Chapter Twenty-Five Finlyr
chapter twenty-five
finlyr
I wake early from a restless sleep, feeling sore and tender, but the inn is peaceful and still.
Isagani is nowhere to be found, so I wander into the town square, cloak tied close around me and my hood up.
The weather is bright but chill as I make my way to the harbour.
I drink piyata tea from a flask, sweet and earthy, with the leaves steeping gently at the surface.
I see a figure peel away from an alley, emerging into the light of the main streets. It’s only then I glimpse the others loitering against a wall, barely moving. The person strolls across the street, moving towards the harbour. They survey the seafront, breathing in the briny air.
‘Nice view and all that,’ they say.
Isagani is dressed similarly to when I first met them: plain, baggy clothes specked with mud, and an unassuming, dirty face. The blue ribbon is gone.
‘Have you been scheming?’ I ask. ‘Heard anything from your filching friends in the streets?’
They sigh. ‘Whisperings, but the Seaguardians are crawling Umasa with the influx of visitors. And there will be more for the Magliyab festival, not to mention the royal birth. It’s all about finding the right time to commandeer. We need a distraction.’
It’s still early, and the docks are fairly empty, with only a few merchants setting up their market stalls.
At this time of day it’s mostly bakers and tea brewers, as well as the fishmongers and greengrocers.
I stare across the harbour at Saltswept.
It’s the first chance I’ve had to properly look at my ship since they took her from me.
She’s collected more barnacles in the time she’s been docked, but there’s no obvious damage.
Except I know every inch of that ship, and there’s something wrong, something new. What is that by her prow?
I start across the seafront to get a closer look.
‘What’s wrong?’ Isagani asks, following me.
By Paranish, they haven’t! They’ve desecrated her with the royal sigil. I let out a moan and smack the rail of the promenade.
‘What is it?’ Isagani asks again, voice full of concern.
‘Do you see that unholy royal sigil? They’re nearly done preparing her to become a Seaguardian vessel. It’s an abomination. Oh, my girl, you were made for greater things.’
Isagani nods in sympathy, but they don’t understand. Only a captain would truly know what a violation this is. I examine her further.
‘From the way she’s listing slightly, the hold isn’t empty – thank Paranish.’
‘Aye, that’s good,’ they agree.
‘You have no idea what that means, do you?’ I ask, and Isagani gives me a vague smile, their cheeks round apples in the biting wind. ‘Means it’s got food and water on board.’
For a moment I truly feel that we’re a merchant father and his churlish daughter. Isagani grabs my flask of tea and takes a sip, staring at my ship again. A couple of Seaguardians pace the dock, clapping their gloved hands together.
The clouds part and the sun beats down on us, sparkling in Umasa’s waters.
Isagani watches me. ‘Why do you look like a tamaraw in a hot spring?’
‘I’m thinking about Ris.’
‘Oh, are you now?’ they ask, waggling their eyebrows.
‘Not like that. Her map. The Lahon Maelstrom.’
‘Oh,’ they say, expression suddenly serious. ‘I still don’t understand why in Aistra anyone would go there.’
‘When you’re starving because your harvests have failed again, wouldn’t you give anything for even a bowl of rice? Hunger drives us to desperation.’
Isagani is quiet for a moment, and I think of their wiry limbs, the way they move in the shadows. Suddenly their face brightens with a memory. ‘I have heard of this place. From my grandmother – I thought it was just a story.’
‘Stories come from somewhere.’
‘Says the man who doesn’t trust books. Has anyone ever survived?’
‘Not without going a bit salt-mad.’
Isagani looks at me properly then. ‘So that’s what happened to you.’
I grab the steaming flask and turn away.
‘Why would you go back there?’ They push, moving to my other side and forcing me to look at them.
‘I owe it to my crew. They believed in this quest, in me, and I failed them. Sailors are dead because of me.’ I shake my head and sigh. ‘I really fucked up out there, Isagani.’
‘And you think martyring yourself is an answer? I need you—’ Their voice grows louder, breaking.
The patrolling Seaguardians look up at the noise. I place a callused hand on Isagani’s shoulder.
‘Gently, now. That ship is only going to stay in the harbour for so long before the Seaguardians have fully repurposed her and then she’s lost to us. It’s an insult. She deserves to go down properly, the way she should have. The way I should have.’
‘How many times do I have to save your arse before you value your life?’ They hiss through gritted teeth.
‘I’m doing that now,’ I counter, voice hushed. ‘I want to take Ris to the Maelstrom. She’s going there whether I help her or not. She doesn’t stand a chance without me. I want to get her there and back if I can. She needs a sailor, and we need a navigator.’
‘And what makes you sure she’s up to the task?’
‘I’m not entirely. But I know she can read maps, at least according to Morna. And now she’s got some navigational tools. It’s better than naught.’
Isagani is silent for a moment, then they laugh. ‘It’s a miracle.’
‘What is?’
‘How you can be so self-serving and self-sacrificing all at once?’
I can’t help but laugh, too.
‘Stubborn as a royal.’ They sigh.
Not the first time I’ve heard that. ‘Look – I can understand if you don’t want to come. It would be wild of me to involve a kid—’
‘Biba’s half my age!’
‘Biba’s gifted.’
Isagani glares. ‘I’m not a child; I’m almost fully grown. I can hold my own. I need to get away from Paranish.’
I study them. ‘You said you tried before. Why?’
‘I owe it to her to actually leave this time, to find something better.’
‘Who?’
There is a brief silence. ‘My grandmother,’ they finally say. ‘She’s the only one who ever cared about me. If we could’ve left before she’d still be alive.’
There’s nothing I can say to that. I let the moment pass, and then gently pull them into my side. ‘Even if leaving might kill you? There’s no glory here.’
‘My grandmother knew of a smuggler in Umasa named Finlyr Pane. She never found him. We didn’t know he’d fucked off to Lassair by then.
She wanted to get off this island, but the Bastion took its tithes despite the harvest shrinking.
They practically starved us, then blamed us for not producing enough food.
The Bastion killed her, plain as if they had put her on the gallows. ’
Fuck. I hug my kid closer, and we stand there for a long time, the wind whipping at our cloaks. Some sellers battle to pin bunting to their stall, all bright orange flames and stars.
‘The Magliyab festival,’ I say into the top of their head. ‘It’s next week.’
‘What?’ they ask, pulling away.
‘You said it’s all about timing. Well, Magliyab is the perfect distraction. The Seaguardians will have their hands full with travellers. And the queen’s expected any day now. Last night was too close a call. It’s time for us to get away from Paranish.’