The innd sea pped against the galley hull, no louder than the man's st wheeze. I removed my dagger from the gushing chest and stood upright to make sure nobody had noticed the brief scuffle.

  Only a distant peal of ughter disturbed the night. True to their word, the harbour guards had given us privacy, even if they had expected a different type of stabbing. None of them had bothered to question a woman, who offered herself for meagre copper. Impoverished wenches were spoils of victory.

  Admittedly, the darkness and freely flowing beer had done much to enable my deception. The puffy sleeves of the gown hid my shoulders, letting my long hair and willowy frame create a passable impression of clumsy femininity. Nobody expected a daughter of a desperate local to speak much when out to sell her flesh. Thus my voice hadn't betrayed me either.

  The lowly Tamsi soldiers weren't the only ones carousing. Lights still shone in the castle windows. Up there, the highborn of my people, the cream of the formerly majestic cns, celebrated their treason with their Vonir masters. They were weak. I wouldn't be.

  The ke fleet rested in the harbour around me. Not for long. Gentle gusts already heralded the rainless wind, which we had called to fan the coming fmes.

  I poured the bottle of burned wine on the pnks and struck a spark with my will. The liquid took fire, but it wasn't enough to burn a whole ship, let alone many, in timely manner.

  My deed required strength. I deepened my breath into bellows to stoke my wrath. It came easy.

  The cns had united to oppose the tightening grip of the Fulgurite Prince. But when the time had come to fight, the craven knights had given up. As thanks for the swift surrender, the Prince had allowed the cns of Ekra to keep their nds. Elsewhere, the Ekrans would be tamed with the whip of ws and ban on any rites, which offended Tamsi sensibilities. Forgoing proper worship, our nobility feasted and dishonoured us all.

  In a shrill voice, I sang of the birth of Fire. How it had sparked, deep inside the unformed void, from where it had spread inside everything, to wait a sudden and violent unleashing. How mighty and free was the Fire, always untamed in the end.

  Stoked by the memory of its divine mother, the fire at my feet burned red and magnificent. With a grim stave, I evoked the ruined god of hearth, furnace and the fmes of war. Luiheki the good Servant, the grand Traitor, the fell Master.

  The nascent confgration fed on my hatred and spread over the ship. It caught my clothes, but the heat barely burned me: Luiheki had already cimed me as his own.

  Below me came the familiar sensation of igniting gunpowder. The fools had left their store onboard. The explosion crushed through my flesh and bone.

  Cold darkness devoured me. Every part of me screamed in agony, as if the water itself around me was pain. No mortal could have survived the bst, let alone remain conscious. But there I was, sinking. I tried to swim, but my body refused to obey. The ke had trapped me. I gasped my lungs full of burning liquid.

  This was the glorious death I had craved, yet my mind was subsumed by the animal struggling to survive.

  "I can help you," a voice both lethal and motherly crooned.

  The pain faded, though my limbs still didn't move.

  "Who?" I spoke in my mind.

  Squamous coils, thick as grand masts, filled the lightless water. Thousands of fiery eyes opened to judge me.

  "I am Umu, meek mortal child. I am a meagre spirit of the primordial waters, nothing more."

  "Please--" I cut my grovelling. "What do you want?"

  "Your soul is gauze: your essence offers little resistance, even to spirits baser than myself. Let me in, and I will grant you escape."

  Escape. That I needed. Escape from the water. Escape from the Tamsi yoke. Escape from being Ryymi the Ekran. Escape from my intolerable weakness.

  I did not have to voice my agreement. My inner nature contorted, as the fire of Umu twined around my soul.

  A cough wracked through my lungs, and filled my mouth with bile and water. I turned my head downwards to expel the liquid, until I could gasp for air.

  "Ryymi!"

  Strong hands held my arms. I turned to look at Sulme. The hefty muscles of his bare body glistened in the light of distant fire.

  "Oh... I feared the ke had cimed you," the Nilkoan said. "Are you alright?"

  My throat hurt too much to answer. I tested my limbs and found them functional. Yet my muscles were weak, as I forced myself around to look into the bze.

  Bitterness formed a lump in my throat. There certainly was fmes in the harbour. However, the fire had engulfed only a few of the lesser vessels, in addition to the ship, which I had personally burned.

  "Thank Okkamo, you are alright," Sulme said. "What were you thinking, remaining in the ship like that?"

  Death. But I had been too weak-willed to embrace its serene mercy. Like I had been at Surtalm.

  "Let us go," I croaked.

  I ached to the bones. While Sulme set the sail of our boat, I huddled to rest.

  They would get me and skin me like a beast.

  I sprung up to sit. Though I had barely shut my eyes, the dawn was already far along. Sulme sat at the aft, and the sail billowed full. The farmnd around the capital had changed into unfamiliar forested shores.

  "Good morning," the Nilkoan said. He was still shirtless, letting the pale spring sun paint his brawny torso undeterred. The tan did hide his distinctive greenish pallor, but it made him appear suitable to the haft of a plough.

  "Good--" I grimaced. Speaking hurt my throat. Rest of my body was also sore, though the throbbing ache concentrated in my jaw and joints.

  I got out of the scorched rags, which remained from my gown, and examined myself. Though I had no visible injuries, the fire had burned off my body hair. Fortunately the tawny locks on my scalp were still mostly there.

  Without the unsightly sparse pelt, my chest appeared awkwardly soft. I frowned to myself and opened the trunk that served as the middle bench.

  Soon my frame was hidden inside a jet-bck gown, a twin of the one I had lost. The garment was simple enough to pass as that of a wealthy peasant, despite the smooth fabric and deep dyework.

  "You could wear your normal clothes on the boat, you know," Sulme said.

  I took a comb and sat at the front to untangle the mess that was my hair. Perhaps Sulme would take the hint and groom his light fxen hair or at least trim his short honey-coloured beard.

  "It is better that I maintain a disguise." My voice came out as a strained wheeze. "My absence at the feast was surely noticed, and I never hid my opinions of the 'peace treaty'. Besides, who else to bme for an arson than a tainted serpentist?"

  Sulme frowned, an expression unsuitable on his gentle long face with its rge damp eyes. "Won't they look for a woman?"

  "Only a few soldiers saw me. If they survived, they would never dare to admit to drinking and whoring while on guard-duty. They will echo whatever rumours they hear."

  The Nilkoan nodded, but his expression didn't agree.

  After I was done with the comb, I put on my wide-brimmed hat to shield my skin from the sun. Without anything to occupy my hands, my mind wandered to the utter failure of the previous night.

  A hiss of frustration escaped my lips. If the Tamsi fleet had been crippled, Ekra would have had enough respite to gather its strength. Now, the Prince of Vonir had an excuse to oppress us with renewed fervour.

  I closed my eyes to keep the moisture inside.

  "We need to y low for a while." Sulme's voice brought me out of self-pity. He had his usual faint smile. "However, sooner than ter, they should figure that nobody survived that bst. Not even a serpentist. In fact, how did you manage it? Not that I compin."

  Presumably Umu had repaired my flesh. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the deeper mirage, only to yelp from fright. My inner sight was blocked by the coils of fire.

  "Umu?" I asked in my mind.

  She did not answer or even open Her eyes. I dismissed the vision.

  Sulme looked at me expectantly. I sighed. He deserved to know the truth.

  "I made a deal with a chthonic spirit," I said. "She now rides my soul."

  The Nilkoan's expression grew puzzled yet remained oddly calm, even though I had decred the doom of my spirit.

  "It was either that or death." I breathed in deep. "I should have chosen the tter."

  Sulme flinched. "Don't say so." He forced his smile back. "Maybe you can cim Her strength as yours."

  After a guffaw, I stifled my ughter. The Nilkoan didn't deserve my derision.

  "Perhaps," I said. "Though I highly doubt it. In any case, it will take Her time to conquer me. I have some fight left."