by Thomas Green
“Associate Agent.”
“What does that mean?”
Nancy's blank expression offered no answer.
Luna stepped to her side and put her arm over Nancy’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
Nancy blushed as she kept ironing the uniform. When she was done, Luna removed her tunic and pants and donned the cloth. She closed all the buttons, centered her belt, polished the buckle, slipped on fingerless gloves, and tucked the trousers into her boots. The uniform was loose around her shoulders and too short, but she figured the leather would stretch. Luna arranged her chocolate brown hair into a ponytail, straightened her back and headed out of the cabin, hitting her forehead on the doorframe.
“Careful!” Nancy shouted.
With a stupid grin, Luna went to meet the officer. She found him by the starboard railing at the main deck. Chief Petty Officer Bull was a man with broad shoulders and a square face.
She forced her face into a professional expression, stepped to him, straightened and did the best salute she managed. “Associate Agent Luna, reporting for duty.”
He measured her with an appreciative stare before he reached under his coat to pull out a stack of papers. He looked into them, back at her, back into the documents. “Did you write these?”
“I don’t know, Chief. What do they say?”
He frowned and shuffled through them for a moment before he stopped at a page. “First, you were supposed to join the special forces, which made you the uniform. But then, by the signatures, the great general himself rewrote your assignment, putting you into the navy.”
Luna stared at him, wondering if he was joking. His stern face did not look like it was capable of humor though. “The great general? What does that mean?”
“Not much unless you wanted to quit, because nobody other than him can sign your discharge papers and he isn’t easy to meet.”
Luna gulped, curiosity filling her insides. What did she do for the highest commander of the Palai armies to reassign her himself? She wished someone on the ship knew, but was sure nobody did since the sailors weren’t aware she was there before the ritual ended.
The chief coughed to bring her attention back to him. “Anyway, where have you served?”
“Nowhere, Chief, but my father was a soldier.”
He nodded. “I will make it short then. We are the 47th Company of the 4th Legion of the Holy Order of Palai, and we are led by Lieutenant Redeye. That makes him your commanding officer, with the chain of command above him being Captain Hellwind, Admiral la Grace and the Great General himself.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “That does not fit how I understood the ranks, chief.”
“You are correct, but our company is among the most non-standard ones in the navy.”
“Non-standard, Chief?”
“Within the 4th Legion, we are who the Admiral sends when he needs to get things done. In return, we have a looser regime, non-standard ranks and non-standard members.”
“Like me.”
“You are fine.” He sighed. “At least next to an alchemist, chronicler, herb-girl, and whatever the hell is an arcane geometrist.”
“Okay. Where does that put me in terms of navy ranks?”
“You are at a Junior Petty Officer level. You command no one and answer to me.”
“Yes, Chief.”
He withdrew another stack of parchments from beneath his coat, making Luna wonder how many more he was hiding. He handed them to her. “These are the crew directions and ship regulations. You are to learn them by heart.”
“Thank you, Chief.”
He shook his head. “I will send Daniel to give you the rest of the tour of our vessel and meet you at our compartment for dinner.”
Luna threw the chief a crisp salute, and he left.
The beast huffed into her mind. ‘You’re overdoing it.’
Do you remember the time James told me to put on a uniform and I didn’t close a button on my sleeve? The same time he threw me naked and chained into a hole in the frozen lake and had me step water for four days before I passed out?
‘James isn’t here.’
But I still have his name to live up to. Plus, what would you have me do? I don’t know why I’m here, why I did the ritual thing or who that Miranda person is. But here, I can be useful, and that isn’t something I can say about any other place in the world.
The beast turned silent. She returned to Zakuma for more practice.
***
By the middle of the afternoon, Daniel had arrived with Nancy nipping at his heels, offering to finish the tour of the ship. She followed him, paying little attention to the vessel itself. “I’m curious, how does someone get to chronicle a war campaign?”
He smiled. “I had always liked books and wanted to write one of my own.” Daniel moved his robes, revealing a massive, leather-wrapped tome by his side that hung on a chain thrown over his shoulder. “It’s almost empty now, but I hope to have all pages full by the time the war is over.”
“Couldn’t you write it from reports?”
“That is how it’s usually done, but I wanted to do more. This is the Order’s Holy War, the greatest campaign in its history, and so I wanted to do something befitting the occasion. Plus, I didn’t want to let Nancy go alone.”
Nancy turned red, turning her gaze toward the ground.
Luna arched an eyebrow. “You two knew each other before?”
He nodded. “We grew up in the same orphanage.”
“Aren’t you afraid you will die before you come back?”
“That is true for everyone else in this fleet. I can’t imagine sitting in a temple in Xona and doing nothing while over twenty thousand people are sailing to the other side of the continent to make history.”
“History?”
His eyes turned glazy, distant. “The world has been plagued by demons ever since The Upheaval, and this is the first time in the hundred and sixty years that have passed that someone is trying to change things. And that someone is us.”
Luna relaxed her posture. “It sounds good when you put it like that.”
Nancy chuckled. “That’s how it always is with him. And then comes the preaching.”
“The preaching is at dawn, which you would know if you weren’t skipping on it,” he said, and they all laughed. After finishing the tour, they walked to their company’s sleeping compartment.
Deep within the ship’s bowels, the section designated for their company featured crates used for both chairs and tables, and hammocks hung between the beams supporting the ship. Light shone in through small, circular windows while the air was filled with the stench of sweat and sea. On the crates by the nets, the rest of the company was seated. Luna recognized Chief Bull, and that was it.
As Luna passed him, she measured him with a stare. Tarnished belt buckle, open collar, torn sleeve… James would have him whipped for showing up like this. She greeted him with a sharp salute.
He sighed and shook his head. “At ease.”
Luna sat on a crate where Daniel pointed her to, and Nancy went to grab their dinners.
A tall, lean man took the position next to Bull and eyed Luna with a long stare. “That’s the latest fucking newbie, eh?”
Luna pierced him with a glare. “I heard that.”
He laughed. “Fucking right you fucking did.”
Chief Bull shook his head. “This annoying bastard is Roderick. He’s one of the other founding members of the company.”
“Fucking call me Rod.” He smiled at Luna, his teeth half-replaced by steel ones. “How’d they fucking call ya, Stilts?”
“Luna.”
“Cards?” Rod pulled a deck from beneath his coat and pushed a crate between them.
The beast popped into her mind. ‘Sure’
What? You play cards? Luna nodded. Chief Bull and Daniel moved crates so they could play as well and Rod soon dealt each of them a hand. I think I should ask them for the rules.
‘Don’t. It will look
bad if you do and then win.’
Win?
The beast laughed. ‘Do what I tell you to.’
They all put a small stack of coins before them, except for Luna, because she had none. She threw Daniel a help me glance. He smiled and gave her half of his pile. She gazed at the stack of coins awkwardly because that was way too much to lend to anyone.
Nancy came back, bringing their portions and Rod dealt her a hand. Luna had a raw piece of cod, still bleeding into the tray containing it while the rest had salted pork with a chunk of bread. They played a few rounds as they ate the dinner. Luna was doing what she could not to stain the cards with blood from her cod, but from what she saw from the card game, she did not understand what was happening. Yet as she followed the beast’s advice, she was winning more than she ever thought possible.
After an awful round, Rod slammed his fist onto the table. “Fuck this fucking shit, the fucking newbie’s fucking counting cards!”
Am I?
‘Yes.’
Luna slapped her hand down next to his, the crate cracking beneath the impact. “Me? I would never do that!”
“Take it easy,” a man said in a low voice from the end of the compartment and Rod instantly turned silent, prompting Luna to do the same.
She leaned to Daniel. “Who’s that?”
“Lieutenant Redeye, the left hand of Admiral la Grace, the leader of this company and the de facto captain of this vessel.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “De facto?”
“Due to the Admiral being an honorary position, he is the highest commander of this entire fleet, but also the commander of the 4th Legion and the official captain of this ship.” Daniel grinned. “Which is enough work for three people, so he has delegated the commander duties to his right hand, Captain Hellwind while Lieutenant Redeye inherited the duties of the captain here on Angry Judith.”
Luna measured the lieutenant with a set of sneaky glimpses. He was tall, slim, square-faced, clean-shaven, and his uniform was almost as well arranged as hers. Almost. She turned to Chief Bull. “Isn’t the higher chain of command a touch too thin?”
“Higher positions earn extra bonuses and, well, divorces are expensive, so the admiral is hogging all the titles he can to pay off the debts.” His expression turned wicked. “Which everyone but him expected to happen since his former wife is a lawyer.”
Everyone laughed. They finished the meal, and Luna trotted back to her cabin, wondering what the mischievous smiles on Daniel’s and Nancy’s faces meant. As she walked through the ship, she turned to the beast within. Okay, I give up, how did you learn to that?
‘My previous host loved gambling, and he used me to count cards for him.’
Luna wondered how many hosts Wolfie had before. She quickly decided she did not want to know because the thought alone made her feel like she was a new pair of his shoes. She discovered her cabin’s door open. With an arched eyebrow, Luna peeked in to see the cabin was freshly cleaned while all her belongings were gone. With an angry frown, she walked to the wardrobe and sniffed, catching the scent of her own blood. She followed the trail and found a crate packed with all her things.
Luna grabbed the package and trotted back to the compartment of the 47th Company where all the hundred men of their company were to sleep with the lieutenant being the only one with private space. Nancy and Daniel welcomed her with devilish smiles. As she approached, they motioned to an empty hammock strung between two support beams.
She raised an eyebrow.
Nancy formed an awkward smile. “Since you have recovered your abilities, you will sleep with us from now on. Sorry.”
I liked my cabin! Luna swallowed the waterfall of curses that flowed into her mouth and said, “it’s fine.” She patted Nancy’s hair, making her blush. Luna dropped her crate and sprung into her hammock, hitting the ceiling with her head during the move. In their own hammocks, behind her slept Chief Bull while the one in front of her belonged to Daniel.
He wasn’t sleeping, however, for Daniel kept sitting on a smaller crate while using another one for a table. By a lone candle, focused, he was writing into the book with a quill drenched in ink.
Luna smiled as she watched him write while trying to find a comfortable position in the hammock. The stench of sweat annoyed her, but the company of so many people was new to her. Fresh and intoxicating since nobody pointed at her, avoided her or recoiled from her. Everyone treated her as if she was normal, like she was a part of the unit like she belonged there. As she hoped this new feeling would last, she fell asleep happier than she ever remembered being.
4
Zerae
Zerae Hellwind grabbed her cup and took a sip. The tea may have been cold, but its strong, bitter taste was the one thing she craved. Her office atop the highest tower of Voidspire wasn’t spacious, yet a quick glance over the endless stacks of books and parchments that besieged the place convinced her a larger chamber would suffer the same fate.
Three taps onto the door disturbed her from the moment of bliss. Swallowing the curse that rolled onto her tongue, Zerae put the cup down among the parchments dominating her table. “What is it, Patricia?”
“The matrons are holding an emergency meeting, War Leader,” her assistant shouted through the door.
“Any intel on what it’s about?”
“No, but a woman in blue robes landed a huge griffin on the main square.”
Zerae spat out the tea. What the hell is Kayleanne doing here? She sprung to her feet and stormed out, almost knocking aside the small-framed, black-haired girl. Zerae threw Patricia a glance over her shoulder. “Brew me fresh tea for when I return.”
Patricia bowed. “Yes, War Leader.”
The steps of her high, platformed boots echoed through the tower as Zerae descended the stone spiral of stairs. The last time Kayleanne visited her city, the result was a decade of skirmishes against and hundreds of her people, the Sil Haen, dying. She never brought good fortune, and Zerae had no doubt this time would be the same. She hoped the visit wouldn’t turn into a fight because she was not dressed for that and her strongest warrior was away. After crossing a short corridor, she entered the Hall of the Council.
As she was the first to arrive, Zerae peered over the lavishly decorated, circular hall. The golden symbol of the Faceless Goddess shone in the afternoon sun invading through the window in the ceiling. Beneath, the golden throne of the Goddess stood empty, as it had ever since its creation. Below the seat for the Goddess sat the three thrones of the matrons of the Sil Haen clans while a row below was her place. Straight in the middle, under the seats of the matrons, for the position of the War Leader, the highest military commander of Sil Haen, was hers and hers alone.
She descended upon the chair and glanced over the empty hall. Her eyes rested on the ever-lush tree at the center, the Tree of Law, on which hung hundreds of parchments, each containing one law of Sil Haen.
The door by the side opened, and the matron’s guards rushed in before the matrons themselves entered. As the custom dictated, the first to take her seat was Karmen Voidwalker, the oldest living Sil Haen, the head of the council, who used a cane to help herself walk while trying to hide it among her purple robes.
The second was Mathilde Hellwind, the founder of the Hellwind Clan, Zerae’s mother, a middle-aged lady in a dashing red-black gown. The last of the matrons was Elaine Darkscream, wearing full plate armor painted raven black, which matched her makeup and hair while she carried a massive poleaxe over her shoulder.
Zerae ignored her mother’s annoyed gaze at seeing her already seated and waited for the audience to begin. Soon enough, the champions of the other clans, Sibyl Voidwalker, and Claire Darkscream filled the seats to Zerae’s sides, and the main door of the Hall of the Council opened.
Through it entered Kayleanne, wearing long sapphire robes that matched her eyes, her straw-like hair arranged into an elaborate hairstyle and her steel heels clanging on the stone floor. She carried a sharp smile on her even
sharper face and did not bow.
Zerae inspected her. While the demon princess wore armor beneath the robes, the shoes were not intended for combat. She had come to negotiate, which in her case, was always the worse option because Kayleanne was insufferably good at getting what she wanted.
Karmen Voidwalker peered down at her. “You had asked us for an audience, so now I believe would be the proper time to reveal why, Lady Kayleanne.”
With playfulness in her step, Kayleanne walked through the room, gazing at the empty golden throne. “I see the search for your Goddess is not going as planned.”
Mathilde sneered. “Have you come here to taunt us?”
“Maybe…” Kayleanne stretched her neck. “I will be blunt. You have been searching for your Goddess for what, a century? I heard you put an actual force into the search only two years ago, but you need to face the facts. Your civilization counts fourteen thousand people, so you do not have the means to find a divine being.”
Mathilde arched her eyebrow. “And I suppose you are here to offer us your help.”
“Something along those lines. There is a man who has a compass that can take you to your Goddess, provided you know where to start, and I also know what he would want to hand it over.”
A murmur echoed through the Hall of the Council.
Mathilde raised her voice to silence it. “How can we verify you aren’t lying to us?”
“You don’t, but feel free to spend the rest of your lives combing through highlands and jungles. In case you decide to stop failing and do something for your Goddess, rather than just talk about it, I will need two things for my assistance.”
“Speak.”
“First, I need an investigation team, because someone has been killing my demons en masse. I used to think it was Ebilezerhar and his snakes, but the scale has grown too large for me to stay complacent. Second, I need a part of your force, say a thousand warriors with flying mounts, to patrol the Frozen Heights together with my forces.”
Zerae clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms. This was a trap. As Kayleanne put it, the tasks would be trivial, but she wouldn’t have come here without her being threatened. And whoever could threaten the demon princess was a mortal threat to their entire civilization. “Pray share with us, Lady Kayleanne, for what would the patrols in the Frozen Heights search?”