Muspell's Sons by Jillian Jacobs

Author:Jillian Jacobs [Jacobs, Jillian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rocksaber Entertainment, LLC
Published: 2023-02-24T22:00:00+00:00

New Friends

Brand was as fast as he’d promised. The graying gladiator found Finn inside, sitting at the helm. Finn looked up at Brand, who was wiping grease and soot off of his big hands with a cloth. The gladiator said, “All set.”

“Excellent.” Finn flipped a switch and waited.

“Hello, Finn,” a soft female voice said from the grill in the bulkhead. “Thank you for reconnecting me. What did I miss?”

Finn grinned. “Nice to have you back, Miss Marie. We picked up a new fellow, Brand.”

“Yes, I remember him.”

“He was kind enough to reconnect you. He’s joining us as our new mechanic, so you two will have plenty of time to get to know each other.”

“Excellent. Since I am fully functional again, when will we be leaving?”

“Right now. Set a course for the Badlands.”

“Around Devil’s Point?”

She was referring to the southernmost tip of the mountains that stretched north to south and stood between Darnan and the Aeolian Dunes. Going around the jagged peaks would be safer, but take three times as long, and Mirane’s crew starting in Navar high in the mountains would have stripped the Muspell’s Sons long before the Polaris had even seen the wreck.

Finn scrubbed his beard with his nails. “Lady Mirane’s team from Navar has a four-day head start on us. We can cut them off if we cut through Deadman’s Pass instead.”

The A.I.’s tone was skeptical. “Even for a Venator, that’s a harsh path.”

Finn fiddled with a small acrostic ring too dainty for his own fingers. Lapis lazuli, opal, vermarine, and emerald glittered across the golden band. He caught sight of Brand leaning against the bulkhead as he watched the scavenger, head tilted curiously. Brand’s mouth turned up at the corner ever so slightly.

Of course the city dweller knows what kind of ring it is, Finn thought, his face flushing. He’s probably bought one himself at some point. The scavenger opened a small compartment, tossed the ring in, and closed it with a click.

“We’re in this to win,” he said to Marie. “We’re up against the most cutthroat of all the kashmari lords; if I’m not willing to take risks, we might as well pack up and go home now.”

A hiss of static that was Marie’s version of a long-suffering sigh came from the grate. “Yes sir. Plotting a course through the mountains of doom now.”

On the monitor in front of him, a map with a squiggly red line appeared. The red line traced a route through the mountains, across the Aeolian Dunes, and just barely into the Badlands. A knob next to the monitor began to glow green. Finn twisted the knob.

“Course accepted,” Marie said.

The Polaris lurched around in a circle until Finn could see the jagged bare teeth of the distant mountains that stretched across the horizon. Then the trawler lumbered forward.

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