Wielder's Prize

by Elle Cardy

  Sixteen.

  Seventeen.

  Eighteen cracks.

  Jasmine looked at the scene but no longer saw it. It was easy to mentally disappear because Cook made no sounds. He didn’t once cry out in agony. He didn’t whimper. He didn’t curse. She could pretend she was elsewhere. She could put herself on an imaginary Prize. The sun vanished behind the gray clouds. A cold breeze blew up from the waters. The air smelled of rain.

  Twenty-six.

  Twenty-seven.

  Cold drops began to fall. They felt like needles. They washed the blood from Cook’s back and mixed with the blood on deck. The whip whistled back like a multi-headed snake in the shower. The ship rocked and Cook released an involuntary wail as the wet leather connected with his back. Blood and water sprayed on impact.

  Twenty-eight cracks.

  Twenty-nine cracks.

  The whip exposed white bone at Cook’s shoulder blades. The ship heaved. The whip cracked.

  Thirty.

  Cook sagged against the mainmast. Blood streamed down his back. Jasmine released a ragged breath. Doc directed two large sailors to untie his patient. They dragged Cook below decks to the infirmary. Jasmine tried to follow but Roberts stopped her.

  “Where’d you think you’re going?” he said. “You’re rostered for watch duty now.”

  Jasmine glanced up at the rigging. Rain washed into her eyes. “I’m just a cook’s apprentice.”

  “Not on this ship, you ain’t.”

  To have heard those words on the Prize would have excited Jasmine. To be a real part of the crew had always been her dream. But this wasn’t the Prize. Here she wanted to disappear more than ever. She wanted to check on her father. She wanted her freedom back.

  The rain intensified. It fell in sheets and washed the deck clean of any sign of the bloody flogging. The ship pitched in the rough seas.

  “Seaman Midge is relieved of duty.”

  Jasmine turned toward the voice. Finn had approached.

  Roberts scowled. “We need every hand on deck in this storm.”

  Finn’s youthful features hardened. He glared at Roberts in the rain. “I require his services.”

  Roberts seemed to have second thoughts and snarled like a dog. He stalked off without saying another word. Finn turned his angry stare at Jasmine. “Come with me, boy.”

  They went below decks. She thought he was taking her to her father but they passed the infirmary and kept going. When they came to a nondescript door, Finn shoved it open and he indicated she should enter. She obeyed and entered what appeared to be private quarters. She guessed this was Finn’s quarters. It was a small room containing a single berth, a side table with three small drawers, and a wicker chair.

  When he closed the door behind them he rounded on her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Jasmine could only assume he meant her escapade in the rigging the day before. He would have let Lars flog her because of it. He would have revealed her secret to every man on board the Seahawk because of it.

  “I would ask the same question of you.”

  “What are you talking about, boy? I’ve kept your secret. I’ve not betrayed you — yet.”

  “Is this how it’s going to be? Is this your way of lording it over me?” Jasmine didn’t know where her bravado came from. Or her anger. “Are you going to hold me down with your promises and your threats?”

  She expected him to beat her then — Cook would have — but instead he only frowned at her.

  “When have I ever threatened you?”

  “Are you daft, man?” When those words escaped her lips she realized she was trying to provoke Finn into striking her. She hesitated. She waited for the blow. Nothing happened. It only made her angrier.

  “You could have stopped the flogging,” she said. “But you chose not to. You stood up there, in your high ‘n’ mighty position, thinking you’re better than everyone else.”

  She raised her own hand to strike him but he caught her fist in midair.

  “Why would I stop the flogging? Your secret doesn’t exempt you from punishment. I don’t know what it was like on the Prize, but on the Seahawk disobedience must be punished.”

  Jasmine swung her left hand, but he caught that one was well.

  “You could have found a different punishment for me.”

  Finn released her and pushed her back. “Why?”

  Jasmine stared at him. “Would you have stopped the flogging if Cook hadn’t intervened?”

  “No.”

  Her head began to ache. “You would have exposed my secret to everyone then?”

  “How would flogging expose your secret?”

  Jasmine suspected he was playing with her. His boyish face had fooled her. She had thought she could trust him. She had thought he didn’t have such cruelty in him. This new revelation made her speechless. She didn’t know what to do or say. She couldn’t read a man like this.

  Jasmine reached for the doorknob but it wouldn’t turn. She hadn’t seen Finn lock the door when they’d entered. He had to be using his powers to keep the door from opening.

  She rested her aching head on the door frame. “Let me go.”

  “You haven’t answered my questions.”

  The ship pitched. Finn lost his balance and fell against the side table. When he righted himself he peered out the small porthole. It revealed a storm-tossed ocean. The sea raged in anger and jostled the ship. The ship’s bells rang out. He swore under his breath and turned on Jasmine. There was an anger in his eyes she’d not seen before. She thought he’d been angry when he first brought her to his quarters. That was nothing compared to whatever raged through him now.

  “Stop it, Midge,” he shouted at her.

  Pain lanced through Jasmine’s head. Its intensity was equal to her fear.

  “Stop it before you hurt yourself.” Finn reached for her. She shuffled away but there was nowhere to go. The wielder caught her and seemed to want to shake her. He was stronger than she had expected. His fingers dug into her flesh but she had no strength to fight him.

  The ship pitched again. Finn held his ground as if he were rooted to the floor. He didn’t let her go.

  “Stop it,” he demanded again.

  “Stop what?” Her voice was no more than a whisper. It had sounded like someone else had spoken.

  “Stop wielding!” He was a madman.

  A feverish giggle escaped her. “You are mistaken, good sir.”

  He raised his hand. She laughed at the irony. In the end it wasn’t insults that had pushed him to beat her, but civility. She had no memory of the beating but she was certain it happened. She remembered pain and she remembered sinking to the floor and then everything went black.

  *

  Finn lifted Midge from the floor. It had been a long time since he had to use his power against someone to incapacitate them. He had hoped he hadn’t hurt the boy too much, but it had to be done. The fool had seemed to think he could wield without Finn knowing. He also seemed to think he could wield without his talisman.

  Finn dropped the boy into the wicker chair and peered out the porthole. The storm was already beginning to disperse. The rain stopped and the ocean settled to its normal swell.

  He straightened and looked at the boy. Midge slouched on the chair. His head rested on the wicker arm. His clothes were soaked through from the rain, his bare feet were filthy, his short hair stuck out in every direction. He seemed harmless enough lying there. But Finn knew better.

  “What am I going to do with you?” he said aloud in the cabin.

  Finn ran a hand through his own wet hair. He pulled out a fresh shirt and a dry pair of pants from the second drawer of his side table. For all his months on the sea, he still had no idea how the sailors could stand to wear wet clothes any longer than necessary.

  When he was dry again, he glanced at the boy. He hadn’t moved. Finn had never tried to darken the mind of another wielde
r before, so he wasn’t sure how long Midge would be unconscious. He wasn’t even sure what state he would be in when he did wake up.

  “You’ll probably get a stiff neck lying in my chair like that,” he said. “I don’t want you getting a fever either and I don’t want to have to inform Doc about you just yet. So it looks like you’ll have to use my bed for the time being.”

  Finn looked again at the boy’s wet clothes. They were cold, wet, heavy and far too many sizes too big for him. They had to come off. Finn reached down and started untying the strings to Midge’s shirt. The boy murmured in his sleep. He seemed agitated even in unconsciousness. Finn leaned the boy forward and grabbed the bottom of the shirt behind him and lifted it up. As soon as he did he noticed the boy’s back was strapped with bandages.

  “What’s this?” Finn had sensed no injury on the boy except past bruises, so his immediate thought was that the boy did have a talisman after all. He hid it under his shirt so no one would know. An echo of the anger Finn felt earlier returned. The boy should have trusted him.

  With one angry heave, Finn pulled the shirt off the boy so he could examine the bandages underneath. He leaned the boy back into the chair.

  Finn gasped. Those bandages weren’t covering a talisman. They were covering something else entirely.

  “Midge is a girl,” he breathed.

  Chapter 6

  Jasmine woke feeling disorientated and sick. She was lying on a soft mattress and covered with a thick warm blanket. Her head rested on a goose down pillow which made her feel like she slept on clouds. The soft glow from a single lantern filled the otherwise dark room. She turned her head and noticed Finn sitting in the wicker chair. His arms were crossed over his chest and his head lolled forward in sleep.

  Jasmine glanced at the door. Perhaps while the wielder slept she could escape. As quietly as she could, Jasmine pulled back the covers. She yelped and covered herself again. She was completely naked. Even the bandages she’d used to strap her breasts were gone.

  Her movement was enough to wake Finn. It seemed he wasn’t a heavy sleeper. She didn’t know what to expect from him. She needed to find someone familiar. She needed to find Cook — even if the moment her father got his strength back he’d likely beat her for making him take the flogging. Then again, her head still ached and she wasn’t up for another beating.

  Finn stood and nodded to her. She clenched the blanket in tight fists, suspicious of his motives.

  “How’s your head?” Finn asked.

  “Did you have fun undressing me?”

  Despite looking uncomfortable, he didn’t turn away. “You were soaked through. I didn’t want you to catch a fever.” He gave her a tentative smile. She thought it was an attempt at reassurance. It didn’t work. “You should’ve told me you were female.”

  No man had ever confused her more than this one. He claimed he knew her secret and now he was feigning ignorance. “You exhaust me,” she said. Still hugging the blanket close to her, she rolled away from him.

  Finn’s cool hand touched her forehead. She wanted to shake him off. Something compelled her to remain still. She closed her eyes against that touch, but the moment she did, her world dropped away. Tension released her and she felt herself fly across the waters of a sun bejeweled ocean.

  Jasmine gasped when he moved away again. Her flight ended and the throbbing in her head returned. The creak of the wicker chair told her Finn had seated himself.

  “I don’t know if you know this, Midge,” he said, “but every time you wield without a talisman you hurt yourself.”

  Jasmine frowned into the pillow.

  “Did you know that, Midge?”

  “My name is Jasmine.” She didn’t know why she told him this. It wasn’t like she trusted him. She barely understood the meaning of his words most of the time.

  “Did you know this fact about wielders, Jasmine?”

  That was the first time she’d ever heard her real name spoken by anyone other than her father. She rolled back around so she could see his eyes. Concern flooded his features.

  “No,” she answered.

  Finn nodded.

  She wondered why he was telling her about wielders. She’d heard that wielders guarded their secrets as a king would guard his treasures. Then a spark of memory returned. She remembered Finn grabbing hold of her. She remembered the strange look in his eyes, the fear and desperation. She remembered his demand for her to stop wielding. And then he had beaten her. At least, she thought he had beaten her. Apart from the ache in her head, she didn’t feel injured. This doubt led her to doubt her other memories.

  “It will be all right,” he said, misinterpreting her look of confusion. “As long as you can suppress it, it won’t kill you. I might be able to find you another talisman but it could take years before it’s fully primed.”

  Realization dawned on her. “You think I can wield.”

  Finn’s eyes narrowed. “You can and you do.”

  Jasmine laughed then. It was a rich, hearty laugh that found true humor in her situation.

  “What’s so funny?” Finn seemed annoyed but she didn’t care.

  “When you came to me and told me you knew my secret, I thought you meant you knew I was female.”

  Finn didn’t laugh at the joke. “Are you saying that your status as a wielder is not a secret then? The men from the Prize know you can wield?”

  It was her turn to frown at him. “I’m not a wielder, Finn.”

  His face paled. “You believe that, don’t you?”

  It wasn’t a question but she answered it anyway. “Aye, Finn. I’m not, and have never been, a wielder.”

  “You’ve never been trained then?”

  Jasmine smiled. He seemed to understand at last.

  “And you’ve never had a talisman.”

  “Correct again.”

  Finn stood and paced the floor. He turned the ring on his finger as if the action helped him to think. “I don’t understand.”

  Jasmine sighed. “What don’t you understand?”

  He stopped pacing and looked at her. “How have you survived for so long?” He didn’t wait for her to answer. His face paled even more. He almost looked as sick as she felt. “How have you remained hidden for so long?”

  Every conversation she had with Finn seemed to burn a hole into her mind. “I beg you, speak plainly.”

  “Jasmine, I know you don’t believe me,” he said, “but you are a wielder. I can feel your power. You aren’t subtle which again makes me wonder how you remained hidden after all these years.” Finn seemed torn. “There is something I must do. Can I trust you to stay here while I’m gone?”

  The look she gave him, she hoped, told him she couldn’t go anywhere in her current state of undress.

  “Your clothes are at the end of the bed.” He seemed distracted, almost panicked. “And you mustn’t wield. It’s like a beacon.” He slammed the door on his exit.

  Jasmine found her dry clothes and dressed herself as fast as possible.

  The notion that she could wield seemed ludicrous to her. It wasn’t something she wanted for herself. Wielders were creatures to be feared or used. Finn seemed respected aboard the Seahawk but she didn’t think that was the norm — not from the stories she’d heard. They were always valued but, because they were also feared, they were often abused. She’d even heard stories of wielders sold into slavery.

  Jasmine shuddered at that thought. Her life was complicated enough. And why did her head ache so much?

  Jasmine tested the door. To her surprise it was unlocked. She considered going to find Cook. She hadn’t promised Finn she would stay. The thought of facing her father made her ill. It had been her fault he’d been flogged. She hadn’t expected it to affect her so much. She thought she’d be able to remain cold about it. The man beat her so many times in her life that it should’ve been satisfying to see him finally get beaten. But there was no satisfaction. There was no delight
in seeing the man suffer. She couldn’t face him.

  So Jasmine was still in the room when Finn returned. She stared out the porthole. The night was too dark to see the sea. It was enough to know it was there.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you,” Finn said at her back.

  She turned and faced him. “What makes you so certain I’m a wielder?”

  “Your power is undeniable.”

  All she heard were words. Empty words. “Can anyone recognize me as a wielder?”

  “No. Those without the power wouldn’t recognize you — unless, of course, you did something foolish for everyone to see.”

  “And those with the power?”

  “Not all wielders are strong enough or observant enough.”

  “Which are you?”

  Finn didn’t seem to understand her question so she asked it again. “Are you strong or are you observant?”

  He smiled. It was a small half smile that made him look more boyish. “I’m trained.”

  Jasmine’s head ached. She leaned against the side table.

  “Take the chair,” Finn said. “I’ve a feeling this might take a while.”

  Jasmine sat in the chair with her legs spread. She leaned forward and rested her elbows on her knees. There was nothing feminine about her posture. Finn gave her a strange look.

  “What?” she said. “It’s a habit I can’t afford to lose. I can’t ever forget I’m a boy first.”

  “You’re wrong. You can’t ever forget you’re a wielder first. An untrained wielder.” Finn sat down on the edge of his bed and shook his head. “I can’t even imagine how this happened.”

  “Why? What’s so terrible about untrained wielders?”

  Finn didn’t answer immediately. He stared at the floor between them. He seemed lost in thought. Then, without looking up, he said, “They are dangerous.”

  “How?”

  Finn looked at her. Something raced behind his expression. Was it pain? “You are dangerous in so many ways, Jasmine.”