Chapter 29

The shift in tension around the boat woke Marley. He listened to the whispered snick of the water against the hull. It told him a story of struggle as the boat headed out into the Firasian Sea. The runesmith lay still, letting the waves speak while he tested the essence of the things around and below him.

Adrift between the elements of air and water, Marley felt vulnerable. It had been long and long since the earth hadn’t been beneath his feet. He slipped his hand into the small secret pouch deep within his cloak. Glad his enchantment kept its bulk from being detected, he wished he’d replenished the runes.

His fingers passed over the key that unlocked the collars they used on the dragonkin and the dragon scale that fit exactly the palm of his hand. Neither would help them win free this day. He dug deeper, finding four stones.

The first one in his hand was a dragon rune etched on a teardrop of amber, the color of Ymarii’s eyes. It promised a shield three bodies wide and a wagon length deep. Ymarii gifted both it and the unetched scale to him on the day he left her mentorship.

The second rune was a masking rune. It only disguised one person though, and the length of the glamour depended a lot on the focus of the one using it. Still, he thought, it could be of value.

His fingers bumped up against his seeking stone next. With a quiet humph, he let his hand brush past it. The rune was as simple or as complex as the user and the uses. That use would not come until they were free and a ground.

The last runestone in his small pouch was his last healing stone. Marley sighed, sitting up and swinging his legs out. He hoped it wasn’t a stone they would need and wondered if it would be enough if it was needed.

The Fates certainly had not rolled in their favor as of late, and he wondered if this was not the rumbling of something with deeper consequence. He allowed himself a few moments to let his body find the boat’s rhythm and blessed Hefldeep for sailing lessons during their lengthy friendship.

“You awake?” The question drifted out of the dark from above.

“Hmm, so it seems.” He stuck his hand into his outer cloak pocket, running his finger along the seam until he came to a bulge. The last resort runestone he’d squirreled into the lining. Worthless as long as they rode the waves. The ability to tunnel through any solid substance gave them no edge.

“They heaved anchor half a watch ago. I heard them call out the change.”

“They don’t seem to be making much headway. The boat feels like it’s wallowing.”

“Aye, though the tide is right, the wind is refusing passage. Perhaps Zeph has caught wind of our struggles,” Jayf chimed with a chuckle from the other cell.

“Wait, quiet a moment!” Marley hushed his friends. “Feel that?”

The hiss of water along the hull signaled a change. A silent hum of power coursed through the boat. It felt raw and potent and corrupt. He frowned, his eyes searching the other cell for Jayf.

“Do you feel it?” His voice was a savage whisper.

“The corruption clings to this boat like a batwing glove,” Jayf said in disgust. “It feels…” he paused and Marley sensed the loathing in his next words. “It feels like someone wields a spirit stone.”

“Aye, my thoughts for certain.” The runesmith rubbed his hand across his eyes. “Let’s hope it doesn’t transform as my rune weaving did.” He could almost feel his partner, Jayf, shiver in the dark.

“What in the creator's name is a spirit stone?” Chayse asked, swinging his legs out over the side of his bunk, his boot barely missing Marley’s head.

“The spirit stone is a power unto itself and of the spirit plain, because of that, it can be used as any element or strand of Tavir. It is fed, fueled by the spirit trapped within the stone,” Jayf said with a sigh and continued. “It is an abomination because it spends the spirit trapped within to accomplish the user’s bidding.”

Marley glanced over at the boy’s dazed face and said, “The short version is that it is like an all-purpose runestone, but you have to sacrifice someone and trap their spirit to make it work. Nasty business that.”

“I am thinking there is way too much nasty business floating around these parts, let’s hope sailing this yawl into the Firasian Sea is the only task it performs,” Chayse said from the upper bunk. “How about a little good news?” He held a key up in the dark room as he dropped to the floor.

Marley knew Chayse and Mek’s eyes couldn’t pierce the dark as theirs could and with a whisper gathered bits of essence to lighten the hold. Looking up, he grunted and took the proffered key dangling above his head.

“How long before dawn?” He squinted up at the top bunk, looking for Mek.

“Mek says the sun waits beneath the horizon but the stars have not yet begun their fade,” Chayse said as the giant squirrel scrambled down the bunk bed frame.

The runesmith nodded, surveying his allies. “Good enough. He didn’t happen to see where they stashed our weapons?”

“He did, but we’re not likely to win them free until we’ve taken the ship.”

“Perhaps we should look through the -storage- room for anything we might use.” He emphasized the word storage as he reached his hand through the door bars and slid the key into the lock. With a click, their cell opened.

Once Marley released the dragonkin, they quickly searched the few boxes and crates lining the wall opposite the cells. Finding nothing of use, the group hurried along the narrow lower deck hall to the storage room. The door hung in splinters from its hinges.

“Let’s make this quick,” the runesmith said, ushering his friends into the room.

Marley got down on his hands and knees to look beneath a storage shelf filled with kitchen pots and miscellaneous crockery on the leeward wall. Jayf and Thysl hurriedly removed the miscellany from the shelf and helped him pull the shelf out. He traced three symbols on the back wall and the outline of a rectangle began to glow in that space.

Then, laying the edge of his hand against the wall, he drew it from one side of the glowing box to the other as if he brushed crumbs from a table. The entire time whispering a string of syllables and half-words. There was a slight popping, and when Marley took his hand away, the outline disappeared and the door to the concealed closet swung down.

“That little hidey-hole is not for the likes of you or me, Chayse,” he said, standing up and brushing the dust from his hands and knees. “Thysl, I believe you said you had been within. Would you care to go in and hand out anything that might be of use?”

“It’s a lot larger than it looks, once inside,” Thysl offered, stepping around the crockery they stacked on the floor.

“Aye, but we are better suited to handling the intruders if one of ‘em shows up all of a sudden.”

Thysl nodded and scurried up the ramp, made by the open door, and into the little room. While they waited, Marley suggested Mek sneak above deck and check what the crew did now that the spirit stone propelled the boat. As Mek scampered away, Thysl’s head popped around the corner of the small door.

“I think I have found something. If I could get some help here.”

Marley glanced around, wondering where Jayf and Glyf got off to. They stood off to the side together, their silent conversation obvious from the incline of their heads and their swirling eyes. Marley didn’t have to guess that Jayf was smitten with Ymarii’s hatchling, Glyf. With a wry grin, the runesmith stepped closer to the two until he caught Jayf’s eye.

“You’re needed in the hole for a moment,” he said with a wink.

Soon the three dragonkin maneuvered the chest through the awkward opening of the room. Thysl huffed and sat down on the floor next to the box. “I helped Hefldeep load most of the provisions in the storage and although I knew about this chest I have never seen it open.”

“Looks like it’s been there for a long time,” Marley said, brushing the dust from the top. “Interesting, it’s warded.”

Chayse’s left brow arched toward his hairline. “This would pose a problem for you?” he asked.

The runesmith chuckled. “I didn’t say that. I just said it was interesting. As for the ward, it is dragon quality and I just happened to apprentice with a dragon, so we shall see what we shall see.”

He traced a runic symbol with his finger over the lock and spoke the null under his breath before anyone else interrupted him. There was a pop and a click and the chest lid glowed for a moment before the lock sprung free.

“Well, well and well again!” Marley exclaimed as he drew light essence in to reveal the chest’s contents. A double brace of mythrol daggers winked in the light. Beneath them lay two darkly glowing Krabi swords, the curved blades shown with a march of runes along the outer edges.

Chayse leaned in over Marley’s shoulder, giving a low whistle. “Looks like we will be just fine for weapons.”

“Perhaps,” the runesmith said, feeling slightly bemused.

He’d heard of these weapons in songs and stories. He had, in fact, sung those songs and told those stories. It was said these weapons were only found when the Fates were provoked to test Hebryll’s resolve. A chill shivered down his spine and his mind flashed to Moira and her prophecy and dance that night in the glade. He sighed, for Ymarii’s words still rang in his ears.

Each of the daggers bore a single runic symbol etched with elegant simplicity just above the haft. He picked up the dagger with the rune for air engraved on it and handed it to Glyf, hilt first. “Your weapon, m’lady,” he said with a half bow.

He gave the dagger with the fire sign to Thysl and the one etched with water to Jayf, but before he could say anything about either of the blades, the two Kith shook their heads and exchanged the daggers with each other.

“So be it,” he said, slipping the last dagger into his belt. His finger briefly pressed into the earth symbol and he sensed the energy, but it felt distant and untouchable. Reflexively, his hand rubbed at the scar on his forehead.

Chayse, still gawking at the last two blades in the chest, eagerly asked, “So, who shall wield the two curved blades?”

Marley’s eyes shifted to Chayse. He picked up one of the two blades, his finger running softly across the runes. He felt them hum beneath his hand.

“These last two blades are a matched set, as you can see. One etched with life runes and the other marked with death. The swords’ essence must accept the wielder, and then they may only be wielded together. If the bond is made, it is a bond for life. Are you sure you want blades with such finicky attitudes?”

Chayse swallowed twice as if he were unsure of his voice. “And what would the blades extract as my side of this bond?” He paused, a look of skepticism creasing his brow. “How do you know all of this about these pig-stickers?”

“A rich and varied education, that…” Marley said, looking down at the Krabi swords, “we don’t have time for a history lesson, right now. I believe if you use the blades in honor, with mercy and humility, the bond will be set.”

He could sense Jayf’s disapproval as he spoke, but his words to Chayse did not feel false in his mouth. Still, to appease his friend and partner he said, “Truly, the bond between wielder and blade and the price of that bond can only be known by the one that uses the blade.”

Indecision faded into a look of wary anticipation as Chayse hesitated for a handful of breaths. “It would be an honor to introduce myself to the Krabi blades. I assume if we do not meet, hand and hilt, nothing untoward will befall,” he paused, looking sheepish, “No curse or such?”

Marley shook his head and hid his chuckle with a cough. “If the bond is not made, they will be no less than well-made swords in your hand, until the one they are meant for is found. That is, unless there’s something in you, they see as a threat to Hebryll.”

He grinned and motioned Chayse forward. “Well, don’t be shy, take the knives and let’s get back to the cells before we talk.”

Chayse took a long knife in each hand. He closed his eyes with an expectant look on his face, but a few moments passed and as he opened them, a veil of disappointment clouded his eyes. “Back to the cells, it is then,” he said with a curt nod and strode down the hall.

Thoughtfully, Marley shut the chest and shoved it back up the door-ramp and into the hidden closet. He set the ward once again, wondering if he was wrong about whom he thought Chayse was. He shook himself. This, too, would have to wait for a time and place to ponder it out.

Chayse turned to the runesmith as the cell door clicked closed. “You took me for a naïve scalawag and loaded my plate with flotsam and jetsam, didn’t ye, old man?”

“Whether the Krabi swords have found a match or a messenger in you for now, the blades will do what you would have them do and that is what we need to discuss.”

The young al’far worked the blades, slicing the air a few times, before saying with a wink, “There is no shame in the balance and measure, although I am used to a longer single blade. Still, I will wield them with strong arms and a true heart and ask only for a strong and true edge.”

Mek scampered into the cell as Chayse slid the blades into his belt. The giant squirrel made a series of gestures and Chayse interpreted.

“Mek says all are still at their bunks except for the watch on the bow and an essence weaver on the poop deck,” the boy said, looking up from his friend.

Marley paced to the bars separating the two cells. “Thysl, how far up the coast will this boat get at this speed?”

Thysl stood at the bars. The runesmith thought he still looked a little on the fragile side, but his tenacious spirit shown in the jut of his chin as he spoke. “The way the water flees from the hull, we are on course to pass the cove with no name by moonrise on the morrow, if they continue at this pace without impediment.”

Marley reached into his inner pocket, taking out the rune of masking, and handed it to Chayse.

“You and Mek are wild cards to them. They don’t know about Mek and with this rune, they will see you as one of their own. Because you are known to us, we will see you for who you are. Hold upon your thoughts and tongue the rune name Alarccal. As long as the stone stays on your person and the rune name in your focus, you will remain masked.”

“What happens if I lose focus?”

“It does not have to be your every thought, but if it slips for more than a few heartbeats, so will your disguise.” Marley’s voice carried the wary tone of experience.

“Mek says the horizon lightens. When do we strike and what do you want me to do?” Chayse sat on the bunk, his new knives once more in his hands.

“Use the rune to get close enough to the watch in the bow to silently dispatch him.” Marley grimaced. The look on the boy’s face spoke of his distaste at taking a man’s life. “You don’t have to kill him,” Marley said with a sigh. “If you can, just knock him out. Or push him over the rail and let the Fates and the fish decide his future.”

“What do you want us to do?” Jayf asked for Glyf, Thysl and himself.

“Once the guard is down, Chayse will signal Mek to let you know he is on his way to the aft deck. Be ready to meet him there, Jayf and Glyf. You three, take care of the weaver and destroy the spirit stone.”

Marley turned his gaze to Thysl. “Will we be far enough out into the sea for you to sing the winds, without the unstable essence twisting the song?”

Thysl’s nod was fierce, a look of determination stamped upon his face, his large eyes twin pools of swiftly swirling shadows.

“Good, then you and I shall find a place where we may work undisturbed.” The runesmith glanced around at his small group. “After you take out the weaver, head to the crew quarters and remove any threats as they emerge, while Thysl and I get the Dragon Spit headed in the right direction. Are we ready?”

“Let’s do this before the Fates change their minds,” Chayse said.

“You’re up then, boy. We’ll be waiting for Mek’s signal from the shadows of the hold’s entry.”