by Lorna Reid
The Captain waited for her to calm down, holding her until her breathing settled and she struggled to meet his eyes, feeling ridiculous for crying.
‘You’ve nothing to be ashamed of, Katrina Heartly,’ he said, seeming to sense how she felt. ‘I’ve not seen a punch that good for a long time.’ He smiled as she grinned through the tears and scrubbed at her face. ‘That took guts. Obscenely foolish, but impressive.’
Someone splashed through the water behind them, and two men in grey and black uniforms dragged the unconscious, bloody man from the shallows and bound his hands with a glowing red band.
‘The woman and the boy are fine. Quite a pair of fists, that young man. Should see the state of the other fella,’ said the taller man. A row of coppery stars glittered on the high collar of his long, thick coat.
Katrina looked over and saw Russell leaning on a stone post, watching two more guards dragging the second attacker into a low, heavy-duty wagon pulled by two impatient horses. The woman they had rescued stood beside him, staring over at Katrina.
‘You certainly know how to take care of yourself, too,’ said one of the guards.
Katrina dragged her eyes from the strange woman and smiled at the man.
‘Sorry we took so long to get down from the tower. Some bastard sealed the door from the other side.’
‘Who?’ frowned the Captain.
‘No idea, Captain, but someone didn’t want us getting out to help. Maybe those two will tell us.’ He watched the second attacker being bundled into the wagon and locked behind a glowing door. ‘I won’t hold you up with any questions. I know you’re heading out tonight.’
‘Appreciated.’ The Captain shook his hand. ‘Let us know what you find out. Anyway, take care, Farley. See you next time. Best to Jeanie.’
The man nodded to them and strode away.
‘Clementine Guards. Hard as nails but good sorts. You alright now?’
Katrina nodded. ‘Thank you,’ she said.
He examined her bruised, bleeding hands. ‘You’re welcome. We’ll get you fixed up back on the Riana.’ They sloshed out of the water. ‘You’re one of us now,’ he said, making her laugh. The sparkle in his eyes and his respect suddenly made her feel much better, despite the pain in her hands.
Russell moved to greet them. In addition to the blood oozing from his nose, more was seeping through the bandages of his battered hands, joining what was already smeared on them from the fight. Seeing them and the fresh bruise on his cheek made Katrina feel like crying again. He wasn’t having much luck. The Captain embraced him.
‘You did well, lad. You should proud of yourself. We’ll get your hands sorted out – again.’ Russell muttered his thanks, looking pleased at the compliment, and moved closer to Katrina, his eyes falling to her bloodied hands. She gave him a weary look, aware that she should be apologising for getting him into this.
The woman, who had remained still until now, suddenly moved, making Katrina jump. Her eyes were milky – a colour that was mimicked and magnified by her straight white hair, which cascaded over her shoulders to her waist, half-shrouded beneath a hooded cloak. She wore a thick dark blue tunic and black trousers. She didn’t look any older than Katrina’s mother, and Katrina stared into her face as she smiled gently.
‘Ma’am.’ The Captain inclined his head and took the slender hand that was offered.
‘Captain of the Riana, well met. But why so formal?’ She smiled.
‘It’s been a long while, Tor. We’ve missed you,’ he said with an amazing softness.
‘I’ve missed that voice. And I still do wish I could see your face. I‘ve heard it’s incredibly handsome.’ She touched his cheek and he kissed her hand, his green eyes sparkling as she felt his smile.
‘Your sight is further reaching than any Oracle I’ve met in my time, and so is your beauty,’ he said, making her smile. Another Oracle? Katrina thought, looking at Russell in surprise.
Some thought flickered across the Captain’s face and the woman seemed to sense it, cocking her head slightly. ‘I’m sure you know by now,’ he began.
‘I do.’ The Oracle seemed to know what he meant without him having to say anything.
‘Please accept my deepest condolences for the loss of your sister. I know the two of you were estranged, but I am sorry from the pit of my soul.’
Katrina’s stomach fell away and the pain in her hands faded to momentary insignificance. Sister?
The woman nodded and drew in a breath. ‘Thank you, Captain.’ She squeezed his hands. ‘What brings you to Clementine?’ she changed the subject and kept back the silvery tears that had welled in her eyes.
They reminded Katrina of that night, and she struggled to hold her own tears back. She clenched her fists, using the pain of gouging fingers and aching knuckles to keep the grief away. She wanted to say something, anything, to the woman but couldn’t find the words. They were all hollow anyway – pain stole the soul of words.
‘Business, as usual. And … I don’t know. A dream I’ve been having,’ he said. ‘Probably nothing. And you? What are you doing down this way? And why haven’t you taken me up on my offer of an armed escort?’
‘You could say I’m here on business, too.’ She smiled, glancing out to sea. ‘You know me. I like to wander and observe, so to speak. To feel. The Pass has been … different of late.’
‘I’ve noticed,’ he said.
‘Two kinds of darkness move down here, each unaware of the other; everyone unaware of them both.’
‘Which is why I beg you to come with us, Tor. Stay aboard the Riana. Anywhere you want to go, anything you want, is yours, you know that.’
Katrina looked at Russell, who, despite his injuries, raised his eyebrows. She must be important, Katrina thought.
‘Blake’s quarters …’ the Captain began.
‘Have been carefully kept the way they were the day he left them, and I respect that too much to trespass,’ said Tor. The Captain made to argue but fell silent with a shake of her head.
‘Captain, I know the Pass almost as well as you do. I’m unique among my kind in that I need little protection beyond what my home offers me.’ It was Katrina’s turn to raise her eyebrows. The Black Pass was her home? ‘Besides, I’ve been searching for the missing piece of your heart.’
The Captain’s jaw clenched and his eyes sprang wide. ‘Soon?’
She smiled at him and then turned to Katrina, taking her by surprise. She had been busy watching the usually unmoveable Captain being rocked by the woman’s words. He was now silent, his flickering eyes reflecting his thoughts.
‘I’ve been waiting to give you something, Katrina Heartly.’ She took a wooden box from her bag and passed it to Katrina. She felt stunned at a complete stranger knowing her name, let alone waiting to give her anything.
The box was smooth, with a faded symbol on the top that looked like a crescent moon caught in an intricate knot. ‘What is it?’ She tried to open it, but the catch wouldn’t budge.
‘Your past, present and future. Blood is the key.’ The Oracle smiled and then turned and took Russell’s hand, pressing a small mirror into it.
‘A piece of your past that your mother discarded long ago, along with her true self. It may be the key to answering some of your questions.’
Russell looked like someone had twisted his insides round and knotted them; Katrina tried not to notice the tears that sprang to his eyes. The Captain was still dwelling on what the Oracle had told him.
‘Tor … Blake? I’m close to finding him?’
‘Yes, but you won’t. Someone close to you will.’
The man tensed and seemed to struggle with a mix of elation, dismay, and confusion. ‘I don’t understand, Tor.’ The Captain frowned and shook his head, pulling his gaze from the Oracle’s sightless eyes and staring out over the water.
‘Captain, listen to me.’ Tor forced his face around. ‘You aren’t the only one seeking Blake, and this box is key.’
‘Then why gi
ve it to her?’ He frowned again. ‘Older, wiser people can—’
‘Because she needs to give it to Thom and Jen. It’s been hunted a long while, which is why I made sure to find it first. Well, to liberate it from someone who did.’ A faint smile passed her pale red lips. ‘Heed me: get her and it out of the Pass. Now.’
He looked alarmed and then nodded. ‘I will. And will you …’
‘No.’ She smiled. ‘I have a meeting, of sorts, with my future.’ She turned to go and then, brushing her eyes, grabbed his hand one last time. ‘Watch your back, Captain, a falling star isn’t what it appears. It brings death.’
The woman looked out to sea and a frown crossed her face as she inhaled deeply. ‘And be careful this voyage. The air has that sour taste. It usually heralds the coming of the Interfectrix.’
‘I know,’ he said, scanning the waves. Katrina shuddered and shared Russell’s look of dread. The Oracle reached for the Captain’s face, which he lowered to her, and kissed him softly before bidding them farewell.
They watched in silence as she vanished into the town, and suddenly it was as if a bubble popped and their surroundings reasserted themselves in Katrina’s senses.
Katrina shoved the box into her bag, eager to get back to the ship and prise it open, in spite of what the woman – and the Captain, with his stinging doubts – had said. Russell, meanwhile, clutched his gift as though it might suddenly be snatched away, and they followed the Captain back to the waiting ship in silence, all three brooding on the Oracle’s words.
Chapter 21
◊
‘YOU ACTUALLY FOUGHT SOMEONE who had a knife?’ said Poppy, incredulity saturating her words while she watched the Captain bathe Katrina’s hands.
‘They both did,’ the man said. Russell winced as Mineska cleaned away the blood from around his mouth and nose with a damp cloth.
‘And you saw another Oracle?’ repeated Danny with a touch of jealousy.
‘She gave Russell a mirror and me a box, but it won’t open.’
‘Chatura – Tor – usually has a reason for everything.’ Mineska dabbed some yellow liquid over Russell’s swollen nose. ‘You’ll be lucky if the pair of you get to Varron in one piece,’ she said, starting on Russell’s damaged hands.
‘We need to move fast now.’ The Captain rubbed yellow paste over Katrina’s hands, easing the pain and cooling them down, before wrapping them in clean bandages. None of them had yet spoken about what the Oracle meant.
‘Get some rest. It’s going to be a hectic trip. And keep that safe.’ The Captain’s eyes moved to the box for perhaps the thousandth time.
Katrina wanted to talk about the box and the Oracle, and reassure him – she still felt annoyed at his questioning it being given to her – but sleep was fast catching up and Mineska ordered them to bed, smiling at Danny’s lazy salute.
*
Russell pulled his blankets over himself as best he could with his bad hands. They had barely begun to heal and now they were opened up again, this time with extra bruises and grazing.
Despite being exhausted, they had talked for hours about the Oracle and her attackers, about who was after the box and why. Much to their annoyance, they couldn’t open it, even with Danny using a kitchen knife to prise it.
Everyone had finally drifted off to sleep, but Russell was having a harder time. His hands ached to the point of distraction, despite the medicine he had been given.
It’s not like this in films, he thought, feeling morose. It felt like he had punched a brick wall twenty times. He tried to ignore the dull throbbing and pulled the mirror from under his pillow.
He studied it again. It had a simple wooden frame of carved ferns, and its silver surface, despite a few creeping age lines, was otherwise fine. How did the Oracle come to have it? Did she know his mum? Russell cursed himself for not asking when he’d had the chance. All along he had wanted answers, and when he had finally been given a fragment of his past, he’d been too numb to find out more.
How can I get top grades and be too thick to ask a simple question? he thought, scowling at his reflection with its tired, red-rimmed eyes. He tucked the mirror away, resolving to ask his father about it. Now he knew about the Lands, there was no reason for his father to hide anything anymore. He eventually drifted off to sleep, the sightless eyes and white hair of the Oracle haunting his dreams before the images gave way to the creature and Isa.
By morning, the town was nowhere in sight, and only darkness surrounded the ship when Russell settled to re-read his Lallienns newspaper for the third time. His hands felt less sore but were stiff, which was nearly as distracting as Katrina, who spent most of the morning fidgeting in a chair.
*
Katrina tried to concentrate on a book on mirror magic that Min had given her but was having a tough time focussing. The box and the meeting with the Oracle ran on a loop through her head. During her directionless wanderings, she bumped into Bayard on his way to his watch shift, who asked her to go and give the Captain an invoice that he had found among the Clementine cargo. She gladly accepted the chance to see the Captain and wound her way along the ship’s neat corridors to his quarters.
Katrina knocked on the heavy, polished door. ‘Come in,’ came the distant reply, and she let herself in and closed the door behind her. The room was big, with a table and several chairs in the centre beneath a large, magical chandelier of twisting black metal.
All the furniture was made of dark, polished wood and looked comfortable and well used, and at one end of the room a large bed with burgundy covers was set back into a wide recess, which lent it a cosy feel. At the opposite side of the room, beyond a comfy-looking sofa, was a fireplace set into a panelled wall beneath a mirror. A small fire flicked in the grate, throwing a warm glow over the room.
‘I’ll be right out,’ called the Captain from a doorway near the recess, presumably the bathroom, where she could hear him splashing in the sink. The whole room had a comfortable, cosy atmosphere and Katrina found it strangely relaxing. Her eyes wandered over the charts and maps on the table, and she idled round the room, admiring the dark beams and occasional painting before several framed photos on the chest of drawers caught her eye.
One was of the Captain with his arms wrapped round Mineska from behind, both smiling widely. His green eyes were vivid in the sunshine, and they both looked happy.
Katrina set it down, and a smaller one nearby caught her eye. A little boy, very young, was held in the Captain’s arms as he and Mineska pointed out something in the distance over the rails of the Riana. Before Katrina had time to wonder who the boy was – or where he was – a touch on her arm made her jump.
She had never even heard the Captain come through. He took the picture and put it back carefully, wordlessly positioning it just so, and she looked up at him, feeling guilty, just in time to see something terrible recede from his eyes.
His hair was damp and he was dressed in only his tight black breeches; water droplets trailed from his hair down his toned torso, over gashed and patchy scars that reminded her of Thom, and then, once again, of the reality of the place in which they had found themselves. She looked from him back to the picture and then away, feeling a knot form in her throat. Was there nothing but pain here?
The man slid the towel from round his neck and wiped away a stray smear of shaving foam, and she handed the letter to him.
‘It’s from Bayard,’ she said. ‘It was among some of the Clementine cargo.’
He flicked the letter open and skimmed the contents. She shuffled, wondering if she was supposed to leave. I wasn’t being nosey, she thought. I hope I didn’t upset him. If it was Poppy, she would probably have gone through half the drawers by now.
‘Erm …’ she started to apologise, but he looked at her and the sparkle danced back to his eyes for a moment. After that look, that terrible well of agony, it was a relief.
‘Don’t worry about it.’ He folded the letter back up and tossed it onto the table along with
the towel and then slid a drawer open to take out a black button-up shirt with criss-cross ties at the wrists. Another photo caught Katrina’s eye and she peered at it: the Captain with a very similar black-haired man, shorter than him but with the same burning, intense eyes and guarded look.
‘That’s Blake.’ Katrina recognised him with a jolt and then narrowed her eyes at the pair in curiosity. ‘Is he your brother?’ she asked, pointing. The two had wide smiles on their faces and his dark eyes were as bright as the Captain’s green ones as they leaned back against the side of a cabin, heads tilted in together as they posed for the camera.
A smile flashed to his face for a moment. ‘No. He’s not my brother. We’re probably closer than that.’ A dark, crushing sadness crossed his face as he picked up the picture.
‘You’ve looked for him since he went missing?’
‘We’re still looking,’ he said, staring into a happier fragment of time. ‘I found him once; I’ll find him again. Or not, according to bloody Tor.’
‘You think he could be trapped down here?’ she asked. ‘I mean, if Danny’s mother may be, then perhaps Blake is.’
The Captain’s body heaved in a weary sigh; his eyes looked lost and distant. ‘I don’t know.’ He ran a hand through his damp hair and his brows knitted in frustration. ‘Blake can travel the shadows to any scrap of the Lands. He can find anyone, anything, but he can’t find his way back to us? Something is terribly wrong. I’ve felt for years like I’m failing him.’ He shook his head and struggled to master the grief and frustration, and then set the picture back. ‘But now, with what Tor said …’
‘You know for sure now that he’s alive,’ said Katrina, touching his arm. ‘You think that soon …?’
‘I hope so, more than anything,’ he said. ‘Oracles’ words can mean lots of things, though, but it certainly sounded more hopeful than anything we’ve yet heard or discovered.’ He rubbed the back of his neck absent-mindedly and his focus shifted.
