Soldier Song (The Teralin Sword Book 6) Read online

  “Do you recognize them?” Endric asked, handing the spyglass back over.

  “No. I don’t even recognize their colors.”

  “Their colors?”

  The captain nodded. “There are plenty of pirates who prefer specific colors. Some have built up a reputation, and they can use those colors to intimidate other ships.”

  “And the navy and black that they wear?”

  “They aren’t anything that I recognize.”

  They weren’t colors that Endric recognized, either. It had been possible they would be a ship out of Gomald, but they were far enough away from the coast that Gomald ships shouldn’t be spending that much time here, and certainly not racing after a merchant ship. Endric was thankful the captain seemed competent, but every so often, he would glance back nervously. Endric didn’t blame him for the anxiety, but if it came to a battle, would the captain be prepared for it?

  “Keep us heading toward Coamdon,” Endric said.

  The captain shot him a look that spoke of his annoyance, but he didn’t say anything.

  Endric made his way to the bow, joining Novan. He kept one hand gripping the railing, but his other held onto his staff. “We have pursuit,” Endric said.

  “So I can see,” Novan said.

  “Do you have any idea who they are?”

  Novan chuckled and looked back behind him. “I am not the right person to answer that.”

  “No? I would have expected you to recognize various markings in your travels.”

  “I would, but the navy and blue they wear doesn’t have any specific connotation.”

  “You can tell their colors.”

  Novan reached into a pocket inside his cloak and pulled out a smaller spyglass than the one the captain carried. “Nothing quite so mystical as I imagine you considered.”

  Endric shook his head, laughing softly as a wave slammed into the side of the ship, sending Endric rolling with it. “I see the way that you use the teralin in your staff.”

  “You see it?” Novan asked.

  Endric needed to be more careful. It wasn’t that he minded if those within the Conclave knew about his attachment to teralin, and considering the way Novan had traveled with Tresten, it was likely he already knew about the way Endric could use the metal, but he had to be careful he didn’t reveal his abilities too soon. He didn’t need others to know exactly what he could do, especially if they might try to use it against him. He thought of Elizabeth and how she might try to incorporate him into whatever plotting she had in mind.

  “You know very well what I can see.”

  “Why?”

  “Don’t play coy. You’re a part of the Conclave, and I have little doubt Tresten has shared with you my particular connection.”

  “You forget, Endric, that I was there when you first revealed your connection to teralin.”

  Endric smiled. That was true. He had forgotten that Novan was there. And how could he? He had only survived when he faced Urik the first time because of his connection to teralin. “What do you do when you cause it to flare like that?”

  “I don’t do anything,” Novan said.

  “Are you even aware that you use it in such a way?”

  Novan smiled. “If your question is whether or not I have an understanding of teralin and my connection to it, you could be a little more discreet.”

  “I was just trying to understand—”

  Novan cut him off by laughing. “I know exactly what you are trying to understand. And, impressively, you’re the first person who’s asked me. I don’t know if that’s because of what you have gone through or whether it’s tied to your connection to the Antrilii.”

  “I don’t know, either.”

  “From what I understand, you have a greater understanding of teralin than even many on the Conclave.”

  “I’ve seen the way it can be used,” Endric said.

  “You’ve seen Urik using negatively charged teralin.”

  “I’ve seen it other than Urik.”

  “What else have you seen?”

  “There is something to the merahl, though I’m not entirely sure.”

  Novan frowned. “The merahl? I would never have guessed that they were connected to teralin in such a way, but they are descendants of a greater race.”

  “You said that before, and I’ve heard that when I was in the Antrilii lands. What greater race are they descended from?”

  “Ask Tresten.”

  “Why Tresten?”

  “There is a connection to his kind, though it’s not something that he speaks of. None of his kind likes to speak of it much.”

  “The damahne.”

  Novan nodded. “That’s a safer term to use than many.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s one that few would recognize. And if they do recognize it, it indicates a different level of knowledge, and it would tell you the person you are talking to is safe to share with.”

  “Why is it that you fear others gaining awareness of the damahne?”

  “It’s not my fear. And it’s not that there isn’t an awareness. It’s just that there are so few compared to what there once had been, and that adds a different sort of challenge.”

  “Why are there so few? It’s different than the Urmahne beliefs that the gods Ascended, isn’t it?”

  Novan looked around the ship before he turned his attention back to Endric. “These are things that we shouldn’t be speaking about so openly.”

  “We’re far enough apart from others that they can’t hear us.”

  “Perhaps not, but it’s still dangerous to speak so openly about these things.”

  “Why?”

  Novan shook his head. “Because there is a danger to the damahne. As I said, there are so few remaining.”

  “How many?”

  “You mean, how many more than Tresten?”

  Endric nodded.

  “A few. If you’re lucky, and if you serve the Conclave well, you might get to meet them.”

  “And how many have you met?”

  Novan smiled slightly. “Not as many as I would prefer. I am a bit pushy, though, and that might be part of the reason they have kept me at bay.” He smiled again. “I know Tresten, and from what I can tell, he is one of the greatest remaining damahne.”

  There was a part of Endric that couldn’t believe that he was having a conversation with Novan about this. They were speaking about the gods, something he once would have believed impossible, and yet, there was no questioning what he had seen from Tresten. But if he was one of the gods, why remain hidden? The people needed the gods, especially with dangers like the Deshmahne out in the world. And if Tresten was a god, how was it that he had not known about what Urik had planned?

  Then again, he had known, at least well enough to know to distrust Urik. He might not have been able to ascertain Urik’s full plan, but he had recognized the need to get involved, and in doing so, he had helped disrupt anything Urik might have been after.

  “If Tresten is one of the damahne,” Endric said. “Why is it that he can’t intervene here?”

  “You would have Tresten be responsible for ensuring the safety of the guild? You would have Tresten responsible for removing the threat of the Deshmahne? You would have Tresten responsible for—”

  Endric raised his hand, shaking his head. “Fine. I see you view Tresten in a way that tells me that he shouldn’t be involved in these things.

  “He is one of the damahne. While that means that he is less than what the priests might believe, he is more than you or I. He serves an integral purpose to this world.”

  “What purpose is that?”

  Novan smiled at him. “Ah, but Endric, you’re not ready for that. Not yet.”

  “When will I be ready?”

  “When you stop fighting.”

  Endric grunted. “I’m Denraen. I don’t know that I will ever stop fighting.”

  “Then perhaps you will never be quite ready. Now. Before we reach Coamdo
n, you need to continue to work on proving yourself. The more you can be prepared, the better it will seem to the rest of the guild.”

  “I’m still not entirely convinced about this,” Endric said.

  “Which part?”

  “The need for me to serve as your apprentice. The need to create this farce as we try to infiltrate the guild.”

  “Infiltrate?” Novan asked, arching a brow.

  “Isn’t that what I’m doing?”

  “Why would you suggest you would be infiltrating the guild?”

  “It seems to me that you wouldn’t have any difficulty going to the guild and trying to get answers, but you need me for something. I still haven’t figured out what that is, but there has to be some purpose,” he said.

  “It certainly isn’t infiltrating the guild,” Novan said.

  “Then what is it?”

  “There are things that you might hear as an apprentice that I wouldn’t be privy to. You will need this.” He pulled a small silver ring from his pocket and handed it to Endric.

  Holding it in his hand, he studied it. There was a single mark on it, though it was small. “What is it?”

  “A way of noting that you are an apprentice. Wear it on whatever finger feels right.”

  Endric tested which finger it would fit and found that it was best on his smallest. Why would he need a marker if he was traveling with Novan? “You don’t intend to go to the guild all.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “You intend to send me as your apprentice, but you don’t intend to be there.”

  Novan smiled. “Very good. I’ve been away long enough that I’m not sure I can return. They would question it—though they won’t question me sending an apprentice. It’s the reason I don’t have the answer about what’s going on with the guild. They’ve gone silent for me, too.” Novan turned his attention back out to the sea, bringing the spyglass up to his eye. “And now that you’ve come to that conclusion, we need to use the rest of this journey to ensure that you are adequately prepared.”

  “Prepared for what?”

  “Prepared for whatever the guild might throw at you. I don’t know what it might be, but I do know they will challenge you, especially when it comes to you admitting that you know me.”

  Endric breathed out heavily. “What is this about, really?”

  Novan glanced over his shoulder. Endric followed the direction of his gaze, realizing that Elizabeth stood at the midsection of the railing, making it seem as if she weren’t listening, but the slight stiffness to her spine told Endric that she was attempting to do so.

  “Elizabeth wanted to investigate the guild, and there’s some reason that you don’t want her to be the one to do so, but you also agree that there is some need to do so,” Endric said. His mind struggled with trying to puzzle through the reasoning, but it had to be tied to Endric somehow. “And you didn’t want Senda to be the one. You made it seem as if it’s because she might ask the same questions as you, but it’s more than that. It would have to be.”

  “And what do you think it is?” Novan asked him.

  Endric shook his head. “I don’t know, but why won’t you tell me?”

  “Because you believe something that is not. There is nothing that I’m trying to conceal from you, and everything I’ve shared with you so far is the truth. You are the better option than Senda, and though Senda has a bright mind and there is no questioning her ability as the Keeper of the Secrets for the Denraen, it is exactly as I said before. The guild will recognize immediately that she would never be a good fit for my apprentice.”

  “And I would?” Endric studied Novan, unable to suppress his grin. “I have a hard time believing I am somehow a better fit to be your apprentice then Senda. I have a hard time believing there wouldn’t be dozens of other people who would be a good fit.”

  “You might be surprised,” Novan said.

  “Really? You don’t think I should understand the reason behind that before we reach Coamdon and the guild?”

  Novan leaned in. “As I said before, you need to be careful with the questions you ask so openly.”

  Endric looked over at Elizabeth. There wasn’t any way that she would be able to overhear them, was there?

  “Will you share with me before this is over?”

  “You will learn what you need at the time that you need it.”

  “Novan—”

  “I’m not trying to be difficult with you. In this, you should know that I’m protecting the guild.”

  “If you’re protecting the guild, why are you willing to bring me into it?”

  Novan glanced over at Elizabeth again before turning his attention back to Endric. “Because you are the only person I can trust.”

  Novan turned away, heading toward the stern of the ship, tapping his staff every so often as he went. Each time he did, there was a flare of teralin, and it was such that Endric wondered again whether or not Novan was even aware of what he did. He claimed he was, but the steady way he used teralin seemed almost as if he wasn’t.

  Turning his attention back to the sea, Endric stared out at the water. The waves lapping at the bow of the ship were not all that large, but occasionally spray would mist up over the railing and he would wipe it away. His boots didn’t provide the best footing on the deck, not nearly the same type of footing that the captain had by going barefoot, but so far, Endric hadn’t slipped.

  He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something Novan wanted to tell him but didn’t feel as if he could. What would that be? And why would he not want Elizabeth to know?

  That was what this was all about. If nothing else, the entire reason Tresten and Novan had come to him was because they didn’t want Elizabeth’s involvement, but there had to be something else, another reason, and whatever it was had to do with a secret of the guild they didn’t trust to Senda.

  But they did trust Endric.

  Why?

  Endric looked over at Novan. The historian stood near the stern, staring out into the darkness. He held onto the staff the same way as he had at the bow of the ship and every so often, he would tap it, and light would surge along its length, enough to be visible to Endric in the growing dusk.

  He grabbed his sword, squeezing the hilt. Much like Novan’s staff, teralin flowed through it. Unlike Novan’s staff, Endric’s sword was entirely teralin, and he had used it ever since finding it. The teralin somehow helped him, though he still didn’t fully understand how.

  As he squeezed the hilt, he felt nothing other than the sense of the metal. His sword was positively charged, which gave him a certain flush. As he focused on the teralin, he wondered if there was other teralin nearby that he would be able to detect. He picked up on that from Novan’s staff, and there was some teralin below deck, which left Endric wondering if it was Senda or Elizabeth who had brought it on board. There was no other sense of it.

  He made his way along the deck, focusing on what he detected from the teralin, and as he did, he heard a shout from up above. Endric glanced up and saw a man sliding down a rope leading to the deck, and he hurried over to the captain, speaking excitedly.

  The captain glanced over at Endric. “The other ship is getting close.”

  “How close?”

  “Close enough to attack if they wanted to do so.”

  Endric hurried to the stern, staring out into the darkness. Novan stood next to him, rolling with the steady swaying of the ship. He had his smaller spyglass out, and he stared through it before handing it over. When Endric looked out, he could see the other ship was approaching and moving much more quickly than their ship.

  “How are they gaining on us so easily?”

  “They are smaller and sleeker,” Novan said.

  “That’s it? They’re smaller and sleeker?”

  Novan shook his head. “What else do you want me to say?”

  “There has to be some way that they’re gaining on us.”

  “And I’ve told you what that wa
y is,” Novan said.

  Endric looked through the spyglass again, searching for anything that might help him understand how the ship was gaining on them, but he couldn’t tell, not easily.

  They were making swift time and moving quickly enough that he could tell there was something else speeding them along.

  Could they have some magical way of gaining on them?

  He hurried to the stairs leading down below deck and pounded on one of the doors. “Pendin. Get the rest of the Denraen.”

  Senda opened her door, looking out at him. Her face was pale, and she wiped her arm across her mouth. “What is it?”

  “An attack.”

  “Out here?”

  Endric nodded. “Pirates, according to the captain.”

  Senda spun and grabbed something from within her room before coming back out. When she did, she met Endric’s eyes as she gripped her staff. He didn’t say anything. There really wasn’t anything to say.

  “If it comes to a fight, I’m going to be ready,” she said.

  “If it comes to fight, I worry we don’t have the necessary numbers,” he said.

  They went back above deck, and he watched as the other ship approached closer and closer. He searched for signs that they had markings like the Deshmahne, but he saw nothing on them to suggest that.

  There had to be some secret to how they were moving so quickly, but what?

  As they drew close, Endric took a deep breath, readying himself for the attack. He unsheathed his sword, squeezing the hilt, hoping he was wrong.

  Then the other ship pulled up alongside. The men on board were all armed, all with swords unsheathed, and he knew they weren’t getting out of this without a fight.

  11

  Endric jumped over to the other ship without hesitating. It carried him into the middle of the deck, and he took a moment to steady his feet, bringing his sword up and to the ready. He looked around. It was a different style than the ship they traveled on, with the wood all painted a deep black. A pungent odor hung in the air and wind higher above tugged at the sail, sending it snapping.