“Watch her,” Bryne said and jumped off the boat after securing Maya to Andromeda’s mast.

Still shaky from the encounter, Leera sat down on the ship’s railing. Even without the spiked heels, Maya was several inches taller than her. It amazed Leera that a person could fight efficiently in such shoes when she could barely cross a room without breaking an ankle.

“So, tell me, what’s your name?” Maya said.

Turning her back to the prisoner, Leera watched as Bryne climbed the trees and started cutting down the scorched bodies. She hated his guts, but this was a nice thing to do, and if he hadn’t been there earlier, her life could’ve taken a very drastic turn for the worse.

“Why should I tell you anything? Only a moment ago you were trying to kidnap me.”

“And now you've got me instead – it’s a dog-eat-dog world – why not enjoy a conversation while we’re here?”

Leera felt a wrinkle of skepticism ripple her forehead. She was disgusted that the woman could act so casually after what just went down, but at the same time, she felt drawn to her charisma and complete lack of fear. It was hard not to find at least an ounce of admiration for her, but as far as Leera was concerned, Maya was still her enemy.

“I’m Leera,” she said after a long pause.

“That’s a beautiful name – the wandering wind, right?”

Leera ignored her. She had always found her name to be very unbecoming.

“How do you know Bryne?”

“Okay, straight to the good bits,” Maya said, sucking in her cheeks. “We sort of met, and… I was young and naïve, and he was… well, he was Bryne.”

“You were lovers?”

“I was innocent and impressionable back then, and he took advantage of that.”

“Uh-huh, innocent, sure,” Bryne muttered, returning to the ship. “That’s not how I remember it.”

Maya fluttered her eyelashes. “Tell me, darling, how do you remember it?”

“I’m trying not to.”

“Hey! We were good together.” She turned to Leera. “Despite what he says, we had something special.”

Leera looked at Bryne, who was wiping the soot off his knife with a handkerchief, and then back at Maya. She did feel like there was some unseen force between the two – a tension – something that was pulling them together. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but these two seemed to be made for each other.

“If you call getting banned from every tavern between Rustwood and Oceanpeak good, then sure, definitely,” Bryne said and shrugged.

“It wasn’t all drinking and partying – well, on his part, it was mostly that,” Maya said and winked at Leera. “Our little group made quite the name for ourselves.”

“What did you do?”

“Odds and ends… for the wealthy and influential.”

“You were mercenaries?”

“I’d like to think of myself as a… fixer, of sorts.”

“Try assassin,” Bryne said.

“Does that mean you were going to kill me?” Leera asked, trying to make the question sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Of course not! You’re far too adorable.”

“What then?”

“If you must know – there is a new player in town, who is very… and I mean very… interested in buying young Caeli women.”

“Were you… following us?”

“Oh, no. Stumbling into you was just dumb luck. I’m not usually into the whole business of bounty hunting.”

“So, what exactly are you doing in Cloudrest, Maya?” Bryne crossed his arms.

Before she could answer, Quick rumbled onto the ship. On his broad back, he was carrying a box-shaped haversack. He released his shoulders from the straps and placed the load next to the rudder with a thud that sent vibrations through the deck.

“It’s fine… we’re fine,” he said, panting.

“What is that?” Maya said.

Quick flinched and adjusted his monocle to get a better look at the speaker.

“Why, hello there! Excuse my oversight; these eyes aren’t quite what they used to be. I’m Quick, and who might you be?”

“I’m Maya – I would shake your hand but…” She rattled the manacles behind her back.

“Oh, deary me! This is not how we usually treat our guests!”

Quick leaned behind the woman and started unscrewing her shackles.

“Wait!” Leera cried.

“We can’t keep our guest locked up like this, can we?”

“But she tried to kill Bryne and kidnap me! She’s a… an assassin!”

“Now, now, Miss Eirey, what would become of the world if we didn’t give each other second chances?”

Mouth agape, Leera watched as Maya massaged her wrists and Quick helped her to a chair. The woman soon had a cup of steaming hot tea in one hand and a carrot biscuit in the other. Leera and Bryne looked at each other. He shrugged.

“What brings you to Cloudrest, Miss Maya?” Quick said.

“I just saw the smoke from afar and thought that I could perhaps… help out.”

Bryne snorted but said nothing.

“Did you happen to see who did this?” Quick threw a hand out at the destruction around them.

“As a matter of fact, I did,” she said and took a sip from her cup.

Leera, who had concluded that this was all Bryne’s fault and had been glaring at him for the last few moments, looked up.

“Geokines…” Maya said.

“See, I told you!” Bryne said.

“And Pyrokines…” she then added, “Led by Aerokines.”