Nightsea Outlaw

"And then we grandly threw a stone through the window and climbed inside." Sayed finished the tale as Erin looked at him with wide eyes.

"That about sums it up," Alex said with a nod.

Erin shook her head as she rubbed her face. Already, she was questioning if she had heard of this 'Tania' before. There were a lot of people involved in the revolution, and she didn't know all of them. There was good reason behind that. It was harder to take down independent cells than to take down a more connected organization. This seemed like one of her people's plays, but there were other groups in the nightsea.

"You're looking for a logbook," Erin said, shaking her head as she closed the door behind her.

Thump.

"Nothing so far," Sayed said as he dropped another drawer on the ground.

Erin flinched and took a deep breath. The entire situation was spiraling more out of control every second. She needed to focus on what was important. She was here to find the same thing as both men. She could use that.

Thump.

"Look at this," Alex said as Sayed dropped another drawer. "There's a ledger here that shows a logbook being sold off."

"Oh, let me see," Sayed said, walking over to stand behind his shoulder.

Erin sighed and also walked around to look. It was amazing that the three of them hadn't seen each other for weeks, yet now they had shown up to the same job at the same time, and neither man acted like that mattered.

"Says here that it was sold off to..." Alex rolled his finger down the line, and Erin followed it.

"The Military Police bought it yesterday," she whispered.

"Well, that puts a wrench in the works," Alex said.

"We just need to find out where it went," Erin said as she looked down the ledger. "It would be shipped along to the nearest outpost, which would be... at Cragg Hollow."

"You sure about that?" Alex asked, pulling down the paper to check some of the past registry entries.

"They wouldn't send a battleship to pick up some book," Erin said, tapping her chin. "So, it stands to reason that it would be a small ship. That ship would go to an outpost to wait for a larger ship, assuming they didn't have one already."

"You're making this logbook sound super important," Alex said.

"The ledger says they paid a thousand gold dolers for it," Erin said. "That's a lot of money."

"And your boss wants that book," Alex said, a smile cracking his face.

"We do." Erin sighed.

"We're also in the business of obtaining that book," Alex said, putting the ledger down and stretching his hands wide. "If we don't have the same boss, this might be a problem."

Erin's eye twitched. She was trying desperately not to give anything away, but he was digging in hard. She wouldn't just tell him she worked for the People's Revolution.

"That doesn't mean we can't cooperate," Erin said. "We're after the same thing."

She didn't add that Lenenski had told her to keep an eye out for them and to follow along with them when the opportunity came. Even if she didn't get to keep the book, she could get the information from it and pass it along.

"I think this may have something to do with the man you were looking for." Alex clasped his hands together.

"Roald." Sayed chuckled. "I think his name was Roald."

"Shades," Erin whispered.

Had she known that it would all lead to this, she might never have joined the revolution. She felt like two shopkeepers were working her over. They would poke and pry until they got something out of her.

"Fine," she said. "You're right. That logbook contains notes Roald wrote on his journey to the New World. My people need it because it will open up options for our future plans. I can't tell you anything more than that."

"The New World?" Alex raised an eyebrow.

Erin took a deep breath. How much should she tell him? Most people would think the New World was just a legend, like black spots. However, if she wanted to follow her mission, she would have to work with both of them.

"There's a limit on the nightsea," Erin said. "The Military Police have been examining it for decades now. Where we are, they call it the Old World. The New World exists beyond that. No one knows how to get in or out, and all expeditions there have never come back— all except one."

"And this Roald guy came back?"

"Sounds like a grand tale!"

Erin flinched as Sayed laughed. She didn't know why he insisted on being so loud. If they weren't careful, someone would find out they were there.

"Sir Reginald?" a woman yelled in the hallway outside, and it came through the door muffled. "Guards! Guards!"

"That's our cue," Alex said, shrugging his shoulders.

"What do you say, brother?" Sayed placed one hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her. "Will you come with us to find this book, or must we work against each other? The choice is yours."

Outside, she could hear the sound of boots stomping down the hall. The lock clicked closed at the door, and she could see Alex motioning to it with his fingers. His curse, of course, let him do that kind of thing.

"For now, let's get out of here," she said. "Once we're clear of all this, we'll settle on terms."

"Sounds good to me," Alex said as he went to the window and jumped out.

They were three stories above the ground floor.

"Good to have you with us, brother." Sayed laughed before he followed Alex and jumped out.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Erin shook her head as someone began to bang against the door. She looked out over the edge and saw Sayed waiting to catch her below while Alex kept an eye out. Erin shook her head before she jumped, curling her body in and closing her eyes. Air cut past her briefly before she fell into Sayed's arms.

"Got you," Sayed said as he braced her fall and then set her on the ground.

"Thanks, Sayed," Erin said, touching his arm for support as she realigned her balance.

"Anything for a brother!" Sayed laughed.

"They're outside!" someone yelled down the building from them.

"Rail Shot." Alex turned, flicking a coin from his hand and sending it flying like a bullet.

"Argh." A person fell at the side of the building with a thump.

"I don't want to waste any more coins," Alex said as he ran toward the cliffside, Sayed following after him.

Lord Landry's manor was built on a tall cliff overlooking a cove. The docks were far below the outside edge of the island. Erin had parked her ship far away from the docks and trekked over the more hazardous terrain to sneak in unnoticed.

"You parked your ship at the docks?" she yelled after Alex as he ran off.

"The old guy's there," Alex said through quick breaths. "Pretending to do a shipment. Unless you have a better plan."

"Stop!" she yelled, and Alex stopped in his tracks with Sayed.

"So, you do have a better plan?" he asked.

"My ship's on the far side of the island," Erin said. "If they're smart, they'll lock down the dock. Fewer people to fight if we go to mine."

"I thought it didn't have room for people on it?" Alex smiled. "That's what you said back at Glory Plateau."

"You'll have to squeeze in," Erin said, glaring back at him. "Come on."

She started to run, getting ahead of both men and picking her way across the rocky terrain back the way she had come. As she crossed out into the open, she could hear several people shout from the manor. The alarm was raised. Guards were coming. Her plan needed to work, or they would have to fight.

She knew they could fight. Sayed or Alex alone could probably take out the guards, but that would take time. That might lead to even more problems, and she would rather no one know someone had been snooping around. There were more organizations in the nightsea than hers, and she didn't need any of them to know about the logbook.

"We're going to have to be careful going down," Erin said as they ran over sparse grass and around rocks.

"Careful is a perspective," Alex said from beside her as he followed her. "We're always careful, right, Sayed?"

"Of course, brother!" Sayed yelled. "But I feel these guards are gaining on us, and there are very many of them."

Erin chanced a look behind her, and he was right. At least twenty guards, each with a shining breastplate, followed after them. They were ahead, but the guards would know the island better than any of them.

"I got it," Alex said, dropping behind them and stretching out his hands.

The guards, all concentrated in a center mass, flew back without a whisper of sound. It was like they had suddenly been thrown into an invisible wall, and they scattered out in a cone from where Alex stood.

"Step."

Alex disappeared from where he had been and was running along with them as if he hadn't left. Erin focused back on running. Behind her, she had only a glimpse of a few of the guards standing up and following after them. They had a good lead now. They just needed to maintain it.

"Over here," Erin said through her panting as they approached the edge of the island, away from the cove. "The path is down here."

A thin dirt path led down the cliffside. Waves crashed along the path on the lower sections, and the smell of salt filled Erin's nose as she looked down. This was the problem. They would have to go slow if they wanted to make it down the cliff.

"Well, " Alex said, coming up beside her and looking down. "That's not going to work."

"What do you mean?" Erin asked, her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. "There isn't any other option."

"The guards could just drop stuff on us," Alex said. "They don't even need to follow us."

"You bring up a good point, brother." Sayed nodded. "And it would be cowardly to just slowly make our way down this edge. Not worthy of a good story."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Alex asked Sayed.

"Yes, brother." Sayed nodded.

Erin didn't agree with what either of them was thinking, whatever it was.

"We're in this together, right? " Alex approached her, put his arm beneath hers, and held her up.

"Agreed," Sayed said, doing the same with her other arm and holding her up.

Together, the three of them were locked at the shoulders. A sinking feeling filled Erin's stomach as she looked out over the cliffside. At that moment, every decision she had ever made that had led her to this felt like a mistake.

"No," she whispered, but she had no strength in it.

"Don't worry, we'll break your fall." Alex smiled next to her. "Ready, Sayed?"

"Ready!"

"No!"

It was too late. Together, both men took a running jump with Erin dangling between their shoulders. They flew out and over the cliff, and Erin did her best not to look down. However, that was impossible.

"Get ready!" Alex yelled as the wind whipped around them, throwing their clothes against their skin and Erin's hair across her face.

Sayed let go of her and Alex rolled so he would hit first mid-air. Erin closed her eyes as they fell and focused all of her thoughts on ignoring the pit that opened in her stomach.

Splash.

Icy cold water ripped across her body like a thousand tiny daggers as she and Alex plunged into it. Alex had taken most of the blow, but she gasped as the cold clawed into her. As they sank into the water, Alex let go, tapping her on the arm before paddling up toward the surface.

Erin had a moment to assess her situation as her lungs burned for air. She was about to go to another island with the same two madmen she had met on Glory Plateau. They had just jumped off a cliff when they could have taken the slow path.

She shook her head and began to swim up after Alex. She could see Sayed doing the same in her limited vision not far away. She hoped sha-om was ready. There was a good chance she would be there soon.