Tyla watched, sitting cross-legged on the… stern, she thought the word was, deck of the Whiskerwind as the once-captives exchanged places with their ex-captors. Her contribution in the last fight had been limited to deflecting a few arrows with magic. She had been casting spells, so she had gained a small amount of experience but she was still level twelve.

Tyla Greenwalker of the Padascar Tribe (Level 5)

Overall Level: 12

Paths: Padascar Hunter (Broken)/ Doxy (Broken)/Apprentice Dungeon Witch

Strength: 11

Toughness: 8

Agility: 10

Dex: 17

Perception: 19

Will: 14

Charisma: 9

Traits

Persistent Tracking

Silent Shot

Danger Sense

Sense Magic

Cast Lesser Charm

She was still conflicted about the magic part. Casting spells, twisting the world to her desires with an effort of will, was amazing. Every part of how she had been raised, though, told her it was wrong.

It didn’t feel wrong. Tyla put her hand on the crystal sphere that had once been a Numina and let herself feel what was inside. It didn’t feel like the dead corpse of an almost-god, turned into fuel for Tyla’s convenience. It felt… warm. It felt like there was something that she could almost reach…

Then again, a fire was warm.

Tyla watched impassively as the galley detached from the Whiskerwind and headed on its own way. They were heading north, according to the conversations she had heard, while the Whiskerwind would be sailing south until the other ship was out of sight. Only then would they change to an easterly direction, heading for their penultimate destination.

Anton headed up to the stern deck, to take control of the ship. Kelsey and Aris joined him as he swung the ship around. Not with oar or sail and not with magic. It was fire and steel that moved the ship, according to Kelsey. Tyla could only marvel.

Anton and Aris were having a discussion. Tyla tried to not be involved.

“Can you talk to her? She’ll listen to you,” Aris was saying.

“To me? She adores you, Aris. I don’t know why you think I can talk her out of it,” Anton replied.

“It’s— I can’t tell her this, Anton. I can’t tell her not to do the same thing that I did.”

“Well… you kind of did, before,” Anton said.

“And she didn’t listen!”

Tyla put the pieces together. This was about Cheia’s new Class. Cheia had finished her Doxy class during the fight with the galley and had announced that she’d been granted a Unique Class: Original Gunner’s Apprentice. This had set off an argument that was now, it seemed, continuing.

“It was… foolish of me to take Original Gunslinger,” Aris said. “A mistake. I knew it, but I was desperate to save Cheia.”

“It worked out, though,” Anton said. He drew Aris in for a one-armed hug. Tyla wasn’t watching them, but she could hear the rustle of cloth. Hopefully, Anton wasn’t neglecting his steering duties in order to comfort his wife.

“And you know,” Anton continued. “We’re still a little bit desperate. Sensible people would have cut our losses and headed home by now.”

“But it’s her future at stake!” Aris said heatedly. “Tying her experience to that gun is going to cripple her in the long term.”

“I don’t know about that,” Kelsey put in. “We’re going to need the gun at least a few more times, and it’s good for a lot of experience.”

“And after that?” Aris asked. “When she moves on to Original Gunner at Tier Three?”

That was interesting. Tyla didn’t know of any other second Tier Classes with Apprentice in the title. It might have something to do with how the Decksweeper was no ordinary weapon.

“A Gunner is part of a crew,” Kelsey said. “In this case, a ship’s crew. Doesn’t that mean there will be a path to the Captain Class?”

“Probably,” Anton agreed.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“What use is being Captain of a ship going to be to Chiea?” Aris protested.

“Suliel has said some very hurtful things about Kirido not having a navy, but I think I can talk her around,” Kelsey said. “It would be a waste to just sink this boat when we get back.”

“You’re just going to give it to her?”

“Can’t fit it inside me,” Kelsey said. “I guess it will end up belonging to the Barony, and your husband can assign who he likes to crew it.”

“I don’t really want Cheia to be a soldier, though,” Aris said. “She was supposed to be a Baker, like Mum and Dad.”

“Plans change,” Kelsey said. “It’s not unusual for younger relatives to take a position in a noble’s army. I bet Anton could get her knighted if you wanted.”

“I have no idea how to go about doing that,” Anton said quickly. “And I think you’d be a better prospect, anyway.”

“Suliel says that you’d have to get confirmed in your position,” Kelsey said. “Which would require her not being declared a heretic, or whatever they do when the King doesn’t like your Class. And it would require us to be in Kirido! So there are a few steps.”

“Let’s leave the future to then,” Anton said. “And focus on what we need to do now.”

“Right,” Aris said. She sighed. “I suppose I should tell her that it’s all right to take the class.”

Tyla kept her face expressionless, but she felt glad that Aris had been talked around to the right conclusion. The choices a person made about their Class was a matter for that person. Parents sometimes interfered, but getting a Class was the first step on the path of a person gaining their independence.

Aris headed to the bow to have that conversation, leaving Kelsey and Anton behind.

“I think we’ve gotten far enough away,” Kelsey said. “You can head for Verheti now.”

“Right… but what direction is that? How do I tell I’m going straight?” Anton asked.

“Oh, right, I haven’t shown you how to use a compass yet,” Kelsey said. This seemed interesting enough for Tyla to turn around. Kelsey produced a small device which she proceeded to attach to Anton’s control pedestal.

“Now the compass points north,” she said. “That’s this black arrow. The rest of the device points where we’re going…”

----------------------------------------

“Are you sure this is the city?” Soraya asked.

“Yes,” Kelsey said shortly.

They weren’t in the city. Kelsey had declared that sailing into port would be an act of suicide. Then she’d remembered the deck sweeper and declared that it would actually be an act of mass murder. After contemplating that for a few moments, she stated that she didn’t have enough bullets and that they were probably best off sneaking in.

It hadn’t been easy avoiding the maritime patrols. A few times, Anton’s instincts flared up, and he’d taken them on a different route. Kelsey was convinced that it had helped, but it was hard to tell if they didn’t see any ships. In the end, they’d sailed in at night, lights out, relying on Zaphar’s darksight for navigation.

They hadn’t been able to get close to the city that way. With the flag down, they might have passed for a regular vessel, but no one wanted to take the chance that they’d be inspected. So they got as close as they could and found a secluded cove they could anchor in. It was occupied by a village, but they said nothing about any hunt for escaped slaves and were happy to host the townsfolk who were staying behind while the infiltration team made their way to the city. For a generous fee, of course.

Kelsey didn’t want to say where they were going. Nor did they want to appear like they didn’t know the name of the city that was a half-day’s walk away. So they had never checked that they were in the right place. Tyla was pretty sure that they were, though, and Kelsey was very sure.

They had approached the city at night; Kelsey had only scorn for the dangers of bandits or wild animals that might accost them while travelling in the darkness. The terrain was open and they had a good view of the city under moonlight. Even better when they took a turn with Kelsey’s binoculars.

They were approaching from the east. Kelsey had overshot the city—entirely deliberately, according to her— and most of the city was on the west side of a river that flowed into the bay. On that side, there was a rise in elevation. The land ascended into steep hills, culminating in cliffs facing the sea. A large fortress occupied that high ground, overlooking the city, the river and the sea.

The west side of the city was protected by a wall, but the riverside was open, given over to a series of piers and wharves. The only fortification on the east side of the river was a standalone tower, barely more than a gatehouse, that guarded the single bridge that crossed the river.

A few smaller buildings huddled around that gatehouse, but the east side of the river was mostly devoid of settlements.

“How do you know it’s Verheti?” Soraya pressed.

“Have a little faith in my navigation skills,” Kelsey said loftily.

“How can I?” Soraya asked, “You’ve never navigated a sea journey before.”

“You’d think having my own private Sea would be worth some respect,” Kelsey said. “But since you ask, there is an easy, visible way to tell that this is Verheti.”

“What is it?” Soraya asked, grabbing the binoculars off of Tyla. “Is it the flags? How do you know the heraldry of the Verheti Bey?”

“There are flags involved, but it’s a different kind of pattern recognition at play,” Kelsey said. “Since you’ve got the eyeglasses, take a look at the biggest ship at the docks.”

“You don’t mean…” Anton said. He looked out over the water and swore.

Tyla looked as well. She didn’t have the binoculars any more, but her eyes should be enough. At this distance, the boats were not so small that she couldn’t identify them. The biggest one… looked familiar.

“It’s the Pasha’s barge,” Anton said.

“Yeah, he’s gotten ahead of us,” Kelsey said. “Which means he’s worked out that we’re going after everyone that was captured in that raid.”

“So he knows… he knows who we’re going to rescue?” Aris asked.

“You got it. If we’re lucky, he’s kept them where they should be and has just set a trap for us. But… I bet he’s stuck them either in that fortress or his palace—whichever one has the strongest cells.”

“I doubt it,” Soraya said. “If he wanted to deny them to you he would simply execute them. A trap is possible.”

“Is that how a courl thinks?” Aris asked.

“That is how a ruler thinks. A dozen slaves is nothing. Having a necromancer and a Heroic Liberator running around the Empire causing havoc is a real concern.”

“That makes sense,” Kelsey agreed. “He wants to catch or kill us, so he’ll leave them out as bait.”

Soraya sighed in relief. “Good, you can see his plan. Clearly, the only sensible course of action is to avoid the trap and leave the bait untouched,” she said.

Kelsey chuckled. “Oh no, Anton, it looks like a trap. Surely we should give up and head back home with the captives we’ve managed to free.”

Anton gave Kelsey an irritated glance. “No we won’t be doing that,” he said to Soraya. “I promised to save all the townsfolk. You think I can go back to Kirido, look their families in the eye and say ‘eh, I tried?’”

“They will understand,” Soraya said urgently. “Don’t throw our lives away on an impossible task.”

“It’s not impossible,” Anton said. “That’s what being a hero means. As long as they’re not dead, Kelsey will come up with a plan and we’ll rescue them.”

Soraya made a frustrated growl. “Why did I agree to come along on this fool’s mission?”

“I figure you were half-hoping for a chance to slip away and make a new life for yourself,” Kelsey said with a grin. Tyla noted Soraya’s guilty start. “But that’s not going to happen, now.”

“Not that it was going to happen, but what makes you say that?” Soraya said suspiciously.

Kelsey’s grin got wider. “What are the chances that our old friend, and your would-be fiancé, Salim Al-Kadir, hitched a lift with the Pasha, and is even now waiting for a joyful reunion with the both of you?”