Wielder's Prize

by Elle Cardy

  “Jasmine, we need you to drink this liquid.” It was the first time Finn addressed her since he brought her into the infirmary. “Will you do this for me?”

  She looked from the Doc’s unhappy expression, to Finn’s anxious one. “No,” she said and tried to scramble away.

  Finn caught her and dragged her back to the bed. “We don’t have time for this foolishness.”

  A heavy weight crushed her against the soft mattress. She couldn’t move no matter how hard she tried to struggle. Finn had used his power against her. “Don’t do this,” she begged.

  “Do it, Doc.”

  Doc muttered to himself as he reached down. She kept her mouth shut so he clamped her nose closed. The moment she opened her mouth to breathe, he poured the potion in. An acrid taste of seaweed and old raspberries filled her mouth. Jasmine fought the sensation of drowning and she fought the bond that held her.

  “Stop fighting me and swallow the medicine.”

  Jasmine glared at Finn. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple.

  “You’ll need to breathe soon.”

  Finn was right. It seemed Doc had some experience with unwilling patients in the past. He held her nose and her mouth shut. She couldn’t spit out the substance, but she refused to swallow. She couldn’t kick him off either and she grew more desperate for air. A strange tingling sensation tickled her throat.

  “She’s a fighter,” Doc said. “You don’t think she’s so stubborn she’d hurt herself to spite you?”

  “…just one more moment,” Finn said.

  Jasmine frowned at him. He seemed so sure of himself. She could feel the bond against her weakening. As soon as she was free she’d spit the foul liquid into his face.

  The need for air screamed through her. The tickle in her throat worsened. It was as if a large shelled bug skittered across her exposed skin. Even though she knew it was Finn using his powers, she couldn’t fight it.

  In one involuntary motion she swallowed and the tingling sensation vanished. Doc let her go. She took a gulping breath and tasted sweet air as it rushed into her lungs. Finn released her. Without any thought, she leapt at the wielder and swung a punch at his perfect face. Her arm felt heavier than it should and her fist merely grazed his jaw. It wouldn’t even leave a bruise.

  “You deserved worse, Finn,” Doc said.

  She tried lunging at Finn again but she felt like she waded through swamp water. She tripped herself up and fell into him instead. He caught her and steadied her but her feet weren’t working and she couldn’t push him away.

  “I will not sleep.” Her declaration came out as nothing more than a frustrated murmur.

  With Doc’s help, Finn carefully laid her back down on the bed. She continued to fight them and got herself tangled in the blankets. Her motions grew weaker until she only fought them in her head.

  “She’s still not deep enough,” Finn said. His voice seemed to float above her.

  “Give it time.”

  “We don’t have time.”

  “Woah there, boy, you don’t know what your power would do to her while she is drugged.”

  “I have no choice.”

  The world dropped out from beneath her and she fell. She wanted to scream but her voice caught in her throat. She tumbled into nothingness and blackness. It was a void that both beckoned and horrified her. Its vast arms reached out and embraced her with emptiness.

  She wasn’t alone. There was something ancient in here with her. It was dark and it was huge and it woke to the smell of her blood.

  *

  Finn felt the fight in Jasmine disappear. She lay as still as death on the bed. Her skin was pallid and her breath was slow and shallow. He searched for a pulse in her wrist and to his relief it felt strong. Nothing about her spoke “wielder” and with that he was satisfied.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Finn.” The uncertainty in Doc’s expression was unmistakable.

  “So do I.”

  Finn didn’t waste any more time. He had too much to do. He left the infirmary in a rush.

  Chapter 9

  Finn stood beside his captain and tried not to wince when the brig docked beside the Seahawk. It was a smaller ship, built for maneuverability and speed and it carried only ten guns. She was the Wild Rose. Her sails were dark maroon and her hull was painted black. As much as she was a fine vessel to admire, however, this was not the usual procedure.

  “Are you sure they aren’t pirates?” Captain Inness asked.

  “They wish to speak with me. Nothing more,” Finn replied.

  Once the gangplank was secured under First Mate Rogahm’s hollered directions, three people boarded. Two were tall. They wrapped themselves in their cloaks against the cold but their dark eyes continually scanned the ship. The third member of their group was female. She was considerably shorter than the other two, but she carried more authority in that tiny frame than everyone on board.

  Finn waited for the captain to welcome his guests, but Inness didn’t move from his position near the ship’s wheel. Finn signaled Rogahm. The first mate nodded once and brought the visitors to the captain.

  The woman didn’t wait for the captain to speak. She stepped forward, bowed, and said, “We humbly thank Captain Inness for his hospitality. In gratitude, I’d like to offer you a small gift for the inconvenience we have unavoidably imposed.” Still bowing, she lifted up a leather pouch in her black glove.

  The captain took the gift and opened the contents into his palm. A single diamond fell out and sparkled in the half light of the gloomy day. Those who could see it gasped. It was the size of a knuckle. Few had ever seen a gem of such substance. Inness composed himself and secured the diamond back in its pouch.

  “You are most welcome,” he said after he cleared his throat. “Can I offer you food or drink, perhaps? We can retire to my quarters to discuss your business here.”

  The woman straightened out of her bow. She was so small she barely reached the captain’s shoulders. “You are most gracious,” she said. “We will take the offer of your quarters and a hot drink. But alas, we are here to discuss some matters in private with your wielder.” She flicked a glance at Finn and he resisted the urge to swallow.

  One of her men signaled the Wild Rose. The sailors removed the gangplank and the ship sailed a short distance to settle in the Seahawk’s wake for the duration. It sailed closer than was necessary, again not part of standard procedure.

  It was clear the captain didn’t like the ship’s proximity or the private business with his wielder but he flourished a half bow and said, “As you wish.”

  He didn’t take them to his quarters, but instead to the officer’s wardroom. It was a long, narrow room choked by a single table and twelve ornate chairs running its length. Silver candelabras crowned the table, remaining unlit.

  The captain didn’t offer them a hot drink, but instead a short nip of rum. To Finn’s relief the visitors ignored the captain’s insults. The woman downed the rum in one swig. Her two men didn’t touch theirs. They abandoned their glasses on the table and went to stand by the door like guards.

  The woman looked at the captain in all his finery as if he were nothing more than a pig. “My name is Angelica and this is Langer and Brill.” She didn’t indicate which of her companions was which. “Again we thank you for your hospitality. Please ensure we are not disturbed. You may leave now.”

  A twitch in the captain’s eye was the only indication of his displeasure. When the door latched closed, Finn tried to calm his nerves. He wasn’t successful. The low ceilings in the room oppressed him. He needed to answer their questions and get them off the ship as fast as possible.

  Angelica turned her stare on Finn. She didn’t look at him in the same way as she had looked at the captain. He wasn’t sure what she thought behind those dark eyes of hers. She appraised him for a whole minute before she said anything.

  “Be seated,” she commanded as if she were the
host.

  He obeyed without thought.

  She lowered her hood and revealed long black hair pulled back in a tight clump behind her head. She removed her gloves and revealed creamy hands that never saw the sunlight. On her middle finger she wore an emerald. Finn knew instantly this wasn’t her talisman. It was too gaudy to be her prize. He suspected she guarded her talisman with care and hid it from view.

  “At last I meet the great and mighty Finn Baracus,” she said.

  He blinked. He was neither great nor mighty and he wondered how she knew his full name.

  “Your trainer sends you greetings,” she explained.

  “You know Marcelo?” He didn’t try to hide his surprise.

  A thin smile tightened her features. “We worked together for a few years. He spoke of you often. He said you had great potential to be one of us.”

  Finn frowned. “I could never be one of you.”

  “Yes, he told me you’d say that.” She strolled around the table and took the seat at the head. She wore leather pants like a man and stretched her legs out in front of her in a languid motion. Normally this would have seemed masculine but there was nothing manly about her. He found himself thinking of Jasmine in comparison and quickly squashed the thought.

  “Tell me, Finn. Have you ever taught another person our ways?”

  “I guided one wielder before I joined the Seahawk.”

  Angelica slammed her hand against the table. The candelabras bounced but didn’t fall. “Don’t ever try to play with me or you will regret your sport. I’ll ask this one more time. Have you taught anyone the ways of the Order of the Guardians? Have you revealed our secret to any outsiders or wielders?”

  “That would be against Guardian law.”

  Angelica wielded. Finn braced himself for a blow.

  She laughed and stopped wielding. “It’s strange to wield against someone who can sense it coming. I must always remember that about you.” She glanced at her companions standing like statues at the door. “And you must remember that also.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” one replied. Finn didn’t know if it was Langer or Brill.

  Angelica turned her attention back to Finn. “Now that the pleasantries are over, we must discuss business. Do you know why we have graced you with our presence?”

  Finn scrambled for an answer. He knew she would detect a lie so he had to be careful. A smart reply would only antagonize her. A foolish reply would raise suspicions.

  Her eyes narrowed at him. It seemed his silence also triggered suspicion.

  “You’re going to tell me anyway,” he said, feigning annoyance.

  She smiled again. She reminded him of a cat toying with a mouse. “There’s been a lot of wielder activity in these waters recently.”

  Finn nodded. He’d be a fool to deny it since they knew he could sense wielding almost as well as they could.

  “I can tell you recently came close to depleting yourself.”

  “We are pursued by another ship that—”

  Angelica raised her hand to stop him. “I am not interested in that other ship. You, more than anyone, should know that.”

  Finn squirmed in his seat. One thing about the Guardians was that they refused to get involved in machinations of any kind — apart from their own. While they remained neutral, they also remained hidden.

  “What I speak of is your near depletion just before we arrived. The other ship had nothing to do with it. It had already backed off when it saw the Wild Rose. There was something else.”

  “It was nothing,” Finn said. “Just some trouble I had to deal with.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “Trouble with a disobedient crewmate.”

  Angelica pursed her lips. They were thin lips and the action made her look like a fish. “You came close to your limit through dealing with a single crewmate? I’d like to meet this person.”

  “You can’t.” Finn regretted his blurted words the moment they escaped him.

  “And why not?” There was no mistaking the hard edge to her voice.

  Finn wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers under the table. “Because he is not well and he is incapacitated.”

  Shock marred Angelica’s expression. “You can incapacitate as well? Marcelo was a fool to guide you into these things. And the Order was foolish to let you go.”

  One of her companions hissed.

  “Oh, be quiet, Brill. You’ll learn soon enough the Order doesn’t always make the right decisions.”

  Finn knew enough about the Order to know Angelica came close to treasonous words. The darker side of him hoped one day her arrogance would get her into trouble.

  She stared at him as if he were something to dissect. He needed some kind of deflection.

  “It is the incapacitating that almost depletes me,” he said. They were words Angelica wanted to hear so he hoped she wouldn’t detect the lie in them.

  She studied his face for a few more moments then stood. “I must see this incapacitated troublemaker.”

  Finn sighed. There was no hiding Jasmine now. He could only hope her power was well buried.

  “As you wish,” he replied, realizing he sounded just as unhappy as the captain. He made a mental note to work on his subterfuge. Better yet, he decided, he needed to avoid it altogether.

  Finn led them to the infirmary. Somehow word had spread through the crew that the unusual visitors were wielders. All of them. He doubted Doc had said a word, so he assumed the captain had spread the news. It would’ve been what he thought was a lie to keep the crew wary after Angelica’s insult. Finn wondered what the captain would do if he knew his lie was the truth.

  Hardened sailors gave them a wide berth and shunned any kind of contact. They reacted to Finn in a similar way even though he’d been with the crew for months now. He assumed they feared the group as a whole. It was rare enough to find one wielder, but to have four together on the one ship had to be a bad omen. While sailors may be known for their superstitious nature, he had to agree with them this time.

  Finn entered the infirmary to find the haggard looking doctor sitting at his desk. The portholes were covered and a single lantern burned in the room, leaving the back half in deep shadow. Doc rubbed his temples as if he wanted to rub away a terrible pain.

  “Are you all right, Doc?” Finn asked, suddenly concerned.

  Doc looked up and glowered at him. “I’m fine. Can’t say the same for my patient.” He muttered something unintelligible when the three strangers entered.

  Alarm registered deep inside Finn. The thought he may have hurt Jasmine was unbearable, but he had to control his expression. He could do worse to her now if he failed to convince the wielders she was just an ordinary sailor.

  “Has his condition changed?”

  Before Doc could answer, a dark shape barreled toward Finn from the back of the room. It moved like a giant boulder and slammed into him with the weight of a battering ram. He found himself crushed against the bulkhead with the wind knocked out of him. He stared up into the hate-filled eyes of Brusan, Jasmine’s father.

  “What have you done to my son?” he bellowed into Finn’s face.

  The other wielders stepped aside and watched the spectacle. They would not get involved. Angelica shone with amusement.

  Finn couldn’t answer. He could barely breathe. Without an answer, Brusan grew wild. He grabbed Finn by his shirt and slammed him against the bulkhead again. His rage replaced any fear he might’ve had of a wielder. “He was fine before you did something to him!”

  Finn had to act quickly. He couldn’t allow Brusan to spark off any more suspicions in the listening visitors. He focused his power and wielded.

  “Calm,” he whispered.

  Brusan blinked and seemed suddenly aware of what he was doing. He released Finn and took an uncertain step back.

  “Midge was not fine,” Finn explained to the large man. “He was sick. You know that.”
r />   “Aye,” Brusan agreed with some reluctance. “He hasn’t been himself since coming aboard the Seahawk.”

  “He refused treatment. I had to bring him to Doc. Again he refused to take anything that would help him. I did what I did because he needed to rest so his body could heal.”

  Brusan turned to Doc. “Tell me my boy will survive.”

  Doc rubbed his temples again. “I don’t know.”

  One of Angelica’s men whispered something to her. She nodded once and stepped forward. “We don’t normally get involved, but Langer has been trained in the medicinal ways and he would very much like to see your patient. And so would I.”

  “Aye,” Brusan interrupted with eagerness. “Any help would be welcomed.”

  Finn and Doc exchanged a look.

  “I don’t think my patient should be disturbed,” Doc said.

  Brusan rounded on Doc. “They’re going to see my son.” He was a big man when he wanted to be. Jasmine had explained he was just a cook aboard the Prize but Finn found that difficult to believe. Battle came too easily to him. He acted more like a soldier. He also had difficulty believing he used to beat her. He seemed too protective of her to be a man who would beat his own child.

  Not that any of that mattered any more. Brusan’s eagerness to protect her was going to get them all killed. There was nothing Finn could do when the large man grabbed the lantern and carried it to the back of the room. The wielders and Doc followed so Finn had to do the same. Only the one named Brill stayed behind and stood guard at the doorway.

  When he approached the cot where Jasmine lay, Finn felt a terrible reluctance hold him back. He didn’t want to see her. He didn’t want to face what he’d done to her. But he walked forward as if a strong tide pulled him.

  Brusan stood at the foot of the bed and held up the lantern. Golden light fell on a frail shell of a body. Jasmine seemed to be made of wax and might have looked like a corpse except that a dull sheen of sweat glistened on her pallid skin. She didn’t move, she didn’t whimper, and she barely breathed. Finn had never hated himself more than at that moment. How could he have done this to her?