Maggie Furey - Sword of Flames

“Why, you—”

Zanna heard the sound of a scuffle and leapt forward, her heart in her mouth—but was forced back into her hiding place by the emergence of two men grasping the ranting old captain between them. They never saw her as they bore him away. She was forced to wait until the other captains had emerged behind them, some agreeing heartily with their leader’s actions, others, usually the older men, shaking their heads in doubt.

As soon as they had gone, Zanna rushed into the chamber. Yanis, looking very white, was seated near the fire, with Remana staunching the blood from a long shallow cut along his jaw. Tarnal, plainly shaken, stood nearby, turning a jagged knife over and over in his hands. “You know,” he said, “Idris certainly meant to kill you. It’s a sorry thing, but the old man’s mind has turned. You’ll have to keep him under lock and key from now on.” Then he looked up at the sound of Zanna’s footsteps, and his face brightened to see her.

“Tarnal, I heard,” she cried, running to embrace him. “Your own command! What wonderful news!”

Remana looked at her sternly. “Zanna, were you eavesdropping?”

“Yes, I was,” Zanna replied unrepentantly, “but only because you left the door open. I heard the voices as I was passing. How soon will the ships leave, Yanis? Will Tarnal be going?”

Yanis gave her a quelling look. “What’s it got to do with you?” he demanded. “This is Nightrunner business, girl, and—”

“Because I’m going too,” Zanna interrupted him firmly.

“That you are not!” The smuggler leader leapt to his feet. “I’m not taking you anywhere! Didn’t you get into enough trouble when you ran off to Nexis? You’ll stay right here, my girl, where you’re safe, and—”

“Zanna can go if she wants to.” Now it was Tarnal’s turn to interrupt. “Be sensible, Yanis—remember the courage she showed in Nexis, when she got Vannor out of the Academy.” He put an arm around Zanna’s shoulders and stared down his leader’s glare. “You can’t leave a dauntless lass like this at home, keeping house! She can go in my ship—with me.”

Seeing Remana nod her agreement, Yanis sighed in defeat. “Who’d be the Nightrunner leader?” he complained. “I tell you, anyone who wants the job can have it right now—except you, that is.” He pointed an accusing finger at Zanna. “The way you’re going, you’ll be running the place soon enough.” He shook his head ruefully. “Well, I had better go and see about getting the ships ready, for we sail on the morning’s tide—if that’s quite all right with you, madam.”

Zanna grinned. “Oh, it’s perfectly all right with me,” she told him happily.

The headland looked very different in the sunshine, Aurian thought. She stood there watching, as she had done every day since Parric left, for a sight of distant sails. After a while, Shia came up to join her. “You know this is folly,” the great cat remarked. “You must give them time to get here, my friend. Why not come back down and join us in the settlement? Wolf is missing you, and even Anvar has got tired of watching.”

Aurian sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” she admitted grudgingly. “I just hate this endless waiting. I want to get back to the north…”

“And you are worried about Ithalasa,” Shia added with her usual perception. “But all was well with him when he returned to tell you that he had delivered your companions safely. And by standing here to do your worrying, you do him no service. So far, he has kept his mission secret, but if another of the Leviathan should be passing, and pick up your thoughts…”

“All right, all right,” Aurian muttered resignedly. “Let’s go back to the settlement.”

As she turned away from the headland, the air was rent by the thunder of wings, and a cry of greeting came from the skies above her. The Mage looked up, startled, for the two Skyfolk were no longer numbered among her companions. After Schiannath had become Herdlord, she had sent the winged couriers back to Raven with her blessings and thanks. Crossing the ocean to an unfamiliar land had been too much to ask of them, and sensing their reluctance, she had sadly let them go. They had already done enough for her, though she could have used their assistance where she was going. So who could this be? Aurian shaded her eyes with her hand to peer up into the bright sky. Had Raven sent a message?

Then, to Aurian’s astonishment, Cygnus was landing beside her in a blur of white wings.

“Greetings Mage. I come from the Queen,” the winged man told her, “with an offer to accompany you to the north, if you will have me.”

“Why, I would be delighted to have you join us,” Aurian told him, much cheered by the sudden appearance of the winged man. Maybe everything is going right for a change, she thought.

She still thought so two days later, when three lean Nightrunner vessels appeared on the horizon, their sails glowing bravely in the fading sunset light. Aurian, who had been sharing her vigil with Anvar, watched their slow approach in a fever of anticipation, thinking that soon they would be carrying herself, her companions, and the Xandim, back to the north. To complete her pleasure in the moment, she became aware of the thoughts of Chiamh, reaching out across the ocean in greeting.

As the ships finally dropped anchor in the gathering twilight, she ran down with Anvar to meet the Windeye, who introduced them to Yanis, the Nightrunner leader.

“I’m truly glad to see you,” Aurian told Chiamh sincerely, releasing him from a hug. “But you didn’t have to trail all the way back again to fetch us.”

“I did,” said Chiamh smiling. “I was missing you Magefolk—and someone was needed to guide the ships. Parric and Sangra said they had had enough of the sea to last them a lifetime—you understand, of course, that I’ve left out all their curse words,” he added with a rueful grin. “But there is someone else here who wanted to come to meet you…”

He beckoned, and Aurian turned to see Vannor’s daughter, rowing across from the adjacent ship with a young blond Nightrunner.

“Ho—Zanna!” The Mage ran down the beach to meet the boat, marveling as she did so at how much more mature and independent the young girl seemed since they last had met in the Solstice market in Nexis. “So you did manage to escape,” she went on with barely a pause for breath, as she helped pull the boat up onto the shingle. “That was well-done indeedl My, but I’m relieved to see you. I’ve been worrying about you and Vannor ever since that night you sent me the message. And what happened to that crystal of yours?”

“I’m sorry, Lady—I lost it somewhere in the sewers.”

Aurian put out a swift hand to steady her, as Zanna, trying to speak and clamber out of the boat at the same time, came close to taking an unexpected swim.

“Steady, love,” Anvar interrupted, laughing. “Give the poor girl a chance to get ashore.”

The Mage clasped the young girl’s hand warmly. “Sorry, Zanna. That was my fault. I’m just too impatient—I can’t wait to hear about your adventures.”

Zanna could scarcely allow herself to believe that she was setting foot on foreign soil at last, having completed her first proper sea voyage in a Nightrunner ship. Ever since the southern coastline had come into view as a thin, dark line on the horizon, she had been growing more and more excited—and meeting the Mage again, and being treated as a companion and equal, had completed the joy of her day. “This is Tarnal, Lady Aurian,” she introduced her companion. “He’s a Nightrunner captain—and a very good friend.”

The Mage looked from one to the other. “So I see,” she replied cryptically. “I’m delighted to meet you, Tarnal.”