “You’re not going to pester my people while I stay here and polish my sword, Yanko.”

  Yanko didn’t know if that was a euphemism or not. Dak’s tone was more dry than playful, with a hint of warning in it. At least he’d said pester instead of kill. Dak knew Yanko well enough to suspect he had legerdemain in mind rather than a bloodbath.

  “Besides, your Turgonian is abysmal, and you’ve lost your one friend who knew some.” Dak tilted his head, his sternness momentarily shifting to curiosity. Maybe he was surprised Yanko had arranged Arayevo’s new job?

  Yanko didn’t want to explain. All he said was, “That’s true.”

  He didn’t know if Jhali knew any Turgonian, but Lakeo didn’t, and he only had a few words. “But are you willing to talk to your people on my behalf?”

  “I’m willing to translate as long as you’re not trying to trick them into leaving.”

  “Ah.” Yanko didn’t know what else to say. Dak had to know that was exactly what he intended. How else would he gain this land for Nuria without starting a war?

  “It’s also occurred to me that you might think it’s a good idea to find the rest of those pirates and suggest—” Dak tapped his temple, “—that they get rid of the pesky Turgonians exploring the continent that they want to claim.”

  Yanko hadn’t considered that at all. Maybe he should have. But that would cause bloodshed, even if he
could keep his people out of it, and he would prefer trickery to flinging pirates at the Turgonians.

  “I intend to find the mission commander and warn him that Kendorian privateers are lurking in the area,” Dak added.

  “Ah,” Yanko repeated.

  Actually, that wasn’t a bad idea. If Dak warned the Turgonians about a threat, maybe that would win those walking beside him a little favor, or at least a little less suspicion.

  “Since I hope to speak with that same commander, we might as well travel together.” Yanko extended a hand in invitation toward the dinghy, as if Dak wouldn’t have hopped in it whether invited or not.

  “Might as well,” Dak agreed. “You know where the Turgonians are camped? Or where the commander is?”

  “More than ten miles away. That’s the extent of my range currently. I saw two men walking that way with a crate.” Yanko pointed toward the mountain range.

  Dak nodded. “That’s what I expected. They may already be spread out in camps all along the mountains. Those ships could have brought hundreds of people.”

  Yanko couldn’t help but feel bleak at the idea of hundreds of Turgonians on his continent. That seemed a far greater threat than a few pirate ships.

  It wasn’t until they’d lowered the dinghy, rowed to shore, and were heading inland that Yanko considered Dak’s words further.

  “Why did you expect your people to head to the mountains?” he asked as they maneuvered over the lumpy ground, dried seaweed, and dead lichen-like growth plastered to the rocks.

  There was nothing akin to a trail, but there also wasn’t any growth to impede them. Just the roughness of the terrain itself and the veneer of dead sea vegetation over everything.

  “A hunch.”

  Yanko wasn’t surprised when Dak didn’t explain further.

  “Your continent smells even worse up close, Yanko,” Lakeo said.

  She walked behind Dak and Yanko. Jhali walked far behind her. Yanko had a feeling the two of them would never be friends.