Nightsea Outlaw

Alex left the bank with Li Wen, and he noticed that Dry Turtle's sun was skimming dangerously close to the horizon. When they arrived, it was roughly noon, the sun high up in the middle of the sky. Now, the island was cycling toward night, and they had only managed to finish selling off the gauntlet and cashing Li Wen's old bounty.

He could only hope it would be enough.

"I never imagined owning a ship would be this expensive," Alex said as they waited for the shuttle at one of the stops.

"Be glad you don't have to worry about fuel," Li Wen said. "The fact that light sails even exist makes managing a ship that much easier."

"But the Nighthawk doesn't have any light sails," Alex said. "Which is why I don't understand how it's fueled. Every ship I've seen out here has a set of light sails; even the most modern Military Police ship has a set of them."

Li Wen paused, tapping her chin as she looked at the descending sun. "Not only that but the ship is completely sealed. You don't see that often, even on MP ships."

Alex had a few thoughts on that. When Roald sent out his message, he mentioned a few key locations that were part of the path to the New World. Devil's Reef and the Dark Meridian awaited anyone who dared to reach Magnus Hortus.

Maybe a ship needed to be airtight to make it through those places. His stomach shook at the thought of sailing into a complete unknown. He would do it, but he wanted to know more about what he was up against. He looked out over the street of milling people.

"You've been to the Twelve Kingdoms and a lot more places than I have, right?"

"In my time as a bounty hunter, probably," Li Wen said. "You spent more time on the Fringes than the Core?"

"Yeah," Alex said. "Aside from August, I don't have much experience anywhere but the Fringes. I always thought it would be best to keep a low profile as far from the Military Police as possible."

"It was the right call," Li Wen said. "There's a lot more scrutiny on a Core island than out here. While bounty hunters will operate in the Fringes, most of the money is made by serving local islands to a major one. It pays faster, too."

"So, with that in mind," Alex said. "How many people know about Magnus Hortus in the Twelve Kingdoms?"

"Almost no one," Li Wen said. "Normal people don't talk about much beyond the local islands around one of the main ones. Aside from local politics, there isn't much reason to worry about anything. If you have enough money, you can live a decent life."

"And if you don't have enough money?"

"You serve someone who does, or fight back and die." Li Wen spat. "I won't sugarcoat it. Where we both came from wasn't perfect, but every one of the Twelve Kingdoms is no better than a dictatorship or oligarchy. You don't live a good life without power, money, or connections."

"But I imagine it is orderly."

"A gilded cage for the ones in power, a cold iron one for those without."

Alex took a deep breath. He couldn't bear the weight of all of Erth on his shoulders, but that didn't mean he liked it. The question was if he was willing to do anything to change it. However, the reality of the problem was just too big for one person. The same answer he had given to Erin on Cragg Hollow still rang true to him now.

"Do what you can for the people around you," he whispered, shrugging. "And don't worry too much until you can do more."

"Don't forget, we have a goal here," Li Wen said. "The world may not be up in arms yet, but I imagine plenty of people are heading toward Magnus Hortus. If we want to learn how this world works, that's where we're heading too."

"Yeah," Alex said. "It's always a question of priorities, isn't it? There were plenty of people suffering back on Earth that I didn't think about every day. Slaves picking plants to make chocolate. Drug operations keeping families hostage to sell across borders. Homeless people on every street."

He stopped, shuddering as he remembered that there was more than that. Outside of a certain viewpoint, the nations of Earth could be seen as just as dystopian as their counterparts. The reason it didn't seem so was a product of the life a person led. Some had the privilege of not seeing the actual suffering around them.

Some lacked the empathy to even care if they did see it.

"The way I look at it is that it isn't my problem." Li Wen let out a long breath. "Unless you have the strength to overthrow the entire system, you do what you can for yourself. You help people when you can, but you have to recognize the situation. You have to know that you can't change the world alone. A slave won't thank you for dying because of a moral principle."

"So, never change anything?" Alex asked.

"Whatever's hiding in the New World might change that."

"If Roald's telling the truth, yeah," Alex said.

"You think he set all that up to lie?"

Alex thought about the end of the message on Diamond Peak. Two words stuck out to him, meaning more to him than they would have to anyone else: 'Number Eight.' Alex was WPN Nine, and WPN Eight had been his cell neighbor during the experiments he had endured on August. He did not know, but he wondered if it was related.

What would Roald have to do with a Military Police laboratory on August?

"I don't know."

Hrrm.

A shuttle descended with a faint hum, its few passengers already bending over to see the ground. After the occupants jumped down to the ground, Li Wen and Alex climbed on board, and soon, they were flying off to the east and towards the repair docks.

Artur huddled gallantly in the back of his cage, holding his arms tight around his knees in the most perfect posture he could manage as he closed his eyes and focused on his breathing. Around him, he could hear people whimpering and crying in their own cages, some with many to a cage while some only had one like his own.

"A knight has no fear," Artur whispered. "For victory is always near."

The words tasted bitter, but Artur took them like any medicine. He had lost to the Harper brothers, and they had taken him. In hindsight, he had been overconfident. Now, he was trapped in a metal cage that ate away at the aether that could fuel his escape. His power was inactive, and he had no way out.

He would have to be resourceful if he wanted to escape.

However, with all that thought, he still sat in the corner of his cage, his back against the bars and his knees held tight against his chest. Who was he trying to fool? He had been humiliated, broken, and thrown into a cage to be sold for ransom. Could he escape?

Thump.

A man entered the room, throwing a momentary light into the darkness and revealing the droves of people locked in cages throughout the room. In that instant, Artur saw the people around him, haggard and bone-thin. He saw the dark, sunken eyes looking out of the cages at the momentary light. He saw the thin fingers wrapped around the bars. Then darkness again.

"We need a place to put you before you wake up," Roy Harper spoke in that darkness, and Artur heard him approach your cage. "This one is as good as any, and there's still plenty of space."

Creak.

With the working of a key, the door to Artur's cage opened, and Roy dropped a solid dark form inside. Artur froze, seeing the exit but not immediately scrambling for it like he should have. Did he not have a knight's soul? Why would his feet not move for him? He held his legs tighter to his chest, closing his eyes and waiting for the door to close.

Thud. Click.

"Now, don't go hurting the new meat, you hear me, prince?" Harper laughed as he turned away and went back to the door. "I'll be back for feeding time for the rest of you lot. Stay alive until then!"

Thump.

In another brief light, Artur caught sight of a green cloak in front of him before being submerged in darkness again. Around him, the whimpering and crying continued. Artur closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing as he tried to summon the courage to move. The words came to him unbidden but still necessary nonetheless.

"A knight strives to be better; he follows chivalry to the letter," Artur whispered. "Stand and rise, brave knight; your courage is needed to fight."

Artur's hands were like heavy stones as he pulled his arms away from his knees. He stretched out, his legs aching as he moved them for the first time in hours, and he began to crawl across the cage to see the newcomer. Roy had deposited her on the ground unceremoniously, her face planted against the cold black metal of the floor, but Artur was able to turn her over, and as he did, he recognized her.

"Fair lady from early today," he whispered. "I had thought that you went along your way."

Artur frowned, looking down at the tattered rags he was left with.

Here, he had a lady in his cage without proper attire of his own. His tunic was in tatters, and his pants were ripped. He didn't look like the knight he wanted to be. He looked like some foul nave, ready to take advantage of the provocation.

Taking a deep breath and dearly missing the aether that should have come with it, he focused. He brushed off as much dirt as he could and did his best to tie together the holes in his pants. He would make himself as presentable as possible.

"Ugh," the woman groaned, rolling over. "My head."

She froze on the ground, and Artur froze with her. Uncertainty held him still with strong hands. He still needed time to compose himself. He needed to present his best foot forward. His mind raced as he searched for the words that would carry him through the encounter.

"A fair lady lay before me. An opportunity that is rare to see," he whispered before finding his courage and raising his voice with a squeak. "A light so bright that I do delight. How may I serve you, this knight?"

He smiled at the world play. It was exactly what he would have heard from one of the old stories. Glancing up from his kneeling position, he could see the woman's pale face in the dim light. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth was warped into a frown.

"Who are you?" she asked, backing away from him.

"I am but a humble knight caught in a situation of fright," Artur thought through his words. "A prince brought low, but you may know. The last son of Lopold, the Crow of Old."

He made sure that he had each word rhyme, which was a trial to do every time. He smiled, knowing that the lady would be impressed. Who wouldn't be with such a paragon of knighthood in front of her? When he looked back into her eyes, though, the same confusion was still present.

"Are you playing some kind of game? Why are we in the cage? What's going on here?"

Her voice rose higher and higher with every question, and she cast around with her hands as she looked from one side to the cage to the other. His eyes had already adjusted to the dim light, but she was still adjusting to the dark warehouse. Artur frowned, trying his best to think his way through the problem.

"Apologies, lass," he said. "I try not to be crass. I am Artur. Of that, I am sure."

"Erin," she said, watching him with a sidelong glance. "And why do I get the feeling this will be more complicated than it needs to be?"