MARY
Demery returned from his journey the evening before the Frolick with two Usti companions, a woman and her husband, whom I met in the main cabin. They were both muscular, their skin light brown, their hair blonde and their Aeadine accented. The husband was tall, broad and attractive enough to make all but Old Crow eye himsideways—sheexamined him straight on. His wife, meanwhile, was of medium stature, with a fit build that reminded me of my mother, with broad hips, and a flat chest beneath a heavy coat. Most of her hair was hidden beneath a fur-lined cap, damp with melting snow.
“This is Olsa Uknara,” Demery said, gesturing to the woman, then the man, both of whom stood with him in the main cabin ofHarpy. “And Illya Uknara. Olsa is a Sooth of the highest repute and Illya is a Voyager.”
Olsa nodded and Illya raised one big hand in a finger-fluttering wave, revealing the fact that he’d lost half of his ring and pinky fingers. He was dressed similarly to his wife, though the cut of his coat was straighter and the earflaps of his cap stuck out slightly.
“Many greetings,” he said, then looked to Demery. “Where will we sleep?”
“Widderow will see a cabin partitioned for you.” Demery nodded to Old Crow, who eyed the pair with satisfaction.
“That I will.” The old woman beamed, an expression I’d never before seen on her weathered face. “A right pleasure to have you two back aboard.”
Illya gave her a salute and looked down at his wife, obviously waiting for a cue.
Olsa surveyed Widderow, then Grant and Athe, then settled on myself. Her eyes were somewhere between grey and brown. It made for an odd contrast to her pale hair, though the more I saw of the world, the more I realized such combinations were not uncommon.
“Your captain tells me you never learned how to sing the storms,” Olsa said. “I can help you. I am a Sooth, as Captain Demery says. I know the Other, and your soul is tied there too. I will teach you how to use the Other to train the wind, so it will obey you more easily.”
Shame turned my cheeks scarlet. Train the wind? Was that something Stormsingers did?
“Oh,” I said, sounding as ashamed as I felt. “Thank you.”
Widderow’s glare told me I’d embarrassed her, but she wasn’t surprised about it. “Follow me,” she said to our guests. “I’ll get you settled.”
The Usti left, as did Athe and Grant, and I was alone with the captain. Demery looked around the space, reorienting himself, and fed a new log into the woodstove in the corner.
“Did Phira’s gown arrive?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, watching coals flicker in the belly of the stove before he closed the door again and fastened the iron latch. “I’ll pick it up at the seamstress’s tomorrow.”
“Good. I’m sure it will be wildly impractical and quite suitable. She’s sending something for me too, Saint preserve me.” Demery made for his trunk on the other side of the room. He pulled a key from beneath his shirt and unlocked it. “I hear you’ve been singing in taverns?”
“Yes,” I said. Rosser crept into the back of my mind. I hadn’t told anyone about the pirate hunter’s presence. This would be the time to do so, but part of me worried that if Demery knew Rosser would be at the Frolick, I wouldn’t be allowed to go. Then I wouldn’t be able to give him his Mereish coin. And I wouldn’t see him again, but that was not the point.
Besides, the Frolick was the last place the pirate hunter would risk doing anything rash. Demery, perhaps, didn’t need to knoweverything. He was still a criminal. I could keep a few cards up my sleeve.
“Grant secured the signatures of two investors just last night, and Widderow’s been able to restock the magazine,” I informed him.
Demery nodded, taking his hammock from the trunk and balancing it on his shoulder while he fastened one side to the beams above. “She told me. You and Grant have been doing good work. If I can secure even one large contribution tomorrow evening, we’ll be set to cross the Stormwall and survive there for a goodly while. But we need to leave port as soon as we’re outfitted.”
Unease crept across my shoulders. “Is Lirr close?”
Demery fastened the other side of his hammock. “He can’t be far off now. He won’t dare sail directly intoHesten—notwith half the Usti Navy a stone’s throw away. If there was any chance of that, I’d never have left you here. But if we stay much longer, he’ll be waiting for us in open water.”
My unease turned to cold, hard fear. “How can you be so calm about that?”
“Because it’s my plan,” Demery informed me, unbuttoning his coat and shrugging it off. He wore a knee-length burgundy waistcoat beneath and a loose white shirt, along with a patterned bronze cravat that he pulled off and folded, with the coat, into his trunk. “With any luck, he’ll give chase and we’ll lead him directly into the trap I’ve set.”
I raised my brows.
“I wasn’t just tracking down the Uknaras over the past week.” Demery unbuttoned his waistcoat and folded it away too, leaving him in his shirt and breeches. “Illya helped me find the perfect place to lure Lirr, where his ship will hopefully run aground, and we’ll have him at our mercy.”
That sounded well and good to me, but the pirate was so calm, so flippant about the whole matter.
I tried not to shiver at the memory of Lirr’s laughing, blood-spattered pirates and cleared my throat. “That’s it? It can’t be so easy. His ship has a lot more guns, and a bigger crew.”
Demery rested his hands at the top of his breeches. “No, it will not be easy. Now, are you going to stand there and watch me disrobe or may I have some privacy?”