Chapter Eight #2
He looked every bit a naval captain, assured in his own power; and Nalu, every bit an enforcer. Like Kai, his face was scarred, one jagged line marring his cheek, an empty eye socket, and disappearing into his short black hair.
As River approached behind Kai, Nalu graced them both with his attention, his mouth twisting into a mean grin that seemed to suck the air out of the atmosphere. “Ah,” Nalu began, his eye on River as he popped another grape into his mouth. “New toy? I thought you were screwing one of Mam’s maids.”
“Nah, she got relocated to the Tannos,” Kai said, unbothered. “You’re thinking of the cook Hilo fancied.”
Etan chuckled, said something back, but all River could focus on was the heaviness of the air, the way the summer heat bore down on them through the glass ceiling. He counted his breaths, deepened them, registered he was leaning against the pavilion’s balustrade.
“Sorry,” Kai whispered in the gods’ tongue, pulling himself up to sit on the balustrade beside him.
“That’s just Nalu not concealing his magical signature.
Real big man trying to show off.” He jutted his chin, indicating a couple of mundane acolytes watering a camellia shrub outside the pavilion, their faces pale and tight.
“It seems he’s gotten stronger recently, at least since I saw him last. He wants us all to know. ”
River pressed his palms into the cool wood, grounding himself. “It feels… similar to yours, I think,” he mused, thinking back to the settling blast from Kai’s ward.
“It would, aye. We’re related and all.” He brightened, shifted to face River.
River supposed that something as esoteric as magical signatures would be a topic of interest to a wardsmith.
“A skilled spellcaster can suss out relatives from a crowd. But signatures can change, too; lovers and close friends can take on each other’s signature, sort of like…
” He gestured vaguely. “Musical notes, harmonising.”
There was so much River didn’t know. So much he wasn’t privy to. But he closed his eyes, steeping himself in Nalu’s signature. In Kai’s. He may not be able to wield magic, but if he could learn to sense it, tolerate it, perhaps he could make himself more useful to Saros.
He felt Kai beside him, still sitting on the balustrade; his leg brushed River’s arm, warm.
Familiar, now. While similar, if River focused, used Kai as an anchor, he could pick the two signatures apart.
They were indeed like musical notes, a chord that River could unravel: Nalu’s ruthlessness, and in Kai’s, something louder, vibrant, an undercurrent of defiance.
“Yours is… stronger,” River said, and then winced, having not meant to say it out loud.
He’d anticipated a cynical snort, a No shit I’m stronger, but Kai sat back on his hands and kicked his feet a little, pleased.
A flurry of movement beyond the pavilion drew their attention: Archpriest Saros, his face etched with agitation as he strode to them, acolytes scurrying out of his way.
“Right,” Etan said, waving lazily at River as Saros ascended the steps to the pavilion. “Break time’s over. The guard can wait out in the hall.”
It took River a moment to realise Etan was talking about him. “As Ione’s seleneschal,” he replied hotly, summoning Ione’s holier-than-thou air, “I have every right to be here.”
Although expected, there was still an ounce of familiar hurt when Saros stalked right past him to the little table.
Startlingly, it was Kai who spoke next, his posh accent in full bloom: “As Ione’s seleneschal, River represents Her Holiness,” he said, clipped and bored.
“Just as I represent the spellcasters who work day in and out to protect this shrine.” Kai crossed an ankle over his knee, regarding his brothers like they were nothing.
“We would both like to know why the captain and lieutenant of the Leviathos caused an uproar in the mainland and then came straight fu – straight here.”
“Thank you, Warden,” Saros cut in. “But I don’t need assistance.” He cleared his throat and levelled a cool look towards Etan. “I’m told that an inn and half a street are destroyed, Captain.”
Half a street. How many homes, businesses? How many people? River gripped the balustrade behind him, wishing he’d brought his sword, its comforting coldness, to hold onto.
“An unfortunate casualty,” Etan said dismissively. “We docked in Lodestone to replenish some supplies. While visiting an inn, Lieutenant Nalu and I caught wind of another attack being planned.” He held Saros’s hard stare. “On Oseidos.”
“The Moths know Menon’s vessel is hiding here,” Nalu added, arms crossed. And to Kai, “The giant ward woven around Oseidos might’ve tipped them off.”
A muscle feathered in Kai’s jaw, but he said nothing in response.
“As one of Menon’s oldest shrines, Oseidos would naturally have been on their agenda,” River said. “The Moths would’ve tried to come here eventually, but you’ve only expedited it by wreaking havoc in Lodestone.”
Kai stirred, looking just as surprised as River was that he was defending him; while there might have been something to the phrase The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so far River disliked Etan and Nalu more than he distrusted Kai. He wanted them and their violence off of Oseidos, away from Ione.
He wanted to have something to say in these meetings, rather than standing by and serving tea. He wanted Saros to hear him.
Etan jutted his chin. “It’s as the guard says, sure. The Moths will attack soon enough, and while we weren’t able to gather much more information before the men at the inn noticed us listening, we at least have the name of the man who will head their next gambit.”
“Castor Almenara,” Nalu said grimly. “One of Rigel’s heliades. He’s the one who took charge of the siege on Caelos, as well as the felled shrines over in Eastwick and Sterlingdale, and he’ll be one tough bastard to contend with if he ever breaks down the wards here.”
Saros pursed his lips, pensive.
“The wards can’t be broken,” Kai interjected. “Not from the outside.”
Saros didn’t even look at him. “What else do you know of Almenara?”
Etan nodded, impassive, a soldier delivering a report. “He’s more than powerful enough to worry about.”
“We’ve had more than one… confrontation with him,” Nalu added. “The priests at Soliz worship the ground he walks on. His peers, not so much: I’ve seen him burn through his own men to reach a target. Gods! I’ve never seen a body reduced to ash so quick.”
Etan held up a hand, quieting him. “The Moths at the inn called him the successor,” he went on. “We think he’s set to become the next Archpriest once Rigel retires.”
Nalu sent Kai an ugly smile. “A man that talented will have a background in wards.”
“Nonetheless,” Kai said, a tad petulantly, “unless he can summon an earthquake from the mainland strong enough to shatter the wardstone, he can’t dismantle my wards.”
As much as he would’ve thrilled in Kai’s failure before, River clung to the conviction in his words now. Kai would protect Oseidos, protect Ione – because in doing so, it would be protecting himself.
In that, at least, River could trust him.
Saros groaned softly and rubbed his face with gnarled hands. “This information has been invaluable,” he said flatly, making Etan scowl. “We are already haemorrhaging money repairing Caelos, and now we’ll have to pay reparations for the wrecked buildings and loss of life.”
“No one of import was harmed,” Nalu piped up.
No one of import. River bristled, anger surpassing the heavy gloom of Nalu’s magic. To them, to all of them, mundane people like River were nothing.
“They don’t see it that way,” he ground out. “You’ve just ruined countless lives.”
Kai slid down from the balustrade. “The Moths have been careful to direct their bloodshed towards us and our shrines, but after today, the mundane folk – ”
“And there are a lot of them,” River supplied.
“ – will see us as the problem.”
Nalu scoffed. “And we’ll handle that, as well, while you hole up here in Oseidos.”
“To protect it while you and Etan get into fights and paint extra targets onto us,” Kai bit back.
He started forward, his eyes on Nalu. Get out, River sensed in his body language, the silent threat in his stance: Leave this place.
“But aye, handle that like you handle everything, and once the bloodbath is over neither side will have limbs to fight with anymore.”
Etan shot Kai a stern look. “Stand down, Cadet.”
Kai’s eyes boggled. “Cadet,” he echoed, laughing mirthlessly.
“Oh, Etan, you’ve forgotten what I am now.
What my purpose is: to protect my territory from all threats.
” Something about his energy darkened, turned electric, as he stared his brothers down.
“And Etan, Nalu, if you reveal yourselves to be a threat by bringing ruin here, then I’ll remove you as I would any Moth. ”
Nalu stood, the air temperature dropping several degrees and leaving them exhaling puffs of vapour. Undaunted, Kai advanced another step, whipping his arm away when River cast for it.
Saros lurched, his face mottled with anger and panic. “Stand down, Kai,” he commanded, sputtering. “Both of you – all of you, stand down.”
At once Kai stilled. Fell back one step, two, until he stood beside River again, his face ashen and fists trembling. Etan clamped a heavy hand over Nalu’s shoulder, all but forcing him to sit.
“Etan,” Saros said, “I had prepared to pay Hilo handsomely for Caelos’s restoration. I had prepared to house and feed those who have remained on Oseidos.” A dense pause. “I had not prepared to pay for these damages.”
“On behalf of the Mahina clan,” Etan said smoothly, bowing, “I apologise.”
“It’s not an apology I’m asking for,” Saros snapped. “I offer you a choice, Captain. You pay reparations to Lodestone out of your own coffers, or you are to swear yourselves and your services to me.” He lifted his chin. “At no cost.”
Kai vibrated with pent-up rage, and at the table, even Nalu started. Saros disregarded them both.
“The Mahina clan has long been a friend to Oseidos,” Saros went on, “but its newest generation has put a price on that friendship. In these trying times, I would ask you to serve out of faith and loyalty, rather than for coin.”
An icy pit formed in River’s stomach. Are you blind?, he wanted to scream. After they had caused such needless, wanton destruction – because they couldn’t lay low and stay out of a confrontation – Saros wanted to employ them of all things?
Send them away, he willed into his adoptive father. Sever ties. The longer you keep them near us, the more trouble they’ll bring.
Nalu found his voice first. “We can’t just donate our ships and men,” he said. “Not during summer when trade is high.”
Kai swallowed, looking dazed. “With me here,” he murmured, “Oseidos has no need for their help.”
Saros heaved out a sigh, turning towards Kai like a frustrated parent. “For gods’ sakes, son, your place here is more than secure. All I need from you is to keep minding the ward – and more importantly, keep minding Ione.”
Kai jolted at that, frowning quizzically.
“Yes,” Saros said, a hint of vindication in his voice. “Don’t think I don’t know what you want. I will grant it to you, Kai, but do not argue with me when you have far more pressing things to concern yourself with.”
Flushing, Kai lowered his head; he glanced briefly at River and then away again, guilty. “Copy,” he murmured. “Thank you, Your Beatitude.”
River stared at him, his stomach dropping when Kai wouldn’t meet his gaze.
It was true, then: Kai really was intending to marry Ione.
With a swift nod, Saros returned his focus to Etan and Nalu. “Pay reparations to Lodestone, or swear fealty to the priesthood, but choose now because war is coming and I haven’t the time nor patience to be dealing with petty squabbles.”
Nalu opened his mouth to argue, but Etan silenced him with a look. Whatever passed between the brothers had Nalu nodding sullenly, his mouth a thin line.
As one, they knelt. “If there is to be war,” Etan vowed, “then we’re yours to command.”
Glory to the Mahina clan. River imagined them infiltrating Oseidos’s tenuous peace, poisoning everything they touched, bringing with them more and more death. More and more guilt onto Ione’s shoulders. River swallowed his rising nausea.
Kai squeezed his eyes shut, pained, but said nothing.
“Wait until I make contact with a few of my supporters.” Saros rubbed his temples. “We’ll see what money we can scrounge up. You’ll deliver it to Lodestone’s council with your apology, and then you are to meet with me to discuss our next move.”
Etan bowed his head once before he and Nalu stood.
“The Moths have their own plans,” Saros finished, pivoting with a sweep of his robes. “But we have Menon. The tides will rise, and not even Archpriest Rigel or this Castor fellow can burn away the sea itself.”
With that, Saros stepped off the pavilion, Etan and Nalu tailing him like hounds after their new master. Kai watched them go, momentarily looking lost, until he caught River’s eye and averted his gaze, something like shame shadowing his features. He too followed them, leaving River alone.
For once River had spoken up during a meeting, and it didn’t even make a difference.
Finally, Saros had what he’d always wanted. What River couldn’t give him. Powerful spellcasters, ruthless fleets; Etan and Nalu as his attack dogs, Kai to shield them all.
River reached over the balustrade and plucked a camellia blossom from its branch, twirling it between his fingertips. As perfect as Kai was in Saros’s eyes, River thanked the gods Ione couldn’t stand him. No one could command her to marry him. Not even the Archpriest.
He closed his eyes and breathed in the flower’s scent, remembering meeting Ione for the first time, she, eight; he, ten.
He had been so proud to come here, to bring such glory to his family as Menon’s seleneschal.
And then so deeply, viscerally ashamed to realise he wasn’t at all what Saros had wanted.
But Ione, already so lofty and regal despite her young age, only beamed when she met him. “Welcome to Oseidos,” she had said, taking his hand and kissing his fingers. She wore a coronet of cream camellias and pink roses, the huge blossoms tangled in her hair.
“Come,” she had said, tugging him conspiratorially away from the adults, towards the lunarium. “Come, meet Cynthia. We’re making flower crowns.”
To Ione, he had never been less than.
How could his sword, his two hands, protect his friend against those who would use and harm her?