The crew of the Black Storm had stationed themselves outside Julian’s door, taking cutlasses to hand when they heard footfalls approach. Since the greenhouse, a rift had opened between they and the natives. Tension hung as thickly in the air as the humidity, and there would be no more rum and feasting. For Selena, they put their weapons away, and parted to let her reach Julian’s door.
“He’s expecting me?” she asked, scanning their faces to see if she could read which one of them could speak. They looked the same as always, but for Grunt. The old sea dog nodded in answer to her question, his eyes fearful under bushy white brows.
Is it you? she wondered.
Her gaze went to Cur, to Cat, to Spit, to sweet Whistle with his open, guileless adoration of her. Does it matter? I’ll miss them all.
“There will be no retribution for Svoz’s attack,” she assured them. She started to say more but thought it best that Julian hear it first. “Go eat. I promise you, no harm will come to you from Accora or the natives.”
They shook their heads, collectively, all of them rooted to their post. To protect Julian. Cat narrowed her dark blue eyes at Selena and made a sign with her gloved hands.
We sail?
“Tomorrow. First light.”
Cat glanced at the closed door meaningfully and made another sign against her chest so that the others could not see.
Danger.
She shook her head of flame-orange hair, her eyes staring hard into Selena’s, as if willing them to communicate what her mouth could not.
Selena turned away. He saved her life too. Is there no one who sees what I see? Once they reached Isle Huerta, it wouldn’t matter anyway.
She rapped on the door. There was no answer. She knocked again and waited. Nothing.
“Is he not there?” she asked the crew with mounting irritation. She didn’t wait for an answer but turned the door handle and pushed. It opened to reveal his spare chambers: a bed, a chair, a table with a lantern, unlit. The room was empty. Black. Silent.
She left the empty chamber, slamming the door behind her.
“Tell Captain Tergus I wish to see him when he returns.”
Their faces revealed surprise and alarm, but she turned her back and hurried to her own room, three doors down the passage.
Her own chambers were cold and dark. It was nearly identical to Julian’s in its spare furnishings, but she had a balcony that overlooked the jungle to the north. Selena had intended to go straight to bed, to escape her turbulent thoughts in sleep. But the door that led to the small balcony was ajar. She slipped her sword from its scabbard and crept across the rushes. She pushed the door open slowly and stepped onto the balcony. It was shrouded in darkness. Above, the night sky that was strewn with stars. Below, the jungle looked like a broiling mass of dark green clouds. The ground was lost to shadow. She thought she sensed something there, behind her, or lost in the shadows of the balcony. She turned…and a knock came at her door.
She jumped and laid a hand over her pounding hear. He’s come already? The knock came again, and it was soft. Hesitant. She opened the door to find Niven standing there.
“Forgive me, Paladin,” he said, “but I must speak with you. Please.”
“Of course,” Selena said, both relieved and disappointed it wasn’t Julian she ushered into her chambers.
Niven paced the room, his hands turning over one another. “Thank you for seeing me. I have been so…unsettled since yesterday. Since your battle with the native man.” He looked at her, his blue eyes bright with fear. “You know why, I think.”
“Please, sit,” Selena told him and indicated a chair near the room’s lone table. She had gathered the broken shards of her ampulla and they now lay spread over it.
He obeyed, eyeing the ceramic pieces as with wide eyes. “What happened, Paladin?” he asked as Selena pulled a second chair beside him. “What does this mean? Does the Temple know? The High Reverent…?”
“Of course they know,” Selena said. “They must. Over centuries, some adherent or Paladin must have discovered what Accora knew. Impossible to think otherwise.”
Niven’s hand went to his own ampulla strapped securely to his belt. “But we are taught…that is, we carry the seawater…”
“There is a reason for the deception,” Selena said, “though I can’t fathom what it could be.”
“Deception?” Niven seemed as fragile as the ampulla, as if he would shatter at the lightest touch. Her own anger and fear were at the forefront of her thoughts, but right now he needed comforting. Healing.
“Do you remember when you first Heard the god?” she asked gently. “For me, I was eight years old, sitting in my mother’s garden. The flowers were dying from neglect because my mother was…not well. I wanted badly to heal these wilting flowers, just as I dreamt of healing the sick and injured as a Paladin for the Shining face. It had been my life’s purpose for as long as I could remember. I pricked my finger on a thorn and as the blood welled, I fervently asked that the god Hear me and it did. The orange glow came and the little cut vanished.”
“That was the Shining face making it known that it Heard you. The first time is like that for all of us,” Niven said. He heaved a sigh and his shoulders came down from the vicinity of his ears as the tension eased slightly.
“Yes. And that is what happened yesterday, Niven,” Selena said. “Nothing more, nothing less. The god Heard me and granted me tremendous power without seawater nor finding the moon in the sky to channel the magic. The only mystery is why that happened, not that it happened.”
She watched him closely, wondering if he would hear the doubt behind her words. But a brilliant smile brightened his face like the sun breaking through a terrible storm.
“You are so wise, Paladin Koren. The god is so…vibrant in you.” He took her hand in both of his. “I know your suffering is nearly at an end. I can feel it.” He rose from the chair. “Thank you, Paladin, and good night. Hear and be Heard.”
“Hear and be Heard, Niven,” Selena said, holding her smile until the door was safely closed and she was alone. Then it slipped off her face like a paper mask, and she turned to the broken ampulla. She gathered the pieces in a small burlap satchel and stowed them in her small trunk with her other belongings, and returned to the balcony where she had been when Niven interrupted her.
The jungle teemed below, and above the moon was full and bright. In years past, even with the wound bored into her chest, the sight had always given her a measure of peace. Now, she felt as though she were tossed on a turbulent sea and the small boat that carried her was breaking apart like ceramic shards…
Movement came from behind, and Selena whirled, sword at the ready. She peered into the dark.
“Who’s there?”
He emerged from the slant of darkness and approached, slowly. He wore his usual long black coat and his scimitars hung from his waist. They glinted dully in the starlight.
“Julian,” she sighed and sheathed her sword. “What are you doing here?”
“That old witch has Svoz,” he said. His voice sounded strangely thick. “I want him back. She can’t take what doesn’t belong to her.”
“You sent Svoz to kill her,” Selena said. “Didn’t you?”