The Mad Voyage of Prince Malock (43 page)

Malock felt Vashnas slip her hand into his. He
looked at her, but rather than seeing fear and resignation on her
face, she looked focused, like she was mentally counting down to
something.

“I would have liked to have an audience to see your
deaths, but alas that is not to be,” said Bifor. “No matter.
Whether this is witnessed by a hundred or merely one, I will kill
you just the same.”

Jenur was shaking her head and jumping up and down,
but Malock still didn't understand what she was trying to do. Was
she trying to warn them of something? He couldn't be sure.

“Before you kill us, Bifor, may I ask for my last
words?” said Malock. “Just a few words, that's all I ask.”

“I am not the noble villain of Zarsk's plays,
prince,” said Bifor. “I do not offer my victims their last words.
Too often, they—“

Bifor never got to finish that sentence because
Vashnas immediately grabbed Malock's arm and dragged him to the
bulwarks. She pulled, almost tossed, him overside, jumping down
with him as she did so, even as a dozen or so bolts of energy shot
over their heads. But Bifor's magic never hit them and soon they
were falling down the starboard of the
Iron Wind
, the wind
whipping Malock's hair and boat cloak until they hit the water with
a splash.

Despite the warmth of the day, the ocean water was
bitterly cold. It was also darker than the night itself and Malock
struggled to find his way up. This was complicated by his boat
cloak, which was beginning to weigh him down. Not only that, but it
seemed like Vashnas herself was trying to keep him from surfacing,
because she was holding him down with both hands and he could feel
his air rapidly running out.

Yet even as he struggled for the surface, a loud
boom
from above echoed them, the sound slightly muffled by
the water. Malock heard large things hitting the surface of the
water above, but due to the darkness of the ocean he could not tell
what was going on. Had Bifor blown up the ship after all? Were he
and Vashnas stranded in the ocean, with no way of getting to
World's End alive?

Then he felt himself ascending, courtesy of Vashnas,
who was propelling them both through the water at an astonishing
pace. His boat cloak weighed them both down, however, forcing
Vashnas to actually rip it off him and let it descend into the
ocean depths, much to his disappointment. On the other hand, he
desperately needed air right away, so he didn't mourn its loss as
much as he might have.

Then, without warning, the two broke the surface,
Malock gasping as his wet face met the cold air of the night. He
shivered violently, wiping his dripping hair out of his eyes and
looked around at where they had emerged.

All around them, chunks of burning wood floated on
the water. None of it was close enough to harm them or even warm
them, but Malock and Vashnas would have to be careful when
navigating it. Malock wondered where the burning wood chunks had
come from before Vashnas pointed ahead of them and said, “Look at
that.”

Malock hadn't realized it, but they had somehow swam
away from the
Iron Wind
, not just swimming underneath it. Or
perhaps the ship had moved away from them when they jumped off it.
Either way, Malock was still shocked and disappointed by what he
saw.

The starboard side of the ship—the side that had
been newly repaired thanks to the Mechanical Goddess's automaton
shipwrights—was gone, replaced with a gaping hole in the side of
the ship that reminded Malock all too much of how the
Iron
Wind
had looked back on Stalf. He could see it because parts of
the ship were now on fire, the flames illuminating the hole and the
sailors who were working to put it out.

Malock looked at Vashnas in disbelief. “What ... was
... how did that happen?”

Vashnas began tugging Malock through the water
toward the ship, carefully winding her way around the floating
debris. “I don't know the exact details, but I think that the crew
must have used one of the cannons below to blow a giant hole in the
side of the ship.”

“Why the hell would they do that?” said Malock. “And
how did you know it was going to happen?”

“I recognized Jenur's hand signs,” said Vashnas,
stopping briefly to look at him. “She was trying to warn us that we
needed to jump off the ship when the cannon was ready so we
wouldn't be blown to kingdom come. I have to admit I wasn't
entirely sure at first because of the darkness, but I'm glad I
figured it out; otherwise, we'd both be in pieces.”

Malock noticed a thin piece of wood floating by,
which he snatched. It was Bifor's wand, burnt black, true, but
still in one piece.

“So Bifor is dead?” said Malock.

“Looks like it,” said Vashnas.

Malock stared at the wand for a moment and then
threw it away in disgust. He heard it land in the water nearby, but
he didn't bother to look for it. He was just glad that that bastard
had been blasted to hell.

-

After being pulled out of the sea by the ship's
remaining davit on the port, Malock immediately asked for the
identity of the person who came up with the idea of destroying the
starboard side. It was Kinker who came forward, his hands black
with gunpowder, who seemed to think he was going to get punished,
if the way he walked with his head down indicated anything.

Malock was shivering, still cold, even after Banika
had fetched a blanket to drape around his shoulders. “So you were
the one who decided to break the ship again.”

“I'm sorry, Malock,” said Kinker, not looking him in
the face. “I didn't even know it would work. I was desperate and it
was the only idea I thought would have a chance at succeeding.”

Malock put one wet hand on Kinker's shoulder and
said, “Kinker, I'm not angry at you at all. In fact, I am extremely
happy with what you did.”

Kinker looked up at him, disbelief etched in his
face. “You are? But I damaged the ship, possibly beyond repair this
time.”

“Yeah, that sucks,” said Malock, nodding. “But you
saved my life and Vashnas's life as well. For that, I must thank
you.”

Jenur, who was standing nearby, patted Kinker on the
back. “See? I knew you would have nothing to worry about. Even if
you did blow up half the ship.”

“What happened?” said Gino, who was also with them.
“Why did Bifor try to kill you two? What's the story?”

Malock exchanged looks with Vashnas, who seemed to
be as tired as he felt, and said, “That's a story for tomorrow
morning, I'm afraid. For now, we all need to get some rest so we
will be ready to face our next destination.”

“And that is ... ?” said Banika.

Vashnas answered the question this time. “World's
End, known also as the Throne of the Gods.”

***

I
n the morning, Malock got to see the full
extent of the cannon explosion and he had to cringe, despite not
being angry with Kinker about it. Only one cannon had been used to
blast a hole in the ship, but it looked like an entire arsenal of
cannons had been unleashed on it. The fires had been put out, but
the edges of the hole were still burnt black, crumbling anytime
anyone got near them, and the cannon itself was little more than
twisted, scraped metal. The other cannons had taken varying degrees
of damage, from resembling the first cannon in almost every respect
to being a little burnt but in good shape otherwise.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just the cannon room that
had suffered from the explosion. The sails all had holes torn in
them from flying shrapnel; not large enough to halt the ship
entirely, but enough to worry him. Malock ordered several of the
men to patch the sails up using some of the extra cloth they had in
the hold, vividly reminding him of the day the old sails had to be
patched, back when they first started this voyage so long ago.
Thankfully, the ship was not in danger of sinking.

No one got hurt in the explosion, as Banika had made
sure to get the entire crew out of the blast range. The only
fatality the crew suffered from the explosion was Bifor and in
Malock's opinion he couldn't quite call Bifor's death something
that the crew 'suffered' from when it was clear that losing the
mage was good for them all.

Speaking of Bifor, news of his betrayal quickly
spread through the entire crew. The general reaction at first was
shock. Most of the sailors couldn't believe how Bifor had been
deceiving them the entire time. A few even insisted that that could
not be true, but even fewer listened to them. The general consensus
quickly became anger; anger at Bifor's betrayal, anger at how he
had planned to kill them all, anger at his deceptions and lies.
There was no funeral services held for him, although a handful of
sailors did pray a vengeful prayer to their gods, asking for
Bifor's soul to be tortured in the afterlife.

Malock sympathized with those prayers, but he prayed
none himself, if only because he was taking the time over the next
few days to think about everything he had learned last night.

He had no trouble believing in Vashnas's old age, at
least not anymore. She was still insisting upon it, even the next
day, and he saw no reason to argue when he thought about all of the
other weird things he'd seen on the southern seas. He just wondered
about the ethics of him, a thirty-year-old human, sleeping with a
millenniums-old aquarian.

But that was nothing compared to the very idea of
deicide. He at first thought that maybe Vashnas would give up the
idea in the morning, after a good night's rest, but to his
disbelief the first thing Vashnas told him, when she woke up on the
couch in his stateroom (he had elected to sleep on the floor due to
the aforementioned uncertainty about the ethical implications
regarding his relationship with her) was, “I am still going to kill
Tinkar.”

Malock looked up at her from his spot on the floor,
his blankets wrapped tightly around him in an effort to keep him
warm. He propped himself up on one elbow and looked at her with
complete disbelief. “Are you certain?”

“Of course,” said Vashnas. “Now more than ever. With
Bifor gone, I can do what I need to do without any interruptions.
Unless you, of course, want to stand in my way.”

Malock shook his head. “I wouldn't ... I mean, what
you're suggesting is still insane. Killing a god is not what I went
on this voyage for.”

“You don't have to help,” said Vashnas. “I can do it
myself. Just take me there and I will do it myself.”

“Yeah, but—“

“And this is Tinkar we're talking about,” Vashnas
pointed out. “The same god who sent one of his followers to kill
you. Would you really care if he died?”

Malock pursed his lips, trying to think of a
counter-argument. “Well, I guess I wouldn't cry about it or
anything, but I don't think you understand the implications of what
you're suggesting. Tinkar is a god. The gods are foundational to
Martir. The Loner God back on Ikadori Island told me that during
the War the deaths of so many gods completely messed up Martir's
ecosystem and led to a lot of death and destruction.”

“Are you saying it will be the apocalypse if I kill
Tinkar?” said Vashnas.

“No,” said Malock. “But Tinkar
is
the God of
Fate. What would happen if there was no one to control fate
anymore?”

“I bet it would just shift to the Mechanical
Goddess's control,” said Vashnas. “She is, after all, the one who
gave me part of her power. It's not my concern.”

“It's still risky,” Malock insisted. “And honestly
I'm not sure it can work. Fate is such an all-powerful, all-guiding
force in this world.”

Vashnas sat up, the blankets falling off her chest.
“Are you going to try to stop me?”

Malock almost said 'yes,' but he hesitated. He saw
the light of irrationality in her eyes, saw the way in which her
hands shook with rage, and realized that he had no idea what she
would do to him if he stood against her. She might just leave him
alone. Or she might kill him. Anyone who was willing to kill a god
would have no trouble killing a prince, in his opinion; then again,
Vashnas did love him, so perhaps he would be safe.

He needed to approach this issue from a different
angle, so he sat up himself, took one of Vashnas's hands into his,
looked her into the eyes, and said, “Vash, I still love you. I'm
just worried what will happen if you try to kill Tinkar. What if
you fail? What if the other gods try to stop you? You're immortal,
true, but you're also a mortal. Tinkar could still kill you,
couldn't he?”

“No,” said Vashnas. “Remember the Treaty. Individual
mortals under the direct protection of a god cannot be harmed by
other gods. So I think I'm pretty safe.”

“Oh,” said Malock. That took out the 'I'm concerned
about your life' angle he was using. “Well, how do you know Tinkar
is on World's End at all? I know it's called the Throne of the
Gods, but I doubt every god lives there all the time. He has no
reason to be there, especially if he knows you're coming to kill
him.”

Vashnas cupped Malock's chin with her other hand.
“That may be so. But I doubt it.”

Malock raised an eyebrow, although he didn't tug his
head out of her hand. “Why?”

“Because if Tinkar wanted Bifor to kill you, then
that means he will probably be on World's End with Kano,” said
Vashnas. “He will be there to see you because I know Tinkar. He
won't kill you, as you're still under Kano's protection, but he'll
still be there anyway. To see you.”

“I don't understand,” said Malock. “What would
Tinkar gain from remaining on World's End when he knows that you're
coming to kill him? Even if he takes certain precautions to keep
himself safe, it would still be more logical for him to be
elsewhere, wouldn't it?”

“Perhaps it would,” said Vashnas. “But no one ever
said Tinkar was a logical god. It has been thousands of years since
I last set foot on World's End, since I last saw Tinkar, and he
will no doubt want to see me. It is only natural.”