Phoenix Heart: Episode Two: Secret Keeper

by Sarah K. L. Wilson

  “She’s voiceless,” Mally said from beside me and I almost sagged with relief at her help. There was never any guarantee with her. She might help you when you needed it – or she might not, and I could never figure out which path she’d take until she took it. “She won’t be able to answer your questions.”

  “Is that so?” the man said. I could just see over his shoulder that his whole crew was looking at us, peering around each other to get an eyeful. “And why are you sailing with a mortally injured ropeworker and a voiceless girl, pretty, pretty maid?”

  He didn’t look at Mally when he said that. His eyes were still on mine. I gritted my teeth. Raiders killed my parents. Raiders were what haunted my nightmares. But I didn’t dare let him see that in my eyes. I knew what anger could do to you. Even the kind that roared through Kazmerev in waves of grieving. It could burn your strength of mind away and leave you hollow.

  “She’s who the ropeworker was looking for,” Mally said casually. “He called her ‘ai’sletta.’ Whatever that means. But she can’t go with him alone. She needs someone to interpret her hand signs and that’s me.”

  My stomach dropped.

  Well, I thought she had decided to help. It turned out she was helping herself – shifting any suspicion or concern in my direction instead of hers. Great. Now they really wouldn’t let me help Judicus – not if they thought I was valuable in some way. And they thought I was the one they came searching for. What would they do to me now?

  I shook my head, heart racing and the raider holding me grabbed my shirtfront and shook me.

  “Do you deny it?” he asked.

  I nodded firmly.

  The raider glanced aside and I followed his gaze to Judicus on the deck. His face was ghostly pale and the spot of blood on his side was growing.

  “Why else would he be fleeing on a fishing boat in the middle of the night?” Mally asked. “Why would he be so desperate that he’d sail right into the middle of all your ships.”

  She gestured and I followed the line of her hand to see what she was pointing at.

  In the cloak of night and fog, we’d sailed right into the middle of a group of raider boats at anchor. Now that the fog was clearing, I could count six masts emerging from the mist. Great. Just great. Even if we could somehow get away from this one, there were five others to chase us down and snatch us up.

  I clenched my jaw and my fists. This was not a time to surrender or lose hope.

  “He’s not much of a sailor,” the raider laughed, his accent so thick that I nearly missed his words. His crew’s snickers filled the air as I risked another glance in Judicus’s direction. He’d likely torn his stitches. Hopefully, he hadn’t done worse damage than that.

  Stupid, stupid, Sersha.

  I should have found some way to stop Mally from sailing us here. I should have jumped on her and overpowered her. It had just felt like such an overreaction at the time. But now, what was I going to do to help Judicus and to get us out of this mess? Especially now that we had been captured by the very people we were fleeing.

  I was so used to just going along with people that even contradicting them felt like a big statement. It had never occurred to me to take back control and force Mally to do things my way. And now I was seeing what all my politeness had earned me.

  The man holding my wrist and chin seemed to be considering Mally’s words. It was hard to tell with his face covered, but his eyes flicked back and forth between us.

  “Put them in the bow and tie them securely. We’ll make for Finger Point and see if the mistress likes their story.”

  “And the village?” a voice asked.

  “We have no other business there if the ones we seek are already aboard,” the gravelly-voiced raider said. “Signal the others to lift anchor. We’ll set a course and be on our way.”

  I caught Mally’s eye, and she winked as if to tell me not to spoil her ruse – which was crazy because if I could have denied what she was saying any more firmly, I already would have. No one was going to listen to me. They never did.

  “Tie the ai’sletta extra tightly,” the raider said. “If we return without her, we don’t get paid.”

  Great. Just great.

  Chapter Nine

  They tied my hands in front of me – very tightly, as if they thought I’d be able to slip away at a moment’s notice. I schooled my face to acceptance, forcing my frustration away. I’d had a few moments of self-pity, but I couldn’t stay there. That wouldn’t help anyone.

  I wished I had my hands, not just to check Judicus’s wounds but also to scold Mally for first of all getting us into this situation and second of all for placing the entire blame of it on me. But maybe it was better that I couldn’t do that right now. Better to get a hold of myself. Things could be worse. We could have gone down with our boat.

  “We’ll need supplies to bandage him again,” Mally told our captors, pointing to where I was trying to tend Judicus’s wound. One of his stitches had come free and the healing skin had split open again, leaking blood. Without bandages or supplies, it was going to be hard to stitch him. I shot Mally a sour look – I hadn’t entirely mastered calm yet. She returned it with complete innocence. “Isn’t that what you want Sersha?”

  Of course, it was what I wanted, but I just shook my head. Calm. Sersha. Calm. Get control of your frustration.

  “Thank you,” Mally told the raider when he returned. “Do you ever take that scarf down?”

  “No,” the raider said shortly, shoving the bandages at me. Clearly, he knew who was really doing the work.

  “Not even for a little while?” she asked and when he stomped away, she snickered. “See, Sersha? They’re easy. Let them think you’re an idiot and they won’t pay any attention to you at all.”

  I wanted to tell her that playing with raiders wasn’t going to get her in my good books. I wanted to tell her I was worried about Judicus – that it wasn’t good for his healing to be on this adventure. I wanted to tell her that she should have listened to me when I tried to convince her that sailing south was a bad idea.

  I glanced up and found her looking out across the bow and into the wind, her jaw jutting out and her tied hands clasped together. She looked upset. Not just angry or irritated but genuinely afraid.

  Even if I hadn’t been voiceless, I would have swallowed all my words at that look. We were all human. We all made mistakes.

  I sighed and went back to work binding Judicus’s wounds. I managed to stop his bleeding and get everything clean and rebandaged, even with my hands bound, and by the time I was done I was exhausted. I slumped down beside him and looked around us.

  The raiders had dumped us in the bow of their small sailing ship. They’d left one raider to guard us, but he was keeping his distance. The rest worked busily around the boat.

  The boat they held us on was in the lead with the others following close behind through the last scraps of mist. A crosswind was picking up, blowing the sea into a frenzy and smashing the starboard side of our boat with wave upon frothy wave. White spray flew through the air keeping us constantly damp and the scent of salt was heavy in the air. Almost, I was glad we’d been caught by the raiders. If we’d stayed in the fishing boat, it would be swamped by now.

  Almost.

  Mally gave up on looking noble and brave and came to squat with me over Judicus’s unconscious body.

  “What I think we both need to know,” she said, “is what the ai’sletta is supposed to be and why everyone wants her so badly.”

  I gave her a dry look.

  “Well, I’d say it was me that needed to know,” she whispered unapologetically, “but now that I’ve told everyone that you’re her, I think you’ll need to know what they expect. I can’t quite tell if the raiders came because they want her dead or because they want to make her their queen.”

  I gave her a second dry look. She was getting good at interpreting those.

  “And yes,” she whispered with a smirk. “If the queen thing is
real, I’ll be taking that back.”

  I hesitated a moment before nodding my agreement. I hated to admit it, but she was right. We needed to know that. As soon as possible. Really, we should have pressed Judicus for details earlier but the whole part about saving the town from another raid had seemed more urgent.

  We’d accomplished that, at least. These raiders were sailing in the exact opposite direction. Landsfall would be safe from raids. They’d have time to rebuild. Our family would be safe.

  If we’d headed north, all these ships would have had to go past – or even through – Landsfall. I looked at the rising light in the distance and tried very hard not to imagine what would have come next.

  I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but maybe Mally’s mistake hadn’t been a total disaster.

  “See? My choice wasn’t a total disaster,” she said, smiling out across the ocean as if she could read my mind.

  I bit my lip, willing myself to calm again.

  “We’re leading them away from the family. And Tyndale. You keep thinking it was so easy for me to leave him behind, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t.”

  I felt my eyebrows rising. I really had thought it was easy for her to leave him behind. She had acted like she didn’t care. The glassiness to her gaze now said otherwise.

  “And I took a knife off that raider when I was asking him about his scarf, so I can cut these bonds and we can all run – as soon as Judicus wakes up,” she said easily.

  My eyes widened and she smirked. “What?”

  So – she hadn’t just been toying with him. She’d lifted a knife somehow without being noticed. That was impressive. I’d always thought my cousin was an expert at stirring up trouble. But where had she learned the skills for it?

  At midday, they offered us flatbread and water. Judicus still hadn’t woken. I tried to keep him sheltered from the worst of the sun, but there wasn’t much I could do. His body was worn out and the magic he’d used had drained him. He’d wake when he was ready.

  But I couldn’t help the lump of worry growing in my throat. We were in a lot of trouble. Escape – even with that knife – was unlikely. And judging by how the raiders were talking, they planned to bring us to someone even worse than they were.

  They flowed from job to job around the boat, never showing their faces, never removing their hot black clothing, speaking often in their clipped, harsh language. I watched them, hoping they’d show some opening, but there was nothing.

  My only hope was that the sun would set and Kazmerev would have a good idea – because right now, I didn’t have any of my own.

  In the distance, a settlement appeared along the shore. Our ship changed tack, angling toward it, and I bit my lip. Settlements meant more guards and prisons with locks. This was not good for us.

  A tear began to form in my eye when I heard someone whisper my name almost inaudibly.

  “Sersha?”

  It was Judicus.

  Chapter Ten

  “Shh,” Mally said, lying down on the deck beside him. “Sersha, you stay up where you can see and watch.”

  It was good advice. She could say more than I could with my nods and the limited signs I could use with my hands bound. I knelt in front of them, appearing to look out over the sea, but just blocking them from view.

  “Now, listen up, dark and mysterious stranger,” Mally whispered.

  “You know perfectly well that my name is Judicus Franzer Irault.” His voice was weak and irritable.

  “Fine, Judicus Franzer Irault,” Mally whispered. “While you’re awake we need to discuss something.”

  “Yes. Like why you sailed us into a cluster of enemy ships. Have you betrayed us, ai’sletta?”

  “That. That’s what we need to discuss,” Mally said, and her tone said she’d take no nonsense. “What is an ai’sletta and what do people expect from her? These raiders are taking us to someone. I don’t know who. And that someone is going to have expectations for Sersha. We need to know what they are.”

  “Sersha? Why would they ... wait. You told them she was the ai’sletta.” He ran a hand over his face and froze, clearly in pain from the movement. I leaned over to tug his hand back down and shook my head. He needed to keep the arm still so the wound could heal again.

  I glanced behind me and saw one of the raiders watching us with steely eyes. The leader. I didn’t like how his eyes stayed locked on mine while Mally and Judicus continued whispering. What did they want with the ai’sletta?

  “Mally.” Judicus’s voice was tight. “Please take this kindly, as it is intended.” And then his voice became more fierce. “But for the love of my sanity, would you please stop running off and dragging us all with you? You are more trouble than a wolf pup pet.”

  Mally was ominously silent for a moment. I tried to indicate with my eyes that she really needed to agree, but then I was afraid the leader would notice, and I had to look over my shoulder again to make sure he wasn’t coming.

  No sign of it yet. The raiders were occupied quickly trimming sail and manning the rudder. They were far more adept at this than Mally had been and the boat flew over the water like Kazmerev in the sky, barely slapping the peaks of the waves despite the strong wind picking up and snatching sound in ragged tatters.

  “I will consider it,” Mally said eventually, her words half lost to the wind.

  Judicus seemed to sag with relief. I strained my ears trying to hear what he said next. “Look, the ai’sletta is important. For a lot of reasons. Ai’sletta means Chosen One.”

  “Chosen for what?” Mally didn’t sound like she knew whether she liked that or not.

  “Well, that’s the thing,” he said, looking a little abashed. “Well, the ai’sletta was foretold a thousand years ago and when she first came, she destroyed the nations of Valetio and Cassavara and set up the nation-state of Calicarn. Which is where I am from, incidentally.”

  “So why are you looking for a woman who is dead and gone?” Mally whispered.

  “Because a new ai’sletta has the potential to be born every generation through the same bloodlines. But you know how bloodlines can be – tricky. It’s hard to keep track of exactly everyone who might be genetically descended from someone, so every five years, Calicarn rounds up our best and brightest to go looking. The last time we found one was forty years ago.”

  “And you didn’t think to keep track of her descendants?” Mally scoffed. I barely heard more than “descendants,” so I was surprised when Judicus answered.

  “Of course, they did,” he said. “But any descendant of the original ai’sletta could be the one. So, you have to be good at genealogies and maps and guessing and remembering weird little bits of history. Which is why we don’t find the ai’sletta very often.”

  I wanted to know what happened to the last ai’sletta. I nudged Mally and she looked at me quizzically. I tried to sign but my hands were too limited. At least Mally was clever. She figured it out anyway.

  “What happened to the one found forty years ago?” she asked.

  If anything, Judicus turned a brighter red. “Well, we aren’t the only ones looking for her.”

  “Who else is looking?” Mally asked.

  His whisper was so faint, I could barely make it out. “The Hand of Rats.”

  “And who are they?” Mally prompted. She was much less patient than I was.

  I looked around, but none of the raiders appeared to be watching us. If they could hear us, I couldn’t tell.

  “Traditionally, they keep their faces covered when they are away from their homelands, so the demons don’t see their faces and trick them into hell after they depart this life.”

  So, the raiders really were after Mally. The boat shook suddenly, in the grip of a massive wave. It felt like it was punctuating his words. I glanced out across the water and saw the raiders on the other boats struggling to keep their courses. In the distance, heavy breakers pounded the shore.

  I swallowed.

  But Mally snickered in re
sponse. “Really? Demons?”

  Judicus hadn’t answered her question, but Mally was too busy sitting up so she could look around at our captors to realize that. She had a speculative look on her face. I knew she was wondering what they looked like without the scarves and if they really were afraid to show their faces.

  I nudged her.

  “What?” she asked.

  I raised my eyebrows.

  “Oh, yes.” She turned back to Judicus. “Sersha wants to know what happened to that woman.”

  “They found her first,” he said, his eyes meeting mine. He was too pale, pain and weariness grinding him down, but there was more than that in his eyes. He shook his head slightly as if asking me not to press. But we both needed to hear this.

  I poked Mally again.

  “That’s not an answer, skinny boy,” Mally said, acting flippantly, as she always did when she was scared.

  His whisper was so quiet we had to make him repeat himself but, eventually, we caught the edges of it.

  “They killed her,” he said at the same time a massive wave hit again and shook our boat like a rug being cleaned.

  Well, that was great. Just great. No wonder they were all looking at me in between battling this angry wind. They were wondering what size of hole they’d need to dig for my grave.

  Chapter Eleven

  They killed her.

  The words kept echoing in my head as the settlement on the edge of the coast came into view. I’d thought it was a village at first, but the light refracting off the water had played tricks with my eyes.

  What we were seeing was a group of large tents and enough raiders around them to double what we had on the boats. As we drew closer, I could make them out working around the camp like a hill of ants. Some were bringing in wood for the fires while others were preparing food, mending gear, and doing some small smith work – and all with their faces bound up in thick cloth. It made them a fearsome sight and it made my stomach dip and roll. How did you relate to people with covered faces? How did you know what they really meant when they spoke?