The Bone Shard Daughter

Chapter 15. Jovis An island in the Monkey’s Tail

If a man could die of stress, I’d have died several hundred times over in the past few days.

“Jovis,” the voice said again.

I tried to shrug off the hand on my arm, not looking at its owner. “You are mistaken,” I said, making my voice lower, gruffer. “I’m not who you’re looking for.”

But the hand would not be shrugged away.

Mephi, still curled around my neck, leaned up to whisper in my ear. “Not good?”

“I don’t know yet,” I said, louder than he had.

So when I turned to see who had accosted me, the man looked startled by my response. “You don’t know what yet?”

“Who you are and what you want.” Relief made me a little sharper than I’d intended. The man wasn’t Ioph Carn. He had no weapons and had the soft outline of a person who enjoyed the small pleasures of life. But it was just as well I’d been sharp; he knew my name, and there was a reward on my head.

“I heard –” And then he lowered his voice so drastically I had to lean in. –“about what you did on Deerhead.”

He’d what? I’d been on Deerhead for all of an afternoon. What had I done? Escaped it sinking? And how had he heard? Oh wait – of course. I’d been drifting on the waves like some indolent governor’s son, bereft of witstone and wind. Others would have arrived here before me. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” This time, when I jerked my wrist away, he came with it, stumbling and almost falling face first into the street. I caught him and set him on his feet.

I hadn’t meant to pull that hard. Had I? I flexed my fingers when I released him. Huh. No more pain. But I couldn’t check my bruises right now.

“The boy,” he said, his eyes darting about the marketplace. He lifted his hands, his fingers curling as though he wasn’t sure if he should form fists. “Please don’t lie. I had to pay for this information. I had to pay a lot of people. I’ve been watching for you.”

Alon. The boy Danila had bade me save from the Tithing Festival. The rise of apprehension in me was like a tide; I didn’t notice it until I was already wet.

He licked his lips, and I saw sweat beading there. “I have something to ask of you. I have a daughter.”

“No.” When I’d flippantly dismissed the thought of who Alon’s parents might tell, I’d been thinking of the Empire, not other desperate parents. My mistake. I cast my eyes about the marketplace too. How many people had heard my name? I shouldered past the man, trying to find emptier streets.

Mephi shifted on my shoulder, his paws digging into my skin. He made a soft, indignant sound in my ear.

“This is what’s not good,” I said to him. “I get threatened into freeing one boy from the Tithing, and now everyone wants a turn at it.” I turned into an empty alley, refuse pooled in the center of it. Footsteps sounded behind me.

“Wait, please. I’ll pay you.”

If I were a dog, my ears would have pricked. I had too little money and too little time to catch the blue-sailed boat. And besides that, the Ioph Carn were on my heels. My purse had a healthy weight to it, but my circumstances called for it to be plump. I pivoted so quickly that the man nearly ran into me. “I’m in a hurry.”

Mephi curled his tail about my throat and took a step down my arm toward the man, a trill in his throat. The man eyed my shoulder warily. “It wouldn’t take much time. I know someone on another island.”

I waited for him to elaborate. He wrang his hands like his fingers were a washcloth. I sighed. “Everyone knows someone on another island.”

“A friend,” he said quickly. “Someone who is part of the Shardless Few. On Unta.”

I had no love for the Emperor, but I wasn’t keen on the Shardless either. Still, if taking this job could get me closer to Emahla, I needed to chance it. And Unta was on my way and close; only two days’ worth of travel. “And you want me to do what? Out with it.”

“Take my daughter with you. Smuggle her off this island and take her to my friend. She’ll take care of her. I’ll pay you to do it.”

“The Shardless Few are a bunch of fanatics who are always sticking their necks out so the Empire has an easier time of lopping of their heads. You’d be better off trying to get her to a monastery. She’d be protected from the Empire behind their walls.”

He looked affronted. “I’d never see her again. And what if she doesn’t want to be a monk?”

I sighed. “Fifty silver phoenixes.”

“Done.”

I blinked. He didn’t look destitute, not with that belly, but his clothes were still simple. A humble man? I’d misjudged before. I should have asked him for more to begin with. Fifty would get me what I needed though. “This will take a little time,” I said. “And don’t expect me to dig into my own stores to feed your girl. I’ll need you to pick up food, blankets, water.”

“Forged documents?”

So he’d been expecting to pay for those too? I had asked for too little. “No. No need.”

“But how will you get past the trade construct?”

I gave a little flourish with one hand, in considerably better spirits than I’d been just a moment before. “I’ll tell it a story. A beautiful, elaborate lie, if you will.” I turned the flourish into an outstretched palm. “Half the money now, if you please.”

He gave me a dubious look.

“There’s a reason the Empire put a price on my head. I’ll do what you’ve asked, and I’ll do it well. Do you think they’d spend the money to keep putting out posters of some half-witted smuggler fresh off his mother’s breast?”

He counted the money out after that.

“Bring her to the docks at sundown, but don’t approach the boats. I’ll meet you on land.” I stowed the money in my purse and left the alley, pleased with myself.

Mephi evidently was pleased as well. “Good,” his creaky voice said in my ear. He rubbed a furry cheek against me.

That was interesting. Did he understand the meaning of what he was saying? There were legends of very old sea serpents that had learned our human tongue, and more stories still of magical creatures living in the depths of the Endless Sea – but those were stories. This was a kitten of a creature, and I could almost cup him in my hands if he curled into a ball.

“No,” I said. If he knew what he was saying, I’d teach him right. “The money is good. The task? Not good.”

“Good,” Mephi insisted again.

I sighed. What was the point? Did I really want a creature on my boat who could talk back to me? Despite the thought, I smiled and reached up to scratch Mephi’s head. He chirruped and sank onto my shoulder, his fur tickling my neck. “We should feed you. And I need more information.”

The city wasn’t a bad size, and I soon found I had two drinking halls to choose from. I chose the one nearest to the docks. The smell of fish mingled with the scent of old smoke as I stepped inside. One breath and a pang of homesickness swept over me. My father regularly met his Poyer friends in a place like this. Onyu and I would sometimes wander inside when we knew my father was done with his fishing, sneaking past the veil of pipe smoke to watch them play a game of cards. If we were lucky, my father would let us play a hand. “Your mother won’t like that I’m teaching you two to gamble,” he’d say. Half the time that was the end of it, and half the time, if we waited, he would grumble a little and pull out a chair for us to share. The lacquered cards were written in Poyer, and I made sheepish, half-hearted attempts to learn it. Each mistake I made seemed to highlight the sallow color of my skin, my loose curls, my gangly limbs. Onyu’s pronunciation was always better, though I knew enough to understand when my father’s friends smiled at my brother and said, “Ah, he speaks like he was born to it!”

The same praise was never offered to me.

There were no Poyer playing cards in this drinking hall. It was halfway empty this time of day, but there were still a couple of fishermen at a table, having finished their day’s work. I could hear them muttering to one another. “The only thing the Emperor will say is that Deerhead Island sank because of an accident.”

“An accident. What sort of accident sinks an entire island?”

“I’ll wager it’s the Alanga, and he’s just too old and weak to stop them. Maybe this island is next. Maybe they all are.”

They gave me sharp looks when I slid into a chair at their table. There were, after all, plenty of other tables without occupants.

“I’m intruding, I know,” I said, “but I’m looking for someone.”

Their expressions did not change until I waved down the owner of the establishment and ordered sweet melon wine for us all. And then they exchanged glances. One of them shrugged. They both eased in their chairs and looked to me, waiting to hear what I’d say next. Drink was an easy way to make friends, and I wasn’t looking to make permanent or loyal friends of them. Just afternoon friends. Friends enough to pick their minds clean and leave them with the thought, “He was a nice fellow.” Enough to dissuade them from finding any Imperial soldiers stationed here as soon as I left.

“A boat came this way. A dark wood boat with blue sails. Smaller than an Imperial caravel, but large enough to carry some passengers – perhaps ten uncomfortably.”

“When?” said the man on the left.

“Recently. In the last few days.”

He rubbed at his chin. “No, haven’t seen it. Wish I could give you more for your trouble.”

The other man only shrugged again, and I wondered if that was all his body was capable of doing. But then he frowned. “You should ask Shuay. Older woman, works just north of the docks selling cooked crab. She knows nearly everyone on the island and keeps a sharp eye on the docks. Sees everyone that comes in and out.” The owner set our mugs of melon wine on the table, and he took a drink. He laughed, his gaze on the bottom of his mug. “Probably saw you when you came in.”

Mephi crept down my shoulder toward the man on my left, who proffered a hand to him. Mephi sniffed it, and the hair on his back lifted. He backed away, head low, ears flat to his skull. Lips drew back from bright white teeth.

“Hey now,” I said, scooping him up and depositing him back on my shoulder. I was half-afraid he might spout off “not good” again, raising far more questions than I knew how to answer.

“What sort of pet do you have there?” the man on my left asked.

A thousand lies ran through my head at once. But these were just fishermen who found Mephi curious, and Mephi hadn’t said a thing. “I’m not sure,” I said, trying to soothe the creature. The fur on his back eventually smoothed. “He claimed me, I suppose. Lost his mother. Have you seen anything like him before?”

“Can’t say I have. I’d be careful though. I know a woman who took in a baby seal. It was an orphan and she thought it was cute. Grew to nearly the size of a fishing boat and bit three of her fingers off before it swam away.”

“I’ll be careful.” I took a small sip of melon wine. One more piece of information. I spoke slowly, gauging their reactions. “I’m heading for the next island in the Monkey’s Tail. East. I need to get there quickly.”

They exchanged glances.

“You won’t find much of that trade here,” said the shrugging man, “except through the Ioph Carn.”

The Ioph Carn. They were as bad as the Empire sometimes. Either you paid the Empire, you paid the Ioph Carn or you paid them both.

“I’ve heard that fishermen keep pieces of it sometimes, just in case they need to outrun a storm.” I brushed my purse, the coins inside clinking together. “I’m willing to pay a premium.”

The man on my left grunted, tapping his fingers on the table. Dirt and fish blood stained his fingernails. And then he reached into his purse and pulled out a sizeable chunk of witstone, showing it to me beneath the table.

Mephi curled tighter around my neck, his whole body going tight until he felt like a snake trying to make a meal of me. I had to untangle his paws from my shirt, loosening his grip. “I’ll pay you ten silver phoenixes.”

“Not good!” Mephi shrieked. “Not good not good!” He darted down my arm, hung over the edge of the table and swiped the witstone from the man’s hand. It clunked onto the floor.

Even a half-full drinking hall had too many eyes. All of them locked onto me and Mephi. Infernal creature! I shot up from the table so quickly that my chair overturned. I should have left him there, screaming, his fur all on end. I could find witstone somewhere else and be rid of both this island and beasts that spoke. Emahla should be all that I cared about. But I’d not even finished the thought before my hand was around the nape of his neck, lifting him, setting him back on my shoulder. “May the winds be favorable,” I said to the two fishermen, and made for the door.

“Are you trying to get me killed?” I hissed to Mephi. Outside, the clouds had crept in. The air smelled of damp grass and ocean. Wind brushed through Mephi’s fur, and it wasn’t until I put a hand on his back that I felt him trembling.

“Not good,” he whimpered, miserable.

“How am I supposed to find Emahla if I don’t have witstone?”

As if in answer, Mephi took a deep breath and exhaled a wisp of white smoke.

“Well, that might work in a pinch, but it’s not as good as witstone. You’ll have to find a way to get used to it.” I stopped in my stroll down the street, shaking my head. When had I begun thinking he could understand complex sentences? But I could puzzle out the vagaries of chronology later.

I found Shuay near the docks, just as the fishermen had indicated. Steam rose from her stall, mingling with the low-hanging clouds. Wind rattled the fronds that made her roof. “Two pennies for steamed crab legs,” she said without looking up. She was a thin, older woman, black hair laced with silver streaks.

I paid her for two, because people are always inclined to be kinder once you’ve done business with them. She handed over the crab legs on banana leaves, and I proffered one serving to Mephi.

As soon as he smelled it, his trembling ceased. He seized the crab and began to noisily tear shell from flesh, making little sounds of satisfaction as he found the meat within.

Shuay laughed. “Your friend is hungry.”

“I think he’s always hungry.” I fed him another piece of crab leg. He was making a mess of my shirt, but I couldn’t bring myself to care that much. I’d not changed it since the beating, and there was still some dirt and blood caught in the fibers. “I was told you know a lot about who comes in and out at the docks. I’m looking for someone.”

I didn’t even need to pay her. Shuay leaned forward, her elbows on the counter of her stall. She smiled in an invitation to go on, and something about the way her eyes wrinkled reminded me of my mother. A sensation of vertigo swam over me briefly. It seemed only the other day that I was back at home in her kitchen, sitting next to her on the bench, my hip pressed to hers as I chopped scallions.

How old would she be now? Her hair had been all black when I’d left. Did it have silver in it now like Shuay’s? Had her shard come into use? Was she sick like Alon’s mother? I couldn’t even think it.

I breathed in the smell of steamed crab, trying to reorient myself. “Have you seen a boat come through here? Dark wood with blue sails?”

When she nodded, I thought my throat would close up.

“I didn’t just see the boat,” she said. “Saw the captain of it too, and his companion. They came by on their way out.”

I couldn’t speak.

“Tall fellow, long face, big cloak – does that sound right?”

I nodded and choked out, “And his companion?”

“Young lady. Shorter than he was. Big, dark eyes. Thick brows and a thin face.” Shuay frowned. “Not pretty but striking, I’d say. Lips that turned a little upward at the corners. But she looked scared. Terrified. Didn’t say a word, and neither did he.”

Mephi must have sensed my distress because he dropped the crab leg he’d been working on and began to pat my hair with one paw. I couldn’t rely on a verbal description, but the face she’d spoken about bloomed in my mind. Emahla’s face. No one had ever claimed she was beautiful – except for me. And I’d meant it.

Shuay patted my hand. I was still holding my serving of crab legs, my grip creasing the leaf. “You can sit down if you need to.”

The kindness in her voice almost brought me to tears. I knew deep down that this was another piece of information for her to peddle, to feel important, but I’d done my share of using people for my own satisfaction. I couldn’t fault her.

I tried to keep my voice steady. “Did she have a mark here?” I pressed a finger below my right eye.

Shuay’s expression grew pensive. “Can’t say that she did. Not so much as a freckle.”

All the hope and panic and fear fled, leaving me dark and hollow. Not her. Just someone who looked like her.

“I should go. Thank you.” I handed the rest of the crab to Mephi, my appetite gone. I had things I needed to do.

It took me most of the afternoon to hunt down more witstone, and it took the rest of the afternoon to get Mephi to accept it. Or at least to form some semblance of tolerance. There must have been some smell attached to it, because if I touched it, he shrank from my hands, hissing and spitting, looking more like a pincushion than an animal. I had to run water over my hands before he’d get anywhere close to them, and still he curled his tail around my neck as though he meant to choke me with it.

What choice did I have though? He was an animal I’d plucked from the ocean only days ago. Emahla was the woman I’d pledged my life to. And perhaps Shuay was mistaken. Perhaps the woman she’d seen was Emahla. I had to know for myself. I felt it like a string tied tight around my body, painfully taut, dragging me onward.

I went back to the docks at sundown.

The man who’d paid me to smuggle his daughter was there waiting, a box of supplies at his feet. His right hand rested on the shoulder of a little girl, her hair plaited, her eyes somber. His left hand rested on… another child. A boy of the same age. I didn’t need to look at the man’s pleading expression to know what he was going to ask of me.

There should have been a word for this feeling – of surprise, yet not surprise. My mother had scolded me often when I was young: “One foolish choice is like a rat you let go. It will spawn more consequences than you first thought possible.”

Mephi chirruped at the sight of them, the first sound he’d made since I’d slipped the witstone into my pocket.

My foolish choices were spawning armies.