Chapter One
Canypscan men generallyfell into three professions: sailors, smugglers, or pirates. Because of the two latter lines of work, if even a child was caught out of bounds, they were often jailed or sold as slaves. Not having warriors or an army, Canypsco had no force to fight their unfair treatment.
Wex had been exploring beyond a stone boundary when he’d been taken and sold into slavery at fourteen. His brother, Tokurn, had liberated him from captivity at sixteen. They’d held many professions since. They’d worked on farms and as off-world tribesman or mercenaries at first in order to prevent detection while they earned money to buy Wex out of his slave bond. Realizing that even with Tok’s growing success as an elite hunter, it would take too long by honest work, they’d started raiding and robbing corrupt slave owners. That funded the purchase of their first spaceship and their career as successful pirates was established.
It took six years to pay off the slave bond. Now that Wex was a free man again, he and Tokurn had returned to the skies and the seas with a vengeance. Wealthy slave owners, particularly those who took children, were their favorite target.
At the moment, however, the treasure they were after was a teal-eyed liar with luscious breasts. It had been seven months since they’d seen her last.
“Let’s rob everyone,” Wex said, leaning back in his chair. “Plenty of slave owners will be on board.”
“We don’t have room in the walls,” Tok said, referring to the smuggling holds behind the navigation grid in the control room. The storage cubes were already full from their last haul.
“We don’t have to keep their wealth. We can scatter it in an asteroid belt.”
Tok sighed. “We could, but, for this, we want stealth. We already decided.”
“If the corrupt magistrate’s on board, Larsinc has a right to cut his throat,” Wex argued. “I say room-to-room search. When we leave, let them chase us. If they do, I’ll set a course and let them catch us in the outer banks where other ships will attack with us.”
Tok exhaled. “We’re not here to wage war.”
“Speak for yourself,” Wex said, stretching his legs out. “They deserve a full assault. Let Larsinc say he wants the magistrate, and I’m behind him.”
“I’ll find the magistrate in due time,” Larsinc said. “Tonight, I only want the sister.”
The brothers turned to find their friend standing in the doorway. He moved as silently as a bird in flight. That stealth had served him well. He was alive, no thanks to the magistrate’s sentence. But the seven months in the Wilds had whittled him down to skin and sinew. The animals and tribes had also left their marks on him.
Wex’s fury reignited every time he looked at him. “If she’s all you want right now, so be it. Your will is rule of law in this.”
* * *
The Orium First FamiliesCouncil was being held on a luxury space liner, as it had been for the past three years. Zawri suspected that Urcolin and Orium Councilman Quicknon were being paid an incentive to lock in the unnecessarily expensive location.
Zawri had declined the previous invitations twice before being forced to accept by her neighbors this time. Her presence was necessary for a full quorum for several of the votes. She never wanted to see Magistrate Urcolin socially, let alone to dance with him, but avoiding him after dinner would be an issue. She knew he would grill her with questions about which school Giss had been sent to. She pushed away her drink. She had no intention of letting her guard down in such treacherous company.
On principle, she’d requested that she not be served food that was harvested on four of the worlds with the most barbaric practices for capturing and keeping slaves. She suspected her restrictions had been ignored, so she was contemplating the dilemma of whether to waste her food by leaving it untouched or to eat it and resolve to block further travel on a luxury liner.
One of her neighbors made a disapproving face at her full dish. She didn’t care about their disapproval. She had always been against slavery, but she’d worked actively in opposition of it only recently. Now she’d garnered the help of freed slaves to slip resources to the tribes in the Wilds in exchange for their promise not to hunt and kill the young Ketturan warrior. It was the best she could do. No mercenary had been willing to enter the Wilds to ally with him.
The rail-thin, sharp-featured Quicknon stroked his pointed beard as he leaned forward. “If you’re not hungry for food, what are you hungry for, girl?”
A flush stained her cheeks. Quicknon, Urcolin, and her neighbors had gotten increasingly aggressive in their interactions with her. It had been a mistake to turn to her neighbors for help in housing and concealing Gissandre early on. Zawri had been worried about a quick return of the warrior’s friends, so she’d relied on others of her class until she could make more permanent and safer living arrangements for Giss. It was getting increasingly perilous for Zawri to be alone on Orius.
Urcolin took a vacant seat next to her. “I anticipate that Gissandre will be home for the festival season?” he asked.
“No, I don’t think so. She’s settling into school. A transfer is hard.”
He frowned. “You know, she and I had come to an understanding. I expect to see her before year’s end.”
“An understanding? That’s not legal without my consent.”
“It will be legal now. She’s come of age. A nineteenth birthday just days ago.”
Zawri stiffened. In an instant, she made her decision. After the end-of-year trade, she would collect her sister from the off-world school and sell their estate on Orius. It would be a heart-wrenching endeavor to leave their home and its memories, but she would not risk either of them falling under the control of a vicious man.
“If you don’t intend to bring her home, perhaps I’ll make a trip to see her. Upon which world is her current school?” he demanded. “I’ve been making inquiries, but you can save me time.”
“Forgive me. I’m tired,” she said, pushing back from the serpentine counter where the food was displayed to advantage.
