Song of Shadow

by Natalya Capello

  He shrugged. “I know many things. Some of it you should know when the time is right.”

  “And that’s not now?” Lorelei reached over and refilled Vaana’s vessel.

  “Not yet,” he said.

  “How about now. Maybe if you’d told me, I wouldn’t be in this situation.” Vaana’s knuckles whitened around her cup as a growl threaded her voice.

  “There is no stopping Fate,” Vandermere said. “There is a story my House tells its children of one of our ancestors.”

  Lorelei leaned forward, waiting for Vandermere to continue. She’d never heard a story about any ancestors of the House aside from Essus himself.

  “In the time of the Miasma, there was a seer named Brayden.” Vandermere stared off with a distant gaze. “He’d had visions of a town being destroyed by a Fomorian beast. He tried several times to warn the town, but every time he thought he had averted the destruction, he would have the vision again. Finally, he understood, in order to destroy the Fomorian, he had to let Fate play out. He had to let the town die.

  “He watched from a hill as the beast came. He heard the screams of the people, but could do nothing to save them. When the beast was sated and slept in the ruined town, Brayden struck and killed the beast. The cost was great, but he’d learned there was no other option.”

  “Wow, that was…depressing.” Lorelei took a gulp of her wine. “Thanks for the inspiration.”

  “It’s more for you to understand that what I see comes to pass. I knew something would change Vaana in the Menhir. There was no stopping it.”

  “Wait,” Lorelei said. “This was at the time of the Miasma. The stories I remember put Essus around that time.”

  “Our House is older than Essus,” Vandermere said. “The Empress renamed in honor of Essus.”

  “You’re still not revealing what else you know.” Vaana glared at him.

  Vandermere sighed. “I’ve told you everything I know about the godstones. The other things should wait as you are already dealing with this crisis.”

  Vaana drained her wine and held out her cup again. With a raised eyebrow, Lorelei filled it again, finishing the bottle off.

  “You should be careful,” Lorelei said. “You probably don’t have much tolerance.”

  “If I get drunk, all the better,” Vaana said over the lip of her wooden tumbler.

  Lorelei pulled another bottle, her last, from her bag. “Guess I’m going to have to resupply when I get a chance.”

  Vaana’s head bowed and her shoulders slumped. Her finger rubbed the edge of her cup. “Beth was my mentor. I can’t believe she would be so ready to kill me. She didn’t even ask for an explanation.”

  “Would you have done the same thing in her position?” Vandermere murmured.

  Vaana opened her mouth to speak, but paused. She took a deep drink of her wine before continuing. “I want to say no, but before all of this happened, I would have eliminated my target with no questions of my orders. It’s how she taught me.”

  Lorelei’s brow knitted together as she poured more wine for both Vaana and herself. “How does the Order even know?”

  “That’s a good question.” Vaana rubbed her face with one hand. “I’m officially an anathema now. And what’s worse is I’m not sure if it’s a bad thing. These things inside me keep whispering…”

  “Whispering what?” Lorelei leaned forward with interest.

  Vaana finished her cup instead of answering and set it on the floor. She stood and smiled down at them.

  “I think that’s enough for me tonight. Thanks for listening.” She turned and tottered to the bed.

  “I think we should all call it a night,” Vandermere said as Vaana flopped on the bed. “We should talk in the morning about what to do when we are less inebriated.”

  “You’ve barely drank,” Lorelei pointed out.

  “I didn’t need to.” He nodded to Vaana who was already snoring softly. “She needed some sort of release.”

  He stood and pulled Lorelei’s bedroll out. After laying it out, he rolled out his own.

  “You act more like our caretaker rather than a companion.” Lorelei shook the bottle. It was empty. Had they really drunk that much?

  “That’s not exactly true,” Vandermere said. “I think we all take care of each other when the need arises.”

  Lorelei stretched out on her bedroll and closed her eyes with a smile. “That’s a nice thought.”

  She relaxed, feeling warm and accepted, like she belonged somewhere for once.

  Even though they were most likely criminals now, wanted by the church as heretics.

  She let out a soft laugh. She had never thought her place in life would be as a heretic. She had thought it would be with Arryn, forever convincing him to go on little adventures. Eventually she would settle down and they would have children. She’d been wrong about that, though. Freya had gotten that life because Freya was better.

  At least I’m not alone, she thought to herself as she drifted off to sleep.

  She woke to a loud knock on the door. With a groan, she rolled over and looked up at the door as it opened. Wes peered down at her before his gaze traveled over Vandermere and Vaana. He expression was closed off, different from the easygoing demeanor he’d had last night.

  He looked back to Lorelei. “The leader of the Silver Serpents wants to see you.”

  18

  The tavern Wes took them to stood out from the surrounding buildings as it was made of stone instead of wood, with hardwood beams as support. Tatters of old sails were used as curtains, covering the openings that served as windows.

  Lorelei eyed the building dubiously. Wes paused at a wooden door and glanced back at the group.

  “Well?” He huffed with a bit of impatience. “We shouldn’t make him wait.”

  “I’m not sure we should go in there,” Vandermere said. “It looks like it might fall over with the puff of breath from a large wolf.”

  “Don’t let the outside deceive you.” Wes patted the side of the building. “The Black Salt has stood up to a lot.”

  “Why does this gang leader want to see us again?” Vaana asked.

  “He’s heard how Lorelei helped me and the others and wants to thank her,” Wes said.

  “This sounds like a trap,” Vaana muttered. “We should be leaving the city, not meeting with someone that may turn us over for a bit of coin.”

  “Hold on, Wes.” Lorelei gave him a quick smile and stepped closer to Vaana and Vandermere, lowering her voice. “This may be a chance for us to get a boat. If he’s actually grateful, I might be able to get another favor out of them.”

  “Or he’ll sell us out,” Vaana said. “You should know not to trust this type.”

  Vandermere stared at the door with narrowed eyes. “I don’t believe we’ll be betrayed.”

  Vaana raised an eyebrow. “You got that in a few moments? Why couldn’t you sense the Fomorians so we could have avoided them?”

  “I don’t get visions for everything. When they come to me, it is in flashes. I can concentrate on a particular instance, like now, but it takes longer,” Vandermere said. “Besides, the visions I do get will happen. There is no avoiding them.”

  “Fine,” Vaana said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Lorelei straightened up, turned back to Wes, and strode towards the door. “We’re ready.”

  Wes shrugged and opened the door. “I don’t see the big deal. It’s not like you’re meeting the Empress.”

  “That would be difficult since she is gone,” Vandermere said.

  “She’ll return one day,” Vaana said.

  Lorelei stepped into the tavern. The inside was not much better than the outside. There were several long tables with abandoned mugs and empty wooden plates. They were barely occupied with one or two people spread out leaning over their drinks. The stench of stale ale and old food wafted up from the floor. It probably hadn’t been cleaned since the place was built. The bartender, an old redcap, poured ale in
to a mug that was dwarfed in his hand.

  He glanced up and nodded at Wes as he passed the bar with a wave.

  Lorelei followed Wes with quick steps, Vaana and Vandermere behind her, to the door in the back which held a staircase. They filed down in a row. The wood stairs creaked with each step. Barrels of ale were stacked on the left and right of the small room. At least it appeared to be cleaner than above.

  Wes strolled through the room to a wooden door in the back and knocked. A muffled voice came from the other side of the door. Wes pushed it open and nodded to Lorelei. She shuffled past him and stepped into the room, followed by Vaana and Vandermere.

  An ankou sat behind a large wooden desk looking at a scroll. He wasn’t like any ankou Lorelei had seen, though. His hair was pure white, gleaming in the dim light of the room, and his wings were composed of white feathers with black fringe. She’d never seen an ankou who had feathered wings. Most tended to have dark hair as well.

  He glanced up and smiled. His gaze scanned over each of them and his silver eyes locked on Lorelei. A shiver snaked through her

  “You would be Lorelei?” he asked.

  “Lorelei ap Moura.” She nodded.

  “I’m Silvereyes,” he said. “I heard what you did for Wes and the others who were trapped. That is commendable, and surprising for a sidhe.”

  Vandermere crossed his arms and tilted his head. “Why do you say that? It is our duty to look after the people under our rule.”

  “But Nearon is not under her rule,” Silvereyes said. “I believe she is an outsider to the city.”

  “They needed help, so I helped them,” Lorelei said. “I was glad to help.”

  Silvereyes’s gaze shifted to the sword on her hip. “I am grateful for your help. I’d all but given up on the agents I’d lost to that thing.”

  “What do your agents do?” Lorelei asked. “Do you have goals other than earning money?”

  Silvereyes chuckled. “Are you asking if we’re common thieves? Not at all. We wish to free the people from the rule of the Legate and Council of Peers.”

  Lorelei’s eyes widened. The Apostle had explained some of the politics of Nearon on their journey to the city. It was different from the Quorum’s rule of the Empire, but still eerily similar. The Legate was the mysterious entity that rose up at the end of the time of Miasma to take control of Nearon. He formed the Council of Peers as a set of advisors, but many believed they were mere puppets. He was the one who made the laws of Nearon, and the laws changed on his whim, sometimes without the rest of Nearon knowing before it was too late. One rule always stayed the same and it was punishable by death: one must never interrupt the flow of trade.

  “So, are you doing this by breaking the main rule?” Lorelei asked.

  Silvereyes chuckled. “More like redirected the flow of trade.”

  “Sounds dangerous,” Vandermere said. “The Council themselves don’t like their plans meddled with.”

  “Say you do succeed,” Vaana said. “Do you have something that will fill the vacuum of power?”

  “We have some things in mind, but that is Serpent business,” Silvereyes said.

  “You must have a lot of connections in the city,” Lorelei said. “Is there any chance you can get in contact with a ship captain we could hire to take us up the Silverbourne River? We’d like it to be quiet.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Run into some trouble?”

  Lorelei shrugged. “We’ve hit a few rough patches.”

  “Where are you headed?”

  Lorelei glanced at Vandermere who nodded. She turned back to Silvereyes. “The Lord of Fate’s tower.”

  “That’s quite a distance away.” He tapped one finger on his chin. “I have a few ships at my disposal.”

  “We have the money to hire our own ship,” Vaana said.

  Silvereyes chuckled. “I doubt you have enough spare coin to hire a ship to take you the entire trip. You’d have to pull money out from a bank, and that would lead to you getting noticed.”

  Vaana’s jaw tightened as she glared at him. He was right though. They hadn’t worried about paying for the ship before Beth. Now, the Order was watching any account, especially Vaana’s.

  “What do you want?” Lorelei asked Silvereyes. “I’m guessing it’s not money.”

  “Of course not.” A smile slid across his face. “A favor, really. There is a town called Ebonshire a few days up the river. My contacts there have stopped reporting in over the past year. In fact, I seem to lose anyone I send in there.”

  “Sounds dangerous.” Lorelei crossed her arms. “I mean, you’ve already lost people.”

  “It shouldn’t be a problem for someone who can deal with a Sluagh,” Silvereyes said.

  Lorelei glanced at Vaana who had her arms crossed. She threw her hands up.

  “We don’t have a better option,” Vaana said.

  “And there are three of us,” Vandermere said.

  Lorelei turned back to Silvereyes. “We’ll do it.”

  He nodded. “Good. The Winddancer leaves tonight. Be at pier nine by midnight.”

  “That’s not clandestine at all,” Lorelei muttered as they left.

  They arrived at pier nine a little early to scope it out, only to find others had arrived even earlier. The lanterns of the pier had been lit, staving off the darkness and bathing the ship and dock in a yellow-orange glow. Faerie dressed in dark clothing moved crates and boxes onto the ship, stacking them atop each other.

  Lorelei expected shouting and the crash of wood against wood, but they were surprisingly quiet with just the sound of footfalls and the creaks of planks.

  The ship was smaller than most others in the dock, forty feet long with three masts.

  “A caravel,” Lorelei murmured.

  Her father had a few of the ships in his fleet. Their small size meant they weren’t good for cargo or passengers, but they were fast and their elliptical frame made them very maneuverable. Her father tended to use his for messengers and such, as one ship cost less than hiring a mage.

  Lorelei breathed in the salty night air, a wonderful change for the filth and refuse that clung to the slums of Nearon. She weaved her way through the workers to the gangplank. Footfalls sounded behind her, and Vandermere and Vaana joined her on either side.

  “I hope the captain is capable,” Vaana said.

  “More than capable, if I say so myself.” Wes’s voice drifted from behind them.

  They turned to face him.

  “You?” Vaana asked in an incredulous voice.

  Wes shrugged. “I’ve sailed up and down this river a number of times. The Winddancer and I are well acquainted.”

  “You would think you’d want more time to recover before you went looking for trouble again,” Lorelei said with a grin.

  “What can I say? I get bored easily. And traveling with a bunch of sidhe? This should be a tale to remember.” Wes strolled past them and led them up the gangplank. They stepped onto the deck. “Alright, you should pick your rooms while the boys are getting our supplies loaded. Most are free except for the Captains quarters. They’re mine.”

  “What about the rest of the crew?” Vaana asked. “Am I going to have to worry about a knife in my gut?”

  Wes grinned at her. “Only if you piss me off, I suppose. I am the crew.”

  Lorelei blinked. “Just you? Doesn’t it usually take at least seven to sail a caravel?”

  Wes tilted his head with an expression of respect. “You know your ships. That could come in handy. Yes, usually it does take seven, but the Winddancer is a special ship.”

  Special usually meant magical in some way. Was there some sort of spirit that resided in the ship? She would have to check that out when she was settled.

  Wes pointed to a door at the bow of the ship. “Stairs are down that way. We’ll be leaving in an hour or so.”

  He glanced down at the men on the pier. They had finished stacking the boxes. Silvereyes leaned against one stack with his arms crossed,
watching them. He nodded.

  “’Scuse me. Looks like I have a few things to discuss.” Wes pushed past them and sauntered down the gangplank to Silvereyes.

  They spoke, nodding to the boxes and the ship, but Lorelei could not make out what was being said. She turned to Vaana and Vandermere.

  “Well,” she said. “I guess we should find places to sleep.”

  Vaana tossed her long braid over her shoulder and sauntered to the stairs. Vandermere patted Lorelei on the shoulder and then followed behind Vaana. With a sigh and another glance around the ship, Lorelei trailed after them.

  Below deck led to a narrow hallway with several doors. Hinges squeaked as Vaana opened the door on the right closest to the stairs. Vandermere took the room three doors down from her. Lorelei chose the room next to Vandermere and pushed the door open. A layer of dust covered the small end table and the bunk bed bolted to the floor. A simple wooden chest stood at the foot of the bed.

  Wes hadn’t been on the Winddancer for a while, it seemed. No one had.

  With a grimace, she pulled out a blouse and a waterskin from her backpack. She didn’t have much since most of her clothes were still at the temple and she wasn’t going back there. They were just clothes, after all.

  She wetted the blouse with water from her waterskin and attacked the dirt, starting with the table. The mattress was going to have to be beaten to get the dust off. Maybe she could find something to use as bedsheets somewhere. After she finished dusting, she set to work batting cobwebs out of the corners of the room.

  The ship lurched.

  They were moving!

  Lorelei dropped the blouse, now covered in dirt, and rushed to the top deck. Wes stood at the wheel, guiding the ship from the dock. A strong breeze ruffled her hair. She turned from Wes and wandered to the railing. Despite the dark of midnight, Nearon glowed on the horizon, giving a purplish haze around the city.

  She sighed. She hadn’t even had a chance to ask anyone in the city about the Black Herons. She’d intended to make a few discreet inquiries. How had she ended up sneaking out like a criminal?