Of Dawn and Darkness (The Elder Empire: Sea Book 2) (24 page)

He held himself together by sheer force of will, staring blankly into the night and trying not to think about what might have happened if they hadn’t escaped. As he did, a bat-winged shape fluttered out of the darkness and a heavy weight landed on his shoulder.

Tentacles tickled his right cheek as Shuffles checked his expression. “DARK,” the Elderspawn said, in its version of a whisper.

Inexplicably, even this presence—the presence of something that had just been giving him waking nightmares—settled him down. He reached up, letting the tendrils curl around his index finger. “Yeah, it’s dark. But we’re free, now. We’ve made it.”

Shuffles grumbled, not caring for his optimism.

The tenth and final passenger of
The Testament
stomped over to Calder, eyeing the Elderspawn through one pair of spectacles. Duster had declined space in a cabin, choosing to sleep on deck.

“You seem to like Elders, for somebody who doesn’t treat their worshipers so well.”

“‘Through understanding, we control the unknown,’” Calder said. “That’s one of the Blackwatch creeds.”

Duster grunted. “I’ve been checking your cannons.”

“And?”

“Lend me your shoulder, and I’ll push them into the water right now.”

Calder was too tired to laugh, and his limbs felt hollow. Nonetheless, he managed a weak smile. “Only had to use them once, and it turns out we didn’t need them.”

“Not too many naval battles among Navigators, I’d guess.”

“We don’t need the cannons for ships,” Calder said. “I’m more worried about other things of a similar size.”

“THINGS,” Shuffles rumbled.

Duster tugged on his beard before he spoke, avoiding Calder’s eyes. “You know, I was just passing through Silverreach.”

“Then you have Nakothi’s own timing.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t have anywhere in particular to go. Give me meals, a bunk, a few silvermarks when we go ashore, and room to work, and I can take care of your cannon problem. Might be able to upgrade the rest of your equipment while I’m at it.” He flicked his hand at the pistol Calder wore as though brushing away dirt.

Calder all but froze, like a man afraid to startle a deer back into the woods. “We could use a gunner, as long as you can hit an Elder the size of a whale at a hundred paces.”

Duster snorted. “Son, at a hundred paces, I could shave you clean.”

Shuffles chuckled into Calder’s ear. “CLEEEEAAAANNN.”

“That’s a disturbing image, Duster, and I’ll thank you not to repeat it. And I’ll have to consult with the crew, such as they are, in the morning. That said...” He stuck out a hand for Duster to shake. “I expect nothing but a favorable response. Without you, we’d still be on dry land.”

The older man hid a smile behind his beard, but it quickly vanished. He didn’t take Calder’s hand. “One more thing you ought to know. I don’t intend to go into the hows and whys of it, so don’t ask, but I’ve never trusted the Guilds. Nor the Empire, and I have my reasons. As for the Emperor...let’s say that your Luminian wouldn’t like what I have to say about him.”

“Mr. Duster, believe me when I say that you are free to speak ill of the Emperor on this deck. Andel’s asleep now, anyway.”

“Keeping it polite, the Emperor is as distant and malicious as any Elder. Were it in my power, I’d see him stripped naked and quartered in the heart of the Capital at dawn tomorrow, and I’d take a saw to him with a smile on my face.”

Duster had stone in his eyes, as though daring Calder to contradict him.

After a few seconds, Calder let out a laugh and extended his hand again. “Welcome aboard
The Testament,
Mr. Duster. I can see we’ll get along.”

The older man shook, bewilderment on his face. An instant later, he was the one to hesitate. “And about this ‘Duster’ business, well...that’s not exactly my given name.”

Calder staggered back in an exaggerated display of shock.
“What?
Off the plank with you!”

Unamused, Duster plowed on. “I’m trying not to spread it around, so keep it to yourself, but I used to be from the Capital.”

“I’ll tuck that away in my vest and hold it there. You can trust me never to divulge that you were from the most populous city in the world.”

“...where I was a gunsmith,” he continued, ignoring what Calder considered perfectly delivered humor. “Name of Dalton Foster.”

Calder suddenly knew how his ship felt, snapped to a halt by the unbreakable grasp of the Lyathatan’s chains. He stood speechless for a moment before saying, “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I see.”

“Yep.”

Of the dozen questions floating around in his mind, he only had the presence of mind to blurt out one. “Are you sure you want to work for
me?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Any Reader can investigate the truth of a crime, or the history of an artifact. But the experience of a Reader is singular, and the rest of us must take their reports on faith. It becomes vital, therefore, that an organization exists to vouch for the veracity of its Readers and to keep those Readers under close scrutiny and control.

For with the exception of the Emperor himself, it should not be that Readers rule over the rest of the populace by virtue of their extra-natural powers.

—From the document re-founding the Magister’s Guild

~~~

“As your first official address as Imperial Steward,” Teach said, “you’ll be explaining to the upper crust of the Capital why there’s a crack in the sky. Here are your notes.”

Somewhat numb, Calder took the sheet of paper from Teach even as a flurry of servants draped layers of shimmering green cloth around him. Like this, he looked more like the Emperor than ever; they’d even found a thick silver chain to loop around his neck, a reminder of the jewelry that the original Emperor had always worn.

For the first time, he wished the Emperor was still around. Calder could use some advice, or at least some more information.

Looking up, he could see the crack. It was a jagged line in the center of the clear sky, like a black lightning bolt, making it look like they were all underneath a great sky-blue eggshell.

“You know, ancient scholars believed that the sky was a dome,” Calder said, staring upward and ignoring the speech in his hands. “They determined that it spun around the earth, with the sun on one side and the stars on the other. Now, we know it’s a layer of gas around our planet...and then it cracks.”

Teach crashed her gauntleted hands together, glaring at him with ice-blue eyes. “Focus. These people are highly educated and influential, but they’re as panicked as anyone else. It’s your job to reassure them.”

“I’m starting to wonder if the ancient superstitions were right. Would they find that reassuring, do you think?”

Mekendi Maxeus, Head of the Magisters, burst in the dressing-room, his gray staff in one hand. He turned from Teach to Calder. “They’ve gathered, sir Steward.” No one was actually clear on the appropriate form of address for Calder, but Maxeus had apparently settled on ‘sir Steward.’

Teach looked to the clock on a nearby mantle. “They’re early.”

“They’re frightened. If there was just something sitting in the sky, we could pass it off as a rare astronomical phenomenon, but the entire city shook when it appeared. Perhaps more than just the city. They know it’s Elders, and this is our opportunity to show them that
we
are the ones defending them, not the Regents.”

Calder had never heard the man so animated. He was striding around the room, making broad, sweeping gestures with his staff, orating as though to an audience.

He glanced over his speech. It seemed heavy on reassurance, and light on any actual content. “The problem is, it seems like we caused the crack. Fighting near the Optasia. But I don’t know what it is or how to fix it, so anything else I say is going to sound empty.”

On its own, he didn’t mind empty speeches. That was what people most often wanted: someone to feed them delicious lies. But today, Calder would be somewhat more reassured if he had
any idea
what was happening.

Maxeus gestured to the speech in Calder’s hands. “We’ve written out everything you need to say. Stick to your notes, stay calm, and we’ll be able to say we were the first to handle this crisis.”

“I don’t remember the Emperor ever holding any notes,” Calder said.

Teach shrugged, which in her layers of armor sounded like an avalanche of steel. “More than you would think. He wrote the words himself, usually, but he managed to hide notes in his sleeves or on a desk.”

It was Maxeus’ turn to look at the clock. “And we have a podium for you, don’t worry, but you should get to it. It’s less about what you say, and more that you said
something
.”

“But stick to the script,” Teach added.

Cheska Bennett poked her head in, red hair tied back behind her. Unlike Calder, she hadn’t been forced to dress up for the occasion, so she wore a patched-up jacket and pants that would have been at home on the deck of a ship. “Or don’t. Scripts are more trouble than they’re worth. Tell them not to worry, that we’re handling it, then drop the curtain.”

Teach started pushing Calder toward the door, Maxeus following along. “This isn’t the time to make trouble, Captain Bennett,” Teach said. “People are scared.”

Cheska laughed, following Calder as he allowed the human tide to take him out into the hallway. “I noticed you didn’t let me write him a speech.”

“You weren’t even invited to this event,” Maxeus noted.

“Harbor’s right next door, and so is my ship. Thought I’d pop in and give our new Steward some advice.” She made sure she had his attention before continuing.
 

“Lose the script. Look confident, tell them you’ll solve it.”

Teach shouldered her out of the way as she herded Calder into the next room. “Thank you, Captain Bennett, please take your seat.”

Never had Calder felt more like a sheep.

The building was a former opera house turned into a banquet hall. The seats had been removed, the floor leveled, and round tables filled the space. Around those tables now sat the great and powerful of the Capital; nobles, bankers, favorites of the Emperor, high-ranking Guild members—even a few from currently disgraced Guilds, like at least one Greenwarden—and people Calder didn’t recognize but who were obviously rich. Their small talk was deafening, but as soon as Calder entered the room, silence followed him. Every eye took him in: his clothes, his bearing, the papers he had half-hidden in his sleeves, his two Guild Head companions.

And Calder recognized an opportunity when he saw one.

“Thank you, General Teach,” he said, stepping out from her shadow. “Guild Head Maxeus.” He walked on his own, unescorted, to the center of the former stage. The curved walls and the Intent of the building should carry every word he spoke to the farthest corners.

Cheska raised her fist to him, a gesture of support, and then leaned back in her newfound chair and propped her heels up on the table. A pair of Witnesses looked scandalized, but they couldn’t say anything to the Head of the Navigators. From her grin, she’d been counting on it.

Calder glanced down at the script for a prompt. Briefly, he’d even considered actually reading it. He was acutely aware of everything—and everyone—that he didn’t know, and a misstep here could haunt him for the rest of his life. The people in this room were frightened, no less than the average person on the street, and they needed answers for their own peace of mind. The script would give it to them.

Or he could do it himself.

Most of them would never know the difference, but he would. And he felt more comfortable improvising anyway.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, crumpling his prepared speech. “You may have noticed a new addition to the beautiful Capital skyline.”

No one laughed. In the back of the room, Maxeus leaned more heavily on his staff. Teach put her head in her hands.

“I can promise you that the full resources of the Imperial Palace are currently dedicated to addressing this event and ensuring that it does not pose a threat to Capital citizens.” That line was almost word-for-word from his speech, but the next wasn’t. “It’s no secret that the Guilds have not been fully cooperating with one another these last few years. But we have the absolute backing of the Blackwatch and the Magisters, both of whom are working tirelessly to protect you.”

“So it
is
a threat?” someone shouted.

“Not to you,” Calder said immediately. That didn’t sound like something the Emperor would have said, but he was falling into a rhythm, so he forged ahead. “Let me tell you something about my history. I’ve spent the last ten years in the Navigators, crossing the deadliest parts of the Aion Sea hundreds of times, but I started in the Blackwatch. Whatever you know or think you know about the Blackwatch, you should remember that each and every Watchman is sworn to protect you from things that you would not believe. Things that you will never see. Are they a threat? Yes, they are. But not to you. To the people standing in front of you.”

Calder scanned the audience, making eye contact with as many people as he could. “My address to you will be brief tonight, but I assure you that I’m not trying to replace the Emperor.”
Yet
, he added silently. “A steward is a caretaker, a protector, and as Imperial Steward, I am trying to do one thing: to take care of you. To make sure that, when the Great Elders move, they’re moving against
me
. Not you.”

That was the job the Emperor should have done, before he lost sight of the value of a human life. Not that he could say that now. “So when I tell you not to worry, I’m not telling you there’s nothing to be worried
about
. I’m telling you that there are people handling it. We, the loyal Guilds of the Empire, will protect you. That, you can rely on.”

Then, amidst a growing wave of quiet whispers, he left the stage.

~~~

Calder heard all the opinions on his speech for the rest of the day, through the night, and into the next morning.

“It wasn’t a
disaster
,” Teach was saying. “You reassured them, you emphasized that it was the remaining Guilds who were protecting them and not the Independents. But you should have just read the script.”