“Ahoy up there!” a voice called up to her. “What of the morning?”
“Light winds, scattered clouds, red skies,” Lorana responded, stowing her supplies in her sack and starting back down the mast. She heard a groan rise up from the deck.
She made her way back aft to the tiller where Colfet had the watch. “Why the grumble on the weather?” she asked the grumpy mariner.
Baror made a sour face and spat over the rail. “Sailor take warning,” he answered shortly. Lorana’s brows arched a question.
Baror shook his head. “The old saying goes: ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s delight; Red sky at morning, sailor take warning.’ There’ll be a blow for sure, but I already knew that.”
Lorana had heard from others that Baror had broken his arm years back and was convinced he could tell when the weather was going to change by the way it ached.
“I just hope we get into harbor before it catches us,” he added, rubbing his arm.
Lorana sidled away from the sour seaman. Of the three mates, Baror was her least favorite. Lorana had never managed to catch him without a bitter or angry look on his face. For a while she had wondered if the old break in his forearm had left him in constant pain, but she had come to realize that Baror was simply the sort that could not pass up a chance to complain or moan.
Down on the deck, Lorana found that the sea spray had grown thicker, and she shivered from the chill. She started down below but stopped, glancing back at Baror. He was staring at her intently, as though seeing her for the first time. Quickly she turned and resumed her descent.
Captain Tanner came up the gangway opposite her.
“Good morning,” he said.
Lorana nodded and started on her way, but as she did a loud thump on the deck above was followed immediately by a groan and a string of curses-first from Colfet and then from Baror.
“Lorana!” Baror called curtly. “Get back here; Colfet’s done himself a mischief!” In a lower voice, which still carried, he muttered, “Who’ll relieve me now?”
“Come on,” Tanner told her with a jerk of his head.
“I’d better get my gear,” Lorana said, dashing back down to her cabin.
“Good idea,” Captain Tanner agreed.
Lorana was back on deck in less than two minutes, with her healer’s bag and a warm coat. A bit of numbweed stilled the worst of Colfet’s pain and grumbling, while a quick inspection showed her that the ulna was broken midway between elbow and wrist.
“Could be worse,” Colfet observed when she told him. “And now I’ll have a weather gauge.”
“Come below to my cabin-I’ll have to set it,” Lorana told him.
Tanner looked alarmed. Catching sight of a seaman coming up on deck, he called, “Gesten, Colfet’s broken his arm. Help him down below so that Lorana can go ahead and get set up.”
“No, it’s all right!” Colfet called back, putting his weight on Lorana, who nearly buckled in surprise. “Lorana’s a stout lass, we’ll manage. Besides, the weather’s picking up-you’ll be needing all hands to trim sail.”
Getting the large seaman down below to her cabin was much harder than she’d figured, but Lorana felt that she’d proved herself “one of the boys” by doing so.
In the cabin, she threw her pack at the far end of the table and rummaged in the lockers for bandages and the other material she’d need.
When she came back and sat opposite to set the burly Colfet’s arm-which she was sure would be child’s play compared to Grenn’s wing-she noticed that he was gazing intently at her. She felt her face getting hot as she reached across to gently roll the seaman’s shirtsleeve up away from the break.
“You’ve a soft touch,” Colfet said appreciatively. Lorana glanced up at him to gauge his expression. Feeling her face redden in the intensity of his look, she jerked her eyes back down to the break.
“You’re lucky you didn’t break the skin.” She probed the break gently. Colfet winced. “Numbweed won’t help, I’m sorry.”
“Nor fellis,” Colfet agreed grimly, dragging a lock of his cloud-white hair away from his face with his good arm. He drew breath over his teeth with a painful hiss. “No matter, do what you need. I’ll keep my eyes on your drawings while you work, if that’s all right.”
Lorana had forgotten the drawings she’d hung in the cabin to dry out from the sea’s damp. She’d nearly run out of paper with all the sketches the crew and Captain Tanner had begged her for. Not that she hadn’t been eager to oblige; the journey in Wind Rider had given her many new subjects to draw. She had got good likenesses of dour Baror, sour Minet, and several of Captain Tanner-who, Lorana admitted to herself secretly, was more than a little rewarding to look at.
The only one she’d got of Colfet had been when he’d caught a fish. It wasn’t her best, because she had to sketch fast to catch the action, but the seaman had been so impressed that he’d forgotten the fish in favor of finding a safe place for her drawing.
“A right fine likeness,” he had said at the time.
With Colfet diverted by the drawings, Lorana could time her move to match the bucking of the ship. She eyed Colfet, eyed the break, felt the ship, and quickly jerked-
“Aaaaah! Shells, why don’t you just break it again?” Colfet shouted, face red with pain. Lorana had just missed the motion of the sea, painfully jamming the two broken pieces over each other.
“I’m sorry,” Lorana whimpered, tears starting in her eyes, “I tried-”
“Are you all right?” Captain Tanner shouted from above them.
“That’s what you get for having a woman aboard,” Baror added in a bellow of his own.
“Rogue wave!” Colfet called back, rolling his eyes at Baror’s complaint. “Lorana didn’t get the timing right.”
He looked across at Lorana, licked his lips, and shouted, “She’ll get it this time, I’m sure.”
Lorana nodded fervently, “I will, I’m sorry, Colfet-”
“No need to apologize,” Colfet said a bit brusquely. “Just do it right this time.” The old seaman licked his lips.
Lorana bent her head over her work. Colfet studied her closely in the silence.
“There,” Lorana said, deftly finishing the binding. “How’s that?”
Colfet inspected the splints bound around his forearm. “Feels right.” His face brightened. “You did good work, lass. You’ve the makings of a good healer.”
“Now, how about some wine with a bit of fellis juice to ease the pain?” Lorana asked, rising from the table to pull a flask from the locker.
Colfet’s face brightened at the thought of getting drunk for a good reason, but then shook his head. “You’re a good lass, but the captain might need a hand, and we’ll be in that new sea hold before nightfall. I can wait until then.”
The old seaman’s face grew thoughtful. He shifted his arm carefully.
“With this, I’ll have to let Baror take first mate,” he told her. “He’ll be captain when Wind Rider finishes this cruise.”
He pursed his lips, frowning. “You might not want to stay aboard, then.”
“But I was hoping-”
“Baror doesn’t like women,” Colfet interrupted. “You know that.” He paused and leaned in closer to her. “He doesn’t like dragonmen much, either. And for the same reason.”
Lorana looked intrigued.
“His first wife ran off with a dragonman,” Colfet told her. “I can’t say as I’d blame her-he was never much to look at, and his idea of romance would bore a fish.”
Lorana made to comment, but Colfet held up his good hand to forestall her.