Hope and Red

by Jon Skovron

  She ripped her sheathed sword free from his claw and slammed the flat wooden end into his eye. The eye caved in with a soft crunch, and dark fluid leaked out. His mandibles clicked furiously, and he took another swipe with his claw. She blocked it again with her sheathed sword, thinking how each moment this creature occupied her, Teltho Kan was farther away. And Red…

  He’d never have done something so reckless in Paradise Circle. She suspected it was being in this place that had unbalanced him. Surely he knew that he was no match for Teltho Kan. Hope needed to finish this creature quickly so she could save him. But if she drew her sword and stabbed him, would she even be able to find them?

  The creature gave another clicking roar and pushed hard against Hope. Her arms were tiring, while the creature seemed to grow stronger the longer they fought. Hope cast around for another weapon, but there was nothing in this fine sitting room that would pierce his hide.

  He bore down on her, forcing her to the ground. Then he put his full weight on her. Her arms shook with the strain, and she began to think she would need to unsheathe her sword simply to save her own life.

  Then there was a sharp clang, and a steel pole protruded from the creature’s forehead. Alash stood behind him, his hand stretched out to the back of the creature’s head. Alash pulled the lever at his wrist, and the pole retracted back into the pipe on his forearm. The creature shuddered once, then collapsed. Hope rolled the body off her.

  “There’s a use for it,” she said, then headed for the door.

  “Wait, Miss Hope!” said Alash.

  As she stepped over the stunned Pastinas, she felt a pang of sadness for Alash, trapped here in this luxurious prison where no one appreciated him. She wished she could have stayed a little longer to be the voice of encouragement he seemed so desperately to need.

  “Keep heart, Alash,” she said, then left.

  * * *

  Alash checked on his mother, whom he’d laid down on a sofa in the next room. She was still sobbing and wouldn’t speak. Then he went back to the sitting room. He surveyed the wreckage for a moment, taking it in slowly. He had lived in this house since his father died. He had been in this room nearly every day since, and it had never changed. Until today. He found it shocking, not because of the mess, but because in his heart, he had never truly believed that real change of any kind was possible. Until today.

  He walked across the room, his half boots quietly crunching on glass. His grandfather seemed to be recovering. When Alash offered his hand, he sneered and batted it away.

  “Well, Grandfather,” he said quietly. “Now who is the one who brought something vile and threatening into this house?”

  “How dare you show me such disrespect, boy! It is still my house and my money—”

  “Respect?” mused Alash. “I have always loved you, because you are my grandfather. But I have never respected you. Please take care of Mother. She’s always been the one most loyal to you.” Then he stepped over his grandfather and walked toward the doorway.

  “Where in all hells are you going?”

  “It’s time for a change, Grandfather. I’m going to see the world.”

  * * *

  Hope didn’t get far before she found Red lying on the hallway floor. Her heart gave a lurch when she saw him there on the rug, motionless. It was everything she feared in one image. The most important person in her life, killed by a biomancer.

  But then his chest rose and fell, and she knew that he was still alive.

  Of course the biomancer had left him alive. It was a smart delaying tactic. Had Red been dead, Hope would have pursued even faster. But she couldn’t simply abandon him here in this house, lorded over by a frightened old man who hated him.

  She picked him up and slung him over her shoulders. She’d frequently had to carry a pair of large buckets filled with water on a yoke when she lived at the monastery. Red was heavier, though. It was slow going as she trudged out of the mansion and into the bright grassy meadow, still wet with morning dew.

  * * *

  She didn’t know how long she stumbled in the direction her sword pointed, Red draped around her neck like a millstone. The sun blazed down from the bright blue cloudless sky, and the meadows seemed to stretch on forever. Her breath hissed painfully through clenched teeth, and her hair was soaked in sweat.

  She imagined she was hearing someone calling her name. She ignored it at first, but it grew louder and more insistent until she began to wonder if it was real. Then Alash ran up from behind, puffing and red faced.

  “Miss Hope…,” he said between gasps of breath. “May I please…accompany you?”

  “Why?”

  “I want to sail the seas! See the world!”

  Hope thought about telling him the world was a terrible place and the seas more deadly than he could imagine. That he would be insane to throw away his life of luxury.

  “Perhaps I could carry my cousin for a while?” he suggested.

  But that sounded to Hope like the best idea ever conceived. She practically threw Red at him.

  But Alash groaned under his weight, and his knees immediately began to buckle. “Oh God, is he ever heavy! I don’t…” He looked both pained and ashamed. “I fear I’m not as strong as you, Miss Hope. I’ve never been one for athletics.”

  Hope sighed. “Let’s try splitting his weight between us, then.” She hooked one arm around her neck.

  Alash hooked the other arm around his neck. “Oh, that’s much better, thanks.”

  “Then let’s go,” grunted Hope. “We can’t let Teltho Kan get away.”

  Alash glanced worriedly at Red’s lolling head between them. “Will he be alright?”

  “After how long I’ve carried him? He better be.”

  They walked on in silence for a while, broken only by their harsh breaths. After some time, Hope asked, “Do you know what lies in this direction?”

  “A few more homes similar to my grandfather’s.”

  “That’s it?”

  “Well, and after that Radiant Harbor, of course.”

  “A harbor?” asked Hope, adrenaline wiping away her exhaustion.

  “Oh yes. The second-largest port in New Laven.”

  “We have to hurry, then.” She picked up their pace.

  Alash groaned and the two hurried on.

  * * *

  Teltho Kan was gone. Hope knew it before they even reached the docks. The Song of Sorrows gave an odd shudder, then slowly grew less insistent, as if the target was moving rapidly away. But Hope refused to acknowledge it. She forced herself and Alash to continue onward until they reached the sprawling port of Hollow Falls just before midday.

  Merchant ships packed the docks. Sailors were at work, loading and unloading crates. Hope recalled the job Drem had wanted Carmichael to do, and she wondered if there were drugs in any of those crates. Perhaps the drug trade had stopped with Drem’s death. Or perhaps someone else had already stepped in.

  She lifted her sword, and it pointed unwaveringly out into the harbor and the open sea beyond. The exhaustion came crashing back down on her like a heavy blanket. “Let’s stop for a moment.”

  They found a stack of crates and laid Red across them. Alash dropped down to the dock, wheezing and streaked with sweat. Hope tried to wake Red, but he barely stirred. “Do you have a boat we can use?” she asked Alash.

  He shook his head, still trying to catch his breath.

  “Any money we can use to get passage on one?”

  Again he shook his head.

  She stared out at the ships, her jaw clenching and unclenching with a frustration that was turning slowly to impotent rage.

  Then she saw her. Three piers down. The Lady’s Gambit.

  “Get up!” she shouted at Alash.

  He looked up at her in something close to horror. “But Miss Hope—”

  “Now!” She propped up Red and took one arm.

  “Yes, Miss Hope,” Alash said meekly as he took the other arm.

  Ala
sh seemed barely able to stay on his feet, but Hope pulled them in an awkward, unsteady gait down to the pier where the Lady’s Gambit was tied.

  Sadie stood at its bow, lit by the morning sun as she gazed out over the water. When Hope saw her, a warmth flooded her chest and she found herself near tears. “Ahoy!” she called in a trembling voice. “Captain Sadie! Permission to come aboard!”

  Sadie didn’t turn to look at them, but she cocked her head to one side and smiled her toothless smile.

  “Captain? Not I. You’re looking for someone altogether younger and paler than me.” Then she did look down at them and gave them an expression of mock surprise. “Why, and there you are, Captain Bleak Hope!”

  “I don’t think I should be the c—”

  “Is that my Red there on your arm?” asked Sadie.

  “He’ll be fine,” said Hope. “But he’s heavy.”

  “Well, come on up, then.” She slid the gangplank down to them, squinting as they came aboard. “And who’s that with you? Looks oddly familiar.”

  “Red’s cousin,” said Hope.

  “A pleasure to meet you, madam,” said Alash, mustering up a smile.

  “He’s a proper lacy sort, ain’t he?” Sadie patted his sweat-slick cheek. “Don’t worry, wag, it’s all chum and larder for anyone who shares Red’s blood.”

  “How did you know we’d be here?” asked Hope.

  “Old Yammy sent word. She’s got the Sight sometimes. A bit vague, though. Just said to come up here, and you’d be along eventually. We’ve been here nearly two days.”

  “Red said she can’t really tell the future.”

  “Red says a lot of things, don’t he? Some of ’em’s even true,” said Sadie. “Now, I assume you’re in a hurry?”

  “We’re chasing a biomancer.”

  “You best get Red into the cabins. I’ll rouse the rest of the crew.”

  “Crew?” asked Hope.

  Sadie grinned. “Oh yes, girl. You don’t think I could sail this ship on my own, do you? It’s a small crew, to be sure. But me, I always prefer a few reliable wags to an army of cunt-droppings.”

  Hope felt as if she were in a dream as she and Alash carried Red’s unconscious body along the deck toward the cabins. To be back on this ship was more comforting than she’d expected. As they walked the length of the ship, she noticed many improvements. It was cleaner, all the little cracks had been tarred, and the corroded iron had been burnished until it was shiny once again. Over at the helm, she saw the man whom she guessed was responsible for most of it. “Missing Finn!”

  The old man looked over at her with his one bright eye and smiled with a few more teeth than Sadie.

  “Ahoy, Captain Hope!” he called. “Sadie already told me you was aboard. I’m making the wheel nice and smooth for you!”

  “For me?”

  “Of course. We’ve too light a crew to spare you a helmsman.”

  “I’m really not sure I’m the best choice for captain.”

  Missing Finn held up his big, scarred hands. “I’m just following orders from the first mate, Captain. You’ll have to take it up with Sadie.”

  “Do you think we could find a place to put Rixidenteron first?” asked Alash plaintively.

  “Yes,” said Hope starting to move toward the cabins again. “But you should call him Red.”

  “He doesn’t go by his birth name?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Hope didn’t reply at first. Then she caught sight of a familiar face emerging from the cabins, and she smiled. “Because that’s how it is in the Circle.”

  Nettles walked toward them, grinning broadly. “Hey, angel slice. What’s he gone and done this time?”

  “Tried to chase down a biomancer.”

  “Will he be okay?”

  “I think he’s just unconscious.”

  “Then let me give you a hand with the old salthead.”

  As the three of them walked the rest of the way to the cabins, Hope asked, “How are you? I’m sorry I left when I did.”

  “We managed alright. After you chased off that biomancer, the soldiers ran. We braced for another raid, but none came. I expect things are getting back to normal. Or near enough.” She looked at Alash. “And who’s this?”

  “Red’s cousin,” said Hope.

  “Alash Havolon,” he said, smiling more brightly now that some of the load had been taken from him. “Miss…”

  “Call me Nettles. I’m no miss or missus neither. Just Nettles. Keen?”

  “Keen?” he asked.

  “She wants to know if you understand her,” translated Hope.

  “Oh. Yes. Well, I suppose I must seem terribly formal to you.”

  “Nah, you’re alright.” Nettles turned to Hope. “Not bad on the gander, is he?”

  “She thinks you look handsome,” Hope told Alash.

  “Oh, er, thanks? And you as well, Miss, er, I mean Nettles.”

  “Don’t get any ideas, though,” said Nettles. “Or I’ll shove that lacy cock of yours up your own ass.”

  Alash only stared at her.

  “You get used to it,” said Hope.

  They carefully walked Red down the narrow stairs into the cabin.

  “What happened?” Filler limped over, leaning heavily on a crutch.

  “How is your knee?” asked Hope.

  Filler shrugged. “’Bout the same.”

  “You’d think he’d want to sit this adventure out. But he wouldn’t hear of it,” said Nettles.

  Filler looked embarrassed. “You needed the hands to crew this ship. My leg ain’t working, but I can haul on a rope alright. So what happened to Red? Will he be okay?”

  “I think so,” said Hope. “I didn’t see what Teltho Kan did to him. It seems he just knocked him out to slow me down so he could get away.”

  “Which worked,” said Nettles.

  “For now. But I have a way to track him, no matter where he runs.”

  “So Red’ll just wake up and be good as new, right?” asked Filler.

  “Probably.” Hope smiled. That’s one thing her time on New Laven had taught her. How to lie and smile while doing it. But in this case, it was a kindness. There was no sense in worrying poor Filler any more than necessary. Perhaps Red would be fine. Although in Hope’s experience, interactions with biomancers were never so simple or so clean.

  * * *

  “Well, Captain, we’re ready to set sail,” said Sadie.

  She and Hope stood at the helm, the sun shining on the water.

  “I think you would be the better choice for captain,” said Hope. “You’ve done it before.”

  “The time I’ve been on a boat wouldn’t add up to half a year. And I’ve never been on the open sea. It’s yours by right and by plain common sense. If you want to give chase to this biomancer of yours, we’re with you. But it’s you that’s got to take the lead.”

  “I’ve never been a leader.”

  “It’s not a big group. And you might surprise yourself. Here.” She gestured to the wheel. “Why don’t you take hold of the helm? Maybe the feel of it in your hands will inspire you.”

  Hope gripped the wooden pegs like she’d seen Carmichael do countless times. “I feel foolish.”

  “That’s just other people’s voices in your head tellin’ you a woman’s got no place as a captain.”

  “You did it. Red told me the story.”

  “And you don’t think I felt foolish? That’s how it always feels when you do something new and bold. You feel as fake as a whore in a temple.”

  “So how do you stop feeling that way?”

  “You don’t at first. You just feel like a fake and do it anyway. But you do it long enough and you don’t feel like a fake anymore because you’re not anymore. Keen? Now, let me hear you call it.”

  “Now?”

  “Of course.”

  Hope took a deep breath. She remembered the way Carmichael would do it. A sound that bellowed from deep within
his gut and a tone at once serious and fiercely joyful. “Look alive, wags! Cast us off! Set sail!”

  “Aye, aye, Captain!” called Missing Finn, bless him.

  Hope guided the ship through the harbor, and it was as if she could hear Carmichael’s voice overlaying her own, his hands guiding hers. Drem and Ranking, the two men who had caused his death, were now dead. But oddly enough, it wasn’t their deaths that gave her peace. It was this moment. Sailing his beloved ship, the wind at her back and the sun in the sky. This was what he’d loved best, and she knew he would have been pleased.

  As much as the Vinchen code spoke of vengeance for the dead, she wondered why it never mentioned honoring their life.

  “Give me full sail!” she called. The Lady’s Gambit headed out to the open sea.

  * * *

  The sun still blazed overhead, and the wind tossed Hope’s hair as she stood at the helm alone. It was late afternoon, and she’d been at the wheel for hours, gradually feeling more comfortable with it.

  “Well, now, haven’t you put on the lords?” said Nettles, coming over.

  “Put on the lords?” asked Hope. “You just made that up.”

  “They don’t say that down south?” Nettles looked genuinely surprised. “Like putting on airs, acting all important?”

  Hope smiled and shook her head.

  “Huh.” Nettles leaned her elbows on the rail and tilted her face up to the sky, closing her eyes against the sun. Hope noticed that it had lightened streaks in her dark, curly hair, and her complexion was brown and rosy.

  “The sea agrees with you,” said Hope.

  “You think?” asked Nettles, keeping her eyes closed. “I never expected to leave the Circle. Never even thought about it. It was my whole world. But when Sadie asked if I wanted to come up with her, I found myself saying yes before I even realized it.”

  “Because you were worried about Red?”

  “That’s some of it, I suppose. I’ve spent years expecting to find him dead in the street or else just vanished, so it’s habit if nothing else. But this was more than just that. After all, he’s got you to keep an eye on him, and you’re nearly as sensible as I am.”