CHAPTER 4: MIRA AUGUST 27, 878

When Princess Adelyn finally found Mira, she’d almost pushed the thick sandbag past the breaking point. If this sack of dirt was sentient, Mira would’ve had it crying for its mother by now. Nevermind that both her elbows were sore and rubbed raw from the coarse material keeping the sand in one piece. Nevermind that her knuckles were chafed and her fist was exhausted from gripping the baton so hard. Or that her knees, shins, and feet ached from hitting the bag again and again.

“I have a favor to ask you,” the princess began.

“I’m afraid I only give out one favor a day, and you used yours when you let him take another breath.” Mira had a bad habit of forgetting she was speaking with a princess. Her Highness hadn’t fired her for it yet, though.

“You have heard of Silas of Kavrille?” the princess went on, as if Mira hadn’t said a word.

“The Jinura supremacist whose rampages have injured hundreds and killed who knows how many. He frees Jinura indentures, only to have them pledge loyalty to him. Isn’t he Linia’s problem?” Mira jabbed the sandbag. She may have been born and raised in Linia, but she hadn’t called it home in a long time. Silas of Kavrille wasn’t her responsibility.

“Five years ago he was. Now, he is the world’s problem. His chaos has started leaking into Sendium and Goura. Seven towns on the borders of the Corignis Province have been raided by Silas’s men in the last six months. Even Kern has not remain untouched by his influence. You know this.”

Mira did know this. Most of Silas’s effect was direct, but Jinura all over the Four Kingdoms had started to rebel against their Corridian superiors. Most people thought of the radicals as little more than a pest, but apparently Princess Adelyn thought he could cause some real damage.

“I am but a lowly guard, Your Highness.” The princess scoffed at Mira’s falsely modest words, but Mira continued. “What favor could I possibly grant you that would make a difference?”

“My sister would never agree to do anything that could validate the threat Kavrille poses, but the Linian King might. Most of his trade is in Jinura indentures. He has reason to fight against Silas. I believe that left alone, Silas could grow powerful enough to seriously damage the Four Kingdoms. The Linian King has the power to stop this.”

“What does this have to do with me?” Mira finally stopped hitting the bag, leaning against it instead.

“I need a messenger to relay this information to the King of Linia. Someone must act. You and Imi are my best girls, and I know I can trust you with this.”

Mira let out a heavy sigh. A three-day trip to the Linian Castle wouldn’t be too bad. It might even be like a vacation. Dealing with the king was no treat, but she would just deliver the message and be on her way.

“Alright, fine.”

“Wonderful. Torrin and Cedric will be ready to leave in the morning.”

“What?” Mira’s teeth gritted together and the skin on her hand strained over her knuckles as her grip on the baton tightened.

“If the king agrees to take Silas seriously, he will need someone who knows Silas better than anyone, which is why you’ll have to negotiate a pardon so Torrin and Cedric can work with the Linian King to stop Silas before he does something terrible.”

“Princess, do you have any idea—”

“Yes. I do,” she responded quietly. “Imi told me several months ago. I know what happened and I know what a challenge this will be for you, but I believe that hundreds if not thousands of lives are dependent on this mission succeeding.” The princess took a step back and her posture relaxed. “If you are not willing to help, then I’m sure Kamala would be more than willing to take your place.”

“Kamala!” There was no way. Not only would Kamala have Imi wanting to hurl herself off a cliff before they reached Nessic, but if Kamala did succeed, Torrin would be back in the Linian Kingdom, protected by the king’s military. If Kamala failed, Torrin would probably be arrested and sent back to Linian prison where he would be, once again, untouchable.

“If Torrin has not already paid for his crimes, Shali and Shama will ensure that there is justice,” the princess said. Mira set her jaw. She had believed that once, too. But if Shali and Shama had any sense of mortal justice, Torrin would have died four years ago. No, this was one balance in the world Mira would have to set herself. “I need you to do this. To protect Torrin and Cedric until they can defeat Silas of Kavrille.” Mira’s ears perked at the condition. Until. She waited four years to find him again. She could wait another week.

“Deal.”

“Was it bribery?” Imi guessed.

“No.”

“You lost a bet,” she tried again. Mira sighed.

“All this coming from the girl who has left Sendium a grand total of once in her life. I’m surprised your father allowed such a trip.” The last time Imi had a whim to leave Sendium on a royal mission for the princess, both of Imi’s parents intervened. She was only fifteen at the time, but that had been less than two years ago.

“Luckily, his sister-in-law can be very persuasive.” Imi put a skip in her step as she walked along the dusty trail. Instead of reminding her of her parents, Mira had only made her more excited about the trip.

“It helps that she can stamp that persuasion with a royal seal,” Mira added. Imi rarely told anyone about her relation to the princess, despising when anyone believed her position as a guard was unearned.

Finally, this seemed to quiet Imi. They walked in silence until Imi looked back at Mira. “Blackmail?” Mira let out a groan.

“Imi, would you give it a rest?”

“It was probably blackmail,” Cedric muttered to Torrin several feet behind Mira. Mira stopped in her tracks and whirled around.

“I can hear you,” she snapped. Cedric blushed in what was probably a mix of fear and surprise. He lagged back to trail behind with Torrin, a sense of unease all around him.

For the few hours it had taken to walk all the way around the port, Torrin hadn’t spoken a word. He just watched, wary. And he should be wary. Every time Mira looked at him, her blood boiled.

“Why couldn’t we just get a ferry at the port to take us up the river?” Imi complained. It was still the first day and Imi was already complaining. Mira sighed.

“If you haven’t noticed, we are traveling with a couple of convicts,” Mira retorted. Thanks to Torrin and Cedric, their three-day trip had doubled in length.

“But we know a few ferry captains. I’m sure Gerard would do us a favor.”

“It’s too risky. The Linian guards know we’re here. They’d expect us to get a ferry at the port,” Torrin replied before Mira could. It unsettled her that they had the same response.

“Gerard would pay for our drinks any day of the week, but he’d get in trouble if the Linians ever found out he was harboring these two,” Mira added, appealing to Imi’s more compassionate side. As expected, Imi nodded in understanding.

Hours passed. As the day grew long, the sun grew hotter. Mira’s long linen sleeves and her sand scarf were good at protecting her arms, neck, and ears from frying to a crisp, but they did do much to cool her down. The group paused whenever they came across an outcropping of trees amidst the hills of stone and amber grass, relishing the temporary shade.

Eventually, the silence became too much for Imi. When she realized Mira was in no mood to talk, she tried to goad Cedric into a conversation. It took a while, but Imi eventually got him to loosen up and speak.

“It will be getting dark soon. We should stop for the night. We can catch a ferry in the morning,” Mira suggested. They found a flat area and started spreading out their things.

“I’ll find something for dinner,” Imi offered.

“Do you need some help?” Torrin got back to his feet.

“You wouldn’t be much use,” Mira said.

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“Mira . . .” Imi frowned at her, but had to agree. “Sorry, Torrin, but she’s right. I can handle it on my own. Thanks, though.”

Torrin sat back down on his rock, fiddling with his hands like he wasn’t sure what to do with them.

“Don’t take it personally,” Mira said. “Imi is a Heart Jinura. She can sing anything to sleep. Wandering rabbits, men. They don’t even wake up when she slits their throat.” Mira paused with a smirk. “The rabbits, I mean.”

“Of course,” Torrin scowled. He had only been sitting down for a few minutes when he stood back up. “I’m going to get some firewood.”

“I’ll clear a space,” Mira added, watching him go like a hungry lioness.

Before long, Torrin had started a fire and Cedric was skinning a rabbit more easily with his bare hands than anyone else could have with a knife. Mira normally thought of Bone Jinura as healers because they usually were. It was easy to forget that their power over flesh and bone wasn’t limited to healing. Like everything Shali and Shama ruled, there were equal opposites. Light and dark, love and hate, healing and skinning rabbits.

“Someone should keep watch in case the Linian soldiers decide to search the area around the river,” Torrin announced when everyone had finished with their dinner. The whole reason Mira had chosen this trail was because it was only used by locals. It was so narrow and winding that it was practically a game trail.

“I can watch first,” Mira offered. She wasn’t tired at all, despite the long day of walking.

“We aren’t going to let you take a watch,” Imi balked at her.

“You already tried to kill Torrin,” Cedric reminded her, as if the memory of her revenge just barely slipping through her fingers wasn’t already fresh on her mind.

“And I gave my word to Princess Adelyn that I won’t do it again,” Mira said. When Torrin glared at her she added with a shrug, “Until Silas is taken care of.”

“There are three of us. I think we’ll manage,” Torrin finally said.

“My word isn’t enough?”

Imi gave a weak, apologetic smile. “Sorry, Mira.”

“Fine.” She hadn’t slept in since she caught a cold in January. It might be a nice break to sleep past dawn for once.

The next morning, Mira was awake long before Imi and Torrin were, so she and Cedric cleaned up the campsite while the others finished resting.

“Can I ask about the chains? When were you two in prison? And what for?” Mira kept her voice down so she didn’t wake the others.

“Two years ago. We were arrested because we were affiliated with Silas. And because Torrin was an unregistered Jinura,” Cedric answered.

“Two years ago . . . that makes a lot of sense,” Mira mused.

“Why?”

“That was about the time I lost track of Torrin for good.”

Cedric froze, his hands pausing on the flap of his backpack. “You were tracking us? Maybe it was a good thing we were arrested, then.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I would have made it quick.” Mira grinned, but Cedric paled.

“Mira, you’re scaring him,” Imi said sleepily, sitting up on her blanket.

Mira laughed loudly enough to wake up Torrin. “It isn’t my fault he doesn’t get my jokes,.”

“That was a joke?” Cedric asked uneasily.

“No.” Gleeful at Cedric’s confused fear, Mira finished tying off her backpack.

Torrin squinted at the rising sun. “There should be ferries running now. We should pack up—” he stopped when he saw that Cedric and Mira were ready to go and Imi was already halfway there. “I’ll pack up, then.”

Once Torrin was finally ready to go, they headed for the river. The Eldon River ran up all the way to the Linian Castle. As long as they kept their heads down, they should be able to make good time.

“Imi!” an older man with wild hair called out from a skiff on the river, and Mira nearly jumped out of her skin. Imi rushed over to the edge of the Eldon River and waved the man over. He was seated in the tiny boat with his arm propped up against a polished stick that served as a flag pole holding a flag no larger than a handkerchief depicting the outline of a dolphin. The small skiff looked more like a fishing vessel meant for the Baladev than a mode of transportation along the rivers.

“Quentin!” Imi whispered harshly, making it clear to the man that he needed to keep his voice down. With his hand in the water, the man steered the skiff to the bank until its bow rested on the silty edge.

“Imi, I told you we need to keep a low profile,” Mira hissed at her, looking around in case any soldiers lurked nearby.

“I had already reached out to him when you told me that,” Imi replied. “Besides, we can trust him.”

“Flipper isn’t as big as The Blue Dolphin,” Quentin said as he patted the edge of the skiff fondly, “but she’ll fit everyone she needs to.”

“Imi, we can’t use anyone we know. The Linians already know Princess Adelyn is involved somehow, so the first place they’ll look is going to be employees of the Caesit Company,” Mira told her. Imi had never had to be sneaky before, and underhandedness wasn’t exactly her first instinct, so Mira couldn’t blame her for wanting to trust her friends.

“Machias is my only employer,” Quentin retorted.

“Machias? Does he pay you in goldfish?” Mira scoffed.

“Have you ever been out on the Baladev on a calm day, with nothing but the breeze and the waves whispering sweet songs of the sea in your ear? If you took a moment to listen, you might hear the gods, too.” Quentin spoke like a lovestruck fool. If the gods cared about Mira at all, she wouldn’t be protecting Torrin right now. If the gods cared, she’d still be with her family. If the gods cared . . .

“She’s right, Quentin,” Imi said. “Thanks for coming, though. You should get back to the Dolphin.”

“I know came here for a reason,” Quentin argued. “It’s spawning season up the eastern branch of the Eldon, so I think I’ll head up there for a few days while you’re off west. If anyone thinks I might be transporting passengers,” Quentin tossed a tarp across the rest of his skiff, letting it settle in lumps like there were a few people hiding underneath, “then so be it.”

“Thank you, Quentin,” Imi said. If the man wasn’t already drifting back to the center of the river, she probably would have hugged him.

“I’ll tell Machias you all said hello,” Quentin called back as he used the currents to push the skiff upstream. Shaking her head at his last comment, Mira led the others back along the edge of the river.

“Are you sure we can trust him?” Torrin asked.

“If Imi trusts him, then he’s good,” Mira told him, not a doubt in her mind.

They continued walking. It wasn’t long before they found a short dock hiding in the scrubby grass.

“Are you going north?” Torrin asked the first ferryman they saw.

“Sure am. What’s a lot like you going north for?” The man scratched his balding scalp, brushing the dandruff onto his trousers. As he did so, he eyed the tattoos on everyone’s wrist. Like all ferrymen, this one was a Water Jinura, so the Jinura in the group wasn’t what worried him. It was the chains tattooed on Cedric and Torrin that he watched closely.

“Forgive my servant,” Mira interrupted, stepping in front of Torrin, “he’s a half-wit. We are going north to visit my family.” He nodded like this made more sense. After all, she looked Linian and her one and only wrist was free of Jinura marks.

“Passage for four, then?” Mira nodded and the ferryman stepped aside to reveal his rickety boat. “My name’s Kipling and this here is the Eldon Wench. What do you think?” What did she think of the man or the sad excuse for a ferry? Either way, there was just so much Mira could have said. She could have told him that his breath stank like rotting fish, that a nauseating strip of flesh on his lower belly remained uncovered by his ragged tunic, or that the pimples on his chin were disgustingly distracting. As for the Wench, not only was it a gods-awful name, but it looked like it might spring a leak at any moment. And the paint on its wide frame needed a nice touch up.

Mira was about to start the list when Imi nudged her from behind, reminding her that not everyone was looking for an honest answer to that kind of question.

“I think Torrin would love to sit with you and hear all about your boat. He loves all things on the river,” Mira jumped onto the ferry, relieved when it didn’t sink under her weight. “I’ll sit in the front.”

Grumbling, Torrin sat in the back with Kipling, leaving Imi and Cedric to sit in the middle. It served him right for choosing the worst possible ferry. Until Silas was arrested and out of the way, little victories like this would have to suffice.

“Hang on, everyone.” Everyone braced themselves as Kipling put a hand into the water, and they were thoroughly disappointed when the ferry began inching along the river as Kipling manipulated the currents to take them upstream. The ferry eventually sped up, but it never went fast enough to require any captain to urge his passengers to ‘hang on.’ Maybe Mira should have risked letting Quentin take them upstream, even if the Linians were keeping an eye on him.

“So, why did you call your ferry the Eldon Wench?” Cedric asked. Mira almost smacked her forehead in disbelief. Of all the questions he could have asked, this was the one she least wanted the answer to.

“When I came across her, she’d passed through the hands of many ferrymen. She was right damaged, she was. But I fixed her up and made her beautiful again,” Kipley told them dreamily. Mira hadn’t expected a story like that. It was kind of sweet. “That, and the first ferry ride I ever gave was to a strumpet on this very river.” Mira shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. If she had to listen to stories like this all day, she’d throw herself into the river and swim to Linia.

“So, Cedric, where are you from?” Mira asked. He may have mentioned it yesterday when Imi dragged him into a day-long conversation, but Mira had been mostly ignoring them.

“I thought he was your servant,” Kipling cut in.

“He’s relatively new,” Mira responded impatiently. “Cedric?”

“I’m from Kern. A small town up north called Bain,” Cedric replied timidly. He still seemed to be a bit on edge from her dark jokes earlier that morning.

“Yes, I’ve heard of Bain. They say the best Bone Jinura come from there. The most skilled healers in the Four Kingdoms train there,” Mira quoted. Bain was all they talked about in Kern. Any healer worth his salt had trained there. The best ones were born and raised there.

“You’ve been to Kern?” Cedric sat up a little straighter at the thought of home.

“Of course. Torrin didn’t tell you? I was on my way there when we met.” Mira gave Torrin a grim look and he stared unflinchingly back. She couldn’t tell if under the numb expression he had even an ounce of guilt. Maybe a tiny bit of remorse. “Where else could you get such a spectacular job done on getting an arm cut off?” Mira held up her stump for all to see. Finally, Torrin’s expression changed. His eyebrows twitched downward in confusion. Meanwhile, Cedric was turning green. Kipling looked mildly worried that his passengers might be insane, but he said nothing.

“Mira,” Imi scolded. She patted Cedric on the shoulder. “I’ve never been to Kern. I grew up in Sendium. There is an island in the middle of the Baladev Sea called Lorin. That’s where I was born.”

“Hathos’ Footprints,” Torrin said, using the local name for the set of islands that trailed from the southern beach to the northern beach of the Baladev Sea. If his stories from when Mira had first met him were to be believed, he had grown up in the Corignis Province in Sendium, so it made sense that he was familiar with the area.

“Yes. Everyone in my family is in the merchant business. I spent most of my life on Lorin or traveling the Baladev.” Imi’s voice was enchanting, and everyone on the boat watched her, ready for the next part. Mira was the only one who knew that life on Lorin was not nearly as magical as Imi liked to make it sound. Most of her loved growing up on the island, but a part of Imi had always wanted to leave. When her uncle married the princess, the itch to travel only grew worse. Fortunately, she seemed satisfied with the way things were now.

Imi went on and for nearly an hour everyone was listening to her childhood saga. Heart Jinura were amazing at calming a crowd and keeping their attention. Every word she spoke was engaging and relaxing at the same time. For a while, Mira wasn’t even angry anymore.