Chapter 28: A Tense Conversation (1/2)

I looked up into Renshaw’s eyes and saw the warrior. This was the man who’d gained his levels and expanded his profession by killing those he met in war. He went from calling me ‘friend’ to holding a conjured knife at my throat. If I’d had the drop on him, I still couldn’t hope to overpower him. He had an arsenal of spells and the mana pool to use them. He had me.

“Okay, okay! You know that quest the king posted about Davy Jones lieutenant?” I waited for him to nod slightly. “Well, I went overboard in a storm. Right before I drowned that guy appeared below me and pushed me to the surface! But then I had these cursed …”

“Wait.” Renshaw ordered. A moment later a white light shone in a circle surrounding us. “Alright, go ahead.”

“What was that?”

“A spell that will let me know if you’re lying.”

My head hit the grass with a thump. All the wind was gone from my sails. The story I’d fabricated on the fly was worthless.

I hoped whatever I had in store for me didn’t wind up having my spirit chained aboard the Perdition for eternity.

My clenched fists shook and I screamed out a blue streak that would have impressed any veteran sailor. Renshaw’s eyebrows were raised, but his blade hadn’t budged.

“Okay. What do you know about Davy Jones?”

“Jack squat. Keep talking.”

“I was aboard the ship that was carrying the Antarus princess to Oorkom. We were attacked by a mercenary crew and I was taken prisoner. They dropped me into Lazlo’s Deep. Davy Jones took an interest in me because the sea gave me my perk awhile back. He let me choose between death and working for him and I picked the profession he offered, now I’m supposed to be his lieutenant but I don’t know jack about what that means or how I’m supposed to go about it or whether I’m a bad guy or whether I have a choice at all …”

I sputtered out and found wetness welling in my vision. “So sod off! I did the best I knew how.”

Renshaw’s eyes were wide, but his hand was steady as ever. “What was your purpose learning magic?”

“I needed magic. I’d be chopped to pieces if I tried a combat class.”

“Why come here? Why my home? Why Tulisang?”

“Tulisang was the closest place to get out of the danger zone I was in. Oorkom was out and I figured I could stay under the radar in a lawless town. I tried finding books to teach myself at the library but … you know, it’s Andros. I found your fliers there.”

Renshaw cast another spell, and the golden glow around the dagger brightened. “Did you know who I was before you came here?”

“No!”

“Did you have any intentions here other than learning magic?”

“No, I’ll swear it!”

“Do so.”

“Oh, uh … I swear I only came to this place to learn magic.”

Renshaw seemed to be reading a prompt. “Next, your curse. Does it override your mind or will?”

“Uh, it can? I can’t disobey Jones’ orders or undermine him.”

“Tell me every order Jones has given you.”

“Well, I need to unlock my profession and get a crew so I’m not a liability to him. Uh … self-sufficiency … then there’s … uh-hem, causing chaos on the seas.”

Renshaw waited a moment. It drew out long enough to be uncomfortable. “Wait, that’s it? Those are the only orders he’s ever given you?”

“Well, yeah. He’s not one to hold your hand.”

Renshaw pressed his blade more firmly against my throat. I felt the skin part like it was fleeing the edge of the ice. “There are no other orders or compunctions on you?”

“No, I don’t think so …”

“Yes or no!”

“No! No other orders or compunctions! That’s it, that’s the whole deal.”

Renshaw got off my chest and backed away. He still looked ready to fry me if I did something stupid. I took a deep, shuddering breath and stared at the sky. I could really use a dip in the sea.

After a few minutes waiting for the other shoe to drop and dreading what might come next, I looked for Renshaw. He was still studying me, but his attitude seems to have changed. “Fascinating …”

“So,” I said, finding my throat parched. “I’m not in magical chains?”

“You’re not in magical chains.”

He didn’t elaborate when I gave him the opportunity, so I had to ask the next question. “I’m not going to find myself in chains?”

Renshaw picked up his chair and sat in it. “Working with curses is dangerous, but I’m not out to stake you. I can tell your spirit is held captive somewhere far north of here, but so long as you don’t try and deceive me, I believe I can tell if your will is being overridden.”

I filed away what he said about my heart being in the north. Davy Jones was somewhere in the northern passive ocean. “So the whole … you know, the whole Davy Jones thing … that doesn’t turn you off?”

Renshaw shrugged. “I’ve heard different stories about the man, but don’t think he’s the epitome of evil. I think king Leopold just doesn’t like the thought of sea trade being interrupted.”

I couldn’t help but gape. Renshaw didn’t care. All this time, all the worrying I’d done about my secret ever getting out, and he bloody didn’t care!

“You’re not the first person I’ve met who had a curse, you know. Maybe no one else was cursed by such a powerful being, but a curse doesn’t turn you into spawn from the underworld!”

I closed my gaping mouth with effort. “I think you may know more about my curse than I do.”

“Nonsense!” Renshaw said, standing and fetching a chair for me. I noticed he brought it into the circle he’d cast that spotted any lies. “No one knows the details of your curse except those who’ve had it. There are some common threads between cursed beings, and we will find out what they are.”

Renshaw sat just outside his circle. I noticed he wasn’t giving me a choice: he was going to find out the details of my curse and I wasn’t leaving until he was satisfied. “Start by telling me your whole story, in detail.”

I did. Starting from my job on the Wind Runner and feeling Jones as a kindred spirit in the water, to my latest activities trying to raise ships and crew. It was … relieving. Purifying, even. I wasn’t holding onto a dark secret anymore. I wasn’t alone.

Renshaw loosened up as we talked. Whatever he’d seemed to fear I was, he gradually convinced himself that I wasn’t. I wondered what could possibly be more concerning to him than a servant of Davy Jones, but it was a big world and the Sea had never been part of Renshaw’s life. The only things he knew about Jones were tails that sailors swapped in taverns.

When I ended with him realizing what I was in the mental plane and attacking me, it was with a tacit question. Renshaw understood and explained.

“When a master mentalist such as myself pulls an initiate into Tadra – that’s the name of the mental sphere – the initiate is unanchored and incapable of defending themselves. I intended to pull you into my own mindscape, where I could control the environment. Instead, I found myself pulled into your mindscape. I was baffled how that was possible, but I realized your ship was cursed, and so were you. That was your anchor point, and you couldn’t be rooted from it.

“From there, well I assumed the worst. The fact that you’d hidden your cursed nature from me made me think this was all a trick – a trap to remove me. I refused to allow that.”

“I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“I believe you. I don’t blame you for keeping your secret, but it truly is meaningless to me.”

“So … you’re not going to turn me over to Andros’s monarch?”

“You’re not going to try and harm me or mine?” he responded.

“No.”