With a smile that will lead you astray.
She'll sing you a song,
But not for too long—
Then drag you beneath as her prey!
- Goldie Honorhide.
It surprised no one that I didn’t learn the mental shield in one sitting. Even with Felix’s Team Leader Skills, it was going to take a lot of effort. Mental stuff was not my best stuff.
It was dark when Makara finally arrived back. “I found it!” she announced.
“That was quick,” Yoboc said. “You don’t seem to have a healing potion for Ivan, so I guess there is an issue.”
“Let me guess,” Goldie said sarcastically, “The stash is underwater, and it is blocked in some way, and you need Ivan to help you clear it.”
Makara definitely picked up the hostility that was radiating from the dwarves. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “We will have to wait for Ivan’s shoulders to heal first, though. What is going on?”
“That is what we would like to know,” Goldie said.
“Ivan told us about your conversation this morning,” Yoboc added.
“Aaaand?” Makara questioned. Then something seemed to click, and she burst into laughter. “Oh, that's hilarious,” her laughter increased. We all just looked at her, and she laughed again. She calmed down after a bit, “I have never been mistaken for a Mer-maiden hussy… oh, that's funny.” She settled down and looked at us. “You really thought I was trying to seduce Ivan?” She laughed again.
None of us were laughing.
“You want to explain?” Yoboc said.
“I wasn’t trying to seduce Ivan. I am not a Mer-maid. I am a Shark Mer. We eat our opponents. We don’t seduce them.” She chuckled again, “You are very ignorant about Mer.” She held up a hand to stop responses. “I will admit to being almost as ignorant about mammals, but maybe not quite that ignorant.” She took a breath, “ I was trying to get to know and understand Ivan, not seduce him.”
“But the question is why,” Yoboc said. “Why are you so interested in Ivan? You saved him just before he was going to be killed, and don’t try to tell me you weren’t watching him fight. Why are you interested in him? Why are you still here with us? You can move on as your contract is complete. Why should we not make you move on?”
Makara looked at each of us for a moment as if deciding what to say. Or maybe she was deciding if she would say anything.
“Speak up, lass. We are out of patience,” said Yoboc.
“If you don’t know the difference between a Shark Mer and a Mer Maid, then you have no idea how we Shark Mer navigate. It comes from our Shark heritage. We, like sharks, have an additional physical sense.”
“Like the Dolphin Kin and their Sonar?” Yoboc asked.
“It is very different to that,” Makara said. “It is called Electroreceptors. What it does is sense variations in the world's magnetic field. I always know where North is, as the poles are the strongest points, but different areas feel different to my electroreceptors. It is not very precise, but it will get us within a few kilometres, and then local landmarks or markers that we or other Shark Mer establish will guide us to precise locations.”
“What has this got to do with Ivan?” Goldie asked, obviously impatient.
Makara looked at me, “Because everywhere in this world has this thing my electroreceptors can sense,” she pointed at me, “except him. It is certainly what drew the Blue Bastard to you. I watched you fight and tried to figure it out, but all you seemed to have was an ice affinity. But you don’t have an ice affinity, and there are times when the blank spot or null area widens right out. There are other times you focus it or draw it right into your body, but it is still there in your body. It is more than a skill. The strange ore you are carting around has something similar.”
She took a breath, “When you sweep the skill over me, it is like you have turned off one of my senses because you have. It is no wonder the Blue Bastard was so disorientated fighting you. I had to be very careful when I had to come in and save your ass because it was very disorientating, and you had it blasting out full. I was wary of what it did. I thought it was going to harm me in some way. I still don’t know what it does.
“What do you think woke me up this morning when you took over the watch?” she continued, “It was you blasting that skill and turning off my electroreceptors. All of a sudden, I have no idea where I am in the world, and you have no idea how that upsets me. I always know where I am - except around you. I have to get away from you and take breaks to re-orientate myself.”
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I changed the shape of my Cosmic Aura to exclude her. She breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you. You want to tell me what is going on?”
“That is up to Ivan, but first, how many people have these electroreceptors?” Yoboc asked.
“Sharks and rays have them and a few related fish. Therefore, the Mer with those heritages will have electroreceptors. Shark Mer are by far the most common.”
“So if we stay away from coastal cities, we shouldn’t run into any,” Yoboc said. “So why should Ivan tell you what is going on? What are you going to do with the information? Why should we trust you?”
“Yeah, not sure what I can say to that. I don’t actually have a plan. I am just intensely curious,” Makara said.
“I don’t believe it,” Goldie stated. “You are a member of the Mercenary Guild. They pay for information on all sorts of things. You’ll sell us out. We should kill her.” Goldie reached for her axe.
“How about we make a deal,” Makara said. “I lost Nick to the taniwha, so I no longer have a team. How about I join your Mercenary team? We can formalise it at Worlds End, and I will sign whatever confidentiality clauses you want. I have a Water affinity. I am very useful.”
“I don’t trust her,” Goldie said.
“I think it is an unnecessary risk,” Yoboc said.
Makara pulled out the Blue Bastards Mercenary Guild ID, “I have a lucrative bounty to hand in, we can share and a Mer cache of unknown value.”
“Those are only short-term benefits,” Yoboc said. “I don’t think we are compatible. You operate best in water, and we are definitely land-based. We don’t even know what your classes and skills are.”
“I am an Ocean Hunter with a specialisation as a Bounty Hunter,” Makara said.
“That’s it?” Goldie said in disbelief. “One basic class and one specialisation? I don’t believe it.”
I didn’t really believe it either. I had two basic classes and two specialisations. She had less than me?
“I also have a basic non-combat class called Messenger. A lot of young sharks get that as their first class, especially us Mako Sharks, as we are fast and we bite back. My water affinity makes me even faster. But that is it,” she looked a bit sheepish, “I am actually quite young, but I bluster my way through, and my Affinity backs me up. Here,” she pulled out a token and tossed it to Yoboc, “That’s my Mercenary Guild ID. See for yourself.”
Yoboc looked at it and then passed it to Goldie. I held out my hand, and she passed it to me. I had never seen one of these before.
I looked at Goldie, “Can you explain it to me?”
That got a strange look from Makara.
Goldie ignored her. “That is the symbol of the Mercenary Guild, which issued the token. That is the symbol for Asasaga, so she didn’t lie about that. Under that is her name, the date she joined, and her rank with the guild. She joined a year and a half ago, and her rank is consistent with that. Rank goes up with the number of successfully completed jobs.” She flipped the token over. “The symbols on this side are the type of jobs she is authorised for,” she pointed to each symbol as she listed them, “Courier. Hunter. Bounty Hunter. You can see the Bounty Hunter was only added recently. She has only recently qualified for that. That symbol there indicates she has a Water Affinity. Many people with affinities hide that, as it can make you a target. ” Goldie looked at Makara, “It appears she is not lying about her classes.”
“Why are you so open about your affinity?” Yoboc asked. “To be quite frank, you are not strong enough if somebody were to kidnap you, and there is an empire not far away that likes to enslave people, especially those with affinities.”
“Nick said I should, as it would open a lot more jobs to us. My affinity was already common knowledge, and together, we would be hard to take down. Plus, there are recent advancements in enchanting to break the slave class, so the risk is not as great as it was,” Makara said.
Yoboc just grunted noncommittally.
Goldie tossed the token back to Makara, “I still don’t like it.”
“There is still the issue of compatibility,” Yoboc said. “Doing land jobs will not level Ocean Hunter, and we are not doing ocean jobs. I doubt you are going to be happy working on land, especially if the skills of one of our members disrupt your senses. We are incompatible, so I don’t see a long-term collaboration happening.”
This was news to me. I was not aware we were even going to be working with the Mercenary Guild. Yoboc was talking like we were an official team, and I was careful not to react as he was clearly implying we were a long-term team and we were not. At least not yet.
“We are not that incompatible,” Makara said. “I am already working on a land-based Hunter class, and Bounty Hunter doesn’t care. As for being in the ocean… I have a water affinity, and I bring my water wherever I go.”
“I still say no. Send her away,” Goldie said.
Yoboc looked at me. I shrugged, “I think she is being honest. I am worried about her sense being incompatible with my skill.”
“But you can control your skill,” Makara said, “you moved it away from me just now.”
I acknowledged that with a nod.
“I still don’t understand why you would want to join us,” Yoboc said. “However, I get that you are young. You are too young to be out on your own, and you have lost your mentor.” He paused and stroked his beard in thought.
“We don’t need to pick up another bloody stray,” Goldie said to him.
“A trial period,” Yoboc said, “We are several weeks from Worlds End. We will see how compatible we really are. If any secrets leak from you, there will be a bounty on your head, and it will attract high-level hunters.”
Yeah. What she doesn’t realise is that those hunters will be from nation-states. If we tell her that, she could go to one of those nation-states and spill the news. I think she is probably trustworthy. Yoboc is all about risk vs reward, so there must be something he has realised that I am not getting.
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