Free Hope and Red by Jon Skovron

night?” He gestured up at the black-and-purple sky.
    “I…don’t know, Grandteacher.”
    “By the stars. Have you not read that astronomy book?”
    “I have not yet,” admitted Hope. “I thought it was…unimportant. What difference do the stars make to us down here?”
    “When you read it, you will learn about the constellations. Pictures in the sky that never change. There.” He pointed up to a five-point cluster. “That is the Fist of Selk the Brave. And there.” He pointed to a small cluster of stars with a thin line of stars trailing behind it. “That is the Great Serpent. And there.” He pointed to a large cluster of stars. “That is the Kraken.” He turned back to her. “Learn these shapes. Memorize them. They will help guide you on your way.”
    “ Us , Grandteacher,” corrected Hope. “You mean they will help guide us .”
    “Of course,” said Hurlo.
    Hope stared up at the dark, twinkling sky for a while. Hurlo could tell she was working something out for herself, so he waited.
    “I have seen a symbol, Grandteacher. A black oval with eight trailing lines. It looks like a squid or kraken. The captain who brought me here. He said it was the symbol of the biomancers.”
    “He is correct,” Hurlo said quietly.
    Hope nodded, still staring up at the sky. “What are the biomancers, Grandteacher? They are mentioned frequently in histories of the empire, yet it is never clear who they are exactly. Are they sorcerers? Or holy men?”
    “They are scientists, of a sort. Mystics of biology. They can take living creatures and change them.”
    “Change them how?”
    “Make them bigger or smaller. For example, mole rats used to be tiny things no bigger than mice, once upon a time. Did you know that?”
    Hope shook her head.
    “A biomancer may make a living thing grow, or decay, or make it into something else completely.”
    “Are biomancers good or bad?”
    “They serve the emperor, for good or bad.”
    “Don’t the Vinchen serve the emperor?” asked Hope.
    “We serve the empire . That is why we live and train far from the palace and its corrupting influence and power. A single emperor may be flawed or cruel. But the empire is bigger than one man. And it is always worth fighting for. Perhaps when the time comes, you will be the one to correct its course.”
    Hope looked at him then. Her gaze had softened over the months of their training. But now it looked again as it did that night Toa brought her to him. “A biomancer killed my parents and everyone in my village.”
    “I know,” said Hurlo.
    “Is it wrong that I want to kill a servant of the emperor?”
    “What does the Vinchen code say about vengeance?”
    Bleak Hope closed her eyes, as if reading it on the backs of her eyelids. “Vengeance is one of the most sacred duties of a warrior. It may be swift or slow, but it must be done with honor. When a warrior confronts his offender, he must give his name and ask the offender for his. The warrior must state clearly his reason for vengeance and allow the offender the chance to arm himself. The only true vengeance is the death of the offender. If the warrior fails in this, better that he die than live in such dishonor.”
    “Will you abide by this code?” asked Hurlo.
    The wind lashed at Hope’s hair as she stood with her eyes still closed. “Yes, Grandteacher.”
    “Then you have your answer.”

6
    A fter a month of raiding lacy yachts along the coast, word started to spread of Sadie the Pirate Queen. The yachts got scarce and imperial patrols started to appear. The naval ships were large and slow compared to the Savage Wind , so they were easy to avoid. But now Sadie and her crew needed to find new targets.
    “There’s merchant ships,” Missing Finn said doubtfully one night. He and Sadie sat at the bow, watching the sun set red on the horizon and passing a bottle back and forth.
    “Yeah, big old cargo ships,” Sadie said eagerly. “That’ll be easy.”
    “Easy to catch,”