DARROW
The Monster in the Storm
“How’d it go?” Iask Sevro as I wait for the caf to process. Diomedes pretends not to be listening across theArchimedes’s mess.
Back on Europa, Sevro’s face is fuzzy from the interference our proximity to Jupiter has on our coms.“Bloody brilliant. Volga, man. I mean, awkward as a duck learning to walk at first. She came out in so much gold and jewels and stuff. But then she picked up Fá’s warsaw. Right, and I’m thinking—oh shit, she’s gonna cut her own arm off. But she chopped up Fá’s throne for like five minutes. Then I was thinking—shit, Obsidians love thrones. This is bad. But then, she said the Golds dream of being atop the hierarchy. Ragnar dreamed of breaking it. She gave this speech about how they were all stained. All dirty. So is all their loot, their slaves. Then she tore off the gold, the jewels. The jarls hated that. They love their gold and jewels. But then, man, then she cut off her valor tail. And the jarls were all like, ‘what,’ but the braves went ape. Next thing you know, the braves are ditching all their shiny shit and I’m staring at a sea of pale, bald heads. And the jarls were like, ‘shit, let’s not get beaten to death.’ So off their hair went too.”
“So—”
“I’m not done,”he says, cold, and waits, then:“My favorite part was when she said Red was the blood in all our veins. Unnoticed, unseen beneath our skin, filling us with strength. She could hear Red beating the Obsidian war drums. Fading, like the dirge. Calling them home before light is lost forever. She closed her eyes. Said she could feel the sun on her face. She said she was going home to find her honor, to fight with Red, to fight forMars. Then she asked who is coming with her. Pandemonium. Bloody great day.”
“So, it went well.”
“It was fine. Gotta go. Athena and I are helping them unload all the captives. She’s being a hard-ass. Won’t take me to her ships until all the people are free. There’s relics and stuff too. Want me to steal you anything?”
“No.”
“That was a test,”he lies.“Don’t die, bye.”
I look at Diomedes sitting hunched over the breakfast table. He only trusts Aurae to send him updates. “Volga is keeping her word,” I say.
Diomedes nods and goes back to making sure she keeps doing that. I set down a caf for him. “I don’t drink caffeine,” he says.
“Of course you don’t.”
I take Cassius a cup in the cockpit. He thanks me as I slide into the co-pilot seat of theArchimedeswith a sigh. Jupiter rolls beneath. We are so close to the Gas Giant that it feels like we are riding a sea made of marbled storms. Our destination is still hidden by the planet’s horizon.
“How’s the laconic one, talking your ear off and spreading rubbish about?”
“Rest easy. Diomedes swore the same oath of cleanliness you did.” I wince and recline in the chair. Feels good to relax. Even caught a few hours’ sleep. “He’s in the lounge hunched over his datapad.”
“Reading love letters from Aurae?” he asks with only a hint of annoyance and sips his coffee.
“Been meaning to say…sorry about all that.”
“It’s fine,” he says. I know it’s not fine, because I swivel the chair and put my feet up on the wall and he doesn’t say a thing. “I know that it wasn’t meant to be. With Aurae. She’s a dream, that one. But it’s all right.”
I swivel back. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I project.”
He seems more at peace than usual. I feel that way too. I stifle a yawn.
“How long to Io?” I ask.
“Two hours, going tight over Jupiter’s pole this time. More magnetic interference.”
“Scared of Ascomanni seeing us?” I ask with a small smile.
“Obviously. Even Sevro will be shitting his bed when he’s old thinking about those things.”
“Still no sign of any?” I ask.
“No. Probably all packing their wagons full of Garter beans to feed their evil little broods of children back home. A souvenir from the Gas Giants,” Cassius says. “Really makes you wonder. What type of nightmares do Ascomanni children have? Do they have monsters? Or do they just dream of daddy coming home with gas beans?” He shivers.
The Ascomanni had no interest sticking around Europa after Fá died. Cassius is probably right. Most will be busy stuffing their ships full as they can for the journey home. But quite a few will probably dig in and try to stay. With Diomedes terrified they’ll destroy the place and take as much of the population as they can with them, Cassius and I agreed to go with the man to contact the Ionian fighters he thinks are in bunkers hidden across Io.
“You really think this is a good idea?” he asks.
