by Apryl Baker
The deep baritone of Lukas’ voice startled Ryder, and she yelped. She turned to find him right behind her. It was rare someone could sneak up on a Dragon. She didn’t like it. Every day she stayed in this form, the more she lost of her Dragonself.
“I don’t like being caged in.” She gestured to the netting above them. “It unsettles me.”
“You or the Dragon?” he questioned, his tone curious.
“Both,” she admitted. “Dragons in general don’t like to be closed in, and me especially.”
“Why you especially?” He leaned against the railing beside her, gazing down at the water.
She shouldn’t have said that. This situation caused too many old memories to resurface. Memories best left buried. “It doesn’t matter. How soon do you think before we clear this pass?”
“Don’t know.” He swept his gaze upward, his attention shifting to the netting. “Tobias says it could be any minute or it could be months. It depends upon the Crucible. There are three tests that must be passed. Valeria passed the first one already.”
“Let’s hope the next one comes as quickly,” she muttered. “I need to fly.”
Lukas frowned, his expression troubled. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Ryder. I know you helped us with the Kraken, but the sight of a Dragon sets unease off in a lot of the crew. The attack is still fresh in their minds.”
“You don’t understand!” Ryder twisted her hands, her voice trembling. She had to fly. There wasn’t much time left.
“What don’t I understand?” His voice remained soft, and genuine concern lined every word. “What is it that has you so upset?”
She took deep breaths, trying to regain control of her emotions. She could feel her Dragon rumbling, reacting to her fear. It wouldn’t do to shift and destroy the boat. She’d end up crushing it under her weight and earning the ire of Emerald.
“It doesn’t matter.” She managed to get the words out, but the lie choked her heart. It did matter. So very much. Tears blurred her eyes, and she turned away from Lukas, ashamed of her weakness. His opinion mattered to her more than anyone else’s. She didn’t want him to think her some sniveling child.
“Hey, now.” Lukas reached out and touched her arm, his fingers sending tingles of shock through her. He pulled his hand back like he’d just been burned. Did he feel it too? He must have, but instead of mentioning it, he went back to his original concern. “You’re upset, Ryder. Tell me. Sometimes talking about it helps.”
For a man who gave off an aura of power, whose features were hard most days, he had a gentle soul. She smiled, thinking about how different he was from the men at home. They only thought of how to gain more power through their positions in their culture and society. She had a feeling Lukas couldn’t care less about those things, because he understood himself and knew no one’s opinion but his own and the people he loved mattered. A man she found she respected more every day.
“It is hard to talk about.” She tore herself away from his face and turned back to the open sky, her body aching to fly.
“Most things of importance are.” He shifted a little closer to her. “But that just means they’re worth sharing.”
“Leaving my land cost me something,” she said after long moments. Maybe he was right. Maybe talking about it would help her come to terms with what she’d done.
He turned so he was facing her. “Like what?”
“The ability to shift.” Her words were low, forlorn. The wail building in her throat throbbed for release.
“But you shifted during the Kraken attack.”
Ryder nodded. “The longer I remain in this body, the harder it becomes to shift. When we are in our lands, we can shift as many times a day as we want, but when we leave those protected lands, shifting in this world isn’t easy. Humans are terrified of us—though, they shouldn’t be. We harm no one unless they are a threat to us or our lands.”
“So you can’t shift whenever you want?” He cocked his head, puzzled.
“Yes, I can, but like I said, the less I do it, the harder it becomes to shift. My body forgets how to shift after a while. It becomes more and more human. Unless I can shift every day, sooner or later, I won’t be able to shift anymore. I fear the longer we are here under this dome, the more likely that possibility becomes.”
“That is a problem. Does Emerald know?”
“No.” Ryder shook her head. “She already has me under guard. Letting me shift every day is not something she seems willing to let me do.”
“You’d be surprised at what our captain understands.” Lukas rubbed his chin, thinking. “How soon before you can’t shift again?”
She shrugged. “A few days, a few weeks? I don’t know. Those who leave our lands never return for us to question them.”
“So you snuck on board our ship knowing this was a possibility?”
“I did.”
“Why would you do that?” he asked. “Being a Dragon, being able to shift, it’s obviously important to you. Why risk it?”
“Because I wanted to understand what it meant to be human.” She sighed heavily, her decision weighing on her. “I never really fit in at home. I was always consuming everything I could about the human world. My family never understood my obsession with it. I always felt more human than I did Dragon. I just wanted to explore that part of myself.”
“And now you are wondering if it was worth the price you might end up paying?” Lukas guessed.
“It’s not something that might happen,” she said, unhappy. “It’s just a matter of when. Flying Dragons are met with force here. Your own people here on this boat are evidence of that. I scare them. They want to harm me.”
“Ship, not boat,” Lukas corrected her.
“Ship, boat, same thing.”
“No, it’s not.” His laughter rolled out and wound around her. It felt nice. “If Emerald hears you calling her pride and joy a boat, she might strangle you.”
Boat, ship, it was the same to her. A vessel that traveled. She was a vessel that traveled. Sadness swam up again, making her tears well. What if she never shifted again? Never felt the wind, tasted the air as it carried all the scents and flavors of the earth?
“It will be okay, Ryder.” Lukas reached out to touch her again, but stopped. His arm fell back to his side. He had felt that shock of electricity. She was sure of it. “I will speak with Emerald, and we’ll figure out something.” He looked around. “Where is Stephen?”
“I have no idea.” She tossed her head, her hair flying. She was tired of waiting for him. “I came up by myself.”
Lukas turned grim in an instant. “That is not allowed, Ryder. Stephen was assigned to you for a reason. It’s as much for your safety as it is to soothe the fears of the crew. If you want Emerald to work with you, then you have to learn to obey her orders.”
“I am a princess. I do not obey anyone.”
“On this ship, you do.” He took her arm, ignoring the electric shock that passed between them. “Until Stephen or I come to escort you, you will stay in your quarters.” He started pulling her back toward her cabin.
“I don’t want to be down there!” She dug her feet in and yanked backward, causing Lukas to stumble. She was a Dragon and much stronger than she looked. “I hate being locked up! You can’t make me stay in there, unable to escape, to breathe the fresh air. Never again will someone lock me up! Do you understand me? Never!”
The buzz of the ship quieted, and she found all eyes staring at her. She stared back defiantly. No one would lock her up. She’d crush this entire boat first.
“Did someone lock you up before?” he asked quietly, his face somber.
She nodded. “That’s how I was punished as a child. They locked me in a small, dark room. I was locked in that room for hours every day. I…I can’t, Lukas. Please don’t make me go back in there. Please.”
Compassion softened his eyes. He was about to say something, when one of the crew spoke up. “I’ll watch ’er if she
wants to stay on deck.”
Ryder saw nothing but sympathy in the faces of the crew around her. The one who’d spoken up was a wiry little man who looked like any strong wind could blow him away. She doubted he’d be stronger than one of the clouds lining the blue sky above.
Lukas nodded. “Sully, if you let her out of your sight…”
“Aye, I know.” Sully waved him off. “She be fine with us.”
Ryder watched them all go back to work. Sully turned so he faced her. Shocked, she turned to Lukas. Only a few minutes ago, they had been looking at her with murderous intent. What changed so quickly? “Why are they being nice to me?”
Lukas gave her a crooked smile. “We all understand not liking small places. Many of us have been imprisoned before. Most take exception to the mistreatment of a child. You won a few sympathy points with the crew.”
“Sympathy?” she asked, cocking her head. “What does that mean?”
“You don’t know?”
She shook her head. She was fairly sure she’d read that word somewhere, but its meaning escaped her.
“It means to share an emotion of dislike or sorrow or sadness for someone else. When we can imagine ourselves in someone else’s life and commiserate with them because we’ve been there ourselves, it means we sympathize with them.”
“Why would you do that? It has no bearing on a situation. We do things; we suffer the consequences.”
“This is true.” Lukas nodded. “But when we understand the why of it, it helps us to understand the motives of people and perhaps forgive them for mistakes or things they cannot control. It’s a human emotion, Ryder. One that keeps us from becoming cold-hearted monsters.”
“I see,” she whispered. Was that what she was? A cold-hearted monster?
“Don’t stress, little Dragon.” Lukas’ hand came up and cupped her cheek. “You are learning human emotions. I see it every day. The crew does too. It’s part of why they are starting to accept you, or they wouldn’t have offered to let you stay up here with them. Be easy. Don’t go thinking dark thoughts.”
“How did you know that’s what I was doing?” A strange fluttering started in her stomach.
His smile broadened, but he didn’t answer the question. “Stay where Sully can watch you, or the captain will have all our heads.” He let his hand drop and then walked away.
She stared after him, confused at the strange sensations he brought out in her. Just who was he?
Chapter Eight
Past the strange mesh-like netting that hindered any chance of escape to the skies above, the sun beat down on them both day and night. It seemed the darkness had abandoned them forever as they made their way toward the next test. Thick stone walls stood sentry to their left and right, assuring, along with the net overhead, they would travel their designated course.
With no way to tell when to wake and when to sleep, the crew aboard The Emerald Queen did their best at guessing. They slept in shifts, eyes always looking wistfully to the sky above that seemed so close but, in reality, was so far away.
The day after the attack, the former captain of the Royal Navy found himself deprived of all will to sleep. So many questions needed to be answered, he didn’t know where to begin. The one question that refused to be quieted and continued to push its way to the surface was the one he had been asking himself since their entrance into the Crucible. What was he doing here in the first place?
The obvious answer and the one he would relate to anyone who asked was that he was still responsible for the few surviving men and women under his command. Another answer could be he was waiting to bring the Dragon changeling to justice for his friend’s death. Both were true to an extent, but the real reason, the reason only he knew, was the simplest of them all. He was lost.
The remnants of his crew didn’t need him. Despite her title as a pirate, Valeria would take care of them like they were her own family. They were part of her crew now, and despite their place of origin, she would fight for them as fiercely as a mother lion over her cubs.
With these thoughts, Stephen grabbed the flask of death liquid given to him by the medicine man Ya-You and made his way to the deck of The Emerald Queen.
He passed a long hall of sleeping sailors, their snores telling him had the moon been visible, it would have been high overhead, accompanied by an army of stars fighting for dominance in the sky.
Stephen’s boots hit the solid wood stairs leading to the deck like a drummer holding tempo for a platoon of soldiers. Refusing to second guess himself, Stephen pressed the bottle to his lips and tried to swallow the repulsive beverage before his taste buds could register the flavor and order him to expel the liquid.
It didn’t work. It never did. Stephen muffled a cough as he fought to keep the brew down. “I have to ask that crazy old man what he makes this stuff out of,” Stephen muttered to himself as he forced down another gulp.
Unlike some, Stephen had never enjoyed the taste of beers or liquors. Sure, there were some he disliked less than others, but none came close to being pleasant. When he did choose to consume alcohol, it was always for the feeling that washed over his body when enough had been ingested.
It was a feeling of freedom from the many worries that plagued him. Being drunk gave him free passage to act outside the arena of doubt and calculated risks.
With the third drink, Stephen began to feel warm. The deck of the ship was all but emptied. The bodies and bodily fluids that had littered The Emerald Queen hours before were tossed overboard.
The creatures that attacked them during the first test were only fuel for future nightmares now. The decks had been scrubbed, their own dead buried at sea, injured sailors resting in the sick bay.
Stephen lifted his bottle in salute to the lone figure manning the helm. Whether it was Marm or someone else, he couldn’t tell. Whoever it was raised a hand in reply.
No gusts of wind entered the labyrinth they traveled. The ship ran as smoothly as Stephen had ever felt, only the effects of his beverage forcing him to focus on walking in a straight line.
Stephen reached the bow of The Emerald Queen to discover he wasn’t the only one to evade the Sandman’s grasp this night.
Without even turning to look behind him, the cloaked figure welcomed Stephen. “That stuff will kill you.”
Stephen recognized Tobias Blood’s voice. The Atlantian who had hidden himself among the ranks of slaves until Valeria and fate came knocking.
“It brought you back to life, if I remember correctly.” Stephen joined the man at the bow and offered Tobias the bottle. “There’s enough in here to get the whole ship drunk.”
Tobias turned and examined the bottle for a moment before he accepted. “Well, I guess you’re right. Ya-You is technically my doctor, and it’s bad form to go against the doctor’s orders.”
“That’s the spirit,” Stephen said and released his hold on the flask. He took the opportunity to get a better look at his drinking companion.
Tobias Blood was still the same man Stephen had first met before they embarked on the Crucible. But there was no denying he was a much younger version of that man. His once bald head was now adorned with a mop of thick black hair, and his weathered face was free from any wrinkles. The two of them could easily be mistaken for childhood friends. Everything sang of youth about the man except for his eyes.
Stephen had been around enough leaders to know when wisdom was present. Tobias’ eyes were unwavering like an anvil, a level of cunning and patience etched there by the unforgiving hand of experience.
“I forgot how God-awful this stuff is.” Tobias cringed after a long swig. He returned the bottle to Stephen, as if by freeing himself of the vessel the taste would also vanish. “What do you think? Cat piss and vinegar?”
“I was thinking something more along the lines of fermented onions and the blood of those insect creatures we fought.” Stephen accepted the bottle. He moved to press the container to his lips again.
“I wouldn’t, if I wer
e you,” Tobias cautioned.
It wasn’t the words so much as the tone of voice that made Stephen pause. It wasn’t a command or even a warning. It was a question…almost a plea.
“Why?” Stephen asked, still holding the bottle in a hovering position just outside the range of his lips. “The first test is complete, and we lived through it. It’s about as much a cause for celebration as we’re likely to get.”
“Because Valeria will need you and everything you can give her sooner than you may think.”
The mention of her name was enough for Stephen to lower the bottle. The warm buzz inside his body dissipated like a light fog before the bright sun.
“What are you talking about?” Stephen heard more venom in his voice than he intended. “Val was the scourge of the sea before you taught her to use magic. Giving her access to that power is like—like equipping cannons on a battering ram. The woman is unstoppable now. I’m the last person she needs.”
“You couldn’t be further from the truth, Stephen. If her destiny were to resemble anything close to normal, then maybe. But she is in for the struggle of her life.”
“You’re so vague it’s almost as if you don’t want me to know what you’re talking about.” Stephen scratched the stubble on the underside of his jaw with his free hand. “She’ll get through the Crucible. She has you, a Dragon, and an entire crew to back her.”
“I’m not talking about the Crucible.” Tobias removed his gaze from Stephen and looked down at the water feet below the hovering ship. “I’m talking about what comes after the Crucible.”
In the echo of those words, the two men stood quiet, both soldier and magician looking toward the never-ending maze The Emerald Queen traveled. The future Tobias was alluding to was something Stephen wouldn’t even try to guess at.
The bottle in his hand grew heavier, practically begging him to drink. It was only the thought that Val might still need him that stayed his hand.
“Tell me, why we don’t just sail up toward that netting that’s keeping us caged like rats in a trap and cut our way out of here?” Stephen asked in an obvious play at changing the subject from his and Val’s relationship. “The mesh looks like it’s made of some kind of rope.”
