Witchbreaker (Dragon Apocalypse) (32 page)

She began the work of fusing the coffin together. She took care to close the cracks in the old boards and smooth out any splinters. The cart had been in use for years, giving the wood a natural patina that sealed the pores. Once the body was inside, smell wouldn’t be an issue.

Sorrow straightened up when her job was done, using her wings to shield herself from Jetsam’s gaze from above as she stretched her back. “Once you gentlemen are done discussing religion, you can load the body. I trust you’ll figure out how to get it back to the ship. I’m going to fly on ahead and rustle up some proper clothing.”

She jumped, flapping her wings. She clenched her teeth, surprised by the effort required. It had definitely been easier to fly in the Black Bog. Back in the material world, climbing a hundred feet into the sky took almost as much energy as sprinting up a flight of stairs of equal height. She only made it to two hundred feet before she was forced to lock her wings as wide as she could and glide while she caught her breath. Her wings seemed to have the necessary power, but now that the rest of her body had returned to human proportions, her lungs felt inadequate to the task.

“People think flying’s easy,” Jetsam said, his voice just beneath her. She looked down and found he was doing a backstroke about fifty feet below. “But it’s more like swimming. It wears you out fast if you aren’t careful.”

“I’ll get better with practice,” she said.

“You keeping the wings?” Jetsam asked. “I thought your whole reason for looking for Avaris was to return your body to normal.”

“You saw how bloodied I was,” said Sorrow. “Avaris wasn’t exactly helpful.”

“I hope you can explain that to Ma. She’ll be upset I didn’t deliver her letter.”

“I’ll talk to her,” said Sorrow. “I’m sure she’ll understand.”

They passed over a freshly plowed field. Jetsam spun in the air until his back was facing her. He spread his arms and rose, just as air lifted her own wings.

“Follow me,” Jetsam called out. “I know the types of land to watch for that produce updrafts. The air is full of currents. I can teach you how to ride them. You can cover twice the distance with half the effort.”

“Lead on,” she answered, as they swam among the stars.

I
T WAS DAYBREAK
when they returned to the
Circus
. Sage met them on deck. The second Jetsam’s feet touched the planks, she said, “You still have the letter.”

“You noticed.”

“This surprises you?”

“Not in the least. Does Ma know yet?”

Sage shook her head. “She went to bed a little while ago. Go below and wake her.”

As Jetsam ran below deck, Sage knelt and opened a satchel sitting beside her. “I noticed you’ve returned a bit altered. I hope you don’t mind that I took the liberty of securing you some clothing.”

“Mind? I’m unspeakably grateful!”

“Here are some pants. And I’ve cut the back from this blouse. You can slip it on from the front, then tie it around your neck and waist,” said Sage.

“A seer and a tailor,” said Sorrow, taking the clothes. “You’re quite talented.”

Sage shrugged. She said, in a neutral tone, “I count lip reading among my talents.”

Sorrow froze for half a heartbeat as she pulled on the pants. She asked, “So, can you... can you see into the abstract realms?”

“Alas, no,” said Sage. “You and Slate vanished from my sight the second you left the material world.”

“Ah,” Sorrow said, nodding. She smiled wistfully. “Too bad. You missed quite an adventure.”

“I must have. It’s not often that people leave this ship and return with entirely new body parts.”

Sorrow looked up at her wings. “I don’t think of these as new, so much as rearranged. I think my body still has the same amount of dragon mass. I was just able to move it into a more useful configuration.”

“With the help of Avaris?”

“No, I pretty much did it just by wishing for it, but don’t ask me how.”

“So how did your meeting with Avaris go?”

Sorrow considered her answer as she tied her blouse shut behind her neck. “If you were watching, you saw that I returned from her palace with a rather nasty facial injury.”

“True enough,” said Sage. “But what’s even more interesting is, you’ve returned with someone else’s eye.”

“What?” Sorrow asked, trying her best to scoff.

“Your left eye. It’s different. Like it belongs to someone else entirely. You left with two auras and you’ve come back with three.”

“Strange things happen in the abstract realms,” said Sorrow.

“Strange things happen here as well,” said Sage. “People my family trust have been known to betray us.”

Sorrow didn’t say anything.

“And I’ve been known to do very bad things to those who willingly place my family in danger.”

“You’ve no reason to be worried about me. I can’t explain what you think you’re seeing, but, trust me, I’m perfectly fine. Everything’s alright.”

“No, it’s not,” a woman answered from behind. Sorrow turned to find Gale and Jetsam behind her. “Since we couldn’t appeal to Avaris for aid, my mother is still trapped.”

Sorrow nodded. “I’m sorry. But before I left for the Black Bog, I investigated a solution to this problem. I explained things to Mama Knuckle, a highly skilled necromancer.”

Gale’s face brightened. “And she had an answer?”

“An answer, yes. A solution, probably not. Blood is ordinarily required to sustain souls. The
Freewind
had been prepared to house your mother’s soul by having her blood dissolved in wine, which was used to soak the timbers. Unfortunately, while there may be some residue of your mother’s blood in the figurehead, we’d never be able to soak a whole ship with it.”

“Then there’s no hope?” Gale asked.

Sorrow sighed. “I don’t... I don’t think so. Mama Knuckle said that it was possible for a family member to supply the blood. But it would require all the blood from an adult. Someone would have to die to restore your mother.”

Gale shook her head. “A life is too high a price.”

“Perhaps your mother’s soul can still travel on to the Sea of Wine. You may see her again one day.”

Gale still looked crestfallen. “I’ve failed.”

“Grandmother had a good life, and was able to watch her grandchildren grow for many years after her natural death,” said Sage. “You haven’t failed her.”

“I’ve failed everyone,” said Gale.

“You’ve never struck me as someone prone to wallowing in self-pity,” said Sorrow.

“This isn’t self-pity. This is realism. The ship that was my family home has been lost. My family would have been broken up long ago if not for the
Freewind’s
ability to sail the Sea of Wine. It kept us beyond the reaches of our enemies. Our supernatural speed meant that we could keep clients even as the oceans became increasingly dangerous to sail.”

“We don’t really need clients now,” said Sage. “Brand’s willing to foot the bills with his dragon-bone money.”

“That’s charity, not business,” said Gale. She looked at Sorrow. “It’s time to admit the larger truth. Even if the
Freewind
hadn’t been lost, my family would have been broken apart soon enough. Most Wanderer ships are crewed by forty or fifty people, with the core family supplemented by spouses and cousins and close friends who’ve outgrown the confines of other ships. I’ve extended a hundred offers to other ships to provide homes for excess crew, and been rebuffed each time.”

“The pirate wars are still fresh in people’s minds,” Sorrow said. “In a few years, things will calm down.”

Gale nodded. “But the calm won’t lead others to join us. Instead, they’ll accept us, one by one. Levi left our ship and married soon after. Sage, you’ve caught the eye of many a young man. How long before you’re seduced away?”

“I wouldn’t abandon you,” said Sage.

“But don’t you see? It wouldn’t be abandonment. It wouldn’t be betrayal. I’ve not created a ship where you can forge a future. I want you to be happy. I want you to know love, to form a family. If I’m honest with myself, I know that means you’ll have to leave me. It breaks my heart, but it hurts more to think that you might not leave to pursue your own happiness.”

“You certainly didn’t take that attitude with Levi,” Jetsam said, sounding skeptical.

Gale frowned. “I know I’m bitter. It’s not as if the circumstances of Levi’s departure were simple. He killed a man, then fled, then joined forces with some of our worst enemies.”

“But only because he fell in love,” said Sage. “And you know he thought he was defending you when he killed our dryman.”

“You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know,” said Gale. She sighed. “When he left, I still had hope that our friends and relatives would make peace with us. I felt like he left before I could really work things out. Now, I see I’ll never make things right. All I can do is help each of you prepare for the day when you leave this ship to start your life anew.”

“Is this why you keep making us call you Captain?” Jetsam asked.

Gale nodded. “I want you to have good habits for the day you serve on another ship.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen with me,” said Jetsam.

“You say that now. But sooner or later, the lure of another ship will be irresistible.”

“No,” said Jetsam. “I mean, when I go, I don’t think I’m going to live on another ship. The rest of you only see the world from its shorelines. I’ve been lucky enough to explore the landscapes of the islands we visit from above. I’ve got to tell you, the land looks a hell of a lot more interesting than the sea.”

“Jetsam!” Sage said, sounding shocked.

“You would betray your culture?” Gale asked, her voice trembling.

“What’s so special about our culture?” Jetsam asked. “I’ve been told since I was a toddler that Wanderers value individuality and freedom, but it seems to me like most of the other Wanderers look down on us because we’re different. There’s more than one way to live a life.”

“If you feel that way, then go,” Gale said. “Be like Levi. What’s keeping you here?”

“Love,” said Jetsam. “You mean the world to me. Everyone in this messed up family of ours is more important to me than all the stuff I’ve seen on land. Maybe one day our family will be scattered over a half dozen ships, pursuing different lives. But until that day comes, as long as the Romers man a ship, I plan to be part of that crew. That’s just the way I feel, Captain.”

He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his mother. Gale hugged him back, tears in her eyes. “Ma,” she said.

“Captain Ma,” said Sage, as she wrapped her arms around the both of them.

Sorrow turned away, wiping her eyes. For some reason they were watering. At least, her right eye was. Her left eye was clenched into a contemptuous little slit, and despite all of her willpower she was unable to open it.

A
FTER SLEEPING MUCH
of the day, she went above deck in mid-afternoon. She knew that a winged woman walking around in plain sight might draw unwelcome attention to the
Circus
, but she and Jetsam had flown onto the ship together that morning, when the docks had been bustling with fishermen. By now, word that the
Circus
held monsters had to have spread to the far ends of the town.

What she didn’t expect was to climb out of the hold and find the air cloying with the aroma of flowers and incense. Mako stood at the gangplank, arms crossed, looking annoyed as he stared at her.

“What?” she asked.

He nodded for her to look down the gangplank. The whole of the dock below was filled with vases of flowers, baskets of bright fruit, and hundreds of lit candles. Smoke wafted from incense burners scattered amid the colorful clutter.

“You’ve made an impression on the locals,” said Mako. “They’ve been leaving offerings all day. A few have tried to get on the ship, but turn tail when I show my teeth.”

“Offerings?” she asked, not sure she’d heard him correctly.

“Another name for Podredumbre is the Decaying Isles. Before he stopped manifesting bodily in the material world, Rott used to make his home here. Most of the locals publicly worship the Church of the Book, but in private they still live as if Rott is the lord of this place. Did you know that every year on the winter solstice, they dig up the bodies of their departed relatives and bring them back inside to sit at the table for a feast?”

“I’ve heard that,” Sorrow said.

“Nice wings,” said Mako.

Sorrow shrugged. “I haven’t really had much of a chance to look at them.” She walked down the gangplank. Some of the vases were made of blown glass, and a few of the incense burners were silver. She grabbed them and returned to the deck to make mirrors.

“You never struck me as the vain type,” Mako said as he watched her turn to study herself in the looking glasses.

“This isn’t vanity. It’s curiosity.” She ran her fingers along the inner folds of her wings. The scaleless flesh was smooth and soft as her inner thighs. “You’d understand if you ever grew a new body part over night.”