by Claire Luana
Luckily, the sailors on the Aprican vessel were too busy to notice their approach. Ansel pulled their little rowboat up alongside the stern as the Aprican ship sent another cannon shot at Pike and Griff’s fleet. The cannonball just missed one of the other brigantine vessels, which had gotten dangerously close.
Complete chaos greeted Wren and Ansel as they pulled themselves up onto the deck. Flames and black smoke were billowing from half a dozen spots on the deck, and men shouted orders while others ran with buckets of water, trying uselessly to put out the deadly flames. “Where do you think they’re being kept?” She pulled her cloak up to her mouth, breathing through it, coughing.
“No idea,” Ansel replied, pulling his sword from his scabbard.
So Wren went on instinct, trusting the luck of the chocolate to guide her way. They scrambled over the deck, past surprised sailors who were too busy to do anything but mark their passing with wide eyes and shouts. They plunged into the low hallway and ran straight for the captain’s quarters at the stern of the vessel. The hallway was thick with smoke.
The door to the chamber was locked. “They’re in here.” Wren pointed, coughing. “It’s locked.”
Another blow hit the vessel, tossing Wren and Ansel hard against the wall.
“Get back,” Ansel said, and with a powerful kick, he splintered the wood of the door jamb, flinging the door back on its hinges.
Wren rushed into the room after Ansel.
“Who in the Sower’s name are you?” It was Ella. Sweet caramel, it was Ella. Wild-eyed, messy-haired, but haughty as ever.
“Your rescuer, m’lady.” Ansel gave a little bow.
“Wren?” That voice...
Wren looked around wildly, and when her eyes focused on him, her knees went weak beneath her.
Solid. Real. Alive. Lucas.
She ran and threw herself into his arms with force that felt stronger than the cannonball shots.
Lucas.
“How—?”
“No time,” she cried, plastering his cheeks with kisses. “Gotta go.”
“I sure am glad to see you,” Trick said, and Wren was grinning, and then they were running together into the hallway, and Wren couldn’t keep the smile off her face because she had them. They were going to make it.
A deafening crack rang out, as if the world were ending around them. The hallway tilted sideways, throwing them against the wall, which was quickly becoming the floor.
She didn’t know who shouted the words. Maybe it was her.
“We’re going down!”
Chapter 31
Ansel broke Wren’s fall.
Wren tumbled into him as the ship threw itself sideways, landing an elbow in his stomach, a knee in another soft part.
He groaned beneath her, cursing as she pushed herself off him. Ella and Trick were in front, half-stumbling, half-crawling towards the open hatch through which they’d come in. Lucas offered a hand, and Wren took it, grasping it like a lifeline while offering her other back to Ansel. “Come on!”
Ansel heaved himself up and together they barreled out onto the tilting deck amongst roaring flames and screams of the crew.
“Nice rescue,” Ella said, but Wren ignored her, so fixed was she on the rowboat, bucking in the roiling water behind the sinking ship. No one had taken it yet. “Quick,” she said, and they ran across the slanting deck towards the little skiff. Men were leaping off the sinking vessel into the water, but Wren ignored the splashes and cries, trying to drown them out. The rowboat was all that mattered.
The Aprican ship was low in the water now, and there were only a few steps down the ladder needed to get to the boat. Ella went first, then Trick, then Wren, Lucas not wanting to release her hand to let her down the side. But she was over and he followed in a blink. When it was Ansel’s turn, he didn’t even need the ladder, he just stepped over the rail of the ship into the rowboat. The ship was sinking rapidly now, and it began to pull at the line of the rowboat, threatening to drag it down.
“Untie us!” Lucas cried.
“I’m tryin.’” Ansel grunted, working at the knot on the cleat. The tension was too much, and the knot wouldn’t yield. “Get back,” he said, and he stood, unsheathing his sword and hacking once, severing the rope as everyone ducked out of his way.
Wren let out a breath of relief as Lucas began rowing quickly away from the wreckage.
She cast her gaze on Lucas, drinking in the sight of him. His salt-and-pepper hair was shaggy, and he had a short, dark beard shadowing his face. He wore olive green canvas trousers, a flannel shirt, and a pair of work boots. He looked even leaner than he had been, making his face seem harder, more angular somehow. But despite the changes, her heart filled to bursting at the sight of him. His gray eyes swam with a warmth and earnestness and concern that was all Lucas. And even as he rowed, his gaze was glued to her, a grin wide across his face. “Lucky you showed up when you did,” he finally said.
Wren let out a breathless laugh, and tears sprang to her eyes. She nodded.
“Damn, it’s good to see you, Wren,” Trick said, his smile a mirror image of Lucas’s. “Thought we were goners back there.”
Wren looked at Ella, but there were no similar professions of gratitude from her. Ella huffed and looked out across the islands. “Well, at least with you here now, Lucas might shave off that ridiculous thing on his face.”
A smile caught at the corner of Wren’s mouth. That was probably the nicest thing Ella had ever said to her.
“I don’t mind it,” Wren said. “I think it looks nice.”
“Of course you do,” Ella said. Even in her coral trousers and tied denim shirt, she managed to look like a princess, her blonde curls exploding like a halo around her. “I’ve tried to explain that only a certain kind of man can pull off a beard. Like...well, like your new friend here. Wren, are you going to introduce us?”
Ansel had been watching the exchange with interest, most of his interest focused on Ella. “Name’s Ansel,” he said. “Folks call me ‘the Red Badger.’ Head of the fiercest band of fightin’ men in all of Nova Navis.”
Ella sniffed, though she was clearly examining him with interest. “A mercenary. Why am I not surprised Wren would be consorting with such riffraff?”
“Don’t mind Ella,” Trick said cheerfully. “She could find fault with the Sower himself. Wren, is anyone else from your Guild with you?” Trick regarded her with such a look of cautious hope that Wren knew in that moment that Thom had found his match.
“Callidus, Thom, and Olivia.” Wren nodded.
“These are all ours, I presume?” Lucas nodded behind him to the little fleet of ships.
“Head towards the Phoenix,” Wren said, pointing at Pike’s flagship. “They’re filled with pirates and mercenaries. Ella, you’ll be right at home.
Those on board the Phoenix greeted the Imbris siblings with hugs, handshakes, and claps on the back. But best was seeing Thom and Trick catch sight of each other and careen together in a bone-rattling embrace.
Lucas looked at Wren and smiled, pulling her against him, murmuring into her hair. “I’m not the only one glad to be rescued by the Confectioner’s Guild.”
“Well, we are rather gallant,” Wren managed, wrapping her arms around Lucas, running her hands up the straight arrow of his spine, the hard plane of his back. He was warm and real and here. When she thought how close she’d come to losing him...it felt a miracle. Finally, luck had been with her. It had been drilled into her head that the use of infused chocolates was forbidden, but now that King Imbris was dead, she’d have to remember she had a potent weapon at her disposal.
“Let’s talk below,” Callidus said, shaking hands with Lucas. “If Wren can manage to untwine herself from you.”
“I think we can talk while twined, if it’s all the same to you,” Lucas said, pulling Wren closer to him. “We’ve got lost time to make up for.”
Callidus rolled his eyes but turned, motioning them below decks. “Thom,” he barke
d, ignoring the fact that Trick and Thom were standing against the rail, their foreheads pressed together, Trick’s hand wrapped securely around Thom’s shoulder.
Wren couldn’t hear the words Trick spoke, but from the intimacy of their postures, it seemed clear that Trick and Thom would be making up for lost time as well. It was funny how nearly losing someone made all the excuses melt away.
They crowded into Pike’s captain’s quarters, filling the space with bodies. Lucas, Trick and Ella, Wren and Callidus, Pike, Ansel, and Griff. Thom and Olivia and Dash. Allies new and old alike.
Lucas refused to relinquish Wren’s hand, which was perfectly fine with her. The feeling of having him with her again was surreal. She wanted to banish all these people for a time, to make them vanish one by one until it was just her and Lucas. She would press her mouth—her body—against his, letting his touch drain the stress of the last few weeks away… But that would have to wait.
“We are very, very glad to have you with us,” Callidus said. “When we saw the Aprican vessel...well, we feared.”
“That was some bit of heroics,” Pike said, nodding to Wren and Ansel. “I’m worried you’re going as crazy as a loon, Wren.”
“It was a one-time thing,” Wren said with a shaky laugh. “I’ll behave myself from now on.”
“Impossible,” Lucas whispered in her ear, his breath tickling her, casting goosebumps across her skin.
“Things are different now,” she whispered back.
“Ahem.” Callidus interrupted, shooting her a dark glance.
She leaned away from Lucas with a sigh.
“How much do you all know about what is going on back in Maradis?” Callidus asked.
“Very little,” Lucas said. “We had allies in the city who were feeding us information and supplies.”
“We hadn’t heard anything in a week,” Trick said, cutting in. “We were intending to make our way back to Maradis, but we didn’t get the chance. A force of Apricans busted through the back door.”
“Trick promised his friend was trustworthy,” Ella said, casting a black glance at Trick, “but he was the only one who knew our location. He must have betrayed us.”
“Perhaps not by choice.” Callidus explained what had gone on back in the city, with the infused bread brainwashing the citizens of Maradis into worshipping Emperor Evander and the Apricans.
Wren watched Griff and Ansel with veiled interest as Callidus told the tale, as those two were the only ones, Wren guessed, who didn’t know of the existence of magical food. They both seemed to take it all in stride. Perhaps her illustration with the chocolates had helped make them believers.
“Flaming hell,” Lucas swore when Callidus finished. “Our contact must have been turned and given up our location.”
“So who can we trust?” Ella asked.
“You’re lookin’ at ’em,” Pike said.
“What about the Falconer?” Trick asked Lucas. “Do you think the Apricans got to him, too?”
“You know who the Falconer is?” Wren asked. They still didn’t know the identity of the leader of the rebel group back in Maradis who had been disrupting things before they’d left.
“We don’t know who he is, but we had been in brief contact with him through our friend. He wanted to help us get back into the city. Retake the palace. He’d been building support for us.”
“And blowing things up,” Callidus said.
“It would help to have a man inside the city,” Ansel said. “Can we getta message to ‘im?”
“There’s no way of knowing if he’s been affected by this...bread stuff,” Lucas said. “Is there?”
“Maybe...” Wren said. “The infused bread had a fairly consistent effect on people. If we could get a message to him, perhaps we could gauge from his reaction whether he’s been affected.”
Olivia piped up. “I could help. I know what it felt like...to be under the influence. I think I could craft a set of questions that would reveal whether he’s compromised.”
“Worth a try,” Lucas said. “We’d need to get someone into the city, though.”
“Happy to oblige,” Ansel said. “My lads could nip in, easy as pie.”
“Let’s say this Falconer is on our side and willing to help us. We need to talk about a plan. How can we win Maradis back from Evander’s forces?” Pike asked.
“We need to neutralize the infused bread,” Wren pointed out. “It needs to be our highest priority. Without it in play, we’d have considerably more allies. Be able to reach back out to people who we once thought were on our side. The other Guilds. The contact that was supplying you all with food and information.”
“Agreed,” Pike said. “But do we know where this Gifted baker is being kept?”
“Probably close to Sim Daemastra, the emperor’s infused goods expert. The palace, most likely,” Wren said.
“Likely won’t be close enough. We need to know before I risk my men,” Ansel countered.
“Obviously.” Wren glared at him.
Ansel grinned back at her.
Lucas looked between them, his brow furrowing.
“We need to go back to Maradis. Find this Falconer. Then find the baker’s location and neutralize him,” Callidus said.
The group exchanged glances.
“Agreed,” Pike said.
“Agreed,” said Ansel.
“Agreed.” Wren sighed.
“It’s not enough,” Lucas said.
“It’s just a first step,” Wren said.
“That’s not what I mean,” Lucas said. “My father lost his throne. The Apricans didn’t take it, not really. He was a tyrant, at the end. The people wanted something new.”
“Lucas—” Ella said, but Lucas held up a hand to silence her.
Wren furrowed her brow. Lucas was right. She’d wanted King Imbris gone as much as anyone. Had helped the Aprican cause in her own way. She still didn’t know what Lucas would think of her when he found out the role she had played. If he’d ever forgive her. Suddenly, the firmness of his hand in hers felt fleeting once again. Ephemeral.
Lucas continued. “I’m not saying he was evil, but he lost the trust of the people. Even if we free people from this compulsion, we can’t just go in and slaughter the Apricans, taking the city back by force.”
“Works pretty well, actually,” Ansel said, crossing his thick arms before his chest.
“I’m not saying it couldn’t be done,” Lucas protested. “I’m saying we shouldn’t do it that way. Maradis belongs to the people. We need to give them a say. Let them decide.”
“What are you proposing?” Callidus asked.
“Tell people the truth. About the infused goods. About the emperor, and how he’s been manipulating them. Tell them...if they help us take back the city, that we will turn it over to them. Set up a system of free elections. No more emperor. No more king.”
Silence hung in the room. “You can’t be serious,” Ella whispered. “The common people don’t know how to rule. They’ll run Maradis into the ground.”
“Then it’s our job to educate them. Set up a system that will help them rule. It could work. Enough lies. Enough swords. I don’t want to be king. But that’s not why I’m saying this. Maradis needs a better way. Alesia does.”
Wren thought of her family, her father, working until his mind and body broke, indebted to the royal town that gave them succor. Paying for scraps of wood to heat their hut when trees were plentiful in the forest all around them. She thought of the children living in the royal orphanage, desperate for any protection. The thousands who had died in the Red Plague while the king had barricaded himself in his palace with the cure. Yes. Things needed to change. “I think it’s a beautiful idea,” Wren said.
“Encouraging the people to revolt would make our job easier,” Pike said. “Don’t know how the rest will work out, but the truth seems as good a plan as any.”
Lucas nodded, looking to the others.
“I go where ya pay me to go.” An
sel shrugged.
“Same,” Griff said.
Ella shook her head, looking at the wall. “Lucas, you were always such an optimist.”
“I like it,” Trick said. “Leave a legacy the Imbris clan can be proud of.”
“I like it too,” Callidus finally said. “Strong men have used their power to exploit the weak for too long. Evander’s just one of a long line of tyrants who have ruled us. I’m with Lucas. It’s time to give Alesia back to the people.”
Chapter 32
Strangely enough, the decision to scrap the monarchy was less controversial than how to get into the city. Pike, Ansel, Griff, and Callidus debated for the better part of an hour, arguing about the best approach.
Wren perched on the side of Lucas’s chair, his arm wrapped around her, his thumb stroking circles across her palm. That simple motion filled her senses, sending heat coiling deep within her body. It was all she could think about. How good it felt to have him back. How badly she wanted to get him alone.
“We’re just going to sail right into the harbor,” Ansel finally announced.
“That’s your grand plan?” Ella scoffed.
“The port is open. We take one of Griff’s ships, which won’t be recognized. We walk right in under their noses.”
“All of you think this is best?” Lucas asked.
They exchanged glances, nodding.
“Fine. We’ll hide in the hold and sneak into the city after dark,” Lucas said.
“Oh no.” Pike held up his hands. “You Imbrises are not going anywhere near Maradis. “
“But—”
“They’re right, Lucas,” Trick said. “Until we know what the situation is, we’re safest out here.”
“But the Falconer—”
“You don’t have to be the one to contact him, right? You weren’t before?” Callidus asked.