Alexis Glaciermage's Arc

Chapter 8 of 13

The summons came at dawn, hand-delivered to Rikki on the deck of the drydocked ship. Alexis watched him break the seal. She did not need to read it to know her name was inside. The harbor master had finally written it down. Rikki read it once, then again, and his jaw set in the way it did before he made a choice no one would like. He handed her the ledger scroll. The ink was fresh. Her name sat in the third line, plain as a nail. Remove the winged fox from the crew, or lose the drydock and the chest claim with it. Down the pier, a fresh notice had been tacked to the harbor authority post, the agreement parchment fluttering for every dockhand to read. Beside it, pinned under wax, sat a second letter sealed with a crescent moon — a private claim on the scaled chest by some house Alexis did not know. She folded the scroll and gave it back. "Put me ashore," she said. "Keep the dock. Keep the chest." Rikki did not take the scroll. He walked past her to the rail, tore the summons in half, and dropped both pieces into the mud below the hull. "They named you to split us," he said. "I won't sign that." He turned to the crew gathering on deck. "Sailmaster stays. We sail on the tide." By midmorning the blocks were knocked loose and the water came back under the keel. The drydock contract was forfeit. The chest stayed buried where it was, and the crescent-sealed letter stayed pinned to the post for some other captain to answer. Alexis took her place above the sails as Crescent Harbor fell behind them. She had not asked him to choose her. He had chosen her anyway, and now the cost of that choice was written on a board for every port to read.