He wasn’t sure how to take that. “Do you want to talk about it?” When she said nothing, he added, “I lost my own daughter, remember. I can feel at least some of your pain.”
The glimmer in her eyes shone brighter. “I don’t want to talk about it, Francis. Really.” She squeezed his hand. “I’m glad Ani is safe. About what Hildra said earlier ...”
“It’s all right. There’s nothing to say. She’s right. I did save Sheridan, and if that somehow hurts our efforts I will be the one responsible. Just as I am for all this. All those people killed … those women …” He shook his head.
An odd look crossed her face. “Would you ... take it back, if you could?”
“Let Jess die? I don’t know. I’ve … taken oaths … as a doctor.”
She sighed, as if disappointed. Had she been on the verge of forgiving him?
Surprising him, she said, “I learned something, by the way.”
“Oh?”
“The relic in that box Davic gave Sheridan. I felt something from it.”
“You mean, psychically?”
She nodded. “It’s no ordinary artifact. It occurred to me that the pirates might know something about it, so when I came aboard to liberate the crew, I, well ... asked some of the pirates about it.”
Avery held back a shudder. “What did you learn?”
“One of them had overheard something in a tavern. The relic was taken from a monastery in the Atosh Islands.”
“Wasn’t that occupied by Octung?”
“It was, and during their occupation the Octunggen did much digging among old ruins on the islands. Apparently they’ve done that in many places. Well, after we activated the Device the islanders were able to rise up against them, but some Octunggen survived and held out long enough for the pirates to reach them and bring both the soldiers and some relic they had extracted from the monastery with them back to Colu. The Atosh Islands were founded by the Ysstral Empire, and the monastery was something they built—around the most ancient of the ruins.”
“Why would the Ysstrals worship some old ruins?”
“All I know is there was an old Ysstral religion—cult, maybe, though it was large and organized—that a lot of the aristocracy belonged to, and that the monastery was established by them.”
“Interesting. How high did the cult go?”
“As high as the Emperor.”
“Mari—Ani’s mother—belonged to the old royal family of Ghenisa.”
“The Drakes. Yes, I know.”
“Well, they shared blood ties with the Ysstral Imperials.”
“You wonder if it’s possible some version of that ancient Ysstral faith was preserved among them.”
He recalled Ani’s strange dreams. “If so, Mari never spoke of it, and she personally belonged to the faith of the Three Sisters. Still, it’s an intriguing thought. The monastery the relic came from might be some remnant of her family’s religion.” He shook his head. “What does it all mean?”
To that Layanna had no answer.
Chapter 7
“Ain’t what I expected,” Janx said, as the ship passed between the twin lighthouses known as the Bookends, one rising from each spit of land that encircled Ilynmarc Harbor, and came in sight of the docks.
“Me, either,” Avery agreed.
They’d anticipated hordes of Navy vehicles awaiting their arrival in Hissig, but Avery could see none, not at the civilian marina, anyway. Toward the south, at the foot of black and looming Fort Brunt, was another matter. Navy men and women moved along the military docks and ships briskly and efficiently, and in large numbers. Fortunately the Verignun made for the civilian docks, as Captain Greggory had promised. Furthermore, it appeared he’d kept his promise not to alert the Navy of their coming. He’d even gone so far as to hail the docking authorities under a false name so that any agents Grand Admiral Haggarty had among them wouldn’t send out the alarm.
The five stood at the bow watching Hissig approach, Ani bobbing up and down at Avery’s side and gripping his hand tightly.
“Home,” she said. “We’re almost home.”
The others may have been filled with trepidation, but not her. Avery put on a smile and patted her back. “That’s right.”
A layer of fog wrapped the lower reaches of the city, but the many ancient towers and domes hunched above it, large batkin sweeping about, likely having flown in from the Borghese Mountains which sheltered the city on the north and western sides, their jagged peaks red by the light of the rising sun. Hissig was the northernmost point of Ghenisa, its largest city and capital.
The Verignun docked and Captain Greggory oversaw the many procedures that needed to be accomplished before he could begin dismissing the crew. Dock officials met with him, one demanding to know why he’d hailed them under a false name (he passed it off as a joke, but Avery’s party needed to be gone by the time they made their report), papers were signed, and the captain appeared thoroughly depressed through it all; he’d returned home with some money from selling whale flesh and other catches to various ports but without a significant amount of hot lard, still much needed by the country, whose stores had been depleted by the war, and, even worse, with many casualties and much damage to his ship besides. His investors would not be pleased. Avery wondered if their insurance covered pirate attack and abduction; it might.
Avery half thought about simply fleeing, avoiding any entanglements with the police whatsoever, but Captain Greggory, evidently unwilling to go against the authorities to that extent, must have called them; Avery noticed police vehicles waiting along the street past the crowded parking lot bordering the marina. Dark-clad police officers milled around looking expectant, fingering their weapons. Avery wondered if there were a reward, and if Greggory expected to receive it.
Turning to Janx, Avery said, “You’re sure your contact will be able to bail us out immediately—the fight promoter?”
“I’m sure,” Janx said.
