Chapter 3

WRONGLY ACCUSED

Relief washed through both Finn and Gypsy. They’d only been a few hundred feet up and still descending when the massive lake came into view. Mountains and trees surrounded it, with a deep gorge cut through the south-westerly corner, carved out of the rock by a wide river that flowed from the lake. As they drifted closer, they could make out more detail. The most remarkable feature of the lake was a large island in the centre covered with rubble-strewn ruins and crumbling architecture. Finn imagined a fierce battle, long ago, sweeping throughout the city, raising it to the ground as it raged, leaving nothing but a ruined reminder of its former glory. Even from this distance, the island had a sinister look about it.

Finn reviewed their heading, which would land them in the middle of a large expanse of water on the easterly side of the island city.

“That must be Arcathia. I wonder what led to its downfall.” He thought.

“We should alter our heading so that we land near the island,” Gypsy replied, trying to keep Finn focused. She knew his mind would head off on tangents when he was tired. “The surrounding mountains don’t look suitable for docking.”

Taking the hint, Finn concentrated on their current heading versus where he envisaged the best place to land might be. He also needed to consider a route they could take that would ensure a safe splashdown.

“Noted,” Finn replied. “Ideally, we should try and get as far toward the island’s southern shore as possible. There’s only one way in or out of this lake by water if that’s how we decide to leave this place. I’d rather not try crossing any more mountains for a while.”

“Yes, some cruising on the water sounds like a refreshing change right now,” Gypsy replied. “We must think of a way to free you from that collar, too. After we manage that, it shouldn’t be too difficult to rid ourselves of our uninvited guests. There’s only three of them now, after all.”

Finn closed his eyes when his thoughts of being free from Skara earned him some intense pain down his spine.

“Oops! Sorry, lover,” Gypsy sent to him along with large amounts of sympathy. “Plan B, then. I’ll think of collar solutions, and you get us over to land.”

“Deal! I’m changing course now.” Finn used the thrusters sparingly, yet still, Gypsy dropped a little with every burst from the directional engines. With their new heading, he estimated they’d get close to the south-easterly edge of the island before they splashed down. They’d be able to float to a suitable docking location from there.

With their slow flight, it took them over three hours to reach the southerly side of Arcathia. They hit the water harder than was ideal but not with enough impact to cause damage. Gypsy was the mistress of the bellyflop, and spectacular sheets of water plumed upwards as she splashed down.

Another twenty minutes of using whatever mana they could pull from the atmosphere got them to a reasonably sturdy-looking stone pier. Finn used light bursts of the thrusters to push them into position so that the nose of the command pod was close enough to the dock to deploy the gangway. Then he flicked four toggle switches down, and sea-spike anchors fired from each hull’s corner and deeply embedded into the lake bed. Side barbs protruded from the harpoons, and the chains rewound until then went taught.

“We’re stable and nicely placed,” Finn thought to Gypsy, his thoughts full of tired relief. “I told you it would be easy.” He added with a chuckle.

All Gypsy sent back was a loud huff.

“WORM!” A female voice yelled up from the war room. “Get your worthless arse down here now.”

Forced to obey, Finn disappeared from the cockpit and appeared directly in front of Skara.

“You called, mistress.” The words clogged in his throat. They were so oily. Finn hadn’t even realised he’d said them until they registered in his tired brain.

Was the collar changing him without his knowledge? Finn wondered. He knew he needed to fight its control and get out of it soonest. He had to hope that Gypsy found a way.

“You fly like a fucking troll on shrooms,” Skara said with a wicked sneer. Her eyes bore into him as she watched for a reaction.

Finn knew that violence was not the only tool that the leader of the Ravagers used. She knew how to rile her victims up if it benefitted her purposes. He always tried to be stronger than her torment, though.

Skara reached toward him and lifted his shirt. Instead of gouging him with her ridiculously long nails, she used just one finger to stroke his abdomen gently. Then she flattened her hand and slid it down under the hem of his trousers until her fingers closed, encircling his most tender part.

Finn’s body locked, betraying him instantly, and he reddened with the sheer shame of his predicament. A glance told him that the other two Ravagers were nearby, watching with serious interest. Knowing he was being watched made him redden even further.

Skara grinned widely. “Well, well. It feels like the worm may have one redeeming feature after all,” she said as she gently stroked up and down his member. “Not a worm at all, it seems.”

Finn closed his eyes and groaned at the sensations coursing through his groin. He’d never known intimacy of any kind. Thanks to his advanced anatomy tuition, he knew how things worked down there, but that was just cold theory. These sensations were genuine and caused by Skara, too. His mind reeled with confusion.

“Why, mistress?” Finn squeaked. Again, the words issued forth without his permission.

“Violence doesn’t seem to motivate you, so I thought maybe pleasure would,” Skara purred.

“What can I do for you, mistress?” Finn said as he gazed up at her slavishly. The collar gaining superiority over his fight to retain control.

Her hand whipped away from his cock and swept across to slap him hard on the face. “Lower the ramp, you filthy pervert. How dare you entertain such thoughts about your mistress.” She hit him harder the second time, and Finn fell to the floor in a pool of tears and confusion. He was disgusted at himself for allowing her to do that to him.

The female of the remaining two Ravagers grabbed Skara’s arm. “Boss, stop!” She shook as she defied her leader but persevered anyway. “He’s suffered enough. He’s been flying this thing all night because you ordered him to. Leave him be. We need him alive, remember?”

Finn opened his eyes to witness this miracle of defiance. He jumped when, as quick as lightning, Skara drew the two-handed sword from her back and plunged it through her comrade’s chest. Bile rose in his stomach as he watched the poor woman twitch and then fade as the life in her eyes died.

Skara levelled her sword to the neck of the one remaining Ravager. “Any questions?” She hissed while raising her eyebrow in challenge.

The man cringed back and covered his eyes. “No, boss. All good here.” The dumpy Ravager replied in a shaky voice.

With a thought, Finn began to open the front of the command pod and lower the gangway. Soon after his command, the gangway clanged down upon the stone pier. He also teleported the female Ravager’s corpse onto a ruined road outside. Every last drop of her spilt blood joined her moments later.

“We’re going to look around out there. See if we can salvage anything,” Skara said, bending and stroking a fingernail across Finn’s reddened cheek. “Don’t you even consider leaving without us onboard, do you understand?”

“Yes, mistress.” Finn’s voice replied in betrayal of his wishes.

“Good little slave,” she purred while running her finger across his lips. “We have to get to a town so I can contact my buyer for this crate. Time is wasting, so we leave in six hours. Got it?”

“Understood, mis—” Finn managed to fight the urge and swallowed the last syllable. Skara rewarded him with a sharp slap for his efforts.

“Don’t fight the collar, Worm!” She grinned. “It’ll take over eventually, and then you’ll beg to obey me.”

With those words, she spun on her heel, marched to the teleport octagon, and then pressed the button for the entrance hall on deck one. With a flash of light, she was gone from sight.

Finn sighed heavily through his tears.

The dumpy Ravager leant over Finn. “I could get the key and release you if you promise to kill her and let me off at the next town,” he whispered.

“DUSTIN!” Skara hollered from the pier. “Get here now, you sneaky little bastard.”

The little man squeaked in panic, scampered to the octagon, and flashed out of sight.

Finn was amazed that Skara could shout loud enough to be heard through the sound-dampening windows that lined the command pod.

The gangway began to rise back into its closed position. Finn watched its progress in his mind. When the front of the command pod clanged shut, confusion touched him. “Did you do that, Gypsy?”

“Not me. I was just watching the drama unfold. That Skara is a spiteful piece of work.” She paused. “Wait! You mean you didn’t raise the gangway either?”

“I did.” A husky voice replied.

Finn leapt to his feet and spun to face the new voice. A tall, slim, yet wickedly curvaceous image was slowly solidifying in front of Finn as he gawked. As she materialised, more detail became apparent. She had a regal countenance and held herself in a carefully poised manner. Light, brown hair cascaded in waves down her back, while a few strands had been neatly arranged to protect her modesty. The vision appearing in front of him was beautifully naked.

No, Finn decided. It’s not a regal countenance this creature has. It’s a divine aura.

“Finn, the divine mana readings just shot off the scale. What happened?” Gypsy quizzed him.

“Hang on, Gypsy. We have a visitor. This apparition has no mass, so I think it’s an avatar of Danu. They had a sculpture of the fae goddess in the academy library. It certainly resembles her.”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Stop your chatter, Worm.” The woman said. Her voice wasn’t raised, but the impact of her words was far more effective than Skara at her loudest.

“Why do angry females call me Worm?” Finn protested. Anger defied his shyness and drove any panic away.

“Silence!” the avatar said with a chop motion. She produced a gold-bound scroll, somehow grabbing it from empty air. The deity’s image slowly unrolled the paper and cleared her throat.

The avatar paused for effect. “Finn, bonded Warden of Gypsy, skyship of Her Majesty, Queen of the fae’s fleet. You are hereby charged with extreme piracy and treason of the highest degree. I am here to administer the death penalty as a boon to Her Majesty. A boon she was forced to beg for as you also managed to destroy the last remaining fae gate leading to Allis. For that, you have had terrorism and a second charge of treason added to your list of crimes.”

The avatar looked up from her scroll and glared at Finn. “Incidentally, you really should be kneeling before me, you know.” She shrugged. “Mortal, how do you plead?”

“Not guilty!” Gypsy’s voice boomed across the ship-wide tannoy. “As his symbiont, I would know the instant he intentionally committed even the smallest crime. Finn was trying to come to my aid when a band of pirates locked a slave collar around his neck. They then ordered him to take me and flee through the fae gate. The crimes you have accused him of should be aimed at the collar’s keyholder, not the slave.”

“Ridiculous! How dare you lie to an appointed representative of fae law.” The avatar shouted, her gaze scanning around her, trying to find the source of Gypsy’s voice. “Whoever you are, I put it to you. If he were enslaved, he would still be wearing the collar you claim he was fitted with. He is not.”

The avatar’s eyebrows shot up when her glare settled on Finn, tapping his slave collar with a told-you-so look on his face. He even went so far as to cock his hip sideways and give a one-armed shrug.

“Uhm! Well, I err,” The avatar now looked nonplussed. Her face was a picture of divine indignance and mortal humility all rolled into one. She turned away from Finn and started muttering to herself.

“Perhaps you should check your facts before threatening to execute someone. As a representative of the goddess and the Fae Queen, you should be ashamed of yourself,” Gypsy boomed throughout the ship. She was obviously riled up.

The avatar whimpered but continued her muttering.

Finn wondered if she were talking to herself or someone else he couldn’t see. Maybe she’s talking to Danu? He wondered.

“No, he is wearing a slave collar,” the avatar hissed in a mock whisper. She turned and walked to Finn. Reaching out, she inspected the collar and ran some mana through it. “Yes, I have verified it. The collar is genuine and belongs to a human named Skara De Moss.”

Finn gave himself a small smile. The avatar had been talking to someone else. He really didn’t want to be executed despite his current miserable existence. For one thing, he couldn’t stand the idea that he might be forced to abandon Gypsy.

“I think my symbiont should be very upset that you have unnecessarily questioned his absolute loyalty to the Fae Queen,” Gypsy said across the skyship’s tannoy. “In the fae tradition of balance, the goddess should offer compensation as it was likely her that ordered Finn to be executed.”

Finn recognised Gypsy’s quickness to twist the knife. He even felt her enjoyment of the moment. “So, what happens now, your divine, err, avatarness?”

The avatar looked flustered and turned away again. “I’ve checked his memories. He’s innocent, boss,” she hissed insistently, then paused. Her head cocked to one side as if listening. “Yes, his bonded has demanded compensation as balance. This has become a debacle, and my time here is running out fast.”

This situation would almost be funny if his life hadn’t been on the line a moment ago. Finn started to tap his foot in mock impatience. Joining in, Gypsy began broadcasting the noise of a loudly ticking clock.

The avatar spun back to face Finn, her face a picture of rage. Then she took an unnecessary breath, paused, and exhaled slowly. Her face calmed a little, and she forced a fake smile onto her lips. Then she held her arms by her side with her hands sticking out at right angles. She made a comical patting down motion. “I’m calm. This whole situation hasn’t stressed me at all,” she said in a high-pitched, sing-song voice. “Everything in my garden is rosy.” Then she took another deep breath, held it and sighed loudly.

“Okay!” Finn said slowly. “That’s nice to know, but that doesn’t explain what’s happening now. Am I in the clear? I don’t want to be killed for something I had no choice about.”

“What?” The avatar seemed lost in her thoughts and had to refocus on Finn’s question. She huffed and shook her head. “No, you will not be killed. Well, not today, at least and certainly not by me.”

It was Finn’s turn to let out a heavy sigh.

“You were incorrectly accused of four serious crimes,” the avatar continued. “For that, I must apologise on behalf of the Goddess Danu and Her Royal Highness, the Queen of the Fae. My superiors have instructed me to choose four suitable boons for you and your symbiont as recompense. Also, and I must apologise for this part, as my time here is limited, you are hereby ordered to enact the death penalty on the real perpetrator of these crimes. You must execute Skara De Moss by midnight tonight.”

“What boons?” Gypsy asked across the tannoy with interest.

“What Gypsy said,” Finn said with a flippant shrug.

The avatar stared at Finn’s neck, and the slave collar glowed red briefly, then shattered into tiny pieces that rained down to the floor. “That’s the first.” She was grinning now. She liked issuing boons. Being arrogant and judgemental didn’t fit well with her chi.

Clarity of thought began washing through Finn’s tired mind. His false fears and insecurities vanished. Tears welled up in his eyes as utter relief built inside him as he felt his mana core respond to his wishes once again. He felt alive. “Sooo good!”

Finn allowed himself a few moments to appreciate his sudden freedom fully. He wasn’t a slave anymore, and it was a wonderful realisation worthy of savouring. “Well, I certainly thank Danu for that. Tell her she needn’t worry. I have a massive grudge to settle with that mud-sucking bitch Skara. I’ll gladly execute her.” Without that hateful collar around his neck, Finn started to feel a little of his lost confidence edging back into his attitude.

“Finn, something’s fixing all the damage we took,” Gypsy thought. “Even the lost crystals are growing back.”

Finn checked Gypsy’s statement and saw it, too. During the skirmish in the clearing and the subsequent flight across the Skytalon mountains in the dark, they’d taken a lot of damage. Now Gypsy gleamed and sat proudly before the pier, fully intact.

“That was the second boon,” the avatar stated happily.

Finn’s tired brain started to understand what was happening. The avatar had repaired the entire ship, including the Ravager-based damage inside. It was all part of an apology for falsely accusing him. “Maybe I should get falsely accused by goddesses more often if the apology is this spectacular.” Finn joked mentally to Gypsy.

“Not funny. I was terrified I would lose you, dolt,” she replied, a little worry still in her thoughts.

“Gypsy, you insulted me?” Finn teased. “Or is Dolt my new pet name?”

“Hush you, we’re not out of this yet,” she replied. “For the record, I insult you a lot. Just not when I’m speaking with you.” Gypsy giggled.

“I have scanned you and this vessel,” The avatar said to Finn, her voice radiating efficiency. “I see you would both benefit from a similar upgrade. Therefore, I shall grant you each a boon and thus will repay our debt to you.”

The avatar closed her eyes, and her face lost all emotion. Finn felt a wash of divine mana radiate from her, flooding everything within Gypsy. It was then the suffering started. He cried out in agony as his mana core ruptured and collapsed. Pain stabbed through him as every mana channel in his body became engorged, swelling to over twice their original size. After that, the shattered fragments of his core imploded, and his mana store reformed, only now it was huge. By Finn’s estimate, he had well over triple what he’d had before, and it was still swelling.

“Finn! What’s happening?” Gypsy thought weakly. “It hurts so much.”

“Stay with me, girl,” Finn replied, his own agony radiating across their bond. “I think we’re being upgraded.”

“I have now awarded all four boons. The blessing of Danu be with you all,” the avatar cooed. Then she vanished, and a rare silence engulfed Gypsy’s interior.

Finn picked himself off the war room floor where he’d collapsed. He’d recently spent a lot of time lying on the room’s plush blue carpet. Hopefully, that was a habit Finn could now break. He took a few steps and collapsed into one of the comfortable officer’s chairs. Sighing, he slumped back and let the plush upholstery cradle him.

“Uh! Finn, I think you should do a ship-wide check,” Gypsy thought gently. “I know you just want to rest, but this is important.”

It was true, but Finn didn’t just want to rest. He felt a need to sleep for the first time. After all the crap he’d endured, he only wanted to lie back and pass out.

Finn closed his eyes. Not to sleep yet but to do as Gypsy had suggested. He started through a routine that he’d performed thousands of times. Starting with the rear drive engines and working all the way to the cockpit, Finn checked every single component, every rune and every connection. Confused, he repeated the scan but did it backwards this time. The result remained the same.

“The avatar quadrupled the capacity of the mana batteries we had before. They appear to be more efficient, too,” Finn thought. “She’s also doubled the rune capacity and increased our mana ducting capacity. That’s huge!”

“Not even the Fae Queen’s best engineers managed to give me so much power,” Gypsy replied, the awe in her consciousness evident. “We could go anywhere, do almost anything together with this much potential, Finn.”

“Once I deal with the bitch and her minion, we will be free to roam as we please,” Finn replied with unveiled glee rising in his thoughts. “We could even become real gypsies and just see the world at our own pace. No orders or urgent missions. Just us.”

“I can’t even comprehend what that would be like. It sounds far too good to be true,” Gypsy replied. “We can’t go back to the fae now, and with hope and mercy, we’ll soon be rid of the pirates. Uhm! Oh, Finn, this is wonderful. Wow!”

“Yes, before I start celebrating, I’ll have to deal with the Ravager dregs.” Finn reached out with his mana. Thank the creator! He could feel his spatial pocket respond to his wishes again. Since the bastards had locked the slave collar around his neck, he’d been unable to get near his magical storage area.

One of the last things his runic-magic tutor had taught him was the art of enchanted tattoos. While Finn could utilise any aspect of mana, he had an aptitude for spatial, shadow and light magic. His chosen showcase tattoo had been a spatial pocket enchantment on the palm of his left hand. Finn turned his left hand over and looked at the circle of eleven spatial activator runes surrounding a spiral of stability runes. The ink, permanently inscribed under his skin, continuously glowed with a silver light, the colour of spatial magic.

Finn concentrated and mentally reached into his spatial storage pocket. The day he left the academy was the day his military issue storage trunk received its first clean out. Now he had his twenty years of military salary stashed in his magical storage and a set of ceremonial, black, assassin’s armour and boots he’d found in a parcel left in his room on his graduation day. The package had been labelled, ‘From your proud mother’, which had made him snort.

Also in his storage was the large enchanter’s tool chest the scholars of the mage tower had awarded him for graduating. Alongside that was the medical chest that the Royal League of Surgeons and Practitioners had presented him when he’d passed all his medical exams two years early. A bespoke tool chest was the status mark of an accomplished master of their craft, hence the gifts.

“You have armour?” Gypsy asked, her curiosity piqued. “It never occurred to me that you could fight as well as look after me.”

“Cheeky mare! I’m a trained killer, me. You just never asked,” Finn replied with a mental smirk. “The armour was a gift from my mother. My family were the Shadowsteps. The armour is more ceremonial than practical, but it’ll do on this occasion. It’s in the traditional style of the Shadowstep assassins. I hate it.”

Finn busily set about unwrapping his mother’s gift. He knew it was customary to present the traditional armour of Her Majesty’s elite assassins when a youngling of their family came of age and passed the trials. Yet, Finn never imagined his mother cared enough to continue the tradition for him.

“Oh yes!” Gypsy thought back enthusiastically. “The Shadowsteps, revered killers throughout the realm of fae. Feared by criminals and enemies of the crown, much honoured by the Fae Queen.” It sounded as if she were quoting from a book.

“Yep!” Finn replied, sliding his legs into the tight leather trousers. “Killers, every one of us. I’d prefer to be a healer, but some people have it coming.”

“Yay! Go get em, Tiger,” Gypsy said with a laugh.

Finn snorted as he tugged the tight sleeve of his jacket over his hand. “I need to perform a couple of executions before I can sleep soundly.”

Finn struggled with his boots, and then he checked himself in the large, full-length mirror. He had always thought that the mirror was placed in the war room so the officers could gaze lovingly at themselves.

“Uh! For your information, you’re an officer and gazing at yourself lovingly,” Gypsy teased.

Finn looked at his dark brown, straggly hair. It had grown down past his shoulders lately. He’d have to start tying it back if it got much longer. His face was looking gaunt. Even his hazel-coloured eyes looked a little more severe than they had before. He had lost some of his mass, too. Finn sighed at the sight of himself. He looked tired and malnourished. His lithe frame had become thin. The military had always worked him physically and mentally hard, but he hadn’t done much training recently. He’d need to have a few good meals and perhaps visit the ship’s combat training hall soon.