Raven Rebellion

by K Hanson

  He pulled himself from his thoughts as a cloaked man strode across the tavern and slid into the seat across from Erhan. A hood draped over the man’s head, leaving all but his strong jaw veiled in shadow. His broad shoulders carried a powerful confidence.

  “You are Commander Erhan,” said the man. It was not a question. A damp aroma wafted across the table.

  Every instinct yelled to Erhan that he should walk out, but his hunger for information about Nereyda kept him there. “I am. And who are you? Your message implied that you could help me find a certain person that I’m looking for, but didn’t give me much else.”

  The man gave a dismissive wave. “Who I am does not matter. In fact, I prefer if people don’t know who I am. I’m not one for public attention.”

  “Fine, then,” said Erhan. “As long as the information you can provide is good, I do not care who you are. Do you know where the pirate known as Nereyda is?”

  “I do not, but I do know that she and her crew were seen going north from the mines.”

  Erhan scoffed. “If you can’t give me more than that, you’re wasting my time.” He rose and took a step toward the door. Before he could take another step, the cloaked man sprang in front of Erhan.

  He placed his left hand on Erhan’s shoulder. “Sit down, please.” A sharp pain in Erhan’s side punctuated the request.

  Erhan glanced down at the dagger pressed against his torso. He chastised himself for letting the man catch him off guard, then nodded and sat again.

  The man returned to his seat. “Thank you. Now, think. What would pirates be looking for?”

  The commander rubbed his chin, allowing adrenaline to sharpen his focus. “A ship, of course, but where would they get one? Antalia is too heavily guarded. And the only other port to the north is . . .” His eyes widened. “Of course, I think I know where they’re going. There’s an Imperial outpost there. The captain is a friend and might be able to help.”

  “Good. Once our meeting is done though, you’d better move quickly if you want to get ahead of them.”

  Erhan tried to study the man across from him, but couldn’t get a read on him through the shadow of his hood. “Why do you want to help me? What do you get out of this?”

  “I don’t particularly care about your mission, but I am being paid handsomely by my employer. That is good enough for me. What my employer wants, however, is of much more significance: that you bring this Nereyda to me. And, yes, I do mean that you should bring her to me rather than to your Stalstan friends.” The cloaked man let his words hang in the air.

  Erhan’s heart pounded in his chest. How did this man know about that? “What Stalstan friends do you mean?”

  “Don’t play innocent with me. We know that you’ve had a conversation with their foreign minister. If you don’t want anyone else to know, I suggest that you cooperate.”

  Erhan reached under the table for the dagger at his side.

  The man didn’t flinch. “Do you really want to test me again? Besides, I wouldn’t advise killing me. I am just a messenger. If I don’t report back, I can’t guarantee the safety of your secret.”

  “How did you know?” Erhan kept his hand on his dagger.

  “My employer is well connected. Don’t worry too much; I believe we are the only ones in the Empire who know about your meeting. If it helps, once you have brought her to us, we can help you get back to your position within the Imperial Navy without having your time away questioned uncomfortably.”

  After pondering for a moment, Erhan relaxed and let go of his dagger. “You seem to know exactly what to say to get me to work with you.”

  “My employer gave me all of the information I need, and I know how to use it well.”

  “Can I ask who your employer is?”

  “You can ask, but I won’t tell you. At least not yet. Once you’ve proven you can be trusted, maybe they will see fit to reveal themselves or allow me to tell you who they are.”

  “If you can’t tell me who you work for, then can you tell me what is their interest in Nereyda?”

  “I’ve only heard rumors about what happened at the mines. Is it true that she can command lightning?”

  “Among other things, yes.”

  “Then you know that she is a threat to the Empire, and every other nation. The gods punished us for meddling with powers like hers. If we allow her to go unchecked, she won’t be alone for long. I don’t know how we’ll be punished this time, but I know that I don’t want to find out.”

  “The foreign minister recommended that I invoke the Rite of Inquisition.”

  “He’s done his research, then. That is a rather obscure piece of history. I do not think anybody has ever called an Inquisition.” The cloaked man stroked his chin. “Maybe that’s a better approach than what I had in mind, actually. Instead of bringing her to me, take her to Goremia and show the priests what she can do.”

  “I don’t understand why waste time on an Inquisition at all. Nereyda is dangerous. The sooner we catch and deal with her the better. Why not do it ourselves and be done with it?”

  “Do you think she’s going to be the last person to have these abilities? Do you want to protect your precious Empire from more of her kind?” he asked in an urgent voice. “If she can get these abilities, so can others, and we need to learn as much about them as we can. The priests who will oversee the Inquisition will be prepared to extract information from her. After your journey north, whether you capture her or not, go to Goremia and talk to the priests that reside in the temple there. If you’ve captured her, they can deal with her. If not, they can tell you what you need to start an Inquisition.”

  “How do I get them to talk to me? I can’t tell them who I really am without drawing attention from the military.”

  “I’m sure you can figure out a good story to tell them. I have faith in you.” The man slid out of the booth. “You have much to do, so I’ll leave you to it now.”

  “How will I contact you if I have questions?”

  “You won’t. We have eyes all over the Empire, though, so if it seems like we need to meet, I’ll find you.” The man started to turn away, then stopped. “I almost forgot. Here is something to help start covering your expenses.” He pulled a sack of coins out of his cloak and set it on the table. “Good luck,” he said with a nod. With that, the cloaked man walked across the tavern with quiet footsteps and left.

  Erhan remained, looking down at the table and contemplating the wild turns that had taken him to this path.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  As she waited for Devrim’s wagons to carry her crew into town, Nereyda wandered to the edge of Ascaya and found the trail that would take her to the old man who had helped her when she washed up ashore after her raft had been destroyed in a storm. She figured he’d appreciate knowing that she was still alive, and he had seemed to know more about her powers than he had let on. She followed the path through the forest and along the side of a gently rolling creek. Eventually, the dirt of the path gave way to sand and she emerged from the trees. Nereyda paused at the edge of the beach and gazed out at the sea. Though she had been tired from the long day, the sight of the ocean rejuvenated her.

  She slipped her boots off of her feet and set them aside in the sand, then waded out into the water. Nereyda closed her eyes as the cool waves lapped at her ankles and feet. The scent of salt drifted in the air as the sea mist kissed her face. The waves whispered to her as they splashed against the shore.

  “Feels like home, doesn’t it?” asked a voice from down the beach to Nereyda’s left.

  She glanced over to see the familiar old man shuffling over the sand toward her with a walking stick in his right hand, his shack in the distance behind him. “Yes. It’s really the only home I’ve ever known. Coming back to it fills me with energy I didn’t realize I’d been missing.”

  The man waded out into the water next to her. Wild silver hair framed his tan and weathered face. “Perhaps your connection with the sea goes deeper than
living your life on a ship.”

  Nereyda narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sure you remember when you washed up on my beach. You said a storm destroyed your raft, but the only storm had been on the edge of the horizon. There was no way you should have made it to shore.”

  Nereyda shrugged, but his words unnerved her. “I guess I was lucky.”

  “No, not even luck would have helped you survive, and I think you know that.”

  “I’m not sure I got your name before.”

  “Forgive me. My name is Manu.”

  “So, Manu, what do you think happened? The sea decided to push me to shore without drowning me?”

  The man chuckled. “You might be closer to the truth than you think. Many years ago, people had abilities that we no longer possess. They could command the elements and do extraordinary things.” His eyes sparkled as he spoke.

  “You sound like a priest. That’s what they say. They also say that the gods punished us for it.”

  He laughed. “They would say that. If anyone did have those talents, they would be a threat to the established order and priests want things to stay as they are.”

  “How do you know about all of this?”

  “Much of it comes from legends passed down through generations, but there are enough hints that have survived in the histories to make people like me think there is some truth to the stories.”

  “And you studied these histories?”

  He nodded. “I did, when I was back at the University of Varanasi in Hariana. A couple of colleagues and I were working on piecing the clues together. We even thought we had located a place mentioned in the legends. A place of power. My friends left on an expedition to find it, but they were never heard from again. The news that I received is that their ship was wrecked somewhere south of the Shattered Sea.”

  As he mentioned the location, Nereyda turned and faced him directly.

  “After their disappearance,” he continued, “I lost the heart for academic pursuits and left the continent. I’ve had a quiet existence here ever since.”

  “You said they were shipwrecked just south of the Shattered Sea?”

  “Yes. Why?”

  “I think I might have something that you’ll want to see.”

  Nereyda held her open hand out over the water and found the cluster of power inside herself. A column of water slowly stretched up to touch her palm. It was a calm, clear tendril reaching up from the ocean. Then she closed her hand and the water splashed back down. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled as Manu’s eyes widened.

  “I’ve read about such abilities, and I had a feeling about you.” Excitement left his voice breathless. “Even so, it’s quite something else to see this for real.”

  “I think I found the island your friends were searching for. And that place of power exists. I know because I took that power.”

  “Come with me. We need to talk about this. I need to hear everything.” Manu turned and shuffled up the beach back toward his shack, which had graying walls as weathered as himself.

  Nereyda grabbed her boots and followed after him.

  As they entered his home, he leaned his walking stick against the wall. As they passed through the tiny living room that also served as the entryway, Nereyda saw a bookshelf that sat in the corner, packed with books in several languages. She understood Cambisian and recognized Stalstan, but the others featured characters she had never even seen before.

  “I’m going to make some tea, and I want to hear everything. Please sit.” Manu pointed to a small table in his kitchen. “Start while I get the tea ready.”

  Nereyda began by telling him how she got captured by the Empire, then shipwrecked on the island near the Shattered Sea. When he set a cup of tea in front of her, she described the ruins she had found in the middle of the island and how she had absorbed some sort of energy from a fountain.

  Manu’s mouth hung open. “Amazing,” he said. “Simply amazing. That sounds exactly like what we had read about before my friends left on their journey.” Manu looked at her with studious eyes, the natural academic returning to the surface. “Did your ability start showing right away?”

  “No, I felt something inside me, but didn’t know what it meant right away,” said Nereyda. “I didn’t have much time to think about it because some crazy fire demon chased me through the ruins. I escaped into the forest, but it pursued me. I thought it was going to kill me, but I somehow threw it into a pool of water with a blast of wind.”

  He tilted his head. “So your new abilities only showed when you were under duress?”

  “That’s right, at least for a while. During a battle, I managed to start figuring out how to use them on command. It still takes quite a bit of concentration, but I can do it.”

  “How does it feel when you do it?”

  “That depends on what I do.”

  “Is there anything else you can do?”

  “So far, I can throw wind, shoot lightning, create and control water, and freeze things. If there’s anything else I can do, I haven’t seen it yet.”

  “That’s quite a wide range of talents.”

  Nereyda shrugged. “I don’t know why I have these skills in particular, but they’ve been useful so far.”

  “How so?”

  Nereyda took a few minutes to tell Manu about everything that had happened at the mines.

  “You’ve certainly been through quite an ordeal,” he said. “It’s amazing to me that you’ve acquired so many skills and learned to use them relatively quickly.”

  “Has it been quick? It’s felt like it’s taken me forever to get to this point.”

  “From what I’ve read, it should take years of study to control one element. To control water, for instance, people would spend hours each day sitting in pools, attuning themselves to the water.”

  “I’ve been living on a ship for years. Maybe some of that has rubbed off and helped me.”

  “Perhaps you’re right. You said that you started controlling these abilities during the battle at the mines?”

  “That’s right.”

  “So you still hadn’t learned that control when you washed up on my beach. Most interesting.”

  “How so? What does that mean?” Nereyda stood up and paced the room. “What does any of this mean? Why can I do these things and nobody else can? Do I have to figure out all of this on my own?”

  “I’m not sure yet what any of it means. But I want to warn you to be careful. Don’t let too much of your power come out at once. A person can only take so much of it flowing through them. Push too hard, and something inside you might very well burst.”

  “Good, another thing to worry about. I’ll keep that in mind. Bursting would be inconvenient.”

  “You do not, however, need to be alone in this. I would very much like to study your abilities. I wish we were back at my home university so I could refer to the materials there.”

  “I’d like to know more about them, too. I’ll make you a deal. You help me learn more about these abilities, and when I get a ship, I’ll take you to the eastern continent myself, and we can take a look at these texts to see what else we can learn.”

  The old man beamed at her. “That’s a very generous offer, and I hope we can make that journey together.” He gazed out the window over the ocean with energy in his eyes. “Oh, I hope some of my old colleagues are there. They thought we were crazy for pursuing our studies. Now I can prove them wrong and maybe make the loss of my friends mean something.” He looked back at her. “You said you need to get a ship first. How do you plan to do that?”

  “We’ll find one and take it. Lord Devrim wants us to help him with something in exchange for getting a ship afterward, but I’m not willing to pay the cost of his help. We’ll just end up doing it on our own.”

  “If you do end up working with Devrim, be careful with him. I don’t know much of him, but what I do know is that he is an ambitious man,” he said with a tone of cauti
on.

  “You think he wants to take advantage of me? Trust me, I agree with that. He offered a lopsided deal and was quite upset when I turned it down.”

  “I don’t necessarily think he’s dangerous, and his ambition by itself doesn’t make him untrustworthy. A lot of people like him, and that speaks to his character. But someone who rises from nothing to his position doesn’t usually become content. He’ll be hungry for more. Make sure that whatever you do for him takes you closer to your goal, and that he’s not using you.”

  “I’ll keep my eyes open, but I may not have much choice. I do appreciate the advice though.” Nereyda looked out the window at the setting sun. “I should get back to town before it gets dark. My crew should have arrived at the inn by now and I want to spend some time with them before calling it a night.”

  “Very well. Thank you for coming by. It was good to see you again.”

  “Thanks for the tea. I’ll come back soon and we can see what I can do with this.” Nereyda concentrated and produced a spark of lightning at her fingertips.

  “I look forward to it,” said Manu with a smile.

  Nereyda pulled the door shut behind her and hiked back toward town.

  Dusk had settled by the time she arrived at the tavern. The sounds of drunken singing came through the walls.

  She opened the door and smiled at the jolly scene. Elvar’s voice shouted, “Captain!”

  The noise died down, and the crew turned to look at her, smiles on their faces.

  “Captain, I have a drink for you,” said Elvar. Crew members made way for him as he elbowed his way through the crowd. “Where have you been? What did you talk with Devrim about?”

  She took the drink Elvar offered. “Never mind that. We’re going to go get a ship.”

  The crew cheered, then quieted as Elvar asked, “How are we going to do that?”

  “There’s a dock up north. We’re going to steal a ship, then get the hell out of this place. We’ll keep it nice and quiet, then sail for Freyport to restock. But we’ll worry about that tomorrow. Tonight, we celebrate our freedom.”