Torvola dragged the heavy trunk from under her bed and unlocked it. The old hinges creaked as she lifted the heavy lid to reveal a set of brigandine armor. Marí raised an eyebrow at the collection and Torvola shrugged, “You don’t think I’d throw away a perfectly good set of armor, would you?”
They were sitting in her house, the daylight waning on Torvola’s last day in Maelesea. Marí had come by to see her off, and to spend one last night with her before they went their separate ways. Torvola to Queen Venera in the interior of the queendom and Marí to the seas where Sinda and the rest of her herd were making their own plans to further investigate the quake. Marí and Sinda weren’t convinced the event was entirely natural.
“It just feels off,” Marí signed to Torvola, “You can’t deny you feel it too — I was once human.”
“Yes it feels off,” Torvola said, “But I still don’t think it’s unnatural or whatever caused this is entirely malevolent.”
“It destroyed an entire coastline and killed hundreds of people.”
“Fair point.”
“Just promise me you’ll be careful.”
Torvola blinked and stared at Marí. Why was she worried about her safety? She had proved herself time and time again to be a fighter, a survivor.
“I should be telling you to be careful,” Torvola said with the smallest of smiles as she took Marí’s hands in her own, “Not the other way around.”
Marí returned the smile and put her forehead against Torvola’s breathing deep. While Marí smelled of the ocean air, of salt and fish — Torvola smelled of the woods, of pine and rock. It was a smell Marí had found herself missing, something she had never thought she’d miss in her years being a creature of the sea. She extricated her hands from Torvola’s and leaned back so Torvola could see her.
“I’ll be careful.”
Torvola smiled, “I will too.”
Marí leaned back into Torvola and caught her in an embrace, Torvola leaned back on the bed and held her, stroking her hair quietly as they both drifted off to sleep.
***
Torvola leaned heavily on the rail of the ship and stared down at the frothy water below. Her stomach heaved like the sea around her and she let out an awful groan. She and the sea never seemed to get along. The Sea Walker was several hours out from port by now, the shore a hazy line of black in the distance. They had gotten off to an early start, casting off an hour after dawn. The ship was making good time on its journey north thanks to a last second guest on the ship. Marventas was at the quarterdeck with the helmsman, eyes closed and concentrating on the unusually stiff southerly wind.
He wanted to get away from Malesea as quickly as possible. The unfortunate affect this had on the ship though, was making the vessel rock slightly more than it probably would have.
The unsettled feeling in her stomach wasn’t only due to the rocking of the boat. There was no escape if anything went wrong. She had been over every inch of the ship, noting ways to fight back, places to hide and wait. However, despite the fact that she knew there was a dark corner near the stairs that went below decks that she could crouch into and ambush any attacker coming down the steps. Despite the fact that she knew of at least twenty different objects within her eyesight that she could use as makeshift weapons in the case of an attack. Despite all of that, she didn’t know any way off the ship that didn’t involve getting stuck on an even smaller boat or swimming to shore in an environment completely unknown to her.
“Sea sick?” Torvola whirled around to face the speaker to her right. Brehna, not quite expecting that reaction, took a step back and raised her hands slightly in defense. It took a moment for Torvola to fully relax, casting a wary gaze on Brehna as she turned her back to the sea and leaned against the railing — keeping Brehna to her left.
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to spook you,” Brehna said. She leaning against the railing beside Torvola and stared out over the open sea, “The motion of the boat takes some getting used to. I found it helps if you look at the horizon.”
Torvola grunted, not in the mood or condition to talk at that moment. Her heart was still hammering in her chest from being surprised by Brehna (oh how miserable must she be to not notice her arrival) and her stomach was still trying to escape through her mouth. She kept her lips pressed in a thin line and stared across the heaving deck and at the hazy horizon in the distance.
“So,” Brehna began.
Torvola raised her eyebrow and risked a glance at Brehna before staring back at the sea.
“If you can’t stomach sea travel, how’d you get to Malesea?”
“Walked,” Torvola responded tersely.
“All the way from the capital?”
“Wasn’t that bad of a journey.”
Brehna looked at Torvola as if she had sprouted several new heads, “It’s a two month’s journey and through the mountains if you don’t want to take another month.”
Torvola shrugged, “I needed to clear my head.”
“Apparently,” Brehna said, “What made you choose Maelesea? You certainly weren’t becoming lord of that backwater.”
Torvola glared suspiciously at Brehna, “And what business is it yours to ask?”
She was torn between being respectful to the captain who let her aboard her ship and telling her to leave her alone. On the one hand her reasons were her own … on the other she did not want to be thrown head first over the railing and into the sea.
Her stomach churned as the ship went over a wave and she found herself reconsidering that notion. Drowning may, in fact, be preferable.
“None of my business really,” Brehna said, “And I don’t make it a habit to question my passengers — as long as they have the coin I find it better to know very little about what brought them aboard my ship. You, however, are an exception to my rule.”
“I’ve heard your song being sung in every single tavern I’ve stayed at. By the way the bards crow about you — you’d think you singlehandedly saved Irozia from Cairan the Corrupt — stormed the king’s keep itself,” Brehna said, “I look at you and I don’t really see you being capable of that.”
“Bards have a tendency towards exaggeration,” Torvola replied.
“Sure,” Brehna agreed, “But not by that much.”
Torvola let out a snort, “I once heard a bard sing about a man who fought off an entire Rakonian army by bringing back those who died in the battle.”
“Okay so a few of them may exaggerate a lot,” Brehna said with a shrug, “You can’t deny that the songs they sing about you aren’t even a little bit true. You were at the Queen’s right side — you must have been at least a little bit of a hero.”
Torvola was quiet and she and Brehna sat in uncomfortable silence. A sea gull cried overhead and the waves crashed against the wooden hull of the ship. Finally Brehna said, “I looked up to you, you know. I’ll admit — I was also envious of your fame.”
“You’re not the only one,” Torvola replied.
“It’s just so strange to finally meet the woman who’s famed for being the Champion of the Iron Rose and be greeted by … this,” Brehna said.
Torvola debated whether or not she was willing to risk sea sickness or continue to be subjected to this conversation. It was a decision she made in a moment and she pushed herself from the railing, “That’s why they say never meet the ones you idolize, Captain… you’ll always be sorely disappointed.”
She walked across the rocking deck and disappeared below, leaving Brehna alone by the railing. Brehna frowned, feeling the slightest bit guilty for the turn in the conversation, but that feeling was short lived. She noticed one of the deckhands staring at her, brush in hand and bucket left neglected by his feet.
“That deck won’t scrub itself Tarel. Get back to work.”
***
Brehna gave Torvola a wide berth after that conversation, not that Torvola minded — she could feel the disapproval radiating off of the haughty captain. It annoyed her slightly; Brehna had no idea what she had been through, why she was the way she was. She wasn’t about to recline in the lap of luxury and pretend she was a hero when so many died under her command. The fame, the sudden deference to her, and the practical worship she got after the war had filled her with discomfort.
Unfortunately it was something she’d have to deal with once more now they were approaching the capital. They had made the journey in a little under a month, Marventas looked gaunt and exhausted by the time the ship sailed slowly into the bay. Torvola worried about him; he had barely talked, barely ate, and barely slept since boarding the ship. Things were still tense between them since their chat at the cliff side, Brehna hadn’t been the only one avoiding Torvola. Marventas had barely spoken to her since they left shore and Torvola wanted to avoid saying anything to fuck up the kid more than he already was.
Still … he needed to eat.
She finally cornered him the night before they were to arrive at the port, and pointedly handed him her serving of bread and salted fish. She stood over him with her arms crossed, “You need to eat.”
“Not very hungry,” Marventas said and with a weak smile he added, “Are you only doing this because you’re sea sick and can’t eat your ration?”
Torvola scoffed, “I am doing this because you just spent three weeks using every ounce of your energy to make a five week journey last barely three.”
“It really was nothing,” Marventas shrugged, “The winds this time of year already tended to be southerly — I just helped them along.”
He withered under the look Torvola gave him, “Eat.”
He gave no more protest and he bit savagely into the bread; Torvola took the opportunity to sit next to him. The dinner disappeared within minutes and Marventas leaned back, staring out over the deck that gently rocked in the calmer waters of the bay, “They hate me.”
“I know,” Torvola replied.
She was pretty sure she was the only one on the ship who didn’t look at the mage with fear and disgust … with hatred. She had learned her lesson about trying to talk him into feeling better, and this time she just sat and listened.
“I couldn’t have known about the gas — the risk for the explosion but …” he let out a frustrated sigh and ran his fingers through his unkempt hair, “We took an oath. To use our skills only in service of others and to do no harm to innocents. I broke that oath.”
Torvola glanced at him but said nothing, letting him rant into the night air.
The fingers he was running through his hair curled into a clenched fist and he pulled. His voice came out in a strangled gasp, “I can’t stop seeing their faces.”
“You likely won’t ever stop,” Torvola finally said, “I haven’t.”
He looked up at her and Torvola immediately regretted what she had said.
“Whose faces do you see?”
Torvola stood up abruptly, “It’s late. We should get some sleep.”
Marventas didn’t have a chance to respond, Torvola was already disappearing below deck. She lay in the hammock and stared up at the ceiling as the ship rocked gently. The bay was significantly calmer than the ocean and Torvola’s stomach felt much more settled. Her stomach wasn’t the reason why she was still awake, hours after retiring for the night. Even one of the deckhands that was snoring raucously nearby wouldn’t have caused her any issues in her youth or even now.
But every time her eyes slid shut, she found herself staring into the deadened eyes of the Elder and then at the bloodied bodies at its feet.
***
It was another day before they reached Iron Bay.
The Sea Walker sailed up a narrow strait and into a large bay. Ships of all sizes and designs sailed in the brackish waters. She saw the shallow drafted longboats of the river traders and heard the loud songs the rowers bellowed to keep in sync as their oars rose from the sparkling waters before dropping and entering the waters with a splash.
Junk-rigged ships, carrying goods from the far south, sat anchored by the large port of the city. The crews watched as the Sea Walker sailed by and waved at their fellow sailors. Their ship slid into one of the berths at the docks and stopped along side a pier. Deckhands threw ropes down to the dock workers who secured the ship.
Torvola was ecstatic to be off the ship and on solid ground once more. The world swayed slightly underfoot as if she were still on the rocking deck and she blinked, trying to shake the feeling. One of the dockworkers chuckled, “Aye, you’ll be feeling like someone’s shaking your head about for a while yet.”
Marventas, who had stepped off the ship with Torvola, groaned, “I thought the ground stopped moving once you were off a ship.”
“What will you do now?” Torvola asked Marventas and he shrugged.
“I don’t know,” he said, “Perhaps return home? I don’t want to face the school — not after what I’ve done.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Torvola said, “You didn’t know.”
He gave a half shrug, not looking at her but rather over the waters of the bay, “My actions still killed people. I can’t … I can’t live with that.”
“Wind Caller!”
Marventas flinched slightly and he turned to face Brehna who strode up the deck with purpose. Her eyes were alight with excitement, “I have a proposition for ya.”
The mage looked rather uncertain and very concerned, “What do you want?”
“I want you on my crew,” Brehna said as she placed her hands on her hips, “You got us here in record time, mage. And from what I’ve heard of you — you can help us out with a lot more than our speed.”
“Is that all you heard?” Marventas said.
“I tuned out the rest when I heard of your skills — so what do you say?” Brehna asked, “I’ll give you decent wage if you join my crew and you’ll have a more exciting life than you would in a stuffy academy.”
Marventas looked to Torvola who shrugged, “You’re your own man.”
Marventas looked back at Brehna, “I’ll … I’ll think about it.”
Brehna nodded, “Well don’t think on it too long lad, we leave in three days time.”
She turned to Torvola and looked her up and down, “I’d extend an offer to you too — a woman with your skills on my ship is always welcome.”
“Thanks but I prefer solid ground,” Torvola said flatly.
Brehna laughed nervously, “Well if what your fellow villagers are saying is true: You may not have solid ground for very long.”
A feeling of dread stirred in Torvola’s stomach at those words. In her mind’s eye she saw the port around them burning, the rest of the city lay in ruins as her and the queen’s army blasted through the last of the defenses. It was not a sight she wished to see again. She swallowed hard and said, “It will be fine. They’re just rumors, murmurs of frightened people.”