Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By John Wick
For the woman who helped me find Elena’s voice and see into
her heart.
“WWJD?”
Dear Diary,
I know my sister will never read this, but I still write it pretending
that one day, she shall. Villanova’s spies are most effective: a fact I have
learned all too well. A fact that earned me a scar. It still aches on cold
nights. But I have hopes. And in this world, hope is the most precious
commodity of all, more valuable than any coins or treasure.
I still remember Catarina as the little girl I could hold in the nook of
my arm. Her eyes unfocused. Her tiny fingers barely able to wrap around
my thumb. I remember her grip and how surprised I was when I felt its
strength. Mother put her in my arms, but it was Father who took her
away, and when he did, I felt a sudden pang in my chest. Then, I could
not explain it. Now, I understand it perfectly.
The day I held Catarina was one of the last days I spent in that house.
I remember standing on the cliff behind the house, the steep fall and blue
waters below. The strong wind. I grew up holding on to the railing with
both hands, too afraid to let go. I had nightmares of the wind catching
my skirts, lifting me up, and pulling me over the edge. Falling down
into the water below, the cold crash, freezing. Losing my breath. Then,
waking breathless. My skin wet. My eyes wide, looking into the pitch
black room, wondering if I had screamed. Looking at my sister asleep, I
saw that I did not. And trying to fall back asleep, terrified of the dream,
lurking in my mind like an assassin, waiting for me to lower my guard.
I remember running through the house when Father was away and
walking with my head bowed when he was not, walking so quietly,
trying not to be heard. Stealing a taste of the cake batter when the cook’s
back was turned. Getting my hand slapped when I was caught. Watch-
ing the vineyard grow. And the oranges. And the dates.
I never considered what was outside the house, away from the island.
I would look at the setting sun and see the ships on the water, but I never
wondered what it would be like to leave. I never wanted to leave. With
my crochet and knitting, the cats and kittens sitting on my lap and
around me, the dogs in the yard chasing my brothers, I never wanted
to leave.
But there was a day I wanted to run away. A very dark day. It
happened nine years before Catarina was born, nine years before I was
taken from the house….
PART ONE
Daughter
8 John Wick
Daughter of Fate 9
E lena saw the storm coming, black clouds and sheets of rain
on the mainland. Hours before it would arrive, a small ship
preceded it. Ignazio and Felice went down to the docks and brought
back a woman who looked a thousand years old. Her face was
hidden behind a thick, black veil. She looked like she would fall
apart any moment, her limbs held together by cobwebs. They held
both her arms as she walked, and they moved so slowly, as if afraid
they would snap her in half if they moved even an inch faster.
Her mother greeted the old woman halfway up the walk from
the docks, kneeling down. The old woman put a hand on Mother’s
head and her fingers looked like the legs of a pale spider, curling
down on her skull. Elena felt her body shudder.
All four of them walked up to the house. When they entered,
Mother told Elena, “This is Nana Emmanuela.”
Elena smiled, but she looked frightened. She curtseyed as she
had been taught. “My name is Elena Mondavi.”.
The old woman behind the veil said, “I know,” and her voice
sounded like she had gravestones in her throat. Then, Nana Emman-
uela looked at Mother. “Tea,” she said.
Nana Emmanuela spoke like Elena’s father: with certainty and
confidence. Elena had never heard a woman speak like a man before.
Then, Nana gestured toward the living room. Ignazio and Felice
helped her. She sat on the couch, her voice making pained sounds.
She gestured toward Elena.
“Come here,” she said.
Elena stepped into the room, stopping at the door, as she had
been instructed.
10 John Wick
***
Sitting in the yard, knitting on her lap, Elena watched her broth-
ers clashing swords.
Ignazio was the older. Tall, slender, and dark-haired, like her
father. His limbs were long and strong and his eyes were bright.
When he smiled, Elena could not help but smile.
Felice was smaller and younger. Not fully grown. His hair was
brown, like Mother’s, and he was fast. Ignazio called him “reckless”
and “foolish.” Ignazio also always won their duels.
Daughter of Fate 11
Ignazio caught it with his glove. He pulled the sword from her hands
and pointed it back at her.
“Be careful, Captain Elena!” he said. “Justice comes to all pirates
sooner or later!”
“No!” Elena shouted, smiling. “I escape!” And she ran back into
the house, Ignazio laughing after her.
***
Having Nana in the house was worse than when Father was
home. When Father was away, Elena could play with her brothers,
but when he was home, everyone was quiet and obedient. When
Nana was there, everyone was afraid.
Nana could not move on her own, needing others to help her.
More than once, Mother asked Elena to assist Nana Emmanuela
around the house. She trembled when Nana touched her, her skin
like fish pulled from the sea. Her old dress swishing as her legs made
tiny steps.
One day, as they walked through the vineyard, Nana asked her,
“Do you have it?”
Elena was unsure what the old woman meant. “I—I do not
know,” she said.
“The Gift,” Nana asked. “Can you see? Do you have the Sight?”
Elena hesitated in answering her. But she felt Nana’s hand
squeeze hers, her fingernails digging into flesh. “Do you?” she asked
again, her old voice on the edge of cruelty.
Elena nodded. “I do.”
Nana nodded and said, “Tell me what you see.”
Elena told her about the visions. Seeing lights over people’s heads.
About flashes of lights dancing between her mother and father, her
brothers.
Daughter of Fate 13
Elena had not told anyone. But she knew Nana could tell if she
was lying.
“You have the Sight,” Nana said. “That is good.”
Elena said, “My mother does not have it.”
Nana said, “She does, but she is no good at it.” She made a wet
sound that may have been a giggle. “She makes too many mistakes.”
Elena nodded. “Father…always asks Mother if I have it.”
They turned a corner in the vineyard, moving further away from
the house. “Does she ask you?”
Elena shook her head. “No. Not once.”
“So, you’ve both been hiding it,” Nana said, her hand squeez-
ing tight.
“No,” Elena protested, almost panicked. “She just…”
“You never speak of it,” she said. “She knows. It is the way to
keep secrets. If you never ask the right questions, nobody ever gives
the right answers.” She nodded, softly. “This is a trick your mother
knows well.”
Elena paused her steps, looking up at the woman. She saw her
jaw, just under the veil. Her jowls hanging low. Thin skin hanging
loosely on old bones.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Nana smiled. “I am your father’s grandmother,” she said. “Come
to teach you how to use your Gift.” She squeezed Elena’s hand again.
“Let us walk further. I have more questions to ask you.”
Years passed, and the house changed with her presence. The
room seemed to chill when she entered it. When she spoke, her
voice sounded underwater. And when she cast her eyes upon Elena,
the girl could feel her stomach shivering.
But over that month, Elena learned to refine what Nana called
“the Sight.” The flashes of instinct she had were replaced with some-
thing much more powerful. One morning, she saw her father
14 John Wick
standing with her mother. More than that, she saw something that
looked like a single thread, almost like a bit of spider web dangling
in a thin breeze. It shimmered with many colors.
Elena saw this standing far away from them. Nana stood with her.
“What do you see?” Nana asked.
Elena told her. She described the colors, the thread twisting in a
wind she could not hear nor feel.
“You see the strands,” Nana said. “Very good.”
Elena looked at her. “What is it?”
“The strand?” she said, her voice more than a little amused. “Some
believe they link us together, show us the truth.” She gestured softly
toward Elena’s parents. “You see how the strand appears to be dim?”
Elena nodded. “Yes.”
“The bond between them is weakening,” she said. “Fraying like a
poorly knit frock.”
Elena blinked, feeling her heart sink with dread. “No!” she said.
Nana shrugged. “It happens,” she told her. “Men and women
cling to each other tightly at first, but then, their grip loosens.” She
took a cookie from the tray sitting in front of them. “Then, they try
to reach for something else.”
Elena began crying, and she didn’t understand why.
“Shush,” Nana told her. “Don’t upset your parents.”
Don’t upset your parents. That only made it worse.
***
A week later, Elena wasn’t only seeing the strands, she was learn-
ing to pull them. Her brothers were throwing tablua dice and Nana
said, “Watch them. Watch the strands.”
Elena saw the boys pick up the dice and shake them in closed
fists. And she saw the strands twist as the dice tumbled.
Daughter of Fate 15
“You can change the roll,” Nana said. “But you must be careful. If
you pull too hard, the strands will cut you.”
Elena took a deep breath, trying to keep her eyes on the strands.
“Use your fingers, if you must,” Nana whispered.
Elena lifted her arms, coiling her fingers around the strands
between her brothers and the dice, feeling them against her flesh
like cold, icy razors.
“Take care,” Nana told her.
As she touched the strands, Elena heard a soft sound in the back
of her thoughts. Almost like singing. A choir. Touching the strands
was like plucking the harp. She felt their edges, like balancing the tip
of a knife on her fingers.
Carefully… carefully… slow… breathing… she pulled a single
finger… forward… feeling the edge biting into her skin…
The dice fell, clattering to the table. One brother cursed and the
other cheered.
Elena blinked, realizing her eyes were wet. “I…did it,” she said.
Nana smiled. “Yes. Yes, you did.”
Elena stared at her brothers, feeling a smile grow on her lips.
Then, she felt something on her hands. She looked down and saw
Nana’s white handkerchief covering her fingers.
And blossoms of blood from her hands under it.
***
Elena sat quietly as many men and women walked about her
father’s house. She sat with Nana and watched.
The woman’s presence was like a shadow now. Ever present and
subtle. Sometimes Elena even forgot she was there. But she was
always there. Just a step behind her. A shadow.
Mother was pregnant again and all her family had come. Uncles,
16 John Wick
aunts, cousins. All of them. People she had never seen before and
people she had seen perhaps only once. But they all knew her name
and they all greeted her like they had known her all her life.
The men were loud and the women were polite. She stood in line
with her siblings when they arrived and bent her knee when Mother
introduced her, bowing her head. She stood until her feet and back
ached. Then, when the greetings were done, she sat in the parlor
quietly with Nana sitting by her side.
“Look at them,” Nana said.
Elena answered, “I am.”
“No,” Nana said. “Look at them.”
Elena took a breath...closed her eyes...then opened them...
Her eyes changed focus. As if she was trying to see through the people.
“Look at them,” Nana said again.
...and Elena looked.
The room full of people, almost standing shoulder-to-shoulder.
And a great web of light between them. All of them. Colors flashing.
The webs linking them together.
“Tell me what you see,” Nana said.
Elena raised a hand but Nana slapped it down, moving with
a speed Elena had become accustomed to, but still caught her off
guard. “Do not point. Only speak.”
Elena’s eyes focused on a man speaking to her father. She saw
the strand linking them, shimmering like a spider web with droplets
of sunlight.
“He owes my father money,” she said.
Nana nodded, “Very good.”
Elena shifted her gaze, looking at the strands. Desire. Authority.
Each its own shimmering color.
Elena saw some of the women watching her. Their eyes trembling.
“Not all of us have the gift,” Nana said. “And those who are not
Daughter of Fate 17
***
Elena watched Ignazio walk down the stairs into the parlor. He
was dressed in black and red, his hair cut short, his hand on the
sword hanging from his belt. Elena listened to the clip clip clip of his
18 John Wick
2
Fifteen years old now. Her dresses designed to protect her modesty.
Elena sat on the other side of the door, listening to her mother
scream. She tried not to wince or flinch, but instead, focused on her
fingers, needles and twine.
Her mother shouted, “Please! Please!”
Her father was shouting, too, but Elena did not hear it. All she
could hear was her mother.
And then, a deep sound from her mother’s lips. Silence.
And a child, crying.
Her father opened the door and stepped through. Elena looked
up.
“A daughter,” he said.
Elena smiled. “That is good, Papá.”
He frowned at her. “What do you know of good and evil?” Then
he stomped away.
A moment later, the doctor came through the door. His brow
was wet and his moustache drooped over his lips. He wiped his
hands, his fingers and the white linen stained with blood. He looked
up and saw Elena.
“Would you like to see your sister?” he asked.
Elena nodded.
He gestured to the door. “Your mother is eager to see you.”
She stood and put her needles down, walking into the room.
There, she saw her mother holding a tiny baby. Elena felt her eyes
widen, her breath catch. Her heart started beating faster. She rushed
into the room, kneeling at the side of the bed.
Mother looked so weak. Her skin pale, her cheeks hallow. Her
20 John Wick
***
Elena’s fingers were blue. Stained with ink and paint. She sat in
the courtyard, overlooking the ocean. Before her was a small piece
of paper with the image of seven cups holding water, one of them
spilling. Nana sat beside her, napping. Elena heard her breath, wet
and uneven.
A tug on her sleeve. “Sorella?”
Elena looked down and saw Catarina. She was holding Elena’s
sleeve, trying not to fall. Her black hair curled around her face. Eyes
flashing in the warm sun. She was two years old, walking about.
Elena smiled.
“You are not supposed to be wandering around by yourself,”
Daughter of Fate 21
Elena said. She picked Catarina up with her stained fingers and held
her. “Where is Fabriza?” she asked. “Where is your nanny?”
As if on cue, Fabriza came running from the house, her face
panicked. “Mio Dios!” she shouted.
Elena nodded. “I have her,” she said.
“Mie scuse!” she said, kneeling. “I was taking the bread from the
oven...”
“I understand, Fabriza,” Elena said. “Catarina is quite clever at
escaping.” She kissed her sister’s cheek. “There have been many times
she seemingly vanished from my sight.”
“Grazie, signorina,” Fabriza said. She extended her hands to take
the child.
“I will watch her,” Elena said. “Make certain the bread does not
burn.”
“Grazie, signorina,” Fabriza said again. Then, she ran off to
the kitchen.
Elena found a chair and sat, putting Catarina on her lap. “How
did you get away from Fabriza?” Elena asked, touching her sis-
ter’s nose.
Catarina just giggled and swatted at Elena’s hand.
Felice came out from the house. He saw his sisters and smiled,
spreading his arms. “Now there is a sight!” he said.
Elena turned Catarina so she could see her brother. “Look who
it is!” she said.
Felice ran forward and grabbed Catarina, tossing her into the air
and catching her. Catarina laughed.
“Be careful,” Elena said.
Felice said, “When have I ever been careful?” And he tossed
Catarina higher, catching her as she fell.
“All right,” Elena said. “I have to finish here.” She stood and
walked back to the easel, picking up her inks.
22 John Wick
“I remember when you were this big,” Felice said. “And I could...”
He threw Catarina into the air. “...I could throw you just like this!”
Elena said, “I remember. You terrified me.”
Felice held Catarina and stepped up to Elena’s easel. “You were
laughing.”
“I was laughing and terrified,” she said.
Felice kissed Elena’s cheek. “That is what you must do when you
are frightened, little raven.” He started walking back into the house,
but shouted over his shoulder. “You must laugh!”
Elena watched him swinging Catarina as he went back into the
house. She turned to the card. Eyed it.
“He is right,” Nana said.
Elena gasped, nearly dropping her ink. She looked at Nana. The
woman’s eyes were still closed.
“Laughing at danger,” she said, “will free your heart from fear and
make the danger fear you.”
Then, she started snoring again.
Elena watched Nana for a long moment, wondering if she would
speak again. Then, she started on the eighth cup.
***
The voyage from her home to the Villanova court took three
days. The carriages travelled with armed guards, including her two
brothers.
On the second morning of the trip, Nana watched as the ser-
vants dressed Elena. They finished and Nana said, “The veil.”
One of the servants nodded and began fitting a veil in Elena’s hair.
“Why do we wear it?” Elena asked.
“Because men are uncomfortable looking into the eyes of a sorte
strega,” she said. “They believe it will bring them bad luck.”
Daughter of Fate 23
***
his sword, the long blade cutting through the chill morning air. “Any
bandits we encounter will regret even being born!”
Ignazio sighed. “You are not a knight from the days of old,” he
said, his voice deeper than his brother’s. “Put your sword away until
you need it.”
Felice laughed and sheathed his sword. “Ignazio has no sense of
adventure,” he said.
Ignazio replied, “And you have no sense of decorum or respect.”
He wasn’t even looking at his brother, keeping his eyes on the road
ahead of them.
Felice laughed at his brother, then he looked down at Elena.
“What do you think, sister? Which of us will prove the better husband
for our brides to be?”
Elena shook her head. “It is not my place to say.”
Felice said, “But you have the gift!” He turned his horse, moving
to stand beside Ignazio. “Look at us now. Tell our future.”
Elena felt a quiver in her belly. She looked away from them both.
“No. I shouldn’t.”
“Come along!” Felice said. “Look and tell us!”
Ignazio said, “Will you be silent for once?” His voice sounded
like her father’s.
Felice laughed. “You just know the truth. I will be the greatest
husband a woman could ever ask for.” He pulled the reins of his
horse. “And you, dear brother, your wife will be looking fondly at
vegetables.”
Ignazio rolled his eyes and pulled his horse away. Felice laughed
at his back. “You know it’s true!” he said. He turned back to Elena.
“Little raven, which of us will be the better husband?”
She kept her eyes pointed at the ground. “I do not know,” she said.
Then she felt herself being snatched up as Felice grabbed her by
the waist and pulled her into the saddle. He kicked the horse and
Daughter of Fate 25
***
***
Elena touched her brow with her handkerchief. Two dances with
Felice and she was thirsty. His hands were commanding and confi-
dent, making the dance almost effortless. But he was also quick and
left little room for error.
“I need to rest,” she said to her brother. “Please.”
He bowed and smiled. “Of course, but I won’t find a better
partner here.”
He took two glasses of wine from a passing servant and gave one
to her. “But another partner I will find. For I am not winded as you,
dear sister.”
She laughed and watched him wander away into the party, and
as she did, her eyes found Ignazio, standing by the tall windows,
looking out.
Daughter of Fate 29
***
In the garden, Elena heard soft music. She saw four men playing
instruments, just at the edge of the garden. Villanova said, “I love
music and I want to hear it wherever I go.”
Elena said, “They play very well.”
Villanova asked, “Do you play?”
Elena blushed. “Only a little. I showed more promise when it
came to art.”
They walked a little further toward a large hedge maze. Villanova
asked, “Art? Painting?”
Elena nodded. “I started with pencils. But my father encouraged
the skill.”
Daughter of Fate 33
***
In the morning, Elena woke early. She washed, dressed, and went
down to the balcony for breakfast. There she found Felice, looking
as if he had not slept at all. He raised a wine cup and saluted his
sister. He sat with a woman Elena did not recognize. She looked
much the same as Felice. Her dress was rumpled, her corset askew,
and the paint on her face a little smudged.
“Buongiorno,” he said. The woman giggled. “This is...” He paused,
looking at the woman.
“Lelia,” the woman said. She laughed.
“I am pleased to meet you,” Elena said, sitting at the table, select-
ing bits of fruit from a place in the center.
“We only met last night,” Felice said, filling Lelia’s cup with wine.
“But we are life long friends,” Lelia said, snuggling Felice.
“Life long,” Felice agreed.
Elena kept her eyes on the fruit, feeling nervous. She did not like
this woman. She didn’t even need to look at her to know it.
Felice asked, “Did you have a good time at the party?”
Elena nodded, looking at her brother for a moment, then avert-
ing her gaze back to her plate of fruit. “I did.”
“I saw you and Villanova walk into the garden maze,” Lelia said.
“What did you two do in there for so long?”
Elena bit into an apple slice and chewed.
Felice suddenly sat up. “What?” he asked.
Lelia said, “He walked her into the garden maze. And they stayed
34 John Wick
***
***
The second night of the party, she wore her favorite green dress.
Father was in the corner of the ballroom, away from the dance
floor. He spoke with other older men, all of them linked by strands
of shimmering gold. Mother was wrapped up in strands the same
hue as her dress, chattering away.
Elena saw Felice dancing with a woman she did not recognize.
She did not see Emanuela. With that thought, she allowed herself
38 John Wick
Elena looked at the red strand between her and Ignazio. The
black strand nearly devouring it. The red strand between them
fraying, nearly gone. Elena reached forward to touch it...but she
hesitated. Nana warned her not to touch black strands. “Every
strand you touch,” she said, “links to you.” She remembered Nana’s
warning. “There are always consequences you cannot anticipate.”
She curled her fingers around it. Felt its icy sharpness in her grip.
Just then, Elena heard a voice. A familiar voice. It sounded like
her mother. It whispered to her.
Don’t pull the strand.
She turned to see where it came from, but saw nothing. Only
men watching the two brothers. And they were smiling.
She turned back. Saw Ignazio and Felice. The black strand had
nearly devoured both of them. Her heart was pounding. She couldn’t
breathe. She looked at Ignazio…
… and pulled.
Ignazio stopped. Turned. Looked at her.
“My brother,” she said, her eyes so wet, she could barely see.
She saw Ignazio’s eyes, full of fire and rage, suddenly turn to
confusion.
“Please,” Elena said, her voice breaking. “Dance with me.”
Ignazio’s lips opened. And then smiled.
Behind him, Felice stood, dagger in hand. And he plunged the
blade into his brother’s back.
Elena screamed. Watching the black strand devour all of Ignazio’s
strands. His body held still on Felice’s blade.
His body fell forward, to his knees. Rosina ran forward, catching
Ignazio’s body as it fell.
Elena looked at Felice. Saw his Arcana change. Darken. Ignazio’s
blood dripping from the knife in his hand.
She saw Rosina screaming, holding Ignazio’s body. “Il dottore!”
Daughter of Fate 43
she screamed. Over and over again, her face wet and red.
Elena felt her legs melt.
And then, she felt nothing.
44 John Wick
3
Upstairs, in the rooms Giovanni had given him, Ignazio lay bleeding
to death. Elena held his hand.
A mirabilis from the church arrived, carrying medical tools. He
was an old man, but his blue eyes were sharp and clear. His hands
did not tremble. He spoke with an accent Elena did not recognize.
He put Ignazio to sleep with a rag over his mouth that smelled
so wretched, Elena was almost sick. Then he went about curing
Ignazio’s wound.
“Where are you from?” she asked the miribilis.
“Castille,” he told her.
“Which province of Vodacce is that?”
He looked at her, a confused light in his eyes. “It is very far away.
Now, please, be quiet while I work.”
Elena said nothing more, only watched.
At first, he cut the wound deeper. Elena did not understand why.
She wanted to ask, but remembered his request. The blood and the
sight of opening her brother’s skin almost made her pass out again.
But she squeezed Ignazio’s hand. Somehow, that kept her awake.
He stretched out Ignazio’s skin and put tools in the wound.
“Much damage,” the mirabilis said. “This will take most of the night.”
And it did. Sometimes, she had to turn away. But Elena never
stopped holding Ignazio’s hand.
The moon was deep in the horizon when the doctor finished.
Elena’s father had already fallen asleep. Her mother was in a panic.
The mirabilis gave her medications to help her sleep as well. When
he asked Elena, she shook her head. “No,” she said. “I will stay with
him.”
Daughter of Fate 45
4
Ignazio sat in his chair on the patio, watching the autumn sun set.
Elena stepped up behind him, carrying a small basket. The towels in
the basket were hot, steaming.
He looked up at her, his face pale and thin.
“Hello, Ignazio,” she said. He didn’t say anything.
She knelt down beside him, cool evening wind on her skin. “It is
a beautiful sunset, isn’t it?” she asked.
Ignazio did not reply. His eyes focused on the horizon.
She took a hot towel from the basket, holding it carefully. “These
are still a little too hot.” Elena let it cool for a moment before she
lifted his gown and laid it on his naked leg. “Father says the ships
should be arriving any day now. From the East. Bringing the dates
you love.”
He said nothing. His lips unmoving.
She laid another towel on his leg. It was thin. Barely any muscle.
He had lost so much in so little time.
She finished washing his legs and put the wet towels away. Slowly,
she dried them.
She felt pressure behind her eyes. She sniffed. “Mother says I will
meet my fiancé tomorrow.” Elena touched his hand. “Ignazio,” she
said. But he didn’t reply.
She took a deep breath and said the words she said every day
since the autumn. “You don’t have to say anything. It’s all right.”
When she was finished, she stood and walked back into the
house.
***
50 John Wick
Elena was not allowed in the library. The one room her father
forbid her to enter. And when the guests arrived, the two men
went with her father into that room. The women joined Elena and
her mother on the veranda. The sun was still in the mid-morning
sky and the ocean’s wind cooled their skin as the hour raised up
toward noon.
The woman looked the same age as Elena’s mother. Her name
was Valentina. Her dress had diamonds woven into the fabric. She
wore a veil when she entered the house, but removed it as soon as
the men left the room. Her skin was alabaster and flawless. Her eyes
were dark and deep. And when she entered the room, she looked
at Elena. Her hands folded in front of her, she looked like a doll.
Distant eyes. Perfect skin. Menacing and inhuman.
“She will look at you,” Elena’s mother had told her earlier. “When
she does, stand still and say nothing.”
Elena stood still, as motionless as she could. And when Valentina
was done, she nodded. “Bene,” she said. Then they all sat and drank
tea. Elena noticed Valentina did not touch her mother’s cookies.
Later, a servant arrived, announcing the men would be joining
them shortly. All the women returned the veils to their faces. Elena’s
was the most transparent.
The men emerged from the library and joined them on the
veranda: the father and the son, together. But Elena saw the father
before she saw the son. He eclipsed the doorway. Not with his size,
but his presence. Elena did not need to look to see him. The veranda
belonged to him the moment he entered.
Giovanni Villanova was taller than her father. He looked exactly
the same as the last time she saw him. Elena looked at his eyes and
saw nothing. Saw nothing. She felt her body shiver when those eyes
fell on her. Like she was lesser than him. The way a wolf looks at prey.
The cup in Elena’s hands shook. And he noticed it. His glance from
Daughter of Fate 51
said. He’d even made his greeting to her sound like a veiled threat.
Elena’s father said, “We should toast.” He stood, holding up a
glass of wine. “To the bond this marriage will bring to both our
families.”
And as soon as he said those words, Elena felt a shift. As if the
sun had gone behind a cloud.
Villanova sat quietly for a moment. A very long moment. Too
long. He did not stand. Did not reach for his glass. Elena’s father
stood alone. Finally, he said, “The purpose of this marriage is not
to unite our families,” Villanova said. “It is to salvage what is left of
yours.”
Elena saw her father standing alone. He opened his mouth to
speak, but said nothing.
“You are a man with two sons: a cripple and an outlaw,” Villanova
said. “This is not unity. This is not an equal exchange. Your farms
will be mine. Your contracts will be mine. That is what this marriage
does, Mondavi. Do not mistake it for anything else.”
Elena saw her father’s fingers squeezing the glass. Elena feared he
might shatter it in his grip. Then his eyes turned sharp and he said,
“My crippled son is twice the man yours is, Villanova.”
Villanova stood fast, kicking the chair out from behind him.
Elena gasped, her mother screamed. Villanova moved so quickly.
His chest against her father’s chest, looking down at him.
Her father said, “I know what the strega say about my daughter.”
He grinned. “Trade routes aren’t the only thing you’re getting.”
He pointed at Valentina. “You think I didn’t know what your
wife was doing when she looked at my daughter? Wanted to see it
herself, didn’t she?”
Elena felt confused. She looked at her mother, but her mother
only looked at her own shoes. Elena looked at Valentina. The woman
sipped her tea, gazing into the cup.
Daughter of Fate 53
***
Elena and Demetrio walked along the beach, the rest of the party
behind them at a discrete distance. They did not hold hands. They
did not touch. They did little speaking. She watched him looking
out at the sea. When she asked him questions, he glanced at her, but
his eyes turned back to the blue waters.
“You wish to be a sailor?” Elena asked.
He nodded. “Sí,” he said. That was all.
54 John Wick
“I suppose your father has other plans for you,” Elena said.
He nodded again, but didn’t say anything.
They walked a little further, silence between them.
Elena said, “My brother pretends I’m a pirate.” She smiled. “I
suppose that means the two of us would be enemies.”
“Sí,” he said again.
Elena watched him closely. Then, she looked at him.
Very dim light. The strongest strand was to his father. A weaker
strand to something across the water. Elena remembered the cour-
tesan’s words.
Disposable.
“I am very good at needlepoint,” she said. “And I have been paint-
ing since I was very young.”
He didn’t reply.
“I would like to paint your portrait,” she said.
He turned to look at her, a sad smile on his lips. “Thank you for
trying,” he said. “But we are both pawns in a great game of chess.”
Then, he looked back at the sea.
Elena felt the sadness in his voice. It struck her like a hammer
to the chest. She looked back at the families following them. The
men and women in two groups, walking slowly, watching them. Her
mother’s face painted with concern.
Elena said, “I don’t play chess. Can you teach me?”
Demetrio looked back at her with the same smile. “Sí,” he said.
“And I look forward to sitting for your portrait.”
Elena smiled. She reached out to take his hand. He did not resist.
***
When the sun reached the horizon, turning the sky purple and
gold, Elena walked out onto the patio with a basket of hot towels.
Daughter of Fate 55
5
Elena sat at the small table, Ignazio on the other side. She dealt the
cards. He took them with his left hand while his right lay under the
table.
“How are you coming along with your own deck?” he asked,
looking at his cards.
Elena smiled. “Very well,” she said. “I think I have decided on
the Arcana.”
On the table before each of them sat dates and raisins. Elena
looked at her cards. Then, peering over them with a grin, she took
two of her raisins and put them in the center of the table.
Ignazio raised an eyebrow. “A cautious bet, sister,” he said. He
put a date on the table next to her raisins.
Elena tried to keep her lips from smiling, remembering her
brother’s advice about giving away so much with her face. But
playing primero with Ignazio was too much fun.
“I’m glad you are almost finished,” he said. “I liked what you did
with the coin suit.” He dropped one card from his hand, pushing it
toward Elena.
She put Ignazio’s card aside and dealt him another. Then, she put
two of her own cards down and dealt herself two more.
“We won’t need to use this old deck anymore,” he said, picking up
his new card. “The cards are too soft.”
Elena felt the cards between her fingers. They were old. Very
old. They belonged to Nana. When she was sick, she gave the deck
to Elena.
“Make your own,” Nana said, her voice wet and rough. “A strega
always makes her own deck.”
Daughter of Fate 57
For years, Elena practiced, her fingers stained with ink and
colored oils. Practicing for when she would paint her own deck. And
as she finished each card, she showed them to Ignazio.
She pushed two more raisins to the center of the table. Ignazio
shook his head. “I do not think so,” he said. He pushed out
another date.
Elena smiled. “Fluxus,” she said, showing her hand full of cups.
Ignazio looked at his cards and sighed. “You win,” he said. He
put down his cards, face up. “Supremus,” he said, showing the 7, 8
and 9, all swords.
Elena giggled and moved the fruit to her side of the table.
“Are you looking at my cards?” he asked.
She shook her head as she collected the deck together. “No,”
she said.
He smiled. “I mean, are you looking at my cards?”
Elena said, “I can’t do that.” She put the deck together carefully,
then began counting them out into piles on the table for shuffling.
“I think you’re more than lucky,” he said. “I think something is
going on.”
She dealt out all the cards, then put them back into a deck. Then,
she smeared them over the table, mixing them again. “I think you’re
letting me win by choosing bad hands.”
Ignazio shook his head. “No, dear sister, I promise you. I am not.”
He laughed a little. “In fact, it’s rather funny how good you are at
this. I used to have quite a reputation for primero.”
“Where?” Elena asked, squaring up the deck.
Ignazio stopped. He looked across the table. Elena was focused
on the cards.
“In Falisci,” he said. “In the brothels.” He watched Elena carefully.
Her eyes remained focused on the cards.
“Oh,” she said. She looked up from the cards, smiling. “Are you
58 John Wick
6
Nana was on the downstairs porch, snoring. Elena sat nearby at
her easel, nearly finished with the final card of her deck. Nana sat
slumped in a chair, her cane held limply in her hand.
Elena liked afternoons like this. The sea wind was fresh and cool,
the sun warm on her skin. She did not need to wear the veil. Her
father was away, Ignacio sitting upstairs, looking over the books.
Somewhere in the house, Catarina was playing.
Elena’s wedding was only weeks away. Last night, when she tried
on the dress, Nana had scowled. “You are showing too much,” she’d
said, gesturing at the dress.
Elena’s mother had shaken her head. “Nonsense,” she’d said,
fixing a sleeve.
Nana had insisted, “She is not a trollop out on display.”
Elena had looked down. The dress covered most of her body,
showing only a little. “I don’t understand, Nana.”
Nana had murmured something under her breath and wandered
away, leaning heavily on her cane.
Elena’s mother had assured her, “Do not worry about her. You
look beautiful.”
Elena felt the wind pick up and she held the card to the easel.
She looked at Nana, the wind blowing her dress around her ankles
and wrists. Then, the wind died down and she went back to work.
“Your wedding dress makes you look like a courtesan,” Nana
grumbled from her chair.
Elena smiled. “Nonsense,” she said. “I’ve seen how a courtesan
dresses.”
Nana grumbled again. Then, she said, “You are lucky Villanova
60 John Wick
***
Elena had never been to the family cemetery. She had heard of
it many times, but did not know where it was, nor did she have any
desire to visit. Now she stood before a marble building, the gate and
doors locked. Nana’s coffin carried by servants and her father.
She stood beside her sister, holding Catarina’s hand. Her mother
stood beside them both. Elena’s mother staggered a little and Elena
remembered smelling wine on her breath.
The servants and her father put Nana’s casket in the mausoleum
and then closed the door behind them. He made the Prophets’ Cross
and put his hand on the closed door. Then, they all walked back to
the house.
Later in the afternoon, Elena sat with Catarina. She had finished
her deck and Catarina was asking about the cards.
“What is this one?” Catarina asked.
“It is the Magician,” Elena said. “His Arcana is very powerful. It
means someone with a great will.”
Catarina looked up from the cards. “What is my Arcana?”
she asked.
Elena remembered asking Nana that question and the way Nana
did not answer it. She looked at Catarina and saw her Arcana.
“Everyone has two,” she said. “A virtue and a hubris.” Elena
went through her deck and selected two cards. She laid the first one
between them, facing Catarina.
“This is your virtue,” she said. “It is called The Prophet.”
Catarina smiled and clapped. “I know him!” she said. “What
does it mean?”
“It means you are very good at telling lies from truth,” Elena said.
She laid the second card across the first. “This is your hubris,” she
said. “It is called The Beggar.”
62 John Wick
Pirate
Daughter of Fate 67
...when she opened her eyes, her tongue was thick and her head
sore. She was under a blanket and the whole world was tilting, back
and forth. The world was dark.
She tried to sit up, but bumped her head on something above
her, making the pain in her skull even worse. Her hands reached
for the blanket and discovered it was not a blanket, but something
else. Canvas. She pushed it aside and the sun shone down into her
eyes, blinding her, setting the pain in her head on fire. She covered
her eyes and let the light seep through her eyelids before opening
them again.
She was in a boat. Water all around her. No land. And just
68 John Wick
His body listed. Then, slumped down. She heard the sound of
his sword on the wood.
And she screamed.
***
She didn’t know how much time passed before she was able to
think, but the sun was low in the sky, turning the horizon crimson
as the blood on his tabard. She had screamed so loudly and for so
long, her throat ached. She looked at the water flask by his feet...
and hesitated.
His body was so still. He was not sleeping. No soft lift of the
chest or sound of breathing. Nothing. No movement at all.
The letter sat between them, untouched since she dropped it.
Elena sat, unmoving. The waves lifting and lowering the boat.
She looked up at the sail above her, half-full of wind, carrying her
to...she didn’t know where.
She realized she had no idea where she was or how she got here.
The last memory she had was leaving home...the small boat...but not
this small boat...and...
Her head hurt. She touched the pain and felt a large knot under
her skin. When she took her hand away, there was blood on her
fingers.
She tried to piece together what happened. Was there a ship? Yes,
there was a ship. And another. It seemed even the act of remember-
ing hurt her head.
Elena remembered…fire. Sailors leaping from ship-to-ship. The
killing. The dying.
And then...waking on this boat...with...
She looked at the flaming wreckage on the horizon. The ship was
so far away, but she could see the masts and the flames.
Daughter of Fate 71
My family...
She looked at him again. Richard. As if she expected him to move.
And then...she started to cry.
Elena wept until her eyes were sore. By then, the night com-
pletely filled the sky and the moon peered down on her. And her
thirst was greater than her fear.
She stretched across the boat, reaching for the water flask, when
the whole world tilted to the left. She scrambled, panicking and
screaming, realizing what was about to happen, leaning to the
right. The boat righted itself, and she was not thrown into the water.
Neither was Richard. But his body had thrown itself over, his face
now turned away from her.
Elena remained still for a while longer before trying for the water
flask again. She kept her legs close together, her hips firmly set on
the wood, as she slowly reached forward. Her fingers found the flask,
and as delicately as before, she brought her body back to an upright
position.
Almost gasping, she opened the flask and drank, before remem-
bering Richard’s warning. She stopped quickly, nearly spitting some
of the water out. She put the cork back in the flask and set it down.
The bottom of the boat had water. Almost up to her first knuckle.
She shivered, realizing how cold the world had become.
The stars were above her. She looked around, unable to tell where
the sea began and the sky ended. As if she were floating in a literal
sea of stars. And as she looked, she remembered. Remembered
her training.
Her eyes refocused, her mind settling down. Looking beyond
what she could see. Looking for the strands.
Out here, there was only one. A single strand from her chest to
something on the other side of the moon and stars. She reached out
and touched it, feeling its sharp edges, delicately moving her fingers
72 John Wick
around them.
It was faint. Faint and dying. Nearly gone. But it was the only
strand she could find. Barely a whisper.
She took a deep breath...laid her fingers on the strand...the razor
cold edges cutting into her fingers...
...and she pulled.
Daughter of Fate 73
2
Again, Elena opened her eyes and saw a man leaning over her. His
face was rough and one eye was milky white. His whiskers were
uneven, his head was shaved.
He said something she did not understand at the time, but later,
she would learn he said, “She’s alive!”
Elena startled, trying to push away from him, but there was
no movement in the tiny boat. He stood up, smiling. “It’s all right,
missy,” he said. “I’ve got no plans on harming you.”
She didn’t understand what he was saying, her heart panicking.
She thought of throwing herself off the side of the boat, turned to
do so, and saw the ship.
They had hooked her boat with a crane and lifted it up. She slept
through all of that. She looked at the men and women staring at
her, her mind reeling and confused. So many strangers at once. All
around her. And no familiar faces.
For the first time in her life, she was alone.
She screamed. Fell to her knees. Put her head in her hands
and screamed.
How long she was there, she didn’t know. But eventually, her
voice failed, and her raw throat only pushed air with no sound.
That’s when she heard the voice.
“Mi capisci?” it asked. Do you understand me?
And Elena did.
She looked up. She had to blink, her eyes were so itchy and thick.
There was a woman kneeling next to her. Her hair was black like
Elena’s, her olive skin the same, her eyes blue. She could have been a
cousin. And she was smiling.
74 John Wick
***
When she awoke, she was in a dim room with a single, small
window shining sunlight through. Veronica was there. She was
seated beside her, a book in her hands. Veronica smiled and put the
book down. She took a cup from a nearby table and put it toward
her. “Here,” she said.
Elena took the cup and put it against her lips, drinking deeply.
The water was warm and tasted good. She finished the water and
sighed. “Yes,” she said.
They ate. Fish and wine. Hard bread that Veronica told her
was called “hard tack” and she taught Elena how to dip it into the
wine to soften it. The fish tasted better than anything she had ever
tasted before.
They talked very little. Elena ate quickly. Veronica warned her
not to eat too quickly. She said, “Your stomach might reject it.” Elena
tried eating slower, chewing each bite, relishing the taste while her
hunger demanded speed.
When she finished, Elena sat still for a long moment, waiting in
the silence. Finally, Veronica asked, “Elena, how did you get in that
boat?”
Elena shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“What do you remember?”
Elena’s gaze was set on the empty plate in front of her. Outside
the door, she heard the men working. What surprised her was she
76 John Wick
also heard them singing. She couldn’t understand the words, but the
melody sounded familiar. Something she had heard before, but the
pace was quicker and livelier.
She looked up at Veronica. “I remember…going to bed. Making
ready to leave in the morning.”
“Is that all?” Veronica asked. Her eyes had an honest concern.
Elena nodded. “Yes,” she said.
Veronica’s lips pursed and her brow furrowed. She reached beside
her into a bag and took out the letter Richard gave her. “Do you
know what this is?” she asked.
Elena shook her head. “No. Richard gave that to me when…
he…” She felt tears in her eyes as her throat failed.
Veronica reached forward and took her hand. “It’s all right,” she
said. Then, she said it again. “It’s all right.”
“My family is dead!” Elena shouted. “They were on the ship...”
“We saw,” Veronica said. “The burning ship?”
Elena nodded.
“There were no other survivors,” Veronica said. She touched
Elena’s hand. “I’m very sorry.”
“Ignazio!” she said, her voice breaking. “Mama...and Papa.”
Veronica squeezed her hand. “Do you have any other family?”
she asked. “Back in Vodacce?”
Elena thought of Villanova. Her heart shivered. She shook her
head. “No,” she said. “No.”
“Where were you going?” Veronica asked. “Where was the ship
taking you?”
Elena looked up, her vision blurry from the tears. “My wedding,”
she said.
Veronica took a deep breath.
“Sorte Strega,” Veronica said. Fate witch.
Elena nodded. “Yes. I can see the strands.”
Daughter of Fate 77
3
Veronica shut the door behind her, locking it. She looked out at the
deck of the ship.
Officers giving orders. Sailors moving. She saw the blond man
who helped Elena. He stood near the rail, spyglass in hand, looking
to the northeast. She joined him.
“What is it, Griffin?” she asked.
“ATC hunter,” he said. “They’ll be within range any moment.”
He gave the spyglass to Veronica and she peered at the ship.
“What’s the Atabean Trading Company doing out here?” she asked.
“Looking for pirates,” Griffin said, smiling.
She gave him the spyglass. “Looks like they found some. You
recognize the ship?”
He nodded. “Aye,” he said. “Our old friend.”
Veronica asked, “How did she come up behind us?”
“Fog,” Griffin said. “Damn morning fog.”
“You think they’re the ones who took out Elena’s ship?”
He nodded. “Perhaps. If we get a look at their log, we’ll know
for certain.”
“Well,” Veronica said, a smile creeping on her lips. “Let’s give our
old friend a warm welcome.”
He returned her smile. “Tell Deaf Henry to run out the guns,”
Griffin said.
“Aye, Captain.” She turned back to the crew. “Run out the guns!”
she shouted. “Get their sails before they get close!”
The command went across the deck, then down below. And
down below, the call went to a thick, heavy man with a dent in his
head and only one ear. He smiled when he heard it. “Too far for
Daughter of Fate 79
***
She was knocked off her feet as the floor lifted. She heard another
shout, this time below her. And another thunder clap. The sound
was so loud, she clasped her hands over her ears. There was a pain
in her head. And in her ears, a high-pitched wail, like the scream of
a ghost.
Voices again. Some shouting, others screaming. Pain. She’d never
heard anything like it before. Except when Mother gave birth to her
sister. That was the sound of pain. And she heard it all around her,
men and women.
Another crack of thunder. The same shout. Even with her ears
ringing, the second time she heard it, she was able to catch the sound
of the word.
“Brace!”
The ship rocked again and she flew from the floor into the wall,
crashing into the books. The small bookshelf fell off the wall, hitting
her shoulder, and then the desk flipped on top of her, sending
burning pain down along her arm into her fingertips. Her scream
was from both pain and frustration. She had no idea what was hap-
pening to her, where she was or why she was there. She lay under the
books, unsure what to do. She tasted tears and blood in her mouth.
More explosions. More thunder. She smelled smoke and fire.
She thought of home. Fires in the winter. Cooking and kitchens.
She just lay there with her hands over her ears.
Finally, she decided to do something. Anything. She couldn’t lie
there forever. She put her hands under her chest and pushed, lifting
against the weight of the desk. Eventually, she skittered her way out,
tearing her dress as she did, a gash on her leg where it ripped, blood
oozing through the open wound.
Elena looked at her leg for a long moment, just looking at the
blood, her back against the side of the ship. She heard the sounds of
metal on metal. Screams. All those sounds behind that closed door.
Daughter of Fate 83
she said, attacking again, so forceful, he had to take a step back. “No
matter the blade…the hand is the real weapon.”
Elena watched Veronica fighting. Fighting him. She was fighting
him.
She was fighting him and winning.
Veronica moved like a dancer, every step an elegant, poetic step.
On the tips of her feet, she moved forward, turned and struck at him
again, this time catching the tip of her sword on his cheek.
The blue man staggered back, catching himself against the wall.
His free hand went to his cheek and touched the wound. When he
saw the blood, his eyes turned nearly as red as the cut.
“Cagna maledetta!” he cursed. Then, he sprung into an assault.
Veronica stepped back, parrying his blade. Elena had watched her
brothers practice with swords, but this was different. He screamed,
spittle spraying from his lips. His strikes were pure rage. Not intent
to hit, but to kill.
Veronica sidestepped him, parrying as he stumbled forward. He
fell to his hands and knees while Veronica stood still, looking down
at him.
“Tsk, tsk,” she teased. “Behavior unbecoming of an officer.”
And then the side of the cabin exploded. Shards of wood and
billows of smoke engulfed Veronica. Dust and wood flew over her.
Elena covered her face, blinded.
After a moment, she opened her eyes. She was coughing out the
dust. She saw only a blur. A large, blue blur. He was standing. She
blinked again and saw clearer.
The blue man stood over Veronica. Her face was toward the floor,
body covered in broken wood and dust. He laughed. Her sword lay
just beyond her fingers. She wasn’t moving.
“The Creator punishes the weak and rewards the just,” he said.
Elena had heard those words so many times. Her father, reading
86 John Wick
from the Book of the Prophets. He kicked Veronica, his foot lodging
into her belly. Elena heard her gasp and moan as her body jolted.
“For those who seek Him shall find Him,” he said, delivering
another kick. “And those who abandon Him shall be abandoned.”
Veronica’s body nearly lifted off the floor from the impact. He
turned from her then, grabbing his own sword from under the
rubble. Then he faced her.
“This is where you die, pirate,” he said. “You’re too much trouble
to bring in alive.”
He raised his blade and readied his thrust--
--and his sword struck the wood, missing her body.
The blue man quickly turned to face Elena. He saw her hands
raised, fingers twisting invisible strands.
“Strega,” he said. “For that, I’ll kill you next.” He tried to pull his
sword from the wood, but then Veronica moved.
Her sword was in her hands. She thrust the blade up and it went
through his belly and his mouth spit up blood. Elena could barely
watch, the view obscured by fingers half-hiding her eyes.
The blue man looked at Veronica, his glare full of hate and
venom. His mouth twisted, forming words through the blood. “I’ll
see you in Hell, pirate.”
Veronica smiled. “Better practice before I get there.” She kicked
his belly and he slid off her blade, out the open hole in the hull and
into the ocean below.
Finally, she fell back down, sitting with the blade across her
knees. She took a deep breath. Then, she looked at Elena.
“You did that?” she asked.
Elena nodded. “Yes.” Her fingers stung, but were uncut. Years
of practice.
Veronica stood, nodded at her. “He’s not the only one,” she said.
“There are more.” She gestured out the door.
Daughter of Fate 87
“You fought him,” Elena said. “You fought him and won.”
Veronica smiled at her. “Never seen a woman fight a man before,
have you?” she asked.
Elena just shook her head.
“Poke your head out that door,” she said. “You’ll see a lot more.”
She ran out the door, sword in hand, shouting a loud whoop!
Elena watched her leave, her heart beating tight in her chest.
Then, she stood. And from just behind the doorway, she watched.
88 John Wick
4
The deck of the ship was covered in bodies, both sailors with red
sashes and those in blue uniforms. Elena stepped where there were
no bodies, trying to avoid the blood. But that was nearly impossible.
Sailors in red sashes bandaging themselves. Those in blue on their
knees, guards watching over them. Veronica saw Elena watching and
she walked across the deck. “You’re all right?” Veronica asked. “Does
anything hurt?”
Elena shook her head. Veronica touched Elena’s brow, just above
her right eye. It stung. “You have a gash here,” she said. “Probably
from the shot in the cabin. There was a lot of shrapnel.” Then she
noticed Elena’s leg. “We need to look at that, as well.”
Griffin was talking to the sailors in blue. She did not understand
Griffin’s words. She asked Veronica, who translated for her.
“You call us dogs,” he said to the sailors in blue. “Criminals with
no honor. But I say we follow a code that tells me we don’t kill you.
We don’t send you off to the slave farms of the Atabean Sea.” He
paced along the line of them, one hand on his sword and the other
on a pistol tucked into his crimson sash.
“We’re going to do none of those things,” he said. “Even though
you’d do every one of those things to us.”
He stopped by a woman in a beautiful coat. She glared at him
the same way the man had glared at Veronica.
“You’d brand us and send us to prison,” he said, very close to her,
smiling as he did it. “Wouldn’t you, Eileen?”
She nodded. “Aye, I would,” she said.
“And have,” he said.
She smiled. “And have.”
Daughter of Fate 89
***
Elena looked in the small mirror on the wall. With her hair tied
up under the hat, she looked like a boy. She looked like a younger
version of Ignazio.
Ignazio...
She turned to Veronica. “Are you certain?” she asked.
Veronica nodded. “There’s no way anyone survived that.”
“I did,” Elena said. “And so did--” She stopped, looked down.
Veronica said, “How you survived...I don’t know. But we
searched and we didn’t find any more dinghies.”
Elena said, “My family is dead.” Then, she covered her mouth,
her eyes filling with tears. As if saying it out loud made it true for the
first time. She felt Veronica’s presence in the room, but everything
else felt unreal. As if made of clouds. Then, Veronica’s hands on
her shoulders.
“The sea is a dangerous thing,” she said. “You are lucky you’re
alive.”
“My father made that journey many times,” Elena said, her body
shaking. “Why now? Why when his family was on board?”
And as soon as she said it, Elena knew why. Said it out loud.
“Villanova.”
Elena felt Veronica’s hands on her shoulders tremble. “What do
you mean?” she asked.
“Villanova,” Elena said again. “He wanted my family’s land.
Wanted my father’s crops and trade agreements.” She paused, turned
to look at Veronica. “And he wanted me.”
“I don’t understand,” Veronica said. “He wanted you?”
Elena nodded. “He arranged for me to marry his son,” she said.
“But this is easier. The whole family killed means he can move in and
take everything.” Elena’s trembling lip turned into a scowl. “Put us
all on the same ship. Burn us all in the same fire.” She thought of
Catarina, frightened and not knowing what was happening.
Daughter of Fate 95
***
They stepped out of the small room onto the deck. The sun was
high and the crew was working. Sailors in the rigging, sailors on
deck. Some tying ropes, others with buckets, swabbing the deck.
When Veronica whistled, they all stopped to look.
“This is Elena!” she shouted out. She spoke in Numanari, a lan-
guage most sailors understood. “Our new crew member.”
The crew roared a welcome and Elena felt her cheeks blushing.
Then they went back to work.
Veronica smiled and patted Elena on the shoulder. “Welcome
aboard.”
Elena shook her head. “What do I do?”
“Glad you asked.” Veronica called, “Stoffer!”
One of the sailors swabbing the deck stopped, got to his feet, and
rushed over, touching the hat on his head. “Ma’am?” he asked.
Veronica said, “Elena’s starting at the bottom. Show her what to
96 John Wick
5
Veronica sat at the desk in her cabin, the light of the morning sun
shining through. Elena was looking at the bookshelf. It was a tiny
thing, only seven books. Elena reached out to touch one of them
with the caution you’d use to touch fire.
“Go on,” Veronica said. “They won’t hurt you.”
Elena touched one. Then breathed out loud.
She took the book from the shelf. Opened it. Looked at the
words inside.
“You can’t read,” Veronica said.
With her back to Veronica, Elena nodded, her eyes on the book.
“Yes.”
Veronica said, “Put that one back. Bring me the one on the left.”
Elena did as she was told. She stepped over to the table and put
Veronica’s book there.
Veronica picked it up. “This is Ends and Means. It is a book the
men of Vodacce read.” She opened it. “All of them.”
Elena didn’t know what to do, so she stood still. Waiting.
Veronica looked up from the book. “Do you want to learn?”
Elena nodded. “I do.”
Veronica pointed at the chair. “Then sit, and I’ll teach you.”
Elena sat at the table. Her hands fidgeted.
“You can read the strands of fate,” Veronica said. “Words should
be easy.”
That made Elena smile.
Veronica said, “This book was written in the language of Vodacce.”
She pointed at the letters. “I will teach you this first. But then, you’ll
learn Numanari.”
98 John Wick
***
Her hands were soft and unused to salt water and ropes. Her soft
hands gained blisters that popped and oozed. Her blisters turned
into callouses. She was doing the work of a servant, spending her
days swabbing the deck. She worked four hours straight, then went
below to rest. When she lay back in her hammock, every inch of her
body ached. Four hours rest, the the bell rang and it was back on
the deck.
Her first day in the rigging, she met Long Tall Harry Stavrosson,
the captain of the tops. Harry’s father was Vesten, his mother from
Avalon, and he was taller and thinner than any person Elena had ever
met. When she watched him move, he seemed to dislocate each joint
in his body, then put it back in place without pain or argument. And
when he climbed the rigging, he moved like a spider crawling across
a web, with an inhuman grace that invited awe.
Harry spoke only a little Vodacce, but it was enough to begin
teaching Elena how to speak Numanari. The similarities in the two
languages helped. After a week, the two of them had a kind of pidgin
speak they shared. Many of the knots the sailors used were similar to
knots she already knew from needlework and she picked up rigging
quickly.
When it came time to go up into the rigging, Harry said, “One
hand for you and one hand for the ship.” His long blonde hair was
Daughter of Fate 99
tied into a knot behind his head. When he smiled, his thin beard
stretched across his face. “That’s the most important rule. Never
forget it.” He tied a knot around her belt with a length of rope then
tied the other end around his own belt. He winked at her. “If you go,
I go. So make sure you don’t fall.”
Elena asked, “Shouldn’t I start...um...slower?”
Harry shook his head. “Nah. Best to get right up there and feel
the wind.”
He taught her how to climb the mast, how to maintain her grip,
how to hook her feet in the ropes. And as she went higher, she felt
the mast swaying. The further she went up, the more certain she
felt the mast would snap at any moment. And when she was sure
they were near the top, she looked up...and saw they were only half
way there.
“Test time,” Harry said to her. “Look down.”
Elena turned her head toward the deck...and she gasped.
The sailors below looked like dolls. The ship looked like a toy. A
toy she could reach out and grab. She felt herself smile and Harry
said, “Good.”
She looked up at him, climbing on the other side of the mast.
“Good?” she asked.
“If you had panicked, we would have had a problem.” Then, he
winked and said, “Wait ‘till we get to the top.”
When they reached the top crossbeam, Elena knew the mast
would crack at any moment. She heard the wood creaking and felt
her body almost swinging from side to side. Her knuckles were
white as she hung on.
“Tie yourself in,” Harry said. Before they started climbing, he
show her how to lash herself to the yard arm. Running along the
underside of the beam was a single rope: the place to put her feet.
“Now,” Harry said. “We’re going out there to bring up the sails.”
100 John Wick
***
Her hair was five months longer, the callouses on her hands five
months older. She was in the tops, teaching Higgins—a boy as green
as grass—how to tie a carrick bend knot, when she heard her name
called. “Be right back,” she said in Numanari. She grabbed a tow
line and swung down to the deck, hitting the wood with bent knees.
Veronica was there, wearing the hat she bought when they were
in San Sorcier. Elena rushed up, touching the woven hat Veronica
had given her so many months ago. “Ma’am,” she said.
Veronica smiled. “Very good, Ms. Mondavi,” she said. “You’ve
taken well to the tops.”
She was using Numanari and Elena responded in kind. “Thank
you, ma’am. As you say.”
Veronica whistled and the large man from Ifri Elena knew as
“St. George” brought two cutlasses forward. He was the ship’s sword
master and the master of the marines. He moved with a dangerous
precision, his black skin covered with scarred patterns Elena did not
Daughter of Fate 101
you’re a pirate, for if you deny the Code, the Code will deny you.” St.
George spun and parried the thrust, a small smile on his lips.
“Don’t be using your curses on me, girl,” he said. “This is a test of
yer blade…not yer Vodacce witch powers.”
Elena nodded, grateful for the moment of rest. “Aye, sir,” she said.
“Next!” he said, thrusting toward her leg.
Elena parried, but had to step out of the way of the blade as well,
his long reach taking her off guard. “Never refuse a request of parley,”
she said, “we be brothers and sisters of the sea.”
His cutlass swung high. “Next!” he shouted.
Elena ducked, swinging her blade low. “Don’t sail when the sun
is red,” she said, his blade clashing with hers, parrying her blow. St.
George tried stomping on her cutlass but she pulled it away in the
nick of time.
“Next!” he shouted. Elena noticed other sailors watching. But she
refocused, keeping her eyes on St. George.
“Don’t anger the denizens of the sea,” she said, taking a step out of
his reach. “The sea is their home and you are a visitor.”
He charged forward, swinging the sword down toward her head.
She raised her blade, putting her left hand behind it to counter his
strength. The swords clashed and he leaned down, bending her back.
Elena put a foot behind her. He was so strong. His face next to hers.
“Next!” he shouted again, pushing down.
“Give…” she said, feeling her body bending under his strength.
“Give the first take…to Mother Ocean…the source of all…bounty.”
He twisted the blade and kicked his knee into her side. Elena fell
back, feeling her blade break free of her grasp. It spun away, scatter-
ing across the deck.
St. George stared at her, his cutlass at her throat. “Next,” he said.
Not shouting this time, his voice as cold as the deep water.
Elena blinked, taking a step back. He followed, pressing the edge
Daughter of Fate 103
St. George said, “She’s still too slow. Should be faster for such a
wee girl.” He tapped a finger on her forehead. “Too far in your own
head,” he said. “Stop thinking and let yer body tell you what to do.
Trust your body, not your mind.”
Elena nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“You shouldn’t be thinking of yer next move, you should be
making it.”
She nodded again. “Yes, sir.”
Veronica shouted at the crew. “Back to work, you all! We’re still
ten days from San Cristobal and I want to make sure we get there in
time for Carnivale!”
The crew cheered and went back to their duties. Elena picked her
sword up from the deck and gave it back to Veronica.
“A test,” Elena said.
“Aye,” Veronica said. “A test. We do that on this ship. Test the
crew. Keep them on their toes.”
“Would you have let him kill me?” Elena asked.
Veronica shook her head. “No. But I would have let him give you
a scar.” She rolled up her sleeve and held out her arm. “Like this one.”
Elena saw a long white gash down the front of her arm. Elena
asked, “St. George gave that to you?”
Veronica nodded. “First year I was on board. Before I even made
bosun.”
“Why?”
Veronica smiled. “I’ll tell you that story another time.” She rolled
her sleeve back down. “Get back to work,” she said. “Your watch is
still up in the tops.”
Elena touched the brim of her hat. “Aye, ma’am.” She ran to
the mast.
Veronica shouted after her, “When we’re in San Cristobal, you
should get a new hat!”
Daughter of Fate 105
Elena grabbed a line and turned. “It’s my lucky hat!” she said.
“Besides, I keep it to remind me of the woman who gave it to me.”
Veronica watched Elena climb the rigging, a slow, proud grin on
her lips.
***
The tip of the sword slashed so close to her face, she could feel
the edge nearly cut her skin. Elena took a step back, her hand reach-
ing up to see if she had been cut. That’s when the sword pommel
struck her chin and sent her down to the deck in a rumpled heap.
The sword spilled from her hand, clattering along the deck. She
looked up, sunlight peeking around the man’s shoulders. His skin
was black as midnight, his head shaved, tattoos around his eyes. He
reached down, offering her a hand.
She glared up at him. “Was that necessary, St. George?” she asked.
His face shadowed by the sun behind him, he nodded. “Aye, it
was.”
Elena got back to her feet, touching her chin. Her jaw ached and
she thought she may have landed on her ankle wrong. She remem-
bered what St. George told her before he began training her: “Pain
is part of the lesson.”
She shook her head. “This is why my brothers practiced every
day.”
St. George nodded. “But you are good with the pistol and
musket. One of the best on the ship.”
Elena nodded and smiled. “So you say.”
“I only say the truth,” St. George said. Elena thought about that,
about the world she left behind. Her father’s world. Villanova’s world.
And what kind of fate a man who only told the truth might find.
“Why do they call you St. George?” Elena asked.
106 John Wick
turned, her eyes an equal measure of panic, fear, and anger. “We’re
running,” she said. “Get aloft and help Harry make sure they do not
get within cannon range.”
“Aye,” Elena said. She sheathed her sword and ran to the lines,
climbing up to the tops. Since she became a rigger, her hands were
stronger, her feet more sure. Her fingers had fresh callouses. And
as she climbed, she saw the ship with the red flag on the horizon,
looming like a vulture.
She met Harry in the tops and he was calling out to “Let go the
lines!” She grabbed hold of a knot and hooked her arm around the
beam to make sure she wouldn’t fall. Then, she stuck her belaying
pin into the knot and worked it loose, letting the line and sail fly.
Elena looked at Harry. “Who is Reis?” she asked.
Harry frowned. “Sheet home!” he shouted. He looked at Elena.
“She’s a woman who made a deal with the Devil,” he said, “and the
Devil regretted it.”
Elena worked another line, watching the ship gaining on the
Morning Star. She climbed across the rigging, both hands holding
on tight. Then, she heard a pop. She looked up and saw smoke from
the Crimson Raider ship.
“That is Reis’s ship?” she asked.
Harry shook his head. “No,” he said. “But it is a ship from her
fleet. Armed with one of them damned cannons, I’d wager.”
They can’t hit us from there, Elena thought. It’s too far. But then,
she heard, “Hold fast!” from below. Elena looked up and saw a star
soaring across the water like a seagull on fire. And the cannonball
landed just short, splashing water up onto the deck and against the
side of the ship. Elena heard and saw steam rise up from the waters,
a brief flash of heat on her cheeks.
“Damn Reis’s guns!” Harry shouted.
Elena stuttered. “H-how...?”
108 John Wick
***
The sun had almost set, making the sea look like wine. The sky
was deep purple and the crew was silent. Tucked into a small bay, the
Morning Star waited.
Elena was on the deck, standing beside Griffin. He whispered,
“Where are they now?”
Daughter of Fate 111
Elena looked and saw the black strand. She pointed. “On the
other side of the island, sir. They still haven’t moved.”
She saw St. George and his marines standing ready with muskets
and grappling hooks. Up above, the riggers waited for a command.
Down below, Deaf Henry chewed on that awful tobacco. Elena
heard him spit out a cannon window and into the sea.
“They know we’re here,” Griffin said. “They’re just waiting for us
to show our move.”
St. George said, “If you are chased by the panther, snare its feet.”
Griffin looked at him. “Come again?”
St. George stepped up. “They expect us to run. We should fight.”
He pointed at the island. Elena saw tall trees and thick bushes.
“Jungle here,” St. George said. “Trees and overgrowth. A few men
with muskets could do a great deal of harm. Fire, then move quickly.
Fire again.”
Griffin shook his head. “The cannons,” he said.
St. George said, “Cannons can harm a ship because it is slow.
Men are fast. And if you cannot see them, you cannot aim.” He
moved his hand horizontally. “Cut down the crew. Maybe hit some
officers. Then, when they are confused, run.”
Veronica nodded. “It’s a good plan,” she said. “Once they give us
a signal, we can weigh anchor and meet them on the north side of
the island. Pick them up there.”
Griffin put his hand on his chin, thinking. Then, he nodded.
“When you are chased by the panther, snare its feet,” he said to St.
George. “All right,” he said. “Pick your crew.”
“I already have,” he said, pointing at the marines.
Elena said, “Take me.”
All three of them looked at her. Griffin asked, “What did you
say?”
She kept her gaze on St. George. “Take me,” she said again. “You
112 John Wick
***
They moved through the jungle slowly, St. George warning her
to “Watch every step.” Elena kept her wits about her. The marines
moved low, ducked over. Her back and legs ached and she wanted to
ask St. George if they could stop, but she said nothing. The marines
moved like a single animal, each of them a deadly limb. And as they
Daughter of Fate 113
moved through the jungle, she began to understand that she was
part of the animal. She was one of the deadly limbs.
St. George raised his hand and the marines stopped. Elena
stopped with them. She looked up. There, just a few more steps
away, was the edge of the jungle. She saw the stars, the moon, and
the water. And she saw the ship. It dropped anchor further from the
shore than the Morning Star, its red flag soaring in the wind.
On the beach was a camp of sailors. Tents and fires. They were
cooking a large pig, turning it on a spit. One of them dipped a brush
into a pot and coated the pig with the liquid.
St. George raised two fingers, then pointed to his left and his
right. Half the marines went one direction, the other half went the
opposite direction. Elena hesitated, not knowing what to do. St.
George turned and looked at her. He pointed at her, then pointed at
himself. Elena immediately understood.
Stay with me.
She nodded, saying nothing, but pointing at herself, then at St.
George. He nodded and began loading his musket. Elena followed
his action.
Her hands were shaking. Heart pounding. She took a deep
breath and remembered St. George’s lessons.
Breathe deep. Let the fear out of your body with every breath. Under-
stand what you are doing.
Elena had shot melons. Then birds. She looked out at the sailors
on the beach, many of them asleep on the sand. She had never shot
a man before. In her heart, a venom brewed and whispered to her,
Kill them all.
When she heard St. George’s voice, she almost jumped, losing
grip of the musket.
“Fire on the man by the fire,” he said. “Then follow me.”
Elena nodded, her lips trembling.
114 John Wick
St. George said, “These beasts would eat you if they caught you.”
Elena nodded again.
St. George said, “They would murder Veronica in her sleep and
eat her heart.” He put his hand on her breast. She felt his thick palm
through the canvas of her smock. Felt her heart beating against his
hand. “You are protecting the crew,” he said. “You are defending
them from a fate worse than death.”
Elena felt her heart calm as his words fell on her.
“You are Veronica’s protector,” he said. “Do not fail her.”
Elena’s breath eased. St. George took his hand away and turned
back to the beach. He leveled his musket, finger on the trigger.
Elena mimicked his pose, aiming at the man by the fire.
“Fire when I do,” St. George said.
“Aye.”
She leveled the musket’s muzzle, aiming it at the man’s chest. Her
hands shook. She breathed in, then breathed out. Her hands stead-
ied. She put her finger on the trigger and waited for St. George’s shot.
When his musket fired, she felt her body jolt. Her instincts told
her to pull the trigger, but she waited. Waited for her body to settle.
Waited to catch her breath.
One sailor fell: a woman on the far side of the camp. She clutched
her shoulder as her body flew, smashing into the sand. Then, more
shots and more sailors falling. The man she was supposed to target
looked around in panic.
Elena leveled the musket, aiming at the man’s chest.
Saw his eyes darting back and forth, full of fear…
…Elena changed her aim, squeezed the trigger…
…and the explosion from the barrel propelled the musket
upwards in her grip. She had anticipated that, having fired before,
and she kept the muzzle down. She watched the man clutch at his
knee and collapse.
Daughter of Fate 115
She looked to St. George, but he was gone. Already on the move.
He was twenty paces away, running low. Elena ducked down and
moved as the sailors on the beach pointed at the spot she ran from.
When she caught up with St. George, he had his musket reloaded.
He pointed at her musket and she began to do the same. Both of
them on their knees, the thick jungle floor wet. Elena’s hands moved
quickly, reloading the musket. She made no mistakes, timing the
movements with the rhythm of her heart. When the shot was ready,
she put the musket to her shoulder. St. George was already there.
“The red head,” St. George said.
Elena scanned the beach and found the target. A woman in
green with long, red curls. She had an axe in both hands, charging
through the jungle near where they made the first shot.
Elena leveled the musket…took aim…breathed deep…
…and squeezed the trigger.
The woman flew from her feet, both axes spinning from her
hands.
Elena turned to look at St. George, but he was on the move
again. She got up from one knee and ran, keeping her head down.
All around her, she heard shots firing, men and women scream-
ing. Elena watched St. George move, like a quicksilver shadow,
dodging between the overgrowth. His black skin making him vanish
in the moonlight. She stopped where he stopped and started reload-
ing her musket. But St. George whispered, “There!”
Elena looked up. Five large men with swords had spotted them.
Charging across the beach, their heads shaved and their faces scarred.
Their eyes were shining in the darkness like cats or wolves. They
charged toward Elena and St. George, their footsteps kicking sand
behind them as they ran.
“Be ready!” St. George shouted. Elena dropped the musket,
pulling pistols from her bandolier, one for each hand. The Crimson
116 John Wick
Raiders were almost on them. One man targeted her. Twice as big as
Ignazio, arms wide and thick like legs. His eyes on fire. Lips frothing.
He raised a large sword.
Elena pointed the pistol at him. Squeezed the trigger. Felt it click
under her finger. The whole world slowed down as the flint and
steel hit, sending a spark into the weapon, igniting the gunpowder.
It stung her eyes and nose, kicking in her hand. The shot hit the
man in the shoulder, spinning him around, then face down into the
wet mud.
She aimed her second pistol, but the pirate was too close. She
charged in, aiming her teeth at Elena’s hand. Elena spun backward,
the pirate running through. Elena felt her finger squeeze the trigger
and the pistol shot into the mud. Elena dropped the pistol, grabbed
the sword at her belt and drew it free from the scabbard just as the
mad-eyed pirate made another charge.
The Crimson Raider swung a hatchet at Elena’s head. Elena
ducked, swinging the sword at the Raider’s torso. The blade caught
flesh and Elena pulled the length of it through. The Raider buckled
forward, stumbled, then fell forward.
Elena looked at St. George and saw three bodies around him.
His sword was bloody and gleaming, stuck through the belly of a
Raider. And just behind him, another one leapt up, swinging his
sword at St. George’s head.
Elena looked and pulled.
The Raider went straight over St. George, the sword only catch-
ing his shoulder. The Raider landed face first in the mud. Elena put
her foot on the back of his neck and the tip of her sword against
his back.
“Don’t move,” she said.
The Raider’s fingers let loose his sword and he mumbled some-
thing into the mud. St. George stepped up, his chest heaving deep
Daughter of Fate 117
***
They met with the rest of the marines a few minutes later. Elena
saw a few bandages but all the marines were alive and well. She
couldn’t help but smile.
“The camp is ours,” St. George said. He looked out at the Raiders’
ship. “And they haven’t sent reinforcements.”
“Too much of a risk?” Elena asked.
St. George nodded. “Aye. They must have heard the guns. If
they haven’t sent anyone else, they know we can target them as they
approach the shore.”
Elena felt relief wash over her. She wanted no more violence.
St. George said, “We were supposed to sabotage the ship, but it
is anchored too far out for muskets. And now that they know we
are here…”
One of the marines stepped forward. He was small, almost as
small as Elena. His dark hair was pulled back in a long braid and
his face was sharp. His name was Wojda. And when he spoke, even
Daughter of Fate 119
***
Her mother called her Radoslava when she was born back in
Ussura. Reis gave her a new name. Reis called her Aynur. Light of
the Moon. And Reis put her name on her skin, mixing their blood.
“My sister,” she said, standing under the shining moon, her blade
glowing bright. Aynur looked into Reis’s eyes—those glowing eyes—
and said her name. Reis’s tattoos glowed with the same light and she
felt their fire.
A year later, she stood on the prow of her own ship, Vengeance,
120 John Wick
looking out at the shore with her spyglass. They spent the day
hunting a ship flying the Brotherhood of the Coast colors. It was
nearly theirs until it found a small chain of islands with shallow
waters. Too shallow for the Vengeance’s draft. And so, the waiting
game. She sent a small crew ashore for supplies and settled in to see
which way the Brotherhood ship would go.
A few moments ago, her watch heard gunshots. She came up to
the deck with her spyglass, peering at the beach. She saw her men
run into the jungle, heard more shots, but then, nothing.
Her first mate, the Inishman named O’Toole, asked her, “Shall
we send more ashore, ma’am?”
She shook her head. “No. They’ll just take pot shots from the
shore as they land.”
More shots. The sounds of swords. Then, nothing.
She collapsed the spyglass and tucked it into her belt. “They’re
dead,” she said. “Nothing we can…”
“Look!” one of her crew shouted.
She looked through the spyglass again. Some of her men moving
bodies to the shore. Blood and wounds. One of them gagged. His
skin said he was from Ifri. A nasty wound on his shoulder.
“Good,” she said, smiling. “If we got an officer, he will tell us
much.” She put the spyglass away again. “Prepare to bring them
aboard,” she said.
With her command, the crew moved quickly. She heard the
orders shouted behind her back as she watched the survivors drag
their hostage onto a dinghy and begin rowing toward the Vengeance.
She turned and walked back to her cabin, smiling with sharp-
ened teeth.
***
Daughter of Fate 121
St. George sat in the dinghy, the ropes around his wrists already
undone. He was just waiting for the right moment.
The two rowers had their backs to the Crimson Raiders’ ship,
disguising who they really were. Miss Mondavi was on the beach,
hidden behind the overgrowth. His eyes scanned the jungle, but he
did not see her. That was good. He didn’t want the Raiders to see
her, either.
When the dinghy was a third of the way to the ship, he spotted
a woman at the rail. If he were forced to choose, he would have
chosen her for the captain. The way she held herself, the way the
other sailors addressed her. Yes, she was the captain. And she was
watching them.
Turn away, St. George thought. Turn away.
Her eyes glaring, almost burning in the darkness. And he was
sure her teeth were narrowed down to razor sharp points as well.
Turn away.
When they reached the halfway point, as if his thoughts could
command her, she turned from the rail and walked back toward the
cabins. He gave her the count of ten, then acted.
He grabbed one of the four muskets they brought with them
onto the dinghy and aimed it at the ship’s rudder. He gave himself a
moment to breathe…focus…aim…and…
He squeezed the trigger. The musket kicked his shoulder and
the fire and sulfur filled his eyes and nose. He heard an explosion of
wood, but had to wait for the smoke to clear to take another shot…
if he needed to take another shot.
St. George heard screams from the Raiders’ ship. He ignored
them.
Wojda and his fellow marine picked up muskets, aimed and fired.
Too much smoke to see if they were effective.
“Throw the grenades!” St. George shouted. The marines threw
122 John Wick
down their muskets and picked up the grenades. Wojda lit the wicks
with flint and steel, then handed one to St. George. He pulled his
arm back, then threw the grenade at the rudder.
An explosion. More smoke and fire. More explosions. Sailors
firing from the ship. Water splashed around them. The marine
behind him screamed and fell overboard. St. George tried to grab
him, but he sank quickly, down into the dark water.
Another shot and Wojda fell back and to the side, nearly falling
off the dinghy. St. George grabbed him, keeping him from falling
into the water. But he kept his eyes on the rudder.
The smoke cleared…and he saw what he was looking for.
He held onto Wojda with one hand and the dinghy with another.
He shouted, “Miss Mondavi! Now!”
A moment later, he felt something pull his body back. Back
toward the shore. Holding onto the boat, it jolted with him, kicking
water up over the rim, flooding water over his feet.
He felt another tug, this time more violent. It nearly tore him
from the dinghy. It also pulled the boat almost a quarter of the way
back to the shore before it lost its momentum.
Wojda made a painful sound, somewhere between a moan and a
laugh. “Witch has got an arm on her,” he said.
Another tug. More shots from the Raiders’ ship. St. George
expected cannons. Perhaps the cannon crew was not ready.
But then, he heard them.
The sound made his stomach quake. And he saw fire rush by him,
hot enough to catch his shirt on fire. It landed in the water next to
them, making it steam and boil as it floated down below the waves.
St. George grabbed the shirt and tore it from his body. With his
hands free of Wojda and the dinghy, he felt another pull.
He left his feet, straight into the air. At the last moment, he
reached down and grabbed the edge of the dinghy, bringing it with
Daughter of Fate 123
***
Elena saw St. George flip the boat and she nearly collapsed.
Again her hands were covered in blood, but this time, the blood was
her own. Her fingers burned. After the third tug, she felt something
lash her back and she almost screamed, falling to her knees. She had
never felt such pain. She was confused. The pain was always in her
hands, the wounds on her fingers. She reached behind her, touching
the pain. She felt blood. Her canvas smock was stuck to her skin.
When she saw St. George and Wojda arrive on the shore, she felt
tears in her eyes. They ran across the beach, out of range of the ship’s
cannons, but running nonetheless. When he reached her, she looked
up at him, her eyes wet.
“Your plan worked, Miss Mondavi,” he said. He was smiling. But
then he saw her hands. “What happened?” he asked.
“The price of meddling with fate,” Elena said. She forced a smile
on her face. “And protecting my friends.”
St. George’s smile turned into a frown. “Let us get back to the
ship,” he said. “Hurry!”
He helped Elena stand. She could barely walk. Her whole body
refused to move. The pain made her bones feel like they could break
at any moment. He lifted her completely from her feet and ran
124 John Wick
***
Later, on the ship, she sat cross-legged on the deck with a bit
of rope, practicing a rolling hitch, a cup of grog by her knees. Her
hands were still in bandages, making the work harder than it should
have been. The doctor told her to rest, but she had to know if she
had lost any sensation in her fingers. She only learned it was too
soon to tell. She put the rope down. A shadow passed over her and
she looked up. Veronica looked down at her.
“St. George told me what happened on the island,” she said.
Elena nodded, shading her eyes against the sun.
Veronica sat down next to her, picking up some rope. “He said
you never wanted to fight again.” She tied a half hitch, untied it.
“That presents a problem on this ship.”
Elena looked at her. “I won’t kill,” she said. “Ever again.”
Veronica said, “You can’t make that kind of promise. You
shouldn’t make that kind of promise.”
Elena said, “Never again.”
Veronica wrapped the rope around her wrist, tied it off. “If you
were offered the choice to take a life or lose your sister, what would
it be?”
Elena frowned, her eyes narrowing. “That isn’t fair.”
Daughter of Fate 125
“It’s a choice,” she asked. “Would you kill to protect your sister?
Your brother?”
Elena grabbed the grog and took a sip. She didn’t answer.
Veronica said, “When we attack ATC ships, they’re not just car-
rying sugar and tobacco, they’re carrying slaves. People who were
forced from their homeland to work until they die.”
Elena turned away. Veronica put her fingers on Elena’s chin and
turned her back.
“Those people deserve freedom,” she said. “And the ATC doesn’t
care. They let them die in the hull. I’ve seen it.”
Elena snapped her chin away, turning toward the rail.
“The whole point of all this,” Veronica said, gesturing at the ship,
“is freedom. The freedom to go wherever we want. The freedom
to live wherever we please.” She put her hand on Elena’s shoulder.
“Others deserve that freedom, too.”
“We don’t have to kill for it,” Elena said.
“Sometimes we do. Because the people who keep slaves will fight
to keep them.”
Elena remained still, her thoughts rushing through her head.
Finally, she said, “I will fight. But I will not kill. Not unless…” She
paused.
Veronica said, “I understand.” She stood. “We’ll be passing San
Cristobal soon. If you want to leave the ship, you can take your share
with you when you go.” She walked away, back to the cabin.
Elena sat and listened to the sounds of the sea and the ship. The
waves, the sailors working and calling out to each other, the creak of
the wood. And she remembered the look of the man she shot. His
eyes. The way his body jerked when her shot hit him.
She remembered their teeth. Sharpened down to points. The red
in their eyes. And she remembered the fear she felt when she saw one
of them bearing down on St. George. She remembered his words.
126 John Wick
6
The cannon fired, filling the deck with stinking smoke that made her
cough and wheeze. Even with plugs in her ears, even with her hands
on the sides of her head, the sound nearly knocked Elena off her feet.
She felt the explosion in her belly, felt her heels lift from the planks.
The violence of it. The cannon wrenching back. The fire.
And she smiled. This was why the gunner’s mates loved what
they did.
Deaf Henry looked at her from the other side of the cannon.
Saw her smile. “That’s what I like to see,” he said. He walked from
the other side of the cannon to where Elena stood. “This here is an
8-pounder. Her name is Diplomatic Solution.” He pointed at the
man standing behind the cannon. “That there’s Violet Michael. He’s
assigned to her.”
Elena curtseyed and Michael tipped his hat. “Why do they call
you Violet?” she asked.
Deaf Henry said, “He got his head in a keg of dye one night. His
head and hair was purple for a month.”
The gunner’s mates all laughed. Elena laughed with them.
Deaf Henry stepped around the cannon. Elena could feel the
heat from the metal, even this many moments from the time it fired.
He said, “The crew and I… we’s got a request.”
Elena looked up at the large man. His bald head. His milky eye.
His missing ear. Henry’s skin was as rough as leather and his beard
had patches where the skin was even thicker.
“What is it?” she asked.
“We’d like to ask, if ’n it’s no problem, that is, if you’d… um…”
Henry looked to the left, then the right.
128 John Wick
7
Standing in the crow’s nest, Elena spied the ship through her looking
glass. “A galleon,” she said, turning to Tamara Shore, one of Harry’s
newer riggers. They acquired her after taking an ATC ship off the
coast of Montaigne.
Tamara nodded. “Right you are.” Tamara’s skin was the color of
coffee, her head completely shaved. And when she smiled, her white
teeth glistened. “And what colors is she flying?”
Elena peered through the glass again. “ATC,” she said. “Which
means they’re open game.”
Tamara took back her spyglass and tucked it into her pocket.
“The Atabean Trading Company. Trading in sugar, tobacco, and
human lives for over one hundred years.”
Elena hung over the side of the crow’s nest like a spider clinging
to its web. “I’ll tell the captain. Fix the sails for battle.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
Elena said, “Be quiet about it.”
Tamara nodded. Elena grabbed a fast line and took it down
to the deck, her feet landing hard on the rails. She ran across the
ship to the Captain’s door and knocked on it. “Sail, sir,” she said.
And waited.
A moment later, he emerged, needing to duck under the doorway.
“Miss Mondavi?” he asked. “What’s the rumpus?”
“Sail, sir,” she said. “I told Tamara to keep it quiet.” She pointed
in the direction. Captain Griffin stepped out on the deck.
Veronica was there and she saw his signal. “No calls,” she said,
calmly. Word went down the deck. Then, she looked at Elena.
“Where’s Harry?”
130 John Wick
***
fighting. As soon as the other ships spotted their black flag, they sent
up white flags.
She remembered the first ATC ship they captured after Elena
officially joined the crew, full of men and women from Ifri. No other
cargo. Elena remembered watching Veronica and her crew bringing
the men and women up to the deck, wondering when the bodies
would stop. One after another, all crammed below. She knew the
sailors on the Morning Star had little room below decks, but the
Ifrians were packed like cargo, not human beings.
Elena remembered seeing one of the women shining like a star.
When Elena looked and saw her Arcana, the woman looked back at
her, as if she knew what Elena was doing. A year later, Tamara was
with her, in the rigging.
“What do you think, Elena?” Tamara asked. “They got any fight
in them?”
Elena shook her head. “No, they’ll be waving a white flag as soon
as they see us.” She saw a loose line and tightened the knot. “ATC
ships are supposed to surrender. They’re under orders. That’s what
makes them such easy targets.”
And no killing, Elena thought to herself.
Tamara laughed, the wind in her hair, her smile bright as a star.
“This is a life I never thought I would have.”
Elena nodded. “I know exactly what you mean.”
Just then, the Morning Star broke through the fog. A few
moments later, the ATC ship lifted a white flag onto its mast. The
crew below Elena cheered.
“Make ready!” Captain Griffin shouted. “They’re flying ATC
colors! That means they’re lying, cheating scum!”
The crew roared in agreement.
“But they’re also cowards,” the Captain called. “Be ready for any
trickery!”
132 John Wick
Elena looked across the waves at the ATC ship. She watched
another line of bodies thrown over the rail. The line behind them
tried to struggle, but the marines on board pointed muskets at them.
“Drown or get shot,” Elena said.
Tamara said, “They’re going over the side one way or another. So,
it’s drown or get shot and drown.” She tied off a knot. “Best to go
over the side without a bullet in you.”
Down below, Veronica called for grappling hooks. “Pull them
out of the water if you can!” she shouted.
The Morning Star caught the wind and the wood ached as she
picked up speed. Waves crashed along the prow of the ship. Wind
whipped Elena’s braid along her shoulders and neck. She cupped her
eyes and looked.
No…we’re not going to make it in time.
She watched as the men and women, ankles and wrists bound in
heavy iron, tried to keep afloat. The first line was already half under,
the weight of the irons and the bodies who couldn’t swim dragging
them down. Another line behind them was worse off. Elena couldn’t
see more than two heads above the waves.
By the time the Morning Star reached the first line it was gone.
So was the second. But the third was still fighting to stay above water.
Veronica had sailors on the rail with hooks, scooping down. They
grabbed the chains and lifted, pulling the bodies up. All the sailors
tied together, tied to the mast, to make sure nobody was pulled over.
Slowly, they pulled the slaves up from the water.
Elena counted ten lines thrown over. Ten bodies to the line.
When she looked down at the deck, only two lines were saved. Out
of them, half were drowned.
To catch the drowning slaves, Griffin called to cut sail. Elena
looked up at the horizon. The ATC ship was almost out of sight.
So, Elena looked.
134 John Wick
And she saw the black strand. Still new, but it was there. From
her to the ship.
“You lookin’?” Tamara asked.
Elena just nodded.
From below, she heard Veronica’s voice. “Elena?”
Tamara shouted, “She’s got ‘em!”
“Straight on,” Elena whispered, her eyes focused. Tamara repeated
the call, shouting down to the deck.
It was the black strand. And for the first time, Elena wasn’t afraid.
***
“We are following the strand.” She shrugged. “If we cannot see
them…”
Veronica nodded. “It’s a safe assumption,” she said. Then, she
looked back down at the chart. “It’s open sea between here and
there,” she said. “If we’re going to ambush them, we’ll need to do it
at night. When they’re docked.”
Zapatero pointed at a small island on the chart. “Here,” he said.
“Herrera’s Island.” He looked at the rest of them. “A good place to
stop. Pick up fresh water, some turtles for soup.”
Griffin nodded. “Agreed,” he said. “If we can catch them when
half the crew is ashore…”
“We can,” said Veronica.
Griffin looked at Elena. “You can get us there?”
Elena said, “I can.”
Zapatero said, “If you can find them, I can get us close.”
Elena said, “I don’t need to find them. I know exactly where
they are.”
Zapatero said, “Tricky skill you have there, girl. I pity whoever
you choose for a husband.”
Veronica laughed. “Save your pity for the Nuestra Señora,”
she said.
They all moved to leave the room. As Veronica passed by, Elena
said, almost under her breath, “I have no pity left for them.”
***
Elena followed the black strand. From her to the ship. Someone
on the ship. And her heart beat like mad for all of those two days.
As the Morning Star crept closer, the Nuestra Señora lay in harbor,
in a small bay. Herrera’s Island was the largest of a small stretch of
islands, midway between western Montaigne and the Atabean Sea.
Too small for a fort, but just big enough to accommodate a crew
stopping for rest. Fresh water, plenty of wood, and brimming with
life. Seagulls, seals, and turtles. Thousands of them. So big, you’d
need three men to carry one.
The Nuestra Señora sat in the bay. Griffin dropped anchor on the
other side of the island, sending a small crew to spy. He watched
them from the ship as they sent signals with a mirror.
“Half the crew on the island collecting supplies,” he said. “Perfect.”
He looked at Veronica. “Weigh anchor. Come around the island.
Their prow is facing south. Make sure they get a good look at our
broadside.”
Veronica smiled. “Aye, sir.” And gave the order.
Up in the rigging, Elena felt the ship lurching forward. She saw
the black strand tightening. Twisting. Touching her heart with its
cold tendrils. One hand on the rigging, she had her other on the
sword at her hip. And she glared, waiting to see the Nuestra Señora.
The island’s trees provided cover as the Morning Star crested the
shore. Close enough to block their approach, but not too close to
run aground.
Then, a parting of the trees. And the Nuestra Señora.
“No firing ‘till my command,” the Captain ordered, his voice low.
The order went across the deck and down to the cannons.
Elena saw sailors moving on the other ship, lugging cargo, patch-
ing sails. Carpenters hanging off the sides, making repairs. The sails
were folded. Gun doors shut.
Just as the Morning Star’s guns cleared the island’s bank, Griffin
Daughter of Fate 137
shouted the order to fire. Elena clutched tight to the ropes, wrap-
ping an ankle around a line as the whole ship lurched with the shots.
She heard the cannons firing, like a thousand fingers snapping in her
ear all at once. She smelled the burning and smoke.
Across the water, the Nuestra Señora’s main mast snapped in two
places. The deck exploded, sending shards of wood and thousands
of splinters into her crew. She saw their bodies obliterated in hails of
smoke and flame and wreckage. And she heard their screams.
“Hard-a-lee, my bullies,” Griffin called from below. “Keep the
wind!”
The ship moved clear of the Nuestra Señora, its crew scrambling.
When the Morning Star showed her aft, Vanessa ordered the chase
guns to fire, sending grape shot into the scrambling crew.
“Hard! Hard!” the Captain shouted at the helm.
Zapatero shouted back, “Hard, sir! Aye!”
At the wheel, Zapatero turned the ship slow enough to get
another shot from the Morning Star’s larboard side. He turned the
wheel hard and fast, and then tied a rope around one spoke, locking
it in place.
Elena watched the sailors on the other ship. Bodies strewn across
the deck. Sailors struggling with fire. With the main mast gone,
there was no escape. She saw one man pick up a length of torn sail
and wave it above his head.
“Nos rendimos!” he shouted. Then, in Numanari, “Paradósei!
Paradósei!”
Zapatero shouted, “They’re surrendering, Captain!”
Griffin gritted his teeth. “I’m sure they are,” he said. “Henry!” he
shouted, “Make ready for…”
Veronica put her hand on his shoulder. He stopped and looked
at her.
She shook her head. “Enough.”
138 John Wick
Griffin nodded. “All right.” But then he said, “Tell them if there’s
any trouble at all, whoever causes it will regret it.”
She said, “Aye, sir.”
“Mister Zapatero!” Griffin shouted. “Bring us up for boarding.”
He walked to the trap for the gun deck. “Henry! If you so much as
see the hint of a gun or cannon, sink her.”
From down below, Deaf Henry said, “Aye, sir. With pleasure.”
Elena swung down from the rigging, landing next to the Captain.
“Sir?” she said. “Permission to accompany you to the ship.”
Griffin eyed her. “Something you want to see for yourself, Miss
Mondavi?”
“Aye, sir,” she said.
Griffin looked at her hand, resting on her sword.
“Be my personal guard, Mondavi,” he said. He looked her in the
eye. “You’re an officer on my ship. I expect you to act like one.”
She touched the bill on her cap. “Aye, sir. Understood.”
Wojda dropped the gang plank between the two ships, St. George
beside him. The Captain said, “I want twenty marines. Keep good
watch on yourselves.”
And they crossed the gangplank over to the Nuestra Señora.
Elena looked at the wreckage. Black smoke. Shattered beams.
Broken bodies. The screams of pain. And from her, the black strand,
stretching forward then down into the hold. Her hands shook. Her
belly quaked.
St. George stood beside her for a moment. “Are you all right?”
he asked.
Elena looked at the wounded and dying. She nodded. “Sí,” she
said. But she did not recognize her voice. It reminded her of Felice.
The sailors wore the uniforms of the ATC, some of them a little
more worn than others. The man who flew the white flag stepped
forward, a messy gash on his forehead dripping blood over his nose.
Daughter of Fate 139
Gather the rest of your crew and head out. Take medicine for the
wounded, but nothing else. Your ship and its cargo belong to us
now.”
Vargas stood. He looked up at Griffin. “I will not forget your
mercy, Captain.” He said, extending his hand.
“My name is Taliesin Griffin.” The Captain shook Vargas’ hand.
“I pray God forgive your sin.”
Vargas began shouting orders. The ATC sailors gathered their
wounded and made their way to the dinghies. After a few moments,
they were gone. After a few more, the Morning Star’s crew lifted the
slaves from the hold and unlocked their chains.
But the black strand still led down to the bottom of the ship.
Would you kill for your sister? Your brother?
Elena said, “There’s someone else down there.”
Veronica frowned. “Someone from the crew?”
“I don’t know.” Elena drew her sword and followed the black strand.
“Elena?” Veronica asked. “What’s wrong?”
Elena did not wait. She followed the strand. It led down into the
hold. She passed the boxes and crates and bags swinging from hooks.
Toward the back of the hold. The black strand led straight through
the wall.
Who would you kill for?
“Whoever it is,” Elena said, “they’re back behind this.”
Veronica said, “Behind this?” She touched the wood. Knocked
on it. “It’s hollow,” she said. “A smuggling hold!” She almost laughed.
“I’ve never heard about a smuggling hold on an ATC ship before.”
Veronica ran her fingers along the wood until she found some-
thing. “Here,” she said and touched a knot in the wood. A panel in
the wall unlocked.
The black thread tightened. Elena felt her heart pounding against
her chest.
Daughter of Fate 141
somehow, with dry, broken lips and crusty eyes, he managed a smile
and a wink. “And I don’t kill pirates.”
Daughter of Fate 143
8
He sat in Griffin’s quarters, the chains gone, taking small sips of soup
and water.
As soon as Griffin saw him, the Captain smiled and raised his
arms. “Berek!” he shouted, embracing the man.
Berek coughed. “You’re killing me, Taliesin” he said, laughing.
Griffin called for food and water, walking back to the cabin. Veron-
ica and Elena followed.
At the table, Griffin asked, “What are you doing in a smuggling
hold?”
Berek took another sip of the soup. “Kidnapped,” he said. “In
a brothel in La Bucca.” He chuckled. “They lured me with a pretty
face, then drugged me and sapped me. Next thing I knew, I was in
that little room, headed for a plantation.”
Griffin said, “What’s the ATC have on your head these days?”
“Ten thousand guilders,” Berek said. “Last I heard.”
Griffin turned to Elena. “This here is the luckiest man I’ve ever
met. Jeremiah Berek. Privateer for Her Majesty Elaine…”
“GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!” Berek shouted, then coughed.
“… gentleman, adventurer, and the unluckiest man in the world
when it comes to pretty faces.”
“Pleased to meet you,” he said, making a faux bow to Elena. He
coughed again.
“Good God, man, did they feed you at all?” Griffin asked.
“Rotten water and rotten meat,” he said. “That was all.” He lifted
the bowl and spooned out the rest of the soup. “Maintaining my
hunger took second place to entertaining themselves.”
“We have to get you back to Avalon,” Griffin said.
144 John Wick
9
The first thing that struck Elena was the smell, almost as if it reached
out and punched her belly. She stood on the dock, taking her first
look at La Bucca. Standing by her side was a Montaigne sailor named
Calixte. He was only a little taller than Elena and only a little heavier.
She’d noticed his clothes were usually cleaner and better kept than
the other sailors on the Morning Star and he also kept away from the
grog. Along with them was Caellach from Inismore. His head was
shaved and he wore no shirt, his chest a canvas of tattoos. His pants
were cut to the knee and his feet were bare. He carried only a knife.
Elena was wearing a new dress: simple and black. Four months
ago, they raided an ATC ship headed from the East. In the hold was
a bolt of silk. When the crew began divvying up the cargo, Elena
claimed the silk.
“Don’t you want some of the gold?” Veronica asked.
“I don’t need any gold,” she said. “Only this.”
She spent the next four months making the dress. Not as extrav-
agant as her dresses at home, but she didn’t want extravagant. She
saw an illustration of a woman from Cathay, dressed in a robe with
wide sleeves. That’s what she wanted. And now, she had it. The dress
made a swooshing sound as she walked and she smiled. Its wide
hemline allowed her legs freedom, a trait she learned was valuable
when they were on San Sancha.
As the ship approached La Bucca, Elena saw the island was
almost too large to be called an island. She stepped off the gang-
plank into the shanty maze covering the entire beach and deep into
the island. Elena couldn’t see anything other than tiny, dilapidated
cottages, fires, and makeshift stills.
148 John Wick
“This is awful,” she said. “How does anyone live like this?”
“Like this?” Caellach said, waving his hand toward the beach, his
Inish voice dripping with sarcasm. “With no king or queen, no par-
liament, no lords or ladies, only citizens?” He smiled and nodded.
“Sometimes, I wonder myself.”
“No kings, no queens, but plenty of sickness and disease,” Calixte
said, covering his nose with a handkerchief. When he noticed
Elena’s reaction, he reached into one of his coat pockets and pro-
duced another. “Mademoiselle Mondavi?” he asked, his mouth and
nose covered.
Elena smiled and took the handkerchief. “Merci beaucoup,” she
said. The only words of Calixte’s language she knew. They bowed
and curtseyed to each other and she took the handkerchief.
“That’s a horse’s hoof if I’ve ever seen one,” Caellach said.
“Pay him no heed,” Calixte said. “The Inish have no sense of
decency.”
“Decency is one thing,” Caellach said. “Courtesy is another.” He
stepped up and offered his arm.
Elena smiled and took it. “Thank you, sir,” she said.
“Wait ‘till he’s got some wine in him,” Caellach said. “You’ll see
Montaigne decency, then.”
Calixte sniffed and offered his own arm. “Mademoiselle?” he asked.
“Merci beaucoup,” she said again, and took his arm as well. And
together they walked into La Bucca.
Elena looked at the streets crowded with men and women,
dressed in motley colors. Everyone seemed to have a bottle in hand,
every step a stagger, every word a curse or swagger.
“I hate La Bucca,” Calixte said. “Tell me why we are here again?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Caellach said. “It’s
wonderful. Look at it.”
Elena laughed at them. “Berek demanded it,” she said. “An
Daughter of Fate 149
***
another swig of the beer and said, “I’ll tell you another story.”
“Oh,” Elena said. “Please do.”
“When a man dies,” he said, “he goes before the gates of Heaven,
and there is a guardian with a blazing sword.”
“San Piedro,” Elena said. “I know.”
“Very good,” Berek said. “And when a man goes before him, San
Piedro asks for your sins. And you must list them all.”
“All of them?” Elena asked.
Berek nodded. “Aye, all of them. But there is one sin he cannot
forgive.”
Elena turned to look at him. “And what sin is that?”
“Breaking a woman’s heart,” Berek said, his eyes glistening, lips
beaming with a smile.
Elena put her hand on her heart. “Oh,” she gasped, her voice
dripping with sarcasm. “How romantic!”
“It’s true,” he said. “And there’s the problem.”
Elena shook her head, her smile cynical. “Tell me the problem,
oh great scholar of Heaven.”
“For when a man chooses only one woman to love, he breaks
the hearts of all the women who love him.” He raised an eyebrow.
“And that means…loving a woman is what sends a man to Hell.” He
picked up his mug. “But the love of a woman is worth it.”
“Is it now?” Elena asked.
He drank his beer, finishing off the mug. “Aye,” he said. “It is.
Worth an eternity of fire for a few short years of true love.”
“I have a little problem believing what you say, Berek,” she
told him.
“Well,” he said, spreading his hands. “It may not be true, but the
story is often more fun than the truth.”
“A trickster, not a liar,” Elena said, almost under her breath.
“What was that?” Berek asked.
154 John Wick
singing now.
Her thoughts turned to Caellach calling her “little raven.” She
remembered something Nana told her. “There are no coincidences.”
They’d sat in front of the fireplace, late at night, when the rest of
the house was asleep. The shadows on Nana’s face made her look like
an old ghost. Elena had already learned how to see the strands and
how to pull them. But between them were the cards. The sorte deck.
Nana laid them out in a cross pattern, showing Elena how to
read them.
“This one,” she said, pointing at the center card, “is the hub of the
wheel. The center of the soul. It is what is most true about the soul.”
She pointed at a card she laid across the hub card. “This is the
crossing card,” she said. “The card that prevents the soul from enact-
ing its destiny.”
“Does everyone have a soul card and a crossing card?” Elena asked.
Nana shook her head. “No. Some people are below fate’s notice.
Part of a wider tapestry that has them bound in place.” She lifted the
two cards in her ancient, spindly fingers. “Only a few have these,”
she said. “Those fate has chosen.”
Nana put the cards back, resting the hub at the center and the
crossing card over it. “You can see those fate has chosen. See their
Arcana. Their hub card and their crossing card.”
Elena asked, “Do I have an Arcana?”
Nana smiled and nodded. “Yes, you do.”
“Can I see it?”
Nana shook her head. “No. A strega cannot see her own fate.”
Elena frowned. Then, she asked, “Can you see my fate, Nana?”
The old woman paused, her old lips trembling. “Yes,” she said.
“I can.”
Berek sat back down at the table, breaking the memory. He had
another pair of cups with him. “Let’s try this,” he said, offering one
Daughter of Fate 157
***
Elena felt the floor moving in the same way the ship moved,
tilting back and forth. She clung to Berek to keep from falling.
“Rooooollll the old…chariot along!” she sang, her voice tilting as
much as the floor.
Berek steadied her as they moved down the corridor. At one
point, she fell so hard, she rammed her shoulder against a door.
“Sorry!” she shouted at the door. “Didn’t mean to wake you!”
Berek laughed as they came to another door. “This is the one?”
he asked.
158 John Wick
Elena looked at the number on the door. “Yes,” she said, slurring
the ‘s.’ “This is it.” She produced a key and handed it to him. “Here,”
she said. “Don’t drop it.”
Berek fit the key into the lock and turned it. The room was so
small, he could put out both hands and not extend his arms. A tiny
bed and nothing more.
Elena flopped down on the bed. “Oh,” she said, face down on
the mattress. “Rum is indeed a wonderful thing.”
Berek nodded and sat down. He couldn’t extend his legs all the
way, so he crossed them. “Yes,” he said. “It is a wonderful thing.”
Elena turned her head and looked at Berek. “The Fool,” she said.
“Crossed with the Wheel.”
Berek smiled. “Yes. You never told me what that means.”
Elena propped herself up on one arm. “It means you’re a bastardo
fortunato—a lucky bastard who gets other people in trouble.”
Berek’s eyes looked away for a moment. “That’s about right.”
Then he said, “No, that’s exactly right.”
Elena looked at the closed door. Then, she looked at Berek.
“Hey…” she started, pointing at the door, then at Berek.
“Oh, don’t worry.” He used the wall to stand himself up. “You are
in no condition for anything I’d be interested in.”
Elena frowned, her brow furrowed. “I…I’m not sure what that
means.”
Standing by the door, Berek said, “It means you should rest.
Tomorrow, I’ll ask you what I wanted to ask you before I introduced
you to rum.”
“Bastardo fortunato,” she said again, the rum smiling for her.
“Yes,” Berek said, opening the door. “Exactly right.” He closed it
behind him.
Elena laid her head down, feeling the cool of the mattress, and
she fell asleep.
Daughter of Fate 159
***
Morning.
The eggs on Elena’s plate looked anything but appetizing. The
sausage was no better. She just stared at the plate as if the food was
daring her.
Berek sat down on the other side of the table, mug in hand.
“Sleep well?” he asked.
Elena looked up at him, slowly. Moving quickly was not an
option today.
“Drink spring water,” he told her, sipping at whatever was in his
mug. “And make sure to eat something. No matter how it looks.”
“I think I’m dying,” Elena said. She almost burped.
“You’re not dying,” Berek said, smiling. “You’re just paying the
price for joviality.”
Elena picked up her fork and… No. She couldn’t. Just couldn’t.
She asked, “Why aren’t you paying the price for joviality?”
Berek took another sip. “Just lucky.” He saw Elena struggling
and said, “Close your eyes. It helps.”
Elena put down her fork, shut her eyes, picked up the sausage
and bit into it. “You’re right,” she said, chewing. “It does help.”
From beyond her closed eyelids, Berek said, “I’m a helping kind
of person.”
Elena took another bite from the sausage, eyes closed. “What do
you want?” she asked.
“You’ve asked that before,” Berek said.
“I’m asking again.” With eyes closed, she reached out for her cup.
The well water was cold and it felt good in her mouth and down her
throat, chilling her tumultuous belly.
“I need your help,” Berek said. “If I’m to be honest.”
Elena almost chuckled.
160 John Wick
“It’s true,” he said. “I need your help. In fact, you’re the only
person on this island who can help me.”
Elena opened her eyes. She raised an eyebrow at him. “Is that
so?” she asked. And as she did, the rhythmic pain in her head spiked
and she winced.
“That’s true,” Berek said. “You’re the only one.” He took one of
the sausages from her plate and took a bite. “Of course, I won’t be
asking you to help me for free.”
“Of course,” Elena said. Then, sighing, she asked, “What is it?”
Berek put the half-eaten sausage back. “Best sausages in all the
world here in La Bucca. I don’t know what they feed the pigs here,
but there’s nothing like it. Not even in Eisen.”
“Berek…” she mumbled.
He said, “I need to find a woman.”
She glared at him. “You can’t do that on your own?”
“A particular woman.”
Elena closed her eyes and tried to eat the eggs.
“Put the red sauce on them,” he said. “It helps.”
She heard him pick up the bottle and put it close to her. She
reached out, pulled out the cork and poured some of the sauce on
the eggs. Then, she forked a mouthful and…
And…
Her eyes opened wide. She dropped the fork. Her hands went
straight to her lips.
“Oh dear,” Berek said. “That was a bit too much.”
Elena felt her lips burning. Her tongue screamed. She reached
for her mug of spring water, but Berek pulled it away. She looked
back at him, her eyes wide open and weeping, her hands still over
her lips.
“Mango juice or milk,” Berek said, smiling. “Water will only
make it worse.”
Daughter of Fate 161
10
Ivette Francesca Delfina Terrazas found the little shack exactly where
she was told to find it. The night was dark and the moon was just a
sliver of silver in the sky. She wore her tall leather boots, her sword
belt—with a pistol stuck in it—and most importantly, her digger’s
coat. She reached into one of its many pockets and took out a small
object that looked like a silver watch, but the face was all wrong.
Then, she looked at the hut.
Ivette shook her head. “No es bueno,” she said. She put the silver
trinket back into a jacket pocket that wasn’t immediately apparent,
and she put her hand on her pistol.
For weeks, she’d been waiting for this meeting. Oleg Vasilev was
not an easy man to meet. Cost her a small fortune to get this far,
showing off the prize he was looking for. He was a collector of rare
items. Specifically, artifacts from Syrneth ruins. She had a reputation
as a woman who could get said items, but even that wasn’t enough to
get the meeting. She had to have one in particular. A prize she stole
from that fool pirate. Swindlers are always easy to swindle. Charm-
ers are always easy to charm.
She stepped up to the door of the hut. She knocked three times.
“Enter,” a deep voice said from inside.
Ivette opened the door. The hut was pitch black. She said to the
dark room, “I do not like surprises.”
On the other end of the room, a man lit a candle. The light
spread into the corners. “My apologies,” he said.
“Oleg,” she said. “All the way from Ussura.”
“Da,” Oleg replied. From the shadows, she saw his huge form, his
thick beard, his black matted hair hung around his face like a smoky
Daughter of Fate 165
***
Hours before, just as the sun began to set, Elena stood with
Berek by the fountain in the center of town. And she looked at him.
He had many strands—including the one linked to her—but she
was looking for one in particular.
She raised a hand, gently pushing some of them from her view.
“You have many people looking for you,” she said.
“That sounds right,” he said. “Can you see the person I’m looking
for?”
Elena peered closer. After a moment or two, she found it. “Yes,”
she said. “I have it.” She turned toward the swamp on the south side
of town. “She’s down that direction.”
“Well then,” Berek said. “Let’s go find her.”
They walked together to the road leading out of town into
the swamp. They saw a lone woman walking along the road, then
leaving it, traveling west.
“That’s her,” Berek whispered. They hid behind a tree, keeping a
distance. Moving from tree to tree, following her through the swamp.
When she reached the hut, Berek said, “I’m going to take her out
the moment the door opens. Be ready.”
Elena nodded. She watched him move close, listening at the
door. Elena did as she was told, waiting behind the tree. When the
door opened, Berek threw a punch right about where the woman’s
head should have been. But instead of a woman, it was a man. A
much larger man.
Elena saw Berek look up, his hand a crumpled mess of fingers.
“Syngnómi,” Berek said, using Numanari. My apologies.
The large man just clobbered Berek over the head. At least, he
tried to. Berek dodged, ducking the big man’s reach. He fell back-
wards, right into the muck. The big man laughed, reached down and
Daughter of Fate 167
Berek pulled a small, silver object from the giant’s pocket. “I was
right!”
“What is it?” Elena asked.
“A very special compass,” Berek said. “Which will lead us to—”
He paused. Turned it over in his hand. “Wait here.”
He looked up at the hut and smiled.
They stepped into the hut and found her, lying on her stomach.
Berek turned her over.
“Is she dead?” Elena asked.
Berek shook his head. “No. But we’d better get her to a doctor.”
Elena nodded and grabbed her feet. “I’ll help,” she said.
Berek grabbed Ivette’s shoulders. “Come on,” he said. “We don’t
have a second to lose.”
***
When Ivette opened her eyes, she saw Berek and a woman she’d
never seen before. She was wearing sailor smocks, but looked like
she should have been wearing something much more expensive.
They were looking down at her. Her own head ached as if she’d been
drinking rum all night. Like that night with…
“Hola,” Berek said. “Remember me?”
Ivette tried to sit up, but her head wouldn’t allow it. So, she
stayed prone.
Berek said, “I think you owe me a favor, my dear. My darling.
My truest love.”
“I never called you ‘my truest love,’” Ivette said, holding her head.
“True,” Berek said. “But the other things.”
Ivette’s eyes blinked as she realized who she was with. Her hand
instinctively went for her hidden pocket, but Berek held up the silver
trinket.
Daughter of Fate 169
11
Standing on the deck of the Morning Star, Elena watched Berek
open the compass and look at its face.
“How does it work?” Elena asked.
“Most compasses point north,” Berek said. “This one points to
something else.”
“What does it point to?”
Berek looked away from the compass and toward Elena.
“Treasure.”
Elena felt her eyes widen. “What kind of treasure?”
Berek closed the compass and gave it to her. “This, mon petite
sorciére, is Carcosa’s Compass.”
Elena held it in her hands. It felt warm, as if it had sat by a fire.
“Carcosa?” she asked.
Behind her, she heard Griffin speak. “Captain Olivier Carcosa.”
Elena turned and looked at Griffin. “The wickedest pirate who ever
lived,” he said. Then, to Berek, “That’s Montaignoise. Not Vodacce.”
Berek looked confused. “Hm?”
“Mon petite sorciére,” he said. “That’s Montaignoise. Not Vodacce.”
Berek waved him off. “Whatever.”
Griffin looked back at Elena. “Carcosa was one of the first to find
the Seventh Sea. They say he came back a changed man.”
“He came back a man of vision!” Berek said. He made his eyes
wide and tilted his head. “And very…very…rich.”
Griffin continued. “They say he found a vast treasure in the
Seventh Sea. Brought it back with him. And hid it on an island
somewhere between Théah and the New World.”
Berek smiled. “That’s not exactly what happened.”
172 John Wick
her shoulders.
He whispered, “I will miss you, Elena.”
“Nkosana,” she said. “How do I say ‘goodbye’ in your language?”
He shook his head. “There is no such word,” he said. “For it
means I shall never see you again. And I shall, one day.”
They let go of each other and Elena walked up on the deck.
Veronica shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re going with him.”
Elena stepped forward, taking Veronica by the hand. Together,
they walked away to the rail. She said, “Any time, anywhere. A
moment you could change in your life.”
“You don’t know that’s true,” Veronica said. “Nobody knows any-
thing about the Seventh Sea.”
“Even if it’s half true,” Elena said, “I want to try.”
Veronica shook her head. “Theus go with you,” she said and
kissed her. “I’ll miss you.”
Elena touched Veronica’s face. “I’ll miss you.”
The two of them returned, holding hands. “All right,” Veronica
said. “She’s going with you.” With her free hand, she pointed at
Berek. “If she goes crazy or dies…”
Berek nodded. “That’s fair,” he said.
Veronica and Elena squeezed hands, then broke their grip. Elena
embraced Griffin. “Keep yourself safe,” she said.
“I’ll be safer than you, little one,” Griffin said. “I have Veronica.
You’ve got Berek.”
She kissed his cheek and let him go.
She looked up, seeing Harry and Tamara. She waved. Tamara
shouted down, “I will not say goodbye. That would mean I will
never see you again!”
“Then say farewell!” Elena shouted up.
“I will see you soon, Elena Mondavi!” Tamara shouted down.
Just then, Long Tall Harry dropped down from the rigging. He
Daughter of Fate 175
Explorer
Daughter of Fate 179
and a sword, both of which looked like they had been used many,
many times.
Right now, she could barely stand.
“What’s the deal?” she asked, adding about a dozen syllables.
Berek said, “We’re going to use it. You show us how, get us to
Carcosa’s island, and you can have it.”
“Mierda!” she said. “You’ve got some plan to keep it for yourself.”
Berek shook his head. “No. It’s yours. Honest.” He paused. “In
fact…”
He put the compass in her hand.
Ivette looked at Berek. Then she looked at Elena.
She squeezed her grip around the compass.
“You’ve got a ship?” Ivette asked.
Berek said, “The Black Dawn will be here in ten days.”
Ivette watched him, then took a step back. “I could leave before
then.”
Berek shook his head. “You won’t.” He turned and started
walking away. Confused, Elena followed him.
“What are you--?” she began asking him.
“Trust me,” he said.
When they reached the door, Ivette shouted after them, “You’ll
never see me again, Jeremiah Berek!”
He paused at the door. “See you in ten days,” he said.
Daughter of Fate 181
2
The Black Dawn was almost the same size as the Morning Star. Her
rail was lower, closer to the water, which made her look smaller, but
she also had three sails rather than two.
“The third mast adds speed,” Berek said, stepping up beside
Elena on the docks. “The low railing makes her harder to target with
cannon fire.”
“Doesn’t that also make her easier to capsize in storms?”
Elena asked.
Berek smiled. “Only if you have a crew who doesn’t know what
they’re doing.” He walked up the gang plank. “Lucky for us…”
Elena walked up the gang plank to the rail. The ship felt dif-
ferent. She was used to touching the Morning Star, and the Black
Dawn felt…different. The planks under her feet. The texture of the
rails. She looked up at the rigging. She saw the lines and the sailors
working them. Different.
Someone called “Captain on deck!” and the crew stood at atten-
tion. Berek knelt down as a small dog ran up to him. Elena had never
seen a dog like this before. It was small and long with red fur and
the face of a wolf. Its ears were high and wide, its legs powerful and
short. He ruffled its ears and it ran back down the length of the ship.
“As you were,” Berek said. The crew went back to work.
Elena had never seen that on the Morning Star. Only on ATC
ships. Captain on deck.
She looked about the ship. The crew were in uniforms, like ATC
sailors, but the jackets were red. The men were well-groomed and
their buttons and shoes shined. They looked not at all like pirates.
Berek was speaking to a woman who had her back turned. She
182 John Wick
wore a wide brimmed hat with a feather plume. A purple corset over
a chemise.
A corset? How does she wear a bodice on a ship?
Elena stepped up. The woman turned.
And Elena felt her heart sink into her stomach.
Looking at the woman’s eyes was like looking into the sky. Her
skin was smooth and dark, her lips crimson. And her hair flowed
around her face and shoulders like black fire. Elena felt her knees
trembling. And a strange sensation, as if she had seen the woman
before in a dream.
“Elena,” Berek said, “this is Celedoine. My quartermaster.”
When the woman spoke, it was like a choir.
“Hello,” she said. “I am pleased to meet you.”
Elena’s lips trembled as she said, “Likewise.”
Celedoine moved, just a little. And Elena could hear stars
weeping. The quartermaster said, “I welcome you aboard the ship.
You will find the visitor’s cabin most comfortable.”
Elena blinked. “No. I. Uh. I. Have. Rigger. Yes. Rigger. I.”
Celedoine’s eyes turned from midnight skies into storms. Her
crimson lips curled. And Elena felt her heart turn cold. The woman
pushed passed Elena, shouting, “You there! What are you doing!”
And her voice sounded like swords.
Elena turned to watch her. She couldn’t help herself. The woman
was scolding a sailor who had dropped a bag, barley spilling all over
the deck.
She just watched. She couldn’t move.
A moment later, Berek put his hand on her shoulder. Elena jumped.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Everyone has that reaction to Celedoine
when they first meet her. You’ll get used to it.”
Elena mumbled, “She’s…she’s…beautiful.”
“She,” Berek said.
Daughter of Fate 183
***
3
Elena stepped out of the captain’s quarters and joined Ivette where
she stood on deck. Both of them had too much wine.
Ivette said, “Tell me about it.”
Elena asked, “Tell you about what?”
Ivette turned away from the sky and stars. She shivered. “Seeing
fate. What does it look like?”
Elena felt the cool night air on her skin and she wrapped her
arms around herself. “I… It’s difficult to explain. But if you imagine
a spider’s web made of light, that’s what it looks like.”
Ivette let that sink in for a moment. “How does it feel?”
Elena asked, “To touch it?”
Ivette nodded.
Elena said, “It’s delicate. And sharp. It feels like holding ice. It
hurts. And it can cut you if you aren’t careful.”
Ivette nodded again. “I have heard of the fate witches of Vodacce.”
She paused. “They are forbidden from learning how to read. Is it
true? Your parents forbid you from reading?”
Elena said, “I don’t like talking about that.”
“I’m sorry,” Ivette said.
A moment of silence passed. Ivette turned back to the sea. Then,
she said, “You mentioned that you were a rigger on another ship.”
Elena nodded. “I was,” she said. Then she asked, “What is the
Explorer’s Society?”
Ivette smiled. “Berek told you?”
“He said it was a club for bored nobles who have nothing to do.”
Ivette laughed. “It feels like that sometimes.”
Elena said, “What do you do?”
188 John Wick
Ivette smiled. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I can tell you what
Alvara Aciniega thinks it is.”
“Who is that?” Elena asked.
“The smartest man in the world,” Ivette said. “A Castillian scholar
I had the opportunity to meet once. He believes the whole universe
sits on a sea of jewels that divides our world from another.” Ivette
looked at Elena and stopped. “I’ve already lost you.”
Elena nodded. “Try again,” she said.
“All right.” Ivette looked around for a moment, then went to
the water barrel. She scooped out some water with both hands and
returned to Elena. “Imagine a cork floating on the water.”
Elena nodded.
“Our world—in fact, all the planets—are floating on the top of
the water. Like a ship. But we can’t go under the water. We can only
sail on the surface.”
“We can’t go under the water?” Elena asked.
Ivette shook her head. “No. Only on the surface.” Then, she
raised her hands up to eye level. “The water is the Seventh Sea. In
order to enter it, we have to go under the water.”
“How will we breathe?” Elena asked.
Ivette drank the water from her hands. “We won’t need to.
Because it isn’t literally water. It’s…something else.”
“How do you know?” Elena asked.
“Because others have been there before,” Ivette said.
“If others have been there before, why don’t we know what it is?”
Ivette frowned. “Because none of them say the same thing. Some
of them say it is a place of peace, where you meet the Prophets.
Others say it is a living hell, full of demons.”
“Berek said it was…between time. Where you could go back and
change one thing.”
Ivette nodded. “The moment in a book where you turn the page.”
190 John Wick
4
Halsten Jördisson walked down the snow-covered streets of Kirk, a
cane in his gloved hand, his heavy fur coat and capotain hat keeping
him warm. He could have taken a carriage, but he enjoyed long
walks down the street, especially when the sun was just about to set.
The crisp air and exercise, he felt, were the key to his health. He did
not need the cane for injury, but for the sword hidden within it. Kirk
was one of the safest cities in Théah, but there was no reason to go
walking alone without protection. And he could use the sword. It
wasn’t just for show. He practiced four times a week with a trainer.
He was not an incapable man.
Jördisson stood taller than most men: a trait he inherited from
his mother who also stood taller than most men. He wore his mous-
tache with waxed curls and his chin was a braid of whiskers. He had
ice blue eyes under a blonde brow.
He saw the uniformed law enforcement standing on the corner.
He tipped his hat to her, calling her by name. “Dagmar.”
She nodded and touched the tip of her hat to him.
The city paid for their service. Another example of how Kirk was
the most forward thinking cities in not only Vestenmennavenjar, but
the entire world.
Jördisson was on his way from his offices where he oversaw the
ATC’s “Nautical Loss” division. He hired mercenaries to hunt down
and capture pirates. Since the loss of La Bucca, the ATC engaged a
number of investors in starting “work plantations” where the crim-
inals could serve their time producing rather than stealing. They
helped the ATC bring tobacco and maize to Théah. Valuable crops.
Yes, it was a dear expense, but the cost was more than made up for
Daughter of Fate 193
by the loss they would be taking without any action at all. And he
was proud of his work. Investments such as his allowed the flow of
commerce which gave the country capital which allowed children to
attend schools and paid for Dagmar on the corner there to look after
and maintain law and order.
There were others on the street as well. He wasn’t alone. But at
this time of day, he could expect to walk freely without too much
interruption. Only a few out so near dark. So when he saw a figure
walking toward him, a wide-brimmed hat on her head, her lips a
flower of crimson on a pale face, she caught his eye.
And when he looked at her, he stopped.
She continued walking. Her glance catching his for just
a moment.
Jördisson turned to watch her walk away. He decided to follow
her. His pace picked up as he moved quickly through the thin
layer of snow, almost oblivious to the chance he might slip and fall.
Which he did.
Twice.
When he caught up with the woman, he said, “God kveld.”
She kept walking, but turned her face to him. “Halo,” she said.
“Hvordan gar det?”
He smiled. “I am very well, thank you.” His feet were stumbling
to keep up with her pace. “I do not think I have seen you before.”
“No,” she said. “I am new here.”
“I can tell by your accent,” he said. “Inish, perhaps?”
The woman smiled. “Perhaps,” she said.
“Labhraím Inish,” he said. “If that would be useful.”
“No,” she said. “Let us use your language. I can use the practice.”
He laughed. “Very well. Let us do that.” He looked in the direc-
tion she was walking. “Where are you going, if I may ask?”
“It is very cold,” she said. “I am looking for a place to warm
194 John Wick
***
Jördisson woke with a bucket of ice water in the face. His wrists
and shoulders hurt.
He blinked his eyes, looking for vision. When he found it, he
saw where he was. In a small room, bound to a chair in his small
clothes. He had no idea how he got there or what happened to him.
But he knew who the man holding the bucket was, and he said his
name like speaking a curse.
“Berek.”
The pirate smiled and nodded. “That’s me,” he said. He put the
bucket down and knelt before the chair. “Hello, Halsten. It’s been
a while.”
“Why aren’t you on a planation in the Atabean?” Jördisson asked.
“Just lucky, I guess,” Berek said. “But here we are. You and me
again. Except this time, the roles seem to be reversed.”
Jördisson struggled against the ropes, but they stayed taut. He
tried to stand in the chair, but the wood was too strong. He looked
at Berek—and spit at him.
Berek closed his eyes, produced a handkerchief, and wiped his
Daughter of Fate 195
The woman in the black veil leaned close to his face. She whis-
pered through the veil.
“Halsten…”
Jördisson’s eyes went wide.
“Áketill…”
His lips trembled as he murmured, “…Nei.”
“Jördisson.”
Then, she leaned in. Close enough to kiss him.
“I’ll tell you!” he screamed, trying to turn his face away. “I’ll tell
you! Stop her! Please stop her!”
The woman paused. From under her veil, he could see her
crimson lips curl into a smile. “Grazie, signore,” she said. Then, she
turned on her heel and walked out of the room.
***
Outside the room, after the door closed behind her, Elena took
the veil off and looked at Celedoine. She was leaning against the cap-
tain’s table, arms crossed. She raised an eyebrow. “Well?” she asked.
Elena held out her hand. “Ten guilders,” she said.
Celedoine handed over the bills. But she was smiling.
Elena said, “Can you get this corset off me?”
Celedoine nodded and walked behind her, untying the knots.
As the corset came undone, Elena gasped. “I’d forgotten how those
things feel,” she said. “I don’t know how you wear them.”
“I don’t,” Celedoine said.
Celedoine helped Elena slip the corset over her shoulders. Elena
asked, “You don’t? I don’t understand.”
Celedoine said, “You see a corset. I don’t wear one.”
Elena was confused. She asked, “How do I see something that
is not there?”
Daughter of Fate 197
5
Under a full moon, in the middle of the Trade Sea, at approximately
47° N, 28° W, Berek stood at the wheel of the Black Dawn and
opened Carcosa’s compass.
Elena stood beside Harry. With his arms crossed, Harry said, “I
have a bad feeling about this.”
Elena looked up at him. She stood just to the middle of his chest.
His thin beard and long hair waved in the gentle wind. She said,
“Treasure on the other side.”
“Aye,” Harry said. “But what’s the risk? You’ve got to measure the
risk with the reward.” He looked down at her. “That’s what gunners
do, ya know. Every shot they take, it’s a moment-to-moment evalu-
ation. They ask themselves, ‘Will this shot hit?’”
“Calculation,” Elena said.
“Aye,” Harry said. “Calculation. Aerodynamics is a factor. So is
gravity and wind speed. Ever since Arciniega gave us Fundamentals,
it’s been easier.”
“What’s that?” Elena asked.
Harry startled, as if he had said something wrong. “Oh,” he said.
“Nothing. Just a…pamphlet…that I…uh…heard about… Some
people…talking… You know.”
That was the second time someone mentioned “Arciniega.” She
was about to ask more when Berek said, “It’s time.”
Harry went straight up, grabbing a line and climbing quickly up
the rigging. Celedoine stepped up next to Berek, putting a hand on
his shoulder. In that moment, Elena felt very alone.
A wind picked up. Cold. Colder than the winds of the Trade Sea.
Cold enough to bite through the skin, right down to the bone. Elena
200 John Wick
put her arms around her shoulders and stamped her feet. She heard
other sailors doing the same thing.
Ivette came out of the visitor’s cabin. “What is that?” she asked,
instantly shivering.
“It’s happening,” Elena said.
Ivette looked up at the wheel and saw Berek standing there,
Celedoine at his side. She looked at Elena. Her eyes were wide, but
not with fear. She was smiling.
“See you on the other side,” she said. As she did, her words faded
into echoes. Her body seemed to be blown apart by a wall of snow
and stars. And Elena found herself standing alone in a world of
white and silver.
She was still cold, but there was no sound. Just stars and snow.
She turned, looking for someone, but no one was there. She tried
saying, “Hello!” but nothing came from her lips but warm mist. She
clapped her hands and stomped her feet.
No sound. Nothing.
She turned again and she was in her father’s home, standing by
the fire. Her breath was still frost.
“Hello?” she asked, and when she heard her voice, she jumped
and made a small sound.
“Buongiorno,” said a familiar voice.
Elena turned and saw her Nana standing in the doorway. Clad in
black, her veil over her face. Small cane in her spindly fingers.
“Elena,” she said. “It is good to see you.”
“Wh-where…”
She said, “Where you belong.”
Elena shook her head. “No,” she said. “I…I belong where I
choose to belong.”
“The sailors taught you that, did they?” Nana laughed and walked
forward, her trembling hand on her cane, her tiny steps. “This is
Daughter of Fate 201
Elena looked back at the scene. Saw herself begin to panic. Saw
herself look and see the black strand…
“The moment is almost upon us,” the veiled woman said. “And
when it passes, it will be too late.”
Nobody was moving. The black strand twirling and knotting,
growing tighter, thicker.
Ignazio curled his hand into a fist and threw it into his brother’s
jaw.
Elena nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I promise.”
“Say the words,” the veiled woman said.
“I promise…you can leave the Seventh Sea with me when I go.”
The veiled woman smiled. “You may say what you like,” she said.
A flash.
Elena, standing next to her younger self. Just a breath away. Saw
her shout, “Ignazio!”
She knew the moment. Had seen it a thousand times in her
dreams. She had time for a single warning. Just one.
Elena said, “Don’t pull the strand.”
She saw her younger self turn to her. Look straight through her.
Confused. As if she had heard her own voice.
And the memory of that moment rushed back to her. The fear.
The panic. The confusion.
The voice.
And Elena watched as Elena…pulled.
***
She was on the deck of the Black Dawn. On her back, looking up
at the night sky. All black. No stars, no moon.
Then slowly, one by one, the stars winked to life. Like candles lit
in the darkness. And just above her, like a lantern, the moon faded
Daughter of Fate 205
in, its silver glow wan at first, but then, ever brighter.
Elena realized she could not feel her legs or arms, toes or fingers.
But then, they tingled. A burning sensation. She tried to move her
arm and it ripped pain through her shoulder, down her side, all the
way down to her fingers. She tried to speak, but all she could muster
was a whisper.
Then, a voice. “You have done well,” it said.
Elena focused her vision. Turned her head. And floating just
above her, the veiled woman.
She couldn’t speak. She also realized the woman was speaking
inside her head. It was not sound, but thought.
You lied to me, Elena told her.
“I did no such thing,” the veiled woman said. “I told you only
the truth.”
I changed nothing, Elena told her.
“But you did,” the veiled woman said. “You changed one small
thing. You will learn one day what it was you changed.” She almost
sighed. “I shall be leaving now. You will never see me again.”
Listen to me, Elena said. My people have a word. An old word. And
before you leave, I want you to hear it.
The veiled woman spoke with mocking amusement, “Go on.”
Through the burning, prickling pain, Elena raised her arm. Her
fingers limply pointed at the veiled woman. Her eyes blazing with
anger. Elena told her,
Vendetta.
The veiled woman laughed. “Pray we never meet again, Elena
Mondavi.” Then she flew away into the newborn stars.
Elena remained there, slowly regaining her strength, the veiled
woman’s laughter ringing in her ears. When most of the stars were in
place, she finally found the strength to turn her head. She saw Ivette
there. Her eyes were open and looking at Elena. Blinking.
206 John Wick
Elena tried to speak, her voice refusing. She tried a smile. It trem-
bled to her lips.
Ivette did not smile. A tear rolled from her eye across her nose.
Then her eyes shut and she turned her face away. Elena heard
her sobbing.
She reached out with her hand and found Ivette’s shoulder. A
moment later, Elena felt Ivette’s fingers on her own.
Daughter of Fate 207
6
Daylight. The crew moving about the deck, but slowly.
She saw Berek sitting near the wheel. He had a mug in his hand,
drinking. His eyes were distant. Nearly blank. He breathed heavy.
Elena walked toward the forecastle, but Celedoine stepped in her
way. “No,” she said. Elena continued walking. Celedoine put her
hand on Elena’s shoulder, and again said, “No.”
“Take your hand off me,” Elena said.
“Do you believe you were the only one?” Celedoine asked.
Elena shook her head. “No. He put us all through it.”
“We all knew what we were doing,” Celedoine said. “None of us
are victims.”
“No,” Elena said. “None of us knew.” She looked up at Berek.
“Especially him.” She looked back at Celedoine. “And that’s the crime.
No captain leads his crew into a situation he doesn’t understand.”
“You are wrong,” Celedoine said. “That’s exactly what a captain
does.”
Elena lowered her eyes at Celedoine, her hand touching her
sword. “Get out of my way, demone.”
“Land ho!” someone shouted.
The crew rushed past the two women, but they did not move.
They remained fixed on each other. Over Celedoine’s shoulder, Elena
saw Berek stand, mug in his grip, looking forward.
Elena’s voice dropped to a growl. “I said get out of…”
“The demon was the thing that tempted you, not me,” Celedoine
said. “You rage against Berek because you cannot exact your hatred
against it.”
Elena felt her eyes stinging. She blinked and a tear rolled down
208 John Wick
her cheek. “Do not try to charm me. I’ve had enough of that.”
“You feel the rage of revenge in your heart for the first time,” Cele-
doine said. “I can feel it.” Celedoine put her hand against Elena’s
chest. Her touch made Elena’s mouth open, her breath quicken. Her
fingers tightened on her sword.
Celedoine said, “Revenge is a dangerous desire. The desire to
destroy.” Her voice softened. “It will destroy you as well.”
Elena’s tears ran freely. Celedoine’s hand on her breast… The
veiled woman’s mocking laughter… Ignazio’s face…
Elena’s hand trembled on her sword and she collapsed into Cele-
doine’s arms.
“I couldn’t save him,” she said. “I tried… I couldn’t…” The rest
was moans and gasping.
Celedoine wrapped her arms around Elena, holding her. “I
know,” she said. Elena’s body trembled in her embrace, her head on
Celedoine’s shoulder.
“I wanted to kill Berek,” Elena said.
“I felt it,” Celedoine told her.
“I made an oath,” Elena said, speaking into Celedoine’s shoulder.
“I said I would never kill again.” She gasped. “And I wanted to kill
him. Wanted it like I’ve never wanted anything.”
Celedoine put her hand on Elena’s head. “It’s over,” she said.
“That rage is passing. As all rages do. The Vestenmennavenjar call it a
hate. A rage you cannot control. An angry spirit that takes possession
of your senses and drives you to evil.”
Elena nodded. “I couldn’t stop it.”
“You did stop it,” Celedoine said. “You did.”
Elena raised her head, looking at Celedoine. And all she could
see was Veronica.
***
Daughter of Fate 209
7
When the dinghy neared the shore, Elena jumped knee deep into
the water, grabbing the side of it, pulling it onto the land with the
others. She had not spoken a word to Berek since she closed the door.
He had the log book in his hand, looking at a page with a hand-
drawn map. “Looks like we’re on this side of the island,” he said to
Ivette, pointing at the map.
She nodded. “Agreed. There looks to be some sort of path over
there,” she said, pointing into the forest.
“That may be this line here,” Berek said, pointing at the map.
Ivette smiled. “Let’s find out.”
There were only three of them—Berek, Ivette, Elena. Celedoine
stayed on board. The crew was still uncertain about what happened
on the Seventh Sea, and Berek felt they needed some measure of
command. “Otherwise, they may just decide to leave.”
They followed the thin path through the woods. It twisted
around a great stone, then went further into the island. And then, in
a clearing of trees, they saw it.
A ruined statue. The feet, the legs, part of the torso. But no upper
body. It stood twice as tall as a human. Stone feet bound in stone
leather. Vines covered it. Deep cracks in the thighs and ankles. It
looked as if it could crumble at any moment.
“That’s it,” Berek said. “The entrance.”
Ivette approached it just behind Berek, but quickly moved in
front of him. “It’s not a temple,” she said, coming closer. “A temple
would be above ground. Reaching up for the skies. Unless this was a
temple to a subterranean god. A death god.”
Elena shook her head. “A death god?”
Daughter of Fate 213
Ivette turned. She had an excited smile on her face, her eyes flash-
ing. “Yes,” she said. “The statue is a guardian.” She pulled a notepad
from her jacket, a pen quickly appearing between her fingers. “We’ve
seen this before.”
Elena was about to ask, “Who is ‘we’?” when Berek shouted, “I
found the stairs!”
Berek used his sword to cut away at the overgrowth. And there,
under the green, was a stairway. Stone steps leading down into dark-
ness. Elena looked at them, each one almost half as tall as her.
“That’s not stone,” Ivette said.
Berek turned to look at her. “What do you mean?”
Ivette knelt down, gently putting a finger on the first stair. “It’s
not stone,” she said. “It’s cold. And…the texture is wrong.” She
looked up. “It’s almost like a dry sponge.”
Berek asked, “What did the journal say about the stairs?”
Ivette stood and took the journal from her coat. Elena wondered
just how many pockets Ivette’s coat had. Ivette turned to a folded
page. “If it’s like the other ruins we’ve found, the stairs are trapped.
There’s a code you need to know to get down them safely.”
Elena asked, “Why is that?”
Ivette shook her head. “We don’t know. Perhaps these were
mystery cults and the traps kept out the uninitiated.” Ivette winked
at Elena. “That’s my theory.”
“The stairs have symbols,” Berek said.
Ivette and Elena stepped over, looking down. Ivette said, “Yes! I’ve
seen these before!” She reached into her coat and took out another
small notebook. She flipped through the pages, all crammed with
notes. “When we were at the D’Auberville ruins. Same symbols.”
Elena asked, “Can you translate them?”
Ivette gave a frown-smile. “Not…exactly,” she said. “Although,
combined with Carcosa’s log, I may be able to figure something out.”
214 John Wick
corpse. It tumbled down the stairway, hitting steps here and there.
A hiss. A pop. The razor slicing through the rotting flesh. Insects
scrambling. Elena could not look. Eventually, they heard the body
stop.
“Good idea,” Berek said. “Now we know how far we are from the
bottom.”
They continued down, keeping their footing safe, one step at a
time. Elena kept her arms out, trying to maintain her balance. Once,
she almost slipped and fell, but Berek caught her.
“Careful,” he said.
“I am being careful,” she told him. “But thank you.”
He nodded. And they kept going.
They reached the bottom, where the remains of the corpse
waited for them. Elena did her best to slide around it, keeping her
face turned away.
The stairway landed in a large, empty space. Elena’s lantern was
not bright enough to reach the walls. The floor was the same sub-
stance, wet and slippery.
Berek said, “We need to find the ‘doorway of the moon.’ What-
ever that means.”
Ivette asked Elena, “Can you see the strand linking us to the
treasure?”
Elena shook her head. “Strands only link people. Not things.”
Ivette reached into her coat and took out what looked like a small
wand. She turned the tip of it and a bright beam of light sparkled to
life. Ivette saw Berek and Elena looking at the device. She shrugged.
“I found it on an island near…” She paused. Smiled. “Never mind.”
“How many pockets do you have in that coat?” Elena asked.
“I lose count,” Ivette said. “But they’re all full.”
With Elena’s lantern and Ivette’s…whatever that was, the three of
them moved about the room.
216 John Wick
from the door to her back, her shoulders smashing against the stone.
There was a rush of hot air. Powerful enough to feel like the
naked sun on a clear summer day. Elena blinked and saw Berek on
top of her. His head was turned away from her.
Behind him, Ivette lay on the other side of the doorway. Her eyes
were wide open, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
Elena saw a gush of flames erupting through the doorway.
Berek turned back to her. “That was close,” he said. He lifted
himself up and offered her his hand. Elena took it.
“Thank you,” she said.
“We’ll have to assume everything is a trap,” he said.
“Including the treasure?” she asked.
Berek nodded, his eyes dour. “Including the treasure.”
The flames subsided. Ivette got to her feet and joined them by
the door.
“I saw that one before,” she said. “In the Tamarasa ruins. Nearly
got me then, too.”
Elena asked, “This is what you do? Dodge traps and explore
ruins?”
Ivette nodded and smiled. “And then write it all down.”
“This is archeology?” Elena asked.
Ivette grinned. “This is archeology.” She peeked around the
doorway. “Looks like mirrors on the other side,” she said. “Set to
detect a disturbance of light. We triggered it and the flames came
through.”
“Can you disarm it?” Elena asked.
Ivette nodded. “If it’s the same as the Tamarasa ruins,” she said.
Then, she winked. “Though, it might not be.”
“Let’s be careful until we’re sure,” Berek said.
Ivette put away her light wand. Elena dropped the lid over the
lantern, only allowing the smallest amount of light. The three of
218 John Wick
***
pedestal at the far end and a wooden chest on the pedestal. A chest
large enough to carry a human body. Two of them, if you stacked
them on top of each other. The lid was closed and Elena saw an old
lock on the latch.
“This is it,” Berek said. “The treasure room.”
Elena asked, “Why does this room scare me?”
Ivette said, “All the traps should be deactivated.” She paused,
then looked at Elena. “But you’re right.”
Berek asked for Carcosa’s log. He opened it, thumbing through
the pages. Finally, he stopped on one. “Here,” he said, then quoted
from the log. “I have left the treasure in a web only a daughter of fate
can see.” Berek looked at Elena.
She scowled.
Berek gave the log book back to Ivette. “You keep talking as if
I’m the only one who has a share in all this.”
“Money,” Elena said. “That isn’t enough.”
Berek nodded. “Name your price.”
Elena said, “A favor, Jeremiah Berek. Promise me a favor.”
“What kind of favor?” he asked.
“You don’t get to know that until I ask for it.”
Berek said, “All right. A favor.”
“Promise it,” Elena said.
Berek looked at Ivette. “What are the consequences of breaking
a promise you make to a fate witch?”
Ivette said, “You don’t want to know.”
Elena said, “Promise it.”
Finally, Berek said, “I promise. I owe you a favor.”
Elena said, “Very well. Let’s get to work.”
Berek stepped away. Elena looked at Ivette. Both of them could
barely contain their smiles.
220 John Wick
***
Elena shook her head. “I cannot pull black strands. Nobody can.”
Berek put his hand on his chin. Knelt down. Looked at the floor.
Looked at the walls.
“I’m not going in there,” Elena said. “And neither are you.” Her
gaze shifted from Ivette to Berek. “Either of you. I don’t care how
lucky you think you are.”
Berek stood and looked at Elena. “Is there a path?”
Elena didn’t know what to say. “A what?”
“A path. Through the web.” He gestured at the room. “They got
the treasure in there somehow and they planned on getting it back
out somehow, so there must be a path.”
Elena glared at him. She turned back at the room. And looked.
“No,” she said. “I don’t see one.”
“Step in as far as you can,” Berek said. “Without touching a
strand.”
Elena felt the anger in her belly. Her fingers shook. She stepped
forward. Another step. Almost into the room. The strands dangled
and wavered, like a soft wind lifting them.
She reached the inside of the door.
And there, in the midst of the tangled skein, hidden by the
angle, was a wide path. An empty walkway leading to the left edge
of the room.
Elena couldn’t help but smile. “Yes,” she said. Then almost
shouted. “Yes! There’s a path! Right here! I couldn’t see it from the
door! I had to step inside!”
She turned to see Berek and Ivette smiling. “Daughter of fate,”
Berek said.
***
Elena’s skin was covered in sweat, a pain behind her eyes. She
222 John Wick
had never looked for so long. The pain stabbed at her skull and she
blinked away tears. They had moved slowly through the maze of
strands, Elena leading them every step. But it felt like someone was
sharpening knives behind her eyes. And when she stumbled, Berek
caught her, keeping her from falling into the strands.
“We should stop,” Berek said, holding her.
She shook her head. “We’re almost there,” she said. “Just…help
me.”
Berek put her arm over his shoulder and helped her walk. She
was moving in slow, tiny steps. Her vision blurry. She blinked, trying
to maintain her concentration.
One more corner, she thought.
She lead Ivette and Berek around the last turn. And she
almost collapsed.
“There,” she said, pointing at the chest. “We’re clear of the strands.”
She closed her eyes and kept them shut. “Let me…just rest here.”
Berek asked, “Are you sure?”
Elena nodded. “Just…walk forward. Do not step off the…
raised…” She closed her eyes, her voice fading.
Berek took three steps, the last on the raised platform. The chest
was at his feet. He looked at the lock. Then he drew his pistol, turned
his face away, and shot the lock. Elena smelled the gunpowder, heard
the metal lock snap. She opened her eyes. Saw Berek open the chest.
Coins. Gold coins. Avalon pounds. Vodacce senators. Castillian
pieces of eight. Coins.
Elena smiled. Then she fell to her side. And darkness.
***
On the deck of the Black Dawn, Berek opened the chest. The
crew looked at the gold and cheered.
Daughter of Fate 223
“God save the Queen!” someone shouted. The rest of the sailors
shouted it back.
Elena sat with her back against the rail, watching the sailors dig
through the coins. They were laughing. Pouring gold over each other.
The coins falling on the deck sounded like golden rain.
From the celebration, Ivette walked to her, carrying a bottle of
wine. She sat down beside Elena and offered her a cup. Elena took
it and sipped the wine.
“Avalon wine is awful,” Elena said.
Ivette nodded. “It certainly is.”
Elena watched Berek stand before the chest. He raised both
hands and the crew fell silent.
“Here you are, my lads and lassies,” he said. “Enough gold to send
all of us home with ne’er a need to work another day in our lives!”
The crew cheered.
Berek said, “You braved ATC hunters and the monsters of the
Atabean! You sailed the Seventh Sea! And you lived to tell the tale!
Go home to your sweethearts, husbands, and wives! And make lots
of babies!”
The crew laughed. One of them shouted, “I’ve already got three!”
Berek shouted back at him, “Make three more!” He threw some
gold at him. “You can afford thirty!”
More cheers and Berek laughed, putting his hands on his hips.
“Some of you have sailed with me for years. Some a few months.
But this here, this is the greatest haul we’ve ever found.”
Berek paused, eyeing all of them.
“The greatest so far!” he shouted.
They cheered and Berek laughed.
“Let us go home and make revelry! We’ll drink and sing and shout
and dance until the Queen herself will need to come down to the
tavern to command us to be silent!”
224 John Wick
Long Tall Harry said, “And then we’ll ask her to dance with us!”
The crew cheered and Berek said, “Aye! With tiny squids in our
mouths!”
They started singing. A song about going home. Elena smiled. “I
love this,” she said.
Ivette said, “I can see why.” She emptied her cup and filled it
again. Then she asked, “Why did you come along?”
Elena took another sip of wine and made a sour face. She said,
“To fix something I broke.” She looked at Ivette. “Why did you?”
Ivette smiled, almost laughed. “Seeing the Seventh Sea.” Then,
she did laugh. “That is a tongue twister, isn’t it?” She took another
sip of wine. “Exploring ruins. It’s what I do. What I’ve always done.”
“Why?” Elena asked.
Ivette gestured with her cup at the sailors. “Why do you love
this?” she asked. “Rotten food. Seasickness. Weather. Pirate hunters.
The sun beating down on you all day.” She looked at Elena. “Why
would anyone love this?”
Elena took the bottle from Ivette and filled her cup. “Camarade-
rie,” she said. “I know I could trust each of these men and women
with my life.”
“It’s a hard life,” Ivette said. “Working all day long. Tearing up
your hands, baking your skin.”
Elena nodded. “The work is hard. The trust is worth it.” She
emptied her cup, refilled it. Took another sip. “At home, back in
Vodacce, trust is more rare than gold. And twice as valuable.”
“From what I hear of Vodacce,” Ivette said, “trust will get you
killed.”
Elena nodded. “That, too. But you didn’t tell me why you do
your exploring thing.” She nudged Ivette’s shoulder with her own. “I
come from Vodacce. I can tell when someone is evading a question.”
Ivette smiled and ducked her head. “My brother did it,” she said.
Daughter of Fate 225
“I almost never saw him. But when he came home, he told me about
his adventures. Discovering ruins, looting treasures. Learning about
the Syrneth.” Those last words caught in her throat.
Elena asked, “How did he die?”
Ivette looked at Elena, her eyes moist. “You really are a witch,
aren’t you?” she asked, trying to smile.
Elena shook her head. “I heard it in your voice.”
Ivette said, “He was in Ifri. Somewhere in the south. He was
with the Arnessen expedition.” She sniffed, wiping her nose. “He
didn’t come back.” She wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Doctor
Arnessen gave me his coat.”
Elena put her arm around Ivette. Ivette put her head on
Elena’s shoulder.
“Every time I come back alive,” Ivette said, “I wonder…if I was
with him…”
Elena remembered watching herself at the dance. Whispering.
And watching it all happen again.
“I couldn’t save my brother,” Elena said. “I tried.”
Ivette took Elena’s hand and squeezed it. She nodded. “Me, too.”
The sailors kept on singing. Elena just held on to Ivette and
didn’t let her go.
PART FOUR
Spy
Daughter of Fate 229
***
The carriage took them through the streets and Elena watched
from the window. She was no longer cold, though she should have
been. The air was cool, but the sun warmed her skin. She wore a
dress she bought when the Morning Star was docked in Castille.
Blue and gold, well-fitted. Berek smiled and nodded when she came
out of the visitor’s cabin. “Don’t you shine up like a pretty pence,”
he said.
“Captain Berek,” Elena told him, “I may be a sailor, but I am also
the daughter of a Vodacce nobleman.”
Berek didn’t miss a beat. He bowed low, took her hand, and
kissed it gently. “And I may be a pirate, but I am also a knight and a
gentleman of the Queen’s court.”
“I would have never known until this very moment,” Elena said.
From the carriage, she watched the merchants and farmers go
by. The people of Avalon looked happy, as if they could break into
song at any moment. Elena had seen the people of Montaigne and
Castille. Their spirits were not like this. Soaring. She couldn’t help
but feel their joy fill her own heart.
And she smiled. She laughed, covering her lips with her fingers.
Daughter of Fate 231
***
“He told me before I left port.” Berek took another step toward
her. “He said I would meet a witch, that she would help me find Car-
cosa’s treasure, and that I should bring her back here after I found it.”
Elena felt her stomach drop. “A man,” she said, stumbling
through the words, “who can see the future?”
Berek shook his head. “Not exactly,” he said. “He’s already lived
it.”
“I don’t…” Elena began.
“He lives backwards,” Berek told her. “To him, the future is the
past and the past is the future. He knows what will be, but does not
know what has been.” Berek shrugged. “At least, that’s what I’ve
heard.”
Elena felt Berek’s grip on her hand. Her trembling hand.
“I have no desire to meet such a man,” she said.
Berek said, “He is the one who can tell you how I changed the
strand.”
She paused, looking at Berek. A long moment passed.
Finally, she said, “Very well.”
Berek patted her trembling hand. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Der-
wyddon is only terrifying the first time you meet him.”
“After that?” Elena asked.
Berek said, “He’s only frightening.”
***
The herald called out, “Captain Jeremiah Berek and his compan-
ion, Miss Mondavi!”
Berek whispered, “Stay by my side. And curtsey when she speaks
to you.”
Elena growled with an annoyed whisper, “I know what to do.”
“Good,” Berek said. “The last woman I introduced to the Queen
234 John Wick
didn’t. And that was not a happy day, I’ll tell you that for nothing.”
“What happened?” Elena whispered.
“It involved a rose,” he said. “And I should say no more.”
Elena smiled at him. “There is something Berek should not do?”
He sighed. “Later.”
They entered the court, music playing. Elena looked about, seeing
men and women in leathers and silks of all colors. It reminded her
of the party in Vodacce. They all looked at her. Not at Berek, but at
her. She put on her courtly face. Quiet, composed, and unimpressed.
Then, she looked forward.
The throne was beautiful. Gold and wood. Hand-carved. Large
enough for two. Plush red pillows in the seat.
And the throne was empty.
Standing beside it was a man. Tall with long limbs. His black
hair was thin and made a widow’s peak above his piercing, dark eyes.
His beard was cut into a point and he wore all black. On the top of
his head was a scholar’s cap, also black. Elena noticed he carried no
sword, but only a long dagger.
Berek bowed. Elena curtseyed. The man standing beside the
throne said, “Welcome home, Captain.” His voice was deep and
soft. “You may recover.”
“Thank you, Master Foote,” Berek said. “I am sad the Queen is
not here to receive me.”
“Who is your companion today?” the man asked.
Berek said, “A woman the Queen is eager to meet.”
Master Foote turned to Elena. She curtseyed again and said, “My
name is Elena Mondavi. And I am Her Majesty’s humble servant.”
Foote stepped down from the throne and toward them. He took
Elena’s hand and kissed it. “I am Sir William Foote. Her Majesty’s
secretary of state and advisor.” He looked down at Elena. “We have
been waiting for you, Miss Mondavi.”
Daughter of Fate 235
***
The food was boiled meat and cabbage. Fortunately, they pro-
vided her with pepper. Elena did her best with it. The wine was too
weak, almost water. At least they did not give her beer.
The room was spacious and the bed was comfortable. She nearly
sank into it when she finally laid down. After the day, she was
exhausted. She fell to sleep almost immediately.
A woman’s voice awoke her. A woman’s voice speaking her name.
Elena opened her eyes and saw a face. A woman’s face. It was long
and pretty, far from delicate. Her eyes were stern and her lips small
and almost cruel.
Elena blinked, wiped her eyes. “Yes?” she asked.
“Elena Mondavi?” the woman asked her.
“Yes,” Elena said. “What… Is something…?”
“Come,” the woman said. “Sit with me.”
The woman walked to a table and sat on the other side. Elena
saw she wore a simple black dress. Elena got out of bed, grabbing
the dressing robe that was left for her. She wrapped it around her
shoulders and tied it off at the waist. She walked to the table and
stood beside it.
238 John Wick
The woman sat tall. Her waist was longer. Elena noticed the
woman’s frame looked more like a boy’s than a woman’s. Her hips
were slender and her breasts small.
Elena looked at the table. In the center was a deck of cards.
“What is this?” Elena asked, still half-asleep.
“I hear you are a sorte strega,” the woman said. “I would like to
hear my fortune.”
Elena blinked again, wiping the sleep from her eyes. She shook
her head. “I’m sorry. I’m… I’m not sure…”
Foote stepped from the shadows then. He said nothing.
Elena looked at him. Then looked at the woman. And her heart
pounded. She fell to her knees so hard, pain shot through the bone.
“Your Majesty!”
The woman said, “Sir William…”
Foote stepped forward, standing in front of Elena. “Recover,
Miss Mondavi,” he said, offering her a hand.
Elena put her hand in his, still keeping her eyes to the floor.
Foote led her to the chair. She sat, keeping her eyes on the table.
The woman said, “Please. I wish to hear my fortune.”
Elena’s eyes were fixed on the table. But slowly, she raised her
gaze, looking at the woman on the other side.
And Elena looked.
She saw nothing. No Arcana. Only a strand to Foote. A strand
of obedience.
Elena paused, considering what to do. She remembered St.
George on the Morning Star, his sword swinging as he she told him
the Code.
This is a test, she thought.
Elena swallowed and said, “You are not the Queen.”
The woman looked confused, then angry. “How dare you…”
Foote put a hand on the woman’s shoulder. She looked up and
Daughter of Fate 239
he nodded. She stood from the table and went to the door. She
opened it and another woman entered.
Elena could not look at her.
Her Arcana shone so bright, she had to look away. Elena imme-
diately stood, then dropped to her knees again.
“Recover,” the Queen said. Her voice like a chorus.
Elena stood, but kept her gaze low.
The Queen wore the same black dress, but did not wear it the
same way. When she moved, it was with a powerful grace and
confidence.
She stood by the table. “Sit with us,” she said.
Elena got to her feet and waited. The moment after the Queen
sat, she did as well.
“Does it pain you to look at us?” the Queen asked.
Elena nodded. “For my eyes, it is difficult.”
“We have seen this before,” the Queen said. “You are not the first
witch to visit our court.”
Elena nodded. “Yes. Of course.”
The Queen paused, then spoke in Elena’s language. “Why did
you leave home, Miss Mondavi?”
Hearing the Vodacce tongue somehow calmed her heart. She
replied, “I was kidnapped.”
The Queen nodded, her chin the only part of her face in Elena’s
vision. “We know,” she said. “It was Sir William who ordered your
abduction.”
Elena’s gaze shot to Foote. “What?” she asked.
Foote said, “Under order of the Queen, I arranged your
abduction.”
Elena shook her head. “Why?”
Foote said, “Because I have no agents in Vodacce. They die
quickly.”
240 John Wick
The Queen set the cards on the table. Elena took them and cut
the deck. She began to deal out the cards.
The first was The Emperor. Then, the crossing card. Elena set The
Lovers across the Emperor. She paused.
“A powerful monarch sits on the throne,” Elena said. “A woman
of insight and vision. And courage. And love for her people.”
The Queen said, “This is not divination.”
Elena pointed at The Lovers. “But she will be betrayed by the
one she loves the most.” Elena looked up. Looked into the Queen’s
eyes. “A secret lover only she knows. And no other.”
The Queen’s brow furrowed, her eyes narrowing. “Sir William,”
she said, not breaking Elena’s gaze. “Leave us.”
“I will not leave the Queen with a foreign stranger.”
“Obey our command!” the Queen said.
Foote gave a short bow and left the room, so there was only
Elena and the Queen.
“Continue,” the Queen said.
Elena laid out another card, this time above The Emperor. The
Knight of Swords. Elena said, “Her mind is noble, inspired by
another. Someone who upholds the ideals she values. She looks to
him to maintain her dignity in the face of treason and treachery. He
is a man of action, but noble action. And he is close to her.”
The Queen made the smallest nod. “Go on,” she said.
Elena laid a card below The Emperor. The Knight of Cups.
“But another tempts her,” Elena said. “Someone who has a heart
of joy and adventure. Reckless, but skilled enough to survive reck-
lessness. And he loves her more than anything in all the world, even
if he cannot say or show it.”
Elena put her forefinger on the Knight of Swords and her thumb
on the Knight of Cups. “These two forces—one above and one
below—are storms with great wind. Pulling The Emperor in two
242 John Wick
2
The cave was cold. Elena saw her breath in front of her as she and
Foote descended the ancient stone steps. She was still dressed in her
small clothes and dressing robe. Foote did not give her an opportu-
nity to change. Slippers on stone, she walked, hearing the sound of
his boots behind her.
“Will you use your knife if I run?” Elena asked over her shoulder.
“Why would you run?” he answered. “You do not know where
you are and there is an entire castle above us full of guards.”
Elena said, “I’m not the same frightened girl I was when you first
arranged for my abduction.”
Foote said, “I know.” Then nothing else.
They reached the bottom of the stairway and Elena saw books
everywhere—on shelves, open on a great wooden table, on the floor.
And in the middle of it was a man. Hunched and frazzled. His hair
looked as if it had never been combed and when he looked up at
them, Elena saw one of his eyes gleam red.
“The sorte strega,” the man said.
Elena said, “Elena Mondavi.”
“I know who you were,” the man said. “I was Derwyddon.”
Elena looked at Foote. He said nothing.
“Come here,” Derwyddon said.
Elena shook her head. “For some reason, I feel safer here with
Sir William.”
The old man laughed. “That would be a failure of judgment.” He
raised a hand full of crooked fingers. “Come here,” he said again.
Elena looked at Foote. He nodded. Elena turned back to Der-
wyddon and stepped forward.
Daughter of Fate 245
His eyes rolled back. One of them blue, the other blood red and
shining. His smile returned. “I have told you all you need to know.”
A bit of drool from his lips. “And I have seen all I need to see.”
“What did you see?” Elena asked.
Derwyddon said, “You have told the Queen what she needed to
hear. I have told her many times, but she does not listen to me.” He
made an awful sound, somewhere between a cough and a chortle.
“Perhaps she will listen to you.”
Elena shoved the old man. He staggered backward and giggled.
From behind her, Foote said, “Let us leave, Miss Mondavi.”
Elena turned to look at Foote. “Wait,” she said. “I need to
know…”
Foote put his hand on her shoulder. “Now,” he said.
Elena looked back at Derwyddon. He grinned at her, his red eye
shining. “Goodbye, daughter of fate,” he said. Then he turned away
and walked deeper into the cave, the shadows devouring him.
Daughter of Fate 247
3
She was on the Morning Star, dropping from the rigging to the
deck. Ignazio was there, but he was Griffin, but he was Ignazio. She
hugged him. He wrapped his strong arms around her and she buried
her face in his chest.
“Ignazio,” she said.
Veronica stepped up behind her, arms tight around Elena’s arms.
Then, a kiss on her ear. Elena gasped—
—and woke with a start, the dream just behind her eyes.
The room was pitch black, the candle beside her bed long gone
out. She rose, removed her sleeping chemise, and pulled on her
dress. Shoes on her feet, she went to the door and unbarred it. Elena
looked up and down the corridor, then closed the door behind her.
She wandered the quiet castle for a while. No sounds save for
night sounds. An owl outside a window. A distant fire slowly dying
in a fireplace. She heard snoring and found a man dead asleep in a
chair among a circle of chairs. She did not recognize him.
A little further and she found the kitchen. A guard stopped her.
“Sorry, ma’am,” she said. “No one allowed in the kitchen after hours.”
Elena said, “I just wanted some bread and cheese.”
The woman shook her head. “No, ma’am. No one in the kitchen
after hours.”
Foote’s voice sounded behind Elena. “I’m here, Afanen,” he said.
Elena nearly jumped. She turned and saw the man standing not
an arm’s length away from her. The woman nodded. “Aye, sir.” She
stepped from the doorway, giving Elena room to enter.
Elena looked at Foote. “You can order any guard to step aside?”
she asked.
248 John Wick
“You want something,” Elena told him. She was looking at the
bottle, not Foote.
“I want to make you an offer,” he said. “An exchange of services.”
Elena was cutting into the bread and saw his finger touch the
top of the knife. “I hear you can read the character of a man with a
glance.”
Elena looked up from the knife. “And a woman,” she said.
“A sorte strega may tell if…this person is trustworthy.”
Elena felt her eyebrow rise. “You want me to be able to trust you,
Sir William?” she asked.
“I want you to know you can trust me.”
Elena smiled. “All right,” she said. “Tell me why you arranged
my abduction.”
Foote said, “I thought Derwyddon made it clear.”
“You tell me,” Elena said. She watched him as he answered.
He took a moment to collect his thoughts, then told her.
“When the Queen took the throne, the Kingdom was in ruins.
Nearly wrecked by her sister. To salvage what was left was…unac-
ceptable. We needed to build on a new foundation.” He poured
himself more wine. “The persona of the virgin goddess.”
“Goddess?” Elena asked.
“It is an old legend here in Avalon,” Foote said. “A powerful
one. The white-skinned goddess. The Queen made herself into that
persona. Built her own legend.”
“Made her own story,” Elena said, remembering Berek’s words.
Foote nodded. “Yes.” He sipped the wine. “And taking that
persona carries a certain…price.”
Elena remembered the cards and the Queen’s eyes. She said,
“The Queen is in love.”
Foote nodded. “And a virgin goddess cannot have a lover. Let
alone marry.”
Daughter of Fate 251
Foote had not moved from his chair. “All of them,” he said.
She was still stunned. Elena looked up at Foote. “You can…tell
me?”
He nodded. “I can,” he said. “But first, I would like you to do a
small favor for me.”
Elena nodded. “Anything,” she said.
Foote smiled. “I want you to steal something from the King of
Montaigne.”
***
books he reads.”
“Books?”
“You saw his laboratory was covered in books?”
Elena nodded. “Yes.”
“They are all history books,” Foote said. “I believe he is studying
what he doesn’t know.”
256 John Wick
4
Outside Carleon Castle, she stood with Foote and Archambault, the
Montaigne ambassador, looking over the ocean. He said, “You have
all your things with you?”
She nodded, gesturing at the two bags. “This is it.”
“Very well,” he said, removing one of his gloves.
Foote told Elena, “It would be best if you used a pseudonym. A
name others will not know.”
Elena shook her head. “Why?”
“The name Mondavi is famous outside of Vodacce,” he said. “And
you will not want that name associated with you as you travel.”
Elena thought for a moment. Then she smiled. “I have one.”
Foote nodded. “Good.” Then, to Archambault, “Bon voyage.” He
walked away from them, back to the castle.
“How long will the voyage to Montaigne take?” Elena asked.
“Not long at all,” Archambault said. “Pick up your bags. And
hold them tightly.”
“What?” Elena asked.
“Pick up your bags,” Archambault said again, “and hold them
tightly.”
Elena bent over, lifted her two bags. She looked at Archambault.
“What…”
He took her by the arm. “Keep your eyes closed as tight as you
hold the bags,” he said. “Do not doubt me.”
Elena shook her head. “I don’t understand,” she said.
He put one hand over her eyes. “Close them,” he said. “And do
not open them until I say so.”
Elena shut her eyes. “Archambault,” she said. “I…”
Daughter of Fate 257
She smelled sulfur. And limes. Rotten meat. And she heard a
scream. She felt Archambault’s hand over her eyes and remembered
his warning. Someone moaned, help me, and she opened her mouth
to reply, but tasted something awful on her tongue.
Then, she felt her stomach drop. Just like the time she fell from
the rigging, the rope around her waist keeping her from hitting the
deck, but she fell halfway down the mast. And something clicked on
the bottom of her feet.
“You may open your eyes now,” Archambault said, taking his
hand away.
Elena opened her eyes.
They stood in a large chamber. A bedroom. She saw an enormous
bed—gilded posts, silk sheets, a dozen pillows—a modesty panel,
painted walls, painted ceiling…
“Wh—where are we?” she asked.
“We are in Montaigne!” he said, letting go of her arm.
“H—how?”
“Surely you have heard of l’art de porté?”
Elena heard members of the Montaigne nobility were sorcerers,
but she had no idea…
“What happened?” she asked.
Archambault took off his hat and threw it on the bed. “I have
brought us from Avalon to Montaigne in un clin d’oeil!” He smiled.
“Or, in the wink of an eye, if you prefer.”
Elena looked about the room. She did not know where she was
and that uncertainty made her suspicious. “Archambault,” she said.
“Explain to me what just happened.” Her voice was low and had the
growl of anger.
“Pardon moi,” he said. “I forget that sometimes porté can have
a—how do you say?—a disorientating effect on the foreigner.” He
removed his gloves and tossed them to where his hat lay. “I was born
258 John Wick
with the gift of porté—just as you were born with a gift, n’est pas?”
“A gift?” Elena said. “A sorcerous gift?”
“Oui! C’est vrai!” He unbuttoned his coat. “Just as you may see
the brins du destin, so may I open and travel through doorways.”
Elena was about to ask another question when her stomach
churned, making a loud grumble. Her eyes bulged. Archambault
said, “Ah, I should have expected…” He moved quickly, grabbing
the chamber pot from the corner of the room and put in front of
Elena. “Here you are,” he said. “And do not be embarrassed, mon
Cherie.”
Elena dropped her bags and grabbed the chamber pot, running
behind the modesty panel. She made three awful noises as Archam-
bault continued talking.
“It is an ancient art,” he said, “passed through the blood. I have
often wondered if there is a connection between the sorcery of your
family and the sorcery of mine.”
When she finished, she saw Archambault had thrown a handker-
chief over the top of the modesty panel. “It is common, mademoiselle.
It happens to everyone the first time.”
Elena wiped her lips clean, then set down the chamber pot. She
moved to the other side of the panel.
“You…” she said. “…can move…through space?”
Archambault was in his shirt and trousers. “Oui,” he said, with
an eager smile and a quick nod of his head. As if she asked him if he
enjoyed wine.
“How?” she asked.
He crooked his smile. “Oh, Cherie,” he said. “Do not expect a
man to give up all his secrets just because you have a pretty face.”
She looked at him. “Why are you getting undressed?” she asked.
He glanced down. “Oh, pardon moi. It is my custom to change
clothing after traveling.” He pulled a long cord hanging from the
Daughter of Fate 259
***
***
my dear?”
Elena nodded. “There are many things I cannot do,” she said.
He stepped forward, taking her hand and kissing it. “It all makes
sense now! Your skill with a sword! Your wit! Your bravery! Why did
you not tell me you are a courtesan?”
Elena looked into Archambault’s eyes. “You never asked, mon
ami.”
***
The first meal was oysters. Elena ate them quickly. But then,
the second meal. A thick soup with meat and vegetables. And the
third meal. Poached fish. The fourth meal. A tiny cut of steak that
Archambault called filet mignon. The fifth meal. Roast duck in a
thick garlic sauce. The sixth meal…
Elena said, “Stop.” She held her stomach. “I can’t. I just can’t eat
anymore.”
Archambault laughed. “But my dear! We have two more courses
to go!”
Elena waved her hand. “I’m sorry, but I can’t. I just can’t. I don’t
want to be sick at your table, Jean Marie.”
He smiled and waved. “Of course, my dear. You must become
accustomed to Montaigne hospitality!”
The Countess said, “I thought courtesans were experts in every
manner of indulgence.” She took another bite of the duck, her
greasy lips grinning.
Elena said, “As Scarovese wrote, Moderation is the key to sustained
bliss.”
The Baron laughed. “What kind of fool said that?” He dropped
a duck bone onto his plate.
Archambault said, “Christoph Scarovese.” He raised a glass to
Elena. “A wise man who died one hundred years ago.”
Elena looked at Archambault, a little surprise in her gaze. She
had not expected him to know Scarovese, let alone call him “wise.”
She raised her glass as well. The Countess and Baron both contin-
ued eating.
***
Later, in the library, as others played cards and spoke about those
who weren’t there and drank themselves to sickness—with servants
266 John Wick
The Baron held his cheek, his eyes wide and amazed. Then, his
gaze refocused and he said, “You have struck me.”
“Touch me again and I shall strike you again,” Elena said. She
saw Archambault standing in the doorway of the library, watching.
“No,” the Baron said. “You have struck me. A woman has struck
me.”
“Everyone knows that,” Elena said. “Are you such a fool that you
must inform everyone of what they already know?”
“And you insult me?” he said, his voice turning from astonish-
ment to rage. He took a glove from his belt and swung it at Elena.
She caught his wrist and bent it, kicking at his knee. The Baron
screamed and fell to the ground.
Archambault rushed forward, standing close to Elena. “Now
you’ve done it,” he said. He spoke with the same voice he used when
he apologized. Elena looked up at him, confused.
“Done what?” she asked.
“Satisfaction!” the Baron screamed from the library floor. “I
demand satisfaction! This whore has stained my honor and I demand
satisfaction!”
“You must be a dim little man!” Elena shouted at him. “Just
because you need everything explained to you three times doesn’t
mean you need to do the same for everyone else!”
The Baron’s eyes widened, his lips stuttering. “The whore did it
again!” He staggered to his feet, grasping his knee. “Archambault! It
is my right!”
“You can go up to your room and get satisfaction from your hand!”
Elena shouted at him. She heard the room gasp. Some even giggled.
Archambault stood between them. “The Baron has made the
demand.” He looked at Elena. “Do you accept?”
“Why would I accept anything from a stolto such as he?” She spat
at him. “Pezzo di merda e morire!”
268 John Wick
***
5
Pierre woke her before dawn, a bundle of clothes in his arms. Elena
looked them over. They were fighting clothes. Stylish fighting
clothes. Trousers, a loose chemise, leather gloves and boots. And, of
course, a sword belt.
“Thank you, Pierre,” she said.
He bowed and closed the door behind him.
An hour later, she was on the lawn in front of the house. The
grass was wet and the air was chilly. Her breath was mist. She had
tied her hair back in a tight braid. The pants and chemise were a
little loose, but fit.
The Baron was on the lawn as well, standing beside a large man
in similar dress. He stood a full two heads taller than the Baron, his
shoulders wide and arms strong. Hair black and short. Elena looked
him up and down.
He had reach. He had strength. She didn’t know about skill, but
she assumed he must have fought before. The Baron said, “This is
my champion, Olivier.”
Elena gave him a short nod. Olivier did not return it.
Archambault was there with a woman Elena did not recognize.
She was a little taller than Elena, a little thicker. Her blonde hair was
also braided. The woman stood beside a table and on the table were
a number of swords.
Archambault said, “You have both arrived for the duel.” He
turned to look at the Baron. “Do you still demand satisfaction?”
The Baron smirked. “I do,” he said.
Elena asked, “What do you have to lose?”
The blonde woman smirked. The Baron curled his lip. “Insolent
274 John Wick
peasant,” he said to Elena. “You will soon learn the price of inhumility.”
“Inhumility?” Elena asked, almost laughing. She looked at the
blonde. She, too, was smirking. “I think you mean ‘pride,’” Elena said.
“Laugh all you want,” the Baron said. “Soon, you will be weeping
in Hell.”
Archambault said, “If we may choose weapons?”
Olivier and Elena stepped to the table. She wanted to wait, to see
what Olivier would choose. He selected the rapier. Light and quick.
Elena chose the heavier blade, the saber. Olivier laughed.
“A tiny thing like you holding a saber?” he asked.
“It was the closest thing I could find to a cutlass,” she said.
Both of them stepped away, standing at a distance. Archam-
bault looked at Elena, his eyes full of doubt. “Are the duelists ready?”
he asked.
Elena nodded. “I am,” she said. Olivier only nodded.
“To the death, then,” Archambault said.
Elena looked at Olivier. The shimmering strand between them
was red, not black.
Archambault raised a handkerchief, then dropped it.
Olivier charged forward, so fast he nearly knocked Elena over.
She raised the saber up to parry his thrust, knocking his sword out of
the way, stepping to the side to avoid the impact. Olivier went right
by her. She turned quickly and saw him grinning at her.
“Little girl,” he said.
Elena grimaced. This is how it was going to be. Him using his
strength and size against her. Elena resumed the posture St. George
taught her on the Morning Star.
“Amateur,” Olivier said. He swung high. Elena did not parry, she
backed up.
“I will not fall for such an obvious feint,” she said. Then, she
grinned. “An amateur’s feint.”
Daughter of Fate 275
cowardly masters.”
The Baron and Olivier left the field. Elena realized she had been
holding her breath since she asked Olivier to yield. She gasped and
nearly fell over.
Ysault and Archambault rushed forward, but Elena caught
herself. “I am all right,” she said, holding up a hand.
“Mon Dieu!” Ysault said. “That was amazing!”
“Merci,” Elena said. “I do not think we have met.”
“Je m’excuse,” Archambault said. “This is my sister, Ysault.”
Ysault bowed like a man, one hand on her chest and the other
behind her. Elena laughed and did the same.
“I am pleased to meet you,” Elena said.
“Not half as pleased as I am to meet you,” Ysault said.
Elena turned her head, raising an eyebrow. “I don’t understand.”
Archambault said, “Do you remember me telling you I could not
say anything until something arrived?”
Elena nodded. “Yes.”
He gestured to Ysault. “She arrived.”
***
***
Foote knew what we were doing, Ysault said. I don’t know for how
Daughter of Fate 279
long, but he knew. He approached Richard first, but not on his own. He
used an agent. The agent showed Richard evidence that frightened him.
A list of every Rilasciare agent in Avalon. That got Richard’s attention.
They set up a meeting. Richard went to the Queen’s castle and spoke to
the man himself.
“I know who you are,” Foote told him. “And I know your agenda. I
could give an order, right now, and all of your friends would be dead
within the hour.”
Foote grinned, his face half-hidden in shadows. “But I do not want
to do that. I’d prefer if you left Avalon. And so, in exchange, you will go
to Vodacce and find a woman for me. If you agree, I will allow all your
friends to leave Avalon’s shores with the understanding none of you will
ever come back.” Then he grinned. “I will allow Archambault to stay. It
is good to keep known enemies close and within sight. And just one of
you can do very little damage.”
Richard knew Foote’s reputation and knew he was capable of the
threat. He agreed.
Foote gave your name. “Bring her to Avalon,” he said. “As we agreed.”
Richard contacted the other Rilasciare in Avalon. How Foote found
them all, we don’t know. Even we don’t know all the others. They met
and agreed they should leave and Richard set off to fulfill his promise.
He traveled to Vodacce and abducted you. He used a Vodacce ship Foote
commissioned to take you back to Avalon. A Vodacce ship. A merce-
nary crew…
***
Foote.”
“It isn’t a matter of trusting him,” Elena said. “I made a promise.”
She looked at Achambault. “And unlike Montaigne nobles, a pirate
keeps her promise.”
Archambault smiled. “Oui,” he said. “You are unlike us in many
ways.”
“Legion’s fangs!” Ysault said. “Damn Foote and his webs!”
Elena stood from the table and went to her bags. She opened one,
went through the clothes and sundries, then came back to the table,
a sealed envelope in her hand.
“This is what Richard gave me,” she said, handing it to Ysault.
Ysault’s eyes and hands trembled. She reached forward and took
the envelope from Elena.
“Richard,” she said. She bit her lip, trying to hold back her tears.
Elena remembered him then. Tell Ysault... and then his eyes emptied.
“He also asked me to tell you something.”
Ysault looked up, eyes wet and red.
Elena reached out and took Ysault’s hand. “He said he loved you.”
Ysault’s eyes squeezed shut. Elena kissed her hand.
282 John Wick
6
Until a moment ago, Archambault’s home was the largest building
Elena had ever seen. But now, in the carriage, she approached l’Em-
pereur’s castle…and saw it was the size of a small city. She could not
see one end from the other.
The carriage reached the entrance and an entire crew of servants
rushed out to greet them. An entire ship’s crew. At least one hundred
of them. All in uniforms. All with their eyes focused on the ground.
Elena stepped out of the carriage in a dress she bought with Ysault
in Charouse. It cost as much as a ship. Gold and diamonds sewn
into the fabric.
“I cannot wear this,” Elena had said.
“You will look fabulous,” Ysault told her. “And you will catch
l’Empereur’s eye.”
“I will catch a band of thieves and brigands who will kill me just
for the dress!”
Ysault said, “There are no thieves nor brigands in l’Empereur’s
castle.”
“I have met Montaigne nobility,” Elaine said. “There will be
plenty.”
She stepped down the garden, accompanied by a dozen attend-
ees. At the entrance stood a man…
…a man…
Other than his face, she could see no part of his body at all. His
wig was black and curled all the way down his back. A high-rimmed
collar framed his painted face. His lips were red, his cheeks rouge,
the rest of it as white as the fur on his coat. He wore a vest of crimson
and white, his arms lost in the coat’s huge sleeves. White gloves on
Daughter of Fate 283
his hands. His shoes had heels at least as tall as Elena’s finger. And he
had the most enormous gold cup in his hand. Around his neck were
a dozen gold necklaces. Multiple rings on each finger.
Elena looked at him. And his Arcana was black as the pitch they
used on the Morning Star. Pride was too small a word for him. Vanity
as well. They were pitiful words that rang like broken bells compared
to the aura surrounding him.
Just as the Queen’s Arcana nearly blinded her with its brilliance,
his Arcana seemed to suck her gaze into it, and she felt as if her soul
was being drained. She averted her eyes and looked to the ground.
A man announced, “Behold! The Emperor of the World! King of
Montaigne! King of Castille! Rightful King of Avalon! Protector of
His People! Chosen of Théus! Grand Duke of Charouse! The Arch-
bishop of Montaigne! His Highness Léon Alexandre!”
The Emperor said, “You forgot Enemy of the Adversary, you
clod.” He waved a gloved hand. “But no matter. Who have you
brought me, Ambassador?”
Archambault bowed low and Elena followed his example.
Archambault said, “A most fascinating woman I met in the Court of
Avalon, Your Majesty. May I present Elena della Stella del Mattino.”
The Emperor smiled. “A Vodacce woman, eh?”
Elena remained bowed. “Oui, Votré Majesté.”
“An educated Vodacce woman,” the Emperor said, unable to hide
his glee. “How interesting.” He stepped forward and offered her his
gloved hand. Elena took it and kissed the largest ring.
“I have had three Vodacce wives,” the Emperor said. “All of them
have been unable to produce a male heir.”
Elena said, “Your Majesty must have great difficulty finding a
woman properly suited to himself.”
The Emperor laughed. “Oh, I like this one, Archambault,” he
said. “Let us go in and see if we can find something to eat and you
284 John Wick
can tell me all about your adventures traveling to our fair country.”
Elena bowed a touch lower. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”
He turned on his six inch heel and stepped into the foyer beyond
the door. Elena looked at Archambault. He smiled.
***
The dinner table stretched for what seemed a mile. Elena and
Archambault sat at the end, near the Emperor. Others sat further
away.
“Something to eat” turned out to be a feast that made the dinner
at Archambault’s seem like sea rations. Instead of a single roast duck,
there were twenty-four. Instead of one roast boar, there were twen-
ty-four. It seemed every servant in the world stood at attendance,
ready to jump at any request. And desserts. Seventeen different des-
serts, all for Elena to choose from. All of them unlike anything else
she had ever eaten.
Unlike Archambault’s feast, this one was served all at once. Every
plate put on the table. And the Emperor chose what he wanted first,
then sent the plates down to the other guests. “I find choice to be the
greatest benefit to my appetite,” the Emperor said. “If I know I may
choose from anything, it means I will choose everything.”
Elena smiled. “Your Majesty certainly has an astounding appetite.”
“For more than just food,” he said, his eyes sending more than
suggestions across the table to Elena.
“I understand your wives have been sorte strega,” she said.
The Emperor nodded. “That is correct.”
“But you have not yet met a Vodacce courtesan.”
The Emperor smiled. “Not until today,” he said.
“Then truly, you have not yet met a Vodacce woman,” Elena said,
taking a bite from a dessert, licking her lips as she did.
Daughter of Fate 285
She saw Archambault’s face from the other side of the table, a
smile on his lips. Well played.
The Emperor laughed, an abrupt sound like a child being tickled.
Elena immediately disliked it. “Apparently, I have not,” he said.
Elena asked, “Where is your wife?” She looked around the room.
“I do not see her.” It was true. For the last hour, Elena had looked for
another sorte strega, but saw none.
“My wife is in elsewhere in the house,” he said. “She does not
enjoy the company of strangers.”
Elena nodded, a teasing frown on her lips. “How sad for her that
she misses such revelry.”
The Emperor’s eyes focused on Elena and did not turn away. She
looked at him and saw the crimson strand forming between them.
She leaned forward. Just enough so he could look down the front
of her dress.
“So much revelry,” she said.
The Emperor smiled, his eyes down below her chin. He declared,
“My stomach is satisfied!” He stood and the servants all ran to his
side. “I will retire to my rooms.” He looked at the oldest servant, a
man with grey hair and a long face. “Make certain my guests make
it to theirs.”
The servant bowed. The Emperor left the room.
“Sil vous plait,” the servant said, bowing to Elena and Archambault.
They both stood and followed the servant from the dining hall.
As they walked, they made sure to be more than a few steps behind
the servant. Archambault looked at Elena with astonishment.
“How did you…” he whispered. “How do you know to…” He
finally stumbled to, “You are a pirate. How in the world do you
know how to act like a courtesan?”
“I was a pirate,” Elena whispered back. “Do you not think I
watched the jennies in the taverns?” She smiled. “I’ve seen women
286 John Wick
from all over the world plying the trade of winning coins from
sailors.” She touched his lips with the tip of her finger. “Don’t you
think I would learn a thing or two?”
Archambault smiled. “You are fascinating.”
“The Emperor certainly thinks so,” Elena said. “Now, all I have to
do is get into his bedchambers.”
***
***
She watched the figure and remembered the “discreet door” from
her youth. That thought brought her back to Ignazio. She bit her lip.
Elena sat up in bed. “Who is there?” she asked, almost certain
she already knew the answer.
The man stumbled in the dark, dropping the candelabra. Wax
spilled across the floor, the flames sputtered out. He made a clumsy
sound and staggered back to his feet.
“Who is there?” she asked again, more sternly this time.
“Forgive me,” a voice in the dark said. “But…the Emperor wishes
your company.”
“Does he now?” Elena said. She rose up from the bed and wrapped
a robe around her waist. “Show me the way,” she said.
The man picked up the candelabra and walked back to the paint-
ing. It opened on a hinge, just like a door. Elena stepped up and into
the corridor behind the painting. It clicked behind them, locking
shut. The servant relit the candles—the ones that could be relit—
and walked down the corridor.
The path was dark, but Elena followed the servant. He turned
many times, the walkways like a catacomb. “How do you know
which way to go?” Elena asked. The servant pointed up. She looked
to where he pointed and saw words printed on the ceiling. Direction
signs. She smiled. That meant she would not need to memorize the
way back.
Eventually, they came to a wall. A doorway. The servant turned.
“I may go no further,” he said. He showed her how to open the latch
on the door, then he bid her “Adieu.” He went back down the corri-
dor the way they came, turning at the first opportunity.
Elena hesitated. She lifted her hands and looked at them. The
faux diamond and pearl rings on her fingers were in place. She
pressed the gown down against her body, making sure it showed as
much of her figure as possible. Then, she put a smile on her face. The
288 John Wick
same smile she saw Rosina make when she stood in front of Ignazio.
And she opened the door.
***
The room was brightly lit. An enormous bed in the center, four
posts with thin silk pulled between them. Crimson sheets that Elena
assumed were silk from the East. Another feast on silver platters.
And the man himself seated in a couch just big enough for two, in a
long frock, holding that gigantic golden cup.
“Entre vous,” he said.
Elena stepped through the painting and stepped down to the
floor. Her bare feet cold on the marble floor.
“Merci,” she said. “I hope you will pardon me. My Montaignoise
is very bad.”
The Emperor laughed. “Nonsense. It is better than most of the
peasants who serve me.” He gestured for her to come closer and she
did. He asked, “Where did you learn my language?”
Elena gave a short smile. “A sailor,” she said. “He taught me
many things.”
“I am sure he did,” the Emperor said. “A Montaigne sailor will
be, by nature of his birth, far more sophisticated than a noble from
any other country.”
Elena laughed a little, sitting down on the couch next to the
Emperor.
He gestured at the plates. “I have wine-stewed mushrooms and
oysters. And artichaut.” He gestured to the green, spiny plant that
Elena did not recognize. “Have you seen this before?”
Elena shook her head. “No,” she said. “I have not.”
“It is most delicious and dangerous,” he said. “You must take
care of the spines. But once you pass its defenses, the meat inside is
Daughter of Fate 289
exquisite.”
Elena said, “I cannot wait to try it. But first, I must admit…I
have had a taste for something since lunch.”
The Emperor grinned widely. “And what might that be?” he asked.
Elena took the cup from his hands and put it to her lips. She
drank from it, looking into his eyes all the while. As she took her lips
from the cup, she said, “Wine.”
The Emperor laughed. “Of course!” he said. “You have been in
Avalon!”
She nodded. “Oui. And they have no idea how to make vino.”
Then, she said, “Vin.”
The Emperor said, “Drink from my cup, Elena of the Morning
Star.”
Elena took another drink of wine. Then, she said. “Shall we
drink together?”
The Emperor said, “From the same cup?”
Elena shook her head. “No,” she said. “I should like my own
cup.”
The Emperor jumped to his feet. “Allow me!” He went to the
silver cart with wine glasses and bottles. He popped the cork on one
bottle and poured it into a glass.
“That one is yours. This one is mine,” Elena said, holding up his
golden cup.
The Emperor looked at her with a smile on his face. “Non,” he
said. “This cup is yours. That one is mine.”
Elena held the cup close to her chest. “No, no,” she said. “I have
it.”
The Emperor returned with the wine glass. He set it on the table
in front of the couch. “It seems we have a disagreement,” he said.
Elena nodded. “We do.”
“I am the Emperor,” he said.
290 John Wick
“And I am the woman the Emperor desires,” she told him. “Which
means, he will be generous so I may be generous in return.”
The Emperor looked at the gold cup. “Not that generous,” he
said, his smile still friendly. He was enjoying the game, but Elena
knew she had to change the rules.
“We shall play a game for it,” she said.
“What sort of game?”
Elena put the cup down on the table, an equal distance from
each of them. “A game we play in Vodacce.” She leaned forward,
touching the Emperor’s face with her finger tips. He reacted, his eyes
widening, nostrils flaring.
“It is called, ‘The Kissing Game.’”
The Emperor’s smile broadened. “I think I will like this game,”
he said.
“We kiss,” she said. “Holding our breath. And whoever must take
a breath first, loses.”
The Emperor said, “I know I will like this game.”
She leaned closer, putting her lips close to his. “Remember the
rule,” she said. “The first breath loses.”
“Any other rules?” he whispered.
She laughed against his lips. “None,” she said. And her lips
plunged down upon his.
Her hands wrapped into his wig and tore it from his head. He
opened his mouth and she teased his lips with her tongue. His hands
reached to her shoulders, trying to pull down her dressing robe.
And when his hands went to her chest, Elena gasped.
The Emperor laughed and embraced her. “Oh, what a wonderful
game!” he said. “Where did you learn it?”
“In Vodacce,” she lied.
They separated and he took the golden cup into his hands.
“Mine!” he said.
Daughter of Fate 291
Elena nodded, a faux sadness on her lips but laughter in her eyes.
She took the smaller glass of wine. “Mine,” she said.
“Let us toast!” The Emperor put his golden cup against her glass.
“To more games!” he said.
“To more games,” Elena said. And they both drank.
Ten seconds later, the Emperor was unconscious on the floor.
***
***
Elena found her way through the secret passage toward her room.
Daughter of Fate 293
She made a couple of wrong turns, but eventually made her way
back. She unlocked the painting, swung it open, and stepped down
onto the marble floor.
A figure was sitting on her bed. A woman’s figure.
Elena slowly closed the painting behind her, eyeing the shadow.
“Who is there?” she asked.
The woman said, “I know what you are.”
Elena took a breath. “You do?” she asked.
The woman stood and walked to the glass doors leading to the
balcony. She split the drapes, letting the moonlight pour in. She was
an older woman, a little grey in her hair. She wore a modest black
dress and she wore a veil over her face.
She spoke again. This time, in Vodacce. The same words “So
casa sei.”
Elena felt a cold chill up her spine.
The Emperor’s wife.
“Do you know me?” the woman asked.
Elena nodded. “I do,” she said.
“Bene,” she said. “I wanted to see you.”
Elena stood perfectly still. Didn’t move a muscle.
“What do you see?” Elena asked.
The woman stood with the moonlight shining behind her, giving
her a silver aura. She said, “I see a whore my husband will play with
for a month or two. Then, he will get bored and throw you out.”
Elena did not know whether to be relieved or terrified.
The woman said, “And after you are gone,” the woman said,
walking forward, “one thing will not change.”
“What is that?” Elena asked.
The woman stepped up to Elena’s toes. Face-to-face.
“I will still be here,” she said. Then, she stepped away from Elena,
unlocked the door, and stepped out into the corridor.
294 John Wick
Elena fell against the painting, breathing a deep sigh, feeling the
tightness rush from her chest.
***
Two days later, in that same small room in that same tavern,
Elena met Archambault and Ysault.
“How did the Emperor take it?” Ysault asked.
Elena smiled. “Rejection is always difficult for men,” she said.
“But I told him he was simply too much for me.” She smiled. “And
that his wife terrified me.”
Archambault laughed. “She terrifies me, too!” he said.
Elena asked, “What is so important about the letter?”
Ysault said, “It is a letter the Queen wrote when she was very
young.”
“A love letter?” Elaine asked.
Archambault nodded. “A love letter.”
Elena shrugged. “So?”
“To whom it is written,” Ysault said, “is the part that matters.”
“And who is that?” Elena asked.
Both of them shook their heads.
Elena crossed her arms. “Fine,” she said. She sat down, grabbed
the bottle of wine and filled a cup. “Are we finished?”
“Almost,” Ysault said. She had a leather case with her, much like
the case Archambault brought with him into the Emperor’s rooms.
She opened it and removed a bundle of papers, tied in a blue ribbon.
She pushed it forward.
“This is everything we know about your family,” she said.
Elena looked at the papers. “Everything…”
“...we know about your family, yes.” Ysault finished. “We have
few spies in Vodacce, but Foote ordered them all to get this to you.”
Daughter of Fate 295
***
Witch
Daughter of Fate 299
T he sun was in the perfect position when the door opened and
they brought in the chair. The chair was heavy because of the
body tied to it. Giovanni Villanova turned from his canvas. “Put it
there,” he said. He gestured with his brush, his other hand occu-
pied with the palette. By a window in the room, a small girl stood,
shaking with fear.
The three men set the chair where Villanova told them to put it.
It fell with a heavy thunk. The body in the chair squirmed against
the ropes for a moment, then stopped. The three men left the room
and Villanova turned back to his painting, hearing the slight, pan-
icked breathing of the person tied to the chair, a hood thrown over
their head.
“So,” he said. “We meet again.” He looked at the little girl stand-
ing by the window, her eyes and lips quivering. He said to her, “Be
still for a moment, would you?”
The little girl nodded, still shaking.
He put down the brush and the palette, walked to the person
bound in the chair and removed the hood. He smiled down.
“I believe the two of you are acquainted,” he said, gesturing to
the little girl on the other side of the room. He noted the gag. “You
can nod if you like.”
He walked to a small table in the center of the room. Windows
all along the walls filled the room with sunlight. He picked up a
piece of fruit and removed his knife from his belt, cutting the fruit
and eating the slice.
“Before we begin,” he said, still chewing the fruit, “I think it is
important that you understand my philosophy.” He returned to the
300 John Wick
bound chair, pulled up one of his own and sat in front of it. “Because
based on your actions for the last three months, I don’t think you
really understand me at all.”
He cut off another slice of fruit and ate it. “You have been
attempting to sabotage my position in Vodacce, and I think that
if you knew me a little better, you would have thought twice about
doing so.”
The figure in the chair said nothing, only seethed at him.
“You see,” he said, “my philosophy is very simple. If an action
gains me power, I take it. Theft, torture, murder… These things do
not concern me. They are only a means to a greater end. And that
end is my own temporal power.”
The bound figure bit down on the gag.
“If someone costs me power, I have one consideration,” he said.
“Is this person disposable or valuable to me? If they are disposable, I
kill them. If they are valuable, I punish them.”
He smiled. “That is the sum total of my morality.” He ate another
slice of fruit.
“Now,” he said, rising from the chair. “You were once valuable
to me, but I am no longer certain that is the case.” He stepped over
to the little girl standing by the window in the room. “And let me
assure you…this little one…” He ran his oil-stained fingers through
her hair. “…she is disposable.”
The bound figure screamed into the gag.
“You see,” Villanova said. “I do not need to cause you pain. Not
when she is available to me.” He looked at the bound figure. “And
she will not run. Because she knows if she runs, I will make her
watch me murder you.” He made a small circle with his index finger.
“Isn’t that a wonderful little way families bind themselves together in
weakness?”
The bound figure kicked at the chair, feet tied to the legs.
Daughter of Fate 301
2
Elena was right. They were in the Atabean Sea.
She found the Morning Star at the Broken Compass. She had to
wait a week for them to arrive, but when she saw Griffin and Veron-
ica come through the door, she stood and smiled.
“Elena!” Veronica shouted. And she ran toward her, slamming her
with an enthusiastic hug. Griffin was not far behind.
Their embrace made her smile, almost cry. When Veronica let go,
Elena wiped at her eyes. “It has been too long,” she said.
“Aye!” Griffin said. “Too long!”
Veronica just looked at her, a wide smile on her lips.
“Bring me the best wine in the house!” Griffin shouted.
“Too late,” Elena said, pointing at a bottle on the table. “I already
bought it.”
Griffin winked at her. “That’s our Elena!” he said, and he hugged
her again. “Let us drink!”
“A drink to old friends!” Veronica said.
“Yes,” Elena said. “To old friends.”
They sat at the table together. The shantyman in the corner
started a song. They sang it along with him. And when the bottle
was gone, Elena bought another one.
When four bottles were on the table, Elena said, “I need your
help.”
Griffin said, “What kind of help?”
Veronica added, “And does it pay?”
Elena asked, “If it didn’t, would you help me anyway?”
Griffin and Veronica looked at each other. Then they turned
back to Elena. “Probably,” Veronica said, smiling.
Daughter of Fate 303
***
Elena said.
Veronica hugged her. “Time for bed,” she said.
In the middle of the embrace, Elena tightened her arms. “I
missed you,” she said.
“I missed you,” Veronica told her.
Then, with her heart pounding and her stomach quivering, Elena
said, soft as a whisper, “I love you.”
She felt Veronica’s gasp in her chest. She opened her lips to speak,
but nothing happened.
“I wanted to tell you before we did this stupid thing.”
Veronica pulled away, just a little, so she could face Elena. “I…”
she started.
Elena shook her head. “No,” she said. “I just…wanted you to
know.”
Tears welled up in Veronica’s eyes. Her breath was heavy and fast.
She put a hand over her mouth.
“Yes,” Veronica said. “I…I knew it. I’m sorry. I should have…”
Elena broke away, stepping back. “I’m glad you know,” she said.
“Because I wanted you to know how much you meant to me.”
She turned and rushed back to her room, slamming the door
behind her. She stood with her back to the door, tears rolling down
her cheeks.
It was good Veronica knew. Because after this, it may not matter
at all.
She stepped to the bed, put her hand on the post, and began
pulling off her boots. Then, a knock on the door. Elena blinked and
wiped her eyes. She turned and opened the door.
It was Griffin. Barely able to stand.
“I’m sleeping in here,” he said, stumbling through the door. He
collapsed on Elena’s bed.
“What?” she asked.
Daughter of Fate 305
“Bed’s too small in here for two people,” he said, his voice muffled
by the pillow.
“What?” Elena asked again.
“Go!” he shouted. “She’s waiting for you.”
Elena paused for a moment, then heard Griffin snoring. She
smiled and went to the bed, pulling the covers over him. She shut
the door behind her.
306 John Wick
3
Villanova smiled. “So, you hired a pirate ship to smuggle you into
Vodacce.” A servant poured wine into his glass. “Not very original,
but effective.”
The servant left the room. Elena stared at him. “You never saw
them coming,” she said.
He nodded. “True, true. I assume they are the ones who have
been raiding my fleets?”
Elena nodded. “That’s right.”
“To provide a distraction for you to sneak into my home and
snatch your sister, I assume?”
She nodded again. “That’s right.”
Villanova stood, went back to the painting. He regarded it for a
moment, then said, “Do you think I should add a dash of color to
your sister’s hair? Where I touched her with my fingers?”
Elena said, “That depends on how authentic you want it to be,
I suppose.”
He looked back at the painting, then at Catarina. He nodded. “I
think I will.”
He picked up the brush and the palette. “Please,” he said.
“Continue.”
Elena said, “It wasn’t enough just to rescue my sister,” she said.
“Something had to be done about my brother.”
“The cripple,” Villanova said. “Yes. You can’t leave him here now,
can you? Not after you steal your sister. Your father would be power-
less to protect him.” He dabbed a bit of color on Catarina’s hair. “So.
What was your solution?”
“You already know,” Elena said.
Daughter of Fate 307
***
Elena stood over her mother’s grave, flowers in her hands. She
put the flowers down, next to the headstone.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have come sooner.”
The moon hid behind clouds. Elena looked up and saw her
family home, the windows dark. Beside her was Long Tall Harry.
He put flowers down, too.
“Thank you, Harry,” Elena said.
He touched the tip of his hat.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go see my father.”
They moved across the yard quietly, moving low. Elena knew
the guards were inside and not outside. Her father was protected by
Villanova’s reputation; he had no use for an external watch.
When they reached the wall of the house, Harry leapt up, grab-
bing a small fault in the stone. He climbed fast, using every tiny
crevice as a foot hold or a finger hold. He reached the top window,
a tiny little thing. Elena remembered it. It was so small, she could
barely fit her head through it, let alone her shoulders. Harry held
on with one hand while his other hand opened the window. Before
Elena could breathe, the window was open and Harry had slithered
through it. Harry, who was three feet taller than she was. Like a
snake, through the window.
A moment later, she stood in front of the door. Harry opened it
from the inside and gestured for her to enter. “Welcome home, Miss
Mondavi,” he said.
“Thank you, Harry,” she said, and stepped into the house.
In so many stories, she read how others came back to their child-
hood home and found it smaller. Elena looked around and nodded.
308 John Wick
Yes. It was.
“I found your father’s guards,” he whispered. “They are asleep.
Still, we should do something about them.”
Elena nodded. “Yes,” she said. “We should.”
Three guards. Harry and Elena dispatched them quickly with
blackjacks, knots, and gags. “Go tell the others we’re ready,” she
told Harry.
Harry shook his head. “Sorry, ma’am. I was told to stay with you
and send the signal when…”
“Harry,” she said. “Go to the balcony. Light the signal.”
Harry bit his lip, chewed on his beard, his eyes concerned. “All
right, Miss Mondavi,” he said.
“And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Elena,” she
said. “We’re not on the ship.”
“I don’t know, Miss Mondavi,” Harry said. “But I’ll let you know
when we get there.” He rushed off to the balcony, grabbing a cande-
labra on the way.
Elena turned back into the house.
She moved to the stairs, climbing them one by one. They creaked
under her footsteps. Finally, she came to the upper floor.
Ignazio first, she decided.
She touched the knob to his room. It turned easily in her hand.
She opened the door and saw her brother, sleeping in his bed. She
knelt beside him, touching his cheek.
His eyes opened, startled. She put her hand on his shoulder.
“Shhh!” she whispered. “Sono io.”
Her brother’s eyes shifted from startled to surprised. “Elena?”
he asked.
She nodded. “Si, mio fratello.”
He tried shaking the sleep from his head. “What are you doing
here?”
Daughter of Fate 309
Elena turned and saw her father standing there. His black hair
was mostly gray now. His powerful chin faded. His sharp eyes a
little dulled.
“Padre,” Elena said.
Elena’s father peered into the dim room. “Elena?”
She nodded. “Si. Sono io.”
***
***
Elena’s father trembled, his face twisted with confusion and rage.
“We thought you were dead!” he said.
“I am,” she said. “Dead to you, Father.”
Ignazio said her name but she ignored him.
“You treated me like cattle,” she said. “And Catarina.”
“How dare you speak to me that way!” he said. “I am your father!”
“Yes!” Elena said. “And you should have protected us!”
“I did protect you!” he said. “I found you a wealthy husband. I
put you in a position to be safe for the rest of your lives!”
“No!” Elena shouted.
Daughter of Fate 311
4
The sun was low now, casting long purple light. Elena looked out the
window. Villanova ate dinner.
“Your brother was reluctant at first?” he asked, chewing on steak.
Elena nodded. “At first,” she said.
“What about your father?” he asked, cutting another bite from
the meat.
“Ignazio would not go without him,” she said. “So, I brought
him.”
Villanova laughed. “He must have complained the whole way.”
Elena nodded, smiling. “He did. Until we ran into your spies.”
“And my right arm,” Villanova said.
Elena glared at him. “And your right arm.”
***
***
“What was going through your mind, just then?” Villanova asked.
He was seated in front of her again, drinking a sweet dessert wine.
“I wasn’t thinking,” she said. “I only wanted to protect my father.”
“Even after everything he put you through?” Villanova asked.
“Yes,” she said.
He shook his head. “Why?”
Elena said it plainly. “Because Ignazio told me to.”
***
The tall grasses cut at her wrists and knuckles. She saw one of
the sailors carrying her father fighting three assassins. When she got
there, there were only three assassins.
Elena stood beside her father’s prone body.
“Elena!” he shouted.
One assassin rushed in and Elena raised her sword to parry, but
felt a burning, stinging slice on her back. She fell forward, onto her
Daughter of Fate 317
hands and knees. They were fighting as a group. One distracts while
the other strikes.
Elena pushed herself forward, barely avoiding an intended fatal
blow. She rolled onto her feet. One of the assassins grabbed her
father. She reached into her belt and drew her pistol.
Her father shouted, “No! Elena!”
She squeezed the trigger. The assassin fell to the ground, drop-
ping her father to the ground as well.
Her fingers were tingling. So were her toes. The poison sinking
into her bloodstream.
The two assassins moved apart, flanking her. Elena knew she
couldn’t let that happen. She kept her hand tight on the pistol and
her sword and charged one of them. He parried her blade but the
butt of her pistol smashed against his face. She spun about fast,
swinging her sword. It made a clang as it parried the other assassin’s
blade, sending a painful vibration up her arm, causing her to drop
the sword.
The assassin did not hesitate. He swung his blade at Elena’s head.
She ducked, spun her leg against his knees and knocked him to the
ground. Then, she clubbed the front of his face with her pistol. His
hands went limp, his eyes shut.
Elena blinked. Her vision was blurring. She looked up and saw
St. George fighting with four assassins. She grabbed another scimitar
and rushed to his back.
“St. George!” she shouted, tossing the sword. He spun, parrying a
blow, caught the sword and put his own blade through an assassin’s
chest. Then, as if he were dancing to a tune in his own head, he
sliced the face of a second assassin with the scimitar, bashed a third
with the pommel of his cutlass, and disarmed the fourth assassin,
landing both blades on the shoulders and throat of the fourth.
“Surrender,” St. George said.
318 John Wick
The assassin shook his head. “The Old Man on the Mountain
will carry me into Heaven! And you will be my servant, Ifri scum!”
St. George’s hands tightened on the swords, but Elena shouted,
“Wait!”
She limped to the assassin. “Do you know who I am?” she asked.
The assassin only looked at St. George, saying nothing.
Elena grabbed the assassin’s mask and pulled it down. The man
had grey eyes, painted black. His lips were painted as well.
“I am Elena Stella del Mattino,” she said. “A sorte strega.”
The man’s eyes turned from St. George to her.
“That’s right,” she said. “You know what that means, don’t you?”
“You are a witch,” the assassin said. “Unholy and unclean. Tainted
by Hell!”
“Yes,” Elena said. She could not feel her hands now. And her heart
was pounding fast. “That’s exactly what I am. And I can steal your
soul with a kiss.”
She watched the assassin’s eyes shake.
“You will not be in Paradise,” she said. “You will be with me, in
Hell. And I am the Devil’s Concubine.”
Elena leaned close to him. “Oh, the things I will do to you,”
she whispered.
“No!” the assassin shouted. He looked at St. George. “Ifri! Save
me from the witch!”
“Give me the antidote to the poison,” Elena said. “Or I will drag
you down to Hell with me.”
“It is here!” he said. “In my belt! Please! Take it!”
Elena reached into his belt and found a small pouch. She opened
it and found it was full of dust.
“Mix it with drink!” he said. “You will live! Please!”
Elena tightened the strands on the pouch and told St. George,
“Don’t let him move.”
Daughter of Fate 319
5
“The Old Man on the Mountain will be disappointed his assassins
failed,” Villanova said.
“From what I’ve heard about him,” Elena told him, “I think
you’re wrong.”
He shrugged. “It is a philosophical disagreement I do not wish
to pursue.” Then he asked, “When you learned I was holding your
sister, what did you think?”
Elena said, “That I would need a plan that would fool a man
such as yourself.”
Villanova smiled. “You flatter me!”
She shook her head. “I only speak the truth. The most power-
ful man in Vodacce. Cunning. Brilliant. Resourceful. An impossible
task. Breaking into his castle, stealing something he values.”
Villanova nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Your friends did their best,
but I’m afraid they failed just as the Old Man’s assassins failed.”
Elena frowned. “So it seems.”
Villanova said, “Now, tell me what happened next.”
Elena said, “You know.”
“Tell me,” he said. “Or your sister suffers.”
Elena took a deep breath.
“Do not leave out any details,” Villanova said. “This is the part I
want to relish.”
***
St. George shook his head. “It is a daring plan,” he said. “But
very dangerous.”
Elena nodded. “It has to be this way to work,” she said. “It’s the
only way we can get me and my sister out.”
Griffin nodded. “I agree. But…I don’t like it.”
Veronica didn’t say anything. She only looked at the map of Vil-
lanova’s castle and kept her eyes low.
“It won’t work with more than just me and Catarina,” Elena said.
Finally, Veronica said, “You’re right.” She looked up from the
map at the others. “Elena is right.”
Elena pointed at the map. “Cannons here. Pull their guards to
the west. I’ll enter from the south.” She looked at Griffin. “Harry
can get me up the wall.”
“He can,” Griffin said. “That man could climb a sheer wall of ice.”
“Once inside, I’ll give the signal when I’m ready. Then…”
“If you live that long,” Veronica said. “If Villanova doesn’t kill
you first.”
Elena said, “He won’t.”
Veronica said, “Make sure he doesn’t.”
***
Harry dropped the rope from a window near the top of the tall
wall. The Morning Star’s cannons roaring on the other side of the
castle. Elena climbed up fast and met Harry at the window.
“Get back to the ship,” she said. “I’ll meet you back there.”
“Good luck. I’d give you a good luck kiss,” Harry said. “But I’m
not a fate witch.”
Elena kissed his lips. “A kiss from a sailor is good enough for me.”
Harry tipped his hat. “Elena,” he said. Then he slid down the
wall with one hand on the rope.
322 John Wick
She moved into the castle, the map fresh in her mind. Down
the corridor, up the stairs. Behind doors when guards ran by. So far,
so good.
Elena was getting closer to Catarina’s room. Just a little further.
An old wooden spiral stairway. A short corridor and turn to the left.
Ducking behind a corner to dodge another group of guards. And
then, into the corridor above the great hall. On her left, a banister
overlooking the hall and on the right, a large wooden door with…
…Elena stopped.
The room marked on the map. Leaning on it was Felice.
“Ciao, sorella,” he said.
“Fuh-Felice?” Elena’s body would not move. Her limbs frozen.
He pushed himself off the door.
“Well, well, well,” he said. “You are willing to acknowledge that
I exist.”
“Felice,” Elena said. “What are you doing here?”
“After Father disowned me, I had to find some way to make a
living.” He drew his sword. “Villanova took me in.”
Elena shook her head. “No,” she said. She took a step back.
Lifting her leg as if it were a thousand pounds. “You…you can’t be
with him.”
“And why not?” Felice asked, his sword shining in the torch light.
“Father would not take me back. I was a disgrace.” He spit the next
words. “He preferred a crippled son to me.”
Elena stepped back again. “Felice…please. I’m here for Catarina.”
“I know,” Felice said. “So does Villanova.” He smiled. “That’s why
I’m here.”
“Wh—what?”
“Your pirate friends have been after his fleets for months,” Felice
said. “Did you think the most capable man in Vodacce would allow
Daughter of Fate 323
that?” He took another step, swung the sword in front of him. “He
discovered who you were in days. He’s just been waiting for you to
show your face.”
“Felice,” Elena said. His sword was close. Closer. She drew her
own. “Don’t…”
He laughed. “The little raven is going to fight me?” He thrust his
sword forward with a playful motion. Elena bashed it away with an
awkward one. “Do you really know how to use that?” he asked. “My
little raven?”
He thrust again. Elena bashed the sword away.
“I am not your little raven,” she said. “Not anymore.”
Felice stopped his forward motion. His smile shining in the
shadows playing across his face. “Prove it,” he said. And he attacked.
Elena parried the thrust, countering with a riposte toward
Felice’s sword hand. The blade caught his flesh and he stepped back,
pulling his hand up. He looked at the wound on the back of his
hand. Looked at Elena.
“The raven has grown claws,” he said.
“Felice. Stop,” Elena pleaded. “We can leave. All of us.”
Felice shook his head. “No. I have wealth. And respect. The
respect of the most powerful man in Vodacce.” He smiled at her.
“Something Ignazio will never have.”
He attacked again. Elena parried, tried another riposte. He
blocked it and shoved the blade forward, smashing Elena’s face with
the pommel of his sword.
Elena fell back, clutching at the wall, trying not to fall down.
Felice laughed at her. “A woman with a sword,” he said.
Elena regained her footing. “I am taking Catarina,” she said.
“You will have to kill me,” Felice said.
Elena shook her head. “I will not.”
Felice feinted and Elena took the bait. Then, he cut low, slicing
324 John Wick
her leg. Elena screamed, reaching down with her empty hand at
the wound. He thrust again, but she parried. He pushed his blade
against hers, pushing her back. She reached out to the banister,
holding the wooden beam for support.
“Either I will kill you or you will kill me,” he said. “Those are the
only outcomes here.”
“I will not kill you,” she said.
“Then you will die, sister.” And his free hand swung up at her left
eye. Elena ducked, twisted, and slashed at his abdomen. The blade
caught and Elena pulled, running the blade across his belly.
Felice fell backwards, his hand grasping the wound. He looked
down and saw blood on his hand. He laughed.
“Pain means nothing to me, Elena,” he said. “Pain or death.” He
stepped forward again, the point of his sword aimed at her heart.
“Do you know how many I have killed for him? Tortured?”
Elena shook her head. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “I came here
for Catarina and I vowed to rescue her or die.” She blinked pain and
sweat away from her eyes. “Now that you are here…I will rescue
you as well.”
“Or die?” Felice asked.
Elena nodded. “Or die.”
Felice smiled. “So be it,” he said. And charged.
His strike was wild and undisciplined. Elena dodged it, putting
her back against the wall. She put her feet on the banister and kicked,
flipping over Felice’s head. She landed behind him and slashed at
his back.
Her blade stuck true and Felice fell forward into the wooden
banister. Elena heard the wood crack and he fell further.
Over the edge of the balcony and toward the floor.
“No!” Elena screamed. Her brother tumbling through the air.
She looked. Then she grabbed the strand between them.
Daughter of Fate 325
***
***
Villanova sat in the chair that once held Elena, his hands bound.
He watched Elena holding her sister, kissing her head. Then, he
looked at the Montaigne fop holding the pistol at his.
“Archambault, I assume,” Villanova said.
“You assume correctly,” Archambault said.
“I assume Elena’s time at sea taught her how to untie ropes,” Vil-
lanova said.
Archambault nodded. “You would be correct.”
328 John Wick