Death

by Rosie Scott

  ...oh no. Kai just asked me what a vertebra was. After I told her, she asked why it kills a man to lose one if he's got a few. I have some explaining to do. Why the hell does a book about the Metal Conflict talk about such things?!

  Write back when you can. Love you,

  Bjorn

  P.S. Never mind. I remember this part of the book. Gods, what an awful way to die. Don't lose any vertebrae, Pa. Ha!

  My eyes were teary as Cerin read through many of the letters, but my friends and I also chuckled as Bjorn's sense of humor shone through. Flint was right; while Bjorn had often written about his military accomplishments, his favorite topic had been me. He'd written to Flint about everything from our times spent together to the things I'd say that he found cute. Bjorn worried about my rebellious nature and how that would affect my relationship with both Sirius and the army. After I'd found out about being able to wield six elements at fourteen, Bjorn had said he'd spent many sleepless nights worried about my lifespan. He'd told Flint that he advised me against becoming a mage so I could have a normal life, but my mind was set on seeking warfare. In the end, Bjorn said he wanted me to be happy most of all.

  My friends and I only left Flint's home when our stomachs growled loud enough for the older man to hear and the sky darkened to lavender outside the open windows. It was both the first and last time I would ever see the man who considered himself my grandfather, for he told me his time on Arrayis was nearly over. Flint insisted I take the chest of Bjorn's things with me, and I offered the elderly man all I could in terms of healing and gold. Though he scoffed at me giving him gold, I gave a handful of it to his caretaker Codee to make sure Flint would have one of the most prestigious graves in Oeric's Hall of the Dead when his time came.

  It had been many years since Bjorn's death, and I hadn't yet enacted vengeance for his murder. Even so, as I walked through the same stone hallways he once had, I was warm with relief because I felt close to him.

  Three

  Beneath the night sky which held its clouds back to reveal the secrets of the universe, our dwarven galleon sailed south through the inlet that would take us back to Hallmar. The white moonlight of Eran glimmered over the crests of the water, and far to the south, the dim glow of Hallmar beckoned. Holter sat on a chair outside of the staircase leading into the belly of the ship, playing an upbeat tune on his flute while Nyx danced terribly, trying her best to make him laugh.

  My presence on the deck was noticed, but only when Nyx glanced over and saw my serious face did she stop dancing, breathing hard from her efforts. She held out her finger to Holter, who stopped playing and glanced up.

  “Is everything okay?” Nyx asked.

  Now that Holter no longer made music, everything was quiet save for the ship's hull cutting through calm ocean waves and the distant chattering of insects from the western shore. Calder watched me from the poop deck where he kept his hands on the wheel. Everyone else was below deck.

  “I'm calling a meeting,” I announced.

  “Who's been naughty?” Calder asked in jest, to which Nyx raised a hand.

  I scoffed playfully. “We've all been naughty.”

  Calder replied, “Let's have a Punish-Me-Party, then, and everyone can have a turn.”

  I snorted a laugh. “You wish.”

  Calder wiggled his eyebrows. “Let me get these sails situated, love, and I'll be right down.”

  I jogged back down the stairs and took my normal seat between Azazel and Cerin. Maggie sat on the other side of Azazel on a stone chair we'd brought just for her. The engineer was seated sideways, letting her prosthetic leg lay out flat on the hardwood behind our seats. As with anything else, she'd built it herself. It was made of metal and secured to her thigh, but she'd also attached leather straps to keep it supported on her waist.

  “Is my leg botherin' ya there, love?” Maggie spoke up, noticing my stare.

  “Not at all,” I replied, before I motioned to it. “I was just thinking about how you should add steam propulsion to it. Zoom across the battlefield.”

  Maggie stared at me with amused perplexity before she burst into laughter. “Kai, ain't no steam gonna push this big ol' gal around.”

  “I think that's Kai's point,” Azazel said. “She wants it for herself.”

  As we laughed, Maggie said, “I'll tell ya what, Kai. Give me enough gold and resources in Sera, and I'll make ya somethin' that flies.”

  Calder, Holter, and Nyx came down from the quarterdeck then. As Calder pulled out a seat at the end of the table, Cerin glanced up at him and asked, “Here for the Punish-Me-Party?”

  Calder snorted a laugh. “You heard that?”

  “I've got eyes in the back of my head when it comes to you,” Cerin retorted playfully.

  Calder grinned at my lover before he leaned back in his chair, lighting a ferris cigarette. Holter did the same and offered one to Nyx. Smoke soon clouded in the top of the cabin, waving by firelight like dew.

  “One of my first orders of business as queen of Chairel will be to ban ferris,” I announced. Calder and Nyx weren't fazed, but a flash of panic passed over Holter's features. I smiled at him and said, “Got you.”

  Holter chuckled, embarrassed. “You did.”

  “Can't ban something that's already banned,” Calder mused, before he found my gaze and smiled. “You're in a fun mood tonight, love.”

  “I am,” I admitted happily. “I've looked forward to this day for years.” Everyone perked up at that tidbit, but they were quiet as they waited for me to continue. “We'll be leaving for Chairel on the first day of the new year, and that's just a moon and a half away. Before we cross that border, I want to speak with you all about the roles you'll take on as part of my kingdom.”

  Holter raised his eyebrows, shocked. Even though he'd been with us for the better part of three years, he'd never ceased being overwhelmingly grateful for the responsibilities and gifts I'd given him. While the others around the table had been with me far longer, there was a certain humility that exuded from each of their faces as they waited for me to continue.

  I turned to Azazel, tapping him on the shoulder when he hadn't noticed the movement due to his blind spot. “I offered Azazel the title of strategist and my first appointed general two years ago. Multiple times throughout our campaign here, he proved himself more than worthy. There were many times I left my men under his care, and he led them well.”

  Azazel smiled at me and nudged my shoulder with his own. “I will always do my best for you, Kai.”

  “In addition,” I continued, “I offered you the title of regent.” I looked over the others. “If I fall in battle or am incapacitated, Azazel is my successor. In battle and otherwise.”

  “You're making him your heir, love?” Calder questioned.

  “I am.”

  Calder raised an eyebrow at Azazel. “No wonder you rejected my offer of the underground. Kai's laying the world at your feet.”

  Azazel appeared humbled, though he said, “It won't matter who the heir is. I protect Kai with my life.”

  “Yeah, but...” Nyx trailed off. “I mean, you could just decide not to one day and get a whole country, bud. Really, think about that. You could be rich.”

  Azazel and I chuckled. I went on, “It should come as no surprise that I will also offer material goods to you, Azazel. Until I have Chairel, I won't know how much gold I can offer you. But I promise you—” my eyes scanned over the others “—and each of you a property of your own in Sera to live in tax-free. For as long as each of you are with me, I'll pay you a salary. In addition to this, I will offer some of you land if you wish to manage it. I offer you land, Azazel, but my offer for you is special.”

  “Kai...” Azazel shook his head. “I won't need land with all these things you've offered me. You've given me enough.”

  “You haven't heard my extra special offer,” I retorted playfully, to which he chuckled softly.

  “What is your offer?” he asked.

  “I want to gi
ve you undeveloped land, Azazel,” I began. “We can travel across the country together until you find the spot you want. Then I want you to throw a stake in the ground and develop it. Turn it into something new. Use all that gold you claim you won't have a use for and build what you want. And name it, for gods' sake.”

  Azazel laughed softly, and he put a hand over his face in embarrassment.

  “Tell me you'll accept this offer before Cerin names the village Bob,” I pleaded, to which my lover laughed, remembering his jest from the Battle of Hallmar.

  “I accept, Kai.” Azazel grabbed me into a hug until my chair tilted onto two legs toward his. “Thank you,” he said beside my ear. “Thank you for everything.”

  “Spoiled little son of a bitch,” Calder teased Azazel as we parted.

  I pointed at Calder and said, “Wait your turn.”

  “Oh, I don't expect anything, love. I'm not a Renegade,” Calder replied.

  “I invited you to this meeting for a reason,” I said to Calder, before I turned to Cerin. “You don't get anything.”

  Cerin chuckled and leaned back in his chair with his hands clasped behind his head. “I don't need anything, anyway.”

  “In all seriousness, Cerin...” I trailed off and caught his gaze. “I have a few ideas for you, and I want you to tell me which of them you like.”

  “Okay,” he agreed.

  “I would offer you land, but I don't think you'd be interested,” I started. “I offer you a salary, of course, and you'll be staying with me in the university while we are in Sera. You've enjoyed teaching necromancy over the years. I thought you might like to teach it.”

  Cerin pondered this. “I don't want any land. I might want a place near the harbor once it's built, and we can go back and forth to visit.”

  “And for fishing,” I teased him.

  “And for fishing,” Cerin agreed. “If I will teach necromancy, I want to be known for it. I want to be the professor that all others who teach necromancy have to report to.”

  I chuckled. “You want your name written all over those hallways.”

  “Hell yes, I do,” he replied, to which Nyx chuckled across the table. “Sera was awful to me. The kids were all snotty bastards. Sirius nearly executed me. That school was so pretentiously against death magic even though it accepted all other elements that I want to rub their faces in it.”

  “Essentially,” Azazel began with a half-smile, “you're saying that when I draw your portrait, you want to be giving the middle finger.”

  Cerin laughed. “No, not that far. If Kai will be in charge, I don't want to risk becoming the pretentiousness I hated. Sera has known me for years for my necromancy, and it has hated me for it. I want to be known for my necromancy, but I don't want to be hated for it.”

  “As you wish,” I replied, reaching over to tug lovingly at a lock of his long dark hair. “Any other requests?”

  “I don't want to be tied down,” Cerin replied. “I want to teach necromancy, but I want to travel with you. I'd also like to learn surgery.”

  Nyx snorted a laugh. “You, a surgeon?”

  “What's so funny about that?” Cerin retorted. “I'm already a healer.”

  Nyx tipped her head toward the scythe that hung on the cabin wall behind us. “You're the reason people need surgery to begin with.”

  “Take it from an engineer, love,” Maggie spoke up. “One of the best ways to learn how to put things together is to pull 'em apart.”

  Cerin jerked a thumb over to Maggie. “See?”

  Nyx only held her hands up in mock defeat.

  “Okay,” I started, “so we will put you through the rest of the healer's education that you missed, and you'll be coming with me when I travel. But as for the tied down thing...” I trailed off and smiled mischievously.

  Cerin grinned. “You know what I meant. If I leave teaching for a year to travel, I want to be able to come back to it. I didn't request lots of sex because that's always been a part of the package.”

  “Spoiled little son of a bitch,” Calder mused playfully, mimicking his earlier words to Azazel. Cerin wiggled his eyebrows in response.

  “Nyx,” I said, pointing at her from across the table. She sat up straight and saluted in response, to which I laughed. “First of all, stop doing that.”

  Nyx shrugged and chuckled. “I like doing it.”

  “I offer you your own home in Sera and a salary, as I offered the others. I didn't want to offer you land unless you wanted to deal with managing it.”

  Nyx twisted her lips to the side. “I don't want land, per se, but I kind of want my own business.”

  I frowned. “You want to run a business?”

  “A mix of a tavern and brothel,” she said, before reaching out a hand to Azazel as if to stop his protest in advance. “Not where anyone's there unwillingly, of course. Maybe I could rent rooms for gold and let men and women alike work there. Get some recipes for dwarven and Alderi ale and serve it there.”

  “And you'd be willing to work there?” I asked, seeking honesty.

  Nyx shrugged. “It'd be nice making gold for sex since I do it all the time anyway.”

  I snorted a laugh. “That's not what I was talking about. Running a business is serious work, and you don't like staying put.”

  “Yeah, but if I'll be making a lot of gold from you paying me on top of making rent, I can hire people to do the hard stuff for me. And I wouldn't need that home you offered me if I could always stay at the brothel.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Did you put thought into this?”

  “For once,” Nyx agreed. “Weird, huh?”

  “Very.” I hesitated. “So I'll let you either pick a property that's available in Sera or we'll have it built. Is there anything else?”

  “Mm...no, I don't think so,” Nyx replied.

  “You're easy,” Calder commented.

  “You knew that already,” Nyx retorted, and they laughed.

  “Holter,” I spoke up, catching his gaze. “Will you be staying with us once we take Chairel?”

  Holter nodded. “I was planning on it.”

  “Then I offer you a home in Sera, a salary, and a job.”

  Holter perked up at this and straightened in his chair. “What kind of job?”

  “Two jobs, really,” I said. “Eteri has messenger griffons. Nahara has runners. These methods of transporting intel and messages are convenient, and I think you would be fantastic at it. Right now, all Chairel has are horse cavalry and the Twelve. Many of my own soldiers are beastmen, and I think diversifying is beneficial. I would use you as a scout and reconnaissance mission leader.”

  “Oh.” Holter humbled. “Wow. Thank you.”

  I chuckled. “Well, tell me how you feel about that.”

  “I like the idea,” Holter admitted. “And you said leader, right?”

  I nodded. “Yes, I wouldn't want to send you alone. I would build a unit of flying beastmen. You are a Seran Renegade now, so you would be the leader when I establish the unit, and I would seek your input on which soldiers to promote into it.”

  “That's really flattering, Kai,” Holter said. “Thank you.”

  “I said I offered you two jobs,” I reminded him. “One of your first jobs in Sera will be to travel to Nahara. I will give you the gold to purchase multiple musical instruments there and learn how to play them. Then you will bring them back to Sera where you will serenade me day and night.”

  Cerin laughed beside me. “How'd I know that's where you were going with this?”

  Holter smirked at Cerin. “Is Naharan music much different from what I play?”

  Cerin nodded. “Naharan music is the most unique on all of Arrayis. It is Kai's favorite.”

  “Then I'll learn it,” Holter replied, smiling at me.

  “You are a fantastic musician,” I complimented him. “You'll do well.” I leaned forward in my chair to look past Azazel to Maggie. “Maggie.”

  “Aye?”

  “What do you think your
job will be?”

  “Hobblin' about,” she replied immediately, to which I laughed.

  “I'll give you a home and a salary, and I'll do my best to grant you the resources with which to tinker,” I told her. “Out of everyone here, I offer you the most work if you want it.”

  “Ya know I do, love,” Maggie replied.

  “I know you're interested in building ships, weapons, and defenses,” I started. “How do you feel about architecture?”

  “Gotta be honest, I've always wanted to get involved with architecture. Never had much chance to touch anythin' other than ships in Eteri, though. What did ya have in mind?”

  “Oh, lots,” I replied, and she chuckled. “Before you can build ships, Sera needs a dedicated harbor. If you think you can build Jakanto Harbor, I would put you in charge of it. Ideally, I'd like involvement in the process every step of the way. If you find you like working on architecture as much as anything else, there are so many other things I'd like you to do. Upgrade the city, the university, build a magnificent museum with which to dedicate to this war, and build methods of transportation.”

  “Methods of transportation?” Maggie asked.

  “Yes. Olympia had these carts that traveled via cables in the sky. When I expand Sera to include a harbor, the city will become massive because the coast is quite a distance from its mountain. I want to introduce these dwarven methods of travel to Chairel. Make it easier to get from one side of the city to the other.”

  “Aw, not just that, love,” Maggie started, “but ya said before that Sera's a city for tourism. If ya have me build contraptions like that, it'll bring in a lot of gold from people just lookin' to see it.”

  “I agree. I'm willing to pay you a higher salary to take on all this work.”

  Maggie shook her head. “Ah, don't worry about it, love. Keep enough gold flowin' for me to afford expensive dwarven ale from Nyx's tavern and take care of my eventual family and I'll have no need for much else. I enjoy what I do. I'll get it done.”

  “Calder,” I said next, watching his lips pull up into a grin as he met my gaze.