by Jon Skovron
Now Red steered the wagon slowly toward the pier where Vaderton’s ship was docked, and most of the company walked alongside. The wagon couldn’t have gone fast anyway, what with one horse hauling seven bodies, plus Red and Jilly.
The main docks were wide enough and sturdy enough to allow the horse-drawn wagon through. But then they had to turn off into one of the smaller branches to reach Vaderton’s ship. And that’s when the real work began. Red was able to convince the dockhands to lend them a couple of wheelbarrows, neglecting to mention what would be put inside them, of course. But even so, the wheelbarrows would hold only two bodies at a time, so it took a few trips down the rickety side dock before they were all loaded onto Vaderton’s ship. And then there was another complication.
“You call this a ship?” Hope asked plaintively as they stared at the tiny, one-masted vessel. “I would call this a boat.”
“Don’t be so fussy,” Vaderton advised. “We’ll fit.”
“Not comfortably,” said Brigga Lin.
They couldn’t just pile all the bodies in the stern, of course. On such a small vessel, the weight needed to be distributed as evenly as possible to minimize the danger of capsizing it. So the bodies were spread out around the ship, from bow to stern. And that meant the passengers were forced to spread out among the dead. Thankfully, they had been dead for only a couple of hours, so decomposition was still in its early stages and the smell wasn’t too terrible. Even so, the bodies, both living and dead, weighed down the small ship, so it was slow going out of the piers and into open waters.
Spending that much time with corpses in close quarters was more unsettling than Red had expected. But finally, when Vance Post was only a smudge on the horizon, Hope decided they were far enough out to cast the dead back into the sea.
Red truly had no idea what to make of Hope. She was just as he remembered her in so many ways. Her seriousness, her compassion, her dedication and honor. If anything, another year of life had only added to her beauty. But there were some things about her he found surprising, such as her refusal to use a sword and her reluctance to kill. He didn’t know where these new resolutions came from, but he figured she’d tell him when she was ready. The other thing that had changed was her ease with command. She ordered everyone around, friends and Vinchen alike, as if she’d grown up in Stonepeak. Even Brigga Lin deferred to her. And yet, there was never a sense that she was looking down on any of them. She treated everyone with sensitivity and respect. Red had to admit it was damn sexy to watch.
“What?” said Hope when she caught him staring at her.
He just smiled and shook his head. She squinted at him for a moment, then returned his smile with one of her own.
That was another thing different about her. She was, in her own understated way, flirting with him. Not that he was complaining at all. In fact, as he began to untie the corpses and get them ready to meet their end, he realized he was happier than he’d ever been. Maybe that was selfish and wrong, considering the circumstances. Flirting over a bunch of dead bodies was more than a little grotesque, really. But he couldn’t help it. After losing so many other people, he was finally with the person he’d been afraid he’d never see again.
“Someone should probably say something.” Hope looked around, but no one seemed particularly eager. Finally her eyes settled on Red. “Well?”
“I suppose I could speak a little something.” He climbed up onto the gunwale and held on to one of the shrouds. He looked around at the strange gathering, some of whom he didn’t know and didn’t trust in the slightest, others he’d recently gotten to know, and a couple he’d known for a while.
“The Book of Storms says that many thousands of years ago, we all lived under the ocean. But since it was impossible to talk underwater, we didn’t have language, and that meant we didn’t have a proper civilization. Then God made the first storm, and it was so powerful, it brought many islands to the surface, and us with it. Only then, when we came to live above the water, were we able to form words, and language, and culture, and ships, and everything that we think defines us. And that’s all real sunny. But with the good came the bad. With civilization came cruelty and injustice. So to my mind, there’s a certain rightness that when we die, we’re allowed to leave all that behind. To go back to the sea, and a simpler time, when people were just people. Who knows? Maybe that’s what Heaven is like.”
There was a moment of silence. Some looked down at their feet, some looked at the dead, and some looked out at the rolling sea all around them.
Finally Hope said, “Thank you, Red. Now, let’s see this through.”
And so, one by one, they carefully and respectfully returned each of the dead to the sea, where there were no power-hungry swordsmen or biomancers or trigger-happy assassins to make them suffer anymore. When it was finished, there was much more room on the boat and everyone took their space, each lost in their own thoughts. Without a word, Vaderton turned the boat and headed back toward Vance Post, which was now just a silhouette in the purple and red sky of sunset.
It was near dark when they reached the docks.
“What will you do with Racklock?” Hope asked Stephan.
“Set his bones, of course. But beyond that, I’m not sure.”
“Once he’s had a few days to heal, I’d like to talk to him,” she said. “Would that be okay?”
“Of course,” he said. “Where are you staying?”
“The Broadside Inn on Salt Road,” said Hope.
“I’ll send word once he’s stable,” Stephan promised.
Red watched the Vinchen march off down the dock, carrying Racklock in a makeshift stretcher made from two old oars and a bit of sailcloth. Even then they moved in perfect formation. He wondered if they were aware of how silly they looked trooping down the street like that. Probably not.
Hope turned to him. “We should probably head back to my lodgings and make sure your cousin is doing okay alone with Uter.”
“Uter?” he asked.
“Have you picked up another stray?” asked Brigga Lin.
“Are you saying I was a stray?” asked Jilly.
“I know I was a stray,” said Vaderton.
Hope smiled. “It’s a long story. I’ll fill you all in on the way.”
Once Hope had told them about Uter, Brigga Lin had a lot of follow-up questions for her about wighting, the necromancers, and the Jackal Lords. Red felt a little left out, and not just because he’d missed their confrontation with a real Jackal Lord. The way Hope and Brigga Lin talked to each other made it clear that they had a close and easy friendship. It was a sharp reminder to Red that Brigga Lin and Alash had actually spent more time with Hope than he had.
He felt the ugly stirrings of jealousy, and he didn’t like that at all, so to take his mind off of it, he turned to Jilly and Vaderton. “So how do you two know each other? Through Hope?”
Vaderton shook his head. “Jilly sailed under me when I was the captain of an imperial frigate.”
“I didn’t think they let girls sail on imperial naval ships.”
Jilly gave him a satisfied smirk. “They don’t. I pretended to be a boy.”
“Really?”
“Had me fooled,” admitted Vaderton. “Although I’m not sure you could pull it off anymore. You’ve grown quite a lot in the last year.”
“I could still pull it off,” Jilly asserted. “I can do pretty much anything if I set my mind to it.”
Red laughed. “That’s my Little Bee.”
She grinned up at him for a moment. But then the smile faded away. “You hear about Filler and Sadie?”
Red nodded. “Nettles told me.”
“Is … she okay?”
“Hard to say. I’m not sure how much of herself she’s given up to become the Black Rose of Paradise Circle.”
“Sometimes letting go of who you were is a good thing,” said Vaderton. “I like to think I’m a far better man now than I was when I captained the Guardian.”
“Nicer, anyway,” said Jilly.
“Maybe the same will be true of the Black Rose,” said Red. “Better at least. Probably not nicer.”
“Nettles being nice would be kind of creepy,” agreed Jilly.
A short time later, they arrived at an inn in the Commercial District called the Broadside. It was small, but neat and clean. Exactly the sort of place he would expect Hope to pick.
It occurred to him that he kept grabbing eagerly at any sign that he still knew her. He wasn’t sure why he needed that comfort, and he didn’t like the fear it implied. Hope had said things were all chum and larder between them. Hells, he’d even gotten a kiss as proof. What was he worried about?
When they entered the lobby, Hope glanced at the innkeeper, who sat behind a desk, then at the older couple sitting and talking quietly at a small table.
“Let’s all go up to the room rather than calling them down,” she said. “It’ll be a little cramped with all of us in there at once, but if Uter is feeling overly … friendly, I’d rather not risk any bystanders getting hurt.”
“You’re worried he might try to kill someone?” asked Brigga Lin. “A little boy?”
“I think I’ve trained it out of him,” said Hope. “Mostly.”
“Maybe if you didn’t give him weapons?” suggested Vaderton.
“I don’t!” Hope said a little defensively. “Somehow he keeps finding them on his own. No matter where we are, he’s always able to get his little hands on something sharp. Last night he snatched a corkscrew from the serving woman at dinner and tried to make her his ‘friend’ so she’d give him another dessert.”
“Sounds like a wag with his priorities in line. I can’t wait to meet him,” said Red.
“Do not encourage it,” she told him sternly.
They followed her up the stairs and down the hall to a well-scrubbed wooden door. Hope rapped on the door with her knuckles.
“Alash, Uter, I’m back.”
“Everything okay?” Alash called through the door.
“Yes. Uter, I’m bringing a few new people in with me. They’re already friends, so you don’t need to do anything except say hello. Understand?”
“You sure they’re already friends?” came a piping little voice.
“Positive,” Hope said firmly. “We’re all coming in now.”
She opened the door. Inside was a small room with two beds and a mat laid out on the floor with a pillow. Alash sat on one of the beds with a book in his hands. He looked very different from the last time Red had seen him. Healthy and strong, like he’d done a great deal of honest labor. Next to him was a small, wiry boy with bone-white skin and hair, just as Hope had described him. He wore a plain beige smock and big black boots that clunked loudly on the floor when he jumped to his feet and hurried over to them.
“That’s a lot of friends!” he chirped.
“Why don’t you move aside so we can all come in,” suggested Hope.
As he stepped to one side, Uter gaped up at Brigga Lin. “Are you a queen?”
She let out a rich, throaty laugh. “No, I’m not a queen, little boy. But I like you already.”
“This is our friend Brigga Lin,” said Hope. Then she turned to Red. “And this is our friend Red.”
“You have fun eyes,” Uter told him.
“Thanks,” said Red.
“This is Captain Vaderton,” Hope told Uter.
“Not really much of a captain these days,” said Vaderton, “but pleased to make your acquaintance.” He held out his hand to the boy.
The boy looked at it strangely, like he didn’t know what to do with it. But then his eyes strayed to Jilly, and suddenly it was like the rest of the room ceased to matter.
“Who are you?” he asked her.
“I’m Jilly,” she said guardedly.
“Are we friends?” he asked.
“I guess,” she told him. “But I’m older than you, so you have to do what I say.”
“Okay!” he said happily. “What do you want me to do?”
“Uhh …” Jilly looked taken aback. “Well, nothing right now. But just, you better mind me when I tell you something.”
“Sure,” he agreed. “You ever seen a whale? I did, and it was very big. At first, I thought it was an island, that’s how big it was!”
As Uter continued his attempt to impress Jilly with his knowledge of whales and other sea creatures, Red turned back to look at Alash. There was clearly something going on between his cousin and Brigga Lin. A thick, palpable tension.
“Ms. Lin.” Alash had risen from the bed, and now he bowed stiffly to her.
“Alash …” She seemed to weigh something in her mind. “I’m sorry—”
“It is I who should apologize,” he said quickly. “For putting you in such an awkward position. I promise, I will never do so again.”
She gave him a strange look, then nodded. “Thank you.”
Hope looked around at everyone pressed in together in the small space and smiled ruefully. “I suppose we’ll need to let a few more rooms. It won’t be cheap, but we’ll need somewhere to stay until we decide on our next move.”
“Don’t worry about money for the rooms,” said Red. “I’ll take care of that.”
“Oh?” asked Hope. “I take it you liberated it from some lacy before you left Stonepeak?”
“Actually, I earned it honestly,” Red said.
“You got a job?” asked Jilly. “Doing what?”
This would be a tricky topic to introduce, and he was well aware there was a lot riding on how well they received it. So he would ease them in slowly. “Okay, so you know that friend who helped me shake the biomancer control?”
“The one who took you to this ‘wisewoman,’” said Brigga Lin.
Red nodded. “I guess you could say that I felt I owed her for that.”
“Certainly,” said Hope.
“So when she asked me to come work for her, it seemed like the right thing to do.”
Hope’s eyes narrowed. “And … where does she work?”
“She’s the imperial chief of espionage.”
Hope stared at him for a moment. “The what?”
“Chief of espionage?” asked Vaderton. “I’d always thought that was a myth.”
“I did, too,” admitted Brigga Lin.
“Wait. You’ve both heard of this person?” Hope asked them.
“In a manner of speaking,” said Brigga Lin. “There was always talk, even amongst the biomancers, of a shadowy, mysterious figure who scurried around in the background, enacting various schemes, but it all seemed a bit unlikely to me.”
“Whenever Lord Gelmat handed down an unpopular order to the admirals, there were always rumors of him being pressured by some network of imperial spies. But like Brigga Lin, I thought it was just long talk among the captains.”
Hope turned back to Red. “But this person is real, and you went to work for her as a spy?”
“At first,” said Red. “But it turns out that secrecy and subtlety don’t exactly play to my strengths.”
Hope’s eyebrow raised. “I never would have guessed.”
“Are you teasing me?”
She smiled and shrugged. “So, once you realized you were no good at spying? What then?”
“She asked me to come find you and Brigga Lin.”
Hope’s expression suddenly cooled. “Why?”
Red already knew she’d be a little uncomfortable with the idea of working within the imperial power structure. After all, she didn’t know the full picture like he did yet. But he knew she’d like the goal. “To ask you to help us get rid of the biomancers once and for all.”
“Us?” She didn’t seem to immediately grasp what he was saying. “So you’ve already allied yourself with this … chief of spies?”
“Like I said, she’s been a true friend. Helped me out of a situation I don’t think I could have gotten out of otherwise. But I think you’re missing the point here.”
“Oh?” Her blu
e eyes were now as cold and hard as ice. That had definitely not been the best way to phrase it. “What is it you think I’m missing?”
“That we’re working to take care of the biomancer problem for good.”
“No, I heard that part,” said Hope. “It sounds like the emperor has lost control of his favorite toys and wants us to come in and clean up his mess for him.”
“It’s not like that,” said Red, although even as he said it, he had to admit to himself it was a bit like that. The emperor had lost control, just decades ago, rather than recently. But saying that probably wouldn’t help his case any. “Look, the emperor doesn’t even really matter anymore. He’s old and bedridden and doesn’t do much of anything. It’s the empress who’s pushing for this.”
“A woman allowed the biomancers to run amok?” asked Hope. “That’s even worse.”
This was not going Red’s way at all. He suddenly flashed back to that tavern when he’d tried to convince Hope not to storm the palace. He’d known even as he argued that he was failing. It couldn’t be like that again. He wouldn’t let it. He would convince her somehow.
“I thought this was what you wanted. To get rid of the biomancers.”
“I do want to stop their abuse of power,” said Hope. “But allying myself with a different abusive power to do so doesn’t make sense to me. Especially since Brigga Lin and I were already fighting the biomancers on our own.”
“And with some measure of success,” said Brigga Lin.
Red nodded agreeably. “Sure, but think how much faster you could get it done if you worked with the empress.”
“At what cost?” asked Hope. “What would we have to concede in order to bring about such an alliance?”
“Nothing!” said Red. “The empress just wants your help. If anything, you could demand some kind of payment or boon from her.”
“As long as we do it her way,” said Hope. “The imperial way, which has never shown itself to care even the slightest about the needs of the common people.” She shook her head. “I don’t understand how you, of all people, could be okay with this.”
