Pirate's Promise

by Chris A. Jackson

  Dearest Vreva,

  My ship arrived from Katapesh in the small hours of the morning. I thought to visit you, but I didn't want to interfere with your schedule. I would very much like to see you. Perhaps lunch?

  I missed you as a drowning man misses breath.

  Love,

  Zarina

  "Love ..." Vreva's stomach clenched. Her breakfast of fruit and yogurt seemed to have suddenly lost its allure. She got up from the table and began to pace.

  *What's wrong?* Saffron looked up from his chicken livers and licked his muzzle. *Bad news?*

  "No. At least, I hope not." She gestured to the letter. "Zarina's back. She wants to see me."

  *Well, unless she shows up with a squad of city guards, I don't see the problem.* He hopped up onto the table and perused the letter. *This doesn't look so ominous. Why the pacing?*

  "I've been thinking about Zarina a lot, Saffron. She's ...different. You've felt how I feel when I'm with her. I don't see how this can end well." Vreva turned and looked out her balcony doors toward the sliver of the sea beyond the buildings. "I can see only two possible outcomes, and neither of them is pretty."

  *Seems simple to me. We either kill her, or you contrive some way to make her want to leave.*

  "Make her want to leave? How?"

  *I don't know. Make her jealous? Ask her to have a threesome with Urfin?*

  "Jealous?" Vreva raised an eyebrow at Saffron. She hadn't considered that possibility. "But she knows I'm a courtesan, and hasn't shown any unease about it. How could I make her jealous?"

  *She might not be jealous of your clients, but what if you had another relationship? A real relationship?* He sniffed the yogurt and sampled it. *Mmm, this stuff's pretty good!*

  "That's a thought." She paced some more, wondering who she could contrive to have a relationship with. "But I don't want to make her angry. She's been abandoned before, and might not take it well."

  *Nobody likes being jilted, but it's considerably easier than dying.* Saffron licked more yogurt and began to purr. *You mean to say that you didn't think of that?*

  "No, I didn't."

  *So what were the two outcomes you thought of?*

  "We kill her, or she discovers I'm a spy and kills me."

  *Okay, the second one is not an option.* He went back to the yogurt. Like most felines, he tended to ignore things he didn't like in the hope that they'd just go away.

  "I'm sorry, love, but your suggestion has given me another option. The question is, how and when."

  *Well, not while she's still investigating. If she's mad at you, you can't manipulate her.*

  "Good point." Of course, that meant continuing the charade ...if charade this relationship actually was. It certainly no longer felt like a charade. Calistria help me ...

  Vreva returned to the table and penned a quick reply, inviting Zarina to lunch. Longing and anxiety warred in her stomach, which reminded her of her abandoned meal. Saffron had made a serious dent in her bowl of yogurt.

  "Are you enjoying my breakfast?"

  *Yes.* Saffron licked yogurt from his whiskers and yawned to show his teeth. *But you can have the fruit.*

  Chapter Eighteen

  Suspicions

  Ready and heave!" Torius strained as he helped Grogul lower the chest from the carriage. Silk packed tightly, and the chest weighed more than a full-grown man. The items secreted in the false bottom weighed heavily only on his mind.

  "I'll get some help for this." Grogul strode into the inn while Torius paid the driver.

  As the coach clattered away, Torius sniffed and wrinkled his nose at the stench wafting up from the Fleshfairs. He hadn't missed Okeno in the slightest. Stargazer had arrived well before midday, aided by blustery gale winds. They'd dodged the worst of the storm, cracking on under reefed sails, and slipping through the pass between Stonespine Island and Six Shells. In the shelter of the isle, they were able to spread more canvas and beat along the southern shore for Okeno.

  Grogul returned with two burly slaves, who hefted the chest with no trouble. As they entered the inn, Torius was greeted, as always, buy the obsequious innkeeper, Quopek.

  "Welcome, Captain Vin! Are you moving in?" He gave the chest a skeptical glance.

  "Alas, no, Master Quopek. Vreva asked me to look for some silks for her, since I was making a run to Qadira. I thought I'd drop these off on my way to Katapesh."

  "If you wish to see her, you'll have to hurry, I'm afraid." Quopek checked the appointment book on his desk. "She has a luncheon appointment due to arrive within the hour."

  "Perfect! I'm in a bit of a rush myself. I'll just go up, pay my respects, and be off."

  "Very good!" The innkeeper motioned to the slaves. "Take the chest up right away."

  "I'll be right back, Grogul." He strode for the stairs with the slaves close on his heels. "One drink only."

  "Aye, sir!"

  At the third landing, Torius rapped the brass knocker on Vreva's elaborately inlaid door, and tapped his foot. The door swept open to reveal Vreva dressed in full courtesan regalia. Obviously, she was entertaining a client for lunch. He gritted his teeth and admonished himself for his infelicitous thoughts. Just part of the deception. Still, the thought of her playing her part with some greasy slave merchant made his skin crawl.

  "Torius Vin! What a lovely surprise!" Vreva swept an arm in a graceful arc and curtsied, flashing a shapely expanse of leg and décolletage in doing so.

  "Hello, Vreva." He entered and gave her his best piratical grin. "You're looking lovely today."

  "You're so sweet!" She greeted him with a kiss too enthusiastic to be chaste, pretending only then to notice the chest the slaves were carrying. "Oh, and you brought me a present!"

  "Of course." Torius waved the slaves into the room. "The silks you asked for, straight from Qadira."

  "You're so thoughtful! Right over there." The slaves put the chest down, and Vreva showed them out, all the while gushing thanks for the gift. When the door closed, she listened to make sure the slaves had gone, and turned to him. All of her courtesan's grace melted away, replaced by trepidation. "Well?"

  "We're in." He pulled the key from his pocket and flipped it to her.

  "Thank Calistria!" Vreva leaned against the door for a moment, then smiled genuinely. "And thank you, Torius. I know the risk you're taking."

  "Yes, you do." He pulled up his sleeve and whispered his father's name. The black eagle tattoo swam to the surface for her to see. "You might have mentioned who your employers were."

  "I couldn't tell you until you were committed. But if you still harbor any doubts about me, this should answer." Vreva held out her arm to him and whispered a word he didn't quite catch. A black eagle resolved upon her alabaster skin, then faded away.

  "No doubts." He rolled down his sleeve.

  "Good." Vreva approached and brushed the wound on the side of his face. Snick had taken out the stitches that very morning, but it wasn't completely healed yet. "What happened?"

  "An altercation with a slaver. A slave ship, I might add, with a very powerful wizard aboard. Gold Wing was destroyed, and nearly all her complement lost."

  "Dear gods." She turned pale. "The slavers ...they didn't escape, did they?"

  "No." He strode to her sideboard and poured two glasses of pale wine. The sun might not be over the yardarm quite yet, but he could use the fortification. "I must tell you, not everyone aboard Stargazer is as enthusiastic about this as I am. Grogul's about ready to jump ship."

  "Does he know about ..." She touched her forearm.

  "Yes. He was with me when your friend contacted me." He returned to her, proffering one glass while reducing his by half. "Snick and Thillion know, too, and I'll be telling Celeste as soon as we reach Katapesh. I won't keep secrets from my closest friends, Vreva."

  "As long as they keep them. I hope Grogul doesn't leave, Torius. I know how you feel about him."

  "No, you don't, but thanks anyway." He shrugged. "He's got to make his ow
n decision. I hope he stays, but I can't force him to."

  "Of course not." She raised her glass. "To a long and prosperous relationship."

  "I'll drink to that." They did, and he nodded to the chest. "Aren't you going to open it?"

  "Later. I've got a guest coming soon, and I don't want her to—"

  Four quick raps at the door brought them both up short. Vreva forestalled any questions with an upraised finger, and glanced toward her cat. Torius watched as the animal scurried to the door, sniffed, then turned to Vreva and meowed.

  "Damn!" Vreva paled and leaned close to whisper in his ear. "It's the inquisitor! She just got back from Katapesh."

  "She's your lunch appointment?" His whisper came out hoarse and choked. "Gozreh's guts!"

  "Calm down and act as we discussed. We're old friends. You occasionally visit and bring me gifts, and I give you business tips, which is essentially the truth. She has no reason to suspect anything different!" She downed her wine, put aside the glass and strode to the door. There, she pinched her cheeks until they glowed pink, and assumed a casual stance before swinging open the portal.

  "Zarina!"

  A tall, dark-haired woman in full chainmail and a surcoat emblazoned with the key of Abadar strode into the room and grasped Vreva in a passionate embrace—so passionate, in fact, that the courtesan's feet left the floor. Vreva returned the woman's ardor with equal enthusiasm. Both ignored Torius so completely that he felt obligated to announce his presence, and cleared his throat.

  Vreva broke the clinch with a gasp. "Oh, for the love of Calistria, I'm sorry!" She blushed prettily and turned to him. "My apologies, Torius, but Zarina and I haven't seen each other in far too long."

  "So I see." Torius grinned, impressed with Vreva's performance.

  "My apologies." The inquisitor's olive skin flushed deep crimson. She glanced from Vreva to Torius, then back. "I arrived early. I didn't mean to ...Quopek didn't say that you had a guest."

  "Quopek enjoys his little jests." Torius bowed low. "Captain Torius Vin of the Stargazer, at your service."

  "Inquisitor Zarina Capoli, Abadar's servant." The woman nodded and offered her hand, which he shook firmly. "You're a slaver captain, then? A client of Vreva's? I don't recognize your name."

  Torius hoped like hell she didn't recognize his name. "Neither a slaver nor a client. Just a lowly merchant."

  "Torius is being modest. He's not one of my clients, but an old friend and business associate." She gestured to the chest occupying the center of the living space and, to Torius's horror, produced the key he'd given her. "He finds things for me that nobody else can." She worked the key in the lock and flipped the lid wide open to reveal a rainbow of glistening Qadiran silks.

  Torius swallowed—there was enough hidden beneath those silks to put both their heads in the same noose, and the very person who would tighten that noose stood right before them. Trying for nonchalance, he shrugged. "Just good business. I bring beautiful things to my friends, and they give me beautiful tips on trade."

  "They are beautiful!" The inquisitor ran her fingers over the silks and turned to Torius. He found the intensity of her gaze unnerving. She gestured toward his face. "But I see that your travels haven't been without danger."

  "Just a scratch, really. A Qadiran lugger feigning distress turned out to be a pirate. When we came alongside to offer help, they tried to board us." He patted the scimitar at his hip and grinned. "We dissuaded them."

  "Torius is good at dissuading trouble." Vreva sidled up to the inquisitor and grasped her hand. "He recently helped me with a positively vile man who was trying to blackmail me."

  "Well!" The inquisitor's eyes widened. "You're quite chivalrous."

  "Just helping a friend." He shrugged again. "And there was a profit to be made in the process."

  "Yes, the man turned out to be a criminal, and the Osirian authorities paid handsomely to see him brought to justice." Vreva gazed up at her adoringly. "I pick my true friends carefully, you see."

  Damn she's good. Torius would have believed her himself if he didn't know she was acting.

  "Then I'm doubly in your debt, Captain Vin, not only for helping Vreva, but also for seeing justice done." She released Vreva's hand and stepped forward, lifting the miniature golden key of Abadar from her belt. "Please accept the blessing of Abadar for your service."

  Before Torius could protest, the golden key glowed, and the inquisitor pressed her hand to the wound on his face. Her hand grew warm, and then it too shone with golden light. The incessant itch of his wound ceased immediately. The woman dropped her hand, drawing a handkerchief from her sleeve and using it to brush away the last bits of scabbed blood.

  "There," she said as she surveyed his face. "Your wound's gone, and you're not scarred overmuch."

  "Makes you look rather rakish," Vreva added.

  "Not too rakish, I hope. I wouldn't want to scare off customers. Thank you." Torius didn't know what else to say. "I'm a follower of Gozreh, myself, but I'll take any blessing I can get."

  "Spoken like a true sailor." Vreva cast a glance toward the door, then reclaimed her paramour's hand.

  Torius took the hint. "Now I must say goodbye. Time and tide wait for no one." He bowed again. "You'll forgive me, ladies, but my ship awaits."

  Vreva made a show of giving him a chaste kiss on the cheek. He shook the inquisitor's hand, and thanked her once again for the healing. It struck him as strange; this woman was their enemy, yet she seemed a good-hearted type, nothing like the pitiless slavers he knew and loathed.

  A misguided soul, he thought as Vreva's ornate door closed behind him. If she truly wanted to see justice done, she'd be on the abolitionists' side, not the slavers'. He had to hand it to Vreva, however. She certainly had the woman wrapped around her finger. Hopefully, that would be enough to keep their necks out of a noose.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  "He certainly leads an interesting life: sailing the sea, fighting off pirates ..." Zarina folded her handkerchief and tucked it away, her mien pensive. "How long have you known him?"

  "Oh, years." Vreva waved dismissively. What foul luck to have Zarina show up while Torius was here! Their introduction had been truthful enough, but she wished Torius had tempered his story about Qadiran pirates. The fewer lies around an inquisitor, the better.

  "I should've brought you something." Zarina admired the chest of silks again.

  "You did." Vreva needed to get Zarina's mind off of Torius. She grasped the inquisitor's hands and smiled seductively. "You brought me you."

  "I fear an overworked inquisitor's not much of a present. I can hardly compete with chests of silks and swashbuckling merchant captains."

  "You needn't compete with anyone, Zarina." She kissed the inquisitor again, but she felt a subtle tension, an unease that hadn't been there upon their first greeting. Was it Torius? Was Zarina upset, or somehow jealous? She had to assuage the inquisitor's concern. "So, you missed me, did you?"

  "Of course. You ...read my letter. It's the truth." Zarina searched Vreva's face, as if memorizing every curve and detail.

  "Well, you're here, so you must not have received bad news from Sayyid."

  "No. He simply wanted to express his displeasure at my lack of progress."

  "Well, that's a relief." She took the empty glasses to the sideboard. "Would you like a drink before lunch?"

  "No, thank you. I have ...work to do, and I have to keep my head clear. In fact, I should be off. I'm sorry."

  "I thought we were having lunch. I'd hoped we might spend the afternoon together."

  Zarina grasped Vreva's hands gently. "I am sorry, truly. Something unexpected has come up, and I have to see it through."

  "Why the rush? I thought you missed me." Vreva sighed and put on her prettiest pout. "I don't mean to be petulant, but I was looking forward to spending time with you."

  "I did miss you, but I have to attend to my duty." She smiled and kissed Vreva's fingers. "I should be finished by dinnertime. If you're
free this evening, I promise to make it up to you."

  "For you, my love, I'll make myself free."

  Zarina smiled and kissed her. "Now I've got to rush off. Shall we eat at Kamalah's? Say, an hour after sunset?"

  "That'll work perfectly."

  "Tonight then." The inquisitor strode out.

  Vreva closed the door and stood quietly for a moment, reviewing their conversation. She could pinpoint no particular word or gesture that might have disquieted Zarina. Was she jealous of Torius? Had she somehow discerned his lie? It bothered Vreva that she couldn't tell. The pop-pop of Saffron's claws in the upholstery wrenched her mind out of its reverie, and she turned to him.

  "Well, that was a bit nerve-wracking, wasn't it?"

  *You have a gift for understatement.* He trotted over to rub her leg, and she picked him up. He nuzzled her chin, and the familiar caress calmed her. *So, what was wrong?*

  "I felt a ...reticence in her, but not at first. Not until after Torius left."

  *Well, she completely ignored me, so something was bothering her.*

  "Maybe she just doesn't like Torius?"

  *I can't blame her for that!*

  "Oh, I wish you'd stop it with him! We're on the same side now."

  *I'll never like him, Vreva, not after what he did.* He fidgeted in her arms. *You don't know what it was like, being helpless while he held a sword to your throat.*

  "He wasn't going to kill me, love. Celeste, on the other hand ..." She shuddered at the memory of her initial confrontation with the enraged naga.

  *That reminds me of something I've been meaning to tell you.*

  "Oh, and what's that?" She felt a flush of embarrassment from her familiar.

  *Well, I was already scared, you know, when Torius shattered that wineglass in your hand with his sword.*

  "I know. I've still got the scars from your claws."

  *Yes, well, when Celeste wrapped around you and threatened you, I got your fear, too, and I ...kind of made a mistake.*