Page 3 of Company of Thieves
“Only it was fun, and not a pain in the ass, which is more than I can say about the navigator,” I added.
“I can’t imagine what game you could play on the autonavigator,” Octavia said, slowly shaking her head. “But I’ll move past that. You wish to be a warrior? But, Hallie ...” Her voice trailed away.
“You don’t know how to fight,” Jack pointed out for her.
I smiled, happy to explain it as many times as was needed. “I know! That’s the beauty of it! I’ll learn how from everyone on board, because each person here has some fighting ability in which they excel, and once they teach me, then I’ll be the expert.”
“I don’t think it quite works that way,” Octavia said with hesitation.
“Not if you’re going to have a negative attitude about it, no.” I narrowed my eyes on them. “That was a very pointed look you guys just gave each other. What’s going on? Is something happening that you’re hiding from me?”
“It’s not that we’re hiding anything,” Octavia said reluctantly. “We just don’t want you to be ...”
“Vulnerable,” Jack finished for her. “Hurt. Smeared into the ground.”
“OK, now I really do feel insulted.” I got to my feet, waiting until Jack did likewise before socking him gently on the arm. “I could be just as good a fighter as anyone else.”
“Hal,” Jack said on a chiding note. “You’ve never so much as taken a self-defense class.”
“So? You never sailed an airship before last year, and here you are Octavia’s first mate.”
“That’s beside the point,” Jack said airily.
“We are strangers in a strange land, Jack!” I said, suddenly at my wits’ end to make him understand just how I felt. “This world is so different from ours, and yet, the people in it are basically the same. They need help against oppression. They need saving from dire situations. They need guidance and wisdom and assistance.”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Jack protested. “We’re trying to provide all those things.”
“Youare,” I said, pointing first at him, then at Octavia. “Andsheis. As is the entire crew. But notme. I have no part in it.”
Jack said nothing, but frowned as if he was going to protest.
I continued before he could do so. “What you’re doing is no different than the volunteering you did back home. And yet I’m not given the chance to do the same thing.”
“Do you wish to volunteer at an animal refuge?” Octavia asked, wrinkling her brow. “I know of one in England for donkeys, but other than that ...”
“It’s not just animals. I’d be happy to do that if there were charities I could work for. But there’s nothing that I’ve seen. Have you?”
Both of them shook their heads. “Other than the donkey refuge, no, I can’t think of a charitable organization that would welcome you,” Octavia admitted.
I crossed my arms. “And that’s why I’m going to have to carve my own path. That path will be the ship fighter. I will protect you guys as you steal things and distribute it to the poor folks who need it.”
They exchanged yet another telling glance, and in a moment of insight, I knew Octavia was going to side with Jack against me. Drat them both.
“If you had some experience,” Jack started to say, but I could tell the rest of his sentence would be a denial.
But I hadn’t fought back from the biggest threat to my life just to give up when the going got rough.
“Fine,” I said, looking at them both down my nose. “You want me to get experience? I will get experience. If you won’t teach me how to be a kick-ass airship warrior, then I’ll find someone who will. Who’s the baddest ass in town?”
Octavia sighed. “Really, Hallie, your language. I realize that where you come from, bandying the word ‘ass’ about hither and yon is a common occurrence, but I can assure you that here polite people do not mention such words in mixed company.”
“Etienne?” I asked, thinking of the Black Hand leader, whom we’d seen briefly in France half a year before. “He didn’t seem to be doing much fighting. He just stood back and yelled at his people to shoot at us.”
“No, of course Etienne isn’t a fighter. He’s a strategist.” Octavia’s fingers fretted with the fabric of her skirt.
“Then who is our biggest threat?”
“Prince Akbar,” Jack said, his fingers twitching a little like he wanted to throttle someone. “That bastard son of a—”
