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    Chapter 81


    A Simple Exchange


    “It’s been two days,” Tanlor shook his head, “I don’t think shit-digger is going to pull through.”


    “He’s trying,” Daegan argued.


    “Last night he brought us a pouch of rocks,” Tanlor gave him a levelled stare.


    “How is he to know that’s not useful, he’s probably never seen runestones up close.”


    “He should be trying to get the revolver, that’s got everything we need in it.”


    “You know he can’t,” Daegan shook his head. “That big one over there—Razef, shit-digger calls him—he took the revolver and hasn’t let it out of his sight since that other one blew his brains out.”


    “Well maybe he needs to take more risks,” Tanlor grumbled, “no wonder he’s the runt.”


    “Let’s just give him a chance.”


    “He’s had lots of chances. Let’s try to convince that one,” Tanlor nodded to a bigger rak youth. Daegan had noticed that one before, shoving the others around.


    “A bully like that,” Tanlor continued, “reminds me of my cousin Boern. I’d bet he would leap at the chance for some power.”


    “One more night,” Daegan offered, “if shit-digger doesn’t pull through we’ll try rak-Boern, alright?”


    “Deal.”


    A new wrench had been thrown into their plan when more rak had arrived at Twin Garde late the previous night. They didn’t look to be the same group that had left with Rowan and the others but it was hard to tell the individuals apart from each other. This group however was a larger force. Bolstering the rak in the keep to thirty at Daegan’s count.


    Razef seemed to be the new leader. He carried with him the garnet crystal dagger that the former chief had carried. Daegan felt anxious every time he spotted it, sheathed at the rak’s hip. So far he had not seen Razef use the dagger’s strange murderous effect on anyone. It no longer glowed with the internal light of a runestone as it had that night in the tower.


    Along with the new group of rak was a pair of creatures that had made Daegan’s draw drop.


    “What are those?” Tanlor breathed.


    “I-I don’t know,” Daegan stammered and felt a chill running down his spine. When they’d first been marched through the gate, Daegan mistaken the creatures as bizarre carts. His brain refused to comprehend what he had been looking at. Their round flat bodies were covered in a blue carapace. Sharp spines jutted out along the chitin. The creatures scuttled forward on six thick insect-like legs and they had two enormous pincers claws—like a crab—that were strapped shut with leather belts. The belts strained against the creatures’ movements.


    There were no other indicators of restraints. The creatures appeared to be compliant, taking direction from a handler carrying a long barbed pike, with a hook at the end. Occasionally, the rak would tap the side of the creature’s carapace with the flat of his pike to direct it.


    The arrival of the new rak and the creatures had not deterred Daegan and Tanlor from their intent to escape, instead fuelling their commitment to it. Neither wanted to risk waiting for whatever the rak had planned for them.


    Daegan was glad he’d convinced Tanlor to wait one more night because sure enough shit-digger shuffled over to their cage after most of the other rak had fallen asleep.


    “I have it,” shit-digger said with grim determination. He had a cloth wrapped bundle in his hands.


    “Excellent.” Daegan beamed and flashed a satisfied grin at Tanlor. “Quickly give it to me. The first thing I will show you is how to hold it without killing yourself.” Shit-digger passed the bundle through the bars, casting a worried glance back at the sentries on the walls.


    “For fuck’s sake,” Daegan growled, pulling the cloth off the object. “This!” he spat at shit-digger, “is a fucking crossbow… it doesn’t even have a bolt!” Daegan cursed in frustration and caught Tanlor smirking at him.


    “Is the same thing, no?” Shit-digger retorted in offence. Daegan let out a suffering sigh.


    “No,” he said with as much patience as he could muster, “it is not the same. We need the runestones! The glowing stones, remember? This is how we teach you.” Understanding dawned on shit-diggers face.


    “You need to get the revolver now, tonight! Razef is asleep, you can take it from him.”


    “Razef will kill this one,” shit-digger moaned, “I cannot.”


    “Well then we will teach another. That one,” Daegan pointed to rak-Boern, sleeping next to the fire. Shit-digger’s jaw worked in anger.


    “No,” Shit-digger spat, “No. You will teach me. I will get it.”


    “Get it now.” Daegan hissed after him and the rak youth moved away from their cage.


    “You really think he’ll manage it?” Tanlor asked.


    “There’s a high chance Razef might kill him,” Daegan conceded.


    “Yep,” Tanlor agreed, “we should’ve gone with rak-Boern.”


    ***


    The cold winds stung Ardy’s face. His cloak and breeches billowed as he pulled the rope of the main sail. He leaned back with his weight, hanging off the edge of the iceraft. He felt the rig shifting direction, the course altering with his weight. He couldn’t resist the grin that pulled at his mouth when he did this. The exulting joy he felt when working the rig at full speed across the ice was a rush he hadn’t felt working any other vessel.


    The grin was quickly replaced with a scowl as he heard a voice call out from behind him.


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    “How close are we?” the infuriating Reldoni woman asked over the howling winds. Ardy pretended he couldn’t hear her and allowed himself to enjoy the wind billowing in his hair and rushing in his ears a while longer.


    “Master Ardy!” The woman called out again, this time with forcefulness.


    “Not far now,” Ardy called back.


    “How can he even tell, there’s no markers out here.” Ardy heard one of the younger Reldoni say, Jaz, they called him. Likely the boy didn’t think Ardy could hear him. But Aeth ears could pick up a lot of sound.


    Soon. Ardy reminded himself. Soon, you’ll be rid of this nasty business. His chest tightened as he thought about what lay only an hour further into the barren flat of the ice sheet. But barren did not mean not empty. Ardy glanced up at the sky. Lua Nova had just passed, but both Ecko and Luna were almost full, illuminating the outlines of the sparse cloud cover with silvery lines tinged red and blue. Every now and then, one of the moons would peek its face out, peering down at the world.


    Ardy had learned the cycles of the moons in his youth. Only in his years at sea did he really come to appreciate how powerful they could be. Their phases played havoc with the currents and tides of the oceans. Ardy wasn’t sure how many other people would be aware of how they effected the ice of Nortara. Perhaps that was simply the amount of time Ardy spent on the ice. He could feel the moons’ pull on it The incredible mass shifted and groaned at the whims of the moons.


    It was the predictability of the moon’s phases that gave Ardy the confidence to know exactly where they were. He looked up and saw Luna’s face. A warm bright spot in the otherwise dark coldness of night. He raised his thumb to the moon. Angled it slightly until the constellation of the sword started right at the tip of his nail. He frowned, he had made a slight miscalculation.


    “Two hours,” Ardy called back to the group.


    “See I told you he’s just guessing,” Jaz said.


    “You just focus on restraining that edir of yours,” the one called Endrin chided, “and try not to melt the ice around us again.”


    “Yes, sir,” Jaz replied, suitably chastised.


    “The Shrydan brothers should not be underestimated,” one of them said and Ardy felt his grip slacken on the rope. He slipped back and caught himself quickly. He didn’t dare look over his shoulder. The man had barely spoken since he’d stepped onto Ardy’s raft the day before. And Ardy had spent much of the time actively avoiding looking at him. He peeked back at the man now.


    Ferath wore an unremarkable black cloak, the cowl pulled up over his head. But his eyes glowed with unnatural amber light. Ardy cared little for runewielding and hadn''t bothered to learn any of the basics of the practice. But he knew enough that glowing eyes was a marker for an unstable runewielder. A person who was drawing more power than their bodies could naturally handle. Ardy recalled seeing the same eyes in his youth at Evier. Some of his peers that had undergone the soulbond to enhance their runewielding. Those with glowing eyes were usually sequestered, sealed away so that they couldn''t hurt themselves or others with their powers.


    The glowing eyes alone would’ve been enough to frighten Ardy. But this man had also chased Ardy, Tanlor and Dessie through the streets of Urundock barely a week past, hurling spears of stone at them. Dessie. The man’s face came into his mind. Prince fucking Daegan Tredain. That was who the Reldoni Captain—Misandrei—had said he was. Not only had Ardy broken his only rule of dealing with Reldoni but it was with a moons-damned fucking Prince of Reldon!


    “The Shrydans are just ordinary men, are they not?” Misandrei replied.


    “They are not soulforged if that is what you mean,” Ferath granted. “But they have managed to interfere with my assaults… twice now.”


    “This is a result of your affinity instability,” Misandrei replied, “Garld will rectify this upon your return to Epilas.”


    “You’re also not fighting like a soulforged yet,” Endrin added, “you were among the first of us to undergo the change. We’ve incorporated our enhanced abilities into a new combat style that better suits this. The newest Bloodshedders have benefited more from this as we’ve been training them for enhanced abilities. You’ve not been, you’ll need to unlearn all of your bad habits.”


    “Do not speak to me as if I am an amateur, Endrin,” Ferath snapped.


    “You are,” Endrin rebuffed, “tell me, did you rely upon your sword skills in your encounters with the Shrydans?” Ferath did not reply.


    “If you’d had the time to train with us before this mission, you’d never have let yourself get engaged in melee combat like that. You should have dusted their weapons. There are dozens of different strategies you could have opted for, but you’re still thinking like a regular soldier.”


    “You can’t dust steel that quickly,” Ferath shot.


    “Yes,” Endrin replied “we can… and so can you.”


    “Daegan’s revolver is also a risk,” Ferath defended. “The rate of fire is considerably faster than that of a regular pistol. Keep an eye on him if you’re engaging all three together.”


    “None of that matters, you know,” Ardy interrupted, pulling the attention of the others.


    “They’re all likely dead, already. Those rak were storming the towers by ‘time I got out.”


    “The rak are not a concern,” Misandrei said, foolishly, “We take out any we come across. But the priority is ensuring Daegan Tredain is dead.”


    A gracious man might have felt guilt at ferrying these assassins to Dessie, but Ardy couldn’t have given a swimming shit. It was Dessie—Daegan’s—fault that Ardy was wrapped up in the bloody mess in the first place. Ardy was beyond done with the man. This would be his last dealing with him It was now his only rule.


    ***


    Tanlor watched in appreciation as Daegan and shit-digger exchanged words in the Old Tongue. He’d never seen anyone speak anything other than the language of blades with a rak before. And here was Daegan convincing this one to inadvertently help them. I suppose he’s pretty good at that.


    Daegan unwrapped the new bundle as shit-digger nervously licked his lips and glanced over his shoulder. Tanlor smiled as the soft glow of the runestones came into view along the cylinder of the revolver. Daegan quickly passed it to Tanlor—as they’d planned—and kept talking to shit-digger. Naive little bastard. Tanlor worked quickly, he placed a hand over the eradite gemstone. Focusing his edir, he felt the tingling vibration from the rest of the metal in response. He set his mind to dissolving the metal around the two runestones. Filling the eradite with the material. It would take him a few minutes to dissolve that much metal. He could feel it now, slowly wearing away under his hand.


    Daegan kept shit-digger distracted. Speaking quickly in that harsh language and using emphatic hand gestures, keeping the rak’s attention. Tanlor had no idea what Daegan was saying to keep the youth distracted but whatever it was, he seemed rapt in Daegan’s words. Daegan mimed an explosion, and then raised a warning finger. Speaking again quickly. He then started patting his hands as if putting out a fire and shaking his head vigorously. He seemed every inch a firm instructor and shit-digger was nodding along, completely absorbed in Daegan’s bullshit lecture.


    Tanlor felt the eradite and topaz loosen. He continued wearing it down, holding his gaze on shit-digger and Daegan’s conversation. Occasionally, he would glance up to the sentries on the wall to see if anyone had spotted the suspicious interaction. The cages weren’t well illuminated which was a benefit tonight.


    He felt the runestones slip under his grasp, finally separating from the device. He cleared his throat, giving Daegan the signal that he was finished. Seamlessly, Daegan reached out a hand and took the revolver back. The man didn’t break stride in his conversation with shit-digger and demonstrated holding the weapon. He gripped the handle and held his arm out straight, looking down the barrel. Without the runestones it was now useless. Whatever mechanisms of gunpowder worked in regular rifles were not present in this device. It worked solely off the runestones.


    Daegan pointed the wheel-lock gun out towards the campfire where many of the rak were sprawled out. Daegan continued to lecture then pulled the trigger. It clicked and Daegan blew out a breath through pursed lips, mimicking a blast. Shit-digger was nodding along, licking his lips. Daegan held up a warning hand to shit-digger. Spoke firmly again, and then gently offered the revolver back, handle first.


    Shit-digger took the weapon almost reverently. He nodded to Daegan then hurriedly wrapped the thing back up in the cloth and slinked away from the cage bars.


    “What did you tell him?” Tanlor asked once shit-digger was out of earshot.


    “That we’ve disabled the firing action so that he can practise with it. I told him that we trapped a spirit inside, and that it needs a few days to get used to him as its master. He just needs to keep it on him and keep it hidden. I said that the revolver needs to ‘attune’ to his presence before it will work for him, otherwise it will try to kill him if he doesn’t wait.”


    “And he bought that?” Tanlor asked incredulously.


    “It helps that Razef had been carrying it on him at all times,” Daegan shrugged, “these seem like the kind of people that believe in spirits.”


    “They’re not people,” Tanlor replied.


    “No, they’re not,” Daegan agreed and eyed the corner of the keep where two monstrous crabs were being kept.


    “When should we make our move?” Daegan asked.


    “I’m going to work on dissolving the lock now,” Tanlor said, “those clouds are getting thicker, I say we wait an hour or so. Hope that it gets a bit darker and then we’ll move on to phase two.” Daegan glanced down to the cage whether the other three soldiers were being kept. They were all sleeping.


    “Let’s hope they’ll be quick to move,” Daegan said, nodding towards the soldiers.


    “Leave that to me,” Tanlor replied, “and you focus on getting to that weapons rack.”


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