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Speaker 1: Chapter two: Dead Man's Wheel.

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Speaker 1: Amelia Sunder finally fell asleep, a
simple mistake that almost cost her everything.

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Speaker 1: She stirred in bed, still groggy from
too little sleep, just enough to make her

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Speaker 1: realize how exhausted she truly was.

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Speaker 1: There were shouts outside her cabin.
Something slammed into the wall. She stumbled

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Speaker 1: over and threw open the door. "What
in the..." A dark shape collided with her face,

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Speaker 1: and then she was sleeping again.
Sunder slowly came to her senses.

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Speaker 1: She noticed the bindings around her
wrist and ankles. They were tight, but not tight

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Speaker 1: enough. Then she remembered being
clubbed in the face.

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Speaker 1: You could kill someone with a hit to
the skull like that, even if you weren't trying

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Speaker 1: to. Theater fight scenes always made
it seem like you could simply knock a person's

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Speaker 1: head in the right spot and they would
turn off. Even if you knew what you were

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Speaker 1: doing, you could kill someone, and
that person hadn't known what they were doing.

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Speaker 1: She forced open her eyes. The timid
noonday sun was blinding. Pain, so much

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Speaker 1: pain. It felt like something had come
loose in her head. She was tied to the railing

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Speaker 1: on the top deck. Most of her crew was
similarly disabled. Weapons were piled on the

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Speaker 1: deck in front of them, out of reach:
cutlasses, daggers, even a rolling pin. She

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Speaker 1: looked over her crew. They were each
tied to the railing out of reach of each other.

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Speaker 1: Most of them were uninjured. A few
had dark red stains on their clothes, but they

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Speaker 1: looked like splatter marks, so
perhaps it wasn't their blood. Only one person
seemed

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Speaker 1: to be seriously injured, a man so
badly beaten he was unrecognizable. Only his

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Speaker 1: loose-fitting, dingy shirt gave him
away. "Arrest us."

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Speaker 1: The man stirred, but couldn't lift
his head to see her. Someone kicked Sunder in
the

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Speaker 1: meat of her thigh. The jolt made her
head spin and her stomach weaken. She grimaced

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Speaker 1: and fought to keep from puking.
Sunder turned the grimace on the man standing
over

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Speaker 1: her. "Captain, there are two people
barricading the

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Speaker 1: door to the engine room. Order them
to stand down and come up here without a fight."

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Speaker 1: Sunder tilted her head as if she
couldn't hear Ortevos. He stepped closer,
annoyed.

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Speaker 1: "I said there are two..." She kicked
him in the shins as hard as she could. He was

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Speaker 1: too slow to back up, and she clipped
him again in the ankle. He stumbled backward,

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Speaker 1: his yellow and white robes billowing
as he fell, clutching at his leg.

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Speaker 1: Unfortunately, she hadn't been able
to break any bones. "You wretch! After I've

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Speaker 1: shown you such kindness." Two footmen
helped Ortevos stand on shaking

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Speaker 1: legs. "You lightless wretch. Fine,
I'll speak to you in the

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Speaker 1: only language you understand:
violence." He turned to one of the footmen,

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Speaker 1: then nodded toward one of the crew
members bound to the railing, Davies. He was one

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Speaker 1: of the ones with blood splatters on
his clothes. And were there too few footmen

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Speaker 1: here? "Over the side." "No, don't you
dare."

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Speaker 1: The footman ignored her. Ortevos'
little soldier had the dull look of a pack
animal

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Speaker 1: about her. She marched over to Davies
and tried to lift him. He lashed out at her,

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Speaker 1: screaming. Another footman came over,
and the two of them were able to lift the

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Speaker 1: terrified man up and over the
railing. Sunder was shouting. Everyone was
shouting.

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Speaker 1: Davies hung from the other side of
the railing off the side of the ship, bound by

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Speaker 1: the ropes around his wrist. Ortevos
scooped up a cutlass from the deck and slammed

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Speaker 1: the blade into the ropes. He looked
surprised when the ropes held. He sawed and

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Speaker 1: slashed at the thick rope for a full
minute before it finally broke, and Davies,

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Speaker 1: still screaming, fell to the ocean
below. Ortevos tossed the sword to the ground
and

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Speaker 1: walked back to the captain. He was
breathing heavily. "I'll kill you."

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Speaker 1: Ortevos rolled his eyes. "Throw
another one over then." "Try it, and I'll

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Speaker 1: burn the skin clean off you."

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Speaker 1: Yama sat in the center of the deck in
her cushioned chair, unrestrained and holding

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Speaker 1: her staff. She kept the light veil
going this entire time. It was an incredible

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Speaker 1: display of focus. It hadn't wavered
even as she watched her friend's murder. A

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Speaker 1: footman stood behind her with a
dagger, looking to Ortevos in confusion.
Presumably,

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Speaker 1: he'd been holding the beacon captive.
But what was he going to do, kill her? He may

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Speaker 1: as well stick the dagger in his own
neck. Killing Yama would kill everyone on board.

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Speaker 1: There was no way Ormeia could hold
the veil until they got back to the Queen's

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Speaker 1: Light. The stillness would seep in
and... Sunder shook away the nightmare,

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Speaker 1: every sailor's shared nightmare. So
that was how he'd disarmed the crew. They had

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Speaker 1: been unwilling to risk their beacon's
life in a standoff. That was the trouble with

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Speaker 1: pitting rational women and men
against the insane devotion of Ortevos' footmen.

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Speaker 1: Ortevos was willing to die. Well, he
was willing to let his zealots die anyway.

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Speaker 1: Sunder heard a smash far below deck,
followed by the sounds of screaming, the sounds

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Speaker 1: of dying. If they damaged the light
engines in that room, they really were all

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Speaker 1: doomed. "We surrender. We surrender."
The sounds of fighting

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Speaker 1: continued for half a minute, then
fell to unnerving silence. A young woman covered

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Speaker 1: in blood was marched up the stairs at
sword point. A single footman limped up behind

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Speaker 1: her, then collapsed to the deck in a
growing pool of her own blood. No one moved to

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Speaker 1: check on her. The callousness of that
shocked Sunder. Did these people come from the

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Speaker 1: Stillness? How could anyone be so
heartless? Ermia stumbled over to Yama and fell

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Speaker 1: to her knees before the older woman.
I'm so sorry, Mistress. I left my staff in

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Speaker 1: another room. I, I didn't know what
to do.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what to do. Yama took
one hand off her staff and

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Speaker 1: gently cupped the young woman's face.
Next time you bed a man, bring a pure light

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Speaker 1: crystal. Just take it off the staff
and hide it in your clothes. You don't need the

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Speaker 1: whole staff. Just the crystal will do
in a pinch. It's foolish to go unarmed, even

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Speaker 1: to bed. This one's not your fault,
Ermia. I blame myself for not

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Speaker 1: sharing that bit of wisdom sooner.

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Speaker 1: Ermia looked dumbstruck. Apparently,
she had expected a verbal lashing, not

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Speaker 1: practical advice. Land! Land! There's
land!

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Speaker 1: Ortevos looked from Ermia to the
footman standing behind Yama. His face was stuck
in

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Speaker 1: a permanent sneer, which made it
difficult to tell if the look on his face

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Speaker 1: registered as disgust. You, go find
her staff. We're going to need both

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Speaker 1: beacons. Terror shook her crew. They
shouted in alarm. Were they going to take

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Speaker 1: both beacons ashore? Would they
really leave an entire crew tied up in the

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Speaker 1: Stillness? That would truly be the
work of a monster. Better to cut their throats

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Speaker 1: now. It should have frightened Sunder
as well, but she was busy. Busy making

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Speaker 1: it look like she was still tied to
the railing while she covertly worked on the

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Speaker 1: knotted rope around her ankles.
Ortevos and the remaining footmen stepped onto a

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Speaker 1: dinghy filled with cutlasses and
daggers. They had even taken the rolling pin.

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Speaker 1: You're sick, Ortevos. This is how the
downturn kills. I know you think you're doing

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Speaker 1: the right thing. Oh, shut up. You're
not nearly as smart as you think you are.

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Speaker 1: He pointed at Yama. Bring her. No,
please. She hadn't

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Speaker 1: begged before that moment. A captain
shouldn't be seen begging. But this was Yama.

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Speaker 1: He couldn't take her. The old woman
rose from her chair in the center of the deck

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Speaker 1: and walked over under her own power.
Don't, please. Stay, Yama. Send Ermia

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Speaker 1: instead. Take Ermia. The younger
woman shrank against the beacon's chair, as if
it

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Speaker 1: could protect her. Ortevos laughed.
So you can leave us here? I don't think so,

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Speaker 1: Captain. They helped Yama into the
boat, and it was slowly lowered to the water.

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Speaker 1: They rowed the dinghy away toward the
shore just a hundred yards away, taking their

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Speaker 1: bubble of light with them. It wasn't
supposed to be this way. Yama had always feared

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Speaker 1: the Order of Light would come back
for her, and in the end, they had. She had

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Speaker 1: promised to protect her. Amelia felt
the Stillness swallow the ship.

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Speaker 1: It was like a rush of cold water,
numbing, suffocating. Whispers in her mind

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Speaker 1: told her to simply stop feeling.
There was no point to this struggle.

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Speaker 1: Darkness turned all the color of the
world to shades of gray. A veil like a

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Speaker 1: miniature sun bloomed from the deck,
so bright it hurt to look at Ermia. Too

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Speaker 1: bright. She felt the whispers in her
mind burn away. A single footman had stayed

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Speaker 1: behind, timidly holding a knife to
Ermia's neck. Sunder wasn't sure what the point

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Speaker 1: of that gesture was. She finally
pulled the knots loose from her legs, just
minutes

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Speaker 1: too late, then stood. She strolled
over to the man holding the knife. Take one

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Speaker 1: more step and... She punched him in
the face. He fell backward, dropping the knife,

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Speaker 1: holding his gushing nose. Sunder
picked up the knife and started cutting her crew

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Speaker 1: loose. Raise the anchor. We're
turning around right now. Push the light engines
as

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Speaker 1: hard as they'll go. Then she looked
down at the man on the floor. He scooted away

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Speaker 1: from her, mopping the blood from his
face. And escort this man off my ship.

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Speaker 1: You can't. You can't. If you leave...
He didn't get to finish what he was saying.

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Speaker 1: Two crew members picked him up under
the arms and unceremoniously tossed him over

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Speaker 1: the railing. They had already
returned to their work by the time she heard the

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Speaker 1: splash. Once he was cut free,
Errestus limped over. His face was so swollen

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Speaker 1: that he had to tilt his head back to
see her. The only eye she could see was watery.

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Speaker 1: Was that because of the pain, or
because... Because this was the end,

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Speaker 1: damn it. Sunder looked out at the
Stillness, pressing against Ermia's light veil,

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Speaker 1: squeezing the life from it. It would
win, eventually, and then they

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Speaker 1: would go still. Not dead. Dying was a
release. Being

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Speaker 1: still was to be trapped in your own
body until the end of time, spiraling down into

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Speaker 1: deeper and deeper despair until there
was nothing left but a primal hunger for

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Speaker 1: anything that could make you feel
again. A wretch. She felt

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Speaker 1: a sob force its way through her.
Errestus placed a hand on her shoulder. Sunder

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Speaker 1: looked away from him. A captain
didn't cry in front of her crew. Not sober,
anyway.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to try something very
stupid. I need you to do something for me in
case it

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Speaker 1: doesn't work. Anything "Chart a
straight course back to Azalea.

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Speaker 1: Accurate as you can, but don't waste
time. You have five minutes." Erastus nodded,

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Speaker 1: then started to walk off. Sunder
grabbed him by the arm and spoke again, hushed.

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Speaker 1: "Drag a water barrel and a crate of
rations into the engine room, too.

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Speaker 1: Then look in the top drawer of my
cabin desk. I need what's in there."

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Speaker 1: "What is it?" "You'll know when you
see it."

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Speaker 1: The dead man's wheel was the very
last resort of every captain. Officially,

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Speaker 1: only the captain and their first mate
was supposed to know about it. Unofficially,

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Speaker 1: everyone knew that if you couldn't
save the beacon, you couldn't save the crew, but

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Speaker 1: you could still save the ship. The
wheel and throttle could be permanently locked
in

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Speaker 1: place. A specific flag could be
flown. Then, if they aimed just

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Speaker 1: right, the mighty current might make
it back to the Queen's Light to be recaptured

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Speaker 1: for future generations of luckless,
idiotic sailors. First, though,

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Speaker 1: they would have to murder what was
left of her insane, half-living crew. She

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Speaker 1: shuddered. Erastus made the sign of
light, then trotted off to find the key to their

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Speaker 1: demise. She tried to tell herself
that was just the backup plan. Sunder gritted

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Speaker 1: her teeth. No one hurts my family.
Then she marched up

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Speaker 1: to the wheel of the mighty current
and called for attention. "Are we just going to

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Speaker 1: let them take our beacon?" The crew
screamed their reply, a chorus of no's,

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Speaker 1: some with more colorful language than
others. "Our friend, our family,

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Speaker 1: our way home?" Then they let loose a
wild roar. The crew of the mighty current

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Speaker 1: was fairly laid back as far as
Azalea's ships went, but this was a line you
never

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Speaker 1: crossed. Never get between a sailor
and their only way home. Captain

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Speaker 1: Sunder turned the mighty current
toward the other, now distant ball of light. It

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Speaker 1: would take a few minutes to reach
them on an intercept course, and when that

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Speaker 1: happened, they would have only one
shot at saving Yama. She could easily blow the

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Speaker 1: dinghy out of the water. She could
easily smash it beneath her hull. But saving an

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Speaker 1: old woman, held captive at swordpoint
by lunatics, while trying to board the tiny

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Speaker 1: boat from a still-moving ship? Sunder
swallowed. It wasn't the kind of thing you

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Speaker 1: practiced. There were a thousand ways
this could go wrong, and very few it could go

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Speaker 1: right. Chances were, she was about to
kill her friend, and in turn, doom

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Speaker 1: them all. The two light veils moved
closer and closer, like denizens of a very

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Speaker 1: different kind charging each other.
Sunder pulled back on the old steel lever next

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Speaker 1: to the wheel, completely
disconnecting the light engines from the
rudders. If she

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Speaker 1: timed it perfectly, they would coast
right into the dinghy's path without hitting

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Speaker 1: it. Half of the crew leaned over
rails with nets, ready to throw them on the
armed

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Speaker 1: footmen. The other half were hanging
from boarding nets just above the water, and

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Speaker 1: ready to board the dinghy, hopefully
without getting cut to ribbons in the process.

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Speaker 1: The two light veils combined, growing
blindingly bright where they overlapped. The

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Speaker 1: little boat disappeared under the
edge of the railing. People shouted. Sunder

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Speaker 1: clenched her teeth. It was too late
to maneuver now. If she'd gotten it wrong, the

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Speaker 1: dinghy would be crushed. She simply
hoped that the Queen's own grace guided her

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Speaker 1: hand. The crew threw their nets down.
Others leapt into the ocean. The sounds of

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Speaker 1: splashing, screaming, and dying rose
from below. "Captain!" Ermiah was

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Speaker 1: yelling. "Not now!" Sunder ran to the
railing to see if they were winning, to see if

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Speaker 1: Yama was okay. "Captain!" Ermiah
yelled again. Most of the

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00:16:13.780 --> 00:16:17.700
Speaker 1: fighting was happening at the prow of
the dinghy. Though small, it easily fit the

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Speaker 1: ten armed footmen. They were tangled
in nets, but fought viciously. When a crew

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Speaker 1: member tried to climb into the boat,
the ones who couldn't swing their stolen

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00:16:25.960 --> 00:16:30.720
Speaker 1: weapons simply slammed into the
boarders and knocked them back into the ocean.
The

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00:16:30.760 --> 00:16:34.540
Speaker 1: mighty current was drifting past the
dinghy, and their window was quickly closing.

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00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:40.000
Speaker 1: It wasn't until the boarders started
pulling on the nets that the tide turned. One

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00:16:40.060 --> 00:16:44.980
Speaker 1: by one, the sailors dragged the
footmen off the boat and into the water. She
should

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00:16:45.020 --> 00:16:50.100
Speaker 1: be down there. Her place was down
there. She was about to dive in when a voice

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Speaker 1: startled her. "We need to go!" Ermiah
shouted from right next to her. Yama was

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00:16:56.280 --> 00:17:00.600
Speaker 1: on the other end of the dinghy, away
from the fighting. She wasn't looking up at

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Speaker 1: her. She didn't seem concerned at all
by the fighting, even though people were

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00:17:04.940 --> 00:17:10.520
Speaker 1: bleeding and dying not ten feet from
her. Because Yama was looking into the water.

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Speaker 1: "Denizen! Shadow Denizen!" A living
shadow moved through

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00:17:16.600 --> 00:17:21.140
Speaker 1: the edge of the light veil. A mass of
darkness with only the hint of a creature's

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00:17:21.200 --> 00:17:27.180
Speaker 1: shape. A creature so large it made
the mighty current look like a bath toy. Yama's

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00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:31.600
Speaker 1: veil flickered out as the creature
entered the light. Ermiah fell to her knees, but

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00:17:31.660 --> 00:17:36.520
Speaker 1: kept hold of her staff, breathing
heavily. The crystal at its tip hummed loudly
and

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00:17:36.580 --> 00:17:41.800
Speaker 1: wafted little curls of smoke. The
light veil shrank and shrank as the Denizen's
body

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00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:46.660
Speaker 1: rose from the ocean depths. The
crystal itself grew brighter even as the world

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Speaker 1: around them fell into deeper
darkness. Sailors and footmen alike screamed in
panic.

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00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:57.780
Speaker 1: Their fighting, already vicious, fell
into hysteria as men and women scrambled to

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00:17:57.820 --> 00:18:02.320
Speaker 1: get onto the dinghy, fighting not to
be consumed by the monster beneath them.

200
00:18:04.220 --> 00:18:08.500
Speaker 1: Sunder slammed the throttle forward
and the light engines kicked on so hard that the

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00:18:08.560 --> 00:18:13.496
Speaker 1: front of the ship rose almost five
feet into the air. That sound of tortured wood

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00:18:13.536 --> 00:18:19.236
Speaker 1: and old steel was exactly like in her
nightmares. The sound of a ship with a lethal

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00:18:19.376 --> 00:18:24.696
Speaker 1: wound. She turned the wheel hard
right. The ship rose into the air on the left
side.

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00:18:25.636 --> 00:18:30.456
Speaker 1: Ocean spray slapped her face. Then
the mighty current slid down the Denizen's back

205
00:18:30.496 --> 00:18:34.756
Speaker 1: and crashed back into the water,
sending a wave across the deck that knocked her

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00:18:34.796 --> 00:18:40.196
Speaker 1: from her feet. Sunder was washed down
the steps and slammed into a wall. She coughed

207
00:18:40.256 --> 00:18:44.716
Speaker 1: up seawater and tried to pull herself
to her feet as the wave finally ebbed and

208
00:18:44.796 --> 00:18:48.876
Speaker 1: washed back over the sides. It took a
moment to find which way was up, and she

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00:18:48.916 --> 00:18:53.976
Speaker 1: briefly worried that the ship was
capsizing. The ocean would rise like a giant
wall

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00:18:54.016 --> 00:18:59.716
Speaker 1: to greet them before swallowing the
ship whole. Somehow, it hadn't happened. She

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00:18:59.796 --> 00:19:04.096
Speaker 1: rose, ensuring that her brightsword
was still in its sheath. Frantically, she

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00:19:04.156 --> 00:19:10.096
Speaker 1: searched the deck. There should be
more people here. There were only two. Captain,

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00:19:10.296 --> 00:19:16.175
Speaker 1: quickly! Orestes stood on the other
side of the ship. Sunder ran over to find him

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00:19:16.315 --> 00:19:21.356
Speaker 1: holding Ermia by her robes, upside
down over the side of the ship. They struggled
to

215
00:19:21.396 --> 00:19:25.256
Speaker 1: get her back over the railing where
the apprentice light mage flopped to the deck,

216
00:19:25.456 --> 00:19:30.456
Speaker 1: completely drenched. Sunder dragged
her away from the side of the ship. Your staff!

217
00:19:30.616 --> 00:19:36.376
Speaker 1: Your staff! Where is it? Ermia looked
panicked, in shock. She was unresponsive.

218
00:19:36.736 --> 00:19:41.376
Speaker 1: So Sunder left her there and rushed
back to the wheel. She centered the wheel and

219
00:19:41.436 --> 00:19:46.416
Speaker 1: pulled back the throttle, only
slightly. Even then it was pushed to the limit.
There

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00:19:46.456 --> 00:19:52.456
Speaker 1: was a drag to the ship that wasn't
natural. Something was deeply, terribly,

221
00:19:53.016 --> 00:19:56.136
Speaker 1: horribly wrong. They were sinking.