“I shouldn’t? Why not?”
“Because some of them are… were my friends. And I don’t like anyone saying mean things about my friends. Not even you.”
She started to shoot back another angry reply, but stopped herself. “All right. Are you coming or not?”
“Was that an apology? Not to me. To them.”
Kira sighed, still aggravated but admiring the way Jason was sticking up for his former friends. “Yes. I apologize to Urth girls. I’m sure they all kick butt and take names and always smell like flowers.”
She walked to the edge of the pier, looking at the deck of the sailboat about half a lance below her. A small deckhouse rose amidships, giving access to the interior which on a boat like this would include a bunk or two. “This is just what we need.”
“We’re stealing a boat? You’re really going to do that?”
“We’re borrowing a boat,” Kira said. “Under the authority of the daughter of Jules.” She lowered herself off the pier onto the boat, steadying herself as the deck rocked slightly in response to her weight.
He looked down at her. “You never used to do that. Never used to go around saying you have your mother’s power.”
“I didn’t have that power before. Now I do.”
“Why are you using it to take this boat?”
“Because it’s important!” she snapped at him. “What’s happened to you, Jason? You used to be smart. You used to understand things. But now every time I try to do anything you’re holding us up wanting to know why we’re doing this or why we’re doing that!”
Instead of replying immediately, he gave her a flat stare. When Jason finally spoke, his voice was as flat as his expression. “I guess I must have changed.”
“Change back!” Kira told him. “I need someone who helps me. Not someone who has to have everything explained to him! If you want to stay here, fine. Stay. But please let loose the lines so I can go.”
He didn’t say anything, walking to the bollards to set free the lines and toss them down to the deck. But when he was done, Jason jumped down on deck to join her before the boat could drift away from the pier.
Kira went to the mast, fumbling with the winch to raise the main sail, while Jason coiled the lines. “Jason, this winch is broken. It’s jammed and won’t move.”
He came over to look. “You didn’t release the latch,” Jason said, flipping loose something.
“Oh. Uh.” She stared at the winch, wondering how she could have missed something that basic. “Thanks.”
She cranked the winch, raising the sail, white but looking black and gray against the night sky. Once it was raised all the way, Kira paused, staring at the winch again. “Jason.”
“Yeah?”
“Um. The… latch.”
He came over and flipped it back in place. “Does that bother you?” Jason asked. “That you’re having trouble doing simple mechanical tasks?”
“I’m tired. That’s all it is.”
“Fine.” Jason went to the tiller at the stern to steer as the sail caught the breeze, the boat gaining way across the smooth waters of the harbor. “Where are we going?”
“Head for the harbor entrance. We need to leave Altis.”
“Should I ask why?”
“So Maxim will follow.”
“Sure.”
Irritated by Jason’s attitude, Kira stood by the mast, facing forward away from him. The boat gained speed, slicing cleanly through the waters of the harbor. All about, lanterns and lights hung from ships, marking their locations at anchor, as if they were sailing amid a field of stars somehow brought down to just above the surface of the water.
She could tell the direction to the Imperial-flagged ship carrying Maxim. As the sailboat coursed over the waters of the harbor, Kira sensed something else. Faint, but it was unmistakable once she’d realized it was there.
Mage Ivor. The lightning Mage was also somewhere in this harbor.
Could he sense where Kira was?
She realized something else. “Jason, you’re off course! We’re heading far to the left of the way out of the harbor.”
He didn’t answer.
Far to the left. Toward the Confederation warship. “Jason, turn this boat to starboard! Now!”
He sat at the tiller, stubbornly holding course, daring her to strike him, trying to force her to give up.
Her mother said there was always an alternative, if you were willing to take it.
Kira pulled off her jacket and walked to the port side, facing the direction of the Imperial-flagged ship. “Turn toward the entrance to the harbor now or I’m jumping off and swimming to that ship.”
He gazed at her in disbelief. “That’d be suicide.”
“It’d be a last battle for Maxim or for me,” Kira said. “Turn. Or I’ll jump on three. One. Two.”
With a snarl of frustration Jason jerked the tiller over so the boat veered starboard onto a course leaving the harbor.
She stepped back from the side, holding onto the mast for support. “Jason, why are you making this so hard?”
“I thought we were a team,” Jason said. “It looks like you’re making all of the decisions.”
“I have a plan.”
“Something is messing with your head.”
She felt a wave of anger threatening to swamp her. Kira fought it, gritting her teeth as she leaned against the mast, refusing to let the rage fill her mind as it wanted to.
“Kira?”
The worry in Jason’s voice brought her out of that inner battle. Kira focused her eyes on him, breathing as hard as if she had just run a sprint. “I’m fine.”
“But—”
“Get us out of this harbor. If you care about me, get us out of this harbor!”
One of the lights on the water swung around, moving their way. Kira also saw a green light marking the starboard side of the vessel apparently moving to intercept them.
She touched her pistol, reassuring herself that it was ready. “Someone’s coming after us already! Get ready for a fight, Jason!”
“What if they’re good guys, Kira? What if that’s one of the harbor patrol boats?”
“If they’re coming to stop us, they’re not good guys. Get ready for a fight!”
Chapter Twelve
The boat coming toward them moved swiftly. Kira fumbled out her pistol, wondering why the weapon felt awkward in her grasp.
They were trying to stop her. They had to be enemies.
“This is the harbor patrol!” a voice hailed across the water. “Why are you underway at this hour?”
Kira looked at the weapon in her hand, then toward the approaching boat.
She twitched with surprise as Jason appeared beside her. Glancing back, she saw that he’d tied the tiller in place to hold their course.
“Harbor patrol!” Jason yelled back, cupping his hands around his mouth to project his voice. “This is an emergency! We have to leave the harbor!”
“What’s the nature of your emergency?” The patrol boat tacked, swinging about to parallel Jason and Kira’s course. “Drop your sails! We’re coming aboard!”
“No,” Kira said to Jason, gripping her weapon tighter.
He looked at her, read the resolve in her, and looked back at the patrol boat. “This is the daughter’s business. Lady Mechanic Kira is aboard. She’s on the daughter’s business.”
A lantern with a reflector to concentrate the light swung over to illuminate the deck of the sailboat. “Holster your pistol,” Jason pleaded.
Kira had to force herself to do that, then stepped closer to the side of the boat as the lantern light steadied on her. “I’m Lady Kira. This is the daughter’s business.”
She saw the patrol boat’s officers talking to each other, debating what to do. Finally one called back. “Where are you bound?”
The moment she heard the question, Kira knew the answer. “Cape Astra!”
“Altis can provide a ship—”
“No,”
Kira called back. “I need to leave now, on this boat.”
She saw the officers debate again, but the outcome was foreordained. They didn’t dare stop a boat with Kira on it when she was telling them it was the daughter’s business.
Something felt very wrong about that, but Kira couldn’t remember why.
One of the officers was speaking into a far-talker. Telling her superiors. Getting instructions. Kira tensed again, acutely aware of the weapon in its holster under her arm. Should she draw it again? Be ready to fight her way out of this harbor?
Her mother had been forced to do that. This was all destiny, following the paths her mother had trod decades before. Kira felt that surge of confidence again.
“We’ll escort you out of the harbor,” the officer finally called back.
Kira smiled and waved and relaxed.
They passed the headlands on either side, the harbor patrol boat turning back as Kira’s boat beat through the choppy waters where the sea met the harbor and then onward as the sailboat began rolling through the swells parading across the Sea of Bakre, the lights of the patrol boat fading behind them.
Kira went to the foremast and raised its sail, stubbornly fidgeting with the winch until she got it done. The sailboat leaped forward under the added push, like her horse Suka eagerly breaking into a run as he entered an open meadow.
Suka. Home. Kira wondered why those memories disturbed her thoughts.
“Why are we going to Cape Astra?” Jason called.
“Because… it’s obvious! Jason, why do you keep asking questions? I need you to help me, or get out of my way.”
“Maybe asking you questions is a way of trying to help,” Jason said.
“It’s not. You’re just slowing me down. It’s not too late for me to drop you off on the coast of Altis. Why don’t I do that?”
His reply sounded stubborn and weary. “You told me not to leave you, no matter what you said. I’m staying.”
She felt a need to reassure him. “Jason, this is all working out. See, I told the patrol we’re going to Cape Astra. If Maxim has any trouble tracking us, his spies will still be able to find that out before he leaves Altis and he’ll know he can catch us at Cape Astra. If that ship gets close enough, though, they’ll be able to sense me and follow us that way.” Kira looked up at the sails. “If these winds hold we should be able to make as good a speed as they can. And it’ll take them a while to get underway. We should be able to stay ahead of them. And I’m doing my best to make my Mage presence feel like you so they won’t suspect I’m the Mage.”
“Make it feel like I’m really scared, then,” Jason said.
So much for trying to cheer up Jason. “If you’re so scared, why are you still here?”
“I’m not scared for myself,” Jason told her.
Kira looked at the water rushing past the side of the boat, trying to find words. Finally, she looked back at him. “Steer south-southwest. That’s a straight shot to the Strait of Gulls. We’ll hold that until we can catch the easterly winds that will carry us through the strait.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t say okay! You’re always saying that!”
A tiny trace of a smile appeared on his face. “Okay.”
Kira recognized the moment he was evoking, knew he was reaching out to her, but found it hard to respond. “That’s not funny.”
Jason looked up at the sky. “The weather looks fine. No sense in both of us staying up.”
As if his words had triggered a spell, Kira felt weariness wash over her. “I’m really tired. Are you good for a while?”
Jason nodded. “I can stay up. Sleep as long as you need to.”
Kira gave him a sharp look. “Stay on course for Cape Astra, Jason.”
“I am on course for Cape Astra.”
“Stay on it!” Why did she have a suspicion that Jason would turn the boat once she was asleep? “Promise me. Promise you will stay on course for Cape Astra.”
He looked back at her for a few moments before finally nodding once more in a dejected way. “All right. I promise you I will keep this boat on course for Cape Astra.”
“Good. Rest well, Jason.” She made her way to the deckhouse and down inside, seeing two bunks, one on either side of the ship, a narrow table between them, and farther forward a door labeled PANTRY. Kira picked one of the bunks, curled up in it, feeling the motion of the waves beneath her, and almost instantly fell asleep.
* * *
Kira woke up blinking against sunlight streaming in through a porthole, wondering where she was. This was getting to be a bad habit.
It looked and felt like she was on a sailboat. At sea.
Blazes. What had she done?
At least she still had her pistol and the door to the deckhouse was open, so Kira knew no one had taken her prisoner.
She pulled herself out of the deckhouse into a brisk morning with whitecaps all about the sailboat as it galloped across the waves, the morning sun sparkling on the water..
At the stern, Jason sagged asleep at the tiller. He’d had the foresight to tie it, though, so the ship had stayed on course.
On course for where?
Remembering Jason’s reaction yesterday, Kira stayed by the deckhouse as she called his name. “Jason. Hello. Good morning.”
He came awake, blinking at her, then all around. “Hi. Which Kira am I talking to?”
“The one who doesn’t know what we’re doing. Wait. Stars above, did we steal this boat?”
He gave her a sour look. “We didn’t steal it.”
“And we’re going to… Cape Astra? Jason, why are we going to Cape Astra?”
“I was told that was obvious,” he replied. “Kira, I could really use some water.”
“I’m sorry!” She ducked back down inside and went to the pantry. The door was locked, but Kira had her lock picks in a pouch on her belt. Mentally thanking her mother for teaching her how to pick locks, Kira got to work. It only took a few minutes to defeat the lock and open the pantry door. Inside were ceramic water bottles sealed with corks and packages of dried food fastened to racks. There seemed to be enough fresh water, but Kira frowned at the food, mentally calculating how long it would last and coming up short.
She took two bottles, drinking one herself as she gave Jason the other. “You tried to stop me. Do I remember that right? At least a couple of times.”
“I tried,” he said. “But there wasn’t any way without hurting you.”
She exhaled, exasperated, and took another drink. “Why didn’t you turn around when I fell asleep and take us back to Altis?”
His mouth took on an obstinate set. “You made me promise I wouldn’t do that. You made me promise to stay on course for Cape Astra.”
“Jason, that’s not a promise you should have felt obligated to keep.”
He shook his head stubbornly. “I don’t want to start deciding which promises to you I should keep and which I should break.”
“Oh.” She lowered her face into her hands. “I put you in an impossible position. I’m sorry.”
“Do you have any idea why you did that stuff?” Jason asked. “Why it was so important to go to Cape Astra?”
“No! I just… everything made sense. And now I can see it doesn’t.” She stared at him, fear swelling inside her. “Am I going insane, Jason? Is that what’s happening? Maybe it doesn’t matter whether my powers are suppressed. They still mess up my mind just by existing. Are my moments of clear thinking going to be less and less? How long do I have before I’m always like that?”
Jason looked at her before letting his head droop. “We have to think it out.”
“Think it out? Jason, I’m scared,” Kira said as calmly as she could. “Really scared. I can handle any enemy outside of me. But this is inside. And I can’t control it. And I can’t… can’t cut it out of me.”
His head came up, eyes filling with sudden fear that washed away the weariness. “You’re not going to try, are you? You won’t hurt you
rself?”
She stared at him, realizing that Jason had all too many good reasons to fear that. “No. I won’t hurt myself. But what’s going to happen to me, Jason?”
He looked down again, avoiding her eyes.
“Jason, this is where you’re supposed to smile reassuringly and tell me we’ll beat this and everything will be all right.” She waited for him to respond, the leaden ache of fear inside her growing heavier and larger until it threatened to fill her.
He finally raised his head to look at her again, his eyes full of pain. “I can’t lie to you, Kira.”
“Try!” she yelled, abruptly angry and desperate. “Look at me and say it’ll be all right!”
“Kira—”
“Say it’ll be all right!”
His gaze centered on her, firming. “It’ll be all right.”
“And you won’t leave me.”
“Kira, the only way you could get me to leave you is by shooting me.”
“Don’t! Don’t even suggest that!” Kira looked out over the water. “I’m fine now. Why am I fine now?”
“You’ve recovered twice after a good night’s sleep,” Jason said.
“Yeah. Rest. And… it’s open here. I don’t feel confined. And there’s no danger. Stress and tiredness. That opens a door to it.” Kira looked at him, trying her best to smile. “You need some rest. Why don’t you sleep for a while?”
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“Yes. And if I feel any sign of something coming on, I’ll call you.”
“Okay.” He got up, moving like an old man full of aches and pains. Pausing by the mast, Jason looked back at her with a tentative smile. “I can say okay again, right?”
“You say okay all the time. It’s sweet. Don’t stop. I don’t think you could stop, but don’t.”
“I think maybe sometimes it aggravates you a little,” he said, smiled again, and went down into the deckhouse.
Kira looked out at the sea, the wind whipping at her hair, occasional salt spray hitting her with a cold but welcome slap as if the world was telling her to wake up, to be her. On such a morning, it was easy to believe that anything was possible.