The Apollo, page 13
“Artemis, what did you do? You made her cry!” Adipe was beginning to remind Avira of her mother. Perhaps she had children of her own. Her voice was so soothing it almost hurt.
Adipe walked slowly to her and reached out her hand to wipe a tear ever so gently from her cheek. Her hand was covered in deep red geometric tattoos that stretched from her fingertips and ran underneath her robes.
“I know it is scary now. And I know it is hard to trust me, but I will not hurt you, Avira. I want you to be free, but I need your help first.”
Avira gave a pitiful sniff sending snot flying up her nose and into her throat choking her. She coughed. The whole image was disgusting.
“My people are being exploited at the hands of your father. I know you know this. We’ve built a blockade for all sky ships and sea vessels and are halting all trade until our demands are met. Your father is a poor loser, he is not taking this well. He’s accused me of kidnapping you, and I cannot prove him wrong. So, I hope to prove him right. If we return you to Gavriel on our own terms, my people may finally find peace.”
Avira could tell already that Adipe was a remarkable ruler. Her voice was cool and calm, Avira almost believed her.
“I know it is not what you planned for your life, Avira,” Adipe continued. “I want you to live all of your dreams. But this is my last resort. If it does not work, then my soldiers will have to go to battle, and I fear we will not win. They are fathers, daughters, husbands, and mothers. I cannot ask them to die for our country if there is another option.”
Avira finally found the courage to speak, “But if you turn me in, I will have to go home to Alvanii and be the lady of the court, and I cannot do that.”
“And I will not let that happen. The Shaheeni will owe you a great debt, Avira. We will find a way to rescue you.”
“How?” Avira could hear the defeat in her voice. She didn’t want to give in, but she was so exhausted.
“I don’t know, yet,” Adipe whispered.
“Do I have any other options?” Avira looked to Artemis.
“You could go with Matteo.” He grinned as he spoke, “You and your little boyfriend could live a life on the run. I’d even pitch in a glider if you chose.”
No. Avira couldn’t trust Matteo anymore. He was a toy of her father’s. She never wanted to see him again, much less live on the run with him. What sickened her more was that even one hour ago, she may have said yes to this. She was so stupid.
“Okay,” Avira mumbled. “I will go.”
Just as Adipe let a small smile cross her face, a loud chiming sound broke out across the deck.
“What is that?” Artemis shouted.
“The bells, sir,” Malvolio said, poking his head into the cabin. “Adipe’s ship must have been spotted.”
“How?” Adipe shouted. “You said the only crow’s nest in view of my ship would be empty.”
Avira’s heart sank. “It’s not empty.”
“The boy?” Artemis looked furious, a vein on his temple popping out in an angry silhouette. Avira just nodded.
“I’ll have him dealt with.” Artemis stormed out the door.
“Come, Avira. We don’t have much time.” Adipe took her hand and walked quickly towards a massive wardrobe in the corner of Artemis’ cabin. When Avira looked confused, Adipe said quickly, “A ship as big as The Apollo has many secrets, dear one.”
Adipe pushed open the wardrobe doors to reveal a platform sticking off the ship’s side with two gliders sitting like sleeping pigeons.
Adipe boarded one glider, and her guards boarded another.
“Have you flown one of these before?”
Avira shook her head. Adipe grinned.
“Hang on tight then,” she said, and, with one strong push, hurled the glider, with Avira hanging on for dear life, into the sky.
Chapter twenty
Matteo had to ring the bell for a minute straight before he heard a response from the other two crow’s nests. Once they started ringing, the whole ship erupted with sound. By the time he looked back, the figures on the gliders had disappeared entirely. He could still see the shimmer of the ship in the distance, and there were a few falcons still circling, but, by and large, the morning was peaceful. Peaceful, except for the now deafening dings coming from the deck of The Apollo.
If the shift replacement had been on the rope ladder when the bells began to ring, Matteo assumed he would have made his way up to the crow’s nest for safety. But, on a cursory peak down the ladder, Matteo couldn’t make out anyone. He figured it was best to assume he’d be alone up here for a while. So, he settled in and fixed his eyes on the horizon, never daring to take them off the ship.
Every moment felt like an eternity.
And then he saw them. Two figures riding together on a glider back towards the ship. It was as though they had already come and gone. But he could have sworn there had been more than one glider. Two, at least.
He was still processing what he saw when someone dropped from above him and tackled him to the floor of the crow’s nest. He didn’t have a moment to cry out before a silk cloth was shoved in his mouth to shut him up, and a rope was tied around his wrists.
He tried his best to wriggle free, which incited a sharp jab to the stomach from one of his attackers. He could see from the corner of his eye that they were women. Still, they were stronger than any man he’d met. They spoke to each other in a language he recognized as Shaheeni. It was not as though recognizing the language helped him much, though. He still couldn’t understand.
Matteo thrashed again, trying to throw the woman off of him. She was working hard on the knot around his wrists. Both women wore sheer veils over the lower halves of their faces, making them even more intimidating. It left only the intensity of their eyes to indicate if Matteo was about to die.
“Oi, you,” she said finally. “If you stop being such a pest, this will be easier for all three of us.”
The other woman, sitting on a glider that hung suspended in the air about six feet above them both, shouted down to them. “She’s not gonna let up, you know. If you want, we can knock you out. Might make it easier on your ego, getting beat up by a couple of ladies.”
He tried to shout through his gag but choked on his own spit. Both women laughed. The one who tied him up threw a length of rope up to her partner. Matteo noticed the smell of jasmine flowers on his captor’s hair, but he didn’t have much time to think about it before she threw him over her shoulder and began to climb. She climbed quickly, not fazed by the entire grown man she wore on her back like a backpack.
“Should I drive like a maniac? Scare him so bad he pees?” the woman piloting the glider asked.
“Adipe wants him alive, Rihane.” The other woman shrugged. They looked a bit disappointed but shoved off, sending the glider into a near-immediate freefall.
“Don’t worry!” he heard the pilot shout over the wind. “I won’t kill him!”
Chapter twenty-one
Adipe landed her glider as softly as a feather. Avira had been frightened at first because it looked like there was no ship for them to land on, but she realized soon after that Adipe’s ship was so well camouflaged that it simply looked like part of the sky.
“Genius,” she muttered to herself impulsively.
“I call her, The Mirage.” Adipe chuckled, giving Avira her hand, and helping her off the glider. “I like to think it’s a witty name, considering nobody ever sees me coming.”
Upon closer inspection, Avira saw that the entire body of the vessel was decked in swirling silver and mother-of-pearl inlay. It reflected light in all directions, causing The Mirage to blend perfectly with the sky.
Adipe’s landing pad, which Avira assumed was private, just like the one leading off of Artemis’ cabin, led to a large suite, even more lavish than Avira’s mother’s chamber back home in Alvanii. It was fit for a queen.
In the far corner, behind a translucent screen, Avira could see the silhouette of a servant preparing a bath. The servant popped her head out from behind the screen and bowed deeply for her queen.
“Your bath is ready, Your Highness.”
Adipe chuckled again. “Thank you, Fela, but the bath is not for me.” And with a quick wave of her hand and what Avira could’ve sworn was a wink, Adipe nudged her towards the tub. Avira hesitated.
“Whatever is the matter? Have you not bathed before?”
Avira couldn’t speak. She hadn’t had a bath since leaving home and lost track of how many days ago that was now. She’d stopped bleeding a day and a half ago, but her whole body still felt hot and sticky.
“You look like you’re going to cry, little one,” Adipe said with a pout. “Get in the bath. Fela here will take excellent care of you, and I will be back shortly to help you find something to wear, eh?”
She could only nod as Fela whisked her behind the screen and gently began removing the boy’s clothes she’d grown so comfortable in. Fela took Avira’s hand and helped her into the water, which was perfectly warm and felt silky from all of the soaps and perfumed oils that had been mixed into it. Avira could pick out the smells of frankincense and lavender as well as a few things she couldn’t recognize.
Letting her entire body sink down into the water, Avira could feel her muscles relaxing in ways they hadn’t for months. She was used to being bathed by a servant, so Fela’s presence didn’t feel bizarre at all. In fact, Avira found Fela was a welcome friend.
“You have such beautiful freckles, miss.”
Avira’s cheeks swelled with a smile. She’d rarely heard her freckles called anything but “spotty” and “annoying.”
Avira let her face and hair dip below the water, submerging her entire being. It was quiet underneath the water. Back in Alvanii, mothers would tell their children stories of the Goddess Salicia, who controlled all water on earth. The intention was to keep the children from swimming in their mother’s lilypad ponds, but it frequently worked double to make them afraid of bathing too. Avira had never been afraid of the water. She loved the way it made her body feel weightless and far away.
She wasn’t sure how long she let herself float there. But Fela had long since finished soaping Avira’s body and hair and excused herself to go do other things. Perhaps what Avira needed most of all was this moment alone. She felt as though, rather than water, she was submerged in her own thoughts.
Thoughts of Gavriel, whom she would be seeing soon.
Thoughts of how stupid she felt for letting Artemis get the better of her.
Thoughts of her mother, who she would be happy to see, at least.
Any time a thought of Grigori Bianco appeared in her mind, Avira quickly made it disappear. She couldn’t think of him now. She wasn’t strong enough.
But she did think about Matteo. She thought deeply about him. Without a doubt, she had cared for him, in some sense. She hadn’t exactly loved him. But she had trusted him. And the fact that his entire persona could be a lie didn’t sit well with her. Of course, her father had assumed she’d be aboard The Apollo. All those days earlier, when she thought she’d evaded him, he’d already stuck a private eye on her.
Avira wondered what the deal they made could have been. Half his weight in gold for the safe return of his daughter? She couldn’t rule out an assassination plot either. Her father wasn’t exactly a sentimental man. She wouldn’t put killing his own daughter before she could cause more trouble past him.
Avira emerged from the water with a huge gasp, her mind still swirling. She could feel her cheeks were hot, as though she’d been crying. But all the tears had washed away.
She heard a door open and shut and a few sets of brisk footsteps.
“But, Amma!” a young voice called out from the other side of the screen.
“I won’t have any more conversations on this, Miri.” She heard Adipe and noted an unfamiliar tone in her voice. She was much more severe than usual, maternal, in a sense.
“What will our soldiers do when the plan fails, Amma? What then?”
“So little faith in your mother as a diplomat. I should scold you.” Adipe clicked her tongue. Avira slowly pulled herself from the bath, trying not to make a sound. There was a silky blue robe sitting next to it on a stool, and she slipped it on before tiptoeing out into the main room. She was eager to make her presence known in case Adipe had forgotten. She didn’t want to be taken for an eavesdropper.
Adipe gave a massive smile upon seeing Avira.
“Avira darling, you look so relaxed. Lovely.” Avira curtseyed deeply, not wanting to appear ungrateful to her host. “There is someone I want you to meet. This is my daughter, Mirjana.”
Adipe gestured to a young girl who couldn’t have been older than fourteen. She had Adipe’s gentle face and kind eyes, though Mirjana’s eyes were fixed firmly on her mother.
“Don’t change the subject, Amma. I could care less about whoever your new girlfriend is.” Mirjana had bite to her voice. She was, in some facets, a child throwing a temper tantrum. But Avira could tell that underneath the fire was a powerful young woman who would someday fill her mother’s shoes.
“At least let us arm a militia. Please. We need to be ready. What if Bianco launches an ambush on the capitol? We will have no protection. People will die.”
Adipe was doing a remarkable job of staying calm while under fire from her daughter. “I think you will care more about my ‘new little girlfriend’ when you learn her last name. Avira, why don’t you introduce yourself?”
Avira curtseyed again, realizing at the last minute that her robe was at risk of gaping open and exposing her chest to the Shaheeni royal family. “My name is Avira Bianco.”
Mirjana’s mouth dropped open.
“She is my secret weapon.” Adipe smiled and then pursed her lips into a tiny frown. “But she isn’t much of a weapon at all dressed like that. Come, we’ll find you a new dress. I don’t have any hoop skirts. I’m sure you’ll understand how demeaning I find dressing up like a pastry.”
Avira did understand. She dutifully followed Adipe to a massive walk-in closet that was stocked with robes in colors and textures that she hadn’t even imagined could exist.
“Try these on,” Mirjana said, getting in on the fun. She threw a pair of baggy green pants to Avira. They were unlike any pants Avira had worn, the perfect intersection of pretty and practical. Adipe quickly settled on a cream-colored blouse to go with it and a silky green scarf to wrap around Avira’s cropped hair.
“You’re going to give me to Gavriel looking like this?” Avira asked. “It’s brilliant! He’ll never marry me then. He might not even recognize me.”
Adipe clicked her tongue again, something Avira had mostly seen her do to her daughter.
She felt her heart fall. Of course, she’d have to dress like a lady again when the time came for her to go with Gavriel.
As Avira gazed in the mirror, she posed for herself. She didn’t look boyish, but she didn’t look feminine either. She walked the line perfectly. She felt more like herself than she had maybe ever.
“But until then, I think you look fantastic.” Adipe smiled proudly at her work. “We will arrive in Shaheen at nightfall. Mirjana, did you speak with the prisoner?”
Mirjana grumbled.
“I thought you wanted to be Shaheen’s finest warrior? But you can’t even do an interrogation? Perhaps Avira should go with you to win over the boy?”
It wasn’t long before Avira pieced together who they were speaking of. She couldn’t protest any louder.
“If it’s Matteo, tell him I never wish to speak to him again,” she said firmly. Mirjana skipped off towards whatever kind of interrogation she’d been so reluctant, to begin with. The child appeared to love the drama of it all.
Avira tried to be tough, to make her face look strong like Adipe’s, hoping to send the message that now was not the time. But she knew she was breaking down a little. Thankfully, Adipe let it go.
As Adipe was leaving, Avira could swear she saw a regretful look in the queen’s eyes. But it vanished quickly, as did Adipe. Leaving Avira, yet again, alone with her thoughts. She was growing tired of them.
Chapter twenty-two
The women who'd taken Matteo were high-ranking Shaheeni guards or soldiers, who had not taken much time for niceties. After a few loop-de-loops, the woman piloting the glider gently landed on what appeared to be an even more lavish ship than The Apollo.
It was somewhat hard to tell, though, because in every direction the light hit the ship, a glare was reflected back into Matteo’s eyes, and he had to look away. He’d heard rumors of the excellent camouflage of the Shaheeni warships but had never imagined that they were perfectly invisible, even to their own crew.
The women walked him swiftly across the deck and led him down a spiral staircase to a prison cell. He wasn’t surprised. It’s not like he assumed the women kidnapped him to take him to a bed and breakfast. But as they slammed the iron door to his cell and tossed a loaf of stale bread, Matteo realized he’d entirely forgotten to devise an escape plan.
In his old life, saving children from their captors in Veronii, Matteo had grown good at finding the weak spots of a jail cell and escaping quickly. But none of those prisons had been in the sky. Besides, he had no idea why the women had snatched him up from the crows’ nest so rudely. He was suspicious that it had something to do with Avira. Perhaps this was phase one of Artemis’ plan to turn her over to her father. Avira would be far easier to give back to Gavriel without Matteo there to protect her.
Even now, he could feel the cool metal of Avira’s mother’s pendant resting against his leg. He’d kept it safely tied to his belt so it could be with him at all times, in case Avira caught him in a lie and he had to explain himself. Wearing the necklace around his neck was far too obvious, so he’d secured it safely to his belt buckle.
Matteo heard footsteps on the spiral stairway above him. They didn’t sound like the guard women this time, far too light and rapid. They almost sounded like the footsteps of a child. Matteo impulsively reached his waistline for a dagger, but he was unarmed. He hadn’t carried a weapon in his time on The Apollo. He had no way of protecting himself, so he silently prayed to Aurora that he wouldn’t have to.
