I paced restlessly on the slope overlooking the port town. The coral reefs around Baros were beautiful, shimmering in bright colors underneath gentle turquoise waves. They were also keeping the pirates—pirate civilians? Whatever, the people who lived here—from escaping. Until the tide came in, the thin strip between the coral and the shore was too shallow.

So we were making another exit.

I explained my plan to the commander as the Ragnar approached. The Ragnar would approach beneath the surface. We’d get all the kids onto the Horizon, then we’d punch a hole in the reef and get the ship out. It was the next proposal I was worried about.

“We need a ship of refugees to reach the next island,” I said. “The Trade Fleet already has ships in the area. There’s no way to guarantee they escape unless we put our thumb on the scales.”

“Go on,” Aulof said.

I took a deep breath. “I’d like to somehow yoke the Horizon to the Ragnar.”

“That will not be possible unless we coordinate with the Horcutiites. There’s no point saving a ship full of witnesses if all they can speak of is interference by agents of the Calamity.”

I bit my lip. “Yes.”

“Interference we are specifically trying to minimize.”

“I am aware.”

“And which will be reported to your Trade Fleet contacts the instant they interrogate their prisoners after the battle.”

“I’m pretty sure I can sell them on it.”

“Erid cut my head off because you got her crew killed. I hope you’re not planning to be in the room when she hears you gave aid and comfort to the enemy.”

That… okay, that was a fair point. I gritted my teeth and sighed. There was a tightness around my chest.

“And before you suggest it, there needs to be a battle here. We haven’t even begun discussing the impossibility of convincing these people only to evacuate one ship.”

Then why did you agree to bring the ship in the first place? I wanted to snap at him. But I didn’t, because I knew why.

We were Velean. The commander was testing me, sharpening my will into a blade. It was the only true kindness between immortals.

I centered myself. Become the mountain. I reached inside my identity and performed the next level of ak ha var, following the threads of fire down to the roots of who I was. Then I twisted them, pushing some experiences into the background while emphasizing others. The fire of my soul shifted in response, crackling and sparking into the endless night of my noetic awareness. Messier, maybe; more dangerous to the touch. But stronger, more confident. Relentlessly sweeping toward my goal.

I opened my eyes. For a moment, I stood calmly, being myself in some ineffable way between the trees and the sea.

“I’ll talk the natives into the hopeless last stand,” I said. “If I do that, then either Ragnar or Face Sponge needs to guarantee that the ship makes it to the next island.”

“Face Sponge is still sweeping for megafauna. They can’t get here in time. You’ve already heard my concerns.”

“With all due respect, commander, that’s your problem,” I said, grinning. “I’m just a grunt on a tropical island.”

Val, who’d been silent up until this point, started laughing.

“Markus, you’re on ops,” the commander said with humor in his voice. “Go back up your boasts, Lilith. They fall.”

“They die,” I answered. “Alright, big guy, let’s go talk some people to death.”

*

I slowed my pace as I neared the town, projecting as much aloofness as I could. I did have a weapon out—I was resting my damaged sword over my shoulders—but hopefully the fact that it was obviously useless would spare me too much escalation the part of the pirate civilians. People. Whatever.

The first person to lay eyes on me was a teenage girl trying to drag an obstreperous goat in from the fields. I gave her a smile but she didn’t return it, staring wide-eyed at me.

“I come in peace!” I tried.

She frantically tugged on the goat’s rope a couple times before loudly sobbing and abandoning it. She dashed back toward the town, leaving it to trot back to his field, rope trailing behind in the dirt.

I swallowed the pun about getting her goat—really, my life is suffering—and reached for my hand amplifier.

“These things work on animals, right?” I asked.

“Not perfectly,” said Markus. “Don’t try anything too complicated.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” I settled on a warm feeling of trust, heading for the animal. It slowed as I approached, looking up at me. It seemed to tense and relax at the same time, the alarm of a strange person warring with the artificial familiarity of the hand amplifier.

“I’m calling you Ellen,” I said, remembering my brother’s ex. “She always looked like a goat.”

Ellen bleated.

The townspeople’s response force found me three minutes later, Ellen in tow. There were six of them, wearing well-maintained by incomplete armor sets. I wondered if they’d been interrupted before having to rush out here. Unlike the guys we’d fought at the temple, these ones had shields, at least. A couple of them hesitantly lowered their spears at me, but the goat whose leash I was carrying didn’t exactly scream “enemy combatant.” Only one of them was glaring at me with obvious hatred.

“Godsmile,” I said like there was nothing weird about being met with armored goons. “There was a girl out there. I’m afraid she got scared when she saw and left this guy.”

One of the men—who seemed to be in charge, from the subtle ways people kept looking at him—stepped forward.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Thank you,” he said. “But we know who you serve. Go back to them. The port will be empty before they arrive. Whatever we do not take with us, we will burn.”

I looked around ostentatiously at the unburnt town. “Fancy that.”

“Get out!” barked the guy who hated me.

“Do I know you?” I asked him.

“Dog of Varas,” he spat.

“This is going well,” Markus commented.

“Shut up,” I subvocalized, then gave their leader an ironic look. “You know I’m gonna have to kill him for that, right?”

He paled. “Please just go.”

“His name was Ebodes!” the angry man shouted, taking a step forward. “Remember it when I send you back to the shadowlands!”

“Kara,” the leader said, trying to cut him off.

I’ve already forgotten it, I wanted to say, but bit back the response.

“How about,” I said instead, “you send this guy to do something productive, and then I go talk with your leader about saving your asses.”

“From you!?” Angry Guy screamed. He pushed past the leader, stabbing at me with his spear.

The center of balance on my sword was wonky, but I was quick enough to knock the spear aside. I reflexively aimed the sword at him, remembering too late that it was too damaged to fire safely. But the instant it was aimed at him, Kara’s eyes widened and he dove for the ground, dropping his spear and shield. That gave his buddies an opening to subdue him.

“If he knows what that sword does, it means he was present at the battle,” Markus said. “You sure you can do this?”

“If you don’t have useful advice, I need you to shut up,” I subvocalized.

“Thank you for sparing our brother’s life,” the leader said carefully. “You should leave before more violence breaks out.”

“This has all been a misunderstanding,” I said.

“You killed him!” Kara screamed.

I glared at the leader.

“Get him out of here,” I said, pointing the sword at Kara without breaking eye contact. “Or I will. I’m trying to save lives here.”

“Careful,” Markus said. “They’ve identified you with the invaders. Making threats puts you more firmly in that role.”

“They’re not responding to anything else,” I subvocalized as Kara’s buddies pulled him away.

“I know. You should still try de-escalate.”

It was good advice, I reflected. I lowered my sword, noting how the other guy’s face relaxed.

“I think we got off on the wrong foot,” I said. “Let’s start over.”

“I think you’ve killed too many for that,” the guy said. “You should go. We’ll be gone before your forces arrive.”

Here it was.

“You won’t,” I said, letting my face fall. “There’s another fleet, and they’ll be coming with the tide. Fighting in the last battle is how I won enough trust to come tell you this.”

I watched the three remaining soldiers tense and smiled grimly.

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “Kives has decreed that your last stand will be here.”

“You said you were here to save lives,” the leader said, examining me intently.

“We have to save the children,” I said. “Kives wants them to live.”

I didn’t know that for sure, of course, but she fucking well better or I was gonna burn down some fetoulia trees.

“Of course she does,” the leader said, scowling. “And the rest of us she gambled away to the Stranger, is that it?”

—blood gushing from a throat wound, a grinning maw of shredded gums and razor teeth—

“Fuck!” I shouted, flinching away. The goat took off, running in the direction of the fields. “The hell was that?”

The sky had been so blue, but was tinting purple. The sun gleamed sickly off the edges of the soldiers’ weapons. The fear and uncertainty on their faces took on a darker, more sinister case.

“Alcebios is watching,” Val said. “It’s getting stronger.”

They were looking at my like I’d become a dangerous animal, like I was crazy. It felt like I had. My heart was racing. My body felt weightless; my torso felt like there were iron bands around it.

“Cloak now!” Val shouted. “You need to cloak!”

“Don’t say that,” I wheezed at the soldiers, then vanished.

They stared in my direction like they’d seen a ghost.

“What,” I said, “the hell.”

“It seems Alciebios doesn’t lightly give up her prey,” Val said.

“Eriphides,” the leader was murmuring. “What kind of creature just… disappears, like that?”

“Is this going to happen every time someone mentions her?” I asked. “Because that’s gonna get old.”

“It could be that you’re standing on the site of an imminent battle,” Val observed. “It’s not unlike holy ground.”

“She said she was performing the will of Kives,” Eriphides said slowly.

“Great,” I said, trying to slow my heart rate. “Just fucking typical. Did you check the moirascope or something?”

“But the look on her face when she heard the name of the Stranger,” the leader replied.

“Mere conjecture,” Val said. “But—”

“Hold on,” I told Val. “That’s good enough.”

I un-vanished.

“Stop fucking saying that name!” I yelled at the leader. “Just get the fucking kids on the fucking boat so we can salvage some part of this mess! You! What the fuck is your name?”

“Dal Lumira,” he said automatically, wide-eyed.

“Dal Lumira,” I said, “do not invoke that asshole. Do you know why? Shut up, I’m being rhetorical. It’s because she’s fucking watching. There is going to be a battle here, and enough people are going to die to make it worth her attention. So please, for the love of dog, get the kids on the fucking boat.”

He blinked. “The love of—no, there are more important questions. Will you fight against us?”

I drew in a shuddering breath, then let it slowly, deflating as it left my body.

“I’m done,” I said miserably. “This wasn’t—there weren’t supposed to be innocents.”

Dal Lumira nodded, looking into the woods. His posture was tense, subtle emotions flickering over his face. Then all at once he relaxed. He wasn’t calm. More… resigned. He turned to me, a slight smile on his face. It was a bitter smile, but there were undertones of understanding.

“When Rodi told me that the Varasites’ champion was coming here, I feared the worst,” he said. “How are you called?”

“Danou.”

“You’ve unburdened my heart, Danou,” he said with that strange look on his face. “Truth be told, I’ve always thought it would end this way, with the Trade Fleet bringing flame and ruin to our community. But if it had to end this way, better that someone sees the truth of who we are. Not pirates. Only children of the gods, trying to live virtuous lives.”

He crashed his spear twice against his shield in a warrior’s salute.

“Remember us,” he said. “And when the Trade Fleet tells the world that we were rapists and thieves, whisper the truth to any who will listen.”

“I can do that,” I promised him. “But it will be better if your children can tell that story too.”

“Of course,” he said. “How does Kives plan to get them out?”

“When the Horizon leaves, a hole will open in the reef,” I said. “That ship, and only that ship, will escape, along with whoever you can fit on it.” I paused. “Don’t worry about provisions. I’ll make sure they get fed. Just get as many people on there as you can.”

Val scoffed, but he didn’t object. That was good; producing a boatful of rations from thing air would be his job.

“I’ll see that it’s done,” said Dal Lumira. “Remember us, Danou.”

“I will,” I said. “Make it a last stand to remember.”

I cloaked again, wearily climbing the slope back to the forest. Erid’s troops were probably on their way now—most likely at a slower pace, since I wasn’t there to blast all the traps, but it was only a matter of time. The thought of hiking back through the jungle was too much right now. I trudged over to a small bluff and sat down heavily, looking out over the bay. The dark shape of the Ragnar was visible from here, hidden from the town by virtue of an outcropping.

“Hi, guys,” I said, giving them a wave. Markus would see it, at least, since he was piggy-backing on my feed.

“That was certainly one way to convince them,” Val said. “What was your plan in the case where you weren’t saved by coincidence?”

“Honestly, more or less what I ended up saying,” I said. “That they were doomed by fate, but that we could get the kids out.”

“Kids whose care and feeding you’ve made my responsibility,” Val said. I thought he might be joking, but as usual, there was no etheric content to his words.

“I’ve always thought you’d make a great absent father,” I said, before realizing that might have struck a little too close to home. “Sorry, I’m tired.”

“Don’t apologize,” Val said. I couldn’t tell what he was feeling.

“I think I’m gonna rest here for a bit,” I said. “I’ll reopen channels when the Horizon embarks.”

“We’ll monitor from here,” Aulof assured me. “See you soon.”

I closed my links with the team, but my comm informed me there was still a connection. Markus was still running the ops console.

“You can probably turn off the hand amplifier now,” Markus said.

“Yo, big guy,” I said. I checked; it was still pumping trustworthiness into the surrounding area. I shut it down. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry, Lilith. I know you need time to recover after… all that. But as the team’s social officer, I have to address this immediately.”

My breath caught. “What’s wrong?”

“We need to talk about Kives.”