Tide of Shadows Ch 20: Betrayal

Remnants of burning beams floated on the still water. Overhead, thick, black smoke rose up into the dark, night sky. The air even smelled of wood-fire. 

“Of course, it’s all an incredibly detailed illusion,” Nexx muttered. Next to him sat the dismantled bomb left by the Inquest. He glanced at the device, wires everywhere, and shook his head. When he turned his head to the sky, Captain Jos’s illusion flickered all around them, creating an unsettling confusion in his mind between what was real and what wasn’t.

Beside him, Danni fumed.

Nexx let out a long sigh. “You have every right to be quite upset with the captain.”

“Of course I do.” Danni snorted. “To render an agreed-upon contract null and void is one thing, but to betray the Council to the Inquest? It’s unconscionable.”

“Yes it is.”

“Indefensible.”

“Yep.”

Danni sniffed. “She’ll be extraordinarily lucky if they do not arrest her and unceremoniously toss her into a cell at the bottom of Rata Sum for the rest of her time on Tyria.”

“You’re right.”

She turned to face him. “So you agree? If she wakes up, we arrest her and hand her over to the council when we get home?”

“Nope.”

“What?” The younger asura scoffed. Her face was drawn and her eyes wide. “What do you mean no? She needs to be dealt with. Punished.”

A light gust of warm, briny wind brushed Nexx’s face as he turned and leveled his gaze at his fellow asura. “Jos is my captain. And exceedingly more important than that, she is my friend.” 

He took a step toward the stern of the ship and the captain’s quarters. “And currently, her unconscious form is prone on her bed—and has been for the last six hours, mind you—because her mind is trying to hold up this impeccable illusion in order to save us.”

“That doesn’t excuse what she did, Nexx.”

Nexx scoffed, his blood starting to boil. “No. It doesn’t. But she’s mortal, just like the rest of us. Did she do something incredibly stupid and moronic? Absolutely. But she’s my friend. We all make monumentally stupid decisions. And I intend to help her come back from this and attempt to make it right.”

Without waiting for a response, he turned and stormed toward the captain’s quarters. Inside, the air was slightly cooler, though a little stuffier. When he closed the door behind himself, he stopped and let out a deep sigh.

Nexx took a few seconds to try and regain a sense of calm. He wasn’t one to let his anger get the better of him, but right now he felt like he had plenty to go around. He was angry at Danni, he was angry at the Inquest, and he was angry at himself. But most of all he was angry at Jos. Danni was right, and he knew it. This wasn’t just a bad decision on Jos’s part, it was a massive betrayal. The kind of betrayal that got whole crews killed. 

Shaking his head, he made his way over to the bed and his near-motionless friend. He watched as her chest slowly rose and fell with each breath. Beneath her closed lids, her eyes fluttered back and forth, as if she was reading a book as fast as an asura. “Damn it, Jos. I…”

He wiped his face with his hand. “I don’t know if we can fix this. You really screwed up.”

Jos let out a soft cough. Then her voice, weak and scratchy, came to him. “I know.”

Nexx looked up and found her staring into his eyes. His heart swelled with relief as well as anger and frustration. Before he realized what he was doing, his arm reached out and he smacked his friend across the face with his open palm.

“Wha…” Jos’s face flashed between shock and anger, then settled into a slack resignation. “I deserved that.”

“You’re damn right you did. And more.”

“I know.” 

Nexx picked up a mug of water off the end table and handed it to her. “So what are we going to do?”

She took a few small sips then held it in one hand as she shoved herself into a more upright position. Once she was settled, she reached up with her free hand and rubbed her already reddening cheek. “I don’t know. I think I really did it this time.”

“Maybe not,” a voice said from the doorway. 

They both turned to find Danni standing with her arms folded. 

“Good hit, by the way Nexx.” The young asura shook her head. “Your being awake explains why the illusion just vanished. I thought maybe you’d died.”

The captain scoffed. “Not today.”

Danni scoffed back. “Might have been better for you.”

Jos and Nexx glanced back at each other but Jos spoke first. “You’re right, Danni. And I’m so—”

“Don’t!” Danni held her hand up. “Look, I understand that the council was wrong to not tell you how dangerous that cargo was, but that does not excuse what you did.”

Nexx’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean, how dangerous the cargo is?”

“I know.” Jos nodded.

Danni took a couple steps closer. “And just so we are crystalline clear, I’ll be informing the council about what has transpired the moment we pull into port.”

Nexx raised his hand like he was back in school. “Um… Hello?”

The captain nodded again. “Got it.”

An awkward tension hung in the air for a few seconds. Finally, Nexx cleared his throat. “Are you going to ignore me forever now? Exactly how dangerous was the cargo?”

“Well…” Danni folded her hands in front of herself and looked at the floor. “Let’s just say that uh… If it had gotten out, that Inquest ship would have been the least of our concerns.”

Jos coughed and sputtered water all over herself. “Gotten out? What does that mean?”

Nexx cleared his throat. “What exactly was in that crate?”

The younger asura gave a slight shrug and shook her head. “It’s really not the priority right now. I think…”

From the corner of his eye, Nexx saw Jos open her mouth to speak, but he got there first. “Oh, I think it really is.”

Danni winced.

He leveled his gaze at her and put as much seriousness in his voice as he could. “What. Was in. That. Crate?”

“So, remember a few years ago when the Commander and Zojja helped those two from the College of Dynamics? What were their names… Katz, no Kazz. And Doxa!”

Nexx nodded and said, “Yes.”

At the same time,Jos’s face twisted in confusion. “No.”

Nexx waved the captain off as the realization of what Danni was saying hit him. “Danni, no.”

Solemnly, she nodded. “Yes. Inside the crate is a prototype war golem. The council acquired a rumor that the Inquest was building it. During the attack to destroy it, one of our soldiers… Well, now he’s inside the golem.”

“That’s a thing?” Jos exclaimed.

A sudden headache formed in Nexx’s head, so he put both hands over his face and pressed in on the sides of his temples. “Danni, you know asura-fused golems are notoriously unstable.”

“I’m aware. But I’m told Zojja might have a method of pulling the soldier out of the golem.”

Jos looked around the room as if she was watching a bitefly flutter around her head then turned to her first mate. “What the hell, Nexx? Why did nobody tell me this?”

He shrugged. “It’s not exactly something we’re eager to talk about. More importantly, how do we get it back? We have no idea where they went.”

Danni strolled over to the rum cabinet and filled a mug. “Maybe not, but we have a general direction. We can start there.” 

Nexx furrowed his brow at the younger asura. “Okay, but the Inquest’s ship has us significantly outmatched for velocity and armament.”

“We’ll have to catch up to them at night,” Danni said.

“Even so, white sails are exceptionally noticeable at night,” Nexx chimed.

“So we run dark, no lights or lanterns,” Danni replied, then turned to Jos. “Think you could put up an illusion to make our sails black?”

Nexx shrugged. “That seems feasible. But that only gets us to the enemy ship.”

The captain closed her eyes and leaned her head back as a small groan escaped her lips. Abruptly, the groan stopped. With a small smile, she lifted her head. “I might have an idea for that. We’ll need a little help from one of the crew, Nahg.”

A cough and a sputter drew their attention back over to Danni as she stood with one hand on the cabinet, hunched over with her mug of rum held out as far as she could. She coughed a couple more times then sucked in a massive gulp of air. “Holy Eternal Alchemy! That’s horrific! Why in the name of everything logical and good would you ever willingly drink this? Ugh, my ears, that burns.”

Nexx chuckled and heard a strange sound from Jos. When he turned to look at her, she burst out laughing. Her amusement infected him, turning his chuckle into outright raucous laughter.