In East Balam, Alces—the "Gambling City."
The Black Death, painted black from stem to stern, flew none of its signature flags bearing a skull with ghostly blue flames burning in its eye sockets. It slipped quietly into a private military harbor.
Vice Admiral of Ailment Tracy stood in a white linen shirt, with nothing else covering her upper body, watching the shore draw closer. At last, her weary face relaxed.
She turned to the military colonel in a Golden Mask standing nearby on the deck and asked again, her voice grave, "What exactly did you have me transport? Why were so many people from the Rose School trying to intercept us?"
The man in the Golden Mask shook his head with a hint of regret. "That's a direct question this time. You're not trying to use Fascination on me like before... But my answer is the same as it was the last few times. I don't know what it is either."
"But it cost me more than twenty crew members and two officers. You can't expect me to let them die without knowing why." Tracy spoke with a smile, but her blue eyes looked like a sea gathering a storm.
The man in the Golden Mask seemed to sense the danger beneath Tracy's alluring appearance. Instead of answering, he changed the subject. "I remember you asked me to find out whether Redhead Helene had taken refuge with the Church of Storms."
Tracy narrowed her eyes. The various diseases she had released lost their source and failed to take effect.
"You found Helene?" Tracy asked, her voice a little hoarse.
Though the man had been aboard her ship the whole time, the military had many ways to relay messages and could always get the latest intelligence.
The Black Death's successful arrival