by Bex Hogan
Adler taught me to play knucklebones before I could walk properly, when he was my father and I his child, and he had great hopes for me. By the time I was ten, no one on the Maiden would play with me because they knew they would lose. When Adler entertained rivals, or even comrades, he’d pull me out like a secret weapon to win their treasure and – perhaps more importantly – to humiliate them.
‘Once or twice,’ I say, and notice the smiles of smug satisfaction on the men’s faces. They’re blissfully confident that the crystal is theirs.
‘I’ll go first,’ Jed says, taking a long swig of rum. ‘Show you how it’s done.’ And he takes the five bones and throws them in the air, flipping his hand over to catch them on the back. Only two land securely. Then he throws them again, this time catching only one in his palm. This is now his ‘taw’, his main throwing bone. It’s not a bad start considering how much I reckon he’s had to drink.
‘We’re playing no sweeps,’ Larry says, and I’m not sure if the reminder is for me or for Jed.
‘I know,’ Jed says, but I can tell he was hoping Larry hadn’t remembered, because now he has to throw his taw in the air and pick up one of the other bones before catching his taw, repeating this until he’s picked them all up. Sweeping would mean he could brush the bones closer together. No sweeps means it’s considerably harder.
He makes it through all the ones, and cheers himself at his victory. ‘Now,’ he says, pointing at me. ‘If you make it this far, you move on to twos.’ And he demonstrates by throwing his taw up and snatching two bones into his fist before catching the taw.
Arnold and Larry roll their eyes, unimpressed with Jed’s showing off. But it doesn’t really matter to them. As long as they beat me, they get the crystal.
Jed makes it to fours, but there his luck runs out. Though he scoops all four bones into his hand, he drops his taw. His go is over.
‘All right,’ he says, throwing the bones at Arnold, who’s laughing. ‘You do better.’
Arnold starts the proceedings again, while Jed drinks more.
‘Where’d you get that crystal, anyway?’ Jed asks me, eyeing the bag that rests in my lap.
‘From the mines.’ I flick my eyes up to meet his and see his suspicions dancing there. ‘Or rather, my husband did. I took it from him.’
‘Poor bastard,’ Jed says with a chuckle. ‘What’s he gonna do to you when you go home empty-handed?’ When I say nothing, he smiles. ‘Yes, nothing good, I’d imagine.’
‘Where’s the rest of your crew?’ I ask, watching Arnold struggle to make it through the first round of the game. He’s battling with his coordination, probably because of the rum.
‘Fetching supplies. We got ourselves a commission, so once we’ve stocked up, we’ll be on our way.’
‘Oh?’ I keep my interest fairly neutral, but my ears have pricked up at this morsel of news.
It’s Larry who answers. ‘Would have been gone a lot bloody quicker if Ferris hadn’t torched the nearest settlement just cause he could.’
I feign ignorance, but my heart is spiking. Ferris is one of the particularly elusive bandits we’ve been failing to capture for months. He’s among Karn’s closest allies. And is apparently the cold-hearted killer responsible for the massacre we just stumbled upon. If we could catch Ferris, I could make him pay for what he did. Right after he tells me where I can find Karn.
Jed looks like he would kick Larry if he could reach him, so I diffuse things quickly. ‘Who’s Ferris?’
‘No one,’ Jed says, glaring at Larry.
The distraction is too much for Arnold who, having only just started twos, drops his taw.
It’s Larry’s turn. ‘Like she’s gonna care,’ he says, defending his loose tongue to Jed. ‘It’s not as if she’s coming with us.’
‘Unless I win,’ I say, which causes him to snort.
‘Whatever.’
Larry’s as useless at the game as Jed suggested he was. He fails even to make it through ones, which means it’s my go.
‘So, what, I throw them like this?’ I say, doing a poor job of catching them on the back of my hand. The men laugh, sensing that the crystal is almost certainly within their reach now.
‘Something like that,’ Jed says, shaking his head. His thoughts are transparent. Women are idiots. If I’m this stupid, I deserve to be taken advantage of. A sudden image flashes into my mind, of me sticking my dagger into his guts to wipe the smug grin off his face, and the venom in the thought takes me by surprise. A part of me wants to act on it, the anger I feel towards him fast to rise, and I have to take a deep breath to calm myself. I thought I’d defeated the darkness I know I’m capable of, but now I see it’s only been dormant. It has awoken, fierce and strong, and the magic that quietly dances through me seems only to whisper its encouragement.
I’ve had enough of being patronised. I’ve bought us enough time. And I need to pull away from dark thoughts now, before they take root.
My taw selected, I race through ones. My hand is lightning-quick, moving faster than their drunken eyes can follow. My reflexes aren’t hampered by alcohol and are sharp from years of every kind of training. I say nothing as I blitz my way through twos, then threes and by the time I reach fours, the men are sweating.
‘I thought you said you’d only played once or twice,’ Jed says, shifting uncomfortably on his keg. I don’t think he likes being shown up by a woman.
‘That’s what I said.’ It just so happened to be a lie.
I throw up the taw, scoop all four bones into my hand and catch the taw instantly. I’ve won.
‘So, when do we set sail?’
Larry looks up at me, confused by what’s just happened. ‘You can’t come with us.’
‘But I won. We had a deal.’
Jed shakes his head in disbelief. ‘No, you cheated. Deal’s off.’
‘How did I cheat?’
‘You distracted us. With your … you know.’ He gestures at my person, so I can only assume he means my femininity.
‘Tell you what,’ I say. ‘New deal. I’ll throw all five bones in the air. If I can’t catch them all on the back of my hand, I’ll leave as agreed, giving you the crystal.’
Jed narrows his eyes. ‘And if you do?’
‘Then I get your ship.’
They’re silent for a moment, before they burst out laughing. ‘Take our ship?’
‘Yes.’
‘You’re on,’ Jed says. ‘No way you’re gonna catch all those on your hand.’
I shrug. Then promptly prove him wrong.
‘Now, gentlemen, it’s time for you to leave my ship.’
It’s hardly unpredictable that they draw their pistols now. They were never going to let me take what I fairly won. But that’s OK. I just needed to distract them long enough.
‘Come on,’ I say to them. ‘You think you can fight me? You’re so drunk you didn’t even notice the ship was moving.’
They all immediately look up, only to see Bronn smiling at them from behind the wheel.
‘What the—’ Jed starts to say, but I make my move.
I push the barrel into Arnold and Larry – who are so inebriated they just fall over – and easily disarm Jed, before bringing his arm up behind his back, and pointing his pistol at his two useless comrades.
Bronn is striding up to us now.
‘Did no one ever tell you men not to underestimate your opponent?’ Bronn says, looking with undisguised contempt at our prisoners.
At his approach the three men visibly cower and I’m not sure whether it’s because they recognise him, or because his presence is so striking that it would make anyone afraid.
‘What do you want to do with them?’ Bronn says, and when he sees the men’s confusion that he’s addressing me for orders, he adds with emphasis, ‘Captain?’
‘These men are trespassing on my ship. Time for a swim, I think.’
With a nod Bronn picks Arnold and Larry up by their collars and drags them to the side of the s
hip. Despite their pleas, Bronn hurls them over and I shove Jed against the foremast.
‘Where were you going to meet Ferris?’ I say, pressing the pistol against his neck.
Jed’s eyes scan my face, lingering for the first time on my scar. ‘Who are you?’
‘Who do you think?’ I virtually spit the words at him.
Finally I see comprehension dawn, the magnitude of his mistake becoming clear.
‘You? You’re the Viper? But you’re just a girl.’
I’m getting so sick of hearing that. ‘Well, if you don’t tell this “girl” where Ferris is, then she’ll be the last thing you ever see.’ And I thrust the pistol deeper into his flesh.
‘All right, all right,’ he says, holding up his hands. ‘In my pocket, there. There’s a map.’
Bronn does the honours and fishes a scrap of material out, casting his eye over it before handing it to me.
‘What’s Ferris going to do to you when you go home empty-handed?’ I taunt him the way he taunted me. ‘Nothing good, I imagine.’
To my satisfaction his face melts with dismay.
‘Next time you make a deal with someone, don’t try to weasel out of it,’ I say, releasing him to Bronn. ‘Hope you can swim.’
And despite Jed’s protests, Bronn hauls the Captain off his own ship.
Now it’s mine.
When Bronn turns back to me, I look away. I don’t want to talk about my violent outburst, and I know it won’t have gone unnoticed. All I want to do now is go and catch myself some bandits.
My new vessel is called Storm Promise, and I feel like this is a good omen. The mood I’m in, I’m ready to whip up a tempest. My enemies would be wise to cower right now.
We rendezvous with the Maiden to pick up crew and supplies before sundown. When her silhouette first darkens the amber skyline, my breath catches in my throat. It’s been too long since I saw my ship, my home, and I’ve missed her creaking sides, steady motion and open sails. Bronn expertly steers the Storm alongside the Maiden and Ren throws over a rope for me to tie us together. Then he offers me his hand and escorts me on to the deck.
My crew – my family – salute me, and tears spring to my eyes. Above me, Talon screeches and swoops down with such speed, I barely have time to lift my arm for the vast sea vulture to land on. I have missed them all more than they’ll ever know. Far more than I would have expected to.
I had worried that being away for so long things might have become a little messy on board, but the deck is impeccable, not a rope out of place. And my crew seem relaxed and at ease. It’s a relief to see my absence hasn’t caused any problems here at least.
‘Nice ship.’ Ana, the boatswain who joined the crew after surviving the battle against Adler and the water raptors, is casting an admiring eye over our bounty. ‘Any problems?’
‘Not with getting the ship,’ I say, as Bronn leaps over to join us. ‘But we do have a problem.’ And shuffling Talon to perch on the rigging, I explain to everyone about Ferris, about what he’s done, and about the map that could lead us straight to him.
‘What do you want to do?’ Ren says when I’m finished, and for the briefest of moments he looks to Bronn first. Straight away his eyes flick back to me and I pretend not to have noticed, but the sting remains. Perhaps I’ve been away too long after all.
‘I’ve had enough of Ferris,’ I say, shifting my position ever so slightly to stand in front of Bronn. It’s possible my crew need reminding who their captain is. ‘We can’t let this opportunity pass.’
‘And what of your mission?’ Harley says. ‘There’s a reason you just got yourself another ship.’
She’s right of course, and for a second I hesitate, torn between two paths.
Bronn’s hand rests on my shoulder. ‘Why don’t you leave Ferris to Harley and Ren? The Maiden is a far better ship to take into battle and they’re more than capable. Trust them to protect the Isles while we fulfil your quest.’
Just like Harley, he’s right, and yet I find myself bristling. Maybe it’s because I should have been the one to make the decision, or perhaps it’s because as soon as he’s said it the crew nod as if Bronn’s word is law. A very real spike of envy is impaling my chest.
‘If you’re happy to take on that burden?’ I raise my eyebrows at my two stand-in captains, who both look a little hurt that I’ve even asked.
‘What we’re here for, Captain,’ Ren says.
‘Then it’s decided.’ I turn to Bronn. ‘Can you begin preparations?’
‘Yes, Captain. We’ll be ready to sail within the hour.’
‘Very good.’
While Bronn and the crew set to work, I walk across the deck, trailing my fingers along the rail. I don’t want to leave my ship, not again. A gnawing in my guts warns me that if I leave her, I may never see her again.
Forcing dark thoughts away, I smile at the Snakes working on deck, greeting them, asking how they are, wanting to reconnect with my family before I’m forced to say goodbye. I invested so much time and effort to unite the crew after Adler died, to change our ethos, inspire a new role for us in the Isles. But old habits die hard, especially among assassins, and I can only hope the hard-fought harmony isn’t too fragile, or it may not withstand losing both me and Bronn.
After touring the lower decks, inspecting my ship thoroughly and finding nothing lacking, I find myself at my cabin.
When I push the door, I’m hit by the escaping stale air, and I’m unexpectedly relieved. No one has been using the Captain’s quarters in my absence, and though I wouldn’t have minded if Bronn had, there’s something reassuring about knowing he didn’t.
Since I killed Adler, I’ve tried my best to purge this room of him. Gone are the foul jars filled with body parts, along with all the other gruesome trophies the man had collected. The smell has improved with endless cleaning, burning herbs, and copious amounts of fresh air. There are only two real lingering remnants of his presence here. One is Talon, although today his perch is empty, as he keeps a watchful eye on proceedings outside. The other is Adler’s desk.
Perhaps I should have ripped it from the floor, and thrown it overboard, let it sink without a trace. But it’s so beautifully crafted, I couldn’t quite bring myself to.
And there’s something about sitting where he sat that reminds me of my purpose. Who I mustn’t become.
I lower myself into the chair behind it, and glance down at the drawer, at the four small words etched in the wood. I saw them for the first time when I became Captain and sat where Adler sat. I had never before known Adler lived by a motto or a code.
Fight dirty. Kill fast.
Sounds about right.
I look away and let my gaze drift around the room. It still doesn’t feel like mine, this cabin. And not just because of all its associations with Adler. It’s more a sense that I’m not really meant to be here. That I’m just treading water.
That I’m not the rightful Captain.
After all, what Viper would allow the bandits to run such rings around her? Far from destroying my enemies and bringing peace, the Isles are more under threat than ever. Images of flesh scorched black flash into my mind. How afraid must those people have been in their final moments? How alone? The need to hunt and hurt my enemies is an almost physical pain, the desire to make them pay overwhelming. Frustration and hatred mingle together into a bitter bile and with my dagger I angrily scratch out Adler’s words for ones of my own.
Strike first. Die last.
That is what this Viper wishes. To sink her fangs into her enemies, bite deep until the venom spreads. To stay in this fight to the very end. To be the last to fall.
Once I’ve etched my vitriol into the wood, my anger subsides and I look at the words with sadness. What is happening to me? I used to want only peace. To protect. To defend. To unite. That should be the legacy I leave behind for my successor should I not return. When did I become so cynical?
The moment a man plunged his blade into Torin’s chest
and snatched that future from our grasp.
There’s a knock at the door, and Bronn’s face peers round it.
‘We’re ready whenever you are,’ he says.
I nod. ‘I’m on my way.’
When he closes the door, I stand up and take a breath. It may be a long time until I’m back in these quarters, back with my ship. If ever. I change into my own clothes, glad to finally be free of the filthy dress I stole on the First Isle, and gather a few belongings into a bag with a heavy heart. There was so much I wanted to achieve as Viper and it’s hard not to feel I’m leaving as a failure. Torin and I thought we had all the power, but I see now how quickly such flimsy advantage can be snatched away. But even through my sadness I can feel the magic humming quietly inside me, reminding me it’s an altogether more immense force that no one can steal from me – a comforting thought.
When I emerge back on to the deck, I’m greeted by Harley, who comes and puts her arm round my shoulder, turning conspiratorially towards me so no one else can hear her speak, and placing something into my hand.
‘Thought you might be wanting these,’ she says.
My mother’s brooch and my compass. Precious items I’d left in her safekeeping when I went to my wedding, not wanting anyone to see the Vultura crest and recognise it. If I hadn’t left them with Harley, they would be lost now back at the palace and I close my hand protectively round them.
‘Thank you,’ I say.
‘Not just trinkets, are they?’ she says, and I can tell she’s pieced more parts of my life together. When I shake my head, she adds, ‘Then you might be needing them, where you’re headed.’
For a moment I daren’t speak, for fear of my voice shaking and tears spilling. ‘I might well,’ I say when I can manage.
‘And I thought you might want this too,’ she says, pulling a necklace from her pocket. The necklace Torin gave to me so long ago, as a symbol of our partnership. I stopped wearing it because such jewels are far from practical on board ship, but now I’m glad to see it, and fix it round my neck. I clutch it tightly in my hand, as if somehow it can summon Torin to me. I wear it now as a reminder. That whatever happens next, I must hurry. For the man I married. If Old Tatty is to be believed, he has until the blood moon and I have no idea when that is.