I followed the push of Tane’s will and looked not north or south, but directly up.
I see nothing, I said, disquieted.Nothing but the fleeting passage of a few distant creatures, glowing soft oranges and yellows.The glows of ghisten ships and Stormsingers occupied the harbor, and a gathering of other mages lingered at the fort.
Look at the moons, Tane urged.
My lungs began to ache.I released my first breath and stole my second as I searched the Other’s sky.
Four moons presided, all of them precisely the same—the barest of sickles, nearly invisible.
A chill crept up my spine.Our moon is visible in the Other too?Is this what you wanted me to see?
Look more carefully.A purple glow.
I did, filtering all the other clashing lights of the port away and focusing on the four darkening moons.Gradually, I registered a deep purple glow, the color of overripe plums and old bruises.There was a shape to it too, winged and bony.
To be discernable at this distance, it must be massive.
What is that?I whispered to Tane.
Her response was more chilling than the sight of the strange, skeletal creature against the moons.
I do not know.A pause, then an urgent,Someone comes.
I exhaled my last breath and slipped back into the human world to the rhythm of boots on the cobblestones.They were quiet, not creeping but contained, and by the time my eyes found their owners, my exit into the street was already blocked.
The foremost figure, a middle-aged woman with narrow shoulders and broad hips, held out a sheaf of papers.She spoke ina hard, bracing voice that made my blood run cold.“Mary Firth.I am Lieutenant Isolde Barlowe.You have been reclaimed by Her Majesty’s Royal Navy.Come willingly for the sake of your country and your captain.The tide is rising, and Aeadine’s hour of need has come.Resist, and you will be taken by force.”
There was a pace and a half between the woman and I.She had a sword at her hip, one gloved hand resting on its hilt.The six burgundy-coated marines behind her had bayonets fixed to their muskets, their eyes shadowed beneath cocked hats.
“Reclaimed?”I repeated.“I have never belonged to them.I am protected by the Usti Crown.”
“Then your captain is free to bring your contract to the Admiralty and speak your case, but for now, you must come with me,” Barlowe said.
“I will not go.”The words left me of their own accord, but I meant them.Rage burned up my throat, indignation and injustice that made the air feel taut around us, like water on the brink of freezing.
Barlowe noted this with a long, unimpressed blink.“If you do not, your captain will be arrested and tried for withholding property of the Aeadine Crown.”She raised a hand, two fingers up, as if to gesture her soldiers forward.
My stare turned into a glare fueled by a lifetime of warnings, fear and injustice.“You’re bluffing.You’ve a Mereish fleet on your doorsteps, and the Black Tide is rising.My ship needs me, and you need him.”
“If you fear the Tide, lend your voice where it matters most.”Barlowe’s voice was iron.She waved her soldiers forward, and rough hands seized my arms.“Come.Now.”
“I won’t be used!”I felt Tane in my glare, not in spectral shadow but in essence—her long years, our power.My winds came too, swirling and ready to act, ready to assault and disorient.Another song lingered on the back of my tongue, prepared to pull the breath from the soldiers’ lungs.
But I faced a dozen enemies in an open space, and my chances of winning this battle were low.Ben was long gone by now, and there was no sign of Charles.Samuel was still up at the fort.I hated how vulnerable their absences made me feel, how abandoned.
I steeled myself, though a trembling had set into my hands.I knew from experience that if I fought back, I would only earn myself pain and a tighter leash.But if I went willingly, I might find a chance to escape.
So I allowed myself to be hustled from the alleyway and into the clutches of the Aeadine Royal Navy.
***
Admiral Evane Solace was a broad woman with a trim black wig, contained by a dark-blue ribbon at the nape of her neck.Her bicorn hat threatened to jostle the brims of the dozen other captains crammed in the grand cabin aboardRecompense, flagship of the Aeadine South Fleet.
I was damp and cold from the journey through the towering forest of masts west of the Aeadine Anchorage.Anger smoldered in my chest, but my hands had stopped shaking by the time Solace met my gaze.
I hoped she would see my righteous indignation, that it would at least give her pause.But Solace’s eyes barely lingered before she returned to the conversation.She gestured absently to one side, and Barlowe pointed me into a line of four other women against the bulkhead.
One wore a Stormsinger’s mask.She was young, barely into womanhood, her cheeks tear-stained and plump.Two others were grey-haired, one with a distant gaze and the other with a steady, confident air.The last was a spindly, middle-aged woman with a narrow face and eyes that reminded me of my mother—harrowed, resigned.Hollow.
