Treasure and Treason

by Lisa Shearin

  With Phaelan standing solidly at the wheel, the Kraken lifted herself into the wave, seemingly trying against all odds to preserve herself, to save her crew.

  She nearly succeeded.

  The ship crested the wave, impossibly high. We were in the sky, the realm of sentry dragons, not ships of the sea. But as quickly as we had climbed and crested, the sea that had carried us up abandoned us, and our world pitched backward.

  Screams rent the air as the wind tore hands and bodies from the ropes and rails that were their sole link to this life. The sea, mercilessly manipulated to be the Khrynsani’s instrument of death, turned against those it had gently carried only minutes before. This wasn’t fate, it wasn’t bad luck. This was murder—premeditated, calculated, pure evil murder. As the wind and water tried to wrench my arms from their sockets, I swore that if I somehow survived, I would not stop until I had those responsible dead at my feet.

  The Kraken had been left hanging in the air for an impossibly long moment before plunging down the back side, her stern pointed straight down, falling backward into the sea.

  This was it. This was how I would die, how we would all die. I’d taken what would be my final breath before the sea would close over us.

  The Kraken’s stern plunged underwater, immediately followed by the rest of her. I instinctively closed my eyes and held my breath, not knowing how we could possibly make it back to the surface, and an instant later knowing with absolute certainly that we were doomed.

  Just as my lungs burned white hot and I couldn’t hold my breath any longer, the deck was again beneath my feet, as the ship shot back to the surface.

  I swallowed lungfuls of air, seconds before expecting nothing but water, greedily gulping with ragged breaths. I quickly looked around the deck. Some had been lost. Many had survived. And against all odds, Phaelan was still at the wheel, and gave a whoop of pure joy at being alive.

  I hoped Sandrina was watching.

  These goblins and elves die hard, you bitch.

  Then I saw it, a wave even taller than the last. Impossibly tall. The sea was shallow here, the volume of water it took to create that monster had stolen the water from the backside of that wave, so that as we crested, I could see the rocks beneath the surface.

  The water was too shallow. We would never survive the impact. The Kraken would be dashed to bits and us along with her.

  I heard a voice cutting through the wind.

  Imperious and commanding, ordering the earth beneath that wave to do her will.

  Agata Azul.

  At the bow.

  Soaked, bleeding, defiant.

  And at her side was Talon, with Indigo, the little firedrake that had befriended him clinging to his shoulder.

  Agata’s hands had a death grip on the railing just behind the Kraken’s figurehead. Talon had one arm around her waist, helping her remain upright, his other hand clutching the same section of railing.

  It was earth magic—raw, primal, and unbelievably strong, even for a mage of Agata’s ability.

  It was Talon. He was the source of that additional power. His voice carried to me on the wind, a song of strength and resilience, of an undaunted spirit and will. He was sharing his power with Agata. Together they were attempting to counter the wild magic and calm the earth that had been awakened by the Heart of Nidaar itself.

  And they were winning. The power rolling from them rivaled the strength of those trying to destroy us.

  Agata Azul and my son were doing the impossible.

  So instead of diving bow first and being dashed to pieces on the rocks waiting below, the Kraken was dropping, the seas spreading out beneath us.

  As the seas calmed, the skies inexplicably began to clear.

  And as the water fell, so did Agata and Talon. Her hands lost their grip on the rail. Talon attempted to catch her, but his strength was failing, too. They both fell to their knees and slumped to the deck.

  The ship was still tossing, but I let go of the lines and unhooked the harness that had saved my life and ran to the bow, to my son and the gem mage who had saved all of our lives. Backwash from the wave broke across the bow as the ship lurched to one side, partially submerging the bow and taking Agata’s unconscious body with it.

  I ran as fast as I could across the still-tossing deck, jumping and dodging broken spars and debris to reach her and Talon before he was washed overboard as well. I was almost there when the deck pitched and Agata was swept over the side. Heavy lines were wrapped around one of Talon’s legs. He wasn’t going anywhere and was safe for now. I threw myself across the tangle of downed lines, trying to grab Agata’s boot.

  I grabbed and missed.

  I kicked clear of the lines that’d tangled around my boot to dive in after her.

  Agata popped to the surface, coughing.

  I lunged for her, but a wave swept Agata up and away from my outstretched arms.

  Talon’s drake flew shrieking over the spot where Agata had gone down.

  Then Jash was there, tossing me a line. I tied it off to the harness I still wore.

  “Anchor me,” I yelled over the wind, trusting Jash to hold on.

  The ship began to rise with another wave. It wasn’t tall enough to swamp a ship, but it was more than enough to drown Agata.

  If I didn’t get ahold of her this time, she’d be swept away.

  The wave began lifting the bow, pulling Agata away.

  I swam to reach her and got my arm around her chest, pulling her close to keep her head above water. Another wave came, but instead of pulling us under, it carried us further from the ship. I was a strong swimmer, but between the waves and our soaked clothes, it was all I could do to keep us from going under.

  Agata had been underwater for less than a minute, but she was unconscious. Conscious, she would have held her breath. Unconscious, and with the water churning, her lungs could have filled with water.

  The backside of the wave pushed us both under, tugging at me, pulling me.

  Not under, but toward the ship.

  Jash, Talon, and Kesyn were reeling us in.

  They hauled us over the side, where we landed in a sodden heap.

  I coughed and sputtered.

  Agata rolled over and threw up the seawater she’d swallowed.

  On Kesyn’s boots.

  I continued to suck air into my lungs as I managed to raise my head.

  Anything that could’ve broken loose had. Lines, rigging, and sails covered the deck as Phaelan shouted orders and the crew scrambled to comply. Amazingly, the masts were still intact. What sails hadn’t been lowered before the magic-spawned storm hit had been torn, many hanging in tatters.

  Agata weakly raised her head and tried to speak.

  “Breathe now,” I told her. “Talk later.”

  Agata and Talon had successfully counteracted who or whatever had activated the Heart of Nidaar.

  We all were definitely going to have a talk about that.

  Chapter 40

  “I don’t know,” Talon said for the third time. “I know I’m not a weather wizard, and I don’t know why or how the storm went away at the same time the earthquake stopped. I know I’ve done some unexplainable things in the past, but this time I was only there for the assist. You’ll have to ask sleeping beauty over there when she wakes up.”

  And I fully intended to. Not that I had any problem with what Agata had done. If it hadn’t been for her, with Talon’s backup, none of us would be alive right now. It appeared to me that Agata Azul had turned aside the power of the Heart of Nidaar. What I had witnessed wasn’t a simple deflection, not that magic of that magnitude could ever be called simple. Agata had recognized precisely what was being done, and had used her skill and power along with Talon’s strength to make it stop.

  Was the attack on us the Cha’Nidaar defending their land from potential invaders, or was the Heart of Nidaar once again in the hands of Khrynsani dark mages? We didn’t know. Yet. We would be going inland, finding the city and the st
one, and determining the situation we had on our hands. If Agata Azul could somehow manipulate or counteract the effects of the Heart of Nidaar, I needed to know how she had done it—and could she do it again if our team came under attack.

  My head was still throbbing, and that Talon was as much at a loss as I was as to how he and Agata had stopped an earthquake and a deadly storm wasn’t making it any better.

  I massaged my temples. It hurt, so I stopped.

  Miraculously, the Kraken hadn’t sunk. I wondered if Agata and Talon had had a hand in that as well. I squeezed my eyes shut at another stab of pain. One new unexplained and inexplicable talent at a time.

  We’d brought Agata into the captain’s cabin. Our cabin had windows, hers did not. She and Talon both needed fresh air. A second cot had been brought in for Talon. Both he and Agata were propped up on pillows and bundled in blankets.

  The ship’s doctor had checked Talon and Agata out and deemed them alive and very likely to remain that way. There was still the concern of pneumonia from all the seawater Agata had taken into her lungs, but we were doing what we could about that—keep her warm and dry, and watch her closely for the next day or two.

  The other two ships had sustained only slightly less damage than the Kraken. We were all afloat, but none of us would be leaving Aquas anytime soon. We were moored in the harbor and repairs—to both crew and ships—were underway.

  Phaelan had been leading the way into the harbor, and the Kraken had borne the brunt of the storm’s fury. The Raven and Sea Wolf had been caught on the periphery, and they had witnessed what had happened to the Kraken. They had seen us go under and the waves calm as quickly as they’d arisen.

  Kesyn came in and closed the cabin door quietly behind him. “How is she?”

  “Same as before,” I said.

  Kesyn brought a chair next to Agata’s cot and sat down. “Don’t let that she hasn’t woken up yet worry you. Aggie did some heavy lifting; she’ll need to sleep it off. And when she does, you’ll get the answers to your questions.”

  “Am I that obvious?”

  “You’re about to pace a rut in the deck.”

  A sigh came from beneath Agata’s blankets. “And what questions would those be?”

  Kesyn smiled. “Hey, Aggie girl. How do you feel?”

  “How do I look?” she asked flatly.

  “You’ve looked better.”

  “Then I feel worse.” She struggled to sit up.

  “Aggie, you shouldn’t—”

  She silenced Kesyn with a glare and fluffed her pillows at her back, though it was more of a punch than a fluff.

  I held back a smile. The doctor was right. Agata Azul was going to be just fine.

  “What’s happened since I’ve been out?” she asked us.

  We told her.

  When we’d finished, Agata turned to Talon with a crooked grin. “We do good work.”

  Talon met her grin and raised his mug of hot tea in salute. “We’re a fine team.”

  She turned to me. “Thank you all—and Jash—for saving my life.”

  I inclined my head. “Thank you—and Talon—for saving all of us. We’ve determined, more or less, that the storm was Khrynsani or Sythsaurian weather magic. How did you stop it?”

  “We didn’t,” Agata replied.

  “It dissipated at the same time as the wave.”

  “It was no doing of mine.”

  “Told you so,” Talon chimed in.

  “Was that earthquake caused by the Heart of Nidaar?” I asked.

  “It was,” Agata replied.

  “Do you know who activated the stone?”

  “I didn’t sense any malevolent intent behind the power, or intent of any kind,” she said.

  Kesyn leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. “I’ve never heard of a stone of power acting alone.”

  I frowned. “They don’t.”

  “I didn’t say it had,” Agata said. “I said I didn’t sense anyone at the controls. They could have warded themselves against detection, or the power of the Heart could have blocked their presence.” She smiled weakly. “It was a massive amount of power. Knowing who activated it would be like trying to see an ant on the ground behind an avalanche.”

  “It could be the Cha’Nidaar themselves,” I said. “They’ve had goblins land on their shores before. Perhaps this time they took decisive action before we got any closer. To tell you the truth, knowing what’s at stake, I almost don’t blame them. When the Khrynsani used the Heart, they laid waste to hundreds of miles of coastline. This time, the Cha’Nidaar’s land wasn’t affected, only the sea beneath our ships.”

  “It stands to reason that they’d have better aim with their own stone than the Khrynsani,” Talon noted.

  Kesyn leaned back in his chair. “Well, whoever it was that had their hands on that rock, they didn’t count on the two of you.”

  “Whoever summoned that storm or activated the Heart knew exactly where we were,” I told them all. “We’re being tracked.”

  Agata’s hand went to the pendant with its piece of the Heart. “I need this to find Nidaar and the Heart, and to do that it can’t be warded.”

  “I know.”

  Agata gave me a tired, little smile. “Well, Tam, that leaves us with no alternative but to work with the circumstances we are given.”

  “You called me Tam.”

  Agata snuggled down into her blankets. “And now I’m telling you I need some more sleep.” Her voice was soft and drowsy. “We’ve got a long trip ahead of us.”

  There was a quiet knock at the door. It opened and Phaelan stuck his head around the corner. “I came to check on our dynamic duo,” he whispered.

  Talon sat up and flashed a grin, likewise keeping his voice down. “I’m alive, Agata’s been awake and talking, and unless we get an ocean dumped on us again, we’re both likely to stay that way.”

  The elf pirate gave Talon a double thumbs-up. “Badass work.”

  Talon flashed a grin. “Thank you. We were just both too pretty to die on this ship.”

  Phaelan snorted a laugh. “At least that’s true for one of you. Convey my regards to the lady.”

  “You’re welcome,” Agata mumbled from under her blankets. “You men chatter worse than a flock of magpies. What does a woman have to do to get any sleep around here?”

  *

  We had survived.

  I had no way of knowing if whoever had unleashed the power of the Heart of Nidaar on us knew this. As long as we remained in one place, they might assume we were dead or beyond any chance of continuing our search. I also didn’t know if they would dispatch a search team to ensure that if we were alive, that it wouldn’t be for long. For now, we had warded Agata’s pendant and my ring. She needed the rest, and we didn’t need that rest interrupted. We had been moored in the harbor for a day. The team would leave tonight to go inland.

  Speed was critical, especially now that the element of surprise was no longer ours.

  *

  We’d be taking the three sentry dragons with us. With the probability of the Heart of Nidaar being in the hands of an enemy, whoever that might be, it was imperative that we reach Nidaar as quickly as possible. Agata was up and walking, but despite her protestations to the contrary, she wasn’t up to a four-day trek through desert and rocky terrain.

  The crews could protect themselves against mundane threats. If mages like those who had conjured the ghost ships and those waves struck while we were gone…

  We had no choice. I had no choice.

  The only way any of us would survive would be to get to Nidaar and secure the Heart at any cost. It would cost us; of that I was certain.

  The plan had been for Kesyn and Talon to wait with the ships for our return from Nidaar.

  The plan also had me checking in with Regor and the Isle of Mid before we left to go inland.

  Both plans had been sunk as thoroughly as the Kraken nearly had been.

  All three of the crystal balls used
for communication had been either cracked or shattered outright as a result of the storm and the waves. All three being destroyed could either be incredibly bad luck, or they could have been specific targets taken out while we had all been distracted by trying to stay alive. Regardless, contacting anyone for help was beyond our ability, at least for now. None of the ship’s telepaths had ever communicated to the other side of the world, which was exactly where we were. They were working on consolidating their powers to magnify the signal and possibly reach Regor that way.

  Agata Azul had counteracted the earthquake and subsequent giant wave caused by the Heart of Nidaar with only her skill and the connection to the Heart through the pendant she wore around her neck.

  Talon had summoned a vast amount of strength and had loaned it to Agata. Together they had battled and subdued a force of nature.

  We might need that power again to reach Nidaar alive.

  Any of us who weren’t actively engaged in ship repair were on the rocky beach and out of the way.

  Talon was standing next to me.

  “The plan was to leave you here with the ships until we returned,” I told him.

  “I take it that plan has changed?”

  “It has, but I need something from you first.”

  “My assurance that I’ll behave myself and follow orders?”

  “That would be it.”

  He looked around, taking in the destruction, the death caused by the Heart of Nidaar. “I felt what Agata did and what we were up against. All I was able to do was lend her as much power as I could call up. I would have been worthless otherwise.”

  “I wouldn’t say worthless, merely inexperienced in that type of magic.”

  “I felt so small, so insignificant compared to what was coming at us. The Heart made those cliffs we were nearly crushed against. I’m not qualified for this.”