KANE

West Incendia

Late Rainrise

It had been two days since Lorelei's dot stopped moving on the Serpent's map. They'd watched it stop momentarily in Ice Haven before changing direction for West Incendia and now that it had made it there, it remained pinned. As small as the dot on the map was, Kane breathed a sigh of relief each time he saw it still on the map, unfaded.

Still alive.

The shores of West Incendia were swimming with the Incendian Navy. Brigs lined up the shore, the Incendian flags waving in the wind.

"Thank Goddess we changed the flags," Arius said, fists on his hips. He wore the dark uniform of the Incendian Navy, an emblem of flame over his heart that matched the flag that waved above them. "We'd be sunk by now if we hadn't."

"It was Flynn's idea," Csilla said, snapping her spyglass closed. "Why fight our way in when we could sneak in undetected?"

The brig they'd encountered was small, its crew full of recruits. It was sheer luck that no emberbloods or scouts were onboard. While those Incendians remained marooned on an island strip, their uniforms and flag now served as disguise for Kane and the crew to sneak into West Incendia.

The disguise didn't calm Kane's nerves as it did the others. There was still too much at stake to let his guard down.

As they sailed into the harbor, the pit in Kane's stomach sank deeper. His gaze roamed over the harbor, or what was left of a harbor. The docks had been rebuilt recently since the wood was still fresh, but the ruins of what used to be remained untouched. Tents were spread throughout the rubble, Incendians crowding around fires. Behind it all was a sea of barren white trees.

And towering not much farther, a volcano with smoke pluming from its top.

Based on the map, Lorelei was farther than the harbor, through that forest and near the volcano. They'd have to navigate through all the Incendians without being suspected first.

The ship came to a stop, a pair of men from Kane's Iron Jewel crew tying the boat to the docks. Kane gathered with the others in the center of the deck, hashing over their plan one last time before embarking. Nerves crawled up his throat and he tried to swallow them back down.

"I cannot go with you, Blackwater," the Serpent said as they all prepared to leave the ship. "I cannot fight and my magic serves no purpose, so I will remain here."

"Very well," Kane said, with a nod.

"Since we are closer to the girl, it will be more difficult to track her on the map." He reached in his pocket and pulled out Lorelei's compass. "I've magicked this compass to guide you in tracking her further."

The Serpent put the compass in Kane's hand. It didn't look any different, but it felt different somehow, warm to the touch. Kane glanced down the compass face, watching as the arrow spun chaotically for a moment before pointing to the northwest.

"Thank you," Kane said.

"I hope you find her," the Serpent said.

"I do too," Kane said to himself, narrowing his eyes in the direction the compass pointed.

XX

Kane led the group through the sea of Incendians scattered around the shoreline.

He held his compass casually, only looking down at it every so often to make sure he was continuing in the right direction. Incendians gathered in groups around their tents and fires, mumbling amongst each other. Here and there some of them would look up at the volcano as if they were waiting for something to happen.

"Is that a turkey leg?" Arius asked. "Do you think there is a market stall somewhere?"

"No," Flynn said, voice hushed. "Do you see a market here, Arius?"

"Well, then where did that bloke get the turkey leg? I'm nearly starved and it looks so juicy."

Kane spun on his heel, Arius nearly bumping into him from his sudden stop. "Who gives a shit about the turkey leg?" The wound in Kane's shoulder throbbed, the pain nearly buckling his knees. "We have more important things to worry about."

"Kane," Csilla whispered, grabbing his arm, gaze fleeting over the surrounding Incendians. "You're drawing attention."

Kane immediately stood straighter and turned back around, glancing down at the compass again. He continued on and the rest of the group quickly followed.

By some goddess-given miracle, they made it through the Incendians without drawing more suspicious gazes and enter the barren forest just on the outskirts of the ruins. The trees reminded Kane of bones chewed clean, only white spokes jutting out of the ground. He stopped, taking a momentary break and assessing the area.

Arius kept looking over his shoulder, to the left and right, eyes wide. "If we all had our own personal hell," he said, voice small. "This would be mine. What in goddess' name happened to these trees?"

"I'm sure Borne would tell us," Flynn said. "If he were here."

"The trees are dead," Rosalina said, her voice quiet as she stepped out from behind the shadow of her twin. Her ringlets were tied at the back of her neck. "The whole forest is."

"I've never seen dead trees that looked like this," Flynn said, surveying the trees surrounding them.

"They probably didn't die of natural causes," Seraphina chimed in. "There is a poison that does the same thing to a human body."

"Poison the trees?" Arius asked. "Who would do such a thing?"

Flynn rolled his eyes at his comrade and laughed. "I would place my bet on the same god who torched his own land to try to win a war. You do know this continent used to be the Incendian mainland, right?"

A group of voices came in from the east, catching Kane's ear.

"Look alert," Kane said, hand going to his sword as he faced the sound of the voices.

A group of Incendian soldiers emerged from the trees. Kane didn't even have to count them all to see they were clearly outnumbered. Their eyes fell on Kane and the crew, the largest and most important looking one leading the parade toward them. They stopped in front of Kane, the one in front speaking to him with a stern expression.

"Is there a reason your squad is here?" he asked, gaze traveling over the group and the Incendian uniforms they wore.

"I told you our patrol was stretching too far," Flynn said from beside Kane, giving Kane an elbow to the ribs.

"Don't stray far from your designated patrol. When one of our brigs didn't show up yesterday, rumors started about pirates slipping in." His eyes raked over them all again. "Do be sure to keep your eyes peeled for any suspicious individuals."

"Will do, sir," Kane said with a nod, hoping he was able to mask his distaste for the words. "We will be on our way then."

Kane turned back the way they came, the rest of the crew following behind him. He glanced down at his compass, the arrow pointing in the opposite direction. They didn't have time to find a way around the Incendians.

"We have no choice," he said quietly to Csilla as they continued to walk away. "We have to go through them. We'll have to fight."

"But they outnumber us," Csilla replied. "And they looked much more experienced than those recruits we came upon."

"There is no other option." Kane grabbed the hilt of his sword as he slowed his pace. He would do whatever it took to get to Lorelei.

Kane suddenly got a whiff of mint. He stopped and glanced at Seraphina who had slid over next to him. She stopped chewing her on her mint leaves as she spoke. "What if instead of fight them, we make them fight each other?" Her eyes gleamed mischievously.

"Have you gotten to test the darts out yet?" Csilla asked.

"Not yet." Seraphina shrugged. "But what better time than now? If they don't work, we have to fight them anyways, right?"

"Use them," Kane said. "Quick before we rouse anymore suspicion." He snuck a glance over his shoulder, watching the Incendians continue to walk away.

Seraphina and Rosalina got their darts ready in a snap, loading them into one of the pistols they carried at their hips.

"What in goddess's name?" Arius's voice trailed off as he watched them work quickly and efficiently, loading the darts into the barrel of the gun. "What did you do to that gun?"

Flynn's wide eyes matched Arius's. "It's nearly criminal."

Seraphina pointed the barrel toward the Incendians, narrowing one eye as she aimed. "Shut your traps and watch the magic, boys."

She pulled the trigger, but there was no bang. Only a whoosh as the dart burst out of the gun. Kane was unable to tell if she'd made her mark, until one of the Incendians at the back of the group stumbled to a stop. The men by him questioned him and he shook his head. Then all of a sudden, he unsheathed his sword and started swinging on his comrades.

"I'll be damned," Arius marveled. "What the blazes was on that dart?"

"A serum we cooked up in our father's laboratory which causes the mind to hallucinate for a certain period of time," Rosalina said as she took her own aim at the Incendian troop and shot. "This batch, specifically, we mixed in grimlock berries as an irritant."

Kane remembered one of the many times he'd surveyed a wild island with his father. One time in particular he'd watched a man nearly die from eating too many of the grimlock berries he'd picked while trekking through the jungle. If he'd eaten a few more, he would've turned as purple as the berries with the massive blood-clotting. Whatever morbid concoction the twins had brewed up with those berries had the men hallucinating and attacking each other. He reminded himself to never piss off the twins.

Seraphina shot one more dart and the Incendian soldiers were in complete frenzy, not knowing who had been compromised and who was still sane. The leader who'd spoken to Kane shifted his focus from left to right, unable to protect himself from all sides and unsure of who to attack. As the skirmish continued, Kane and the crew moved through the trees, remaining undetected while the soldiers remained occupied and distracted.

No one yelled after them or chased them. A weight lifted off Kane's chest, but his shoulder throbbed, the pain reaching past his ribs and up his neck. He grit his teeth, breathing deep through his nose as he gripped his shoulder. He glanced down at the compass, following the path of the arrow that pointed straight ahead. If he could just ignore the pain a little bit longer. If he could just get to her and make sure she was okay. It would all be worth it.

"Blackwater," Flynn said, his voice not holding its usual teasing tone. "Your neck. Your veins they—"

Kane pulled his collar closer, knowing that the spreading of his wound must have been visible. He'd felt it swimming up his veins as the pain surged. The black veins probably crept up all the way to his jaw now.

"Kane," Csilla said, coming close, her brown eye raking over his neck. "What is this? What's happening to you?"

"This is from that wound isn't it?" Flynn said, pressing the issue. "You said you had it under control."

"I did!" Kane yelled. He'd let the wound get the best of him again as he lashed out. He tried to quiet his voice, but the venom still lingered. "I do have it under control."

"Doesn't seem like it, mate," Arius said. "Seems like you're in denial."

Kane shook his head. "Don't start with me, Pavel."

"I'm not the one with black veins crawling up my neck."

"We don't have time for this!" Kane's fists shook at his sides. "I don't care about my wound. I don't care about whatever the Incendians are planning on this goddess-forsaken continent."

Truthfully, he didn't want any of them to care about him. He deserved whatever fate held in store in for him after the acts he'd committed and the lives he'd ruined.

Caring about anything that didn't bring him strength or power was something he'd thought foolish. He stopped letting himself devote his heart to anything since his mother died. He hadn't thought himself worthy of caring or being cared for in a long time.

Until he met Lorelei.

"I care about one thing." Kane winced and took a step forward. "And she is out there." Another step. "And I will find her."

He waited for Arius to jab at him or for Flynn to say something to change the conversation as they both typically did, but instead they both walked with him. The silence in their support spoke louder than any words they could have said in that moment.

The rest of the crew followed as they made their way through the white forest with Kane's compass leading the way.