Monna was at least thirty years my senior, and, judging by her ease and the weathered condition of her light-brown skin, she had been at sea for longer than that.She had also evaded capture more than a dozen times and showed no sign of fear or tension—save the methodical way she puffed on her pipe, one finger tapping on the table.Dusky, rich smoke drifted up towards the hefty beams above.
“My commission is from the Usti, not Aeadine,” I reminded her.“Neutral in the conflict between our peoples.I have the papers to prove it.You, a hunted brigand, are in far more danger from your people than I am.”
Monna grinned around the pipe bit and relaxed in her chair.“As I said, papers may be burned, young captain.Then we have only our word to protect us: the word of pirates and privateers.And what is that worth to the mighty navies?”
“Very little,” I acknowledged.“Now, you mentioned my brother.”
“Yes.It is uncanny, how you two are alike.Mirror twins?”
I nodded, carefully stowing all emotion.“You saw him aboard a Mereish frigate?”
“His ship was wrecked at Eldona Island.That happens to be my winter harbor, and the locals pay well for my protection.The tides have been rather high; your brother’s ship struck our hidden reef and was dashed to pieces.What was I to do but investigate?Pitythe Navy came upon us, and I found myself a prisoner alongside your brother.”
Concealed under the table, I unclenched my fist and stretched it across my thigh.The shock of such loss of life was an old one, dulled with familiarity, but still present.A vessel as large as Benedict’s had nearly a thousand men and women aboard, many of whom I knew from my own naval days before I had resigned my commission in the face of rumors and disgrace.
“How many of his crew survived?”I asked.
“All the boats were gone,” Monna replied, her tone losing a little of its uncaring mildness.She was not impassive to the deaths of fellow seafarers either, regardless of their nationality.“I cannot say what befell them.There were many dead.Some made it to shore and escaped inland, I am sure.”
“Mean comfort.”
She nodded, exhaling twin swirls of smoke through her nostrils.
“Was my brother given parole?Was there any mention of ransom?”
“All I know is where the ship that took him was bound.I am happy to tell you, in return for my freedom.”
“If I believe you.”
“Your brother spoke of a child dependent upon him, playing upon our captor’s sympathies.Josephine, he called her.And he was a Magni, though I assume that is common knowledge.He compelled the guards to release us, though there was an unfortunate mix-up with the keys, and only I managed to escape.”
At the last she smiled, flat and feline, and I had no doubt as to the cause of that confusion.
“In return for my freedom,” the pirate repeated, “I am more than happy to tell you where your brother was headed.Perhaps you can even rescue him before the Mereish shoot him like a mad dog.”
A sea of possibility spread before me, and with it, a new course.I could barter with this pirate, choose not to hand her over to the Usti as I was being paid to do, and try to save my brother.I mighteven succeed.But my crew expected payment, deserved it, and not every tongue could be trusted not to wag even if I paid them off myself.Furthermore, in my last report I had noted how close I was to capturing the pirate.An Usti ship likely already waited at Tithe to take her home and give me my next task.
Mary was another factor.Her contract was upheld by the Usti Crown and tied to my commission.Without it, Mary would once again be little more than a commodity in the eyes of every captain on the Winter Sea.As it was, we walked a fine line every time we were in port, every time we crossed paths with another ship.
I sat still for a long moment then smiled, small and grim and a little melancholy.“It is a pity, then, that I do not care whether my brother lives or dies.Make peace with your saints, Captain Monna.You have nothing I want.”
THE MAGNI—One of the three primary varieties of mage, Magni control the mind and actions of others through exertion of their own, greater will.Though commonly perceived as innately hostile and dangerous, use of a Magni’s power need not lead to abuse or degradation.It can also be used to empower, encourage and spur a subject, to calm, alleviate pain and turn the wayward back from destructive acts.
As in other classifications of mage, the intensity of a Magni’s power varies from mage to mage.The degree of their influence will also depend on the wit and will of their intended subject, and any interventions (for good or ill) performed to enhance the Magni’s power beyond natural-born ability.
—FROMA DEFINITIVE STUDY OF THE BLESSED: MAGES AND MAGECRAFT OF THE MEREISH ISLES,TRANSLATED FROM THE MEREISH BY SAMUEL I.ROSSER
TWO
The Other
MARY
Islipped into the silent dark of the main cabin.At the stern, a pair of windows diffused evening light, their thick panes hedged with frost.Between them was a door to a long, narrow balcony, which I could see through the foggy glass was crusted with ice and rimed with snow.The stove in its iron cradle was unlit, shedding no light or heat, and the air was painfully cold.Spring might be coming on land, but, out here on the waves, the wind still tasted of deep winter.
Samuel knelt on the floor of the cabin, stripped to his shirt.His coat and waistcoat were neatly folded over the back of a chair, lightly swaying with the roll of the ship.His hands rested on his thighs, knuckles white, and his oval coin was wedged into a crack between the boards in front of him.
He didn’t rouse as I closed the door, looking straight ahead with open, unseeing eyes.
