Afore the Bells

 I walked back to the Wynd wondering if my day could get worse. And, like all bad days, it did. I was sure that by now someone had sent a runner to the Empire fort on the mainland, it was a few hours in each direction. Since there was still almost a Watch before the Turning Tide that would take me beyond the Cove, it would be close. I wasn't sure if the Empire would reach me before I could get my boards 'wet' again and cast off from the rigging. Even were we not aflounder here at Corimar, I needed time to get things done. Coram was newly returned from the house of healing, and I had not yet had time to send him for charts I needed. I had barely boarded when I heard a low voice hail me from the shadows. The volume of his voice did not mask the fear and concern I heard. The figure that approached clutched his side where he was bleeding. And however far he had come his cloak was soaked in blood from the wound. The copper hair had dulled like weathered metal, a bad sign, and his bright red-orange eyes had lost the fire they once held. I could still see the dim ember of flame in his eyes, but that too was fading fast. My half-brother, Rejik fell forward and grasped my hands, leaving them streaked in his swiftly cooling blood. The fact that his blood was beginning to cool had me worried. Why hadn't he healed? Why was his fire fading? "Reshara, Helatin Adara, Reshara." I ignored the fact that he told me to 'fly away' in favor of finding out what had happened to his wife and children. He had said that the dragons were 'foreword,' by that I took it to mean that they had advanced banner against his house. My heart pounded. Few survived such an attack. "Delia and the kids?" He held out the satchel. "Ruha." "I'm sorry." I took the pack and gently opened it to check on the three eggs that were nestled inside. "What happened?" "Helatin Adara. Ruhana. Ne Kide Ruhana." He spoke the High Phaeon tongue, my mother's language. "Is this so?" The dragon was advanced, and his wife and children were 'kindled on,' as the Phaeon words for dead and burned were. He had no more fire, he told me, but that couldn't be true. "Ne ruhana?" He nodded that it was the truth. At last I understood what I saw in his eyes. The fear of every full blood, to be so badly injured that you cannot burn. His once-bright eyes were dim now as he looked at me. And then he touched my blade. "Ruhana?" I knew what my brother was asking. Rejik was my mother's son from before she met and married my father. As such, he was a once-born, a pureblood Phaeon. And he could rebirth. He had used what fire he had though to kindle his wife and children when the Empire brought them low. Now, he came to me, bloody and bleeding to death, asking me to 'kindle him on.' "You know that would make me a traitor." For even a half-phaeon to kill another Phaeon was a bad thing. "You are twice-born traitor anyway." His voice was barely above a whisper. And he dared to speak the trade language. "Please, I have no fire." I could see the terror in his eyes. I knew he had to be in pain, his first language was that of the Phaeon, and now he was speaking one of the trade languages. He wanted to be sure I knew. "What happened?" "They called us out as family to the Pirate Jalen Shenn. I have never touched the Shenn name. I am Delphe. They brought them low and made me watch. When they left I made Phaeon fire and kindled them on. I could not leave them for what the Empire would do with the Magika in their blood. The Empire came back found them burned and attacked me." "Why do you come here?" "There is no place for me to go else and this wound is made by a Dragon blade." At the time I didn't think of the fact that the Empire had no such blades. It did not even cross my mind, not until much later, that there was only one man who bore a Dragon Steel Blade. What did cross my mind was that the wound was damn near incurable. It would take more Magika than we had access to in order to heal it, it was at least twenty days sail to anyone other than the Helatin who knew how to combat Dragon scale, and he would not last the night. He looked up at me. "Take me to the Far Aeries, or if not there at least the Silent Isle. The place where our men stand guard." "The burnt land?" "Aye." He smiled weakly at the memory. "If I am lucky someone there will carry me on." "Why do you ask this?" "You cannot come back, and you cannot claim protection, you are twice-born, and as such you already are hated by both. Find what your Grandfather sought, end this war, you are the only hope for the Men of Bones, and the Mistic men." I knew what he said was true. But I didn't want to believe that they would chase me. I didn't know why they would come after him when his family had told me plainly that I was not welcome as long as I bore the name Shenn. "Please Jalen, don't make me beg. Lay me low and kindle me on." I nodded. He was right, this rift between us was not something I could bridge, but I couldn't leave him to what the Empire would do when they found him. Phaeon blood and Phaeon feather could be used for evil things, and this, the Empire knew. "Tell Mama I love her." I said as I helped him into a comfortable position. "Don't forget her song." He admonished me. "Never." I drew my blade and ran him through. And I forced back the tears that would heal him as he fell. Rejik opened one hand to reveal something he had been holding the whole time. A Phaeon quill. The tiny feather was no bigger than a fluff-weed seed. But I took it from him and carefully put it in one of my pockets. I would have it set on a chain later. It was the only thing that would let him recognize me when he hatched again. "I'm sorry Rejik." "Follow the code." It was barely more than a whisper as the life left him. That surprised me. He was telling me to be a Pirate. I bowed my head and spoke the words I had forbidden myself to speak a hundred times before. "Ruhana Rejik." I placed my hand, palm flat against his chest and spoke the words of Burning. It was something my father had learned from my mother's kin. And I dare not write them now for fear of kindling any Phaeon reading this. The words of Burning would bring out a Phaeon's natural fire in their blood allowing them to burn away to ash so that they could rebirth. And with tears running down my face, I cut my hand and let my hot Phaeon blood kindle him. The pain around me was beyond anything I had ever known, and I knew nothing more for a while. It was only a couple of hours before the bells when I felt a cool cloth against my face, and heard Coram's soft voice. "Captain?" There was fear in his voice. I had sprawled to the deck when the fire I had kindled overcame me. I forced myself to rise. "I'm Ok Coram." "Did someone try to lay you low?" He gestured to the blood that stained the boards. I quickly scooped my brother's egg into the satchel, where it would be safe, and turned to face Coram. "A closer debt than even your brother." I said, but I didn't elaborate. "But what brings you here?" "My brother." "What of him?" I had tried to forget him, and his treason. "He was my brother. I will not hold against you any blood that may have to be shed to square this debt. But I will not stand by and betray you by my silence." "What is it?" "I cannot speak what I know Jalen. The Law and the Code forbid an unblooded from speaking ill against blooded crew." "You came to be blooded?" "Aye. I cannot risk lash and life without being bound myself, and I do not wish to leave you without recourse if I should prove as false as my brother." "Then you know your brother's crime." "I know many things Captain. But the Code forbids me speak." "Coram you know that makes you guilty of treason." "I know captain. I am sworn to the boy's treason. But I would rather stand at boards for that then chance being forced from my boards because I'm not blooded." I nodded. I should have done this many Talon agone. But fear and confusion had stopped me. I brought him forward to the place before the mast where all honors and debts were dealt with. He knelt, facing me. I drew my long curved dagger that was used for things like this. "Coram you come to me this day speaking that you wish to be blooded crew. If this is still your wish speak aye." "Aye captain." "Will you serve me honestly, truthfully, and faithfully until you are released or brought low?" "Aye captain." "Will you protect me and the crew of these boards with your own life if necessary?" "Aye captain." "Speak your word Coram." "By the Deep Law which all men revere and the Unwritten Code which all men fear, I swear that I will serve you in all things. My blade is bound to your service, my blood to your boards and your life. In all things I will count myself a member of the Wynd and my words shall not betray that, or silence shall be my penalty, that I go unremembered to the Far lands." "I was vouchsafe for you Coram, and this day I must blood you anew to these boards. I declare the old debt paid. Any debt placed against the Wynd is also against your blood. Any order I give against crew is also given against you. You live or die by these boards." He nodded. "Aye Captain." "Is it your will today to take the mark of the Wynd and of my crewman?" "Aye captain." "And I use no force to bring you here or to bind you against your will, is this true?" "Aye captain." I ran the blade across my arm to draw a few drops of my red-hot blood, which coated the knife. "Then this day I mark you as an honored member of my crew. These wings, are your bond to the crew and to me. They forever mark you as kin." "I take them and all the pain they may bring, with a glad heart and with pride." I put my hand on his left shoulder to steady him, and he grabbed my left wrist. My strokes were firm and even. In a few moments a pair of Phaeon wings adorned his chest, the blood running down to the boards beneath our feet. Coram made no sound. "You are blooded and marked. Only an act of treason can remove this mark. And such an act would make your name forfeit Coram Marentesh." By speaking his full name I bound him in this life and in the Far Remembered lands that awaited after death. Only in death would I speak his full and given name again. "Serve faithfully, and I pray that I will have no cause to lay your blood against my boards." When I had dressed the wound with Phaeon tear and Elixer, a ward against infection. I brought him to his feet and sheathed my blade. "Coram I have a dangerous mission for you, and it must be done 'afore the bells." "I stand by your word." I pushed a handful of Scale into his hand. "I need maps and charts, manifests of the Mistic and Anarra, and as much of the Forbidden Charts as you can get a hold of before the bells." "Captain?" I pushed him towards the boarding rail. I had made it clear that I would say no more. I had told them of the mission, and I would leave him to puzzle this one out. "And one more thing?" "Anything captain." "Send the graver to me."