To Kill a God by C.S. Wilde
Chapter 19
The Marauder was painted entirelyblack, except for the silver crest of the Night Court adorning the sails. The ship was sleek for a vessel of its size. Fast, too. Captain Flint’s wind magic helped, of course. Added to Mera’s waterbreaking, they should make it to Tagrad within a couple of days.
The captain was a strange warlock who seemed to be out of his mind sometimes, but Mera liked him. After spending a day aboard the Marauder, she’d gotten used to his quirks. Like when he randomly broke into song, booming a sea shanty from the top of his lungs, or when he called her a princess-detective, despite Mera’s protests, because according to him, “It seems you are both, my dear, and perhaps, none at all.”
Mera watched him from the quarterdeck of the Marauder, her hands drawing small circles in the air. Water thrashed down below in synchrony with her magic, working like invisible engines that sped up the boat.
Meanwhile, Captain Flint steered the ship from the bridge as if he didn’t have a worry in the world, whistling a song while his second-in-command, Mr. Snipes, worked around the deck.
She counted ten nightlings joining him. She’d expected a bigger crew for a ship that size, but two attacks by Azinor’s followers had clearly taken their toll.
Not far from Mr. Snipes, Bast grabbed some ropes, helping him and the rest of the crew. Even though the night Sidhe behaved with deference around their prince, they seemed eager to please their captain and Mr. Snipes. It was clear who led the crew, status be damned.
Not that Bast seemed to mind.
Her thoughtful, wonderful hart had brought her a fresh change of clothes—underpants, a white shirt, jeans, and shoes, plus a black leather jacket similar to her old one. Wearing human clothes again felt slightly odd, but she’d appreciated the gesture.
The wind picked up from above, puffing the sails. When Mera turned to the captain, she noticed that the black runes atop Flint’s hands glowed a golden color for a moment before dimming down, yet his magic kept working.
She glanced at her own hands, wondering if her runes worked the same way, even if she couldn’t see them. They still coursed underneath her skin, unseen, unfelt, but there; always there.
When she’d asked Flint and Mr. Snipes about them, worry and pity mixed on their faces. “You were born with your runes, they weren’t poked into ye. Yer no witch, lass,” Captain Flint had explained. “Yer something else.”
Though what, he couldn’t tell.
Her hair flowed wildly with the wind, and she spat out a russet thread that went into her mouth. Mera kept waterbreaking, knowing she would feel exhausted when they reached Lunor Insul, but gaining the extra time would be worth it.
Beta Three stood next to her like a watch tower. His neon, unblinking eyes stared at the horizon while the sun began lowering in the sky. The automaton hadn’t moved or spoken much today, which was abnormal for him.
“You’re awfully quiet.”
“I apologize.” He didn’t turn to her, he simply kept staring at the landscape before them. “I suppose I enjoy watching the ocean. I have never seen it from this perspective before.”
“Are you supposed to enjoy things?”
For a moment, he seemed to think about it. “I do not know.”
Mera chuckled, facing the horizon. “I think you do. I mean, you clearly enjoy annoying Belinda.”
“Do I? I have freedom to interpret data and to react to it as I see fit; within my programmed parameters, of course. Perhaps I should revise them.”
“As long as you’re not left alone with her, you’ll be fine.” Mera frowned, trying to understand the concepts that sounded familiar, yet incredibly strange. “What if someone tried to reprogram your parameters?”
Like Azinor had done to the automaton that attacked them at the beach.
Beta Three cocked his head to the side, his unblinking stare still locked on the horizon. “The commissioner installed a fail-safe to avoid it. If someone tries to tamper with my systems, my plasma core will explode. I advise you to keep a fair distance if that happens. The explosion would wipe out any lifeforms within miles.”
He’d said it so casually, as if said fail-safe didn’t mean his death—if that even applied to someone like Beta Three.
Mera cleared her throat. “Did he install it on every automaton?”
“No. They do not have the same processors. Implanting fail-safes in them would be risky. The machines could blow up randomly and hurt civilians.” The engines near his neck whirred when he turned toward her. “Hurting the innocent is not our purpose.”
But it could be, if Azinor ever got his hands on them. “How many automatons exist in Atlantea?”
“Like me? None. The older models, however…” he seemed to consider it, “twenty-one thousand, eight hundred and fifty-five.”
A certain dread spread in Mera’s gut. “That’s a lot of automatons.”
Beta Three admired the sky as warm shades of orange and pink began overtaking the horizon. “I suppose.”
A thousand thoughts rushed through her mind, but her hands kept moving in slow circles. “Since you’re an autonomous machine, wouldn’t the professor need your permission to install the fail-safe?”
“As commissioner, his access overrides my will. He was kind enough to ask, however, and I gladly obliged.” He went silent for a quick moment. “May I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
His head turned, eyes blinking. “Why would I shoot you? Your safety is my priority.”
“No.” Mera laughed. “I meant you can ask me.”
“Ah.” He cocked his head to the side, as if he was still trying to understand the expression. “From my observations, waterbreakers tend to be fond of their biological family. Yet this is not the case with you when it comes to your mother.”
“That’s not a question. Also, how do you know about that?”
He tapped his temple with his finger, making a metallic clang. “I have access to all intelligence files. Also, photographic memory, so I register everything you tell me.”
“I see,” Mera grumbled, focusing on her waterbreaking. “Ariella Wavestorm mistreated me for years, and my father is a lunatic who wants the world to burn. Not exactly the best role models. Guess I won the lottery, haven’t I?”
“Quite the opposite. I dare say you’re extremely unfortunate.”
Laughing, she shook her head. “Remind me to teach you about irony.”
“Certainly.” He went quiet for a short moment. “You do not care about your biological parents, but you worry about the king and the commissioner. Officer Tiderider, too.” Before she could ask how he knew, he added, “I’ve been monitoring your vital signs.”
“Rude.” She briefly glared at him, but shrugged it off. She couldn’t expect anything different from a machine. “They’re my family. Blood family in the case of my uncle, and chosen family with Bel and the professor.”
“You chose them like you chose Ruth Maurea?”
Mera only had herself to blame, since she’d told him about Ruth the previous day. Smiling to herself, she watched the ocean. “I’m not sure if I chose her, or if she chose me.”
“Interesting.” He seemed to ponder a thousand variables at once. “You must miss them. Perhaps I can help.”
A metallic whirring came from behind the plates in his chest, until they opened to reveal a blue, holo-screen inside him. It stayed blank for a moment or two before the professor and Belinda popped on the display.
“Hey, Mer! Everything okay?” Her friend waved at her. “It’s ridiculous that I’m not there. I’m your security detail, for dolphin’s sake.”
Professor Currenter rubbed the bridge of his nose, letting out a weary sigh through his gills. “As I’ve stated tirelessly, you would turn to dust the moment they crossed the forbidden zone.”
Belinda simply rolled her eyes.
“Everything is fine,” Mera chuckled. “Just wanted to check on you.”
“All good here,” Belinda offered. “Actually, too good.”
“Suspicious to the end, dear.” He shook his head. “I say it’s a much-needed reprieve. By the way, we might lose contact once you enter the forbidden zone. Beta Three’s systems should take a moment to reroute until we’re able to communicate again.”
“I sensed no interference,” the automaton countered, his head turning to Mera in a curious manner.
“Yeah. We crossed it three hours ago.”
Mera remembered how the captain had stared at her in a panic as they did, waiting for her to crumble into dust. He and Mr. Snipes blinked in awe once she remained in one piece. Flint even double-checked his charts, but the figures didn’t lie. They had pierced into the spell that dissolved sirens to the bone without a shadow of a doubt—well, all sirens except Mera, the dead queen, and Azinor.
“Odd,” the professor frowned. “I suppose our technology is better than I’d anticipated.”
Belinda turned to the side, watching something, or someone, with a furrowed brow. “All right, Mer, we have to go. Watch out for yourself, okay?”
“You too.”
With that they blinked away. Beta Three’s plates closed with a shy clang, and he focused on the horizon.
Mera’s hands started moving in circles again, and the sea reacted to her waterbreaking, propelling them.
“Thanks for that, Beta Three.”
He gave her the smallest of nods, his attention locked on the sunset.
Orange and pink hues drenched them, deepening while the sun nearly touched the line of water in the distance. Soon enough, strong arms wrapped around Mera’s waist, and a squared chin rested on the top of her head.
“Flint said we’re good for the day.” Bast’s skin was warm and smooth to the touch, the muscles in his forearms perfectly corded. “You can rest now, kitten.”
Bast didn’t have to say that twice.
Ceasing her waterbreaking, she let the back of her head lean against his strong chest. “Are we sure that we crossed the protection zone? Absolutely, positively sure?”
“Flint has been doing these routes for decades. I doubt he would be wrong. Why?”
Mera’s gaze searched the horizon, an uneasy sensation settling in her stomach as she intertwined her hands with his. “I’m not sure.”