Fireborn Champion (10 page)

“Seas’re too shallow, Cap’n. We’ll have to pass right through ‘em. They might, ah, they might board.”

“The birds!” Another portly fellow with caterpillar fingers pointed beyond the prow. Iron followed the man’s finger. Blots of dark spots appeared over the flat horizon.

Ayska cursed and sprinted to Iron. “Get below deck, both of you. I didn’t think they’d bring him, but come he has. You must be something precious to that heretic king.”

He shot a worried glance to Sander. The man focused on the horizon, his hooded gaze nailed to the distant ships and tumultuous sky. “Why should we trust you? You could just turn us over. You’re clearly pirates, after all.”

“If I wanted, I would’ve already put you in chains. Now get down there, both of you. If Caspran’s birds see you, we’re all dead, and it won’t be a quick death. Caspran never gives the mercy of a quick death.” For the first time that day, he heard the terror edging her voice, the fear laced with panic and anxiety.

“Caspran?” Sander’s attention whipped over to them. “
Brother
Caspran? Gods, you did mention him in the inn. Sinner save us, Iron, get below deck.” Without waiting for Ayska’s permission, Sander grabbed Iron and hauled him to the door.
 

“Who is this Caspran?” Iron asked. He looked to the horizon. The trembling sky had become a wave of motion, like a dark cloud writhing in invisible binds. He peered more closely and saw that it wasn’t a single cloud, but an enormous one made up of tiny specks. It approached at terrifying speed.

Sander kicked the door open. “No time, boy. Let’s go.”

They bounded down creaky steps. Ocean waves combined with the ship’s gathering speed did little to calm Iron’s stomach and nothing to calm his nerves. They spilled into a room full of hammocks and lit by a few paltry oil lanterns. Barrels of food and bags of grains clustered in mounds against the wall.
 

Sander thrust Iron into a corner and took up position before him, sword out. When did Sander draw his sword? The man backed Iron against the corner and formed a wall of flesh between him and the room. One arm still on his weapon, the man began gathering sacks of grain and rice while he muttered curses under his breath.

“I can barely see over your shoulder,” Iron said.
 

“I’m not trying to give you a nice view. No matter what happens, don’t say a word. Not a single word. Got that?”

Iron swallowed the lump in his throat and watched as his master continued building the barrier around them. Whoever this Caspran was, both Sander and Ayska feared him. Sander didn’t speak further, leaving Iron alone to the rhythm of his thundering heart. Outside, shrieking bird calls muted the crew’s cries. It was only then, at the peak of his terror, that Iron realized someone watched them.

Caspran’s birds shrieked their chaotic cries above the ship while the crew shouted nervously through the din. The
Scarlet Widowmaker
lurched as it struck farther from Skaard’s icy shores, plowing into the Sapphire Sea’s rough waters. Despite the chaos and the noise, Iron’s attention fixed on other, quieter things. He stared at the figure huddled in the room’s opposite corner. Light in the ship’s belly didn’t reveal a single detail of the person save an outline of wide shoulders and a broad brow.
 

Iron’s imagination filled the blank with Elof’s features. He swallowed the bile lurching in his throat and pressed his back against the corner.
 

He felt those eyes on him, on them. Sander, still oblivious to the figure, continued yanking bags and boxes and barrels before them. A few more, and they’d have a makeshift wall to hide behind.

It wouldn’t matter anyway. Ayska must have tricked them—Iron knew something was off about that woman. Like a fool, he’d let the trap close around them. No, not like a fool, like an ignorant
child
. He should’ve pushed the pirate woman away. He should have seen through her lies in the inn.
 

Iron grabbed Sander’s shoulder and pulled him back. “Someone’s in here watching us.” His stomach twisted as the ship lurched, the crashing sigh of a wave exploding against the prow.

Sander tensed, his eyes washing around the room until they fixed on the shadowed figure. “Well fuck. I see him now.”

“Ayska did this on purpose. I knew that woman rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Maybe. Be ready.”

The ship pitched again and slammed against a wave. A long moan escaped from the stranger, pained and frightened but low, very low. It might have been a monster. Who knew what creatures Ayska collected during her travels?

Another whimper emanated from the figure. Movement disturbed the shadowy mound.
 

“Should we attack him?” Iron asked.

“No. Not unless he makes a hostile movement toward us. Murderers may be sinners, but Sinner’s men aren’t murderers. Life is life. Take it only to save it.”

Incomprehensible murmuring came next. Maybe the thing hungered for their flesh. Iron read of strange creatures and minor demons who put on the form of children to lure their next meal into their wicked dens. This living shadow might be one of them.

For what seemed like hours, he stared at the hunchback, and he knew the figure stared back. It was an odd thing to feel a stare for so long without seeing it; but even cloaked in darkness, the weight of those eyes was undeniable.

Sander shot straight and leaned back, pressing Iron hard against their corner. “Listen to that.”

Iron frowned and pried his attention from the other occupant, but only for a moment. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Exactly. No birds. No crew.”

A chill worked up his spine as one realization sunk inside the cold pit of his stomach. “Either the sea’s turned to glass or we aren’t moving.”

“Good observation. Now, let’s not panic,” Sander said, only half-speaking to Iron. “Tell me. What does this mean?”

Thinking logically alleviated fear, and so Iron calmly weighed the facts before him. “We’ve stalled on the seas and the birds are silent. We’re not moving, or if we are, it’s slow as ice melt in the spring. Those birds were lightning fast. Either they’ve moved on, gone back, or they’re perched on the ship.”

“And what do the facts tell you?”

He closed his eyes and let his imagination float into the world. He often did this, never knowing why, but he trusted his instincts, and he trusted his mind would take him to the most rational conclusion. Living in the wilderness since an infant, he learned no predator was more dangerous than panic. So instead of letting panic sink its claws into his heart, he let his mind fly.

As his imagination ascended, he saw the
Scarlet Widowmaker
with Ayska and her crew. They clustered in the middle of the deck, surrounding their captain with swords drawn. They regarded their surroundings with a healthy dose of nervous terror. Every mast, every rope, every railing on the ship held a watchful bird. The creatures had pointed beaks the color of a sunrise. Black edged their snowy wings and capped their eyes like Sander’s hood, but otherwise sported only a feathery white coat. They watched the crew. They waited for their master’s command.

“They’re out there, right now.” Iron sucked in a breath and opened his eyes. “The king’s men are boarding, aren’t they?”

Sander nodded. “Let’s hope it’s just his men. If the serpents are with them. Hells, if Caspran is with them…”

A shudder rippled down Sander’s back. A heavy thud hit the deck above. Measured footfalls followed. Muted voices drifted through the planks, calm at first, but increasing to an angry crescendo.
 

Silence.
 

And then, another heavy thud on the planks. Sander winced, but Iron didn’t know why. He didn’t have the courage for words and only had a mind for home.

The door leading above deck smashed open with such force, it tore from the hinges and flew down the stairs, landing in a splintered heap on the floor. Light from the winter sky streamed through the doorframe, broken by a figure descending.

The intruder wore white leather bands wrapped tightly around his lithe frame. Mist rolled in gentle tongues around him, accentuating the aura of power emanating from the stranger. Dagger points glinted between the bands of his trappings like the scales of a fish. He wore a masked hood that hid his features from the world while the cold hiss of his breath broke the quiet as it slid from his lips.

Sander pulled them both down behind their makeshift hideout with all the speed and sound of an owl’s blink. Iron peeked around his master’s shoulder and through an angled crack between a sack of rice and a crate packed with potatoes.
 

Ayska stumbled down the ramp, eyes frantically scanning the empty hammocks. “Please, Brother Caspran.”

“Quiet,” Caspran said in a voice more serpentine than man. Caspran’s tone gave Iron goose bumps, and he found himself slinking deeper into the dark.

A familiar moan filled the cabin as the hidden figure lurched toward Ayska. Caspran hissed, and a floating dagger whipped into his hand. Ayska screamed and ran forward, throwing herself before the mysterious person who had shared the shadows with Iron and Sander only moments before.

“No!” Ayska screamed, throwing her hands wide. “Please, have mercy, Brother Caspran, she will do you no harm. In the name of the great and glorious Serpent and the Sun he will raise, please show us mercy.”

Her?
Iron blinked. The stranger in the shadows had been a she all the time? But her size…

Now in the light, Iron could see the woman’s features. She had skin like Ayska’s but kept her hair cropped nearly to the scalp. Her narrow eyes had a distant look in them, her wide, strong chin supporting full lips that hung askew. Her nose bent awkwardly above those lips, a sign it once broke and healed without being properly set.

She lingered behind Ayska, hands that could have put the former Elof to shame gently placed upon the captain’s shoulders.
 

Bless the Six
, Iron thought.
Those hands could crush Ayska like a heel on a dried twig
.

Yet, when Iron looked into the woman’s distant eyes, he saw no malice, no anger, no rage. The soul behind them looked upon the world through a long and lonely tunnel.
 

Caspran’s dagger whistled from its orbit and hung before Ayska. Its deadly edge spun slowly, centered on Ayska’s right eye.
 

“And what beast is this?” Caspran asked. He turned his back to Iron and Sander, attention placed upon the gentle giant.

“She’s no beast, Brother Caspran. She’s simply different. She—she sees the world in a different manner than you and I. Her name is Kalila, and she would never do harm to any other.”

“Not intentionally, of course,” Caspran quipped. He held his hands tight against the small of his back and rocked on his heels. “So this is why you tried outrunning my ships? You feared I would kill this…” He cocked his head. “…This beast?”

“Yes, Brother Caspran.” Ayska eyed the dagger pointed at her pupil. Sweat beaded on her temples. “Few understand her condition. I feared—”

“I did not have the intellect? If you could understand, why do you assume I could not? We occupy different planes of existence, you and I. You trying to impart a lesson to me is like a rat trying to teach a poet how to rhyme. Laughable.”

“Forgive my idiocy. I did not mean to offend.” Ayska pressed her arms against her sides, her eyes widening as the dagger approached. “Forgive us all. We are loyal servants of the High King, Lord of All, Rider of the Glittering Serpent and Destroyer of the Six. We serve him faithfully.”

“You do now? Show me. Bow.”
 

A lump traveled down Ayska’s throat. She nodded and prostrated herself, palms flat on the floorboards. “As you command.”

Caspran leapt on Ayska’s bent back. She grunted, arms trembling, but didn’t move. He murmured to himself and inspected the other woman, the back of his knuckles caressing Kalila’s wide jaw. She flinched, shook and chewed her quivering lip.

“What an interesting creature.” He sighed, bounding backward onto the floor. “But I do believe you’re correct. She is no danger. That beast’s mind broke long ago.”

Each time Caspran called Kalila beast or creature, a little seed of rage sprouted in Iron’s heart. Any fool could see the childlike innocence in the woman’s eyes. Hells, she practically glowed with her innocence. Sinner save him, he couldn’t let this wicked man continue.

Iron tensed and leaned forward, but his master’s hand smacked Iron’s chest and pushed him back. Iron struggled for a breath before relenting. He hated this.
Hated
it. Ayska panted on the floor while Kalila stood unarmed and harmless before Caspran’s wicked magic and tongue while the two most powerful people on the ship hid like cowards behind bags and boxes.

Iron clenched his fists.
Ayska’s not the rat. We are
.

“Tell me,” Caspran said, rotating to the rest of the cabin. “I see why you fled Ormhild, but why did you come to the…what do they call it…unconquered city?” He chuckled. “Unconquered. A name that will no longer apply soon enough.”

Ayska tried to stand but Caspran whipped around and raised a finger at her. “I don’t think so. Stay on your knees. You should remember how, judging by the slave brands on your arms.”

She swallowed but did as he commanded. Her gaze swept over the cabin, pausing only for a heartbeat where Sander and Iron hid.

“We received word that High King Sol desired something in Skaard. My comrade in Ormhild—Elof was his name—sent word to me since I was nearby. I came looking to please our king, but it turned out to be a lie.”

Caspran folded his arms. “A lie? You tell me my birds carried a lie beneath their wings?”

“No, of course not you, Brother Caspran!” Ayska crossed her hands over her chest and dipped her chin. “Elof set a trap for me. He wanted my ship for himself and plotted to use Kalila against me. He nearly succeeded.”

“Clearly he did not. And what has become of this Elof of Ormhild?”

Ayska’s lips pressed into a point. Iron heard her breath rush from her nostrils as she looked up and met Caspran’s gaze. “I killed him. I sliced his throat and listened to him choke on his blood for the lies he told.”