Page 145 of The Sea Witch
“When I take a person to bed,” she drawled, “I prefer a more expansive window of time.”
“In Kingston, you grabbed Pretty Daniel Delacroix and hauled him into an alcove with a convenient couch. You were there for no more than a quarter of an hour.”
“He was not worth more than fifteen minutes,” Stasia answered. “All show, with minimal performance.”
Alys glanced at her friend. “I don’t have need of accompaniment.”
“All the same,” Stasia replied, “I am precisely where I want to be.”
“I’m only walking to the top of the mountain.” Alys stopped and faced her. “There’s surely more entertaining use of your time than hauling your carcass beside mine.”
“We have had an abundance of entertainment these past few weeks. Parleys, searches for waterfalls, helping captives free themselves, battles with naval ships,morebattles with Redthorns, sea creatures attacking the ship.” Stasia looked at her steadily. “A sedate walk is exactly what I require.”
Alys exhaled, even as her friend’s loyalty warmed her. “Follow whatever wind carries you.”
She marched ahead, keeping her strides long. Yet Stasia could walk at a brisk pace, too, and soon they had left the town behind as they neared the foot of the mountain. Trees and low scrub dotted the base, thinning out as the mountain rose higher.
Once, this tropical landscape had been new and strange to Alys, so different from the thick forests of pitch pine and black oak of Massachusetts. Yet now, she knew it as well as she knew her own freckles, and she strove to find comfort in the gumbo-limbo and palm trees that swayed in the hot breeze.
Neither she nor Stasia spoke as they ascended the mountain, which was a relief. Stasia seemed to understand that Alys had no desire to talk, and so the noise of the town faded, replaced by bird calls and animal sounds and wind in the trees, with nothing else to interrupt the silence, save an occasional twitter from Eris, wheeling overhead.
She glanced back at her friend. Something seemed to preoccupy Stasia, her gaze turned inward even as her feet remained steady on the rocky terrain. Perhaps Stasia thought of her ownpast, and whomever she left behind in the Mediterranean, and choices which led to heartbreak.
Swallowing the urge to ask her friend, Alys concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other. That was all anyone could do, keep moving forward in the face of pain, no matter the cost.
They finally reached the top of the mountain. Together, they stared down at the town, now a collection of poppet-sized toys, and the azure bay full of anchored ships of all sizes. The sight of so many masted vessels, all dedicated to a life outside the law, briefly lifted the heaviness within Alys. And yet... what did any of it mean, all the plunder and freedom, when at the end of each day, there was nothing but unwanted solitude? When the person you cared for faced terrible danger, and you couldn’t do anything to help them?
She turned to face the other side of the island. It was more rugged, lacking a town on its craggy shore, and almost completely uninhabited. Beyond the rock-strewn beach stretched more cerulean water.
Alys pointed to a lone ship sailing toward the island. “She’s flying a skull and sickle. It’s John Lynne’s ship, theBold Fortune.”
“A right bastard, that Lynne,” Stasia said dourly. “Always trying to cheat the tavern wenches out of their share of coin.”
“See there,” Alys noted, pointing to a vessel approaching theBold Fortunewith exceptional speed. Guns bristled on its decks, and it flew the Union Jack. “Damn—that’s a naval ship.”
“Saint Bernadine has been safe from the interference of the Royal Navy.”
“Today marks the end of that, and, hell, the ship isn’t unaccompanied.” Alys pulled a spyglass from her belt and pointed it toward the water beside the naval vessel. A reddish bulbous body broke the surface of the waves, and long tentacles trailed behind. Judging by the shadow in the water, whatever it was possessed massive size. “A sea creature.”
“Is it theJupiter? That is the only naval ship that subjugates beasts.”
For a brief moment, Alys’s heart lifted into her throat, that Ben might be so close. Yet she peered closer. “It’s too small to be the flagship. This is some other vessel.”
Stasia let out a low curse. “The threat your naval man spoke of, that the navy was adding more creatures to its arsenal, it is true.”
“Goddamnit,” Alys bit out. “They’re setting upon theBold Fortune.”
Within moments, the naval ship was beside Lynne’s vessel. Distant booms thundered as the two ships fired upon each other. Several gigantic thick tentacles rose up from the water and wrapped around theBold Fortune’s masts and hull. The sea creature crushed the timbers of the masts, and the hull collapsed in on itself as if it was a rotten melon. Through her spyglass, Alys watched members of the pirate crew leap overboard in a desperate attempt to save themselves, only to be dragged beneath the water by more tentacles.
“By the tides,” Alys breathed. “There’s no stopping the navy now. Not without the fail-safe.”
“We must get aboard theSea Witchand flee,” Stasia growled. “Fast as we can.”
“And warn everyone else.”
There wasn’t time to summon winds to hasten them down the mountain, so they sped back as fast as the uneven terrain would allow. At last, they reached the base of the mountain, and raced into town. As they entered the marketplace, Alys grabbed a pot being sold by a tinner, along with a wooden spoon. She banged on the pot furiously.
“Everyone,” she shouted when people stared at her in confusion, “get to your ships. Have your mages summon every wind to speed your escape. The navy approaches.”
