Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

I 'd made several attempts at breaking through the hidden door in the refectory either just before the doors were closed at night or just after they opened at dawn, but I'd eventually had to accept, it was sealed tight with magic and I couldn't get through.

That left the path through the sea cave, and since the Sky Witch had returned from battle, she had gone back to ignoring my summons. It wasn't like I wanted to ask for help, in fact, doing so was starting to leave a bitter taste on my tongue. Especially with her continued refusals. So at every opportunity, I practised the cast on water I'd need to make the ascent into that high up tunnel in the underground caverns.

So far, the highest I'd gotten was around twenty feet before I'd lost my grip on the cast and had fallen down into the unforgiving ocean beyond the shore of Obsidian Cove. I was yet to make a new tiderunner to ride the waves, but the more time I spent in the wild waters out there, the more I realised I didn't need one anymore.

I could tame the waves and guide the swell beneath my feet, riding the frantic tide to shore. I might have been used to calmer waters, but I was growing fond of the ocean's temper here. And with the bathing suit I'd made to keep out the cold, there was little to fear out there now. Except perhaps the rumours of beasts and sea serpents writhing in the ocean's depths.

Today, I couldn't spend my food break out practising though, because Wandershire was set to return and I had a debt to pay.

I gathered up the blades I'd forged for Mavus and wrapped them in sheathes of leather, then I stacked the ten sets of gloves in my pack before making my way to Obsidian Cove.

Wandershire was waiting for me, the curved metal legs supporting the town digging deep into the black sand and delving into the murky abyss of the ocean at its furthest point. Plenty of neophytes were already onboard and I made a quick ascent up the stone steps and headed for the belltower at the centre of the town.

The door at the bottom was open, so I headed up the winding stairs to the entrance to Mavus's bureau, rapping my knuckles on the door.

"Enter," he called and I twisted the handle, pushing into the room and finding him standing by the window, buttoning up his yellow trousers. A man scrambled to his feet from his knees before him, glancing back at me with a blush lining his cheeks.

"Come back in an hour, Lucian," Mavus purred, scruffing the guy's dark hair. "Bring your wife too."

Lucian smiled, nodding and heading for the exit.

I tossed my selection of blades down onto Mavus's desk with a clatter the second he left.

"I'm going to choose to ignore the fact that you just finished getting your cock sucked and focus on business," I said lightly.

"Probably for the best, doll." He smirked, then looked me up and down, taking in the outfit I'd finished in the early hours of this morning. "Would ya look at you?"

I raised my chin a little higher as his dark blue eyes tracked over the gothic style navy overcoat I'd made, a pattern of silver fish scales on the shoulders and silver buttons to match. As I opened the long coat and tossed it onto a chair, Mavus let out an exhale as he took in my outfit underneath.

"Do me a twirl," he encouraged and I couldn't help soak up the attention as I did a slow spin for him.

The dress was no pretty thing made for dances and being courted, it was both practical, comfortable and – if I did say so myself - fucking striking. It was darkest green with a golden breast plate made into the shape of the bodice that fit me like a glove, yet was supple, allowing ease of movement. It was detailed with an emblem of the sun, its rays spilling down onto the symbols of Pisces, Scorpio and Cancer beneath it.

The skirt split at the front so I could wear matching trousers beneath, as was fast becoming my new favourite style, and there were plenty of concealed pockets and hidden sheathes for as many blades as I could possibly wish to carry.

"That's something, real something, lass," Mavus cooed. "The craftmanship, the colour, the detail. Fuck me, I think I'm getting hard for a dress."

I pursed my lips at him and he chuckled, proving he was joking and a smile tilted my lips.

"I still need new boots." I gestured to the old combat boots on my feet that were pretty scuffed up.

"Take any you like from me stores," he encouraged. "Assuming you have kept up your part of the deal?" His eyes moved to the blades on the table which were concealed by their leather sheathes.

"I'd prefer to make them, but I'm not much of a cobbler."

"I have no doubt that you'll figure it out, lass." He moved to a large green armchair, picking up a curling wooden pipe on a table beside it, and I couldn't help but revel in the faith he had in me.

Mavus struck a match and lit the dark substance in the pipe, puffing on the end of it and releasing a long line of smoke from his lips. "So what have you got for me? All the items I requested, I hope, or there'll just be the small matter of me ripping your soul from your body and keeping it in a jar forevermore."

"What?" I gasped and he boomed a laugh.

"A joke, lass. Just a little joke between friends. Come now, let's see what you've made for me. I'm dying of anticipation."

The scent of the smoke filling the air had a sweet kind of tang to it, notes of tobacco underlining it, but it was definitely more than just that.

I unfurled the leather sheath that held a cutlass, showing it to him and he curled a ringed finger to beckon me closer. I walked over to him, brandishing it in front of him and pointing it right at his heart. It had an amber hue and engravings of Venus in its hilt within a glittering cluster of stars, the blade made with the planet in mind. Venus represented beauty and love and this cutlass represented the darker side of those traits, like it held the soul of two lovers fated to die.

"Bless Cassiopeia," Mavus cooed. "What a deadly, pretty thing."

I smiled at the compliment, taking in the sheen of the blade, proud of what I'd forged, but when I glanced up at him, I found him looking at me, not the cutlass.

I scowled, flipping it over in my grip and offering the hilt to him. "Here."

He took it, rising to his feet with the pipe dangling from the corner of his lips as he tested the weight of it in his hand. "That'll fetch me a fair price. Have you shown me the best of your stock or are you building up to the grand finale?"

I shrugged innocently, moving back to the desk and taking out the twin Gemini swords next. They were bronze short swords which I'd made as twins of each other, half a Gemini symbol etched onto each hilt, so when brought together, they made one image.

I swung them in demonstration, carving them through the air in a lethal dance then twisting them around in my grip and offering the hilts to Mavus.

He placed his pipe in a stand shaped like a whale on the table beside his chair, laying the cutlass on the seat and taking the swords from me.

"Heavy," he commented.

"Almost pure bronze," I said with a nod.

"Almost?"

I smiled like a cat. "I tempered them with just a little ravensteel."

"That's used in construction, not blades," he scoffed.

I snatched one of the swords from his hand, launching it across the room to drive into a wooden beam on the far wall. The metal rang as it quivered, bending up and down in an undulating motion that showed the gift of the ravensteel. "It's shatterproof, and the flexibility in the metal means it can take even the fiercest of strikes. The bronze will ensure the blades do not corrode and I added a lacquer of glace oil too, making it resistant to fire."

"Bless the soil of the earth, you're making me a happy man, lass. Come now, let's see the last of them. You sure know how to edge a fella."

I unveiled the final blade, the small, wicked creation bringing another smile to my mouth. It was a sharp little combat knife which had a curved edge shaped like a crescent moon, the moon phases marked across the silver sheen of the smooth hilt. I was particularly fond of this one and it would be hard to part from it, but I wasn't about to go reneging on my deal for the sake of petty wants. Besides, I could forge myself another one once I had time.

"This is Lunalis – she was too beautiful not to name." I flicked her around in my hand, turning her between my fingers, the steel catching the sun and sending patterns of light dancing across the floorboards.

"I like her already," Mavus growled. "But she's small."

"Easily underestimated," I agreed then threw the blade with force, sending it flying past Mavus's ear, driving between the eyes of a painting of a seahorse on the wall.

Mavus turned to look at it, his eyes brightening as he tugged the knife out of the canvas.

"Stunning," he purred, turning Lunalis over in his palm and my chest expanded with his words.

"She's feather-light and the balance in the steel is so perfect that it aids precision in every throw," I explained.

"Anything else, doll?"

"She's charged with the energy of moonlight," I revealed a little smugly. "I bathed the steel in lune essence for a fortnight. Run your thumb over the moon phases and the blade will glow. If you throw it while it's glowing, your strike will be twice as powerful."

Mavus ran his thumb over the markings on the hilt and it lit up with a silver glow that reflected in his blue eyes. "I see why you left her ‘til last. She's special. So special I'm almost tempted not to part with her."

"I felt the same," I admitted, and he looked at me in consideration, sharing my appreciation of fine weaponry.

He picked up his pipe, puffing on it again and moving to the desk, placing the knife on a pile of maps and blowing a coil of sweet smoke into the air. "I shouldn't be showing ya this, but I think you might be one of the few Fae I know who'll value it as I do."

He opened one of the drawers in his desk, taking out a vicious gold weapon that was curved with spikes ringing the top of it. Mavus slid his hand into a gap in the metal so the spikes sat along his knuckles. "I secured this on me last trip into the wilds. Do you know much of the Scorpius Pirates, doll?"

"They're nomads like the Vampires. They trade with them too, I've heard."

"It's a shaky alliance," Mavus agreed. "They're cutthroats mostly, seeking riches in all forms. Gold, sex, power. The usual suspects. They'd sell their own children for the right price."

"Sounds like someone I know." I gave him an accusing look and he chuckled low in his throat.

"Children's where I draw the line in me trades. There ain't nothing more innocent in this world and there are far too many evils out there waiting to corrupt ‘em. I'd rather not add my name to that particular list. Anyway, as I was saying. I met in with a drove of the vicious bastards in the wilds and when I'd gutted the lot of them, I claimed myself this here prize. The rest of the loot can be found among the traders now, but this… this is special. More than what it appears."

"Knuckle dusters aren't that uncommon. What's so special about these?" I reached for the gold melee weapon, and he let me take it from his hand.

The gold was crafted well, the metal not one I preferred to work with considering its softness under pressure. But from the feel of it, this was hardened with something. Perhaps… I examined it closer, my pulse quickening.

"Dragon fire." I looked up at him in surprise, my thoughts wheeling to the Dragon the Sky Witch and I had discovered.

"Now how did a little Raincarver like you go recognising something as rare as that?" he purred, examining my expression closely.

"My mama taught me what to look for in case I ever stumbled across metal like this. That gold isn't gold anymore, it's draconia now that it's been altered with Dragon fire and likely imbued with the strength of a Dragon scale too if it's made in the ancient way."

"What else did your mama teach ya, Everest Arcadia? I'd like to meet this knowledgeable ol' biddy."

"She's not a biddy," I snarled, rage climbing through me, and his eyebrows lifted at my sudden sharpness. "And she's dead, so there's no meeting her. She was killed during a Skyforger raid over a year ago and two eskindo – fucking - Flamebringers snuck into our land during the distraction and set a blaze that murdered her in an acidic rain of Basilisk venom."

"Woah there, that's a lot to unpack in under a minute, doll. Let me digest that for a sec." He toked on his pipe, considering me while my heart rate slowed again.

A cloud of sweet smoke swept out around me and I wafted a hand to bat it away, pressing my lips together. "Watch where you're blowing your poison."

"Poison?" he balked, looking wounded. "This is the finest fogweed in the four nations. Premium cut with silk tobacco and-"

"And it's gross. So stop blowing it at me." I stalked to the window, shoving it open and he laughed.

"Alright, doll, I'll aim my poison elsewhere. But in the meantime, tell me more about this mama of yours. She sounds like a smart lass. I'll be betting you miss her something fierce."

I remained silent, that aching wound in my heart locked down tight beneath layers and layers of stubbornness, smothered by my refusal to let it rip open again. "I'm not here to talk about my mother. But I do have something I want to discuss with you."

"I'm all ears." He smiled that devil's smile and I once again doubted how much I could trust this Nemean Lion shifter. But he had access to potions, weapons and wares I probably didn't even know existed. So he might just be the right person to help me with the problem of my greatest enemy.

"I need to kill a Fury," I revealed, and I swear Mavus's pupils dilated like I'd just given him a hit of a drug he'd been craving.

"You do, do you?" he purred, stepping closer. "That wouldn't be Kaiser Brimtheon now, would it?"

My jaw tightened and I said nothing, but it was obvious enough. There weren't any other Furies I knew of and Kaiser's reputation as one of The Matriarch's orphan warriors had likely been of interest to this wandering Fae. Mavus no doubt picked up all the secrets of the world on the wind.

He started laughing, roaring with amusement at my expense. I snatched the silver combat knife off the table, rage bursting through my veins as I ran at him, slashing it across the side of his neck, leaving a slice in his skin that ran red in an instant. He grabbed my wrist in the next second, a vine slithering around my body and tightening like a leash as his earth magic poured out of him and his laughter turned to fury.

"You little wretch, now look what you've done." His vine snared my chest tighter then dragged me backwards, yanking me down onto the desk as thorns grew across it.

I snarled, cutting through it with Lunalis, and moving quickly onto my knees, ready to spring at him. But he was upon me in a flash, his hand gripping my tunic, throwing me flat on my back again with force, sending maps and objects flying off of it.

"You've gone and made me bleed," he seethed. "An eye for an eye, doll. I reap what others sow upon me." He snatched the silver knife from my hand, slicing a cut along my neck in the exact same place I'd marked him. "There now," he softened abruptly, stepping back and releasing me, leaving me panting on his desk. "It's best you learned this little lesson early on. A blessing really." He smiled, offering me a hand up but I shrank from it, sliding off the desk and eyeing him warily.

"Relax, lass. I don't hold grudges – well, alright, I do. But not against you. I like ya. Really. That fire in you is my favourite kind of flame, but I can't go letting ya get ideas about where you stand when it comes to me. I'm not the Mayor of Wandershire by pure chance. I'm a ruthless creature of the stars' design. A king who plays off of the chessboard, thinking outside the confines of the lines that have been drawn around him in this game of crowns and blood. My allies are the most fortunate souls in The Wandering Lands and I'm extending a hand to ya, offering you that rare position and mark my words when I tell ya, I don't offer it lightly, doll. I see you, Everest Arcadia, and I truly like what I see."

I touched the scratch on my neck, frowning at him, taking in his words. There was sense to them, I had to admit. And in light of his little power show, I found I liked him more. There weren't many Fae who looked at me at all, let alone saw the weight of my soul, but sometimes it felt like Mavus and I had a connection. Like we were cut from similar cloth.

He didn't let Fae walk over him, he delivered to them what they offered him, and I had the feeling that the same would be said of something good. A true friendship with him might just bring me advantages I couldn't dream up without him.

"Don't ever laugh at me again," I warned, pointing the silver knife at him.

"Noted," he said, etching a cross over his heart. "I swear not to make a mockery of ya twice."

"So when I say that Kaiser Brimtheon's death belongs to me, do you have anything to say to that?"

His lips twitched the slightest amount but he forcibly held back any more mirth and inclined his head. "His death is yours, lass."

I lowered the knife, placing it on the table then drawing my dagger from the concealed sheath at my hip. Reluctant as I was to open up to most Fae, I felt the need to do this. His interest in my blades and his obvious knowledge of their craft made me want this dagger to be witnessed for what it was.

"You asked me about this blade when we met," I said and he eyed it greedily.

"That I did, lass," he said.

"Well its purpose is vengeance. The name of my mother's killer is inlaid in the hilt." I showed it to him and his brows lowered as he took in Kaiser's name.

He nodded. "Well then." He wrapped his hand around mine, the roughened touch of his palm reminding me of the war-hardened men I had let ravish me between the back alleys of the taverns in Castelorain. Mavus reminded me of them sometimes, but I didn't think it was war that had made him into this twisted man of power and pride. But something had left a stain on his soul, blackening it until it matched the colour of mine. "Hunt him well, and reap from him what he sowed upon you, Everest."

I nodded as I withdrew, our eyes locking in a moment of understanding that went beyond the need for words. He had chased vengeance before, I held no doubt in that moment. And I had the feeling he might have secured it.

"So what was it you wanted to discuss about this marked Fury of yours, hm?" he asked, puffing on his pipe again.

I looked him over, from the tight golden curls of his hair that trailed over his shoulders to the bright hue of his green eyes and the sheen of his bare chest. Did I want to voice what I had been thinking of asking him? Did I really want to tread that path?

Since I'd met with Kaiser out in the tundra, I'd been careful to make sure he never found me alone. I had to keep my distance until I was prepared to face him again, because the next time we clashed, it was going to be life or death. He wouldn't be pulling punches anymore, dismissing me as someone unworthy of his swords. I would know the violence of them when we faced off once more.

"You have access to all kinds of knowledge…so I wondered if you might have a book or a secret or two stashed in that big head of yours about the weaknesses of the Fury Order."

He caressed the stubble on his chin. "Hmm, you want an advantage? I can give you an advantage." His gaze slid to the drawer that held his stash of illegal battle stims.

"No," I growled. "Not that."

"It'll unlock your mind, doll," he purred. "I've tried it myself. It's nirvana. No shackles on ya soul. No fears, no doubts, no more nightmares coiling through your mind. It'll free you from the traumas of your past and guide your feet into the most glorious of futures."

"I said no," I gritted out.

He raised his hands in innocence, letting his pipe dangle from his lips. "Alright, I meant no offence. It's just something to be considered." He strode to a bookshelf that was embedded in the wall, trailing his finger over the spines then pausing on one and tapping it. "Here." He drew it from the shelf, tossing it to me and I caught it, taking in the title.

The Intricacies of Fae.

"His Order might be detailed in there. There's many an Order discussed. And if not, it teaches games of the mind, how to spot the needs of one Fae to the next and how to push their buttons just so."

"You mean manipulate them," I said lightly, certain that was what he had used the knowledge in this book for.

He shrugged, turning to me with that roguish smile again. "I ain't the first person in the four nations to use knowledge to my advantage by a long shot, and I sure as shit won't be the last. Don't go casting judgement on me, lass."

"I'm not judging you, but I see you too Mavus," I purred, throwing back at him the same words he had spoken to me.

He barked a laugh. "You and me are the same, ain't we? Chasing the dark wants of our tainted hearts. So." He clapped his hands together, shattering the tension crackling through the air. "Let's see the rest of ya haul."

I took out the ten pairs of gloves from my pack, laying them on his desk. "Here. In all the colours you asked for."

Mavus smiled widely. "Thank you kindly. Now be off with ya. Fetch any wares you desire on your way. I'll be back in a full moon cycle as usual to collect. Four more blades and surprise me with an item of clothing or armour. Something that gives me the tingles."

"Sure. Pleasure doing business with you." I walked for the door and he was there in a flash, opening it for me and leaning low to whisper in my ear, leaving a skitter of goosebumps rolling across my skin.

"No, no. The pleasure was all mine, Everest Arcadia."