“Melodom. What a strange name for a ship.” Kaeleth said as she and Jaeger walked through the port district.

  Before they’d finally left the Black Rose club, Lemuria had given them the name of the ship and its captain. The ship Melodom was a corvette, captained by a darkling named Tiber Maluskin. She didn’t share any details about the captain aside from his race and that she trusted him. Jaeger took that with a grain of powder and decided to trust but verify.

  “And a darkling captain? That’s certainly an interesting choice.”

  That caught Jaeger’s attention; he knew what a darkling was, but not the public opinion on them.

  “What’s wrong with darklings?”

  “They’re the spawn of Darkness, beings tied so closely to an Element of magic like that can’t be trusted. They act in accordance with the whims of their element.”

  He had to hold but a sarcastic comment; she was echoing back to him a warning he’d gotten about her: the irony. Still, something must have shown on his face because she tried to pin him with her gaze.

  “What’s that look for? You got something to say?” Her eyes swirled as she spoke, her voice almost caustic as she whispered.

  Best to handle this now, Jaeger concluded.

  “You’re a Chaos elf, during a time in which I’ve been told Chaos is rising or more easily influencing the realm.” He hooked his thumbs into the sash at his waist. “If what you say about darklings is true, then that means I shouldn’t trust you either. Now I ain’t one to judge, nor am I one to so easily toss aside an individual’s will. But this is magic, magic of a high order if I’ve understood what an upheaval is, so I need you to be straight with me. Is any of this talk about beings spawned by alignments, or Elements of magic, true? Or is it simple prejudice?”

  She watched him, having slowed to a stop; it was late at night, and there were not many around to witness this confrontation. She drew herself up as though ready to confront him. Jaeger’s hands didn’t move; they rested close to his Darkblade. She whirled from him and whipped her hair over her shoulder, walking onwards and calling out to him as she did.

  “Oh, it’s all true.” As she stepped away from him, she faded like a mirage before reappearing beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. “But that doesn’t mean it’s bad. A Chaos elf requires balance, more so with Chaos rising; if we don’t, we start to act on whims best left alone. Darklings thrive in the dark, both literal and metaphorical. A darkling captain is either terrifyingly competent or a figurehead for something worse.”

  Jaeger started forward, and Kaeleth flowed beside him, her matching steps like hot blood across a sacrificial altar.

  “If Lemuria recommended him, I reckon he’s a competent sort then. I don’t think an FRC upper rank is gonna deal with anything that needs a figurehead.”

  Kaeleth sighed.

  “I suppose.”

  “You worried Lemuria is setting us up?”

  “No, no. I guess I was just surprised that a darkling would work on a pirate ship. Their kind doesn’t do well in the sun or warm weather. So hearing a darkling would be captaining us around was suspicious.”

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  “That was your concern? Then what was that whole act about?”

  “I was bored and unbalanced.” She said, shrugging her shoulders as though that were the end of it.

  He closed his eyes for a second before opening them and catching her manic gaze slipping off him. He’d been warned by Lisette, and Kaelelth herself had just warned him; chaos practitioners were going to be off balance with the upheaval. This would be a long job.

  As though answering his unsaid prayer, a city guard patrol stopped them as they rounded the next corner.

  “Ey, now what’s all this? You two, what’re you doing this late?” said the taller of the guards as he tapped the mace at his waist.

  Kaeleth cocked her head and stared at him. Jaeger kept quiet, letting her handle this.

  “…”

  Kaeleth said nothing and emotionlessly stared at the guard, who seemed to grow annoyed at their lack of response.

  “You’d best turn them eyes away afore I do for you. Now, one of you answer me. What are you two up to around here?”

  Jaeger saw the three other guardsmen start to ready themselves for combat and decided to speak up, coughing as he adjusted his voice.

  “We’re headed to the docks, our ship is set to sail at dawn, and we can’t be late.” His voice came out raspy, with the quality of someone with a throat wound.

  The lead guard turned to Jaeger and held out his hand.

  “Oh yeah, then let’s see your papers and give us the name of your ship.”

  Jaeger looked at Kaeleth; she’d held onto the papers for the ship. She had not stopped watching the guard. For a moment, Jaeger was sure that wouldn’t change, but slowly she drew the papers out of her bodice and handed them to the guard.

  “Our ship is the Melodom.”

  The guard looked over the papers, quickly leafing through the three pages before handing them back.

  “Alright, all the seals are in order, so you’re good to be on your way.” He drew his hand away from his mace, and the other guardsmen did the same. “Your ship’s seal shows it being down towards the edge of the docks.”

  The guard pointed further down towards the very end of the port, where a ship could be seen.

  “Don’t linger around here and keep an eye out. We’ve had an uptick in unsavory types in the area, not your normal cutthroats, either. Fair weather to you two.”

  With a nod, the patrol walks off down the street and out of sight.

  “That went well,” Kaeleth said.

  Jaeger met her with a dead-eyed look as he continued onwards. His image of her was being tested by these odd glimpses he was seeing.

  The Melodom looked nothing like what Jaeger had expected. The ship had a sleek body with three masts and dark colored sails, its hull covered in a smooth stone-like armor and dotted with broadside openings; to him, that said cannons, but who knew in Rangaea. What drew his eye the most, though, were the pair of giant horns sticking out from the front of the ship. They seemed to be akin to bull horns if he had to guess, and seemed wildly impractical to him; then again, he’d never captained a ship, maybe they were useful. As the pair drew closer to the ship, towards the front, he could see rising just below and further out than the figurehead rose the tip of something. To him, it seemed like an underwater blade or ram. Everything about the ship surprised him.

  “Ho down there, what’s yer business?”

  Above the pair, a light blue lantern was held out over the ship’s railing as a voice called down to them.

  “Lemuria sent us; we’re your passengers.”

  The lantern retracted from sight, but the faint glow of it could be seen as it hurried around the deck, before the voice called down again.

  “Right-o, give us a tick an’ we’ll have a ladder dropped for ya.”

  Jaeger expected a rope ladder to drop down instead. From the side of the ship, the stony material rippled, and portions bulged out, forming a ladder. Exchanging a look with Kaeleth, the pair neared the ladder with Jaeger taking the lead. As he reached out, he felt the temperature drop and realized that the ship wasn’t covered in stone or metal; instead, it was covered in ice.

  He was stunned; he’d seen a lot of magical things since arriving here, but something about this ice-covered ship, in the middle of a warm, weathered city, was awe-inspiring.

  “You act as though you have never seen magic before,” Kaeleth said as she pushed past him and started climbing.

  The moment ruined, Jaeger got a grip and started after her.