Page 271 of The Priory of the Orange Tree

Frowning, Thim passed his words to the woman in Seiikinese. Her face hardened before she stood and left them.

“Wait,” Loth called after her, frustrated. “For the love of the Saint, did you not hear what I said?”

“We should not provoke her, Lord Arteloth,” Thim warned. “The rest of the crew could be stranded on Feather Island for weeks, if not months, without a ship. We are now the only ones who can take word of Queen Sabran’s proposal to His Imperial Majesty.”

He was right. Their plan was at the mercy of this pirate. Loth sank into his bindings.

Thim tipped back his head and squinted. It took a moment for Loth to realize that he was reading the stars.

“Impossible,” Thim murmured. “We cannot have got this far east in so little time.”

Loth watched the woman. One of her hands was on the wheel. The other now held a dark stone. For the first time, he became aware of the unbroken roar of water against the ship.

She was using the jewel to drive theRoseforward.

“My lord,” Thim said under his breath, “I think I know where we are going.”

“Tell me.”

“We heard a rumor at sea that the Golden Empress—leader of the Fleet of the Tiger Eye—was sailing east in pursuit of the elixir of life. Her butcher-ship, thePursuit, left Kawontay not long ago. They were bound for the Unending Sea.”

“What is the Fleet of the Tiger Eye?”

“The largest pirate fleet in existence. They steal and slaughter dragons when they can.” Thim glanced at the woman. “If she is chasing the Golden Empress—and I cannot think why else we would be this far east—then we are both dead men.”

Loth eyed her. “She seems a very good fighter.”

“One fighter cannot best hundreds of pirates, and not even theRosestands a chance against thePursuit. It is a fortress on the sea.” Thim swallowed. “We might be able to take the ship back.”

“How?”

“Well, when she leaves it, my lord. A man-of-war needs a vast crew, but . . . I suppose we have no choice but to try.”

They lapsed into silence for a while. All Loth could hear was the crash of the waves.

“Seeing as we have nothing better to do but wait, perhaps we could play a game.” He offered the gunner a tired smile. “Are you good at riddles, Thim?”

The stars burned like a host of candles. Tané kept her gaze on them as she steered the Inysh ship, using the west wind as well as the jewel to spur it.

The Inysh lord and the Lacustrine gunner were finally asleep. For quarter of an hour, the former had been straining to solve the easiest of riddles, making Tané grind her teeth in irritation.

I close in the morning, I open at night,

And when I am open, your eye I delight.

I am pale as the moon and live only as long –

For when the sun rises, behold, I am gone.

At least now he had stopped blathering about how clever it was, and she could think. If she timed this right, she would be under the eye of the Magpie tonight.

Using the jewel had left a fine sheen of cold sweat on her. She breathed slow and deep. Though it never drained her strength for long, she sensed that the jewel was drawing on something in her. She was the string, and the jewel was the bow, and only together could they make the ocean sing.

“Loth.”

Startled, Tané glanced across the deck. The Inysh man was awake once more.

“Loth,” he repeated, and tapped his own chest.

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