Chapter 34
A Dread Tide Rising by Walt Shuler
I’m still mostly on autopilot, but hopefully things will start to gel again here soon. But it’s Monday, so here’s some new ADTR for your eye-holes. Only 6 chapters plus the epilogue to go!
Previously: Kye and Molly found themselves without a ship after a storm struck.
Currently: Hax and Pax make a startling discovery.
A Dread Tide Rising is a serialized, pulp-flavored, epic fantasy novel that follows the Talon, a group of mercenaries, thieves, and smugglers, as they come face-to-face with an ancient enemy intent on the destruction of the Rakkian Empire.
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Chapter 34
A bell tolled somewhere in the distance.
“C’mon, we just need a berth back to Rakka.” Pax put on her most winning smile. The man she spoke to, the first mate on a coaster named Zephyr, was not impressed.
“For the last time, no,” he said, throwing up his hands in frustration. “We’ve no room for passengers and no need for extra hands.” He glanced down the waterside. “Go try your luck with the Gryphon or maybe Waverunner. Both captains are greedy enough to overload their boats for a bit of extra coin.” He turned and walked back up the gangplank, leaving Pax behind, cursing.
“What now?” Hax asked over his sister’s shoulder. “That’s the third boat that’s turned us away.”
“Give me a minute to think,” Pax growled back. She looked up and down Catha’s shallow bay searching for anything that would offer passage across to Rakka. She was tempted to try the ships the first mate had recommended, except she knew that if a captain was willing to put his entire crew and ship at risk for a little gold, there was a good chance that any paying passengers would find a knife in the back and a watery grave for their trouble. No, they needed something else. Then a familiar sloop flying the colors of the Jewels caught her eye, and her face brightened. “I’ve got an idea. Follow me.” She set off quickly, leaving her brother to catch up.
It took the better part of half an hour to reach the ship, and by that time, Pax doubted herself. Was this the right ship after all? The sloop was long and low, her single mast rising amidships and a headsail attached to her bowsprit. The name Greyhound was barely legible on her bow, the letters more ghost than paint. It was the right ship. Pax exulted but then calmed herself. It might be the right ship, but that did not mean they were in the clear. She still needed to find the first mate, but if that was the person she thought it was, their worries were over.
A flash of long hair on deck brought a grin to Pax’s face. She stepped confidently onto the gangplank. “Aria!” she yelled. A few seconds later, Pax was on deck, Hax wisely choosing to remain on the dock. “Aria!” Pax repeated, and the owner of the hair turned. She was deeply tanned from days spent on deck, and there was a touch more grey in her than Pax remembered, but it was her. Pax stepped toward her, putting one hand on her shoulder, her grin transforming into a rare, warm smile.
“You’re a sight for sore eyes!” Pax greeted the other woman.
Aria cocked her head but smiled. “It’s good to see you, too,” she replied.
Pax stepped closer, hand drifting from Aria’s shoulder down her back. “I’ve thought a lot about that trip to Väsh,” she said, voice husky with memory.
“Oh? That was fun,” Aria said, noncommittally. She pulled away from Pax’s touch, grabbed a coil of rope, and made to walk away, but stopped. “I’m sorry, did you need something?” she asked.
“Oh,” Pax said, a pit opening in her stomach. Did Aria remember her? She was unsure if she should be hurt or offended. It had only been a fortnight, but the experience had left its mark, just not on the other woman, it seemed. “I was looking for passage to Rakka for my brother and me. You remember me telling you about Hax?”
Aria stared blankly for a moment before smiling and nodding. “Of course. I’m not sure if we can take you to Rakka, though. You’ll need to check with the captain.” With that, the other woman strode aft, tossing the coil of rope she carried to another sailor as she went. Pax retreated down the gangplank in confusion.
“So, we got a ride?” Hax asked, noisily crunching into an apple he had nicked from somewhere. Pax punched him in the stomach, hard. Hax groaned, dropping the fruit. “What’d I do?” he asked.
“We don’t have a ride,” Pax said. She looked back at the deck, watching Aria go about her duties. “She didn’t remember me,” she said, voice thoughtful now. It had been a memorable time, and it stuck with Pax, but why not with Aria? “Something’s wrong,” she muttered. She grabbed Hax’s arm and dragged him back into the crowd, her eyes still on the first mate. “C’mon, let’s get out of sight.” Not relishing the idea of another punch to the gut, Hax complied without complaint.
They waited, screened by merchant stalls and dockworkers. Pax passed the time without complaint, eyes locked on the Greyhound, watching for what she knew must happen. Hax bore the enforced inactivity with less aplomb. “Why can’t we just go?” he asked for perhaps the tenth time.
“I told you!” Pax growled, not taking her eyes from the ship. “There’s something wrong here. Aria acted like she didn’t remember me at all. Sure, she might have put our time together out of her mind, even decided she didn’t like me any longer, but there’s no way she would have forgotten who I am.”
“You think she’s a shape-changer, like Derro?”
Pax did not reply. That was exactly what she thought, and it filled her with fear, but also grief. If one of those creatures had replaced Aria, then one of the few good things in her world had been erased. The idea opened a pit in her heart that she was unsure how to fill, but finding answers would at least be a start. She gripped one of her hatchets. And a little revenge would not hurt.
Near sunset, Aria reappeared on deck once more. The first mate spoke with a couple of sailors, laughing easily in the dying sunlight, before walking down the gangplank to the dock.
“Get ready,” Pax hissed to her brother. “This is it.”
Instantly, Hax was alert, indolence replaced by keen focus. He nodded to Pax, and the pair set off after the Greyhound’s first mate.
The pair followed Aria through the throng. Many merchants were taking down their stalls, but others still hawked their wares. Stevedores hurried to complete their tasks, while sailors not already in their cups headed to the nearest tavern to slake their thirst before the morning tide. Keeping track of Aria in that sea of humanity was no easy feat.
Several times, Pax cursed carts, horses, merchants, and more that blocked their way, but they always managed to spot their quarry again. Aria followed no set path through the chaos. She visited a fruit merchant and handed over a stack of coins, then repeated the process with an alewife and a provisioner. It was after she left the sailmaker’s that the twins finally lost sight of her.
Pax stood amidst the throng, pulse hammering in her temple. Where had she gone? Her heart beat fast. They could not have lost her now, not after all the time and effort. Then a figure caught her eye. It was not Aria, but someone else, equally familiar.
“Is that Molly?” she asked, disbelieving.
Hax looked where she pointed. “Looks like, but what’s she doing here? I thought she was taking Kye west?”
Pax shook her head. “She was. Maybe their ship was forced to turn around? Let’s go ask.”
“I don’t know, Pax,” Hax hedged. “You think that’s a good idea? Mac wouldn’t like it, and we’re already on his bad side.”
“Thanks in no small part to you,” Pax answered. “You do what you want. I’m going to talk to her.” Pax set off across the square toward where she had last glimpsed Molly, but the other woman was no longer there. Pax caught sight of her again to the west and all but ran to catch up, without success. Molly had once again disappeared. “If it’s even her,” Pax groused to herself.
What had happened? Storms, pirates, or even general repair-related troubles could send a ship back to port, but why would Molly’s ship have ended up in Catha when it was bound for the Fingers? The Jewels or even Rakka’s outermost Ring would have been closer than sailing back to this tiny spit of land.
Scanning the crowd, Pax caught sight of Molly again, a little northward, near a glass vendor’s stall. “Hax, over here!” she called, fighting through the throng toward the merchant. Molly was gone when she arrived, but she spotted a familiar face.
“Aria,” she breathed. The Greyhound’s first mate stood in front of a merchant selling block and tackle. Pax saw her clearly through several glass panes, but something was different. Pax watched as Aria moved, putting down a block and picking up another, and darkness swirled around her limbs. The swordswoman stared hard at her one-time lover and could make out the smoky tendrils even when she was still. Pax caught her breath, but the block merchant showed no indication he even saw the swirling shadows. What was happening? Pax glanced around, realizing that she was watching the scene through a pane of glass set in a wood frame and hung from a hook. Was it the glass? What was it revealing to her?
“Hax, look at this!” she urged, pointing from the pane to where Aria stood.
He looked through the glass and frowned. “What’s that stuff all around her?”
“Exactly!” Pax hissed. Excitement lit a fire in her belly; something was going on here.
“What is this?” she asked the glass merchant, who had been hovering nearby, no doubt nervous that she and Hax would break something.
“The lady has an eye for the finest of things! This is Sütian glass treated with magnesia for clarity,” he replied, eager for a potential sale. “Glass masters labor over it for months before deeming it ready for sale. It’s said that even in the harshest storms of the Empty Quarter, Sütian glass will protect lantern flames.”
“How much?” she asked.
The merchant threw out a number that would have kept a family of five fed for a year. Pax laughed and made an obscenely low offer. The merchant’s face reddened, and he pretended to take offense but turned back, lowering his asking price slightly. Pax made a marginally higher offer, but nowhere near what the merchant was asking. She was on comfortable footing here. They dickered back and forth, eventually arriving at a price that was reasonable but more than what Pax wanted to spend. With a sigh, she handed over the few remaining coins in her purse. The merchant smiled, took the pane off the hook, and wrapped it in soft cloth before handing it to her.
“May it serve your craft well and help keep you safe on the waves,” he intoned as she took it. Pax waved him away and moved to stand in the center of the aisle. Aria was almost done. The tackle merchant was digging for change in his purse. Pax had little time left to verify what she suspected. Once more, she looked at Aria. To all appearances, she was a normal woman entering her fourth decade of life. Other than her physical attractiveness, little set her apart from anyone else in the market.
Pax unwrapped the cloth and held the pane up before her face, and things changed. The darkness she had seen before swirled anew, limning Arran’s body like shadowy fairy flames. Pax sucked in her breath and then handed the window gently to her brother. Hax stared through the glass and growled deep in his throat. “There’s something wrong with her, isn’t there?” he asked, handing the pane back. Pax rewrapped it in its cloth.
“Yes, I think she’s a shape changer. She didn’t remember me at all. She played it off well, but you could see it in her eyes.”
“So, what’s the shadowy stuff?”
“I think that’s part of the shape changer. I think the glass lets us see it somehow.”
Hax let out a long, low whistle. “I bet some people would be happy to have this information.”
“You want to sell it?” she demanded.
“Well, we did spend the last of our money on it,” he countered.
Pax had to admit he had a point. In another place and time, she would probably have suggested it even before he did. But this was different.
“We need to get this to Mac,” she said.
Hax’s face fell at the mention of Mac, but then he brightened. “You think he’d let us back in if we gave him that?”
“I do at that,” Pax replied.
“Good. I guess we need a ship to the Isle of Stars.”
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How useless is Hax??? Lol. Loved this turn of events.