The rooftop garden at Fellsmarch Castle had been one of Ash’s favorite boyhood haunts. It was planted deep with memories of time spent with his mother in sociable silence, planting, weeding, pruning, and harvesting, in tune with the rhythms of nature. Here he could bask in sunlight all year round, above the politics and drama of life in the capital.
Here he’d read, and dreamed, and grown the herbs and medicinals important to the healing trade.
Now he was back in the garden, planning the impossible with an improbable crew.
They sat in a circle in the garden temple, in the light from the waxing moon. Adrian sul’Han, runaway prince. Evan Strangward, Carthian pirate and weather mage. Sasha Talbot, a member of the queen’s Gray Wolf guard. Finn sul’Mander, wizard and healer. Hadley DeVilliers, wizard and commander of the Fellsian navy. Julianna Barrett, queen’s councillor for intelligence and diplomacy.
He’d hoped to include Rogan Shadow Dancer as well, representing the clans, but he’d left on some mission or other to the upland camps or the coast. That might be just as well. Shadow was a bit of a loose cannon.
They’d all been sworn to secrecy. They all looked at him with a mixture of curiosity and wariness.
It was no wonder they’re wary, Ash thought. They don’t know you. He’d been closest to Finn, and even he had become a stranger since they were boyhood friends.
It was his job to win them, and he’d never practiced being charming.
“Thank you for coming,” Ash said. “Once I explain what this is about, each of you is welcome to opt in or opt out, no questions, no hard feelings. I just ask that none of this be shared outside of this circle. Agreed?”
When everyone nodded, he continued. “As you know, my sister Alyssa was taken captive by the empress Celestine of Carthis in an attack on the port of Chalk Cliffs. We assume she’s being held prisoner somewhere in the east. I plan to rescue her.”
Talbot flinched, then pointed at Strangward. “Why is he here?” she said, in her blunt fashion.
“Strangward is a weather mage and a skilled pilot with an intimate knowledge of the Desert Coast. We’ll need him.”
“Huh,” Talbot said. She shifted on the hard temple floor, wrapped her arms around her knees, and fixed the pirate with a suspicious gaze. “What’s in it for you? Why would you risk your life to save our princess?”
“I am here to stop the empress, free my homeland, and save my own skin,” Strangward said. “It seems to me that the best way to do that is to join in on a rescue of the wolf princess.”
“Before we get into the weeds on this, are we sure Lyss isn’t being held in the keep at Chalk Cliffs?” DeVilliers said.
“Corporal Talbot saw her being taken aboard the empress’s flagship just off Chalk Cliffs,” Ash said.
Talbot nodded. “Plus, she left a message on the beach,” she said.
Finn’s head came up. “She did? Before she was carried off, she had time to write a note?”
Talbot reached into her uniform tunic and pulled out a piece of paper that had been folded and refolded many times. Carefully flattening it, she held it up for everyone to see.
AG + BdT
Finn squinted at it. “What does that even mean?” he said.
“Alyssa Gray plus Breon d’Tarvos,” Talbot said.
DeVilliers raised an eyebrow. “The busker?”
Talbot nodded. “Plus, there was an arrow pointing out to sea. That means they were carried off by ship.”
“How do you get that?” Finn said. “That looks more like a lover’s inscription. Saying they ran away together.”
“Well, she didn’t have time to write a whole story,” Talbot said, scowling, folding the paper up again.
“Even if we assume she was alive on the beach, and carried away aboard ship, how do we know that she is still alive?” Julianna said.
“She is,” Talbot said, without hesitation. Then added quickly, “Captain Byrne says so. He says that he would know if the line was broken.”
“Can he tell where she is?” DeVilliers said. “That would help a lot.”
Talbot shook her head. “He says that her bound captain might, if she had one. His primary connection is to Queen Raisa, and now—” She paused, took a breath, and looked down at her hands. “It would help if Lyss had a bound captain of her own.”
The mysterious connection between queens and the captains of the Gray Wolf guard had existed for more than a thousand years. After the magical disaster known as the Breaking, Queen Hanalea the Warrior was the first to take a bound captain, who happened to be a Byrne. Ever since, it had always been a Byrne.
Bound captains were magically compelled to defend the Gray Wolf line at all costs. They had the ability to anticipate threats and counter them, and to track their queens, even over long distances. When Ash’s sister Hana was killed in the borderlands, her bound captain, Simon Byrne, died fighting at her side.
The ritual that bound captain to queen was a closely held secret, known only to the captains, their queens, and the presiding speakers.
“In order to do that, we’d have to involve Captain Byrne,” Ash said. “I can’t imagine that he would approve.”
“He might,” Talbot said. “I’ve been reading up on it in some old texts. The captain’s first allegiance is to the Line, not to an individual queen. In order to save the Line, he might give the go-ahead. Anything we can do to improve our odds, we should do.” Talbot raised her chin, meeting Ash’s eyes unflinchingly.
Hmm, Ash thought. Obviously, she already has a plan. I’m going to have to find out more about this.
Julianna shifted her weight and glanced at Finn, then back at Ash. “Speaking of the queen, has she approved this idea of a rescue mission?”
“No,” Ash said. “I haven’t asked her.” He raked his hand through his hair. “I know it’s unforgivable—to leave again after being gone for so long, especially since she’s so worried about Lyss. It’s a terrible thing to do to my mother. But it’s the right thing to do for the realm. The only way to succeed with this is to launch a quick, surgical strike—in and out before we’re noticed. I’ll understand, though, if that’s a deal-breaker for anyone.”
“How’d you choose us?” DeVilliers said.
“I’m trying to keep this operation secret. Most people in the realm still think I’m dead—nobody will miss me. That’s why I’m not inviting the High Wizard, the captain of the Queen’s Guard, or the general of the army. If they disappear, people will notice, and wonder what they are up to—not to mention the effect their absence would have on the war effort.”
“So we were chosen because we’re unimportant?” DeVilliers said, tilting her head back and looking at him down her nose.
“Unfortunately, some of you are very important,” Ash said, “but you all have skills that we need for success. For instance, you are the best ship’s master this side of the Indio, and Talbot, you’re a member of Lyss’s personal guard, and you know Lyss better than anyone. Finn, you are an academy-trained wizard and apprentice healer, and we’ll need all the firepower we can get against these bloodsworn warriors. If you’re willing to take time away from your new calling.”
“Of course,” Finn said. “I will need to ask permission from Lord Vega, but—”
“We need to ask forgiveness, not permission,” Ash said. “If my mother forbids us to go, then it’s treason to disobey. Plus, if word leaks out to the empress’s spies, it will put all of our lives at risk, Lyss’s most of all.” As he said that, he was ambushed by a memory of the day of the attack at Oden’s Ford, when he’d wanted to tell his mentor, Joniah Balthus, that he was leaving, and Lila talked him out of it. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
“What about me?” Julianna said. “I want to help, but I’m not sure my skills fit this kind of mission.”
“Besides,” Finn said, taking her hand, “your absence will be noticed.”
“Hang on,” DeVilliers said, “let’s hear the plan, and then we can figure out what kind of crew we need.”
The “plan” was embarrassingly sketchy, given that they had little information about what they would find on the other side of the Indio. DeVilliers and Strangward were the only ones among them that had been anywhere near the Desert Coast. Strangward had no memory of being to the Northern Islands, but he had studied the history of the Nazari Empire and knew the Desert Coast as well or better than anyone.
“Let’s look at the map,” Ash said.
Strangward spread a map over the mosaic floor of the temple and they all leaned in.
“It is rumored that Celestine is rebuilding her capital amid the ruins of the old capital,” he said, pointing. “Here.”
“Her bloodsworn mentioned taking prisoners to a place called Celesgarde,” Talbot said.
Strangward looked up at her in surprise. “Right,” he said. “Celesgarde.”
“How well-protected is the harbor?” DeVilliers ran her finger over the spits of land enclosing the port. “Are there cannon on the heights?”
Strangward shook his head. “I don’t know. What I do know is that the islands are protected by a barrier of storms.”
“Really,” DeVilliers said, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “Storms that just . . . stay there. All the time.”
“It’s magery,” the pirate said. “A boundary created by the empress’s enemies. It’s kept her contained until recently.” He seemed to be picking his way carefully. “All I know is what I heard when I was young. The trick will be to get through it without sustaining so much damage that we can’t get out again.”
“You’re a weather mage, right?” Julianna said. “Can’t you do something about that?”
“I can’t count on it,” Strangward said. “These storms were created by a powerful stormlord. I’ve never tried to counter that kind of magic.”
“Any idea how many bloodsworn she has stationed there?” Talbot said.
Strangward shook his head.
“Well,” Julianna said, “we could fill a briefing book with everything we don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s better that we don’t know,” DeVilliers said, rolling her eyes. “We’d stay home.”
“I recommend that we make a stop in Tarvos,” Strangward said. “If there’s any ship that can get through to Celesgarde, it’s Sun Spirit. Plus, we could add to our numbers with my Stormborn crew.”
“I’ll match my Sea Wolf and my crew against any of yours,” Hadley said, lifting her chin and glaring at him.
“We’re not on-boarding anyone’s crew,” Ash said. The last thing he wanted was to set sail outnumbered by a crew blood-bound to Evan Strangward. “We’re going to have to get along with what we have.”
Now Strangward and DeVilliers were new-made allies. They both looked around the room, shaking their heads, as if unimpressed.
“No offense, but Strangward and I are the only sailors among us,” DeVilliers said. “We can’t sail with a crew of two, unless you intend to cross the Indio in a jolly boat.”
“Isn’t it likely that Celestine’s crew will recognize Sun Spirit and Sea Wolf both?” Julianna said. “You’ve each been sailing these waters for years. As soon as you’re spotted, she’ll know she’s under attack.”
“That can’t happen,” Ash said. “If it comes to a fight, it’s over.”
“I have another ship that might serve,” Evan said. “It was my first ship, in fact, a small ketch. I’ve sailed it in coastal waters with a crew of two, though five would be a better number for blue-water sailing. It is not well known on either coast. I used it early in my . . . career, before I acquired larger, faster ships. I don’t believe Celestine would recognize it, especially if we modified the rigging.”
“I’m guessing that ship is in Tarvos,” DeVilliers said.
Strangward nodded. “Again, I suggest we sail Sea Wolf from here to Tarvos with a mixed crew—yours and mine. Then a small number of us will take the ketch to Celesgarde. We’ll need to come up with a story.”
“It still ends with us in Tarvos,” Ash said. “Your stronghold. With all due respect, that doesn’t sit well with me.”
“The crossing will give us a chance to get to know each other better,” Evan said. “Possibly you’ll change your mind when—” He stopped, listening. “Someone’s coming.”
Now Ash heard the thud of boots on cobblestones, and the door to the temple was flung open. It was the queen’s guard Ruby Greenholt, all out of breath, cheeks flushed. “Prince Adrian! It’s the queen. She’s fallen ill. Please hurry.”