The red glow of the burning ship disappears on the horizon as we sail south. Captain Murrok finishes their illusion spell several minutes later, and a shell of orange light forms around the ship. I can’t see any difference from the inside, but Noli assures us that from the outside, we’re now practically invisible.
We’re free. No one is chasing us. We all have a moment to breathe.
Well, most of us, anyway.
I turn to Noli. “How did you find us?”
She smiles fondly. “It’s a bit of a story. Perhaps we should find somewhere more comfortable first. I’m sure you could all use some rest.”
Zyneth especially. He tries not to show it, but I’m starting to recognize the fatigue in subtle hints of his body language. Of course, I don’t actually need rest—physically, speaking—but mentally, emotionally… just talking with Noli again is healing.
As we leave the quarterdeck, the Captain nods at Noli as she passes, and she puts a hand on their shoulder, giving it a squeeze. They must know each other, then. It wouldn’t surprise me if Noli’s made friends in every corner of the world.
Noli takes us below deck to a galley not unlike the one on the Prismatic. There’s no table, save the small plank used to prepare meals, so Rezira points Zyneth over to a crate; after he sits down, she sets about checking him over, her hands glowing with the faint green light of her healing magic. I also take a seat on a nearby crate, but Noli sets about preparing a meal. It will be the first fresh food Zyneth has had in two months.
“We got your letter,” Noli pauses to sign after she sets things out on the counter. “It was rather alarming. Rezira and I decided we had to investigate at once.”
“Mostly Noli,” Rezira adds.
“We started in Miasmere,” she continues. “You said you were heading to Emrox, so we started at the docks. There was no sign of this Gillow fellow you mentioned—” Zyneth frowns, and as my thoughts return to Gillow, the predator mentally growls. “—but we did some digging anyway. This led us to some rather unscrupulous groups of people.”
“Gods be good,” Zyneth says after Rezira translates. “You didn’t get involved with any of them, did you?” He glances toward the ceiling, and I imagine he’s wondering if our Captain Murrok is part of that same underworld.
“Oh they were rather too rude for my liking,” Noli signs, surely making the understatement of the century. “But ultimately, none of them were of any help. So we decided to take a more proactive approach.”
Noli pauses to start cutting up some fruit, cheese, and slices of crusty bread, so Rezira takes over.
“We visited some friends in the south,” she says, nodding to Noli. “She spent most of her childhood in Citron City.”
“Ah,” Zyneth says with a nod, as if this explains everything.
“Why there?” I ask. What does this have to do with anything?
“It’s a predominantly lamia capital.” Rezira pauses, probably remembering I’m not from around here. “Oh, right. Lamia don’t have vocal chords. Signs are their primary form of communication, and every known sign language across Lusio originated with them, in one form or another. Noli’s parents sent her there to live with a host family when she was young. I’m sure they wanted to give her the best education available.”
Noli’s parents. Now that’s something I’ve never stopped to wonder about. What must they be like? She’s never mentioned them.
“Anyway,” Rezira says, “Murrok was part of Noli’s host family. They’re almost like her sibling. They also own a ship. When Noli showed up asking for help, they couldn’t say no.” She smiles. “Most people can’t.”
Rezira pats Zyneth’s back, then heads over to help with the food. “That’s as good as I can get it for now,” she tells him. “Those wounds were mostly healed anyway. I’m sure there’s a good story behind them,” she teasingly adds.
Zyneth’s gaze flickers over to me, and my soul sinks. Those wounds were ones the predator gave him in Emrox.
“So what happened after that?” Zyneth hurriedly asks, returning his attention to Noli and Rezira. “You just sailed around aimlessly looking for us?”
Noli passes off the meal prep to Rezira after she translates, and turns back to us with a giggle. “Not quite. By the time we sailed back to Miasmere, over a month had passed since we got your message. And something had changed since we last left.
“The same people we’d spoken to about Gillow before were now missing. We weren’t sure why, until we found an interesting job post in a less-than-charming establishment. Someone was looking for a submarine called the Prismatic, and offering quite a hefty bounty for its inhabitants; a cambion and glass homunculus. Half the undercity had formed crews and were scouring the sea.”
Zyneth looks aghast. “Please tell me you also didn’t accept such a job!”
Noli waves him off with a laugh. “No, no. Don’t be silly! We’ve just been following them around; generally at a great distance and with Murrok’s illusions in place.”
“Randomly?” I ask, skeptical. “It’s a miracle anyone found us.”
“Not random,” Noli says. “Rezira and I were able to figure out that each crew who accepted the job was given a piece of metal to use to track the missing submarine. She thinks it’s some kind of tracing magic.”
“Perhaps a replaced part of the Prismatic itself,” Zyneth says, scratching his chin. “Yes, that could explain it.”
Like my Locate spell. I’d used my soul as a focus to try to find my body. If someone had pieces of the Prismatic to use as foci, it wouldn’t be hard to get them to point toward the submarine. They might have known we were somewhere out at sea for the last month, but they wouldn’t have had any way to get to us—not until we made for land and shallower waters.
It also all but confirms the hit was put on us by Gillow. Who else would have pieces of their submarine on hand?
“Once all the ships started to converge and change patterns, we knew you must be close,” Noli signs. “And I guess the rest is history!”
“Thank you,” I say. “I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t shown up.”
“Oh, it seemed like you two had things pretty well handled without us,” Noli jokes. Neither Zyneth or I laugh.
Rezira turns back to us with a platter of food, which she sets on a crate between all of us. She gestures for us to help ourselves, and I wonder if she remembers that I can’t eat. Zyneth hesitantly takes a piece of bread, but doesn’t eat any yet. Despite how hungry he must be, he’s still the type to wait for everyone to have something first. I eye the fruit, wondering what it might taste like. A whole world full of new flavors, and I’ll never know it.
“So that’s our story,” Rezira says, taking a seat beside Noli. She gestures to me. “What about yours? From your letter, I wasn’t sure if we’d be rescuing you both, or just Zyneth.”
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Because I’d told them I’d be leaving this world and returning to my own. What a fool’s errand that turned out to be. But there’s so much that happened. Where do I even begin?
Zyneth pauses as he notices my hesitation, bread halfway to his mouth. “I can tell them,” he offers.
“No, no.” I wave him off. “Enjoy your meal. I can do all the talking for once.”
He raises an amused eyebrow. “For once?”
“Do you want a minute to eat or not?”
He chuckles, and begins to dig in.
Noli and Rezira look at me expectantly, and I experience a flutter of stage fright. They’re not going to like the story I have to tell them. Noli will be disappointed in me. But they’ve already done so much for Zyneth and I. Explaining what all led to where we are now is the least I can do.
“It started with the Library in Miasmere,” I sign. “When I was doing research on my magic, I found an old picture of a spell circle in Emrox…”
Rezira sits there unmoving the whole time, arms crossed, at most reacting with a frown or raised eyebrow. Noli, meanwhile, stares at me wide-eyed as I detail our misadventures, popping pieces of fruit into her mouth like popcorn. She’s riveted when I get to the encounter with Yedzaquib, and gasps when I describe all the deep sea beasts we fought through the Prismatic. She tears up when I tell her about finding my gravestone, and bites her nails when I describe the predator’s fight with Zyneth. Even Zyneth pauses at this point, listening intently. I guess he never heard it from my point of view.
Finally, I lower my hands and lean back, emotionally drained.
“Holy shit,” Rezira mumbles, probably so her wife won’t notice.
“Oh, Kanin.” Noli leans over to squeeze my knee. “That’s all so much!”
“So what does this mean?” Rezira asks. “That shadow monster that tried to kill Noli is free now?”
“Sort of,” I admit. “We’re kind of in an armistice.”
Rezira frowns. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’re trying to find a way to coexist,” I say. Though I’m not sure that’s going too well, given what just happened on the other ship. “We’re effectively two minds in one body, each equally powerful as the other. Meaning I have the potential to squash it into submission just as much as it has the power to do the same to me. Or we can both fight for control and get nowhere. So we’re… trying to find a way to get along. Right now that means we do what I want during the day and what it wants—within reason—at night.” I look to Zyneth. “I’m worried that arrangement isn’t going to work anymore.”
“Because other people are around?” he asks.
I nod. “I tried to impress morals upon it. I tried to get it to understand that it can’t kill people—that it doesn’t need to, now that it has the magic from my soul to feed off of. But I… I just don’t know. I can’t trust it.”
“Where is it now?” Noli asks, glancing around the room as if it might be hiding in the shadows. Well, she’s not entirely wrong there.
I unbutton my coat and open it for Noli and Rezira. Zyneth leans over to look, too.
There’s not much to see, really. At first glance it would seem like nothing more than my glass form. But the shadows within my coat are darker than they should be, and shift even when there’s no change in light.
“That’s the monster?” Noli asks. “Why, it doesn’t look so big and bad now!”
“But still plenty dangerous,” Zyneth says.
“It becomes more substantial after absorbing mana,” I add. “But as Zyneth said, it’s still a serious threat.”
“How come it isn’t attacking us?” Rezira asks. “Are you controlling it?”
The question gives me pause. I’m not controlling it, because the predator is still largely sulking and avoiding me. But even though it’s indicated it knows Noli and Zyneth are off limits, it’s still odd it hasn’t made a move or even shown interest in attacking Rezira or Captain Murrok. Given the time I’ve spent on this boat and all the distractions I’ve been subjected to, it’s had ample opportunity.
“I think I’ll need to have a talk with it about all this later,” I say.
Rezira looks skeptical. “You talk with it?”
I shrug. “In a manner of speaking.”
“Does it have a name?” Noli asks.
The question catches me off guard. “Er. No,” I say. “It’s a monster.”
“Monsters can have names,” Noli insists. “Like that dragon in the Tale of the Water Weaver. What was it called again?”
“Frostbreath, Bane of the Wyrm Hunter,” Rezira recites.
“Yes, that’s it!” Noli exclaims.
“That’s a bit of a mouthful,” I remark.
“We’ve just been calling it ‘the predator,’” Zyneth says. “It’s proved a fairly accurate descriptor.”
Noli wrinkles her nose. “But it’s a bit vague, isn’t it? Talking about it could get confusing. We should give it a name!”
It’s a good thing I’m already sitting down. I don’t even know how to reply to this suggestion. It’s too absurd to wrap my head around.
“What about Spot,” Noli suggests, leaning forward excitedly. “Like a spot of ink.”
“We are not naming the predator Spot,” I say firmly.
“Ink,” Noli signs. “Inky.”
“You remember this thing tried to kill both of us, right?”
“Shadow!”
The predator can tell that I’m thinking about it, but doesn’t understand what we’re talking about. Names are too abstract for it, probably. Even with Noli and Zyneth, when it thinks about them they’re more concepts than names.
“It feels rather odd to give it a name now,” Zyneth admits. “It almost feels a bit too… familiar.”
I know what he means. Giving it a name gives it an identity. It makes it seem more concrete—no longer just a temporary affliction or abstract concept. A name gives it permanence.
And I guess it is permanent, isn’t it? Yedzaquib had indicated that separating it from my soul would kill me. Not that I’m going to give up on trying to find a way to get rid of it—or at least contain it—based on Yedzaquib’s opinion, but it’s time I admit to myself that the predator is going to be around for quite a bit longer than I would like.
“Noli’s right that it would help talking about it if we had some specific name for it,” Rezira says. “However,” she adds, before Noli can make any more suggestions, “perhaps we can workshop names at a later date. I’m sure Zyneth and Kanin would like to get some rest.”
I don’t, actually, but I’m relieved by Rezira running interference. “Rest would be appreciated,” I say. “It will be nice to have a break for a bit before we get Zyneth to land.”
“Zyneth?” Noli asks. Why?”
She and Rezira look at him, and now it’s his turn to squirm beneath their expectant looks.
“I’m afraid I have a rather pressing job call I must answer.” Zyneth hesitates for a moment, and I wonder if I should have said anything at all. It’s not my secret to tell. Then he sighs and rolls up his sleeve, revealing the glowing ouroboros. Reluctantly, he explains his debts and the significance of the tattoo’s glow.
“Luckily, this debt’s owner isn’t from Miasmere,” Zyneth says, truly choosing to focus on the silver lining. “So at least we’ll be able to avoid Gillow, Yedzaquib, and all this bounty hunting nonsense. To fulfill this debt, I’ll be needing to head back to Harrowood.”
“Oh,” I say, surprised. The city where I first tried to find a wizard to resolve my and Noli’s spells. It’s located just outside of the Valenia North mountain range. I have a lot of memories from those mountains, and most of them aren’t good. “Oh.”
Zyneth smiles through a grimace. “You really don’t have to come. Being in a big city right now might not be a good idea.”
He’s right about that. But there’s also a lot of rural areas around there; mountain peaks where no one would be around for miles and miles. Maybe the safest place for me to stay, if not at sea.
Besides. There’s a certain cabin I’d like to visit.
“Harrowood?” Noli looks at me, and I wonder if she’s thinking the same thing. “We should go.”
“We should,” I agree.
Rezira seems as equally hesitant as Zyneth. “You sure about that?” she asks. “It might open old wounds.”
“It’s rather perfect, actually,” Noli signs. “I’ve been wanting to go back.”
“Me too.” Well, want is a strong word. But I’ve felt I should, someday. I just didn’t think it would be so soon.
I turn to Zyneth before he can object. “We’ll be heading there anyway, for your job if nothing else. No sense in trying to argue against it.”
He closes his mouth against what was undoubtedly an argument against it.
“Then it’s settled,” Noli signs, a bit too chipper for the present subject matter. “I’ll let Murrok know. Tomorrow we sail for Harrowood!”
“Actually, it’s landlocked,” Rezira says. “We’ll need to take a telepad.”
“Tomorrow we sail for a telepad to Harrowood!” Noli amends.
Zyneth chuckles, and Rezira smiles fondly at her wife. I’m even starting to think this course of action might not be the worst option available.
It’s hard to be dour with Noli around.