Wielder's Prize

by Elle Cardy

  “You’re underestimating him,” Finn said.

  She turned on him with an angry stare. “This great surge of uncontrolled power we all felt,” she said with a wave of her hand. “Did you see the captain wield it?”

  Finn hesitated.

  “I thought not.”

  “Wait,” Langer said with unexpected urgency. He glanced at Angelica. “Brill is calling us. He is in some sort of distress.”

  *

  Captain Kahld sat behind his desk and watched the one they named Brill sip at a cup of chamomile tea. He sat on the edge of his seat with his feet tucked in as if he were afraid to occupy more space than was necessary. His dark hair had been combed into a neat short style. His clothes were clean and pressed but he wore them as if he were no more than a hanger for them. Kahld guessed he relied too much on his companions for direction. He seemed out of his element. He was not a man of the sea.

  His lack of confidence was probably what made it possible for Kahld to call him into his quarters. It was a power that rarely worked for Kahld, perhaps because he never accompanied it with music. He’d picked it up off an old wielding minstrel in the port of Auslam in the far north where the clime was warmer and the women prettier. He hadn’t even meant to call the man. He had been aiming at Jasmine, and instead this man came knocking at his door. It meant he was a wielder.

  Kahld arched his fingers in front of him on the desk. “Enjoying your tea?”

  Brill gave him a tentative smile. “Yes, sir, Captain.”

  “Sir or Captain is sufficient. Not both.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Kahld decided, since the man was alone and available, he might as well find out a few answers to some questions that had been bothering him. “Tell me, Brill, what really brings you to my ship? Few travelers would be willing to pay as much as you for such minor supplies.”

  “We are searching for the source of a recent power burst.” Brill coughed on his tea. His face turned cherry red.

  Kahld raised an eyebrow. “For what purpose?”

  “It’s our duty to seek out such disturbances, to judge if the offending wielder is a danger and, if they are, then silence them.”

  A tremor raced through Kahld’s body. He refused to acknowledge it as fear and buried it before it could surface. “So, all three of you are Guardians?”

  Brill’s eyes rounded in surprise. “You know of the Order?”

  Kahld gave him a slow nod. “I have heard of the Order as nothing more than rumor and whispers. I didn’t think they were real.” He knew the man wouldn’t be able to detect the lie. The lie was something the wielder expected to hear so it was something he would eagerly accept. He had to be careful, though. This one was inexperienced, but he would still likely be a powerful opponent. There was also the problem of his other two companions who carried themselves with more confidence. The woman was someone to be wary of, especially now he knew she was a Guardian. If they knew he could learn their power, they would surely silence him. Or attempt to. He didn’t have time to deal with that right now. He had a different goal in mind. A richer one. He had to resist the urge to take their powers, or he might alert them to what he really was. But all he had to do was touch Brill. To feel him sensing him wield, to taste the sweet nectar of new power.

  Kahld frowned. All in good time.

  “Can you sense me wielding now?” he asked.

  “Yes. You are forcing me to tell you the truth.”

  “Indeed.” Kahld stopped wielding. “Thank you for your assistance.”

  “I had no choice.”

  “I do apologize for that. Now that I know why you’re here, I can assist you. I know who it is you’re looking for.”

  Chapter 21

  Langer’s anxiety propelled Jasmine to her feet. The two Guardians feared for their companion, Brill. He was the least experienced of the three and they had left him alone on the ship. Without further words, Angelica and Langer rushed out the door. Jasmine could feel them spin power around themselves in readiness to engage whatever it was they would encounter.

  She moved to follow them but something pulled her back down again. She turned to see the cause and found Finn holding her arm.

  “It’s too dangerous to follow them.” Finn didn’t make eye contact, which told her he still couldn’t see her.

  “Let me go!” Jasmine struggled. Nothing she could do would loosen his grip. His healed ribs made him strong again.

  “You aren’t good at hiding,” he said.

  “I’m doing just fine.” She tried twisting her arm. It didn’t free her from his grasp.

  “And you aren’t good at controlling your wielding.”

  With one last tug, she stopped struggling. He was, of course, right. She had no discipline. No training. No nothing. She seemed to wield on instinct alone. She wanted to know what happened to Brill, but if she followed the wielders who were already primed to fight, it would be like running onto a burning ship moments before it sank.

  She growled in frustration and, in a huff, sat beside him with her back against the bulkhead. Although she allowed him to see her, he didn’t turn to face her. At least he’d let her go. She could have bolted then, but the fight had left her.

  “How’re your ribs?” she asked, still amazed at Langer’s ability to heal. She didn’t think she could do the same. The weave of his power was so complex, so controlled and focused.

  The corner of Finn’s mouth rose. “Being able to breathe again makes a world of difference.”

  “You should’ve told me.”

  “And what could you have done?”

  Jasmine shrugged. “Sympathized?”

  Finn chuckled.

  A companionable silence fell between them. Although her world had turned insane, she found courage in that silence. Finn might’ve been the one to change her life forever, yet it seemed he was also her lifeline to strength and normality. A faint ember sparked to life deep within her — not enough to melt a frosted heart, but it was enough to warm her in the moment.

  She didn’t know how much time passed. It might’ve been a few minutes. It might’ve been an hour. She’d closed her eyes and let her mind drift with the wash of the sea. When Finn stirred, his movement brought her back to wakefulness.

  “Something has happened,” he said. “Something has changed.”

  Jasmine felt nothing. Everything seemed the same.

  “There is danger here,” he said and turned to her. “You have to leave. You have to hide.”

  The urgency in his voice frightened her. His gray eyes burned with fear.

  “What is it?” she asked, feeling blind and stupid.

  “Just go! Now!” Finn physically pushed her away from him. She offered little resistance. His panic was catching even though she had no idea about the source of that fear.

  Instinct kicked in and Jasmine vanished.

  “Go!” Finn cried into the little room.

  She scrambled away, feeling nothing but Finn’s panic. She didn’t know what she was running from. Sure, the captain wanted her dead, the Guardians wanted her silenced, the crew wanted her found, but that was no different to a few moments ago. What had changed?

  Instead of fleeing to the darkest hole on the ship, Jasmine ran through the decks in search of answers. She wouldn’t survive this nightmare if she simply closed her eyes and hoped her troubles would go away on their own. If she did nothing, then circumstances would continue to wash over her with the weight of a crashing wave. In the end she would drown.

  Most of her short years had been spent hiding and running. She had to hide her femininity. She had to hide from Cook to escape beatings. She had to hide to survive.

  Not anymore.

  Hiding hadn’t worked for her then as she knew it wouldn’t work for her now. She had to do something or she would forever be a victim. Old habits weren’t easy to break, however. She had to protect herself and the only way she knew was to hide. She refused
to run away.

  Jasmine stopped mid-stride. It felt like she’d walked into a cloud made of fear itself. She refused to turn and flee. This was the danger Finn sensed. It buzzed in her mind like a gnat. It tugged at her thoughts and cried out for her to retreat. She fought her natural instinct and pressed on.

  The cloud turned into a fog when she reached the mess deck. Her breath came in short gasps and her heart raced. She had to stop again to calm herself.

  Flee! her mind cried, yet her body stayed. She looked around and spotted Langer and Brill. They sat in a huddle at a table near the galley. Brill appeared unharmed, but unsettled. He sipped at a nip of rum from a beaten up mug which he cupped in his hands as if it were hot tea.

  Langer murmured something. He looked about him as if he were afraid they’d be overheard. There were only three other crewmates on the mess deck. Fisher snored from a hammock that swung with the movement of the ship and the other two, Arassi and Philips, kept to themselves as they ate their gruel.

  Jasmine pushed down the fear that rang inside her. She had to hear what they were saying. As she moved closer to the wielders, the canary chirped.

  “Tell me again,” Langer said. His straw hair seemed more unruly than usual. His narrow face seemed strained.

  Jasmine stopped and leaned against the doorway to the galley in an attempt to remain small. Brusan was nowhere in sight which suited her fine. A pot of boiling potatoes was on the stove beside a second pot of cooling stew. The smells that wafted through from the galley reminded Jasmine of simpler times. How did everything get so complicated so quickly? She wondered if she could ever again capture a feeling of safety.

  Just as she was about to turn her attention back to the wielders, her eye spotted something on the bench in the galley. It was a small package tied with a pale blue ribbon. She knew immediately what it was and her heart took an unexpected leap. If she opened it she would find a small statuette inside. Brusan didn’t have the supplies to make a cake on long voyages so, every year on her birthday, he would present her with a carving as a gift. Last year it had been a dolphin.

  Today was Jasmine’s seventeenth birthday. Even though she’d been accused of theft, Brusan had remembered. The ice in her heart cracked and left her vulnerable.

  “I don’t understand how anyone who knows our ways could protect someone so dangerous.” The anxiety in Brill’s voice brought her back to the Guardians. The discovery of the gift had distracted Jasmine so much that she wasn’t sure she had properly heard the man.

  Langer scratched his ear. “And I don’t understand how he managed to fool us.”

  Jasmine wondered who they were talking about. They seemed angry and afraid. Were they talking about the captain? Did he know about the Guardians? Had they finally accepted his threat to them?

  “He is clever, I’ll give him that,” Brill said. “Angelica was right not to trust him.”

  The captain was certainly a clever man. He was a dangerous man. She thought Angelica trusted him. Maybe they were talking about Durne. She knew Angelica didn’t trust the first mate for some reason.

  “He was once trained by the Guardians themselves,” Langer replied. “And that makes him dangerous.”

  Jasmine gasped. They were talking about Finn. With this realization came fear. Did this mean they had somehow discovered that Finn had tried to hide her on the Seahawk? They knew he had betrayed the Order. The captain must’ve told them about her. He must have told them everything. She recalled the captain’s reaction toward her. If the Guardians knew she was his daughter, then they wouldn’t be sitting there having a chat about Finn. They’d be trying to catch her.

  “What is Angelica’s plan for him?”

  Langer shook his head, but his expression told Jasmine he didn’t envy Finn’s position.

  “Where is she now, anyways?” Brill asked and looked around the galley. He still appeared shaken, frightened. He didn’t look like someone who was part of an organized group that hunted down rogue wielders.

  “Are you talking about the untrained one, or Angelica?"

  Brill gave Langer a look. “Angelica, of course. The untrained one makes me nervous. She could be anywhere. I don’t know how we’re going to catch her.”

  “Angelica is with the captain in his quarters, confirming your story. I doubt they’ll be seen for a while. She likes to be thorough.”

  Brill sipped at his rum. “Do you think she’ll carry out the wielder’s punishment straight away?”

  Langer shrugged. “She might. She is known for her swift action. Then again, she has something against Finn. She might decide to use him as an example to others. She could take him back to the Wild Rose for trial to show what happens if a Guardian should betray the order.”

  “He isn’t a real Guardian.”

  “He was once trained as a Guardian. That makes him one of us whether he likes it or not.”

  Brill shuddered.

  Panic filled Jasmine. It was close to the panic Finn had felt in his holding cell. He had chased her out with that panic. He had thought the danger he’d sensed was meant for her. She’d managed to remain hidden for this long, and she could continue to remain hidden a while longer. Finn had nowhere to hide. He was vulnerable and didn’t know he’d been exposed.

  Jasmine remembered what he once told her about the danger she’d put him in. He had committed an offence worthy of death. Why did he have to get himself involved? Why did he have to hide her? She didn’t know what future she might’ve had if they’d discovered her on the Seahawk — likely there was no future for her — but she couldn’t bear the thought of Finn in danger because of her.

  Jasmine didn’t wait any longer. She had to save him.

  Chapter 22

  Jasmine burst into Finn’s prison cell. “Finn, you have to leave!” She stopped on her heels and let out a yelp. Finn was there, but so were Angelica and the captain.

  Finn gurgled a warning but the captain had him by the throat. Jasmine would have run, she would have vanished, but Angelica had been waiting for her. The Guardian whipped out a hand and caught Jasmine with a touch. It was a gentle caress. Her fingers were cold against Jasmine’s skin, and she could no sooner flee from that touch than she could if she had been chained down.

  Jasmine looked into Angelica’s eyes. Her black, black eyes. All thought of escape vanished. All thought of self-preservation fled. Jasmine stared and the world seemed to take on new form. It grew hazy and hot. It felt like she’d walked into a tropical fog and lost her way. She squinted and peered but thoughts fled like scattered cards in the wind.

  Cautious, watchful, Angelica stepped back from Jasmine. When she was satisfied she’d snared the prize, she smiled in triumph.

  “No talisman. No training,” Angelica said with a shake of her head. Her words seemed to float around Jasmine like jellyfish in the sea. “I don’t know how you survived this long. You are a remarkable specimen.”

  Jasmine tried to focus. She blinked at the too bright light in the room. Her eyes darted from Finn, to Angelica, to the captain, but their faces seemed to merge into one. Her thoughts found purchase long enough to tell her to vanish but she no longer knew how. She wanted to run but the memory of how to work her legs eluded her.

  “What will you do with her?” the captain asked.

  The bitter taste of fear cascaded from the man. It washed over Jasmine and threatened to drown her beneath its waves. The room shifted in a blur. She couldn’t tell if she still stood. She thought she did. Maybe. Power. There was power in the room. She could focus on that.

  “She will, of course, be silenced,” Angelica replied. Her voice sounded distant. There was no fear there. There was only fascination.

  Jasmine tried to hone in on the power. It teased her with the hope of restoration. It promised to be a lifeline to sanity if only she could grasp it. Whose power is it? She didn’t care. It hovered in the room like a ribbon in the sea. If she reached for it, if she could catch it, then
she might be able to draw back to herself.

  “Will you do that now?” the captain asked.

  The power fluctuated. It shimmered.

  “She is like nothing we have ever encountered,” Angelica said. “She appears well contained for now.”

  “You should do it now. Don’t wait.”

  Finn struggled. The captain’s grip on his neck tightened.

  “I will take her back to the Wild Rose,” Angelica replied.

  The power gave Jasmine focus. It gave her a purpose. Its ancient form snaked around her feet from the floorboards. It was different. It was faint. No one else felt it. No one else sensed it. It was hidden. It was hers.

  Jasmine blinked.

  “That’s a mistake,” the captain said.

  Angelica turned on the captain. “Why are you so eager to be rid of this girl? She is no threat to us. Granted she is untrained and therefore volatile, but she carries no talisman. Besides, there is little she can do right now.”

  “She is powerful. Unpredictable.”

  Angelica smiled. She seemed to enjoy the captain’s nervousness. “I have dealt with many untrained wielders in my time. Apart from her age, she is no different.”

  “You are wrong.” The captain released Finn and let him drop to his knees. He drew his cutlass and advanced on Jasmine.

  Angelica’s small eyes widened. She stepped between the captain and Jasmine. “What are you doing?”

  “The girl has to die.”

  “That is not your decision.”

  “Get out of my way.” The captain growled his words like a dog.

  Jasmine stared at the raised cutlass in horror. It was no longer Angelica’s power that rooted her to the floor, but the memory of that cutlass, the memory of it slicing through her, the memory of her death. Power surged through her. She couldn’t let it happen again. She had to protect herself.

  Angelica spun and stared at Jasmine. The Guardian reached to gasp hold of her prisoner again. Jasmine read the power as the woman prepared to wield it. The intent wasn’t to kill her, but to incapacitate her. That was worse. It would leave Jasmine vulnerable to the captain and it would leave her vulnerable to the beast that hungered for her soul in the void.