Oathen (6 page)

Sanych had seen Salvor looking at her during
Kemsil’s entire reply, and felt the need for fresh air and
distance. With an uncomfortable glance to Meena, she excused
herself.

~~~

Up on the bright, windy deck, Sanych climbed
to the aft castle and told Rhona that they needed to sail for Juala
after the rendezvous with the other ships. As she climbed down the
short, steep steps to the main deck again, she decided to remain
topside for a while. She had no battle skills and no information to
impart about Juala or House Aldib, and found the air much less
Salvor-ish on deck.

She meandered to the rail, staying out of the
crew’s way, and gazed down at the ocean that frothed past the
Princeling
’s hull.

“Citrus?” came a voice.

Sanych turned to see Ruel offering an orange
fruit. She took the food.

“Thank you,” she said to Ruel, who grinned and
leaned his elbows back on the rail beside her. She peeled off a
curled strip of the smooth skin and smelled its tartness for a
moment before tossing it out to the waves below. “Is it custom to
let young Clansfolk charge off across the sea like this?” she
asked, wriggling her thumbnail under a flap of citrus
skin.

“Not usually. Rhona had a private talk with
the Prime, and whatever was said, when they came out, Rhona had
permission to continue.”

“I bet she did,” Sanych murmured. “She doesn’t
seem the type to let protocol stand in her way.” She pulled one
fruit section off and offered it to Ruel. Ignoring his surprised
look at her generosity to a man, she peeled off another for
herself. “I was raised in the Temple of Knowledge, not on the deck
of a Clan ship,” she reminded him.

“Lucky for me.” He grinned and bit into the
fruit. “You want to know how we found her, don’t you?” he asked,
swallowing.

Sanych stopped in mid-chew, tonguing the pulp
between her teeth. Finally she swallowed too, and admitted, “Yes
and no. I don’t want to hear about her being…”

“Digested, aye.” Ruel, hardy member of the
most powerful Clan in the Southern Sea, shuddered. “But she doesn’t
remember that part, so none of us knows that story.”

Sanych frowned in interest. “Where did you
find her?”

“In a small fishing village at the southern
edge of the Scattersea Isles. We pulled into their harbor to get
fresh water, and the villagers fled in a panic. All except one. She
stood on the coral jetty with a long spear and a short sword. Her
bald head made us wonder if she was a man, until she let loose with
a string of Clan whistles. You should have seen the look on Rhona’s
face. I thought her joints had finally gone rusty, she was so
stunned!”

Sanych grinned. “Meena does tend to have that
effect on people. Did she say how she got there, at
least?”

Ruel related the story of the villagers’
accidental discovery of Meena while butchering the
garrim
.

Sanych shook her head at Meena’s continual
ability to defy the odds. “How long was she inside that
thing?”

“Somewhere around six weeks, she said. No air
to breathe in there,” he began to explain, and then caught Sanych’s
expression. “She was just deeply asleep,” he finished.

Sanych recalled Meena’s deep trance when they
were in the ice storm the previous winter. She was relieved that
Meena hadn’t been in agony inside the Deep One.

They talked further, sharing the rest of the
citrus fruit, and she told Ruel about Clan Swordfish and what they
had done to Kemsil.

“Oh, a wedding party?” he murmured, blue-grey
eyes sparkling. “Shiny! I bet they were loaded with swag. I would
have taken them too!” Clearing his throat, he added, “But no
slaves. None of the clans in the Southern Sea do slaving. We’re
despised enough at home without its miasma trailing after us like
tar-smoke. I can only wonder how hated that practice makes the
Clans out here!”

“I hope we don’t encounter them,” Sanych
said.

“That would be detrimental to our success,”
Ruel agreed, nodding. Sanych couldn’t help but smile at his casual
attitude.

“Gryme’s Circuit should keep us safe from the
cult, but I’m not sure how effective it’ll be against Clan
ships.”

Ruel gave her a sharp look. “You’ve told
Rhona?” he asked.

“Yes, she knows we need to go to Juala,” she
replied, puzzled.

His expression cleared. “Shiny. What’s this
plan, then?”

Sanych explained the mystical abilities of the
Circuit of Sa’qal, and how Meena planned to use them to protect
everyone from the seeking spells of the Shanallese cult.

“Some kind of sheltering shield?” Ruel
asked.

“It sounds that way. Once Gryme steals it,
we’ll have to test it and learn how to use it.”

“Steals…?” He squinted at her. “You
are
going to let us come too.”

Sanych saw the avaricious gleam in Ruel’s
eyes. “I…” she began, realizing his words hadn’t been a
question.

“Consider,” he said, stepping close to her and
lowering his voice. “From what we’ve learned in our weeks of
searching this sea for Geret, the Clans out here are more…direct…in
their attacks, and make more of a mess. Everyone who’s got immobile
assets has serious protection in place. You’ll need us.”

“Immobile assets?”

“Cities, towns, islands. From what we hear,
the Archipelago of Juala has rarely been attacked, and has defenses
that are nearly impenetrable. Surely Gryme wouldn’t mind us helping
ourselves to his rival’s swag, and I know it’d be a notch on
Rhona’s belt if she could claim success where local Clans
couldn’t.”

“We’re not out to notch anyone’s belt, Ruel.
We’re going to destroy the
Dire Tome
.”

“Aye, sure, but if the opportunity presents
itself…” he shrugged, grinning.

~~~

Soon the
Princeling
met up with Rhona’s
other six ships, which had made an easy task of outdistancing the
Salience sentries. Rhona produced charts she had stolen during
supply raids across the Middle Sea while looking for Geret, and
with Kemsil’s help, she pinpointed Aldib’s ancestral home and
plotted a course.

As soon as Rhona had returned to the ship’s
wheel and ordered their new heading flagged to the rest of her
fleet, Ruel mentioned how much he was looking forward to the
opportunity to relieve the House of Aldib of some of their
goods.

“Belay it or flay it,” she ordered sharply,
referring to Ruel’s tongue, and her cousin paused in alarm, eyes
wide.

“What? Why?”

“When did you hear plans I wasn’t privy to,
and why did someone go behind my back?” she demanded,
glaring.

“Sanych told me earlier, before she returned
below. I asked her if she’d already told you, and she said she had.
I would have sent her to you otherwise; you know that!” Ruel
growled, daring to raise his voice to his captain.

“All she told me was our general destination.”
Rhona whipped a dagger out of its sheath. “I’ll pin that girl’s
tongue, and teach her to keep it from flapping.” She started down
toward her cabin.

Ruel darted in front of her. “Rhona, you know
she doesn’t know our ways. She’s like any Clan child. Mistakes are
allowed, as you should well remember.”

Rhona pressed her lips together and glared up
at him. “It’s disrespectful. I’ll not be disrespected on my own
ship. Especially not this one.”

“Aye, it was disrespectful. But it was also
unintentional. Tell her, and I’ll wager she’ll not do it
again.”

Rhona’s gaze cooled. “I’ll accept no wagers
about that little fry, Ruel. Take the wheel.” She brushed past him
and went below.

Rhona, not accepting a wager?
Ruel
sighed and tucked that thought away as he took the
Princeling
’s wheel.

~~~

Sanych stood out of the way, against a
bookcase, as the raid planning continued, not having much to offer.
Without warning, Rhona burst in, dagger in hand. As everyone looked
to her, she strode toward Sanych. Just as Sanych opened her mouth
to ask what the problem was, Rhona buried the tip of her dagger in
the spine of a priceless first edition beside her ear. Sanych cried
out and flinched away.

“Rhona, what are you doing?” Geret said,
grabbing her wrist. Kemsil and Salvor stood in alarm. Meena didn’t
even bat an eye.

Geret’s interference only angered the Clan
captain, and she wrenched her wrist from his grasp, hissing, “This
is
my
ship, Geret, and on its decks I make the rules! This,”
she added, wrenching the dagger from the book, “is my mercy, not my
justice.”

“I’d hate to see your justice, then,” Salvor
commented, eyeing her as a snake he’d just seen beneath his
feet.

“Aye. You would.” She turned to face Sanych,
which was difficult with Geret standing between them. “If you have
details to tell, dirtwalker, they go to the captain first. Letting
my crew know something I don’t—that’s fomenting trouble. Crews have
mutinied with that sort of leverage.”

“I didn’t know—” Sanych began.

“Which is why your tongue isn’t pinned to the
bookcase. This is your one warning,” Rhona said, gesturing at the
girl with the dagger. Then she slipped it back in its sheath and
turned to Meena. “I didn’t mean to interrupt, Seamother, but I had
to set things straight. Ruel…he mentioned stealing? What can we
take?” Moments before, her eyes had been snapping in anger. Now,
her mercurial mood had shifted to excitement. Her playful eagerness
led everyone to dismiss the incident, except Sanych.

Meena’s great-great-granddaughter gets all
the leeway she wants, it seems
, the Archivist grumped, as her
nerves finally began to settle down from her scare with the
captain’s dagger.

Thirteen years ago

“This is the last of the cousins?” Shalin Ebie
asked, brushing a roughened finger along the toddler’s soft, chubby
cheek. The little girl in Anesta’s lap shied away with a smile,
clutching her fish-patterned blankie tightly and leaning against
her larger friend for comfort.

“Yes. My final hope.”

A short servant with light brown hair cut in a
bob bustled in the background of the lanolin-scented room,
adjusting the wide rattan shutters that let the cool sea breeze in.
Shayin Ahousi, sitting beside the Shalin, took a break from
spinning wool yarn and gestured at a ewer of lime juice. The woman
left the window to pour her a cup.

“Let me have a look at her, then,” the Shayin
asked, holding out her arms. After a few moments of hesitation, the
girl accepted the new lap and began patting a pile of uncarded wool
beside her, enjoying its texture. As she explored the pokiness of
the woman’s carding paddle, Ahousi placed her hands on the girl’s
head and closed her eyes.

Moments later, Ahousi opened them and said,
“May the moon witness, Unbroken: this is a day of luck. She has the
gift you seek.”

Anesta’s shoulders slumped in relief. “Yes.
Finally. I really didn’t want to wait another
generation.”

“Mama says it’s rude to be impatient. She
says, sometimes we have to wait for what we want,” the toddler
said. The older women stared.

Anesta took the girl back onto her own lap and
hugged her. “You’re absolutely right, sweet one.” She looked over
at Shalin Ebie. “She talks like that all the time. She can already
read, and she never forgets even the smallest detail. It’s quite
irritating sometimes,” she said, dropping a kiss onto the girl’s
blonde hair. “You must understand, Ebie, that I need to keep her
safe, even from herself.”

Ebie pursed her lips and shared a look with
Ahousi before replying. “I knew you didn’t ask me here for the
conversation.”

“I need to get her away from Salience. And I’m
afraid her family will all need a visit from you.”

“I can implant other memories, if you want,”
Ebie said. “It will help with the adjustment. But I’ll need to know
where the little one is headed.”

Ahousi leaned forward. “Have you heard of a
place called the Temple of Knowledge, over in Cyrmant? A land
called Vint, I understand.”

Anesta tapped her chin. “I’ve been to Vint in
the past, but I’ve had no dealings with that place.”

“I think your youngster may find a safe haven
there. She’ll need a guardian, though.” She exchanged a knowing
glance with Ebie.

Anesta gave the pair a suspicious look. “I’m
listening.”

Ahousi waved the servant woman forward. “Ahni,
do you know who this woman is?”

The woman looked at Anesta. “I’ve heard you
call her the Unbroken, Shayin, though I’m not sure how she can be;
she doesn’t look old enough.”

“Please tell her how you came to be in our
service.”

Ahni nodded and cleared her throat. “I used to
be an Enforcer in the Cult of Dzur i’Oth, in Shanal.”

Anesta lunged to her feet, simultaneously
shifting the child to her hip and drawing her dagger with her other
hand. She pressed the blade against the underside of Ahni’s jaw,
putting the surprised child on the opposite side of her own body.
Baring her teeth, she hissed, “That was not the way into my good
graces.”