by Exley, A. W.
She swished her tail and rose further in the water as she approached. She now swum at Nancy's feet like a child waiting to hear a story. "Fenton told me the story of the man who built a strange boat."
"Ah, but it is more than a tale of Weston's construction, it is a love story," he said. "But many people cannot see that."
She smiled. "The ore-mancer laboured to find a way to be with his love. Her family should not have tried to separate them, keeping them apart caused her to be injured."
An enormous grin broke over Nancy's face. "You understand, good."
Her heart sunk, he talked of love while she waited to be served as dinner. "What good is love when I am to be sold?"
"Ah." He tapped the side of his head and winked. "Love finds a way, but I need to know where your heart lays. Do you love each other?" He spoke the words so low he almost mouthed them silently. Only Ailin and Fenton caught them before they were snatched away on the faint breeze.
Her heart swelled in her chest. She loved Fenton, it was the one true thing she knew. The one truth that kept her sanity during her long incarceration. If there was a way, she would endure until they found it. But was a union of landwalker and mermaid possible? Fenton would drown and she could never move onshore. Impossible her brain whispered but then she thought of the protective kraken and they were moored at the Isle of Illusions. If the impossible were possible anywhere then it was here, where reality bent to an old man's whim.
"My love for Fenton is as large and fierce as the kraken, but can you make the impossible happen in the name of love? Can you give me legs or a landwalker gills?" Their only common ground was this, her in the water while Fenton sat in the little boat. She gazed upon the man who held her heart and a tear trickled down her cheek.
"Here, here, child," Nancy said. "Anything is possible, my lovely Ailin, if you hold to the love in your heart." He swung his head to Fenton, who stared at his hands and the silver chain disappearing into the water. "What do you say, boy, you're rather quiet over there?"
He looked up and she sucked in a breath at the pain simmering in his gaze. "Ailin stole my heart the first moment I laid eyes on her and now, knowing her, I would do anything to set her free. Anything you ask."
The old man let out a whoop of joy. "Excellent. I'm quite the romantic, you know. Just leave it to old Nancy. I expect you to come play chess with me tonight, Fenton. You have the look of a thinker and I have longed for an opponent who plays the game properly and doesn't move my chess pieces like they were involved in checkers."
Ailin stared at Fenton, could the old man make it true and fashion them a place to be together? Hope swelled in her chest. A cough drew her gaze back to Nancy.
"Before Captain Reis locks you away again, I need you to remember one thing, child. Do you see my volcano?" He pointed over the water to the mountain that sheltered the village in its embrace.
Ailin followed the line of his finger to the dark shape that rose up toward the heavens. The top invisible, shrouded in clouds and mist. "Yes."
He dropped his voice to a conspiratorial tone. "My volcano protects landwalkers and ocean dwellers alike. If you need shelter or my help, you must remember to swim toward the volcano."
She laughed, he really was mad. "What good would that do? I would end up stranded on the beach."
Nancy chuckled and tapped the side of his nose again. "Trust old Nancy. If the time arises, swim for the volcano. Will you remember that for me?"
"Very well." She did like the old man, madder than a clown fish trying to play tag with a sea urchin, but likeable.
Nancy chuckled and fixed Fenton with a smiling gaze. "Come on Fenton, how about getting wet and having a swim with the lovely mermaid to entertain those on shore? They are all waiting for a show."
Nancy's barrier created a pool of eerie calm. The sea was mirror smooth inside, while the rougher water of the harbour slapped against the side and washed up invisible glass. No one would reach them here. For a few minutes, he created a place of calm for them to be together. Ailin smiled and crooked a finger to him. Would he dare? Her heart jammed up in her throat, waiting to see what he would do.
He grinned. "May as well, Reis thinks my brain is rotted bait anyway." He pulled off his boots and then jumped overboard to a roar of approval from the watching sailors.
The barrier muted the sound somewhat, but they called out instructions ranging from grab her tail to kiss her and other lewder things that made heat rise through Ailin's torso. Fenton swam toward Ailin, his steady gaze constant on her face. He trod water in front of her.
"We could escape now," she said.
He held up his hand, water ran down the chain and turned it into something living. It pulsed with the contained magic. "We are still bound by the chain."
"Well, your hand is. If I really wanted to flee, I could chew it off and swim away." Her smile turned to laughter. Like this, in the water, they were equals. The ocean turned his linen shirt transparent and the kraken over his back emerged. Its tentacles wrapped around his arms and circled his wrists. The tattoo looked as though the beast held her chain as it rested against the black ink.
She reached out and laid her palms on his chest and met his gaze. "Our time is so short. Do you truly love me?"
"The powerful kraken could not love you more than I do." He reached out and drew her closer, holding her to his chest as one hand tangled in her hair and he kissed her.
Ailin was dimly aware of the cheer and whistles from the watching pirates and crew and then the world contracted until it only consisted of Fenton, his arms around him and the taste of his lips.
Chapter Fourteen
Fenton climbed back in the boat soaking wet and grinning until the captain took the seat opposite. Reis wore his foul temper like a cloak, it enveloped him and seemed to suck in light. It certainly drained the heat from Fenton's good mood.
"Damn fool stunt," he said. "What were you thinking?"
"I wasn't thinking, she has herself wrapped around my organ, remember?" Fenton baited the captain, a new tactic in his arsenal and power flooded his limbs at wielding it. Reis thought him putty in Ailin's hands but Nancy gave him hope that his emotions were controlled by no one. His heart was his own but he had gladly gave it to Ailin. With that revelation something moved inside him, a barrier shattered and revealed a reservoir of courage. He would die to free Ailin and in doing so, find his own freedom. The thought no longer scared him, rather he embraced it.
"I could still remove you from its watch, set someone else to guard our fortune." Reis crossed his arms as the men took up the oars and the boat pulled away from the pier.
"Would you risk exposing more men to her charms? How many crew would she need to turn before she controlled the ship?" It would be another way to secure her freedom, have her seduce enough crew to turn them against each other. A shudder ran over his back at the idea as though the kraken extended its limbs and stretched, ready to stop another man from touching Ailin.
"Careful, Mr Fenton that you do not exceed your reach." Reis stared at the horizon, lost in his own thoughts as they rowed back to the Edge.
He bit back the words on his tongue. The kraken had a very long reach.
Ailin swam alongside in silence and bobbed in the water as the men dropped a net under her form and hauled her on deck. Fenton hated the rough way they handled her, far gentler when the kraken lifted her in its embrace and set her down like a child told to put down a much loved toy.
Reis took up the chain and released the ore-mancer magic that bound them. "Back in its box, Mr Fenton. Mr Maynard, double the guard around the hold. We don't want any thieving pirates sneaking on board."
"Aye, aye, Captain," they answered together. Maynard pointed out crew to stand watch while Fenton gathered Ailin in his arms.
"I trust Nancy," she whispered against his skin. "He will find a way."
Fenton swallowed but couldn't reply. The words choked off in his throat as something new unfurled throughout his body, hope.
>
He placed her back in the open crate and she leaned over the side. Moving around the hold, he retrieved the book he purchased earlier in the day. "Since we're had a rather exciting day, let's relax with a long poem. It's called the Rime of the Ancient Mariner." He settled on an upturned box next to her and she leaned on his shoulder as he began to read the sad tale.
The next morning, Fenton took Ailin her breakfast and then climbed into a longboat with several other crew to row for shore. The pirates rotated shore leave, ensuring each man had the opportunity to spend his gold in the Fancy Garter. Men came and went at regular intervals and the harbour around them bustled with activity. Sailors went back and forth from beach and jetty, and the airship crews trekked up and down their high stairways. Other vessels manoeuvred around the larger ships, traders selling wares to those stuck on the water. Their boats decked out as travelling markets with brightly coloured flags and ribbons flying from their teeny cabins.
Timmy was included amongst those with permission to go ashore and Fenton gave him strict orders to stay away from the Fancy Garter and to go find other children to play with. Ore-mancer enhancements were common place on the island and it lightened his heart to see a number of boys call out to Timmy and ask him to join their explorations.
He took a deep breath at the end of the pier and the familiar wave of nausea flowed up his legs as he walked into town. Women called to him but he kept his eyes down and focused on the scuffed toes of his boots. One step after another, he crossed the land like a parched man in search of water and made it to the crammed tavern.
Another deep breath, and he steadied his stomach for the walk across the hardwood floor to the concealed doorway. The barman looked up but waved him by. The doors slid apart and with one more step, he let out a sigh of relief. The soft hiss enclosed him in the land based aquatic sanctuary. The deep underground flow of ocean vibrated through the floor and eased the tension from his body. Nancy had opened the tall window at the end of his study and the soft trickle of water sounded from the fountain.
"Board's all set up," Nancy called from the adjoining sofas. "How was the walk?"
"I survived without retching in the shrubbery," Fenton said as he took a seat.
"Funny thing, land-sickness, almost as though you were never meant to walk over dirt." Nancy peered at him with the intensity of a man used to figuring out how things worked.
Fenton squirmed a little on the comfortable sofa. The wizard had a way of staring at him as though he saw him stripped bare and laying on a table in a Darjee laboratory, wondering how to manipulate his flesh with his metal magic.
Nancy picked up two pawns of opposite colours and hid them behind his back. After a moment he held out his closed fists. "You pick."
Fenton tapped one outstretched hand and the ore-mancer turned it over to reveal an ivory pawn. He took the piece and placed it back on the board while he considered his opening move. The two men played in silence for some time with no need for words between them. Fenton stared at the board of cream and slate squares while he sat within an ocean of calm. The gentle rhythm under his feet soothed his body just as the palate of blue and green fabrics and the quiet atmosphere soothed his mind. He couldn't reconcile that just beyond the door, men drunk to excess, sung along to lewd tunes at the top of their voices, and wenched as though they had just discovered that part of their anatomy.
"Your move," his opponent reminded him.
His gaze refocused on the rook in his hands. A fingertip caressed the tiny battlement at the top before he placed it down.
"You are distracted." Nancy moved his knight.
Fenton swore under his breath. He never saw the move coming, too busy gazing in one direction to see what snuck up behind. Thoughts of Ailin dominated his waking moments. "I am a coward. I have only to carry her to the deck and throw her overboard and she will be free."
"Is that so?" Nancy made a noise in his throat. "How many men does the Razor's Edge carry?"
"A hundred." She was a large vessel but the coal fuelled engines took up space, whereas other ships the same size and reliant on sails alone, had room for crews of two hundred.
The ore-mancer pulled his pony tail over his shoulder and flicked the end over his hand like a paintbrush. "And how many on deck at any one time?"
"Thirty, at a minimum." Depending on what they were doing, there would be more hands at Reis' disposal.
"Could you make your way through thirty men while carrying Ailin?" Nancy punctuated his question by drawing a question mark with the end of his ponytail.
He ground his jaw. "I could try." He picked up another pawn and closed his fist around it. "I should try."
Nancy stared at the board as though they played for Ailin's fate. "If you try and fail, they will make sure you cannot try again and then she is as good as dead."
Fenton slammed the piece down and the set jumped. The queen toppled over as though she fainted from the blow. "Then what should I do? Nothing? While they arrange her death?"
The old man nodded. "That is the plan of the Lady Alise. And I have sent Reis' very reasonable offer to Darjee."
Fenton jumped to his feet to pace in front of the fire. The walls within him crumbled and with it came a new and burning urge to do something. "I thought after yesterday you had some empathy for her plight, but you condemn her with your actions."
Nancy leaned back in the sofa and watched the young man pace. "Sometimes the hardest thing to do, is to do nothing and let events play out."
He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair when he wanted to tug and pull it out in frustration. "How will doing nothing, achieve anything?"
"Ah." He smiled and beckoned him closer with the crook of one finger. "You must trust that life will find a way to even the balance."
Fenton laughed. "So you believe some deity that will swoop down and rescue Ailin?"
"Not quite. I believe in cosmic balance. That watching over us all is a lady of justice and if the scales tip a little too far in one direction, she will press a little weight into the other side." Nancy tapped his fingertips together as he drew forth his explanation.
The mad ore-mancer spoke in riddles and empty promises, none would free Ailin.
"I have lived a long life and in that time I have made something of a study of nature. Not just the trees and flowers that cover this island but a darker, more primal nature. That of man." Nancy picked up the disturbed pieces and reset the board. "Life is a game of chess, Fenton, but you have concentrated on the piece in my hand when you should be looking three to four moves in advance."
"I don't understand." He resumed bouncing between the confines of the walls with quick strides, wishing he had the nerve to simply go back to the Edge and free Ailin. He was so close. After years of being Reis' pawn, he now fought to free himself and emerge as a knight.
Nancy continued speaking. "Think through this little puzzle with me. What would have happened if I refused to contact Darjee for you Captain?"
Fenton stopped pacing and stood in front of the fire. He shrugged, the answer was simple. "We would have taken on supplies and set course for Darjee. There are other outposts along the way where Reis would have tried again."
Nancy smiled. "Exactly. So moving my pawn has kept the Razor's Edge and Ailin within my harbour." He advanced the pawn two squares. "Now, what will happen when the lady reads the message? Who will she dispatch to procure her mermaid heart?"
"The Regulators, of course. And we happen to have Captain Shame and the Imprudent tethered right here, so Ailin's time is limited." He thought they had days, but it could be mere hours once Shame demands she is handed over.
Nancy tapped the side of his nose. "Keep thinking another move ahead. How likely is it that Reis will hand this treasure over to Shame?"
The laughter burst from Fenton's throat, a subconscious reaction. Reis would go to the bottom of the ocean clutching an anchor first. Unless Shame handed over the fortune in gold and narcotic.
Nancy voiced the
same thought. "Do you think the Imprudent carries a small fortune in coins and Sunshine, or do you think Shame will expect Reis to take his word and a chit?"
Fenton let out a whistle. The old fool was more cunning that he appeared. The Regulator ship wouldn't carry that much gold and the narcotic was a dangerous thing to have around airmen. They were strictly forbidden to inject their veins while on patrol and harsh punishments ensured compliance. The two determined captains would butt heads like charging goats. "Neither will back down. There will be a fight."
Now Nancy cackled with delight and he rubbed his hands together as though already imagining the on-coming melee. He gestured to the board. "And what happens when the bishop and queen face off? Or if there is a battle between pirate and Regulator?"
"No one notices one man slipping from the hold with something in his arms." The plan was brilliant, each side would blame the other and no one would know the truth. All he had to do was wait and let events, and the nature of the two captains, unfold and then free Ailin in the resulting confusion.
There was only one tiny detail that niggled. "What if events don't unfold the way you plan?"
Nancy smiled broadly and the corners of his eyes wrinkled so deep they nearly disappeared. "There are still other pieces on the board, all the possibilities have not yet played out."
Fenton let out a deep sigh. The ore-mancer's plan could work, perhaps he could solve another problem? Except he didn't know how to broach that topic. He laid a palm on the head of a granite lady holding up the fireplace mantle. He thought of the creature etched in his skin and the words to a poem came to his lips.
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee