Empire of Ashes

Chapter LXV - Bittersweet

Half the northerners were on deck by then and getting ready to spar. Kingfisher was there, too, his arms folded across his chest. He was leaning over the prow, staring at Glyn and me. I wasn't sure how much he had seen, but he didn't look happy.

When we clambered back over the railing, one by one, helping each other, he was there to greet us with a scowl on his face. I lifted my chin and raised an eyebrow. Better indignant than defensive.

"You were warned, I think, to mind your own businesses?" he asked sharply.

I made a show of bristling. "About what? The welfare of your horses? There was a buckle unfastened on that poor horse's bridle. The strap was swinging and catching him in the eye. Glyn spotted it. Just because you use your animals for profit doesn't mean you can't take care of them. Gods above."

And then I stormed off, and Glyn followed in my wake like a loyal hound. Kingfisher's eyes chased me all the way over to the northerners. I found my blunted sword and belted it around my waist, ready to practice.

"What have you been up to, Lyra?" Tem asked me, a grin playing about his lips.

"Oh, nothing," I murmured. Glyn ducked away to peel off his jerkin, and I knew he wouldn't say a thing.

Tem was watching me with narrowed eyes now, but there was still a playfulness to his manner. "Nothing?"

I lifted my chin, haughty. "I was just getting to know your brother."

He laughed. "You were trouble-making, and don't think I don't know it. Just be sure the only trouble you make is for the Anglians, little one."

I smiled sweetly and turned away from him. The resin bead was a constant weight in my pocket. I would need to find out what the powder was and what it could do. There weren't many people on board who would know and even fewer who would tell me.

But I knew of one. Saqui. He wasn't on deck yet, which was all the better for a private conversation. I would just have to wait for an opportunity to escape.

Discretely, I looked around. Anlai was helping Melia into a chainmail shirt that was far too big for her. Ark leant on the rail, exchanging quiet words with Kingfisher. Fendur wasn't there, which I found strange. Anlai was sharing the Iyrak duty, technically, but Fendur rarely left Tem's side these days.

There was nobody to note my disappearance, save for the damned warlord, so I called aloud, "I'm just going to fetch my waterskin."

That was believable enough. It was another hot Anglian day, and the sun beat down on us from sunrise to sunset. I hadn't been coping too well, as a pasty southerner. But Temris raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth, probably to stop me. I was already halfway down the ladder before he could say anything.

Both the missing men were at the far end of the hold, but my eyes went wide when I spotted them, because Saqui had Fendur pinned against the wall. At first glance, I thought they were fighting, but the second glance showed me that they were kissing. Quite passionately, actually. Even as I watched, Fendur's hands dipped lower and lower on the other man's back...

Oh. Um. I processed that scene, shrugged to myself, and very carefully backed away. I reached the ladder again in a few heartbeats, but not before Fendur could spot me. He pushed Saqui away for a moment, winked at me and pressed a finger to his lips.

They kissed again, just for a moment, and then Saqui turned around. When he saw me, the constant indifference he managed to ooze faltered for a heartbeat. He looked ... I would have to say ... nervous.

He busied himself with tying rags around the blades of his knives, blunting them to spar. Fendur came over to stand beside me, bracing one arm against the side of the hold. He ran a hand through his hair, looking somewhat sheepish. "You weren't supposed to see that."

"I thought you liked girls," I said dryly.

"I do," he muttered. "Not as much, but I do."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Fendur asked suspiciously.

"Okay," I repeated, throwing in a shrug for good measure.

Fendur smiled uncertainly. He looked at me and then back at Saqui. "Oh, right. Good. You won't say anything?"

"To Tem?" I laughed, thinking of how he had tried to stop me. "He knows."

"He—" the Iyrak winced. "Oh, gods."

Perhaps he thought he would get in trouble. Saqui's loyalties were murky at best, and this relationship, however casual it may be, would do nothing but complicate things in Belmery. Still, I was sure Temris wouldn't mind one bit. Fendur so rarely asked for anything for himself.

"I'll have a word with him," Fendur muttered. He slipped past me to get onto the deck. And, suddenly, I had all the privacy I needed.

Saqui watched me approach with cautious eyes. I stopped a few paces away and reached into my pocket. Two fingers curled around the resin bead. He was tall, so I had to tip my head back to meet his eyes. They were the darkest shade of brown, like pine bark and warm cocoa on a winter evening, and his lashes were longer than most.

"You haven't told Ark, have you?" I asked, and the tightening of his mouth told me everything I needed to know. "I can keep a secret if you can."

Saqui smiled his understanding — a frustrated twitch of his lips to show clenched teeth. "What do you want, Lyra?"

I was about to show him the bead, but something, the ringing of some internal warning bell, made me hesitate. I hardly knew this man. He had worked for my enemies until very recently, and he had lied about Canton right alongside Ark. So, regardless of whether he was getting hot and heavy with my friend, I had no reason to trust him.

I dropped the bead and hooked my thumb into my belt, sidling a little closer. "The ship — what's it carrying?"

"Sapphirean silk and salt cod," Saqui drawled, quick as anything.

I shook my head, my smile like a razor. "What else?"

"Nothing," he insisted.

I had forgotten how slippery his tongue could be. I tried again, "What is Kingfisher smuggling into Belmery?"

Saqui sighed, barely audible. "I tell you this, and you'll hold your tongue?"

I dipped my head without taking my eyes off him.

"Very well. It is called Saccharine, and it is an opiate of the recreational nature. Hard to refine and so worth its weight in gold. The effects, I'm told, are quite pleasant. Hallucinations, ecstasy, a floating sensation... It is also a strong painkiller, but too much can make a person overly reckless."

"How do you mean?" I demanded.

He shrugged. "There are stories of people under its influence jumping from high places, chewing off their own fingertips, carving things into their flesh ... all just to marvel that it does not hurt. A pinch too much and you lose all concept of self-preservation, and so it is illegal in Anglia."

I was suddenly very aware that I could feel the shape of the bead against my skin, even through the cotton of my breeches. In my little corner of the world, the extent of the drug use had been village boys smoking herbs after dark. I knew nothing of cities and their opiate underworlds.

"Saccharine," I repeated to be sure I remembered. "Thank you."

"I would advise that you stay away from it, Lyra," Saqui said quietly.

I cocked my head to the side, smiling at him sweetly. "I'm sure you would."

Saqui regarded me oddly. He didn't seem to know what to make of that.

"You know, I thought you were flirting with Melia," I went on. "Seems I had the wrong end of the stick."

And a smile flitted across his lips. If I had blinked, I would have missed it. And then he slipped away to the ladder, his footsteps somehow silent on the creaky boards. I was left to think of the amber bead and the inky powder inside.

It could kill a man — of that, I was sure. So, if Tem's scheming failed and all else was lost, at least I could tip the stuff into the king's wine and stand a chance of watching him die.