Skymaster, p.16
Skymaster, page 16
part #3 of The Guildmaster Saga Series
By the time they emerged again several minutes later, all looking less tense than before, Rasim had put berths together for each of them. "Mostly just stay away from the portholes—the windows—and stay quiet. There's more to eat in the galley, and—" He poured coins and jewels into Zyterna's hand. "In case I don't come back tonight to get you. You're resourceful. I think you'll find your way to safety. But I'll try to be back just after sundown, to take you to an inn."
"Where will you go?"
Rasim spread his hands. "To find Karluk and tell him you're safe. To find my friends and make sure they're safe. To find my crewmates and rescue them."
The corner of Zyterna's mouth twitched, as close to a smile—as close to an expression—as Rasim had seen from her. "All before sunset?"
Rasim smiled back crookedly. "I guess it'll be a busy day."
19
It was easier to get off the Waifia than it was to get on it. Rasim peered through the ship's railing until he was reasonably confident no one was looking, then swiftly dove over the edge. Sea witchery kept him from splashing, and the water enveloped him smoothly.
Zyterna was right. There was nowhere particularly good to exit the river, but it would be simpler for him alone than with three others. His chance came as a small ship docked. Everyone was busy throwing ropes and shouting at one another, giving him the opportunity to scamper up a ladder and join the work. Moments later he slipped away into the bustle of the city, thinking hard as he walked along. The sun, warm on his head, made his hair smell of lemons, which was considerably more pleasant than Moran's general odor. He tested a strand or two and found it stiff and dry, so he ducked into an alley to rub more lemon juice into it.
By the time he emerged he had a plan, although after the past few days even he didn't put much stock in his own plans. Still, it was a course of action, and that was better than nothing.
He had to assume the worst had happened with the Waifia's crew. That his escape from the arena had endangered all of them, even Captain Nasira. The whole crew might be enslaved by now.
But no one would dare enslave Lorens. A Northern royal might have some explaining to do, or even some damages to pay for, but Rasim was fairly confident Lorens wouldn't be chained up and sold, or worse.
And it couldn't be too hard to find the Northern prince in Moran. Probably. Rasim knew Lorens had presumed on his youthful friendship with the lady Amdria to establish his and Nasira's credentials. Finding Amdria might lead to the prince.
It was a place to start. Rasim worked his way back toward the docks, because he'd watched Amdria's approach from the Waifia's deck, several days before. He couldn't follow her path back very far, but he could go a block or so, and then start asking for directions.
The instructions he was given were far too complex for his limited understanding of Moranese, but he got enough from hand signals to travel another few streets, where he asked a shabby woman sitting on a corner for directions again. The woman held her hand out expectantly and Rasim gazed at her, uncomprehending, until her face twisted in disgust and she spat at Rasim's feet. Rasim jumped back, surprised, and went on for some distance before he realized the woman had wanted payment. She'd been a beggar, a sight so rare in Ilyara Rasim hadn't even recognized her need. Embarrassed, he returned to her, put a coin in the woman's palm, and asked again.
Neither of them could understand the other well enough to be useful. Finally, the beggar woman, clearly exasperated, drew a picture in the dirt. Rasim memorized it, wiped it out, and gave the woman one of Nasira's jewels. She was gawping and holding it to the light when Rasim left her.
Amdria was wealthy, living in one of the enormous houses with even larger gardens that lined parts of the river. There were ivy-lined walls everywhere, and climbing roses that fell over the ivy like sweetly-scented waterfalls. Rasim skulked around the alleys, hoping for a quiet one that would allow him to climb one of the walls, but there was almost as much traffic in the narrower roads as on the main one as tradespeople and merchants made deliveries. He slipped along behind a brewster delivering barrels of beer, and wedged a tiny stone into the garden door of the house before Amdria's, preventing it from closing all the way. Then he waited for traffic to die down enough to allow him to slip inside.
Instead a heavy hand fell on his shoulder, and a viciously smiling Moranese guard said, "Got you."
Amdria herself, smiling coolly, came out of her house at the guard's shout. She carried a flagon of water, and told him without hesitation that it was laced with the heartbreak drug. Prince Lorens came in her wake, his gaze dark with anger that Rasim hoped hid worry.
"Drink it," the prince told Rasim flatly. "Don't try to purify it. Don't try anything at all. Your crew's lives depend on it, and so do my profits."
Relief swilled through Rasim's stomach, making him want to throw up. "They're alive?" His voice broke on the word.
"So far," Lorens said in the same flat tone. Rasim couldn't hear any hint of regret or apology in the prince's voice. "If you didn't have a particular reputation for being trouble, they'd all be dead already. Be grateful Nasira spent her first evening here complaining about all the difficulty you'd caused her. Your troublemaking hasn't killed your crew."
The unspoken yet was very loud. Rasim drank the drugged water. Neither Lorens nor Amdria could tell if he purified it, but Amdria might have a sea witch hidden nearby. Rasim couldn't risk using his magic and run the chance of jeopardizing his crew.
Amdria gestured, and someone handed her a cup. Even its scent was brackish as she waved it in front of Rasim's face. "Purify this, witch."
Rasim stared at her. "How can I? You just gave me heartbreak. I can't use any magic."
Satisfaction pulled at her lips and she handed the cup away again. "I gave you mindkiller as well, witch. If you were faking the heartbreak's effect, you would have been forced to use your magic by my command. I'm convinced," she said to the guard. "Take him."
"Take me? Take me where? Lorens? Prince Lorens?" Rasim let the words tumble out, afraid that otherwise he might accidentally confess that the mindkiller hadn't been working on him since the arena. Besides, pleading to one of the people who had apparently betrayed him seemed just the right amount of terrified and pathetic.
Amdria seemed to agree, her smile growing nastier, and Lorens only looked at him coldly, as if Rasim was a thing, not a person. It was hard to remember the Northern prince had an act to keep up just like Rasim did. Very hard, given that Lorens's act kept him warm and comfortable and surrounded by wealth, and Rasim's involved chains and fighting for his life.
A second guard joined the first, and they dragged Rasim out of Amdria's garden and through the streets of Moran to an imposing building he'd never seen before. It looked important, although he didn't expect chambers in important buildings to have places to chain people up. This one did, though; Rasim was thrown to the floor and put in chains, then left to wait what seemed like a very long time indeed. His forehead pressed against the floor as his mind raced.
When he'd been on mindkiller, he had felt like his will had been sapped, but as if his power was still there. Being on Missio's drug had felt as if someone had released all the potential power he might use in his whole life all up at once. And Nasira had said the heartbreak drug felt like something, too. Like something was missing inside her, like something important had been cut away.
Rasim, who had just been given water laced with both mindkiller and heartbreak, didn't feel any different.
It could be that Missio's drug had left his witchery so weak that there was nothing for him to feel. That would make sense, except his sea witchery was slowly coming back, and the other magics he'd used hadn't been affected by the grey dust at all. But either way, Amdria had specifically ordered him to use his feeble sea witchery, and he hadn't felt a compulsion to do so.
So either the heartbreak was working, or the mindkiller wasn't.
But unlike mindkiller, heartbreak was supposed to cut off access to all witchery. Mindkiller just kept him from using it except when commanded.
He was afraid to try using sea witchery. Someone might be waiting, feeling for him to do that, and they might even be watching to see if he could use skymastery. But stone witchery should be safe. Not even Nasira fully expected him to be able to use that, even if she had her suspicions.
Or maybe it was more than just a suspicion. He supposed Sesin could have mentioned his stone witchery while he'd been sleeping off Missio's drug, on the Waifia. But he was going to have to assume she hadn't, or that Nasira had been wise enough to not bring it up to Amdria.
Cautiously, Rasim tried to send stone witchery into the floor beneath him. Stone witchery, the magic he couldn't feel even under the best of circumstances.
On the other hand, it wasn't as if he had anything else to do. Not until someone came to tell him what his fate was, at least.
All he wanted of the stone was for the stretch of it beneath his cheek to rise a little, a bump to tell him he commanded its power. And after a long time of nothingness, it did. If he slid his cheek across the floor, he could feel the irregularity he'd built. He smoothed it back out and lay still again, eyes closed, heart racing.
Heartbreak didn't work on him.
He didn't know why. He didn't care why. Maybe it was the different kinds of witchery he'd learned to use. Maybe Missio's drug had done something to all of his magic. But it meant he had a weapon, and he didn't dare let anybody know.
Doors banged open around him and people came in, bearing torches that they set into sconces on the walls. Rasim lifted his head, squinting as the light changed. He was in a chamber of some sort, one filled with comfortable-looking seating. As the torches were lit, more people came in, all of them well-dressed. Amdria was among them, as was Lorens, whose pale, handsome features were petulant and frustrated.
To Rasim's surprise, Nasira, looking furious, joined them. Not in the seating, though. She wasn't exactly chained in the middle of the floor like Rasim, but she was obviously on the defensive. The look she threw toward Rasim was rage-filled, and she snarled a wordless curse that twisted his stomach. Even if she was acting, it scared him.
But he could use stone witchery, and maybe not even she knew it. He held on to that, hoping it would give him a way to break himself out of this situation.
When the nobles had gathered, a deep-voiced man said, "Lady Amdria, you may speak for the Council."
Amdria's sweet smile appeared. "Of course. Captain Nasira, you cannot expect the Council to demand no recompense for yesterday's activities. Slaves escaped yesterday, Nasira. Slaves do not escape the arena. It has caused trouble all over Moran. Our members have had to kill dozens of other rebellious slaves in the hours since that little performance."
Rasim shuddered violently. He hadn't wanted anyone to die, no one at all, much less those with the least power. Trying to help and making it worse was awful.
Nasira's voice was dismissive. "You have all the recompense you need, Amdria. You've taken my crew, and I have assured you time and again, that Skymaster who fought Rasim in the arena is the source of that storm, and all of the troubles it brought. That boy is a sea witch and spent his life barely able to fill a bucket with piss, never mind working a magic he's never studied."
"And as I have asked you, how can you possibly expect me to believe that a man enslaved for fifteen years and with a family to protect seized a fool's opportunity in the arena?"
"It's more likely than a journeyman with little magic did the same, isn't it? And your Skymaster's family escaped, didn't they?" Nasira shrugged. "You people are the fools who chose to set witches to fighting without mindkiller limiting them. That man was born free, Amdria, and the freeborn don't give up on hope easily. Maybe slaveborn don't either, I don't know, but I would never stop looking for a chance to fight back."
"And yet you're selling your crew."
A thin smile stretched Nasira's lips. "Isn't hypocrisy wonderful?"
"It would be even more wonderful if I trusted your hypocrisy. How, Captain, am I to ever trust you again? Ilyarans don't often turn against their city, and none of those who have in the past have ever brought with them the kind of trouble you have. Perhaps you have a plan to sow dissent."
"Yes," Nasira said sourly, "because that would be to my profit and longevity. Lady Amdria, Council members, I understand your concerns, but I didn't even know you had slave fights to begin with. How could I expect him to overthrow the fights with magic he doesn't have, against odds no one could reasonably prevail against, as some sort of clever plot? I just wanted to be rid of him, without putting anyone who might buy him through the trouble of dealing with him."
"If your purpose is to be rid of him, Captain, and the Lady Amdria's is to be able to trust you, then I have an idea," Lorens said, his voice soft but clear.
Rasim's stomach turned again, his heartbeat suddenly too fast and sweat breaking out all over him. Nasira and Amdria both looked to Lorens, whose expression held a kind of serene calculation. "Captain Nasira, why don't you just kill the boy?"
20
To Rasim's relief, his captain recoiled with genuine horror. "Are you mad? I'm no murderer."
Amdria, though, began to smile. "What a splendid solution. So tidy. Yes, I think the prince's thought is worthy, Captain. I see no reason you should not execute the boy immediately."
Terror slammed through Rasim, each beat of his heart smashing against his ribs until he thought he would throw up. He struggled to his knees, staring fearfully at Nasira as tears began to roll down his cheeks. He didn't really think she would kill him. Not really. Not exactly. Except—except if it was his life over the lives of everyone else on the Waifia, if it was the only way to save the enslaved Sinaz crew, then...then it might be a bargain worth making. A bargain he could understand, at least, even if he was scared to death of it.
Lorens cleared his throat very softly and everyone's gaze, even Rasim's, snapped to him. "Forgive me," he murmured, "but surely this isn't the place for it? I'm sure the Council watching him die would be very satisfying and all, but if he dies in anything less than the public eye, I fear it might make a legend out of him. There are those who would fight back in his name, never believing he had died for his audacity."
Amdria's mouth pinched as she considered that. "You suggest the arena, then?"
"If you think it wise, Lady," Lorens murmured.
Disbelieving amusement touched Amdria's face before she considered Nasira a moment. "Well, then, Captain. I believe you have a choice. You'll either be executioner or among the executed, in the arena."
Nasira's fists clenched and she lowered her head, teeth bared and eyes crushed shut, as she stood rigidly before the council. Rasim felt a whisper of her witchery, and could almost hear her weighing the odds before she lifted her gaze, grimly. "So be it. I've come this far and I can hardly afford to go back. I'll do it."
Rasim whispered, "Captain," in helpless fear, and she gave him one cold, hard look.
And she had to. He knew that. To keep up their charade—assuming they still had any chance of pulling off their plans—she had to. But knowing that didn't make it any easier. Knowing that this wasn't the time to show that he still had access to his witchery didn't make it any easier, either. There would be a moment when he could dare. There had to be. But right now the best either of them could do was play along, and hope that Lorens had some plan in mind.
His plan might just be to get both Nasira and Rasim out of the council chambers alive. They were far more likely to survive an escape attempt outside of the heavily-guarded chambers than inside, at least, even if it was hard to believe Lorens's cool tones and calculating suggestions were on their side at all.
It was hard to believe anybody was on Rasim's side right now, though. He wished Kisia and Desimi were with him. Well, not with him. It wouldn't do anybody any good for them to all be chained up in the council chambers. But he wished he knew where they were.
He wished he knew if they were safe.
A guard came in and went to Amdria's side as Rasim and Nasira stared at one another. Amdria's smile sharpened as she listened to the guard, and she sent him away before returning her attention to Nasira. "Well, Captain, you'll be able to prove yourself today. The other three missing arena slaves have been found. There will be a public execution before sundown."
Rasim went boneless, unable to hold himself upright anymore. Agnet. Bayar. Karluk. They were going to die because of him. Sickness twisted upward from his belly, choking in his throat.
"You propose I execute them all," Nasira said softly.
The words shot through Rasim like needles, awakening prickles of pain across his skin. His chest hurt terribly, and a sudden heartbeat felt like it was the first one in minutes. He struggled for a gasp of air, keeping it quiet, and the pain in his chest lessened.
"I do indeed," Amdria replied with a smile like knives.
"If I must." Nasira's voice remained quiet, but filled with resolve. "I have no real choice, do I."
"None at all. Really, Nasira, what a lot of sentiment you have for the enslaved. I'll be surprised if you can live with yourself when it's all said and done."
The captain met Amdria's gaze and pulled a nasty smile from somewhere. "I'm sure a fine house and servants will lessen the guilt."
"Servants." Amdria snorted. "You have to pay servants, Nasira. That's not how the Moranese work."
"I am not Moranese."
"That," Amdria said dryly, "is manifestly obvious. The executions will be held in the arena. I'm sure you'll understand if you remain under quite significant guard as we journey there."
The arena. Rasim put his forehead down to hide a grim smile. They had gone to so much trouble to get out of the arena, and they would die in there anyway. There had to be a way to get them out. There had to be something Rasim could do, because he wasn't about to leave them to die.
