“New taxes, and then a lot of their land and homes got taken for another Imperial hunting preserve,” the captain of the large ship, the Fair Traveler, told Dor and the other captains. “That new chart is being passed around. Never saw something circulate that fast. They all decided to head out for those new lands to the west.”
“That’s a lot of people to take in all at once,” Dor said, eyeing the crowded ship and fishing boats.
Jules spoke before she realized what she’d decided on. “There are other places. Captain, would those people be willing to go farther west, and start a new city?”
He frowned, skeptical. “How far west?”
“South of the Strait of Gulls. There’s a beautiful harbor and fine land around it.”
The captain brought out a much-copied version of the chart Jules and her crew had first made. “Whereat?”
“Here,” Jules said, pointing. “Julesport. There’s no city there yet. But they can begin it.”
“You’d need to ask them,” he said. “Are you…Jules of Landfall? Herself?”
“Yes.”
He smiled. “Then I think all you’ll need to do is ask them.”
* * *
“The Fair Traveler and the fishing boats are taking on fresh water and more food,” Jules told Ian. “They’re leaving with us tomorrow on the dawn tide.”
They were in a private room in what passed for the best inn that the town of Dor’s Castle could boast. Jules had managed to get Ian there by saying she had certain things to discuss with him, plans for the future that needed his input. She hadn’t told him what those plans were, or what she needed him for.
“I’ll be sorry to see you go,” Ian said. He wore the clothes of an average person, looking somewhat awkward in them in the manner of someone used to other clothing.
“Are you sure you won’t come along?”
“I can’t. You know that. I need to find steady work, though my skills are a bit limited, and a better place for my sister and mother to stay. They’re in one side of a partitioned tent right now.”
“Are they?” Jules said, trying and failing to muster any sympathy. “There’s steady work on the Sun Queen, Ian. Work as a sailor, which you already know.”
“With you,” Ian said, looking aside. “Jules, if there was ever to be anything between us, that time is long past.”
“Of course it is,” she said, smiling, and hoping her nervousness didn’t show. “I can’t get married. Not any more. Any man I married would be doomed. The Empire would stop at nothing to kill him, the Mages would do the same, and the Mechanics would at best make him a hostage.”
He turned his head away, looking distressed. “You could only marry someone whose fate you didn’t care about.”
“Right. If I did care about someone, I’d have to keep it secret. But it wasn’t always like that. Let’s toast to the past when we could both still dream.” She poured drinks from a full bottle, the best rum available in Dor’s. His glass was clear. She’d deliberately chosen a goblet made of ceramic.
“To the past,” Ian said, touching his glass to hers. He downed the shot.
She took a drink, but not the full shot, quickly refilling their glasses. “And to the future.”
“All right.” He downed that one as well, as she pretended to do the same but only drank a bit.
Jules refilled his glass, topping hers off in a way that made it seem she was refilling it as well. “And to tonight.”
“Tonight?” Ian asked.
“Just two friends. That’s all right, isn’t it?”
“Sure.” He downed the third shot.
When she was much younger, Liv had worked for a short time as a bar girl, learning the art of getting men to spend as much money as possible on booze while she herself avoided getting drunk. She’d told Jules how to do it. The trick was to stay in control while not allowing the mark to realize that he wasn’t in control.
But Jules needed some of the rum herself, because the closer she got to the purpose of this night the more nervous she became. “A table needs four legs,” she said, filling the glasses again.
This time she drank her whole shot.
“Why did you need to talk?” Ian asked. He’d begun moving and speaking in the exaggeratedly careful manner of someone feeling their booze and trying not to show it.
“I told you, there’s something I need to do,” Jules said. “Aren’t there five islands in the Sharr Isles?”
He frowned in thought. “If you count that rock near the center as an island.”
“Then let’s count it! To the five Sharr Isles!”
By the time they toasted the Eight Founding Cities of the Empire, Ian’s eyes were having trouble focusing on her.
Jules looked at him, pushing aside the bottle and glasses. “Hey, Ian. You know what’s a shame? We never even kissed.”
“Can’t now,” Ian grumbled.
“Why not?” She came out of her chair, sitting in his lap before he could stop her, her lips seeking his.
After the barest hesitation, he returned her kiss with growing fervor.
And then one thing led to another.
* * *
The lantern lighting the room had long since gone out. Jules got up carefully, gazing with fondness and regret at Ian, who was snoring as he slept off the booze.
If she cared for a man, she couldn’t let the world know.
And if she took steps to fulfill the prophecy, she couldn’t let the world know of that, either.
No matter how much it hurt.
She dressed quietly and left, walking through the nearly silent, pre-dawn streets of Dor’s Castle.
Liv was standing by the boarding plank as Jules reached the Sun Queen. She gave Jules a raised eyebrow. “Where’ve you been all night?”
“None of yours,” Jules said. “I told you I’d be back before dawn. Are we ready to sail?”
“Yes, Lady,” Liv said sarcastically. “Captain Kat stopped by and said she wants to sail along with us, if that meets your approval.”
“That’s fine,” Jules said. “It’ll give her a chance to break in her crew on the Second Chance and to learn the waters to the west.”
Naturally, the new settlers on the Fair Traveler and the fishing boats proved hard to get organized and counted, so the sun was rising before the ships left the pier. Jules tried not to look nervous, tried not to glance too often toward the town, but caught Liv noticing more than once.
But if Ian had yet awakened he didn’t make it to the pier before the lines were finally cast off, sails set, and the ships began heading for open water. The Sun Queen took the lead, followed by the Fair Traveler, then the five large fishing boats. Bringing up the rear was Second Chance. Captain Kat had suggested that arrangement so the sloop could keep an eye on the fishing boats in case any got in trouble. “More likely,” Liv said, “if those reefs the old charts show are really there Kat wants to be sure we’ll hit them far enough ahead of her she can turn her own ship about.”
“When did you become such a cynic?” Jules asked, leaning back against the quarterdeck rail as the Sun Queen cleared the harbor and began rolling in the swells parading across the sea.
“I was born that way,” Liv said. “Are you sure there’s nothing you need to talk about? Whoever you were worried about chasing you down didn’t make it to the pier on time.”
“You’ve got quite an imagination,” Jules said. “Maybe I was worried about Mages trying to kill me. You know, like happened after the last time I left Dor’s?”
“Sure,” Liv said.
Once well out to sea but still in sight of land, the Sun Queen’s helm went over, swinging her bowsprit across the horizon to point west. A brisk wind coming from north of east let her sail on a broad reach, sails billowing to catch the breeze and send the ship gliding up the side of each swell and down the other into the trough. The seas were running lively but not too spirited, the waves only about a half a lance high, the sun shining down through a sky marke
d by only a few fluffy clouds. “It’s as fine a day at sea as I’ve ever seen,” Ang said, smiling, but wary in the way of a sailor who’s seen the sea change moods too often and too quickly.
“A good omen for our voyage, perhaps,” Liv said with a nod. “Let’s see how far it lasts.”
Over the next few days they made it nearly to the Strait of Gulls, only slowing to match the pace that the Fair Traveler and the fishing boats could manage. But once again as they neared the strait the weather closed down, low clouds sending down a continuous drizzle and banks of fog coming and going to hinder their view ahead.
“Seeing this again,” Ang commented to Jules as they peered through the light rain, “it’s little wonder the crew got so spooked the first time we came through here.”
“It’s as if the world made a place to scare off sailors,” Jules agreed. She noticed some of the crew growing nervous again despite knowing the fabled reefs of the west didn’t exist, but no one objected this time as the Sun Queen continued on.
Those on the Fair Traveler and the fishing boats, as well as the Second Chance, were probably a lot more worried, but with the Sun Queen leading the way they continued to follow, the gaps between ships narrowing as the weather closed in to limit visibility.
The weather cleared enough one day for them to spot the cape that marked the eastern side of the strait. Jules took them out to where the center of the strait should be before turning nearly due south, the line of ships creeping through the murk of another misty night, only the lanterns on the bow and stern of each ship allowing them to keep together.
As the following morning dawned, Jules saw the streamers of fog shredding. “Cape Astra to starboard!” the lookout called.
Ahead, the land fell away, the broad expanse of the Jules Sea opening before them.
The Second Chance came bounding up the side of the line of ships, every sail set as she glided alongside the Sun Queen. “Blazes, girl!” Captain Kat shouted from the sloop’s quarterdeck. “It’s all you said and more! I bow before the finest sailor on two seas!”
“Wait’ll you see Julesport!” Jules called back.
Keli the healer had come on deck to enjoy the view. “Sometimes life ain’t so bad, huh?” he said to Jules.
“Sometimes,” Jules said.
* * *
But life still held some surprises.
When they finally reached the harbor where Julesport would be, Jules was surprised to see another ship already anchored.
She brought her convoy into the harbor, eyeing the stranger with concern until Ang gave a grunt of satisfaction.
“It’s the Star Seeker,” he said.
Sure enough, when the first boats came ashore, Captain Hachi was waiting. He offered Jules an elaborate salute. “Welcome.”
“What are you doing here?” Jules asked.
“Exploring,” Hachi said, watching the Fair Traveler’s longboats ground on the beach and the fishing boats come in close to drop off their passengers. “My experience as an Imperial official makes me skeptical of grandiose claims, so I thought I’d check what that chart showed.”
“You thought I was a liar?” Jules said, smiling as she saw people wandering about, gazing at the new land which would hold their homes. Some had run as far as the scattered groves of trees that grew into a forest in the near-distance.
“I didn’t know that you’d actually made the chart,” Hachi said, “especially given your name splashed on various landmarks. You didn’t strike me as being that egotistical.”
“I’m not. This city will be Julesport, because I want the Great Guilds to see it and be reminded that someday that daughter of my line will be coming for them. But my crew insisted on naming the Jules Sea after me.”
A burst of noise, voices raised in argument, interrupted their conversation. Hachi looked toward the sound. “There may be trouble in your new paradise.”
Jules looked as well, seeing a group clearly divided into two factions. A big man backed by about a half dozen men and women who had the look of bodyguards or enforcers faced a larger group of mixed ages. She began walking that way. Artem and Mad, who’d insisted on coming along to the beach, noticed and followed her.
She walked to the edge of the confrontation, one group to her left and the other to her right, as the argument continued. “What’s this about?” Jules asked, using the voice she used to call out orders in high winds and heavy seas.
“Who are you?” the big man asked, in tones that reminded Jules unpleasantly of the way Mechanics spoke to commons. He obviously thought he was talking down to someone.
One of his followers leaned close to him, whispering.
The big man’s expression shifted from disdain to respect that didn’t feel sincere. “Jules! Of course!”
“Captain Jules,” she said. “What’s this about?”
“We’re simply discussing how the town should be run. Administrative matters.”
“He wants to take over!” a woman facing the man insisted. “Synda ran the black market in our town back in the Empire and now he wants to run this place!”
“I’m stepping in to meet a need,” Synda said, smiling at Jules. “People need leaders.”
“Was there a vote?” Jules said.
“A…vote?”
“Like we do on free ships. Every person gets a voice in who the leader is.”
Synda looked about, seeing the reaction to her words. “We can do that. Later. When—”
“It’ll be done first off,” Jules said. “I won’t run Julesport myself, but I will insist that it be a free town.”
“I know these people and I know how to get things done,” Synda said, his voice still agreeable but a hard glint appearing in his eyes.
“He’s lying,” the woman said. “He even told us that once you’d left we’d start calling this place Synda’s.”
“I never said that,” Synda said immediately.
“That’s right!” one of his backers said.
Voices erupted on both sides in volleys of accusations.
“Enough!” Jules yelled. “There will be a vote tomorrow for your leader. I’ll make sure some sailors from my ship talk to you about how it’s done. This will be a free town.” She lowered her voice, looking at Synda. “I have no trouble with those who work the edges of society. I’m a pirate myself. But you have lied to me at least twice in a very short time. You will go back out to the Fair Traveler on the next boat, and when that ship leaves this harbor, you will still be on it.”
“And if I don’t?” Synda said, all pretense of respect dropped, leaning toward her in a threatening way that had the polish of an often-used tactic.
“Then I’ll kill you.”
Whatever Synda had been expecting to hear, it hadn’t been that, especially not in a matter-of-fact voice. “You…you can’t do that.”
“Yes, I can,” Jules said. “This will be a place of laws, but it will also be a place that will help fulfill the prophecy. You’ve heard of it? You’re a danger to it. You and everyone like you, because to you freeing the world means removing any limits on how you can treat other people. So, you have two choices. One, get on the next boat back to the ship that brought you here. Or two, I kill you if you’re still here after the next boat leaves.”
A couple of Synda’s flunkies made abortive moves that halted when both Artem and Mad drew their short swords.
Captain Hachi came strolling up, looking unconcerned. “If I were you, I’d leave. She will do it.”
Synda looked about him, then back at Jules. “Fine, then. Have this place. I’ll find another. You don’t own every place in the west. I don’t need this one.”
“If your speech is done, get going,” Jules said, stepping to one side so Synda had a clear path to the Fair Traveler’s boat.
Synda looked to his half-dozen supporters before turning to walk to the boat with exaggerated dignity. Four of the flunkies followed him without hesitation. A fifth paused, then hastened to catch up.
; The sixth wavered, then faced Jules. “Can I stay?”
She looked him over. “As long as you play by the same rules as the other people here. If you’re found to be spying or working for that one, you’ll be sorry.” Looking at those who’d been confronting Synda, and were now gazing at her with stunned expressions, Jules gestured to Artem and Mad. “These two understand how votes are carried out and captains, or leaders in your case, are chosen. They’ll explain.”
She walked back to the beach, keeping an eye on Synda as he got into the boat with the exaggerated dignity of someone pretending that he wasn’t being run out of town. Hachi walked with her, gazing inland. “They may never love you,” he said. “They may decide that being free also means not letting you decide their fates.”
Jules looked out across the harbor, to the sea beyond, wondering how far it was across the ocean. “Good,” she finally said. “That’s good.”
* * *
The vote next day was not exactly decisive. “There are three of us with about the same number of votes,” the woman from yesterday told Jules.
“Can you work with the other two?” Hachi asked.
“Work with them? Yes.” The woman made a face. “We don’t agree on everything, though.”
“Then I suggest a council, such as the Emperor has,” Hachi said. “Three of you in charge. If there is dispute on what to do, majority rules.”
“Two out of three,” the woman said, nodding with a look of understanding. “I get it. We can…talk about things. And then take votes among us on what to do. Is that all right?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” Jules said.
She smiled. “I’m Anna, Lady Jules.”
“Jules is fine.”
“A couple of those with us were trained in building arts. They’ve drawn up a plan for the city. Would you like to see it?”
“Yes,” Jules said.
Anna led the way to a group laboring over a large sheet of paper set on a fairly flat rock as a makeshift table. “Show her your work,” she urged the others.
A young man with a quick smile pointed to the drawing. “It’s just a start.”
Fate of the Free Lands Page 13