The Lich Without a Soul Vessel

Kaines harbor churned with activity, passenger liners and cargo ships coming and going, sails rising and falling in a constant flurry of motion.

Evan's group made their way down to the docks in force. The Northern St. Yardi sat moored at the pier — a double-decked passenger liner with three masts, each fitted with a mid-mast and topmast, the fore and main masts carrying topgallant masts and sails besides, flags flying from the peak of all three. Below the waterline, twin rows of oars lined the hull. The ship measured close to a thousand tons overall.

Evan and the others passed through the ticket gate one by one, luggage opened for inspection to check for contraband — a precaution against smuggling operations run under cover of legitimate passage. Most of the group's belongings sat safely in their rings, though they still carried a small parcel or two by hand as they lined up to board.

Evan glanced back idly and caught sight of a figure that snagged his attention — Corey, or so it looked, though he only saw the man's back, speaking with someone else. He never got a look at the man's face. The three men Corey was speaking with, though, he saw clearly enough. They boarded shortly after, one of them hauling several large crates. As the crates came up for inspection, the lead man produced a sheet of paper. The crewman took it, glanced it over, and waved them through without a second look, the crates passing straight through a separate walkway, untouched. Evan counted them — twelve in all. Even at a distance, the three men looked perfectly ordinary, but something about those crates set off a quiet alarm in him. He resolved to look into it once aboard, if the chance came.

The three men boarded, and shortly after, one of them disembarked again, leaving only two behind with the twelve crates. What exactly sat inside them, even the crew seemed to wonder privately — though with the governor's own note in hand, they assumed it was simply smuggled goods and chose to look the other way.

Evan boarded, got the students settled, and the ship got underway, oars churning as it eased slowly out of the harbor. Once out at sea, the oars withdrew into the hull, sails unfurled, and the ship cut forward through the waves toward the far side of the ocean.

Evan sat turning over the strange scene from boarding when a knock came at his cabin door. He'd already sensed it was Emma and opened it at once. She stepped in. "Professor Wang, another two days or so and we'll reach Shrimp Peninsula. Once we're there, nothing more to worry about. Honestly, there's nothing to worry about even now — who could possibly track a single ship across open ocean?"

"True enough — no one could track a ship out here. But someone slipping aboard is another matter entirely," Evan said, still thinking of that figure who'd looked like one of Corey's men, hoping he'd simply misread the scene, the words slipping out before he'd fully meant to voice them.

Emma's brow furrowed. She caught the concern in his tone, and something more besides. "Someone slipping aboard? I've checked already — there are no mages on this ship. Even if there are a couple of ability-users among the passengers, one of them looked reasonably capable, but nothing that could threaten us."

"Ordinary people. What could two ordinary people manage? Sending up a signal to call in pirates? Are there even pirates in the Baran Sea? I've never heard of any — pirates usually work the open ocean, and this stretch of water sits under Xilun and Norma naval patrol, along with Ejū's own navy besides. No ordinary pirate could survive out here. Could they mean to scuttle the ship, then?" Evan said it half in jest at first — before his expression changed abruptly. Something had just occurred to him, a method any ordinary person could carry out without needing any special power at all.

Evan thought of suicide bombings — a tactic common among terrorists in his old life, one this world had never seen before, though this world did have alchemical explosives. A suicide attack wouldn't require any ability at all. With several dozen Hollingburton people currently aboard, if someone destroyed the ship out here in open water, the odds of survival would be next to nothing. No coast guard existed in this world, no high-tech rescue systems, no satellite positioning, no distress beacons. Just a death sentence, plain and simple.

Emma caught the change in his face and asked, concerned, "What's happened?"

Evan gave a rueful look. "Something's occurred to me — nothing confirmed yet. Jaymes, go fetch Professor Damire and Professor Jessica."

They shared quarters four to a room, standard for second class. Jaymes acknowledged the order and hurried off, pulling the door open. The two arrived shortly after. "Professor Wang, what's happened?" Jessica asked.

Evan steadied himself and laid out in detail what he'd seen while boarding. The others were visibly unsettled by the possibility he raised, though Damire said, "If those crates hold nothing more than ordinary cargo, this is all perfectly reasonable, isn't it?"

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"True enough — if it's ordinary cargo, none of this concerns us. But if it's alchemical explosive, the consequences would be severe. Almost no one on this ship would survive. You're both senior mages, but could you sustain Levitation long enough to reach shore? Don't forget — once we're out in mid-ocean, nothing but water in every direction, even a senior mage might not manage it. I'm an Arcanist; I might hold out that long. The students certainly couldn't. We can't afford to gamble on this," Evan said.

"So what do we do? Why not catch them off guard and seize them before they can act?" Damire suggested.

"Two ordinary men, and it takes four mages to handle them? That would flatter them far beyond their due. Let's confirm the details first. To keep them from doing something rash out of desperation, we shouldn't move against them during the day — I suspect they mean to act at night regardless. At minimum, they'll wait until this time tomorrow, when the ship sits at the heart of open ocean. For now, we watch them, and move once night falls," Evan said, settling the timeline.

The four of them dispersed. Evan remained seated on his bunk, and a pair of eyes drifted free from above his head — Xiaoshuang's own gaze flicked toward it, and she followed after.

Evan activated his Wraith Eye, moving from cabin to cabin. In a two-person room, he found the pair — surprised to find their quarters were actually better than his own group's. Two ordinary men, neither showing any sign of noticing they were being watched. Xiaoshuang trailed the drifting eye — invisible to anyone else, but perfectly visible to her own senses.

Sensing the eye slip into the room, Xiaoshuang blinked and let her own body fade from view, slipping in through a ventilation grate above. The two men lay on their bunks, twelve crates stacked to one side. Evan's eye watched them from above, catching the two men murmuring back and forth — though he could only see their mouths move, no sound reaching him at all. Then he noticed Xiaoshuang had gone invisible nearby as well, and understanding struck him at once — he reached out through their mental link, and through her own senses, the men's conversation reached him clearly.

"Mark, if we blow up the ship, we're not walking away from it either. Is there any way we could survive this?"

"Jerry, put that thought to rest. We're out in the middle of the ocean. There's no surviving this. Our deaths will secure our families' futures — that's worth something, at least."

"But dying like this, just like that — I can't accept it."

"What other choice is there? Have a good meal, and stop dwelling on it."

"Maybe not. What if we lengthened the fuse — made it long enough to give us time to get clear?"

"Don't fool yourself. Even with time, where would we run to, out here in open water?"

"No — for our own lives, it's worth trying something. I have an idea. If we could get our hands on one of the lifeboats — there are lifeboats on this ship — we lower one into the water first, then light the fuse. We'd have enough time to get aboard it ourselves. Drifting at sea after that, there's still a chance someone rescues us."

Mark sat bolt upright. He'd already resigned himself to death, but Jerry's plan struck him as genuinely workable, and hope surged through him at once. "Jerry, we'll need water and provisions — plenty of water, for drifting at sea. Maybe someone will pick us up."

"I'll go check where the lifeboats are kept, work out how long it'd take to get one into the water and back to our cabin — get a clear sense of the timing. You stay here, don't go anywhere. Watch the explosives."

"Fine, go ahead. Our lives are in your hands now. We'd planned to set two separate charges, but it looks like it'll have to be one now — should still be enough to break the ship apart. And we were planning to set it off tomorrow during the day, but I think two or three in the morning makes more sense — under cover of darkness, we can slip onto the lifeboat quietly, and it puts us that much closer to the Barbarian coast besides. Either way, we won't be reaching out to the organization again anytime soon."

Jerry opened the cabin door. Evan heard every word clearly, and something settled firmly in his mind. He gave Xiaoshuang a silent instruction. Follow him.

Xiaoshuang understood and trailed after. Jerry made his way up to the deck, found the lifeboats, and struck up a conversation with one of the crew, claiming a passing interest in seafaring. The talk drifted naturally to the ship itself, and eventually to the lifeboats. The crewman, suspecting nothing, walked him through the full process of launching and using one without a second thought.

Xiaoshuang caught every word, and so did Evan through her. Something in him hardened further — never underestimate anyone. Desperate to survive, this man had clearly put every ounce of cleverness he had into the plan.

Evan, still in his cabin, now had the full picture — timing and all. All that remained was to wait for nightfall. He rose and stepped out onto the deck. Jerry hadn't left yet, and at the sight of Evan, he froze for just a moment. Evan caught the flicker in his eyes — the man recognized him, though Evan had no idea who he was. Whether he'd seen him in person before or simply studied a portrait, there was no telling. Evan let his gaze sweep past him casually, and Jerry's expression stiffened, his movements a touch too deliberate, playing at not recognizing him.

Fortunately, Evan only glanced at him briefly before letting his eyes move on, giving nothing away. Xiaoshuang, still invisible, drifted down to settle on his left shoulder, whispering quietly. "Wang, he's asking about how to use the lifeboats. What a vicious plan — taking your lives, and dragging two hundred innocent people on this ship down with you. Who do these people even belong to?"

I'd guess Gonuo Society, Evan replied silently, through the link, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. We'll know for certain after tonight's interrogation. Gonuo Society. Time for a real reckoning.