“Tell the queen I’ll bring you back safe,” I said. “Pirate’s honor.”
Marjani looked at me and laughed, but I knew I had my captain back.
We made sail three days later.
Queen Saida’d had her navy repair the boat after our trip to the Aja Shore, but Naji was still too weak to do magic, so we had to sail the old-fashioned way, with no guarantee of favorable winds. In truth it was nice, cause it gave the crew something to do besides sitting around on deck drinking sugar-wine and playing dice. And I didn’t have to deal with Jeric begging for more information about the starstones – Marjani kept him busy down in the armory, tending to the pistols and ammunitions and making sure everything stayed dry.
A storm blew through a week in, threatening to knock us off course. I crawled up in the rigging myself, to help keep the sails straight. Ain’t nothing like it, swinging from rope to rope while the water soaks you to the bone. It ain’t pleasant, but it was something I’d missed.
The whole time Naji was up near the helm, a rope knotted round his arm so he wouldn’t get tossed overboard, and whenever I glanced at him he’d be staring straight at me, his eyes flickering in and out, his face twisted up in pain. I’d locked him out of my head for the time being, but seeing that expression hurt me in a way that had nothing to do with my body.
That storm was the only one we faced, though, and for the rest of the trip the seas were smooth as glass, the winds brisk and warm. Two weeks passed. I checked the navigation every day and compared it to the map the seabird had left us. But it was hard as hell, cause the map just led us straight to the middle of the open ocean.
“You sure this is correct?” Marjani asked me one afternoon when she was up at the helm. I had the maps spread out on the deck beside her, pinned down with rum bottles and sea rocks.
“Sure as anything,” I said.
Marjani frowned. She’d been in good spirits when we started out, but now that we were out on the open sea she was constantly gazing off to the east. Off to Jokja.
“Does Naji know anything?” she asked.
I shrugged.
“Go ask him.”
“He probably ain’t well–”
“Go ask him.” She gripped the wheel a little more tightly. “I trust him more than I trust that map of yours.”
I couldn’t much blame her for that, seeing as how the map had been given to us by a bird. I left her to her steering and made my way down to the captain’s quarters, where Naji was laid up recovering from my swinging around the rigging. I knocked but didn’t bother to wait for an answer, and when I walked in he was stretched on the bed, his hands folded over his chest.
“Marjani wants to know if we’re going the right way,” I said.
He turned his head to look at me, his hair falling across his face.
“Are you navigating?”
“Course I am.”
“Then of course we’re going the right direction.”
I scowled at him, though inside my whole heart lit up like a bonfire. “Yeah, but we ain’t sailing to land. Some tiny spot in the middle of the ocean… that ain’t easy to get to. You know she’s talking about using magic.”
“I know what she’s talking about.” Naji sat up and patted the bed beside him. I stared at him for a few seconds.
“I want you to sit beside me,” he said.
“What for?”
He laughed, one of those short sharp Naji laughs. “We aren’t lost,” he said. “I’ve gone to Kajjil, to follow our path on the underside of the world. We’re quite fine.”
I blinked at him, confused.
“My trances,” he said.
“Oh.”
“It’s how we learn things in the Order. Come, sit.”
I sighed and sank down on the mattress beside him. He put his hand on my knee. I glanced at him and he flicked his head away real fast. The air crackled with something like magic.
He kissed me. I was starting to get used to his kisses, but this one went on longer than usual, and his hands trailed down over my shoulders, and tugged on my shirt, tugging it up over my shoulders.
“Oh,” I said, pulling away from him, flustered and embarrassed, sure he would take one look at me and call the whole thing off.
“Are you on shift?” he asked. “You said you had taken the mornings–”
“Yeah,” I muttered. “I was helping Marjani out some, but it wasn’t my official time–”
He kissed me again.
We sank down to the bed. I wrapped my arms over my stomach, afraid now would be the moment that he left. But he didn’t leave. He slipped out of his own clothes, and his tattoos were flat and dark against his skin, tracing all over his chest and down to the tops of his thighs. The scar from the spell fallout was red and new-looking, not like the scar on his face.
He climbed into the bed with me. I couldn’t believe it was going to happen, but when I let myself peek at his thoughts I felt only this hot red flush, and I knew he wanted me.
He kissed me all over, on my neck and my jawline and my shoulders. He touched me in that certain way and I felt him everywhere, the movement of his body and the warmth of his breath. It hadn’t felt like this the other times I’d been with someone. I hardly felt anything before; now, all I had was feeling.
Naji buried his head in my shoulder, his breath hot on my skin, and dug his fingers into the blankets. Afterwards, he kissed me long and deep and rolled over onto his back.
My chest filled with this warm honeyed feeling. And I knew it wasn’t gonna go away. I could feel his thoughts bumping up against mine, telling me it was for real, it had always been for real.
I kissed along his chest and asked him what we were looking for. I figured he’d know from his trances.
“Sentries,” he said.
“You just got that out of the letter.”
“Well, of course, that’s what I’m working off here.”
I rolled on top of him, pinning him to the cot. He gazed up at me. “I thought you saw them in Kajjil,” I said. “Or the seabird. Or something.”
“I saw the albatross when I was under,” he said. “It didn’t speak to me. And Kajjil doesn’t work that way. I don’t see people. I track them.”
I sighed. “I still think it’s a trap.”
Naji pulled me down and kissed me, his hand running up and down my spine.
“Stop it.” I pushed away from him. He frowned. “You’re distracting me!” I said. “Marjani’s probably pissed enough right now–”
“Do you really care?”
I glared at him. He knew I did, although not enough to leave. My thoughts were spilling out of me.
“We’re just gonna sail around in circles till the crew has the doldrums and we’ve eaten up all the food and then the Mists is gonna attack–”
“It’s not the Mists,” Naji said. “I know that for certain.”
I looked at him long and hard. He was telling the truth. Or what he thought was the truth.
“Who posts sentries in the middle of the ocean?” I asked.
“Someone who lives in the middle of the ocean,” Naji said, and he drew me close to him and kissed me again. This time I let him.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Next morning, I was up at the helm, guiding the Nadir through those smooth glassy waters. I’m not crazy about steering on the best of days, and that morning I was tired and distracted with thoughts of Naji. Plus the morning sun was hot and bright in my eyes. All I wanted was to be down below, my clothes in a heap on the floor, Naji’s mouth at the base of my throat.
Old Sorley came bounding up to the helm with his hat in his hands.
“The hell do you want?” It came out a lot gruffer than I meant.
“Madam First Mate,” he stuttered, looking down at his feet. He’d been some kind of servant before he got nicked off the street and forced onto an Empire boat. “You told us to come to you if we saw anything odd.”
I tensed my hands around the helm but kept my eyes s
traight ahead. “Yeah? You see something weird?”
“Yes, madam.”
A pause.
“Well, what is it?”
“It’s… well, it’s probably nothing…”
I glowered at him.
“Sharks!” he squeaked. “It’s sharks!”
“Sharks?” I squinted out at the horizon, light flashing up into my eyes. “Don’t let anybody fall into the water, it’ll be fine. Not like we’re in danger of sinking.”
“No, you don’t understand…” He crushed his hat into a tight little ball between his hands. “They ain’t normal sharks. I can’t… it’s a bit hard to describe, madam, I’m sorry–”
I felt bad for him. “Show me.”
He nodded. I called off for Jeric yi Niru to take the helm. He came over no questions asked, the way he usually did these days, though he gave me one of his insolent little nods. Some habits you just can’t break.
I followed Sorley across the deck to the port side. Sunlight was everywhere, bright and glittering.
“There,” Sorley said, pointing with his crumpled up hat.
I didn’t have the words for it.
There were sharks, to be sure. About sixteen of ’em, lined up four by four, swimming alongside us without breaking formation.
And they were wearing clothes: vests made of seashells, all strung together so that they looked like scaled Empire armor. The sharks skimmed across the water, tails switching back and forth in time.
“What the hell?” I said, cause what else do you say? Then I turned to Sorley: “Go get the captain.” I thought for a moment, then added, “And Naji.”
He didn’t hear me, though. He was leaning over the railing, waving that stupid hat around. “Hey!” he called out. “I brought her! The first mate! Captain’s not on duty.”
“What are you doing?” I grabbed at him. He ignored me. I glanced over my shoulder – a bunch of the crewmen had gathered behind us. They were all spooked.
“The hell’s going on?!” I shouted. “One of you, go get the captain.” Nobody moved. “Now!”
They scattered, as though “one of you” meant “all of you”. When I turned back to the railing, Sorley was staring at me, and down in the water, one of the sharks had broken formation.
“Pardon me!” the shark called out. “But does this boat bear Naji of the Jadorr’a?”
I screamed. Kaol help me, but I screamed liked I’d just been sliced through with a damned Qilari blade. The shark dipped its head in the water and splashed around foam.
“A thousand apologies, my dear, I didn’t mean to frighten you–”
“Why are you talking?” I screamed. I turned to Sorley. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
He looked cowed. “I didn’t think you’d believe me.”
I took a deep breath. A talking shark. I leaned back over the railing.
“Are you from the Mists?” I asked, watching closely for a spray of smoke or a smear of light.
“No, I’m from the waters,” the shark said. “I am Lorens, member of the eighty seventh Guard Infantry, sentry to the Court of the Waves and sworn protector of the King of Salt and Foam.”
My mouth dropped open a little.
“We were sent here to guide you to the rendezvous point. Assuming you are, in fact, carrying Naji of the Jadorr’a. The young gentleman said you were.” He splashed water in Sorley’s direction.
“Are you gonna kill him?” I asked. “Naji?”
The shark looked affronted. “Madam, never! We are in his debt, you must understand–”
“Ananna?”
I stepped away from the railing and whirled around. Naji came barreling across the deck, Marjani close behind. “What’s wrong?” he asked, putting his hands on my face and pulling me close. For once in their lives the crew didn’t hoot and holler when he did it.
“What’s going on?” Marjani asked.
“Sharks,” I said.
She stared at me like I’d gone mad. “Sharks,” she said. “Sharks have got the crew off the sails?” She frowned. “It’s like they’ve never been at sea before.”
I tried to figure out a way to explain it to her without sounding mad, but I couldn’t. Naji stepped up to the railing. Turned around again.
“They want you,” I said. “They can, uh–”
“They what?”
“This is getting absurd,” Marjani said. “Ananna, just tell me what’s happening.”
“I’m not–”
“Are you Naji of the Jadorr’a?”
It was the shark again, his rough rasp of a voice calling up out of the water. Marjani shrieked and stumbled up against me, one hand on the butt of her pistol. Naji, though, leaned over the railing. “I am!” He sounded unconcerned, like he spoke with sharks all the time.
“We are in your debt,” the shark said.
“Why?”
“What is going on?” Marjani whispered.
“I ain’t got no idea.”
Marjani shoved me toward the railing. The other sharks were all facing us now, their heads bent low into the water. The head shark hadn’t bothered to answer Naji’s question.
“You must come down below!” the shark said.
“Below what?” asked Naji. “The water?”
The shark nodded.
“I’m afraid that isn’t possible, not if you’d also like to speak with me. I won’t be able to breathe–”
“We’ve made arrangements.”
I grabbed Naji’s arm. “Don’t do it,” I whispered. “It’s a trap.”
Naji wrapped his arm around my waist. “May I bring some companions?” he asked.
“What?” I hissed.
“Of course.” The sharks all bowed again, splashing water.
“Are you insane?”
“We shall send the device to the surface shortly,” said the head shark. “You may bring down as many of your crew as you like. In shifts, of course.”
Naji waved his hand. “No need.” He squeezed my waist again. I scowled at him.
The sharks disappeared beneath the water.
“What are you doing?” I shouted, smacking him in the chest. “You’re gonna get us both killed!”
“Yes, I agree.” Marjani stepped forward, hand still on the butt of her pistol. “I’d prefer you not get my navigator eaten, thank you.”
“I’m proving to you – to both of you – how undangerous I think it is,” Naji said. “Ananna, I want you to go with me.”
I peered up at him. He really did think it was safe; I could feel it creeping into my own thoughts. But that didn’t mean I agreed with him.
Naji’s eyes glazed over, like he was thinking. “Something about this,” he said. “It feels… right. Pieces falling into place.”
I wanted to hit him.
“You can come too,” Naji added, turning to Marjani. “If you’re truly concerned about Ananna’s safety–”
“That wouldn’t be wise,” Marjani said quietly. Behind her, the crew shuffled and mumbled to each other. She was probably right. Captain and first mate disappearing beneath the waves with a bunch of talking sharks? Hell, I’d be hightailing it out of here too.
Frothy bubbles appeared on the surface of the water, followed by a low whining noise that reminded me of the Hariri clan and their machines. I yanked out my knife. The boat began to rock.
“All hands to stations!” Marjani screamed. “Keep her steady!”
The crew scrambled to attention.
Sea foam sprayed over the railing. Naji stepped in front of me.
Ha, I thought. Showing me how safe it is.
And then there was a hiss like the biggest snake you ever heard, and a big glass box erupted out of the sea, showering the Nadir with water and sea foam. Me and Naji and Marjani were soaked through.
For a minute the box floated in the open ocean, glittering a little in the sunlight. Then the top of it popped open.
“Naji of the Jadorr’a!” shouted the shark, who’d showed back up withou
t his sentries. “You and one other must come inside the transport.”
Naji pressed himself against the railing. “Will we be able to breathe?” he asked.
The shark nodded. “We tested it on air-breathers. There are some among our number.”
Naji turned to me. “Air-breathers,” he said.
“Does he mean other humans? Cause I don’t breathe water.”
“I doubt it. There are certain sea creatures who only live half in the water.” His eyes sparkled. The closest he ever came to smiling. I figured he’d gone and lost his mind. “Please, Ananna,” he said. “Come with me.”
“Course I’m gonna come with you.” I eased my knife back into my belt. “Just don’t expect me to be happy about it.”
“Me, neither,” Marjani said. “If you let her die, I’ll kill you.”
We were both soaked already, so me and Naji just dove into the water and swam over to the box. My heart pounded the whole time, cause I couldn’t quite shake the notion that the Hariris or the Mists were behind this somehow. Plus the thing kept hissing and groaning and the water around it bubbled like it was boiling.
Once we climbed in, I had Marjani toss me my gunpowder. That left me a couple of shots on my pistol, plus my sword and my knife, and Naji’s sword and knife and his magic too.
The lid lowered down onto the box.
“You want to kill me.” My voice echoed weirdly against the glass walls.
“I want no such thing.”
“You know what’s going on, then.” I looked at him. “But you won’t tell me.”
“I honestly don’t. Which you know, because…” He tapped his head.
“Still like hearing you say it out loud.”
There was a big hiss and the box began to lower into the water. I braced my hands against the glass and waited for the water to come rushing in and drown us. It didn’t. Just slapped against the outside of the box, blue and green and filled with sunlight.
“I have my intuition,” Naji said. “It’s surprisingly fine-honed.”
I thought about all the times he’d known the Mists was trying to seduce me. All the times he showed up at the last minute to save me from more worldly deaths. All the times he knew exactly what to say to piss me off.
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