Stephen Hunt - Secrets of the Fire Sea

You would not cling to his guiding hand if the way was always bright. And you would not care to walk by faith could you always walk by sight.

Anon

The Isle of Jago. Hermetica City

W atching the underwater craft carrying the ambassador away from Jagos shores was as good a way as any to pass the afternoon, if you could ignore the distant thrum of the iron battlements keeping the hordes of prowling monsters out of Hermetica City.

Hannah turned as her friend Chalph joined her near the edge of the tall cliffs. Not so near the edge that she might be scalded by the boiling water lashing up from the Fire Sea, but near enough to glimpse the departing ambassadors u-boat on the surface. The u-boat was meeting up with the Jagonese tug that had been assigned to escort it beyond the coral line, before it braved the maze of boiling passages of water that veined their way through the bubbling magma of the Fire Sea.

Theyve picked a good day for going, said Chalph, raising his black-furred arm to point to the u-boat on the surface, guide lines being tossed across to the tug. The sailors were wearing rubber scald suits, coloured yellow for visibility. No steam storms today and I cant smell any cold fronts moving in.

Thats a pity, said Hannah. She loved the violence of the arctic rain hitting the superheated waters of the Fire Sea and the parched coastlines of Jago. She felt alive when steam storms broke across the islands shores, geysers erupting from the ocean, hot mists sliding across the basalts plains, lightning painting the landscape and the crack of thunder urging the monsters laying siege outside their battlements into a frenzy. Hannah felt more alive in a storm than she ever did down in the empty echoing streets of their capitals vaults.

Chalph rubbed at his face with a paw-like hand. Like the rest of the ursine race, he had wonderfully expressive eyes pupils that could narrow to a pinhead or expand out until the rim of yellow around the edges was driven out and the features of his face vanished in a mask of black. I wonder how long Ive got left on Jago now that the ambassador has gone?

A blade of fear stabbed Hannah. That Chalph urs Chalph might depart back to his country across the sea, leaving her as good as friendless on the island. But youve been brought up here, the same as me. Your house cant just make you go back to Pericur.

Oh, they can , alright, said Chalph. Why do you think our ambassador is leaving? She supported the claim of the archduchess to the throne of Pericur. The ambassador being recalled back home is her reward. Our conservatives dont like merchants operating on Jago. They believe Jago is sacred soil, that our trade here is an affront to the scriptures. You wait and see. The trade concession the House of Ush had been granted will be cancelled by the new archduchess, then well all be back on Pericurian soil within the year.

But Ill still be here, said Hannah. Well be here. The race of man

Chalph moved back as a spray of boiling water carried on the wind and hissed towards his boots. The archduchess wont need to force your people from the island. He clambered over a boulder and pointed to the nearest of the guard towers rising up behind the sloped iron battlements. A large ursine mercenary was just visible inside, the light glinting off the brass of the gas tank on his back.

Careful, said Hannah. The soldiers might see us, report us for being out on the surface.

They dont care were here, replied Chalph. They get paid for keeping the monsters out, not keeping us in. And thats the nub of it. Your senate relies on our free company fighters to keep the capital safe, not your police militia. The free company may be mercenaries, but they will not dare disobey a direct order from the archduchess to leave Jago, and then who will protect your city?

Hannah shrugged. The militia hate your mercenaries. They never wanted free company fighters here, that was the senates choice. Theyd throw a party on the docks and help load your mercenaries into a boat if the free company were ordered off Jago.

And your senate would widen the draft to make up the numbers, said Chalph. Do you want to spend the rest of your life in a guard tower, hoping that the power charging the battlements doesnt fail on your watch?

It wont come to that, said Hannah. But she knew how optimistic her words sounded even as she spoke them. There were press gangs operating across the city now, and even the senates latest raft of anti-emigration legislation wasnt going to fill all the empty vacancies in every trade from the tug service to clerks for the ministries. In the cathedral theyre saying that the new ambassador from Pericur is going to be one of your modernizers. Hell argue against any attempt to embargo Jago.

Of course hes a modernizer, laughed Chalph although there was little humour in his growl of a voice. Jagos been a dead-end posting for embassy staff for centuries. The new ambassador is being sent here as a punishment! He was ambassador to the Kingdom of Jackals before. A bit of a demotion, dont you think? From the most powerful nation in the world to this cold, dying place.

How can you say that, Chalph? You were born here!

You werent, said Chalph. You should go home. Go anywhere theres a future for you.

This is my home.

No, Chalph insisted. The Kingdom of Jackals is your real home, this is just where you ended up.

Hannah shook her head. Jago is all Ive known.

Its all Ive known too, said Chalph. But theres more out there than this place. Chalph picked up a piece of rock and angrily tossed it in the direction of the Horn of Jago, the vast peak rising up behind them out of a cluster of the capitals domed greenhouses. He threw the stone as if he might break one of the tall stained-glass windows along the senatorial palace circling the mountain. Hannah winced as the flare-house at the very top of the summit erupted with magnesium phosphorescence. A brief flash of light to help guide in the traders that had long ago stopped calling on the island.

Its just that I dont want you to go back to Pericur, said Hannah, trying to placate her quick-tempered friend. Alice says there might be war between Pericur and the Kingdom of Jackals now theres a new archduchess sitting on your throne.

War? No, thats foolish talk. Im sure the archduchess would be happier if the Kingdoms colonies disappeared from our southern border, but traditionalist though our new baronial council may be, they understand well enough the power of the Kingdoms Royal Aerostatical Navy. The archduchess might close the border and hope the rest of the world goes away, but she wont be invading Jackelian possessions anytime soon. Your people have airships, mine dont.

The Jagonese are my people, said Hannah.

Your parents were both Jackelian, said Chalph. The senate cant stop you leaving the island. You have a choice, at least. More of a choice than I have. Im bonded in service to the House of Ush. I go where the baroness sends me, just like the baroness has to trade where the archduchess sells her the charter to operate. But you, you can travel to the Kingdom, to Concorzia, go to the Catosian city-states if the fancy takes you. But all you do is stay here. Youre wasting your life away on this island.

It doesnt feel like a waste to me.

It should do, said Chalph. He pulled out a large Pericurian timepiece from a pocket in the heavy dark leather clothes that were the fashion among his nation. Youre the cleverest person I know, but youre surely one of the laziest too. The entrance exam is beginning now. Youre meant to be back at the cathedral, not watching steam shapes above the ocean.