Chương 28: Chapter 127: Reunion

Korvus' office was located on the top floor of the dock's administrative building, jutting above the main structure so that its occupants had a clear view of the surrounding space. It had no glass windows, only wooden shutters that were open wide, welcoming as much of the southerly breeze as possible. The cooling wind swept around the room, tickling the back of Serena's neck. It rustled the occasional loose paper and buffeted the pieces of fabric that hung from the walls.

The cloth, consisting of embroidered purple crystals arranged into Northern runic script, sparkled as it caught the room's aetherlight. There were more signs that the room's owner was a Northerner; amongst the paintings of Ishaqian ships were others of landscapes blanketed in white, including one particular rendition of the purple moon so vibrant that Serena suspected the artist had used crystal paint.

Underneath the painted moonlight, a Northern longsword with its characteristic heavy guard lay sheathed against the wall. It was the very same sword whose owner Serena had seen swinging it on the battlefield, on the rare occasion they weren't using their fists. The very same owner who now sat in front of her, staring at her with a cold, unreadable expression.

"... Sir?" a hesitant voice spoke. It was Acting-Captain Voss, whom Serena, after finishing her contact with Intelligence through the aethergram office, had dragged into Korvus' office to give his report on what happened regarding the Myrmidon. It was a report that matched the written one perfectly, and was—per their mutual agreement—free of any mention of either Voss' damaging use of the jury-rigged aetherscope or the Vengeance's attempt to negotiate with a rampaging arcwhale using tungsten penetrators.

Korvus hadn't stopped staring at Serena from the moment he'd returned. Even as Alaric had saluted and given his report, he'd continued to watch her, his face perfectly still. No more than two words had left his mouth, and those were mostly grunts for the Acting-Captain to continue when the man had awkwardly trailed off, the room's atmosphere crushing him.

"... I heard," Korvus eventually growled, prompting Alaric to visibly recoil.

"I cannot authorise a rescue operation without the council's approval. I told Lord Bastet as much. Find him. Perhaps together, with the aid of Lord-Prospect Halen"—Korvus' voice took on a note of venom—"you can convince them otherwise. Is that understood?"

"Yes!" Alaric spoke quickly, as if he feared he was about to step on a mine.

"Leave us."

"Y-Yes!" The Acting-Captain saluted and vanished like a peeka that had been caught in the pantry. Once the door closed, the room's atmosphere thickened further. Not wanting to engage in a staring contest—one that she knew Korvus would stubbornly refuse to end unless the moons themselves fell—Serena took the executive decision to speak first and set the tone of the upcoming discussion.

"It's Lord Halen now, actually, Commander Maranai," she said, keeping her voice even. Korvus snorted.

"So I heard. A foolish decision. What Vikram was thinking, Empress knows." He leaned back in his chair, his largest movement since sitting down and doing his best impression of a statue.

"Congratulations. And it's Captain Maranai, now, Lord Halen." Serena intentionally let her lips curl into a half-sneer and echoed his words back to him.

"So I heard. A foolish decision." After taking the briefest of moments to enjoy the spark of annoyance in his eyes, she continued, "What the Northern Overlord was thinking, Empress knows." She paused, letting the silence hang until it became almost unbearable, before finishing, "Congratulations." Korvus grunted, which Serena took as a sign that they were even in their verbal spar.

"I was told your arm was healed," he said, making the smallest of nods towards Serena's sword arm.

"Does it… function normally?" he asked, his voice carrying the undertone of an indecipherable emotion. Serena bent her arm, the same arm that Korvus had sheared off under the power of his Bayle communion.

"Better than ever," she said.

"Thanks to Lord-Prospect Thornheart."

"Tsk." Korvus clicked his tongue. His eyes flicked to the side before returning to her.

"I won't apologise," he said.

"I know." Korvus looked her up and down before saying, "You're looking good, Captain." Serena frowned, but before she could say anything, he continued.

"You look younger than when I left you. Is that also the human's magic?"

"Yes."

"You look as if you've never stepped foot in battle."

"A rare privilege, these days." Korvus snorted, and an awkward silence descended between them. Before it could suffocate them both, Serena banished it away with a question.

"I'm surprised they didn't hang you. What happened after the fight?"

"They wanted to," Korvus responded, furrowing his brow.

"Or rather, the Dragon wanted to."

"Oh?" Serena raised an eyebrow.

"He pushed for it. Petitioned Greatlord Orlan directly. It wasn't until Freya herself got involved that he backed off. Nevertheless…" Korvus closed his eyes and finished, "I was punished." Now that's interesting, Serena thought. It seemed the Dragon's principles extended a little further than sticking his horns in her side. She hadn't inquired about what became of Korvus after his attempted mutiny, naturally assuming the Dragon had bestowed him all manner of rewards.

To think Korvus came so close to losing his life. Perhaps she needed to rethink her opinion of Highlord Corvus after all.

"Punished?" Serena questioned.

"How so?"

"I'm down here, aren't I?" Korvus ground his teeth and tapped the desk.

"Arse-end of the Empire. Three years they want me here. They made me Captain so I couldn't complain. They figure that if I spend some time drinking and breaking bread with the humans, I might relax my opinions. I wouldn't care much if it weren't for this damn heat." Korvus tugged at his shirt. It seemed not even his aura was enough to protect him. Serena crossed her arms.

"I always thought you would have been better if you were born as a Southerner, Korvus. Thought you'd fit right into Southern society. It's a place where might makes right, after all." Seeing Korvus half-roll his eyes, she continued, "Well, you have three years to get used to it."

"I won't be here three years, Captain," Korvus replied.

"Planning on deserting?"

"The war will have resumed by then, Captain," Korvus intoned, holding her gaze.

"Once it does, the North will ask for me. They won't let a Speaker rot down here, no matter his crimes." Korvus spat out the last word as if it burned his tongue. Serena couldn't help but think back to the discussion she'd had with her father shortly before they'd left Asamaywa. Her father had been convinced they had about two years before hostilities resumed.

"Are you that confident it'll restart?" she asked Korvus.

"I was there when we finally took Meppen," he answered.

"It was… more than you could believe. Every second, a hundred shells landed. Half from our guns, half from theirs. It was worse than any Speaker suppression barrage. And you know what? The half coming to us weren't fired from Republican guns. When we took the capital, it was all Federation and Christdom equipment. Exactly what we'd talked about last year, that Republican industry was running on fumes, and that they only persisted due to the aid the human nations were sending.

Believe me, the humans are building up their arsenals, and their barrels are all going to be pointed one way." Korvus pointed to himself.

"At me." He pointed at Serena.

"And at you. At all of us. All of demonkind."

"I have faith that horns will cool," Serena said.

"In a year or two, people's lives will get back to normal. Neither side will want to spare the expense on another slog. Things will stabilise, I'm sure."

"Stability?" Korvus scoffed.

"Ha!" He reached over and pulled out a thick wad of paper from his desk.

"And what stability do you think this provides?" He threw the papers down. It was a broadsheet, upon which was the headline: AMELIA THORNHEART NAMED LIVING SAINT Ah, Serena thought to herself. That was right. She'd been told that the announcement would take place after they were already in the Passage. It must have reached Ishaq only in the last few days. She bent forward slightly, casting her gaze over the picture of Amelia. A good picture, Serena found herself thinking. She looks cute.

"Something funny?" Korvus growled.

"Mmm?" Serena realised she was smiling. Fixing her mouth, she addressed the commander-turned-captain, saying, "Don't you think this is a good sign? The Empress sanctioned it herself. If she's confident that Amelia's presence in the Empire will unify us, who are we to question it?"

"... Amelia?" Korvus intoned quietly.

"You're still close with that human, then?" Serena swallowed. Carefully considering her words, she injected as much confidence in her voice as possible and said, "It wasn't a mistake, what I did. To bring her into the Empire. I told you to consider the boon she would be, and she's proven to be exactly that. Have you heard how many she healed in Asamaywa? All those broken horns, troubled minds. All fixed." This story has been stolen from Royal Road.

If you read it on Amazon, please report it"It's not natural," Korvus countered.

"She's upsetting the balance in the Empire, the balance of the Known World. You've brought more than just a human healer into our lands. You've brought a realm-traveller, haven't you?" To Serena's credit, she kept her expression neutral.

"A realm-traveller?" she asked.

"What makes you say that?"

"You said it yourself, Captain. You didn't know how she boarded the ship. You said it yourself, when we were up there, on the citadel roof, that she might be from a different realm. Have you forgotten?" Korvus leaned forward, squeezing his fists and clenching his jaw.

"I…" Serena trailed off. Her memories of the fight and the events preceding it were fuzzy. Losing control of Narean had almost killed her, and even after Amelia's healing, it still felt like a surreal blur. She couldn't remember exactly what she'd said to Korvus, but if he wasn't lying, she'd given him too much information.

"I don't remember," she finally admitted.

"What do you remember?"

"I remember you calling me mad."

"I still think you are."

"Charmed."

"Despite everything, despite this"—Korvus rapped his knuckles on the picture of Amelia—"it is still madness. That human must be surrounded by an aura of madness, infecting everyone she comes across! I don't need to tell you what I thought when I heard she was made a Lord-Prospect, do I?"

"No. You don't," Serena answered.

"But what you think doesn't matter, Korvus. The Empress sanctioned it herself. She's pushing for unity between our races, and you should respect that. You have no choice but to respect it." Serena could feel a bubble of annoyance rising in her throat.

"She's a Shard of Infinity, ever youthful and ever wise. Who are you to question her?"

"The ever-wise can still lack common sense," Korvus growled.

"She isn't perfect and, as it seems to me, vulnerable to the same madness that clouded your judgement."

"Careful, Korvus." Serena took a deep breath.

"You're starting to sound an awful lot like a darkblade." Whether consciously or not, she wasn't sure, but she felt her aether start to simmer, reflecting her emotions.

"You want to go?" Korvus' expression darkened, his body tensing.

"You'd lose again, Captain."" Again?"

"I won the fight."

"Only because I lost control."

"That made it harder."

"You also lost. To Amelia."

"Only because I was exhausted from fighting you."

"Didn't look that way to me."

"Oh, so you remember now?"

"Tsk!" Serena looked to the side. She spent a few seconds in silence before forcing her aether to calm down. Turning back and looking at Korvus, she said, "I was told by witnesses that your aura had flecks of indigo. You were hiding that from me, weren't you?" For the first time, Korvus' mouth adjusted to something that might have resembled a smile.

"What was it you always said? That Speakers should keep their cards close to their chest. I learned that from you, Captain." Korvus blinked and continued, "You were forced into blue by Narean. I'm guessing you've got a good grasp of it now, right?"

"I'm doing alright," Serena said carefully.

"How's your indigo?"

"Doing alright."

"I see."

"I suppose you've started communing another Word, knowing you."

"Who knows?" Korvus shrugged.

"What about you?"

"Who knows?" Thrilling conversation, Serena thought.

"Back to the matter at hand. You heard Acting-Captain Voss' report. What do you make of it?" As much as she'd have preferred to coordinate with almost anyone else, Korvus was in charge of Ishaqian forces, and despite their animosity, she knew the demon wouldn't intentionally sabotage her efforts. At least, Serena thought, as long as he doesn't know Amelia is here.

"I think it's connected to the arcwhale stranding," Korvus growled.

"The Myrmidon was taken down by this… this Blackhorn's Chameleon? Aetheric warfare? I saw some of it after our fight. It fucks with a ship's sensors. Admiral Zhao learned that lesson. If it can do that to metal, I can imagine what it might do to an arcwhale."

"Hang on." Serena raised a hand.

"Admiral Zhao? Is that how the Viper went down?" Her mind raced, thinking back to the discussion she had with her father in Shimashina. It was there she learned that Admiral Zhao—Kenhoro's heroic admiral—had gone down in enemy territory. She'd been told by her father that it was due to one of the humans' new spell-infused torpedoes, delivered by a swarm of lightcraft.

"That's right," Korvus said, nodding to her version of events.

"The Viper was blinded first. Couldn't bring its flak to bear. Took three of those torpedoes. It was by a strange-looking ship. Had something round on its bow, looked like an aetherscope, but it wasn't. A new type of technology. Exactly how it works, I don't know. We never saw it again." Serena reached into her pocket and produced the drawing Captain Matthews had made of the Blackhorn's ship. She placed it on Korvus' desk and smoothed it out.

"Did it look anything like this?"

"... Were you hiding this from me?"

"I'm showing you now, aren't I?" Korvus clicked his tongue and spent a few seconds examining the drawing.

"It looks similar, but it's not the same ship. Is this the Chameleon?"

"That's what I think. What do you know about the Blackhorn?"

"He's real, I know that." Korvus narrowed his eyes and said, "Be careful of who you go around here accusing of sounding like a darkblade. They're in the Passage, and if they're in the Passage, they're in Ishaq. The public don't like talking about it, nor does the council, but they're embedded in this city, Captain. There's a rot festering here, at the edges of the Empire."

"I would have thought the council would have prioritised the issue," Serena said.

"Arcwhale stranding or not." She could hardly believe the presence of darkblades would be ignored or pushed aside. She knew Greatlord Oshiro would move the heavens and the hells if they were in Asamaywa.

"It can't be good for business. For tourism."

"Ishaq's growing wealth has only made them more determined to ignore the issue," Korvus said, his mouth twisting into a sneer.

"Gold and silver has made the council weak, not strong. They fear that if they address the issue, it'll affect Ishaq's reputation and they might lose power. They're scared the Empress will revoke their privileges and fold Ishaq back into the Cascadian system."

"What's the council like?" Serena asked.

"Fucking useless," Korvus replied, spitting out the words.

"Layers upon layers of pointless politicking. I have authority over the perimeter ships, but I can't authorise any operations without their approval. Why? Some archaic law passed a generation ago. They're so proud of being a free city, but what have they done with that freedom? Wrapped themselves up in the chains of paperwork and procedure. Sometimes I…" Korvus trailed off, squeezing his fists tight and popping the knuckles.

"Why, for a moment there, I was starting to think Ishaq had domesticated you, Korvus."

"If you find yourself in their chambers, and I imagine you will, feel free to lose control of Narean again, Captain. I wouldn't interfere with that."

"... Noted. Which ones in particular should I lose my temper with?" Korvus then proceeded to give Serena a list of names that, in his opinion, needed to have their horns broken. Taking the opportunity, she asked, "Through Dockmaster Tariq, you must have access to the itinerary of every ship coming into Ishaq. Have you ever read the name Charles Hornford?" As much as Serena had other things to focus on, she couldn't shake the unusual feeling the Southern merchant had invoked.

Perhaps it was the mismatch between his claimed name and his appearance, or how he had the commander of the Andalus Fortress in his pocket, or maybe it was the tone in his voice when he described to her what his skin pattern meant. Whatever it was, she was certain that the man was more than a common merchant. As it turned out, she was right.

"He has connections to Greatlord Malin," Korvus explained, "who is one of the only Cascadian Lords to be spoken of fondly down here. Malin travels the South a lot, sponsoring troupes and the like. I heard he funded Hornford's company; whether he still does or not, I don't know, or care."

"I see."

"Speaking of itineraries," Korvus continued, tapping the table.

"I noticed the Vengeance's ends here. What was it that it said…" Korvus raised an eyebrow.

"A training mission?"

"New recruits," Serena answered.

"I lost a lot of capabilities when you and your men left." Korvus snorted.

"And they sent you here? Through the Passage? High Command might be idiots, but they're not so stupid that they'd waste talent like you in Ishaq."

"I wouldn't say that," Serena countered, gesturing to Korvus.

"They put you down here." The Northener's lip curled, then his expression darkened, and he asked, "Is the human with you? I might be able to tolerate the humans in Ishaq, but I don't think I can tolerate her."

"She's not here," Serena said, quietly adding 'in this room' in her mind.

"Besides," she continued, "what do you think you could do? From what I heard, she thrashed you."

"I'm stronger now."

"So's she."

"Tsk!" Korvus clicked his tongue.

"How long are you planning to be here, twisting my horns?" Seeing Serena shrug in response, he said, "Don't cause any trouble."

"Not planning on it."

"That wasn't a no."

"No." Serena smiled.

"It wasn't." Seeing the scowl on Korvus' face, she made the decision not to push him any further. After all, he had the nickname the Mad Dog for a reason. He had been easy enough to handle during the conflict. As long as you could point in a direction and say, 'There's an enemy. Go ruin his day!' Korvus would be happy. He seemed to have relaxed a bit, but, well… A mad dog was still a mad dog, and the last time he'd barked at Serena, twenty men ended up being hanged.

"I'm going to paint the ship," Serena said, changing the subject.

"White. For the heat."

"That'll look… strange," Korvus said, his forehead furrowing as if he was trying to expel an unpleasant thought.

"It's the Black Ship."

"And now it'll be the White Ship," Serena said.

"But it'll always be the same ship underneath. A demon can't change their horns, Korvus, but they can change how they appear to others. I hope…" Serena paused momentarily before continuing.

"I hope you can find a way to change your way of thinking, even if only superficially."

"It's too hot for me to sit here and listen to you moralising," Korvus said sarcastically.

"Take your madness and leave, Captain." Moralising? Serena thought. He must still be reading books.

"I'm going," she said. She turned to leave before stopping and saying, "No one enjoyed doing what had to be done to the mutineers, but it had to be done. I don't know what you think of your former brothers, but I know some wouldn't hate the idea of sharing a drink with you, even if only for old times' sake." She wasn't sure exactly why she suggested it, but in the moment, it felt right.

Perhaps it was because deep down, despite the animosity between them, she had some level of respect for Korvus and the way he viewed the world. After all, she had almost become a mad dog herself after Jin died.

"... I'll keep it in mind." Serena opened the door. Just as she made the move to exit, Korvus spoke out.

"See you around, Captain." Serena paused.

"Yes," she said quietly, not looking back.

"See you around."