by Apryl Baker
The medicine man smiled and nodded. He took another swig from his bottle and smacked his lips together. “You remember that.”
Without a parting word, Ya-You strolled away, leaving Stephen wondering if the medicine man was the wisest or drunkest man he’d ever met. While he debated this, another voice interrupted his thoughts. “I see you’re cozying up to our new crewmates, sir.”
Stephen ran a hand through his long, unkempt hair. “Nothing gets past you, does it, Marm?”
The old woman looked at Stephen with a twinkle in her eye. She was a seasoned fighter and the best helmsman or woman Stephen had served with. Every time she was nominated for a promotion, Marm turned the offer down, stating she was honored but she belonged behind the helm. It was what she was born to do.
Her skin was rough and wrinkled by the sun, her wit quick, and her loyalty unwavering. If Stephen had to be in this predicament, he was grateful to have her by his side.
“How are the members of the Royal Navy faring?” Stephen asked, unsure if he wanted the truth or not. “Are they rested after the battle with the Kraken?”
“They’re whole.” Marm joined Stephen at the railing and looked out over the dark, swirling water. “Shaken up and bruised a bit, but they’ll be fine. How’s our captain feeling?”
“I’m not a captain anymore,” Stephen muttered.
The two stared out into the open sea, each lost to their own thoughts. The silence was comfortable between them until Marm spoke again. “Maybe not the captain of this ship, but you’re still our leader.”
“I know.” Stephen nodded along with his own words. “Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten. Our place here is tricky. There’s no way to escape the ship short of a mutiny, and we don’t have the numbers for that. Even if we could escape somehow, we’d be leaving the Dragon behind instead of taking her to trial.”
“The Dragon.” Marm repeated the words slowly as if it were the first time she had ever spoken them. “Anger can cloud a man’s judgment just as well as the strongest liquor.”
“I’m not angry anymore,” Stephen lied, “but the Dragon will see justice, one way or the other. The safest thing for us now is to bide our time, earn their trust, and wait for a moment of opportunity.”
“And if that moment of opportunity comes and it mean’s Valeria’s life?”
Stephen looked at her, breaking his line of sight from the dark waves so far below their airship. Val and Stephen’s relationship had been kept between themselves at the Royal Academy. How Marm knew there was something more was beyond him.
“I’m an old woman, but I’m not blind.” Marm ignored Stephen’s questioning stare. “The rest of the crew doesn’t know. I’m sure of that, and it isn’t my place to be telling tales.”
Stephen swallowed hard, trying to decide whether to come clean with Marm or not. What did he have to lose? His friends were growing fewer as each day passed. Hiding things from them would do no one any good.
“We met at the Academy. I loved her.” The words were short, but Stephen had to nearly choke them out.
Marm finally turned from the water below and smiled at Stephen. “Have you thought of speaking with her?”
“No.” Stephen shook his head quickly. “She left me at the Academy. She’s a pirate now, Marm. I doubt any of the woman I used to love still remains.”
“It sounds like you’re frightened to find out if any of that same woman exists,” Marm argued. She straightened her shoulders and saluted. “Permission to speak freely, Sir.”
Stephen was becoming frustrated at how right Marm’s words were. He waived a dismissive hand at her. “Go ahead. You’re doing so already anyway.”
Marm smiled and relaxed her stance. “We all change over time, at least to a certain extent, but there are core traits that always stay the same. Talk to her, Stephen. Talk to her, and you may be surprised at what you find.”
***
The gentle sway of the airship settled Tobias’ nerves just a bit. The wind that rushed through the night sky caught the ship and mimicked the rocking of the waves. He remembered what it felt like to have water beneath his sails. Many a day, he’d gone out on a sailboat when he’d been in Atlantis. His nieces and nephews used to love to go out to sea. The happiest days of his life had been spent there.
Tobias had hidden himself away soon after their arrival at the gates of the Crucible. The Captain knew he was an Atlantian, but few others did. Even she didn’t know one simple truth. Tobias was her blood kin. Fear kept him silent, but he didn’t know how much longer that would be an option. As soon as they’d gotten close to Atlantis, the near fatal injury he’d received in their escape of the pirates had begun to heal rapidly. He’d felt the magic in his blood stir to life, felt it begin to repair the damage done not only by the fire, but his body’s natural aging.
Atlantis wasn’t just technologically advanced. Granted, their technology was formidable, but when combined with their own natural magical ability, they were a deadly race. The magic each Atlantian was born with kept their bodies at peak physical condition as long as they were near the Nexus, the heart of Atlantis’ power. The closer Tobias got to the Nexus, the more its healing restoration attacked his body. The small mirror confirmed the wrinkles had fled from his skin, which now sported a healthy hue. His natural dark hair was flowing back, giving him a salt and pepper look. A few more hours and all the gray would be gone.
Soon, the resemblance between him and his granddaughter would be unmistakable. He couldn’t hide down here for much longer. She would come to talk to him, as he was the only person on board who had survived the Crucible, a set of tests that allowed one to enter Atlantis, the city he had been cast out of. The city centered around a past that haunted him. She would know the truth soon enough. What would Valeria say? He couldn’t bring himself to tell her the truth of her birthright any more than he could say she was destined to be the cause of his death.
He pushed himself up from his bed and walked over to stare out the small window. The night sky was clear, the stars twinkling in the distance. He could see Dendali’s curse, see the lightning that poisoned the waters, strike the waves below them. Yet another thing he was responsible for. It had been his idea, his spell to cast. He wished yet again, for the millionth time, he could undo the spell, but it wasn’t made to be broken. At least not by him. Perhaps the girl could. His magic would not allow him to take back this unspeakable curse.
She would be coming soon. He felt it in his bones.
The beginning of the end was upon him
Chapter Two
That night, Stephen’s nightmare consumed him. There was no hint that he was in a dream, no reassurance somewhere in the back of his consciousness that he would wake.
In his dream, he was with his unit. All the men and women under his command were lined up for inspection. They stood shoulder to shoulder, proud to be counted among the members of the Queen’s Royal Navy.
Stephen’s best friend and second in command, Amil, walked next to him. No words were shared, but Stephen felt happy. He was in his element, surrounded by the ones he cared for the most.
Then, all at once, the joy turned to ash in his mouth. A roar split the silence as Dragons surrounded the group in a swirling mass of wings and scales. Stephen ducked out of instinct, his hands already reaching for the saber at his side.
Everyone else, even Amil, stood calm as if they hadn’t noticed the winged behemoths above. Stephen wanted to scream at them to take cover, to warn them to ready themselves for the attack, but no words escaped his lips.
Soldiers both male and female still stood at attention, smiling like lunatics. Crimson began to fall from their faces and torsos in sheets. One by one, their legs gave way under them, their bodies consumed by their wounds. All the while, the Dragons screamed above.
Horror gripped at Stephen’s chest as he turned to his best friend—for all intents and purposes, his brother. Blood spilled out of Amil’s mouth, nose, and ears. Stephen caught him before h
e hit the floor. Having to relive the nightmare again was tearing Stephen apart from the inside out.
Amil’s lips formed words through the river of blood that gurgled from his mouth, but no noise came forth. Still, the only noise was the constant roar from the winged monsters above.
Stephen woke in his cot, breathing hard. His heart felt like it was going to burst from his chest. A quick look around the small room that was given to him and those under his command who had survived this far told him he hadn’t been screaming in his sleep. A miracle if there ever was one.
Soft snores and heavy, rhythmic breathing filled the cramped cabin. Stephen considered trying to go back to sleep, but he knew it would prove futile. Rather than lie in bed awake for the foreseeable future, he quietly pulled on his boots and exited the cabin.
The sun was just cresting the water’s edge to the east, the smell of the salt air familiar yet new. If under any other circumstances, he might even have enjoyed the morning.
Sailors under command of the captain of the ship were already waking and beginning their morning routines. Without being told, Stephen knew they would be underway within the next few hours. They’d finished the repairs yesterday, and the Valeria he remembered was a woman of action.
As if his thoughts could conjure reality, he saw Valeria exiting the lower decks. Dressed in black and emerald green, she was a perfect mix of ferocity and beauty. Stephen threw aside his misgivings and made his way toward her for the conversation he knew must come.
***
Valeria stretched, stifling a yawn. She’d barely gotten more than an hour’s rest the night before. Too many things had occupied her thoughts, the most predominant one the journey that was to begin shortly. The journey to Atlantis.
She needed to speak with Tobias before she maneuvered her ship into the Crucible. That old man knew how to traverse the passage. He’d been to Atlantis. Val got the feeling he was loathe to return, though, and she wasn’t sure why. Yet another mystery she needed answers to.
“Captain.”
Valeria looked up at the sound of her name and saw her helmsmen, Jacoby, waving her over. He looked rougher than he actually was. At well over six feet of sold muscle and a bald head, he terrified most, even at his age. At heart, he was a kitten unless you hurt someone he cared for. She counted herself lucky to be one of those people.
“Good morning, Jacoby.”
He nodded curtly, as was his usual manner. “The Navy crew we rescued, they have a helmswoman. I think t’would be smart to let her reclaim that duty. I can watch her.”
Valeria looked out thoughtfully over the skies. “Do you trust her enough to let her near the helm?”
“Where we are going, it will take more than you and I to handle this ship. Having an extra pair of experienced hands at the helm can’t hurt.”
Compared to the rest of the crew, and despite his appearance, Jacoby had always had a very refined speech pattern. Valeria often wondered what his story was, but in the air, a man’s past was his own. He also took his duties very seriously and was the only other person besides Lukas she trusted with her ship. So why was he suggesting letting another, especially a Navy sailor, touch The Emerald Queen?
“You didn’t answer the question, Jacoby.” Her tone was mild, but it also bore the bite of a command.
“No, Captain, I do not trust her, but as I said, I will watch her. The Navy crew is with us whether we want them here or not, and we need them, Captain. We took heavy losses after the Dragon fight and more with the Kraken. They have skills that should be utilized. We just need to keep a close watch on them.”
Valeria sighed. If it were up to her, she’d dump them all off at an island, but Jacoby was right. They did need all hands on deck.
“My crew can be counted on to do what’s needed.”
Valeria jumped at the sound of Stephen’s voice. The man always had had a knack for sneaking up on people. He would have made a perfect spy. As much as she wanted to ignore him, he needed to understand his place here, especially amongst the crew.
She turned and looked up into his very blue eyes. They were solemn today, but then, everyone’s were after having lost so many in the fight. Valeria had let herself get captured by a slave merchant to find the man named Tobias Blood. Before her crew could arrive to collect them, the merchant ship had been attacked by pirates. Stephen’s ship had apparently gone after the pirates, and the three ships landed on Roanoke Island, home of the Dragons. A fight had ensued as they used her ship, The Emerald Queen, to escape. Most of Stephen’s crew had died in the fight, as well as over half of her own. The few that remained were now working to get the ship ready to set sail into the Crucible.
“Stephen.” She made a point not to address him as Captain, since there was only one captain on this vessel, and he had to understand that. “They are no longer your crew.”
He flinched a little. “I’m still responsible for them.”
“If you are going to remain here, then make no mistake, I am the captain of this ship, and you will do as you’re told. The remaining members of the Naval airship are now my crew members and will address me as such. If you or they cannot abide by that, then I will have you all escorted back to the islands to wait until someone comes looking for you. Or you can respect me and my ship and come with us. The choice is still yours, but trust me, if you try to usurp my role here, you will find yourself standing alone at the first sight of land. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes…Captain.”
The sarcasm wasn’t lost on her, but she ignored it. “Jacoby tells me one of the Naval crew members was an experienced helmswoman?” She purposefully refrained from calling them his crew members. She could see how much it rankled him in the way his eyebrow twitched. His tell. Even after all these years, she could still read him as plainly as any open book.
“Marm. She’s one of the best helmsmen I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.”
“Not quite as good as our captain, here.” Jacoby moved to stand next to her. “None of us would be standing here alive without her.” The censure was clear in his tone, reminding Stephen he owed his life to Valeria.
“No,” Stephen said slowly. “No one has ever been as good as her at the helm of a ship.”
Jacoby quirked an eyebrow, and Val groaned inside. The crew did not need to know about their past together. It would serve no purpose in the here and now.
“Jacoby, acquaint Marm with how our girl here runs. Stephen, come with me.” She didn’t wait for a response but turned and started walking back down below decks. The man was an expert when it came to cartography. If anyone could decipher the Atlantian maps, it would be Stephen.
She heard her cabin door shut a minute after she entered it. Her senses were on high alert, but she pushed her nerves down for the moment. This was more important than old feelings rushing back to the surface.
She opened the windows, allowing the natural light to come in and shine upon the desk where she’d spread out the maps.
“We need to talk…”
“No,” Valeria cut him off, knowing he wanted to talk about the past. She wasn’t ready to discuss that yet.
“You can’t ignore this, Valeria.” The deep tones of his voice slid through her, and she forced herself to show no reaction. “We need to talk about the past, about your reasons for becoming…a…”
“A pirate?” she offered, keeping her back straight. He couldn’t even spit the word out. What must he think of her?
“What made you become this?”
“Does it matter now?” She walked over to the desk. “The past is the past, Stephen. Leave it there. We need to focus on the present dilemma. I want you to look at these.”
Stephen came around to stand beside her. She scooted over and offered him the chair, which he took, his eyes focused on the maps. “This conversation isn’t finished, Valeria.” The maps called to him, and she let out a sigh of relief when he bent down to examine them. Despite what he thought, this conversation was over
.
He let his fingers graze the paper, and when his finger touched one of the images, it moved. He drew back, a small gasp of shock escaping him. “What is this?”
“Maps.”
He snorted. “Obviously, they’re maps, Valeria.”
“Tobias gave them to me. He said they lead to Atlantis, but I can’t get a clear fix on any of it. As you saw, when you touch them, locations shift. I don’t understand it.”
“Have you asked Tobias about this?”
“I can’t.” She walked over to stare out at the clouds. “He was gravely injured in the escape from the merchant slaver. He’s weak and barely able to do more than speak for a few minutes at a time.”
“Do you mean to actually enter this Crucible with no knowledge of how to traverse it?” The shock in those words made Val glance at him. “These people trust you, Rhee.”
She turned back to the window so he couldn’t see how much the use of the old nickname affected her. “Do you remember the birthmark on my back? The one that looks more like a tattoo?”
“Of course.” The gruffness in his words told her just how much he remembered it. Stephen used to spend hours tracing it with his finger, trying to figure it out, but it almost always led to other things.
“Tobias said it’s a map to Atlantis. All of us have one, including him.”
“A map or a key?”
“What?” she asked, turning to look at him curiously. A key?
“Every map has a key, or legend as some call it, but this one doesn’t. What if that mark on your back is a map key?”
Val rolled her shoulders unconsciously, the mark beginning to itch. She’d never considered the absence of a key on the Atlantian maps.
“Come here, and let me see your tattoo.”