by Jasmine Walt
A faint tearing sound raised my hackles in alarm. Frantic, I peered through the rain and wind just in time to see Toring flying over the side of the ship, his torn rope flailing out behind him. I sprang forward, my fingers grasping for the rope’s jagged end, but it slithered into the abyss before I could get a hold.
“Shit!” I shouted over the howling wind as I watched Toring disappear into the darkness. Though he wasn’t exactly my favorite person, I couldn’t let him die. I ripped the rope from my body, then flung myself into the sea without a moment’s hesitation. There was no time to ponder—if I didn’t act now, he’d be lost. But as I started to kick up to the surface, using all my strength against the tumultuous current, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d thrown my life away on a stupid impulse.
“Iannis!” I called mentally as I broke the surface, squinting through the foam and rain as I searched for Toring. I caught sight of him being carried by the crest of a wave, and from the utter lack of struggle and his closed eyes, I gathered he was unconscious. “Toring fell overboard!”
“What?” Iannis shouted in my head. “Where?”
Fear lanced through me as I watched the wave drag Toring under, and I dove beneath the surface once more. “We went over on the starboard side!” I kicked my legs as hard as I could, reaching out blindly. Hopefully I didn’t run into some kind of sea creature, but considering we were in the middle of a storm, I doubted any living thing would willingly be so close to the turbulent surface.
“WE?”
My foot bumped against something that felt like a shoulder, and I grabbed hold of Toring. “Hurry up!” I snapped, diving below the water so I could drag Toring up with me. He was big and bulky, and it took forever before we broke the surface even though we weren’t very far from it. A gust of wind slapped my cheek as I gasped for air, hauling him against me so that he wouldn’t sink again. I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not, and the smell of blood near his scalp told me he’d probably hit his head when the rope broke, which explained why he was unconscious.
Magic sizzled around us, and I exhaled a sigh of relief as we began to rise up out of the ocean. Iannis had clearly employed a levitation spell, something I probably could have done myself if not for the crazy winds. Grateful, I focused on clinging to Toring as tightly as I could as we were guided above the huge waves toward the ship. Lightning flashed in the sky above us, and, for an instant, I saw Iannis clearly, standing at the prow. His hair flew about his face, his robes billowing in the wind, and his handsome face was drawn tight in concentration as he made sure the winds didn’t knock us out of the air and right back into the stormy sea. Toring’s body seized in my arms as I squeezed his chest, and he began coughing up lungfuls of sea water. Thank Magorah. He was alive.
“Thank the Lady you’re safe,” Iannis shouted as my feet touched down on the ground. My legs felt strangely weak, and I gratefully took the hand he stretched out to steady me. Iannis looked angry and relieved all at once as his violet eyes swept over me, and I knew that under different circumstances, he would have hugged me fiercely. “Take Garrett inside and stay with him.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but the words died on my lips as his expression turned thunderous. Instead, I took a deep breath, hefted Toring onto my back, and did as he asked. We didn’t have time to argue, and though I wanted to help with the spell, making sure Toring didn’t die was more important. Toring moaned a little as I adjusted his weight, his head lolling against my shoulder, but he didn’t react otherwise. I hoped his injury wasn’t too serious.
Still, there was no way I was going to miss out on this completely, so instead of heading below deck, I climbed the stairs up to the bridge. It was no easy feat to do so, with slippery decks, buffeting winds, and a full-grown man on my back. On top of that, I still had to dodge various members of the crew who were rushing about as the first mate barked orders. Obviously, they weren’t going to sit back and hope the mages managed to pull off their spell—not when their lives and the safety of their ship depended on it. Thankfully, someone from inside the bridge saw me coming, and they held the door open.
“By the Ur-God,” the sailor exclaimed as he held the door open for me. “What happened? Is he all right?”
I lowered Toring into a chair that was bolted to the floor, then pressed two finger against his neck. “He’s got a pulse,” I said. “A rather strong one, actually.” I sought out the knot on his head, which was sizeable, but my fingers came away clear. The water must have temporarily staunched the blood flow. “One of the mages will heal him after this is over—he’ll be fine in the meantime.”
The sailor nodded, then went back over to the large station toward the prow of the ship, where the Captain was monitoring the various dials. The Captain grabbed the brass phone on the wall, and I turned back toward the window as he shouted instructions to the engine room down below. My eyes found Iannis, who was still standing at the prow, his hands outstretched to the elements, his entire body glowing incandescently. The other mages were glowing too, I realized as I glanced out at the other windows. I turned my gaze back to Iannis, and my eyes widened as I watched a huge wave crest both sides of the prow, forming a towering wall of frothy water. My breath caught in my chest, but just as I was sure the wave would crash down on the deck and obliterate everything, a magical shield flared to life around the ship, and the wave slapped against it instead. I let out a huge sigh of relief as the water sluiced harmlessly off the sides of the ship, heading back down into the ocean.
“The wind is starting to calm!” the Captain said incredulously, looking at one of his gauges. “The spell is working!”
Sure enough, it was. The rocking gradually began to subside, and the huge waves pummeling the ship grew smaller and smaller. The howl of the wind died down, the torrential rains subsiding to a patter, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. The storm was being turned away from us.
We would live to see another day.
12
“I have never been so glad to see land in my entire life,” Garrett Toring proclaimed fervently as we stood on the main deck, watching the steamship dock as we finally arrived at Maral Port.
“I agree.” It had been three days since that awful storm. The ship had managed to survive it without much damage, thanks to the powerful spell Iannis and Director Chen had used to protect it. “It’ll be nice to finally have solid ground under my feet again.” I hadn’t suffered seasickness, unlike poor Solar and two of the servants, but it had been very disconcerting how the ground had consistently swayed beneath my feet.
Since learning that I had saved his life, Garrett had slightly warmed to me over the past few days. He’d even thanked me, saying that he regretted ever doubting my usefulness on the mission. It turned out that when he wasn’t trying to engage in a pissing contest with Iannis, he could be charming and funny, and I’d even played a few rounds of cards with him and Solar. But though I sensed Garrett wasn’t evil, I knew better than to let my guard down around him. He was Iannis’s rival after all, driven by ambition, and Fenris’s mortal enemy. I could never forget that.
“Are you ready?” Iannis asked, appearing by my side. His arm settled around my waist in what would have been a casual gesture if not for the fact that he rarely touched me affectionately in public, and I hid a smirk. The show was for Garrett, whose hazel eyes cooled significantly at Iannis’s presence. “We are going to disembark very soon.”
“I’ve already double checked our quarters,” I insisted, refusing to let him pull me away from the railing. Excitement flooded my veins as I watched the hustle and bustle of the port from this vantage—from what Iannis had told me, Maral was the largest port in the world, which was damned impressive considering that Solantha’s port was the biggest in all of Northia. I watched large steam-driven machines with gigantic, claw-like arms carefully lift huge colored crates, cages, and boxes from the decks of cargo ships, and then place said crates in a row of hundreds of others like it. Trade was obviously booming in Garai
—the country was even wealthier than the Federation. However, I’d learned from Director Chen that Garai’s wealth was mostly in the hands of mage traders and high officials, while rural humans lived hand-to-mouth from one harvest to the next.
We headed down the gangway, and were met by a platoon of thirty soldiers, dressed in sturdy metal armor over long, colorful tunics. The combination must have been hot as hell in this humid summer weather, but they all stood at attention, not betraying any sign of discomfort. I was surprised to see that some of them were shifters—tigers and lions, judging by their eye coloring and scents. The largest, most imposing of them, a tiger shifter in a red cape, stepped forward and introduced himself in fluent if slightly accented Northian as Captain Nagi Zhou. He informed us that his platoon would be escorting us to the capital, Bilai, but first we had to wait on two more delegations, which were supposed to be arriving tomorrow.
There was some grumbling about this, especially from the Minister, but we allowed the soldiers to escort us to an extravagant hotel not far from the harbor, where we were to spend the night as guests of the Garaian government. Captain Zhou warned us not to try and tip anyone, as this custom was considered insulting here. We brought some of our bags, but left the bulk of our belongings on the ship. Ten imperial guards stayed behind to ensure our belongings were not stolen, as well as the agents that we brought. They would supervise the transfer of all our gifts and luggage to a barge, hopefully without calling attention to, or betraying the purpose of our odd little flying machine. After all, it could have been intended as a present to the new Emperor.
There was time for a quick tour of Maral before our dinner, an experience that took a heavy toll on my ears and nose. At a nighttime marketplace, the bustle and colorful crowds were indescribable. Just crossing a street looked next to impossible, and highly dangerous, given the multitude of vehicles charging at each other with complete recklessness. They ranged from the latest-model steam car or steam bike to rickety contraptions where the passenger essentially sat behind a cyclist, clutching their baskets of live chickens to their chests. Shouts and toots combined into an unharmonious concert.
“Too chaotic for my taste,” the Minister said with a slight sniff.
“But fun, when you visit for the first time,” I argued. It figured that a stuffy bastard like him would not enjoy such a colorful, exotic place. Iannis smiled at me in silent agreement, his hand briefly brushing against the small of my back as we walked.
“We did not come here to have fun,” Garrett said, his voice grim. “Let’s keep our minds on the mission.”
Scowling, I considered reminding him that Iannis was the boss for the secret mission, but let it go, distracted by a strange vehicle that turned out to be a steam cycle heaped with hundreds of bird cages. The sleeping birds reminded me of my ether parrot, who had remained behind in Solantha. Why hadn’t he come along with me to Garai? Had he disappeared for good, or was he simply waiting back in Solantha for my return? Despite his irritating nature, I found myself missing the magical creature. I hoped he’d reappear when I returned. If he did, I’d give him a name, as Rylan and Fenris had suggested more than once.
Our local escorts made sure we stayed at a safe distance from the pickpockets and charlatans said to frequent the city. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t get a chance to tangle with the criminals here, but then again, I had no jurisdiction in Garai and could claim no bounties for any thieves I might catch.
“Do you have enforcers here, and bounties?” I asked Captain Zhou, unable to keep the wistful tone out of my voice. “I am an enforcer by trade, back home.”
His black brows rose in surprise. “Indeed we do, Miss Baine. But it is not an occupation for the squeamish, nor for pretty girls—even shifters.”
I opened my mouth to tell him what I thought about that, but Garrett interrupted. “I’ve heard there are powerful criminal gangs operating all over the country, for which all the smaller crooks work. Is this true?”
The Captain’s stern face darkened. “Unfortunately so. We are all hoping the new Emperor will get a handle on the problem. Even the local enforcers have to come to some arrangement with the gangs, or they won’t last long.”
I pressed my lips together at that. If the Garaian enforcers were cooperating with the criminal gangs, then how could the good guys be separated from the bad? Who would protect the innocent, if the enforcers were siding with the criminals?
Zhou then turned the tables on us by quizzing Garrett about the Resistance, wondering aloud, with entirely fake sympathy, how such a scourge could have grown so big under our very noses. I buried a grin as Garrett struggled to remain polite. Outwardly, he appeared perfectly calm, but I could scent his irritation, and I knew Captain Zhou sensed it too.
After our sightseeing tour, we were herded to a restaurant on the top floor of a very tall building for a sumptuous dinner, compliments of the Maral City Council. The fresh seafood was more varied than I’d ever sampled, and mostly delicious. I wasn’t too keen on the shavings of gold on some of the finger food, though at least it wasn’t silver, or the dish of pickled black sea cucumber. Captain Zhou encouraged us to try the strong local spirits, and even the dour Minister unbent a bit by the end of the long meal.
The next morning, on the massive steam barge, we briefly mingled with the other two delegations aboard. The deputy president and party from Bonara in Faricia were tall, black-skinned mages with strange scars on their cheeks. They were polite, but very much inclined to keep to themselves. By contrast, the King of Belgar was a haughty, vocal bastard, who was visibly miffed at having to share the barge with new-world upstarts like us. Not that he liked the Bonarans any better, going by his sour expression. We ignored him as we admired the various landscapes passing before us, some flat and others mountainous. The Garaian people were dressed in colorful fashions and busily going about their agricultural tasks. Almost all wore something white, if only a ribbon, to join in the state mourning.
“This brings back old memories,” Iannis murmured, standing beside me on deck. “I was traveling alone then, and not in state as we are doing now.”
“I bet that was a lot more interesting,” I commented, smirking a little. “If I was here with no one watching over my shoulder, I’d definitely have some fun.”
“Oh, indeed,” Iannis agreed with an enigmatic smile. “I had some misadventures that I’ll tell you about when we have nothing better to do.” And in private, he didn’t say aloud, though the sentiment was clear.
“I can’t stop thinking about my father,” I confessed, crossing my arms against my chest against a sudden chill that swept through me. “He’s going to be there, isn’t he? What’ll I do if I run into him?”
“Whatever we find there, we’ll deal with it together, Sunaya,” Iannis said gently. He gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze, and my spine relaxed a little. “Not knowing you is your father’s loss. You don’t need him.”
I bit my lip at that, but before I could ponder Iannis’s words much more, Garrett appeared. “Lunch is about to be served, and the Minister has been asking for you,” he said stiffly. He didn’t seem pleased to be playing messenger, and I hid another smirk.
“We’ll be right there,” Iannis said, but he did not budge. He and Garrett stared at each other for a long moment, and I held my breath as tension crackled in the air. Nearly a minute passed before Garrett broke the staring contest, settling for shooting a resentful look over his shoulder as he left us.
“I’m wondering when he’s going to outright challenge you do a duel,” I said once he was out of earshot.
“He wouldn’t dare risk the Ministers wrath by doing so, not when his position is still so new.” Iannis’s hands settled on my shoulders, and he turned me to face him. My breath caught at his simmering gaze, which was not filled with anger, but lust. Desire surged low in my belly, and I clutched at his arms as he kissed me hungrily. His tongue swept against mine, deep, sure strokes that made my knees weak, and I cursed the
sleeping cabins for their thin walls.
“I am growing tired of our unceasing company,” he murmured against my mouth, pulling away slightly.
“A deserted island would be nice right about now,” I agreed, and he gave me a crooked grin. I considered kissing that gorgeous mouth again, but footsteps sounded, and we reluctantly broke apart. We did have to answer the Minister’s summons, even if I was hungry for something other than food at the moment.
As we sat down to dinner, I noticed with some dismay that the portions had been calculated for mage appetites. Resigning myself to the prospect of snacking from our private supplies later on, I ate slowly so I could stretch out the food as much as I could. However, as soon as I’d cleaned my plate, a server appeared at my elbow with another platter piled high with various meats and fish.
“Compliments of Captain Zhou, miss,” he said, setting it down in front of me.
I raised my glass in thanks to Captain Zhou, who was sitting at another table, then tucked into my meal with gusto. Director Chen’s eyes fixed on me, and after a couple of minutes, I finally glanced up at her with a scowl.
“What? Am I being rude somehow?” Sure, I was eating a little fast, but I wasn’t making weird noises or spraying my food everywhere.
“No, of course not,” she assured me. “I am simply wondering if the Captain is sweet on you.”
“Nah.” Huffing out a laugh, I set my fork down. “He just knows that we shifters need more food than most. I’ve gotta say, I’m really impressed by Garaian hospitality so far. I’ll miss this kind of generosity when we return home.” I caught Captain Zhou’s eye, and he grinned at the compliment, raising his wineglass to me.