“The overseer of the flash bead mines of Carsovia.”
It wasn’t until later that evening that Eira had a chance to relay Adela’s information to her friends. She had spent the day in Adela’s cabin, working with the pirate queen on the art of channel manipulation. But rather than feeling exhausted, Eira was invigorated.
“Impossible” didn’t seem to be in the pirate queen’s vocabulary. Everything could be done, if one was clever and strong enough. Unlike her parents, who always seemed to shy from Eira’s magic—a mystery long solved, or her uncles, who disregarded many of her theories because they were nervous how Eira’s pursuit of them might impact her, Adela wanted to pursue every avenue. Debate. And discuss openly.
But Eira’s enthusiasm quickly waned as she reported back to the group on Adela’s demands. Specifically as Varren’s face fell. His stare became as vacant as the ocean they’d been sailing through all day.
“We can’t attack Carsovia—especially not the flash bead mines,” Lavette said when Eira finished. “She’s sending us to certain death.”
“We’re not attacking Carsovia, or the mines, really. We’re going after one man.”
“The overseer of the mines is handpicked by the empress herself. There are few things more precious to the empire than flash beads,” Lavette said gravely.
“I know their power…I can understand why they’d be so precious,” Eira admitted. “But we don’t have much of a choice. Look at it as going in, killing one man, and getting out. Nothing more.”
“We’re going to die,” Varren whispered. “No one makes it out of that place alive.”
“You did.” Lavette wrapped her arm around his shoulders and turned back to Eira. “Qwint is in a precarious enough position as it is with the treaty falling apart. If they see us infiltrating their mines”—she held up her wrist covered in runic bracelets, as though that would be enough to signify their origins—“Carsovia will use it as an excuse to attack.”
“I understand,” Eira said. She didn’t know enough about the politics of Qwint and Carsovia to object. Though, everything she heard made Carsovia out to be a monstrous empire with little regard for the sovereignty of others…much like Solaris was under the first emperor.
But Eira also suspected that their hesitation was about more than political reasons. Varren continued to stare past the table. She didn’t know his full story and wasn’t about to pry, but whatever surrounded a past escape from Carsovia for him…she could tell wasn’t a matter that should be pressed.
“By that logic, should we be worried about how this might reflect back on Solaris?” Cullen mused.
“We’ll change our clothes and dress like pirates. No one from Carsovia was at the tournament so they won’t know us by our faces; we’ll just be Adela’s crew,” Eira said.
“Assuming Carsovia didn’t have spies at the tournament.” Olivin tapped the table in thought. Lavette made a humming noise akin to agreement.
“It’s possible,” Eira relented. “But are they really going to be looking for us all the way in their land? And even if there were spies at the tournament, that information likely wasn’t reported to this overseer. They might not have even made it back alive.”
Olivin tilted his head left and right, then shrugged.
Yonlin leaned forward. “I, for one, am ready to attack this overseer.”
“You just want to see how flash beads are mined and refined.” Olivin sighed. “You are twisted, brother.”
“I am a man of scienceandmagic.”
“You should be nowhere near those mines.” No sooner had Olivin said the words than Yonlin was giving him a cutting glare. The two had a staring contest that the rest of them readily left them to.
“What about you two?” Eira looked to Noelle and Alyss.
Noelle cracked her knuckles, sparks flying with eachpop. “Kill one man? I think we can manage that.”
“It’ll be good experience for when we go after Ulvarth,” Alyss agreed. “We could use all the practice we can get when it comes to cutting off the head of a snake.”
“Then the six of us will go.” Eira looked to Lavette and Varren. “You two can stay on theStormfrost.”
Lavette nodded. Varren inhaled deeply. She expected he was going to caution them a second time about marching into the mines. But he surprised her when he said, “If you’re going there, you’ll need all the information you can get.”
“Varren,” Lavette said softly. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know.” He lifted his chin with a determined gaze. “I might not be ready to confront the monsters of my past, but I can tell you all about their cages. And, with any luck, you’ll finally kill the man we called ‘nightmare wielder.’”
Over the next hour, Varren told them of the Carsovian mines. How the flash beads’ discovery and refinement had changedthe empire, giving it a unique military edge by overpowering most other magics, and arming Commons with powers that they weren’t born with. He told them of an empire built on power and cruelty. Of extreme wealth and stunning poverty.Small wonder the other kingdoms had tried to unite to stand against the tyrant that he made Carsovia out to be.
But the parts that stuck with Eira, long after they’d gone to bed, were the parts that Varren didn’t say. The moments his words broke and thoughts trailed off. The silence that followed the briefest mentions of life at the mines. Like the rest of them, he had his scars, and the monster behind them still reigned supreme over mines of flash shale and blood.
