Page 11 of Virelai's Hoard
The murmurs rippling throughout the crowd were approving now, and Sable nodded once, sharply, conceding the point.
“You’ve never led me astray, captain,” Thorian said gruffly. “I’m not sure I trust legends, but I trust you.”
A lump caught in her throat, and Calla thanked him with a soft smile. He was the only pirate on board who knew the whole story, that this was going to be their last run together, and his support meant everything.
“Hear, hear!” Gadrielle thumped her palm against the ship’s mast.
Calla let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding as excited chatter started rising from the deck, discussing the legend, the treasure, what they were going to do with all the gold.
“I don’t like this,” Ignatius grumbled, rubbing at the patch on his eye. “Stealing from ghosts can only bring us ruin.”
No one paid him any mind, though. He was always like this before big jobs, and then the first to splurge his coin on all the finest clothes and drink.
Stealing from ghosts was their livelihood.
4. Learning the Ropes
Riley
Gadrielle’s calloused hands shoved a coarse brush at Riley’s chest. “This is your new best friend. You’re gonna get real close today.” The older woman smirked as she dumped a bucket of soapy water at her feet too, her steel-gray eyes sharp enough to get cut on.
Aelion’s first rays accentuated her high cheekbones as she walked a perimeter of the raised deck in slow, precise strides. Her dark brown skin contrasted with the light gray of her short-cropped hair, and several tattoos of ropes and knots crept up her forearms and under her short leather coat. They resurfaced from her collar, coiling around her neck.
“Seeing as you’ve never been on a ship before, I’m gonna assume the worst and start you on the very basics.” Gadrielle stopped walking, crossing her arms. She was short and stocky, with broad shoulders and lean muscles. “The area I just walked is part of the quarterdeck, or back deck. See the wood of the deck’s planks?”
Riley looked down at the wood, shifting on her feet. It creaked under her boots, and her stomach lurched at a sudden moment of weightlessness that made her head spin. Everything feltunsteady, as if the ship was breathing. She gave a slow nod of her head. Anything faster than that and she might get sick.
“Sturdy and smoother than half of you bastards who walk on it.” The pride blooming in her voice was unmistakable, if brief. In the next breath, the sharpness was back. “That’s what a well-sanded, well-oiled and well-sealed deck looks like, so let’s keep it that way, yeah? When you’re scrubbing, make sure to do so in the same direction as the wood grain. If you don’t, you’ll damage the wood fibers, cause splinters and give way for water to seep in and cause rot.” Gadrielle paused then, and caught Riley’s eye as she punctuated her next words. “Damage my deck and sore fingers are gonna be theleastof your worries. You got me?”
“I got you,” Riley said, her back straightening just a fraction.
Even her nausea faded under Gadrielle’s intense scrutiny. Her gaze flitted to the back of the ship, beyond the railing, catching Saltmere growing smaller in the distance, barely recognizable anymore along the Varethian rocky coast. There were no routes of escape here, no going back. She had to play her part. The dutiful new recruit.
Her ungloved thumb rubbed against the brush clutched in her hand as she brought her eyes back on deck. She frowned. “But it looks clean already.”
Gadrielle raised an eyebrow at her. “I don’t remember asking for your opinion. But I’ll dumb this down even more for you.” The woman stepped close enough that Riley had to tilt her head to look down at her, which just felt wrong. Warm breath puffed against her face as Gadrielle bit down on every word. “You don’t question orders, you follow them. I say jump, you jump, I say climb, you climb, I say squeak like a mouse, you squeak like a fucking mouse. Your lifewilldepend on your ability to obey orders unquestioningly, and you’ll scrub the same dozen planks one hundred times over if I tell you to. Do I make myself understood?”
Riley tried not to gulp. “Yes, ma’am.”
Gadrielle smiled, slow and measured. “Good. Now get to work.”
When the boatswain gave no signs of leaving, Riley locked her jaw tight, dropped to her knees, plunged the brush in the soapy water, and got to scrubbing.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Riley’s head snapped back up. “What?” she asked, just barely keeping the bite from her voice. It wasn’t possible she was already fucking this up. She was barely through the very first stroke. “I’m not going against the grain, am I?”
Gadrielle inhaled sharply and held her hand out. Riley stared dumbly at it for a moment. Then, slowly, she handed over the brush, heart pounding. Were they going to throw her overboard already? Did Gadrielle decide this task wasn’t humiliating enough to start with? She was clearly at the bottom of the food chain on this ship, but what could possibly be worse than this?
“Watch.”
Her brain took a long moment to catch up when she saw the boatswain drop on her knees right next to her and start scrubbing in even, long strokes.
By the time Gadrielle handed the brush back, Riley’s confusion reached an all-time high.
“Now you.”
Riley tried again, wholly aware that Gadrielle was still on her knees, and the sailors passing by didn’t even react to it.
