“I think we should take this ship back to Kelsi’s settlement, where I know the Storm Rider was going to be for a while to fix some damage, and show Captain Erin that weapon. And then we plan to hit Imperial shipping off Landfall while the Emperor’s galleys are chasing around the Sea of Bakre looking for you everywhere else.”
“What about the Mechanics?” Jules asked. “They want me to do things that will help them. But I don’t want to help Mechanics. I’ll try to find ways to undermine them and their purposes. How do I keep the Mechanics happy while working against them?”
“You play them, Jeri. Just like you did in that meeting on their ship. They think you’re their pawn. But you’re nobody’s pawn. You’re the Emperor piece.”
“Right,” Jules said. “Sure.”
“I’m serious.” Mak nodded to her, smiling. “And that’s what we’ll tell other commons, that you’re actually working for the common people. Since you’re the woman who was told the prophecy, other commons will believe you. But the Mechanics will think that’s you fooling the commons. They won’t believe you’re playing them under the table because they can’t imagine a common being smarter than they are. And the Mechanics haven’t realized yet what a powerful piece you are. They’re so busy plotting against the Mages and the Empire, and being smug about their own status, that they’re not even considering what you might do.”
“You mean, have a baby?” Jules asked. “Yeah, they’re counting on that happening at some point.”
“No. That’s not what I mean.” Mak paused. “I haven’t figured this all out yet. But I’m thinking. Jeri, have you wondered why the person who’s going to overthrow the Great Guilds is going to take a while to show up? Why she’s a daughter of your line instead of, say, you?”
“Because it’s ridiculous to think I could do that, sir.”
“Others might disagree.”
“Sir, that ship…it’s hard to describe. It’s so different from the Sun Queen or any Imperial galley. And the Mechanics have four of them! They’re too powerful, sir.”
“That’s my point. Why not you or your own immediate daughter?”
Jules shrugged, fighting the depression that question brought to mind. “I figured it was just part of a cruel joke on me, sir.”
“No. I think it’s part of a very big plan,” Mak said. “Though I can’t imagine what force is driving that plan. Yes, the Mechanics are immensely strong. But, listening to those Mechanics, did you think they sounded like people who were strong and getting stronger?”
“No,” Jules said. “They sounded like people concerned with maintaining the power they had.”
“Yes. Maybe the Great Guilds are like people, Jules. I was pretty strong once. Young and vigorous. But as I aged I lost things. I got weaker.”
“Sir-”
“Listen. Maybe that’s going to happen to the Great Guilds. The devices of the Mechanics will wear out. Something will happen to the Mages. It will take time. Maybe centuries. And the daughter of your line will appear when the Great Guilds have become weak enough that a sufficiently amazing woman can overcome them.”
Jules stared at him. “I never thought of that. Nothing has changed in my lifetime. But you’re right, someday the Great Guilds could get weaker.”
“Or the commons will get stronger,” Mak said. “It’s already starting. Kelsi’s settlement. Marida’s harbor. Caer Lyn. Jacksport. And I’ve heard rumors of similar things happening inland, of towns being founded in the Northern Ramparts beyond the Empire’s reach, and convicts working the Imperial salt farms escaping to form a settlement in that southern area beyond the Waste. If commons can plant and grow new cities, we’ll be stronger by the time things happen. More people. Bigger armies. Maybe big enough to finally defeat the weakened Great Guilds—if led by that daughter of your line.”
The vision of it staggered her. Jules had to breathe in and out slowly to calm herself. “So maybe there’s a reason.”
“Maybe.”
“Shouldn’t we be turning the ship and heading back to Kelsi’s settlement, sir?”
He grinned. “Excellent idea, Jeri. Is that your decision?”
Jules found herself smiling back at him. “Yes, sir. That is my decision.”
* * *
“And then I-”
“Hey, Don! Get up here and help with this rope work!” Ang called.
“I gotta go,” Don said to Jules. “See you later, Jeri.”
“Yeah,” she said in a noncommittal voice. She stayed leaning on the rail amidships as Don went to help Ang near the bow. The sun had set some time ago, the last traces of its light vanished, darkness all about the ship, the sea gone black and mysterious under the starlight. Aside from the sailors at the helm on the quarterdeck, most of the crew were below deck, already sleeping, but Jules had lingered up here. She suspected that Ang had deliberately called away Don to give her some private time.
They’d be back at Kelsi’s settlement tomorrow morning. She hadn’t had much time alone to think.
Liv and some of the others had sewn together a sort of hard leather sheath for the Mechanic revolver, shaped to the weapon like those sheaths some had seen Mechanics wearing. When done it was sort of a combination sheath and scabbard. Leather straps at the top could be tied to ensure the weapon wouldn’t fall out. They had also crafted a leather belt for Jules despite her protests that it wasn’t necessary. The revolver sheath fitted on it along with the sheaths for her knives. The Mechanic weapon rested on her hip, its weight slowly becoming familiar, because the captain had said she needed to get used to having it with her. And she wore her boots, polished leather, because Mak had advised Jules that she needed to stop looking like any other sailor.
She was hiding from the Mages and the Empire, but she had to look special, stand out next to others. Apparently that made sense.
Jules almost groaned when another man came to lean on the rail right beside her. But when she looked she felt relieved to see Mak. “Good evening, Captain.”
“How are you doing, Jeri?” Mak asked.
“I’m fine, Captain.”
“Don seemed to be spending a lot of time with you.”
Jules paused, thinking, surprised at the observation coming from the captain. “I guess.”
“Is there anything going on?”
“Between me and Don?” Jules asked, feeling a curious mix of aggravation and affection over Mak’s interest in her life. “No.”
“All right.” Mak didn’t do a very good job of hiding the relief in his voice. “I just felt I should let you know that Don isn’t the finest man in the world.”
“Don isn’t the finest man on the Sun Queen,” Jules said. “He’s not even the finest man with a name beginning with D on the Sun Queen. But, I’m on a pirate ship. My social prospects are pretty much limited to pirates.”
Mak chuckled. “There are a lot of good men ashore, Jeri.”
“Yes, sir. Living in places where bad men and bad women can find me and kill me or kidnap me for the Emperor.” Jules glanced over at Mak. “In case you’re worried, there hasn’t been anything physical between me and Don. I have to think about the future, you know.” She heard the bitterness that came into her voice on the last words and regretted saying them.
This time Mak responded with a sigh. “Jeri, I really wasn’t thinking about that.”
“I didn’t think you were,” Jules admitted, looking down at the dark waters of the Sea of Bakre. “Sir, can I ask you something? About men? You don’t have to answer, but I don’t think I’d be comfortable asking anyone else about this.”
He paused. “Certainly.”
“When I started carrying this Mechanic weapon, this revolver, I thought people would steer clear of me because of it.” Jules frowned at the passing water. “But it’s like it’s having the opposite effect, especially on guys. Young guys. The last couple of days they won’t leave me alone. It’s like…this is going to sound weird. It’s like years ago when my chest grew, and the sort
of guys who’d never seemed to think I was interesting all of the sudden wanted to spend time with me. Do you have any idea what’s going on?”
“Um…” Mak began, sounding a bit uncomfortable. “I can only speak with certainty for myself, but I know that when I see a woman carrying a sword, she looks stronger, and more dangerous, and that is…more attractive.”
“Because you can tell she can take of herself?”
“Not exactly. It’s the danger itself, Jeri. The strength and the danger. Men, young men in particular, tend to be attracted to dangerous things.”
“Oh. I knew that. Women, young women especially, are like that, too. Dangerous men are…you know.”
“I hope you’re not—” Mak began.
“Not me! I don’t need to be burned to know I shouldn’t put my finger in a flame! I’ve seen other girls get burned.” Jules gasped a brief laugh. “Sir, I know you’re a man, too, but guys are really strange sometimes.”
“I admit it,” Mak said, smiling wryly. “Which is why I wanted to ask if you were all right. I don’t want to overstep my bounds. You’re a grown woman. But I’ve seen the extra attention you’re getting and I know the sort of mistakes people can make. I hope I can help you avoid making some of those.”
“You don’t seem to have that same interest in the other women aboard,” Jules said.
“You’re younger.”
“Not that much younger than Reya or Lana.”
“No, you’re not,” Mak said. “I did talk to Lana once about Don’s history, not that she seemed all that interested. People get to be eighteen, or twenty, and they think they’ve learned all the important things. It’s hard for them to realize how much is left to learn, and how easy it is to make a single mistake that can change your life for the worse.”
“I know all about that already,” Jules said. “This one time I walked into a bar, and my whole life get wrecked.”
“Jeri…” Mak looked around for anyone close enough to hear. “Do you realize how important it was that the prophecy was made in a bar where a lot of other people could hear it?”
“No. You mean to be extra double sure my life was wrecked?”
“Jeri, you know how it feels for everyone,” Mak said. “Slaves to the Great Guilds. Whatever they say, we have to do. The way those Mechanics treated you. And not a trace of hope that we could ever change that. Mechanic or Mage, they have powers we don’t. How could they ever be beaten?”
He paused. “But now, there’s hope. People heard it. People are repeating it. They know that someday one of their own will do the apparently impossible.”
Jules lowered her head, staring at the dark waters. “So I got to lose all hope and it was given to everyone else.”
“Is that really how it feels?”
“Yes. Sometimes…sometimes I want to throw myself off the ship and sink to the bottom of the sea.”
Mak took a long moment to respond. “Jeri, I know I made some mistakes in how I dealt with things, but I never wanted you to feel like that. No one does.”
“It’s not anything you can help doing,” Jules said. “It’s the way it is. I don’t matter. I’m not going to do anything anyone cares about. Except have a kid. And someday some child down the line will do that great thing. That’s who matters. But me? I’m just the mother hen. I’ll lay the egg that someday hatches into the hero. A daughter of my line. She probably won’t even know my name. She’ll have no idea who I was. But the entire rest of my life, which may be really short, is going to be about nothing but her. That daughter.”
Mak didn’t answer. She looked over at him, seeing the darkness in his eyes so deep that even the starlight could pick it out. Her ranting about a daughter. And him thinking of the daughter he’d lost. “Oh. Captain. I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry.”
He blinked, looking away for a moment. “We’re both haunted by daughters, I guess,” Mak said in a low voice. “The past, and the future.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Jules said.
“Neither did you. That didn’t change our fates, did it?”
“You came out here to see if I was all right, to make me feel better, and I made you feel terrible,” Jules said.
“That’s all right, Jeri. It’s all right. Can I ask a favor of you?”
“Anything, sir.”
“Don’t throw yourself off the ship.”
She fought the smile, but it came anyway. “Yes, sir.”
“And don’t think you’re not going to be anything,” Mak said. “That prophecy didn’t say you’d be nothing but the ancestor of that girl. It said nothing about what you will do beyond your having at least one child to carry on your line. Who you’ll be has not been prophesized.”
“But-”
“Listen to me, Jeri. We can create the future we most fear for ourselves if that’s all we dwell on. Or we can create the future we want by working toward it. Think of what you can do. Think of who you can be. And then become that. Before, during, and after having that child.”
She looked at him, feeling hope where little had been, a possibility of purpose where none had been. “Thank you, sir. Do you really think I can?”
“Yes. I told you that I think you’re the Emperor piece. I think you can change the game. Not overnight. Not as fully as that daughter of your line will someday. But the commons have to grow in strength. I really believe that you can help that happen. That you can help provide the things that daughter of your line will need if she’s to succeed. And if you do, she’ll know who you were. She’ll treasure the memory of you, no matter how many years pass between now and then.”
Jules looked down again, blinking away tears. The dark waters were still there, but this time she saw the stars reflected in those waters. “Captain Mak…”
“Yes?”
“I…I don’t know. Just…thank you. Your words mean a lot to me. I needed to hear them, but I also needed to hear you say them. I don’t know why. Thank you.”
“Thank you,” Mak said.
* * *
They walked onto the Storm Rider, Jules and Captain Mak, the Mechanic revolver swinging at her hip. Jules could see the stares resting on the weapon before going to her face, could feel the stares at her back. Those stares had followed her from the moment she walked onto the pier where the Sun Queen was once again tied up, and across to the pier where the Storm Rider still rested. The whole way, Jules held her expression calm and composed, as if she was so confident and so strong that she didn’t need to fear anything. It was an act, but she hoped it was a convincing one.
Captain Erin met them outside the Storm Rider’s stern cabin, her eyes also going from the weapon to Jules’ face. “Can I ask where you got that?”
“Some new allies gave it to me,” Jules said loudly, hearing the muted cries that followed from many of those listening.
“Allies?” Erin looked at Mak, the meaning behind that question clear.
“It’s on terms I’m comfortable with,” Mak said.
Erin stepped closer, her voice low. “You’re comfortable working with the Mechanics? You? Why, Mak? I know you can’t be bought. What’s the deal?”
He smiled. “They think they’re steering the ship, so they’re happy.”
“And who is steering it? You?”
“I am,” Jules said.
Captain Erin nodded slowly, her eyes on Jules. “I thought you were dangerous, but you’re far more so than I realized.”
“People keep telling me that,” Jules said.
“Maybe they’re on to something.” Erin nodded again, to her and to Mak. “Allies. Very powerful allies. Are you still willing to discuss mutual endeavors, Mak, or did you just stop by to let me know you’ve no need of the likes of me anymore?”
“Jeri made the decision to come back here and speak with you,” Mak said.
“Did she?” Erin said, looking a question at Jules.
“You were blunt,” Jules said. “But honest. You spoke your mind, and you were look
ing out for your crew. I know the value of people like that.”
“Then you’re wise beyond your years and I give you full credit for that,” Erin said. “What is it you want to talk about?”
Jules smiled. “I’m supposed to keep the Emperor’s attention focused on me. Captain Mak has suggested some ways to do that which should profit all of us.”
Erin grinned. “Oh, yes. I can think of ways that should profit us greatly. Come into my cabin, honored guests. Let’s have a drink together and talk business.”
Two days later, the Storm Rider’s repairs complete and both vessels stocked with enough water and food to last a while, the two ships sailed away from Kelsi’s settlement, bearing south and east together toward the sea lanes along the Imperial coast. Jules stood alongside Captain Mak on the Sun Queen’s quarterdeck, cutlass riding on one of her hips and the revolver on the other, her boots shining from a fresh polish, the wind blowing her hair.
Her life had been taken from her that night in Jacksport.
It was time to start taking it back.
Chapter Seven
The merchant ship was big and riding low from what must be a heavy cargo. He had been heading toward Landfall along the southern sea route from the salt marshes west of Imperial territory. As the Sun Queen swooped down on him from upwind, the other ship put on more sail, but it made little difference. In the rough seas, with a stiff breeze at her back, the Queen bounded from swell to swell like a wolf closing on a fat, slow cow.
The Imperial sloop that had been patrolling this area had been drawn off in a prolonged pursuit of the Storm Rider, Captain Erin repeatedly teasing the sloop with apparent chances to catch her ship before slipping away again. Both ships were somewhere back to the west and south, beyond the horizon.
Jules stood on the quarterdeck, checking the revolver. She’d been practicing with the strange weapon, removing all of the cartridges and watching how using her finger to pull the trigger caused the hammer to first come back and then slam forward, how each time that happened the cylinder that held the cartridges rotated one increment to place another empty hole or cartridge under the hammer. But she’d yet to shoot the weapon, since she had only the four cartridges and might never see another one.
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