Dead reckoning, p.19
Dead Reckoning, page 19
At least we’d made it to Lucifus’s second trial. I was thankful for that much.
As day became Diuntyne, we perked up. Nicolette shook Loridgid awake. We sat together in a line, watching the big moon rise and wash the canyon in silvery twilight.
The ruins flared to life, just as the first had. A bluish glow from the corridor promised more revelations about my family’s surprisingly complicated past. Music, strange and ethereal—and vaguely reminiscent of that melody Blue had played on that sheltered beach—echoed up and out of the ruins, played this time on what sounded like a flute.
“How are you feeling?” Lori asked Ulysses.
“I don’t think I’m going to collapse again, which seems like an improvement,” the first mate replied. “Got an obnoxious buzzing in the back of my skull, but I’m good to go—and go we should, as we’ll not be able to see our friend in the sky if it approaches.”
We rose, stretched, and checked our weapons and packs. Would this trial be easier, I wondered, with three more minds to help decipher Lucifus’s riddle? I thought so, although I worried that we were tempting fate by changing our approach. Nicolette and I had done just fine on our own the last time.
After a short walk, we paused at the opening of the trial’s main corridor. As with Hersche’s, glowing inscriptions lit up each side in an alternating pattern. It struck me then that the stone used to build that temple—or whatever it was—looked nothing like the surrounding rock.
As we progressed down the corridor, toward the blurry far end, I translated the glowing inscriptions out loud.
“You were the warmest of us, a child who greeted every newcomer with a smile and grasping hands that begged for an embrace.
“When you became a man, however, something turned. Something shifted. Something rotted your outlook and devoured your other priorities.
“I know not where you got the coin you spent on wine and women. I’m not sure I care to. But I watched as you worked your way through your sister’s friends. I watched you charm each in turn, and then break their hearts as if they meant nothing to you.
“I shook my head when you arrived at your cousin’s wedding with three different women on your arm. Had I known that night that you tried to kiss the bride, I’d have stabbed you then and there. You still live only because she asked me to stay my hand.
“Though you spent most of your life on the road, I kept tabs on you. You left a path of shattered hearts across the countryside. With your talent for talking to others, you could have been so much more than just another vagabond.
“Remember Gael, who grew up not far from you? Remember how close you were? She would have made a fine wife, and the two of you could have built something very special. She keeps in touch, you know—she visits, hoping to see you. But you could never find true happiness in another, could you?
“I know you used my fame and fortune to get your way with people, and I know you always wanted to be able to put the full weight of my resources into your lifestyle. I am sure you expected my death to deliver it to you directly. I am also sure you had many choice words for poor Ernst when he read you and your sister my will and handed you my journal.
“But you, in turn, should be sure that I had my reasons.”
Upon reading that final inscription, the shadowy barrier separating the corridor from the main area began to pulse in time with the strange music. I knew that meant we were being invited in.
“Lucifus is a bit defensive about all this,” Ulysses mused.
“How’s that buzzing in your head?” Lori asked.
He hesitated before replying. “No worse than the sound of the screaming at an ancient Vardallian family gathering.”
“Don’t push it,” Lori replied. “If I have to carry you out of here, I’ll make sure you spend the next month descaling fish.”
“Don’t threaten me with a good time!” The first mate bowed, spun on his heel, and whirled through the barrier.
The rest of us followed. I particularly didn’t want Ulysses charging ahead without us; he’d been off since that night he’d accosted Nicolette and me in the bow, and I didn’t trust him not to do something rash that would cause us to fail the trial. We had enough problems, given the crash from earlier and the mysterious watcher in the sky.
Ahead, a lone figure lounged on a violet divan in the center of the circular area. A loose tunic hung across his heavily muscled frame, leaving little to the imagination. Golden hair hung from his head in tight ringlets that were too perfect to be natural. With his eyes closed, his fingers fluttered up and down the slender silver flute he played.
When I got closer, I realized just how much he looked like the beggar from the first trial. It was all in the face—the set of the jaw, the width of the nose, the shape of his eyes. It bothered me once again that I didn’t understand the magic involved. Was this the same person? Were these trial guardians real people, or had they been real people at some point?
The strange musician stopped playing, rested his flute on his chest, and opened his eyes, which were a piercing, unsettling blue.
“Hello there,” he said languidly. “I take it you’ve come for Lucifus Vardallian’s treasure?”
That was the same thing the beggar had said, although in a very different tone. Still, it sent a chill down my spine. “We have. I’m Kensey Vardallian,” I said. “Can you help us?”
“I can,” he cooed. “If you can show me love.”
“Out here?” Ulysses joked. “In public?”
“Yes, handsome. Right here. Right now.”
We all blushed, even the usually inscrutable first mate. Anxious glances were exchanged. Feet were shuffled.
“Remember,” Nicolette said, “this test was designed for Brindt.”
That snapped us back to the task at hand. “One person was never enough for him,” I said.
“Papa Lucifus clearly didn’t approve of his womanizing,” Ulysses added. “So. Where does that leave us?”
I turned to the man on the divan. “Do we have to love…you?” I asked.
He batted his eyelids absent-mindedly but did not speak.
“Well, this is on you four,” Blue said. “I only barely tolerate most people, present company included.”
“The first trial was deceptively simple,” Nicolette said. “We passed it by proving we could do something Lucifus thought Hersche couldn’t.”
“I think the line about Gael was important,” I said, “and the message Brindt left behind suggested he’d brought dozens of people here to try to pass.” A possible solution clicked in my head. “We showed the beggar charity. We need to show this…person true love.”
The musician writhed on his cushion in a way that made us all uncomfortable.
If I were right, then we had another conundrum: who among us truly loved the other?
I thought—tentatively—of Nicolette.
She and I had become inseparable. We’d spent nearly every waking moment of the last several months together, when our duties aboard the ship allowed. I’d come to look forward to our Diuntyne chats in the bow more than I’d ever looked forward to anything. There was a warmth when we were together, an energy that calmed my nerves and smoothed my muscles. When I was with Nicolette, everything was good. Just one smile was all it took to make me forget about ancient pirate trials, and strange shuen magic, and everything else.
And I was pretty sure she felt the same way, though we’d never talked about it. I just knew.
Our gazes met. I knew, just from looking at her, that we were thinking the same things. There we were, tasked by an ancient pirate lord with showing true love—and doing so was going to be so, so easy. All I had to do was take her hand and admit how I felt. It was something I’d dreamed of, over and over again, and confessing my feelings for the first time in a way that would complete the next step in my journey felt so poetic I had to wonder if Yuin himself had planned it all, just for us.
But I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t do it.
Because in that moment, another face appeared in my mind. One I hadn’t seen in the flesh since I’d left Brennik’s Reach. One I’d always thought I’d be seeing much more of, as I grew old beside it.
Mahlly’s.
Would the guardian know? If I professed my love for Nicolette while feeling guilty about the woman I’d left behind, would the magic decide we’d failed the trial? There was no way to know—and with the uncertainty surrounding our route back to the Black Yonnix, I didn’t dare risk it.
After a few more moments, Nicolette looked away, chewing on her lip. Clearly, she could tell something was wrong. I felt like such a buffoon.
“Come on, you fool,” Lori’s voice cut through the awkward air. I looked over to find her dragging Ulysses toward the divan. The first mate’s face had gone bright red and his jaw hung slack, but he wasn’t fighting.
“About time,” I heard Blue mutter. “I’m glad at least one of you has a spine.”
Lori and Ulysses came to a halt before the man on the divan, standing side-by-side. She gripped the first mate’s hand as if she thought he might blow away. “Sir,” she said, “I’ve loved this man since we were both little, when he slipped a live fish into my spare clothing and thought it was the funniest thing ever. We grew up together on Haershore and then on the ship. He dove into the water to save me when a storm swept me overboard. I clubbed a shuen raider that was about to stab him in the back. We know all of each other’s hopes, dreams, needs, and secrets. We are soul mates.”
I thought I could see every muscle in Ulysses’s body begin to squirm. He closed his eyes and bowed his head, but he made no move to separate himself or refute what Lori had said.
She continued. “I hope you don’t mind that he’ll never say it. He’s…had an identity crisis the last few years, since he was promoted to first mate. The man can’t admit that he needs anyone. He’s Ulysses Lagash, the first mate of the Black Yonnix. The big hero. The person the captain sends when something important needs doing. He takes the job seriously—too seriously. He wouldn’t even give into his nature and choose a dominant parentage because he didn’t know how it would affect his ability to fulfill his role on the ship, so instead he suffered, silently, coming to me for aid only when it became too much to bear. I helped him—gladly—even though our relationship has never become what it could have. Even though he’s constantly running off on adventures to do Yuin knows what with Yuin knows who, and I lie awake at night worried he’ll never come back. Even though he tells a lot of horrible jokes about his desire to find a rich woman just because he thinks it fits this dumb persona he’s built. Even though I don’t know if we’ll ever truly be together, or if I’ll just be the reliable rock he comes back to over and over and over again.
“Even through all of that,” she said firmly, “I love him.” And then she stood up on her toes and kissed him on the cheek.
Though I couldn’t hear what Ulysses said, I saw his mouth work. Given the result, it’s fair to guess the general meaning behind his words.
The man on the divan froze, then seemed to unfurl. He swung his legs around so he was facing us and set his bare feet firmly on the ground, then he reached into his toga and withdrew a square parcel wrapped in brown cloth. “You have done it,” he said as he set the package down beside himself, “and now I can finally rest.”
And then he was gone.
Without missing a beat, Ulysses sauntered forward and plucked up our reward. “Well then, let’s be off,” he said merrily as he turned and headed for the exit. “Adventure and riches await!”
No, Your Highness, I’m not sure why Lori didn’t deck him either.
— CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX —
Despite the distance, Ulysses insisted we head straight back to the village. I thought that a wise idea; lingering would only give the situation back toward the beach—whatever it was—time to fester. Given the circumstances and the general awkward atmosphere, none of us wanted to celebrate, or to rest.
Of course, fate threw yet another twist into our path.
Thaitheoir met us just outside the ruins. “They took Rindge,” he said calmly. “I thought it best to come to you.”
For a few moments, we were all stunned. “You thought correctly, friend,” Ulysses said, breaking the silence. “Who took Rindge?”
He pointed a single finger toward the sky.
The dark shape that had been pursuing the ship descended toward us, clearly visible in Diuntyne’s ethereal silver twilight. Up close, it was oblong and organic, longer than it was wide. Its shape and dark coloring betrayed nothing about its origins or intentions.
Long filaments suddenly fell from its edges.
“Ropes!” Ulysses hissed as he drew his cutlass, clutching Lucifus’s parcel close to his chest. “On your guard, friends!”
Packs were dropped, weapons were drawn, and we formed a rough circle, our backs inward and our shoulders almost touching. The tension of the previous moments was wiped away, replaced by something much worse: fear. The lu’aku in my hand felt woefully inadequate for whatever we were about to face.
Bright shapes slid down along the ropes, moving quickly and confidently. When I got a look at the newcomers, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
They were shuen.
But also, they weren’t. They were taller and slighter, gangly in places the shuen I knew had been thick. Their greenish-turquoise skin reflected Diun’s light into little shining moons. Thin, fleshy membranes stretched between their backs and their arms, like a taut, built-in cloak. Stiff quills bristled from their knees and elbows. They were shirtless and bootless, but each wore a pair of loose-fitting trousers tied tightly to their waists.
Their faces and eyes, however, were unmistakably shuen—and it sent a shiver down my spine. I didn’t like the looks of the gnarled clubs in their hands either. They had us outnumbered two-to-one—and we were surrounded.
“Hello, friends!” Ulysses called out. “Can’t say I expected to run into your kind here.”
“They’re not shuen,” a silky voice replied from above us. Another shape slid quickly down the rope and alit on the ground in front of Ulysses. This, even more surprisingly, was a marii.
“Oh no,” our own representative of the species muttered.
“Tehenessey Blue!” the newcomer crowed. Though she wore a simple leather smock, I could tell immediately from her voice and bearing that she was a female. “I always knew you had the arrogance to mess with the World Song, but I never thought you’d develop the skill.”
“I like this one already,” Ulysses said. Lori elbowed him in the side.
Blue grumbled something unintelligible before responding more loudly. “Hi, Kitch. How’s the troupe? Still pulling in the crowds back in Easlinder?”
Kitch’s face darkened. The bits of metal she’d woven into her mane tinkled softly as she shook her head. “I’m sure we would be, if someone hadn’t taken off with all of our hard-earned profits and had us framed for kidnapping!”
Blue shrunk. “I’m sure that someone had his reasons.”
“Worth remembering if we find the treasure,” Nicolette whispered to me. I couldn’t say she was wrong.
“Oh, I don’t doubt it,” Kitch replied, “but I’m not here to collect on old debts. I’m here to investigate the source of a particular melody the elders felt the ripples of all the way back in the Imorin.”
“Then you’re wasting your time. No song, as you well know, can have such an effect. The elders are clearly too old for their roles and should consider retiring.”
The other marii considered this for a moment, scratching her snout. I wasn’t sure I liked the way this was going, but I wasn’t confident I could direct it better. That Ulysses hadn’t yet interjected suggested it might be best to leave the marii business to the marii.
“Fine,” Kitch said a few moments later. “In that case, we’ve no need of you. We’ll return your friend and leave you here, in this canyon—although I know not how you’re going to escape, given that the path back to the beach has collapsed.”
My heart caught in my throat, and I felt everyone around me tense. That crash we’d heard the day before certainly could have been a section of the canyon collapsing in on itself. As far as we knew, there had only been one way in and one way out. If it had been destroyed, we were trapped—especially without a flying ship interested in rendering aid.
“It is true,” Thaitheoir said. “I have seen it.”
“I regret to inform you that your friends on the beach were swarmed from the sea,” Kitch said gently. “We watched it from on high. Not long after they made landfall, a horde of tiny white crabs spilled forth from the waves. There were no survivors.”
The mood turned somber, and my thoughts went to Belga—and Rindge. Theo had said these newcomers had taken him. Did he know his wife was gone?
“Rutting Thranax,” Lori hissed. “I will have his liver for my stewpot.”
“Although I like your spirit, I believe I will be skipping dinner that evening,” Ulysses said, finally taking a step forward and into the conversation. “My name is Ulysses Lagash. I am the first mate of the Black Yonnix, the ship you’ve been tailing oh-so-carefully. On behalf of my crew, I would be happy to negotiate an exchange of information in return for a lift out of this Yuin-forsaken place.”
Kitch shook her head, once again setting the metal in her mane to jangling. “I should’ve known Blue’s friends would be just as annoying as he is. You’ve got yourself a deal, lij, as long as you’re willing to turn over all your weapons and abide by our rules while you sail with us.”
I looked up at the hulk floating above us. “Sailing” wasn’t exactly the word I would have used to describe its activity.
“I might be amenable to those terms, but before we hand over our only means of self-defense, I must ask two very important questions. First: what’s become of the man you’ve already taken?”
The marii grinned. “He was much less amenable to my terms, and so he is sleeping off what is sure to be a very uncomfortable headache in our brig.”
“As I expected. Second: was your vessel responsible for the collapse of our route out of here?”
