The Far Wild

15 - Thunk

* * *

Senesio

Suni was shaking, her eyes wild and distant. Clearly this had been her first brush with death.

They say children are the product of their earliest experiences. Imprinted and shaped by them. I’d found the same was true for everyone’s first brush with danger, with true adventure.

Despite the heat and the sweat her hand was clammy as I clasped it and heaved her to her feet.

“When you’re with me, you’ve nothing to worry about,” I said and gave her a reassuring smile.

“Nothing... nothing to worry about,” she managed through her chattering teeth. “Sure. Sure.”

An almost cool breeze slipped across the deck as I clapped her on the back and the Stormcrow continued to rise into the sky. We were above the prairie now, well out of reach of the komodo. Not out of earshot, however, as Captain Barba’s screams proved all too clearly.

“Now that’s a lizard!” Oz said, leaning so far over the rail he looked one stiff breeze from tumbling over. “Never thought I’d see anything half as impressive. What an absolute beauty!” The captain screamed again and Oz frowned slightly. “Though not the best of circumstances, of course.”

“Bit of an understatement there,” Sergeant Kyriakos said, then turned to speak back to his men. “Gabar, open the rail.” With that, he drew his sword. A moment later the others followed suit, a good four blades sliding from their sheaths. To her credit, Suni raised a hand and stepped forward.

“Wait! We don’t need any more violence!”

A touching gesture. Demetrias drew his own blade, which was equal parts surprising and unnecessary. Steel was a fine enough solution to most problems, but Suni had been right. There was no need for more loss of life. Words worked as well as steel in solving conflicts, and made less of a mess, too. Most of the time.

“Sergeant, sergeant,” I said, leaving my sword sheathed and giving him a sorrowful frown. “Is all this really necessary? What’s a little murder between friends, anyhow?”

“You threw the captain overboard. Straight into the jaws of that... that monster!” He flinched as a particularly loud crunch sounded from below and the screaming stopped. “You know our laws. The punishment should match the crime.”

“In all fairness, sergeant, she did leave us to die.” I placed a hand against my chest. “And if I’m being honest with you, dying really just wasn’t on my agenda today.”

The semi-circle of armed soldiers around us drew tighter as the sergeant took another step closer.

“Whether you agree with it or not, the captain made a decision. She did what she did in order to save this ship and its crew.”

I paused a moment, then shrugged. “I’ve never been particularly skilled at figures and sums, but I suppose trading three lives to save the whole crew isn’t a bad deal. It’s a cold sort of logic, but logic nonetheless.”

“That’s, unfortunately, the sort of decision a captain must make.”

I let my eyes go distant, while stroking my mustache and nodding, as if thinking deeply.

“Though, if we’re speaking strictly from a logical perspective, my solution guaranteed the safety of this ship and its crew for a third the cost.”

“Ancestors damn it, Senesio! Be realistic. You killed the captain!”

She’d killed herself when she made the decision to leave us behind, I wanted to say. Instead I nodded, as if I understood the sergeant’s point—or cared, for that matter. After all, you attract more flies with honey than vinegar.

There was a clattering of wood as Gabar unlatched a portion of the ship’s rail, opening a path right out to a long drop.

“Good,” Sergeant Kyriakos said, then turned back to us. “Now, place your weapons on the deck and kick them over here.”

“Come now, sergeant. Like I said before, this isn’t necessary. Let’s just chalk it up to an unfortunate accident and focus on the expedition. You can even be captain from now on. Let’s take a vote, eh, boys? All in favor?” I raised my hand. No one else joined me.

“Senesio,” Suni whispered as she leaned in close from behind. “We, er you, did kill the captain.”

Honestly, I’d expected more gratitude for saving her life. Probably she was still in shock.

“The sergeant said to disarm yourselves,” Corporal Theo shouted from the left. “Best do what he says before someone gets hurt.”

“A bit too late for that,” I said with a chuckle. When no one even cracked a smile, I crossed my arms with a sigh. “No appreciation for a good joke, not a one of you.”

“The next time I ask, my sword will be doing the talking,” the sergeant said, following the statement with what must have been his best intimidating scowl. Not bad, but it needed work. There was a trick to the perfect scowl, it was all in the eyes. You had to—

“You damned idiot!” Elpida knocked the sergeant onto his back as she pushed past him, then threw her flask at me. I ducked to the side and it slammed into Suni, spraying pungent gorgam rum across the deck.

“One expedition! One blasted expedition, and the first thing you do is kill the bloody captain!”

“Alright, alright. Let’s just calm down, huh?” I said, backpedaling away from the oncoming storm that was the guidemaster. “No—” I ducked under a punch. “Need to—” Another punch. “Be—” An elbow this time. “Rash.” I dodged her last blow and spun away. A ship full of armed soldiers were one thing, but Elpida Petros in a rage? That was another entirely. I took in a deep breath to talk some reason into the woman but was cut short as she flung a bucket at my head.

“Ancestors above,” I shouted, backpedaling some more until I could put Suni between the two of us.

“You don’t come here, under my command—” Elpida shouted, still swinging as she chased me. Suni grabbed a shield and raised it, more cowering than anything. Elpida slapped it to the side and shoved her out of the way. “—and kill a captain of his imperial majesty’s navy!”

“Fair enough,” I said, hands raised in surrender. “Point taken,” I began to say when the next blow caught me on the chin. The world spun and then I was on the deck. Ouch, but she hit hard.

“Good shot,” I said, and my jaw clicked back into place.

Elpida stood above me, fuming. She produced a second flask from inside her coat—where did she keep all of those?—and took a long swig, one eye cocked down at me the entire time. Several gulps later she let out a long exhale.

“They’d hang you for this in the empire.” She was somewhat subdued by the calming effects of the gorgam rum. “And we’d behead you for it in Lekarsos.”

“I sense a ‘but’ coming,” I said, then gasped as her boot stomped on my stomach and drove the air from me.

“Honor demands he is punished now. He should share the fate of the captain,” Sergeant Kyriakos said, and his soldiers growled their agreement. Gabar and Aristos started forward, swords in hand.

“Another step,” Elpida hissed over her shoulder, “and it’ll be you on the deck.”

They faltered, then looked back at the sergeant.

“Ha!” I laughed, then gasped again as the guidemaster’s boot drove farther into my stomach.

“You’d stand between a criminal and the emperor’s justice?” Sergeant Kyriakos asked, frowning at Elpida.

“In the empire, this man’s actions would be a capital offense. But this is the Far Wild, and out here we follow a different set of laws. The foremost of which being that no one gets left behind.”

“So, what do you call what happened to Captain Barba?” Disbelief drowned the anger in his voice now.

“Unfortunate,” Elpida said. “Untimely, too. But if you want to survive out here, you have to stick together. No one gets left behind. Not even on the orders of the emperor himself.”

The deck seemed frozen in the wake of her words, save for the constant wind which whipped our hair about, and the occasional cloud drifting past as we rose higher into the sky. It was a long few moments before anyone spoke again.

“This is madness,” Sergeant Kyriakos said. “More, it’s treason.”

“You want to detain this man? Try him for his actions when we get back?” Elpida looked down and I put on my friendliest smile. “Fair enough,” she said. “Hell, I’d even recommend it. But I’ll not stand idly by as so-called justice is meted out in a fit of passion.”

She pulled her boot from my stomach and I sucked in a great lungful of air, then made a mental note to stay out of arm’s reach of the guidemaster in future.

“You’re a reasonable and decent woman, Elpida,” I said, dusting myself off and flashing her a smile. She met it with a frown so fierce it could have chilled a summer day.

“The captain’s actions, and her death, must be accounted for. But right now, we have a time-sensitive expedition to be about.”

“Too true,” I said, nodding. Wherever Elpida was taking the situation, it was a much more favorable direction than it had been going. I hadn’t wanted to kill the crew—some of them were probably decent people, and besides it really was far too hot to put in that much effort.

“The Panagia’s crew must be found and the ship’s engines must be recovered,” Elpida continued.

“Absolutely,” I said, nodding along.

“And we need to know how the ship was brought down.”

“Yes, we do.”

“Hanging around here threatening each other solves nothing.”

“Sure doesn’t.”

“So, I propose we set course for Clearwater Outpost.”

“A wonderful prop—wait, what?” I felt my brow furrow.

“The outpost is only a day or two away, and there’re plenty of guards there.”

“Wait, no. Actually, I’m not sure this is—”

“They can keep Senesio under lock and key until this Panagia business is settled. Then we can have a proper court review his, and the captain’s, actions.” Without waiting for a response, Elpida turned to the helmswoman, Maritza, at the rear of the ship. “Set course for Clearwater Outpost.”

“Setting course, guidemaster.”

“Belay that order,” Sergeant Kyriakos interjected.

“Uh... belaying that order, sergeant.”

Sergeant Kyriakos leveled his sword at Elpida. “I don’t agree with this. We’re not heading for the outpost.”

“Agreed.” I said. “Er, with his disagreement, that is.”

The sergeant continued as if I hadn’t spoken.

“I’ll not tolerate this insubordination any longer. I am a sergeant of the imperial guard. I’ve fought for this empire. I’ve seen my brothers die for this empire. I’ve served on a dozen different fronts and given my blood, my body, and my life for the ideas of this empire. With the captain dead, I am the ranking officer aboard this vessel and my orders will be obe—”

Thunk.

A four-foot-long javelin embedded itself in the deck between the sergeant and Elpida. For a moment, everyone seemed frozen, eyes trained on it. A slouching bag was strapped to the shaft, near the front, and a small spark was working its way towards it, hissing and spluttering as it did so. Not a spark, though, but a flame. On a fuse. A lit fuse.

“Skyship high!” Maritza shouted from the aft deck, pointing one hand towards the silhouette of a ship dropping on us from out of the sun. And then the world was fire and noise as the flame on the fuse met the edge of the bag, and exploded.