Tacks popped loose, skittering on the deck as she worked the sally bar around three edges of the lid. It was secured with a scuffed four-panel puzzle clasp, too, which released with a turn of the key. The crate’s sides fell away, clattering against the deck to reveal the foreign design of the Yu’Nyun coffer within.
“Hells, Cap, I thought maybe you and Soph were joking,” Tisker said. “You really sold the ring to the aliens?”
The coffer’s gleaming white contours were like nothing else on Peridot. She pressed the seal on the side, a smooth black panel the aliens had shown her how to operate, and the lid lifted, moving up and back on its rails. The overhead lights reflected the shining contents into her eyes, so she sat back.
Her crew leaned forward.
“That’s worth a coin or two more than seventy-five thousand, Captain!” Sophie squinted and turned her head slightly to the side, as though trying to see through a mirage.
“Aye, it is.” Talis looked to Dug, who sat back with arms crossed. “Hope you saved some of that anger, my friend. This is the part you’re really not going to like.”
Putting a boot up on the side of the coffer, she straightened in her seat. Despite her own doubts about this job, she’d have to apply some swagger to make them love the idea, or else she’d have to force it through on captain’s prerogative.
“So you all know our alien friends have been poking about for a while now. Libraries, ruins, museums. Whatever archives of knowledge they can find.”
Sophie nodded, drawn into the setup. Tisker and Dug were sharper eyed, waiting for the catch. But the glint of bullion and precious gems was reflected in all their eyes.
“Apparently they’ve never seen a world like Peridot before, and they want to learn as much as they can about it.”
“Fair enough,” said Tisker. “They picking up souvenirs then?”
“I’m thinking maybe they don’t have alchemy where they come from. No way to understand how The Five did it, kept the planet together, created new peoples. That much hasn’t really been told, on account of them not wanting any of us trying anything similar. And we have The Divine Alchemists to manage that, so not many have really pressed.
“But to the Yu’Nyun’s measure of it, there’s a page missing from our history. Their curiosity will keep them here until they have their answers. But they’ve run through Rakkar libraries and Vein universities and probably even some Wind Monk archives, and they still haven’t found whatever they’re after.”
Dug shifted, his back stiffening. “And you promised to lead them to a new resource.”
Tisker and Sophie saw the anxiety in his movement and turned back to Talis. Sophie’s eyebrows rose to hide beneath the fringe of her hair. Tisker bit one side of his lip, forming half a smirk, but his eyes reflected none of his usual humor.
“That’s it, summed up,” she said, and kicked the side of the coffer with the toe of her boot, and the contents jumped in response, jingling for emphasis. “What we’ve got here is seventy-five thousand for the ring, plus five hundred thousand for an escort job. Minus Zeela’s fees. Tisker, you can go buy back your things from the pawn alleys before we go, if you hurry.”
Sophie craned her neck to look at the glittering contents of the crate around the table top. “I’ve never seen so much altogether at once.”
Talis grinned at her, grateful for a chance to make the impact she wanted. Soon as they got to imagining what they’d spend their cuts on, it would be harder for them to turn down the job. Not that she could turn it down at this point. Even if she had to go on alone.
“This is just half. There’s another five hundred thousand on the other end of a little trip. A long week’s travel, at the most.”
Tisker reached forward and grabbed a piece of gold from the crate. “To Nexus?”
Talis didn’t stop him. It was Wind Sabre’s money, not just hers. And if they held it, they’d want to keep it.
Tisker hefted the yellow metal in the palm of his hand, then ran his thumb along the indented eighth-marks down its length. Grabbed a knife from the table and pressed it into a notch, which dented and pinched until he’d easily cut off a quarter-piece of gold. He grinned at her. She saw him inventing ways to spend it.
Dug, however.…
“Not Nexus,” Talis said. “I don’t see the need to take them for an audience in person.”
“You’re taking them to Illiya.” Dug was not asking. Knew Talis well enough.
She nodded. “That’s right. Look, if they wanted to go to Nexus, we don’t have an advantage over any other ship out there. But if all they want to do is talk to one of The Five? That, we can do.”
“Illiya?” Sophie looked at Dug. A Bone name, so no blaming her for confusion. But Dug only knew of the Bone priestess from Talis’s stories, so she answered the open question.
“Old friend from my mercenary days. Now she’s high priestess at the Temple of the Feathered Stone on Fall Island.”
“Tangled lines, Cap. You owe us a story. Where’d you meet a Bone priestess?”
“I always have more stories than I tell you.” She grinned at Tisker. “That’s why I’m captain.”
Sophie looked like she was fit to burst with questions. Bone priestesses were not just spiritual guides for their congregations. They were also highly skilled intelligence operatives. And their methods bordered on—then crossed defiantly over into—the extreme.
“Illiya never worked on me. Back before I got into the shipping business, I ran with a group of mercs. We got hired by a small village to chase out a cartel that had moved in on their fields, trying to get the villagers to produce drugs for them. Illiya was our team’s interrogator, helping us track down
