by Aron Lewes
“You're on an assassin's ship,” she said. “I brought you back to life by accident.”
“You're claiming the credit for me being on my feet again? That's hilarious. You expect me to believe you can bring back the dead?” Dedrick readjusted his grip on Kylin's waist and carried her into the hallway.
“You were dead and now you're alive. What other possible explanation could there be?” Kylin asked.
“The assassins must have cut me down before the last life was choked out of me,” Dedrick theorized. “They were bad at their job. Now, if you don't mind, I'm using you as a hostage. I hope your friends like you enough to spare your life.”
“They're... not my friends,” Kylin said, though it pricked her heart to admit it.
“I hope you're wrong, because that'd be bad for me and you. You'd be a bad hostage if they're willing to slice through you to get to me.”
Dedrick grunted as he carried Kylin upstairs, to the deck, where they encountered Wilhelm. He was so shocked by the reanimated Dedrick, he dropped the bucket of water he was carrying.
“There's one of the ones that killed me.” As he spoke, one of Dedrick's arms coiled around Kylin's neck. “Let me go. Let me leave the ship, or I'll snap the girl's neck.”
“You would snap the neck of such a pretty young girl? I doubt it,” Wilhelm said. “But if you are serious, you should probably reconsider. If you hurt the girl, your second death will be a painful one.” Though he sounded calm, Wilhelm's eyes were flying everywhere in search of a solution to the Dedrick problem.
“You can threaten me all you'd like, but I hold the cards now,” Dedrick claimed. “Take me home. Leave me be. That's the only way you won't end up with a pretty corpse on your hands.” He lifted Kylin off her feet and gave her a shake.
“Put her down, please.” Wilhelm held up his hands, as if to surrender. “I'll head to the helm and take you home, just... don't hurt her.”
“I won't, so long as you behave.” Dedrick took a long whiff of Kylin's hair. “The girl's got to behave as well. Everyone act nice, and we can all get out of this alive.”
A curious grin appeared on Wilhelm's lips as he asked, “Are you sure about that?”
Wilhelm was staring beyond Dedrick and Kylin. Concerned by the assassin's roving gaze, Dedrick turned around to see what held his attention.
As soon as he turned, Vala fired her crossbow, putting a bolt in the center of his forehead. When he collapsed, Kylin scrambled from his grip.
“Well, that takes care of him... again,” Vala said. “How was he alive again? Did that bum nugget have nine lives or something?”
“No. I think Kylin brought him back. I don't know why she would, but she did.”
Kylin's gaze dropped. She didn't want to see the disapproval on both of their faces. “I... didn't mean to,” she whispered.
“I don't believe you,” Wilhelm said. “You were upset with us for killing him. You had convinced yourself he was a kind, old man who didn't deserve to die. You empathized with him.” Wilhelm poked Dedrick with the toe of his boot. “Now, I'm sure, you realize how wrong you were.”
“I swear I didn't do it on purpose!” Kylin cried. “I-I was leaning over him, and suddenly his eyes snapped open and he hit me! It was as much of a surprise to me as it is to you!”
Wilhelm's forehead was puckered with disbelief, and she didn't know how to convince him. She watched him crouch over Dedrick and wriggle the bolt from his forehead. Handing the bolt to Vala, he calmly said, “I think I might behead him. You can't bring back a man without a head, can you?”
“You don't trust me,” Kylin said. “I admit, I brought back Marnie and you were stabbed because of it. I feel terrible about that. But I didn't bring Dedrick back on purpose!”
Vala chimed in. “Whether you did it on purpose or not, that's a scary ability to have. I wouldn't have thought such a skill could exist, but I guess seeing is believing.”
“Wilhelm...” Kylin lightly tapped his arm. “I want you to believe me! I didn't do it on purpose. I wouldn't have intentionally done anything that would put you and Vala in danger. I—”
“You brought back the Silenced,” Wilhelm interrupted. “You seem to have a nasty habit of bringing bad people back to life.”
He drew his sword and held its blade above Dedrick's neck. Kylin glanced away before Wilhelm chopped downward. Hearing the squelch was bad enough—she didn't want to see a decapitated body.
“Do you think we should keep the body as proof of death, or is the head good enough?” Vala asked.
“I say we should keep both. That's the safer bet.” Wilhelm's attention wandered back to Kylin, who was shielding her eyes from the gruesome scene. “Kylin, if you ever see me die, let me stay dead. The world's had enough of you bringing bad people back to life.”
“You think I should let my Chosen stay dead?”
Irritation revealed itself in Wilhelm's bark of laughter. “I'm not your Chosen, sweetheart. That Resonance you felt was probably a bit of gas passing through your chest.”
Vala tried to stifle her chuckles, but the hand she used to muffle them was an ineffective shield. Kylin could hear her titters well enough.
“It was a mistake to help you,” Wilhelm went on. “You've been nothing but a nuisance since you stepped on this ship. Vala and I are about to risk our lives to rescue your brother, even though we have nothing to gain from it. You kept begging and begging for us to help you, as if you were somehow entitled to it, and once we did agree to help, you've been causing constant trouble. On top of it all, you keep clinging to this silly fantasy that you and I are soul mates, when I've told you time and time again that it's a—”
Kylin didn't wait around for Wilhelm to finish his thought. With tears in her eyes, she transformed into a fox and fled from his lecture.
Chapter Sixteen
“THAT WAS HARSH, MATE. Even for you,” Vala said.
“What would you have me do instead? Coddle her?” Wilhelm asked. “That girl is constantly making terrible choices. Don't you think someone needed to bring that to her attention?”
“Perhaps. Choosing you as a soul mate was definitely a bad choice.” Vala tried to soften her remark with a wink. “Still, you could have expressed your opinion a little more gently. I wouldn't be surprised if that girl's in tears right now.”
Wilhelm grumbled a curse for his ears alone. It was rare for Vala to stick up for anyone but him. If she was taking Kylin's side, he must have really been in the wrong.
“Well... let me find her,” Wilhelm capsized. “Do you have any idea where she might have scampered off to?”
“No. And I'm not helping you search. You need to fix this mistake, not me.”
Wilhelm believed his remarks were necessary, if harshly put. He refused to side with anyone but himself, but he didn't want Kylin to hate him, so he started his search in her quarters. He knocked three times and shouted her name, but no one came to greet him. When he tried the knob, the door rattled open, but he couldn't bring himself to invade a girl's room without consent. He backed away and searched a few of the ship's most popular places.
Wilhelm walked the circumference of the deck two times, but he saw no sign of Kylin. He went to the galley and nibbled on stale cake, baked five days ago by Vala.
Between bites, Wilhelm said aloud, “If you come out of hiding... I'll give you sweets!” He even presented a box of chocolates to show it was no lie. Still, he saw no Kylin—neither as fox or a girl.
Having run out of possible places to search, Wilhelm returned to Kylin's room. Upon entering, he saw a pair of yellow eyes staring at him from beneath the bed.
“That is either a very large rat... or a fox.” Wilhelm chuckled. “Since I haven't seen any rats recently, I'm going to assume that's you.”
He sat on the floor and tried to lure her with his chocolates. She didn't budge.
“So... I'm going to assume that you're angry with me,” Wilhelm said. “I guess I don't blame you. Maybe I did say some hurtful
things. In fact, comparing you to a rat probably wasn't the smartest thing I've done, so...”
It was almost pitch black in Kylin's room, so he took out his lighter and crawled to a nearby candle. Bringing flame and wick together, he said, “Truth be told, if I was your Chosen, I would consider myself lucky. But it's hard to look at someone like you and feel I could ever be a match for you. I'm not a good man, you know. I may not be the worst, but I'm certainly not worthy of you.”
He brought the candle closer to the cowering creature under Kylin's bed. A glimpse of familiar orange fur had him shaking his head.
“You should come out,” he said. “I promise I'll be kind. I would rather not talk to you while you're in that form. I'm not even sure you can understand what I'm saying!”
Kylin crawled out of her hiding place and returned to her usual form—a sullen young lady with downcast eyes.
“I really didn't bring that man back to life on purpose!” she insisted. “I don't know how it happened! It's usually not so easy to call someone back from the dead. Perhaps his spirit was still attached to his body in some way, so I—”
“I believe you,” Wilhelm interrupted. “If you say it was an accident, it was an accident. You nearly got yourself killed, after all. I doubt you would have done that on purpose.”
“I did bring Marnie back, though,” Kylin said. “I have no excuses for that, except... I didn't know if it was possible to bring back a Silenced because I hadn't done it before. It was an experiment gone wrong. I should have told you what I was doing. I'm sorry.”
“I'm the one who needs to apologize,” Wilhelm said. “I've been cruel to you, again and again. I shouldn't be such a bully.”
“And please,” Kylin continued, seemingly oblivious to his reply, “I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful to you for all the times you've helped me. When I asked you to save my brother, I didn't feel entitled to your help. I was just scared. You and Vala were familiar to me in an unfamiliar world, and you seemed capable of assisting me. I never, ever want you to feel like I expected your help. I certainly had no expectations. I—”
Kylin's mouth snapped shut when Wilhelm reached for her hand and whispered, “You're rambling.”
“Am I?” Her head tilted as she considered his criticism. “You're probably right. My brother always said I talk too much.”
“Speaking of your brother, Vala used the wayspinner to locate him. We should find him within a day or two.”
“Good.” Kylin kept her attention on their conjoined hands. His was much larger, and callused by years of hard labor. “You know... hand-on-hand contact is very intimate to my people. It's almost as intimate as a kiss.”
He immediately released her hand and muttered, “Oh. Sorry.”
“It's alright. I don't mind.” She gave him a tiny smile—he had yet to earn a wider one. “Wilhelm... may I ask you a question?”
He nodded and cupped his forehead, bracing himself for the incoming query. Somehow, he knew the topic would be challenging.
“Did you really kill your best friend?”
Wilhelm went silent for a full minute, if not longer. Kylin was so afraid of offending him, she nearly retracted her question.
“I... did,” he finally admitted. “A few years ago, Vala and I were captured by a rich governor in a city called Rhye. Even though we've worked for some powerful people, we're still wanted criminals in half of the world's cities. Anyway, the governor of Rhye offered us a choice. We could either hunt down Tomas and get a reward, or we could spend the next twenty years in a prison.”
“And you hunted down Tomas?” Kylin guessed.
“I did. But Vala couldn't do it, because Tomas was a former lover of hers. He was my best mate, but when it came down to it, I didn't have a hard time putting him down. I made the choice that was best for Vala and me.”
“Was Vala angry with you for that?”
“For awhile, maybe... but even she must have thought it was better than rotting in a cell. Still, a better man might've made a more righteous choice. I made the choice that saved my own skin.”
Kylin swore she could see a gloss in Wilhelm's eyes, even in the semi-darkness. He was obviously tortured by his friend's death, so she didn't probe the topic any further.
She asked instead, “Is it really silly to think that you and I could be soul mates?”
“Not silly, no.” Wilhelm's lips wavered, stuck between a smile and sorrow. “But I think anyone would agree that you would be getting the raw end of that particular deal.”
Kylin's eyebrow raised at the expression he used. Humans said many things that made little sense to her. “What does that mean?”
“It means I would be getting something good, and you would be getting something bad,” Wilhelm explained. “When it comes to choosing a mate, you should really listen to common sense instead of some... heart flutter.”
“There's nothing wrong with listening to your heart,” Kylin argued.
“Maybe. But I would rather listen to my head.” Wilhelm stood, grunting as he rose. Looking down at her, he added, “My head hasn't failed me yet.”
Chapter Seventeen
WILHELM WAS FIRST TO glimpse the slavers' stronghold: a modest fortress perched on chalky bluffs. Its cracked stone walls and crumbling turrets were evidence of previous battles, but despite the heavy damage, a siege was more than a single ship and a pair of well-armed siblings could manage.
Handing his spyglass to Vala, Wilhelm asked, “Well... how do we get inside?”
“I don't know,” Vala said. “This ship's not equipped for heavy warfare, and even if it was, we would be out of our depth. If you look at the top of the main tower, it looks like they've got cannons up there. They're definitely ready and able to fight back.”
Vala passed the spyglass to Kylin, who felt her hope dwindle as she squinted into the device. How could they possibly storm a fortress? She had asked Wilhelm and Vala for too much. “I was thinking...” Kylin spoke up, “that... maybe I could summon a tornado or a storm. It might help, but if there are slaves inside, I wouldn't want to risk their lives.”
“I can confirm that your brother's in there, at least. The wayspinner never points us in the wrong direction,” Vala claimed. “What if we knocked on the front door all nice-like and asked them to let us in? Maybe we could pretend to be merchants or something of the sort?”
“I was thinking something similar,” Wilhelm said. “But... people like consumers more than sellers. What if we said we were interested in buying some of their slaves?”
“Hmm... that might work.” A grimace tugged on Vala's lips as she considered the possible outcomes of her brother's bold plan. “Or they might kill us on sight.”
“They can try.” Wilhelm took the spyglass from Kylin and checked the fortress one more time. “I think that's our best bet. Or... we just fight our way in.”
“That would be mad,” Vala said. “But I guess I should expect no less from you, eh?”
They sailed their ship within a mile of the fortress and took a rowboat to the shore. When Kylin expressed her desire to go with them, Vala said, “Nuh uh. I'd spend too much time worrying about you. So would Wilhelm... though I doubt he'd admit it.”
Waves crashed against their little boat as they rowed to shore, and the sky darkened so quickly, Wilhelm wondered if Kylin had used her magic after all. The water was so rough, it almost swept the oar from his hand.
“I'll be honest, I can't believe we're doing this,” Vala said. “There's nothing to gain from this. Nothing. At first, I thought you were sweet on the girl, but after your outburst the other day, I'm not so sure.”
“Kylin is a nice girl, but... she's very innocent. I'm afraid I would corrupt her,” Wilhelm said. “As for there being nothing to gain from this, I would argue that we have the honor of rescuing slaves from their shackles.”
“Or we'll have the honor of dying while trying to rescue slaves from their shackles.” A snort of laughter slipped out of Vala's nose as she amende
d her brother's remark.
“Where's your confidence, Vala?” Wilhelm asked. “It's not like you to be such a pessimist.”
“Aye. It is,” she corrected him. “Usually, though, I keep my pessimism to m'self. I don't like to ruin the mood.”
The mood was certainly somber as they dragged their rowboat ashore and made their way to the fortress, which was even more imposing up close. They were stopped by a guard at the gate, who ordered them to hold up their hands. Vala and Wilhelm complied with matching sighs.
The guard said, “There are at least five arrows aiming at you, friend. State your business and state it clearly. If I like what I hear, I can tell my men to stand down.”
“We heard that you sell merchandise that can be... difficult to come by,” Wilhelm said. “My wife and I would be interested in making a purchase.”
“Wife?” Vala hissed. “Did you have to say I was your bloody wife?”
“I thought it'd be easier to sell our story,” Wilhelm whispered. “Just play along. Who cares?”
“I care! I don't look like no man's wife!”
Vala was so caught up in her own thoughts that she almost missed the guard's reply. “We'll have to take your weapons,” he said. “And you'll have to show us proof that you can pay.”
Slowly and carefully, Wilhelm lowered an arm and dipped a hand into one of his pockets. He pulled out a jingling bag and tossed it at the guard's scuffed boots. “Is that proof enough?” he asked.
“Looks sufficient.” The guard picked up the bag and held it to his nose. “I love the smell of gold. One of my mates swears it has no smell, but I think he's wrong.”
The guard insisted on taking their weapons, so they surrendered their visible ones. Vala said farewell to her crossbow, while her brother gave up two swords and a knife. They both hid weapons in their sleeves, which were undiscovered by the guard.
As he led them inside, the guard asked, “Do you have any idea what kind of slave you want? A male, a female... or something a little more exotic, perhaps?” Lowering his voice, he added, “We just got in a fresh batch of kitsunes. Some of our freshest fox-girls could fulfill any man's fetish.”