Page 4 of Take No Prisoners
Klaus seemed to sense his worry. "There are boxes stacked beneath the window on the other side. You'll be fine."
Niall slipped through the window, catching his sleeve on the nail hammered into place to hold the window up. It tore, and he cursed. He would do his best to mend the shirt, but the cloth was finer than anything he'd ever owned. He didn't know how well it would take to his thick fingers and coarse thread.
"Hurry up," Klaus said behind him.
He slipped through the window and lowered himself to the stack of boxes waiting for him inside the building.
Klaus scampered after him. "Thank fuck. They're gone. We can stow away on the ship. Follow me."
"On the ship?" Niall whispered. "The ship outside?"
Klaus nodded. "Imperial Fool."
"The emperor himself is a fool if he thinks I'm getting on that ship." Niall stood up straighter and loosely balled his hands into fists at his sides. He and Klaus had never come to blows before, but Klaus was underweight and underfed, while Niall had three square meals a day as an apprentice and the bonus of lifting fifty-pound bags of clay daily. There was no way Klaus would force him onto that ship.
"Be reasonable," Klaus said. "You need to break out of your apprenticeship, and they're leaving for Hearthstone tonight. By the time Master Othelio thinks to look for you, you'll be putting a down payment on your new store."
"I'm not getting on a naval ship, even if it's the last ship leaving this port." Niall crossed his arms, displaying his fists.
"I told you he wouldn't come willingly." That voice. Niall had heard it before. He shivered. The last time had been the night his parents had hanged.
Chapter 2
Efren
Landale's docks were calm. Too calm. It had been easy enough to secure passage to Glamiere for the four newly freed weavers, but the ship's captain had no news in return.
Even the gambling ship seemed quiet. No new reports of weavers to rescue. No Vadim sightings reported. The man was impossible to miss with his white hair and his aura of death. Even the mundane folk without magic could tell there was something off about him. Efren had been following him solely from reports of a bogeyman with white hair for the last six months.
Efren had been drawn to Vadim's aura of danger once. Now, he wanted to stay as far away as possible, but necessity dictated. Once they caught Vadim, they could pry the emperor's plans from him. Efren was looking forward to it. The bloodier, the better.
After he left the gambling ship, he met with the lookouts for each ship docked between it andStarlight Specter. They had nothing to report. Their claims seemed suspicious about the giant naval ship docked beside the pier's farthest corner, just out of sight. When he asked about it, they all said they knew nothing. Far too convenient.
He returned to the ship, hoping his crew had better luck.
Olivia waited for him at the wheel. She was again dressed the same as he was, but in a long, dark jacket over an even darker tunic. Color was difficult to discern, thanks to the ghostly blue light from the enchanted globe in Olivia's hand. Her gray breeches were just long enough to tuck into her over-the-knee boots. Beneath her tricorn hat, a single braid curved around her neck like a serpent and tapered to a knotted tail just above her belt.
"Ready to set sail?" she asked without further greeting.
"Has everyone else returned?" Efren would have left the gambling vessel sooner, himself, but he'd been too intrigued by an old shop owner betting heaps of money on craps, money he lost time and time again.
"They have," she said. "Some with news. Have you any news?"
"Master Othelio of Othelio's Pottery has really bad luck."
She smirked. "You'll be surprised to learn that's not the first time I've heard his name tonight."
"Oh?"
"Master Othelio has an apprentice who has been abducted by your dear first mate."
"What would Vadim want with a potter's apprentice?"
"What, indeed?" Olivia smirked, and Efren relaxed a little. She wasn't trying to be a better captain or take the ship from him. She was doing her best to fill the boots Vadim had left behind. Her eagerness to take her predecessor down a peg or two gave him hope.
Olivia was the ship's magic suppressor, the person who could keep them hidden from Vadim's seeker until the last possible moment, allowing them to get the drop on him. Well, to give them a fighting chance, at least. Efren had never seen anyone surprise Vadim, not even if he was now commanding a hulking naval vessel.
"He's taken at least five weavers, according to four missing persons reports ranging from children to young adults. The fifth is the potter's apprentice. He's older than the others, and he followed their seeker to the docks tonight. The seeker tried to convince him to come aboard without tying him up. From their argument, the young man seems to have his own issues with the navy."
