Anton’s fingers tightened on the wheel.

“So the Rose Circle is blackmailing her now?” he asked.

“No, not exactly… but kinda,” Kelsey said. “It’s a gray area.”

“How is it gray? Either they are or they aren’t.”

“They aren’t, because Suliel was already going to trade them the guns. They are, because letting slip that they know about the murder, and that Suliel is connected to it, suggests that they know she did it. So it’s both.”

“Did they do that? You said they just told her that they know about the murder.”

Kelsey sighed. “Suliel just got this instantly, you know. Seraphina implied that Suliel was connected to the murder by mentioning it to her.”

“Did she?” Anton asked, confused. “I don’t see how one follows from the other.”

“It’s how nobles work,” Kelsey explained. “You’ve got to listen to what they aren’t saying.”

“They aren’t saying a lot of things,” Anton grumbled. “They aren’t saying they were behind it all, or that it was all the plan of their rabbit overlords. So why aren’t they saying that particular thing?”

Kelsey sighed. “Possibly, you had to be there,” she said. “Non-verbal cues, Suliel’s emotional state at the time, the timing of the revalation… it all adds up. If you were there, you might have picked it up. Might.”

“Okay, but if they don’t need to blackmail her, then why did they?” Anton asked.

“They might be worried she was getting cold feet, planning on reporting them to the King,” Kelsey said. “To be honest, if he’d asked her if she’d contacted the Rose Circle, she probably would have told him.”

“Why didn’t he, then?”

“He doesn’t want word of the Rose Circle getting out. If Suliel hadn’t known about the Circle, he would have told her by asking the question.”

“Politics is complicated,” Anton complained.

“You’ll get used to it, Baron,” Kelsey said archly. “Fortunately, Suliel seems to know what she’s doing. To get back to the blackmail, since they aren’t making demands, it also comes across as an offer to help.”

“Help… us?” Anton asked, completely lost now.

“They know about the incident, possibly more than we do,” Kelsey explained. “They probably have some sort of in with whoever is doing the investigation. They can help us find out why the Mage’s Guild is after Suliel.”

Anton frowned. The wooden steering wheel creaked alarmingly in his grip. “We need to get there faster,” he growled.

“Sure, but you need to be informed before we get there,” Kelsey said. “If you don’t have all the information, you won’t be pointing your sword in the right direction.”

“What else do I need to know, then?”

“You should probably decide if you’re supporting the Rose Circle or the King,” Kelsey replied.

“But… I don’t know if the King is false or not,” Anton protested. “Is that—will my loyalty be a problem?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m supposed to meet the King, aren’t I?” Anton said. “And he’s got Nobility’s privledge, so he’ll see the same thing that Suliel did, won’t he? That my loyalty is to “Kelsey”?”

“I’m not sure it will, now,” Kelsey said. “Back then, you were going along with whatever I said, but I think we’ve grown past that. I’m more like an advisor, don’t you think?”

“Maybe,” Anton said. “I thought it was the geas that made it say that, though. The geas is still there.”

“No, the geas doesn’t make you do what I say,” Kelsey said. “Back then, you were lost and looking for purpose. You were chained to me, so it only made sense that you’d look to me for direction. Now… you’ve grown. Freeing the slaves was your idea, you dragged me along for it.”

Anton looked at her suspicously. “Wasn’t this all part of your master plan?”

Kelsey laughed. “My plan is mostly blank spots,” she said. “I need you to grow, which won’t happen if I control every little thing. I have to let you do what you want, and then try and keep you alive through the consequences.”

“So what will my loyalty read as?”

Kelsey paused. “Suliel says that heroes often read as “Independant”. That sounds like it suits you right now.”

“Won’t that be a problem for a baron?” Anton asked.

“You’re still a hero,” Kelsey pointed out. “Suliel says it’s not great, but it’s not disqualifying.”

“Unless the King decides it is,” Anton mused. “It really would be helpful to know if he was false or not. If he was a true king, I think I could be loyal to him.”

“Yeah, well, we all have wishes,” Kelsey said. “I’d like to know how to make a really great battery. Lithium polymer, sure, but which polymer? Do you know how many of them there are?”

Anton was spared from responding to Kelsey’s nonsense by a call from the crow’s nest.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Ship ahead!” Tyla called down. When they looked up, she pointed in a direction that was almost directly in front of them.

“Take the wheel,” Anton told Kelsey and made his way to the mast where Tyla was climbing down.

“I do not think it is an Elitran ship,” Tyla told him, handing him the binoculars.

They only had one set. Kelsey had complained long and hard about how hard it was to grind the lenses. Anton took the device and clambered up the mast, his Trait making easy work of the climb.

Once up, he peered through the binoculars, looking for the ship. It didn’t take him long to find it. Even through the binoculars, he couldn’t make out much detail yet, but it was close enough for Delver’s Discernment to work.

Imbube’s Pride, Tiatian Windreaver, Excellent Quality, Tier 3, Windcatcher Enchantment

That was all. He couldn’t get a bead on any of the crew. He did make out what looked like huge crossbows attached to the deck.

“It’s a Tiatian warship,” he told Kelsey when he got back to the wheel. “Do you think we can avoid it?”

“We can… probably. The problem is that it's between us and Kirido, so any evasion we do will mean it takes longer to get home.”

Anton frowned. Some of the others were starting to gather near. Soraya and Aris joined him on the raised platform.

“What’s a Tiatian warship doing out here, anyway?”

The question was for Kelsey, but from her silence, it wasn’t something that Suliel knew much about. Soraya was the one to answer.

“Tiatia thinks they own the entire Sea,” she said scornfully. “Now that we are out of Elitran waters, it makes sense that we should see a patrol.”

“Do they…attack other ships?” Anton asked.

“Not peaceful trading ships, Suliel says,” Kelsey said thoughtfully. “But if they think you’re a warship…”

Everyone except her glanced involuntarily towards the front of the ship.

“So they’d leave us alone?” Anton asked hopefully. Even if they were worried about the Decksweeper being recognised as a weapon, they could store it away.

“In our case, they might have a few questions about how we’re not using sails or oars,” Kelsey said wryly.

Everyone looked at the sails, which were still tied up tightly to the masts. No one had touched them since the trip had begun. Anton had considered trying to use them for more speed, but Kelsey had convinced him that without the knowledge of how to use them, they could well slow the ship down.

“That’s the sort of technology… er, magic, that the military might want to get its hands on,” Kelsey went on.

“So what do we do?”

Soraya pointed forward. “That weapon made short work of the pride of the Elitran navy. I’m sure that they could do similar to the ships of that barbaric Empire.”

“I don’t know… that ship was Tier Three,” Anton said, prompting a stifled gasp from Soraya. “I didn’t check, but is that normal for Eltiran ships?”

“Mostly Tier Two,” Kelsey told him. “I’d still put my money on the machine gun.”

“And they had what looked like big crossbows on the deck,” Anton said.

Kelsey drew in a breath consideringly. “Ballistae,” she said. “Primitive, but effective. With our new Gunner, we should outrange them, but we don’t want to get hit by them.”

“Won’t attacking a Tiatian ship have some sort of consequences?” Aris asked.

“If we can sink it without a trace, then hopefully not,” Kelsey said. “No witnesses means they don’t know who to blame.”

She winced, reacting to something they couldn’t hear. “But, I suppose, if a new, powerful ship shows up they might suspect it was responsible for the earlier, mysterious loss of one of their ships.”

“So we don’t want to fight, we don’t want to run and we don’t want to approach them,” Anton said. “Does that about cover it?”

“We’re going to have to do something we don’t like,” Kelsey agreed. “What’s your decision, Captain?”

Anton grunted with annoyance. Partly at the decision that needed to be made and partly because he was being forced to make it.

“Letting them approach is the the only option that doesn’t inevitably lead to something bad,” he said.

“Hey, c’mon! Sinking the ship only might lead to something bad!” Kelsey protested.

“Sinking a Tiatian ship is bad, I want to avoid it if we can,” Anton said. “Not just because of the stuff Suliel said. They’re not like the Elitrans, they don’t raid us.”

Soraya sniffed. “As if they could be compared to our glorious Empire.”

Kelsey gave Soraya a wry look. “Brownnosing them when they’re not here isn’t going to get you back any sooner.”

Soraya’s ears went back and she dropped her head. “Sorry,” she said. “But while they may not have raided your coast, they have sunk many Elitran ships.”

“Aw, now you’ve got me all turned around. Maybe we shouldn’t sink them.”

Kelsey returned Soraya’s glare with an innocent grin.

“I’d rather not sink any ships if we don’t have to,” Anton said. “Tyla, is there anything you can do to help?”

“Magic, you mean?” Tyla said. She thought for a moment. “I could shroud the ship in mist. If we don’t move too fast.”

“How fast?” Anton asked.

“I’m not sure. We’d have to experiment,” Tyla confessed.

“Um,” Aris put in. “Wouldn’t a fog bank kind of stand out right now?”

They all looked out over the water. It was getting late in the afternoon, but the sun was still out, and the weather was fine. There was nothing but clear blue water all around, with not a fog in sight.

“Perhaps,” Tyla admitted. “I could… hide the Decksweeper. If it doesn’t move.”

“With Illusion, right?” Aris asked. “Could you make it look like we have sails?”

Tyla looked up at the masts. “I could, but… I can’t make them move. They would look strange, even at a distance.”

“That wouldn’t fool them,” Kelsey said. “They’ve got to have someone with an identification Trait that works on ships. We’ll show up as special.

Anton blinked and turned his Trait on the deck beneath him.

Whiskerwind, Kiridan Steelcutter, Good Quality, Tier 3, Fireheart

“Tier Three as well,” he noted. “But Steelcutter? It’s made of wood.”

“I didn’t pick the name,” Kelsey said. “The engine’s steel, though. Cutter is a fast boat, or maybe it’s referencing breaking chains. I dunno.”

“Fireheart refers to the engine, I guess,” Anton mused.

“Pretty poetic for a humble four-stroke,” Kelsey said. “But it isn’t inaccurate.”

“Do it anyway,” he told Tyla. “Hide the gun and make fake sails. It will keep them guessing.”

“Couldn’t we just use the real ones?” Aris asked.

“We don’t know how to put them down,” Anton said, waving vaguely. He was aware there was a special word for it, he just didn’t remember what it was. Furl? Spoke?

“And once they’re down, we don’t know how to get them up,” he added.

“Reduce our speed a bit,” Kelsey suggested. “It will make us a less attractive target and surprise them if we have to run away.”

Anton nodded. They already had a top speed in reserve, but it wouldn’t hurt to have more. Though it hurt to slow down. He bore with it, telling himself that slowing down was better than turning back.

Tyla did her magic before returning to the crow’s nest. It wasn’t long before she had an update.

“They’ve adjusted course. I think they mean to intercept!”

“Well, this is another step,” Kelsey said. “Your first parlay as a ship's captain.”

She stopped suddenly, struck by a thought. “You need a hat!” she exclaimed.

“I have a hat,” Anton said. Just about everyone was wearing straw hats, provided by Kelsey, to keep the sun off them. The only exception was Soraya, who said they pinched her ears.

“A fancy hat!” Kelsey corrected him. “I’ve been working on this for a while, but I didn’t think we’d get a chance to use it.”

She produced a hat, made of… Anton didn’t know what it was made of. He tried using Discernment.

Tricorne Hat, Clothing, Good Quality, Tier 2

“Is this really necessary?” he asked, eyeing the skull and crossed bones insignia that Kelsey had affixed somehow. It was probably too late to go back on it, seeing as he’d allowed the flag to carry it.

“Absolutely,” Kelsey assured him. “Can’t be taken seriously as a captain if you don’t have a fancy hat.”

Anton sighed and put it on. “How do I look?” he asked.

“Arrr!” Kelsey said. “Splice the mainbrace and shiver me timbers!”