Legon Ascension (28 page)

The boy smiled warmly. “The captain isn’t my father, but I wasn’t talking about the ship getting lost, I’m talking about you.”

“And how’s that?”

“I’ve seen that face. You’ve lost people close to you, haven’t you?”

Emma’s cheeks flushed. “Yes, my parents and my husband,” she supplied.

The boy nodded his head knowingly. “You can get lost out here Emma, keep your wits about you. And they’re up there watching you, waiting for you to come home when it’s time.” He walked off, back below the deck of the ship, and she thought she heard him say something about a gold dragon. She’s wasn’t sure what she believed, but as she looked to the heavens her eyes fixed on the bright unmoving star that appeared almost a year ago. Arkin told her about that star and what it meant, and she couldn’t help but feel a chill run down her spine.

Chapter Sixteen

Rip Tide

“Eyes and hearts tell lies. The truth is almost never what we see.”

-Teachings of the Restored Queen

Emma wrapped her arms around herself as the chill morning air bit at her. She hadn’t gone below deck all night and she was feeling stiff. The horizon was just starting to turn pink when she caught a glimmer of something silver shining in the distance. As the light increased and the ship came closer a figure loomed before her; a ship rose from the water directly ahead. There was a call from behind her and she looked to see Mick signal with a flag. As they drew in, she saw that this ship was not like the ships she had seen in the harbor. Its long, smooth shape was elegant, its beauty apparent, even from afar. But there was something off as well.
 

“What is it?” she asked softly, not expecting a response, so she was startled to hear Arkin speak. “It’s the Propero from House Evindass.”

She looked with awe as the Propero came into view. She could see its colors flying boldly. At first she thought it was a little reckless of them, but when she thought about it, she figured an Elvin ship was going to stand out regardless, so why not flaunt it? There was activity on the deck, and she could tell that something was terribly wrong.

Once alongside, Captain Mick came up and was about to speak when there was a blur from the Propero. A red haired Elf landed lightly on the deck of the ship Emma was on, and without an introduction started to speak urgently. “Captain, get your crew and passengers on board immediately, there is an Impa frigate inbound, you won’t have time to get away. Where are you keeping your belongings?”

“Below deck, I’ll show you,” said the captain and then he yelled at the boy whose name Emma still didn’t know, “This is our port of harbor, you know what to do!”

The boy’s eyes flashed in alarm and he ran off below deck. The red haired Elf said something in Elvish and followed the captain. Edis and Laura were on deck now.

“What is going…” Edis started, but stopped as several more Elves landed on the deck, all jabbering in Elvish. They all wore robes of the deepest purple and Emma’s mind went back to what little Arkin had told them about the Elves.
These are members of the house guard,
she thought.

One of them with straight, long blonde hair approached her. The many red flecks in his pale blue eyes glinted in the light, and she inhaled in fear, knowing what he was. Without so much as a word the Elf reached out and scooped her up in his arms. Before she could assemble her thoughts, he took a few quick steps and jumped into the air. They arched across the space between the ships and landed on the deck of the Propero. She heard a yelp from Laura and soon she and Edis were on board the ship as well, being carried by other Elves. Her bags flew on deck and then the redhead was back with Mick and the boy.
 

The deck of the ship was a blur of Elves as they lowered sails and readied the ship. Arkin grabbed her arm. “Come on, we need to get to safety.” As her gaze swept out over the sea she saw oars extend and the ship began to move. Arkin tugged and she moved with him in shock, unable to think. The last thing she saw before going below deck was another ship in the distance racing toward them, its hull white and shining, bearing down on them.

It was hard to move down into the ship as it lurched forward. There was a deafening sound, and Arkin wrapped his arms around Emma and slammed into the wall yelling “IMPACT!”

There was a crack like thunder and then another and another. There were other sounds too that she couldn’t make out.

“ARKIN, WHAT IS IT?” Edis yelled. He was clutching Laura to the wall, just like Arkin was doing to Emma.

“That sound means we are getting fired on and that thunder is the ship’s wards taking hits.”

* * * * *

Arkin passed Emma off to Mick and made his way back up to the deck. He wasn’t powerful, but still, the thought of doing nothing while the crew of the Propero took on the Iumenta was unacceptable to him. As he made it back on the deck, his eyes swept out to sea just as a glowing yellow bolt from a ballista exploded against a wall of brown, the crack from the ward making his ears ring. The Propero was not returning fire, but instead retreating as fast as it could out to open sea and away.
 

The redhead was at his side. “Is everything ok?” he asked.

“What can I do?”
 

“Class two, right?” the Elf asked.

Arkin nodded and the Elf spoke again. “Opes can use you, follow me.”

They made their way to the stern of the ship where several Elves stood shooting balls of magic into the sea. One, presumably Opes, turned to them. “We are freezing the water to slow them down. We do not need to get into a battle with that ship.” Arkin didn’t need anymore explanation than that. They needed to leave the area—that was obvious. With the amount of magic users on the Propero and with the more advanced Elvin ship, they could easily defeat the Iumenta attack. But if that ship was not alone, if it was part of a carrier battle group, the amount of Ascended that a carrier would contain would make it certain suicide against the Propero.

“What’s to keep them from calling in our location and heading?” Arkin asked as he took his place at the rail.

“We’ve jammed the ability to tell the course and the location. They can still notify other ships, but with our current speed it will be difficult for anyone to plot an interception course. Now make as big of blocks of ice as you can please,” Opes said, not unkindly.

Arkin did as he was asked, having no desire to question the battle tactics of a house guard. Magic of many different colors launched into the turning water, creating giant blocks of ice that would sink a ship. He knew this wouldn’t do much to the Iumenta frigate, but it would force them to slow down. Already the gap between the ships was opening. The frigate didn’t have a prayer of catching the Propero, even without the ice. Arkin looked as the frigate reached Mick’s ship, not even changing course. It nicked the bow of the small ship. The little ship’s bow exploded and the rest of the ship twisted sideways in the water sending debris in all directions, the frigate wasn’t even slowed down. They were out of range for the ballista now, and that was a good thing. The Iumenta ship started to make its way through the field of impromptu icebergs. Iumenta Venefica on board sent magic into the water breaking up the ice, but it had worked. Sooner than Arkin would have thought possible, the frigate was just a dot on the horizon as the Propero cut through the waves.

“Thank you for the help,” Opes said in his breathy voice. “If you don’t mind, I would like to debrief you once you get Legon and Sasha’s family settled.”

“Of course,” he paused, and then asked, “What was that ship doing out here? We are way past normal patrol routes.”

Opes looked back out to sea as if to confirm something. “We are, but that ship’s flag wasn’t that of the Cona Empire, it was Impa from up north. The way it was moving it leads me to think they knew we were here.”

“Then why just one ship?”

“That I don’t know. It’s possible the Impa fleet wasn’t positive of our location. Who knows. But the way it was moving straight for a kill tells me it was on its own and that is almost more disturbing.”

Arkin didn’t pursue the subject. Opes had the same amount of information as Arkin so they couldn’t do more than speculate. Arkin made his way back to the others and found them settling into bunks in their cabins. Edis looked up, worried. “Is it over?”

“Yes, I don’t think we will have any more problems.”

Then, angrily Edis demanded, “You pull us out of our house and we’ve been attacked by robbers and now the Iumenta. What else is going to happen, Arkin?”
 

Arkin tried to remember that they had been through a lot and tried to calm them. “Nothing else is going to happen, Edis. You and your family are safe. The whole of the land is dotted with bands of robbers, and well, as for the ship…” He wasn’t sure what to say. “To be honest, that was a surprise to everyone.”

Arkin did what he could to try and comfort them, but it was mostly in vain. They had left their homes, been attacked and now were on a ship that was fleeing the Iumenta. “I need to go be debriefed by Opes. If you need anything, just ask one of the crew and they will get whatever you need.”

“Do we have to stay in here?” Emma asked.

Arkin was about to say no, but realized that he wasn’t in charge anymore and reached out with his mind until he found Opes. “No, you can go anywhere on the ship, though I would ask you to stay off of the main bridge.” They nodded and Arkin left.

On the bridge he found Opes and several other Elves looking down at a large flat crystal display that showed the location of the Propero and every other vessel in the area.
 

Opes looked up and smiled briefly. “Arkin, I am sorry to be so unpleasant today. You could say this wasn’t how we had planned this meeting. Would you like some Poti?”

“That would be welcome, thank you. It has been an interesting day, to say the least.”

Opes handed Arkin the drink and went right to business, asking about their trip and the conditions in the Empire. He found out that the ship that attacked them was from one of the other provinces in the Impa Empire, which was odd. The Impa fleet did not patrol Cona waters unless absolutely needed, and even then they never were far from the coastline. The Cona and Impa fleet’s main job was to protect the coast from attack, not to search out and destroy the enemy. That they were in these waters was strange, let alone that they seemed to know where the one Elvin ship was. After a few hours of talking they decided to call it a night. It was early evening, but everyone needed a break. Arkin went to his cabin and decided to get some sleep before figuring out what to do next.

* * * * *

Emma rolled over in her bunk. The mattress she was on was the most comfortable bed she’d ever slept on, but she was still having a hard time sleeping. She could feel the ship moving, rising up and down, but she wasn’t sick, a result of the ship’s magical qualities. It was a little unnerving. The last boat they were on creaked and made all kinds of noise, but not the Propero. Even her house made sounds at night, but now it was dead silent. She couldn’t even hear the ocean outside. She gave up on sleep and decided to go on deck.

The cold night air was invigorating and she made her way to the rail. There were a few Elves up on watch that greeted her. They were all beautiful and moved with grace. They were a little intimidating but polite. She leaned against the rail of the ship, listening to the water. She closed her eyes and let herself drift. When her eyes opened again there was a predawn light that broke her heart. She closed her eyes tight, trying vainly to keep tears from escaping.

“The dawn is a hard time,” said an airy voice.

She looked to her right and felt her gut clinch in fear.

Opes took her in with his watery blue eyes, cold and appraising. The small amount of light glinted off a red fleck in his eye and a chill ran up Emma’s spine. His face carved like stone softened. “You are afraid of me.”
 

He wasn’t asking, but she answered anyway. “I’m sorry.”

Again his face hardened and she spoke. “Please don’t be angry, I…”

“Was attacked by an Iumenta Ascended, I know. Please don’t take my sour mood as a reflection on yourself, but rather my distaste for the filth that give immortals a bad name.”
 

He knew. Of course he knew. Arkin had told them everything, hadn’t he? He had been debriefed. The man next to her now probably knew everything about her. A thought came to mind. “You said that dawn is hard.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you say that?”

Opes frowned and took a place next to her, gently holding the rail of the ship. “I come out in the mornings at dawn. It holds memories for me.” He seemed to struggle. “You see, I too have lost someone because of the Iumenta.”

She looked over at him. “In the War of Generations?” she asked, trying not to sound too curious. She knew almost nothing about the war, but here was someone who may have lived during it for all she knew.

“Yes.” He looked over at her, reading the look on her face and smiled. “I’m that old. It was my wife. She was killed.” Before Emma could stop herself she asked, “But I thought Elves die when their spouse does?”
 

“Oh, we do, but that kind of connection takes a few decades. My wife and I were connected enough for me to want to die, even now for me to wish for death just so we could be together. But instead I had to settle for a piece of myself dying instead.”

His explanation was sobering. The war was two thousand years ago and still he wasn’t free from the grief.
 

“He would stay the night at my house. My family didn’t know, of course, but he would leave about this time of the morning. It was the best and worst part of my day, the best because we had the whole night to ourselves and the worst because he was leaving.” Then choking, she added, “The last time I saw him was at a time like this, leaving my house never to return.”

Opes moved his hand on top of hers and gently squeezed, not a gesture of attempted empathy or sorrow, but one of understanding, one that said ‘I know.’ She looked at the Elf, who had a few minutes ago seemed terrifying to her because of what he was, but now taking in his eyes shining with emotion, she saw that he was more like her than anyone she’d ever met.