Chapter 7 #2
The two women filled every crevice in the space, their magic pulsing around the vessel like music whorling through the air. It was a sight to behold; Reid had scarcely seen Veragi magic intertwine with that of another coven. Only the witches of Una, and even that was a rarity.
“Drop the nails or we all drown,” Melisina said.
The witch paused, but within two breaths, the nails clanged onto the floor.
“You paid him salt. She wields Veragi magic. Mirehans?”
Reid nodded, but didn’t expand any further. Piracy was a wicked game, and he knew better than to reveal himself to someone who only honored a code among their crew.
“Well, best of luck,” the pirate said casually, then she swung with one arm back onto the ladder and climbed.
Reid’s jaw dropped, and Koen burst forward, hollering for her to wait.
Reid followed him up onto the main deck, eyes widening as multiple people pilfered through anything available.
Reid scanned his surroundings until he finally found the red-haired pirate.
She swung from rope to rope like the ship was nothing but a playground, preparing to leap to her boat.
Behind Reid, his mother emerged, hands grasping the bags of salt that Reid had given the merchant for his discretion.
Blood was smeared on the outside of the canvas, but Melisina didn’t seem to mind.
“Hey, you want these?” she called to the pirate.
The woman turned over her shoulder, dangling from one of the ropes, her braids flying in the wind.
She swung loosely for a moment, as if unsure, but then turned her body and swung her weight back, the rope propelling her toward them.
She landed and uncurled to her full height. “What exactly is your proposal?”
“Take us into the Iron Bay,” Koen said, “and this salt is yours.”
The pirate lifted her brow. “I’m not a guide.”
The boat tipped, and Reid had to grip a stanchion in order to stay upright. Urgency stole his better senses. “What do you want?” Reid said, stepping forward. “If you get us there safely, whatever it is, it’s yours.”
Scrutiny seemed to come easy to the witch. She looked Reid up and down, the telltale signs of plotting swirling in the green of her eyes. “What sort of person makes a promise like that to the likes of me?”
“Someone who can make good on it.”
A slow smile spread across her face. Deliberation didn’t stain it, though, her eyes catching again on the bags of salt. “Why don’t you come aboard and we can discuss terms?”
Gripping the rope, she swung with more grace and agility than Reid had ever seen across the gap separating their boats, not bothering to wait for further words. Her boots thumped on the boat opposite them. She sauntered across the deck, weaving through the swath of people darting this way and that.
“You know she’ll likely kill us and keep the salt, right?” Koen said.
Reid only pursed his lips. He finally got a good look at the pirate’s vessel across from theirs.
It was Icrurian by design, no doubt fabricated in Sigguth like the rest of their ships.
He was familiar with the hull and oarsbank, his fingers itching to get ahold of one of the oars that would help propel the ship forward.
At least fifty stuck out, half in each direction.
Except it wasn’t exactly the same; there were mechanisms on it that he’d never seen before.
Metal fixtures on the oars that attached them to the ship.
Furrowing his brows, he inspected each inch he could see, making a note of the iron hinges.
“I’ll go first, then,” Reid said.
“Reid—” his mother tried.
“Stay. Here.”
She huffed, muttering something under her breath.
Reid avoided the body of the dead captain and grabbed ahold of the same ropes the pirate had used.
In one graceful jump, he swung onto the opposite deck, his shoulders burning with the familiar motion, his numb hands scraping on the rough texture.
He kept his eyes to himself, but a few of the pirate’s crewmates whispered something at his arrival.
He’d grown up on ships, had sailed them through the rivers in Icruria with his father, but this striking cold lent to a different kind of endurance. His body ached. He needed new clothing.
Koen and his mother waited across the platform the pirates were using to offload the ship.
The pirate was nowhere in sight. People moved in every direction.
Men and women both worked the vessel, so un-Asteryan in nature, and added further to the confounding puzzle in Reid’s mind.
A man with sharp, onyx eyes and broad shoulders sauntered over to them.
He had dark-brown skin and a sturdy build, seemingly honed from his work on the ship.
Others moved out of his way as he approached.
He gestured toward the hatch. “Captain says you’ll stay down there,” he said in Icrurian, and Reid almost sighed in relief.
He’d felt out of place listening to the indistinguishable Asteryan earlier and had an even greater appreciation for Vaasa.
He was grateful to be back in the company of a language he understood.
The man placed his hand on Reid’s shoulder. “The captain will see you in her quarters.”
Reid turned to where Koen and his mother stood.
“We don’t kill without reason,” the man said. “Especially not another witch.”
Reid met the man’s eyes. He extended an arm, an Icrurian gesture, and Reid thought the show of it was pointless if he didn’t mean it.
“Will you help my mother across?” Reid asked, taking the man’s arm and giving one strong shake.
He nodded as if he truly meant it. “I will.”
Reid turned, gesturing for Koen to start the journey across the narrow board. Reid walked the main deck and climbed until he found the low entrance to the captain’s quarters. Heat wafted through the air, emanating from a firebox next to the desk. Reid almost sank to his knees in relief.
Warmth.
He wanted to walk up and hold his hands to it, but instead he surveyed the room.
Inside was anything but simple—ornate silk curtains hung along stained glass windows, and oak furniture stood bold with carvings of leaves and roses in each piece.
The lushly dressed bed boasted bright pinks and yellows.
Cheery was the word that came to mind, so at odds with Reid’s predetermined image of a pirate.
But it was ostentatious, and he realized that whatever price this woman demanded would be large enough to make him blink.
Covering the opposite wall, there was artwork made entirely of iron, except as he gazed closer upon it, he realized it was a map.
It depicted the entire coast and the Loursevain Gap, and then every river in Asterya and Icruria.
It was the most accurate rendering he had ever seen, the offshoots perfectly scaled, the Sanguine curving until it hit the Settara and opened to the salt lake he had called home his entire life.
Whoever these people were, they had sailed the entirety of this side of the continent.
Had successfully navigated both warring nations and made it out alive.
The pirate sat behind a redwood desk, her knife out and spinning along the flat surface. She looked up, white teeth flashing as she asked, “So tell me, Reid of Mireh, do you have a plan for seizing the Iron Fortress, or are you just going in blind?”