Great Chief by Lindsay Buroker

Author:Lindsay Buroker [Buroker, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-25T04:00:00+00:00

14

Yanko felt a little better by the time the Nurian coastline came into sight. Better and bemused. The fifteen-ship fleet of Kendorian privateers—or pirates, as everyone insisted on calling them—sailed behind Tynlee’s yacht. He didn’t know what Xara had said to the pirate captains, but they had all trailed his group out of the bay and crossed the ocean with them.

They were still a day or two from Yellow Delta, and Yanko watched for signs of battle inland as they sailed north, a couple of miles off the coast. Kei perched on his shoulder, occasionally plucking strands of hair out of his topknot. The parrot thought that a delightful hobby.

Yanko swished the orangish-pink concoction in his cup, willing himself to finish the rest of it. His brain was clearer, and he’d stopped coughing, but he wasn’t back to full strength. He tired easily, and the day before, he and Dak had both broken out in a sweat after two minutes of sparring. Neither had said how much trouble they would be in if they were expected to do a lot of fighting during this march to take the capital, but they both must have been thinking it.

Not that anybody would expect Dak to march into a battle in Nuria. His superiors would likely think him daft if he did. Yanko on the other hand…

His guts twisted as he tried to guess what Zirabo would expect him to do to help turn the tide. Destroy more soul constructs? He hoped his magical stamina wasn’t as quick to fatigue as his physical stamina. He hadn’t yet tested it and was worried about what he would find when he did.

Yanko drank deeply from the cup.

“Tastes like piss,” Kei announced.

Yanko sputtered. “Who said that?”

“Everyone,” Lakeo said, walking up to stand beside him. “Speaking of that, is your pee pink?”

“No, is yours?”

She hesitated. “Of course not. But I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. I guess I’m feeling better though.”

“That’s good.”

Yanko didn’t know what else to say to her. They hadn’t spoken much since she’d interrupted his first real kiss with Jhali, at least the first one where he’d realized he could kiss her back. Yanko hadn’t seen Jhali since then. He’d stood outside her door and almost knocked a few times, but her parting words had him worried that she would build a wall between them now.

As if he was truly destined for some great station. If things somehow all turned out the way he hoped they would, he might be able to ask for and be granted the governorship of that continent, at least whatever portion of it the Nurians managed to negotiate for. Then he could guide its development. In a few centuries, that might be a prestigious position, but now, he doubted anyone would want to settle there aside from the handful of pirates he’d bribed. It would be full of criminals and Turgonians. Governing that would hardly qualify as a great station.

“It looks more peaceful than I expected.” Lakeo waved at the coastline.

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