Chapter XV

Where am I? Astoria blinked her eyes open, staring up. Something scratched against her back as she moved. And why did her head feel like a dragon had bit it off? She tried to push herself up, but her hands refused to move from behind her back. Something bit into them, rough and hot. Rope? Yes, her hands were tied behind her back. She scrabbled over to a wall and used it to lever herself onto her feet, ignoring her head’s pleas to rest. A barred porthole looked towards the stern of the ship, water passing quickly along as the boat sailed out of the harbor. The town was still on fire. Dragons of all shapes and sizes, wild and tame, circled above the flames. One by one they were picked off by darts and nets fired from the towers on the edges of town. Astoria couldn’t tell, but she hoped against fate that her dragon hadn’t been in that group.

Somehow the raiders had thought she’d escaped from a previous ship. Maybe because of her clothes? But no way in the Five Spires would raiders specifically target priestesses and priests. Mariners were superstitious folk, and the bad luck that came from something like that lasted more than a lifetime. It must have just been because she’d been all wet from her dragon-dive.

Whatever the reason, she was stuck here. When the kaptain showed up, she’d plead her case to him. Otherwise, she’d just have to stick it out and hope for the best. That meant waiting. Astoria hated waiting. But it appeared Yukima had another test for her. And Astoria didn’t back down from a challenge.

A knock came on Kaptain Rin’s door, hard and fast. Only one, because she’d snap at anyone who did more. “What?” She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, fanning herself with the humid sea air that somehow made it all the way to the interior of the ship.

“We’ll make landfall in the next hour. You asked to be woken in time to supervise the docking.”

Rin groaned and pushed herself up. “Thank you. I’ll be up in five.”

The footsteps outside her room faded away while she lit the lantern on her desk with a match. A little fire couldn’t hurt a ship like the Luxury. She probably laughed at the tiny flame, insignificant.

Back into raider attire, this time with a navy coat over her dress. The red coat just didn’t seem right, although it made it better that she’d stolen this one off the back of a soldier while he stared right at her.

Rin adjusted her hat and necklace before blowing out the lantern and opening the door. Back to business and thievery as usual.

Lanterns lit the deck when she reached the top stair, fending off the darkness. The crew nodded to her as her boots clicked on the deck. She headed straight to the bow, as always. Perhaps in this she did fulfill the stereotype, but it really was the best place to use a spyglass, short of climbing all the way up to the morningcrow’s nest. And she didn’t really feel like climbing all the way up there in boots. She’d done it once and only once before. That had been the time she’d fallen.

She spiraled out her spyglass, although she could see the land clearly with her naked eye. She wanted to see the flag flying on the flagpole of the dockmaster’s office. That would tell her how she had to act in order to gain favor with whoever it was she was delivering to. Rin placed one boot on the railing, right above the dragon figurehead. She knew she painted a striking image, staring straight ahead. That was why she did it.

The flag had three stripes, two diagonal ones from the top left to the bottom right and one horizontal on the bottom half. Four stars in a diamond pattern shone from the top right. Whoever flew the flag, they were in conspiracy with the nobles of the Western Isles. Exactly as she’d been told. She’d just lay on the charm a little and get a few extra coins for her trouble. They’d already promised enough that it wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but coin was coin.

“Alright, dulleyes, let’s get the sails turned. We’re going to slide in nice and easy like the hull’s greased. Everyone on your best behavior. This time around I’m not opposed to throwing sailors off if they sneeze at the wrong time.” She paused. “Go! Get it done!”

The deck came alive with activity, sailors rushing this way and that, ropes being tied and untied. Lanterns swayed in the breeze and wake of running sailors. And Rin stayed at the bow of the ship and leaned on the railing, watching the beautiful chaos. Sailing required a team, a crew. Anything you could sail all on your own wasn’t worth sailing.

The lights of the dock grew brighter and brighter until Rin could make out the faces of the men standing there. As the ship slowed and pulled alongside the wooden pier, Rin grabbed hold of a long rope with a weight on the end. She climbed onto the bow’s right railing and stepped off, swinging down onto the dock. As her boots hit the wood she let go, the weight on the rope carrying it back around and up onto the deck. She bowed low. “Kaptain Rin, at your service.”

The man in front sniffed, unimpressed. He wore a white jacket, red and gold embroidery burning in the lanternlight. “You have the prisoners?”

Rin’s expression hardened. “Oh, I have them. You give me the coin I was promised and I’ll hand them over.”

“How many?”

Rin threw up her hands. “How should I know? I didn’t count them as I threw them in the brig. I was promised a flat rate.”

“The deal has been altered.” The man stepped forward, looking up at the ship.

Rin sniffed. “By who? You?”

The man smiled, shadows distorting his expression into something hideous. “Oh no, not me. I’m just the emissary.”

“Fine.” Rin snapped her fingers and pointed up at the ship, her eyes never leaving the man. A gangplank slammed down onto the wood of the dock, wood cracking and grinding slightly. Five priestesses and two priests were marched down the way, hands tied.

Wait, five? We only had four back on the shore. Rin held up her hand. “Alright, who’s the priestess with the red hair? You really think I’m going to believe that?”

The girl sniffed. “Believe what? That you picked up the wrong person? Believe it.”

Rin turned to the man in white. “Take those six. They’re yours to do with as you will. I just want my coin. As for this one…” She pointed her thumb at the girl with the red hair. “I’m going to go figure out which numbskull thought that was a priestess.” She said the last part louder so the men from her crew on the dock heard it as well. The man turned to inspect the other prisoners.

Rin pulled the man holding the red-haired girl’s ropes. “What is this?”

The girl waved sarcastically. “‘This’ is right here, you know.”

“I dunno what you mean, Kaptain. She was wearin’ the same clothes as the others on the beach, and she was all wet. We assumed she’d jumped ship and was swimmin’ back to land.”

Rin stuck her finger in the man’s face. “Never assume anything. Plus, how did you not register the fact that her hair is bright red?”

The man scratched his head. “I mean, yeah, it is. What does that mean?”

Rin groaned loudly. “I’m surrounded by dullminded idiots.” She turned to the man. “It means there’s no way she’s a priestess!”

The girl stomped her foot on the planks, the sound echoing and interrupting Rin’s tirade. “Uh, hello? Why don’t you ask the girl herself what’s going on?”

Rin followed her arms and fixed the girl with a hard stare. “Fine. Plead your case. And my time is precious, so if you start going off to another Spire I’ll toss you over the edge.”

The girl took a deep breath, although it looked like less for calming her nerves and more like she intended to talk a lot very quickly. “My name is Astoria. I’m a dragon rider from Slantspire. I’m also the grifter of the group. This is a disguise to help me get into a meeting and nick some valuables that I always see the priestesses stowing away. I think they’re siphoning off some of the donations from the townspeople, so I figured that I couldn’t be blamed for stealing the money if it was already stolen.” She glared at the man holding her rope. “Until a wild dragon dropped me in the water right in front of some of the dumbest raiders I’ve ever seen. And believe me, I’ve seen a lot of them.”

Rin’s gaze softened a little bit. “Did you say dragon rider?”

“Yes?”

“Is that a question?”

“No. Yes. I mean, no it’s not, yes I…”

“Stop your rambling, girl. I can’t think when you’re doing that.” Astoria shut her mouth. “Do you know someone named Cirris Dawnsword?”

Astoria perked up. “Yes, but his last name is Dawnbreaker, not Dawnsword.”

Rin turned to the man. “Cut her loose.”

“But I…”

Rin’s gaze drilled into him. “I said cut her loose.”

“Yes, Kaptain.” Astoria rubbed her wrists as soon as the rope fell away.

“Astoria?”

She looked up at the kaptain. “Yes?”

“Come with me. I think we’ve got some things to talk about.” Rin turned to the man holding the severed rope. “Go find the first officer and tell him to finish up the transaction. Then go dunk your head in something that burns. I don’t want to see you again tonight.”

Rin offered Astoria her hand. “Alright, I can imagine these last few days have been rough for you. I’d like to apologize formally for that. It’s hard to work with idiots.”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Astoria laughed. “I know the feeling.”

“Is Cirris that bad?”

“No, not him. But a few of the others. Rennick especially.”

Rin led the way up the gangplank. “What’s up with Rennick?”

Astoria made a dismissive motion. “Oh, nothing really. He’s just a little bit too dramatic when he tells his stories.”

“Really? Do any of those stories happen to be about Kaptain Rin and the Luxury?”

“I don’t recognize those names, but I suspect there’s one or two in there implicitly.”

“Well, welcome to the Luxury. My name is Rin, and this is my fleet.”

“I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I think that would be stretching it a little bit much. No offense.”

“None taken. If I took offense at something like that, I’d be all over the seas in revenge. Although that is the name of one of my ships…” Rin led the way down the stairs of the Luxury to the hold. The barkeep looked up from his polishing when the two walked in. Rin sank into a seat and tapped on the bartop. “Pull out that bottle of wine that I’ve had for a while. I think tonight’s the night.” She turned to Astoria. “I don’t know how old you are, but I don’t really care. Sometimes you just need to drink something that burns.”

Astoria nodded. “To be honest, I don’t even know what the legal drinking age is. I’ve been stealing shots and sips since I started grifting years ago. When you have somebody’s favor, they don’t really ask.”

The barkeep set two glasses on the bartop and poured each half full with clear liquid that had a greenish tint to it. Rin picked up a glass and raised it, swirling the liquid inside. “This particular bottle I stole from an old rival of mine. He had it on his night-table, and I pinched it while he was sleeping. Left a nice note instead.” She took a swig. “Come to think of it, that wasn’t the smartest idea, but sometimes a raider’s got to have herself a little fun.”

Astoria tested the wine before taking a swig of her own. “Absolutely agree there. Sometimes I’ll pick up one of the younger kids and let my dragon toss them up and down for a while, just to toughen them up. Not to mention all my jobs in the town.”

“Do you have a lot of those? Sounds like you’ve been at this for a while?”

Astoria took a large gulp of wine before answering. “Used to. Then I got a job that ended with a fire and a lot of dead people. I figured that would be a good time to pull out and end my operation. I still go back every so often to swindle a few people when I visit the graveyard.”

“You go visit that place often?’ Rin set her glass down and clapped Astoria on the shoulder. You shouldn’t keep reminding yourself of what went wrong. There’s no good course that way for any person.”

“But those deaths were my fault. If I hadn’t dropped the torch…”

“Did he make you drop it?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Then it’s settled. It’s not your fault if someone makes you. It’s his.”

“I guess so.”

Rin looked over at her, tipping her hat back a little so that the shadows slipped away from her face a little. “You don’t sound convinced.” She looked Astoria in the eyes. “How many people do you think I’ve sent to a watery grave?”

“Is there a right answer to this question?”

Rin laughed. “No, I suppose not. But the real answer is hundreds. I’ve given the order to sink entire ships, even a small fleet once. The crew members all drowned. No survivors.”

Astoria frowned. “How do you live with yourself? That’s so many.”

Rin grinned in spite of her expression. “Because that’s the way it is in life, especially on the high seas. The strong prosper and succeed, even if they have to push the weak over the edge sometimes. If those kaptains had been as good and strong as me, you’d be talking to them today instead of me. But you’re not, because I was always the better of the two. You get it?”

Astoria stopped frowning, although to say she smiled was still a stretch. “I think so. But then how does everyone else get by? And what happens when someone wants to learn from the best?”

Rin finished off her glass, although Astoria still had a quarter of her wine left. “That’s where the line fuzzes. You have to put up with some stupidity because, one, you won’t live forever, and you want to leave a legacy instead of a power vacuum, and two, you can’t sail without a crew.”

“What about those small little ships? Skirtbows, I think they’re called?”

“Ha. Those don’t count.” Astoria hurriedly finished her wine, a thin line of fluid dribbling down her chin. Rin handed her a napkin. “That’s something you’ll learn in life, if you survive long enough. You have to have a team, but you don’t have to trust them completely.”

Astoria stretched and yawned something fierce. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Rin took her arm and pulled her up. “I’ll find you a bed where you can sleep that off. I’m sure you haven’t slept a full night in a few days.” She started to lead the way through the door and into the rest of the ship.

“It’s my dragon. I just hope she didn’t get shot down above that fire.”

Rin frowned. “I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll turn this ship around and take you back there if that’s what you want.” She paused. “Or I can give you an offer you don’t want to refuse.”

Astoria opened her eyes a little wider, although her eyelids quickly sank back down. “Oh? What’s that?”

“Alas, this is not the hour for negotiation. I’ll tell you in the morning.” Rin pulled out a key and unlocked the door to her own quarters. “I’ll lock the door so some of the younger boys don’t get any ideas while you’re sleeping. And when morning comes around, I’ll see when you wake up. This ship has the finest cook you’ll find on the straits.”

Astoria looked up at Rin. “Why are you being so nice?”

Rin opened the door. “I’m a raider kaptain. That doesn’t mean I don’t have any self-respect. Skap’s honor.”

“Alright. See you in the morning.” Astoria walked into the room and fell onto the bed. Rin closed the door and locked it, testing the knob to make sure. If Astoria really wanted to return to Slantspire, Rin would keep her word. But there was something different about her from Cirris. She hadn’t said she came from Slantspire, only that she was a rider. If the location didn’t matter to her, then maybe she’d be more inclined to take Rin’s offer of becoming a dragon raider.

She brushed off the thoughts. There would be time for that in the morning. For now, she needed to go find somewhere to hole up in. Probably a junior officer’s cabin. They wouldn’t test their luck if they found her asleep on their own bed.

Kima rolled over in her makeshift bed, eyes closed and mind dreaming. Something chased her between the blue-grey needled trees of the forest and across the plains. The water came up in front of her, black in the absence of the moon. Of course there had to be a new moon tonight. She braced herself for impact on the water, figuring that she could draw her pursuer into the water and get a closer look at them while they were slowed down before running off again. She closed her eyes and waited for the feeling of cold seawater on her ankles. But the feeling never came, just a slight cold on the bottoms of her feet. Kima opened her eyes and looked down. The water sprayed under her feet, the surface holding as she ran across it. She risked a glance back.

Her pursuer had followed her out onto the water, although it looked more impressive for him. In the faint light of the stars, Kima saw the outlines of armor. But the metal didn’t reflect any light, instead drawing it in. On the knight’s head sat a helmet of the same dark metal. Two lights glowed like stars where the knight’s eyes should’ve been.

Kima turned her eyes forward again and tried to run faster, but her feet started to sink more and more into the water with each step until she could no longer pull them up. She slammed forward and sank to her waist, then to her chest. The water rose up to her chin, and the knight still gained on her. She gasped in one last breath before the water pulled her under. Down she sank, air bubbles escaping from her lungs as the pressure of the deep squeezed the life from her. Above, the knight was silhouetted against the starlight. Before her eyes closed for the last time, a shiver ran through her. It had nothing to do with the cold.

The Black Knight was chasing her. And he wouldn’t stop until he found her.

Kima gasped and sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The dream had ended as the Black Knight had knelt down on the surface of the water and reached his gauntleted hand toward her as she sank. Even though she’d sunk meters below the surface, it felt like the armored hands had just brushed her dress.

Air. She needed fresh air. Kima tore off the covers, her skin slick with sweat. She needed to see the stars again. Up off the pile of blankets, out the front door, past the pen full of Mikhel’s goats. Out to where there were no trees and the sky could finally show off in all its splendor.

She reached the open space and stopped, throwing herself on the ground in a patch of thin grass. Across her whole field of vision, all she could see were stars. It felt like she was flying through the sky…

She froze again, something that happened more and more often. How did she know what flying felt like? Had she been able to fly in her past life? She looked around, searching for an answer that wasn’t there. Maybe she’d flown a dragon? Mikhel had told her about the rumors of dragon riders on one of the Spires. Yes, that had to be it. She’d flown dragons up higher than everyone else.

But something inside her resisted the idea. If that had been who she’d used to be, why was she like this now? Had she fallen off the back of her dragon and hit her head? No, she’d surely be dead if that had happened. Falls from great heights killed people. Mikhel had told her that when she’d walked a little too close to the edge of a cliff. Still, the idea seemed more plausible than anything else she’d thought of. She probably was a dragon rider. No. Kima slowed her thoughts, calming the racing speed that her mind reached all too often. She’d been a dragon rider. But did she want to be again? Or was there some reason she was like this? Had Yukima cursed her to forget everything she loved, or was this a chance at a fresh start, away from all the mistakes she might have made in the past? Or maybe this was simple coincidence, with no divine intervention of any sort? The stars no longer calmed her the way they had the last few nights.

Kima looked up at where the dark outline of the moon was barely visible in the starlight. There, right to the left of it, a collection of stars that vaguely resembled a man with a spear. As she stared up, the image from her dream was overlaid on the sky, and the Black Knight stared down at her, one arm out to snatch her away from the little life that she had built up in so short a time.

She closed her eyes, breathing in deeply. The Black Knight might have been able to steal the stars from her, but he couldn’t steal the night air and the cool breeze. She opened her eyes and sat up, lowering her gaze from the sky. He couldn’t take from her the view of the capital city and the Sixth Spire. All the lights down below made her feel small, but in a different way from the stars. When she looked up, she felt like whatever she did wouldn’t ever make a difference. But when she looked down, the lanternlight comforted her. She imagined each light was a person, someone she had the power to help. Perhaps some of the lights came from the University as well. One day, maybe she would look up from the city and try to find a dark patch on the mountain where a kind couple lived in solitude.

Mikhel had gone, making the journey down the mountain to pay his taxes and purchase new tools and supplies for the next six mooncycles. Twice a year, down the mountain for three days, in the city for a day, and three more days back up to his cottage. This time, Aina had convinced him to ask about the University and how someone from the mountains might gain admittance. He’d grumbled about it, but Kima thought that he secretly felt a little pride that she’d shown interest in higher learning.

Her gaze turned to the Sixth Spire. How had they built such a large structure? It reached into the sky, easily several times taller than the highest buildings. From what Aina had told her about the other Spires, this one was the smallest by far, but it still confused her mind trying to think about it. What purpose did it serve? And what did they do with all the space? Surely the Emperor and Empress didn’t need it all, even if they were royalty.

The other Spires sounded fascinating too, needles of rock that jutted out of the seas. How did people live on them? Did they build their cottages on the side of the rock? But that wouldn’t work, because the ground would pull them down and they would fall. And falling killed people. Maybe they carved into the rock? She had no clue how they would do something like that.

The Sixth Spire seemed quiet for now, serene and beautiful in the early morning darkness. Kima felt a chill as the night wind brushed past her on its way west. She hadn’t thought to bring a shawl with her when she’d run, but now she regretted being so hasty. It was too early to be up. She needed to get more rest. When she didn’t get enough rest, the world seemed like a worse place to be, and she didn’t like that. The world was a wonderful place, and she wanted to always see it like that.