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The waves slid low past the hull, calm waters carrying the ship safely from the harbour that shrank away behind it. Asten wandered the decks, watching the crew busy with their work, and the many wake-riding fish that hung close to the sides of the ship. A pair of spirit rays danced along by the prow, leaping from the water in elegant twists and turns.
“A good omen,” Cirrus said as she came up to join him, “or so I’m told.” She turned around and leant back against the low wooden gunwale. Her tail flicked fitfully as she thought. “What will we find when we land?”
“I have no idea. The people are fleeing. Wormwood has the Spire. If he shuts himself away it’d take a siege to bring him out. The Immortal Spire can hold strong for months on end without aid.”
“No plan, then? Hm…” She smiled a soft, reassuring smile and patted him on the shoulder before walking away.
Asten stared down into the water and slowly became aware of a low clunking coming from behind him. He turned to see the captain walking towards him. She gave a slight bow and stopped some way off, standing straight and proud.
“I wouldn’t worry too much, my prince.” she said, “A desperate fighter can win the day on a whim if she so chooses.”
He glanced down at her leg, an elegant thing, clearly the work of a master artificer, not just a military engineer. It had a date engraved on the side where the curving metal ran up what little remained of her thigh. She saw him looking and reached down to the surface with a gentle and delicate touch.
“I was the last of my company.” she said, recalling the memory as her fingers slowly moved across the metal, “Our ship had landed badly under a storm, torn to pieces and beyond repair. Where we were we didn’t know, but the defence of that realm was made by cannon fire and siege bows from the clifftop forts that fringed the waters.” She came over to the gunwale and leant over it, breathing in the sea air. “The crew, the soldiers, they lay dying in the sand, brought down by explosive charges and burning tar that stuck to your skin. I alone remained standing, and I would make that stand. I took a black powder rifle from one of my shipmates, and I could only find three shots lying in the sand and the blood. I made my stand. With the first, I took down the operator of the fire thrower on the cliff above. With the second, I detonated a store of charges that took out three cannons and a siege bow. I fell to cannon fire. A chain shot. With my final shot I killed the first of the warriors who came to end my life.”
“But you escaped.”
“No. I was given mercy. I was given honour. These warriors carried me, broken and bleeding out, to their leader. He gave me a home, he gave me care, and when he sent me away in a little wooden boat, he sent me with the honour of the realm. I never found where it was, I never made my way back there, but…” She touched the date engraved on her thigh, then suddenly straightened and breathed in deeply. “So don’t fret. Whatever happens, happens. As long as you do it with honour, even death can feel like a victory.” She walked away and left him to his thoughts once more.
The sun fell, and the stars began to glow in the sky. Captain Kaitlis kept the ship steady on its course long into the night before she gave up the helm. Nobody saw her again until morning; she ate alone in her cabin beneath the quarterdeck where the ship’s cook had left out a meal for her, and none of the crew dared disturb her. When her door opened, she strode out looking as perfect and dignified as she had when she turned from the helm the night before. She wandered the decks, checking that everything was running as it should, then descended into the hold to see the animals were being well cared for. She found Cirrus there feeding oranges to Scarab.
“Good morning, my queen.” She said with a tip of her hat.
“Captain. Where are we today?”
“Close, the change in the wind held us back, but we’ll land this morning.” She walked over to the shire horses in their pens and gently rubbed the nose of the nearest one. “You should prepare yourselves.”
“We’ve only got the beetles to harness up, but that will wait until they’ve been unloaded.”
“Not that. Prepare yourself for what you’ll see when we disembark.” She bent down and picked up a bucket of oats which she held for the horse to eat from. “The people of the Endless Plains are desperate. I’ve already made three crossings and still they come, the roads flood with them and the ports are clogged. I’m a military woman, Cirrus.” Her voice became low and sad. “I’ve seen people fighting for their lives, but this… You should prepare yourself for what you’ll see.”
“PORTAL!” a cry rang out. Both of them looked up at the wooden grates that sat in the deck above them. The captain put down the bucket and strode off back towards the stairs.
“What’s portal?” Cirrus called after her.
“The Portal of the Gods, we’re there.”
Cirrus came running up onto the deck after Kaitlis. The captain went back up to the helm while the queen went forwards to hang over the gunwale at the prow. Ahead of the ship stood a vast arch of stone jutting out from the cliffs beyond. Cirrus wasn’t sure what she was looking at, she’d never been to this particular coast before. Sira and Jarrah came running up to join her and Jarrah climbed up to lean far over the gunwale with the sea breeze blowing her short hair back.
“The Portal of the Gods.” Sira said, with reverence and awe.
“You know this place?” Cirrus asked.
“My mother used to trade here.”
“Why’s it called that?”
“It’s just superstition. People believe ships go missing when they pass under it. Now it’s only used by smugglers to access the caves that run up beneath Port Balnix.”
The archway slid past, the Bluebird sweeping out around the column of rock at the end. Further along the coast, beyond the shadow of the Portal of the Gods that hung across cliffs and beaches, Cirrus could see the port coming into view around a headland. The harbourside was lined with a multitude of colourful banners and flags that waved in the wind. Behind that, it felt like Wrothsport, a similar mix of buildings from different ages and the same sense of busyness. Despite the fair weather, Cirrus shivered, a foreboding chill running down her spine to set her fur on end. It took her a long time to realise that there were no banners or flags on the harbour. What she had taken to be colourful streamers blowing in the wind were people, a vast and dense crowd packed onto the harbourside, clamouring to get to the ships that lay at the jetties.
As soon as the first of the gangplanks fell to the wooden walkway beside the Bluebird, there were people trying to climb on board. The noise was overwhelming, crying, screaming, shouting, swearing, fights broke out as people struggled for positions or tried to push past one another. The ship’s crew had to force the people back with the help of a few knights who were overseeing the evacuation. Further along the jetty, the shire horses were being led down onto the harbourside, with captain Kaitlis striding about yelling orders at the crew.
“Get those horses working! Stretchers, carts, the injured go first!” Her voice rang out, loud and authoritative over the chaotic clamour of the people. “Keep the sick separated! I won’t have a plague on my ship! Where are the knights!?”
The crew held the people aside so the beetles could be unloaded. There wasn’t time or space to harness them here, so Cirrus watched, unable to do anything, as the pack’s things were stacked on the jetties. Jarrah came running up to her, her eyes wide and wet with tears.
“What’s going on, Cirrus?”
“The evacuation, pup. It’s okay.” She hugged the girl tightly and led her along to where the beetles were being tied up to railings along the harbour wall. “Karin!”
“Cirrus! It’s chaos. I’ve lost everyone else.”
“We just have to wait. They’ll see the beetles.”
“Hey, Jarrah…” Karin knelt to the girl’s height and swept her up in her arms.
“Cirrus!” Dog’s voice came from the ship.
She could see him struggling to get off. The people had broken through and were streaming up the nearest gangplank as the knights tried to hold them back. The crew hauled up the other gangplanks to prevent the ship being completely swamped before the knights could regain control. Sira appeared at Dog’s shoulder, waving her paw in the air to show Cirrus she was there.
“My queen!” Kaitlis’ voice came clear through the noise, and Cirrus followed it to find her stood in a pocket of military calm further along the harbour wall.
“Captain. Where’s my pack?”
“Still on deck. I don’t know-” She suddenly spun around to yell at someone up on the ship. “Get the horses back out there! As soon as it’s on board, just go!” She turned back to Cirrus. “I don’t know how long it’ll be before we can get them all off. The knights will sort it, but it could take hours.”
“It’s so much worse than I expected.”
“I told you to prepare. How’s your little one holding up. She didn’t take it well.”
“She’ll be fine. It’s all so…” Cirrus swept her paw in an arc, gesturing at the whole scene, the crush of desperate people fleeing from a fate she couldn’t imagine.
“Go, be with her. She’ll need you.” Kaitlis strode off, cutting a path through the crowd that pushed and pushed and pushed towards the Bluebird. The red flick of her coat tails vanished as the people closed in behind her and her voice rose over the roar once again. “Drop that gangplank! Now! Knights!”
The crew shoved the gangplank from the edge of the ship so it fell to the jetty with a bang. People slipped from the sides and some clung to the deck of the ship, scrabbling to climb up as the crew dragged them on board by their arms. The jetty below slowly cleared as a couple of the knights finally took command of the crowd and led them to other vessels that were ready to take them. Cirrus was swept up in the chaos as the crowd pushed away from the Bluebird and along the harbourside.
It was a long time before the gangplanks were dropped back into place and the knights managed to clear the ship’s deck enough for the crew to get back to work with the horses. A commotion broke out on the jetty as an excitable crowd clustered around a gangplank near the front of the ship. One of the knights, dressed in angular concrete armour that was pitted and cracked, passed up into the cluster of people, forcing their way through by sliding a wooden clipboard between the crowd.
“Renata!” Asten cried when the knight came face to face with him on the gangplank.
For a moment, the Concrete Knight was still, just staring at him through the narrow slits between the angular blocks that made up their helmet’s face. Then, one hand reached up and pulled the helmet off to reveal a young and delicate face, with short cropped blond hair that hung loose on one side.
“Asten?” she whispered, unsure of the name as she said it, “Asten, is it you?”
“Yes!” He smiled as he looked her up and down. “You finished your armour.” he observed, then when he spotted the little golden crest embedded in her breastplate, he added “A Silverdale knight.” with a hint of pride in his voice.
“There are no Silverdale knights, Asten, not any more.” she replied with a sad glace at the crowds who still tried desperately to reach their prince, “The Lord High Viser has closed the gates and shut everyone out. We only found out a few days ago.” She pushed people back down the gangplank and left Asten trailing in her wake.
“Wormwood.”
“Yeah. Wait… you know?” She turned around, but kept her arms out to prevent anyone climbing back up.
“I know enough. It’s why I’m here.”
“To fight him? Hah!” She laughed a hollow empty laugh. “He’s holed up in there, protected by something called the Shadow Order.”
“But what are you doing here? Why aren’t you there stopping all this?”
“You’ve missed a lot, Asten. The streets we played in when we were young are not the same. Your father… well… maybe not. The Spire sent us, all of us, every single knight in the realm, to stop the exodus from the northern shores.” She waved her clipboard at him, a thick stack of papers flapping on it. “When we found out what Wormwood was up to, that quest changed. Now we’re here to organise the evacuation, but it’s not enough. Boats come every day to every port on this coast, and look around you!” She swept her arm wide, gesturing with the clipboard. “They’re still arriving from the south. Some flee to Greenvale, but most of them come for the ships. There’s rumours that some of the villages close to Silverdale have tried their luck in the Night Forest. Imagine… Imagine how desperate, how terrified they must be to even think of it.” She shook her head and looked down at her feet.
Asten placed one hand on her shoulder, the concrete cold and hard beneath his fingers.
“Renata. I can stop this. I can, but not alone.”
“I’ll fight.” she said, without looking up.
“No. Not just you. I need the knights of the Endless Plains, every protector, every wanderer passing through.”
“Asten, it would take days to send out a call like that. And what of the boats? We can’t just leave the captains to organise this. You’ve seen what it’s like.”
“Whatever you can spare, please. Just get the message out, we will march on Silverdale.”
Renata didn’t move, she didn’t reply, just continued staring at the ground. Asten reached out and lifted her chin so she looked at him. For a moment, he saw the young girl he had known.
“Renata. In the Immortal Spire there is a single tile in the grand entrance hall. A blue one.”
“Cracked from end to end.” she said, recalling something from long ago, something she hadn’t thought about since Asten had left, “I fell carrying the box.”
“And we put the two pieces in together.” He smiled at her. “It’s still there. These streets… They could be the same ones we played in again, if you fight for it.”
She took a breath in, closed her eyes, and when they opened again, she was the strong and determined girl he’d known, back before she left for the Academy, before he left for the Roaming Isles. She pushed his hands away and replaced her helmet. The face stared at him blankly for a moment, then vanished with a roar as she surged off across the jetties.
Captain kaitlis came striding over to see them when they finally passed into a clearer space. She gave a slight bow to Asten, which he returned, and stood looking out over the people as they began to crowd around her ship once more.
“Captain, what happens next?” Asten asked her.
“The hold is full, so we’re taking the healthy passengers next; those who can walk and don’t carry the plagues. The knights will let them on soon, they have their papers, and they know what they’re doing.”
“And you?”
“I’ll be back. Another trip, and another, and another…”
“You wouldn’t fight with us then?”
“Hm!” Kaitlis smiled a tight-lipped smile that quickly disappeared. “It would be an honour to die alongside you, my prince. But a ship needs a captain, and these people need a ship. Perhaps we’ll meet again. Who knows? One day, I may be returning them to your shores. And if I do, I hope to see you there to greet them.” She gave another bow and walked off along the jetty again to shout at her crew, and the knights, and the people trying to barge their way on board before their turn.
-----------------------------------------
The Saga of the Iron Gods - Wormwood
Chapter 39: Captain Kaitlis
The waves slid low past the hull, calm waters carrying the ship safely from the harbour that shrank away behind it. Asten wandered the decks, watching the crew busy with their work, and the many wake-riding fish that hung close to the sides of the ship. A pair of spirit rays danced along by the prow, leaping from the water in elegant twists and turns.
“A good omen,” Cirrus said as she came up to join him, “or so I’m told.” She turned around and leant back against the low wooden gunwale. Her tail flicked fitfully as she thought. “What will we find when we land?”
“I have no idea. The people are fleeing. Wormwood has the Spire. If he shuts himself away it’d take a siege to bring him out. The Immortal Spire can hold strong for months on end without aid.”
“No plan, then? Hm…” She smiled a soft, reassuring smile and patted him on the shoulder before walking away.
Asten stared down into the water and slowly became aware of a low clunking coming from behind him. He turned to see the captain walking towards him. She gave a slight bow and stopped some way off, standing straight and proud.
“I wouldn’t worry too much, my prince.” she said, “A desperate fighter can win the day on a whim if she so chooses.”
He glanced down at her leg, an elegant thing, clearly the work of a master artificer, not just a military engineer. It had a date engraved on the side where the curving metal ran up what little remained of her thigh. She saw him looking and reached down to the surface with a gentle and delicate touch.
“I was the last of my company.” she said, recalling the memory as her fingers slowly moved across the metal, “Our ship had landed badly under a storm, torn to pieces and beyond repair. Where we were we didn’t know, but the defence of that realm was made by cannon fire and siege bows from the clifftop forts that fringed the waters.” She came over to the gunwale and leant over it, breathing in the sea air. “The crew, the soldiers, they lay dying in the sand, brought down by explosive charges and burning tar that stuck to your skin. I alone remained standing, and I would make that stand. I took a black powder rifle from one of my shipmates, and I could only find three shots lying in the sand and the blood. I made my stand. With the first, I took down the operator of the fire thrower on the cliff above. With the second, I detonated a store of charges that took out three cannons and a siege bow. I fell to cannon fire. A chain shot. With my final shot I killed the first of the warriors who came to end my life.”
“But you escaped.”
“No. I was given mercy. I was given honour. These warriors carried me, broken and bleeding out, to their leader. He gave me a home, he gave me care, and when he sent me away in a little wooden boat, he sent me with the honour of the realm. I never found where it was, I never made my way back there, but…” She touched the date engraved on her thigh, then suddenly straightened and breathed in deeply. “So don’t fret. Whatever happens, happens. As long as you do it with honour, even death can feel like a victory.” She walked away and left him to his thoughts once more.
The sun fell, and the stars began to glow in the sky. Captain Kaitlis kept the ship steady on its course long into the night before she gave up the helm. Nobody saw her again until morning; she ate alone in her cabin beneath the quarterdeck where the ship’s cook had left out a meal for her, and none of the crew dared disturb her. When her door opened, she strode out looking as perfect and dignified as she had when she turned from the helm the night before. She wandered the decks, checking that everything was running as it should, then descended into the hold to see the animals were being well cared for. She found Cirrus there feeding oranges to Scarab.
“Good morning, my queen.” She said with a tip of her hat.
“Captain. Where are we today?”
“Close, the change in the wind held us back, but we’ll land this morning.” She walked over to the shire horses in their pens and gently rubbed the nose of the nearest one. “You should prepare yourselves.”
“We’ve only got the beetles to harness up, but that will wait until they’ve been unloaded.”
“Not that. Prepare yourself for what you’ll see when we disembark.” She bent down and picked up a bucket of oats which she held for the horse to eat from. “The people of the Endless Plains are desperate. I’ve already made three crossings and still they come, the roads flood with them and the ports are clogged. I’m a military woman, Cirrus.” Her voice became low and sad. “I’ve seen people fighting for their lives, but this… You should prepare yourself for what you’ll see.”
“PORTAL!” a cry rang out. Both of them looked up at the wooden grates that sat in the deck above them. The captain put down the bucket and strode off back towards the stairs.
“What’s portal?” Cirrus called after her.
“The Portal of the Gods, we’re there.”
Cirrus came running up onto the deck after Kaitlis. The captain went back up to the helm while the queen went forwards to hang over the gunwale at the prow. Ahead of the ship stood a vast arch of stone jutting out from the cliffs beyond. Cirrus wasn’t sure what she was looking at, she’d never been to this particular coast before. Sira and Jarrah came running up to join her and Jarrah climbed up to lean far over the gunwale with the sea breeze blowing her short hair back.
“The Portal of the Gods.” Sira said, with reverence and awe.
“You know this place?” Cirrus asked.
“My mother used to trade here.”
“Why’s it called that?”
“It’s just superstition. People believe ships go missing when they pass under it. Now it’s only used by smugglers to access the caves that run up beneath Port Balnix.”
The archway slid past, the Bluebird sweeping out around the column of rock at the end. Further along the coast, beyond the shadow of the Portal of the Gods that hung across cliffs and beaches, Cirrus could see the port coming into view around a headland. The harbourside was lined with a multitude of colourful banners and flags that waved in the wind. Behind that, it felt like Wrothsport, a similar mix of buildings from different ages and the same sense of busyness. Despite the fair weather, Cirrus shivered, a foreboding chill running down her spine to set her fur on end. It took her a long time to realise that there were no banners or flags on the harbour. What she had taken to be colourful streamers blowing in the wind were people, a vast and dense crowd packed onto the harbourside, clamouring to get to the ships that lay at the jetties.
As soon as the first of the gangplanks fell to the wooden walkway beside the Bluebird, there were people trying to climb on board. The noise was overwhelming, crying, screaming, shouting, swearing, fights broke out as people struggled for positions or tried to push past one another. The ship’s crew had to force the people back with the help of a few knights who were overseeing the evacuation. Further along the jetty, the shire horses were being led down onto the harbourside, with captain Kaitlis striding about yelling orders at the crew.
“Get those horses working! Stretchers, carts, the injured go first!” Her voice rang out, loud and authoritative over the chaotic clamour of the people. “Keep the sick separated! I won’t have a plague on my ship! Where are the knights!?”
The crew held the people aside so the beetles could be unloaded. There wasn’t time or space to harness them here, so Cirrus watched, unable to do anything, as the pack’s things were stacked on the jetties. Jarrah came running up to her, her eyes wide and wet with tears.
“What’s going on, Cirrus?”
“The evacuation, pup. It’s okay.” She hugged the girl tightly and led her along to where the beetles were being tied up to railings along the harbour wall. “Karin!”
“Cirrus! It’s chaos. I’ve lost everyone else.”
“We just have to wait. They’ll see the beetles.”
“Hey, Jarrah…” Karin knelt to the girl’s height and swept her up in her arms.
“Cirrus!” Dog’s voice came from the ship.
She could see him struggling to get off. The people had broken through and were streaming up the nearest gangplank as the knights tried to hold them back. The crew hauled up the other gangplanks to prevent the ship being completely swamped before the knights could regain control. Sira appeared at Dog’s shoulder, waving her paw in the air to show Cirrus she was there.
“My queen!” Kaitlis’ voice came clear through the noise, and Cirrus followed it to find her stood in a pocket of military calm further along the harbour wall.
“Captain. Where’s my pack?”
“Still on deck. I don’t know-” She suddenly spun around to yell at someone up on the ship. “Get the horses back out there! As soon as it’s on board, just go!” She turned back to Cirrus. “I don’t know how long it’ll be before we can get them all off. The knights will sort it, but it could take hours.”
“It’s so much worse than I expected.”
“I told you to prepare. How’s your little one holding up. She didn’t take it well.”
“She’ll be fine. It’s all so…” Cirrus swept her paw in an arc, gesturing at the whole scene, the crush of desperate people fleeing from a fate she couldn’t imagine.
“Go, be with her. She’ll need you.” Kaitlis strode off, cutting a path through the crowd that pushed and pushed and pushed towards the Bluebird. The red flick of her coat tails vanished as the people closed in behind her and her voice rose over the roar once again. “Drop that gangplank! Now! Knights!”
The crew shoved the gangplank from the edge of the ship so it fell to the jetty with a bang. People slipped from the sides and some clung to the deck of the ship, scrabbling to climb up as the crew dragged them on board by their arms. The jetty below slowly cleared as a couple of the knights finally took command of the crowd and led them to other vessels that were ready to take them. Cirrus was swept up in the chaos as the crowd pushed away from the Bluebird and along the harbourside.
It was a long time before the gangplanks were dropped back into place and the knights managed to clear the ship’s deck enough for the crew to get back to work with the horses. A commotion broke out on the jetty as an excitable crowd clustered around a gangplank near the front of the ship. One of the knights, dressed in angular concrete armour that was pitted and cracked, passed up into the cluster of people, forcing their way through by sliding a wooden clipboard between the crowd.
“Renata!” Asten cried when the knight came face to face with him on the gangplank.
For a moment, the Concrete Knight was still, just staring at him through the narrow slits between the angular blocks that made up their helmet’s face. Then, one hand reached up and pulled the helmet off to reveal a young and delicate face, with short cropped blond hair that hung loose on one side.
“Asten?” she whispered, unsure of the name as she said it, “Asten, is it you?”
“Yes!” He smiled as he looked her up and down. “You finished your armour.” he observed, then when he spotted the little golden crest embedded in her breastplate, he added “A Silverdale knight.” with a hint of pride in his voice.
“There are no Silverdale knights, Asten, not any more.” she replied with a sad glace at the crowds who still tried desperately to reach their prince, “The Lord High Viser has closed the gates and shut everyone out. We only found out a few days ago.” She pushed people back down the gangplank and left Asten trailing in her wake.
“Wormwood.”
“Yeah. Wait… you know?” She turned around, but kept her arms out to prevent anyone climbing back up.
“I know enough. It’s why I’m here.”
“To fight him? Hah!” She laughed a hollow empty laugh. “He’s holed up in there, protected by something called the Shadow Order.”
“But what are you doing here? Why aren’t you there stopping all this?”
“You’ve missed a lot, Asten. The streets we played in when we were young are not the same. Your father… well… maybe not. The Spire sent us, all of us, every single knight in the realm, to stop the exodus from the northern shores.” She waved her clipboard at him, a thick stack of papers flapping on it. “When we found out what Wormwood was up to, that quest changed. Now we’re here to organise the evacuation, but it’s not enough. Boats come every day to every port on this coast, and look around you!” She swept her arm wide, gesturing with the clipboard. “They’re still arriving from the south. Some flee to Greenvale, but most of them come for the ships. There’s rumours that some of the villages close to Silverdale have tried their luck in the Night Forest. Imagine… Imagine how desperate, how terrified they must be to even think of it.” She shook her head and looked down at her feet.
Asten placed one hand on her shoulder, the concrete cold and hard beneath his fingers.
“Renata. I can stop this. I can, but not alone.”
“I’ll fight.” she said, without looking up.
“No. Not just you. I need the knights of the Endless Plains, every protector, every wanderer passing through.”
“Asten, it would take days to send out a call like that. And what of the boats? We can’t just leave the captains to organise this. You’ve seen what it’s like.”
“Whatever you can spare, please. Just get the message out, we will march on Silverdale.”
Renata didn’t move, she didn’t reply, just continued staring at the ground. Asten reached out and lifted her chin so she looked at him. For a moment, he saw the young girl he had known.
“Renata. In the Immortal Spire there is a single tile in the grand entrance hall. A blue one.”
“Cracked from end to end.” she said, recalling something from long ago, something she hadn’t thought about since Asten had left, “I fell carrying the box.”
“And we put the two pieces in together.” He smiled at her. “It’s still there. These streets… They could be the same ones we played in again, if you fight for it.”
She took a breath in, closed her eyes, and when they opened again, she was the strong and determined girl he’d known, back before she left for the Academy, before he left for the Roaming Isles. She pushed his hands away and replaced her helmet. The face stared at him blankly for a moment, then vanished with a roar as she surged off across the jetties.
Captain kaitlis came striding over to see them when they finally passed into a clearer space. She gave a slight bow to Asten, which he returned, and stood looking out over the people as they began to crowd around her ship once more.
“Captain, what happens next?” Asten asked her.
“The hold is full, so we’re taking the healthy passengers next; those who can walk and don’t carry the plagues. The knights will let them on soon, they have their papers, and they know what they’re doing.”
“And you?”
“I’ll be back. Another trip, and another, and another…”
“You wouldn’t fight with us then?”
“Hm!” Kaitlis smiled a tight-lipped smile that quickly disappeared. “It would be an honour to die alongside you, my prince. But a ship needs a captain, and these people need a ship. Perhaps we’ll meet again. Who knows? One day, I may be returning them to your shores. And if I do, I hope to see you there to greet them.” She gave another bow and walked off along the jetty again to shout at her crew, and the knights, and the people trying to barge their way on board before their turn.
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A knight, given superhuman powers by a magical engine, a pack of wolf-like Aarouan pirates, and the missing prince of Silverdale travel across the world to reunite him with his dying father before it’s too late. But with a murderous stained knight on their trail, they unknowingly end up tangled in the strings of the Drowned King, an immortal being whose century-spanning plans they are now all a part of.
A knight, given superhuman powers by a magical engine, a pack of wolf-like Aarouan pirates, and the missing prince of Silverdale travel across the world to reunite him with his dying father before it’s too late. But with a murderous stained knight on their trail, they unknowingly end up tangled in the strings of the Drowned King, an immortal being whose century-spanning plans they are now all a part of.
Category Story / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 120px
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