Sky Lord by Rowan Erlking (popular e readers TXT) 📖

oarsmen whom Tia later saw in trenches around the edge of the deck. They were chained up slaves, all of them Sky Children and very few of them without lash marks.

The room they took her into was nice. There were velvet covered chairs fixed to the floor and on one end a cabinet holding liquor in crystal bottles with glasses to match stood, strapped on and locked so the contents would not fall out. One sailor handed her a pair of breeches, not unlike the ones he was wearing. He also handed her a white shirt too large for her to wear.

“You can roll up your sleeves,” he said, walking over to the door. “Leave your wet things on the rack. They’ll dry there.”

Tia nodded to him, left alone.

Turning around, she drew in a breath. It was cold. She could feel the winter air setting in. Her wet clothes were now dripping puddles all over the floor. She changed, switching for the dry and rather comfortable sailor-wear. Barefooted, Tia padded to the door where she turned the knob.

“Oh! You’re ready,” the sailor said when he saw her open the door.

Tia bowed her head. “Thank you for the clothes.”

The sailor smirked at her. He waved her outside. “The captain will join you in his office up top. He has questions for you.”

She knew that would come. Whoever this captain was, he must have seen that she was not unlike his slaves. Questions indeed would come, and she wondered if it was not wise to jump back into the ocean.

They led her to another room just above the one she had been in. This room had glass windows facing forward. The helm steered here, glancing at where the captain stood and then at Tia when she entered.

“Ah!” the captain smiled at her. “Are you feeling better now?”

Tia bowed her head, speaking softly. “Yes, sir. Thank you.”

“I think you still looked peaked. Join me for a warm drink would you? It will warm you up and make you feel more comfortable.” The captain just waved his hand. His steward immediately brought forth two mugs. The captain took one quickly. “This one’s mine, if you don’t mind. I am rather particular about sharing germs.”

Taking the other mug, Tia cradled it in her hands. It was very warm to the touch. The drink steamed hot.

“It’s not poisoned, if that’s what you think,” the captain said with a smirk. He started to sip his.

Tia lifted the cup to her mouth, but the first taste was scalding.

“Too hot?” He smiled, blowing on his cup. “Yes, they do like to boil it up. Let us chat instead, while we let our drinks cool.”

She knew that was a command. Sea captains were not used to being contradicted.

“So,” he said with a confident smile. “Where did you fall from?”

Her face flushed. They had seen her fall. It was quite possible that they had seen her transform too. She took another sip of the drink to bide her time. It burned hot down her throat, and she winced a bit from the pain.

“Sip it slowly,” he said.

Tia swallowed and took a smaller sip. She just pointed up at the sky. “I fell from there.”

The captain laughed. “From the sky? That must have been some high airplane you fell from. I certainly didn’t see it or hear it.”

Tia took in another drink. His smile grew wider as he watched her. She had emptied half the mug, feeling tired and warm. That day had really taken a lot out of her. Seeing Jonis again was frightening enough. His brag had not been a lie. He truly was the best hunter she had ever seen. Now she wondered if he would be found somewhere on this boat. She didn’t put it past him for trying.

“And who are your people?” The captain’s question came as if through a distant fog.

Tia blinked, drawing in an exhausted breath. “I don’t know exactly.”

She took another drink. It was now comfortingly warm. It soothed all the way down her chest and filled her with warmth like Marla’s hugs did.

“And where are you going?” The captain’s voice was now like a faraway dream.

“To…Demon Island.” Tia dropped her mug on the floor. The last remains spilled out.

Her head felt heavy. It drooped on her chest. Her arms likewise felt as if they were suddenly weights attached to her shoulders. Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes.

 

Tia awoke feeling a jabbing pain in her hand. She lifted her head with effort, fighting the weight of her heavy eyelids. Attempting to focus, she saw that she was sitting, leaning against the ship side with her arms clamped in chains before her, attached to an oar. Running along one chain was a clear tube of plastic. In it flowed a yellowish liquid trailing from a bag that rested on a hook along the other side of the trench she was sitting in. The other end of the tube stuck into her hand where she felt pain.

Blinking again, her head felt heavy. Her mind was foggy, giving her a sick feeling she hated. The last time she had experienced such a sensation was when she had caught the flu and the Underlord had her on medication.

“Ah, she’s awake,” a distant voice said over her head to the right.

Glancing there, Tia squinted at the blurry figure that towered over her. He squatted down to look at her, tilting her head to the side.

“Good, good. Dilated eyes. Sleepy breathing. I think the drug is working.” The captain stood up. His words floated above her head, barely making sense in her ears. “Make sure the Patriarch agrees to the full price of fifty thousand in gold for a finder’s fee. I won’t have this nonsense about a reduced finder’s fee. If he wants her, he will have to pay through the nose for her.”

“Just our luck, her flying right into our laps.” His first mate snorted. “And I thought it was a fluke looking for her out here.”

“I told you a profit could be made if we kept our ears on the military broadcasts.”

They walked away, back over the deck.

Tia felt sick. She moaned inside, realizing that they were going straight back to Stilson where a troop of soldiers waited for her. But listening to their other conversations, she could tell they were not ordinary seamen, but pirates on the slave trade. Her mind was muddled, thinking now only how foolish she had been to suppose she could fly all the way to the island of the Sky Lord. She really didn’t have a map to go by. She had only just expected to make it there by sheer will.

She vomited over her oar.

Groans and shouts from the slaves in the trench immediately called the mess to the attention of the pirates. The pirates saw it and growled at her, tossing a wet bucket of water onto the puddle. The slave driver snapped his whip, ready to beat her.

“No, no, no!” The captain grabbed a hold of the slave driver’s hand, tearing the whip from him. “They say to send her unharmed. The Patriarch wants to torture her himself.”

Tia threw up again.

The sailors moaned. One ran to the side, barfing over the edge at the sight of it. She did not get ill after that, but she ached all over, feeling dizzy.

A sea bird landed on the rail near her head at the end of the day. She saw the sun touch the shoreline where the city of Stilson stood, causing bird to have a dark silhouette that reminded Tia of her first meeting with Jonis. Seeing the bird, Tia reached up and grasped it, pulling the squawking animal to her chest.

“Just watch her,” she heard someone say from above.

Her breathing grew labored, but somehow she could not suck even a thought from the animal. It batted its wings and pecked at her, flapping right out of her grasp. It cawed as it flew over the water away from the ship.

“See? She can’t do it under the drug. Her head has to be clear for it to work.” The captain’s boots tromped away from her seat.

On the air she heard the bay horns saluting their ship. The captain’s horn trumpeted back. All she could hear now was the sloshing of the waves against the side of the boat and the calling of truce from the pirates to the soldiers at the great bay dike. The giant doors parted, letting them in.

The boat cruised into the bay seeking an open dock to set anchor.

“Ho there!” a distant voice echoed up to the ship. “You aboard! Piracy is not allowed in Walled Bay!”

“Get off you!” the captain shouted back. “I got permission from the Patriarch himself! We have a deal to discuss!”

A familiar laugh reached Tia’s ears. “My goodness. You actually tried to fly the whole way. That’s my third disappointment with you. I’m starting to believe you aren’t as amazing as I first thought you were.”

“Get off my ship, Cordril!” The captain tromped over to where Tia sat. She barely lifted her head, gazing dizzily up at the hunter that stood on the port bow.

Jonis hopped on further. He strode over to where he saw Tia barely managing to keep her eyes open. He was not smiling. He drew is sword. “You will step back from the Sky Child, if you know what is good for you.”

The captain pulled out his weapon—a pistol. “You can’t threaten me. This is my ship.”

“So that’s how you want to play it,” Jonis said. He jumped back. “Fine.”

The cry of a gun split the air over her head. Tia clamped her hands on her ears, ducking down against the oar she was chained to.

The captain howled, clenching his hand. His pistol fell to the deck. Jonis’s gun smoked.

“He shot the captain!”

The men were up, welding their mops and their sabers, anything they had on hand to grab. Jonis leapt back, chopping into the deck with his wide sword, breaking the chain that bound Tia’s right wrist to the oar.

“Sit back!” he shouted at her.

She fell back against the ship wall. His sword chopped off the oar handle, breaking it into splinters. With one grab, Jonis heaved her over his shoulder and jumped ship.

They splashed down into the water. Tia felt too weak to paddle to shore, but Jonis dragged her along under his arm. He clenched the nearest dock and heaved himself upward, dragging her onto the wood also. “I know you are weak right now, but I need you to try and run with me.”

She barely turned her head, feeling his arm suddenly around her waist. Moving her legs in what she hoped was a run, Tia felt him carry her forward. She did not see where they were going, nor did she know what he had in mind. The drug made it impossible to tell anything except that his body at her side seemed to fill her with electricity.

The shouting behind and around the docks let her know the pirates were in hot pursuit. Other cries of soldiers indicated that they were not alone in the chase. But Jonis did not stop until he had hid with her in a shabby building that smelled strongly of fish. He closed the door gently, ducking them both down on the ground. His arm held her low so she would not move. The pounding echo of boots and leather rumbled past, shaking the boards underneath them. Clinking of swords on chains followed.

“Keep still,” Jonis whispered right next to her ear. “They will keep searching until they discover that my boat is not in the dock. Hopefully that will buy us some time.”

Tia blinked her bleary eyes at him. Buy us some time?

She tried to focus her bleary gaze on him, but it only made her headache. Lowering her head to the ground, it felt easier just to lie there anyway. She was still chained to that oar stick. There would be no way she could