Southwest Truths (Semiautomatic Sorceress Book 3) by Kal Aaron (the red fox clan .txt) 📗

at the water rushing past. Change was the province of many people working together, not a single Torch with a bad attitude. The only thing she could do to promote a better future was take down the bastards hunting her and Samuel.

“Don’t get too close to the edge,” called a man from a ladder behind her. He wore the dark blue uniform of the crew. While the captain was a Sorcerer, the rest of the crew were all Shadows. The brown-skinned man spoke with an accent she couldn’t quite place, a product of not traveling out of North America enough. Shadows always falsely assumed her kind were well-traveled.

“I’m not planning on jumping if that’s what you’re worried about.” Lyssa smiled. “I don’t have the Water Witch regalia.” The water flying past made her stomach churn when she imagined falling into it. “And I kind of get the feeling I don’t want to test my regalia’s survivability by falling off something going this fast.”

“We’re pulling close to nine hundred knots,” he said. “The spells and shards protect us from the wind, but you’re right. There’s nothing to stop you if you fall past the barrier.” He grimaced. “And you don’t want to bounce off a yacht going that fast. Even if you did survive, the captain can’t stop this thing on a dime. I’ve seen regalia take some impressive damage, but not that.”

“Has that happened?” Lyssa asked. “Has somebody fallen?”

“No Illuminated has ever fallen off to my knowledge, ma’am,” he replied. “But I saw it happen to a new sailor once.”

Lyssa winced, trying not to picture that. “Poor guy.”

“Sometimes a man doesn’t respect the power enough, and he pays for it.” The man nodded, looking solemn. “But you’re already a regalia bearer, so you’ve made this trip before, if not with us. I shouldn’t be telling you what to do. I’m sorry if I’ve overstepped my bounds.”

“It’s okay.” Lyssa offered him a smile. “It’s been a while since I was on a boat, let alone one going faster than a jet. It doesn’t hurt to be reminded of what that means.” She extended her hand. “Lyssa Corti, bearer of the Night Goddess, also known as Hecate.”

“Intan Sinaga,” the man replied. “It’s an honor to have you aboard, Miss Corti. I did know who you were before I started talking to you. You’re one of the famous Torches being talked about lately.”

“Not by choice.” Lyssa shook her head. “Trust me. If you knew me better, you wouldn’t say being around me is an honor, and calling me Lyssa is fine. Calling me Miss Corti reminds me too much of my Elder.”

“You sure?” Intan asked uncertainly. “You’re a Torch and a full Illuminated. I don’t want to disrespect you.”

“Being a Sorceress and a Torch doesn’t mean I’m a stuck-up bitch.” Lyssa looked to the side. “Well, I am a bitch, just not a stuck-up one.”

“If you insist.” Intan offered a bright smile after chuckling. “My family has served the captains for generations. I’ve got a brother and a sister on this crew. We haven’t produced an Illuminated since the early 1800s, but we do our best to serve the Society in our way. There’s always hope for the future, too.”

“We all have our part to play. One Sorcerer can’t control all this without help, and it’s not like we have enough to spare for a boat crew.” Lyssa stared at the wake of the boat. Despite the vessel’s displacement, its speed left an impressive if temporary trail. “Did you want to be a sailor, or was that just expected of you? I can understand how that question might get fuzzy. I come from a long line of Torches.”

Intan nodded. “I wanted to see the world, and what better way to do that than on a boat serving under a Sorcerer? I’d much rather have this job than run around on Last Remnant fetching things and delivering messages. I don’t mean any disrespect for those who work there, but I get to see the entire world, not only one place, as impressive as it is.”

“I can also understand that.” Lyssa laughed. “You’re doing better than me. I’ve barely traveled out of my Torch region for years. It’s a lot of southwest US, southwest US, and more southwest US, with a chaser of the occasional western US or northern Mexico.”

“You have an important duty.” He sounded solemn. “You use the power of sorcery to destroy evil.”

Having spent time around Shadows raised in Shadow societies, Lyssa was never comfortable dealing with those raised in the Illuminated Society. They, like any other person, varied in attitude, but the reverence demanded by her kind meant even the disgruntled envied the Illuminated.

She forced a smile. There was no shame in not being a paranoid, cynical person consumed by dark thoughts. The world needed hope as much as it needed pragmatism.

“That’s one way of looking at it.” Lyssa returned to gazing over the rail. “But sometimes I wish I had the freedom to travel the world like you. It might be a nice change of pace.”

Intan glanced down at his hand. A crystal embedded in the top pulsed with red light. He offered her an apologetic smile. “My captain calls, Lyssa. Let any of us know if you need anything, and we’ll do our best to make sure your trip to Last Remnant is as comfortable as possible.” He held up his hand. “It’s about nine more hours until we arrive.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” Lyssa waved. “And nice to meet you.”

The sailor headed back down the stairs, leaving Lyssa to again ponder the layered positions in the Illuminated Society. Having people spend centuries, sometimes millennia, serving other families while clinging to the desperate hope they’d produce a Sorcerer bothered her.

It had made a bizarre sort of sense before M-Day, but now people had other options. There was no way the de facto caste system could survive the coming decades if the Society wanted true coexistence with the rest of