“How did you do that?” Hali asked, awe in her voice.
Lyric watched the huge wave swell as it moved, the following ship disappearing behind it.
“You’ve pushed them back,” Hali said. “Impressive. Here, eat this.” She pushed something into Lyric’s hand.
Lyric looked down and saw a bundle of dried seaweed.
“What’s going on?” Runa demanded.
Lyric looked behind them and found her sister staring at her with a quizzical expression. Elation, exhaustion, and hunger filled her, and she smiled sheepishly, then bit off a piece of the salty, dried plant instead of answering.
“I could feel whatever you’re doing up here in the Captain’s cabin,” Runa said. She eyed Hali.
“I’m Hali,” Hali said, smiling at her.
“Runa,” Runa said. “What are you doing?”
“We’re being chased,” Lyric said, gesturing at the ship in the distance. It was far away and rapidly dwindling in size. She doubted the Laethreshi would catch up now after having lost all their speed.
“We were being chased,” Hali said, clapping Lyric on the shoulder.
“Sireni?” Runa asked.
“No, pirates,” Lyric said.
Narrowing her eyes, Runa stared at the small ship with a raptor’s focus. Her lips moved silently, and her fingers twitched at her side.
Lyric felt a rush of heat across her skin, and she shivered.
Hali, narrowing her eyes, looked back at the Laethreshi ship, and Lyric followed her gaze. She saw a flare of red-orange flames; black smoke puffed up into the sky.
“Runa!” Lyric gasped. “You may have killed them!”
“They’re predators,” Runa said unapologetically.
“That doesn’t mean you should set them on fire!”
“We’re close enough to land; they can swim.”
“She has a point,” Hali said, nodding at Runa. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
“Not worry! I was trying to avoid killing them!”
“And you didn’t,” Runa said. “Come, Ly. Laerdi brought lunch.”
Lyric stared at her sister, eyes wide. How could Runa be so unconcerned about killing? They’d never killed anyone before. They were supposed to be healers, not executioners. They were supposed to save lives. Lyric watched Runa walk back down the stairs and disappear into the cabin below.
“I doubt she killed anyone if that’s what you’re worried about,” Hali said. “She’s not wrong, though.”
“If we resort to killing, are we any better than they are?”
“Sometimes you have to end a life to save one,” Hali said. “You may want to remember that. This war you want to stop, it’s unlikely you’ll see peace without more death first. Even the Ayanarans, peaceful though they are, kill to save lives.”
Lyric blew out a breath of air and rubbed her fingertips across her temples. “I know it’s naive to think I can save everyone, and I know I’ll sometimes be forced to protect myself and the people I love and if it comes down to me or someone else, I can’t say I’d choose them over me.”
Lyric thought about what she’d do if someone threatened Runa, or Kell, or their mother. She’d kill to protect them, but only if she had to.
“Eat with your sister,” Hali said. “The Laethreshi won’t catch us now. Be content we weren’t forced to kill today, to defend our ship. If they'd boarded us, it would have been bloody.”
“Thank you, Hali,” Lyric said. She smiled distractedly, then headed down the stairs and opened the door to the Captain’s cabin.
Runa was sitting in front of Eleden’s desk, a bowl of rice and dark red beans in her hands. She eyed Lyric as she entered.
“I hope you left your self-righteousness outside,” Runa said blandly, scooping beans into her mouth.
Lyric glowered at her sister and walked to the second stool. She grabbed a bowl of hot food and sat with a thump. “Don’t forget who we are, Ru,” she said testily.
“And don’t forget you’re not Ethethera,” Runa said.
“Ru! Not wanting to murder a bunch of sailors, who hadn’t even boarded our ship, does not make me a sycophant!”
“I didn’t murder anyone,” Runa said. “I set fire to their ship. If you’re trying to put things in perspective, then getting captured by pirates doesn’t help Mother or stop the war.”
“They weren’t going to capture us,” Lyric said. “I slowed them down.”
“And now I’ve ensured they won’t attempt to follow.” Runa took another bite of rice and beans, looking as satisfied as a cream-drunk cat. “We already have one hound on our tail, or have you forgotten Kaia?”
“Just show a little more compassion for human life,” Lyric said.
“I never hurt anyone who doesn’t deserve it,” Runa said.
Growling, Lyric shoved food into her mouth and chewed angrily. There was no point debating force or justification with her sister any longer.
Someone briskly rapped on the door and Lyric called garbled permission to enter.
The door opened, and Captain Eleden walked inside, followed by Kell. Both men were laughing.
Kell, eyes lighting on Lyric, seemed to sense the mood inside the room and he looked at Runa with a curious lift of an eyebrow.
Lyric rolled her eyes, shaking her head, and Kell reached for a bowl of food without comment.
“We’ll reach Ayanar by tomorrow,” Eleden said, settling himself behind the large table. “I believe you saw the Laethreshi ship?” he asked.
“Yes,” Lyric said. She avoided looking at her sister.
“Well, thanks to you two we don’t have to worry about them anymore,” Eleden said. “They’re a nasty crew with rather barbaric views about women.”
Runa made a smug noise in her bowl, which Lyric promptly ignored.
“Any sign of Kaia?” Lyric asked. “Hali and I didn’t see another ship.”
“Not yet,” Eleden said, “but I have suspicions she’s changed ships.”
“Changed ships?” Lyric asked, frowning.
“Are you familiar with the Nilin?” Eleden asked, giving Kell a sidelong look.
“Not particularly,” Lyric said. “They’re inventors, aren’t they?”
“The airships!” Kell breathed, his eyes alight.
“The what?” Runa lowered her bowl, eyes filled with curiosity.
“The Nilin have been experimenting with ships that can fly,” Eleden said. “They use large air bladders to hold them aloft. Kaia got her hands on one of their ships. It’s fast, faster than a water-bound ship if the wind is right. And if the captain is a Windcaller …”
“Ships that can fly,” Lyric said wonderingly. “I thought the sky belonged to birds and dragons, back when they lived in the world.”
“And now to man it seems,” Eleden said.
“Why don’t you have one?” Runa asked.
Eleden laughed. “Too expensive.”
“Then how did Kaia end up with one?”
“Ru!” Lyric said.
“It’s a logical question,” Runa said, rolling her eyes. “What, you think I’m going to offend Kaia, who isn’t even here?”
“The Gale decided the Sireni should have one,” Eleden said. “Kaia can be quite persuasive when she wishes to be.”
“I got the impression she’s more a blunt hammer than a deft blade,” Runa said.
Eleden chuckled and raised his bowl to his mouth. “You’re not wrong.”
“Will she overtake us in her airship?” Lyric asked.
“I doubt it,” Eleden said, “but she’ll likely arrive not long after we do. She may try to interrupt our meeting with the Ayanarans.”
Lyric nodded. “We’ll speak to them. If they’re as strong as you say, then they should be able to stop Kaia and maybe they’ll have an idea about how to approach peace between our kingdoms.”
Eleden, Kell, Lyric, and Runa spoke of idle things for the rest of their meal. Lyric wanted to ask Eleden if he’d heard back from the man
he’d sent after their mother, but she knew not enough time had passed. Unsettled and worried, she lapsed into silence, listening with half an ear as Kell recounted a story he’d heard from the sailors.
Usually, Runa would have sensed Lyric’s mood and offered a comforting word or touch on the shoulder, but her sister seemed caught in her own reflections. From time to time, Runa twitched as if someone whispered in her ear. Lyric wondered, like she always did, what Elenora was telling her. Gandara had hated being in Rathgar’s Hold. It was likely that Elenora enjoyed the Sireni ship even less.
“I’m going for a walk,” Runa declared abruptly, thumping her empty bowl onto the table.
Eleden and Kell glanced at her, startled.
“Would you like company?” Lyric asked, studying her sister’s face.
“No,” Runa said. She walked over to her cloak and grabbed it from a hook on the wall. As she opened the door, Lyric saw her other hand clench at her side, the knuckles whitening. Then the door slammed shut, and Runa was gone.
“You’ve been through a lot,” Eleden said, perhaps in response to Runa’s abrupt departure.
“Yes,” Lyric said, turning back around. “She’s not usually …” She trailed off. She didn’t have to give excuses for her sister.
“Wine?” Eleden asked. He’d pulled a bottle from somewhere and was waggling it over three cups atop his desk.
Kell sat down on the stool Runa vacated and reached for a glass. “Yes, thank you,” he said.
“Yes,” Lyric said distractedly. She studied Eleden’s sun-darkened face and the scar that crossed his cheek and neck. “What was he like, my father?” Lyric asked.
Eleden smiled, his face softening with memory. “Bold and wild, shifting between calm and motion with the delicacy of a squall.”
“A bit of a troublemaker?” Lyric asked, smiling. She tried to imagine her mother being charmed by a passionate man, but she couldn’t. Elaina had always favored control and keeping a clear head. Lyric knew there was fire in her mother, like Runa, but unlike her sister, it didn’t regularly flare out in fits of intensity.
In contrast, Lyric had always cried easily, quick to tears instead of temper. She’d never seen her mother cry when she was a child, but Lyric’s emotions had ever lived beneath the surface of her skin. Was she like her father in that way?
“Oh yes,” Eleden said, laughing. “Egan once filled our mother’s boat with so many fish that it was impossible to cross the deck without slipping. They were piled thigh-high!” He gestured with his hand. “I still don’t know how he did it. Egan could call to sea creatures sometimes, and they’d listen.”
“He spoke to fish?” Kell asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’d make fishing easier.”
Eleden chuckled and nodded. “If you seek to cheat while fishing with your brother, sure.”
“What happened to them?” Lyric asked. “The fish?” An image filled her mind of fish flopping across the deck of a fishing boat, gasping for breath as the sun dried out their skin.
“They didn’t die, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Eleden said. “Egan summoned a wave right up over the ship’s railing and swept them back into the sea, all with a sweep of his arm. He nearly sent old Alesha into the water with them. Mother was furious and made him swab the deck for a whole week!”
“Why didn’t he become a captain, like you?” Lyric asked.
“He didn’t want to be in charge of anyone,” Eleden said. He lifted his glass and took a long drink, some of the light fading from his eyes. “Not everyone enjoys command.”
Lyric sipped her wine and shifted the glass in her hands. “Do you know how my father ended up in Kaliz? It’s far from the sea.”
“I don’t know,” Eleden said. “Egan was traveling then. I’m not sure why he was there.”
“He told you about meeting our mother?”
“Yes. He said he’d met the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.” Eleden smiled into his wine. “I admit I was jealous. If I’d known the most beautiful people were inland, I’d have traveled there myself.”
Lyric choked on her wine, blushing. “I hope I get to meet him,” she said.
“I’m confident he’ll turn up again,” Eleden said. “I imagine he’s heard of your presence with the Sireni; how could he not? He’ll come. I’m sure of it.”
Kell reached for her hand, and Lyric twined her fingers through his, letting their joined hands rest atop her knee. What would it be like to finally meet her father?
24
Runa
Runa stalked along the ship’s railing, avoiding the eyes of anyone who looked at her. Elenora’s displeasure was like a sore in her gut, souring her stomach and filling her with a restlessness she couldn’t shake.
They’re weak and cowardly, Elenora railed inside her head. They’ve corrupted your mother, turned her against your people. Slit their throats before they poison and betray you!
“I’m not killing anyone,” Runa hissed beneath her breath. She paused by the rigging that ran up along the mainsail’s edge to the crow’s nest above and wrapped her fist around one of the thick ropes. The coarse fibers grated against her palm, and Runa twisted her hand, fixating on the sensation. It helped her focus. She breathed in the salty air and held it in her lungs, feeling the pressure deep inside her chest. As she let her breath go, Runa tried to relax the tight muscles in her neck and back.
It was becoming harder to ignore Elenora’s contempt. Runa’s own emotions were raw and confused, tangling with Elenora’s and riding the ancestor’s focused anger until Runa wanted to set everything on fire and lash out at anything nearby.
It’s not me, Runa thought, twisting her hand around the rope. This isn’t me. She stared into the wind, feeling it brush across her skin.
“Why are you here?” Runa asked, her voice soft. No one was nearby to overhear, but she still kept her face turned away, not wanting the crew to think she was talking to herself.
A white seabird with a hooked beak and spots of orange on the tips of its wings, dove down into the water nearby, rising with a silvery fish in its mouth.
Don’t trust them, Elenora said. They’ll become afraid of you when they realize your potential, your power. They’ll try to drown you, feed you to the coward Serith’s beasts.
“The Captain is family,” Runa said. “My uncle.”
He’s not of the blood.
“Go away,” Runa hissed, glaring at the bird as it ripped the fish apart in midair. “I don’t want you.”
Of course, you do, little Burner. Who else will tell you about magic? Who else will bring you power? I know what you want, stupid girl.
“Why seek me out in the first place?” Runa asked. “You don’t only wish to train me, which you haven’t been doing much of by the way. You have another reason.”
Elenora shifted in her head. Raendashar has grown weak, she said, her voice dripping with disdain. Rakarn has yet to crush the Sireni. The war’s end has been in his hands for years, and he’s been unable to bring them to heel. The Sireni mock him, spit in his eye, burn our fleet. Never in our entire history have we lost all of our ships. Elenora cursed Elaina again, her fury snapping across Runa’s mind as she railed against her mother.
Runa laughed a harsh, bitter sound. “You think I’ll do what my grandfather hasn’t?”
Your fire will rival the dragons! You are strong, though untrained. I could feel you when you first stepped inside the Veil, feel your power, your anger. You wanted vengeance! You wanted strength!
“I don’t want to kill the Sireni,” Runa said. She tightened her hand on the rope, focusing on the pain. “I want to end the war. I want those in power to stop crushing the weak beneath their feet. Do you think it’s the people who keep the war going? No, it’s the nobles and the administrators who turn the wheel. They don’t care who's crushed beneath it or how much blood is spilled. They want power and money. They’re greedy!” Runa paused, realizing she’d grown louder.
She glanced over her shoulder
and caught the passing gaze of a young man. The boy swallowed at her aggressive expression; his eyes nervously dancing away.
I can help you, Elenora said. She sounded eager, excited by Runa’s loss of control. I can shape you. I can make you a weapon.
“I won’t fight your war,” Runa hissed. “Your revenge is not mine.”
Elenora shifted in her mind, perhaps deciding if she wanted to push further. Instead, the ancestor drifted back, her presence weakening. We’ll speak again, she said, then disappeared.
Runa sagged against the railing, feeling drained. She still felt angry, but it was old, familiar anger, the anger she couldn’t seem to let go of since her mother had left her and Lyric. Even now, after Elaina had come back, there was something new for Runa to rail against — her mother’s injury, her ancestor’s manipulation, Lyric’s distractions.
Surprised, Runa realized she was mad at Lyric, not enraged but disappointed. Lyric was drifting away from her, drifting to Kell. What would happen after they allied with the Ayanarans and sought an end to the war? Runa and Lyric wouldn’t return to Elae’s Hollow. They’d be important, caught in the heart of negotiations. Would they seek a place in Raendashar or sanctuary with the Sireni?
Lyric seemed to be enjoying their time on the Talan, but Runa couldn’t imagine living at sea at the mercy for the water and weather. She didn’t like the constant sway and the lack of solidness beneath her feet. She didn’t like how far away the mountains were and how deep and wide the water stretched around them. What would happen if their ship drifted so far from land that she could no longer see it?
And Kell; Runa doubted he’d go back to whatever he’d been doing before Elaina scooped him up and sent him after them. Kell would follow Lyric, or she would follow him. Sometime in the future, they’d leave Runa behind. It was inevitable. Women married and created new families of their own. What place would be left for Runa then? She wouldn’t trail after them like a shade. What did she want for herself?
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