Page 65 of Company of Thieves
“I’m not going to go so far as to offer to kiss them, but I would most certainly shake his hand, and offer him my best wine. Ah, there’s theEnterprise.”
“And here comes theFalcon,” I said, pointing to the west. A sudden worrisome thought struck me then. “We’re not going to fight William, are we? Because I know he’s the enemy and all—although he didn’t stop Octavia’s crew from rescuing us when we were going to be hung—but those ships have a lot of guns on them.”
“Worried theNightwingcan’t take on an imperial warship or two?” he asked, his hand warm on my back.
“Can she?” I asked, not sure whether Alan’s ship, fast as she was, would be able to hold her own in a heated battle.
“One or two, yes, but not all three at once.” He pulled out the small speaking tube from where it was attached to the wall next to the door. “South forty-one degrees, Abhishek,” he told the navigator.
I trusted Alan. I knew he had a lot of experience fighting on the ground as well as in the air, but now there was more at stake than just ... well, us.
“Alan,” I said, one hand on my stomach. “You know I’m totally on board with fighting evil, and kicking ass, and having exciting adventures, but—”
“We’re too high.” He turned from where he was leaning out trying to see beneath us, and pulled open the door, bellowing into the interior. “Az! We need to be lower.”
“Too high for what? Alan!” I dashed after him, grabbing the back of his armor. “What are you planning on doing if not fighting?”
He stopped at the top of the stairs that led down to the lower decks, stopping to kiss me quickly. “You don’t think I’m going to engage William with you on board in your condition, do you? Octavia and Zand will make sure the emperor’s attention is elsewhere while we help ourselves to his resources.”
I smiled a slow, admiring smile. “You really are the most amazing man. Can I help steal the things?”
“No,” he said, patting my cheek before clattering his way down the stairs.
“Dammit, you’re not going to turn into one of those overprotective men who think that just because a woman might have a miracle pregnancy thing going on, she can’t help steal stuff, are you? Because I’m not made of glass, nor am I an idiot who won’t protect herself at all cost, and if you think I am, well, then, the words ‘I am so divorcing you’ are going to come up a lot. Don’t think I won’t do it! I divorced my first husband and I didn’t even love him.”
It took a good fifteen minutes of maneuvering before we managed to land in a relatively safe spot on the wharf, hidden by a building that, from the smell of it, processed fish.
Alan had left his horses at the farm where the airships parked, so we had to skulk through the streets on foot to get to the storage depot. Guns still sounded to the north, although there was a different timbre to the sounds. “Is that theFalconfiring on William?” I asked in a whisper when we paused at the corner of the fish-processing building, while Alan quickly scanned the street for threats.
“TheFalconand theEnterprise, yes.” He gestured, and we all hurried across the street, keeping to the shadows wherever possible.
“Isn’t that dangerous? They are outnumbered, too, and you said theEnterprisewasn’t good for attacks. I wouldn’t want them getting involved if we aren’t there to help them. But on the other hand, I really don’t want to be left behind, and that’s what you’d have to do in order to engage with them. Dammit, I hate worrying like this.” I did a little teeth gnashing while I fretted about the ships being overwhelmed by superior numbers. I had every confidence in the other two crews, but if all three of William’s ships focused on Jack and Octavia, they wouldn’t stand a chance.
“They would be in danger if they were close enough for William to fire on them, but they’re just doing a bit of chivying, trying to draw William’s fire and attention so that he’s not aware that his goods are in danger of being stolen. There’s a guard up ahead, so no more talking unless it’s vital.”
We moved as silent as wraiths through the near-empty streets. Luckily for my peace of mind, Alan had made no objection when I insisted on bringing along the bow and quiver, assumedly because he thought I was as inept with the bow as I was with the dagger, sword, and those devilish disruptors that I swore wouldn’t work for me because I hadn’t been born in this world. My mind shied away from the fact that both Jack and Octavia were quite deadly with them, and focused on what was important—watching Alan’s back.
“There,” he said, pausing at the corner of a small grocery shop. Az moved up past me, flanking one side of Alan, while Ajay took the other side. I took a certain amount of pride that all of Alan’s crew had gone back to their Moghul clothing (with their distinctly different armor, thank the goddess), feeling that we were much wilder, more dangerous, and far more daring than the rest of the Company, who had to conform to societal standards.
“We don’t need no stinkin’ badges,” I quoted softly to myself, making a mental note to ask Jack if he remembered which movie that line came from.
A movement at my shoulder had me glancing over. “What badges?” Yussuf whispered.
“Boy, you have good hearing,” I told him. “You got stuck with guard duty, eh?”
He grinned, immediately looking contrite when Alan glared back at us. I blew him a kiss.
Alan spoke quietly to Ajay and Az, then turned and pointed to a small fruit stand outside the grocer’s, obviously telling me to park myself there. I nodded and moved over to it with Yussuf, while the rest of the men divided into two groups, half of them following Az, while the rest of the men trailed after Alan and Ajay.
“Help me up,” I told Yussuf, pulling over a couple of wooden crates to use as steps.
He eyed the fruit stand. “You want to get on top of it?” he asked, clearly hesitant.
“Yes, I’ll have a better line of sight if I’m up high. Come on, it’s sturdy enough.”
It took a few minutes of convincing him, but at last he helped boost me up onto the flat top of the stand, from which a ragged banner hung announcing the freshest fruit in all of France could be found within. I knelt, testing the bow, making sure it hadn’t been damaged in transit, but it seemed just fine.
Ahead of us, two one-story buildings sat with small grimy windows set high on the walls, clearly some sort of storehouses used for cargo from incoming ships and airships. I counted four guards on the side nearest us, and watched with interest as, one by one, the guards disappeared into the dense shadows of the building without so much as a yell.
