After Dor left, Ian came by. “I’m going to go ashore and get my things,” he said. “I don’t have much. You’re not going to sail off and leave me here while I’m gone, are you?”
“No. Of course not,” Jules said, realizing as she did so that in the back of her mind just that thought had been lurking, to leave Ian on the pier and spare him the risk of being close to her. “How did you know I’d consider that?”
“Because as brave as you are, sometimes you want to run,” Ian said. “I can’t blame you for that. It’s why you’re still alive. But I do take it personally when I’m what you’re running from.”
“You are pretty dangerous,” Jules said, amazed that she could muster even that weak a joke. “Be careful. There may still be Mages in town, and if Imperial agents find out you’ve joined this crew they might go after you.”
“See? You do care about me.”
“No, I just don’t want you to die.” She looked at him, thinking of how much harder the last few days would’ve been without him. “Having you around would be…a big help. There’s a lot left for me to do, and not much time left for me to do it. ”
* * *
They’d be leaving Dor’s Castle today. Jules couldn’t wait to get underway and clear the harbor, wondering if she’d ever again feel comfortable in this place.
She’d woken up several times last night, imagining she’d heard a baby crying. Hopefully that would stop once the ship left here. If not, she’d have to learn to live with it.
Jules stood on the quarterdeck as final preparations were made to sail, grateful for the railing to lean on. She looked up at the masts, checking the rigging, and felt herself tense as she saw something beyond the highest mast.
“What is it?” Liv asked, looking up as well. “One of those monster birds. Is it coming lower?”
“I don’t think so,” Jules said, watching the creature fly, wondering if there was a Mage on its back, and surprised to feel a slight yearning to know what flying felt like. “It looks like it came from the west and is heading east.”
“Back toward the Empire,” Liv said, shading her eyes to continue tracking the movement of the bird. “Yeah, he’s keeping on steady to the east.”
“Dor said the Mages who were here all left a little while ago, heading east.”
“Huh.” Liv gave Jules a questioning look. “Like they’re being called in, maybe? You’ve said the Mechanics were calling their people in because of some Guild politics. Could the Mages be doing the same?”
“Do Mages have politics?” Jules wondered, then answered herself. “They’re still people, deep inside, so they must have politics. I hope you’re right, Liv.” The shape of the bird dwindled quickly as it flew east, showing no sign of changing its path.
“I hope I’m right, too.” She leaned on the rail next to Jules. “Speaking of men…”
“We were not speaking of men,” Jules said.
“I was thinking the timing of our new shipmate is a good thing.”
“Why?”
“Well, assuming you take up with him—”
“I am not taking up with him,” Jules insisted.
“If you did,” Liv went on, “anyone watching would think that anything that came of you and him becoming friends wouldn’t show up for at least another year.”
“Oh.” Liv was right, Jules realized. “That’ll help hide the babies, and throw off people trying to guess the age if anyone realizes they exist.”
“You know he’s devoted to you.”
“Ian? No, he isn’t,” Jules said. “He’d be better off without me. He’ll realize that and find someone else eventually.”
“Him?” Liv said with exaggerated incredulity. “That man? I’ve known plenty of men who would find another. But not him. I can already see it. He’s one of those who loves only one. You attract such men, Jules. Like a bright flame that devours them.”
“You make me sound like such a great catch,” Jules said, not sure whether to be amused or annoyed at Liv’s words. “The only reason men have been attracted to me is because they want in on the prophecy.”
“Oh, nonsense. You’re a dangerous girl,” Liv said. “Men like that.”
“Why are you sounding like a Mechanic?”
“Mechanics said that to you?”
“Female Mechanics,” Jules said.
“And why did the female Mechanics say that?”
“Because some male Mechanics…were…hitting on me.”
“I rest my case and await with confidence the judgment of my peers,” Liv said.
Jules looked over at her. “Hey, Liv. Thank you for what you said to me a few days ago, the morning after…that happened. I’ve been resentful of the daughter of my line almost since the moment the prophecy was spoken, because she took my life. I’d never thought about what the prophecy would do to her. Now I realize that we’re both victims of it, sisters in battling fate despite the fact that we’ll never meet.”
“I’m glad I said it, then,” Liv said. She looked east. “Our friend the monster bird has flown out of sight. I wish I knew what the Mages were up to.”
“You and me both,” Jules said. She straightened, wincing. “And I wish my body would get back to normal.” Walking to the front railing, she called across the ship. “On the Sun Queen! Prepare to get underway! Ang, is anyone left ashore?”
He shook his head. “We’re ready to go when you are.”
“Then let’s start taking in lines!”
The familiar routine comforted her, and the tasks of calling commands and feeling the winds required her full attention. By the time the ship cleared the harbor and tacked to the east Jules could almost pretend she was no longer haunted.
She’d worried that being up here might be exhausting, but found herself standing, watching the sea and the sails. Pacta Servanda had been comfortable. Someday Julesport would be comfortable. But this…this was home.
Keli came up onto the quarterdeck, looking her over. “That’s the first smile I’ve seen on you in a good while.”
“A smile?” Jules realized he was right. There was a smile on her face, a slight one, but still a smile. And then she realized the reason for it. “No offense, Keli. Being around friends has helped, and your draughts have helped, but what’s lifted my spirits is being underway again. There’s nothing like being underway, sails set, with a fine wind and a following sea. That’s why I’m feeling good again.”
“No offense taken,” Keli said. “There’s many a sailor who’d agree that there’s no better treatment for sorrow than sailing, and no better medicine than the feel and smell of the sea. As a healer, I recommend you continue sailing.”
“You’ve finally told me to do something that I want to do,” Jules said. “I’ll follow your advice.”
On subsequent days as they passed ships heading west, their decks crowded, Jules wondered if among them might be…
It’d be like that for the rest of her life, she realized. Every time she saw a baby, and then as years passed a child, and then a teen or a young adult, she’d look at them, trying to spot any resemblance, and wondering. But never knowing.
As they passed south of the Sharr Isles, drawing close to Imperial waters, Jules saw a big merchant ship gliding slowly over the water with only a few sails set. The ship, riding low in the water, looked laden with cargo and an easy mark for pirates. It flew the flag of a rich merchant family in Landfall that every sailor knew had close and lucrative ties to an Imperial prince. “One of the decoy ships?” Jules asked Ang as the Sun Queen sailed past a few thousand lances distant.
“Not a very good trap, is it?” Ang said. “Too obvious.”
“What do you think the legionaries sweating below deck on that ship would say if they knew they were this close to the woman their Emperor wants so badly?”
“They’d probably say a few choice words even sailors might not have heard.”
The next morning Sun Queen finally approached Caer Lyn from the south, having timed he
r approach for near sunset. The longboat was put into the water, Ang and several sailors climbing down afterwards. Jules watched the longboat disappear into the growing darkness as it headed for shore. “Ang says this isn’t risky,” she commented to Liv.
“We’ve done it before,” she said. “He’ll find our contact, arrange for a boat to come out and pick up our wood, and then we’ll go on to other business while the lumber is sold for a very nice sum to rich Imperials who want to impress others. Ang won’t be back until after midnight, even assuming everything goes perfectly. You might as well go down and get some food in you.”
“That’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll eat below deck tonight with the rest of the crew.”
“That’ll disappoint your man,” Liv said in an innocent voice.
“I don’t have a man.”
“Then who’s been going to your cabin to share dinner the last few days?” Liv asked with mock surprise.
Jules gave her an exasperated shove. “Ian and I have a lot to catch up on. That’s what we do. Talk. Nothing else.”
“Certainly. I believe you.”
“Liv! I don’t have time or energy for a relationship, and if you or anyone else spreads rumors that Ian is my man his life won’t be worth a dollop of warm spit.”
Liv turned away, patting Jules’ arm. “Relax, Captain. No one on this ship is going to breathe a word about you and any man to anyone not on this ship. We know the stakes.”
“Thanks,” Jules mumbled.
As if to further darken her mood, Ian was waiting at the foot of the ladder leading to the main deck, his brow furrowed with unhappiness. “Captain,” he began, “request permission to—”
“Knock it off, Ian,” Jules said wearily. “This is a free ship, not an Imperial warship. What do you need?”
His mouth tightened. “I volunteered to go along with Ang. I’d like to know why I was told to stay on the ship. Is it because I’m not trusted?”
“It’s because until less than a year ago you were an officer in the Imperial fleet,” Jules said. “Which means if there are any Imperial ships in Caer Lyn you might well be recognized by someone on them. Which would be bad for you and for Ang’s job of lining up the buyer for our cargo.”
“Oh.” Ian had the grace to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I should have realized.”
“What’s really bothering you?” Full night had fallen, the stars out above, easily seen framed by the masts and spars overhead that stood out black against the vault of the sky. Sun Queen rolled gently in the swells, the darker bulk of the island to the north and west looming off the starboard side, the wind sighing through the rigging. Members of the crew were speaking in low voices, though an occasional laugh pierced the night.
“I don’t think I’m contributing as much to the ship as I could,” Ian said.
“Meaning you were trained as an officer and can do an officer’s tasks, but are working pretty much as an ordinary sailor,” Jules said. “I’m sorry. I can’t displace someone like Ang or Liv. There’ll come a time I need another officer, and I promise your skills will be used.”
“You have much bigger things to worry about than my happiness,” Ian said.
“Maybe,” Jules said.
* * *
Ang got back about the middle of the night, and just after dawn a small ship was sighted coming to meet the Sun Queen. The Sun Queen off-loaded her exotic lumber onto the small ship, which then sailed back toward Caer Lyn. “We’re to meet them back here in two weeks,” Ang told Jules. “They’ll pass on our share of the profits, and the arms and armor we’ve asked them to pick up.”
“They’ll need those arms at Dor’s,” Jules said. “Two weeks? That’s about right to escort a refugee ship west, isn’t it?”
Well north of Landfall on the Imperial coast, a small town named Balmer boasted a single pier and Imperial officials who were even more easily bribed than usual. Little watched by those creating fortresses at the big ports of Landfall and Sandurin, Balmer had become a common way station for citizens escaping the Empire. The Sun Queen sailed to Balmer, finding a large merchant ship waiting there to pick up its human cargo and eager for an escort against pirates. “Do you think any of those hiring ships like us to escort them against the threat of pirates know that the ships they’re hiring are all pirates?” Keli asked Jules as both ships stood out from Balmer en route to Kelsi’s.
“It’s all good as far as they’re concerned,” Jules said. “And there’s much less danger of anyone getting hurt.”
“How are you doing?”
“I’ll live.”
Sun Queen only stood into Kelsi’s long enough to pick up fresh water and food, as well as local news. “No Mages in town,” Ang said. “There were usually five or ten around, but they all headed east back to the Empire.”
“Someone’s expecting something to happen soon,” Jules said.
They made it back to the waters south of Caer Lyn one day shy of the two weeks, planning to drift while waiting.
But those plans changed as one of the big metal Mechanic ships came sailing their way, plainly aiming to intercept the Sun Queen.
Chapter Thirteen
The Mechanic ship maneuvered close alongside the Sun Queen, dwarfing the wooden sailing ship and paying no attention to the winds as it slowed. Jules stood on the quarterdeck, wondering whether Mechanics Guild internal politics had settled on a course that would be hostile to her. She couldn’t tell whether it was the same as one of the Mechanic ships she’d been on already. The Mechanic ships bore no numbers or names or other distinguishing marks, and flew only the Guild flag, probably to make it hard for commons to keep track of them or even to be sure how many there were.
As the Mechanic ship glided to a halt, plainly waiting, Jules told Ang to put a boat in the water. “I’ll go over and see what they want.”
“How dangerous is this?” Ian asked.
“They haven’t killed me yet,” Jules said. “I’m trying to keep that record intact.”
“I should—”
“I’m the only one they’ll let come aboard.”
Jules hastily changed into her best pants and shirt, buffed her boots, and settled one of the revolvers in its holster at her waist. By the time she was done, the boat was in the water, several sailors already waiting at the oars. Feeling Ian’s worried gaze on her, Jules went down the Jaykob ladder, grateful that she’d recovered enough physically to be able to handle the descent without any problem.
“Let’s get on over there before they get impatient,” Jules told Gord, who was in charge of the boat. The other sailors bent to their oars as Gord steered the boat toward the looming mass of the Mechanic ship.
“How does it float?” Gord called to Jules as they neared the high metal side of the ship. “I mean, it’s all steel or iron, right? How does that float?”
“If the Mechanics ever tell me, I’ll let you know,” Jules said. The boat came alongside the Mechanic ship, the metal of the hull rising beside it. The Mechanics had also dropped a Jaykob ladder, a reassuringly normal thing about their ship.
Jules breathed in and out slowly to calm herself, then began climbing up the ladder. This was the first time she’d confronted Mechanics since giving birth. Would they be able to see anything that would betray what had happened?
Several Mechanics were waiting on deck. None of them seemed to notice anything different about Jules. She was, after all, just a common. Even though all of the Mechanics had revolvers in holsters, none of them had the weapons in hand. One of them beckoned to Jules and led the way wordlessly inside the ship.
She tried to keep track this time of the turns and passageways and ladders they used until reaching a door. The Mechanic leading the way opened the door, revealing a room lined with wood paneling, a large wooden desk fastened to the deck near one wall. It resembled a similar room that Jules had been in on a Mechanic ship, but she thought a few small details might be different. Behind the desk, a single older Mechanic waited, his eyes on he
r.
After a pause in which Jules felt increasingly awkward, she decided to risk speaking first. “Good afternoon, Sir Senior Mechanic.” It seemed safe to call him a senior mechanic. Every Mechanic she’d encountered who was in charge had been a senior Mechanic.
He didn’t correct her, so she must have guessed right. “You have about five weeks,” the Senior Mechanic said.
“Five weeks?”
“We have very recently received word from Marandur. The Emperor has executed all of his senior advisers for treason and ordered an attack to seize all settlements along the south coast, on through the strait. The Guild has learned that the Empire’s plan calls for four weeks to gather the soldiers and ships at Landfall. Our understanding is that sailing from Landfall to…what’s the name of that place?”
“Dor’s Castle, Sir Senior Mechanic?” Jules, reeling internally at the news that the long-dreaded Imperial attack was coming, was surprised that she could speak so calmly.
“Yes. That place. Sailing there will take about another week. So, five weeks. The plan places particular emphasis on ultimately seizing Julesport because the Emperor thinks that you will be certain to defend it in person, and he still wants your person.”
“We’ll stop the Imperial attack at Dor’s Castle,” Jules said. “The Emperor’s hand will never reach Julesport.”
He eyed her for a moment. “There’s something else. The Mages are providing assistance to the Imperial attack.”
“Mages?” Another worst fear confirmed.
The Senior Mechanic walked in front of the desk and sat down against it, watching Jules. “It’s a clever move, since it would make any direct attack by the Mechanics Guild on the Imperial force also an attack on the Mage Guild. We can tell the Mages are worried. They’ve pulled Mages back into the Empire and stationed them at their Guild Halls in the big cities, ready to defend them if the Final War breaks out. That means the Imperial forces that attack Dor’s Castle will have a limited number of Mages among them, though it’s not hard to guess how superstitious commons will react to facing even a few.”
Fate of the Free Lands Page 26