Nine out of ten slaves agree that decimation is an effective method of improving behaviour.

- Common motto among the armies of the Noarchac Empire.

I cleared my throat. “Oi. I have a question before I leave forever.”

Jvina jumped at my sudden greeting. I had timed it so she put the heavy crate down before startling her, since she’d probably had dropped it if I hadn’t. The man who had been waiting for said wooden box checked the inside while the half-elf turned and broke into a smile at the sight of me. The man nodded and left, while Jvina stepped over and squeezed me into a hug that I didn’t really want.

“What’s your question?” She asked with a laugh as I pushed her away.

“Are you dead?” I asked bluntly, resisting the urge to fix my clothes.

Jvina’s smile froze, then dropped a little. A tear fell from her eye. “Oh… Um.”

Well that answered my question. I relaxed the frown that was fighting to show itself on my face. Even if I prided myself in being insensitive, I still had standards. There was a story here, and it ended in a tragedy. I didn’t devalue those kinds of stories.

Jvina wiped away the trail the tear had left on her cheek, only for another to sprout from the other eye. “It’s… quite complicated. I suppose the answer is yes, but also no. There…” She glanced at the Busty Butler, where Sanjak’s cabin was. “There wasn’t any necromancy, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“I’m very familiar with necromancy.” I said. “There’s a feeling of dread that twelve moving corpses would’ve produced just by existing, and I didn’t feel anything of the like when we were on the ship. No. I’m asking because I went from being one of the lucky ones to being one of the unlucky ones.”

“Ah…” Jvina seemed to flounder for what to say. “I heard.”

“I heard that the ship was a grave. It’s yours?”

A sorrowful smile traced her lips. “That’s right.”

“So I’m guessing you guys are moving through some kind of dream magic.”

“That’s right.” She said wistfully. “A final voyage to imagine a better end.”

If this was dreamlike magic, that meant the whole ‘final voyage’ Sanjak was chartering was purely symbolic. Jvina was likely just a construct made to show All the image of the woman sailing up the river. Her soul may be attached, but it was unlikely. Yet the very possibility of it meant I would be wondering if this was really Jvina’s final voyage or if it was just a dream whenever I thought back on this.

“How did it end?” I asked. May as well, I wanted to become more familiar with this kind of story.

If only to avoid them myself.

“I told your companion the story before.” She said, smiling at the bittersweet memory. “Merfolk pirates, and we were merely a cargo vessel. Our cap’n beat the cap’n of the pirates into submission, but by then they’d already cut holes in the hull. It didn’t matter that we killed them all after. I even ended two of the fuckers myself.”

“They stole the nails.” I remembered.

Jvina sighed and rested her hands on her hips, looking up to the sky. “We were close enough to land that we might have made it if some’a those holes got patched.” She smiled at me again. “I didn’t tell your friend that. And I didn’t tell her that I died by falling asleep from overwork offloading water, while waist deep in it. Nor did I mention it was an apprentice sailor that barely knew how to swab the poopdeck that let the Busty Butler sail again, albeit under a different name.”

Ah. So I’d been Jvina in the dream.

I frowned as what she just said registered. “What was it called before?”

“The Hung Harlot.”

I didn’t get what was funny about that. And I made damn sure not to let that on, putting a thoroughly unimpressed expression at Jvina’s course grin.

She laughed. “You really remind me of my daughter, you know!”

I groaned in protest. “Actually, hold on, Sanjak wasn’t always the captain?”

Jvina snorted. “He barely knows how to sail! Changes who he is depending on how he slept the night before. Even I’m not spared! The only consistent thing about him is the gifts he pulls from wherever he goes when he’s asleep.”

“You mean his magic.”

Jvina snapped her fingers. “That’s the one.”

“Riight.” I suddenly remembered this wasn’t why I’d approached the woman. In fact, I’d already accomplished my objective. I wasn’t sure why I was sticking around. “I’m, gonna… go…”

“Amber.” Jvina said sternly. I reflexively froze in place. “That’s not how you say goodbye.”

I’m going to stab Jevi for giving this woman my real name. I grumbled viciously before slowly turning back and giving the half-elf a hug like she’d been giving me. Only it was awkward because I wasn’t one to give hugs when Avien wasn’t around, and that wasn’t even really me. She didn’t seem to mind though.

“I have an… embarrassing request.” Jvina laughed a little. “You’ll think me a sappy old woman! But...”

That got an eye roll. “What is it?” I demanded, still feeling immensely awkward.

“Kiss me on the forehead before saying goodbye. It’s something my daughter used to do. I hoped to see her again when we reached our last stop, but we traveled up the wrong river. Unless Cap’n was feeling magnanimous, I wouldn’t get to stay around until then anyway. This is the best I can say goodbye.”

I didn’t want to do that. I really, really didn’t want to do that. Fortunately, it was the kind of I don’t want to that sprung from being Avien’s ‘fiance’ so I would absolutely be doing it. This would also be my first kiss, even if it was a bit unconventional. Either way…

Avien could get stabbed by a rusty mace for all I cared.

“Got anything you want me to say?” I asked in elven. A moment passed without response and I suddenly came to the realisation that just because someone was a half-elf didn’t necessarily mean they had taken the effort to learn the tongue of the fair folk. I almost repeated my question in common when Jvina spoke.

“She used to say ‘until you return to your roots, mother.’ She didn’t enjoy saying proper goodbyes. But that isn’t very fitting for now.”

Well, that made things easy for me. I’d just say something like that.

I pulled back from the hug, and reached up on my tiptoes to plant my lips on Jvina’s forehead. She leaned down a little for it, since the height difference would’ve made that impossible normally. The feel of her skin on my lips was strange, more taught than I expected skin to be, yet still warm and soft. In that moment, something very far away started protesting very loudly.

But that something was very far away, and its impotent tantrum was more amusing than anything.

First kiss given, I stepped back from Jvina. “Return to your roots, Jvina Llearaen.”

“Thank you.” Jvina- apparently of the Llearaen family- smiled, kissed me in the same manner that I had her, and faded away.

There was no fanfare or magical explosion. She simply faded, clothes and all, much like a dream. All that was left behind was the content feeling of going to sleep after a long and exhausting day. It was both at odds with the time of day, since I hadn’t even eaten lunch yet, and was ruined by someone yelling at me.

“Hey!” A male voice shouted from the Busty Butler. I looked up and saw Sanjak leaning out of an open window to the captain’s cabin. His trifold hat was only barely hanging on, and he looked thoroughly angry. “You can’t put her to rest yet! She still has work to do!”

I considered what an appropriate response to that would be, but ultimately decided I didn’t want to get caught up with Sanjak again. Still, he ruined a touching moment, so I gestured rudely at him, miming pulling a puppet’s strings three times with one hand before cutting the implied strings with the other. It was something taught to me by Sage Garl to insult necromancers with poor control over their minions. Then I turned in the direction where Jevi and Weldon were waiting for me.

“What does that even mean?” I heard him mutter as I walked away, thanks to the listening glyphs acting up briefly. “Damn! Now I need a new first mate! Greywall! How would you like a promotion!?”

I sighed and released the hold of magic in my ear. The place I was about to enter looked like it would be incredibly loud. No need to deliver more noise to my ears than absolutely necessary.

\V/

The main feature of Burden Bridge was the Bridging Road. Since it didn’t actually cross the bridges, merely connecting them, I thought it to be false advertisement. The road itself was as wide as the longer walls of Taranath’s massive house, and while there weren’t enough people to make it truly crowded, there were islands where stalls were set up, as well as stages where people were performing.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Mostly they were mundane performances, but I did notice a few casters flexing their craft for their variously sized audiences. Those I watched with interest, not recognising any of the small spells and easily seeing through what illusions they attempted to weave. I’d never seen something so unimpressive impress so many people.

As for Jevi, Weldon, and myself, we disembarked from the eastern port and traveled north to find an Inn, ending up in the Midnight Dragon Inn. It featured an artfully drawn sign of a dragon curled into a circle and coloured like the second moon, breathing white fire down in something reminiscent of a moonbeam.

Originally, I wanted to just set out east, but I quickly learned that sea legs were a thing and Jevi and Weldon both insisted on staying for at least the day. Jevi wanted to go see the army men camping nearby, while Weldon just mysteriously said ‘There is something I must do,’ and left once we found lodging.

“So they’re definitely still here.” Jevi told me, leading me by the arm. It was the only way we could move quickly without me falling over. I suspected I had cursed myself briefly by sending Jvina off as I had, which would explain why I was still finding my balance again. “I saw some boys with fresh bruises shopping around for ointments and such. You only find those types when they get time off from their service.”

“You’re talking about conscripts?” I checked.

Jevi nodded. “Only the stupid ones do that, or that’s what my uncle told me. If their minder finds out what they spent their stipend on, they’ll tell the trainer to go harder on them, directly proportional to the amount spent. Apparently it teaches them a lesson and builds character, but I’m just repeating the words of my uncle. What do I truly understand about men?”

What went unsaid was how the fact that it was a chapter of the army with young conscripts in it meant that the camp we were about to spy on didn’t house the best Kreg’uune had to offer. The king likely wasn’t taking this brewing rebellion as seriously as Jevi would’ve liked. She was hiding it, but I’d become familiar enough with her to catch the signs of her agitation, mainly the way her eyes flicked around more when she was stressed.

“So we’re going to be looking at seventeen year old boys.” I said uncertainly. “... Who are also idiots?”

Jevi let out a tittering laugh. “No more of an idiot than you. And no! We’re going to be spying on them.”

“Is that why you bought two dark cloaks?” I deadpanned.

She had made the purchase when my back was turned, meaning all I could do was give a deadpan look, a ‘really?’, and accept the cloak when it was offered. They were discrete and looked as though twelve had been made exactly like them. They were precisely the kind I was trying to buy back in Breach.

“Mhm!” Jevi nodded enthusiastically.

I sighed and let the impulsive girl lead me along. This was just a distraction, but I wasn’t about to let an opportunity to learn more about this country just go by. Even if I had my doubts about what it was I was going to learn.

Soon enough we cleared the last buildings blocking the sight of the army camp from Burden Bridge and I was able to behold my first warcamp.

I was unimpressed.

In terms of organisation, the rivers around Burden Bridge were both more populated and better organised than what I could see. There was no grid or spiderweb pattern that I could make out. The tents were all different sizes and in no discernable order. Of what I saw, the only good thing I could make out was that there was a sizable force present, ready to move when the orders arrived. Or partially ready. A lot of the soldiers I could see were sitting around and clearly not on duty, but at least I could see some of them taking things seriously.

“Look!” Jevi whispered, pointing at a relatively flat area where about two dozen people were arranged. Most were standing back or in a circle, of which there were three. Inside each circle was a brawl. “Let’s get closer!”

“I don’t-” My words were snatched from my mouth as Jevi abruptly tugged me along.

She dragged me to the shade of someone’s house and finally released me there. We had ended up on a back balcony and there were chairs left out. I gathered from that that whoever lived here had similar voyeuristic tendencies to my companion, or maybe they just enjoyed looking over the countryside when the army wasn’t here. I also sat in one of the chairs, grateful to be off of my feet for a moment.

“I have to say, I’m a little disappointed.” Jevi said when she joined me. “There should be enough for four circles. And none of them are taking their shirts off.”

A memory of Avien shirtless flashed to the forefront of my mind and was subsequently stabbed. I looked at the fights, taking a moment to actually see what was there.

“Some of them are women.” I observed.

“They can take their shirts off too.” Jevi rebuked instantly.

I rolled my eyes. “Okay.” Then I spun my magic into a listening glyph to see what I could hear.

“Off!” Thud. “Argh.” “Uh!” Thwap. “Ahh…” “Stand up you maggot!” Psh. “Ahh! My face!”

I stopped listening so closely.

“Is every chapter like this?” I asked.

“Mostly, yeah.” Jevi nodded. “My uncle said that there’s a certain kind of quality soldier that’s ideal for actual fighting, and most of the people that get conscripted aren’t that kind of person. End up doing administration busywork for the rest of their year, then find other jobs to do.”

“And what’s that quality?” I asked, still a little out of breath.

Jevi tapped a finger in thought. “Malleability? He said? A certain lack of quality? Actually, I remember now. They have to be the kind of person that you can make heed your every word, no matter how insane. If they ask questions, it better be ‘how?’ and not ‘why?’ If you can tell them how to act, and three months later they’re still acting that way with no further words from you, you’ve found a good soldier that follows orders. Knight them.”

That sounds a lot like how the Shepards wanted me to act. My fingers brushed against where my weapons were awkwardly leaning against me. I’d make a terrible soldier. But I’m a fantastic swordswoman. Would dad be proud?

“When are they going to take their shirts off?” Jevi lamented. “It’s sunny, and hot. Where are my hot boys?”

I let her fume and watched on with mild amusement. Every so often the fights would pause and the contestants would switch with someone from the circle before they resumed. I listened during those pauses, and found they were using them to discuss what had been done poorly in any given brawl, what had been done well, and what could’ve been done better. It was interesting, kind of, but useless to me even though a third of the fighters were girls.

They weren’t using swords, after all. Without mine I was as helpless as a child. At least I could run kind of quickly.

“Ah!” Jevi was on her feet the moment one of the fighters staggered out of the circle and started taking his shirt off. “Aww.” I glanced over to find the source of her disappointment. The shirtless boy in question had bruises all over his torso, and had no good muscle definition. Honestly, he was chubby as well.

“Damn it.” Someone else swore quietly. I looked in the direction of the sound and found it came from the next house over, which had a similar backwards facing deck as ours. Leaning to get a better look, I saw a boy, with dark hair and a frustrated expression looking down at his feet.

“So hey, do you think we can talk about that thing you were talking about now?” Jevi questioned, not looking my way. “The dream thing?”

“Not yet.” I stood and walked over to the fence dividing the two houses. “You,” The boy looked up. He was older than me, about the same age as the ones Jevi was spying on. “What’s your name?”

“Emer, you’re so forward!” Jevi cheered, prompting me to gesture at her rudely. She gasped dramatically, but fell silent.

“Uh, I’m Attler.” A shadow passed over his expression. “What are you two doing here? I know you don’t live in that house.”

I glanced at the back door he was sitting near. It was closed and the house beyond was silent. “I was dragged here by a weird girl called Rubes.”

“Hey!”

“And I know that you don’t live in that house either.” I continued. “So what are you doing here, Attler?”

The shadow over his expression deepened before he fell back against his chair and glared at the fighting boys and girls. “Killing time. At least I can do that.”

Strange claim to make. I thought, before realising the obvious. I glanced back at Jevi. “Do people drop out of their year ever?”

“A lot do, for various reasons.” Jevi answered promptly. “But failing their first killing is the big one.” She looked over the camp. “Might explain the lack of people here. Normally they mix the squads when numbers get low enough, though if they just did the killings I can see that being why.”

The way Attler’s expression darkened again, this time literally, told me that was exactly the reason.

“Why? Did you find another Writch?” Jevi asked suddenly. “Ooh! Come on, show me some muscle!” And then she was immediately distracted by another boy taking his shirt off.

“Are you here to make fun of me?” Attler asked softly, a slight growl in his voice. “Who put you up to this? Was it Hooks?”

“Writch was a bandit that abandoned his duty when confronted with a year of service.” I said flatly. “Chances are he still is, though he still has trouble killing as far as I understand. Are you like him?”

“I chopped his balls off when you were asleep!” Jevi added. “You know, like you told me to!”

That startled me. When did I say that?

Attler’s eyes met mine, searching for signs of dishonesty. I quickly smoothed my expression back out. “No. I was discharged.”

Probably dishonourably. “Well, I’m in the same situation as you as far as killing goes. Though I’m cursed.”

“Truly?” He asked, taken aback. The literal shadow finally fell off of his face. “Who did you offend to be cursed so?”

I pointed up. “Regardless, my friend and I came here for privacy, which we would’ve had if you weren’t here. Please go away and darken another house that isn’t yours.”

His eyebrows furrowed and he stood. Attler actually had quite the imposing body. I could tell because it distracted Jevi and she let out an impressed sound. He was taller than I remembered Avein being as well. “Just because I wasn’t able to kill doesn’t mean I can’t fight. I don’t care that you’re a girl, I will hurt you if you give me reason to.”

“Good thing I’m giving you a reason to go away.” I said, stepping back from the fence and pulling back both my cloaks to reveal my sword. “You don’t have a weapon Attler. I can hurt you if you give me reason to.”

Attler glared at me for a long moment, before snorting and storming away. A few seconds after that, having taken the time to make certain there weren’t any Vitorian shadows watching us, I sat back down next to Jevi.

“There. Now we can talk.”

“About that guy? He was pretty impressive.” Jevi gushed. “He was probably one of the more promising recruits. Shame about his discharge though.”

“I meant about you.” I said tiredly.

“We can talk about me.” Jevi said happily. “Tell me, O’ wandering swordswoman, what dream have you dreamed of me?”

I considered where to start. I didn’t really want to mention Serfle, though Scajoce- or Epoch as Kinli had called him, and the god himself were free range. Jevi seemed to care about Kreg’uune a lot, far more than I ever cared about Veliki. The reason for that, I wasn’t really sure, but it gave me pause when considering what to say.

So I decided to be blunt and throw in an assumption or two.

“Why don’t you, O’ royal highness, tell me what the great god Kinli wants you to do with a scroll of soul rending?”

A cascade of expressions fell across Jevi’s face. Mostly shock, followed by flickers of recognition, and finally horror. She was left reeling at my question for ten seconds before finally closing her mouth and regaining some measure of self control.

When she opened it again she said a single word. “Fuck.”

Which was very promising for how this conversation was going to go.

\V/