Fire Prince

  Chapter Seventeen – A semester nearly finished.

  “Records going to the Naval Archive are kept in glazed bottles sealed with wax,” whispered Fake in the unlit cargo hold. Andin scanned each bundle of cargo with a small flame guiding his eyes. The ship was utterly silent as the whole crew save the midnight watch slept soundly.

  After an hour of searching they had checked each parcel twice. “It’s not here,” said Fake.

  “Were they loading cargo on to both ships?” asked Andin.

  “They were,” answered Fake.

  Andin said nothing while mulling the situation over. “What happens to salvaged cargo?” he whispered. Andin had learned to voice his inner questions to Fake; the illusionist had an ever growing repertoire of curious facts and interesting figures.

  “It gets put on the next courier ship in port; the navigation equipment goes to the shipyards for refurbishing.”

  “Do you have enough sand to hide one of the rowboats?”

  “No, not nearly enough.”

  “Can you just cover one side?” asked Andin.

  “The boat would still be missing, the watch would see that.”

  Andin said nothing – if there was any chance of being discovered the Brothers would have them under surveillance constantly. Fake searched through the cargo hold. The illusionist grinned, “Andin come here.” Fake gripped an empty barrel tucked in the corner.

  “It’ll tip over,” said Andin unimpressed.

  Fake bent over and grabbed a handful of ballast stones, “Not if you’re holding it steady – besides I need you to pull me through the water.”

  Andin couldn’t think of any alternatives, “If you make any mule jokes, you drown.”

  They left through the side cargo door. Andin lowered Fake down to the water with a ballast stone and then himself. Water lapped up a few inches from the lip of the barrel. Fake’s jacket dissolved into a shroud concealing them.

  They headed towards the Thresher. Progress was easy, but the vastness of the nighttime ocean frightened the fire prince. There was no way of knowing what lurked in the depths below. Fake kept eyes on the Moontide, Andin on the Thresher.

  They reached the forward anchor chain of the Thresher. Andin held the barrel steady as Fake climbed up the chain, “Good luck.” The cloud hiding the two thieves wrapped around Fake making him nearly invisible. Andin waited anxiously for the side door of the Thresher to open.

  Andin was sure something was swimming around his legs.

  “Hey come on,” whispered Fake after what seemed to be an eternity.

  “What took you so long?” grumbled Andin.

  “This ship is weird,” said Fake as if he had seen things he was not meant to see. Andin wasn’t sure what he meant but was refocused on the mission now free of the ocean’s dreadful unknowns.

  The cargo hold of the Thresher was half the size of the Moontide’s. They set to work searching for their prize. Finally, Fake broke the silence, “Here,” he said. Three glazed jars were sealed with green wax. Andin carefully melted the wax into his cupped hand. Fake removed a rolled scroll and began reading it. “Carmen Island Naval Fort Tribunal – this is it, grab all of them.”

  Andin resealed the jar to protect the documents during their return. Andin lowered himself into the water and waved to Fake, “Come on.”

  “The cargo door can’t be locked from the outside, I’ll meet you at the anchor chain,” said Fake.

  Andin swam back to the bow as Fake shut the door. He waited patiently clutching the barrel and the rusty chain. He saw the subtle ripples of Fake’s illusion and said, “Climb in.” Fake reappeared and sat in the barrel.

  “Let’s go,” said Fake giddy from the fun of sneaking and slinking. Andin couldn’t shake a feeling that something was wrong. He looked at both ships; both were quietly rocking. They returned to the Moontide without incident.

  The prince saw what had been bothering him in the back of his mind, they had left the side cargo hatch wide open. By fate or blind luck it seemed that the night watch hadn’t noticed the large open door. They climbed back aboard. The mischief makers hid their prize and headed to the bridge.

  A sailor greeted them, “Evening gentlemen; Lady Pria said you two might pop up here during the midwatch.” The boys chatted with the crew for a while before returning to their cabin. They hid it from the sailors but they were both exhausted. Sleep came easy.

  In the morning the ships drew anchor and headed back to the Academy. Both Fake and Andin felt confident they had gained the court documents undetected and agreed to wait until they were off the ship to examine them. The ships docked in the afternoon and the boys disembarked.

  “We have a good record for exciting three day weekends,” said Fake in triumph holding the glazed bottle. Andin melted the wax. Fake sunk into their couch and began reading, “Here,” he said holding one of the documents. Andin read after Fake. Andin became angry – the documents explained nothing.

  “This doesn’t help us at all,” he growled.

  “Who is this guy?” asked Fake.

  “Whoever he is, he is very good.”

  “But he was thrown into the void,” said Fake.

  “Read the second page; it says he cut his own bindings and jumped voluntarily. He’s not dead; in fact he is certainly still here in Pelagos. He must have used magic to fly back up, no easy feat.”

  Fake read the annotation on the strange events at the execution. “It says the executioners watched him fall until they could no longer see him,” he argued.

  “It’s difficult to fly with water magic, but not so hard with others, we don’t know what disciplines this man can do. All we know is he freed his hands, which definitely means he was going to do some sort of spell.”

  Fake tried to inject some hope into his angered friend, “Well if he is here we can find him.”

  Andin growing more frustrated said, “Pelagos is the largest known plane; if this man doesn’t want to be found then he won’t be.” Fake began to speak before Andin interrupted him, “Just stop talking.”

  The tense silence turned into the weight of defeat for both of them. After a few minutes Andin opened his eyes and spoke, “I’m sorry, I just needed a second; I hate being set back.” Fake accepted his apology by removing the miniature thunderstorm he put over Andin’s head. Andin saw the illusion and threw a ball of flame at his friend in return.

  Satisfied his friend was no longer miserable, Fake left the room. Andin grabbed a stack of papers from his Advanced Fire class to grade. He sipped coffee and put the disappointing news to the back of his mind. He knew there was little to do until he could communicate with his father.