The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (24 page)

She spoke rather casually of assassinating another
person. It was almost like she didn't regret doing it at all.

“Don't get me wrong,” said Jenur suddenly. “At the
time, I didn't know any different. The way I was raised, killing
someone for money was just something you did. And in my defense, I
never really enjoyed it nor was I ever pressured to. We just
treated it as a job and nothing more.”

“What gods did you worship?” said Kinker. “I mean,
surely you believed that a god was telling you to do this, right?
Maybe the God of Assassins?”

Jenur shrugged. “A good chunk of our membership was
aquarian and aquarians in general are less likely to honor and
revere the gods as we humans. And those of us who were human, well,
we came from backgrounds where we faced a lot of hate and prejudice
from our more religious fellows. We never paid the gods much homage
or respect. That's one thing I've carried over from my time as a
Dark Tiger, which is why I've always avoided telling anyone what
deity I worship.”

Kinker could scarcely wrap his mind around the idea.
Not respecting the gods? It seemed so strange. Then again, when he
considered how Deber had justified her human sacrifices to Kano, it
made a bit more sense.

“So for two years, I took whatever jobs they gave
me,” said Jenur. “And I did them to the best of my ability. I went
all over the Northern Isles, so gradually my view of the world
became larger. I also trained with many of the older Dark Tigers,
who taught me the best ways to kill humans and aquarians instantly.
Once I even went to the aquarian city of Nemo, which was probably
the toughest job I ever took on because it was underwater and I was
not used to performing undersea assassinations.”

“You don't sound like you regret it,” said Kinker.
“You almost sound like you missed it.”

Jenur frowned. “Of course I miss it. The Dark Tigers
were my family. Even those who didn't want anything to do with me
when I was a kid treated me like one of them. But I'm getting ahead
of myself. I haven't told you why I left the Dark Tigers yet.”

“I'm listening.”

“So like I said, I was officially a member of the
Dark Tigers for two years,” said Jenur. “During that time, I
traveled far and wide, saw and met and—yeah—killed a variety of
people. Now I never made any friends outside of the Tigers. I was
good at faking it because I sometimes needed to win the favor of
certain individuals in order to get close to my targets, but I
always cut off the relationships before they could get real or
interfere with my work.”

“Must have been tough,” said Kinker.

“Wasn't, really,” said Jenur. “Not at first. After
all, I had the rest of the Dark Tigers as friends and family. I
didn't think I needed anyone else. Still, I did learn more about
how other people lived their lives and was surprised at what I
learned. Many people lived their entire lives without taking the
life of another being. I learned that, though the Dark Tigers were
always well-paid and popular among royals, assassins were looked
down upon among most people, even among simple people. This led to
a lot of self-doubt and confusion on my part, making me question
everything I'd ever been taught.”

“You mean the other Dark Tigers never told you?”
said Kinker. “Did they really present their lifestyle as normal and
acceptable?”

“No one ever saw the need to tell me about the wider
world,” said Jenur. “Hell, even Quro didn't tell me much. I tried
to talk with him about what I learned about how other people lived,
but he was never interested in that stuff. I think he made his
peace with the fact that he was in an unpopular profession, so when
I questioned him about it, he got angry. Didn't hit me, but he did
get angry and I didn't want to make him angry.

“So I stopped asking others about it, but I never
stopped thinking about it. On my off-days, I'd spend a lot of time
thinking about why I was doing what I was doing. I realized I
didn't really enjoy it. I mean, I enjoyed the security of having
friends who would be there for me, but I didn't enjoy the killing.
Even though I was one of the best killers in the Guild, I became so
sick with it that I started intentionally fudging missions and jobs
I was given.”

“That doesn't sound very good,” said Kinker. “Bet
your boss wasn't happy with that.”

Jenur shuddered. “Yeah. The Grand Tiger, Nijok Wirm,
started noticing. At first he just credited it to my youth, but
then it became far too frequent, so he took me aside and beat the
hell out of me. You can't see it now because the Guild's panamancer
put my face back together, but when he was done I looked like I'd
been run over by this ship. The Grand Tiger didn't like slackers,
as you can tell.”

“And Quro let him do that?” said Kinker. “What kind
of father would let another man beat his own daughter?”

“Quro may have been my dad, but he was also a Dark
Tiger and a loyal subordinate to the Grand Tiger,” said Jenur. “He
respected the Grand Tiger's authority too much to openly disagree
with him or stop him. He did pull me aside after that and asked me
why I was slipping up, but I didn't tell him about my doubts
because I didn't think he'd understand.”

“Crazy,” said Kinker. “Is that what caused you to
leave the Dark Tigers?”

“Pretty much,” said Jenur. “I didn't intend to go
back to my old efficiency, not after that. So one night, while
everyone was asleep, I slipped out of the Guild base, made my way
through the Swamp, reached the coast, and took the first ship off
Ruwa that would take me. Turned out it was a pirate ship heading to
Carnag. Only reason I didn't get raped and killed (not necessarily
in that order) is because I showed them my Dark Tiger mark, which
scared 'em senseless. Threatened to knife 'em in their sleep if
they so much as looked at me funny.”

She smiled like she was remembering the good old
days. “Kinks, you've never seen funny until you see a bunch of big,
burly, full-grown men cowering before a teenage girl armed only
with a knife. Anyway, I got to Carnag and immediately got a job on
Malock's fleet, on this very ship in fact. I was originally a
deckhand, but got promoted to fishing crew when we started losing
ships like marbles in a pond. You know the rest.”

Kinker stroked his beard. “That is one wild story,
but I think you're telling the truth. I suppose telling it to
Malock is out of the question.”

Jenur let out a long sigh of frustration. “Look,
Kinks, I appreciate your desire to want to help me. Really, I do.
It's just that I don't think there's anything you can do to
convince Malock to change his mind. He's already convinced that I'm
the spy. Arguing with him is like arguing with a wall.”

Kinker stood up. His feet had almost fallen asleep
he had been sitting for so long. “Okay. I guess I should leave now.
I appreciated having this conversation with you, Jenur. I'll always
remember it.”

“Same here,” said Jenur. “Though I doubt I'll live
that much longer, honestly.”

Kinker reached out and brushed her cheek with his
rough hand. “If we make it back to the north, I'll try to find Quro
and tell him about what happened to you. I'm sure he's still proud
of you, even if you did run away without telling him. It's the
least I can do.”

Jenur smirked. “Actually, Quro already knows I'm
gone. He saw me leave, but didn't try to stop me. Of course, he
doesn't know where I am, but ... well, I'll just say he's a lot
cooler than I thought.”

“I'll still find him and tell him,” said Kinker. “So
good bye, Jenur. I hope that your spirit finds peace in the
afterlife.”

Jenur snorted. “Considering all the lives I've taken
over the years, I'll be surprised if I don't get sentenced to
Grinf's chamber pot.”

Kinker didn't know what to say to that. He just
nodded and left, not glancing over his shoulder as he opened the
door and left the stateroom. He didn't want her to see the tears
already starting to stream down his face.

***

T
he day could not go by fast enough for
Malock. He hadn't expected to find the Tinkarian spy so quickly,
but now that he did, he wished he had some way to contact Messenger
to get it to come early. Malock spent the rest of the day mostly
wandering the ship, getting onto lazy sailors, looking at the sea,
talking with Vashnas, and making note of parts of the ship that
required repair. He kept glancing at the sky as he did these
things, watching as the sun made its lazy journey across the
sky.

He didn't go to his stateroom. He had no interest in
interrogating Jenur. He had delegated that particular task to
Banika, who was a lot better at it than he was. So far she had not
succeeded in getting Jenur to talk, even after the spy poured her
heart out to Kinker.

For that matter, Kinker had not told Malock what he
and Jenur had talked about. When Kinker emerged from Malock's
stateroom, the captain tried to speak with Kinker, but the old
fisherman brushed off his questions and made his way to the stern
where the rest of the fishing crew was. That annoyed Malock, but he
dropped the issue, as he doubted Kinker had learned anything to
cast doubt on Jenur's identity as the spy. If he had, he surely
would have mentioned it.

So the hours rolled by agonizingly slow. Even when
the sun finally set and darkness set upon the entire sea, time
still seemed to move too slowly to Malock. He could barely sleep,
primarily because he slept on the
Iron Wind
's top deck that
night, rather than in his stateroom, because he didn't want to give
Jenur an opportunity to get him in his sleep. Vashnas slept by his
side, but she seemed to be less concerned than Malock was because
she didn't make a noise all night until the first rays of the sun
streamed over the eastern horizon.

But even then, no matter how hard Malock strained at
the sky, he could not spot any clouds or any hint of a storm. If
anything, the weather was quite nice right now and already most of
the crew was milling about, working and talking and eating
breakfast.

It wasn't until after breakfast that the familiar
storm came in again and Malock ordered all of his men below deck.
Many of the sailors expressed a desire to see Messenger, but Malock
said they would not be able to sleep for the rest of their lives if
they saw it, so they obliged and went down into the lower
decks.

Thus, the only remaining members of the crew top
deck were Malock, Vashnas, Banika, and Jenur. Jenur's hands and
feet were tied together, with Banika gripping her arm tightly to
help her balance. It started to rain just outside the ship's
diameter when Malock glanced at Jenur. So far, she had not tried to
run away or do anything except refuse to tell Banika anything about
her past. Malock was starting to regret not asking Kinker about his
conversation with her, as he had surely learned a lot about her
that everyone else didn't know.

While the wind rose and lightning shook the sky,
Malock turned to Jenur and smirked. “Didn't expect this to happen,
did you, spy? I'm sure you thought you'd never be caught or found
out. I bet you fantasized often about sticking that large knife of
yours into my neck while I slept. Well, you didn't get a chance to
do that, now did you?”

Jenur rolled her eyes, but said nothing. She
obviously had no witty comebacks or sarcastic remarks, like she
usually did. Her resistance appeared to be broken entirely, which
pleased Malock greatly.

The sloshing of water that usually heralded
Messenger's arrival met Malock's ears, and only a few seconds
later, the giant appeared from out of the wind and rain. Jenur
started when she saw it, almost falling over, but Banika must have
had a grip of steel because she kept Jenur upright the entire time
that the giant strode toward them.

As before, its face was covered by a thick dark
cloud, only its glowing red eyes visible. It looked down on them,
made a loud sucking sound, and then spat out a green blob. The blob
landed in front of them, but this time Malock was prepared. He had
made sure to put Jenur in front, meaning she got the full brunt of
the blob's ooze all over her shirt and pants, while he, Vashnas,
and Banika were mostly safe.

The blob once again took on a vaguely humanoid
shape. It peered at the four mortals with red eyes, as though it
was not sure what it was seeing.

“Well?” said Messenger. “Where spy?”

Malock relieved Banika of Jenur and dragged the
foul-smelling spy forward. He then pushed her forward, causing her
to fall face-first to the deck.

Messenger took a closer look at Jenur as Malock
folded his arms across his chest and smiled triumphantly.

“There you go,” said Malock. “The Tinkarian spy.
Just as you—”

“Not spy,” said Messenger, looking up at Malock
suddenly.

Malock faltered. “What do you mean, not spy? Of
course she is. I used the most foolproof method I know to root out
spies to pick her. You must be mistaken.”

Messenger shook its head. “Not spy. Doesn't smell
like Tinkar.” Then it added in a mutter, “Must do everything
meself?”

“But ... but I ...” said Malock, struggling to think
of what to say.

“No mind,” said Messenger as it straightened up. “I
do. Wait moments, please.”

Without wasting another moment, Messenger collapsed
into its gooey form, which then seeped through the cracks in the
floorboards. Malock reached out a hand to stop it, but it was too
late. It was soon gone completely, leaving behind only a thin layer
of ooze on the deck.

Malock looked between Vashnas and Banika helplessly.
“I thought ... but I was so sure ...”

“Yeah, about surety,” said Jenur, who had rolled
onto her back. “It doesn't always mean you're right.”

Malock fell to his knees and put his face in his
hands. “What was I doing? I almost gave up an innocent girl—”