The night, unlike daytime, ushered a time of peace. The soldiers had buried the dead, some of the soldiers left the oath they’d made, Galvin had met some of the pleasant citizens who helped him in his one man army battle, and the night proceeded went on like nothing happened.

  Except, Galvin needed to pay a certain man a visit. A man who oversaw anybody who came in or out of Jovin City. The one who was aware of imports and exports, the soldiers there, and the many establishments within the city.

  Galvin dropped down the rooftop to a rather lavish house. Inside, a plump man was changing into robes, getting ready to sleep. He stared at himself in the mirror for a little bit before plopping down on his bed.

  “I know you’re there, so just show yourself,” Lord Seldam called out. Galvin entered through the balcony, a sword in his hand. “Rid yourself of the weapon, boy. I do not intend to call for anyone.”

  “If you did, then they would have a difficult time,” he threatened.

  “Keep your voice down, lest you wake the kids,” he said, standing up from his soft mattress. “And out with what you want from the city. You already got what you wanted before, and now you come again. And you go against the thing you got from me the first time. Just who are you and what do you want?” Lord Seldam demanded of him.

  “I didn’t know you had kids,” Galvin said.

  “I have kids, and I’d like to keep it that way,” the lord replied curtly. He pulled on his robe in front of the mirror, fingering the soft fabric that made up the intricacies of his sleeping attire.

  “I came to ask you to join us. You have always been one to be rather… indignant of the king. If you join us, you can fight him. Fight his rule. Everything he stands for.”

  “Like I said, I like myself, my wife, and my kids as they are now. Alive,” Lord Seldam said. “Now is that all you came here to talk to me about?”

  Galvin shook his head. “You’re already in knee-deep water, Seldam,” he spat out his name. “If the king finds out I was here, along with Morwin, then he will tear apart the entire city to look for the two of us. Your fate is intertwined with ours now. You know his temperament. What he would do to get what he wanted. He would burn this city, and force you to watch it go up in flames.”

  Galvin’s attempts at scaring the lord did not appear to work. He still bore a face of partial boredom. “I know that,” he spoke. “But first he will send soldiers to look for you. You think that something like this would cause the king himself to show up?”

  “Hasn’t stopped him before,” Galvin said, turning around and facing the balcony. “I could leave. Go to other cities. Leave you guys to your own devices. Do other things that won’t involve you while your city burns to the ground.” He paused to let the thought of it sink in. Then he spun around, facing the lord and staring him down. His eyes had a spark of fear in them. Just what he wanted. “Or you could accept my help. Fight him together, and with my might and the might of this city, we might stand a chance against his siege.”

  Lord Seldam sat back down on his bed, face in his hands. “Boy, you don’t understand anything. The king sent his underling here the first time, and the Minister of Labor caused havoc within the city, burning down the square, fighting your people, and even killing innocents. All because a little rumor you guys returned was spread. But then you had to show up in Rathalin, kill some soldiers and cause an uproar. Now the king might show up on our doorsteps while burning down the entire region, just so he couldsee your head on a pike. You’ve messed up, and if you think, for a second, that I would help you just because you asked me to, then you might be as mad as old Rai’Shal himself.

  “Just leave. I’m not going to call guards here. Leave and never come back. Leave me and my people in peace. We want nothing to do with the likes of your kind.”

  “Does your people agree?” Galvin asked. He motioned to the balcony. Chattering had started in the streets below, with the lord of this city unaware.

  He slowly approached the balcony, weary of what he would see. When he leaned over the marble railing, he saw scores of people lined up in the streets, all holding some candles and raising them up into the air for the lord to see.

  “I don’t think they agree with your sentiment,” Galvin said. “As a matter of fact, I would go as far to say they’re tired of the oppressive reign of the king. Will you run and hide like a coward and betray the desire of your people, or will you be like a leader and let them know they can stand behind you. Behind us. Behind Justicar.”

  The volume of chattering increased to cheering, as if they heard Galvin’s speech to the lord. They let out sounds of… pleading. Pleading for Lord Seldam to consider the offer, to become independent of the king’s rule once again.

  Lord Seldam let out a chuckle. “How you accomplished this, I will never know. I just heard about a ruckus in the square where you took out dozens of imperial soldiers. And now this. Just what are you made of, boy?”

  “I’m made of the will of the people, to see the imperials’ heads on pikes, to see that the monarchy has fallen, and to secure the future of the people,” Galvin spoke, his mind made, his will resolute, his determination visible for all to see. “I am Justicar.”

  “Just where is that boy anyways? Morwin, was it his name? I thought he was with you,” Lord Seldam changed the subject.

  Galvin shook his head. “You don’t have to worry about him. He has his own mission from me. I’m telling you, we have a plan. A plan to get the king to show himself once again, come out of hiding from within the walls of Rathalin, and face us. Face the people.”

  Seldam let a smile creep on his face. “Well, don’t just sit there and give inspiring words. Share with me everything. I have no other choice but to lend you my aid, I see.”

  “Wise choice,” Galvin said. And they spent the next hour or so discussing how they would go about toppling the king from his throne.

  The breeze blew colder at night. The air had more of a saltiness in it than during daytime, and the fishy smell of the waters increased. Everything about the ocean felt more alive when the moon was out, or it may have just been Morwin’s imagination. He stood on the deck, a too-thin jacket covering him up, staring out at the sea. For miles upon miles, he could see nothing but the noisy waves overlapping one another, with the still and starry sky above.

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  Below the deck, the crew were gathered in the sleeping cabins, playing card with one another. He’d learned that a favorite pastime of sea men were playing cards, as he’d partake in the activity himself not an hour ago. It wasn’t to his liking, and he would rather not socialize with all the crewmates aboard. Even the captain himself seemed to enjoy wagering with his fellow crewmates. But not Morwin. He preferred to be alone.

  The men of this ship treated him as… just another person. Unlike back in Rathalin. In his hometown, everyone treated him with reverence and respect, groveling at his feet. Here, he was ordinary.

  He preferred being treated as ordinary, but wasn’t used to it. Perhaps that was why he preferred to be alone.

  “It’s cold,” Lily’s voice said. He spun around and eyed her, remembering the events of the day.

  “Who are you, really?” Morwin demanded. “You get me to sneak into the captain’s quarters, and the next moment, when we’re caught, you’re gone. Poof, just like that. I haven’t seen you all day when interacting with the captain and the crew members, and now you show up.”

  The little girl shrugged and leapt onto the railing. Morwin lunged forward to stop her from plummeting to the depths, but stopped halfway when he saw she sat plumply on the wood.

  “I told you. I’m Lily. Just plain old Lily.” Her feet dangled over the edge, which made Morwin very nervous for her.

  “The crew doesn’t know you’re here,” Morwin accused. “They wouldn’t let a kid like you on board.”

  “They let you on board,” Lily replied curtly.

  Morwin frowned. “I’m not a kid!” he protested. Lily hopped off the railing and wandered around the deck, finding various things to climb on, before realizing she couldn’t climb any higher than onto the railing.

  “Can you help me up here?” she asked, pointing at the net made of ropes hung suspended in the air. The net ran all the way to the top, connecting to the mast. At the very top of the mast, a flag of vibrant colors hung, swaying in the wind.

  Morwin tried to reach out to Absorb in some gemstones, but all he could find were the opals. He wished he had at least on emerald on him to show off, but Galvin left all their gemstones back at Stormwins Peak.

  “Let me show you something,” Lily said, pulling a flower out of her pocket. It was a flower with purple petals all around the center stem. The middle of it was a light yellow shade.

  The petals began to emit a faint purple glow.

  Morwin felt something tingle inside his pockets. He pulled out the bag of opals and saw it glowed the same purple as the flowers of the petal. Then the leather of the sack itself began to… change. Morph into something completely different. It bulged in certain spots and shrank in others.

  He watched in wonder as the bag shifted into something else entirely. Instead of a sack, he held a dagger in his hands. A clean one at that, with sleek lustrous steel and a hilt made of tough leather with a golden serpent running down the length of it. In the middle of the hilt, a ruby lay encrusted. It shone a brilliant red color.

  “Turn it back,” Morwin said. “One of the captain’s rules was to not have weapons on board.”

  Lily giggled. “Since when are you one for rules? Aren’t you a part of some rebellious group wanting to overthrow the government of your country or whatever?”

  Morwin could feel the color draining from his face. He calmed himself, remembering that the entirety of Agnius knew about Justicar and that he was a part of it. No need to be living in the shadows anymore.

  “So you’re from Agnius are you? Did you sneak on board?”

  “Can the people of Agnius do the things I can do?” Lily said, holding up the violet flower, still glowing the purplish color.

  Morwin shrugged. “Maybe some can.”

  Can the king do something like this? Perhaps that was the secret to defeating him.

  “Is there a flower that can make you immune to damage?” Morwin asked, remembering what Galvin showed him several weeks prior.

  Lily shrugged his head. “A flower like that would cause everyone in the world to seek out the Aylin Islands. Wars would be started. A lot of people would die. Villages will burn, and men forced to fight for something they don’t want to.”

  Morwin chuckled. “You say that like you’ve seen war before,” he said.

  “Have you?”

  “No.”

  “Then you’re not one to talk.”

  Morwin caught a hint of something in her voice that he hadn’t heard before. A sense of… maturity. Just then, she sounded a lot older than she appeared. Morwin guessed her age to be… ten years old, but who knew how old she really was.

  “What’s a flower that can boost this boat’s speed? We’re kind of going to slow. Justicar might be obliterated when I get back at this rate.”

  Lily shook her head. “No. Isn’t there a gem that can do that?”

  Morwin thought for a moment, an idea springing to his head. “There is,” he said. He held up the dagger to Lily. “Change this to an emerald and I’ll see if it can be done.”

  She gave a giggle before making for the staircase below-deck.

  Morwin stared after her with a confused expression before remembering he still held the dagger.

  No weapons on this ship he could heard Mikael’s voice in his head.

  Oh no.

  “Lily!” he called. He put the dagger into his pants and covered it with his shirt. There was a slight bulge, but not noticeable if you didn’t look too closely. He chased after the girl, but when he descended the stairs, she wasn’t there. He looked left and right, but Lily had just vanished into thin air.

  Morwin returned upstairs and sighed. He took out the dagger and stared at it, examining all the nooks and crannies of the weapon. It was a fine dagger indeed. A shame he had to get rid of it before someone found it on him.

  He flung it overboard and watched as it splashed into the ocean and descended into darkness.

  “Made you throw away your gems,” Lily’s voice appeared next to him. He jumped.

  “How do you keep doing that?” he said incredulously.

  She put a finger to her lips. “Secret,” she replied. Lily held up the flower and the purple glow vanished.

  Morwin frowned. “You’re a weird girl,” he said. “I hate that.”

  Lily giggled before walking off again, leaving Morwin standing there alone. He looked to the murky depths and considered, just for a split second, to jump off and dive after his gems. After all, that was the only thing he had on him that tied him to Agnius. That and…

  Oh right. His sapphire necklace was lost during the fight.

  He could do nothing but watch as the dagger sank deeper and deeper into the depths. When he turned to protest to Lily, she was gone.

  Who in the world is that girl? She was shrouded in mystery, and Morwin wanted to crack it.