He was on the ground. Looking up into the canopy of the wide and bright blue sky wondering where the clouds had gone. Waiting for the thrust that would finish him.
Her sword tip appeared in his line of sight.
Touched the skin of his forehead.
Raked a painful line up to his hair and pushed the hat from his head and she used the tip of her sword to flick his hat into the air and caught it, putting it on. She did not smile, showed no sense of triumph, only stared at him while the blood ran down his face and he waited for the end.
“Never lunge with a curnow, Joron Twiner,” she said quietly. “Did they teach you nothing? You slash with it. It is all it is fit for.”
“What poor final words for me,” he said. “To die with another’s advice in my ear.” Did something cross her face at that, some deeply buried remembrance of what it was to laugh? Or did she simply pity him?
“Why did they make you shipwife?” she said. “You plain did not win rank in a fight.”
“I—” he began.
“There are two types of ship of the dead.” She leaned forward, the tip of her sword dancing before his face. “There is the type the crew run, with a weak shipwife who lets them drink themselves to death at the staystone. And there is the type a strong shipwife runs that raises his wings for trouble and lets his women and men die well.” He could not take his eyes from the tip of the blade, Lucky Meas a blur behind the weapon. “It seems to me the Tide Child has been the first, but now you will lead me to him and he will try what it is to be the second.”
Joron opened his mouth to tell her she was wrong about him and his ship, but he did not, because she was not.
“Get up, Joron Twiner,” she said. “You’ll not die today on this hot and long-blooded shingle. You’ll live to spend your blood in service to the Hundred Isles along with every other on that ship. Now come, we have work to do.” She turned, sheathing her sword, as sure he would do as she asked as she was Skearith’s Eye would rise in the morning and set at night.
The shingle moved beneath him as he rose, and something stirred within him. Anger at this woman who had taken his command from him. Who had called him weak and treated him with such contempt. She was just like every other who was lucky enough to be born whole of body and of the strong. Sure of their place, blessed by the Sea Hag, the Maiden and the Mother and ready to trample any other before them to get what they wanted. The criminal crew of Tide Child, he understood them at least. They were rough, fierce and had lived with no choice but to watch out for themselves. But her and her kind? They trampled others for joy.
She had taken his hat of command from him, and though he had never wanted it before, it had suddenly come to mean something. Her theft had awoken something in him.
He intended to get it back.
By Melissa Caruso
SWORDS AND FIRE
The Tethered Mage
The Defiant Heir
The Unbound Empire
ROOKS AND RUIN
The Obsidian Tower
Praise for the
Swords and Fire Trilogy
“Charming, intelligent, fast-moving, beautifully atmospheric, with a heroine and other characters whom I really liked as people. (I overstayed my lunch break in order to finish it.) I would love to read more set in this world.”
—Genevieve Cogman, author of The Invisible Library on The Tethered Mage
“Engaging and entertaining with intrigue, a good pace, and strong characters. Zaira and Amalia are bright, bold heroes in a smartly constructed world.”
—James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost on The Tethered Mage
“A riveting read, with delicious intrigue, captivating characters, and a brilliant magic system. I loved it from start to finish!”
—Sarah Beth Durst, author of The Queen of Blood on The Tethered Mage
“An enchanting voice and an original world you won’t want to leave.”
—RJ Barker, author of The Bone Ships on The Tethered Mage
“A joy to read.… Melissa Caruso is well on her way to making a very big splash in the fantasy genre.”
—BiblioSanctum on The Defiant Heir
“Caruso admirably refuses to pull her punches.… Thrilling.”
—Kirkus (starred review) on The Unbound Empire
“Caruso’s worldbuilding is brilliant and complex.”
—Library Journal on The Unbound Empire
The Obsidian Tower Page 47
