‘All we want to do is live free. We don’t want magic, we don’t want castles, we don’t want to own anyone or anything, save the skins we stand up in. We’ve escaped the madness of the land to cope with the more straightforward vagaries of a life on the ocean. We’ll protect that way of life if we have to, damn the geomancers to Hell and back, but for the greater part, they leave us alone so long as we have nothing they want.’
‘And us? What if they want us?’ Dalip spoke into the silence.
‘Hasn’t happened yet, old man. To them, we’re all pretty much interchangeable as planks or bricks, and there are lower-hanging fruit than taking on a band of bloodthirsty pirates.’ Simeon slapped his knee, as if to prove his piratical credentials. ‘We’re also sailing away billyo from our last port of call. It’s what we do: in fast, out quicker. Throw the pursuers off the scent and show them a clean pair of briny heels. Whatever happened back there, you’re safe now.’
He changed, just like that, from pantomime caricature to someone possibly worthy of trust.
‘Thank you,’ said Elena.
‘You are very welcome, madam. It’s not often we get to save damsels in distress. Women, welclass="underline" Eve’s race is somewhat under-represented here.’ He raised himself up on to the gently swaying deck and doffed his tricorn hat. ‘Dawson will bring you your mess shortly. With that, goodnight. May we all live till morning.’
Mama waited until Simeon had stepped away before she reached over and tapped Dalip’s knee. ‘And just how is this supposed to get us home?’
The boat wasn’t so long that a raised voice wouldn’t be missed at the other end. ‘Mama, keep it down.’
‘I am not spending the rest of my days on this glorified rowing boat.’
‘Where would you like to spend them?’
‘Home. In London.’
He’d found them, after a day of chaos and grief and against all expectations, a place of respite: somewhere they might just be able to make sense of everything, at their own pace, in the company of people who weren’t trying to either kill them or worse.
‘I don’t know what you want from me. We lost the chance to go home when Crows took the maps and Mary didn’t come back. Something might come up that changes everything. Maybe we find Mary again, I don’t know. For now, there’s nothing I can do except learn how to steer a ship, raise the sails and row.’
‘So we’re not going to look for Crows?’
‘This is not a taxi,’ he growled. ‘It isn’t going where we want it to go, and it’s not ours to command.’
Elena put one hand on Mama’s shoulder, and one on Dalip’s◦– which made him shiver. But rather than a light touch, she clawed her fingers and dug her nails in until neither could ignore her.
‘We played at being geomancers. That is why we are here, and why Luiza is lost to us. If we want to keep playing, we will all die. Either we have to become like Crows, like Bell, like Mary and all the other monsters, and do it for real, or we stop playing, stop pretending that we are like them, and try to live our lives as we wish.’
The mention of Mary in the same breath as Crows and Bell surprised Dalip, but the pressure on his shoulder relaxed slightly, and he decided now wasn’t the right time. Eventually, he nodded. ‘She’s right. I’m not ruthless enough,’ he said, ‘and neither are you, Mama.’
‘I just want to go home,’ she murmured. ‘If only there was a way…’
‘It’s what we all want.’ Dawson appeared out the shadows. ‘But it ain’t happening.’
He set three bowls on the sea-chest that Simeon had used for a seat. Each was full of a variety of things that none of them could make out yet, so they didn’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed. He slipped a waterskin off his shoulder and handed it to Dalip, who only worked out what it was by its weight. Then he left them without another word.
Dalip sighed. ‘Mama, I wish I was better at this. I’ll talk to Simeon in the morning, but I can’t insist that the entire crew risks their necks to follow or fight with Crows. Whatever happens isn’t up to me.’
He doled out the bowls, which contained dried fruits, nuts, and some kind of hard cracker that had to be gnawed on to soften. But it was food, and not unsatisfying, and they hadn’t had to scavenge for it themselves. Working the waterskin required a certain amount of practice, but after dumping a good cupful straight into his face, Dalip managed to drink from it, and passed it round.
By the time they were done everyone, except the sailors needed to keep the ship on an even keel, was asleep. It was the small hours of the morning: the moon was racing ahead of them to the west, already touching the horizon and revealing a far distant and unknown landscape of ragged mountains that would have otherwise been invisible.
There were no stars to steer by, yet the helmsman seemed to be happy with full sail and a lookout. They had to know where they were: every sea had its hidden reefs and shoals, and every voyage held the risk of shipwreck. Either there was a secret, or he was missing something obvious. The land was in darkness◦– no lighthouses, no lanterns to mark even where it was. Perhaps it was simply familiarity from plying the same coast for years. Still, to navigate like that was a prodigious feat.
And with such thoughts playing in his head, Dalip fell asleep exactly where he lay.
His dreams were strange and he remembered nothing except this: that he was lost and alone and scared, and a great wooden ship swooped down out of the sky to rescue him. Everything else evaporated in the morning light, and he found he was wedged up against the bulwark of a Viking longboat, authentic in every detail, right down to the unfurled striped sail.
Puffy white clouds floated high above him, and the sun was coming up behind him, turning the sea a violent orange. The ropes strained and creaked, and the waves broke rhythmically against the steep sides.
Not a dream, then. But what kind of rescue?
He levered himself up and picked his way through the still crew to the prow.
‘When do you sleep?’
Simeon didn’t take his eye from the telescope, nor did he unwrap his arm from the dragon-headed prow.
‘When I must. A captain is always on duty: his the command, his the responsibility.’ He scanned the horizon and, finally satisfied, looked back at Dalip. ‘The safety of my ship and my crew are paramount.’
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—’
Simeon used his lopsided smile. ‘No offence meant and none taken. We are but minnows in the stream, and none will pay us more interest than the pike or the kingfisher. So, Singh: what say you? Will you join us, or is the pirate’s life not for you?’
‘Before I answer, I need to tell you something.’
‘Oh, oh?’ Simeon swung around and contracted the telescope against his thigh. ‘A confession? You are secretly a prince of the Punjab, the girl a countess, and the lady is the Queen of Sheba?’
‘It’s not like that.’ Dalip hesitated, before adding: ‘It’s about how we got here, and how you found us.’
‘A story,’ said Simeon. ‘Will it be an honest one, or packed with fictions?’
‘I’ll make it as accurate as I can.’
‘Good. Your captain deserves honesty.’
‘We had a box,’ said Dalip. ‘A sea-chest like yours. Full of maps. Possibly all the maps. It’s impossible to tell, because we only had them for a short while, and we were only able to go through a few of them, before…’
‘Let me guess: before you lost them again.’
‘Elena’s cousin was killed. And, possibly, Mary. At least, she didn’t come back.’
Simeon tipped his hat into his hand and tucked it under his arm. He dragged his fingers through his greasy hair. ‘And who is this fell adversary of yours, that betrayed you and murdered your friends?’