Enigma (emperor's edge)

by Lindsay Buroker

  “What’re you doing out here, woman?” came the captain’s voice from behind Tikaya. “And where is-” he glanced about- “the item? You didn’t leave it below, did you?”

  She faced the captain, hardly believing he was worried about his item when one of his men had almost endured a horrible accident seconds before. Besides, who did he think would dare steal his already-stolen possession when they were in the middle of the sea? The Turgonian coast wasn’t even visible.

  “I bundled it up and hid it out of sight,” Tikaya told him.

  “That’s where you should be too. Out of sight. Working.”

  “I’m hungry.” Tikaya was beginning to suspect the captain wanted to keep her away from Rias, or vice versa, so figured that’d be better than telling him she wanted to talk to him. “When will breakfast be available?”

  The captain had a wad of tobacco in his mouth again, and he worked it from one cheek to the next as he considered her. “Soon. Grits.”

  “Sounds wonderful.” Not truly, but after weeks of eating little but dehydrated meat and hardtack-or, as the marines had called the biscuits, “tooth dullers”-something warm might be an improvement.

  “It’s not. You make any progress?”

  “Some. I’d like to consult… my comrade.” Though Rias was a shortened version of his middle name, and it certainly hadn’t made Tikaya think of Fleet Admiral Sashka Federias Starcrest when she’d first heard it, she decided not to use it, just in case.

  “You can consult with him tonight.” The captain smirked. “If you don’t mind an audience.”

  “He’s an engineer and is good at solving problems. He might be able to help me with the puzzle.”

  “He’s busy.”

  “I see. And will he be un-busy at any point in this three-day journey?”

  “I haven’t decided yet. Tell me about the puzzle.”

  As Tikaya considered withholding the information or using it to bargain for less work for Rias, she gazed about the deck. For the first time, she noticed that all of the seamen wore pistols and cutlasses on their belts. They hadn’t been armed the day before. The captain, too, bore weapons, and, at Tikaya’s hesitation, he let his hand rest on the grip of his pistol.

  “Tell me about the puzzle,” he repeated.

  “Very well.” Her acquiescence stirred memories of herself as a pigtailed schoolgirl bowing to the demands of bullies. She thought about lying, but decided to go along until she had her chance to confer with Rias. “Each of the eight segments has six etchings that can be rotated about so different ones are on top. Though you can play the flute at any time, as the finger holes are available no matter what, I’m assuming you have to align the segments up in the right order to create the special tone.”

  “Special, yes.” The captain waved away a man lingering within earshot. “Does the music change tune if you get the order right? If so, you could guess until you got it, couldn’t you?”

  “I don’t know that the music would sound any different to the human ear, but a practitioner might be able to tell if there was some otherworldly influence to the notes.”

  “Could you?” the captain asked.

  For a moment, Tikaya mused on whether there might be an advantage to pretending she had a practitioner’s skills-would the captain fear her and be less likely to threaten her? — but, given how superstitious Turgonians were about “magic,” she worried he’d simply be in more of a hurry to throw her to the sharks.

  “Possibly,” Tikaya said. “I haven’t any skills in that area myself, but I grew up around practitioners and can usually sense it when they’re employing one of the sciences.”

  The captain spat. “Why do you call it science? Like it’s geology or hoplology or something real?”

  Hoplology? Tikaya almost snorted. The Turgonians were probably the only culture with a word for the academic study of weapons. She wondered if Rias had taken a class in it during his university years.

  “What can and cannot be done with the human mind is just as legitimate a science as any you’ve named,” Tikaya said. “Though there is some variation, allowing for a user’s creativity and personal preference, the mental sciences are rigidly defined areas of study with precise laws, rules, and methods that can be repeated by different people as surely as experiments in an alchemy lab.”

  “All right, all right, I shouldn’t have asked. Back to the item. If you keep trying different variations, are the odds good that you can get the flute to work in that special way? By-” the captain glanced toward the water behind the ship again, “-tonight would be good.”

  “Unlikely,” Tikaya said. “With eight segments and six options on each segment, the odds of striking the right combination are…” She paused to set up the math problem up in her head, but a familiar voice spoke from behind her first.

  “One in twenty-thousand one-hundred-and-sixty,” Rias said.

  Tikaya smiled and leaned against his shoulder when he stopped beside her. The captain scowled, not impressed by his math skills, or perhaps the fact that he’d left his duties momentarily.

  “Morning,” Rias said. Given how little he’d apparently slept, he should have looked weary, but his brown eyes were bright and a smile rode his lips. Being back at sea must agree with him. “Need help with anything?” he asked.

  “No,” the captain snapped. “She needs to get back to work, and you-” he pointed at Rias, “-if you’ve finished with the topsails, you’re needed down at the bilge pump.”

  Rias arched an eyebrow, but merely said, “As you wish, captain.”

  A smug smirk stretched the captain’s lips. Like that of an emperor being fawned over by slaves who had once been soldiers from conquered nations.

  With an unperturbed expression, Rias trotted down the stairs. Since the flute happened to lay in the same direction, Tikaya waited until the captain’s attention shifted, then slipped after him. Rias was waiting below.

  “All you all right?” Tikaya gripped his arm. “Did you get any sleep last night?”

  Rias laid his hand on hers. “Yes, and no.”

  “Why is he picking on you? Surely not all passengers must toil so for the price of a ticket. He doesn’t know who you are, does he?” Tikaya asked, though she didn’t think the treatment would make sense if he did. Rias had been a Turgonian hero during the war and a well-respected officer for years before it.

  “No, I’ve been evasive as to my current status and why I have no rank-” Rias waved to encompass his uniform, “-but I believe he pegged me for an officer right away.”

  “You do have a determined, in-charge appearance even when you’re at your scruffiest.”

  “Thank you. I think. Regardless, the gossip is that the captain only lasted three years in the military before receiving a dishonorable discharge. I imagine he’s taking revenge on the officers he believes wronged him. Through me.”

  “Such a lovely man.” Tikaya squeezed his arm. “I’ll commiserate with you later, but I think there’s something more important to worry about here.”

  Rias nodded. “It’s clear we’re running from pursuit, though I haven’t seen sign of it on the horizon yet.”

  Knowing they might not have much time alone, Tikaya rushed through a summary of her discussion with the captain and her thoughts on the flute.

  “Perhaps I can help you with it tonight.”

  “You can sleep tonight. You need some rest,” Tikaya said, hoping she didn’t sound too motherly. “Besides, I believe a background in Nurian mythology is going to be required to solve the puzzle.”

  “Ah, I am aware of basic Nurian history, but mythology isn’t my strong point.”

  “The scenes are of animals and people and hunting. I believe they go together in a certain order to tell a story. The problem is that there are a lot of Nurian stories revolving around hunting.”

  “Have you talked to the boy?” Rias asked.

  “Garchee?”

  “Is that his name? He wouldn’t give it to me. He might kno
w something.”

  “I doubt any well-known tale is depicted,” Tikaya said.

  “Well, unless I miss my guess, he brought it on board, so he might have some knowledge.”

  Tikaya stared. “He told you that?”

  “He’s told me nothing. He’s been doing his best to avoid me. But it’s clear he hasn’t been here long, and the captain doesn’t strike me as a man with the gumption to steal royal Nurian treasures. I think the boy brought it on board, offered to trade it for his passage, and now perhaps we’re being trailed by the owner.”

  Tikaya mulled over the hypothesis. It might be plausible, but… “How would that boy have gotten the flute? Theft? Such treasures would be well-guarded.”

  Rias hesitated, then shrugged. “I’m more concerned about who might be coming after it. If it’s magic, could a practitioner track it?”

  “Oh, yes,” Tikaya said.

  “We better talk to the boy.”

  “We’re riding low in the water,” came the captain’s bellow from above. “My new seaman better be at the pumps!”

  Rias snorted and gave Tikaya a hug before disappearing into the recesses of the ship.

  Part V

  That night, Tikaya woke to a touch on her leg. For a confused moment, she didn’t know where she was or why her back hurt. Ah, yes, she’d fallen asleep on the floor while in the process of scribbling notes. She recalled having a similar sleeping experience with that strange artifact in Wolfhump. Turgonians had a definite desk shortage.

  Snores reverberated through the bay, and hammocks creaked and swayed as the ship rolled with the waves. Rias crouched in front of her with a low-burning lantern. “It’s good that we dug out those hammocks and strung them,” he observed. “We’ve used them so much.”

  “The last time I was in mine, the ship pitched and it spit me out faster than a foreigner trying poi for the first time.”

  Rias managed a weary smile. He might have appeared fresh yet that morning, but fatigue had finally claimed him; when he opened his mouth to speak, it turned into a yawn wide enough to swallow a parrot.

  “Nice tonsils,” Tikaya murmured.

  “Thank you.” Rias rubbed his eyes. “They’ve long been a source of pride for me.” He pointed at the Nurian boy, who swayed in his hammock, his eyes closed. “Have you spoken to him?”

  “No, he wasn’t down here when I nodded off.” Tikaya sat up and groped behind her, trying to find whatever was stabbing her in the back. The flute, of course. She supposed it was good that she’d fallen asleep on the priceless artifact, so it hadn’t been rolling around the bay all night. The captain might not have approved of that.

  “I’m finally off-duty,” Rias said. “For four hours. Now might be the best time to question him.”

  “Now might be a time for you to get some rest.”

  “Later. Do you mind waking him? Seeing me looming over his hammock might… distress him.”

  “You did save his life today,” Tikaya noted.

  “A bonding experience, you’d think, but I clearly make him uneasy. I suspect…” Rias lowered his voice. “Although it wouldn’t seem likely in a youth, I’ve had the sense that he knows who I am.”

  Tikaya climbed to her feet, using Rias for balance as the ship rocked and swayed. “Maybe there are dartboards all across Nuria with your likeness painted on them, so that even kitchen scrub-boys know you’re an enemy of the chiefdom.”

  “A cheery thought.”

  After their uninspired first conversation, Tikaya didn’t think Garchee would be excited to see her looming over his hammock either, but she picked her way across the rocking deck and tapped him on the leg. His eyelids flew up, reminding her of a rabbit startled from its meal by a predator.

  Fortunately, he didn’t fling himself from the hammock in search of a rabbit hole. He merely gave her a wary, “Greetings.” He peered around her and spotted Rias. He swallowed and licked his lips, but then gave him a wary nod too.

  Tikaya held up the flute, drawing his gaze back to her. “The captain has tasked me with learning to play this, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it.”

  Garchee shook his head.

  “I know some Nurian mythology,” Tikaya said, “but perhaps not enough.”

  Garchee shrugged.

  “Are you familiar with the tale of the Three Huntsmen? One of these scenes depicts three bowmen stalking a hyena, so I thought of the story.”

  Garchee eyed the flute. “You won’t guess it.”

  You won’t guess it? He couldn’t know, could he? “Care to give me a tip?”

  “It’s not for foreigners to play.”

  “Then how did the captain get a hold of this one?”

  Garchee turned his face toward the wall.

  “You brought the flute on board, didn’t you?” Tikaya asked. “Did you give it to the captain to pay for your passage, or did he take it when he found out about it?”

  “I don’t…”

  Rias came to stand beside Tikaya, entering the boy’s view.

  “I traded it,” Garchee mumbled. “It was all I had left after…” He sighed. “It wasn’t a fair trade, but I wanted to… I have only myself to blame for all of this.”

  Tikaya glanced at Rias, wondering if he understood all of the boys’ words. She knew he had some familiarity with Nurian, but the mumbles would have been hard for the youth’s own mother to decipher. “The this you speak of,” Tikaya said, “was you deciding to steal the flute from the Great Chief’s palace?”

  Garchee’s head jerked up. “I didn’t steal anything.”

  “Then how did you acquire it?”

  Someone up on deck called to someone else, the words too muffled by the wind and intervening walls to understand. Garchee hurled himself from his hammock so quickly he almost crashed to the floor. He found his feet, saying, “That’ll be the watch change. I have to go.” He sprinted for the stairs, as if he feared they’d try to stop him.

  “He’s less helpful every time I talk to him,” Tikaya said. “Was that really the watch change? I couldn’t make it out.”

  “I don’t think so.” Rias held out his palm, silently asking to see the flute, and Tikaya handed it to him. He rolled it in his hand and held it up to the lantern. “I’ve never seen one of these before. I remember many sea battles where Nurian drummers sought to inspire their men, and the booms floated across the water, but I never heard flute music.”

  “The Enigma Flutes are highly prized. I imagine most are kept in the royal family’s vaults.”

  “But if they do what you say and make crowds of people amenable to suggestion, surely Nurian admirals would have brought them along in times of war to be used on our marines when we closed to boarding distance. To implant the suggestion that the Nurian captains were benevolent leaders who should be obeyed.”

  “I…” It was a good point, Tikaya thought. “Perhaps it only works on people in a certain state of mind. The brains and bodies of men riled for battle would be different than those simply attending a speech.”

  Rias returned the flute. “Or maybe it’s just a story.”

  “There is some Science about this one,” Tikaya said.

  “Either way, I doubt it’ll provide the solution the captain seeks.”

  It took Tikaya a moment to realize what Rias meant. Admittedly, she’d been more interested in the puzzle rather than debating the reason for the captain’s urgency at having it solved, but, yes, if he anticipated pursuit, it made sense that her story had stirred within him the hope that the flute could be used to sedate the fury of those who followed.

  “We’d best hope we make port before the pursuit he fears shows up then,” Tikaya said.

  Rias said nothing.

  Part VI

  Down in the bilge room, Tikaya sat on a rib running across the naked hull of the ship while Rias labored at a long lever, pumping out water that had collected in the bowels of the schooner overnight. Dawn might have come, but no outside light seeped into the dark r
oom. A sole lantern burning by the hatch provided illumination, and Tikaya held the flute up to it as she twisted segments. Despite Rias’s implication that the instrument would prove ineffective against their pursuers, she, like a hungry dog gnawing a bone, couldn’t let the puzzle go unsolved. She’d been up most of the night and had finally come down to join Rias while she mulled.

  “Want me to take a hand at that?” Tikaya nodded toward the pump. In part, she made the offer because she felt guilty sitting there while Rias labored, sweat dribbling from his brow, but also because she’d often found mindless repetitive work helpful for solving problems. On her family’s plantation, she’d spent countless hours firing arrows into targets while working on ancient language puzzles.

  Rias, standing in calf deep water, his back hunched in order to work the lever in the tight quarters, glanced her way without pausing in his work. “You must be truly stumped to make that offer.”

  “What? You don’t think I’m simply jealous that you’re having all the fun there?”

  “No.”

  Tikaya tapped the flute on her thigh. “I am stumped. I’m tempted to go wring that boy’s neck for information, but it’d be slightly more satisfying to solve the puzzle on my own.”

  “Only slightly, eh?”

  “At this point, neck-wringing is sounding quite appealing. I’ve dredged every Nurian mythology tale I’ve ever heard out of the depths of my mind. None of them go together in a way that makes sense here. Either I’m forgetting something or the knowledge wasn’t there to begin with. If that’s the case, I’m going to have cross words for my World Mythology professor when I get home. My parents paid good money for me to receive a complete education.”

  Rias paused and regarded her, one hand gripping a beam above his head, the other on the pump. “Does it have to make sense?”

  “What?” Tikaya’s first thought was that he referenced her education, but then she remembered her earlier sentence. “Well, I’d think so. The history with which I’m familiar tells us the flutes always tell an old Nurian tale, and that presumes certain narrative traditions of chronological ordering, rising conflict, etcetera, etcetera. Some of their ancient narrative poems were on the quirky side, but-oh!” A new thought rushed into her mind, surprising her into dropping the flute. Caught in the moment, she didn’t rush to retrieve it, priceless artifact or not. “Dear Akahe, could that be it?”