“So, Sig, what brings you to our lovely little patch of wood? Besides our dear Ana’s strapping physique, of course.”

  The two of us sat in a far corner of the large tent in which the Ostlanders took their breakfast. I was squished against the flaps, as while the wooden bench we sat on could have easily accommodated two or even three people of my size, Henrietta made it quite cramped. The pirate was massive, nearly as tall as Ana, but where our lycan host was all muscle, Henrietta complimented her own beefiness with a sizable beer gut.

  I blinked. I didn’t want to talk about my mission at that moment, especially not with Henrietta. “Call it personal business.”

  She raised her brow, clearly baffled. “Personal business? You never seemed the type to go solo for such matters. Where’s your gang? And that lovely little sister of yours?”

  I sighed. “They’re all dead, save for our betrayer Hilda. I’m here looking for her.”

  Henrietta blinked at that, then looked away from me. “Oh. Sorry to hear it.”

  I grunted in reply, and the both of us sat in silence for a while, with her taking a few more sips of her drink. The Ostlanders knew how to brew a damn fine stout, or at least Henrietta seemed to think so; she was on her third pint already, and it was still only mid-morning.

  I, of course, chose not to partake; given my condition, I could only really enjoy ‘red wine.’

  “You know, for a pirate queen, you seem awfully landlocked.” I remarked, after some time.

  My fellow Firman slammed her mug onto the table before replying. “Ah, now that is a very funny story indeed. You recall my ship, the Spirit of Etrium?”

  “The one we helped you steal?”

  “Mhm.”

  “And the one you sailed off on along with all of our treasure after ditching us in Carthia?”

  “The very same! She was a damn fine vessel, she was, took my crew and I all the way around Firma with nary a hitch. After that, we had a lovely time preying on Hammerskali whalers way up north… but I fear all that plunder might have earned us unwanted attention.”

  I could see where this was heading. “The sort of attention that might find your fine vessel plugged full of holes?”

  She nodded. “And damn near my whole bloody crew along with it! Some clever-clogs captain named Razgriz got the drop on us, disguised three of her ships as fishing trawlers. The High King made her a bloody jarl because of it, while I got six months in Helheim prison.”

  I widened my eyes at that; Helheim was a death pit. “And six decades too short, I imagine; how’d you escape?”

  She chuckled at that. “My dear Siggy, is it so hard to believe that I was simply released after a change of heart and some good behavior?”

  I simply stared at her, and she let out an over-exaggerated groan.

  “Fine, I started a prison riot after tearing a guard’s eye out with a spoon, then leapt out a window while everyone was distracted. After that, I just had to steal a rowboat. Wasn’t all that hard, seeing as I’d held onto the spoon.”

  “And now you’re out here, on the run?”

  She laughed at this. “If only it were that simple, my dear androgyne! You see, I’ve decided to once again serve my mother country.”

  Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. “You mean you’re working for Aquamere?”

  “Indeed! I first set foot in this land at the charming little fishing hamlet of Five’s Rest. The governor there was an… old acquaintance of mine, and he was quite desperate to take me into his employ! So now I’m helping these lovely Ostlanders fight back against the Confederation.”

  I chuckled at that. “What, by drinking all their liquor?”

  She nodded. “That, and helping them arm themselves. Where do you think this lot got all their guns?”

  I took some time to consider this notion. Aquamere and the Confederation had been feuding ever since the Five exchanged their temporal thrones for divinity. It only made sense that the two of them would bring their conflict to this new frontier… and use the Ostlanders as proxies.

  “You know, Henrietta, we may have common cause in this land.”

  The swabbie from the river boat had brought her a fourth pint, which she was just about to down when I spoke up next. “Oh? And how’s that?”

  “In addition to tracking down Hilda, I was also sent here to overthrow Dietrich Bloem by an Aquamerean aristocrat.”

  She snickered at that. “Didn’t take you as the sort to accept patronage from the nobles, Sig, but given your whole revenge quest I suppose it makes sense. Who’s your boss, if you don’t mind me asking?”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I smiled. “The Duchess Azure.”

  Henrietta balked at this. “Azure? That woman’s a gods-damned vampire!”

  I knew she meant it metaphorically; though my sire’s gift remained a secret, her reputation for ruthlessness preceded her.

  Still, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. “They’re nobles, Henrietta; all of them are vampires.”

  Ana’s war room was located in the old Imperial Temple, the only building in this little ruin besides the barracks that still had a roof. I was thankful for the cover, though it wasn’t due to the sun; the clouds had been thick and heavy that morning, and by mid-day it was pouring rain.

  There, Henrietta and I sat around a large wooden table with Ana and seven of her chosen warriors, plus a small dog which sat in Ana’s lap. They were all exchanging some words in their native tongue, which I of course did not understand, but I can tell the deliberations were quite serious.

  I cleared my throat. “So, you want to kick Bloem’s ass back across the sea. Sounds delightful. Now what’s the situation?”

  Ana turned to me, then gestured to the large map on the table before us. “In addition to that teeming eyesore on the coast, the Confederation has established several farming settlements, mainly along the Hud and its tributaries. It is these which serve as the principal vectors for Firman settlement.”

  The settlements were all clearly demarcated with reddish pigment; I even saw New Charsburgh, a scant few miles down the river.

  That name made the gears in my head turn. Char was the Five’s leader, and the one who’d ultimately plunged his spear into the God-Tyrant’s chest. A statue of said God-Tyrant had fallen over in this little temple we were sharing, with one of the Ostlanders using his head as a stool.

  “You mentioned your people being taken into slavery, but bondage as such has been banned in Firma since the fall of the Empire.”

  Ana chuckled. “In Firma, yes, but in our country your people make all manner of excuses for resurrecting the practice. Any clan that resists Bloem’s advances are taken as prisoners of war, sentenced to life in toil for defying the Stadtholder’s will. Those who bend the knee are almost immediately put into debt peonage, forced to pay immeasurable sums to their Firman landlords and taskmasters for the mere right to live on the land of their ancestors.”

  I scratched my chin at this, leaning over the map. “So all of these settlements are dependent on Ostlander labor, in whole or in part?”

  Ana nodded, but it was Henrietta who continued. “They play the Firmans and Ostlanders off one another, keep them divided. The average Firman commoner is just as poor as she’d be back across the sea, but at least she’s not an Ostlander.”

  “Indeed,” Ana continued, “and even our people are not a monolith. Different clans will still carry old grudges, even after being massacred and put into chains. Plus, those who’ve bent the knee and gone into debt are still better off than the war-slaves, even if stepping a toe out of line will condemn them to the same fate.”

  As Ana spoke, I noticed some of her lieutenants exchanging words in their native tongue. I thought of Metz, our crew’s rogue scholar; he’d have a field day learning the language of this place. And he’d probably have a much easier time of it than I ever would.

  “Stirring such divisions is an effective tactic, but it’s doomed to fail.” I observed. “The amount of force required to keep such a mass of people in chains will ultimately cause the whole edifice to crumble. Just like the Iron Empire of old.”

  Ana sighed. “I admire your optimism, Firman, but we’ve yet to see results. My people attack Bloem’s ships, liberate dozens from bondage in night raids, but we’re still limited to hiding in the woods performing hit-and-run tactics.”

  I nodded, observing the state of the Ostlander soldiers. They clearly knew the geography, and were well-organized as a light infantry force, but they’d get absolutely shredded by Confederal linemen or heavy cavalry. And that was with a damn werewolf leading the charge on their end.

  But then again, quantity is a quality in its own right.

  “A general uprising. That’s what you need. Not just an overturned barge or a torched manor house, but every Ostlander slave on the Hud up in arms.”

  Henrietta rolled her eyes. “If only it were that bloody simple, Sig. The Wolves and their fellow rebel clans have got agitators in damn near every settlement on the Hud, but half of them can’t get a word in edge-wise, and the other half end up with their tongues cut out for so much as speaking ill of Bloem’s haircut!”

  I smirked. “I never said it would be easy, Henrietta; I think what your people are missing is someone on the inside.” I turned to Ana. “When you raided that barge, I was on my way to New Charsburgh to partake in a land auction, in the guise of an up-and-coming baroness. I think I’d like to continue on to that little event, and see about ingratiating myself to the local Firman aristocrats.”

  Ana snorted. “Is this your way of escaping, Messer?”

  I chuckled, waving my hand. “You’d be more than welcome to join me, Ana, if you think I’m going to betray you, though I can assure you my plans are anything but. As a fellow Firman, I can serve as your eyes and ears, relaying any feuds between Bloem’s hangers-on that you might be able to exploit. I can also pass information between you and the Ostlander slaves… and be in a position to help them, in the event they do decide to break their chains.”

  Ana considered this for a moment, nodding her head. “New Charsburgh is one of the larger upriver settlements… And it is where Colm’s built his palace of treachery…”

  I raised an eyebrow at this. “Colm?”

  “Of clan Boar, yes. He was my cousin, though he’s an embarrassment to all of us with how hard he’s worked to kiss Firman ass.”

  I smiled. “I’ll see about sending him your regards. Or putting a knife through his neck, whichever you’d prefer.”

  Ana gave her dog a pat on the head before gently putting it down on the floor. She turned to me, leaning over the table. “You’re putting your life on the line for us, Firman, and going against your own countrymen in the process. What’s in it for you, besides revenge?”

  I didn’t need to think for very long to offer my reply. “I used to work for gold, but I can’t buy my crew’s lives back, or my own for that matter. Hurting Bloem and helping you people is all the reward I need.”

  Of course, this was a very roundabout way of completing that mission, and that’s even if we succeeded in kicking this Ostlander rebellion off in the first place. Hells, we could have seized the whole country back from the Confederation, and Bloem would just need to sit pretty in his cliffside fortress long enough for a Firman army to sail to his aid.

  And of course, I still had no idea where Hilda was. A foolish part of me had been half-hoping to find her drunkenly stumbling out of a pub back in Bloemsport, or watch her come down the pier to try and butcher me the second I stepped off the boat.

  But the Ostlanders were a start, a chance, and I had to admit I was a bit taken with the nobility of their cause. It was a nice change of pace from my usual methods; I couldn’t sneak or seduce my way into Bloem’s bedchamber, but I could lead an army through his front door.