“What do you have to say for yourself?” she asked the man.
“I didn’t think all this would happen,” the fellow swore. “I was just hard on coin, and I didn’t think…”
Marin shook her head, but everyone could see the disappointment in her eyes, even behind the domino mask there. “Benjamin Trachis, you stand accused of treason against the crown and the city of Argos. You will never step foot in our city again, and your punishment will be severe.”
It was the first mate’s turn to nod, and two of the men who remained by the quarterdeck brought forth the long wooden plank, setting it into place on the port side of the deck.
The traitor was already shaking his head before the first mate moved to usher him forward. “No, I didn’t mean for this to happen! If I knew, I would have never said a thing!”
“Clap him in irons,” Marin said. “We will offer him no less hope than he offered those who sailed aboard this ship and who will no longer feel the ground upon their feet.”
Though there was some unrest among the members of the crew, no one moved to stop the vigilante from her orders. The sailors who had been prepared to deal with Benjamin’s sentence worked quickly, until the traitor was bound in iron cuffs, his legs and arms kept close together by short lengths of chain.
Marin followed them to the plank when the man who committed treason was brought there. He wept as he understood his fate, and those who he served alongside muttered and whispered.
“Please…please! I’ll do anything! If I could take it back, I would,” Benjamin cried.
Marin stood upon the end of the plank that remained on the deck, and the first mate and his chosen pair of sailors drew away.
“You can’t take it back,” Marin spoke to him in a soft voice. “Because of your lack of foresight, dozens of people are dead, and not just the people we lost today. If your father had been alive, he’d have been executed for telling you a secret so significant. Today, you alone suffer for your crimes.
“The damage has been done, Benjamin,” she said. “I promise, if you cast yourself into the sea this instant, nothing further will be done to your family.”
His eyes closed hard enough to force out another tear. The traitor tiptoed toward the end of that plank and expelled a great breath. When he opened his eyes, the dark sea seemed to stretch on forever, a reminder of the guilt he felt in his heart over the loss of life and his failure as a patriot.
Benjamin didn’t walk off the plank. He fell as though his legs could no longer support his shame.
Though he was guilty of the things she declared, Marin couldn’t refrain from bowing her head at the actions she was forced to take. She peered to the south, seeing the last trace of the Naiad’s Gift upon the horizon.
The lad in green bowed his head as Marin did, and the light in his eyes faded away. He braced himself on the back railing of the ship, replaying the events that transpired in his mind.
“He was not a good man,” Edmund said. The old fellow walked up the steps to that quarterdeck, bracing himself against the bannister. “And he was one of mine. Sometimes you’re surprised by the people closest to you.”
“What did he do to deserve that?” Kelvin muttered. “Why would she execute him?”
“Ah, but those are the rules of the sea, my young companion. She didn’t have the man executed. He surrendered himself. He had done our city—and your father, the king—a disservice. His transgressions could not be ignored. He was the man who told the members of the Brotherhood where to find the Arcanax Compendium.”
“The Arcanax Compendium?” the lad echoed. His mind raced as he recalled what had been learned in the great library those weeks before.
Edmund furrowed his brow. “You didn’t know,” he surmised. “I’ve already said too much, it seems.”
“Or perhaps not enough,” the young prince pushed. “Tell me what you know of this relic.”
“This is for the Silver Serpent to discuss with you,” the advisor pressed.
Kelvin stepped forward, meeting the gaze of the older fellow. “You have a duty to the crown to speak the truth. And Mistress Cortes once told me to value the conduct of a hero. I would say you’re no less a man. Tell me what you know.”
That weary smile was upon Edmund’s face again in a mere moment. He nodded and waved the lad down the steps, until they both disappeared into the captain’s quarters.
Chapter Six: Going Under
He heard the sizzle of the flames, but pain was lost to him. The injured lad couldn’t tell if he was in a dream; everything felt different. Each breath felt sharp and firm, like a string being drawn through his lungs. Sweat marred his brow, the perspiration dropping into his eyes like acid. He blinked it away as best he could, and his head slumped to the ground.
There, Thoro was met with a sobering sight. Brielle lay dead before him, the flames already reaching her and charring away her clothes and the flesh on her back. The hiss of the blaze burning her down to her bone sounded like a pitiful cry, and it wrenched him back into that reality.
The excommunicated member of the Brotherhood felt all that pain then. Reminded of what had transpired gave his injuries veracity. His body was wracked in agony, and he couldn’t tell whether it was the concussive blasts he had endured, the wagon crushing his torso, or something else entirely.
He heard a loud thump behind him and leaned back as best he could. In that state, he couldn’t make out the figure, but he noticed the crimson eyes locked upon him. Another glance to Brielle did little to steady him, as she looked upon him with a hopeless, lifeless gaze as well.
The monster came into sight, and even inverted as it was, Thoro knew it was a demon, come to drag him to Evarice for all his sins. The creature, alight in the flames of the wreckage, reached down to collect its quarry. The dying fellow closed his eyes rather than face that terrifying fiend.
Yet in those following moments, a weight lifted off him. He dared to look once more and spotted the carriage in the air, balanced upon a strong arm. Thoro saw the strange creature with more clarity. The monster was more gray than red; the flames had given it a crimson tint. The wide, leathery wings didn’t help to make it look any less menacing either.
The creature reached down and slapped at his legs, extinguishing the flames that hurt him so. When that fire sizzled away, that beast of stone kicked at the wounded lad with feet hard as rock, its talons just missing inflicting a terrible gash on his body.
Another crash reported as the monster stepped away from the wreckage, allowing it to fall back once more.
Free of his burden, Thoro crawled backward as the Watcher drew near.
“It’ll be easier this way,” Rowan said in his ghastly voice.
As Thoro was setting aside his misgivings, the creature loomed over him. Without warning, it delivered a stunning punch from one of those stone fists.
The last thing Thoro sensed were those strong hands gripping him beneath his arms.
*****
His heavy breaths set a cadence to his madness. Gerard looked about, bearing witness to the destruction he had left in place at the coroner’s office. Whatever crime was depicted there before had been washed away, torn apart by the immense powers the constable had grown into.
Even poor Schaeffer, killed by whatever monster had broken in before, no longer bore any resemblance of what he used to be. Gerard’s ability was so strong that the water tore apart flesh as easily as it did wood and stone.
A flash of reality crept through to the constable. He looked at the remains of the office and blew out a deep sigh. All of his work with the coroner was for naught, for they didn’t retain any of the evidence that would help them find the man who was killing the poor women of the city. They must have been drawing closer to him, Gerard thought. The fate of his friend was a sign of that.
Gerard’s eyes widened as he considered that not all was lost. There was yet one piece of evidence that neither the killer nor the constable had damaged. One last victim lay unclaimed i
n the barn.
He clenched his eyes shut, then, remembering an odd encounter with that woman—that body. When Gerard looked about, he couldn’t determine what was real and what was false. So much had slipped away from him, not least of all his identity. None of that mattered, though. If the body of the woman who was found in the harbor that morning was still in the barn, it meant that there was still some evidence of the killer’s heinous actions.
It also meant that something strange transpired between him and that unfortunate victim, something that was beating against the back of his mind like a terrible dream.
“What is happening to me?” Gerard wondered.
He shook his head to rid himself of those awful thoughts and turned about, back to the rear door of the establishment. He had left it ajar, and he was surprised by the sight of the darkness. The light that he entered the building beneath was gone, replaced by a starlit sky. His attention was drawn to the area behind the office. The horse leaned up against the pen on the opposite side of the barn, almost as though it knew the sordid ordeal that took place within.
Gerard bowed his head, shame nearly toppling him over. There was no time to feel self-pity, though. With Schaeffer dead, the office was no longer safe for the lone piece of evidence.
The constable would have to bring the latest victim to the barracks.
As he made his way to the barn, a small, familiar voice reached out to him. He clenched his jaw and shut his eyes, trying to force those ill intentions away. It was no use; it only seemed to make the suggestion louder.
“There’s a place I could be safe with you, Riptide,” it said. “Bring me to your home. Keep me there, and we can be together.”
Gerard’s breathing was erratic. His teeth chattered together as he stepped into the building and saw the woman who had seduced him. His gaze landed upon her naked body, and a chill went up his spine.
Standing there, though, he couldn’t stop a smile from spreading his lips. He took a step forward, to that woman who longed for him…
…and then a stinging pain resonated against his skull. He could only focus on that for a second before his eyes rolled back in his head, and he tumbled to the floor.
While he fluttered away to unconsciousness, an intruder emerged from the shadows of that building, slapping a cudgel into the open palm of his hand.
“Let’s get you somewhere safe from prying eyes, shall we?”
*****
With the harbor so close, Kelvin felt his legs itching.
“You haven’t spent this much time at sea at one time before, have you?”
The weary prince turned to Edmund and offered a meager nod. “My father would take me on brief outings, but never something like this. This is a voyage; I’ve never been aboard a ship while the moon climbed into the sky.”
“Your father does right to protect you from whatever’s out here. Consider what we saw during the day. What lies in the sea at night frightens even these hardened sailors.”
The old advisor sighed and leaned on the railing of the forecastle. “That’s not why you’re in such a rush to get off this vessel, though, is it?” He clapped the lad on his back and offered a half-hearted grin. “You mustn’t blame Mistress Cortes for what transpired earlier. It wasn’t she who was guilty. You know now Trachis was the reason the Arcanax Compendium was stolen in the first place. He was the reason the Titan’s Quill fell to the Kraken’s wrath. And he was the reason Marin was injured all those nights ago. You both could have perished because of the Brotherhood, you know.”
“Then we should have put Trachis in jail to rot,” Kelvin grumbled.
“You see your world in black and white still, despite your time alongside Marin,” Edmund said. “Though you’re in the thick of the grit and grime in Argos, you’re missing the point that there are shades of gray in the world.
“We knew that there were only several people who knew about the whereabouts of the Arcanax Compendium. When we eliminated the possibility, one by one, we were left not knowing just how the secret had been released into the world. But a father’s naiveté in telling his son of the magical things he sees? That isn’t as innocent as you’d believe. Eventually, greed coerced the secret from the son, to the detriment of our entire kingdom.
“What Mistress Cortes did wasn’t out of evil intentions—it was out of necessity. If we put someone who committed treason—a crime that has always been punishable by death—into our prison, his fate would be no better than now.
“We would also have to answer the questions people would ask for months and years to come: Why was he there? Why did we have a hidden treasury in the royal castle to hold such a powerful artifact? I know you don’t understand it yet—you’re still young, my boy—but Marin did the right thing, and I’m sure it weighed heavily on her regardless. Your father has had similar dilemmas over the course of his reign, and you will as well when you wear the crown.”
“It should have been my father who made the decision to cast that man into the sea,” Kelvin pressed. “The Silver Serpent is supposed to uphold justice, not decide it.”
Edmund pursed his lips and nodded. “Wise words for someone still young. I’m impressed. What’s done is done, though, lad. Sparing his life could have meant even one more person knowing about the hidden treasury—the one that will have to move now, mind you. All it takes is one person knowing a secret like that, as we’ve seen.”
The prince nodded, lowering his eyes behind that green domino mask. Edmund spotted the weariness there—a combination of physical and emotional fatigue. He clapped him on the back once more, aware the contest of ethics was one Kelvin would have to go through on his own.
“Lower the anchor,” they both heard.
Over the course of their conversation, neither had realized how far along they had traveled atop those gentle waters. The Naiad’s Gift pulled up alongside the closest pier on the wharf, and the ship lurched as the anchor took hold.
Kelvin turned, and Edmund saw the golden rings around the prince’s eyes begin to glow. The lad peered into the north, but it was too dark to see far enough to spot the damaged Lockspark.
“You should get home to get some rest,” Edmund offered. “It’s not unusual for lads your age to be gone from home for far too long, but when you’re the prince…”
“Someone is bound to notice,” Kelvin agreed.
“Don’t worry,” the old advisor said. “There will be plenty of time for you to discuss what happened with Marin tomorrow. For now, celebrate the fact we survived a terrible ordeal out on the sea—in no small part, thanks to you. If you weren’t there, all three of my ships might be lying on the ocean floor right now.”
A weary grin stretched across Kelvin’s face. So much had transpired that day, he didn’t know how to feel. How could he express pride if his mentor wasn’t all he had considered her to be?
Edmund didn’t push him when the rest of the crew set to their tasks. He bowed and bid the lad goodbye and good night and left him there on the forecastle with his thoughts.
*****
He walked beneath the archway, the torches on either side crackling in protest as a harsh breeze pushed through the area. Somehow, it felt even colder there than upon the sea. Perhaps it was made worse by the change back into his noble attire, he pondered.
Though Kelvin pressed beyond the perimeter of the castle walls, his mind was drawn back into the city. When he arrived in the dark house where his teacher lived, it felt so peculiar. That night had highlighted changes he wasn’t even aware of, where shadows on the wall meant something different than the day before. He left his green garments there, in the same hidden alcove he always did, and hurried out of the building, lest he be haunted by those shades and specters.
The guards patrolling around the castle courtyard were far enough from the grand doors that he didn’t need to acknowledge them. He saw their upraised halberds shimmering in the distant torchlight and knew he was under careful watch. Somehow, knowing they were there made the even
ts of the evening seem less daunting.
That large set of doors opened without a creak but closed with a hefty thud. Kelvin jerked upright, that noise doing what it could to sober him before he made his way down the corridor with the plush carpet. Before he rounded that first corner, though, he raised his arm to shield a yawn. After the circumstances on the sea, he would have been more than content to crawl under the covers of his bed and drift off into slumber.
Those spiraling steps to the second floor of the castle seemed poised to challenge that desire. Though he had made that ascent countless times, they appeared to be far more numerous and longer than in times past. His legs seemed foreign to him, as his time aboard the Naiad’s Gift had given him some difficulty adjusting to dry land.
The prince grumbled and braced himself against the wall, taking his time climbing to the top of that flight. When he arrived there and the door to his room was in sight, he felt his weariness transforming into something more tangible. He pushed through it as though it was a curtain separating the stairwell from the next corridor, and he stumbled to his door, failing to stifle another yawn.
Before his hand landed upon the doorknob, he heard the gentle clearing of his mother’s throat.
“This is a fairly late return, even for you,” Selene said. The words weren’t spoken with a reprimanding tone; rather, they were laced with concern.
Kelvin nodded. “I had an opportunity to gain some experience in seafaring. We were just supposed to sail a little ways out, but the winds weren’t favorable for a hasty return.”
It only took those few words to have the queen shifting into a disappointed glare. “You know you’re not supposed to venture from the city without protection. What if there had been pirates lurking in the waters? They could hold you for ransom and try to use you against the crown.”
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