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The men grumbled back and forth for some time and called each other a few choice names. The older of the two slammed his fist to the table at the suggestion anyone could pry the Light from the Shadow Sage’s hands—living or dead. The younger conceded that the older lacked faith but offered him a pint to lift his spirits. And so, the conversation ended with a toast. How strange that even the most contentious of topics could be laid to rest with a few drinks.
“Ignore them,” Kalen leaned down to whisper into my ear.
I kept walking, doing just that, but couldn’t help losing myself in the lunacy of it. People I didn’t know were arguing that I would fail, arguing that I would triumph, arguing about whether or not I existed at all. The merrow, Ollie, would blindly believe anything he heard of the Light returning to Leoth because he wanted it so badly to be true. With one glance across the congregation of hopeful sea-worn faces, I knew that he was not the only one who would hold out hope until the bitter end.
So, there it was.
The rumor of my return had spread to the edges of the Continent. I wondered if it had reached out across the Alto yet. If it had, I knew she would be waiting for me, Shadows drawn out across that barren and night-felled shore.
The top of my head collided with Kalen’s back as he stopped at the bar. I kept my head low and braced my palms against the long teakwood countertops. Through the curve of my hood, I could see dozens of bottled liquors and wines, their green glasses glinting off the firelights from the sconces on the wall.
In front of the rows of drinks, two servers moved swiftlypast each other, careful to avoid the knocking of stray elbows or untucked hips while they shuffled around in the tight space. Now and then, one would stop abruptly to take an order and the other would turn about like a spun top. The male server had done just that when his companion caught sight of Kalen and paused to take care of us.
I decided to ignore the way the barmaid hooded her bright teal eyes into a seductive gaze at Kalen while he ordered. Instead, I focused on how terrifyingly alluring she was. A nymph, by the looks of it, though she had glamoured most of the glinting scales atop her skin. Although it was a slight to her beauty, I guess it helped ease the mortal tourists that overwhelmed the faction during the colder months of their own. Her hair was as dark as night and pulled into a lovely knot just below the nape of her neck, small shafts of it framing the sharp fish-like angles of her face.
The mischief in her eyes couldn’t strike a flint to that of her grin. And like a flint, she’d sparked something in Kalen I didn’t recognize at first. A gleam appeared in his eyes. Something like raw curiosity. Intrigue.
“What’s your name?” Kalen asked, lifting the hood of his cloak, which had been pulled across his face like mine for discretion. The corners of his mouth became uneven as he put on his best smolder.
“Aconitia,” she said, meeting his gaze. There was something in that look that made my blood turn slightly cold. In my periphery, I could see Kalen ghost his hand up to his thigh, where one of his weapons was hidden in a slip between his trousers.
“That’s beautiful...Aconitia.” He let the middle syllable roll slowly off the tip of his tongue. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard a name like that before.”
I could tell by the tightness in his jaw that something waswrong. The waitress nodded her thanks and drifted casually towards another patron to refill his drykkja. As her skirts swept against the floor, I caught a glimpse of her steel-toed boots. An odd choice, I recognized, for a lowly barmaid. The servants in every other faction wore felt or silk slippers, lacking the money and the need in general to buy such industrial materials. They were servants, after all, not warriors. But Aconitia’s odd choice of shoe could easily be explained by the wealth of the faction, and the fact that every one of Aegedonia’s working class seemed to grind themselves to the bone if it meant they’d see a profit. Pretty barmaid’s included.
From a corner, whoops and hollers were shouted. I turned towards the crowd that had filled in behind us. The barroom looked as if an entire fleet of sailors had docked just outside the door.
A crowd of twenty or so seamen inched their way in, making a tight circle around the area where we had been seated. All were dressed in tunics of slate grey with silver embroidery, white blouses that puffed without wind, all heavily strapped with weapons. As one man turned, I caught the stitching of an insignia: an iron-gilded serpent, curled into an“S”shape, devouring its own tail.
Ione.
Every blue and aquamarine face seemed to be looking at me, every round fish eye stalled in my direction.No, I calmed myself, I was just paranoid. No one knew of Kalen and my whereabouts since Leoth. We had been so careful. Ione could not possibly know I was here. And if she’d had an inkling, why she would waste putting more than a dozen Merlords to the task of capturing us was beyond me. Surely she would want to do that herself, and I doubted you would ever catch the Sage lowering her brow just to step foot in a city pub. Nonetheless, I pulled my hood in tighter to my face.
Letting my attention naturally drift back to the bar, I made one last pass at the room only to find Ollie the Merrow, staring at me, face blanched. I felt a swell of panic and swiveled my chair back to Kalen, who was staring at a plate of food Aconitia had set down before him.
“We need to go, now,” I whispered sternly, low enough for only him to hear. But he didn’t respond. Instead, he just glared at the pile of fish and rice on the table. I observed it closely. The smell was mouth-watering. A medley of spiced black, yellow, and red long grains underneath two large fish. Their skin was charred and flayed, insides iridescent with a pink sheen. The flesh was so delicate it almost looked electrified with the color. A flash of pearl overtook the entire dish as Kalen pulled it closer. I blinked. This faction was so well off, even the food was magic.
“Not magic,” Kalen said aloud to me and then looked at the barmaid with a devilish slant in his features. “I take back what I said earlier,” he said to her and drew his blade with a silent whisper of metal against leather, propping his other hand against the ledge of wood next to his plate, relaxed. “I have only heard ofoneother person with that name.”
The barmaid grinned at Kalen, her features mirroring his as if they’d shared some secret joke. I frowned, riddled with confusion and fear. Kalen stood and took his fighting stance as Aconitia pounced, slamming a meat cleaver into the magic fish. The plate cracked and the metal thunked, rendering the bar completely silent.
“Preserver, it’s a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance,” she said, teeth bared.
“The pleasure is all mine,” Kalen replied, snarling with equal ferocity as he drawled, “Queen of Poisons.”
Aconitia’s lean nymph torso breached the counter similar to a mermaid upon a rock. She pulled herself up by her arms and swung over the bar, landing a few feet from Kalen.
“Oh good, you’ve heard of me,” she crowed. “Which means you know you don’t have much of a chance.” Aconitia drew her sword, which looked more like the remnants of a dead sea beast. The blade was cobalt frayed with the razored barb of a dead stingray. The same pearly sap dripped from the weapon onto the floor. “Let’s make quick work of this shall we?”
Kalen walked tall, circling Aconitia with long strides. His muscles were tensed, and the veins in his wrists corded with the agitation of his grip. I inched back slowly, not yet making a move for my weapon. If I could just get to her left side, in front of the growing crowd that had shoved me out. Both fighters were unaware of the commotion that had settled around them while they exchanged words. If I could just get to that left side, a quick hilt to her temple would allow us enough time to escape through the rafters above. No one had noticed Kalen’s hooded companion, thank the Mother, and I easily slipped around the liveried shoulder I’d marked. Suddenly, I felt the cool touch of a hand around mine, grasping desperately. A pale green hand with an oiled sheen like the skin of a herring.
“It’s you!” Ollie almost sounded like he was praying, worshipping me with those strange black eyes. Pitted though they were, I could still see the wonderstruck look about them. I shook my head, unable to tell whether I was trying to deny his claim or plea with him to keep quiet. If he held me in such high regard, maybe he would listen if I ordered him toshut it. I was so close to Kalen, if he would just let go of me I could...
Ollie pursed his lips. I tried to talk faster, to get ahead of whatever announcement was bound to spring forth and wreck every effort that had been made in the last week to get us here.
“Don’t, I’m not what you think I am. I—”
“I was right, you bastard!” Ollie exclaimed. In his drunken stupor and one clumsy movement, he yanked off my hood, exposing me to the room. “The Light is back! She’s going to getit back!”
