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00:00:32.000 Speaker 1 Chapter two: Dead Man's Wheel.
00:00:37.020 Speaker 1 Amelia Sunder finally fell asleep, a simple mistake that almost cost her everything.
00:00:43.080 Speaker 1 She stirred in bed, still groggy from too little sleep, just enough to make her
00:00:47.740 Speaker 1 realize how exhausted she truly was.
00:00:51.920 Speaker 1 There were shouts outside her cabin. Something slammed into the wall. She stumbled
00:00:57.020 Speaker 1 over and threw open the door. "What in the..." A dark shape collided with her face,
00:01:02.800 Speaker 1 and then she was sleeping again. Sunder slowly came to her senses.
00:01:08.740 Speaker 1 She noticed the bindings around her wrist and ankles. They were tight, but not tight
00:01:13.480 Speaker 1 enough. Then she remembered being clubbed in the face.
00:01:20.020 Speaker 1 You could kill someone with a hit to the skull like that, even if you weren't trying
00:01:24.040 Speaker 1 to. Theater fight scenes always made it seem like you could simply knock a person's
00:01:28.380 Speaker 1 head in the right spot and they would turn off. Even if you knew what you were
00:01:32.380 Speaker 1 doing, you could kill someone, and that person hadn't known what they were doing.
00:01:37.580 Speaker 1 She forced open her eyes. The timid noonday sun was blinding. Pain, so much
00:01:43.460 Speaker 1 pain. It felt like something had come loose in her head. She was tied to the railing
00:01:49.460 Speaker 1 on the top deck. Most of her crew was similarly disabled. Weapons were piled on the
00:01:54.880 Speaker 1 deck in front of them, out of reach: cutlasses, daggers, even a rolling pin. She
00:02:00.080 Speaker 1 looked over her crew. They were each tied to the railing out of reach of each other.
00:02:04.380 Speaker 1 Most of them were uninjured. A few had dark red stains on their clothes, but they
00:02:08.580 Speaker 1 looked like splatter marks, so perhaps it wasn't their blood. Only one person seemed
00:02:14.080 Speaker 1 to be seriously injured, a man so badly beaten he was unrecognizable. Only his
00:02:19.980 Speaker 1 loose-fitting, dingy shirt gave him away. "Arrest us."
00:02:26.340 Speaker 1 The man stirred, but couldn't lift his head to see her. Someone kicked Sunder in the
00:02:30.920 Speaker 1 meat of her thigh. The jolt made her head spin and her stomach weaken. She grimaced
00:02:35.580 Speaker 1 and fought to keep from puking. Sunder turned the grimace on the man standing over
00:02:40.920 Speaker 1 her. "Captain, there are two people barricading the
00:02:46.780 Speaker 1 door to the engine room. Order them to stand down and come up here without a fight."
00:02:53.120 Speaker 1 Sunder tilted her head as if she couldn't hear Ortevos. He stepped closer, annoyed.
00:02:58.640 Speaker 1 "I said there are two..." She kicked him in the shins as hard as she could. He was
00:03:04.340 Speaker 1 too slow to back up, and she clipped him again in the ankle. He stumbled backward,
00:03:08.600 Speaker 1 his yellow and white robes billowing as he fell, clutching at his leg.
00:03:12.880 Speaker 1 Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to break any bones. "You wretch! After I've
00:03:18.540 Speaker 1 shown you such kindness." Two footmen helped Ortevos stand on shaking
00:03:24.340 Speaker 1 legs. "You lightless wretch. Fine, I'll speak to you in the
00:03:30.160 Speaker 1 only language you understand: violence." He turned to one of the footmen,
00:03:36.160 Speaker 1 then nodded toward one of the crew members bound to the railing, Davies. He was one
00:03:40.840 Speaker 1 of the ones with blood splatters on his clothes. And were there too few footmen
00:03:45.380 Speaker 1 here? "Over the side." "No, don't you dare."
00:03:51.720 Speaker 1 The footman ignored her. Ortevos' little soldier had the dull look of a pack animal
00:03:56.720 Speaker 1 about her. She marched over to Davies and tried to lift him. He lashed out at her,
00:04:01.480 Speaker 1 screaming. Another footman came over, and the two of them were able to lift the
00:04:04.980 Speaker 1 terrified man up and over the railing. Sunder was shouting. Everyone was shouting.
00:04:10.280 Speaker 1 Davies hung from the other side of the railing off the side of the ship, bound by
00:04:14.140 Speaker 1 the ropes around his wrist. Ortevos scooped up a cutlass from the deck and slammed
00:04:18.680 Speaker 1 the blade into the ropes. He looked surprised when the ropes held. He sawed and
00:04:23.440 Speaker 1 slashed at the thick rope for a full minute before it finally broke, and Davies,
00:04:28.160 Speaker 1 still screaming, fell to the ocean below. Ortevos tossed the sword to the ground and
00:04:33.440 Speaker 1 walked back to the captain. He was breathing heavily. "I'll kill you."
00:04:39.040 Speaker 1 Ortevos rolled his eyes. "Throw another one over then." "Try it, and I'll
00:04:45.200 Speaker 1 burn the skin clean off you."
00:04:49.260 Speaker 1 Yama sat in the center of the deck in her cushioned chair, unrestrained and holding
00:04:54.340 Speaker 1 her staff. She kept the light veil going this entire time. It was an incredible
00:04:59.540 Speaker 1 display of focus. It hadn't wavered even as she watched her friend's murder. A
00:05:05.020 Speaker 1 footman stood behind her with a dagger, looking to Ortevos in confusion. Presumably,
00:05:10.040 Speaker 1 he'd been holding the beacon captive. But what was he going to do, kill her? He may
00:05:14.320 Speaker 1 as well stick the dagger in his own neck. Killing Yama would kill everyone on board.
00:05:19.220 Speaker 1 There was no way Ormeia could hold the veil until they got back to the Queen's
00:05:22.960 Speaker 1 Light. The stillness would seep in and... Sunder shook away the nightmare,
00:05:29.660 Speaker 1 every sailor's shared nightmare. So that was how he'd disarmed the crew. They had
00:05:35.560 Speaker 1 been unwilling to risk their beacon's life in a standoff. That was the trouble with
00:05:40.620 Speaker 1 pitting rational women and men against the insane devotion of Ortevos' footmen.
00:05:45.760 Speaker 1 Ortevos was willing to die. Well, he was willing to let his zealots die anyway.
00:05:51.720 Speaker 1 Sunder heard a smash far below deck, followed by the sounds of screaming, the sounds
00:05:57.020 Speaker 1 of dying. If they damaged the light engines in that room, they really were all
00:06:02.000 Speaker 1 doomed. "We surrender. We surrender." The sounds of fighting
00:06:08.016 Speaker 1 continued for half a minute, then fell to unnerving silence. A young woman covered
00:06:13.296 Speaker 1 in blood was marched up the stairs at sword point. A single footman limped up behind
00:06:18.456 Speaker 1 her, then collapsed to the deck in a growing pool of her own blood. No one moved to
00:06:23.996 Speaker 1 check on her. The callousness of that shocked Sunder. Did these people come from the
00:06:29.356 Speaker 1 Stillness? How could anyone be so heartless? Ermia stumbled over to Yama and fell
00:06:35.336 Speaker 1 to her knees before the older woman. I'm so sorry, Mistress. I left my staff in
00:06:41.236 Speaker 1 another room. I, I didn't know what to do.
00:06:46.456 Speaker 1 I don't know what to do. Yama took one hand off her staff and
00:06:52.476 Speaker 1 gently cupped the young woman's face. Next time you bed a man, bring a pure light
00:06:58.216 Speaker 1 crystal. Just take it off the staff and hide it in your clothes. You don't need the
00:07:03.216 Speaker 1 whole staff. Just the crystal will do in a pinch. It's foolish to go unarmed, even
00:07:09.096 Speaker 1 to bed. This one's not your fault, Ermia. I blame myself for not
00:07:15.016 Speaker 1 sharing that bit of wisdom sooner.
00:07:18.476 Speaker 1 Ermia looked dumbstruck. Apparently, she had expected a verbal lashing, not
00:07:23.616 Speaker 1 practical advice. Land! Land! There's land!
00:07:29.496 Speaker 1 Ortevos looked from Ermia to the footman standing behind Yama. His face was stuck in
00:07:34.496 Speaker 1 a permanent sneer, which made it difficult to tell if the look on his face
00:07:38.216 Speaker 1 registered as disgust. You, go find her staff. We're going to need both
00:07:44.236 Speaker 1 beacons. Terror shook her crew. They shouted in alarm. Were they going to take
00:07:49.896 Speaker 1 both beacons ashore? Would they really leave an entire crew tied up in the
00:07:55.116 Speaker 1 Stillness? That would truly be the work of a monster. Better to cut their throats
00:08:00.576 Speaker 1 now. It should have frightened Sunder as well, but she was busy. Busy making
00:08:06.476 Speaker 1 it look like she was still tied to the railing while she covertly worked on the
00:08:10.856 Speaker 1 knotted rope around her ankles. Ortevos and the remaining footmen stepped onto a
00:08:15.596 Speaker 1 dinghy filled with cutlasses and daggers. They had even taken the rolling pin.
00:08:20.676 Speaker 1 You're sick, Ortevos. This is how the downturn kills. I know you think you're doing
00:08:26.496 Speaker 1 the right thing. Oh, shut up. You're not nearly as smart as you think you are.
00:08:32.436 Speaker 1 He pointed at Yama. Bring her. No, please. She hadn't
00:08:38.336 Speaker 1 begged before that moment. A captain shouldn't be seen begging. But this was Yama.
00:08:44.256 Speaker 1 He couldn't take her. The old woman rose from her chair in the center of the deck
00:08:48.896 Speaker 1 and walked over under her own power. Don't, please. Stay, Yama. Send Ermia
00:08:54.336 Speaker 1 instead. Take Ermia. The younger woman shrank against the beacon's chair, as if it
00:09:00.276 Speaker 1 could protect her. Ortevos laughed. So you can leave us here? I don't think so,
00:09:06.216 Speaker 1 Captain. They helped Yama into the boat, and it was slowly lowered to the water.
00:09:11.836 Speaker 1 They rowed the dinghy away toward the shore just a hundred yards away, taking their
00:09:16.336 Speaker 1 bubble of light with them. It wasn't supposed to be this way. Yama had always feared
00:09:21.976 Speaker 1 the Order of Light would come back for her, and in the end, they had. She had
00:09:26.556 Speaker 1 promised to protect her. Amelia felt the Stillness swallow the ship.
00:09:32.836 Speaker 1 It was like a rush of cold water, numbing, suffocating. Whispers in her mind
00:09:38.676 Speaker 1 told her to simply stop feeling. There was no point to this struggle.
00:09:44.616 Speaker 1 Darkness turned all the color of the world to shades of gray. A veil like a
00:09:50.316 Speaker 1 miniature sun bloomed from the deck, so bright it hurt to look at Ermia. Too
00:09:56.156 Speaker 1 bright. She felt the whispers in her mind burn away. A single footman had stayed
00:10:01.796 Speaker 1 behind, timidly holding a knife to Ermia's neck. Sunder wasn't sure what the point
00:10:06.476 Speaker 1 of that gesture was. She finally pulled the knots loose from her legs, just minutes
00:10:11.676 Speaker 1 too late, then stood. She strolled over to the man holding the knife. Take one
00:10:17.536 Speaker 1 more step and... She punched him in the face. He fell backward, dropping the knife,
00:10:23.156 Speaker 1 holding his gushing nose. Sunder picked up the knife and started cutting her crew
00:10:27.875 Speaker 1 loose. Raise the anchor. We're turning around right now. Push the light engines as
00:10:33.456 Speaker 1 hard as they'll go. Then she looked down at the man on the floor. He scooted away
00:10:38.416 Speaker 1 from her, mopping the blood from his face. And escort this man off my ship.
00:10:44.796 Speaker 1 You can't. You can't. If you leave... He didn't get to finish what he was saying.
00:10:50.116 Speaker 1 Two crew members picked him up under the arms and unceremoniously tossed him over
00:10:54.416 Speaker 1 the railing. They had already returned to their work by the time she heard the
00:10:58.356 Speaker 1 splash. Once he was cut free, Errestus limped over. His face was so swollen
00:11:04.276 Speaker 1 that he had to tilt his head back to see her. The only eye she could see was watery.
00:11:09.736 Speaker 1 Was that because of the pain, or because... Because this was the end,
00:11:15.716 Speaker 1 damn it. Sunder looked out at the Stillness, pressing against Ermia's light veil,
00:11:21.236 Speaker 1 squeezing the life from it. It would win, eventually, and then they
00:11:27.136 Speaker 1 would go still. Not dead. Dying was a release. Being
00:11:33.076 Speaker 1 still was to be trapped in your own body until the end of time, spiraling down into
00:11:38.796 Speaker 1 deeper and deeper despair until there was nothing left but a primal hunger for
00:11:43.576 Speaker 1 anything that could make you feel again. A wretch. She felt
00:11:49.536 Speaker 1 a sob force its way through her. Errestus placed a hand on her shoulder. Sunder
00:11:54.616 Speaker 1 looked away from him. A captain didn't cry in front of her crew. Not sober, anyway.
00:12:01.136 Speaker 1 I'm going to try something very stupid. I need you to do something for me in case it
00:12:06.416 Speaker 1 doesn't work. Anything "Chart a straight course back to Azalea.
00:12:12.460 Speaker 1 Accurate as you can, but don't waste time. You have five minutes." Erastus nodded,
00:12:17.920 Speaker 1 then started to walk off. Sunder grabbed him by the arm and spoke again, hushed.
00:12:22.560 Speaker 1 "Drag a water barrel and a crate of rations into the engine room, too.
00:12:28.380 Speaker 1 Then look in the top drawer of my cabin desk. I need what's in there."
00:12:33.120 Speaker 1 "What is it?" "You'll know when you see it."
00:12:39.240 Speaker 1 The dead man's wheel was the very last resort of every captain. Officially,
00:12:45.220 Speaker 1 only the captain and their first mate was supposed to know about it. Unofficially,
00:12:50.220 Speaker 1 everyone knew that if you couldn't save the beacon, you couldn't save the crew, but
00:12:55.580 Speaker 1 you could still save the ship. The wheel and throttle could be permanently locked in
00:13:01.120 Speaker 1 place. A specific flag could be flown. Then, if they aimed just
00:13:06.840 Speaker 1 right, the mighty current might make it back to the Queen's Light to be recaptured
00:13:11.920 Speaker 1 for future generations of luckless, idiotic sailors. First, though,
00:13:17.840 Speaker 1 they would have to murder what was left of her insane, half-living crew. She
00:13:23.240 Speaker 1 shuddered. Erastus made the sign of light, then trotted off to find the key to their
00:13:28.720 Speaker 1 demise. She tried to tell herself that was just the backup plan. Sunder gritted
00:13:34.760 Speaker 1 her teeth. No one hurts my family. Then she marched up
00:13:40.720 Speaker 1 to the wheel of the mighty current and called for attention. "Are we just going to
00:13:46.040 Speaker 1 let them take our beacon?" The crew screamed their reply, a chorus of no's,
00:13:52.520 Speaker 1 some with more colorful language than others. "Our friend, our family,
00:13:58.820 Speaker 1 our way home?" Then they let loose a wild roar. The crew of the mighty current
00:14:04.740 Speaker 1 was fairly laid back as far as Azalea's ships went, but this was a line you never
00:14:09.780 Speaker 1 crossed. Never get between a sailor and their only way home. Captain
00:14:15.740 Speaker 1 Sunder turned the mighty current toward the other, now distant ball of light. It
00:14:21.620 Speaker 1 would take a few minutes to reach them on an intercept course, and when that
00:14:25.580 Speaker 1 happened, they would have only one shot at saving Yama. She could easily blow the
00:14:30.120 Speaker 1 dinghy out of the water. She could easily smash it beneath her hull. But saving an
00:14:35.600 Speaker 1 old woman, held captive at swordpoint by lunatics, while trying to board the tiny
00:14:41.300 Speaker 1 boat from a still-moving ship? Sunder swallowed. It wasn't the kind of thing you
00:14:46.860 Speaker 1 practiced. There were a thousand ways this could go wrong, and very few it could go
00:14:52.060 Speaker 1 right. Chances were, she was about to kill her friend, and in turn, doom
00:14:58.120 Speaker 1 them all. The two light veils moved closer and closer, like denizens of a very
00:15:03.560 Speaker 1 different kind charging each other. Sunder pulled back on the old steel lever next
00:15:09.080 Speaker 1 to the wheel, completely disconnecting the light engines from the rudders. If she
00:15:13.340 Speaker 1 timed it perfectly, they would coast right into the dinghy's path without hitting
00:15:17.380 Speaker 1 it. Half of the crew leaned over rails with nets, ready to throw them on the armed
00:15:22.400 Speaker 1 footmen. The other half were hanging from boarding nets just above the water, and
00:15:27.040 Speaker 1 ready to board the dinghy, hopefully without getting cut to ribbons in the process.
00:15:32.280 Speaker 1 The two light veils combined, growing blindingly bright where they overlapped. The
00:15:37.160 Speaker 1 little boat disappeared under the edge of the railing. People shouted. Sunder
00:15:42.060 Speaker 1 clenched her teeth. It was too late to maneuver now. If she'd gotten it wrong, the
00:15:46.500 Speaker 1 dinghy would be crushed. She simply hoped that the Queen's own grace guided her
00:15:51.620 Speaker 1 hand. The crew threw their nets down. Others leapt into the ocean. The sounds of
00:15:56.900 Speaker 1 splashing, screaming, and dying rose from below. "Captain!" Ermiah was
00:16:02.640 Speaker 1 yelling. "Not now!" Sunder ran to the railing to see if they were winning, to see if
00:16:08.080 Speaker 1 Yama was okay. "Captain!" Ermiah yelled again. Most of the
00:16:13.780 Speaker 1 fighting was happening at the prow of the dinghy. Though small, it easily fit the
00:16:17.780 Speaker 1 ten armed footmen. They were tangled in nets, but fought viciously. When a crew
00:16:22.640 Speaker 1 member tried to climb into the boat, the ones who couldn't swing their stolen
00:16:25.960 Speaker 1 weapons simply slammed into the boarders and knocked them back into the ocean. The
00:16:30.760 Speaker 1 mighty current was drifting past the dinghy, and their window was quickly closing.
00:16:35.480 Speaker 1 It wasn't until the boarders started pulling on the nets that the tide turned. One
00:16:40.060 Speaker 1 by one, the sailors dragged the footmen off the boat and into the water. She should
00:16:45.020 Speaker 1 be down there. Her place was down there. She was about to dive in when a voice
00:16:50.200 Speaker 1 startled her. "We need to go!" Ermiah shouted from right next to her. Yama was
00:16:56.280 Speaker 1 on the other end of the dinghy, away from the fighting. She wasn't looking up at
00:17:00.640 Speaker 1 her. She didn't seem concerned at all by the fighting, even though people were
00:17:04.940 Speaker 1 bleeding and dying not ten feet from her. Because Yama was looking into the water.
00:17:10.600 Speaker 1 "Denizen! Shadow Denizen!" A living shadow moved through
00:17:16.600 Speaker 1 the edge of the light veil. A mass of darkness with only the hint of a creature's
00:17:21.200 Speaker 1 shape. A creature so large it made the mighty current look like a bath toy. Yama's
00:17:27.240 Speaker 1 veil flickered out as the creature entered the light. Ermiah fell to her knees, but
00:17:31.660 Speaker 1 kept hold of her staff, breathing heavily. The crystal at its tip hummed loudly and
00:17:36.580 Speaker 1 wafted little curls of smoke. The light veil shrank and shrank as the Denizen's body
00:17:41.960 Speaker 1 rose from the ocean depths. The crystal itself grew brighter even as the world
00:17:46.740 Speaker 1 around them fell into deeper darkness. Sailors and footmen alike screamed in panic.
00:17:53.160 Speaker 1 Their fighting, already vicious, fell into hysteria as men and women scrambled to
00:17:57.820 Speaker 1 get onto the dinghy, fighting not to be consumed by the monster beneath them.
00:18:04.220 Speaker 1 Sunder slammed the throttle forward and the light engines kicked on so hard that the
00:18:08.560 Speaker 1 front of the ship rose almost five feet into the air. That sound of tortured wood
00:18:13.536 Speaker 1 and old steel was exactly like in her nightmares. The sound of a ship with a lethal
00:18:19.376 Speaker 1 wound. She turned the wheel hard right. The ship rose into the air on the left side.
00:18:25.636 Speaker 1 Ocean spray slapped her face. Then the mighty current slid down the Denizen's back
00:18:30.496 Speaker 1 and crashed back into the water, sending a wave across the deck that knocked her
00:18:34.796 Speaker 1 from her feet. Sunder was washed down the steps and slammed into a wall. She coughed
00:18:40.256 Speaker 1 up seawater and tried to pull herself to her feet as the wave finally ebbed and
00:18:44.796 Speaker 1 washed back over the sides. It took a moment to find which way was up, and she
00:18:48.916 Speaker 1 briefly worried that the ship was capsizing. The ocean would rise like a giant wall
00:18:54.016 Speaker 1 to greet them before swallowing the ship whole. Somehow, it hadn't happened. She
00:18:59.796 Speaker 1 rose, ensuring that her brightsword was still in its sheath. Frantically, she
00:19:04.156 Speaker 1 searched the deck. There should be more people here. There were only two. Captain,
00:19:10.296 Speaker 1 quickly! Orestes stood on the other side of the ship. Sunder ran over to find him
00:19:16.315 Speaker 1 holding Ermia by her robes, upside down over the side of the ship. They struggled to
00:19:21.396 Speaker 1 get her back over the railing where the apprentice light mage flopped to the deck,
00:19:25.456 Speaker 1 completely drenched. Sunder dragged her away from the side of the ship. Your staff!
00:19:30.616 Speaker 1 Your staff! Where is it? Ermia looked panicked, in shock. She was unresponsive.
00:19:36.736 Speaker 1 So Sunder left her there and rushed back to the wheel. She centered the wheel and
00:19:41.436 Speaker 1 pulled back the throttle, only slightly. Even then it was pushed to the limit. There
00:19:46.456 Speaker 1 was a drag to the ship that wasn't natural. Something was deeply, terribly,
00:19:53.016 Speaker 1 horribly wrong. They were sinking.