Renegade Skyfarer

by R. J. Metcalf

  Krista would be disappointed but understanding. Neither of them could have imagined how much worse it was for Jade to actually be so close to the palace, and if Jade had had any idea how stressed she’d become, she’d never have let Krista rearrange the schedule to allow Jade to go into the city with Ben. Jade’s mind felt like it was tearing itself into pieces. She could think of little else—Ben, Zak, and him.

  Her skin prickled at the remembered touch of Prince Weston. Never again would he lay a hand on her. Zak had made that evident to the entitled prick.

  Just as Weston had made it clear to her, through Zak’s torn flesh, that she was powerless in his nation.

  But Krista heard Jade claim she was moving on from Zak, and she seemed determined to see Jade actually follow through. And while Jade didn’t mind admitting that Ben was attractive and interesting and that she wanted to get to know him better, she wasn’t ready to throw herself at him like Krista wanted her to. She couldn’t.

  At least, not yet.

  Just being in the grid-like marketplace, so close to the Aerugan palace, made her jumpy. She specifically wore her most Aerugan-looking mechanic clothing: fitted trousers with a double-slit skirt over them, and a blouse and bodice that closely resembled the uniforms that the people here loved. It was uncomfortable, but in a sea of people who wore similar clothing, she didn’t stand out. She kept her distinctive red hair securely tucked under the black headscarf that Garnet had loaned her.

  But it didn’t feel like enough. Being in Lucrum without Zak by her side left her feeling more exposed than she would’ve dreamed. Geist was their tracker and a skilled spearman, Briar had talent with knives beyond what she believed humanly possible, and Ben had proven his ability with hand-to-hand combat.

  And despite having these three men with her, she felt vulnerable without him.

  Barrier take me, have I really grown to be so dependent on Zak? No wonder he’s scraped me off his boot.

  A woman laden with bolts of fabric pushed past Jade, and Jade stumbled into Ben. His hands gripped Jade’s shoulders, and he glared over her head at the ignorant woman. Jade muttered her thanks and turned away without meeting his eyes. She knew she could trust him. Could trust Briar and Geist.

  But they just weren’t Zak. When had she grown so accustomed to her broad-shouldered shadow, his snarky comments, his light laughter? How had he gotten so under her skin that she couldn’t survive a trip to the market without him constantly on her mind?

  Granted, he’d also physically defended her from a fate that she’d considered worse than death, but in her heart, she knew it was more than that.

  “Jade?” Ben’s voice was barely audible in the babble of sellers hawking their wares, customers asking questions, and children playing. His hand touched on her shoulder, feather-light. “Are you all right?”

  Moving on.

  Jade lifted her face and met his concerned gaze. How had she not noticed the tiny scar above his lip? She pasted on a smile. “I’m fine. Sorry.”

  They walked past a bustling fruit stand, and a man slipped between them and the guys up ahead. Jade saw only the strong posture, the dark curly hair, and she stiffened, breath seizing in her throat.

  Ben seemed to sense her stop. He glanced back, and immediately whirled to face her, his back to the oblivious man. “Jade? What’s wrong?”

  The stranger waved at the seller, and Jade caught a glimpse of his pale skin. Her muscles relaxed as she sucked in a lungful of air. Her vision momentarily blurred. It wasn’t him.

  Briar shouldered past Ben to reach her side. “What happened?” he demanded. His hand dropped to the knife strapped on his waist. “Is he—”

  “Not here.” Jade interrupted. She wiped her clammy palms on her beige pants and forced herself to smile. “My mistake. I’m good. Just…” she looked at Briar and let herself show her fear. “I thought I saw him. But it wasn’t. I need to relax. That’s all.”

  Briar rubbed his thumb over his knife hilt and shook his head. “You’re allowed to be nervous. Whales, I’d be nervous.”

  Jade ignored Ben’s curious gaze and looked around Briar. She could just make out the cart he’d been heading toward. “Where’d Geist go? Did you send him on ahead?”

  “What?” Briar spun on his heel and pushed his hand through his hair. “No. I don’t know where he went.”

  “Somehow, I’m not too surprised,” Ben commented. “He’s been on edge all day.”

  Jade stepped between the two men and did her best to scan past them while pushing her paranoia down. There was no connection between Geist and the royal palace, so wherever he was, he should be safe. But where would he go?

  Briar touched her shoulder. “C’mon. The sooner we find everything, the sooner we can get back to the Sapphire.”

  “But Geist—”

  “Is a big boy.” Briar cut her off. “He can take care of himself. Honestly, he’s probably looking for some wrestling match or something to give him his adrenaline fix. Now, I want to get some fresh meat and whatever sorry excuse they have for vegetables.” He grinned at Jade’s slight scoff. “Perennia has superior produce, and you know it. How about you and Ben start looking for garlic and get the rest of this list?” Briar carefully split his paper and handed half to Jade. “I’ll be right over there if you need me for anything.”

  Jade nodded, reluctant to split up their group any more.

  She led Ben past a stall brimming with leafy greens and followed her nose to the pungent cart. Large braids of the herb hung from the framework of the stall, and baskets overflowing with loose bulbs took up half the counter itself. Minced garlic in jars of various sizes lined the front half of the other side of the cart, with larger bottles of whole cloves and oil in the back.

  The shopkeeper smiled broadly as they approached, and he scooped freshly minced garlic into a glass bottle, stoppered it, then set aside his cleaver. He wiped his hands on his apron and nodded. “What can I get for you two today?”

  Jade stepped forward, fingering one of the garlic braids, testing the firmness of the bulb. She skimmed her fingers over two other braids before answering. “We’ll take two, please. And—” she leaned forward and tried to sniff for the bread stall she’d smelled earlier, “do you know where we’d find a loaf of bread?”

  The portly shopkeeper laughed. He leaned down and pulled up a half a loaf of golden bread. “Would you like two slices for you and your husband?”

  Jade stammered, her mind suddenly blank, and flushed, waving her hands in the air in denial.

  “Oh, no, we’re not married.” Ben laughed, sparing her the need to find cohesive words. He grinned when the man apologized. “It’s no problem, really.”

  Ben slipped the garlic braids into his bag as Jade paid the shopkeeper and accepted two slices of well-buttered, pungent-scented bread. She handed Ben a slice and consulted the list, unable to maintain eye contact. Her cheeks still felt hot from her tattle-tale blush.

  He nudged her and thumped his slice of bread against hers in a toast. “Thanks for the bread, wife.”

  Ben’s teasing tone soothed some of the burn in her face even as it made her heart flutter. Jade shook her head at him and couldn’t contain the giggle that bubbled up inside, even while her subconscious still moaned at lost dignity. “Why, you’re welcome, husband.”

  He waggled his eyebrows at her, and she glanced down at the list to avoid staring at his sparkling eyes. “Next is jerky. That way.” She pointed, and Ben began to weave through the crowd with her on his heels.

  His steps slowed, and he turned toward a group that argued loudly in the street. Jade caught up to him, and set a hand against his linen shirt to urge him on. The lady closest to him stamped a foot and shrilled loudly enough for Jade to overhear.

  “—those Void Born are probably the cause of it!”

  A man in a top hat, too formal to be in a marketplace, pounded his cane against the smooth concrete. “We really need to get rid of the bleeding veebs.”

  “Whe
n will Lord Everett take care of those—”

  Jade sighed and rolled her eyes before pushing at Ben with more force than necessary. They need to find something better to do with their time than clog up the aisles here with their theories and complaining. Ben half-skipped to avoid being bowled over by her.

  “What are they talking about?” Ben asked with a quizzical expression. He tilted his head back to watch, and a lady in the group raised her voice and waved her arms.

  “Conspiracy theorists,” Jade replied curtly. “Ignore them.”

  He cocked his head as the man shouted something behind them. “Kind of hard to ignore. What’s a Void Born?”

  Jade sighed. “No one real.” She raised a hand and let it drop while she searched for words. “Void Born aren’t real, they’re…they’re the ones who get blamed for bad things. When a newborn dies, they say a Void Born must’ve cursed the baby. When crops wither, they say a Void Born must’ve spat on the field or something.”

  “So a Void Born is basically a legend?” Ben used the back of his knuckles to rub at his chin. “Interesting.”

  “It’s an excuse for people to not accept that life happens, and sometimes, life just bites.” Jade scowled. “The worst of the whole Void Born issue is that people will get so worked up that they go mobbing, and they’ve killed innocent people whom they believe to be Void Born. It’s barbaric.”

  She caught the flash of blue from his eye as he gestured at the paper crumpled in her fist. He shot her a wry grin. “Let’s find that jerky, and anything else on that list, before it’s unreadable.”

  Jade grimaced and smoothed out the paper as they reached the jerky cart. Ben ordered, and she settled the wrapped meat in the bottom of her sack. She motioned to the next stall, and they fell into an easy rhythm of chatting between errand locales.

  Ben leaned against a wood pillar of the salt stall. “What was it like, growing up on the Sapphire?”

  “I don’t know.” Jade furrowed her brow as she looked over a pillar of black charcoal salt. “I mean, I don’t have anything to compare it to.” She dipped her finger in a small tray of sample salt and cautiously touched it to her tongue. It tasted completely normal. Weird. “I got to travel all over the world and experience and see so much; I can’t imagine living in just one place.”

  Ben held the small package of salt while Jade paid the lady. “Do you think you’d ever want to just settle somewhere?”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Jade shrugged. “I don’t know where I’d settle, if I did. Or how to stay settled.” His eyes roamed over the crowd as she answered, and she used that distraction to examine him. He held an easy smile on his face, revealing the openness that she found so refreshing. His white button-up shirt accentuated his stocky build, and he carried himself with a strength and a calm depth that reminded her of the restful lakes in Lasim. The self-confidence of a warrior. Achingly similar to Zak, now that she thought about it. She turned on her heel and let the cowl of her scarf brush over her cheek and hide her eyes. “What about you?”

  Ben caught up to her with one full stride. “Where would I settle?” He blew out a breath. “I don’t even remember where I’m from. I can’t really think about where I’d live until I know where I have lived.” He paused. “Does that make sense?”

  Jade met his gaze and smiled, pouring as much hope into the expression as she could. “Yes. And we’ll figure out where you’re from. Don’t worry.”

  Briar met them on the edge of the food and tech quarter, and Jade let him take over the price haggling that she detested. She left him and Ben at the booth while she meandered to the stall across the road that had caught her eye. Gears of all sizes and metals were neatly arranged in trays. Tiny gears smaller than her pinky nail, gears the size of her hand, two gears as large as her head.

  “We’re at the crossroads for this section.” Briar’s voice sounded from behind her. “Hey, princess, do you actually need anything in the tech quadrant, or can we head over to the clothing? I want to look for something for Krista.”

  Jade rolled her eyes at Briar’s nickname for her, and put the gear in her hand back on the cart with a rueful smile. “Nothing actually needed. Just greatly desired.”

  Briar snorted. “Gear head.”

  “Egg head.”

  “Grease monkey.”

  “Cupcake.”

  “Hey, that’s low,” Briar protested. “You broke the name-calling rules. You are hereby on name-calling probation.”

  Jade rolled her eyes and started walking down the wide aisle between the tech and food quarters.

  Ben caught up quickly and leaned over her shoulder. “Cupcake?”

  Jade grinned over her shoulder. “Long story involving his first week on board and his ‘celebration cupcake special.’“ She giggled. “They were—” She paused, searching for the right word. She gave up with a laugh. “Horrible. They were horrible.”

  “I’ll have you know that was because nobody warned me that Zak shouldn’t be allowed in the kitchen.” Briar broke in. His eyes wrinkled in amusement despite his scowl. “I don’t know what he was thinking, but rosemary did not belong in those cupcakes. That was a spectacular failure. In an absolutely mortifying kind of way.”

  Ben chuckled. “So there’s something that Zak can’t do?”

  “Oh, never let him by the kitchen.” Jade laughed. “And if you find him skulking around it, push him into the mess room where we keep a few snacks on hand. For the sole purpose of not letting him go into the kitchen to find food.”

  “So much makes sense now.” Ben smirked. “Glad to finally understand his grumbling about the kitchen.”

  Jade spotted a display of vivid scarves and hustled over, leaving Ben and Briar. Deep blue with specks of green and lighter blues drew her attention first, then a beautiful rich purple pulled her away. She lifted it and examined the weave. This would look amazing on Krista. She turned to show it to Briar and paused.

  Ben and Briar had stopped several feet away, their pose mirrored in each other, arms crossed and creases in their brow as they talked too low for her to hear. Briar shook his head, and Ben’s eye twitched. Ben asked something, and Briar shrugged, gesturing toward the direction of the palace. Briar noticed Jade watching them. He rubbed his head with a sheepish grin and walked over, gently taking her elbow and turning her back to the scarves.

  “What did you find? Anything interesting?” he asked as he focused his attention on the table. Briar spoke rapidly, not letting her get a word in. “This one looks good.” He picked up a sage-green scarf and held it up by Jade. “Hey, Steamboy, think this would be a good color for Jade?”

  Ben blinked at Briar and scratched his chin, his eyes roving over Jade’s face. He joined them at the cart and leaned past her, his hand barely touching her shoulder. He tugged on a green-and-blue swirled scarf and stepped back, handing it to Jade. “This would be better. It’ll either bring out the blue in your eyes, or make them that mysterious seafoam color.”

  “Seafoam?” Briar raised an eyebrow. “Interesting choice of word. Are you from a city by the ocean?”

  Ben stared at the scarf, his eyes distant. “I…don’t know. But it fits.” He looked at Jade and held his hands up in a shrug. “I stand by it.”

  Jade accepted the lightweight fabric, her shoulder mourning the lack of Ben’s hand. She dropped her gaze from his, under the pretense of examining the scarf. It was beautiful. And she wouldn’t mind having something so elegant. Maybe she’d even wear it to hide behind when she visited the palace tomorrow.

  “Here, I’ll get it for you.” Ben handed the shopkeeper two lut.

  Jade looked up quickly. The protest forming on her lips died as Ben shook his head, hands up.

  “Nope. Done deal. Already paid for everything.”

  “But you just earned that money!”

  “It’s too late, Jade.” Briar laughed. “Just let the man give you something nice.” Briar shot her a grin. “It’s not like you’re required to wear it in Vodan.�
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  Jade’s heart seized at Briar’s words and their implications.

  People at the nearest entrance started murmuring and moving back. She sent Briar a we’ll-talk-later look and stepped away from the cart to try and see what was going on.

  Her eye caught the flash of silver and black, and blood drained from her face so quickly her head spun. The previously delicious scents of garlic, roasted meat, and fresh fruit now turned her stomach. Her knees wobbled, and suddenly Ben’s arm was around her, offering support.

  “What’s wrong?” He straightened, pulling her up with him, and surveyed the crowd. “What did you see?”

  Jade pulled away from the protection of his arm, and she yanked on Briar’s sleeve.

  He turned with the purple scarf in his hands.

  “Prince Weston is here.”

  Briar’s eyes widened, and he tossed his lut at the shopkeeper and shoved the scarf into his bag. “Bleeding Void Born,” he swore. He gripped Jade’s shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  Fear and anger lent Jade enough strength to look through the crowd to where he was with his guards. He stood, profile visible, talking with a shopkeeper in the tech quadrant. Two bodyguards stood on either side of him, a small ring of guards beyond.

  She swallowed hard. It was one thing to be at the palace and know there was a high chance of seeing him. To see him here was unexpected, especially after all her fretting earlier. He looked in her direction, and she spun around with a gasp. Did he see her?

  Jade fought the nerves that threatened to take away her clarity of thought. Would she rather deck him in the jaw or collapse in a ball of fear?

  “I have to get out of here,” she whispered.

  Briar nodded and hefted his sack of food while Ben did the same. “Ben, you take up the rear. I’ll lead. No stopping. Try to act somewhat natural.”

  Ben nodded, his eyes hard. “Let’s go.”