“Why do the Mechanics tell you these things?” Hachi asked.
“They don’t tell me,” Jules said. “They just talk among themselves in front of me as if I’m not there, because I’m just a stupid common. I stand still, and I listen, and I learn things.”
Hachi smiled slightly, inclining his head approvingly toward Jules.
But Erin shook her head, her lips set in a stubborn look. “Why won’t the Great Guilds just wipe out this settlement themselves?”
“They don’t want to risk the Emperor overreacting,” Jules said. “So, instead, the Mechanics Guild asked me to gather a force of free commons and destroy the settlement. They want to use commons to create trouble for the Emperor so the Mechanics Guild won’t have to do all the work themselves. They wanted me to destroy the town, but I convinced the Mechanics that if enough of the settlers would be willing to live free of Imperial bondage the settlement should remain and be allowed to grow, so that someday its own people could defend themselves against the Empire.”
“We’re supposed to die for one of the Great Guilds?” Erin shook her head again. “What’s in it for us?”
Jules tapped the chart again. “In the long run, a strong town where free people can grow stronger. In the short run, a new port, farther from the Empire. Far enough to be a lot safer than Kelsi’s or Marida’s. New markets. New trade routes across the sea. Fat merchants sailing those trade routes. Plus whatever money the Emperor sends along with the settlement. We’ll take our shares of that, and maybe some ransoms for whichever Imperial officials are there.” She didn’t state out loud her personal reason: that once this was done, it would no longer be unthinkable to commons to confront the Empire.
“The Emperor will also send legionaries,” Lars said. “And at least one warship, don’t you think?”
“I do,” Jules said. “We can take them.”
“Legionaries?” Erin said. “How do we take them?”
“With this.” Jules finally brought out the second Mechanic weapon, laying the revolver on top of the chart.
A longer silence fell, with the eyes of the other captains going to Jules’ hip to confirm that her revolver was still in its holster and then back to the new weapon.
“Who gets that?” Erin finally asked.
“I thought we’d all decide that,” Jules said.
“We all get a say?”
“That’s right.”
Lars leaned closer to study the weapon, moving as cautiously as someone near a dangerous wild animal. “That thing alone would be worth more than any of our ships.”
“It’s worth more than all four of our ships together,” Captain Hachi said.
“We’d have to be able to sell it,” Erin said. “And I’m guessing the Mechanics plan on keeping tabs on the thing.”
Jules nodded. “They do. They’ll probably ask for it back when we’re done taking the settlement. Also, it only has five cartridges.”
“Cartridges?” Hachi looked over the weapon as if seeking five similar objects.
Moving as nonchalantly as if this was old hat to her, which it was by now, Jules picked up the second weapon again. Removing it from the holster, she opened the thing called a cylinder so she could extract one of the cartridges. “These. Each one is like the bolt from a crossbow, only faster and deadlier. You can shoot them as fast you can pull this trigger.”
“Like the trigger on a crossbow?” Hachi asked.
“Yes. Though you don’t have to tension the weapon or otherwise prepare it between shots. But each cartridge only works once.”
“Those things are what makes the noise when they shoot?” Lars asked. “That thunder?”
“Yes. Don’t ask me how. There’s something inside the cartridges, inside this brass part. Mak tried to find out more, but no common has any clue as to how it works. What we did learn is that if any common smith or jeweler or druggist starts trying to make something like this, the Mechanics find out. And then they kill the commons involved and destroy their work.”
Erin nodded, finally seeming to be partly satisfied. “They don’t mind letting us use the thing because they know we can’t make another even if we study this one.”
“They think we can’t make another,” Jules said. “Maybe someday…” She saw the looks of alarm in the eyes of the others. “Not now. Not tomorrow. Not for a long time, maybe. Based on what Mak learned, I’ve no intention of trying such a thing on this or any other Mechanic device.”
“So you’re not insane after all.” Erin rubbed her mouth as she thought, her eyes on the chart. “I admit a safe port that far from the Empire would be a good thing. If I ever decide to become respectable, it’d be a nice place to set myself up as a fine, upstanding merchant. How do you think the Emperor found out there was a decent place for it along that coast?”
Captain Hachi leaned forward, pointing to the city of Altis. “Most likely he ordered some ships going to and from Altis to change their courses once out of sight of the island and explore to the north. Ships going from Altis to the Empire could do that without incurring so much delay that the Great Guilds would take notice of it.”
Lars nodded, running his finger along the chart from Altis to the Empire. “If anyone got suspicious, the ships could blame any delay on the winds. Jules, do Mechanics know much about sailing?”
“I don’t know,” Jules said. “They ride sailing ships at times, but I don’t know if they pay attention to the work we commons do on them. Those metal ships of theirs don’t have any proper masts and no sails, so there’s a different art of some sort involved in moving them across the water. Someone told me it might be the same sort of thing that makes the Mechanic trains move across the land.”
“What about the Mages?” Erin asked. “Are they going to be a problem?”
“Apparently they still think I’m dead.”
“That’s good,” Lars said. “They won’t be looking for you until they realize you’re not.”
“Haven’t you already been seen enough that the Mages would know?” Hachi asked.
Jules made a face. “I’ve tried to hide my presence when I can. There’s something I’ve noticed about the Great Guilds, though. It’s like they only see what they want to see, and only believe what they want to believe. Maybe that’s because there’s nobody able to tell them they’re wrong about anything.”
Erin nodded. “That matches what I’ve seen in Mechanics when I’ve been forced to deal with them. I won’t second-guess your opinion of Mages, as I’ve always steered well clear of any of them. So you’re thinking even if the Mages have heard you’re about, they’ll ignore those reports?”
To Jules’ surprise, it was Hachi who nodded in agreement. “That’s how the Imperial bureaucracy works as well. Inconvenient information is simply ignored.”
“That’s what I saw in the orphan home,” Jules said. “Inspectors came by every once in a while, but none of them ever saw anything wrong no matter how clear it was in front of them.”
Erin made a face. “I’d still like to know why you aren’t dead.”
“Are you disappointed?” Jules asked.
“Simply curious. If there’s a way to protect against Mage lightning, I’d like to know what it is.”
Lars and Hachi nodded in agreement, looking expectantly at Jules.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I think the lightning was weak for some reason I can only guess at. The sailors on the ship they’d taken said the Mages insisted on getting as close to shore as possible even though that ran their ship aground. So maybe there was something on the shore the Mages needed to make their lightning stronger.”
“What would the Mages need on land?” Hachi wondered.
“I have no idea,” Jules said. “But when I described what happened to some Mechanics, they seemed to understand. I couldn’t understand them, though. Something about the ground, the sea, and the ship charging them.”
“That doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Erin said. “But…all right. Ground, t
he Mechanics said, and the Mages wanted to head for shore. Something to do with that, I guess.”
“They charged toward the ground?” Lars suggested. “But…that tells us nothing.”
“I know,” Jules said. “But that’s as best I could understand what they said. It was like they knew about how something the Mages did worked, even though the Mechanics say the Mages can’t really do anything.”
“One more mystery about the Mechanics and the Mages,” Lars said. “What’s important now is that for the purposes of going after this Imperial town, we can be fairly sure that Mages shouldn’t be a problem, the Mechanics want us to do this, and those two Mechanic weapons should allow us to handle any force of legionaries guarding the place. If the Emperor is trying to keep this secret, he couldn’t send too many. Just enough to ensure that the laborers sent to do the hardest work don’t get any ideas about running away or refusing to follow orders. Aside from that, there isn’t any known threat that far west except pirates like us, and we’ve never threatened a town, so in the eyes of the Empire there wouldn’t be any need there for a lot of legionaries.”
“No need except for her,” Erin said, tilting a thumb toward Jules. “She even invades Imperial cities. But she’s never tried to take one over.”
“No one has,” Hachi said. “Until she proposed it, I never would’ve considered doing such a thing. It’s never been done before.”
“Maybe it’s time someone did it,” Jules said.
“All right, we have the Mechanic weapons to help deal with the legionaries, and Mages shouldn’t be a problem there. That still leaves at least one Imperial warship at that town,” Lars said. “We can’t just make that go away by pretending it’s not there.”
“Maybe there is a way to make any Imperial warship go away,” Hachi said, his eyes hooded.
“What are you thinking?” Erin asked.
“The Emperor wants Captain Jules. Wants her badly. If any Imperial warship saw her ship passing by…”
Lars shook his head. “The Sun Queen is known to the Emperor’s ships, but she looks like a lot of others sailing the sea. The Imperial officers might not recognize it as Jules’ ship, and even if they did they might debate what to do, especially if they’re not sure she’s aboard.”
Hachi smiled. “What if I tell them she’s aboard?”
Jules raised her eyebrows at him. “It’s traditional to avoid warning someone before you betray them.”
Erin shook her head admiringly at Hachi before looking at Jules. “This one got elected captain of his ship because he’s a plotter. Comes up with sneaky plans.”
“I learned that trade in the Imperial bureaucracy,” Hachi said. He leaned forward, serious, using his fingers to trace movements on the chart. “So…let’s say there’s a war galley at the settlement. And let’s say the Star Seeker just happens to sail by one day, and seeing the settlement the astonished captain, me, puts in to pay his respects to the Imperial commanders.”
“Wouldn’t they arrest you?” Lars asked. “Or just execute you straight off?”
“Me?” Hachi put an expression of affronted pride on his face. “Why would they arrest me? Everyone knows the captain of the Star Seeker is the late and unlamented Vlad. I’ve ensured the crew keeps mentioning that whenever we encounter other ships. Sometimes people ask them, didn’t Jules kill Vlad? It was just a flesh-wound, they reply. The Imperial officers won’t have any orders to arrest me. Especially since I’m going to be voluntarily seeking out their permission to ensure it’s all right to sail in those waters. After all, I am still, officially, a loyal servant of the Empire on temporary leave from his job in which he ensures that the word of the Emperor is carried out quickly and without error.”
Jules couldn’t help laughing. “What is it you did in Imperial employ?”
This time Hachi smiled. “Never ask an official of the Imperial bureaucracy what he does. As him or her what their job title is. I assure you my job title is far grander than the actual labors I put into the position.”
Apparently Hachi didn’t want to provide some details of his past, but that was normal among the free ships. One of the unwritten rules that they followed was that anyone’s past was their own, and not required to be shared with others. Since the crew of the Star Seeker had been convinced of Hachi’s quality, she wasn’t in any position to demand more details. “What would you tell the officers at the settlement?”
“I’d ask if the reward for the capture of that renegade Jules of Landfall is still offered,” Hachi said, looking virtuous. “And when told that yes, it is, I’d eagerly inform them that Jules herself was planning on coming this same way later in the day, having been delayed by…her crew being drunk or hung-over.”
“That’s the Sun Queen’s crew, all right,” Erin said, grinning.
“I’ll describe the ship,” Hachi said. “And even what the infamous Jules is wearing. Then the Imperial officers will be given time to think, to realize that even if they doubt my story, they can’t afford to discount it. If a loyal servant of the Emperor such as myself were to tell others that he’d practically handed Jules over to them but they’d let her slip past, it wouldn’t look good, would it? Whereas if it is you, and they capture you, the Emperor’s gratitude would make them all rich. Give them half a day to think it over, and when your ship sails past, with someone on the quarterdeck about your size dressed as I described, they will pursue it with every ship they have.”
“They’ll be bored as well,” Lars said, smiling. “Sitting around that town in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do, and the Star Seeker probably the first ship they’ve seen in a while. They’ll jump at the chance for action and glory and reward.”
Jules nodded. “Odds are very much that they would. And what will your ship be doing?” she asked Hachi.
Hachi pursed his lips as he thought. “They probably won’t want us to leave, on the chance that I might change my mind and warn Jules. I think Star Seeker should ask to remain at the settlement as a sign of good faith as we take on fresh water from the river. Of course the Imperial troops there will watch my ship closely for any signs of trouble.”
Captain Erin bared her teeth in a vicious grin. “Meaning they won’t be paying as much attention to other places that trouble might be coming from. That’d make it easier for our people to sneak in. Put ‘em ashore a little ways from the town once dark falls, then march in and knife any sentries before they sound the alert.”
“And when an alert does sound,” Captain Hachi added, “my crew would take out any sentries watching my ship and create a second threat for the legionaries to have to deal with.”
“You’re good,” Jules said. “Lars?”
“It sounds like it’d work,” Captain Lars said. “We want to hit the settlement at night, as Erin says. I think the Star Seeker should show up there around noon, with the Sun Queen coming by late in the afternoon or close to sunset.”
“Close to sunset,” Erin said. “We want that Imperial warship, if there is one, gone as late into the night as possible.”
“The Sun Queen could tease any pursuer,” Jules said. “Let them think they’re catching up. Ang and Liv can handle that better than I could. I’ll leave enough crew aboard to manage that.”
Lars frowned. “You’ll be leading the attack on the settlement?”
“Yes,” Jules said in a tone that made it clear no one should object. “The Mechanics are right about one thing. Our crews don’t entirely trust each other. They can’t be counted on to follow any of you except their own captain. But I’m different.”
“The girl of the prophecy,” Erin said, ignoring the cross look that earned her from Jules. “You’re right. You can use that, just as the Mechanics want you to use it.”
Jules made a face. “I hope so, but do you really think that matters all that much to commons, to your crews? It’s the daughter of my line that will free the world, not me.”
“You’re right,” Lars said, leaning back and waving to the eas
t. “You’re just the girl who walked into Sandurin past the legion stationed there and freed a lot of prisoners from under the nose of a prince, and the one who’s killed Mages, and the one who’s fought a dragon and lived, and the one who convinced the Mechanics to give her one—no, two of their precious weapons. Did I leave out anything? Oh, yeah, also the girl who got hit by Mage lightning and lived. Why would any of that impress anyone?”
“Have the Mechanics offered you any other reward or payment?” Hachi asked. “The question may come up. I’d like to know the answer.”
“It’s a fair question,” Jules conceded. “Aside from not killing me immediately, the only reward that’s been hinted at is that they might make me a Mechanic some day. Don’t give me those looks! I’d never accept such a deal, even if they’re sincere, and I doubt that. There’s no way I’d ever become a Mechanic and wear their stupid dark jacket and strut around like I’m an empress.”
“But they’d think it was the best bribe they could offer,” Erin said.
“That we agree on,” Jules said. “They can’t imagine anyone wouldn’t jump at the chance to become one of them.”
“And maybe they’re thinking they’d really do it,” Erin continued, “for sort of the same reason the Emperor wants you. Make you and your descendants part of their Guild, and what’re the odds that daughter would ever rebel against her own Guild?”
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