They set out the next morning with high hopes, intending to find this temple, get a map, and be on their way to wherever seemed the next most likely place to find a boat. They'd just passed the main gate of the village when a voice called out from behind them. "Wait!"

Felix looked around, trying to find who'd spoken, and saw nothing until a small creature hopped out from behind a tree and came bumbling across the path. It stopped in front of them, and squeaked. "Wait!" it repeated, high-pitched and childlike.

It was a little tan and brown thing, standing no higher than his knee, with a small head and a round belly. When it spoke, its voice sounded as though it came from very far away. "Take me with you!"

Felix stared, trying to make sense of it, but to his surprise Kraden pushed forward, and gasped. "Iris!"

"What is it?"

A smile tugged at the edges of his beard. "I think… I think it may be one of the Djinn."

He looked at them, expectantly, but no one answered. Sheba shook her head.

"Elemental beings made of pure psynergy…I'd thought they were only a legend." He adjusted his spectacles and crouched down, peering at the creature. "Fascinating."

The creature spoke again. "When the seal was broken, we were freed. We've been waiting." It turned to Felix. "You are an Adept. If you wish it, we will join with you, and add our power to yours."

The Djinn…he'd heard stories of them, a long time ago, but they were only a myth. With the seal broken, though, and half the lighthouses lit, who was to say what was possible anymore? He wished he remembered more, and frowned. "What do you get out of it?"

"We are small. We cannot make our way alone. We must wait for an Adept."

Felix considered. The pudgy little being didn't look like much of anything, let alone a legendary creature. He knelt next to Kraden to get a better look, and in its eyes he saw an infinite depth of sparkling stars. He shivered.

"If I die," he asked it slowly, "What happens to you?"

"We're set loose, to wait for another Adept to share our power." It fidgeted, hopping from foot to foot. "I'd rather go with you. The wait is boring."

"The Djinn are powerful creatures," said Kraden, "It would be wise to accept their aid."

It looked up at him, and blinked those oddly-fathomless eyes. It couldn't hurt to accept, Felix decided, and held out a hand.

The Djinni flew up to join him, and golden light encircled Felix's fingers, his wrist, until all he saw was golden haze and in his heart there swelled the closest thing to bliss he'd felt in longer than he could remember.

Far too quickly, his vision cleared, and he stood.

I'm in here, said a little voice from somewhere in the back of his head. My name is Echo. I hold the power of Venus. I'll stay here until you need me. Now let's go!


As it happened, the temple didn't amount to much. After too long arguing with the door guards, some breaking and entering, and a trek through an unpleasantly-damp cavern, they finally got…a pebble.

The temple master beamed at them, proudly displaying his three remaining teeth. "It is the secret of our order, handed down for generations! Behold the power of Lash!" He closed his eyes, and next to him a coil of rope unwound itself, and tied its own end around a peg set into the wall.

As far as ancient powers went, Felix supposed it was better than nothing. Next to him, Jenna looked positively murderous. Sheba just stared.

"Ah," Kraden said. "It is quite lovely, but…would you happen to have a map?"

The master merely smiled, and waved a hand. "Goodness, no. We have long since given up on worldly concerns. The only map that matters is the map within one's self. Ommmmm…"

They left him to his meditation, and exited the temple - by proper means, this time. Felix looked at the pebble in his hand, and sighed. Perhaps the trip had been a waste of time. They'd come for a map and got a pebble. He didn't realize he'd said the last bit out loud until Jenna spoke up.

"Not quite." She rifled through her pack and held up a small card, covered in arcane symbols. "I also found this!"

"What is it?" Sheba asked.

Jenna shrugged. "Dunno. I kind of like it, though."

Felix turned to Kraden. "Can you read it? Is it anything dangerous?"

The scholar shook his head. "It seems safe enough. I've never heard of cards being used for curses."

"If no one else wants it, I'm keeping it," she declared, and tucked it into the top of her boot for safekeeping. "Maybe it'll bring us luck!"

With that thought in mind, they headed back the way they'd come.


If there actually were such a being as the Sea God, Felix decided, he was going to find him and kick him in the face. Repeatedly. They'd trudged through stones and mud, they'd slogged through even more water, they'd nearly fallen to their deaths on precariously-fastened climbing ropes, and they were no closer to finding a boat than they had been that morning.

At Sheba's insistence, they'd stopped at the shrine. Their new rope trick had allowed them to come to the rescue of two small boys caught on a high ledge—Felix guessed that they were probably the missing kids Sheba had mentioned earlier—and they'd found a Jupiter Djinni hiding among the cliffs, along with a handful of coins and what appeared to be a smoke bomb, but no watercraft of any kind.

Bruised, sore, and slightly soggy, they returned to Daila in defeat. Though it was getting to be late in the evening, a large crowd of people had gathered at the center of town, talking excitedly. He saw the innkeeper's wife on the fringes of the group, and tapped her on the shoulder. "What's happening?"

"It's Madra, to the south. They've captured the Champa pirate! We don't have to worry about raids anymore! Oh, I have to tell mother, she was so worried -" She hurried away, and Felix watched her, nonplussed.

Jenna elbowed him. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"This is great news!"

He'd clearly missed something. "Why?"

"Didn't you hear her?" Sheba said. "They've got a pirate! We should see if he can help us."

Maybe this was too much for her, and she'd finally cracked. Felix turned to Kraden - surely he'd be sensible - but the old man merely nodded. "It's worth a try."

That was it. They'd all gone mad. "A pirate. You want us to seek help from a pirate."

Jenna shrugged. "Why not? You can't be a pirate without a boat."


Piers was beginning to wish he actually were a pirate. A pirate would have had a whole crew of shipmates to break him out of this place. A pirate would have an escape plan at the ready. And if that failed, a pirate would have absolutely no problem with killing his captors in order to break free.

Fortunately for his jailers, Piers was definitely not a pirate. Unfortunately for Piers, they refused to believe this fact.

"I'm telling you!" he repeated for the dozenth time. "Did you see anyone else there? Have you ever even heard of a pirate ship with a crew of one?"

Belatedly, he noticed he'd been rattling the bars to his cell, and he let go of them as the mayor looked on, unimpressed. He stepped back, took a deep breath, and tried to appear reasonable and not at all piratical. "How could I possibly ransack your village all by myself?"

The mayor's face took on a thoughtful cast, but next to him, Shin refused to let up. "That just means they escaped! They're waiting to attack us again! We should make an example of him!"

The mayor held up a hand. "No."

Piers let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Shin, leave us," the mayor said, and the other man obliged. Piers wasn't sorry to see him go. "If you're not a pirate, what brings you here?"

Finally, reason. "I'm a -" How to explain this? He settled for the almost-truth. " - a mapmaker. I wasn't supposed to be here. My ship got caught in the tidal wave. You need to let me out."

The mayor considered this, deliberately looking him over, and Piers hoped that whatever their pirates looked like it wasn't much like him. A stabbing pain throbbed just behind his temples, and it took everything he had not to show it. He could have escaped, easily, if his abilities were working, but after spending a few hours in a dazed half-sleep and another few trying to talk his way out of this he still had next to nothing to work with.

Food would have helped, would have restored at least some of his strength and with it his psynergy, but there was apparently a shortage and everyone was doing without. They said he'd get breakfast tomorrow. He hoped he'd be out by then.

At last the mayor spoke. "I believe you."

He sagged with relief. "Thank you. I'll be on my way-"

The mayor sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple."

"What?" He rushed the bars, grabbing them and shaking for all the good it did, and had he been able to do something in that moment he would have. "What do you mean, 'not that simple'?"

"You've seen how they are. The pirate raids already had them all worked up and now Shin's got them in a frenzy. The instant I let you out there'll be a mob calling for both our heads."

His grip tightened. "So I am to be kept here? Indefinitely?"

"Not indefinitely. Not even very long, if everything works out. Just until we can convince them that you're not Champa. It's for your own safety as much as anything."

He would have protested - even the whole town wouldn't have mattered, if he were at full strength - but he was still weak, and if some pirate attacks had them this paranoid there was no telling what would happen if he started throwing psynergy around. "How long will that take?"

"Hopefully, not long. We captured the Champa leader once, but his kinsmen mounted an attack and set him free. We know where he's hiding, and if we can bring him in it should be easy enough to show that you're not one of his men."

"My ship-"

"Oh, your ship won't be damaged. I'll make sure it's kept safe."

He said it lightly, too lightly. What had he been thinking, Piers wondered, journeying out here? These people couldn't possibly understand -

He took a deep breath, and tried to find his patience. "In the ship's hold there is an - orb. A black orb. It's more important than the ship or anything else. Swear on your life you'll keep it safe."

The mayor shot Piers a strange look, and a tendril of panic coiled around his stomach. He thought of roiling oceans, of shattering glaciers, and it would be so easy if only he could have done it. He stood up to his full height, yanking at the bars. "Swear!"

"All - all right. I swear."

Piers stared him down, silently, until the mayor broke eye contact and looked down at his hands. Piers did the same, and saw that a thin film of frost had crept across his fingernails, the most that he could manage. He turned his hands, hiding it from view, and glared. You don't know what you're dealing with, he thought desperately, and please don't make me show you.

The mayor seemed to have same idea, and swallowed. "The orb will be kept safe." With one last critical glance he left, and Piers let go of the bars to sink down in the corner, head on hands on knees.

He had no choice but to wait.


They started the next morning without a clear plan. Jenna, Sheba, and Kraden were all for heading south immediately in search of the pirate they'd heard about, but Felix hesitated. Pirates weren't exactly known for their generosity. On the other hand, they needed a boat, and badly, and he had no better alternatives.

Amid a chorus of "Let's go, let's go!" and "Pirate pirate pirate pirate!" he decided to talk to the mayor of Daila first. None of the townsfolk they'd spoken to had known much, and he hoped that perhaps the mayor knew something else about this alleged captive that they could use. They headed up the steps to the mayor's house and were just about to knock at the door when it opened from the inside, and a familiar figure came striding out.

Felix stopped dead. "Alex."

Alex stopped, too, and looked at them quizzically. If he found the greeting anything less than friendly he made no indication. "Felix," he said. "Well, well…our happy little family is back together again."

Felix's eyes narrowed. He'd never had any doubt that Alex had survived, but for him to come back

Before he could reply Jenna strode forward. "That's all you have to say? You left us! Where have you been?"

Alex's voice was calm, his face the picture of innocence. "To find a ship, of course."

"And did you find one?" asked Kraden

Would you tell us about it if you did? thought Felix, but said nothing.

He shook his head, gave a labored sigh. "Unfortunately, there are none to be had. The mayor recommends that we check the large town to the south of us."

"We?" said Felix. Near-unconsciously, his hand drifted toward the hilt of his sword. Alex's gaze followed.

"Ah, yes, about that. I have been meaning to tell you." He lingered on Felix's sword-hand a moment longer before looking back up, deceptively serene. ""I think it's time for our little arrangement to come to an end. You've certainly proven yourselves to be quite capable, hm? You should have no further troubles on your own. And I…I prefer to work alone."

I bet you do, Felix thought, and wondered just what the game was here. Alex met him stare-for-stare, inscrutable as ever.

"Well, then," Kraden said, with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Far be it for us to keep you."

"Quite," said Alex, answering him with a smile that was just about as convincing, and turned to leave. "Perhaps you'll see me in Madra."

Next to him, Jenna mumbled something that sounded an awful lot like I hope not, but Alex never broke stride, heading down the steps and through the town gate without a backward glance. Felix watched him go, until he was little more than a blue spot against the trees and dust, and turned to Sheba.

"This town to the south," he said. "We're sure they've captured a pirate?"

She nodded. "I heard from Mrs. Patel that one of their own elders came here with the news. It's all anyone's thinking about. Why?"

He smiled grimly. "I think we have a plan."


Before they could head south, they had one last stop to make. Although small, Daila did boast a weaponsmith and an armorer, both of whom had been sensible enough to store their inventories out of the way of errant seawater, for which Felix was grateful. If he and the others were going to head deeper into the wilderness, they needed something better than an old stick and a rusted antique.

"I like this one!" said Jenna, hefting one of the swords.

Felix raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know how to use that?"

She whirled around and leveled the blade at him, the tip inches from his nose. "Do you?"

He had to admit she had a point.

In the end, Jenna swapped her chewed-up tree branch for a well-worn but sturdy short sword, and Felix was able to exchange his tarnished piece of junk for something that might actually stand a chance against an enemy, if he could figure out what he was meant to be doing. He'd offered it to Sheba, first, but she'd taken one swing and declared the balance to be impossible. She stuck with the trusty Shaman's Rod.

Surprisingly, the wolf's teeth and their hodgepodge of random findings got them all equipment with money to spare, and a promise of more coins if they brought back any other curious things. Felix didn't plan on coming back.

They had a pirate to find.