Renegade Skyfarer

by R. J. Metcalf

  Zak moved away from Kadar’s body. He met another adversary with a mighty clash of steel. Slate yanked his vest off and dropped to a knee next to Everett’s captain. Trevor groaned, blood pouring from his wounded face, and he yelped when Slate pressed the thick material on the wound.

  A cursory inspection showed Kerlee had the chest with the lut and had halted by Geist. Geist sprinted past Ben and stopped suddenly, showering Slate and Trevor with dust and pebbles. He leaned over, panting. “Captain, something doesn’t smell right.”

  Slate’s head whipped around. He focused on the tracker. “What did you notice?”

  Geist waved a hand at a nearby campfire. “Remnants of smoke and men.” He pointed to where their crew had come in. “Over there. Couldn’t have been us. We didn’t have any smoke on us coming in.” His eyes danced with the zing of adrenaline even as his face hardened. “I had to backtrack. There are footprints on a deer path. Maybe four men?”

  Ben’s heart seized, and Slate swore. The captain pushed to his feet. “To me!” he yelled. “Fighting retreat!”

  Zak appeared from the deepening shadows, eyes dark with anger. Blood dripped from his upper arm. “For how many bedrolls and dead campfires they have here, men are missing.”

  Slate nodded. “Geist pointed out that some aren’t here.”

  Zak’s entire body stilled. “We left the Sapphire undefended.”

  Ice shot through Ben’s spine at Zak’s words. Jade! He turned on his heel to sprint at the same time as Zak and Geist.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Jade

  Jade leaned against the upper deck railing and stared out over the countryside as the sun finally set behind the western mountain ridge. She settled her chin into her hand with a heavy sigh.

  “They’ll be back before we know it.” Krista dropped the chair she’d dragged out of the mess hall and up the metal stairs with a clatter. She scooted it next to Jade and plopped into it with heedless abandon, stretching her long legs out. “And even if something were to happen and push came to shove, Zak’s with them. It’ll be over before it starts.”

  Jade turned away from the railing to face her friend. She could see below to the main deck over Krista’s shoulder. Garnet crossed beneath them toward the captain’s room with a sheath of papers in hand, her white skin nearly glowing in the soft deck lighting. Her aunt nodded briefly up at her before focusing her attention on the documents again.

  “It’s not that I’m worried about them, per se,” Jade griped. “I want to be out there with them! How many years did we train with Uncle Andre? Zak?” She paced away from the edge of the ship, her boot heels clicking against the deck. “What good was all that for if not for us to go out and help, be part of the action?”

  “And what would they do if something happened to you and me, and they had no mechanic?” Krista pointed out reasonably. Jade grumbled a reluctant agreement, and her friend chuckled. “If I didn’t know better,” Krista teased, “I’d say you just want to be near the guys.”

  Jade touched the sconce by the helm wheel, and it warmed under her hand, illuminating the center of the topmost deck. “That’s not it, and you know it.”

  “Really?” Krista straightened from her languid posture in the chair and pressed her palms together, dark eyes glittering in the luminary light like a night predator. “Then what is it? At the very least, you have to admit that things have been very interesting between you three lately.”

  “And I’ve told you everything.” Jade shoved a hand through her loose red hair. “Ben isn’t interested because he can’t remember anything. He’s a friend now, and just that.” A red curl snagged on her finger and she fiddled with it, considering. “He’s protective, but not in a romantic sense. Almost like what I’d imagine a brother to be like.” She released the strand, and it bounced back into place while she sighed. “And Zak is…confusing.”

  Krista’s white teeth flashed in the dark as she chuckled. “That’s a good word for him.”

  Jade rapped her knuckles against the control board, eyes closed as she shook her head. “He’s been more friendly and more open lately. I don’t know how to interpret it. It’s not my fault that he’s—”

  A bang rattled below the ship, and Jade froze. She looked at Krista, and found her friend with equally wide eyes.

  “Briar and my dad are in the galley, Jaxton is in his office, Garnet’s in your father’s room. Who’s below deck?” Krista asked, her voice low. “They couldn’t be back already, could they?”

  “They would’ve called a greeting if they were back.” Jade crept to the side railing as quietly as she could and stole a peek over the rear gate. She dropped into a crouch and pressed her back against the wood with a blistering oath. “Bandits!”

  “Bleeding Void,” Krista swore. She grabbed a hydropack and slung it over her shoulder. “We need to get to the others.”

  Jade followed Krista as she crept down the stairs, and Jade thanked her lucky stones that she wore mechanic pants today. A fight in a dress would not have been easy. Only one sconce had been lit on the main deck thus far, providing them plenty of shadows to hide in.

  Four men slunk into the corridor going to the captain’s quarters and med-room.

  Adrenaline coursed through Jade, her hands trembling. Belatedly, she realized that neither she nor Krista had their swords. Who would have thought they’d need them while on board their own ship? She felt along her belt as Krista peered around the corner into the hallway. Jaxton bellowed, and something crashed. Jade yanked her heavy multi-tool out of a thick pocket and charged down the hall on Krista’s heels.

  They barged in the open door of the med-bay, and Jade froze for an eternally long second. A man twitched on the floor. Three thugs surrounded Doctor Jaxton, backing him into the corner.

  Krista snatched a scalpel off a tray and shouted a challenge. She darted forward. Jade dropped her multi-tool in favor of the heavy metal tray on the counter. She swung with all her might against the closest man. Metal dented in her hands. The bandit collapsed.

  Gripping the metal tray, she saw the man by Jaxton drop. She pivoted to check on Krista. Jade’s right shoulder muscles clenched in agony as something sliced through them. She stumbled against the medical table and cried out, tears blurring her vision as she clung to the bed.

  Krista screamed.

  A shrill screech echoed through the room, ringing in Jade’s ears. She snapped her head up to the doorway. Garnet stood there, teeth bared as she fired her electro-staff. Electricity arced through the room, hitting the bandit in the face and neck. He fell back with a yell like a terror’s. The scent of cooked meat wafted from his body. That took care of all of them.

  Jade wilted her head against the bed again. Her stomach churned from the agony of breathing and the stench of enclosed battle. Fingers probed at her shoulder, and she flinched away with a swallowed scream.

  “Are you hurt anywhere else?” Garnet’s urgent voice commanded Jade’s attention, and Jade lifted her eyes to meet Garnet’s frantic gaze.

  “Just,” Jade sucked in a breath, “my shoulder. The others?”

  Krista sank onto the bed, careful to not jostle Jade. Her friend held her cheek with a grimace. “No one taught him to never hit a lady.” She dropped the hydropack on the floor with a wrinkled nose. “I couldn’t use it in close quarters, useless thing.”

  Jade tried to smile and groaned instead. She craned her neck to look in the corner for Jaxton and ignored the bodies on the floor. “Doctor? How are you?”

  The doctor held a thin, metal bracelet in his bloody hands, scowling. He slammed it down on the counter, and a red gem rolled out of its socket. He shook his head, slanted eyes narrowed so much she couldn’t even see them. “I’m alive, thank you.” He glared at the metal jewelry and gripped his bleeding wrist. “The Void Born broke a priceless artifact of mine.”

  “Sorry to hear that.” Garnet’s voice rang sharp. “But we have two ladies bleeding here, and I need to check on the men.”
>
  “Please,” Krista’s voice trembled. “Let me know if my father and Briar are—” she broke off, and Garnet squeezed her shoulder.

  “I’ll be back,” she promised. She glared at Doctor Taylor. “Any time now.”

  “Of course, of course.” Jaxton shuffled forward and plucked a roll of gauze off the floor, rescuing it from a slowly expanding blood puddle. He wrapped it around his wrist absently as he inspected Jade’s shoulder. He raised an eyebrow at Krista. “I’ll need to get to her first, before she bleeds out anymore.”

  Krista nodded and slid off the bench. She braced a hand around Jade’s middle and helped slide her onto the exam table.

  Jade’s head spun with the motion of moving, and she tensed as she heard yelling outside. Krista brushed back her dark hair with her less bloody hand. “I’ll check on it.”

  Jaxton’s fingers probed Jade’s shoulder, and she gasped as agony blazed down her back and arm. He yanked on the material, swore softly, then grabbed shears to cut the blouse around her injury. Something soft and wet pressed against her shoulder, and it started burning a moment later. He stilled and brushed his knuckles against the skin of her shoulder, raising goosebumps over her arms. “Have you always had this mark?”

  It took a few moments before Jade could unclench her hands from her pant legs, move them to keep her shredded blouse in place, and speak. “My birthmark? Yes.” She tried to look back at the doctor and gave up when the room lurched around her. “I don’t like it, so I keep it covered.”

  “Interesting. I didn’t know that.” Jaxton’s voice sounded odd.

  “My shoulder. How bad is it?” Jade asked, trying to keep her tone steady.

  Jaxton snapped back to attention and continued scrubbing at it. “You’ll live.” He walked out from behind her to pull a fresh roll of gauze from a drawer. “You’re lucky; it looks mostly superficial. You’ll still have use of that arm.”

  “Jade!”

  Zak burst into the doorway, his green eyes widening as he took in the bodies on the floor and the blood soaking her blouse. He reached her side with long, loping steps and knelt next to her, taking her free hand into his. “We came back as fast as we could when Geist realized they sent men here. Praise the Author you’re all alive.” His eyes roamed over her, coming back to her shoulder. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

  Ben appeared in the doorway, chest heaving as he leaned against the doorframe. His expression stilled as he met Jade’s eyes. Zak looked at Ben and though they said nothing, Jade could’ve sworn that they communicated.

  Ben came over to her side and squeezed her uninjured forearm. “Your father is fine, so don’t worry about him right now, Okay?” He glanced down at the floor and the bodies that she refused to acknowledge. “I’ll get some help to clean this up.”

  She nodded, still taken aback by Zak’s concern—and now Ben’s. Zak’s hand warmed her cold fingers. The click of Jaxton’s shoes warned Jade that he had returned from fetching the gauze. Something sharp jabbed into her shoulder, and she gasped, twisting away. Zak’s eyes looked thunderous as tears slipped down her cheeks from the doctor’s ministrations.

  “I need to re-spell the nullification stone before we can use it,” Jaxton explained as the stabbing sensation continued. “You’ll have to tough it out, princess.”

  Jade grimaced at the mocking tone in Jaxton’s voice as he used Briar’s nickname for her. She was no princess. And being the captain’s daughter didn’t give her special privileges or a softer life, as Briar had first assumed. She would show Jaxton that she could withstand the pain just as well as anyone else on the crew. A fresh wave of pain rolled over her, and she bit on her lip, trying not to cry out.

  Zak sprang up from his knees and straddled the medical bed, facing Jade. He pulled her into a hug and dropped his shoulder so she could lean into him comfortably. “Do what you must,” he told Jaxton, then wrapped an arm around her waist and the other braced her good shoulder against his chest. He tilted his head down to murmur in her ear, “I’ve got you.”

  Tears leaked from Jade’s eyes as she leaned against Zak, promising herself that she wouldn’t get used to having his warmth, his closeness, back. He’d likely retreat the moment she did. Her shoulder burned as Jaxton poured something over it, and she clutched Zak. Embarrassment warred with pain, and she gave up the pretense of toughness that she desperately wanted to hold on to. Princess, indeed. Misery forced her to press her face against Zak’s sweaty black shirt. I need to become stronger. But, for now, I need a distraction.

  “The mission? Was it worth it?” She dug her nails into Zak’s arm as Jaxton tugged against her back. Her head felt light in the sea of torment. “Briar and William were in the galley. Are they—”

  “They’re unharmed,” Zak assured her as his grip tightened. “The crew’s on their way back. Some of us ran ahead when we realized everyone here was in danger.” His sword clanked against the frame of the table as he shifted slightly. “I’ll catch you up on everything that happened after you’re cleaned up and feeling better.”

  Jade pressed into Zak and breathed deeply as Jaxton finished stitching her shoulder. The bitter tang of adrenaline and sweat that clung to Zak helped to mask the odor of the room. She slid her hand up his sleeve with shaking fingers and encountered damp fabric. She lifted her hand and gasped when she saw red on it.

  “You’re injured!”

  Zak’s grin came out more like a grimace. “It’s not too bad.”

  Jade twisted to look at the gash on his elbow peeking out from his slashed shirt and glared up at him. “Were you going to say nothing? We need to get this cleaned and taken care of!”

  Jaxton’s hand settled on her uninjured shoulder. “Hold still. I can’t finish bandaging you if you keep moving.”

  Jade thunked her forehead against Zak’s chest again, her hair catching on his chin’s stubble. Her shoulder ached as Jaxton rubbed something cold that eased the sensation of pain. She shot upright when she heard the muffled sounds from the main deck and her father swearing loudly. Jaxton muttered behind her as he started bandaging her shoulder.

  Zak shook his head, one corner of his mouth barely curled up. “See? Slate’s alive and kicking.” He raised a hand to her forehead and brushed her hair to the side. His eyes widened and his gaze flicked between her and his fingers. He looked away and swallowed hard. “The crew comes first,” he muttered.

  Before what? Jade tilted her head as she opened her mouth to ask.

  “Done.” Jaxton stepped back awkwardly around the body on the floor. He scowled. “Get Ben and William in here to clean up this mess.”

  Zak slid off the bench and helped her to stand, his hand under her elbow. “Go find Krista and get yourself washed up a bit,” he suggested. “I’ll help get us ready to go. We’ll likely head to Aerugo as soon as everything here has been taken care of.”

  Jade bit her lip, unsure if she really wanted to go out and see what condition the crew had arrived in. If her father hadn’t come directly here after being out there, it meant he was with bodies downstairs. It was rare that they lost men on missions, but it was memorable enough that she had no desire to find her father this exact moment. She’d wait till he was done performing rites.

  Curiosity of why they were attacked and who they’d lost roiled in her gut. She looked down at her boots and flinched into Zak. Blank eyes stared up at her from the bloodless face of one of the invaders.

  Zak gently pushed her toward the door. “Go rest. I’ll send Slate to check on you as soon as he’s done, and we’ll be out of here soon enough.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Blade

  Blade panted and clutched at his pounding head before gripping Kadar’s arm and pulling his former leader’s body to the mound of other corpses. He dropped it, then paused to rearrange the still-loose limbs.

  For over half his life, he’d been controlled by others. For over half his life, he’d obeyed direction mindlessly, unable to do something as simple as show a modic
um of respect for the deceased.

  No more.

  He was aware of the looks that the men in his company gave him. They could tell he’d been freed. How, exactly, he’d been freed, he didn’t know. But he’d had time to puzzle it out while under the paralyzing effects of that green fog: Kadar had one controlling bracelet, and Master Jaxton had the other. Both had to be destroyed for him to be free.

  And free he was.

  Was Jaxton dead? Probably. He wouldn’t relinquish control over Blade for anything.

  It meant Blade couldn’t exact his revenge.

  But anger burned through his veins as he recalled the scene only hours earlier. Slate, walking through their simple camp, bold as brass, with that man from the citadel so many years ago. A change of clothes and hairstyle couldn’t hide those cold eyes. It proved all that Blade had ever heard.

  Slate had been behind everything in Doldra. The blood of the royal family stained Slate’s hands. As did the unstable barrier. So many deaths. So many potential deaths if the barrier were to fall for good.

  Blade motioned to one of the men, and dried blood flaked off his hand as he gestured. “Light the pyre. We’re moving on.”

  The man scurried to obey, and Blade turned away from the bramble and oil heap to watch the sky for the airship that Slate commanded.

  He was finally free. But what did he have left? A few bandits that he could call his own men? His family was dead. He had no friends. Two faces popped into his mind, seared there by the hatred that had buoyed him through the years of mental slavery.

  The man whom he had once called brother had to pay the price. And the man who walked with him. They were responsible for all his loss, and they would pay for it.

  Fire crackled behind Blade, and an oily black smoke rose from the pile of corpses. His men muttered as they watched the flames lick at their comrades and the few dead men who’d been left behind by Slate. What kind of captain left behind his own men?