“That’s weird, isn’t it?” Jules said. “They knew pretty accurately where and when I’d be there, but only in one case. They didn’t know that I’d be there earlier.”
“Who knows how Mages know anything? Isn’t everything about them weird?”
“Jeri!” Mak called. “There’s a meeting ashore we should both attend.”
The meeting proved to be in a large tent next to the under-construction masonry building that would become the town hall of Kelsi’s settlement. Inside, the tent smelled musty as tents always did, the open flaps in the canvas sides allowing not enough air to circulate among the people crowding in, most of them men and women who’d been freed in Sandurin.
The leaders of the group of former prisoners turned out to be a couple who were aunt and uncle to Lil. The man, Gari, had a craggy face and stout body that made him resemble a boulder uprooted from its soil and looking for a new place to plant itself. His wife, Ihris, seemed more like a tree, slim and graceful. They had two children who had thus far survived their adventures, and Ihris showed signs of expecting another. Jules would have felt jealous of the happy family if not for a shadowy cast to Ihris’ face. She’d made it out of the Empire, but from the way others treated her, the woman suffered from some relentless affliction that there was no escaping.
The Kelsi who’d founded Kelsi’s settlement looked tired as well, her face that of someone long in years who’d poured her heart into building something but knew she’d never live long enough to see it stand on its own. Jules had no trouble sympathizing with her. “You can’t stay here,” Kelsi told the leaders of the group who’d been rescued by the Sun Queen. “The Imperials won’t let up looking for you. And when they find you, they’ll come to get you. Or kill you.”
“Plenty of people have escaped the Emperor’s dominion,” Loka complained. “Why should we be different?”
“You got caught,” Kelsi said. “And then you got away again, right out from under the hand of Prince Ostin. You flouted Imperial law and, more importantly to the Emperor, Imperial dignity. If you stay here, they’ll find you, and they’ll come for you,” she repeated.
“Maybe Dor’s settlement would offer you safety,” Mak said. “If we can find it.”
“Dor is building near the water,” Kelsi warned. “The Emperor’s hand would have to reach farther, but it’s the same problem. He needs to make an example of you, if he can. Do you want my advice? You’re all farmers, right?”
“Yes,” Ihris said. “From the lands north of Centin.”
“So you won’t miss the sea.” Kelsi shifted in her seat to point west. “There’s a pass leading that way. Not an easy walk, but we just had a restless fellow come back from heading that way and looking around. It gives way to broad plains. He saw herds of wild cattle and horses. Rivers. No telling how far it stretches.”
Jules saw the faces of the refugees light up at the news.
“Free land?” Loka asked. “There’s no one already there?”
“No trace of anyone else,” Kelsi said. “My advice is to take that pass, keep walking west until you find a good spot, and start building. You’ll be far from the sea, which means you’ll be far from any Imperial search parties, and a far, far walk for any Imperial expeditions.” Her eyes lingered on Ihris. “You could stay. Just the one, they’d probably never notice you.”
Ihris shook her head. “Where Gari and our children go, I go.”
Gari frowned unhappily. “But the rest would be good for you.”
“I’ll rest when we reach the place where we’ll build a city,” Ihris said. She smiled and touched her stomach. “This one will be born there.” The statement sounded oddly like a prophecy.
Jules left the tent as the meeting continued, walking out onto the street after carefully searching for any sign of Mages who might have shown up. She leaned against one partially-completed masonry wall, wishing that Mak would finish so they could return to the ship.
Eventually, Mak joined her. She walked alongside him silently as they headed back to the Sun Queen.
“What’s the matter?” Mak asked.
“I’m awful,” Jules said.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because I looked at that happy family, Gari and Ihris, and all I could think of was that those children had parents, and those parents didn’t have to worry about the Great Guilds coming after their children just because of who their mother was.”
“Their mother won’t live another year, I’m guessing from the look of her,” Mak said.
“Which makes me feel all the more awful,” Jules said. She hesitated. “Do you think that child will be born?”
“There’s a chance she can carry it to term before she grows too weak. She seems the type whose will can hold death at bay a while if need be. But if so, there’s also a good chance that giving birth will kill her.” Mak exhaled slowly, his eyes on the dirt road. “Parents will do a lot for their children. Even give their lives.”
“Thanks for rubbing that in!” Jules glowered as she looked off to the side.
“Do you not realize that your father died for you?”
“He died in the Northern Ramparts, a long way from me.”
“He died trying to provide for you and your mother,” Mak said. “He didn’t abandon you. He was killed.”
“Does that make it hurt less?” Jules whispered.
“I don’t know. Does being angry at others who are more fortunate than you make you feel better?”
“No.”
“Then why do it?”
“I told you that I’m awful.”
“I like you,” Mak said.
Somehow he could always get a smile out of her. “You have terrible judgment. I mean, look at the kind of people you allow on your ship.”
“Jules, having awful thoughts doesn’t make you awful. It makes you a person. How do you think I feel when I see a father and a daughter together? But that father losing his daughter too wouldn’t bring my daughter back.”
“I would,” Jules said, looking over at Mak. “I would, Captain. If I can ever figure out a way, I’m going to bring your daughter back.”
He didn’t answer for a long moment, causing her to wonder if she’d overstepped her boundaries.
But finally Mak looked at her and smiled. “You already have.”
She gazed back at him, puzzled by the answer. “Do you mean when she came aboard the ship with those other Mechanics to give me cartridges? That wasn’t the reunion I want you to have.”
Mak didn’t answer this time, and she didn’t push it, reluctant to probe at what she knew was a source of pain for him.
Once back at the ship, Mak called over Ang and Liv. “You three should hit the town. Have some fun.”
“Are they my bodyguards or are they supposed to keep me out of trouble?” Jules asked.
“Whatever needs doing,” Mak said. “Jeri, when’s the last time you had fun?”
“Last night.” She saw skepticism and surprise on their faces. “Not that way! I played cards with some of the crew. It was fun.”
“Come along, Jeri,” Ang said.
He steered Jules and Liv past the waterfront bars to what had become the settlement’s main street, a little way back from the harbor. “Better booze in the places away from the water,” Ang advised.
“That’s always the way of it,” Liv agreed.
Jules looked ahead, seeing a patch of dark jackets sitting at an outdoor table as a small group of Mechanics enjoyed lunch. She, Ang, and Liv were on the opposite side of the street, so they kept on, walking past without talking. Commons always kept quiet near Mechanics, who had a tendency to assume that any whispered conversations in their vicinity had to be about them, and probably disrespectful. But even though she stayed silent, walking with her eyes set forward as if unaware of the Mechanics they were passing, Jules felt their gazes on her and on the revolver and holster she wore as usual.
“Brrr,” Liv whispered when they were past the group. “D
id you feel those looks, Jeri?”
“Yeah,” Jules replied. “They didn’t seem happy to see me.”
“It’s the weapon,” Ang said. “I could be wrong, but I thought it made them angry to see a common with a Mechanic weapon, walking along as if she was a Mechanic herself.”
“That’s it,” Liv agreed. “A common acting like she was as grand as a Mechanic. They hated seeing that.”
“I’m not strutting along like they do,” Jules grumbled.
“No. But they look at you and see that anyway.”
“That’s what they fear,” Ang said. “Commons thinking they’re as good as Mechanics. Jeri, you need to be very careful around Mechanics from now on.”
“From now on?” Jules laughed. “Do you think I’ve been lounging back having a party when I’m meeting with Mechanics? I spend most of my time and all of my words trying to convince them that I’m as meek and submissive as they’d all like a common to be.”
“You? Meek and submissive?”
“Well, I try,” Jules said. “But I admit sometimes I do say some things I shouldn’t. But mostly I act like what they want to think I am.”
“How long do you think you’ll be able to keep that act going?” Liv said. “Before you start telling them what you really think?”
“I don’t know,” Jules said.
“Let’s go in here,” Ang said, indicating a bar that actually boasted a name, TUIJA’S, painted carefully on a lacquered sign board.
The bar fell silent as Jules walked in with the others. She felt the eyes on her as she walked to a table at the back, conversations slowly, quietly, resuming in her wake. “I’m really tired of people watching me,” Jules grumbled to Ang. “That’s one of the reasons I stay on the ship.”
Liv joined them with a full bottle of Emdin rum and three glasses. “Unopened,” she said as she poured them drinks. “Sometimes you need that precaution.”
Jules picked up her glass, sipping the contents instead of knocking it back. She looked up as three other sailors approached.
In the lead was the woman from the Star Seeker. She crossed her arms, looking down at Jules. “We found the gems. You spoke the truth.”
Jules nodded in reply, taking another sip of rum.
“But the murder of Captain Vlad still lies between us.”
Jules shook her head, seeing that Liv and Ang were both tensed for a fight but waiting to see what she did.
“Are you now denying you did it?” the woman demanded.
“I killed him,” Jules said. “But why does that lie between us? What would you have done to him if you’d discovered while he was alive that he’d withheld those gems from the crew? That’s theft from fellow members of the crew, isn’t it?”
“Not the point, girl.”
“Then say what you want and be done,” Jules said, tired of her fate and of hiding her feelings.
The woman and her companions stared at Jules. “Are you asking for a fight?”
Jules set down her glass and sat forward, keeping her eyes on the woman. “Every Mage wants to kill me. The Mechanics will try to kill me as soon as they figure out I’m not actually doing what they want. The Emperor doesn’t want me dead, but he does want me. I’ve lived with that for a while now. And yet you’re trying to unsettle me with your hard words and hard looks. If it’s a fight you want, we’ll fight. I’d rather not. You’ve done me no wrong. But I said that night that no man will speak to me as Vlad did and live, and I meant it. You’ll get no apology from me for that.”
Ang gestured to the three sailors. “We’re all sailors here, all off of free ships. Share a drink with us. Hey, three more glasses here!”
After a brief hesitation, the other three sat down. The woman nodded to Jules. “I’m Mab. Truth is, you did us a favor.” She looked around the bar before gazing back at Jules. “They say you killed another Mage.”
“Yes,” Jules said.
“And went into Sandurin alone, into an Imperial fort, to rescue a girl from under the nose of a prince.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She needed help.”
“What of the prophecy?”
Jules picked up her glass again, gazing at the liquid in it. “Tell me, why would you believe that a daughter of my line could do what the prophecy said?”
“Because a Mage prophesized it,” one of the men with Mab said.
“Who I am has nothing to do with it?”
Mab knocked back her drink before leaning forward to look closely at Jules. “You’re saying that you’re more than just the one whose line will produce that daughter?”
“I’m saying,” Jules said, “that the Mage saw in me that a daughter of my line would do that.” It was what Mak had told her, but Jules had finally put that together in a way that she could say to others. In a way that would make her believe in herself.
Mab nodded, keeping her eyes on Jules. “The sort of girl who could kill three Mages. But what if you didn’t have that Mechanic weapon?”
“I talked the Mechanics into giving it to me, didn’t I?” Jules said, which she knew was a big exaggeration of what had happened. But perhaps even Mak would forgive her that mistruth.
“And what are you going to do about the Emperor?”
Jules grinned. “Steal his treasure, free his people, and laugh at his legions.”
The others laughed. “I’d think that the boasting of a girl trying to impress her elders,” Mab said. “Except that you’ve already done it.” She leaned forward, both hands flat on the table separating her from Jules. “Here’s why we sought you out. First, to see for ourselves who you were. And if that played well, to express our thanks for seeing that the gems came into our hands. And to let you know that our crew has voted to invest some of that wealth right here, into building warehouses and a new solid pier to hold and transfer cargo. Something to help handle the proceeds of piracy. Should we ever do such a thing even though we’re all devoted to following the Emperor’s laws, aren’t we? A legitimate business for those tired of or too old to pursue the trade at sea.”
Ang looked impressed. “I wish we had the money for that.”
Mab nodded. “If you hang onto this girl, that might happen. Jeri? Is that the right name? Since we owe you for the gems, we also voted to give you an equal share in the warehouses and the pier. You could have kept those, never said a word, and none would have known different. But you played straight with us.” The two sailors with Mab nodded solemnly to affirm her statement. “You have our words on it, before witnesses.”
“An equal share?” Jules asked, startled. “Just as if I was one of your crew?”
“That’s it. If you shake on it, it’ll be done.” Mab extended her hand.
Jules reached and grasped Mab’s hand, feeling the strong grip of someone used to climbing rigging and hauling lines. “I hope someone in Kelsi’s settlement is also thinking about building some fortifications,” Jules said. “The more there is here, the more the Emperor’s eye is likely to take notice of it.”
“You’re not the first to see that,” one of the sailors with Mab said. “It’s being discussed. A wall along the harbor side.”
“Since you mention the Emperor’s eye,” Mab added, “and no offense meant, but are you planning to stay long at Kelsi’s?”
Jules grinned. “No offense taken. I wouldn’t have come ashore unless we were planning to leave before long.”
Gord came in, angling over to their table. “Did you guys see those Mechanics?”
“The one’s looking like someone washed their feet in their beers?” Liv asked. “What about them?”
“Something strange, is all.” Gord gestured back and up. “I’m walking past, and I notice one of them is standing up on top of that building they were at. She’s standing way up there, but instead of looking around she seemed like she was talking into this little box in her hand.”
“That’s all you could see? A little box?”
“I couldn’t s
top and stare,” Gord said. “You know what those other Mechanics would have done to me if I had. I pretended I hadn’t noticed anything and just kept walking.”
“What are your friends up to?” Mab asked Jules.
“They’re no friends,” Jules said.
Ang sat, frowning. “I don’t like the feel of this.”
“We can’t get spooked every time a Mechanic looks at us like we’re something dirty on the bottom of their shoe,” Liv said.
“I don’t like it,” Ang repeated. “Who was that Mechanic talking to up there?”
“There wasn’t anybody else up on the building,” Gord said.
“So who was she talking to?”
“They say Mechanics can send messages very quickly across long distances,” Jules said. “The Mechanics I talked to at Caer Lyn claimed to know what was going on in the waters off of Landfall.”
Ang looked at Jules and Liv. “I think we should get back to the ship. Don’t you give me that look, sister!” he added to Liv. “I don’t spook easy. You know that.”
Liv sighed, nodded, drained her drink, and picked up the bottle. “Let’s go then.”
“Gord,” Ang said. “Pass the word. Everyone back to the Sun Queen.”
Mab and the sailors with her got up. “We’ll help pass the word for you. When it comes to Mechanics, we’re all on the same crew.”
Jules, uncomfortable with apparently having cut short the fun of her friends, walked with a silent scowl beside them. They’d nearly reached the pier where the Sun Queen was tied up when the distant sound of a bell rolled down from a mountain east of the settlement. Jules heard three quick bongs of the bell, a pause, then three more, another pause, and three more.
The people around her were staring to the east. Jules spoke to one who was obviously a resident of Kelsi’s. “What does that mean?”
The man she’d addressed licked his lips nervously. “Three bongs from the lookout on the mountain. That means an Imperial ship has been spotted headed this way.”
Another nearby local interrupted. “Not just an Imperial ship! That’s two bongs together. Three means it’s an Imperial warship.”
Pirate of the Prophecy Page 29