by Jasmine Walt
“Ah, yes, but now that I think back, the tests were always done in dry weather,” Henning confessed. He glanced nervously at Garrett, who was scowling. “I guess it’ll be back to the drawing board for the next prototype.”
“This weather is likely a remnant of a typhoon, like the one we hit on the way in,” Director Chen mused. Her arms were folded over her knees, which she’d drawn to her chest, and she stared out at the frothing river. “We’re lucky that we weren’t badly hurt by the crash landing, or separated. You did a good job, Henning, considering the circumstances.”
“I suppose we’ll have to find the nearest town tomorrow morning, and secure transport,” Garrett said. He sat cross-legged, his hands curled into fists atop his inner thighs, and he looked a bit like a wild man with his hair sticking out every which way. I didn’t even want to know what my own hair looked like—we’d dried off, but we hadn’t concerned ourselves with grooming, and everyone else around me was dirty and disheveled from our battle with the river. “Any idea how far we are from our destination, Henning?”
“At least three days’ ride on horseback,” Henning said glumly. “If we had horses and found a road southward.”
“That’s too long.” Garrett’s features tightened. “The Minister will have our heads if we’re not back in time.”
“He will do no such thing,” Iannis said calmly. Of the five of us, he looked the least ruffled—his pale skin was clear of smudges, his dark red hair tied back from his stern face with a tie he’d procured from that magic sleeve of his. I wondered if he kept any blankets in there, and if so, why he hadn’t produced one yet. “Your hysterics are not helping the situation, Director Toring, and are unbecoming of a mage of your stature.”
Garrett’s eyes narrowed, and I stiffened at the ire rolling off him. “I refuse to be spoken to as a child,” he said stiffly.
“Then stop acting like one,” Iannis said. “We will do as you say and head to the first town to find proper transport. Director Chen, are there any trains passing through this area? Surely that will be faster than horseback.”
“There might be. I will ask the locals in the morning. One of them will be able to point us in the right direction.”
We all settled into an uneasy sleep after that, taking turns at the watch so we could ensure no one snuck up on us. The fire wasn’t quite enough to keep out the chill of the storm, so I changed into panther form and cuddled close to Iannis. The sound of his heartbeat, and his hand gently stroking my fur, lulled me into a dreamless slumber that I didn’t wake from until Director Chen called my name to wake me for my watch.
Wanting a better vantage point, I climbed up into the tree and perched on one of the branches. The rain had finally let up, and the barest hint of dawn had touched the horizon, giving shadowy shape to a range of mountains that we had been very lucky not to crash into during our landing. The river had begun to calm, and now that it wasn’t pitch dark, I was astounded to see that it was at least a mile wide, and seemed to stretch on forever in either direction. I turned my gaze east to see how far along I could follow it with my gaze… and caught sight of a junk sailing our way.
“Iannis,” I called in mindspeak, my voice urgent. “We have company.”
It was a moment before he answered. “What are you talking about? I don’t see anything.”
I growled, swishing my tail in agitation as I watched the ship approach, too rapidly for my liking. “I guess you wouldn’t from your position. There’s a ship approaching from the east.”
“A ship? Not a river boat?”
“Looks like a ship to me. It’s got sails and everything.” I watched the ship steer toward the river bank on our side. It sported black sails rather than white, which sent a bad feeling shivering down my spine. “Are you seriously not seeing this?”
“I see them now—cutthroats from the looks of it,” Iannis confirmed my impression. “I’m going to alert the others, and extinguish the fire. Perhaps they haven’t spotted us. Keep a lookout up there.”
“Aye, aye, boss,” I said, narrowing my eyes on the junk. I forced my tail to stop swishing around—I didn’t want the motion to draw any attention. The dawn light grew stronger, and as the ship drew closer to the riverbank, I was able to get a good look at the men on deck. My heart sank a little as I noticed their scruffy appearance and the large, curved swords they wore at their hips and on their backs. Many had shaved heads, and I picked out what looked like tattoos on quite a few. A man in slightly nicer clothes than the rest, wearing a large, oddly shaped hat, came to the deck railing with a spyglass in hand. He trained it in our direction, then grinned and said something to the man next to him, pointing at us.
“Don’t look now,” I said, dropping to the ground in the middle of the clearing and startling the other mages. “But I think we’re about to be attacked by pirates.”
“Those certainly look hostile,” Chen said, unruffled, as Iannis relayed my warning. The others got to their feet as the ship dropped anchor in the river, and the pirates began descending via a rope ladder. Several had their swords drawn, the tips of their blades gleaming in the early dawn light. One of them jabbed their sword in the air and shouted something in Garaian at Chen.
“We should be able to torch the entire crew between the five of us,” Henning said, magic glowing at his fingertips as he raised his hands. “What do you guys say?”
“Hang on,” Iannis said, placing a hand on Henning’s shoulder, and I was surprised to see a positively devious smile on his face. “Let’s not be too hasty.”
Annoyed that I couldn’t interject myself into the conversation, I changed back into human form. Just as the light was fading from my eyes, I watched Iannis blast the group of approaching pirates—about ten of them—with a burst of ice-blue energy. The pirates froze mid-step as the blast hit them, and two fell over as they had just been raising their feet. Their knives clattered to the packed earth, of no use to the immobile pirates now.
“I thought you said not to be too hasty?” I shouted as the other pirates, who’d been watching from the safety of the ship, let out cries of rage. I swallowed hard as I watched them draw swords and descend from the ship, en masse. “Why the hell are you drawing them all out at once?”
“Because,” Iannis said, calling more magic to his fingers as he turned back to face the pirates. “I want that ship, and I don’t want to accidentally destroy it when we get rid of them all.”
17
Killing an entire crew of pirates off was pathetically easy. So easy that I felt bad as I burned, stabbed, and sliced them to death. They were an entirely human crew, and stood no chance against four mages and a shifter-mage hybrid. Especially since we were on a mission and determined to get hold of their ship.
Thankfully, Iannis knew how to navigate as a sailing master, and Henning did too, so between the two of them and our unskilled contribution, we got the junk started down the river again. Once the vessel was briskly moving along, Chen and I went below decks to inspect the quarters and supplies. It was no surprise that the place was filthy and infested with rats. She taught me a spell to drive vermin from the ship, and we went from bow to stern and cleaned out the place, while the men stayed above deck and did who knew what.
Typical, I thought, and I was only half-joking.
“If you are feeling bad about killing all those men, don’t,” Director Chen said quietly as we inspected the meager stores in the pantry. There wasn’t much aside from a few bags of rice and dried fish. “They were all thieves, and almost certainly murderers or rapists as well.” Her voice, which was normally always so smooth and calm, darkened in disgust. “They deserved their deaths.”
“Yeah.” I let out a little sigh, hating that Director Chen sensed my tension. “You’re right.” I decided not to tell her that it wasn’t their deaths that weighed down my thoughts, but rather, how easy it had been to kill them. It was truly impossible for anyone to stand against the might of the mages, no matter how clever the Resistance thought t
hey were. What if peaceful protests and negotiations were not enough to get the regime to change? If one day they decided to crush us beneath their magical thumbs, what could shifters and humans really do against such terrible power? It had been five against twenty, and yet we’d massacred those pirates so efficiently, without a single loss of life on our end, or even any major injuries.
“Why didn’t that pirate crew have any mages or shifters aboard?” I asked as we left the pantry and went to inspect the weapons stores. I was unsurprised to see gunpowder and pistols, along with sabers—more than a few of the pirates had carried guns, although they were technically outlawed in Garai too. “How is it that they haven’t already been wiped out by another mage?”
“This section of Garai is populated by human villages,” Director Chen said. “There is a mage warlord who oversees the area, of course, but the villagers themselves hold no magic. They rely on the warlord to protect them, but he cannot be everywhere, and the pirates take advantage of that by passing through and hitting villages they know to be defenseless.” Her lips twisted into a grim smile as she picked up a heavy pistol, her fingers dancing across the barrel. “It’s a pity we left no survivors, because they would have spread the word far and wide and perhaps deterred other pirates. Unfortunately, the nature of our mission prevents us from eradicating all the pirates along this river.” The smile faded, replaced by a look of sadness, and I stared.
“Why are you looking at me that way?” she asked, frowning.
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat, dropping my gaze. The truth was that this was the most emotion I’d ever seen from Director Chen, and it was a bit disconcerting. “I guess I’m just a little tired. Why don’t we go and get breakfast started?”
“Excellent idea,” she said, following me back to the pantry. I hoped we could find some spices if we dug around a little more, because if not, we were in for some seriously boring food.
“I didn’t think it was possible to burn rice,” Garrett said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. He poked at the charred grains in his bowl with his chopsticks, clearly hunting for some white grains amongst the sea of blackness. “At least the fish looks somewhat edible.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s possible to burn anything,” I growled, giving him a death glare that he ignored. He tried to pick up a piece of fish with his chopsticks, and I took savage pleasure in the fact that he failed. “We proved that a little earlier today, didn’t we?”
“Sunaya,” Iannis warned, laying a hand on my thigh beneath the table. We were all sitting in the bridge on deck, with Henning at the helm and the rest of us seated at a small table inside, eating the miserable meal that I’d attempted to cook in the sad little room that passed for a kitchen down below. I turned and held his gaze, daring him to say more, and a few seconds passed in dead silence.
“Perhaps assigning you and Director Chen cooking duties wasn’t the best idea,” he finally conceded. “I had hoped you would be able to cook rice, since it’s a staple of Garai,” he said to Chen.
“We had household servants to do the cooking and cleaning,” Chen replied, her voice chilly. “It is not an activity in which I have ever had to take an interest before.”
“Sounds to me like we need to stop someplace where there is a good cook,” Henning said from the helm. He was remarkably cheery, and I suspected it had something to do with the fact that he was once again behind the wheel of a ship, even if it was on water instead of in the air. “There’s got to be plenty of villages along this massive river.”
With that idea in mind, I shifted into beast form and climbed up the main mast, so I could perch on the crossbeam and survey the surrounding land. The sun had well and truly risen, and the golden light spilled over the verdant mountains and into the breathtaking valleys and plains. From here, I could see terraced fields of rice with modest huts near them. There was one coming up just around the river bend.
“Stop here, after the bend!” I called to Iannis in mindspeak.
Iannis did as I ordered, and we left Henning and Garrett behind to watch the ship as we went in search of food and information. Half a mile inland, we came across a small hut of clay with reed thatch that looked worn and mildewed. Chickens and a skinny rooster pecked for insects in the muddy earth. The few trees and small vegetable patch right by the humble dwelling did not look big enough to support a family. A young, painfully thin-looking girl in rough-looking robes was chasing the chickens in the front yard, but froze at the sight of us, her eyes growing wide. She stared for just a moment, then turned tail, her skinny legs kicking up dust as she rushed into the house.
“Let me take the lead on this,” Director Chen said, stepping forward. “These are simple farming people, and they will be more at ease if speaking to a fellow Garaian.”
“Very well.” We followed Director Chen to the front of the house, and then stood back at a respectful, non-threatening distance as she knocked. The door opened slowly, revealing a haggard-looking Garaian man in his thirties who was wearing a homespun tunic that looked like it had seen better days. A triangular bamboo hat hung down his back, secured by a cord around his neck. As he bowed to us with a fearful expression, I caught a glimpse of the girl and three younger children peeking out at us from behind their father. I smiled, trying to put the children at ease. The girl from before stared at us with those wide eyes, then disappeared inside again, pulling her smaller siblings behind her.
Chen and the farmer began speaking, and from the way she gestured toward us and spoke our names, I gathered she was introducing us. They continued to talk for some time, and as several minutes passed, I wondered exactly what Chen was asking him. The two seemed to be negotiating, though I wasn’t sure about what. The price of breakfast, maybe?
“This is Yu Wai,” Director Chen finally said, turning back toward us. “He is a poor farmer and does not have very much to offer us in the way of food. However, his eldest daughter Liu is a fine cook, and he is willing to sell her, and two of his chickens, for a bronze coin.”
“Wait, his daughter? You mean that little girl?” My mouth dropped open in shock. “He can’t just sell her like she’s some kind of object!”
The farmer said something to me in Garaian, a troubled look on his face. Director Chen instantly began speaking to him in a soothing tone, and he relaxed again, nodding. He bowed to us both, then returned inside the house and closed the door.
“I asked him to give us some privacy while we discussed the offer,” Director Chen said coolly once he was gone. “He was most puzzled by the anger in your tone, and I had to explain that you were a foreigner who did not understand our ways.” I opened my mouth to protest, but Director Chen bulldozed right over me. “Slavery is a very common practice in Garai, Miss Baine, whether you approve or not. It is not uncommon for poor folk to sell their children to pay a debt.”
“I know this sounds horrible to you,” Iannis said gently, squeezing my shoulder. “And you are right to feel so. It is barbaric and deplorable. But under circumstances like this, where parents cannot afford to properly feed their children, sometimes the children are better off with their new masters, where at least they will have a job and ample food. I believe this will almost certainly be the case for Liu here.”
“You’re damn right it will be,” I snapped, still recovering from the shock. “We’ll take good care of her, and she’s not going to be a slave. She’ll be a paid employee until we get to Leniang Port, and after that, we’ll make sure she gets placed with a good family.” I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not that was really the right thing to do. Wouldn’t it be better to just give the father more money, so he could afford to keep the girl here with her own family?
He’ll probably just sell her to the next prospect when he runs out of money, I admitted to myself glumly. And besides, we really did need a cook.
“As you wish,” Director Chen said with a small shrug. She turned away and knocked on the door again, and the farmer opened it almost instantly. I both hated and pit
ied the hopeful, eager look on his face—he was clearly looking forward to selling his daughter.
“Don’t allow your own issues with your father to affect your judgment here, Sunaya,” Iannis said quietly. He slid his hand down my back so he could rest it against my waist, and the gentle touch soothed me a little despite myself. “This farmer views this as an opportunity to give his daughter a better life, as well as make a little profit.”
“I guess you have a point,” I admitted, my outrage subsiding a little. The farmer called his daughter, and Liu came forward, her hands clasped behind her, her eyes glued to her dirty, bare feet. I could smell the waves of fear rolling off her, and my heart clenched in pity. Director Chen crouched down in front of the child and placed her hands on Liu’s shoulders, speaking quietly. The little girl raised her head, and though her lower lip trembled a little, she shed no tears from her dark, slanted eyes. They spoke for a few moments, and then Liu turned back to her father and threw her arms around him. The farmer closed his eyes and hugged his little daughter. As he squeezed her tighter, I could see her shoulder blades jutting through her thin shirt, as well as the outline of her ribs. By Magorah, she had to be starving.
My mind made up, I said nothing as the farmer took his daughter inside so she could take leave of her younger siblings. If buying this little girl could help her get a better life, then we would do it. Before we left, Iannis slipped the astonished farmer another coin, and the knot in my stomach loosened as I caught the glint of silver. I took comfort in the knowledge that even though we were taking away their eldest sister, the younger children would be taken care of.
18
As her father had claimed, Liu was an excellent cook, and she managed to turn the two chickens, our stores of rice and fish, and some herbs she’d brought along from her father’s garden, into very satisfactory meals. She didn’t speak any Northian, but using Chen as a translator, I discovered that she wanted to open her own restaurant when she was old enough. I promised to support that venture when the time came, and, in the meantime, to get her a job with the Palace cook when we finally got home to Northia.