'And if we say no?' Rodanov spoke quietly. 'If we, four against one, forbid this?'
'Then we come to a line that we all fear to cross,' said Zamira, matching his stare.
'/ won't forbid it,' said Ranee. 'I'll vow to keep my hands off you, Zamira. If you sweat for my gain, so much the better. And if you die in the process, I'll mourn you not.'
'I'll give my oath as well,' said Colvard. 'Zamira's right. Our collective safety at any given time depends on whichever one of us is the bloody craziest. If there's a chance to kick Maxilan off his pedestal, I pray for your success.'
'Obviously Zamira Drakasha votes with Zamira Drakasha,' Zamira said, turning her gaze to Rodanov and Strozzi.
'I don't like any of this,' said Strozzi. 'But if things go to shit, no ship afloat on this sea can run like my Osprey.' He smiled and cracked his knuckles. 'What the hell. You wave your skirt at the Archon and see if he's up for a fondle. I won't be anywhere near it.'
'It appears,' said Rodanov once all eyes had turned to him, 'that I have the opportunity to be ... unsociable.' He sighed and rubbed his forehead. 'I don't think any of this is wise - but if I may take your promise of discretion to be as binding as my oath of non-interference ... very well. Go spring this insane scheme.'
'Thank you,' said Zamira, feeling a warm flush of relief from head to toe. 'Wasn't that easier than cutting one another to pieces?'
'This needs to stay between us,' said Colvard. 'I don't ask for an oath, I expect it. Stragos may have other eyes and ears in Prodigal. If this gets out to anyone not standing here, the time we've spent at this meeting - not to mention Zamira's mission - will be an utter waste.'
'Right,' said Strozzi. 'Silence. All gods as our witness.'
'All gods as our witness,' the others echoed.
'Will you leave immediately?' asked Colvard.
'My crew needs a night ashore. I can't ask them back out without that much. I'll send them in halves, sell off the rest of my swag as fast as I can. Clear the harbour in two or three days.'
'Three weeks to Tal Verrar,' said Rodanov.
'Right,' said Zamira. 'No point in any of this if our lads drop dead en route. I intend to be hasty.' She stepped up to Rodanov, put one hand on his right check and stood on her toes to kiss his left. 'Jaffrim, have I ever let you down?'
'Never since the war,' said Rodanov. 'Ah, shit. Even that was a poor thing to say. Don't put me on the spot like this, Zamira. Just... don't fuck this up.'
'Hey,' said Colvard, 'how can I get some of that attention?'
'I'm feeling generous, but keep your hands to yourself if you prefer to keep them attached.' She smiled, kissed Colvard in the middle of her wrinkled forehead and gave the old woman a hug. Gingerly, because it took pains to accommodate all the swords and daggers the two of them were wearing.
Always thus, thought Zamira. Always thus in this life.
3
Utgar was the one waiting at the entry port to offer a hand when Zamira and Ezri went back up the side of the Poison Orchid. It was half-past the tenth hour of the evening.
'Welcome back, Captain. How you be?'
'I've spent the day arguing with the Shipbreaker and the council of captains,' Zamira muttered. 'I require my children and I require a drink. Ezri?
'Yes?'
'You, Ravelle, Valora. My cabin, immediately.'
Once in her cabin, Zamira threw her coat, sabres, Elderglass vest and hat haphazardly onto her hammock. She settled onto her favourite chair with a groan and welcomed Paolo and Cosetta onto her lap. She lost herself in the familiar smell of their curly dark hair, and gazed with absolute satisfaction at their little fingers as she caught them in her own rough hands. Cosetta's, still so tiny and uncertain ... Paolo's, growing longer and more dextrous by the week. Gods, they were growing too fast, too fast.
Their familiar chatter calmed her to the marrow; apparently, Paolo had spent the afternoon fighting monsters that lived in one of her sea-chests, while Cosetta now had plans to grow up to be King of the Seven Marrows. Zamira briefly considered explaining the difference between a king and a queen, and deemed it not worth the effort; contradicting Cos would only lead to days of circular argument.
'Be king! Seven Marers!' the little girl said, and Zamira nodded solemnly.
'Remember your poor family when you come into your kingdom, darling.'
The door opened and Ezri appeared with Kosta and Valora ... or should that be de Ferra? Damn these layered aliases.
'Lock the door,' said Zamira. 'Paolo, fetch Mummy four glasses. Ezri, can you do the business on one of those bottles of Lashani Blue? They're right behind you.'
Paolo, overawed at his responsibility, set four small tumblers out on the lacquered table atop the sea-chests. Kosta and de Ferra found seats on floor-cushions, and Ezri made quick work of the waxed cork sealing the bottle. The smell of fresh lemons pervaded the cabin, and Ezri
filled each tumbler to the brim with wine the colour of the ocean depths.
'Alas, I'm bereft of toasts,' said Zamira. 'Sometimes one merely needs a drink. Have at it.' Holding Cos with her left arm, Zamira downed her wine in one go, relishing the mingled tastes of spice and citrus, feeling the prickles of icy heat slide down her throat.
'Want,' said Cosetta.
'This is a Mummy drink, Cos, and you wouldn't like its taste.'
'Want!'
'I said?Oh, very well. Can't fear the fire if you don't scald your fingertips.' She poured the merest dash of the blue wine into her tumbler and handed it carefully to Cos. The girl took it up with an expression of the utmost solemnity, tipped its contents back into her mouth and then dropped it on the tabletop with a clatter.
'Like PISS,' she hollered, shaking her head.
'There are some drawbacks,' said Zamira as she caught the tumbler before it went over the edge, 'to raising children among sailors. But then I myself am no doubt making the largest contribution to her vocabulary.'
'PIIIISSSSS,' yelled Cosetta, giggling and immensely pleased with herself. Zamira shushed her.
'I have a toast,' said Kosta, smirking and raising his glass. 'To clear perception. I have just now, after all these weeks, realized who the real captain of this vessel is.'
De Ferra chuckled and clinked tumblers with him. Ezri, however, left her wine untouched on the table before her and stared down at her hands. Zamira resolved to make this quick; Ezri clearly needed to be alone with Jerome.
'It's like this, Ravelle,' said Zamira. 'I didn't know I'd be arguing for your plan until I found myself doing so.'
'So you're taking us?
'Back to Tal Verrar. Yes.' She poured herself another tumbler of wine and took a more conservative sip. 'I've convinced the council not to panic if stories come down from the north concerning the mischief we're about to work.'
'Thank you, Captain. I?
'Don't thank me with words, Ravelle.' Zamira sipped her wine again and set the tumbler down. 'Thank me by keeping your side of the bargain. Find a way to kill Maxilan Stragos.'
'Yes.'
'Let me make something else clear.' Zamira carefully turned Cosetta in her arms so that the little girl was looking out across the table, straight at Kosta. 'Everyone aboard this ship will be risking their life to give you your chance at this scheme. Every single person.'
'I... I understand.'
'If time passes, and we can't find a solution for what Stragos has done to you ... well, your access to him can't last for ever. I'll do everything in my power to help you before it comes to that. But if there's no other alternative, if time runs out and the only way you can take him down is to sacrifice yourself - I won't expect to see you again, do you understand?'
'If it comes to that,' said Kosta, 'I'll drag him to the judgement of the gods with my bare hands. We'll go together.'
'Gods,' said Cosetta. 'Bare hands!'
'Piss!' shouted Kosta, hoisting his tumbler toward Cosetta, who nearly came apart at the joints with the resulting fit of giggles.
'Thank you, Ravelle, for this gift of a daughter who will now be up all night repeating that word?
'Sorry, Captain. So, when do we leave?'
'Half the crew goes ashore tonight, and the other half tomorrow. We'll be scraping them up in heaps the day after, those that want to stay with us. Hopefully we can be rid of our swag tomorrow. So ... two days. Two and a half, maybe. Then we'll see how the Orchid flies.'
'Thanks, Captain.'
'And that's all,' Zamira said. 'My children are up too late, and I intend to claim the privilege of snoring as loudly as I wish once you're all out of my cabin.'
Kosta was the first to take the hint, draining his glass and leaping to his feet. De Ferra followed and was about to leave when Ezri spoke in a quiet voice: 'Jerome. May I see you in my cabin? Just for a few minutes?'
'A few minutes?' De Ferra grinned. 'Tsk, Ezri, when did you become such a pessimist?'
'Now,' she said, wiping the smile from his face. Chagrined, he helped her to her feet.
A moment later, the door the her cabin clicked shut, leaving Zamira alone with her family in one of the quiet interludes that were so damnably rare. For a few brief moments every night, she could imagine
that her ship was travelling neither to nor from danger, and she could imagine herself more mother than captain, alone with the ordinary concerns of her children?
'Mummy,' said Paolo without any warning, 'I want to learn how to fight with a sword.'
Zamira couldn't help herself; she stared at him for several seconds, and then cracked up laughing. Ordinary? Gods, how could any child born to this life be anything resembling ordinary?
'Sword,' hollered Cosetta, possible future King of the Seven Marrows. 'Sword! Sword!'
4
'Ezri, I?
He saw the slap coming but it never occurred to him for an instant to try to prevent the blow from landing. She put all of her muscle into it, which was saying something, and tears blurred Jean's vision.
'Why didn't you tell me?'
'Tell you?
She was sobbing now, but her next punch landed on his right arm with undiminished force.
'Ow,' he said. 'What? What?'
' Why didn 'tyou tell me?'
It was almost a shout; he spread his hands to catch her fists. A punch from her to the ribs or solar plexus and he'd feel it for hours.
'Ezri, please. Tell you what?' He knelt on the narrow floor of her compartment, kissing her fingertips while she tried to yank her hands back. At last he let her, and knelt before her, arms lowered.
'Ezri, if you need to hit me, then by the gods hit me. If that's what you need, I won't fight you for a second. Not ever. Just... tell me what you want.'
She balled her fists and Jean braced himself for another swing, but she sank to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her tears were hot on his cheeks.
'How could you not tell me?' she whispered.
'Anything you want to know, I'll tell you now, just?
'The poison, Jean.'
'Oh,' he moaned, slumping sideways against the rear wall of the cabin. She slid with him. 'Oh, shit.'
'You selfish bastard, how could you not?
'Drakasha told the council of captains our story,' Jean said numbly. 'You were there to hear it.'
'From her, not you! How could you do that to me?'
'Ezri, please, it's?
'You are the only thing,' she whispered through the iron grip of her embrace, 'the only thing on this whole fucking ocean that's mine, Jean Tannen. I don't own this ship. Hell, I don't own this cabin. I don't have a buried fucking treasure. I have no family and no title, not any more. And then I finally got to take something in return?
'And it turns out I have ... one significant flaw.'
'We can do something,' she said. 'We can find someone. Physikers, alchemists?
'Tried, Ezri. Alchemists and poisoners. We need the antidote from Stragos, or an actual sample of his poison from which to create one.'
'And didn't I deserve to know? What if you'd?
'Dropped dead in here one night? Ezri, what if a Redeemer had put his sword through my skull, or the crew had just murdered me on the day we met?'
'That's not you,' she said, 'that's not how someone like you dies, I know, I just know?
'Ezri, you've seen every one of my scars, you know I'm not?
'This is different,' she said. 'This is something you can't just fight.'
'Ezri, I am fighting it. I've been fighting it every single day since the Archon put the fucking thing in me. Leocanto and I count the days, do you understand? I would lay awake at night the first few weeks, and I was sure I could feel it, doing something in me? He gulped, and felt his own tears pouring down his face. 'Look, when I'm in here it doesn't exist, understand? When I'm with you I can't feel it. I don't care about it. This is... it's like a different world. How could I tell you? How could I ruin that?'
'I would kill him,' she whispered. 'Stragos. Gods, if he was here right now I'd cut his fucking throat?
'I'd help. Believe me?
She released her arms from around his neck and they knelt there in the semi-darkness, staring at one another.
'I love you, Jean,' she whispered at last.
'I love you, Ezri.' Saying it was like allowing some sudden release of pressure behind his heart; it felt like breathing in at last after ages spent
underwater. 'You're like no one else I've ever known.'
