by Nancy Gray
Dr. Appius asked in an almost conversational tone, “Are you in here, Little Forest Girl? I had a few more questions that I wanted to ask before you went on your way.”
He paused for a moment, as though letting the thought seep in, just as he had done previously when he first asked her if she was one from the Sylvan Islands. Mercy closed her eyes and stayed silent.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. If you come out now, I promise to be lenient with you. You can answer my questions, and I’ll be on my way. However, if you force me to drag you out from your hiding place, well, let’s just say that we’ll continue our discussion in the same manner as before.”
Mercy shivered but remained silent. She heard Dr. Appius rummaging around the barrels, and she wanted to scream. If he was allowed to look through the entire cargo hold, eventually he would figure out that something was amiss. He might even find the false bottom of the barrel that they had climbed through. Already, he knew to listen for a hollow sound beneath his feet, so he clearly suspected that they were hiding in a smuggling compartment. It made her wonder if he somehow had the same gift that she had, if he could sense emotions and could feel their fear.
Mercy thought, “No. He’s just very good at manipulating people’s emotions. He probably went through several other ships before he even got to ours, doing the same thing in an empty cargo hold and saying the same thing just in case we were there. But, what if I’m wrong? What if he has my gift and doesn’t even know it?”
There was a loud slamming sound as he began opening crates and dropping the tops on the floor, coming closer and closer to the barrel with the false bottom. Mercy felt a subtle change in Erebus’ features. Soft fur was covering his arms. She could see his eyes beginning to glow, reddish-purple in the darkness, and she could just barely see the shape of his conical ears against the light of his eyes. Mercy wanted to tell him not to overreact, that Dr. Appius wouldn’t find them, but she knew better than to speak at all. A whimpering sound could be dismissed as a rat or mouse, but whispering was another matter entirely.
Mercy heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. She tensed, wondering if it was one of Appius’ assistants. Another worry quickly came to mind as well, what if Dr. Appius somehow snuck aboard the ship? He didn’t seem like the sort of man that would hesitate to kill someone in his way. Despite her concerns, she felt confidence from the person approaching, and something about the way he attempted to stifle his emotions was all too familiar.
Pyron said in a furious voice, “Are you satisfied? I told you that I returned the prisoner to her proper owner. If you want to find her again, you can just go through the official channels like everyone else.”
“You say that, and yet this ‘Vesperus’ disappeared shortly after you left. I don’t pretend to know why you would have any interest in a Forest Dweller, but I know that you’re hiding that girl somewhere.”
“And where would I have hidden her? Are you going to look beneath every apple and orange in the hold before you’ll be satisfied? Have you lost your mind?”
“I suspect that there’s a smuggling compartment somewhere in this ship. If you wish for me to get a permit from the dictator himself to search properly, then I will. Or you can just hand her over to me and we’ll call things even. I would hate to delay you from your mission.”
Pyron snapped, “I’ve already talked to the dictator. I went through all of the legal steps to solve the problem with the escaped prisoner. You have no right to be here.”
Dr. Appius began to walk around. She could tell by the footfalls that he was encircling Pyron. “I don’t want to make things difficult for you. You were always the sharpest student at the Academy. Surely, you know how valuable the information we could get from her would be.”
Mercy felt Pyron’s fear again, just barely there like a movement caught from the corner of her eye.
Dr. Appius stopped moving in front of Pyron. “Yes, the Academy. I suppose you haven’t thought about that in a long time, but I remember every single one of my charges. Aren’t you even a little grateful for what I did to your eyes?”
Pyron said in a low voice, “Get off of my ship. If you don’t go willingly, I’ll throw you overboard myself.”
“Be sure to do your very best on your mission from the dictator. I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t have a kind reception when you return. So you’ll need as much credit to your name as you can get.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Take it as you will. But I promise you that I will figure out what you’re hiding, and I will report my findings to the dictator.”
Mercy felt as though a pressure dissipated from the room as Dr. Appius went back up the stairs. Pyron remained in the room, waiting. Mercy glanced at Erebus and saw that one of his ears seemed to have subtly changed direction. It seemed that he was listening for the moment that the doctor got off the ship entirely. The ship began to shift. It seemed that they were getting ready to cast off. As soon as the ship began moving, Pyron walked towards the smuggling compartment.
He lifted the top of the barrel and glared down at them. She didn’t need her gift to see how furious he was, but it made his anger all the more palpable. It made her wish that she could sink through the floor and allow the ocean to swallow her rather than to hear what he had to say. Despite his fury, he took some vitula silk bandages from an inside pocket in his coat and began to treat her injuries, first cleaning and patching the wound on her forehead.
He muttered, “Good. It isn’t as bad as it looked.”
For a moment concern replaced his anger and his voice was gentle as he said, “I have to set that finger. It’s going to hurt. Do you think you can handle it?”
“You should know I’ve had worse.”
He almost smiled and then quickly set the break. She yelped in surprise and pain, but before she could register how much it hurt, he had already splinted the bone into place.
Pyron’s anger returned. “Meet me in the women’s quarters.”
Mercy and Erebus did as they were told. She was glad to be out of the confined space, despite the circumstances. She wanted to ask Pyron about what the doctor was referring to about the Academy and his eyes, but she knew better than that. The discussion with Pyron was going to be difficult enough without her dredging up bad memories for him, so she decided to remain silent and to walk several paces behind him on the way to the her quarters. Both Incenda and Garnet were helping above deck. Mirilee was already inside, followed swiftly by Kylas. As soon as they were all in the room, Pyron slammed the door behind him.
He said in an angry whisper, “All I can say is that you’re lucky that the gods protect fools and children. I didn’t think that you were either, but you’ve proven that I was wrong.”
Mirilee said hotly, “And what is that supposed to mean? You told us that we shouldn’t go into the city, but you didn’t think to tell us why. Was that little detail just not important enough to mention?”
“I expected you all to know that when someone says a place isn’t always friendly to foreigners that if you aren’t citizens you should be more careful than to assume things will be different for you.”
Erebus looked at the floor. “We’re sorry, Pyron. All of us are. We just wanted to see the city, and we didn’t realize what we were getting into…”
Pyron whirled around in his direction. “You’re supposed to protect Mercy, Erebus. I expected better of you.”
“Oh. So is that why you pulled your little trick with Beryl? Because you wanted to punish me? Did you ever think that maybe I felt bad enough?”
“I don’t think you feel anywhere near bad enough. I know what goes on in those prisons. Mercy is lucky that we got there in time.”
Erebus stared defiantly at Pyron for another moment.
“That’s not the reason that you’re mad at me. It’s because you…” Instead of finishing the sentence, Erebus cast his eyes away and quickly looked down at his feet.
Pyron conti
nued as though he hadn’t spoken, “And, Mercy, while I’m glad that you’re okay, I’m disappointed in you in particular. You knew that my people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between you and one of the islanders. Why did you go?”
Mercy said in a choked voice, “I don’t even know anymore.”
Kylas stepped forward. “None of us have a good excuse. We all just wanted off of the boat. We would’ve known better if you told us that the dictator was going to speak.”
Pyron sighed heavily. “I didn’t know. I guess that I keep forgetting how young you are. Despite what your culture says, you’re still children.”
Mirilee snapped, “Maybe in comparison to you. How old are you anyway, in your late thirties?”
“I’m twenty-one, Mirilee.”
Kylas frowned. “Then you have no right to call us children. You’re not that much older than we are.”
“You acted like children, so until you prove to me otherwise, I’m going to treat you as such. Still, if I need you to act with more caution in the future, I’ll be sure to tell you specifically why if you’ll promise me that you’ll listen.”
Mirilee said under her breath, “Agreed.”
Everyone else nodded their heads. With that, Pyron grunted with approval and swept out of the room.
As soon as the sound of his footsteps disappeared entirely, Erebus said, “That little lecture really wasn’t necessary. We all knew that we screwed up. I’m sorry that he said that to you, Mercy. He had no right. You were the one who tried to warn us that it was a bad idea.”
“No. He was right. If I had stayed on the ship, then you two would’ve probably come back sooner without even staying to see Crevane’s speech. Erebus nearly died, we’ve gotten Pyron in trouble, and it’s my fault.”
Kylas raised an eyebrow. “How did we get Pyron in trouble?”
“Dr. Appius was looking for us below deck. He said that he knew that Pyron was hiding me, and that he’s going to find out why and then tell the dictator everything. If he finds out that Pyron let me warn my people about the spies that Dictator Crevane sent after the blood rain…”
Mirilee became pallid. “Oh god. They’ll hang him like they hung those islanders.”
Erebus glared at Mirilee. “Pyron won’t let that happen. He’ll find the traitor to his people and secure an alliance with the North. That should be more than adequate to clear his name, especially since without Mercy he wouldn’t know half of what he does about the beast men’s involvement.”
“But we don’t know that, Erebus. He risked everything to help me. He might be killed because I wasn’t thinking.”
Mirilee sighed, “Mercy, we all weren’t thinking. You don’t have to shoulder the blame for everything.”
Mercy felt as though her back was twitching. She knew that Mirilee was referring to the time that Mercy took the blame for the spies from the Ashen capital coming to her village. Pretending that she betrayed her people was the only way she could think of to make her people temporarily forget their need for revenge against the Blood Wings. It made them focus long enough to realize that making themselves look strong enough to dissuade the Ashen people was more important. Mirilee and Erebus were there when her tribe carved the mark of banishment onto her back.
Mirilee continued, “This is one situation where I’m not going to let you blame yourself. We talked you into going. This is our fault. We didn’t even help you escape. All we did was wait on the ship after we were sure that Pyron would take care of it.”
Mercy sighed. “That was the only thing you could do. I’d just feel better if I could apologize to Pyron. I don’t know how I can make up for this.”
Erebus rolled his eyes. “Pyron will get over it. He likes you, you know. I was going to call him out on it a moment ago.”
Mercy began, “Erebus, you know that…”
“I’m going to go and have another drink. My back is starting to hurt again.”
Mercy frowned at the inflection in his tone, wondering if he meant to make her feel bad for saying what she had about Pyron when he risked his life to save her as well.
Mirilee said as Erebus left the room, “Men. I don’t care what Pyron said, they’re the ones that are children.”
Kylas frowned. “I resent that remark, Mirilee.”
“I don’t think you want to argue that point with me, Kylas. I can think of more than one time when you acted like a child and it got you in trouble.”
Kylas murmured something under his breath but then sighed heavily. Mercy could tell that deep down he believed Mirilee was right.
Mercy groaned. Her head was starting to hurt and she felt exhausted.
“Would you mind if I rested for a bit? I just need some time to think.”
Mirilee nodded. “I understand. I’ll make sure no one disturbs you, especially not Garnet.”
“Thank you, Mirilee. That means a lot.”
Mirilee and Kylas left together, leaving Mercy alone. She had an idea to try to patch things up with Pyron and to thank everyone for helping her. Mercy began to rummage through her bags until she found the one piece of jewelry she possessed. She hid it when she got onboard the ship, afraid that Garnet would take a liking to it and steal it from her. It was a necklace that belonged to her Mother that had charms tied across it in an attractive pattern. It was one of the few objects that the Stealer Wings didn’t take from her when they locked her in the prison cell.
Some of the charms were things that her Mother collected, little carvings made of semi-precious stones. Mercy added to the necklace over the years with things she collected as well. Some were little carvings she made out of bone and some were even shed scales from her pet shimmer-scale glider. When she first went to Concord, she intended to break the necklace apart to barter with the gems, but Pyron had covered all of her expenses. She decided it was time to break it apart now, and to give the charms to the people she cared about. That way, even if they split apart, they would symbolically be bound together.
Mercy remembered what Erebus told her while they were looking at the blood moon together on the beach, “You’re the person holding this group together.”
Mercy thought, “I almost tore us apart today, but I’m going to make up for it.”
Mercy began breaking off the charms and staring at them, trying to figure out which charm was right for which person. Even though Kylas and Mirilee hadn’t been directly responsible for saving her, she wanted them to know that she cared about them as well. She also didn’t want them to think that she was bitter about what happened. Despite what Mirilee said, Mercy wasn’t going to blame them for anything.
There was a tear-shaped shard of desert glass that seemed perfect for Kylas. The desert glass would be a piece of home he could take with him, especially after his banishment. There was a piece of bone that Mercy carved into a render, and that was perfect for Mirilee. Something about Mirilee’s tendency to get into trouble seemed very cat-like. There was an interesting, smooth stone that was carved into a circle with flecks of blue, green, and black that matched Beryl’s eyes and the scales on his tail, so she set it aside for Beryl.
Then it was down to the two most difficult. She wanted something special for Pyron – something that symbolized how grateful she was to him. It would have to be one of the more valuable charms. Metal was highly valued in Mercy’s culture even though it was commonplace in the Ashen capital. There was a small snake charm fashioned out of metal with rubies for its eyes that she decided would be good for Pyron.
Mercy wanted to give Erebus one of the most expensive stones as well, but she kept looking at the purple and light-blue scale that once belonged to her shimmer-scale glider. Even though it wasn’t worth very much by itself, it meant the most to her. The colors on it matched his blue eyes in human form while the purple matched them in beast form. It seemed too perfect, so she set it aside for Erebus. Then she began working to make them into necklaces, using vitula silk and leather to bind them together.
As soon as
she was finished, Mercy went outside to find Pyron. She didn’t have to look very hard. He and Beryl were looking out over the ocean discussing something in low tones. She could feel their nervous energy like static before a storm. When Beryl saw her coming he stopped talking to Pyron, put a hand on his shoulder, and walked in the direction of the captain’s quarters. Mercy slowly approached Pyron. She could feel the remaining worry and anger draining from him into weariness. That was usually a good sign. Anger took a great deal of energy to maintain so it appeared that he would be more inclined to listen to her. She leaned against the side of the ship to his right.
“Pyron, is everything okay?”
Pyron sighed. “Do you really want to know? Mirilee seems to believe I should tell you when something is wrong so that you can prepare for it.”
“Yes. I do want to know.”
“We’re being followed by The Knave.”
Mercy felt a shiver run up her spine. She knew that The Knave was the ship belonging to a traitor among Pyron’s people. Pyron was supposed to kill the captain of the ship if he ran into him on his way to the North. Captain Morrissey believed it was likely they would run across it because The Knave preyed on merchant ships that tended to travel along the same route especially if they were from the Ashen capital.
Mercy said in a concerned whisper, “But we aren’t a trade ship.”
“I think he knows that. My guess is that he probably is on a similar mission as mine from his own people. I don’t know who did it, but the dictator said there was probably an intelligence leak and the traitorous bastard already knows who we are.”
Mercy squinted against the moon’s reflection on the water in the direction that Pyron was looking.
“I don’t see a thing.”