The disc remained white. Outside the cabin, they could hear the muffled sound of the anchor chain clanking its way up the side of the ship, and the orders being barked by the bo’sun to unfurl the sails, adding to the pattering of the rain falling on the deck.
“So
you
are the new envoy, is that it?” Mita asked him, leaning back on the thick-lipped edge of her desk. Like most furniture on a ship, it was bolted to the deck and didn’t move.
“Not quite. I have been directed by His Majesty to put an end to the piracy plaguing Aurulan ships and Aurulan shores,” he corrected her. “
How
I am to do so is mostly up to me. And you.”
This time, when he revealed the Truth Stone, the polished marble surface was mottled by a silver gray imprint of his fingers. Mita arched one of her brows. “
Is
it, now? Care to clarify why that’s ever so slightly a lie?”
Clutching the stone, Ellett restated, “Correction. How I am to do so is partially dictated by one of His Majesty’s prophesies ... but being a prophecy, the wording is vague, and the interpretation of said words is still very much a matter of my free will.”
Now there was no blemish on the stone. He started to hand it back to her, but she folded her arms across her leather-guarded chest. “We’re not done just yet. You haven’t said who
you
are, nor what rank or authority you have, that you can claim to speak on behalf of your king.”
“Give me your word you won’t mention it to your crew, and I’ll tell you,” he countered. The ship swayed sluggishly. Guessing it was now under power from the wind reduced by his most recent spell, Ellett lifted his hand and withdrew the magic dividing the wind, tapering its effects down as he pulled the energies back into himself. The rigging creaked audibly, reverberating through the ship, and they could hear the sails fluttering and snapping as they were hauled up into place.
Mita eyed him for a long moment, then lifted her pointed chin. “Alright. You have my word of honor I will keep your identity a secret from my crew. For now. For as long as it takes us to sail to Jetta.”
“For longer than that,” Ellett bartered. “If this impostor has fooled all of you into believing him—and nothing I have heard of you Jettans makes me believe you are lifelong fools—then it’s clear he’s taken pains to make sure his identity will not be unmasked by any Aurulan official. He
might
even have spies among your crew.”
“Not
my
crew,” she boasted. “I handpicked them myself. We don’t discuss our secrets with outsiders.”
Ellett smiled wryly. “That may be, but this isn’t one of
your
secrets, so they may not consider it important enough to keep. And they may not spy directly for this impostor, but if even they just talked about me within the hearing of one of his actual informants ...”
“Fine. I give you my word I’ll keep silent about your source of authority until you give me leave to discuss it and you. Now, who are you, Ellett of Aurul?” she asked. “Presuming that
is
your name. Ellett is a fairly common one among both Aurulans and Keketites.”
“I am
anything
but common, milady. In specific, I am Mage-Captain Ellett, head of the Royal Guard of the Seer King.” That much widened her eyes. He confirmed it by displaying the unblemished stone in his grip. Ellett gave her a small smile, enjoying her reaction. “As I said, I am sent by His Majesty ... speaking with the words of our God, Ruul. I can do almost anything I like regarding you and your people to get you to stop pillaging our ships, and it will be acceptable in the eyes of my liege and my Patron.
“Be happy I’m interested in
talking
with you, rather than ‘sending you down below’ as you so charmingly put it.” Lobbing the all-white stone at her, he watched her catch it. “Now, a few questions for
you
. What is
your
position in all of this? What rank or position do you hold in Jetta, and who or what gives you the authority to take up vengeance against Aurulans in the name of your people?”
She eyed the disc in her hand, then him. “How much do you know about the freeport?”
“Not much. You’re a closemouthed lot. It’s a way station for a lot of cross-sea trade. You have massive warehouses, you guarantee the safety of all goods held in storage—some of it expensive stasis-enspelled storage, which is often used for food products and delicate herbs until more profitable times of the year come around. You build some of the fastest ships on the sea, magic notwithstanding. You also don’t have a Patron Deity, though you’ve somehow managed to retain your freedom from would-be conquerors for over four hundred years,” Ellett recited, listing the highlights. “And the most peculiar thing of all, when asked who your leader is, you Jettans change the subject. Repeatedly.”
Mita stared at him a long, long moment, mulling something over. She seemed to make up her mind, drawing in a deep breath and letting it out. “Swear on your powers as a mage that you’ll keep the identity of our leadership and the source of our freedom a secret, and I’ll tell you.”
Curiosity prodded him into agreeing, but Ellett didn’t do so carelessly. “I, Mage-Captain Ellett, bind unto my powers this vow: That
if
the identity of the leadership of Jetta Freeport and the source of its freedom from outside conquest all these years does not harm the sovereign kingdom of Aurul or myself, I shall keep the secret of both these things from non-Jettan sovereign citizens, until given leave to discuss them by Captain Mita or anyone else of an equal or higher Jettan rank ... but I do reserve the right to both speak and act freely as needed in the defense of myself or my homeland, should that need arise. So say I, Mage-Captain Ellett of the Aurulan Royal Guard.”
His skin tingled, and the glow of energy sweeping over him briefly brightened the interior of the cabin.
“So you’re a law-sayer, too?” Mita asked sardonically. “Do you really think that’s the best vow you could make?”
He shrugged. “It’s the best you’ll get.”
Again, she studied him for a long moment. The hissing of the rain hitting the deck overhead, the creaking of the wind straining against the sails, and the splashing of the waves breaking against the hull filled the silence between them. Finally, she spoke. “The island on which Jetta is built shelters a Fountain. One of those rare and extremely powerful singularity-wells of magical energy. Its exact location isn’t important to you, but its Guardian is the leader of our city and the defender of our lands. We do not
need
a Patron Deity to defend ourselves.
“We also have a higher-than-average ratio of mages born to our population, small though it is, and thus we run a local, private Academy to train our mages. A number of them are agriculture specialists, as the rocky terrain of the Jenodan Isles isn’t the most hospitable for growing food—wine, yes, but food, no. Most of the rest either work for the various warehouse, merchanter, and transport companies, or as Aquamancers, ship’s mages, shipbuilders, and other forms of spellcasters,” Mita informed him. Then she smiled slightly. “And
all
of us are trained to defend our homeland. Even if we must be aggressive about it, sometimes.”
“A little
too
aggressive,” Ellett pointed out. He held up his hand as she stiffened, her hazel eyes narrowing. “However it came about, you now have official Aurulan attention. Open-minded attention. I suggest we focus on creating peaceful ties between our lands. Speaking of which, you’ve mentioned your leadership, but not
your
position in it. I presume it has something to do with the strength of your magic?”
“Something like that. I’m the commander of our flagship, the
Jetta’s Pride
,” Mita said, spreading her hands and giving him a slight bow of self-introduction. “Not quite the admiral of the Fleet, but
he’s
still in the prime of his life, and a better strategist than I am. Not to mention his wife is our Spymaster, with contacts in every single port around the sea—we trade in information as well as goods, you see. It’s one of the factors that helps keep any would-be conquerors in check while they’re still just thinking about heading our way.”
“A clever use of your resources. So what are you doing on board the
Slack Sails
, if you command the
Jetta’s Pride
?” Ellett asked. Now that they were headed south into deeper waters, the ship was starting to rock harder underfoot, forcing him to ease his knees and sway with the rolling of the deck.
She smirked. “
All
Jettan ships are black with white sails, and very sleek and similar-looking in build. All it takes is just a few minutes to swap out the bow and aft boards on which our ship names are carved and painted, and a few minutes more for my crew to change from all-black shirts to all-white. Or any other color we choose.”
“And with your faces covered, your identities are further obscured,” he agreed. “That explains why I haven’t heard of the
Slack Sails
ever docking in Jetta Freeport.”
“Yes. You annoyed me and angered my crew when you took off my scarves,” she added. A frown pinched her brow. “
How
did you move? No one can move during a Duel Arcane! You stand there and you throw everything you have into it!”
It was Ellett’s turn to smirk. “That’s a secret of the Royal Guard.”
She pouted slightly. “Oh, but I
must
know.”
He suspected it was deliberate, because she looked too lovely doing so not to have practiced such a perfect look of pleading disappointment. Mulling it over, he rubbed at his chin, feeling the slight scratch of a day’s worth of stubble forming across his skin. “I suppose I
could
teach you ... in exchange for mage lessons from you in things you can do well. So long as you understand that learning how to move during a Duel Arcane does
not
give you the liberty to attack your opponent. Physical attacks negate the outcome, after all.”
That widened her eyes. “So you
cheated
!”
“Ah, but I didn’t attack you,” he countered, smiling. “A ‘physical attack’ in a Duel Arcane is one which
harms
the opposing spellcaster. Even by the broadest definition, a kiss does not harm anyone—distractions
are
allowable in a duel, so long as they cause no physical harm.”
She narrowed her eyes again, but the corner of her generous mouth curved up. “So you
are
a law-sayer in disguise.”
That made him laugh. “That,” he agreed, “or I just found your mouth irresistible.”
The look Mita leveled at him was dubious at best. “Maybe I should make you repeat that while holding this Truth Stone. I am well aware, Captain Ellett, how large my lips are, how tall my frame, and how unfeminine my hands. I am not a beauty, and I do not need for you to pretend that I am.”
Giving her a chiding look, Ellett crossed the space between them. Plucking the Truth Stone from her fingers, he gripped it firmly. “I think you
are
a beauty. That you are lovely in my eyes.” Uncurling his fingers, he showed her the all-white marble. She stared at it, taken aback. “As we say in Aurul, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I behold a beautiful, strong, intelligent woman when I look upon you.”
One step closer would have allowed the swaying of the rainstorm-driven ship to brush their bodies together. Her bits of leather armor wouldn’t have been comfortable, however. Dropping his gaze to her tooled leather pauldrons and breastplate, he smiled.
“You have some interesting battle runes, too. Of course, I’d also like to see you in something more comfortable, since that armor isn’t necessary around me anymore.”
“Oh, it isn’t, is it?” she challenged, hands shifting to her hips.
Reaching past her, Ellett set the marble disc on the rail-guarded surface of her desk. It slid a bit as the ship bobbed through the waves, but he didn’t care. The movement had brought their bodies close enough for his next attack. “You don’t need to be protected from
this
.”
This time, though the movement of the ship did brush their lips together, more of it was from his own effort. Bringing his hands up, he cupped her head, sliding his fingers through her thick, auburn hair. At the same time, he sucked on her lower lip. A soft sound escaped her, then Mita slipped her arms around his back. As expected, her armored body wasn’t the most comfortable thing to embrace, but she did know how to kiss.
A knock on the door was followed by an increase in the hissing of the rain and a voice calling out, “Captain, First Officer Peany wants ...
What
are you doing with our captain?”
Mita, he saw as he pulled back, looked a little flustered by the interruption and accusation. He was more amused than embarrassed, himself. Turning to face what looked like the bo’sun of this ship, Ellett gave him a calm, firm reply. “Anything she wants me to do.”
That earned him a scowl from the middle-aged man. Mita stepped around him. “Peany wants
what
, Jukol?”
“He wants you to strengthen the rigging, Captain. The weight of the rain accumulating in the sheets and sails has him worried. The crew also wants to know what to do with
this
thing,” the bo’sun added, lifting his chin at Ellett.
“Milord Ellett is our guest. Tell the crew we sail for Jetta,” she added. “He has things to say which we as a people need to hear. I’ll be out as soon as I’ve shed my armor.”
From the look the bo’sun gave him, Ellett guessed the man wanted to order him out of the cabin. Instead of complying with that unspoken glare, he lifted his fingers to the most worn-looking buckles holding the tooled breast and back plates in place; their condition told him they were ones she used the most to get into and out of her armor.
The bo’sun bristled at his efforts, though Mita merely turned and lifted her arm a little, giving Ellett better access. She unbuckled her vambraces and elbow cops herself, calloused fingers making short work of the task. The sailor stepped fully into the cabin, letting the door swing shut behind him in time with the rolling of the ship. “You
don’t
need to be doing that, man! You won’t be touching her—and if I had my way, you’d be sleeping in the deeps for all you’ve done!”