Rhys spent the rest of the day working in his cabin, occasionally taking a break and having a stroll around the Endeavour’s deck. Lucien returned sometime in the afternoon and took Lucy out for dinner again, but thankfully Lucy was the one to let him in this time.

Zaxx kept Rhys informed of what was happening, so Rhys saw no need to leave his cabin while the tall and unnerving man was onboard. He didn’t want to cause any discomfort for Lucy, but Rhys wanted to spend as little time around Lucien as he could.

Oliver came back in the evening with a satisfied smile and the promise of an early morning delivery the next day. He’d stuck with the ideas they’d spoken of earlier, buying finished goods rather than the raw materials that were more common in Arn Gol.

To Rhys’s complete lack of surprise, Oliver had spent the full ten sovereigns that Rhys had given him. From the descriptions of the assorted goods that Oliver had been able to purchase, however, it sounded like he had gotten a good deal.

The only other event of note was a messenger that arrived not long after Oliver returned. The harried-looking woman wore guild colours and had a wax tablet that was in turn sealed and stamped with the guild’s crest.

‘Do I keep this?’ Rhys asked as he carefully took the tablet from her.

‘Yes, the client paid for the express service, so the tablet is included for security.’ The messenger replied over her shoulder, already halfway back down the stairs as she spoke.

‘Oh, thanks, then,’ Rhys said, shrugging a little before heading back inside.

The wax tablet had a thin piece of ironwood covering it that was locked in place by the stamped wax seal. Considering it for a moment, Rhys came to the conclusion that it must be some form of anti-tampering process.

Taking the tablet back to his cabin, Rhys breached the seal with one of his tools and carefully removed the cover. Carved into the soft wax of the interior was a message, addressed to him, from Captain Forsythe.

The message was more of the same from their meeting, offering a nebulous amount of money and favours from the military in return for the Endeavour taking part in this bandit hunt. While that all sounded very good, it was too much attention for Rhys’s liking.

The very fact that Rhys had been sent this message only reinforced how uncomfortable he was about the whole situation. As far as he was aware, nothing about the Endeavour would be worth this kind of attention. Nothing but Zaxx, anyway.

Rhys had considered this after the meeting and had ultimately dismissed it. Now that he had this message, Rhys felt less sure about that.

Still, if the military knew about Zaxx, they would just come and take him. For that matter, there was the inquisition presence here. The inquisitors or their dedicated troops would have acted at the slightest hint of something like this.

The tablet had put fresh fuel onto Rhys’s worries about being found out, so it took an effort of will on his part to smooth the tablet surface and store it away. They were leaving tomorrow, and he wanted nothing to do with this military operation. He would ignore this message, which would be the end of all this.

-**-

Their final day in Arn Allinor sped past swiftly as they made their final preparations to leave. Oliver had booked in their deliveries for early in the day, so after they arrived, Tom still had time to head to the market for fresh produce. Realising that he had forgotten the day before, Rhys gave Tom a little extra to go with and specifically requested some of the schwartztee tea leaves that the Kraus brothers had introduced him to.

Lucy stepped out after the delivery to send a message to her uncle and let him know they were leaving, and then they were ready to go. Apparently, however, they needed to have an inspection before leaving, the same as when they arrived.

Darla, their dockmaster, came by each morning to get an update on when they intended to leave. Rhys told her to book them for a noon departure when she arrived that morning. The inspection team from the inquisition would come shortly beforehand to check their cargo.

With little to do but wait until the inspection, Rhys considered their time at the spire. Taking everything that had happened into account, Arn Allinor had been a mixed bag of results for them. There had been highs, like Oliver making them a tidy profit, but there had been just as many lows. Still, it had been positive on the whole in Rhys’s eyes, so he didn’t feel it was a wasted journey.

Despite that, Rhys was eager to get off the ground and get into the air once more. It wasn’t so bad when they were trading or waiting for deliveries, but now that they were ready to go, he was restless and unable to settle.

Fortunately, a squad of black-clad inquisitorial troops arrived in good time before they were due to leave. Interestingly, an inquisitor headed the troops, making this more official than Rhys expected.

Thankfully, Rhys was pacing on deck when he saw them approaching, their path causing a ripple effect as everyone scrambled to get out of the way. With some slightly advanced warning, Rhys started assembling the crew and preparing for the inspection.

By the time the troops arrived, Rhys and the others were waiting at the boarding hatch, ready for inspection. In Rhys’s eyes, the more cooperative they were, the quicker this would be over.

Two of the troopers waited at the bottom of the stairs, warily observing their surroundings, while the inquisitor and the other three climbed up to them.

‘Good morning, I am Inquisitor Secondus Dhume. We are here to search your ship before departure. Do you have any contraband to declare?’ The inquisitor asked, his tone polite as he greeted them. Now he was up close, Rhys recognised Dhume as the inquisitor on the pinnace that had boarded them a few days ago.

‘No, nothing,’ Rhys said, inwardly surprised by the change in mannerisms between this search and the last one.

‘Very well. Captain Hunt, please take Sergeant Blake to your cabin and the engine room. Mr Morgan, please accompany me to your cabin and the cargo bay. Ms Val Drack and Mr Brown, Privates Ostar and Dilof will accompany you to your cabin. Any questions?’ Inquisitor Dhume asked, pointing out the relevant soldier with each assignment as he went.

‘No, Inquisitor,’ Rhys said respectfully, the other three murmuring their own replies at the same time.

‘Excellent. In that case, after you, Captain,’ Dhume said, gesturing for Rhys to lead the way.

Nodding and heading inside the ship, Rhys did his best to stay calm as he climbed the stairs to the main corridor and headed toward his cabin. When they’d been told that they would be searched prior to leaving, he’d taken some appropriate steps with Zaxx’s help, but he was still concerned.

Sergeant Blake was two steps behind Rhys as he walked down the corridor to his cabin, the soldier’s presence making the back of Rhys’s neck itch furiously.

‘This is my cabin,’ Rhys said, stopping next to the door and unlocking it for the sergeant.

‘Wait here, don’t move,’ Sergeant Blake said in a gruff tone, eyeing Rhys for a second before pushing the door open.

Rhys waited patiently while the dour soldier searched his cabin, noticing as he did that the others had been taken into their cabins alongside their assigned soldiers. Maybe he was told to wait out here because he was the captain.

‘All clear, take me to the engine room,’ Sergeant Blake said shortly, emerging from Rhys’s cabin after several minutes of searching.

‘Of course, this way,’ Rhys said, heading to the stairs that lead down to the engine room.

This was the most dangerous part of the whole operation, and Rhys was trying hard not to show how uncomfortable he was. Cold sweat was running down his spine, but Rhys forced a smile onto his face as he opened the next door for the soldier.

Sergeant Blake took one look at the grimace-like smile on Rhys’s face and grunted before heading inside to look around.

Rhys followed the other man into the engine room, watching carefully as the soldier poked around the machinery. This was the first time that anyone other than Rhys had been in the engine room since he’d bought the Endeavour. Thankfully, Zaxx was following Rhys’s instructions and the ship core was flickering with the blue lights that would be there for a normal core. The purple light inside the core was the main giveaway that Zaxx was present, so Rhys had described what a normal core looked like for Zaxx to mimic.

Looking a little closer, Rhys realised that the mimicry wasn’t perfect. He could still see the odd flicker of purple within the depths of the core, and the blue that it was faking was a few shades out.

Licking his lips nervously, Rhys watched as the Sergeant examined the stores of acid and crystal they had on hand, grunting under his breath before turning to the core.

A flicker of purple came through the blue for a moment and Rhys froze in terror as the soldier cocked his head at the core and walked over to examine it more closely.

‘What are you looking at?’ Rhys asked, proud of how his voice didn’t quaver despite the nauseous feeling in his gut.

‘Nothing,’ the soldier said after a long moment, shaking his head and turning away to open up the crystal grinder and check inside. ‘We’re done here.’ He shut the grinder up and left the engine room, ignoring Rhys as he walked past him.

A soft sigh of relief was all Rhys allowed himself as he closed up the engine room and locked it once more. That had been close, too close.

Following Sergeant Blanke back upstairs, Rhys watched with relief as the other inquisition soldiers finished their own searches and moved to aid the inquisitor in the cargo hold. With all their new cargo aboard the Endeavour, it would be the most intensive area to search.

Thankfully, the whole thing was over quickly once all the soldiers were assisting the inquisitor and the Endeavour was given clearance to leave.

‘Thank you for your cooperation. I hope you have a safe journey,’ Inquisitor Dhume said as his troops disembarked, ready to move on to the next task.

‘Thank you, Inquisitor,’ Rhys said, trying not to appear too thankful that Dhume and his soldiers were getting off the Endeavour.

The dour inquisitor gave Rhys a withering look that suggested that Rhys had failed to quite keep his relief hidden. He looked as though he was about to say something else, but his eyes flicked to Lucy, and Dhume frowned before turning and leaving the ship.

Rhys was quick to close the hatch behind the inquisitor, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as he sealed it and closed them off from the outside world. He hated uninvited guests, and he hated search parties even more.

‘Well, wasn’t that pleasant,’ Oliver said, his voice thick with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes.

‘Is it me, or did that feel like it wasn’t even a real search?’ Tom said, frowning in thought as he glanced at Lucy.

‘Don’t look at me. I didn’t do anything,’ Lucy said, folding her arms and glaring halfheartedly at Tom.

‘No one is saying you did,’ Rhys said, lifting his hands up and doing his best to calm things down. He didn’t want accusations getting thrown around. ‘Tom is right that the search felt odd, but all that matters is that we’re done now, right?’

‘Yeah, sorry, Lucy, I didn’t mean to make it sound like you’d done something,’ Tom said, rubbing the side of his neck and giving her an embarrassed smile.

‘It’s okay, I think this inquisition business has us all on edge,’ Lucy said, waving away the argument absently. ‘Let’s just get moving, okay?’

‘Sounds good to me,’ Rhys said with feeling, hurrying past the others to head up the stairs. The stress of being here was clearly getting to them all.

Rhys went straight to the helm and started everything up; the search was the last thing they’d been waiting on, so he had clearance to leave as soon as he was ready.

Powering up their ventral thrusters, Rhys checked the sky around them before slowly easing the Endeavour into the air. The docks were still busy with both arrivals and departures, so he needed to keep an eye on any nearby ships.

Keeping their speed low until they were out of the airspace around the docks, Rhys set their heading for Arn Gol and pushed their speed up to a steady cruise. There was no need to rush on the way back; he’d much rather save on the crystals and take a bit longer.

Rhys took a deep breath and held it for a moment before exhaling. He could almost feel the stress and worries of the last few days flowing out of him. It felt good to be in the air again.