by PT Hylton
There wasn’t just one traitor, Abbey realized. There were hundreds.
Thunderclap. High Tide. Summer Wind. They were all traitors. Every one of them.
The Storm Raiders were real. And they were working with the Barskall.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Benjamin sat in his jail cell, waiting for the inevitable.
He’d been locked up for almost two full days now. Since the time the city guards broke into his home, and he’d been dragged through his shop and to this cell, he hadn’t really been worried. He was innocent of the crime for which he was being accused. Clearly, someone was trying to frame him. There was nothing he could do to clear his name from in here, so all he could do was wait, remain steadfast in his innocence, and hope the real criminal would be brought to justice.
And if he wasn’t? What if Benjamin died for a crime he didn’t commit? Well, that wouldn’t be the biggest injustice the world had ever seen. He’d persecuted enough people during his time as a Hunter in Arcadia that his death would be deserved.
The only thing that gave Benjamin worry, the thing that kept him awake through the long, cold nights, was his concern for Abbey and her safety.
He knew the city guard was hunting her, and he knew they hadn’t caught her yet. If they had, they would have been using her life as leverage to get him to confess. He had to assume his daughter was still free.
He hoped she’d listened to his instructions. She wouldn’t be safe at Jarvi’s home forever; eventually, the city guard would come knocking on his door. But Jarvi would see her away to somewhere safer. If everything had gone well, she could be traveling south already. Her life in Arcadia wouldn’t be easy, but at least she’d have the chance to start over. And he had every confidence in her ability to survive under even tough conditions.
Benjamin got up from his bed and walked to the middle of the room. He then did a few stretches and squats to loosen up. After only two days, he was already learning that time worked strangely in here. As boring as it was, it was easy to let many hours slip away while he just sat on that bed. He had to force himself to stay active.
He dropped to the floor and did some pushups. It was chilly in the cell, and the exercise warmed him. Blood flowed into his stiff muscles. After a couple of dozen pushups, he started to feel like his old self.
He tried not to think about whether he’d ever see Abbey again. The possibility that he wouldn’t was too painful to face. But he also couldn’t imagine any reunion that didn’t involve her being thrown into the cell next to him. As much as he missed her, he’d gladly give up ever seeing her again if it meant her safety.
If only he’d told her the truth about himself and his past. Now, he’d probably never get the chance. Jarvi had likely told her by now. At least, Benjamin hoped so. She had to know Arcadia’s views on magic if she was going to live there.
“Hey, blacksmith!”
Benjamin paused mid-pushup. He recognized that voice.
Most of the guards had been indifferent to him during his stay, ignoring him except to give him food or water, or to empty his waste bucket. Benjamin assumed the torture would begin eventually, probably after they gave up on finding Abbey and became desperate to elicit a confession. But so far no one had laid a finger on him.
One guard was different, and that was the guard standing at his door now. This guard seemed to take pleasure in hurling insults at him. Everything from Benjamin’s profession to his Arcadian heritage, to his perceived lack of intelligence were fair game for the man’s insults, and he remained undeterred by Benjamin’s lack of response. Benjamin was surprised at how much the insults were beginning to bother him. He supposed when you had almost no human contact, the little you did have took on greater significance.
“Hey, blacksmith, I’m talking to you.”
Benjamin slowly got to his feet and turned toward the guard. The man wore his usual smirk.
The guard shook his head sadly. “You’re pathetic. Only two days, and you already look like you’ve been here a month. You’ll be lucky if your daughter recognizes you when we throw her in the cell next to yours. How I’m looking forward to that day.”
Benjamin clenched his teeth and fought the urge to send a fireball flying at the man. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t use magic unless he absolutely had to. Once he did, they would treat him much more carefully.
“I can’t believe it, blacksmith, but you have a visitor.”
Benjamin looked at the guard in surprise. Who could be visiting him? Or was this guard just screwing with him again?
The guard chuckled. “He’s got deep pockets, too. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be letting him in here. I hope you two have something important to say to each other, considering the price he paid.”
“Actually, we do.” The voice came from somewhere out of Benjamin’s line of sight. “And we’d prefer to talk in private.”
A figure rushed forward. Benjamin saw a flash of blue and a metal rod flying toward the guard, striking him in the stomach.
The guard convulsed, then collapsed to the ground.
Benjamin couldn’t help but smile. “He let you bring a shocker in here?”
Jarvi bent down next to the guard and began searching his pockets. “I told him it was my walking staff. I am quite advanced in years, you know. Ah, here we are.” He pulled a keyring out of the guard’s pocket and stood up.
“Jarvi, what are you doing here? As much as I appreciate it, escaping isn’t going to help my case for innocence.”
Jarvi unlocked the cell and pulled the door open with a flourish. “Indeed. I thought about the matter long and hard before taking action. I finally decided you’ll do yourself more good out here then you will in there. Now, come with me. We have work to do.”
****
Benjamin stared at his old friend with wide eyes, so surprised he couldn’t force himself to move.
“I do believe there’s more than one guard here,” Jarvi said with a smile. “Perhaps we should go before the others arrive and we’re forced into a fight. I’ve only got this one trick.” He hefted the metal rod in his hand.
The shocker. Even looking at that old thing brought back terrible memories for Benjamin. He’d gladly traded it to Jarvi in exchange for the older man’s help setting up a new life in Holdgate, and he’d hoped never to see it again. And now it had been used to help secure his freedom.
And still, he hesitated. A part of him had hoped his name would be cleared and he’d be able to go back to his old life. He would become the reliable Arcadian blacksmith the Storm Captains sought out to equip their crews, and this would all be nothing but a bad memory. It hadn’t been a very good possibility—once the Magistrate considered you guilty, odds of seeing the light of day again were very slim indeed. And since this involved his own son’s murder, Benjamin assumed he wouldn’t be very forgiving.
But as soon as Benjamin stepped out of this cell, he’d be a fugitive. Any hopes of going back to his old life would be squelched.
Jarvi seemed to know his friend’s mind. “Benjamin, I know you didn’t kill the Magistrate’s son. That means whoever did it is roaming free. If we can find them, we’ll clear your name and help keep the people of Holdgate safe. But you can’t do either of those things from a jail cell.”
Benjamin sighed. The thought of this killer framing him and getting away filled him with fury. If he could do something to bring that monster to justice, it was worth living life as a fugitive. He stepped out of his cell.
Jarvi smiled. “Good man. Now, let’s get the hell out of here.” He turned on his heel and marched off without waiting for a reply. Benjamin bent down and took the fallen guard’s sword, then hurried after his friend.
Jarvi led Benjamin toward the south side of the building. They walked through a long, narrow corridor with windows high on the wall, looking out over the sea. At one point, Jarvi held up a hand, and they both froze. A pair of voices, chatting casually, filled the air. They seemed to be coming closer, but just when Benj
amin thought the two men must be upon them, they began to fade away. Jarvi nodded down the corridor, and they kept going.
Benjamin silently followed his friend. Jarvi seemed oddly familiar with the layout of the building. He led them down deserted back hallways, narrow places with thick layers of dust on the stone floor. Benjamin wanted to ask Jarvi why he knew the building so well, but he didn’t dare speak.
Finally, after walking through what felt like a mile of hallways, they came to an unadorned oak door. Jarvi pulled a key from his sleeve and unlocked it, then opened it. Benjamin followed him, and a moment later, they were standing in an alley behind the building.
Benjamin looked at his friend. The older man’s face was illuminated in pale moonlight. There were so many questions Benjamin wanted to ask. Most of them could wait until later when they were safely away from this place, but one could not. “Jarvi, did you help Abbey leave the city?”
Jarvi paused for a moment before answering. “I did.”
Relief rushed through Benjamin’s body, and his legs suddenly went weak with the force of it. He put a hand on Jarvi’s shoulder. “Thank you, old friend. This means more to me than you could ever know. I’ll join her in the south; then we’ll start a new life. I can’t go back to Arcadia, but we can go somewhere else. Maybe the Heights.” Benjamin noticed the drawn look on his friend’s face. “What is it?”
Jarvi didn’t meet Benjamin’s eyes when he answered. “I sent her north, not south. She went with the stormships.”
“What?” Benjamin blinked hard, unable to believe what he was hearing. “Why the hell would you do that?”
“This is bigger than us, Benjamin. Bigger than any of us. The girl is our best chance at finding the truth. You and I can search for evidence here, but we needed someone in the north, too. Near the Barskall. It’s the only way we’ll ever find out if there really is a traitor.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about the traitor!” Benjamin realized he was speaking too loudly for a man escaping from a jail cell, but he was too angry to care. “The sea can take Holdgate and everyone in it. I just want Abbey to be safe.”
Jarvi’s voice was cold when he answered. “Then I’m glad you were locked in that cell when she and I made the decision. This isn’t a time for selfishness, Benjamin. If traitors are working with the Barskall, many more lives are at stake than just your daughter’s. Imagine Holdgate in flames, Barskall Warriors running through the streets drunk on their potions as they kill our people and steal everything we need to survive. If someone doesn’t do something, that’s exactly what will happen. Abbey was brave enough to put aside selfish things for the greater good. Are you?”
Benjamin took a deep breath. Jarvi was right. There was more at stake here than just his life, or even Abbey’s.
“There’s work to be done in Holdgate,” Jarvi said, “and I think you’re the man to do it. Even if Abbey finds the traitor, we’ll need proof. We need to find out who really killed the Magistrate’s son, and we need to do it fast. Are you willing to help? Or are you going to run south and hide in the mountains?”
Benjamin paused a moment before answering. If he wanted to help Abbey and Holdgate, he was going to have to join Jarvi in gathering as much information as possible. “Yes. I’ll help.”
“Good,” Jarvi said softly. “Then what do you say we get out of here before we both wind up back in that cell of yours?”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Abbey dashed through the street, her feet slapping hard against cobblestone. Up ahead, she saw a Barskall Warrior ramming himself against a solid oak door, trying to knock it down. A family of four looked down from the windows above, terror in their eyes.
Abbey angled herself at the Warrior and ran even harder. He didn’t see her coming, and she collided with him, driving her shoulder into his back. The Warrior crumbled to the ground, and his sword skidded away from him. He quickly flopped onto his back and began to rise. Abbey gripped her sword, willing him to stand.
Like all the other Barskall Warriors she’d seen, he was armorless, male, and moved with a reckless flurry of motion that didn’t quite seem natural. He didn’t even look at his weapon. The fact that he was unarmed and facing a sword-wielding opponent didn’t even seem to cross his mind. He charged toward her with a nearly inhuman speed.
Abbey recovered from her shock just in time to raise her sword and kill the charging warrior.
She looked down at the second body to fall to her sword so far tonight, but there wasn’t time to consider it for long. The city was in chaos. Barskall Warriors and Tor’s Storm Raiders were working together to loot the city of anything valuable. What they couldn’t steal, they burned. What they couldn’t burn, they smashed.
Some carried swords. Some carried maces. But they all brought destruction.
Abbey looked left and right, not sure where to turn next. She could only defend one home at a time. As much as she wanted to destroy every one of these Barskall sons of bitches and the traitor Holdgate sailors working with them, she was only one person.
She heard a familiar shout and spun to her left. Down the road, Syd was facing off against two Storm Raiders. She had a sword in each hand, but her opponents clearly knew what they were doing. They were inching in opposite directions, trying to flank her. Each of them held a sword in one hand and a torch in the other.
Fury filled Abbey as she looked at those torches. They may have been used to start some of the fires now consuming innocent people’s homes. She rushed to her shipmate’s side.
The two Storm Raiders smiled when they saw her.
“Ah, good.” It was the taller of the two who spoke. He wore a helmet with a large dent and a sword that she could see was dinged to hell even in the dim torchlight. “We were looking for you two. Captain said we weren’t to let you get back to your ship.”
Abbey let out a chuckle. “Who’s going back to the ship? We’re just getting started.”
The tall Storm Raider shook his head. “Don’t be an idiot. You’re outnumbered three hundred to two. What do you think you’re going to do?”
“Right now, I’m only worried about the two assholes standing in front of me,” Abbey said through gritted teeth. “I’ll worry about the other two-hundred-and-ninety-eight after.”
Syd brandished her twin swords, so the torchlight reflected into the faces of the two men. “You are traitors to your city and a disgrace to the stormships.”
Both men let out a hearty laugh.
The shorter one smiled, revealing his few remaining teeth. “I know The Foggy Day doesn’t see much action, but you can’t have your head that far up your ass. You have any idea why Holdgate is so rich? Why it’s so safe from the Barskall? You should know that Storm Raiding is a way of life. Thunderclap has been raiding since before you tied your first line.”
Abbey blinked hard. Could that possibly be true? Had she lived nearly her whole life in a city built on lies? Had Thunderclap been dealing out this sort of violence for years?
She looked at the sword in the short man’s hand. She couldn’t be certain in this light, but it was altogether possible her father had made that sword. How many of his weapons had been used for terrible purposes like this one?
Abbey lunged forward, swinging her sword as she came. She connected with the taller man’s sword, and his eyes widened in surprise at the speed of her attack. She spun to the right and stabbed again, catching him under the armpit where there was a gap in his leather armor. He fell with a grunt.
She turned to see Syd had already dispatched the smaller man.
Abbey turned her eyes toward the center of the city where the fire was the largest. She started toward it, but she felt a hand on her shoulder.
There was sadness in Syd’s voice when she spoke. “As much as I hate to admit it, they’re right. There’s nothing two people can do against this horde.”
“Like hell!” Anger boiled within Abbey. This was being done in the name of Holdgate, her city! She wouldn’t let this stand.
“We’re the only ones who know the truth about what’s happening here,” Syd said. “We have to go back to the ship. If we die here, no one back on The Foggy Day will know the truth.”
Abbey still wasn’t convinced. “People are being hurt. I’m not turning my back on them.”
“I’m not asking you to. But think of how many lives we can save if we put an end to this. From what that guy said, this isn’t the first city they’ve raided, and it won’t be the last. Not unless we do something about it.”
Abbey paused. She knew Syd was right, but she still hated running away from a battle.
Finally, she said, “You’re right. Let’s find a way to stop these guys once and for all.”
****
Dustin stood on the bow of the ship, feeling the power of the sea flowing through him. The fog was growing even thicker. They would need it to cover their escape if the Barskall decided to give chase. It was part of preserving the mystique of the stormships. They appeared out of the fog without warning and disappeared back into it as quickly as they’d come.
He was surprised at how natural it felt to be standing there, controlling the weather. Supporting the stormships as they helped this city in need.
He noticed Roy standing next to him, a troubled look on his face. Dustin had no idea how long the captain had been at his shoulder. When he Storm Called, he was lost in his own world.
Roy nodded toward the fog. “That’s fine work.”
“Thank you.” Dustin glanced at the deck behind him. Men and women were milling about, most of them with their eyes fixed on the fog. “Does it bother them? Not being in the fight?”
Roy was quiet for a moment before answering. “Some of them. Others know enough to be happy to avoid fights when possible.”
Dustin wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Seemed like a strange answer.
Roy’s eyes narrowed—he saw something. Dustin followed his gaze and spotted a small dinghy coming out of the fog. The sail was down, and the two people aboard were rowing fiercely.
