Privateer

by Margaret Weis

  The harbor was almost empty. Business must have slowed considerably since the arrival of the Rum Fleet and the subsequent departure of smugglers and pirates. Kate suddenly wondered uneasily if Coreg and Greenstreet had also left town. If so, she would have no way to prove her innocence.

  Kate sighed. One more damn thing to worry about.

  The griffins flew over the Perky Parrot. No one was about. The Parrot would not open until the noon hour—if it opened at all now that Olaf was gone.

  Kate almost fell off her griffin trying to get a good view of the tavern. She gazed down on it with tears in her eyes. She would give anything to be back down in the Parrot now, going about her daily chores, grinning at Olaf when he scolded her for trying to hide the dust by sweeping it into a dark corner.

  She blinked her tears away, but not before they had fogged up the glass on her helm. She had to take it off to watch for the abandoned lighthouse.

  When it came into view, the griffins headed west and soon found the open field where she and Dalgren had trained. The griffins started to land, then something alarmed them and they pulled up so fast that Kate had to hold on to the saddle to keep from sliding off.

  The griffins rose into the air, then circled the field, squawking to each other.

  “The griffins think there’s a dragon down there!” Phillip reported. “I told them Dalgren isn’t here, but they don’t believe me. The place probably reeks of dragon.”

  “I told you before,” Kate said to her griffin. “The dragon was here, but he’s gone! You can see for yourselves! There’s no dragon down there!”

  Her griffin eyed her, then it eyed the field, and then said something to the others. After more circling and cawing, the griffins finally agreed to land. They came in one at a time, settling on all fours like a cat jumping from a tree.

  Kate knew Thomas would come to assist her from the saddle, as though she were some fine lady alighting from her carriage, and she quickly unstrapped herself and dismounted before he could. She looked around the field where she and Dalgren had spent so many happy hours and realized he was gone. Truly gone.

  Her stupid tears came again. She didn’t want Thomas and Phillip to see that she had been crying. Fortunately the two men were engaged in some sort of altercation with the griffins, who were gnashing their beaks and digging up the dirt with their talons. Kate hurried over to a rain barrel she kept near the equipment shed. She drank thirstily and splashed water on her face and felt better.

  After a great deal of groveling on the part of Phillip and Thomas and lots of cawing and gnashing on the part of the griffins, Phillip came over to share the water and report.

  “The griffins have finally agreed to return here to pick us up, but they refuse to remain anywhere around Freeport or to check back in with us. We have arranged for them to come back in a week. Do you think that will give us time to rescue your crew?”

  “A week should be enough time,” said Kate.

  She didn’t add that if they couldn’t find her crew in a week, it wouldn’t matter. Olaf and Akiel and the others would all be dead from the cold.

  “How is your foot?” Thomas asked Kate as he came over to share the water.

  “Don’t fuss over me,” Kate began, then realized she was once again being rude. She put on her mother’s courtly manners. “My foot is feeling better, kind sir. Thank you for asking.”

  Thomas grinned at her. “You can tell me not to fuss over you all you want, Kate, but I intend to keep fussing. You look exhausted. Sit down and rest. Phillip and I will unload the saddlebags.”

  He probably expected her to argue with him, but Kate was too tired to give him the satisfaction. She meekly sat down on the log where she had used to sit to talk with Dalgren and laughed inwardly to see Thomas look surprised.

  “You don’t know me as well as you think you do,” she told him under her breath.

  The griffins kept watch for dragons as the two men worked, removing the saddlebags Little Dmitri had packed for them. Kate worried that Coreg might be out there somewhere searching for her. She planned to confront the dragon, but now was not the time. She had to rescue her crew first.

  The griffins left the moment the men had removed the last saddlebag, flying back to Maribeau.

  “I hope they remember to come back,” Thomas said, watching them wing out of sight.

  “Little Dimitri will see to that. He thinks of everything,” Phillip reported, peering into the saddlebags. “He packed pistols and powder and ammunition.”

  “Any sign of rations?” said Thomas. “I can’t eat bullets.”

  Phillip rummaged around. “Bread and cheese!”

  Kate realized she was ravenously hungry. Fear had kept her from eating the prison food, even if she been able to stomach it. Thomas and Phillip joined her on her log and did justice to the bread and cheese.

  Once Kate had finished eating, she was eager to be on their way. The morning was already halfway gone and they still had to sail to the cove where she had hidden the Barwich Rose.

  The Rose will be there, just as good as when we left her, Kate reassured herself. She couldn’t help but feel a chill undercurrent of doubt, however, and she was grateful when Thomas broke in on her worried musings.

  “I am sorry Dalgren is gone,” he said as they ate. “He saved our lives in Braffa and I did not have a chance to properly thank him.”

  “Too bad he wasn’t there to turn that bastard Favager into a living torch,” said Phillip. “Where did the dragon go?”

  “He went back to the Dragon Duchies. He has family there,” said Kate.

  She hadn’t lied, well, not exactly. Dalgren did have family in the Dragon Duchies, though his family had disowned him after he deserted from the Dragon Brigade. These two didn’t need to know that.

  Seeing Phillip exchange glances with Thomas, she realized that they knew there was more to the story; previously, Dalgren would never have left her to face danger alone. Fearing Phillip was about to ask another question; she changed the subject.

  “So here’s the plan. I have a ship, the Barwich Rose, hidden in a cove about twenty miles from here. The only way to reach the cove is by boat. I don’t have one and I can’t go into Freeport, lest someone recognize me.”

  Someone being Greenstreet or his men. Greenstreet had betrayed her to the Rosians once. Kate wasn’t going to give him the chance to do it again.

  “I remember the Rose,” said Phillip. “She’s a two-master, as I recall. Can you sail her into the Deep Breath?”

  “The trip won’t be comfortable, but we’ll manage,” said Kate. “I was thinking you and Thomas could go into Freeport to talk to Old Benito. You remember him, don’t you, Pip? He has an island hopper he will let you borrow.”

  “Old Benito!” Pip smiled. “He used to carry messages for us. He must be eighty if he’s a day.”

  “He still talks about the Rose Hawks,” said Kate. “He will be glad to see you.”

  “I haven’t been in Freeport in years, Kate,” said Phillip. “Old Benito and others will wonder why I’ve suddenly turned up. What do I tell people?”

  “Say that you and your friend came to do business with Greenstreet,” said Kate.

  “Greenstreet. He’s the fellow who tried to assassinate Sir Henry, isn’t he?” said Phillip.

  “Yes, he’s the one,” said Kate. “Greenstreet runs a criminal organization. He’s involved in smuggling, arms sales, thieving, piracy. He was around during the Rose Hawks days, but he went to ground when Captain Northrop was in Freeport.”

  “Alan would not have dealt kindly with such a man,” Phillip said.

  Kate had once daydreamed about Alan Northrop. She had become a privateer to join his fleet and—it should be admitted—win his heart. She had not thought about him or his heart in a long time, however. She blamed Thomas for that, too.

  “Greenstreet is the only reason anyone ever comes to Freeport,” Kate added. “As for why you need a boat, tell Old Benito yours was damaged in a wizar
d storm.”

  “Old Benito, Greenstreet, wizard storm,” Phillip repeated, committing them to memory. “Where will you be?”

  “I’ll wait for you at the lighthouse we passed on the way here. You can pick me up there.”

  Thomas frowned. “I don’t like leaving you alone—”

  “I can take care of myself!” Kate said, flashing anger.

  “I was about to say that I don’t like leaving you alone without any means of protecting yourself,” Thomas stated, laying emphasis on the end of the sentence. He handed over a pistol he had just finishing loading, adding with a cool smile, “I know you know how to use it.”

  Kate remembered vividly the time she had held him at gunpoint; that was the first time she had noticed his remarkable eyes. She muttered her thanks, accepted the pistol, and thrust it into the waistband of the corporal’s trousers.

  “We should be going—” she said, and started to stand, forgetting about her injured foot.

  She staggered and nearly fell, and Thomas was quickly by her side, his hand on her elbow.

  “You’re hurt and you’re tired,” he admonished. “You should rest—”

  “I will have plenty of time to rest once I’ve saved my crew!” Kate rounded on him. “Stop coddling me! I am not one of your fine court ladies in perfume and lace. I am plain Kate with no hair and stinking of prison. I am grateful to you for saving my life. I will find a way to repay my debt—”

  “Don’t speak of debt!” Thomas said angrily. “We did what we did because we care about you!”

  Phillip regarded her, troubled. “We are here because you’re our friend, Kate.”

  Kate looked from one to the other and sighed. Two such wealthy, powerful young men could never understand her or her life. But she needed to make them try.

  “The truth is, I can’t allow myself to care. I can’t start depending on you. I might get used to using you as a crutch, and when this is over, you will leave and I will be alone. I have to stand on my own two feet—even if one hurts.”

  She looked at Thomas as she spoke.

  “Can you understand?” she asked him.

  “No,” he said.

  Kate gave up. She started to turn away.

  “But I will try,” he promised. “I will not coddle if you will try to smooth your prickles.”

  Kate gave a rueful smile. “Deal.”

  “Deal,” said Thomas.

  They solemnly shook hands.

  “But we will carry the saddlebags,” he added, teasing.

  “Of course, you will, sailor,” said Kate in lofty tones. “I’m your captain.”

  She grinned and limped off down the trail.

  Thomas and Phillip hefted the saddlebags, then followed Kate down the dirt trail she had worn through the jungle on her daily trips to visit Dalgren.

  The sun was bright. The birds and animals were going about their business. The jungle was alive with twitterings and screeches and caws. They had shed the peacoats in the heat the moment they had landed. Kate had insisted that they bring the heavy woolen coats along, saying they would need them in the cold of the Deep Breath.

  When they reached the lighthouse, Thomas and Phillip dropped off the saddlebags, which they would load into the island hopper, and looked around.

  “I remember this place,” said Phillip. “Only the beacon light was working the last time I was here. As I recall, if I follow this road, it will lead me into town. Where will we find Old Benito?”

  “He’ll be in the Parrot the moment it opens,” said Kate. “I’m sure he’ll remember you. Just don’t let him start reminiscing about his adventures with the Rose Hawks or you will be there for a week.”

  Thomas and Phillip started off down the dirt road. Kate watched them go. When the road rounded a bend, Thomas turned to wave at her. Kate waved back, sighed, and ran her hand over her shaved head.

  “Hair will grow back,” she admonished herself. “Be thankful you are alive.”

  She left the road and walked the short distance to the stone lighthouse, which stood on the edge of the cliff overlooking Freeport Bay. Kate had used the old signal flags to signal Dalgren. He could see the lighthouse from his cave, and when he saw the flags, he knew she needed him.

  The day the Rosians had attacked her ship, she had been preparing to signal to him. The flags were still lying on the ground where she had dropped them when Akiel had told her Dalgren was gone. The dragon, for years her most steadfast friend, had surrendered himself to the Dragon Brigade and gone back to face trial for desertion.

  The penalty for desertion from human armies was death. Dragons were more civilized. They did not kill their own kind, but his punishment would be severe. Kate realized she had no idea what the dragons might do to him.

  She picked up the flags, smoothed them with her hand, then carried them inside the lighthouse and packed them back in their canvas storage bag, even though she doubted she would ever return to use them.

  The lighthouse keeper had diverted water from a nearby stream for his own use, channeling the water into a pool not far from the lighthouse. Kate stripped off the corporal’s clothes and dove into the pool, glad to wash away the blood and the prison stench.

  She looked at the wound on her foot. Little Dimitri’s healing ointment was working, the cut healing nicely. Kate smiled to herself. Thomas would not have to cut off her foot now. Feeling immeasurably better, she put the shirt and trousers back on and sat down to rest in the shade of the lighthouse. She leaned back against the cool stone wall, went over her plans for the rescue in her mind, and fell asleep.

  SEVEN

  Kate woke to someone shaking her by the shoulder. She had been deeply asleep and she had to take a moment to remember where she was. When she recognized Phillip, she flushed and jumped to her feet.

  “I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she said. “Did you find Old Benito?”

  “We found him, and he was happy to loan us his hopper.” Phillip gestured to the small vessel, known as an island hopper because it was mostly used for brief trips—“hops”—from island to island.

  He and Thomas had tied up the boat to a small dock below the lighthouse, and Thomas was waiting in the hopper. He and Phillip had both acquired broad-brimmed straw hats to ward off the hot sun. Kate didn’t wonder how they had come by those. Phillip had been a favorite with everyone in Freeport during the Rose Hawks days.

  “You were gone a long time. Did you run into trouble?” Kate asked worriedly.

  “No trouble,” said Phillip. “Although something rather curious happened.”

  “What?” Kate asked, alarmed.

  “Nothing to fret over. The story will keep,” said Phillip. “I thought you might need these.”

  He held up a bundle of clothes and a pair of boots.

  “Those are mine,” said Kate, pleased. “How did you get them? Never mind. You can tell me later.”

  Kate carried the clothes into the lighthouse. Discarding the corporal’s clothes, she pulled on her slops and one of Olaf’s calico shirts she often borrowed; thus restored, she felt almost like her old self again. She even smiled, when she saw that Phillip had thought to bring along the red kerchief. Tying the kerchief around her bare head, she returned to the boat. Phillip threw off the lines, took his place in the boat, and they sailed into the bay.

  Old Benito’s island hopper was one of the smaller craft of its class, with two sails, a helm, and two lift tanks that used the gaseous form of the Breath. He used the boat to visit family on a neighboring island.

  “I’ll take the helm,” Kate said. She steered the boat along the shoreline, heading for Freeport Bay. “Now tell me what happened that was so curious.”

  “First things first,” said Phillip. “Gert is running the Parrot. Everyone was pleased to hear you had escaped the hangman.”

  “You didn’t tell them I was here in Freeport, did you?” Kate asked.

  Phillip gave her a reproachful glance. “Give me credit for having some sense, Kate. I t
old them we had just come from Maribeau where everyone was talking about your daring escape from prison. I mentioned that it was widely believed you had fled to Freya.”

  “Good,” said Kate, relieved.

  “Old Benito was in the Parrot, as were a few others who remembered me. While Thomas kept them talking about the old days, I made an excuse, slipped off, sneaked into your room, and stole your clothes. Gert sent rations: food and ale, brandy, and cider,” said Phillip. “She said we’d likely need blankets, and she sent those, too.”

  “Smart thinking,” said Kate. “So what happened?”

  “That fellow, Greenstreet. Turns out he’s gone,” said Phillip.

  “Gone!” Kate repeated in dismay. “Where did he go?”

  “No one seems to know,” said Phillip. “His house is deserted. Apparently there was some sort of falling-out between him and his hirelings, for they found one of them shot to death.”

  “You look upset, Kate,” said Thomas. “What’s the matter?”

  “I had important business with Greenstreet. If he’s gone…”

  She shook her head. If Greenstreet was gone, then perhaps Coreg was gone, as well. The dragon was the only one who knew the identity of the man who had framed her for murder. She had no way now to prove her innocence.

  She sighed and said, “Never mind Greenstreet. What else happened?”

  “You know Sir Henry’s secretary, Mr. Sloan,” Phillip said.

  “I have met him. Why?” Kate asked, and suddenly she knew the answer. “You saw Mr. Sloan in Freeport!”

  “He was in the Parrot,” Phillip said. “How did you know that?”

  “Because I saw him the day the Rosians attacked my ship,” Kate said. In the midst of all the turmoil, she had forgotten about Mr. Sloan. “I assumed he had come here looking for me on orders from Sir Henry.”

  The truth was, she had assumed Mr. Sloan had come to Freeport to arrest her for the murder of the dragon.

  “But then I realized I was wrong,” Kate continued. “He looked as shocked to see me as I was to see him. I wonder why he is still in Freeport? He must have heard that the Rosians sank my ship.”