‘Yeah, well, good luck with that,’ said Samandra, turning to go.
‘Hey, wait. You’re not done yet,’ said Frey. He raised his voice and waved at the campfire. ‘Crake! Get over here!’
‘Oh, for rot’s sake…’ Samandra began, but Frey held up his hand.
‘You, stay. We’ve just done a damn great service for our country, not to mention saving your partner’s life, so the least you can do is-’
‘You ain’t no patriot, Frey! You were out to save your own pretty arse!’
‘And you were out to kill it. Look where we ended up. Ah, Crake!’ he said, as Crake approached in a nervous hurry.
‘Miss Bree,’ said Crake, with a charming note of terror in his voice.
‘Mr Crake, of the golden tooth,’ said Bree poisonously. ‘I do believe we’ve met.’ Crake’s face collapsed.
‘Now, now, fellers,’ said Frey. ‘This won’t do. I pride myself as someone with a little experience of the delicate business between a man and woman. Let me give you a few plain truths so you can stop bloody well dancing round each other.’
Crake looked horrified. ‘Frey, don’t!’
Frey ignored him. ‘This man,’ he said, thrusting a finger at Crake, ‘is the bravest man I ever knew. Not a few hours past he took on a daemon which made that thing which smashed up the city look like an enormous pansy. He’s a loyal friend, loyal as you are to the Archduke no doubt, and what he did to you he did to save my life. Just like you’d kill any one of us to save your Archduke’s life. Isn’t that right?’
‘Damn straight,’ Samandra said, glaring at them all.
‘So quit this wounded pride bullshit, Samandra. You know what duty means. It means doing stuff you don’t always want to. Now I know for a fact that this feller is crazy over you-’
‘Frey!’ Crake nearly screamed.
‘-and I know damn well you got a flame for him too, so will you both just be adults, kiss and make up?’
Crake, who had been staring aghast at Frey, now switched his gaze to Samandra to see what her reaction was to all this. She was looking at him thoughtfully, searching his face. Finally she sighed.
‘Can you hold this?’ she asked Frey, handing him the rifle she was using as a crutch. She hopped forward a step and put her hand on Crake’s shoulder to steady herself. ‘Why don’t you go ahead and hold me by the waist, Crake? I’m a bit uncertain on my feet.’
Crake looked like he barely dared to touch her, but he put his hands on her waist as instructed, wearing an expression of bewildered hope.
‘Just let me get my balance here,’ said Samandra, tottering. ‘There,’ she said. Then she unleashed an uppercut to Crake’s jaw that lifted him into the air and dumped him on the sand, out cold.
Frey gaped at her as she hopped back and reclaimed her crutch. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘When he wakes up, tell him he can call on me. He knows where to reach me, though I daresay I’ll be fairly busy for a while.’
‘Uh,’ said Frey, looking at the unconscious daemonist. ‘Alright. I’ll do that.’
‘Good seein’ you again, Captain Frey,’ she said with a wink. She nodded at Silo with markedly less affection and then made her faltering way back towards her aircraft.
‘Smoothly done, Cap’n,’ said Silo.
‘You can’t say I don’t know women,’ Frey said, gleefully ignoring the sarcasm.
Pinn and Ashua were rolling around laughing by the fire as Malvery wandered over, swaying slightly. He looked strange without his omnipresent glasses perched on his blobby nose. ‘Anything I can do?’ he asked, eyeing Crake, who was beginning to stir.
‘Give him a hit of grog. He’ll be fine.’
‘Right-o,’ said Malvery. ‘Hey, Cap’n. Can I have a word in a minute?’
‘Course.’
‘Just let me deal with this feller first.’ Malvery took Crake by the arms and began to drag him away, the daemonist slurring nonsense as he went.
Frey watched them go. A cool desert breeze skated across the grey dunes. ‘Poor Malvery,’ he said. ‘Dunno how he’s going to take it when I kick Ashua off.’
Silo turned his head and gave him a flat look.
‘Well, she can’t stay,’ said Frey. ‘I’ll drop her wherever she needs to go, but I can’t have her on board.’
The rest didn’t need to be explained. The fact that he was attracted to erever sheher, however improbably, was enough to guarantee a messy ending if they were around each other for long enough. Frey had learned through bitter experience that liaisons with the crew were a bad idea, but he didn’t trust himself in the face of temptation.
‘You made her a deal,’ said Silo.
Frey rasped. ‘A deal doesn’t mean anything if it’s made under duress. We needed those supplies. Your people did.’
‘Ain’t right, Cap’n.’
‘Since when did you care? She’s not crew.’
‘She saved my life, I reckon. Didn’t have to do nothin’, but she did. Look at her with the Doc. Crake likes her too, I see that. She wants to be here, an’ I say she’s earned her place.’
Frey shook his head. ‘Can’t, Silo. You know how I am. We’ve got a good balance here. She’ll ruin it.’
‘You want me as first mate, she stays.’
Frey turned to him in surprise. ‘You learned to throw your weight around fast enough, didn’t you?’
‘She got value, Cap’n. And the whole crew heard you make that deal.’
Frey rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and spat. That was true. Breaking a business deal with a stranger was no problem, but that girl had insinuated herself too much already. If the crew started to doubt his promises, it would all be over.
‘Bollocks,’ he said angrily.
‘That the kind of “bollocks” a man say when he agree, or when he don’t?’
‘The first kind,’ Frey replied, sulking. ‘Damn, I’m gonna regret appointing you as my conscience.’
Silo chuckled. ‘That what I am?’ he asked. Then, seeing Malvery heading over, he slapped Frey on the back and slipped away into the Ketty Jay.
Frey was still cursing to himself when the doctor arrived, a small metal box in his hand. Frey recognised it as the one he’d been carrying earlier. This time, he saw the emblem on its side: the sigil of the Awakeners.
‘Tell me you didn’t find that in the city.’
‘If I did, it’d be a lie,’ said Malvery.
‘You looked inside?’
Malvery showed him the broken lock.
‘What’s in there?’
‘Orders. The kind for deliveries. Can’t read the Samarlan, but they’re printed in Vardic too.’
Frey felt a weary resignation creep over him. He’d had enough tonight. New revelations had lost their power to shock.
‘The Awakeners are getting supplies from the Sammies?’
‘Best I can make out, they’ve been getting supplies of Azryx tech from the Sammies.’
Frey did his best not to think of the implications. ‘What you wanna do?’ he asked.
Malvery was turning the box over and over in his big hands, studying it uncertainly. ‘Thought I’d maybe give it to the Century Knights. What do you think?’
‘It’ll mean civil war.’
‘And if I don’t, and it turns out to be civil war anyway, the Archduke ain’t gonna have any idea what the Awakeners have in store.’
‘On the other hand,’ said Frey, ‘this whole squabble between the Archduke and the Awakeners might blow over.’
‘Maybe,’ said Malvery, though he sounded even less convinced than Frey was.
Frey regarded him for a time before he spoke. ‘I’m not a man with a surplus of loyalty to my country, Doc. It’s kicked me in the pods too many times for that. Seems to me this is the kind of decision a patriotic man should make.’
Malvery harrumphed and looked away with a furrowed brow. Then, as if reaching some kind of resolution, he gave a quick nod. He tucked the box under his arm, dug into his pocket and pulled out a medal. Frey stared at it as he pinned it to the breast of his sweat-stained shirt.
‘Since when did you have a medal?’
‘Had it a long time,’ said Malvery. He straightened up and firmed his chin. ‘Just didn’t deserve to wear it till now.’ He gave a smart military salute, arm held across his chest. ‘Cap’n.’