Slave to Sapphire

The ship made its way to Volos and Iris fell into a rhythm. She had introduced herself to the female crewmember; her name was Beatrice and she didn’t take any bullshit. Beatrice was good at what she did and knew it. She climbed high above the ship with confidence and grace. Beatrice had shown Iris how to climb to the small platform on the foremast of the ship. She instructed Iris on the different hazards to watch for while up in the lookout. Iris would spend several hours a day up in the lookout taking in the wide expanse of the ocean, Samson content to soak up the sun beside her. Eventually her mind would swirl with thoughts of her life in Scarlet Town, her time in captivity, the mines, her betrayal of Ezekiel, and she would long for the forgetting that she would get with azure. When she couldn’t stand her thoughts and urges any longer, she would climb back down to the deck.

When Iris came down from the lookout, she would seek out Julian and they would spar with one another, often joined by Maddox. Iris’ fighting abilities improved each day. She even managed to land a couple of blows on Julian. The physical strain of sparring helped Iris to empty her mind. She focused on adapting Julian’s techniques to work for someone of her small stature. Only stopping the sparring sessions when all of her muscles ached, and she was too sore from the not-so-soft hits that Julian landed.

The sun would sink low in the sky and Iris would eat dinner in her cabin with Cora and Sabine. They would stay up late into the night talking and sometimes laughing. Iris would fall on to her bunk with Samson curled up next to her. Each day she managed to deplete herself enough so that she would fall into a deep sleep. If she was lucky, it would be dreamless, but it was more likely that her sleep was haunted with nightmares. She would wake up with the image of Lucious clinging to her mind, his face covered in blood as the gash knitted itself closed, his mouth spread wide in a hateful grin.

During their journey she suffered through three episodes of azure tremors. Cora and Sabine sat with her until the tremors left her body weak and needing. Iris was desperate for the episodes to stop. The episodes were debilitating. At the onset of one, she had almost fallen from the ropes high above the ship when the cramping and shaking had started.

Two weeks and two days had passed since Iris had boarded the ship. The sun was making its descent and Iris climbed down from the look out. Beatrice had told her that they would arrive in Volos tomorrow. She didn’t see Julian on deck, so she ventured below deck looking for him. She found him in one of the narrow passages of the hull, sitting with his back against the wall and his legs stretched out. His head tilted back, his eyes closed. He wore a white tunic that the sleeves had been ripped from and brown pants that were tight across his muscular thighs. His swarthy skin had darkened further from the past weeks on the boat. Julian cracked open his eyes as Iris approached.

“I didn’t mean to cut your nap time short,” Iris said.

“I wasn’t napping,” Julian grumbled and stood up but remained leaning against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest.

“No shame in needing to take a nap before sparring with me.”

Julian smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We will arrive in Volos tomorrow.”

Iris moved so that she was directly across from him, her back against the opposite wall. The passageway was narrow and there was little space left between them. Julian looked down at Iris and his jaw twitched. Iris was surprised at the desire that danced across his eyes before he regained control of himself.

“Iris, we need to talk about what happens when we reach Volos.”

Iris took a deep breath. “Maddox says that I worry too much. The past two weeks I have been struggling to reconcile my past and the decisions that I have made. I’m not sure that I ever will be able to. But I would like to spend one more night not worrying about the future as well. Come spar with me and you can tell me everything I need to know in the morning.”

Iris could see the sadness in Julian’s expression and knew he wasn’t going to do as she requested. Iris’ mind was tired from spinning with thoughts of her previous life, she didn’t want to think about Ezekiel anymore or the men she had killed or the nothingness that azure brought. Iris had a gut feeling that when she arrived in Volos she wasn’t going to be allowed to go her own way. She doubted that she would be allowed to spend the rest of her days out at sea climbing the riggings of a ship. Iris wanted to leave her previous life behind but was afraid to know what her life in Volos would be.

Julian watched her intently. Iris pushed herself off from the wall so that she was inches away from Julian.

“Julian, please.” She hated the pleading sound in her voice.

Julian lowered his head towards her. “Iris, I can’t, we need to..”

Iris stepped forward; she lifted her hand and traced the fine scar from his hairline to his cheek bone. Julian trembled under her touch and fell silent. Raising on to her toes she pressed her lips onto his. Julian was stiff, his lips a firm closed line. Iris was determined to escape even if just for a moment. She pressed her body against his and she could feel his rising need. Julian moved a hand through her hair, the other grabbing hold of her ass. He opened his mouth to her, and their tongues entered each other’s mouths. There was a desperation in the way that he kissed her. Iris let out a moan. Julian tensed and dropped his hand from her grabbing her wrist with his roughened hand, his other hand gripped her shoulder. He ended the kiss and put space between them. The passageway did not allow him to retreat far from her.

His eyes were wild with want. His chest rose with the deep breaths he took to calm himself.

“Iris, we have to stop, I need to speak with you.” His voice was rough as he spoke.

Iris studied him, he was still gripping her wrist and shoulder. His hold was firm, almost painful. He was at war with the decision to push her away or pull her in to him. Iris didn’t know why but she chose that moment to open her senses. She hadn’t done so since she had used her life source to heal him. Maybe she did it because she was feeling so many emotions, and she was desperate to feel something outside of herself. She could feel the hum of the life source in her cuff and expanded her senses further. Iris was struck by the deep well of life source that surrounded her, it pulsed as if it was about to erupt, the sensation assaulted her senses. She immediately closed herself off and tried to push away from Julian, her back hitting the wall. Julian released her.

Iris was now the one breathing heavily and she met Julian’s stare. “What cargo is the ship carrying?” her voice quiet but strong.

“This is a trading vessel and it’s carrying back a shipment of source stone to Volos.”

“The source stone is filled with life source.” It was both a statement and a question. Julian stared back at her, allowing her to come to her own conclusion.

“That is how Volos uses the stone to power ships and other things. Volos is using life source taken from the people of Orinth?” her voice a whisper as the realization took root.

Julian nodded at her assessment. The blood drained from Iris’ face, she felt sick. “Volos is no better than Orinth.”

Julian finally spoke. “Volos’ purchases the source stone filled with life source from Orinth. A Conduit wearing a source stone is needed to transfer life source from the source stone to power an inanimate object.”

“That is why you came back for me, Volos needs me?”

Julian’s expression was pained. “Conduits are extremely rare and without them, our economy cannot run. But Iris you have to know that I do care for you, and I care about what happens with you.”

Iris snorted; she could taste bile rising in her throat. “You played me Julian, getting me on to this ship was your plan all along. How long have you known what I am?”

“Since the beginning we suspected, but I knew for sure when you told me about your time in the mines.”

“What do you mean the beginning, and who is we?”

Julian slumped against the wall and ran a hand over his short hair. “I might as well tell you everything.”

Iris glared back at him. “That or I beat it out of you.”

“There is a network of spies from Volos in Orinth, among other things we are always looking for possible conduits who we can smuggle to Volos. Iris, I promise you, your life will be better in Volos.”

Iris kicked him in the shin, Julian grunted. “Please stick to the facts of the story.”

“Sorry. There was intel that a woman with amarath eyes was working for Lucious. There is a strong probability that anyone who survives the mines is a conduit. We had people start asking more questions about you and learned that you were setting up a big shipment of azure. We have known about Lucious for a long time, he is a conduit but has close ties with the government. One of the spies approached Lucious with a plan for him to tip off the Grand Ruler about the azure shipment you had orchestrated. Lucious was only too happy to go along with the plan, he believed you were getting too powerful in Exodus Gang and we assured him that after that night you would never be seen in Orinth again. Lucious had also made it a condition that we dispose of Maddox since he would always be loyal to you. You were never supposed to make it out of Lavender District, we planned to smuggle you out of Orinth that night. It was luck that Ezekiel found you and brought you back to the Palace.”

“It was even luckier that you were able to use me as a spy to steal information about the mines. Or was that just a way for you to keep tabs on me?”

“It was both, the information that you gathered is invaluable to Volos.”

Iris kicked the wall next to Julian, the pain that flared in her toes helped focus her. “Lucious planned to be rid of both me and Maddox and he knew the Grand Ruler would return all of the azure to him.” Her hatred and anger towards Lucious surged and she embraced it like an old friend.

“Who shot Maddox?”

Julian tensed. “It was me who shot him. Iris, you saw the shot I made through the rope to free Maddox. If I planned on killing Maddox, I would have.”

Iris wanted to scream; the betrayal crashed over her. She was drowning in her fury, how had she missed this? Even if Julian hadn’t killed Maddox, he had ensured his capture and certain death. “I have been such a fool.”

Julian reached towards her brushing her shoulder with his hand. Iris slapped him hard across the face. “Fuck you,” She spat. “Don’t ever touch me or speak to me again.”

Iris left Julian stunned and ashamed, an angry red handprint forming across his face. Iris stormed across the deck. Samson caught sight of her and raced to join her. Together they climbed up to the lookout.

Her head was whirling. Julian spoke of Volos so highly, their people free from the cuffs of source stone. But their society depended on and profited off the suffering and the early deaths of the people of Orinth. All azure came from Volos and they gladly sold it to the criminal networks of Orinth. The people’s addiction to Azure contributed to the Elites of Orinth’s ability to amass life source so that they could sell the excess to Volos and further enrich themselves. Iris acknowledged the role she played as a member of the criminal networks, but it was not the same.

She would no longer be compliant in the scheming of the wealthy. Iris would go to Volos as a conduit. She would master her abilities. From within Volos, she would stop the production of azure. Iris smiled at the thought of how the loss of the profits of azure would destroy Lucious. When he was nothing, she would return to Orinth and finish him off. Iris didn’t think she could save the people of Orinth but she vowed to do everything she could to stop Volos from benefiting off of them. The wind picked up and ripped her hair free from her braid. Samson rubbed his face against her leg and sat beside her. Iris stared out to the horizon, Iris had a plan and she dared Volos to stop her.

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