by Ben Galley
‘Do you think they’re done with us?’
‘I fucking hope so,’ Lerel muttered. ‘We can’t fight those creatures every league around the Paraian coastline.’
‘Is that where we are?’
Lerel nodded. ‘Just turned around the Cape of Glass. Looks like we don’t have any choice but to go south now. Not with those bastards somewhere behind us.’
For the thousandth time, Elessi scanned the horizon, her heart flinching every time she saw a shadow in a wave. ‘How did Loki summon them?’
‘I have no idea,’ Lerel replied. ‘I’ve only seen two in my entire lifetime, never mind three together. The first was dead, like a dead log as long as four ships end to end. The second passed Chaos Sound once. Somehow, the orca chased it away. But Loki is a god. He has his ways.’ Lerel sounded resigned to simply being outmatched.
‘A god that’s got a poisonous tongue and has had too much time on this earth for my liking,’ said Elessi.
‘You want to go back and face him?’
‘No, I don’t. Farden said he was in search of a weapon to defeat him.’
‘Can’t Farden do that on his own?’
The question fell on distracted ears. The general was deep in thought. ‘We may need to meet up with him, help him, even…’ Elessi stared to what she believed to be south, with the sharp coastline to port jutting into the endless blue without end. It chilled her to think of such vast empty places and the depths that lurked beneath them. Not to mention the vile beasts, too. ‘How far south does Paraia go?’ she asked.
Lerel sucked her teeth.
‘How long to go around it and meet with Farden on the other side?’ Elessi pressed her.
‘Weeks, months maybe. Few sailors bother unless they have to. That’s why Krauslung, Skap, and Essen are busy ports.’
‘Tell me you or Roiks have made such a journey before?
‘Around the Cape of No Hope? Only once for me.’
‘What a charmin’ name.’
‘You better believe it. Apt, is what it is. Shoals, unpredictable storms, strange currents, pirates. What more could you wish for? And that would just be the halfway point, if the Rogue’s Armada makes it that far. The Silent Sea beyond is just as perilous. We don’t have the provisions. And I gave my word a long time ago to protect these books and these ships. Not sacrifice them. Durnus told me that they are what our civilisation has built, not cities and Arkathedrals, but knowledge.’
‘Question is, Lerel, which would you rather us face? That god, those leviathans, or the prospect of leaving that mage to perish, or all that you just said?’ Elessi asked. ‘I ’ope you’ve got an answer, because I’m bloody clueless as to what to do.’
Lerel’s eyes left the waves to meet Elessi’s gaze. Her catlike eyes were wide, yet still buried in dark rings.
‘You really doubt he’ll make it back to us?’
‘It’s not that I doubt him. He’s my friend, as well as my king. I can’t help but worry. He and the others are alone in foreign lands.’ After Modren was snatched from her, she knew the fragility of life as a keener edge.
‘So are we,’ Lerel replied.
‘General!’ Towerdawn boomed from above. Two dragons, Kinsprite and Shivertread flanked him.
Enduring the gusts of their wings, Elessi met the Old Dragon at the stern edge of the forecastle. Queen Nerilan sat atop his back, hunched in the saddle. Her sharp claws of fingernails tapped a musical pattern on the blade of her glaive.
Towerdawn’s great golden head swivelled to eye his queen. She hissed through her teeth but slid from the dragon’s flanks. She stalked across the ship, shooting Lerel a foul look before going below to the dragon eyries.
‘What did I do?’ called the admiral.
Towerdawn rumbled deep in his chest as he settled down upon the deck. He looked grateful for the rest: wings and legs folded, claws outstretched and head high like a cat. Even his great bladed tail swished restlessly. Smoke drifted from his nostrils as he spoke.
‘Nothing, Lerel. Nerilan has not slept in many days.’
Before they had ever heard the names of Malvus and Loki, before magma and fire had claimed Nelska, Elessi and Lerel had spent months in the company of dragons. Towerdawn had been second to his predecessor Farfallen then. It had given her a deep insight into the beasts. They were far more emotional than their scaled faces betrayed. They contained deep wells of feeling. It leaked from them like their heat and reptile musk, and rushed through their riders’ veins as it did theirs. Looking at the Old Dragon now, alongside the sorrow and exhaustion, Elessi saw the worry behind his eyes. She would not dare to call it fear.
‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ she offered, staring to the green dragon being reverently lowered into the sea.
‘I had hoped the death of my dragons and people was at an end, General.’
‘So did I, Old Dragon. But without Farden and his gamble we might have lost everyone.’
‘I wish I could be as optimistic as you, Elessi. We dragons and Sirens are once again homeless. And now worse: pursued by beasts beyond any of us.’
Elessi stepped closer. The dragon bent his head so that his orbs of eyes were level with hers. They were hypnotic: glass spheres of swirling gold flecks and a black iris that was a void that called to her.
‘It was you, wasn’t it, who spoke to me in Krauslung?’ she asked.
Towerdawn bowed. ‘That it was.’
‘And was that you or your queen speaking?
‘It was I. Changing Krauslung’s mind would have been a hopeless endeavour. We must find a new Krauslung. A new Nelska. A new Scalussen. Nerilan believes our place is in the north, alone and apart from the strife of Emaneska. It was how we once lived, and for years we prospered that way. I cannot deny that. Many other Sirens believe the same. I, however, believe remaining in Emaneska would be a bandage to a festering wound. Loki would not stand any challenge to his rule. His greed will grow. He may be a god, but he still walks in the shape of a human. War would come again.’
‘So you’re divided. Must be difficult for you when you and Nerilan share a mind.’
The dragon nodded. ‘A soul, to be more accurate. That is why a dragon dies should their rider die, but not the other way. And yes, our arguments are… interesting.’
Elessi forced herself to ask. ‘What will you do? Will you leave the armada?’
The Old Dragon looked away. ‘I hope it will not come to that. Many of my dragons and riders feel the same. Half of us survived Scalussen. Our eggs are on these bookships, and as such, the very future of dragonkind. We cannot protect them and ourselves at the same time. If we must choose…’
Elessi bowed her head. Of all the tribes and kin of Scalussen, Elessi’s hopes for keeping them alive lay mostly with the Sirens. This was just what she needed to pile onto the mountain of shite she already teetered over. She felt crushed.
It was then that Captain Hereni and Bull had appeared on the forecastle holding the inkweld. Half of the book’s cover and spine still bore the black marks of ink.
‘It’s the same hour as yesterday,’ said Hereni, swaggering up and sketching a short bow to the general and Old Dragon. Bull bowed so low to Towerdawn he almost toppled onto his nose. The boy had been obsessed with the dragons as soon as he came to Scalussen.
‘Think it still works?’ Hereni asked, patting the inkweld.
Eyrum grunted grumpily. The Siren had a deep injury to his shoulder. He still insisted on trying to wear his armour over the lump of bandages. ‘Let’s hope.’
‘What happened?’ asked Lerel, who had come to investigate.
Elessi scowled. ‘You try scribin’ on this stupid book in the middle of a storm.’
Nerilan had returned, and had apparently been busy summoning others. High Crone Wyved and helper Peryn. Ko-Tergo, too. The queen’s northern allies in the argument to stay put. The thumping on the deck announced the arrival of the bloodmonger and several of his fellow minotaurs. Dried salt ran across their giant forms in
stripes. One of them had been scorched by the leviathan bile. He wore the twisted burns as proudly as a new tunic. Elessi tried not to look too closely.
‘We not safe at sea,’ the bloodmonger began to order. ‘Sea-snakes too powerful. Drowning no fine death.’
Elessi resisted the urge to shut her eyes. Not them too.
‘I agree completely,’ Nerilan also chimed in. ‘If the leviathans strike again, who knows what we might lose. We have to find a safe harbour.’
As Elessi held up her hands for silence, a shout from a nearby vessel made everybody present freeze. It turned out to be merely some cry at a sword falling overboard, but it showed the knife-edge the armada’s patience teetered on. Elessi let go a ragged breath.
‘Farden’s alive,’ she told the small council once she had their attention. ‘As is General Durnus, Fleetstar, Aspala, Mithrid, and your Warbringer.’
The minotaurs hammered their fists against their chests, making their chains of teeth and bones rattle. ‘The Bright Fields are poorer for it.’
Elessi had little to no idea what that meant. Instead, she watched Bull trying to imitate them. He thumped Hereni’s arm with a big grin on his face. The mage scowled and promptly punched him back so hard he dropped his longbow.
‘Quiet,’ Lerel tutted.
‘Where are they?’ asked the Old Dragon.
‘They’re far to the east. Somewhere in a place called the Sunder Road.’
‘I can spare dragons to fetch them.’ Already, Towerdawn’s wings were spread, testing the air.
‘No,’ Elessi said.
Ko-Tergo flexed, testing the seams of his tunic. His white skin shone under the light. His cheeks had been scorched pink by the sun. ‘Explain,’ he grunted.
‘He’s chosen a quest instead of returnin’ to us. He’s looking for a weapon that can supposedly kill Loki. To put an end to the god’s meddling and bring peace once and for all.’
‘We have a weapon. Its name is Farden,’ Peryn said.
Hereni piped up. ‘Not forgetting Mithrid.’
‘He clearly believes we need another.’
Towerdawn had been staring at the Cape of Glass. Small skiffs with white sails drifted around the quartz and basalt columns, half-following the fleeing armada in curiosity. Hawks and vultures wheeled.
‘What is in your mind, Elessi?’
The general took a breath. ‘I think we should sail south and east to meet them. Farden and the others may need our help.’
‘East?’ Peryn questioned.
Nerilan’s scales were blushing almost a copper. ‘How long would that take?’
‘Weeks.’
Nerilan’s scales were blushing almost a copper. ‘Through one of the widest, most uncharted, and dangerous seas on the map.’
‘Yes,’ Elessi replied, holding fast.
‘You would risk us all?’ spluttered the dragon queen.
‘How do you know of this?’ demanded the bloodmonger.
All eyes turned on Hereni as she thrust the inkweld into the air. ‘How else but magick?’
Elessi nodded. ‘We’re waitin’ to hear from Farden now.’
Hereni strode to a nearby map table that had gone mostly undamaged and thumped the inkweld down. As the council gathered around it, Elessi spread the book’s green pages wide. The spilled ink had disappeared, much to her relief. Quill and ink were placed at her side.
Taking a moment to dip the quill, she prayed Farden would be there. Not to give her answers, but to answer those that looked to her. Her dark cabin called to her once more. It was all so much easier to hide behind a locked door.
Elessi began to write.
We’re still alive. Are you?
E
The script lingered for a moment and then soaked into the page to vanish. Elessi hated the way everybody leaned in, shrinking the iris of sunlight shining on the green pages. She had never been so conscious of her frankly passable penmanship.
Then came the reply, as if written by a ghostly hand. Farden’s scratchy runes.
Seems that way. Despite others’ best efforts.
F
She thumped the table with her palm. ‘Thank Jötun. Told you.’
‘A question,’ Nerilan growled.
Lerel crossed her arms. ‘Another?’
‘How do we know this isn’t another one of Loki’s tricks? How do we know this is actually Farden?’
It was an annoyingly good point.
Elessi thought for a moment before writing something down. She shrugged. ‘Why mince words?’
How do we know you aren’t Loki?
E
As Farden’s profanities continued to cover the page, the chuckles spread between Elessi, Towerdawn, and Lerel.
‘Loki may be the god of lies, but he’s not the god of cursin’. That’s the mage I know,’ Elessi decided.
‘Roiks would be proud,’ Lerel muttered.
And so, the two halves of Scalussen conversed for as long as they could.
What has Loki done to Krauslung?
F
He’s somehow turned the people against us. They lined the port, shouting Loki’s name. They think us murderers for what we did in the north. Loki told us they would fight to the death for every inch of the city. The emperor is nowhere to be seen.
Maybe dead after all.
E
No. Not dead. Grimsayer says otherwise. And the leviathans?
F
The bastard somehow summoned three of them. They pursued us day and night. We’ve lost a dragon, the Waveblade, the Ether, and the Bloody Dagger. The leviathans have disappeared…
Elessi paused, unwilling to write what she wanted due to the eyes watching her. For now, is what she almost scribbled. She dipped the quill to cover her stalling.
…We are sailing south and east to meet you.
Murmurs came from all around her. The witches looked at each other in silent conversation. As did the Siren queen and her dragon. Elessi heard their disgruntlement. She kept writing.
Do you need our help?
E
The pause was uncomfortable. Elessi stared at the empty green paper, trying to imagine what Farden was doing on the other end. Was he cursing Loki’s name once more, close to dashing the book on the ground, or was he the silently simmering Farden she knew? Had something happened? She ached for confirmation that what she had decided was right.
The wait had almost become too much by the time the mage replied. It was not fuming, nor damning, but it did nothing to slow Elessi’s heart:
The bookships, Scalussen, the Sirens, they all need to be kept safe. Alive. Sailing east would put you in danger.
Survival is all that matters.
No rest ’til freedom served.
F
Elessi echoed the words as her husband had spoken many times before donning his armour, or stepping from their chambers. ‘No rest ’til freedom served,’ she whispered.
Elessi couldn’t shake the shame of letting the mage down. ‘Something’s wrong with Farden, I can feel it. He needs our help.’
Nerilan thumped a fist on the table. ‘You are blinded by your devotion. The mage has spoken. Survival is what matters most.
‘What are you afraid of, Queen?’ Elessi snapped.
‘I fear nothing except the extinction of my people and my dragons, Elessi.’
The witches and Ko-Tergo hummed in agreement.
Elessi wondered why she should feel so ashamed. ‘As do I, Queen Nerilan. I haven’t been to my birthplace since I left it forty years ago. I thought my home was my husband. I thought Scalussen was my family. But now that has been taken away from me too.’ Elessi looked around at her council. ‘As such, this armada is now all I have. All that’s left of my people, so don’t you dare lecture me on what it is to fear extinction. Maybe you should fear Loki instead. If Farden is right about him, then he’s ten times the evil that Malvus was. Ten times the threat. He’s our extinction, Queen Nerilan. If Farden says we need a weapon to beat him, t
hen I believe him, and I will do anythin’ I can to help him attain that end. That is what matters,’ Elessi ordered. ‘And I think you’ll find it’s General Elessi.’
Elessi slammed the inkweld shut and stepped from the table. Nerilan stared daggers at her, but her lips stayed pursed. Elessi quietly counted that as a win.
‘Admiral Lerel, take us south. Those are my orders.’ The words sounded so foreign in her mouth, but they were not difficult. She had heard Modren, Farden, and Durnus speak them countless times. ‘We’re not letting that bloody god or his pets drown us. Not now. Not after what I – we – have been through. We trust in Farden and we stay alive. This armada is our home. We’re not witches and snowmads right now. Not minotaurs and Sirens and Paraian, we’re all Scalussen. And seeing as you’ve chosen me as your leader, then let me bloody lead. If you got a complaint about it, want to discuss it, or shout at me, then you’ll find me in my cabin.’
Hereni leaned against the bulkhead beside Bull and Kinsprite.
‘Well, shit me,’ she said, pursing her lips. She watched Elessi cross the forecastle, trailed by Eyrum. At the map table, Nerilan seethed, scales copper and skin red. ‘I feel sorry for your queen after that tongue lashing.
‘Elessi’s been a leader all along,’ said Kinsprite in her deep tone. ‘She’s just never been given the chance before. Except the time she almost saved the world with only a dagger, but she’ll tell you about that one day, I’m sure. I was barely ten years out of my egg at the time, but Modren told me the tale once. Elessi doesn’t need magick to be dangerous.’
The dragon closed her eyes. Her scales turned a deeper blue, as a human might blush. Not like the scaleshifter Shivertread was, who was currently switching between green and orange.
Hereni felt the same sorrow. Modren had been an uncle to her, as responsible for her place in Scalussen as Farden. Hereni knew the stiffness of Elessi’s jaw, the shine to her eyes, and the way the inkweld’s cover strained beneath her white fingers. Beneath her calm facade, she mourned and raged with every stirring of her heart. It had broken free for a moment, now she fought to restrain it. Hereni knew that all too well. She had never stopped mourning her parents.