The Duelist 9, page 6
Still, he was alive, and I was happy to see him.
“I thought Luhrmann’s lot killed you,” I said as I stepped forward and hugged him firmly. “Amaya contacted me, she said they--”
“She said they threw me overboard the Gilded Dawn,” Sha-Kane finished as we parted. “I heard about that.”
He gave Amaya a warm, almost fatherly smile and patted her on the shoulder gently.
“I’m sorry to have caused you such distress, my dear,” he told her. “But they didn’t actually throw me to the Ocean. Thank Mercedes, too.”
That, I understood. For non-Travelers, for Aventoll natives, drinking the Ocean was a good way to go mad with Knowledge. Their very minds would crack under the strain of it all, and their souls would burn up. Even the best swimmer in this world would probably not survive a dunking in the Ocean.
“They just made that story up to scare the prisoners into submission,” the Councilman went on. “But they did slaughter the entire crew of the Dawn.”
His face turned gray with sadness. Having the deaths of an entire ship’s crew on your conscience couldn’t be easy.
“I killed Luhrmann,” I told the osprey-man. “And Horus killed Aiken. They’re dead. And, as you can see, their crew are being rounded up so they can face justice, too. The deaths of the Gilded Dawn’s crew won’t be in vain.”
“That they won’t,” Sha-Kane agreed firmly. “And you have my thanks for that, in particular, Alex. Luhrmann had Aiken, the Rogue mage, place me under some peculiar enchantment that toyed with my mind, warped my perceptions.”
“What?” Shay asked with a horrified look on her face.
“It… was unpleasant,” the Councilman said. “I did not know what was real and what was inside my head. I experienced terrible hallucinations, great creatures of nightmares. Meanwhile, my actual body behaved as if I was simply dazed, or sometimes asleep. I don’t know exactly why Luhrmann wanted to keep me alive, maybe he intended to ransom me, but he evidently decided I would be of more use alive.”
“Leverage, maybe,” I said. “If he killed the rest of your crew.”
I knew Amaya and Anwaar would never have sacrificed an innocent life, any life, even if it was to keep important information secret. They were both simply too kind in nature. So, if they’d been more troublesome, perhaps Aiken had intended to use the Councilman against them, by threatening to torture or kill Sha-Kane if Amaya and Anwaar didn’t give Luhrmann what he wanted.
“Maybe.” Sha-Kane nodded. “But at any rate, that is all over with now. I am myself again, thanks to you, Alex and Horus. When you killed Aiken and Luhrmann, the enchantment he held over my mind was broken. It… took me a while to get my head on straight and figure out where I was, but once I did, I rowed one of the Gilded Dawn’s rowboats here to shore. I was just intending to speak to the Okoba people, but it’s a real stroke of luck I happened upon you lot!”
“Mercedes is a merciful goddess,” Amaya said with a smile. “She led you here to us.”
“Perhaps she did, child.” Sha-Kane smiled back. Then he looked back at me and Horus and clapped a hand on each of our shoulders as if he were a proud father. “Suffice it to say, I am indebted to you both, Ashers. I owe you my life, and more than that, my very sanity.”
He nodded to the glowing Duelist Stone around Horus’ neck, and I saw the falcon-man’s cheeks turn slightly red, a little surprised that someone as important as Sha-Kane had noticed.
“It was nothing, Councilman,” Horus said with a slightly uncomfortable expression, like he still wasn’t used to being addressed as an Asher. “We defeated Aiken and Luhrmann in Duels. You don’t owe us anything.”
“I say I do,” Sha-Kane replied in that stern, no-nonsense manner of his. “You are both exemplary young men, holding up the true spirit of what it means to be a Duelist. If all Ashers were like you, I think Aventoll would be a much kinder place than it normally is.”
“There’d be fewer pirates, for sure,” I remarked, and did my eyes deceive me, or did I see the austere Councilman Sha-Kane actually crack the barest hint of a smile?
“What a world that would be,” he said. “I hope one day to see it come to pass.”
“Don’t we all,” Horus laughed, and he slung his arm around Anwaar’s shoulders again.
I suspected, after the ordeal of the Soaring Light, he wanted to be in contact with her as much as possible, just to remind himself she was there beside him, and she was safe.
I understood that. After what Amaya had been through, I kind of didn’t want to let the oryx-woman out of my sight. She was my wife, alongside Zoie and Shay. The four of us were bound, and I was going to do everything in my power to keep them safe and happy.
“Would you mind if we moved this conversation elsewhere, Councilman?” Shay then asked in her most polite, friendly, vaguely-aristocratic voice. “We just discovered some rather interesting information about a friend of ours, and we need to speak to him about it.”
“You did?” Sha-Kane asked, and his eyebrows raised. “Might I inquire what that information is?”
I didn’t see any harm in telling the man. He was an upstanding member of the Council and had helped greatly in Horus’ trial. I trusted him, so I shrugged.
“Apparently, our friend Bodin is a lost prince,” I said.
“Prince of the House Hana,” Amaya added. “Who was reported to have died several years ago.”
“A Prince of Hana?” Sha-Kane repeated and owlishly blinked his eyes. “I remember that. It was a tragedy, he was so young.”
“Well, perhaps it wasn’t a tragedy so much as a desperate bid for a freer life from a young man,” Anwaar said, and something knowing glittered in her eyes as she looked over at her younger sister.
There were no words for how relieved we all were that Amaya was not the Prophetess, that she wasn’t going to be forced to sign away her entire life for some grand, lonely destiny.
“We must all contend with responsibility at one time or another in our lives,” the osprey-man said gravely. “Whether we wish we had more or less of it. Mercedes is a merciful goddess, but she is rarely so kind as to directly hand us the life we want. We fight for it. Grow into it. Mold it for ourselves.”
“Does that not make it all the more special in the end?” Shay asked with a smile. “Knowing it’s truly earned?
“Of course!” Sha-Kane replied, and he gave another tiny smile, almost fatherly, so I wondered if he felt some affinity for Shay and Horus because they were also bird-people. “Anything truly worth having is worth fighting for, is worth the effort it takes to get it.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” I said. I’d had to fight-- often quite literally-- for my friends and family and life here on Aventoll. But I looked out at what I’d amassed, the people I’d helped to save, the love I’d grown, and I knew the battles had all been completely worth it. “But I still think there are better ways to go about getting what you want than faking your death and paying off an archivist to remove you from your family histories.”
“That does seem extreme,” Amaya agreed, and it was only because I looked at her and saw the twitch of humor in her expression that I knew she was fighting back a giggle.
As the eight of us headed back to the Manta to find Bodin and, once again, fill in the others on what had happened when they hadn’t been there, Sha-Kane clapped a large hand on my and Horus’ shoulders in a brisk, down-to-business sort of way.
“I maintain that I owe you both a debt,” he said. “Even if you killed Luhrmann and Aiken in fair Duels, you have rid the world of two very dangerous, deeply unlikeable men, and for that you ought to be given a reward of some kind.”
“Sir,” Horus said. “You really don’t have to--”
“I’m honoring you, boy, you’ll damn well take what I offer you,” Sha-Kane half-growled, and I might have laughed if I wasn’t a little afraid he’d turn his stern gaze on me if I made so much as a peep. There was definitely a sort of fatherliness between the osprey-man and my friend when they interacted, and I swore that, when they looked at one another, it was like some peculiar understanding passed between them.
Not a look, not like when I made contact with Horus so we could have a mutual, silent ‘get a load of this guy’ moment. It was something much more subtle. In how they moved near one another maybe. Like I was watching two old friends reconcile for the first time in a very, very long while.
But there was so much else going on right now that I decided to file this bit away for later analysis. Presently, I was more concerned and intrigued by the idea that Bodin was some secret, thought-dead prince.
If Anwaar was wrong, and Bodin hadn’t faked his own death and abandoned his power because he felt overwhelmed or trapped by the position, then why would he have done it? I didn’t know a great deal about the Leen-folk. I’d never been to their Island. Maybe its Heart still needed healing by my goddess of a phoenix-wife. Maybe Bodin had left to find the Incarnate, or the Prophetess. Maybe he had turned toward religion and cast aside his power the way monks were supposed to give up worldly possessions.
Maybe it made me petty and childish, but I quite liked my worldly possessions. I didn’t see how sleeping on a cold, stone floor under a scrubby blanket would get anyone any closer to God than sleeping on a good mattress under a thick, fluffy duvet. It would certainly get them closer to a chiropractor.
Suddenly, Sha-Kane had said something, and I turned to him blankly.
“Sorry, Councilman, what did you say? My mind… wandered.”
The Councilman raised an eyebrow, but for whatever reason, he didn’t chastise me, which just made me all the more sure there was something going on with him and Horus that I didn’t yet know about. I trusted Horus with my life, of course, so I was confident it wasn’t anything bad, but I couldn’t deny I was curious, and I knew I’d have to ask him once we had a moment to ourselves.
“I was saying you and Horus-- and the rest of your family, of course, should come to my estate for Black Day,” Sha-Kane said. “It would be an honor to host such accomplished Duelists as yourselves, and my home is plenty big enough for your friends to accompany you.”
“Oh, you flatter us, Councilman,” I said. “But after what Amaya and Anwaar have been through, I don’t want to leave them so alone again-- and I’m sure Horus would agree with me. They--”
“Acolytes take their Oaths on Black Day, yes,” Sha-Kane said solemnly. “I am well aware, Alex. In fact, my own older sister became an Acolyte, many, many seasons ago. It was for her sake that my father insisted upon building a Sun Temple on the Island of Leen, and it is still in perfect spiritual Order. The Mec sisters would be more than welcome to use that Temple to take their Oaths, should you come to stay with me. You need not be parted with them. I understand their ordeal was quite taxing, and I admire two men who place such high importance on family bonds.”
Well, damn. With a Sun Temple and a compliment to our opinion on family, how could we refuse? I looked at Horus, who seemed far less nervous and actually pretty intrigued now, and we locked eyes.
He nodded.
“That is a very generous offer, Councilman,” I said. “Horus and I would be honored to take you up on it.”
“Excellent!” Sha-Kane said and briskly patted us both on the shoulders again. “Once you have gone over your spoils, you are welcome at my estate whenever you have time to make the journey.”
“Spoils?” I echoed with a frown.
“From your Duel?” the osprey-man reminded me, and he seemed faintly amused at my apparent denseness. “You are the one who Dueled and killed Luhrmann, are you not? He might not have been a true Duelist, but he was wearing a Stone when you defeated him, so his pirate ship, and all the plunder on it, is now yours. I understand it’s quite a considerable haul, too. Luhrmann was quite notorious.”
Holy shit. He was right. That was the first and most basic rule of Duels. In everything else that had happened, I’d actually completely forgotten about it.
First Jenner was better, then Zoie revealed she was pregnant, and now I owned an actual pirate ship full of gold?
Today was turning out awesome.
Chapter 5
“You own a pirate ship now?” Horus asked as he turned to me with a grin. “That’s so cool.”
“It is!” I grinned and looked to the rest of our group, which included my three wives and Horus’ sweetheart.
I desperately wanted to go take inventory of my new assets, and see just how much gold Luhrmann had plundered before so kindly dying at my hands in a Duel.
But I also knew we needed answers from Bodin, and not to mention there were about a million other things that required my attention. But being a Rank-Six Duelist came with a certain amount of responsibility, and I wasn’t about to shirk it to be an asshole, self-centered hedonist like most of the Duelists in Aventoll. Horus and I, in Sha-Kane’s own words, were the hallmark of a new era, of Ashers who recognized the importance of their gifts and sought to do good with them.
Shay was the first to recognize my dilemma.
“We’ll be just fine without you for a while, husband,” she said kindly and stepped forward to kiss my cheek.
I noticed she still had her hands wrapped around one of Zoie’s arms, and it made something warm and soft blossom in my chest at the sight of how much my wives loved one another. I knew Zoie would be safe with Shay, Amaya, and Nova, not to mention my cat-wife was still a deadly Varthan warrior in her own right.
“You should go examine the ship,” Zoie agreed with a smile. “We’ll go back to the Manta and gather the others to fill them in.”
“Sounds good, thank you.” I nodded. “But don’t mention the Bodin thing just yet. I want to be there when Bodin gives us his side of the story, and I don’t want him stewing in panic while you wait for Horus and me to get back.”
“We’ll try not to be too long,” Horus added, and then he smirked. “Unless there’s a really obscene amount of gold.”
“Luhrmann and his Virus crew were a formidable scourge,” Anwaar told him as she squeezed the falcon-man’s hand with one of her own. “So there probably will be.”
“I don’t know what you’re so invested in,” I said to Horus teasingly. “It’s my gold, I’m the one who killed Luhrmann.”
“I don’t get some kind of prize or commission for being your loyal best friend and brother-in-law?” Horus gasped, and his face turned shocked and mock-offended.
“Was becoming an Asher not enough for you?” I shot back with a smirk.
Horus rolled his eyes at me, but I could tell that was just because he didn’t have a good retort at the ready.
I turned back to the others.
“You sure you’ll be alright?” I asked them, and once again, my wives nodded.
“We will be just fine, love,” Amaya said, and she looped her elbow through Zoie’s other arm. “And we won’t worry poor Bodin.”
I smiled and kissed each of their heads in turn, first Amaya, then Shay, then finally Zoie. I let my lips linger against the cat-woman’s forehead a moment longer, since I was still so awed by her and by what she was giving me.
“I’ll be back soon,” I promised them all, and then Sha-Kane led Horus and me to the shore, where a small rowboat lay patiently waiting on the beach.
Since Sha-Kane was already a little tired from having rowed to shore all by himself, and also from being mentally controlled by Aiken’s Rogue mage magic, Horus and I each took a set of oars and rowed the little boat back out into the harbor, where the pirate ship was waiting. As we got closer, I managed to make out the carved wooden figurehead on the prow. It was a Lakuna child, like Nova, which I supposed made sense. The Lakuna were kind of like the mermaids of this world.
“Pretty,” I remarked. “What’s she called?”
“If you’re referring to the ship, she’s the Night Reaper,” Sha-Kane told me. “As for the figurehead, I have no idea if she has a name.”
I cocked my head to the side and thought for a few seconds. Ship names here in Aventoll all seemed to refer to the sky in some manner.
“I’m going to call her ‘Midnight,’” I decided after a moment. Had the figurehead been painted, she probably would have had midnight-indigo hair like Nova did, anyway.
There was still a rope ladder hanging off the side of the Midnight, so Sha-Kane had Horus and I steer the rowboat toward it, and then the three of us climbed up onto the ship’s deck. We left the rowboat in the water, though, because the ship was too large to bring any closer to the shore without risk of grounding it.
And by ‘too large,’ I meant ‘really fucking big.’
The Midnight was easily larger than the Soaring Light, and presumably also the Gilded Dawn, though I’d never seen that one.
“Impressive,” Horus noted as we walked around the deck. “I didn’t realize how big this thing was.”
“She’s a large ship,” Sha-Kane agreed. “Plenty large enough to have overpowered the Gilded Dawn. Would you like to see the vault, Asher Brightwood?”
“I definitely want to see the Vault,” Horus piped up, and I nodded.
“Me, too,” I said.
I wanted to see all the gold I’d just won.
Sha-Kane looked at Horus in a manner that wasn’t entirely dissimilar to a slightly exasperated parent, which confused me a little, but he said nothing as he then led the falcon-man and myself below deck, to the belly of the ship, where Luhrmann’s Vault was.
“Gold, as I’m sure you’re both well aware, is very heavy,” Sha-Kane explained as we walked. “So, in order to make sure their riches don’t threaten to throw the entire ship off balance, the Vault was built to be shallow, but to span the entirety of the ship’s lower level. It’s only six feet high, but it spreads across the whole bottom of the ship, so the weight is evenly distributed.”
Honestly, I hadn’t expected pirates to pay so much attention to physics, but I was grateful because it meant that was a problem I would never have to deal with as a result.
“I hope we can find a way to hook this thing up to the Manta,” I said as Sha-Kane led us ever deeper into the ship. “This is too nice a ship to leave sitting in the harbor.”
