Chương 28: ​​27 Stolen Lamp

I stared at my terminal as I trudged through the Ash Flats, a message unsent in drafts floating before me. It was addressed to Lance Coralfin. The Ash Flats floated behind the display as if the words were written on glass. <<Tony: Did you know Granduncle was dying? >> My jaw worked, every bone in my body aching and raw. My stomach pinched, and my throat itched. I dismissed it all. At the end of the violence, my mind latched onto Samirah's words. Granduncle. Dying. And when he did, the sky would break.

The High Family needed Prisoner's Retaliation if they were going to save him. And Puppetmaster had it. My eyes flickered to the terminal countdown. <<Time to Seal Collapse: 04: 02: 01: 02: 43: 42>> Those tex numbers—counting the time until Granduncle's demise and the end of the world. Beside me, Bianca glanced over, biting her tongue with her brows knit. I stared at those words, forcing myself to wait. How did they sound? If Lance didn't know, they could be crucial information.

Together, we could come up with a plan to reclaim Prisoner's Retaliation. If he didn't know, I'd be spilling secrets that Granduncle no doubt wanted to remain secret. But why? My fingers brushed the patches on my hand, no longer rough but hard, smooth, and rigid. The second we left this inferno island, I'd down both of my mutagens. The draft inbox closed, taking the message with it. Not deleted and not sent. I opened a new message sent straight to the High Family joint secure mailbox.

<<Tony: An attendant in Sultan Azhar Al-Harraq's court suggested that the Ashlords are mustering for war. Thousands of new inferno rifles are being manufactured in Incindra. With the new levies, they're expecting two new field-troop battalions. Rutwin the weaponsmith is somehow affiliated with that project. Reports indicate they plan to march on Paradise soon. Puppetmaster is Krathic-Thar's new adjunct. >> I swallowed. No flourishes, no embellishments. Just the details as I best understood them.

The High Family analysts would stitch it to other reports, getting the cleanest picture of the enemy's movements. My gut tightened. My instinct said this revelation was huge. That it would alter the course of Paradise planning. But the more I thought about it, the more I reconsidered. All the secrets. Uncles and Aunts whispering in secure chambers—The High Family probably already knew. At best, my report would support existing intelligence.

"Tony," Bianca said, a frown on her lips, "how are you doing?" I flinched, pulled from my brooding.

"We need to find Prisoner's Retaliation," I said. My blisters rubbed against my sandal straps as we crested a hill.

"Stronger Cousins are working on that," she said.

"Aunts and Uncles, too. Put some trust in them."

"I do," I said glumly.

"It's just…" I glanced up, seeking the crack in the sky. Ash clouds choked the view.

"We can't afford to fail." She nodded, not disagreeing, but recognizing the futility of arguing with me when I was like this. The musk of boiled seaweed thickened with the humidity. The crunch of our feet sent up tiny puffs of ash until we crested the final mound, and there it was—the boiling sea. I scanned the cove, desperately searching for Naomi and Ingred.

"In the thicket," Naomi's voice pressed into my mind. Bianca flinched at the exact moment, probably getting the message.

"Move quickly and stay low. There are patrols everywhere." We glanced at each other, then hurried toward a grove of grey and black trees, somehow amenable to the Scorched Rock heat. I pushed through sharp branches as Ingred met me.

"Tony," she said, exhaling with relief. Her eyes dropped to my empty sheath.

"Where's your sword?" Bianca pushed into the concealment behind me.

"Lost it," I grumbled.

"Found a much better one. Lost it too." Her lips tightened.

"Is Livia going to kill you?"

"What? No." I shook my head.

"She'll understand." The sword had been a considerable investment from my mother, but she wasn't so materialistic. Ingred grimaced.

"Sorry. I know how much you liked it." A smirk crept across her face.

"Interesting that you start losing gear the second I'm not around to keep you accountable." My eyes rolled.

"Did you get it?" Naomi cut in, blood soaking a sleeve over a wound that already looked months old.

"Get what?" a third figure asked. I shifted, glancing past the girls at the Coredwarf that I had missed. He wore a filthy loincloth and had shackle cuffs on his wrists, with chains dangling from either side.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Who's this?"

"Bebi," he said, puffing out his chest. Bianca and I glanced at each other.

"Baby?" I asked.

"Be-bi," Ingred said.

"He helped get us out of the city."

"Did Snapfist's crew succeed?" I asked.

"Don't know," Naomi answered.

"Did you?" In response, a lamp winked into existence in Bianca's hand, a slender decorative chain trailing from the handle and looping back through the lamp's spout. Bebi swore, staggering back.

"Where'd you get that? And are you bloody roasted?" Bianca frowned.

"What?"

"An Efreet's lamp?" He pressed both hands to his forehead, angling himself so he could see the chain.

"One with a shackled Djinn, too."

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"There's someone in there?"

"Not just someone," Bebi said.

"An Efreet."

"Guess we know why Snapfist told us not to remove the lid," I murmured.

"But it's bound," Naomi said.

"Does that mean it won't be able to hurt us?" Bebi shrugged.

"D'pends on what his last orders were. Even shackled, an Efreet's no joke. It'll lie, manipulate, and threaten to get you to free them."

"So who do you think it is?" I asked, stroking my chin.

"An enemy? A conquered rival? Think he could help us fight the Bloodwake?"

"A single Djinn is no joke," Bebi said.

"But don't forget the Ash Lords are all Efreet."

"Also, we're not here for a rogue Ash Lord," Ingred said, folding her arms.

"We still need the orange steel. This is just payment for services rendered. Let's just give it to Snapfist as we promised." Naomi and I shared a look.

"We need to know more," she said, and I found myself nodding in agreement.

"This is Ash Lord politics. If the Queen wants whoever's in there, there's a reason. I want to know why. It could affect the war."

"Let's let him out," I said.

"If he's chained, he probably won't be able to hurt us. If he shows attitude, we'll have four Cousins ready."

"Tony," Ingred said pointedly.

"Do you have any idea how powerful Ash Lords are?"

"Some idea," I said.

"I scanned the sultan with my HUD. He was sitting at just over equivalent level twenty. What are the odds this person is nearly as strong as him?"

"Good enough that they were stored in a trophy room," Bianca pointed out. I grimaced. It was a good point. Ingred gritted her teeth.

"No one here's in shape for another fight."

"How many tears do you have left?" Naomi asked.

"Three," Ingred said mournfully.

"We left a bunch of them behind. Should have spent more time collecting them."

"Hand them out," Naomi said.

"If the Efreet gives us problems, we'll give him a triple surprise."

"You're really doing this?" Bebi asked, stepping back, wincing as he inadvertently brushed into a sharp branch. Naomi accepted a tear and nodded.

"Snapfist is going to betray us. For all we know, the Queen could be planning to betray him. This is at the center of everything. We need to know why. What leverage are we holding?" Bianca cleared her throat.

"If we let him out, will we be able to put him back?" Bebi peeked out from his cover.

"If he's chained, Sheila, whoever holds the lamp calls the shots." He stared at the golden vessel in her hands. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Alright," Naomi said, drawing a dagger and nodding toward Bianca.

"Do it." I drew my pistol. Bianca hesitated, then she removed the lid. Crimson smoke fountained from the spout but pulled downward. I stepped back, training my pistol on the gathering haze. Bebi winced, ducking low. The smoke dissipated. I expected it to take on a form or for a figure to rise from the red fog. They didn't.

"It's empty?" Ingred asked, frowning.

"Maybe it wasn't a person, but an empty cell?" Bianca said, turning the lamp over.

"Perhaps its value lies in the potential to capture someone?" I inhaled as I noticed the slender chain no longer fed into the wick hole but trailed from the handle to the ground. I followed the line, links thin, like a necklace. It passed through my legs. My shoulder blades constricted.

"Interesting. I go to sleep in one place, wake up in another," a low feminine voice said from behind me. Naomi shifted, a tear telekinetically hovering in the air before her. Bebi yelped, snatching a stone from the ground. I turned slowly, forcing my panic down. A female Efreet leaned against a black tree, gown parting around red skin, exposing her collarbones and a long stretch of bronze leg, webbed with glowing orange veins. Copper threading twisted into her wavy black hair.

"Looks like I've been stolen away," she mused, eyes burning.

"To what do I owe the intrigue?"

"Why did the Queen want you stolen?" Naomi asked.

"Why did you agree to the job?" she returned, tapping her pouty lips with a pointed black nail. Silence fell.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Getting bored," she answered.

"What do you want with me?" Ingred's jaw clamped tight.

"You think we can't see that chain. If you want any chance at freedom, I'd start being cooperative."

"Don't touch the chain," Bebi pleaded from behind his tree.

"Once it's off, she'll roast us." Her flickering eyes drifted to the Coredwarf's hiding place.

"One of you has some sense."

"Why were you in the Sultan's collection room?" Bianca asked. The woman glanced at the girl with the lamp, then her eyes narrowed.

"Interesting. What are you doing with them—""Silence!" Bianca snapped with surprising heat. The gold chain shimmered, and the Efreet's mouth clamped shut. The tree bark where her shoulder rested began to smolder. I thought back, stitching the context together.

"I know why she was there," I said, the Sultan's argument with his wife replaying in my head.

"It's because the Sultan preferred you to his wife. You're his mistress." Her eyes slid to me, jaw muscles bulging.

"Answer him," Bianca ordered, gripping the lamp tight. The chain shimmered again.

"Yes," she growled, giving me a glimpse of slightly elongated canines.

"My father sent me to seduce the Sultan, to drive a wedge between him and his wife's house."

"So you gave yourself as a slave?" I asked.

"To poison the relationship?" She shrugged.

"The chain came later. A counterploy from the Queen. The Sultan was just as happy to use me chained as he was when I was free." Her face softened, the edges of her lips twitching down.

"If I'd known this is what would have happened—" She pointed her toe and dragged her leg across her body, the chain trailing through the ash where it looped around her ankle. The gold links were so thin I could likely pop them apart with my hand. No doubt the true restraint was in the enchantment.

"Please," her eyes smoked, probably the fire elemental equivalent of tears.

"Let me go. I can help you. Make you rich. I'd rather serve you than find myself in the Queen's torment chambers. What is she paying you? My father will pay you more." Suddenly, she didn't seem so threatening, but looked a lot more like my sister. Young, scared. <<Passive Ability: Minor Resist Charm—passed>> I blinked, and the change vanished, shimmer wiped away. The Efreet woman wasn't the vulnerable victim she pretended to be. She smirked with smug confidence, arms crossed over her chest.

Bebi wandered from his hiding place, slack-jawed. Ingred's hands drifted down to her sides.

"Bianca, no!" Naomi cried. She had resisted the charm as well. The chain rattled, and I looked back to find Bianca gripping it, hand tight, as if preparing to snap the links. She didn't heed Naomi, but pulled the line tight.

"Wait!" Naomi called, lunging. I was closer. I slapped Bianca across the face with an open hand. Didn't exactly feel gentlemanly, but I couldn't let her free our prisoner. Bianca whirled on me. Her face darkened as it elongated, fangs sliding from her gums. In half a heartbeat, she'd shifted into something like a monstrous Doberman human hybrid. It was the cleanest and fastest shift I'd ever seen from her. She snarled. I yelped, flinching back, but I'd already gotten a hand on the lamp.

I jerked it from her hands and whirled.

"Stop your enchantment!" I barked. The chain shimmered. The others shook themselves out of their stupor, Bianca's face folding back to normal. I opened my terminal.

<<Name: Nahla Al-Kur>> <<Race: Efreet>> <<Class: None>> <<Rank: House Al-Kur Consort>> <<Lvl: None>> <<Total: Not synced to Oruabora>> <<Equivalent Level: Mage-6; Martial-2; Physic-2>> <<Stats: >> Might (STR) — 08 Will (WIS) — 09 Focus (INT) — 10 Resilience (CON) — 07 Grace (DEX) — 09 Cunning (CHA) — 14 My gaze locked onto her cunning score and I swallowed.

"Well then, Nahla," I said.

"We're setting house rules. You will not charm or manipulate my comrades or me. You will comply with directives and answer questions without guile or deceit." Her brow furrowed with rage.

"If we were to cut your chain, what would you do?" Naomi asked, stepping to my side. The chain shimmered. She tensed, fighting the compulsion, then the truth spilled freely.

"I'd feign gratitude," she hissed.

"Perhaps even follow along as a friend, to gather information. Then, when victory was assured, I'd turn on you. I'd roast two of you, then dominate the rest, making you my slaves as long as your bodies could endure it." I let out a low whistle.

"Yeah, the chain stays on."

"We are not handing her over to pirates, are we?" Ingred asked, rubbing her temple.

"She's equivalent level ten," I said.

"That's tough, but we could take her." Her head tilted, then she nodded.

"Users. I should have known. Cousins, or Exploits?" We ignored her question. Naomi glanced up before turning and pushing a branch aside to glance over the water.

"Zephyr's inbound," she said.

"There's no way we're taking her and all of Snapfist's crew," I said.

"Don't forget, he's still trying to betray us."

"What if we had Elara's men and Captain Thalendris' crew?" Bianca asked.

"Surely Snapfist lost orcs in his raid. Our numbers could be even."

"Assuming they even survived," Ingred mumbled.

"That'll be a pitch battle. I don't want to lose good sailors," Naomi said.

"We need to get ahead of his treachery, while also securing the orange steel. Could we use the tears?" Ingred shrugged.

"They'd work better against Scorched Rock natives, but sure."

"We don't want to sink the ship with the cargo," I pointed out.

"Might be best to avoid slugging it out with cannons or heavy-hitting spells."

"Also, Snapfist's crew's going to be divided between two boats," Ingred said.

"That gives them more maneuverability."

"With partial crews, they'll have slower responses," I said.

"And we have the arcane deck."

"He has one too," Naomi pointed out, "and we have no idea what spells it's capable of."

"Still missing something big," I said, hefting the lamp that dangled on the chain.

"What are we doing about this? Do we take her to Paradise?"

"Drop the lamp in the ocean," Bebi suggested.

"But chain it to a rock first." Nahla's lips pressed into a tight line.

"Don't do that." I peered over the waterline at the tiny vessel that steadily grew as it approached. Was this it? Were we finally done with this place?

"We could sell her to the Queen," Ingred said.

"Fulfill the pirates' contract? Use the payment for better leverage."

"The Queen knows we're cousins," I said pointedly.

"Whatever contract she had, she knows we're enemies of the state."

"Great," Naomi said.

"Nahla's just another liability we need to get rid of." I scratched my chin, legs still aching from blunt impact.

"We should face off with Snapfist fair and square. Once he sees we're ready for him, he'll realize an honest trade is in his best interest."

"Snapfist does have a code," Naomi agreed.

"His book of debts. It's strange, but it's sacred to him." I gripped the lamp tightly.

"I'd be a lot less worried about Snapfist if Barkley wasn't whispering treachery into his ear. We shouldn't have fished him from the sea." I pinched the bridge of my nose, squeezing my eyes tight. How I hated pirates.

"Seems like you have a problem," Nahla said from the sidelines. I tried to recall what Barkley's cunning was. Just under ten, if I wasn't mistaken. I glanced at Naomi, watching her stats flash on my terminal. She had the highest cunning in our party at eight. We could get lucky, but in terms of betrayal and backstabbing, the odds didn't favor us. My gaze shifted back to Nahla, our prisoner, who watched us silently. Her cunning was fourteen.

Substantially higher than what would be considered possible for most mortals.

"Hey, Nahla," I said. Her gaze slid to me, slow and predatory.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to give you a scenario. You're going to listen." The chain pulsed, and the others turned their attention to Nahla.

"Very well," she said, lips quirking in amusement.

"You were hired to smuggle orange steel from the docks of Obcity, but you hired a crew of pirates to do it for you."

"Why?" she asked.

"Just do it yourself."

"You'd draw too much attention," I said.

"So in exchange, you steal a lamp for them. One the Queen hired them to recover."

"My lamp, I presume." She watched the vessel in my hands, as if her gaze could heat its metal and burn my fingers.

"That's right."

"The problem is," she continued, piecing it together.

"You're expecting a double cross. This Barkley and Snapfist fellow plan on breaking their side of the bargain." I nodded slowly. She shrugged.

"Most unfortunate. Looks like you're going to have to kill each other. Strongest party wins." I shook my head.

"Fair fights are stupid. And I'm tired of losing." I shifted toward the Silver Zephyr as it bobbed toward the shore. Then I faced the Efreet.

"I'm just a sword. I don't have the guile of court or the power of fire at my command. I'm the wrong tool to make this plan." I glanced at Naomi.

"If we had more time, I think we could figure it out. But we're exhausted, and we need a win." Rubbing my hands, I returned my attention to the Efreet mistress.

"I don't believe you can ever have anything other than your own interest in mind. But we don't want you. You're too dangerous to us. Even with the shackle. I'd rather see you free and part ways. So keep that in mind when you answer this next question."

"What question?" she asked, ashes drifting from her shoulders.

"If you were in our shoes, what would you do?" A smirk fit for a wolf spread across her lips.

"Oh, I've got some ideas." <<Time to Seal Collapse: 04: 02: 01: 02: 11: 09>>