“Isn’t that the place you told me not to mention?”
“Yeah, forget I said anything. Leith’s exploits are half the reason why no one will talk about it.”
“And the other half?”
Casey shook her head as we walked. “Like I said, you shouldn’t speak about it.”
The enchantress’ bluntness surprised me, but I guessed whatever happened on Brigantes had been bad. Maybe if we became better friends, she’d eventually tell me more. The whole situation sounded like something Duke Barnes might like to know.
I passed a hole in the bulkhead the automation system was already patching up. Servitors zoomed along the metal floor, cleaning blood and collecting broken material. A few hours ago, I would have been surprised to see the primitive robots on board the ship, but almost nothing could surprise me now.
When we entered the elevator, I stared at my reflection in the shining metal wall. Blood covered my armor, and my underclothes were soaked through with sweat despite the body fluid collection systems. I hadn’t showered since before the ceremony, and my garments were starting to feel like a second skin.
“You want to see the arcane chamber tomorrow?” Casey asked me.
“Sure.” After seeing Matthias, I was curious about what the inside of the arcane chamber looked like.
She pressed the button for Deck 2, and the elevator took us there in a second. As the door slid open, Casey gave me a full smile. “Meet me back on Deck 5 at 11:00 CUT?”
I nodded, and she walked toward the workshop while I made my way to the squire quarters. Servitors were working on this deck too. Crew members carried injured men and women toward the infirmary. I peered at an unconscious man with half his right leg missing. I was impressed with Dr. Lenkov’s abilities earlier, but I doubted even she could grow a leg back. Then again, there’d been a vat of bioliquid in the infirmary, so maybe she could.
When I unlocked the door to the squire quarters and entered, Neville was sitting on his bed as though he hadn’t left the room for the duration of the pirate attack. The two squires I hadn’t met yet were sleeping on their beds.
“Where have you been?” Neville whispered to me as his eyes locked onto my bloody armor. “You fought the pirates?”
“I did what I could to help the crew,” I said after detecting some admiration in the other man’s voice.
“I would have helped, except I was locked inside these quarters. Too bad the crew did a terrible job at defending the ship.” Neville seemed to have grown in confidence since first meeting me. I wasn’t sure I liked it. “Fourteen casualties. The cook among them. Do you know how terrible the food is here? I can assure you it will be much worse now. It would have been better for the pirates to have killed us all! Now we’ll die of food poisoning.”
I sighed as I removed my armor and went over to the wash basin beside my bed. I scrubbed my face with a wet towel and winced when I brushed against a cut on my forehead. It wasn’t deep enough to apply a medkit, and I didn’t feel like I had a concussion, so I sealed it with some medglue and then hit the shower adjacent to the squire quarters.
As I washed, I thought about my first day on the Stalwart and how it had been nothing like I’d thought. In fact, so much of my life since Tyranus hadn’t gone like I planned. The Tyranus mission failed, and I’d graduated with Ludas Barnes as my only classmate. Then, I’d been assigned to the worst starship in the RTF. Mom might have been glad I wasn’t on a warship, but she would be unhappy when she learned about the pirate attack.
Duke Edmund Barnes had given me a secret mission to find proof of insurrection on the Stalwart. I remembered the sorcerer, Polgar, would be buzzing me at 06:00. I’d already missed one call from him while I was anchored inside the enchantry, so I hurried out of the bathroom.
Neville’s face reddened with guilt as he stood over my bed. I looked down at something he was holding to his chest, attempting to hide the object from me. The communicator I’d been given gleamed between his fingers.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I demanded in a hoarse whisper. I didn’t want to wake the other squires and bring any attention to what Neville had in his hands.
“Ah, it made a noise, and I wondered what it was. I didn’t mean any harm.” He was cowering before me, and I realized I’d stormed over to him in my rage. Our faces were inches away from each other.
“Hand it over,” I said with my palm out.
The nobleman dropped the communicator into my open palm and scurried over to his bed like a rodent.
I sat on my bed with my back to Neville and opened the communicator’s metal cover. A red and a blue icon spun on the screen, and I clicked the blue one. Text appeared, saying an unknown contact failed to make a communication link. When I selected the red icon, a holo appeared of Polgar’s face. I quickly shut the comms device so Nevile wouldn’t see the sorcerer who had suddenly materialized inside the dark room.
I glanced at the clock beside my bed and realized I’d missed the scheduled call by a few minutes. Ludas had probably heard it buzzing and picked it up. I hadn’t seen the time for most the night, so I couldn’t believe it was already 06:00. Five hours sleep was all I’d get before I met Casey on Deck 5.
Polgar’s threat made me think it was probably more important to deal with the missed call now.
I slipped the comms device beneath my pillow and changed into the plain blue shirt and pants assigned to me as a squire. I took the device with me into the bathroom since I figured this was the only place I could talk without someone overhearing me.
I opened the message on the communicator. The holo of Silvester Polgar’s face started speaking.
“Outlander. You have missed the first contact, and now you have missed my second attempt. I am not an unmerciful man so I will forgive you this once. Do it again, and you will find me a most unyielding instructor.”
When I finished watching the recorded message, the communicator buzzed, and I answered the call by pressing the rune on the frontside of the device.
“Hello, your eminence,” I said.
“Outlander,” Silvester Polgar croaked.
“I’m sorry I missed your call. We were attacked by pirates and--”
“Yes, I heard about that. It seems we aren’t the only ones searching.”
My ears piqued. “Searching for what?”
The sorcerer cleared his throat. “For the insurrectionists.”
His tone sounded strange, as though he didn’t believe his own words. Why would pirates be searching for insurrectionists?
“We’re headed for Tachion,” I said.
“I already know,” Polgar snapped. “What can you tell me about the crew?”
“They fight like nothing I’ve ever seen. I find it hard to believe such great warriors were assigned to the Stalwart for humanitarian missions. Something definitely isn’t right, but I don’t think it’s insurrection. They’ve shown no signs of rebel activity. Is it possible there might be a mistake?”
I hadn’t known the crew for long, hours at most, but I’d fought with them. I’d seen some of them die, and saved the lives of others. They’d also saved mine countless times.
“I don’t care what you believe, Outlander. The Stalwart’s crew are certainly insurrectionists, we only need sufficient evidence to bring them to trial. They wish to see the Queen dethroned and chaos to reign over the Caledonian Kingdom. Is that something you wish?”
“Of course not, your eminence.” I loved my Queen and the Caledonian Kingdom more than anything, but I wasn’t willing to betray the crew without sure proof. If they were indeed insurrectionists, then they must be brought to account.
“Good. I will be observing you carefully for any sign they have infected your mind. Stay faithful to your mission. Now, I want to know whether you’ve seen anything suspicious.”
I thought of the priceless gauntlets Casey had been repairing in the workshop. I couldn’t tell Polgar about them, not until I found more information. I didn’t want the sorcerer
and the duke to suspect the enchantress was an insurrectionist without sure proof.
But maybe I could mention Brigantes to the sorcerer.
“I think something might have happened on the crew’s last mission to Brigantes. It seems to be a sore spot among them.”
“Brigantes? Interesting.” The sorcerer paused for a few moments, and I could imagine him stroking his twisted staff like it was a pet. “You will learn more of this previous mission and report back to me everything you hear. When they begin the humanitarian mission, I want you to stay close to the Space Knights. I believe Olav Kjeldsen is the one most likely to reveal information. Do not leave his side for the duration of the mission.”
Even though Olav seemed to like me more now, I doubted the berserker would let me tag along with him and the other knights.
“With respect, your eminence, I don’t think that will be--”
“Do I need to remind you I have the authority to have you ejected from the RTF?”
“No, your eminence. I’ll--” The communicator burst with white noise, and I closed the cover to silence it.
Bringing up Brigantes to Casey might be a little difficult, especially since she’d told me twice not to talk about it. I doubted any of the other crew would be willing to discuss their last mission, but Silvester Polgar had given me direct orders.
When I opened the bathroom door, Neville jumped back from the doorway. I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore that he’d been eavesdropping. I wanted to pound him into oblivion, but I also wanted to sleep.
A metal strongbox lay at the foot of my bed, and I linked it to my palm rune so that only I could open it. If only I’d put the communication device in here before leaving the quarters earlier, I wouldn’t have to worry about Neville’s assumptions.
I tried not to beat myself up too much as I dropped the comms device inside the strongbox and locked it. The bathroom door was probably too thick for Neville to overhear anything of my conversation with Polgar.
Or so I hoped.
Chapter 11
My alarm blared, and I silenced it with a punch. I heard voices in the room and sat upright while every muscle in my body ached with exhaustion.
“Is this the new squire?” and unknown voice asked.
“Yeah,” Neville replied.
The man who’d asked the question was one of the squires who’d been sleeping when I’d entered my quarters last night. Sandy blonde reached down to his shoulders, and framed his grinning face. He was a few inches beyond six feet tall, and the blue uniform tugged against his broad shoulders.
The other squire sitting next to him caused me to do a double-take. The two men were identical in every way, even down to the lazy expressions on their faces.
Neville stood between them and the nobleman glared at me with narrowed eyes. His hair had been shaved down to the scalp, removing the crude haircut I’d seen last night.
I got out of my bed and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I could smell food drifting from somewhere in the room, and my stomach groaned for it.
“Nicholas, isn’t it?” the twin sitting on his bed said to me. “I’m Richard.”
“And I’m Nathan,” the other said. “I take it you’ve met Neville?”
“Yeah, we’ve met,” I said.
Neville glanced at my strongbox filled with my belongings, and I figured he was still thinking about the communicator device. I needed to have a word with him when we were alone.
I checked the clock next to my bed. It was 10:51. I only had nine minutes until I was scheduled to meet Casey on Deck 5.
“I’m going to grab some food before the knights get to the galley.” Neville slinked out of the room with a final look at my strongbox. I was glad it was locked and sealed to my palm rune.
“You’ll get used to Neville,” Nathan said. “He’s still spewing about getting assigned to the Stalwart.”
“What was with that weird haircut he had yesterday?” I asked.
Richard burst into laughter. “A practical joke. He didn’t take it too well.”
“I bet,” I said.
“He’s not a bad fighter. He probably would have helped combat the pirates if we didn’t lock him inside these quarters.”
I found it hard to believe Neville was a good fighter, but I was too busy searching for the smell of food to ease my stomach.
“We got you some food from the galley.” Richard must have seen me drooling, and he passed me a plate of eggs, bacon, and sourdough toast.
“Thanks,” I said as I grabbed the food and wolfed it down. It felt like I hadn’t eaten in forever, and I paced myself so I didn’t accidentally take a finger off.
“What’d you do to get assigned to this ship?” Nathan asked as he watched me demolish the meal.
“Uhh . . .” I hadn’t thought of a cover story yet. My mind raced to compose one as I chewed on the final strip of crispy bacon.
“You’re one of the survivors from Tyranus, aren’t you?” Richard interrupted my thoughts. “The Outlander. Yeah, I thought I recognized your name.”
My cheeks heated up. “That’s me.”
“Damn, it must have been rough to see all your classmates die.” Nathan gave me a smile filled with pity. “The Stalwart isn’t all that bad, though. This tour’s first mission is in a few days. The captain will brief us this afternoon. The squires are ordered to stay out of the way on missions, but that works out great for us.”
Richard grinned at his brother. “Better than great. When I first signed up for the RTF, I figured we’d be clearing rifts and doing all sorts of dangerous stuff. Our father got himself on the wrong side of the kingdom’s hierarchy, so we were assigned here. Dad was angry, but Nathan and I were ecstatic when we found out what squires do on the Stalwart. Let me tell you, it’s not fighting.”
“The pirate attack is the first bit of action we’ve seen,” Nathan remarked. “We don’t like to fight, but we can handle ourselves when required.”
“We prefer partying and drinking,” Richard said with a smirk.
I laughed under my breath. These two seemed mostly harmless. I wasn’t too keen on joining them in their antics, but at least they weren’t constantly watching me in the way Neville was.
“So you two were around during the last tour?” I asked, thinking about Brigantes.
Richard nodded. “Me, my brother, and Neville were the only squires. Gotta say it’s a relief you’re not some stuck up noble.”
“We’ve always preferred to hang around non-nobles,” Nathan added. “You’re an Outlander, right?”
“Yeah,” I replied, but my thoughts were drawn toward what Polgar said the night before. I needed to find out more about the crew’s last mission, and asking these twins might mean me not having to bring up the subject with Casey again. “What do you guys know about Brigantes? I heard it went badly.”
“That’s about all we know,” Nathan replied. “We were told to stay inside the city and keep ourselves occupied while the knights did their own thing. I figured they were involved in something classified with the RTF. Whatever it was, they were pissed for about a week.”
“So you didn’t see anything unusual?” I probed. I could tell they were hiding something from the way they glanced at each other when I mentioned Brigantes.
Richard sighed, and his wide shoulders relaxed. “Nathan doesn’t believe me, but I think it was a retrieval mission of some sort. They brought this metal box covered in runes back to the ship. The whole thing was charred, as though it’d been caught in an explosion and somehow survived.”
“That’s Richard’s theory. I have another one.” Nathan’s expression became conspiratorial, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “I think they were clearing rifts without the kingdom’s authorization.”
“The charred box wasn’t the only thing they brought back,” Richard added. “They were carrying a bunch of extra gear. Nothing too fancy, but not the kind you’d find on humanitarian missions at least.”
“Right,” I said as I
committed their theories to memory. They didn’t make much sense to me. Neither account reflected insurrectionist activity. Still, at least I’d have something to report to Polgar at 0600.
“Why do you want to know about Brigantes?” Richard asked.
“I figured it’s a good idea to know what I’m in for.”
“Like we said, it’s mostly hanging out in the cities for us squires,” he said. “Whatever the crew gets up to, I say it’s best to obey orders and stay out of it.”
“I hear you,” I said. Staying out of the way would be difficult since Polgar had ordered me to search for more information. “Anyway, it’s a pleasure to meet you two. I have to head out.”
“Maybe we can hang out a bit later?” Nathan asked.
“The beer in the galley is some of the best we’ve ever tasted,” Richard added, as though finishing his brother’s sentence.
“Sure. See you guys later,” I said to the two noblemen before I left the room.
In the five hours I’d been sleeping, the passageway had been cleared of debris, and the automated repair systems had sealed the breaches in the bulkheads. The crew milled about the starship as though everything was business as usual.
I passed the galley, entered the elevator, and took it to Deck 5.
Casey was waiting outside the shaft, and she wasn’t wearing her enchanter’s uniform anymore. A white tank top hugged her thin waist, and red suspenders running down her ample breasts attached to khaki shorts that barely covered her ass. Her long legs tapered down to cute red shoes, and I found my eyes drawn to the ivory skin around her bare thighs.
By the stars, Casey was stunning.
The beautiful enchantress grinned at me, and I forced my eyes away from her body so that I could return her smile. “Sleep well?” she asked.
“Like a baby,” I said as we walked toward the arcane chamber.
“The squire uniform suits you. Really shows off your muscles.” After squeezing my biceps, the enchantress burst into laughter.
My neck heated up, and I turned my head so she couldn’t see me blushing. “The crew is back into action pretty quickly,” I said, changing the subject.
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