by Jane Glatt
“I am angry with Ursa,” Inger agreed.
“Then go tell her. I’ll shower and clean up and then come to the tavern. We’ll see what Ursa does then.”
“Should I say anything about Hanne?” Inger asked.
“No. I think that’s a secret Ursa even keeps from the privateers.” And that could be the thing Ursa would most want to keep quiet. Would the rest of the pirates be understanding if they knew that they were being spied on? That their conversations were being monitored and reported? Dag didn’t think so. “Just try to treat Hanne the same as always.”
Dag’s shower was fast—she didn’t know what danger either she or Inger were in so she wanted to get into the tavern as soon as possible. There were half a dozen pirates sitting at tables. Her Trait meant that no one really noticed her when she entered, but a few people glanced her way once she sat down. As far from Hanne as possible. She’d thought about glaring at the woman, but if Hanne was a secret Ursa couldn’t afford to have known, it wasn’t safe to acknowledge her.
Ursa sidled out from behind the bar and came over.
“I’m not sure what lies you’ve been telling your sister, but I didn’t do anything to you last night.”
Dag had been looking at Inger, who was dealing with a customer, so it took her a moment to realize what Ursa had said. She looked up at the other woman’s thunderous expression.
“What did Inger say?” Dag asked, trying to buy time. She knew the truth and so did Ursa, but would she and Inger be in danger if she pushed the tavern owner to admit it?
“That I drugged you,” Ursa sneered. She raised one eyebrow, and Dag felt the challenge in that one small movement. “And that you passed out from it.”
“I did!” Dag said. “Pass out, that is. From what you served me, although it was my own fault for drinking too much.”
Ursa’s expression changed from threatening to triumphant, and Dag suppressed a sigh of relief. But she wasn’t completely relieved: the immediate danger might be over, but she and Inger were still at Ursa’s mercy.
“See that your sister knows that,” Ursa said. “And I want you gone. There’s a ship due to go out today. You should be on it.”
“I’ll talk to Inger,” Dag said. And she would, but right now she knew that she couldn’t trust her with the truth. What hold did Ursa have over Inger? Was there a Trait at work that she hadn’t yet discovered? She might leave the tavern, but she wasn’t going to leave the island, not until she knew Inger was safe. And right now, she didn’t think anyone was safe.
Inger headed her way. She slammed a mug down on the table, cider sloshing over the lip and onto the scarred wood.
“Why did you lie to me about Ursa?” Inger said.
Dag met her sister’s angry gaze and shrugged. “I felt stupid that I drank so much.” Convincing Inger of the truth again was only going to hurt her when Ursa could so easily talk her out of believing it. It would be better to have Inger trust Ursa’s version until Dag could figure out how to permanently convince Inger that Ursa couldn’t be trusted.
Inger glared at her but left. A moment later she put a plate of fried fish and potatoes in front of her.
“Ursa wants me gone,” Dag said, grabbing her sister’s hand. Inger shook it off.
“So do I.” She stomped back to the bar where Ursa was filling some mugs.
Once Inger had filled her tray and walked away, Ursa caught Dag’s eye and smirked. It took all of Dag’s willpower to ignore it. Ursa might have won this battle, but Dag was not going to let her ruin her sister’s life. But for now, all she could do was pretend that Ursa had won: she’d eat her meal and pack up her things and leave the tavern, but she was not boarding that ship.
Inger didn’t come to her table again, so when she’d finished eating, Dag simply left payment and returned to Inger’s room. She didn’t have much to pack, but she bundled it all together and left. She needed travel rations, but since Ursa owned everything, she couldn’t buy it herself. She’d ask Calder to do that. Seeing him was a risk, but he was the only person she trusted right now, and that included her sister.
Chapter 10
CALDER SAT BESIDE the small window, staring out through a sliver of space between the curtain and the frame. He didn’t have a wide view of the area in front of the inn, but he could see an edge of the square. There had been a flurry of activity earlier: he assumed that someone from the Bright Breeze had come looking for their missing crew members. In the past hour or so only a single person had come to the well to get water.
He didn’t plan on leaving his room today: there was too much he didn’t understand about what was happening. He wished he had a Trait that he could force to work, but this situation was far too volatile for him to try to change how he used Luck now.
A knock on the door startled him. Had he been concentrating on what was out front so much that he’d ignored possible threats from inside the inn? What if it was Charis back for his answer? Could Calder afford to say no?
He crossed to the door and leaned against it. “Who’s there?” he asked softly.
“It’s me,” a woman replied. “Let me in.” He recognized Dagrun Lund: at least he assumed it was her and not Inger.
He opened the door, and Dagrun squeezed through it.
“I don’t think anyone noticed me coming here,” she said, looking over the small room, taking in the narrow bed pushed against the wall and the single chair perched beside the covered window. She stepped over and, without touching the curtain, looked out.
“At least I’m not being paranoid,” Dagrun said, “if you’re anxious too.” She turned back to him and dropped a bundle on the bed. “Ursa told me to leave on the ship that’s at anchor.”
“She wants you dead,” Calder said, surprised. “Why?”
“Dead? I thought she just wanted me gone.”
“The Bright Breeze will be allowed to sail away from Strongrock,” Calder said. “But my guess is that the pirates will take her before she makes it to the Frozen Pass. I think very few of the crew will survive.”
“Skit! Ursa wants me gone forever!” Dagrun looked more angry than scared, and Calder wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. “How do you know?”
He took a seat on the bed and gestured to the chair. “I was offered the position of Second Mate on the Bright Breeze,” he said. “Although they’ll change the name and probably make some other adjustments to hide its origin.” He paused. “But why does she want you dead?”
“It’s about Inger,” Dagrun said and frowned. “It has to be. Whatever use they have for her and her Trait, I’m in the way.” She met his gaze. “My Trait uncovers secrets—that’s what it does—so why isn’t it working now? Why can’t I figure out why they want her?”
Calder shrugged. “I only know how my Trait works. But you knew enough not to get on the ship.”
“Sure, because I’m not letting Ursa have Inger.” She peeked out the window before turning back to him. “She’s got . . . some kind of hold—or Trait—that she’s using on Inger. I told Inger that Ursa drugged me and then half an hour later, Inger’s mad at me because I’ve been telling lies about Ursa. She’s mad at me!” She shook her head. “Whatever Ursa’s plan is for Inger, she’s not getting her while I’m alive.”
“I think it’s pretty clear that she knows that,” Calder said. Dagrun’s head came up and she stared at him. “Why do you think she wanted you on the Bright Breeze? Once you boarded that ship she could make sure someone killed you.” He paused. “Although why would the innkeeper and tavern owner, a woman whose livelihood depends on being neutral, align herself so blatantly with the pirates?”
“Ursa knows all the secrets on Strongrock,” Dagrun said. She grinned. “But I know quite a few of them too. I told you about the beach with the boat? What I didn’t tell you is that there’s something hidden there. I saw a ship anchor near the beach and pirates bring crates from the ship to the shore. They took them through the forest and added them to others in some kind of ware
house. Full of weapons.”
“Weapons? How do you know?” Calder felt his focus narrow. This was important.
“I looked,” Dagrun said. “After they left. I lifted up the tarp and counted the crates. And I saw a cannon. It said Diamanto on it.”
“Diamanto!” Calder was more surprised at the name than the fact that there was a cannon. “The Diamanto was lost last year. It went through the Frozen Pass too late in the year, I heard. Thirty crew lost, including the captain and first mate.” He’d been in the Sapphire Sea at the time, but he’d known men and women who’d died on that ship. “I seem to remember that there was very little of the ship left.”
“Well, the cannon didn’t look like it had been pulled from the sea,” Dagrun said. “And some of the crates had other names: Merja, Windswept, and Stormrunner.”
Calder closed his eyes. All ships that had been reported missing at sea and presumed lost with all hands. Had every single ship been pirated? Had all of the crew been killed? He opened his eyes. “I think Joosep has been sending me on the wrong assignments. These ships have all been reported as lost at sea.”
“And the one at anchor here?” Dagrun said. “The Bright Breeze? You think that one will be next.”
“Yes,” Calder said. “And any weapons they were carrying will be added to the ones you found.” He stood up and started pacing. “We need to tell Joosep about this.”
“You think he doesn’t already know?”
Dagrun’s question stopped him cold. What if Joosep did know? “You think Joosep deliberately sent me on assignments away from the Pale Sea?”
“He forced Inger to talk to Tarmo Holt, who then threatened me,” Dagrun said. “I’m not sure I trust Joosep.” She looked away. “I’m not sure I trust you, but I don’t have any other allies.”
“But you have a plan. What can I do?” Calder asked. He wasn’t sure he could trust Dagrun either: he had a feeling her loyalty would always be to her sister even if Inger became a pirate.
“I need food,” Dagrun said. “Ideally travel rations for a few days—maybe a week.”
“I’ll do my best.” Could he get some from Charis? “And I assume water.”
“Not water. I found a couple of springs, and I have a water skin I’ll fill before I go. And something to fish with?”
“Do you even know how to—” There was a knock on the door and Calder stopped mid-sentence. Another visitor? Dagrun was already on the floor and sliding under the bed. He grabbed her pack and set it down beside her. Once it too had disappeared, he went to the door.
“Who’s there?” he called out.
“It’s me, Jaak. I need to talk to you.”
Calder opened the door to let in an agitated Jaak. He didn’t even look at Calder: he simply started pacing the length of the room.
“Jaak, calm down,” Calder said. He sat on the bed, partly to get out of Jaak’s way, and partly to make sure Jaak didn’t sit on it and discover Dagrun. Right now, Jaak didn’t look like a man who could keep that kind of secret.
“I can’t calm down,” Jaak said. He stopped in front of him. “First Mate Charis told me, but I need to warn you, tell you that you can’t! They’re gonna force me back into this life, but you! You need to get away, Rahm. Far away from here.”
“Charis told you what?” Calder asked. “Because I’ll tell you the truth, he asked me to join him, and I haven’t yet given him an answer.”
“Oh, thank Jebris,” Jaak said. He was visibly relieved. “Then you’ll tell him no.”
“What’s wrong with telling him yes?” Calder asked. “I’ve done a voyage or two as a privateer,” he said truthfully. “As long as the share is fair, what’s the harm?”
Jaak’s face clouded with anger. “It’s stealing, which I don’t like,” he said. “But with this crew, there’s murder. Now Captain Ansdottir, she don’t make anyone kill who don’t want to, but there’s plenty who are all right with that, and the other ship’s crew is dead all the same.”
“Are you sure?” This must be the real reason why Jaak left the pirates before, not stealing, like he’d said.
“I’ve been through it once,” Jaak said. “A couple of years ago. Don’t want to do it again.” The look he gave Calder was haunted. “Bad enough when we were just stealing, but the killing? I still hear them begging and pleading. Better if they had scuttled on the rocks and died clean.”
Calder didn’t have a reply to that. He had until the morning to answer Charis, and by then the Bright Breeze would already be in the hands of the pirates and the crew would be dead. But although he didn’t have the power to stop it, he might be able to stop future attacks if he could explain what was happening to Joosep. As long as Joosep wasn’t already a party to it.
“If I want to say no to Charis, would he let me leave Strongrock?” Calder asked. “Could you?”
“They won’t let me leave,” Jaak said. “Captain won’t let me leave.”
“Why not? She let you leave once.”
“I slipped away,” Jaak replied. “Even I didn’t know I was going to do it until I did it. I shipped out as crew on another vessel within hours so’s they couldn’t find me and take me back. No, she won’t let me leave.”
“I still don’t understand why not,” Calder said.
“Because she don’t like to lose!” Jaak said. “Not people, not ships, not fights. What’s hers stays hers. Even if she has no use for you. Even if you hate her. What’s hers stays hers.”
“And you’re hers how?” Calder asked.
“She picked me up off the streets. I was starving and freezing and my brother had just been jailed for stealing food to feed me.” Jaak shook his head. “She kept me from dying, and at first I was so grateful. But now I know she owns me. Wish I’d died when I was a child; wish she’d never found me.”
Calder sat back, startled by the despair and bitterness in Jaak’s voice. When he’d met him, he’d thought him a happy-go-lucky man.
“Would they still let me leave? I don’t belong to the captain.” At least as far as he knew he didn’t, but Charis had been a pirate all this time. Who knew what he’d said to Ansdottir?
“You might and not know it,” Jaak said. “Captain said you saved the ship, so she knows about you.” He sighed. “And it might not matter. There’s no way off Strongrock that the captain doesn’t control.”
“Don’t other ships anchor here?”
“Not any that make to the next anchor,” Jaak said. He looked resigned and more than a little sad. “Well, that’s all I came to say. Maybe it would have been better if I hadn’t, but I thought you should know what you’re agreeing to.” He opened the door and then turned back to Calder. “They sure didn’t explain any of that to me.” He left and closed the door.
Calder got off the bed, and Dagrun slid out from under it.
“Whew.” She brushed dust off her hair and clothes. “No one cleans under there.” She dropped her bag on the bed. “He’s wrong, you know. Your friend Jaak. There is another way off the island. Do you know how to sail?”
CALDER STARED AT her for a moment before he answered.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just ask me that,” he said. “And I would advise you not to ask any other sailor that same question. It’s a serious insult.”
“Oh, sure.” She didn’t really think of Calder as a sailor: to her he was an Intelligencer. “It’s just that I know where to find a boat—a sailboat—that can take us off the island. It might even be a day or so before the pirates know it’s missing.” At least she hoped it would be there. Ursa had known about her visit with the children because Teacher had sailed that small boat back here and told her. Had Teacher sailed it back to the children’s beach? That must be where this Jaak had lived too, if he’d been taken from the streets of Tarklee and brought here. Did all of the children become pirates?
“But someone owns it,” Calder said. “Someone will miss it.”
“Yeah, but it’s a bit of a walk,” she said.
“Near the weapons cache?”
“Yeah,” Dag lied. “Close to that beach.” She didn’t completely trust Calder—not yet—partly because she didn’t trust Joosep and he did. But she had to admit that he was right about one thing: it seemed that Ursa wanted her dead.
“All right.” Calder stood up. “I need to see about rations.” He shrugged. “And fishing gear. If I’m not back in an hour, I’ll meet you at the beach near the weapons. If it comes to that, and we have to run, we’ll be grateful for the chance to arm ourselves.”
“You think it will come to that?” Dag asked. She knew Inger was in trouble—as was she—but was Calder really not safe? He hadn’t given Jaak that impression at all. He could be lying to her. Her Trait hadn’t been triggered, so she didn’t think he was hiding anything, but what if his Trait was interfering with hers?
“I’m not sure,” Calder replied. “There are far too many things I don’t know. But the pirates? They have dangerous secrets, and they will kill to keep people from knowing them.”
Calder left and Dag watched him from the window. He wandered to the square. When he went behind a building she lost track of him.
She grabbed her pack and headed to the door. Another reason why she didn’t fully trust Calder—once he knew where to find the sailboat, there was nothing to stop him from leaving by himself and stranding her here. She’d be tempted to leave him behind, if she knew how to and could convince Inger to leave. She had to assume he would do the same thing to her.
The square was empty when she reached it. Where had he gone? She tried to keep to the shadows of the few buildings that ringed the square, but soon enough she was forced out into the open. And there was still no sign of Calder.
“What are you doing?”
Dag whirled to find Ursa glaring at her.