by K Hanson
“Let this be an example to all of you,” said the head guard to all of the prisoners in the mess hall. “Defiance will only earn you punishment and pain. Now, get her off of that wall. Everyone here is about to be late for their shift.”
A guard on each side unlocked her chains and pulled her away from the wall and began to shove her toward the door. She shook herself free. “I can walk myself, thanks.”
She stood at the door and waited for the rest of the prisoners to line up. Most of their meals remained unfinished on the tables, either because the food itself was disgusting or they had lost their appetites watching her flogging. She made an effort to keep herself on her feet. She could feel the blood beginning to clot in the wounds across her back. She just wanted to return to her cell so that she could curl up on her bedroll, as uncomfortable as it was.
Instead, she faced a full day of working in the mines. Twelve hours of heaving a pickaxe at a solid wall of stone, hoping to fill her expected quota of ore. If she failed, she would receive another ten lashes on top of what she had already gotten. Prisoners who consistently failed to meet the goal soon had a back of ribbons, then disappeared not long after that.
When all of the prisoners in her group, which included her crew, had been assembled in a line in front of the door, the guards led them out and escorted them through the dark corridor until it opened into the chamber that they had been assigned to excavate. The area was about two stories tall and covered an area about as large as the deck of the Storm Raven. Ramps and ladders led up to scaffolding that lined the perimeter, allowing access to the upper parts of the wall. Thick wooden posts rose from the ground to the ceiling, supporting the immense weight of the earth above. Golden light glowed from torches mounted on each post and along the walls on both levels, making this section of the mine better lit than their living quarters.
The guard leading the line of prisoners stopped in front of a large rack of pickaxes and turned around. Another guard walked up to him and passed him a piece of parchment. “Stay in line while I give you your assignments for the day.”
Brynja watched as he came up to her and searched for her name on his list.
“You are on the upper-level today, on the east wall. Take your ax and get up there.”
She slipped by him without a word and yanked the hefty tool from the wall, then walked to the nearest ramp to the scaffolding. Gazing around the room, she found the large N painted on one of the walls, which designated the north wall. It was easy to get turned around down in the mines. The wood creaked as she stepped up the ramp and walked along the scaffolding to take her place at the eastern wall of the cavern. Other members of her crew joined her as they got their own assignments and pickaxes.
With her shirt still torn and back screaming in agony, Brynja held herself straight as she lifted her pickaxe and began to swing it into the walls of the mine. For her crew, and for Nereyda, she would stay strong and do her job. At least, her crew had been mostly lucky so far. They’d all made their quotas and generally didn’t get into too much trouble with the guards. Still, Brynja knew how bad it could become down here. From the passages and vents that carved through the rock of the mines, she could hear echoing screams that reminded her of the horrors that lurked just moments away.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
After helping Commander Erhan find a safe place to drop anchor for the night, Nereyda retired to her cell. As she lay down on her bedroll, her mind whirled from the events of the day, keeping her awake despite her physical exhaustion.
She still found herself riding the high from piloting the ship through that strait. The feel of the wind rushing through her hair. The smell of the seawater spraying her face. The heart-pounding adrenaline rush of pushing a ship right to the edge of its abilities. All of that became so much more vivid when she was in control, rather than standing on the sidelines as just a navigator.
It had been weeks since she had last stood at the helm of a ship to steer it and give orders to a crew. It wasn’t quite a substitute for having control of the Storm Raven with her own crew, but it still felt amazing to pilot a vessel and master the sea.
Nereyda wished that her crew could have been with her for the chase through the canyon. Brynja and all of the rest would have loved to take the Storm Raven on that wild ride. It seemed incredibly unfair that Nereyda got to experience something like that while her Raven family remained enslaved deep in the mines, away from the fresh air and the sea.
After getting their ship through the canyon, along with not killing Erhan when he had returned her weapons for a brief time, she hoped that the commander might start to trust her more. She could use that trust to find a way to escape and get back to the mainland. Step by step, she would figure out a way to get her crew out of that hellhole.
The rattle of her cell door jolted Nereyda from her musings on her bedroll. She pushed herself onto her elbows and saw a man with a lantern push through the door and into her chamber.
“Who are you?” she asked. “You’re not my usual guard. And why the hell are you here? Does the commander need me for some reason?”
The man shut the cell door and locked it behind him. “That was quite a stunt today, pirate.”
“Thanks, but I know that already. Is that why you’re here? To give me a compliment?”
“You’re going to get us all killed if you keep that up. I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen.” He drew his sword from his belt.
Nereyda jumped to her feet to face him. “Did the Commander send you?”
“No, he doesn’t know anything about this. Some of the boys and I decided you needed to go, and I volunteered.”
“You volunteered to kill an unarmed person in her sleep? How honorable of you.”
He sneered. “I don’t care about honor. I just want to get home. Though, if you put up a fight, it might make it more fun.”
“I can think of something even more fun,” said Nereyda.
“What’s that?”
She fixed his eyes with hers and stepped toward him. “I’m sure you get as lonely as I do. Maybe we can help each other out.”
The man shifted on his feet and didn’t seem to know how to respond.
“Feeling shy?” She moved closer and placed her right hand on his chest. “Tell me, how long has it been since you’ve been with someone?”
“I’m - I’m not sure. It’s been awhile.”
“Same here. Too long, really.” She touched the shoulder of his sword arm with her left hand. “You look like you know how to handle your blade, too.” She slid her hand down along his arm.
“I do all right.”
“I’m sure,” she said while biting her lip
When her hand reached his wrist, she gripped and twisted while shoving him against the cell wall with her other hand.
He dropped his sword in surprise. “What the hell?”
She punched him hard in the gut and pushed him to the ground. As he grasped his stomach, she picked up his sword and held the tip against his sternum.
“What are you going to do to me?” he asked.
“We’ll have to see about that,” she said with the blade pointed down at him.
“Please,” he begged, “I’m sorry. I made a mistake coming here.”
“You did make a mistake, you’re right.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to kill you.” She took a step toward him and raised the sword.
“Please don’t.” He raised his hands in an attempt to shield himself. “I can give you the keys to your irons and your cell.”
“Really? You have both of those keys right now?”
“Yes,” he breathed.
“Show me.”
His hands shook as he rummaged through his pockets. He pulled out a ring with two keys on it. One had a number on it that matched her cell. The other must be for her shackles.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Will you let me go now?”
“Hmm, I d
on’t think so. You came here to kill me, and I can’t have you trying again.” She thrust the blade into his chest, and he fell still.
After she made sure that he was really dead, she had to figure out what to do with the body. If anyone found the dead body of a guard in her cell when they came by for morning roll call, it would probably not go so well for her.
Nereyda sat on the ground and fit one of the keys into the slot in her left shackle. As she turned it, the lock clicked, and the cuff popped free. She then took off the right shackle. After sliding the irons from her legs, she rubbed the skin where they had been. Her legs were scraped and bruised from rubbing against the coarse, unforgiving metal. She slid the irons into the corner of her cell and stood up. Then, she stepped to the door of her cell and reached around to fit the numbered key into the lock. Once the door had been unlocked, she slid open the metal door, easing it so that it wouldn’t creak.
Nereyda glanced up and down the narrow corridor outside her cell, then turned back to grab the guard. She crouched down and pulled the man’s arm over her shoulders. As she stood, she grunted at his weight. She strained to pull him through the cell door and into the hallway.
Dragging him to the now vacant guard station at the end of the block, she found a porthole that opened to the sea. She leaned to put his head into the opening, then slipped him from her shoulders so that his upper body rested on the edge. Walking to his feet, she picked them up and shoved the guard out the window. Once enough of his body had gone through, she let go of his legs and watched as he splashed into the water below.
She stopped to listen for any sign of alarm. After waiting for a few seconds, she felt confident nobody had seen him fall overboard.
Nereyda snuck back to her cell and locked it behind her. She tucked the keys into her clothing to hold onto for a day when she could make her escape. For now, she just had to wait until they got close enough to land so that she could sneak off the boat and swim to freedom.
---
Alone again in the commander’s cabin, Nereyda stared down at the charts spread before her, but without really looking at them. Her mind focused on the events of the previous night, as well as listening and watching for any sign that someone had realized that a guard was missing. So far, she had not heard anything, but eventually, they would notice his absence.
Nereyda shook her head to clear her mind and looked at the map to find the best way back to an Imperial patrol to report their discovery of the Stalstan ship. After their haphazard chase through the narrow passages between the islands, it had taken Nereyda an hour just to figure out exactly where they had ended up. Now, she sifted through all of the charts, trying to find a viable path through the dense forest of islands. She thought she had found a suitable route just as she heard the door to the cabin open.
“Good morning, commander,” she said.
“I’m not sure what’s so good about it,” he said as he walked in. “A Stalstan ship is burning towns in the Shattered Sea, and now we have a soldier missing.”
Nereyda kept her face indifferent and her voice even. “Really? Are you sure he’s not just asleep in the hold or someplace that’s hard to see?”
“We’re sure. He wasn’t around for the changing of the shift last night, and his bunk is empty. From what I know of him, he wouldn’t just disappear like that.”
“He has to be somewhere on board, right? Unless he decided to go for a swim, he can’t just be gone.”
“You didn’t hear anything unusual last night?”
She shook her head. “No, I didn’t notice anything.”
A knock sounded from the door.
“Yes? Come in,” said Erhan.
A couple of marines dragged another guard into the room, then saluted the commander.
“Quartermaster Wulf, what is this? Why did you bring this man here?”
“Someone saw him leave his post last night,” answered the marine on the right. “Not sure if it has anything to do with the missing man, sir, but we thought you should know.”
“Thank you. I can handle it from here. You can head back to your posts.”
They bowed then turned around to leave the cabin.
“Is it true you left your post last night, soldier?” asked Erhan.
The man’s eyes darted around the cabin as he fidgeted, but he didn’t answer.
“Listen.” The commander walked up to the soldier to get in his face. “A man is missing. If it has something to do with why you left your post, I need to know. Tell me why you wandered off or I will have to assume you are responsible for whatever happened.”
“I…I left because he paid me to head out on deck for a few minutes.”
“You were posted inside? Which post were you assigned to last night?”
The man looked over at Nereyda and nodded in her direction. “I was guarding her last night, sir. He gave me a pouch of gold and said he wanted some alone time with her.”
Erhan stepped away from the shaking soldier and stalked over to Nereyda. “You told me nothing strange happened last night. Did you do something to one of my men?”
“Only after he tried to do something to me. Your fine upstanding soldier came into my cell and tried to kill me.”
“What?”
“You heard me. He said some of the crew decided I should die. It didn’t work out for him.”
“You killed him.”
“Of course, and with his own sword.”
“Where is he now?”
“It’s hard to say, but probably floating along behind us or enjoying the comfort of a shark’s belly.”
“Are you confessing to murdering one of my men?”
“I killed him, but I didn’t murder him. Murder implies that somehow I did something wrong.”
“How am I supposed to know that you’re telling the truth?”
“Why else would he pay my guard to leave me unattended? He didn’t want anybody to see what would happen.”
“Whether or not he tried to attack you, I can’t just let this go. I can’t allow a prisoner to kill an Imperial soldier and get away with it without being punished.”
“And how exactly do you think you’ll punish me? You need me to navigate through the rest of the Shattered Sea on our way out. And I think I demonstrated that I’m a better pilot than you are.”
“If I didn’t need you, I would just leave on one of these islands to die. But,” he said, “you’re right. I need you to get us through this. However, once we’re clear of the Shattered Sea, I’ll toss you into the sea myself.”
“You mean you’ll try.”
“Just when I thought you might not be just another pirate, you do something that shows me I was right to begin with. From now on, you’ll have two guards whenever you’re in your cell. You’ll also keep your ankle shackle on at all times, even when you’re in here or with me at the helm.”
“It’s not like I’m going to run away from you. Where the hell would I go?” Since she had the key to her shackles, she didn’t actually care if she had to wear them or not, but she had to keep up the appearance of fighting back.
Erhan ignored her. “Also, no more fraternizing with other prisoners or members of the crew. From now on, when you’re not with me or in my cabin, you’ll be in your cell. Is that understood?”
“So I’m grounded now?”
“If you don’t care what happens to you, I can also punish anyone that you talk to that you’re not supposed to.”
“That’s a favorite of yours, isn’t it? Punishing people who didn’t actually do anything wrong.”
“I do it to punish you. If I can’t threaten you directly, I’ll do it to people you care about.”
“Whatever. Now, leave me alone.” She waved him away. “I need to get back to finding a way out of here.” She turned away from him and sat down without waiting for a response.
“You’re dismissing me from my own cabin?”
She didn’t bother to turn around to face him. “Do you want me to find us a
way home, or not?”
Without looking in his direction, she could feel his ire radiating off of him from where he stood across the cabin. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him turn and stride toward the door, where the guard still stood. “You, guard, come with me. I’m sure Quartermaster Wulf can find an appropriate punishment for abandoning your post and letting one of your fellow soldiers get killed because of it.”
Nereyda glanced over her shoulder to watch Erhan shove the guard out through the cabin door, then slam it behind him. Silence again fell over the cabin as she sat in the afternoon light that came in through the windows. Looking down, she found the last chart she had been examining to plot their final course out of the sea. When she returned her attention to the map, she found something that caught her eye.
South of the Shattered Sea, but well north of Imperial waters, she saw an isolated island. She could easily plot a course that passed by the island. As the only notable landmass between the Shattered Sea and the mainland, she could even openly suggest it to Commander Erhan as a possible stopping point if they needed to resupply on their journey south. If they did end up stopping there, she could slip away while they were ashore. Otherwise, she would have to jump ship and swim there without anyone noticing her absence.
Nereyda drew the line for her plotted course and rolled up the map.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Brynja swung her ax into the stone walls, trying to dig her quota of ore from whatever veins she could find. Her back ached with every strike into the rock. The whipping she had received for giving her food to that old man had carved up her back. Even after a couple of days, the cuts constantly pulsed with pain and oozed into the scratchy rags of the new shirt she had received. She couldn’t sleep on her back, and every move made her want to wince.
Brynja looked around this section of the mine, where a number of the crew members of the Storm Raven had been assigned. They all diligently worked their section of the mine, the supervisor watching with a vigilant eye. She hadn’t been the only one in the crew to earn a flogging. Hob had received ten lashes for failing to meet his quota for the week. Jim got five lashes after the handle of his pickaxe broke.