Dark Empress (39 page)

Satisfied with her more rational explanation, and with several minutes to go before the island would be in sight, she turned her attention to the ship itself. The sailors were busy about their tasks, bathed in the eerie silence. The officers…

Interestingly, it appeared that the crew had abandoned the raised command deck to the rear, leaving Samir alone with his first officer. Asima smiled to herself. Samir would be too busy with these rocks to spare time to drive her away. Taking a deep breath, she strode along the deck, paying no heed to the desperate grey figures reaching out to her as they passed.

A couple of the men glanced at her in mild surprise as she passed, though none made a move to stop her until she reached the ladder. She placed her foot on the first rung and a shadow fell across her. Looking up, she saw the shaved and tattooed head of the first officer as he leaned over the ladder from the upper deck.

“Top deck’s off limits ta passengers, miss.”

Asima smiled coldly.

“Unless you intend to physically assault me, step out of the way, you painted donkey.”

The man blinked, clearly taken aback, and Asima continued to climb. From somewhere above, she heard Samir’s voice.

“Let her up, Ursa. She’s a special case.”

The huge pirate, clearly irritated at this infraction of the rules, stepped aside and glared at her as she reached the top and stepped out on to the command deck.

“It’s alright, Ursa. I’ll be fine. Go deal with the men.”

Again, the second in command grumbled in disapproval and threw an unpleasant look at her before taking the ladder down to the main deck.

“Come, Asima. I’m sure you’ll be fascinated.”

Frowning, she approached the rear. Samir was directing the ship with infinitesimally small nudges of the huge rudder, and yet his eyes were affixed on the object in his hands, paying no attention to the ship or its surroundings at all.

“What is that?” she asked, pointing at the object he held.

He smiled and, as she approached, angled it slightly so that she could see clearly.

“This is one of the biggest secrets in the world, Asima.”

In his hands rested a bronze disk, around eight inches across, a flattened container with delicate and smooth glass on the upper surface. Inside, on a central pin, free to spin this way and that, was a human finger, dead and grey, but perfectly preserved within the case. Asima blinked.

“A finger. Your big secret is a finger? For this you keep your crew off the command deck.”

Samir shrugged.

“Its part of the rules laid down by the council of twelve. Only the captain and his first officer are supposed to know about the ‘dead man’s compass’. I trust my crew implicitly, but rules are rules. On some level, Ghassan was right. Without any rules there would be complete chaos. Even pirates need laws, Asima.”

“And this rotting digit helps you sail?”

Samir grinned.

“This is an almost unique thing. Don’t ask me how it works, though. I’ve asked the cleverest people and studied it for a long time, and there’s no reason I can see for it to work. But it does work; the dead man’s compass shows me the route… I just align the rudder with this fellow’s finger and off we go. I’ve never seen it fail.”

“Drivel.”

Samir laughed.

“Somehow I thought you might see it like that. But there are unexplainable things, Asima. Have you given up trying to memorize the route through the rocks now then? I presume that was your reason for sitting in the prow. I did that the first few times.”

Asima glared at him.

“The path is fairly clear, if narrow. Let’s face it, Samir, as long as I note where the entrance to the passage is, I’d be able to navigate my way out.”

She eyed him slyly.

“Should I wish to leave, of course, that is. But then, you’ll be taking me home soon when the sea is safe, so I have no reason to leave at the moment. Nice to know that I can, though; gives me a certain sense of security.”

Samir laughed.

“Is that right?”

The woman beside him frowned.

“You’ll not break your word and keep me captive?”

Again, the captain laughed.

“That’s not what I mean, Asima. I mean, are you so convinced of your ability to navigate the reefs without the compass?”

Asima shrugged.

“Hardly troublesome, particularly with a smaller vessel.”

Grinning like a naughty schoolboy, Samir pointed out over the rear rail, past the stern. Asima raised her eyes and followed his gesture.

Behind the vessel, a jagged carpet of impassable rocks jutted from the waves in every direction. Pleading grey figures occupied many of them, calling out silently to her. Asima frowned.

“How is that possible?”

“It’s not.”

Again, Samir laughed lightly.

“Not everything has an explanation Asima and, since there are only two of these compasses in existence, shared by the pirate captains of Lassos, the island remains about as safe as it’s possible for a haven to be. We could be found, but never captured, you see. And don’t bother trying to track one of the rocks from the front of the ship to the back as we travel either. I’ve tried and failed many times. If you follow along the rail and try, it gives you an intense headache.”

His passenger’s frown deepened as she looked back and forth between the rocks behind and the compass in his hand.

“And now you must keep me prisoner on Lassos, or kill me.”

“I hardly think so, Asima.”

“But you have told me and showed me your great secret. You have broken your own law. Even if you feel like flaunting the rules, I doubt your peers on the island will see things the same way.”

Samir shrugged nonchalantly.

“Only a few of us know that you know. Frankly, taking you to Lassos at all is going to cause havoc with the council, but they need a little shake up every now and then. You would be best to keep your mouth shut while on the island. I will not kill you, but many would just for knowing some of the things you do, so be careful with your mouth. As for when we leave here… well, let’s say that I’m not telling you all of this on a whim. I have my reasons.”

Asima pursed her lips as she took this in.

“Very well, captain Samir. What do we do now?”

He smiled.

“We’re almost through the rocks. Then we dock in Lassos. I will have to report to the council and present you, then I and my crew go about our business. You, on the other hand, will stay on board the ship until I say otherwise. If you do go ashore, you will wait for me or Ursa and go with us.”

Asima frowned.

“Explain?”

“There are a number of very unfriendly individuals on Lassos. Most of my peers are not the gentlemen that I am. For your own safety I would advise extreme caution, but equally, you are my passenger, not my prisoner. You are free to explore the island in the brief time we will have there, but I recommend against it.”

He cleared his throat.

“Lassos can be a very dangerous place.”

Ahead, the fog parted as the vessel reached the inner edge of the reefs. Lassos rose like the crown of a stone giant’s head cresting the water, clouds clinging to the higher rocks and birds of prey circling.

“Very dangerous.”

In which we are introduced to Lassos

The Dark Empress bumped against the jetty for the final time as it came to a stop, sailors throwing lines and tying them off. Samir strode across to the rail and turned, gesturing at Asima.

“First thing’s first: I need to present you to the council.”

Asima frowned and, shrugging, followed. The captain waited for the plank to be run out to the dock and then trotted lightly down it. His companion eyed it suspiciously and took a tentative step. The plank bowed alarmingly under her weight, a fact which irritated her immeasurably. Gritting her teeth, she hurried as fast as she dared down the board and onto the relative stability of the wet, slippery jetty.

Samir grinned.

“I feel it is important that I explain a few things about Lassos to you. I’m sure my reasons will become apparent in time. It’s just as shame that Ghassan isn’t here too, but that can’t be helped for now.”

Asima frowned.

“You have become cryptic in your old age, Samir.”

He laughed.

“In my position, I am bound to keep some secrets and merely sensible to keep others.”

She grumbled as she carefully picked her way along the drier patches of the wooden jetty until they reached the end and entered the ‘town’, for want of a better word. The whole community nestled in on the low slope from the port to the point where the hill became more mountainous and rocky and even then other buildings clung to the edge of cliff like the eyries of eagles, with tortuous paths leading to their doors. There were perhaps a hundred buildings in all, of many different styles.

Most of the structures of the port area and the lower town were reminiscent of the architecture Asima was used to from M’Dahz and the borderlands of the desert. As the settlement ambled up the slope, however, the style changed notably. The buildings became larger and grander, and probably older. These would be the earliest remnants of permanent settlement on Lassos. The higher buildings were reminiscent of the architecture she had seen in books on the Empire and its great cities, all bricks and marble and columns and carvings. Others, higher still, hanging over precipices and looking out over the lower town were similar, but grander, with more marble and less brick; eastern, she had a feeling, like Germalla and its surroundings.

“There is nobody in Lassos who is not a pirate” Samir said as he led her between various stacks of crates and equipment near the dock and toward what he probably considered a street. Asima had grown to adulthood in Akkad, with its clean boulevards. This looked more like the sewers that ran beneath that city but open to the air.

“Then who lives in these buildings?”

Samir shrugged.

“The council of twelve are permanent residents. Also, there are only ever two or three ships out at sea at any time. One of the compasses goes out with them to guide them out and home, while the other stays on Lassos in case of any trouble. Years ago there were three compasses, but one went down with a ship in an Imperial naval assault. I suspect that there were once ten; one for each finger of whoever donated his hands…”

Asima nodded.

“So the crews of most of the ships live a relatively normal life here and occasionally the population changes when ships come and go? How many ships are there altogether?”

Samir gave her a sidelong glance.

“You sound suspiciously as though you’re probing me for information, Asima.”

“Not at all. You suggested this, not me.”

“Very well” Samir agreed. “There are actually only a dozen ships at the moment. The number goes up and down, but rarely. New ships and crews have to earn a great deal of respect and trust before they can get close to Lassos, and most of the captains settled here are good enough that the chances of them being caught by the authorities are minimal. So yes, the town is occupied and run by sailors during their shore time.”

Asima frowned.

“Then there are no women here? I am going to be rather conspicuous.”

She was, too. Asima was becoming aware of the stares she was getting from people as they passed, some suspicious, others lusty. Samir grinned.

“Oh there are women, but they all serve on the one ship. Most captains are very superstitious and don’t like a woman on board. Captain Rianna is different, being a woman herself.”

Asima nodded in approval. It was a disgusting life of depravity and danger, living in squalor and filth, but it was good on some level to know that such awfulness was not purely the province of men.

“And you say these pirates are not reasonable like yourself?”

Samir laughed.

“I wouldn’t announce that too loudly; some may take offense. There are two captains in Lassos that walk the path of mercy and reason; younger captains too and friends. I live in hope that one day the truly wicked men here will pass away and a new breed of pirate will be able to take control. Khmun, who was my captain, was the first of his peers to consider allowing an enemy crew to leave with their lives intact, but the idea is beginning to take root. Yes, two friends, to whom I shall introduce you presently. The rest you would do well to stay away from. Some of them may even consider rape and murder in public with a face and body like yours.”

Asima shrugged. She had survived in places much more subtle and dangerous than this.

“I have no intention of letting myself reach that position, yet I would be grateful if you would allow me to carry a knife. I had one for protection, but Ghassan took it from me.”

Samir nodded.

“When we return to the ship in a few hours I will find you a knife, but be careful what you do with it. The murder of anyone on Lassos brings about the death penalty, and even a non-fatal attack will likely see you chained at the bottom of the harbour.”