Michael Sullivan - The emerald storm

They hung in silence.

"What time do you think it is?" Hadrian asked.

"Close to sunset. It was pretty late when they brought us in."

Silence.

They could hear the random movements of guards on the other side of the door, muffled conversation, the slide of a chair, occasional laughter.

"Why does this always happen?" Royce asked. "Why are we always hanging on a wall waiting to die by slow vivisection? I just want to point out that this was your idea-again. "

"I've been waiting for that. But I believe I told you not to come." Hadrian shifted in his chains and sighed. "I don't suppose there's much chance of a beautiful princess coming in here and saving us again."

"That card's been dealt."

"I wish I had met Gaunt," Hadrian said at length. "It would have been nice to actually meet the man, you know? My whole life was fated to protect this guy and I never even saw him."

They were quiet for a time then Royce pursed his lips and made a hmm sound.

"What?"

"Huh? Oh-nothing."

"You're thinking something, what is it?"

"Just interesting that you thought Arista was beautiful."

"Don't you?"

"She's okay."

"You're blinded by Gwen."

Hadrian heard Royce sigh. There was a silence then he said, "She already named our children. Elias if we had a boy-or was it Sterling, I forget-and Mercedes if a girl. She even took up knitting and made me a scarf."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

"She wanted me to go, remember? She said I had to protect you. I had to save your life."

Hadrian looked over at him. "Good job."

Chairs moved in the outer office, footsteps, a door banged, agitated voices. Hadrian caught snippets of the conversation.

"…black sails…a dark cloud on the ocean…"

"No, someone else…"

A chair turned over and hit the floor. More hurried footsteps. Silence.

"Sounds like the fleet is in." Hadrian waited watching the door to their cell. "They left us for dead, didn't they? We told them this would happen. We came all this way to try and save them. You'd think they'd have the decency to let us out when they saw we were right."

"Probably think we're behind it. We're lucky they didn't just kill us."

"Not sure that's lucky. A nice quick decapitation is kind of appealing right now."

"How long do you think before the Ba Ran find us?" Royce asked.

"You in a hurry?"

"Yeah, actually. If I have to be eaten, I would sort of like to get it over with."

Hadrian heard the sound of breaking glass.

"Ah, we that didn't take long, did it?" Royce muttered miserably.

Footsteps shuffled in the outer room, a pause then the steps started again, coming closer. There were sounds of a struggle and a muffled cry. Hadrian braced himself, and watched the door as it opened. What stood in the doorway shocked him.

"You boys ready to go?" Derning asked.

"What are you doing here?" They both said in unison.

"Would you prefer me to leave?" Derning smiled. Noticing the riveted manacles, he grimaced. "Thorough buggers, aren't they? Hang on. I saw some tools out here."

Royce and Hadrian looked at each other bewildered.

"Okay, so he's not a beautiful princess. But it works for me."

There was some slamming, an "Ah-hah!" Then Derning returned with a hammer and a chisel.

"The Ghazel fleet arrived and Drumindor isn't working, but it didn't blow up either, so I guess we have you to thank for that," Derning told them as he went to work on the manacle pins.

"Don't mention it. And I'm not just saying that. I really mean…don't mention it," Hadrian said with a wince.

"Now, half the folks-the smart half-are running, the others are going to try to fight. That means we don't have much time to get out of here. I have horses and provisions waiting just outside town. We'll take the mountain road north. I'll ride with you as far as Maranon and then I'll be going my own way."

"But I still don't get why you are here." Royce said as Derning finished with one of the metal bracelets. "Don't you work for Merrick?"

"Merrick Marius?" Derning laughed. "That's funny. Grady and I were convinced you two worked for Marius." Derning finished cracking open the manacles on Royce then turned to Hadrian. "We work for Cornelius DeLur. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I checked in and found out you worked for Melengar. DeLur got a big kick out that. The old fat man has a sick sense of humor sometimes."

"I'm confused. Why were you on the Storm?"

"When the Diamond found that message from Merrick, Cosmos thought it important enough to relay to daddy, and Cornelius sent us. Grady and I started as sailors and are still well-known on the Sharon. We were so sure Royce killed Drew, which is why we thought you two were mixed up with Merrick. We thought it had something to do with that horn comment that Drew made."

"Defoe-I mean Bernie killed him," Royce said simply.

"Yeah, we figured that out. And, of course, that horn thing had nothing to do with Merrick. That was all Thranic's group. When we heard you had been arrested, it wasn't too hard to find ya."

He finished freeing Hadrian who rubbed his wrists.

"Come on, most of your gear is out here." He pulled Alverstone out of his belt and handed it to Royce. "Took this off one of the guards. I think he thought it was pretty."

Outside of their cell, the tiny jail office was empty except for two guards, one looked dead, but the other might have just been unconscious. They found their possessions in a series of boxes set aside in a room filled with all manner of impounded items.

Outside, dawn rose and people were running with bundles in their arms. Mothers held crying children to their breasts. Men struggled to push overfilled carts uphill. Down in the harbor they could see a forest of dark masts. Drumindor stood a mute witness to the sacking of the city.

Derning led them up refugee-choked streets. Fights broke out. Roads were blocked and finally Derning resorted to the roofs. They scaled balconies and leapt alleys, trotting across the clay-tiled housetops until they cleared the congestion. They dropped back to the street and were soon at the city's eastern gate. Hundreds of people were rushing by with carts and donkeys, women and children mostly, traveling with boys and old men.

Derning stood just outside the gates looking worried. He wistled and a bird call answered in response. He led them off the road and up an embankment.

"Sorry, Jacob," said a spindly youth, emerging with four horses. "I figured it was best to wait out of sight. If anyone saw me with these, I wouldn't keep them for long."

From the crest of the hill, they could see the bay far below. Smoke rose thickly from the buildings closest to the water.

"We weren't able to stop it," Derning said, looking at the refugees fleeing the city, "but between you defusing the explosion and my reporting to Cornelius so he could raise the alarm, it looks like we saved a lot of lives."

They mounted up and Hadrian took one last look at Tur Del Fur as the flames began to blow with the morning sea breeze and swept through the streets below.

Payment Merrick entered the Great Hall of the Imperial Palace of Aquesta. Servants were hanging Wintertide decorations, which should have given the room a festive feel, but to Merrick it was still just a dreary chamber with too much stone and too little sunlight. He never cared for Aquesta and regretted that it would be the capital of the New Empire-the empire whose security he had ensured. He would have preferred Colnora. At least it had glass streetlamps.

"Ah! Merrick," Ethelred greeted him. The regents, Earl Ballentyne, and the chancellor were all gathered around the great table. "Or should I call you Lord Marius?"