The navigator, p.31
The Navigator, page 31
"What - what are you doing!"
Quill flailed her arms to keep her hands from being shackled together. She quickly lost her balance and the mob took her down to the floor.
"My Khan! What is going on?" Atalai stammered.
"STOP!" Petal tried to pry the nomads off Quill's crumpled body. One of the taller crewmen seized her from behind and dragged her backwards, into the cabin. "Let go of her! What are you doing!"
"That cunt is a Kudu spy!" Rho seethed. "She's betrayed the trust of every one of us!"
"What are you talking about? She hasn't done a thing to you!" Lhan tried to help Quill break free from the nomads, but instead, three of the armored men ganged up on him. They tossed him aside like a rag doll.
Rho towered over Lhan who was now sprawled out on the floor.
"That bitch has taken everything I love! She's made me a broken man!"
"I didn't do anything!" Quill shrieked. The nomads locked her hands together with a pair of old handcuffs. She cried out as they snapped in place with a sickening click. One of the captains who had been standing next to Rho knelt over her squirming body. He held the tip of his sword to her jugular.
"Shall we kill the traitor now or interrogate her?"
"She's innocent, father!" Petal struggled to break free, kicking and biting at the guards. "She hasn't betrayed anyone!"
"Were you in on her scheme too, little flower? Have both of you betrayed me?"
"My Khan!" Atalai put his hand on Rho's shoulder. "I do not understand what-"
"THE YONG FLEET! That dry foot convinced me to abandon the Fleet and come to Syracuse with Petal. She told me to bring my best warships as an armed escort. And less than three days after we set sail, the P.R.K.'s 42nd Navy arrived on Mann's coast. They annihilated the Yong Fleet and sacked Skrae. All of Mann is now in shambles!"
The blood drained from Atalai's face.
"NO!" Quill continued to struggle. "I didn't know! I didn't know they were coming! I swear!"
"She manipulated us. She tricked me into leaving the Fleet unprotected. Now all of Mann thinks I'm either a traitor or a coward!"
Quill began to sob. The nomads lifted her up to her feet. "I didn't know any of that! I couldn't have! I've spent every second with you or your daughter!"
"It's true." Lhan nodded. "Quill hasn't talked to anyone from the P.R.K. She couldn't have known about that. She wouldn't work with the P.R.K. anyway. They want to kill her!"
"Father!" Petal finally broke free. She charged up to Rho. "This is a mistake! Quill never tricked you! She wanted to help both of us! She wanted to bring us together!"
"Don't call me father! You knew about this all along - didn't you? You've been a curse on me since the day I found you! You drove me to the drink and made my son wither in the womb! Now you've stripped me of my horde and my honor!"
"My Khan!" Atalai stepped forward, forcing his way between Rho and Petal. "This doesn't make sense. I went ashore with the Hesperian. She risked her life to help your daughter."
"This was all a ploy to lead me away from the Fleet. Can't you see how she's deceived us!"
"Why would she lead you away from the attack?" Atalai countered. "You're a hated enemy of the P.R.K.. Wouldn't they have preferred a chance to kill or capture you in battle?"
"Better to them that I live on in shame. Disgraced! This whole time she's been feeding me lies while telling the P.R.K. my plans! Now everything's gone - the Yong Fleet - Swei and Malakai's hordes - Skrae - all of them - shattered!"
"This is crazy! I haven't done anything! I only told you to come here because of Petal! I didn't know anything about a P.R.K. attack! I don't know any P.R.K. agents or anyone to give information to! They want to kill me back home! I'm NOT a spy! Please tell him, Atalai! I have never spied for anyone!"
"She's innocent!" Petal grabbed Rho's robes. "Quill is innocent, father! Stop this! Let her go!"
Rho balled his hands into fists. He pulled his arm back and for a moment, it looked like he was going to strike Petal.
Everyone in the cabin - even the nomad guards - froze, eyes locked on the Khan.
Rho met their stares and slowly lowered his fist.
"You have no right to call me father. I had a daughter once but she disowned me. Now, I disown her."
"My Khan," Atalai grumbled.
Rho turned to him. "Atalai, you have been with me since I was a boy, but I warn you now – do not raise your voice to me or you too shall suffer my ire."
"My Khan, you need to let your anger cool and reexamine this. I don't believe the Hesperian was involved in the P.R.K. attack. And I do not think any of this merits disowning your daughter."
"My oldest friend – I don't care what you think. Onwat, lock that Kudu tramp down in the brig. If Petal tries to free her . . . then lock her up as well."
The nomads jerked Quill forward.
Quill whimpered from the pain of being pulled by her wrists. The ancient handcuffs were digging into her flesh, making her hands turn white and go numb.
Petal chased after her, trying to wrestle her away, screaming.
- 52 -
Catalin rested his arms against the side rail of the P.R.K. destroyer. He was standing at the bow of the sleek, armored ship. Dead ahead was the Isle of Mann. Most of its coastline had been reduced to an ashscape that twinkled through the night. Invisible smoke plumes wafted out from the Isle, fouling the air around him. He took a deep breath of the fetid air and watched as Skrae burned in the distance.
Skrae wasn't supposed to have been touched during the attack on the Yong Fleet. The P.R.K. forces had very strict rules of engagement. They were not authorized to go on shore - even in pursuit of fleeing Yong rebels. Sending men ashore on Mann would be construed as an act of war against all sea people islands and all of the nomadic hordes, and the P.R.K. wasn't ready for another war.
Yet Catalin was sure they'd just started one.
Catalin's stomach heaved from the motion of his ship. It didn't matter how long he stayed at sea – he was always plagued by nausea while on the water. He zoned in on the flames to try and regain his equilibrium.
The destroyer groaned from the push of the waves. Its deck guns were still hot to the touch. They made the whole deck reek of gun smoke and spent powder.
Several Yong vessels lay capsized in Skrae's oil-slicked bay, slightly in front of Catalin's ship. Their shattered hulls were belly up to the sky.
Catalin scanned the wrecked ships. They'd sunk in very shallow water. When Skrae crackled at a high burn, the light allowed him to see other vessels that had slipped completely below the waterline.
All around the wrecked ships were dead nomad and Yong sailors. Their lifeless bodies floated on top of the oil slicks, occasionally banging up against the side of the destroyer or a neighboring pirate or P.R.K. vessel.
Catalin became lost in his thoughts, watching Skrae smolder. Its fires burned themselves into his mind. Eventually, he looked away and reflected on his mission – finding the girl. He mentally pictured her face from the photograph in her file.
What does she know about herself? Why did she come to the Isle of Mann?
To see Wyman or to meet up with her father?
Catalin hadn't been at the top of his class in the S.S.S.. He wasn't particularly driven or ambitious. He was just intelligent and very, very careful. Those traits were highly desirable in the P.R.K., because the police state had a penchant for declaring ambitious young men covert Enemies of the People.
Catalin avoided being declared an Enemy of the People by lying low. He never asked for recognition for his work or even for a promotion. He did precisely what was asked of him and nothing more. That practice, and his reserved nature, saved him from Chairman Manheim's S.S.S. purges
Now he was at the pinnacle of his career. He answered only to the Chairman himself and to his military strongman - General Keitel.
What Catalin lacked in drive, he made up for in ability. When assigned a target, he would naturally brood over them to the point of obsession, until he pried his way into their mind. Once there, he would ferret out their innermost motivations and slowly ensnare them in the vast S.S.S. global web.
Yet Petal seemed immune to his power.
Petal had no discernable motivations. She was an enigma. She had no friends. She barely had any past. She had no emotional connection to anyone.
Except that navigator. . .
That really bothered Catalin.
Who is this navigator?
Catalin had found Quill's file to be completely unremarkable for a supposed political exile. Her father was a dull, party-line business man. Her mother was a housewife. She struggled her way through an elite naval academy for a couple of years before getting booted out for a khat habit. The Coterie expelled her after a psychological review - possible borderline personality syndrome.
Catalin had gone to Quill's family home to try and learn more, just before setting sail with the fleet. Her parents had sadly shown him up to her eerily well-preserved bedroom. She had very tacky taste in both dress and art.
Someone with Quill's unstable history had no conceivable interest in, or connection to, someone like Petal. She had no use for Petal, as far as Catalin could tell. Yet she and Petal were acting in concert, and the two of them had done so for over a month now. There had to be some reason they were staying together. They had to be planning something.
What does Quill know about the fallen star? How did she find Petal? What else could she use her for? Perhaps there is another?
There were so many questions Catalin didn't have an answer to. He sniffed at the irritation of not knowing those answers and stared off into Skrae. He wondered if the answers were right there in front of him, buried deep in the Isle of Mann, in some unmarked bunker where Wyman was hiding.
Catalin smiled at the thought. Arnold Wyman had joined the S.S.S. at the same time as Catalin – they used to be coworkers. However, Wyman was an example of being too clever for the P.R.K. His secret hobby of gathering embarrassing information on the P.R.K.'s leadership had earned him a top spot on Manheim's list of Enemies of the People.
Petal's father, Khan Rho, was clever too. Catalin knew him to be one of the most capable Khans in the Southern Ocean. Rho seemed to be able to smell out a trap before it was set. It was thus of little surprise that he and the Sand Tiger elite had slipped away from Mann before the 42nd Fleet arrived to crush them.
But while that made sense, Catalin couldn't comprehend why the Khan had left so much of his horde behind to be surrounded and slaughtered.
"Sir!"
A young P.R.K. officer rushed up to Catalin and saluted him. He was wearing a pressed, black and silver P.R.K. marine jacket. He didn't look much older than a high schooler.
"Yes? At ease."
"We've secured a gangway to the lead pirate vessel. Their captain wants to speak with you."
"Thank you."
The boyish officer bowed and darted away.
Catalin turned to starboard and the Widower. It was sitting next to his destroyer, part of a long line of pirate and P.R.K. warships. He didn't like the look of Naris's rickety ship. He imagined it falling to pieces the moment he stepped onto it. He ignored this worrisome thought and slowly began to plod his way over to the vessel.
I've overlooked something - left one stone unturned. . .but which stone is it?
Catalin looked up at the dark sky. Smoke plumes from Skrae obscured the stars.
The sister. . .
He smiled.
- 53 -
Naris watched Skrae burn from the bow of his ship. The fires were almost blinding through the pitch darkness. The scene made his stomach churn and his face feel hot and prickly. He sucked on a thin, laced cigarette. The smoke swirled in the air, refusing to dissipate. Someone stumbled their way across the gangway, approaching him.
Naris glanced over and saw Catalin trying to balance himself on the unstable platform. He wrinkled his face, glaring at the languid S.S.S. man's perennially crisp blue suit with sheer venom.
"You lied to me. You lied to all of us."
"Did I?"
"You told us that only the Yong Fleet and nomad hordes would be attacked. You promised no harm would come to Mann – that you wouldn't send a single marine ashore! Now look at it! You've destroyed my homeland!"
"I apologize." Catalin followed Naris's gaze out to Skrae. "The marines had very strict rules of engagement. They had specific instructions not to come ashore. They were supposed to remain in their vessels."
"Then what the fuck happened!"
"The nomads and Yong rebels fled into Skrae during the attack. They opened fire on our warships from the coast, using the town's buildings as cover. Our marines were overeager after spending a month holed up in their ships. Against high command's clear directive, they pursued the rebels into Skrae and razed the town. Their commander's shortsightedness and disobedience will be severely punished – I assure you. And there will be no further incursions onto the Isle."
"That doesn't matter. You've done enough already! My men and all the other pirate captains think we're traitors to our people!"
"I too was assured that the Isle wouldn't be touched. However, despite my rank, I have no control over the marines. Their chain of command is completely separate. They have their own protocol."
"Then what good are you?"
"I am still your rainmaker," Catalin brooded. "And your protector."
"All the silver in Kudu won't mean shit if my crew murders me. And all of the hordes will be coming after us - every sea people island is going to declare us their enemy."
"If you feel your safety is threatened by your own crew, you're more than welcome to come aboard my destroyer."
"I'd rather die tonight as a free man - on my own ship - than live for a minute as your neutered little lapdog," Naris snapped, bitterly.
Catalin smiled at Naris's defeated tone. He stood next to him for several moments without speaking. Both men stared at the fires on the coast, listening to them crackle.
"What about your other mission?" Catalin broke his silence. "Your last report stated that the girl went ashore on the Isle of Mann with Khan Rho?"
"We chased her to within half a day of here. Then she hid from us with the Yong Fleet and the Sand Tigers. Where they went after that I don't know."
"It seems that Khan Rho slipped away from Mann before our attack began - along with most of his warships. Perhaps the girl escaped with him?"
"Makes sense. He's her father."
Catalin adjusted the lay of his tie. "Yes, he is. Do you know why she initially ran away from him?"
"No. And who cares?"
"If I can better understand her, perhaps I can guess where she's going."
"Don't know." Naris looked away, "She's not his real daughter, anyway. They only spent a couple of years together. Maybe Rho didn't mean all that much to her."
Catalin furrowed his brow. "Her file said she was born to Khan Rho fourteen years ago by an unknown mother. What do you mean he's not her real father?"
"That file was crap. Sea people's pasts are passed along as stories - by word of mouth and rumor. You of all dry foots should know that."
"And what rumors have you heard about Petal?"
Catalin pulled a small notepad out of his breast pocket. He pressed a felt-tipped pen up against the crisp paper.
"None. Even the bit about Rho adopting her sounded like bullshit. A fairytale about him pulling a girl straight out of the sea - a little nereid with a crown of fire."
Catalin's pen didn't move. He stared at Naris and then re-pocketed the notepad.
"Well, the P.R.K. thanks you for all you've done. Please realize this unintended attack on Mann comes of as much of a shock to you as it does to us. Hopefully high command can think of a way to defuse this situation - neither of our people need more war. You may follow me and the 42nd fleet back to Khai Shen if you wish. It's the safest place to hide from your people's ire."
"I'll think about it." Naris watched Catalin walk away. He took a final drag on his cigarette and then called after him. "The P.R.K. should show a lot more care out on the sea. They claim to want to make friends, but it looks like they only know how to make enemies."
Naris stayed in his spot on the bow, eyes locked on Mann's coast, watching his childhood home burn. He didn't even react as Giles came up behind him.
"Was this the plan all along, then? Do you enjoy killing our own people, or do you do it just to please our Kudu master?"
