They yelled back, booing the idea.
Jules stared at the others in the crew, startled. “Are you out of your minds? I’ll be the death of you!”
Laughter.
“Captain-”
“Get us headed north, Ang!” Mak called. “Come and talk to me,” he told Jules.
Inside the stern cabin, Jules stayed stubbornly standing, her arms crossed as she glared at Mak. “I won’t have you or anyone else deciding my destiny, sir. Especially not with the lives of everyone on this ship now in great peril, sir.”
“Angry again, are we?” Mak asked her as he sat down.
“No, sir.”
“Let me tell you what we’re planning. The crew has already voted on this.”
“I didn’t get a vote, sir!”
“You will. Let me explain.” Mak rolled out part of the big map/chart. “While we were twiddling our thumbs in Jacksport, I was contacted by an old friend. You’ve heard of Dor and his settlement a ways out west on the south coast?”
“I’ve heard he found a good place. That would be the place you were once going to send me whether I liked it or not, sir?” Jules said.
“That place, yes.” Mak tapped a spot about halfway along the southern coast of the Sea of Bakre between the Empire and the vaguely portrayed western boundaries of the sea. “It’s about here. There are people, and cargo, in Caer Lyn that need to get to Dor. They’d pay us well to take that voyage, and it would also get us well away from any searchers for weeks. By the time we returned to these parts the fracas should have died down.”
Jules glared at the chart. “In Caer Lyn? And how do we get passengers and cargo loaded at Caer Lyn without half of the Mechanics Guild and a hundred Mages swarming aboard to kill everyone? Even if there aren’t any Imperial warships present? Sir?”
“The plan is to loop around the Sharr Isles, coming in again from the north and east,” Mak said, tracing the path with a fingertip, “and then pull into Caer Lyn near dark. We’d anchor well out from any of the piers, the passengers and cargo would come out in boats to be transferred to us, and we’d leave on the dawn tide.”
She frowned, her eyes on the chart, thinking. “It’s still not exactly safe, sir.”
Mak leaned back in his chair, his gaze on her. “Jules, the crew voted to do it.”
“I vote against it, sir.”
“Then that’s one vote against, all others in favor.” He gestured to the other chair. “Why don’t you sit down, Jules?”
“Because this ship cannot be my home anymore, sir! You and I both know that!”
“Where would be safer for you?” Mak asked.
Jules hesitated.
“There isn’t anywhere, is there? Nowhere we know of, that is,” he said. “Jules, I want to show you something.” Mak unrolled more of the map to the west, spreading it out to show the western shores of the sea. “I want to show you places where no one else has gone.”
Startled, Jules leaned forward and ran her fingers across that portion of the map. It showed, like every map of the west, the coastline from the north side of the Sea of Bakre curving down to meet the southern coast, enclosing the Sea in a vast prison of land. The farther west the map went, the vaguer the details, but the stretch where the sea ended in the far west was depicted as a welter of dangerous reefs finally ending on an inhospitable coast. The land beyond that was marked with the death symbol and notes about a lack of water and animals, a desert waste more severe than that facing the southern reaches of the Empire in the east. “Why go there? It looks like a death trap.”
“Someone went there.” Mak pointed to one marked object in the west, well inland. “Cap Astra. Someone named that.”
“What does Cap mean?” Jules asked.
“That’s a good question. Maybe it’s someone’s name.” Mak gazed at the chart, his expression wistful. “I’ve always wanted to visit there.”
“What? Visit a place in the middle of a wasteland beyond a maze of dangerous reefs?”
Mak nodded, his hand moving on the map. “Do you ever feel penned in, Jules? Like the whole world is a cage made for us? Look at it. The Empire to the east, controlling all the fertile land on that side of the sea, and ending in the coastline to the great Umbari Ocean. Maybe the Western Continent is somewhere beyond that. Maybe not. Rumors are that at least one Emperor or Empress tried to send an expedition searching for that continent and were told to forget it or else by the Great Guilds. Meanwhile, the northern and southern coasts of the Sea of Bakre are fairly forbidding except for occasional breaks in locations like Marida’s harbor and Kelsi’s settlement. And where Dor is setting up his place. Beyond that, the west is apparently uninhabitable and unreachable.”
“Except for Altis,” Jules said. “That’s pretty close to some of these western coastlines, though. I wonder why we don’t have better charts of those areas? It wouldn’t be hard for ships from Altis to look them over. Everything is oriented to the east, though.” She looked up at him. “Like you said, as if we’re supposed to stay there.”
Another nod. “Where the Emperor controls us,” Mak said. “And the Great Guilds control the Emperor.”
Jules ran her hand across the western portion of the map again. “I want to go there.” Suddenly she knew that, felt it as deeply as if another Mage had looked upon her and prophesized that she would see the far west. “Why hasn’t anyone done that yet?”
Mak pointed to where Dor’s settlement was being founded. “No one has dared go beyond that. No one has dared it. Yet.”
Jules smiled, her mind filled with visions of places no one else had ever seen. “I will.”
Mak grinned at her. “Perhaps, Jules, you could even hide out there long enough for that prophecy to be carried out.”
“I couldn’t raise a family in a wasteland,” Jules said. “Even if I found a suitable man out there. And if I stayed in one place, sooner or later the Great Guilds would find me.”
“Maybe you should stay on a ship, then,” Mak suggested. “I know one that wants you as part of the crew.”
She looked at him, torn between laughter and tears. “I don’t deserve this from all of you. For you to run these risks for me. Is this just about that prophecy? You all just want me to have that kid, don’t you?”
“We want you to be safe, Jules,” Mak said.
“It can’t just be about me! Or about her! That daughter of my line! She’s taken my life. I don’t want her taking any other lives.”
“At least you’re not mad at me anymore.”
“Sir, I do not call you sir when I’m mad at you, sir!”
He smiled at her. “Jules, will you at least ride the Sun Queen as far as Dor’s? Once there, if your mind is set on leaving us, no one will stop you.”
“That’s a promise?” Jules asked.
“Yes.” Mak looked at the chart again, seeming almost wistful. “I hope you think of me when you see Cap Astra.”
“You’ll be there with me, won’t you?”
“I’d like to be, but…” Mak shrugged. “I’m getting a bit old for piracy, and for exploring uncharted waters and lands. Perhaps I’ll stay at Dor’s. Help make that place a strong home for free people, at least until the Great Guilds show up.”
“Don’t say that!” Jules protested. “You and me, we’ll explore the western coast together. And find the Western Continent somewhere beyond that!”
This time Mak laughed. “I can’t imagine anything that I’d like more, Jules. But just knowing that you’ll go there someday is enough for me. You don’t need me slowing you down.”
She felt an odd disquiet at his words. “I don’t need you, no. But I’d want you there.”
“Thank you, Jules.”
* * *
Jules held the helm as the Sun Queen steered east, the setting sun behind her turning the sails into sheets of gold. The day and the winds were gentle, so the helm needed little work, the ship clipping along placidly through the waves. They weren’t in a rush, so the slow pace was
no hardship, in fact welcome since it ate up time that otherwise might have to be spent closer to Caer Lyn where it would be more perilous to linger. With little required to do her job, Jules daydreamed about sailing west, daring the deadly reefs and finding places no one else had ever seen.
“Hey, Jeri,” Liv said, coming up onto the quarterdeck. “How you doing?”
“Bored,” Jules said. “To pass the time I was planning my expedition to explore the west.”
Liv laughed, coming to stand beside Jules and looking up at the sails and rigging. “Mak talked to you about the West, did he?” Liv shook her head, smiling. “He’s always been interested in that, but never made it.”
“He’s going to make it,” Jules said. “We’re going to go west and see everything.”
“We? You and Mak?”
“Not just us alone,” Jules said.
“Mak’s getting on in years,” Liv said.
“That’s what he said. But how could we go west without the captain?”
Liv didn’t answer for a while, gazing ahead. “You’d be safe there, wouldn’t you? Way out in the west somewhere. Safe to have that family.”
Jules shook her head, gazing somberly toward the bow. “No. It doesn’t matter how far I went. They’d find me. They’d find the children. And they’d kill them. There’ll never be a safe place for my children, Liv.”
Liv paused again, frowning. “There must be a way to keep them safe. The prophecy says so.”
“I know a way,” Jules said. “I’ve thought of a way.” Her heart felt heavy, as if a great weight had suddenly come to rest inside it. “I don’t want to do it. I’m not sure I can. I hope whoever the man is who helps me bring those children into this world is strong enough to help me do what I’ll have to do.”
“I can’t imagine you ending up with a weak man,” Liv said. “But the heart does strange things, sometimes. You never know.”
Jules, depressed by the turn the conversation had taken, tried to steer it onto a new course. “Liv? Speaking of strange hearts, have you and Healer Keli ever been a thing?”
She laughed. “Now and then. We’ve been more than friends more than once. But each time ended the same, both of us knowing we weren’t going to promise ourselves to the other. So friends it was again.”
“Keli’s a good man, isn’t he?” Jules said.
“To be sure. Even though I joke about him being a shark, he is a good man, and I’ll break the teeth of anyone who says otherwise.” Liv clapped Jules on the shoulder. “But even good men can have restless hearts. Good women, too. If I’m being honest, I’m the same. There’re folks like Captain Mak, who set their heart on someone and never stray. And they’re folks like me and Keli, as changeable as the sea.” Liv studied Jules. “I think you’re like Mak in that way.”
Jules kept her grip on the handles of the wheel as she shrugged. “I don’t know. My heart’s never settled on anyone. What if it never does, Liv? What if I have to finally decide to just pick a guy and use him to get that child and then move on?”
“You won’t do that,” Liv said. “It’s not in you to be like that.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Do you want the truth?”
“Yes.”
Liv sighed. “You lost your mother and father young. You’ll never go for something temporary, even as short as one night. You’ll want someone who you know won’t leave.”
“My father didn’t leave because he wanted to!”
“I know, girl. But, still, he left.” Liv reached around Jules’ shoulders to hug her with one arm. “There’re two kinds in that regard, too. One is the kind who sees safety in avoiding promises, because that means they can decide for themselves what to do no matter what happens. And then there’s the kind who sees safety in promises, in knowing what’s expected of them and what others will do. You’re the second kind.”
“Am I?” Jules asked. “I violated my oath to the Emperor. That doesn’t sound like someone who values promises.”
“Why did you do it? Wasn’t it because you knew the Emperor would violate his part of that oath, the one where he promises to look out for everyone in return for their service? You knew that. And if there’s one thing you’re certain death on, Jeri, it’s betrayal.”
“That’s one thing, but it’s not the only thing,” Jules said, smiling. “Do you think she’ll inherit that, Liv?”
“You mean the daughter of your line?” Liv frowned in thought again. “It may be a few generations, but she’ll be your girl, won’t she? I suspect that whatever else she is, that girl will also be someone who makes anyone who crosses her very sorry for their error.”
“Maybe I’ll be able to like her after all,” Jules said. “Liv, tell me the truth. Why do I matter?”
“To me, you mean? Or to the world?”
“Both.”
Liv scratched her head, gazing out to sea. “You matter because you’re a sister, one who grew up in a legion home like I did. Because you’re you, a loyal friend and one to be counted on. Because you do what’s right when you can. Mind you, you might be a little too free with that dagger at times. But those who get it in the heart from you have always earned that, I think.”
“You can’t pretend the prophecy doesn’t matter,” Jules said.
“It does. It does,” Liv admitted with a sigh. “I’ve seen it on you when you think of it. You get this shadow on your face and your shoulders bend as if the weight of every common person depending on you is resting there and your eyes look like those of someone seeing no good roads ahead. Then you pretend to push it aside and you laugh and you act like just another sailor, but it’s always still there.”
Liv paused. Her voice grew in strength. “But I see more than that. It’s almost like I can see her sometimes, Jeri. Like I can see that daughter of your line standing behind you, and she’s not all that different. You can tell she’s from you, and you know looking at her that she’ll do it, she’ll overthrow the Great Guilds. Because no matter how many generations pass between, she’ll be your girl. And I count it an honor to be beside you, and helping you, though my efforts are far too little, and I know that in a world that has never had hope there’s some hope worth dying for now. So, yes, I look at you and I thank you for coming to this ship and giving me a role to play in that.
“And that’s how I think of you and of the prophecy and now you may laugh at me for being such a fool. But I mean it.”
Jules wiped her sleeve across her eyes. “I don’t feel like laughing. Thanks, Liv.” It was hard to think about leaving this ship, these people, who’d saved her after the prophecy was spoken and stood by her since.
Only until they reached Dor’s. Then she’d have to go.
Chapter Sixteen
Jules pulled at the oars, driving the small boat through the entrance to Caer Lyn’s harbor. Ang was in the boat with her, also pulling a pair of oars, the two of them getting past the dangerous waters around the point where Meg’s shack stood, her feeble lantern gleaming in the growing darkness.
The boat that had come out to meet the Sun Queen as she approached the harbor near sunset had warned that one of the metal Mechanic ships was at the best pier. The Mechanics didn’t seem to be particularly alert, but nevertheless they posed a danger. Best if the ship came in on the evening tide, and Jules followed behind just in case the Mechanics decided to search this late-night visitor.
Jules didn’t think that too likely. The night was restless, erratic winds gusting across the harbor, scraps of cloud flying past above, even the waters inside the harbor choppy with agitated waves. The kind of night when anyone who had a choice would curl up inside near a warm fire, windows and doors closed against the feral winds prowling the dark.
It made the journey of the small boat not only dangerous but also a test of her nerves. The Sun Queen had set a second lantern near the stern of the ship to guide her and Ang to the right anchorage, an extra light that also conveyed the message that everything was safe for them t
o come to the ship. But Jules’ eyes kept going to the bright, unnaturally steady lights of the Mechanic ship at the main pier.
Which ship was it? The one that carried Mechanic Hal and Mechanic Gin? Jules had no doubt what Mechanic Gin would do if she encountered Jules again, but what would Hal do? Would he pause to talk, to try to understand? She’ll have to talk to them, Mak had said of that daughter of her line, speaking of Mechanics and Mages. Jules hoped that daughter would be better at such things than she was.
What was Mak thinking as the Sun Queen dropped anchor in the harbor of Caer Lyn? His daughter had been here. Might still be here, since she hadn’t seemed to have come off the Mechanic ship. One of the Mechanics overseeing construction of their newest Guild Hall, probably. Lady Mechanic Verona.
Jules knew why she didn’t like Verona: because the memories of his lost daughter hurt Mak. But she didn’t know why she also felt a twinge of jealousy when thinking of Mak’s daughter. Certainly not because she was a Mechanic. Perhaps because she had a father who was still alive and didn’t know what a gift that was compared to what others had endured.
What had the Mechanics told Verona about Mak to make her so angry with him?
“It looks quiet,” Ang said over his shoulder to Jules as they rowed. “Chancy weather, but as far as the Great Guilds or the Imperials go, it looks all right. The Queen is still showing two lights to let us know the coast is clear.”
“I still want to get out of here as soon as we can,” Jules said.
What were the Mages in Caer Lyn up to? Jules had her revolver with her in case Mages attacked, but using that weapon would alert the entire harbor. She didn’t want to have to use it.
It felt a little odd to have so many cartridges for the revolver. She’d had three left when Mechanic Hal gave her eight more. Eleven. Enough to load the revolver cylinder almost twice over.
But there wouldn’t be any more cartridges. Not unless she mugged some Mechanics.
The small boat, rocking in the unsteady waters, came alongside the anchored Sun Queen. Sailors watching onboard held out lanterns to be sure of who was in the boat, then tossed down a Jaycob ladder for Jules to climb while Ang hooked up the small boat to be hoisted back aboard.
Pirate of the Prophecy Page 34
