“If I can.”
“No. If you feel obligation toward me, then take it as a geis. I will not call on you soon.”
He sighed and bowed his head. “Are you saying you will release me now if I accept this geis?”
“Hush. By noon we leave here, and I will take you to Paldh, no matter what you say now. But if you have any of the fabled integrity of Skern, you will take my geis.”
“I swear by the saints my fathers swore by, and take this geis,” Neil said. “When you have need of me, I will come, so long as it does not bring harm to those it is my charge to protect.”
“Very well,” she said. She stood and looked off across the distant fields. “I never went ashore in z’Espino,” she said softly. “This is the only strange land I have ever set foot on. It is fair.”
“Lady—”
“Make the ship ready,” she called to her men in Hanzish. Then she strode away from him without even a backwards glance.
9
The Wind and the Sea
“Will they catch us?” Anne asked, watching intently as the masts of the pursuing ship appeared and disappeared behind the high swells. The sky was a turquoise gem, flawed only with a few streaks of white cloud. There was no land in sight.
Captain Malconio put his callused hands on the rail and leaned forward. Perversely, she noticed that he exuded the same faintly almond scent Cazio had when he sweated.
“Lord Netuno knows,” he said. “That’s a fast ship, a brimwulf built in Saltmark. And they’ve got a strong wind behind them.”
“Are they faster than us?” Anne asked.
“Much faster,” Malconio said.
“Then they will catch us.”
Malconio scratched his beard. “Ah, well—there’s more to it than speed, della. We can run against the wind a little better than she can, and we’ve got a shallower keel. If we can reach the shoals around Ter-na-Fath before nightfall, I give us a chance.”
“Only a chance?” Cazio sneered.
Malconio regarded his brother with narrowed eyes. “It’s not often I have the need to outrun a man-o’-war,” he said acidly. “In fact—why, that’s never happened to me before. It took you to come along and present me this delightful opportunity, frater mio. Indeed, it occurs to me our pursuers might be satisfied if I just gave up my cargo.”
“You won’t do that,” Anne said.
Malconio’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked at her as if she had just asked to cut off his foot. “Pardon me? I wonder how you formed that opinion?”
“These men came after me when I was in the coven Saint Cer. They killed every sister there. What makes you think they would spare you?”
“There’s also the maritime guild to consider,” z’Acatto added a bit drunkenly. He waved the narrow-necked bottle of wine he’d found somewhere. “You know they would never stand for it if one of their ships had been accosted, for any reason. The captain of the ship behind us won’t take that risk—he’ll never give you the chance to report him. So don’t be a collone.”
“Easy, old man,” Malconio said. “You know I was just talking—it’s the family curse. But if we can’t slip them, we’ll never be able to fight them. A ship like that will carry three or four arbalests, probably armed with sea fire. My brother will never even get to use his sword, unless they want the girl alive, for some reason.” He looked back at Anne. “Is that likely to be the case?”
“I don’t think so,” Anne said. “I think they just want to see me dead.”
“And you still won’t tell me why?”
“I still don’t know why,” Anne said helplessly.
“Well,” Malconio said. “So we run, and hope the breeze favors us.”
They tacked hard to the north, and at first the larger ship seemed to drop back a bit, but then it started picking up speed again. It wasn’t even noon yet.
“Unless we get some luck, they’ll have us long before we reach the shoals,” Malconio finally admitted.
“Well, then, they’re in for a fight,” Cazio told his brother, resting his hand on the hilt of his rapier.
“I told you before,” Malconio said, “they’ve no reason to come close when they can sink us from a distance.” He put his hands on his hips. “But suppose they did try to board us—that fellow with the glowing sword—how do you intend to fight him? Your friend back at the docks dealt him a blow that should have had him buried in two places. But he was walking fine, last I saw him.”
“I’ve fought his kind before,” Cazio said with that overabundance of confidence that Anne found so infuriating. “I’ll cut off his head and send him to the bottom of the sea.”
“Last time you had me to drop bricks on him,” z’Acatto reminded him. “What shall I drop on this one?”
Cazio shrugged. “Perhaps an anchor? Surely we can find something.”
Malconio folded his hands. “What? No single combat this time? What of your honor?”
“It’s hardly honorable to fight with the aide of hell,” Cazio replied. “I’ve sworn to protect these ladies. I’ll do that even if I have to fight with less than perfect honor.”
Malconio rolled his eyes. “It doesn’t matter anyway,” he said. “They’ve twice our numbers without taking Casnar z’Estrigo into account. Drop an anchor on him if you wish, though I have only so many anchors.” He nodded at the approaching ship. “But it won’t come to that. See those arbalests? What did I tell you?”
Anne could see some sort of ungainly devices mounted on the other ship’s deck, but couldn’t make out what they were supposed to do. Austra saved her the embarrassment of asking what an arbalest was, by asking herself.
“It’s a huge mechanical bow,” Malconio replied. “Hurls stones, lead balls, pots of flame—things like that.”
“Don’t you have any sort of war engines, Captain?” Anne asked. “Some way to fight back? Surely you’ve had to fend off pirates before.”
Malconio shook his head. “We’ve got one small arbalest. It’s all we ever needed against the few pirates that dare the wrath of the guild.”
“I suggest you set it up, then,” z’Acatto said.
“I suppose you’re right, old man. A little fight is better than none at all. And perhaps Netuno will smile on me. He has before.”
Five bells later, their pursuer lobbed a few experimental stones at them. They fell short, but not far short, and Malconio’s sailors stood nervously with their bows and set up their arbalest—which did indeed resemble a large crossbow. Anne could hear the sailors on the other ship now and see them scuttling about on the deck and in the rigging.
“We’ll be within their range long before they’re in ours,” Malconio said. “Ladies, I suggest you go below.” He glanced off toward the horizon, where black clouds were piling up. “It’s not often I wish for a storm, but you might pray to whatever saints you revere that that one catches us before they do. In a blow, we might be able to lose them.”
“I’ll stay up here,” Anne said.
“And do what?” Cazio asked. “Can you shoot a bow?”
“I could try.”
“We don’t have enough arrows to waste them,” Malconio said. “Go below. It’s my ship, and that’s an order.”
Anne prepared another objection, but let it fade behind her lips. Sir Neil had died because of her last poor decision. Malconio knew his business far better than she did. “Come on, Austra,” Anne said.
“Take this,” Cazio said. He held out the hilt of a dagger.
“I have one,” she said.
“I don’t,” Austra said.
“You take it, then,” Cazio replied.
Austra took the weapon, but her face puckered. “I want to stay up here with you,” she said.
Cazio smiled and took Austra’s hand. “My brother is right this time,” he said. “Up here you would only be a distraction. With you safe below I can fight the way the saints intend me to.”