The Silver Star (Kat Drummond Book 11)

by Nicholas Woode-Smith

  “What are you doing here, anyway?” Brett asked.

  “Mauritius? It’s got nice beaches. Very few monsters, if you don’t stray too close to the reefs, and the locals are nice. But…it suits my needs. I want to be close to Hope City so I can help Kat, but I need to be just out of sight. Mauritius is not Conclave controlled, unlike Goldfield and the Empire, and it’s relatively close to Hope City. So, it works well.”

  Brett furrowed his brow, sceptically. “You know an awful lot about the Conclave. Question is: how much?”

  “Brett! She’s our ally.”

  “No, Kat. It’s fine. I did serve the Conclave. For a time. And for that sin, I will seek redemption.”

  She stopped and turned towards Brett and me.

  “The Conclave has its claws nestled deep into many parts of the world. I’m not sure how much of it. But I know that they have a lot of influence among the Goldfield mages and in the courts of the Emperor. But Hope City has always escaped its grasp.”

  “Could’ve fooled me. Garce was Conclave, wasn’t he?” I asked.

  “And there are others. The Conclave has always played the electoral game in Hope City but have never won it. And even when they have people in positions of power, it isn’t enough. Hope City is defended by the Spirit of the Law, limiting what the government can do. This doesn’t suit the Conclave’s wishes.”

  “And what are those?” Brett asked.

  “Power,” Candace answered, simply. “Raw power. Hope City is sitting on the most powerful weyline pools in the southern hemisphere. The Conclave want it. And property rights and the rule of law are getting in their way.”

  “Where did you find out all of this?”

  I felt protective over Candace, but she didn’t seem to mind, so I let Brett continue his interrogation.

  “The Conclave wants Hope City by any means necessary. My role was to destabilise the city. I suspect that I was not the only one tasked with this mission. Jeremiah Cox and the Blood Cartel were both supported by the Conclave to achieve the same goal. With sufficient instability, the Council would have the excuse they needed to eliminate the Spirit of the Law and impose an authoritarian order. With that, the Conclave could seize power by coup. If they aren’t already in charge of the regime to begin with. But, with hunters like you keeping the monsters and necromancers at bay, the instability is manageable.”

  I felt an acidic feeling roiling in my stomach. Instability? That’s what they wanted. They killed children…just so they could take over my city?

  “They actually tried to bring you into their schemes, Kat,” Candace continued. “There were agents of the Conclave who believed that if hunters were institutionalised, they’d become a willing part of the new regime.”

  “Fat fucking chance,” Brett replied. Candace grinned. Seemed it was the right response.

  I knew that the Council was trying to control me during the Necrolord case. I didn’t know it was this grand a strategy, but I had suspicions. Good thing I don’t play nice with authority.

  But that made me wonder. Was Riaan a part of their schemes? It seemed unlikely. But, once upon a time I had trusted Andy Garce. Anything was possible.

  Candace sighed. “It has been a fortunate while since I was privy to Conclave plans. But, I have heard about the rise of necromancers in Hope City. As I felt you suspecting, Kat, I do believe it’s the Conclave behind it all. It’s their MO. Arm the gangs. Train the necromancers. Set them loose upon civilisation so that they could have an excuse to bring order to chaos. The same thing worked in Europe.”

  “It always does,” I mumbled. People thought fascism was purely just goose-stepping and death camps. They forgot that good intentions could often be worse than malice. We vote ourselves into slavery more often than not.

  We arrived outside a small little hotel with white walls and large windows overlooking a currently dark sea. At the thought of approaching a possible bed, I realised how tired I was. A shower and sleep would be perfect. I gave Pranish’s number to Candace so she could contact him. My phone was not waterlogged and still worked, but I’d never thought of needing international coverage.

  “Tell the lady at the desk that Mademoiselle Feuilles wants however many rooms you need. I’ll send Pranish the details while I organise a ship.”

  “This late? I…I was hoping that we could catch up.”

  Candace smiled, faintly. “We will, sister. We have a ship journey to do so. Don’t worry.”

  “Can’t it wait till morning anyway? You’re tired.”

  Candace nodded, but then shook her head.

  “My rest will come. In the future. When this is all over. Goodnight, Kat.”

  With that ominous farewell, Candace disappeared into the night.

  Chapter 13.

  Island

  I woke up with a start, realising that, for the first time in an age, I was waking up to the sun on my face. I looked around anxiously, recalling where I was. Brett let out a grunting snore and I immediately felt calm.

  “Wakey, wakey,” Treth said, manifesting before me and leaning down to meet me at eye-level. He was wearing his unfailingly clean plate-mail, the image of which made me feel even hotter, as I started to notice the sweltering humidity in the room. At least Brett was sleeping soundly. In fact, this heat probably made it easier to sleep. After the night’s tribulations, both Brett and I slept well. For the first time in a long while.

  Treth’s eager expression told me that I wasn’t going to be allowed to sleep any longer, though. Without Cindy around, he had no one to talk to besides me. And a sleeping Kat was not that entertaining.

  Treth turned his back to me, peering out over a turquoise, calm sea. It was the very image of serenity. Like out of a holiday brochure. Did it really hide the monsters that had killed the plane crew last night? Perhaps, the most tranquil scenes hid the most dreadful horrors? Would be good camouflage.

  Treth pointedly examined the sea and beach, ensuring he didn’t catch a peek of me while I got dressed. Even now, he was still a prude. Or, just respectful. Even so I had given him permission to look long ago. I really didn’t feel that my nudity needed to be kept secret from the ghost with whom I shared a body.

  Dressed in my now dry clothes (magical dry cleaning was truly the marvel of the 21st century), I joined Treth by the window.

  “Ever see a place like this in Avathor?” I asked, keeping my voice low lest I wake Brett from his much-deserved slumber.

  “Tropical? I have heard of them. The elves that we expelled off the continent built their new homes in an archipelago called the Emerald Isles. The skalds told tales of crystal blue waters, teeming with a rainbow of fish. Sand as white as snow, and a warmth in the air year-round.”

  His voice became dreamy. Thoughtful. “I wonder what happened to them…”

  I watched the swells calmly lap against the shore as Treth contemplated the fate of his world. I had been to Avathor and, besides the survivors who had fled Ithalen, I doubted there was much left alive on that dead world. But I hoped I was wrong.

  A black-haired girl on the beach caught my eye. Her clothes were dirtier than I had last seen them, but the black bubble goth aesthetic was unmistakable. Trudie. Sitting on the sand, staring wistfully towards the horizon.

  “Don’t judge her too harshly,” Treth said, sensing my feelings now and from last night. “I once felt what she felt. Necromancy…it’s hard to stomach.”

  I didn’t answer him as I left the room. In the lobby, I ran into the manager.

  “Did you sleep well?” she asked, in an accent sounding very much from Hope City. There were quite a few people from Southern Africa in Mauritius. Part of the diaspora.

  “I did, thank you.” I hesitated, and then felt a hum from my coat. In this heat, it was definitely too hot to be wearing it out and about. My coat was also still feeling a bit under the weather.

  “Do you by any chance have a firepit?”

  “Of course. We usually light it at night for guests.”

>   “Could you possibly light it now? I need to burn my coat.”

  “Burn it, miss? Wouldn’t you rather…donate it?”

  I shook my head. “No, no. It will be fine. It’s just feeling a bit sick after all the water last night. Some petrol and kindling will be just what the doctor ordered.”

  Thoroughly confused, the manager agreed to take my coat to burn in the firepit.

  Feeling slightly fresher without my sweltering coat on, I exited the hotel and stepped onto the beach. I usually wore boots everywhere, but I was thankful that I was barefoot for this. I could see why Candace enjoyed it here. There was something therapeutic about sand beneath one’s toes.

  With a look of caution from Treth, I proceeded to my friend. With her werewolf hearing, she turned towards me unsurprised, then looked back out to sea.

  “When did you get back?” I asked, taking a seat next to her on the sand.

  “One, two AM,” she answered, casually, but I knew her too well for her façade to work. There was something bothering her.

  “I fell asleep at nine. What, by the rifts, were you doing?” I exclaimed.

  She turned to me with a toothy grin. “Found some stray dogs. Took them hunting for pig.”

  I closed my eyes and had to rub the bridge of my nose before answering.

  “I sincerely hope that you didn’t catch said pig.”

  “Who do you take me for?! Of course, I caught it. The dogs were hungry. But don’t worry. It was a wild pig. Nobody will miss it.”

  “What were Senegal and Pranish doing while you were killing local livestock?”

  “Trying to keep up.” She laughed and then looked back out to sea.

  I went over possible things to say to her. Ways to start this conversation. Ways to possibly avoid it. But finally, I ripped the band-aid off.

  “Why were you so hostile to Candace last night?”

  Trudie’s grin turned into a frown. She didn’t answer.

  “You were fine with her at Christmas. I thought you could be friends. She’s a good person.”

  “She’s a necromancer. The necromancer who abducted you. I admit, I was fine with her around Christmas. But that was because we’d just defeated Darius. I was high on victory. But also…the idea of this little girl being a necromancer was so surreal then. But last night…seeing her dominate those undead. It made it all too real. I smelt evil about her. The stench of darkness.”

  “She’s a different person now, Troodz.” I put my hand on her knee, beckoning her to look at me in the eyes. To see my sincerity. “She’s changed. She’s no longer the Necrolord. She wants to help people. She wants to help us. That means something.”

  “But that doesn’t change what she did,” Trudie replied, almost coldly. “All the people she killed. Redemption is one thing, but it doesn’t change what we’ve done.”

  Before I could respond, I heard the crunch of dried corral and sand as Senegal came practically sprinting towards us.

  “Alpha, alpha! There you are. I was worried.”

  Trudie’s expression changed. Not the contemplative worry she had before, or her mischievous arrogance, but that of a mother.

  “We’re safe here, Sen. I’m not going anywhere.”

  She stood and rubbed Senegal behind the ears. He grinned like a child.

  I decided it was my time to leave. Werewolf stuff sometimes confused me. Well, it almost always did. I bid them a muttered farewell, which they ignored as Trudie challenged Senegal to a race.

  I hadn’t eaten since a snack of dryad-grown peanuts on the plane last night. Ravenous, I made my way directly to the dining area. There were a diverse crowd of guests arranged around the room, milling around a buffet table. But, as if an island in a lonely sea, with a wide gap between himself and everyone else, was Pranish sitting in the corner, poking some bacon with a fork while poring over a water-damaged spell book.

  I retrieved a healthy pile of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and some yoghurt with fruit salad before bringing my bounty to the table. Treth called me a glutton. I called him jealous that I could still eat. He bitterly stole some of my bacon and hid it somewhere in the room.

  I sat down wordlessly, not wanting to interrupt Pranish’s reading. Finally, after some splendid bites of my breakfast, Pranish put the book down with a sigh.

  “Lost a trunk load of spells. I’ve got records of them at home, but now I’m trying to figure out what I need to replace. And, over and above that, what we’ll need. Ugh…I just wish I could memorise it all. Not have to do this rote relearning of spells I’ve used countless times before. I should be able to memorise more of them. To always be prepared.”

  He sighed and bit off a chunk of bacon.

  “But I know I can’t. I have to learn my limits. Boy, you sound just like Trudie.”

  “I didn’t say anything,” I replied.

  “I know. But you were thinking it.”

  He had me there. I was. I looked closely at my friend. He looked tired. If he had been running after Trudie last night till 2am, he would be. But there was a deeper exhaustion there. A frustration that had nothing to do with fatigue.

  “What’s up, Prani?”

  “What’s up?!” he snapped. “How about that we almost died last night. Twice. That we watched three innocent people drown to death. That I was almost one of them! How about that I had to run after my girlfriend last night as she chased after pigs, and then was the one who had to clean the gunk out of her teeth.”

  “Senegal would happily do that.”

  “Not helping…” Pranish growled. Seems he was picking up a lot of werewolf mannerisms.

  I didn’t press, as I looked down at my food. Finally, Pranish sighed and slumped back in his chair.

  “I’m sorry, Kat. It’s just…we’re all absorbed in your lifestyle now. And I know I chose this. But, it doesn’t make it any easier. I don’t know what demon, spirit or fae is gonna attack us next. Do I need a fire spell? What if it’s fireproof? A buoyancy spell in case we sink? But that won’t stop a sea monster. I…I miss DigiLaw. I miss knowing what I was going to do in a day. The routine. But, most of all…knowing that I was making something. Something that would last. Well…could have lasted…”

  I reached over to touch Pranish’s hand, just as Trudie and Senegal signalled their arrival with the smell of wet dog fur (despite the lack of fur) and Trudie’s orders to Senegal to retrieve her “all the meat on the menu”.

  Trudie waltzed over to the table and kissed Pranish on the cheek before sitting. She was sodden. I hoped Candace wouldn’t have to pay for damages. Pranish smiled at the affection, but I caught him glaring at Senegal as he brought a pile of meat back to the table.

  “I know she’s your alpha,” I said. “But, as your boss, please don’t take her order to take all the meat as literal.”

  Senegal smiled, but it was forced, as he seemed torn between reason and obedience.

  The breakfast that followed was awkward, to say the least. Trudie didn’t speak, despite Senegal’s attempts to start a conversation. Pranish pretended to study his spell tomes. When Brett arrived, I was filled with relief. At least we weren’t having drama. Which said something about us that we didn’t consider last night dramatic.

  Brett kissed me as I met him at the buffet table.

  “Damn. Should’ve woken up earlier. No more bacon,” he frowned. But then smiled. “How are you?”

  For some reason, the question caught me off-guard. I didn’t know how to answer it. Brett hugged me, closely, voicelessly saying that I didn’t need to answer him.

  I was glad. I couldn’t break down. Not now. I had to be stable.

  After breakfast, we met outside the hotel, greeting Kyong as he had just finished a jog.

  “How can you exercise in this humidity?” I asked, aghast. I was wearing my coat again and was boiling.

  “Persistence,” he answered, simply. At least there was no drama from him, either. Kyong was the epitome of complete professionalism.

  So
on, Candace greeted us from a taxi. She had ordered two, to ferry us to the waterfront. Trudie ran inside to retrieve her last stick of lipstick she’d forgotten, and then we were off to board the ship that would take us to New Zealand. And after that…to war.

  Chapter 14.

  Crew

  “Tell us about this ship, Candy,” I asked, as I sat in the back of a taxi, flanked by her and Brett. Kyong sat in the front with the driver. I hoped the werewolves were behaving in the other cab.

  “I don’t know whether to classify it as a cargo or passenger ship,” she replied. “But Captain Ironfoot comes highly recommended. He does the circuit across the Indian Ocean. Usually stops at ports across Asia and Indonesia, but he has agreed to make a direct trip to New Zealand. He has a small crew and doesn’t usually take passengers, however. So, we’ll be expected to pull our weight.”

  “That’s fine. How much is this going to cost us?” I asked, frowning. I didn’t know how we were going to handle exchange rates and payment with most of my money back in Hope City.

  Candace smiled. “Don’t worry. All taken care of.”

  “You can’t just pay for all of us! How much do I owe you?” I reached for my wallet instinctively, feeling like an indulgent grandparent spoiling her grandkids.

  Candace touched my arm, stopping me. “It’s fine. Really!”

  “You’re still a kid.”

  Brett and Treth both snorted in amused disagreement. Bastards! Meant to be on my side.

  Candace rolled her eyes. “I’m an archmage, Kat. I’m quite resourceful. Now, I won’t hear any more quibbling about paying for this trip.”

  “Well, I’m taking you shopping next time we’re in Hope City.”

  Candace’s smile deepened. My promise was particularly generous as Candace knew I hated shopping. If only Trudie could get over her hang-ups. They could get along so well otherwise.

  The cab arrived at our destination soon after, and I found myself having to bite my tongue as Candace paid the taxi drivers. Trudie eyed the money suspiciously. I knew Candace wouldn’t have gotten the money by criminal means, though. Necromancers seldom needed money. Zombies worked for meals.