Heir of the Elements (14 page)

The door opened.

“Nice to see you,” said Armeen, gesturing for her to come in.

Aya walked in, taking in the scent of burning wax. Light from an open window at the side of the room let in rays of light, where dust particles danced wildly. Two lit candles stood over the husky table at the back. Over the table, countless maps were scattered. Books were also lying about. Some were open, while others rose in uneven stacks.

“What woes trouble you, young lassie?”

“Nothing of importance,” said Aya. She took a seat and picked up the book she had been examining the day before and continued where she’d left off.

Armeen marched over to the small cabinet he had full of books against the walls. He picked two out and tossed them on the desk.

“I think those two might have some information on trade routes used by Missea during the era of the Emperor Tanul. Around page eight, if I’m not mistaken.”

Aya looked up from her book. “Why don’t you get the information and write it down with the notes I’ve taken?” She gestured over to the piece of parchment that she had written on the previous day.

Armeen’s expression went from shocked to delighted. He smiled, exposing perfect aligned white teeth. “How about I just serve us some wine to get us through the day?” Against the left side of the wall was a scalloped wine rack nailed down. It held twelve wine bottles, mostly dark, though a few white bottles were also laid down vertically. He reached for a bottle and held it up to Aya. “Strawberry wine is your favorite, right?”

Aya set her book down. The previous day Armeen had done the same thing. He had lain back and downed glass after glass of wine, without doing much work. Aya herself had drunk one too many wine glasses. On her way back to the cabin, she had almost taken a nasty spill on the floor more than once. She was not about to make the same mistake again.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

He poured the light pink red liquid into a clear glass and slid it toward Aya. “Simply giving us something to get us through the day.”

“We don’t need wine. What we need is to get through this trade logs and see if we can find anything useful. This may not be important to you, but we need to get to Missea. Peoples’ lives are at stake.”

“Yes. Of course.” He gave her a mock salute. “I will get to work right away.”

Without saying another word, Aya returned her attention to the trade routes.

But despite Armeen’s assurance that he was going to help, he didn’t. Instead, he spent most of the day describing his many exploits on the seas. Many were the stories of the times he cheated death. He also had countless tales of stealing gold and provisions from the wealthy to provide for the poor. Even though Aya was only half listening, she couldn’t deny that he found his tall tales entertaining. Armeen spoke with a contagious confidence that inspired loyalty. It was easy to see how he had become a captain at such a young age. She also found herself chuckling from time to time, something that she would have thought impossible mere days ago.

“So how did you end up escaping?” asked Aya, after Armeen had described a particular situation where he’d been tied to a stake by a group of savage natives determined to sacrifice him to a flame god.

“I used the very fire they lit under me to burn the ropes they had tied me with. I then threw myself down a three-hundred-foot cliff, landing safely in the raging river below.”

“That sounds very…
hard to believe
.”

“Most of my many exploits are difficult to grasp,” said the captain, seemingly unfazed by Aya’s doubts.

Their eyes met. A strange sensation rushed from her toes to her neck. Rattled, she looked down and buried her eyes on her books, not wanting to show the captain her flustered expression.

~~~

Gertie gave both wielders a small brush and had them wipe the floor of the deck. As they worked, Sheridan continued to pester him about what had transpired between Aya and him. Falcon found it extremely annoying. So much so that by the middle of the day he had pretend to throw up on five different occasions just to get away from him, which ended up not mattering much. Sheridan followed him to the side of the ship as Falcon feigned to vomit overboard.

Finally, after almost an entire day of questions, Falcon had to tell him to stop talking about him and Aya, which Sheridan took as a sign to go on a rant about Hiromy and just how beautiful her hair was. He talked about the way it flowed. The way it looked as the sun hit it. The way it smelled when she washed it.

By the time the moon peeked over the distant rain cloud, Falcon’s head was pounding.

“For Va’siel’s sake. Stop yammering!” yelled Falcon, putting down his cleaning brush. “Nobody cares just how much Hiromy’s eyes glisten from afar, or how cute it is when she slurps her noodles, or just how her voice drips like honey when she sings.”

Sheridan, who had been on all fours cleaning, stood, looking down with a menacing look. For a second Falcon thought he was going to space wield a meteor at him. But instead, he clenched his fists. “Be careful how you speak about Hiromy. I won’t tolerate anyone disrespecting her.”

Falcon looked up at him with indifference. “Whatever.”

“You’ve been warned.” Sheridan grabbed his bucket of water and stormed toward the front of the ship.

A group of pirates stared at them with amused looks on their faces. Apparently, they had gathered to watch the exchange. Falcon shrugged. He could care less what those thieves thought about him.

But as he returned to cleaning, he noticed two people who he did care about gazing at him: Faith and Hiromy. Surprise registered in their faces. Hiromy especially seemed hurt. She looked as if she were on the verge of tears.

“You don’t like me. I’m annoying,” she said, her voice anguished.

“No, no, no.” Falcon brought up his hands. “You’re not annoying. I like you.”

“Liar!” she screamed. She ran to the back of the ship and huddled in a ball. Faith followed after her, trying to comfort her. Through all this, the pirates watched with great interest. Some looked over at Falcon, as if they were plotting to throw him overboard. Ignoring them, Falcon moved toward Hiromy. But Faith gave him a
leave her alone for a while
look so he backed off. Feeling like a fool, he returned to scrubbing the deck, wondering how he had managed to anger all his friends in the span of a day.

Chapter 14

The dark blue, sunlit water sparkled splendidly under the morning sun. At least it did until Falcon threw up over the side of the ship for the second time in just one morning. Many of the pirates, who seemed to not sleep at all, snickered to themselves.

“If you continue to vomit every few minutes, you’re never going to finish scrubbing the decks,” said Armeen in a matter-of-fact tone. He had just come out of his cabin, where he and Aya had spent the majority of their time for the past six days. With the pompous stride that Falcon hated, the captain walked across the deck and took hold of the wheel. He wore a ridiculously large hat with a dark feather towering from it.

Falcon held up the small brush that wasn’t even as long as one of his fingers. “Maybe, if you gave us something better to work with.” He tossed the brush in the bucket of dirty water. “And while we’re on the subject, why are you making us clean? I know that we’re on your ship and I volunteered to help with something, but surely there is something more worthwhile we can do. We are Rohad warriors after all. Sheridan there…” He motioned toward Sheridan, who was scrubbing the mast without complaint. Even when Falcon mentioned his name, he did not bother to look up. No doubt he was still angry. “Is a space wielder. Do you have any idea just how rare space wielders are? You have one on your ship, and you have him cleaning decks.”

“Oh.” Armeen looked slightly amused. “And what exactly would you have me do with a space wielder on a ship? Should I ask him to wield a hail of comets upon us?”

Falcon hesitated then offered an answer. “Maybe Sheridan wouldn’t be much help here, but surely I would.” He brought up his hand. His gray emblem sparkled radiantly. “See this? I’m a void wielder. This means that I can wield water and wind wield. Need favorable winds? I can wield some in no time.”

For the first time, Armeen looked alarmed. “No, no, no. I won’t have any of that artificial garbage touching my ship.”

“Artificial?”

“Yes. As in
not
real.”

“It’s real.”

“You misunderstand.” Armeen spoke as if he were lecturing a child, which only further angered Falcon. “I have no need for wielders who have no real control over the elements. You see those?” The captain pointed at the sails above. “Those are antiques, made from a fiber that is long gone. They serve a very specific purpose. They catch the winds and move the ship unlike any other sails in Va’siel. Can you guarantee me that you won’t wind wield in excess and rip my sails apart?”

Falcon recalled the many times he had lost control. While it was true that he had gotten much better at controlling certain elements, he wasn’t exactly a master of energy regulation.

“I take that silence as a no,” continued Armeen. “And I have a feeling that your space wielder friend won’t be much better. Space is an advanced element. It requires much more focus to control. How long do you think your friend could space wield before he became completely drained?”

Again, Falcon remained quiet.

“Now, if I had a capable wielder who knew what they were doing like the Golden Wielder or the Ghost Knight-”

“You know of the Ghost Knight?” asked Falcon, surprised by the fact that the captain would know the powerful wielder.

“Of course I know the Ghost Knight.”

“That’s strange. A minute ago you were declaring your mistrust of wielders. But it sounds like you admire him.”

“I admire wielders who know what they’re doing. He saved my life once. I would entrust him to pull my entire ship into one of those space rifts if he wanted to. And unlike your friend over there, I’m sure the Ghost Knight wouldn’t even put a scratch on it. Come to think of it. I doubt that Sheridan fellow and you put together could wield a space rift big enough to teleport this ship.”

“How did you know—?”

“That you could space wield?” finished Armeen. “Aya told me.”

Unease crept through Falcon’s body. How could Aya have trusted this man she barely met with Falcon’s ability to wield all the elements?

“So in a way,” continued Armeen. “You’re to blame for all the scrubbing you have to do. Your lack of control is making this trip much longer than it has to be.”

Falcon’s eyes narrowed and balled his fists. He’d heard enough sermons from everyone around him to last him a lifetime. He certainly didn’t need this from someone he had just met.

Before he could retaliate, a soft hand slipped into his. “There you are, Falcon.” Faith’s touch, like always, instantly brought his anger levels down to the point of being non-existent. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”

“I found it!” cried Aya, coming out of Armeen’s quarters. She had a red, leather-bound book in her hands. Her eyes widened as her eyes settled on Faith’s hand nestled in Falcon’s, but she quickly looked away. “Come see this, Armeen.”

The captain wasted no time in hurrying into his quarters and slamming his door shut.

“I’d wager the captain will show her a
real good
time in there,” said Gertie, winking.

“I’m sure he is,” added a stubby man whose entire face was hidden behind a bush of hair. “No wonder she never wants to leave his quarters.”

The pirates laughed and jeered, piling on more comments about Aya’s long times spent with Armeen.

“Hey!” Falcon voice was exasperated.

Oblivious to Falcon’s discomfort, the pirates continued with their laughter.

“Ignore them.” Faith pulled Falcon to the back of the ship. She sat cross-legged and looked up at him. “Sit, please.”

He mimicked her style and sat. Faith locked eyes with him, forcing Falcon to look away in discomfort.

“Don’t look away,” she said. “Keep on looking at me.”

“Why are we—?”

“Just do it.”

He looked back up at the green emeralds in her eyes and gulped. Despite his racing heart, he retained his gaze with hers. They remained there, for what seemed an eternity. Once in a while, he would try to talk, but every time Faith would nod her head, signaling for him to remain quiet.

His nervous thoughts drifted from the softness of her skin to her peachy scent, even to the small curve of her lips. The thought of touching them unwillingly sprang into his head. He blinked it away. It wasn’t an unpleasant thought, but he knew it was out of place. They had bigger things to worry about.

“What did you think about?”

“Errr…”

“Exactly.”

“Ummm... exactly what?”

“You didn’t even experience the motion sickness, did you?”

“No, actually.” He had been so busy being angry at Armeen and then being nervous around Faith that the nausea he got from the ship’s movements had become a faded memory.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about what Shal-Demetrius told us.”

Falcon felt a twinge of pain at the mention of the old man. He’d only known him for a few days, but in that short time, he’d grown very fond of him. The fact that Demetrius had been a chaos wielder like himself and had retained a good heart gave him hope that perhaps he could do the same.

“What have you been thinking about?”

“You recall how he wanted you to use special memories to help you keep control, right?”

“Yes. I remember. The Ghost Knight told me something very similar as well.”

“Yes. You managed to use love to chaos wield when we fought Lakirk.”

Just thinking of Lakirk, the demented fool who had allowed himself to be seduced by the power of chaos, made Falcon cringe. The man had changed not only mentally but physically as well, becoming a monstrous, scorpion-like creature. Only by chaos wielding did Falcon manage to teleport inside Lakirk and cut him from the inside out. But it was only the thought of saving Faith that had allowed him to wield the chaos properly. It had also been the only time he had managed to do so. Every other time he tried to wield chaos, he had become an uncontrollable monster. Literally.

Faith smiled warmly at him, her eyes full of a serene happiness. “You don’t have to go into details and tell me what you thought about.”

That’s good,
mused Falcon. He had no desire to recount his feelings. The last time he’d tried it, things hadn’t gone well for anyone involved.

“Before, the only way you had been able to keep chaos in check was with my help. When you chaos wielded against Lakirk, however, I felt the emotion of love emanating from you. It was love that allowed the holy energy to spill out of you and keep the chaos in check.” Her face lit up. “It was the first time you managed to wield chaos, but I prefer to concentrate on the biggest accomplishment you managed that day.”

“What is that?” he asked, baffled. Chaos had always been the element that had given him the most trouble. He would have thought that the fact that he managed to control it, albeit for a short time, was the biggest accomplishment.

“You held command over holy,” she said happily. “Don’t you see? Holy is the key to everything, not chaos. Remember what Demetrius told us about his wife?”

Falcon recalled Demetrius mentioning that it was only through his wife, the holy wielder Lunet, that he had managed to hold the corruption of chaos at bay. “I remember. But what exactly is the point? Do we have to… you know?”

She blushed, turning a deep shade of red. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to make it sound as if you needed to marry me.” She fidgeted with her fingers. “What I meant to say is that I believe you may have the ability to control holy yourself. Unlike Demetrius, you don’t need someone to keep it in check for you. You showed that during the battle. So if you did it once for a short while, you can do it again… indefinitely. And once you do that, not only will you be able to hold sway of chaos but all the elements, even the ones you’re not particularly gifted at like poison, darkness, and mind. The balance that holy provides will allow this.”

Falcon definitely liked the sound of that. While he had the ability to wield poison and darkness he had never shown much skill in it. “How?”

“The motion sickness you felt is a good step, I think.”

“I don’t follow.”

“When you were angry and embarrassed I noticed you didn’t experience motion sickness. It was a subconscious move your body made, guided by its rush of emotions at the time.”

He nodded. He hadn’t really thought about it, but now that he did, it was around the time he began to speak to Armeen that his sickness went away.

“Using love to suppress something like a stomach pain would not work,” she said. “It would be overkill. So I want you to focus on things that you like. This will be a good gateway into having you fully control your holy. Once you have mastered this, you can move on to larger emotions and eventually holy.” She lowered her head. “Master Demetrius wanted you to have full control of your elements, not just control over them when it randomly came to you in times of need. I want to aid you both by fulfilling that wish.”

“Land ho!” came a cry from above.

Falcon and Faith looked up. Gertie was standing in the crow’s nest, a big grin on his face as he pointed up ahead. “We’re home, boys.”

Falcon stood and ran to the front of the ship. Off in the distance he noticed a small speck of brown and green. It looked like a dot in the middle of a canvass of deep blue. The closer they moved, the larger the dot became.

“We’re going to hit some incoming waves,” called Gertie. “Brace yourselves!”

The small ship rocked from side to side.

“Arghhhh…” Sheridan screamed as he tumbled into a pirate, sending both of them falling to the floor.

An influx of sickness rushed to his stomach. He felt his body goosebump as it threatened to get rid of the morning’s breakfast.

No! Think of something I enjoy.
Food rushed into his mind, particularly Yinjue nuggets. His favorite snack. He took in the crunchiness of every bite and the warm feeling he felt the rare times he had one.

Suddenly, his stomach didn’t feel as if it was waging war with itself anymore. On the contrary, it felt quite serene. Gone too was the urge to vomit.

He turned to Faith, feeling good, physically and emotionally, for the first the first time since he had stepped foot on the
Gold Chaser
. “I did it. I sensed some of the warmness of holy within me. I’ll be wielding holy in no time.”

“One step at a time,” she said, giving him one of her usual smiles.

Feeling satisfied at his progress, he stood happily next to Faith and stared at the small island coming into view.