Zane Halloway: Omnibus Edition

by P. T. Hylton

  He nodded, drained his glass, and set it on the table next to him. “Amber Longstrain has hired me.”

  Melody’s eyes widened in surprise. “Good Lord, whatever for?”

  Zane took a deep breath. “To find Henry.”

  The widow’s face ran through a spectrum of emotions, first shock, then concern, then finally amusement. “For a small finder’s fee, I’d be happy to show you where he is. It’s about fifty yards east and six feet down.”

  “Amber believes he’s alive.”

  Melody’s face darkened. “Foolishness. They’re all superstitious fools.”

  So, Zane laid out the evidence Amber had brought him. He told her about the sister-captains’ odd behavior at their annual meeting, and about the sightings of Longstrain widows taking orders from a man who fit Henry’s description.

  When he was done with his tale, they sat in silence of a long moment before Melody said, “Is it possible there’s someone else? Maybe they’ve taken a new man as their figurehead.”

  Zane shook his head. “I don’t believe it. Those women have their run of the Gamlond Sea. There’d be no profit in it.”

  The woman cocked her head. “If you don’t know love’s not about profit, I feel sorry for you.”

  Zane thought for a moment. He hadn’t mentioned it to Amber, but he’d done plenty of research into her and her sister-captains over the years. When someone vowed to kill him, he made it a point to keep tabs on them. But with the Longstrains, that proved difficult. Their crews were especially loyal. Or fearful. He was never sure which and he suspected it was a bit of both. Still, he had managed to glean some information out of a couple of former crewmen over the years. According to them, the sister-captains had all taken a vow to never love another man who wasn’t their Henry’s equal. And they’d built up their departed husband so much in his death, told so many tall tales about his exploits, that it seemed impossible any man would ever be able to measure up. One of them falling for someone new? Maybe. But the type of plot Amber described would require them to all bow to this new authority.

  It didn’t seem possible.

  “Do you know where they might be?” Zane asked. “The other crews clearly wanted Amber out of the way, but where would they have gone? What could they be planning?”

  He knew the chances of this land-loving woman being able to answer these questions were very slim. She had no experience in piracy.

  And yet, Henry had selected her. He’d seen something in her. The Longstrain women were beautiful by all accounts, but they were also brilliant and deadly. Without exception. Henry must have seen these same qualities in Melody.

  Zane hoped that, while she’d never been a pirate, maybe, just maybe, she thought like one.

  A slow smile crossed the woman’s face, and it made Zane glad. It was the smile of a killer.

  “You don’t understand,” Melody said.

  “Then explain.”

  She paused for a long moment, as if considering how much to reveal. “Henry told me something interesting about Amber. Something that made her different than the rest of us.” She paused, as if waiting for him to respond. When he didn’t, she continued. “One thing all Henry’s wives had in common was he pursued us. In my case, he saw me in a shop and struck up a conversation. He had an uncanny knack for deciding on what he wanted quickly and then pursuing that thing with relentless drive.”

  She paused again, and this time Zane played along.

  “But Amber was different?” he asked.

  Melody nodded. “In that one case, she pursued him. She started out on the crew of one of his wives. Did you know that?”

  He shook his head.

  “I don’t remember which one it was,” she said. “One of the early ones, obviously. But when Henry came to visit his wife on the ship, Amber did her best to attract his attention.”

  “I can’t imagine that was uncommon,” Zane said. “His wives get their own ship and crew. I’d expect that would be an attractive option to a pirate slaving under a captain’s orders.”

  Melody nodded. “Indeed. Henry said what made Amber stand out was her approach. She didn’t flirt. She didn’t try to seduce him. Well, not with her body, anyway. Her method for attracting his attention was simply being better than everyone else on the crew. She was so good he couldn’t help but notice her. It took years, but it worked.”

  Zane thought about that for a moment. From the perspective of the captain of that ship, it must have been harsh medicine, indeed. One moment Amber was her subordinate; the next, she was sharing her husband with her. “You think that may have been the cause of the other wives betrayal?”

  Melody shrugged. “Seems doubtful after all these years. Still, Henry said it was quite the point of contention back then, with other wives violently objecting to Amber’s inclusion. She was also the only one to insist on being married in a church. The rest of us were married at sea. But, no, I don’t think that’s the reason for them turning on her.”

  “Then why?”

  Melody thought for a long moment before answering. “I don’t know. But I do know this: Amber doesn’t think like the rest of them. That was proven by the way she became his wife, and proven again by the story you told me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She leaned forward and smiled. “Any true Longstrain widow would understand what happened at that meeting. You think they gave Amber the southeast Gamlond Channel because they wanted her out of the way, but that’s not it at all. They gave it to her so they’d know where she is. So they can find her. I don’t know why, but the Longstrain widows are going to kill Amber Longstrain.” She picked up her glass of wine for the first time and took a long sip. “Now, it’s time for you to go. How many cases of wine would you like to take with you?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lily crouched in the crow’s nest, her left hand wrapped loosely around the mast, her right hand open and stretched out. Up here was a peaceful place. The smell. The cool breeze that felt so good as it caressed her hand. The pendulum motion of the rocking ship on the waves.

  A few crew members stood on the main deck below gawking up at her, but she didn’t even mind that. She’d given them reason to stare. After watching as a crew member went aloft the main mast with uncanny speed that could only come from years of practice, she’d touched the ring-shaped glide on her finger and shot into the air, reaching the top even more quickly than the experienced sailor had. The deck had filled with gasps. They’d known she was an abditus-in-training, of course, the King’s Guards couldn’t wait to tell anyone who would listen, but they probably had never seen a glide in action. Jacob always told her the glide was the showiest of magical devices, and it was difficult to argue. She told herself that wasn’t why she’d chosen it.

  When she’d reached the crow’s nest, she’d hovered in the air next to it and casually asked the wide-eyed lookout, “Do you mind if I take this watch?”

  Too flabbergasted to speak, the sailor had bowed—actually bowed!—and scurried down the mast. And now, for the first time since they’d boarded two days ago, she had some peace.

  Ships were often loud, chaotic places. Lily knew that from the time she’d spent aboard Zachary Derk’s ship back when she was apprenticing for Zane. She’d posed as a noblewoman trying to escape her overbearing brother. When Zane had given her the task, she’d imagined a relaxing week spent at sea, waiting for Zane to arrive and assassinate the captain. Instead, she’d spent only the minimal amount of time in her cramped quarters, feeling like she was being bounced around the entire time. When she’d ventured out, she’d constantly been in someone’s way.

  It made a certain kind of sense. Ships were built like a miniature world. Everything needed for survival had to fit on board the vessel, and each square inch had a carefully planned purpose. None of those spaces had been designated for loitering passengers, it seemed.

  Captain Pass’s ship, The Gully, was actually much worse in that regard. Here she wasn’t a paying passenger,
she was a meddling abditus, working for the crown, no less, who’d somehow found her way aboard a pirate sloop. As much as the King’s Guards liked and respected her, the pirates were scared and suspicious of her. That was part of what had driven her to perform this little stunt. They called her witch behind her back, sometimes just barely, so she’d decided to show them some magic. She wanted to see whether that changed their attitudes.

  She knew it wasn’t likely to, but it had been enjoyable nonetheless.

  She looked toward the poop deck where Bramon sat leaning against the rail. Even from this height, she thought she could make out the greenish hue of his face framed by his long hair. The poor fellow. He’d been vomiting so often the pirates had gone from amused to disgusted to impressed he was still alive.

  At least Caleb was faring slightly better. He’d barely left his cabin, and he hadn’t looked well the last time Lily had seen him, but he was keeping his food down.

  And some food it was. Breakfast had been hardtack. Again. And the water they served had a strange mildewy taste. The life of a pirate, she supposed.

  Lily looked at Bramon again and promised herself she’d recommend to Jacob that the next time they sent soldiers on a seafaring mission, they screen the candidates a bit more carefully.

  She watched the endless sea for a long time, taking her duties as a self-proclaimed lookout seriously. She saw nothing but the constantly shifting, black swells of the Gamlond Sea. It was hypnotic, the way it rose and fell, swelled and diminished. Finally, she had to look away before the waters lulled her to sleep. Some ending that would have been. Rise majestically to the crow’s nest only to fall out of it. Zane would probably hunt her down in the afterlife to scold her for her lack of diligence.

  Her eyes roved along the decks, looking for anything that might be of interest. Most of the pirates were going about their business, doing their work. One thing that had surprised her about this ship was the hardworking crew. No matter how ruthless a pirate was, she surmised, he was still just a sailor most of the time. He only became a pirate when they took a ship, which happened, what, once a month?

  Something on the quarterdeck caught her eye. Captain Pass was talking with two crew members, a woman and a man. They leaned close as they spoke, as if whatever they said was unsuitable for other ears.

  Probably just idle gossip, Lily thought. So-and-so isn’t pulling his weight. Did you hear this person slept with that person? That type of thing. And yet, something about the captain had struck her as strange ever since the meeting at the Morven tavern. He seemed altogether too…subdued. He was surly, but he grumbled like a man setting about a job he was dreading. He didn’t talk like a man used to controlling his own destiny.

  Lily thought for a moment, wondering if this was a line she was ready to cross. She’d spied before, yes, on targets and enemies. But on allies she suspected might have ulterior motives? With no more evidence than a hunch? That was Jacob’s territory, not Lily’s.

  Yet, she found her hand creeping into the satchel at her waist and pulling out a small round object. It was a glide, one of the few Jacob had provided in the kit he’d given her from the royal armory of magical devices.

  She held up the stone, letting it balance on her open palm just so. She couldn’t drop it. Jacob would never let her hear the end of it if it slipped from her hand and plopped into the sea. But she couldn’t think about that now. She needed to concentrate. This particular glide was not easy to use.

  Glides changed the way things moved. The most common uses were causing inanimate objects to hover or to float to specific places. More advanced glides could move the human body, like the ring that had lifted her to the crow’s nest. But the glide in her hand didn’t change the movement of objects or people; it changed the movement of sound.

  She had to be precise. This wasn’t the type of magical object that could be sold to a non-abditus. It required a trained hand. It would have been much easier if she could have heard the conversation faintly. But she couldn’t hear anything happening on the quarterdeck from up here.

  It took her five frustrating minutes of tilting the glide in different directions and working different angles. She overheard snippets of a dozen other conversations before she found the one she wanted. But then she heard the captain’s voice loud and clear.

  “—days left. We’ll go as long as it takes, but it’s starting to wear on the crew.”

  “The crew will be fine. They’re good.” This was the woman. Lily didn’t remember her name. Her skin was as dark as Lily’s, and her raven hair whipped in the wind as she spoke.

  “Aye, that they are,” Captain Pass said. “They’re good at piracy. They’re good at throwing a grappling hook and climbing onto a ship and cowing the sailors until they’re happy to hand over their cargo. They’re good sailors, too, the lot of them. But deception…they ain’t practiced at that.”

  “Captain, maybe the ruse isn’t necessary,” the other man said. His name was Gerald, Lily thought. Something that started with a G, anyway. He was a stocky, bald man with the signature pirate tattoo of a swallow in flight on his neck. “I don’t see the profit in it. Let’s throw those we don’t need over the side and put the ones we do in irons.”

  Lily’s eyes narrowed. Any guilt she’d felt at spying was gone now. These pirates were not here to help them. She silently cursed Caleb and Jacob and the king and anyone else who’d had a say in this foolish plan. These were pirates! Of course they couldn’t be trusted. They were probably planning to kill the Guards and ransom her and Caleb back to the king.

  “It’s not that easy,” the woman said. “They’ve got that witch, for one thing.”

  “The witch can be dealt with,” Captain Pass said.

  Gerald gestured toward the crow’s nest. “Did you see the way she flew aloft? Due respect, but I’d prefer to avoid tangling with that one. Maybe we can wait. Leave her to Longstrain.”

  Lily straighten up a little. Longstrain? So that was the plan? Rendezvous with one of the Longstrain widows and hand over Lily and Caleb? But why? Captain Pass said he hated the Longstrains, that he’d spent his life avoiding them, even. Maybe this was to be a peace offering? Maybe Captain Pass wanted to join one of the Longstrain crews after all?

  “We can’t count on that,” the woman said. “Longstrain has problems of his own. We have to handle our business.”

  The breath caught in Lily’s throat. He? Was it possible they were talking about Henry Longstrain? No, Zane had killed him years ago. It had to be someone else.

  Captain Pass scratched his chin. “All I know is I’d much rather fight that witch than face Longstrain’s wrath. Tell the crew to hold steady for now. This will all be over very soon.”

  “And we’ll all be very rich.” The woman patted Pass’s arm. “You’re doing well.”

  The captain nodded. “I appreciate you saying so. Now back to work, you lazy dogs.”

  To Lily’s frustration, they parted at that, scattering to different sections of the ship.

  She sat in the crow’s nest for a long time, trying to calm herself, trying to reign in her emotions. But the longer she stayed aloft, the more she felt the panic creeping in. Every glance at the sea, stretching to the horizon in every direction, was another reminder of how trapped they were. They couldn’t run away. They were stuck on a ship with traitorous pirates. And there was nothing they could do about it.

  Lily finally decided she had to talk with someone.

  She started to climb down the mast—how she’d once loved to climb—and then stopped. She had to act like everything was normal. And the woman who’d come up here, the woman who’d taken flight and soared to the crow’s nest in the showiest way possible, wouldn’t climb down.

  Steadying her trembling hands, she touched her ring and stepped out of her perch into thin air. She descended slowly, lazily even, making sure all eyes were on her. She must have looked like an actor in a play being lowered from the rafters with ropes. A few of the pirates whistled and cheer
ed as she touched down. It sickened her, the way these men and women who wanted to kill her were putting on a show, but she nodded to them graciously.

  She didn’t even walk directly to Caleb’s cabin, though she desperately wanted to sprint there. Instead, she wandered the deck, ascending the companionway to the poop deck. She watched the sea off the starboard side for a few minutes.

  To her left, she heard Bramon groan.

  He looked up at her, a queasy smile on his face. “I’ll tell you something, Lily. I’m starting to hate this damn sea.”

  Lily choked back a laugh. “I agree, my friend.”

  She turned and walked casually down the companionway, doing her absolute best to look like a bored passenger with no clear destination in mind. The woman Lily had overheard talking with the captain walked by, and Lily forced herself to give her a polite nod.

  Then, ever so casually, she went to Caleb’s cabin and knocked. There was no answer, so she tried again, but again received no response. The poor man was probably sleeping. The sea simply didn’t agree with him.

  Lily opened the door and slipped inside. Then she stopped, shocked at what she found.

  The cabin was empty. Caleb wasn’t there.