“H-how did you get out?” the man whispered as he stared at Adelia like the gates to the hells had opened and threatened to swallow him whole.

  “Where are our things?” Connor asked.

  The captain pursed his lips, which prompted Adelia to increase the pressure of her fingernails upon his skin. His skin indented beneath the pressure of her grip and the trickle of blood running down his neck thickened.

  He flinched and his eyes flicked to a chest sandwiched between a bookshelf packed full of scrolls and books and a chest of drawers.

  The captain quickly looked away, but the small action told Connor everything he wanted to know.

  He walked over to the chest. Water dripped from his hair and clothes and every step generated an unpleasant squelch in his shoes that Connor felt gush between his toes.

  He bent down and inspected the chest. The dark polished wood and metal reinforcements gleamed in the soft light. There was no lock, nor any traps visible from the outside.

  Connor carefully lifted the lid, looking for tripwires or other mechanisms but saw nothing of the kind. He opened the chest fully. His leather armor, clothes, weapons, and his bottomless bag were piled neatly on top of one another with Adelia’s things folded up just as neatly beside them, her many daggers resting atop the small bundle.

  Connor frowned.

  It was starting to bug him how respectfully they’d been treated so far… after being tossed in prison cells and stripped of all their possessions. Things could have been worse… they should have been worse.

  He checked his bottomless bag and heaved a relieved sigh. His codex was still inside.

  “It’s all here,” Connor said.

  He placed the weapons he’d been carrying in their failed attack beneath Zauberer into his bottomless bag as the ones he’d gained from the Syndicate ought to serve him well enough for the time being. He stowed the clothing and armor he’d worn for the attack and Adelia’s too as wearing armor would just be dead weight if they fell into the ocean. With the waves as big as they were, it’d be a miracle if they didn’t capsize.

  Then, he secured his bottomless bag to his belt and patted it softly. It felt good to have it securely back where it ought to be.

  The weapons he was already carrying would have to be good enough if anything tried to eat them.

  He picked up Adelia’s holster filled with throwing knives and her leather belt and stood up.

  “Where were you taking us?” Connor asked as he came up behind Adelia and strapped her holster and belt in place, allowing her to keep her attention fully on the captain. She handed him back the knives he’d given her and he sheathed them in his bandoleer.

  The captain didn’t respond. His only movement was the occasional wincing swallow against Adelia’s iron grip.

  Adelia growled. An inhuman sound that made Connor’s hackles rise. But the captain remained silent.

  Connor opened the door at the back of the captain’s sleeping quarters and walked out into a larger cabin area with a desk covered in maps and charts, compasses and instruments for measuring distance and plotting a course, a magnetic compass, and an open locket to one side which contained a small portrait of a young girl with the captain’s green eyes.

  The maps seemed to be of excellent quality. And, yet again, Connor was amazed at the Syndicate’s caution as even those charts that the captain was clearly using to navigate didn’t have a clearly marked path of where they were going. They did have faint markings of where they’d come from and their current direction, however.

  That gave him a rough idea of their current position. They were south of Vigil. Far to the south. Even further south than the orcish lands of Druguar and perhaps beyond the dwarven territories of Lokmedae. It was hard to tell the difference between where they’d already been and their current course.

  Still, he suspected they were near there at least.

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  Adelia followed Connor into the day cabin, carrying the captain by the throat as though he weighed nothing.

  “Impressive speed,” Connor said, “there aren’t many ships that could match this.”

  The captain snorted.

  “You disagree?” Connor asked.

  “There are whole fleets of ships like this,” said the captain. His gravelly voice had a smug, self-satisfied edge to it half-strangled though it was and he sneered at them.

  “Of this size?” Connor asked, “I’m impressed.”

  It was among the most he’d ever had someone in the Syndicate talk. Only Erik spoke willingly and he was extremely guarded. It seemed worth it to spend a few extra minutes to hear what the man had to say. Knowledge was one of the things the Syndicate had guarded so well after all.

  Not that he was surprised by the idea of the Syndicate possessing such fleets. He hadn’t known, but with what went on beneath Zauberer, it didn’t seem a far stretch. He fully believed the captain was telling the truth.

  “Bigger and better ones too,” said the captain with a sense of pride, “vast power spread over the world’s—”

  He grunted softly as fresh pain flickered over his face.

  “The geas?” Connor asked.

  “Aye. Not that it matters. You won’t get far. Not with the s—” the captain cut off again with another flash of pain, “…lord aboard.”

  S? What did you want to say that starts with s that the geas didn’t let you tell me? Connor wondered.

  “The lord? Do you mean Erik?” Connor asked.

  “Yes,” said the captain.

  Interesting… it seems to ease now… does the restriction of the geas interact in some way with what he thinks I know? With the situation and his own thoughts? Connor wondered.

  He nodded. Erik had let very little useful information slip, but perhaps if the captain thought he already knew, the geas would be less restrictive? It seemed worth a shot.

  “I must admit, I was a bit surprised with your mission. It seems beneath a vessel like this,” Connor said.

  He hoped that the captain would assume he knew what else the ship was up to besides transporting them and the monsters they’d found and the geas would allow him to give away more information.

  The captain smiled. “You’re valuable to us,” he said, “I’m sure you’ll be treated well if you stay. Better than drowning if we don’t get to you in time. You ever try to row through a storm? Or swim through it? You won’t get far. Not with those waves.”

  Connor shrugged. “I’ve always valued freedom highly. I think it makes me a poor match for Syndicate philosophy. I’ll take my chances on the waves,” he said.

  Connor kept his outward demeanor calm and relaxed, but inside his mind chewed over what the sailor had just said. Another confirmation that the Syndicate valued them highly… but why?

  Why not collar him and Adelia as they had Victor? Why did they warrant going to the extra trouble? He couldn’t help but feel that there was more to it. The Syndicate seemed not to do anything without reason.

  “What was your price?” Connor asked.

  The captain hesitated.

  “Oh, come now,” Connor said, “Erik has told me more than you ever could. I’m not asking for Syndicate secrets. Only curious what a man like you would sacrifice his freedom for.”

  “Freedom?” the captain scoffed, “Freedom is a lie. Doesn’t matter which navy you’re in. Whether you sail for a merchant or a grand empire, you take orders. There is no freedom and so no sacrifice, and now I command a grander vessel than the so-called great nations field. I’m paid better for my work and part of a power that will shape the very future of the world.”

  I’m not sure he couldn’t have told me that regardless… still… I think it’s worth keeping in mind that it might be possible to get Syndicate agents to divulge more than their geas would normally allow. I wish I had the time to question him thoroughly and put my theory to the test, Connor thought.

  Connor picked up the locket with the portrait of the girl. It was worn with age.

  “Your daughter?” Connor asked.

  “Aye,” said the captain.

  “How old is she?” Connor asked.

  “She’ll be seventeen summers in a few months,” said the captain.

  Connor nodded and set the locket down on the captain’s desk, turning it so he could see her face.

  “I won’t deny that there aren’t many who can claim to live the life they want. But at least your life was yours. Even if you chose to serve, you could choose whom you served and ultimately you could resist if you had to. You scoff and laugh at the price you paid.

  “But if the Syndicate asked you to destroy your daughter’s future. Or, even to kill her. You could no longer resist. The best you could do is die in agony as the geas takes effect. That’s the closest to ‘no’ you can ever come to anything the Syndicate asks of you now. I’ve known slaves kept in chains and misery with greater freedoms than you. If it were me, I wouldn’t shrug off such a price,” Connor said, “but then it’s like I said, the Syndicate’s philosophy and my own are irreconcilable.”

  The captain looked at the old portrait of his daughter as conflicting emotions played over his face.

  “I’m sure they promised you great things,” Connor said, “I hope it was worth it for you.”

  The man seemed less sure of his decision now.

  “I don’t think there’s much more you can tell me, is there?” Connor asked.

  “No,” said the captain, “couldn’t anyway. My shackles as you say.”

  Connor nodded. “I’m sorry. I’d let you live if I could, but you’re their slave until your dying breath and I’m in no position to take prisoners,” he said.

  “I don’t need your pity,” said the captain, “I’ve made my choices and I stand by them. I knew I was dead the second I saw you two. Still hoped though… somehow. I guess that’s natural.”

  “It is,” Connor said.

  “Just tell me… how did you get out of those cages? I saw them… nothing could get through all that dark iron and magic,” said the captain, “what are you?”

  “Sorry, Captain. The Syndicate isn’t the only one with secrets and I’ve known the dead to talk,” Connor said, “goodbye.”

  Adelia squeezed the man’s throat until his neck cracked with a sickening crunch and he went still. Then, she lowered him quietly to the floor.

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