“It’s not superstition so much as it is good sense. I don’t want to anger the ship before I have need of her.”
Alistan grinned. “Again, you sound superstitious.”
Carth shrugged. “I suppose that does. You have to love the ship you’re on so that she responds the way you need.”
“Like a lover.”
Carth laughed, shaking her head. “I don’t want to know what you’ve done with this ship.”
“I told you—”
Carth laughed again. “Is she fast?”
“I’ve been assured that she’s the fastest that I own. The man I bought her from did not have the greatest reputation.”
“Bought her from?”
“This ship is purchased legally, but I suspect it once belonged to smugglers.”
“Like the ones you once hired?”
“The same.”
“Good. I’ve had some experience with smugglers’ ships. I prefer to have a ship like that.” She tapped on the side of the hull and then ran her hand along it. It was solid, and she hoped that it would carry her safely and swiftly. “Thank you,” she said to Alistan.
“I wish we could have spent more time learning from each other,” he said.
“I only wish we could’ve had more time to game together,” Carth told him.
“When you return, we can take more time to play. I would even promise to learn how to play Tsatsun with some skill.”
He had tried but had not been successful in developing his skill at Tsatsun. It was a game that was not easy for everyone, and it seemed as if it had been particularly troublesome for Alistan to learn, though Carth had known many intelligent people who had struggled with Tsatsun.
“And I would be open to learning more about playing Choslt.”
Alistan smiled. “I think you would like it. Especially as you enjoy Tsatsun, it’s a game that also requires a measure of skill.”
Carth climbed onto the ship and waved to Alistan. It was possible that she would not return to Keyall. The city had not welcomed her, though she had found it no worse than many of the places she had visited over the years, and there was a stronger leadership here than she had expected. They hadn’t needed her to influence nearly as much as had been needed in other places. She felt more comfortable leaving than she would have were that not the case.
“You seem disappointed,” Alayna said.
She glanced over to her tall friend. In the bright daylight, Alayna’s green eyes sparkled.
“Disappointed would be one way of putting it. I thought we could connect with others here, but I feel as if we’re leaving and there has been no resolution, at least not with what brought us to the city in the first place.”
“This doesn’t have to be the last stop for us,” Alayna said.
“No, but I will honor what I promised to Peter. I don’t want to violate that, and even if I did, as soon as he starts spreading word that we are leaving and that we have found the Elder Stone, we won’t have much choice.”
“You think that we’ll have to fight so quickly?”
Carth glanced over at Jenna. In the month since Carth had rescued Jenna and Alayna from the building where Linsay had held them, Jenna had begun to return to the person she had been before. She still had an edge to her, but Carth was hopeful that, with more time and conversation, she could smooth that edge out a little. Jenna might always have an edge to her, and that was fine if that was what she was meant to have, but hopefully Carth could help her lose some of the anger that came with it.
“If what I’ve been promised is true, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if we are forced to fight frequently. There will be people who will come searching for power, regardless of what they might have heard about me.”
“It’s always danger with us, isn’t it?”
“Unfortunately,” she said. “If you’d prefer, I can arrange transport for you to return to Asador or—”
Alayna shook her head. “It’s not that I want to return. I don’t disapprove of what we do, or the reason that we do it. I understand there’s a need for it.”
“I only wish that we could have some calm between every battle that we face,” Carth said.
“I suppose we could if you wouldn’t keep taking us into danger,” Alayna said, grinning.
“Alistan says that this is a fast ship.”
“Did he tell you why he has a carving of you as the figurehead?”
Carth shot Alayna a dark stair, but her friend ignored it. “I doubt very much that Alistan knows much about his fleet. All he knows is that he has fast ships that can carry his goods where he wants them.”
“It’s impressive that he’s willing to part with a ship for you.”
“He expects payment for it.”
Alayna arched a brow. “Does he? And what kind of payment would he expect?”
“I doubt very much that I am the type of person that he would pursue.”
Alayna shook her head. “What you fail to recognize is that you’re the kind of person that many people pursue.”
Alayna touched Carth on the arm before turning and working the lines, helping them push off from the dock. As the wind caught the sail, helping them glide out to sea, Carth stood at the prow of the ship, watching Keyall fade into the distance.
She had spent more time here than she had intended, and leaving left her with a bittersweet sense. It wasn’t a place where she wanted to remain, but she had learned more than she had ever expected.
They sailed quickly, heading generally northward, but not with a destination really in mind. Carth wanted to take her time and give Linsay a chance to come after her if she indeed would.
It was late in the day and very nearly evening when a ship appeared on the horizon.
Carth motioned to Alayna to slow them, and she took watch, peering into the distance to see what she could learn about the ship.
“It will overtake us,” Talia said, approaching from the stern of the ship. She had been mostly silent since they had departed.
“That’s my intent,” Carth said.
“And if it’s Linsay?”
“Then we need to be ready to fight.”
“What if she attempts to sink your new ship?”
“Then I’ll have to take hers.”
“You seem more confident in your ability to do that than I anticipated.”
“I have an advantage on the water that your sister does not.”
“What is that?” Talia asked.
“I sailed with Linsay for months, and in that time, I noticed that she never managed to get comfortable on the ship.”
“She was playing you. Don’t think it’s possible that she was faking it?”
“It’s possible. Your sister was able to convince me that she was someone else for a long time, so I don’t entirely put it past her to have fabricated her discomfort on the ship, but I don’t think that was it.”
“Why?”
“There’s something natural about those who are comfortable sailing. They have an easy-going way about it when they’re standing on the deck of a ship. Your sister preferred to be below deck and spent much time with Boiyn. Some of that time was spent discovering the enhancements that he had mixed, trying out the various concoctions that he had created, but I don’t think that was her entire reason for remaining there.”
“You think she stayed there because she wasn’t comfortable sailing?”
“I think she stayed there because she didn’t feel well otherwise.”
“What if she remained below deck so that she could learn from your friend?”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
4
The ship reached them near dusk. It had massive sails and a wide bottom that carved through the water, leaving a spray behind it. The sides of the ship were painted a deep red that reminded her of another ship she’d encountered, though that one had horrible memories associated with it. Five men stood on the deck of the ship, each of them muscular. All carried swords a
nd were dressed in short pants and loose-fitting shirts that revealed their chests. Two of the men had tattoos visible.
As the ship approached, Carth studied them. These were pirates. She’d encountered men like this before and had dispatched them easily. These were not men to fear.
“Turn your ship away and you might survive,” Carth called over to the other ship.
The captain laughed. “Four pretty ladies would scare us?”
Three of the men jumped onto the railing, and Carth shook her head. “Jenna.”
It was all she had to say. Jenna slid forward with knives unsheathed and cut down the nearest man before he was able to react. She spun, driving her heel into the chest of the next man, and he flipped over as he landed on the deck. The third man had recovered, but not quickly enough, and Jenna slammed her knife into the side of his neck, dropping him.
The remaining man approached, and Talia flipped one of her knives at him, catching him in the stomach. He collapsed as Carth jumped, landing on the deck next to the captain.
“I warned you,” Carth said.
“You’re her. Rel.”
Carth allowed herself a small smile. At least her reputation mattered here. “I am. And you made a mistake thinking that you could attack.”
The captain looked over at his fallen men and seemed to weigh the possibility that he might still escape with his life. “What do you want from me?” he asked.
“I wanted you to turn away, but seeing as how you had no interest in that, now I want an answer.”
“What kind of answer?”
“How did you know to find us?”
His brow furrowed slightly. “I saw your ship.”
“Did you? From halfway across the sea?”
The captain shrugged. “You sail long enough, and you get to be familiar with things like that. I could show you…”
Carth grunted. “I doubt that there’s anything you could show me that I would need to see.”
“I’ve been sailing for a decade. Surely there’s—”
Carth looked around his ship. “What are you carrying?”
“Nothing.”
She nodded to Jenna, who climbed to the other ship and disappeared below deck. “It had better be nothing. Otherwise, you’ll be joining your men.”
Carth waited, her sword pointed at the captain, until Jenna returned. When she did, she had a massive box in her arms.
“Nothing of value, other than this.”
“What is it?” Carth asked the question as much to the captain as to Jenna.
“Some jewelry, a sculpture, and a bag of coins.”
She turned to look at the captain. “What were you planning on buying?”
“Why must I be buying anything?” the captain asked.
“The coins and an empty hold. You were going to buy something.”
The man held his hands up. “I swear. I wasn’t going to buy anything.”
“Did you see anything else?” Carth asked.
Jenna didn’t need her to spell out what she was asking. A man like this would be the kind of person to transport slaves, and they’d seen bags of coins like that on other slavers’ ships. Carth was more than happy to take them from him.
“There was an empty hold, but…”
Carth looked at the captain. “Do you have another boat?”
“Another boat?”
“Where’s your dinghy?”
He motioned to the rear of the ship.
“Good.”
Carth pressed her hand against the deck and surged her connection to S’al through it. Flames began to lick along the deck, spreading rapidly. Carth did nothing to slow the spread of the flames.
“Come on,” Jenna said to Talia.
“What’s she doing?” Talia asked.
“Making it harder for him to move slaves.”
“How do you know he was moving slaves?”
Jenna grunted. “Man like that? That’s about all they’re able to do. They think slaving is the answer to everything they attempt.”
When they had left, Carth continued to surge her flame into the deck of the ship. The lower portions began to smolder, and then the smoke changed over to flames. Water hissed where the flames met it.
“I’d suggest getting into your boat.” Carth turned and jumped onto her ship, and with a surge of shadows pushing against the other ship, they separated, and she sailed away. As they did, the other ship took flame and began glowing brightly in the night sky.
“Why did you burn his ship?”
Carth looked over at Talia. “Did you see how quickly they were willing to attack?”
“I saw.”
“Those are slavers. I’m surprised to see them this far to the south, but not shocked. We’ve found slavers all over.”
“There’s no slavery in Keyall.”
“Not slavery, but how many of the men take on mistresses?”
Talia shook her head. “I don’t know. What kind of question is that?”
Carth motioned to Alayna. “She was taken by slavers near Thyr. They didn’t want her to force her into hard labor. They took her because she was a woman and she had value. Many of these slavers think to sell women to make a profit and don’t care that for the most part they are used for prostitution.”
Talia stared at the distant ship as it continued to glow. By now, the ship would be sinking, and the captain would be drifting off, maybe picked up by another if he was lucky.
“Did you know?”
“I knew that we would likely encounter people like them,” Carth said. “We’ll find more of them, especially as we sail. It’s the others—the treasure hunters—who will be more difficult. They won’t attack, not like the slavers will. They’ll try to lull us. Many will be as influential as Alistan, and we’ll have to withstand everything that they attempt.”
“I didn’t know it would be quite like this,” Talia said.
“It’s a dark world,” she said. “There are too many people in it who don’t think of anything other than how to harm others. If you’d like to return to Keyall, I suspect that I could find a passing merchant ship and get you back there.”
“You might find one, but how would we know that it was safe?”
“Not all ships that we will encounter will be dangerous,” Carth said. “Most will be helpful. The sea is dangerous enough, and most want nothing more than to get to the next port safely.”
“Maybe Linsay was right,” Talia said softly.
“Why would she have been right?”
“She told me that I didn’t understand how hard the world was.”
“Just because the world is hard doesn’t mean that you need to be hard. Don’t let it change you and turn you into something that you’re not. Do what you can to keep yourself safe, and we can work together to protect each other, so that we don’t need to fear.”
Talia stared at the distance, saying nothing. Carth remained with her for a few moments longer before turning away.
The next few days passed uneventfully. Carth had feared that the slavers’ ship was only going to be the first of many, but they had encountered no other ships since then. It must’ve been chance that they had encountered the slave ship then, and not anything else. They could continue sailing, but the longer they went, the more she wondered whether they would be able to draw Linsay to them.
“There’s a port near us,” Alayna said at midday of the third day since leaving Keyall.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. It’s not one we stopped in before, but we’re going to need supplies. It’s a good thing we have a bag of coins that we could purchase them with.”
Carth chuckled. They were stocked for a few weeks, but it was always good to resupply when possible. Besides, she needed to hear gossip, and the best way to do that was to reach a port—no matter how small.
“Take us in.”
Alayna guided the ship, and Carth stood along the railing, watching land come closer. They would need to find some in
formation, but was this going to be the best way to do it? As she gripped the railing, she thought about Linsay, and the kind of sailors she would’ve hired. With the kind of mercenaries she had hired, she had to believe that Linsay would be well protected.
They anchored out in the bay and had to take the dinghy into shore. Alayna remained behind, something she had increasingly often done, mostly so that the ship did not go unprotected and they would be ready to move if necessary.
Talia remain silent as they rowed, and Jenna worked the oars, pulling vigorously to glide them closer to the shore.
They tied up at the docks and Carth tipped the dock master, hoping that she had tipped enough to keep him from letting someone else steal her dinghy, but not so much that it would draw attention. It was always a difficult balance when it came to dock masters.
“Are we staying together, or do you want us to check different places to see what we can find?” Jenna asked.
Carth glanced from Talia to Jenna, trying to determine what might happen if they all split up. She didn’t like the idea of separating, mostly because she feared that she would lose her friends again.
“I think it’s best if we stay together,” she suggested.
“Where do you want to go?” Jenna asked.
“There should be a tavern that we can look into,” she said.
Jenna grinned at her a moment. “You know how I feel about that.”
Carth led them along the street, listening for sounds that would indicate a tavern. They were good places to hear gossip, and a way to get the pulse of a different city. Carth could sit in the tavern, either drinking or gaming or both, and listen for whatever she might hear. And what did she need to hear? She wanted information about Linsay, but she doubted that there would be any news about the Collector here yet. The only way that she would hear anything of Linsay would be if she had chased after something. Carth needed to search for those sorts of rumors. If she could get word that there was anything unusual taking place, maybe she could use that to discover what Linsay was after.
More than that, she needed to send word that she had come through here. That would be how she would entice Linsay to follow. If she believed that Carth was sailing in search of another of the Elder Stones, it should draw Linsay out.
Shadow Trapped (The Collector Chronicles Book 3) Page 3
