The Assassin's Curse (22 page)

  "What?" I said.

  "I tried…" Naji gasped. "Tried to save–"

  "Get him," she said, jerking her head at Naji. "And come up on deck. And for Aje's sake, play along."

  "You knew?" I said. "How long?"

  She didn't answer, just made her way out of the crew's quarters, the water splashing up around her knees. I turned to Naji. He'd sat up some, and there was a bruise forming around his eye from where I hit him.

  "You heard the lady," I said.

  "We are… The islands? We're… here?"

  "Shut up."

  I grabbed him by his arm and jerked him up to standing. He slouched against me. Fine. I threw his arm around my shoulder, and together we waded through the ship's belly. I wasn't screwing around with this. We'd been caught, flat-out. Having Marjani on our side helped, but it wasn't just Marjani who'd caught us, it was everyone. The crew. The captain. If we were lucky we'd be thrown in the brig for the rest of the trip. I didn't think we'd be lucky.

  It took us a while to get up on deck, cause I pretty much had to push Naji up the ladder. He pulled himself up through the hatchway, Kaol knows how, and then he slumped against the deck, wheezing and grasping for breath. The captain and Marjani were waiting for us, standing side by side with the rest of the crew fanned out behind 'em.

  "This true, Ananna?" the captain asked me. Marjani had this right mean look on her face. Play along.

  Naji coughed and pushed himself up on his hands. His hair pressed in thick clumps against his face.

  "I did it," he said. "Don't blame her."

  The captain looked like he wanted to whip out his sword and take care of the problem the old-fashioned way, but instead he just spat at Naji and turned to me.

  "Wasn't asking him," he said.

  I closed my eyes. All I could feel was my heartbeat, the blood rushing through my body.

  "Well?" he said.

  "Yeah, it's true." I forced myself to meet his eye. Any of that kindness I'd seen before had disappeared. "I didn't know he was gonna do it, though, or I'd have stop–"

  The captain held up one hand, and I shut my mouth. I was shaking from the cold and from fear, wondering what he was going to do to us.

  "Blood magic," the captain said, spitting the words out. "Can't believe you'd bring something like that on board. I trusted you, little girl."

  I flushed with shame, but I didn't hang my head. Kaol, was I proud of that.

  "Believed that whole damn story you told…" The captain shook his head.

  "I'm sorry," I said, looking at the captain, looking at Marjani. She frowned, little lines appearing around her eyes.

  "Throw 'em overboard," the captain said.

  Marjani whipped her head toward him. "Captain, I don't think… In this water, that will kill them."

  "Good," he said cheerfully.

  I about started to cry. I've cried out of desperation twice in my life and both of those times were nothing compared to the mess I was in right now, about to get cast out in the icy northern sea cause of a blood magic assassin with no manner of patience.

  Marjani gave me this look of full-up desperation, quick as a flash, and I knew whatever plan she'd made just fell through. I'd never felt so small and vulnerable and doomed.

  And then Chari spoke up.

  "Sir," he said, stepping forward out of the crowd. "I agree we shouldn't keep this pair of hijacking mutineers on board, but I did see the girl during the, ah, storm and she about near died trying to save this ship."

  The captain stared at him. Chari held his gaze. He was the kind of old that commands respect.

  "So what do you suggest?" the captain said.

  "Give 'em a boat," Chari said. The crew didn't like that, and they all hissed and booed behind him. "Or a piece of plank board, captain. Enough to get 'em to the island."

  I wanted to kiss the old son of a bitch, I really did.

  "They'll be good as dead there anyway," Chari said. "It's what you'd do if we were down in the south."

  Something flickered though my head. Ain't got nothing to lose.

  "Confederation rules," I said. "Mutineers are always stranded. Not killed."

  Everybody stopped talking and turned to me.

  "We ain't part of the Confederation," the captain said.

  "I am," I said. I pushed out my chest and took a deep breath. "My full name is Ananna of the Tanarau. My father is the captain of that same ship." Then I lifted up the hem of my shirt to show him my Confederation tattoo.

  The captain's face got real dark.

  "You drew that on," he said. "You're faking me."

  "You want to risk it?" I said. I nudged Naji with my foot. "You have any idea what he's capable of this close to death? That's blood magic's nexus, captain, death. This close to the other side, he could send a message to my father so quick you'd be dead in a week."

  The crew fell silent, so I figured I must have convinced most of 'em at least half-way. The captain didn't look too doubtful himself, either.

  "I don't want no business with the Confederation," he said. "I could kill you right now and not worry about a thing."

  And then Naji started chanting.

  It gave me pause, ain't gonna lie. I thought maybe he was working some kind of darkness over there, maybe calling down demons to swoop in and save us. But when I glanced at him his eyes were dark as night, not glowing at all. And I realized he was faking for me.

  "You hear that!" I shouted, getting into it. "Speaking straight to my father, he is. You can't kill me now. Neither one of us."

  The captain's eyes went wide with fear. Marjani's didn't. She glanced back and forth between me and Naji but didn't say nothing. But the chanting got the crew into a tizzy, and they all backed up against the railing.

  "Make him stop," the captain said.

  "Can't," I said. "He don't listen to me. If that were the case, we'd still be on our way to Port Idai."

  The captain took a few steps back from Naji. "Fine," he said. "You want me to treat you like some Confederation mutineer – Marjani, get them a boat."

  "And a pistol," I added. I didn't want to push my luck but those were the Isles of the Sky.

  "And a damn pistol." He spat on the deck.

  Marjani dipped her head and disappeared over to the starboard side.

  Naji stopped chanting and slumped over. The captain took a deep breath and looked relieved.

  Then he jerked his head back to the crew and called up a couple of the rougher fellows to drag me and Naji over to the side of the ship, where Marjani was waiting with a rowboat and a pistol and a thinly-hewn rope net that she probably meant to serve as a blanket. The crewmen shoved Naji and me into the boat. One of 'em looked like he wanted to spit on me, but he glanced at Naji and nothing happened.

  "Leave," Marjani said to 'em.

  They didn't.

  "Do what I tell you," she said, pulling out a thin little knife I didn't even realize she carried.

  And what do you know, both of the crewmen took off.

  She held the knife up to my throat and leaned in close. I could tell she didn't aim to use it, but still. Nobody likes having a knife at their throat.

  "Listen," she said, talking real close to my ear, hissing like she was threatening me. "He said something the other day about somebody following him."

  "What–"

  "He tried to get me to change course. He wouldn't tell me details, but just – be careful." Her face got kind of soft and understanding. "Stay on that island," she said. "And for Aje's sake, stay alive. Keep warm and keep dry. There are ways off every island."

  And before I could respond, she turned away from me and cut the ropes holding the rowboat aloft. We crashed down into the black sea. The Ayel's Revenge rose up in front of us like a leviathan, and I had no choice but to grab hold of the oars and row us away.

 
 
 

The island really did float. Once we'd cleared the Revenge, once my arms got so sore I could barely move 'em, I drew the oars back into the boat and drifted along the choppy water, shivering from the cold, from my injuries, from the distracting knot of fear coiling in my stomach. Up ahead the island hovered above the sea, chunks of smooth black stone tapering into points beneath the gray beaches and the trees. In the distance, you could just make out the other islands through the haze drifting off the water.

  "Hey." I shook Naji's shoulder. He was curled up on the net and didn't move. "E'mko and his twelve dancing seahorses, you better not be dead."

  He stirred, moaning a little. His breath blew out in a white cloud.

  "That spell of yours have any way for us to get on land?"

  That must have gotten his attention. He sat up, pushed his hair back away from his face. "We're here," he said.

  "Of course we're here," I said. "We just got kicked off the Ayel's Revenge for it." I frowned at him.

  His expression glazed over as he stared at the island. The sight of the damn thing made me dizzy, so I stared at Naji even though I wanted to throttle him.

  "Vaguely. I vaguely remember…" He dug his hand into his good eye. "I can't seem to keep my thoughts straight."

  "Oh fantastic." Figures I'd get stuck with a blood magician who'd driven himself insane.

  Or maybe it was the island, working its magic like in the stories. Changing him, making him forget himself and who he was. I studied the angles of his face, looking for some sign that his bones were pushing out of his skin. He looked gaunter than usual, but maybe it was because of the spell. I hoped it was because of the spell.

  "It's cold," he said, and his voice sounded small, like a kid's.

  "Not a whole lot I can do about it." We drifted along, the water pushing us toward the island, like it was a normal island and there was a tide to pull us ashore. Part of me wanted to look back, catch a glimpse of the Revenge as she sailed away. But I didn't. Water slapped up along the side of the rowboat, spraying us with a cold fine mist. Naji moaned and rubbed his head, and I was still dizzy myself.

  The rowboat jerked up, her bow clearing the water in an arc of gray water drops, and then slammed back down.

  "What the hell was that?" I shouted. I yanked the oars in even though it didn't do much more than make me feel more vulnerable, the two of us sitting there in the open ocean like that. Naji slumped down, his eyes wide, and mumbled something about being weak.

  "Shut up," I said. I didn't hear nothing unusual: just the howl of the wind, the rush of the waves.

  The boat jolted again, knocking me forward into Naji's lap. I bit down on my tongue to keep from screaming.

  "Ananna," he said.

  "We need to get on land." At least on land any enemies couldn't lurk beneath the depths. "Is it safe to row?"

  "Don't… I don't really know."

  "Kaol!" I shoved the oars into the water and pushed us toward the island. We weren't far, almost to the line of shadow the island cast onto the water. I tried to lift the oars up but the left one wouldn't move. I shrieked and let go, and it slid into the ocean without a sound.

  I yanked the other oar into my lap and sat very still, heart racing. We floated underneath the island. Dark as night down there, although the ocean water gleamed silver. The boat bumped up against a hunk of low-hanging stone. It was too smooth to be any use for climbing, and besides which, it would only take me to the underside of the island. I didn't have time to try to make some kind of rope throw.

  The boat tilted again. Naji gripped the sides and his eyes gleamed like the water.

  I had an idea.

  "How weak are you? Can you do anything?"

  "What?"

  "Your shadow thing," I said. "Can you take me with you?"

  He didn't answer.

  "Naji?"

  "Under normal circumstances, I could."

  "Naji! There's something in the water!"

  Naji didn't answer, and I glared at him in the dark.

  "Maybe somebody shouldn't have used up all their energy blowing a brigantine off course. But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

  "It wasn't just the magic," he said darkly.

  "Yeah, you put me in a spot of trouble with that wind. Damn near killed me."

  "It nearly killed me as well."

  "Well, I imagine we're both going to die if we don't get on land." My whole body was tense, waiting for the boat to rock again, but the water stayed as smooth and still as a mirror. "Do your thing."

  "My thing?"

  "Damn it, Naji! The shadow thing. We're in shadow now. There's shadows up there – have to be, all them trees. So do whatever it is you do to get both of us out of this boat and on that bloody island."

  Silence. I sucked in a deep breath. I could barely make out his outline in the silvery shadow of the island.

  "This might hurt me," he said.

  "I don't care."

  He didn't say nothing. I shoved the pistol into the waistband of my pants. Nothing happened.

  "Well?" I said.

  "You have to touch me," he said. "Well, not just… We need to… Come here."

  And then he reached out his arm and drew me into him. His touch surprised me, and suddenly I wasn't cold anymore.

  "We need to be close," he said. "As close as possible."

  I slid across the boat, pressing up against his body. He didn't have his armor on and I could feel him, the muscles in his chest and his arms. He smelled like magic and sweat and the sea, but there was something else beneath all that, something sweet and warm, like honey, and just for a moment I didn't feel afraid anymore.

  I was furious at him, and I was terrified, but I didn't want him to stop touching me.