The Bright Black Sea (122 page)

'The Neb you will, Litang. She's an assassin who
tried to kill the Empress and me. I'll serve her her own medicine.
She'll be a lot less deadly, dead,' he snapped, and attempted to
tear my hand off his right wrist free so he could draw his
darter.

'No. We're not summarily executing helpless
prisoners, are we, Min?' I said, glancing to Min as we struggled,
adding urgently, 'That's no way to begin a new regime.'

But before she could answer, Vinden managed to reach
and wrench his darter free, though I still had a grip on his
wrist.

That wouldn't do. I acted instinctively. I put the
sissy I was still holding against his hand on my wrist and gave him
a dart. He jerked as it discharged and relaxed. I calmly grabbed
his darter and pocketed it as well.

'Did you just dart Uncle Hawk?' said Min, her eyes
wide.

'Sorry, he made it necessary. He'll be fine in a
couple of hours. Just a little headache. Trust me, I know,' I
replied grimly, slipping my sissy back into my pocket as it slowly
dawned on me what I'd done. 'We're not killing prisoners out of
hand. We can't have that.'

'We're not? Are you out of your mind Litang?' she
asked. Perhaps she actually thought I was.

And perhaps I was, a little, but I denied it, 'Not at
all.' And paused to collect my thoughts. 'I'd hardly think you'd
want to start your campaign to take back the Cloud Throne from a
ruthless tyrant by establishing the precedent of killing helpless
prisoners out of hand. Not good policy. You're going to have to
count on gathering followers from your aunt's navy as you go. How
eager will they be to switch sides if they know you shoot
prisoners? You need to establish a clear difference between you and
your aunt. You need to be the better Empress. Killing helpless
prisoners isn't good karma and you'll need all the good karma you
can acquire if you're to succeed.'

'But you just darted Uncle Hawk – Prince Imvoy.'

'He didn't give me a choice. I merely stunned him,
and only to prevent him from doing your cause great harm and
because I couldn't take the chance that there'd be lethal darts
accidentally flying about if we continued to struggle.'

She stared at me for a moment and, perhaps, knowing
me too well, said. 'What's she to you, Litang?'

'She saved my life.'

'You said she was our assassin.'

'She is. She's the one who tried to kill us on
Calissant and she tried again to kill me on Lontria to use my death
to get to you. Believe me, I wasn't imagining the threat when I had
Vyn and Ten bring you up to the ship.'

'And yet, I thought you said she saved your
life.'

I began, slowly. 'You see, we crossed orbits once
more, on Despar, after you had sailed. She had followed us there to
complete her mission. As it happened she rescued me from a pack of
Legion of the New Order thugs who had me cornered and seemed intent
on beating me to death.'

'Why in the Neb would she do that?'

'Well, I gather, for several reasons. She again
planned to use me to get to you and I guess she wanted to kill me
herself. Slowly. Seems she blamed me for her failures and wanted to
make me pay for the damage I did to her career. The Neb-blasted
thing is that she shepherded me through several Legion ambushes in
a chase over one of the viaducts from Sanjoor to the port. I'm
pretty sure she's saved my life more times than she's tried to take
it. And, well, I'd rather be on the right side of the ledger. It's
a karma thing.'

'It's more than that,' she said, watching me
closely.

I'd just said all I knew for certain. Anything beyond
that, if there was anything beyond that, wasn't clear enough to
articulate. 'I owe my life. I think that matters. But what matters
to both of us is the principle of the thing. We both grew up in the
Unity, the finest expression of civilization humans have ever
known. I'm not prepared to abandon that civilization in the name of
ruthless efficiency or for some drifteer mania for revenge. We're
both civilized people. Prisoners are prisoners. That's a matter of
principle. It's who we are.' And with that, I realized, with gut
churning dismay, that I'd put myself in a position that I could not
and would not, retreat from. Like those damned fools, D'Lay and
Nun, this seemed a principle I couldn't evade. She hadn't killed me
when she should've, and could've, and I wouldn't stand by and let
them kill her.

'Well, she almost killed me. I claim a share in
determining her fate,' replied Min, and turning to DarQue beside
her, demanded, 'What's the custom, what's our policy with
prisoners?'

'We don't take pirates, slavers or raiders
prisoners,' he said simply.

'And assassins?' asked Min, giving me a quick, dark,
challenging glance.

'I would think assassins, like pirates, slavers and
raiders operate outside of the commonly accepted rules of warfare,
and need not be taken prisoner,' he said simply.

However, my mind was racing ahead, reviewing the
customs of Cimmadar, as recorded on my com link.

'Right,' snapped Min, turning back to me, 'You've no
local customs to protect your assassin. I see no reason why we
shouldn't apply local customs to this affair. Which is?'

'She can be executed out of hand,' said DarQue. 'If
you choose to do so.'

'And as for defying and darting Uncle Hawk, Prince
Imvoy?' she asked just to make me squirm. I hope.

'Who,' I interjected, hastily, 'Has no operational
authority. He's a political advisor. Not in the chain of command.
He was overstepping his authority so I didn't have to take orders
from him. And I darted him for your safety.'

She gave me a hard look, but shrugged, 'We'll deal
with that issue later. But since, it seems that executing an
assassin is within accepted custom, I see no reason why that can't
be done – karma or no. We're not in the Unity anymore.'

'I beg to differ...' I said, as I prepared my
defense.

'I'm not going to stand here and argue. We're not in
the Unity, and I believe most local customs should be
followed...'

'I agree, to a point. However, according to local
customs, I don't believe you have any say in the matter.'

'Litang,' she began, growing even more angry, 'If
you're about to defy me yet again...'

'Sorry. But, you see, I was the one she shot at, not
you, or Vinden. Since I was her obvious target, that makes this my
affair – my personal affair. It wasn't part of some a military
action or even a political affair, at least as far as we know. So I
claim my personal right – according to local custom, mind you – to
deal with my would-be assassin as I choose. Am I correct in my
interpretation of Cimmadar custom, Admiral?' I added looking to
DarQue.

'Since you seem to have been the immediate target,
and since you haven't been sworn into the Empress's Navy, the
assassination was not directed against naval personnel... So it
could be interpreted as a civilian and personal matter, in which
case, Captain Litang has the right to redress the wrong as he sees
fit. Still as the Empress...'

'Right,' I snapped, eager to end this discussion
before royal privilege could be invoked. 'This incident is my
private affair. I'm very sorry it occurred in such a public manner.
Now, we need to act before she comes around. I'll take charge of my
prisoner. I'll confine her to a sleeper-pod onboard the
Raven
until I can ship her safely off to the ship.'

'And ?' Min demanded. 'What do you intend to do with
our would-be assassin?'

I shrugged. 'I don't know. Perhaps I'll have Molaye
turn her over to the Patrol. A mind probe will earn her life in
Felon's Riff. Or perhaps I'll just have her sent far away. She'll
never find us again. And, well, when all is said and done, she
didn't assassinate us, did she? I'd think living with that failure,
and the contempt of her Order might be an even harsher sentence
than death.'

Min just stared at me for a moment, 'We'll deal with
this later. In private.' Turning to the ring of sailors who'd
gathered around us, she ordered, 'Please see Prince Imvoy to his
stateroom.' And with a curt nod to DarQue, 'Admiral,' she spun and
made her way to the doorway in the deck house and disappeared into
its dark interior.

DarQue gave me a long, thoughtful look, but said
nothing, beyond ordering two sailors to take charge of Uncle Hawk
floating peacefully beside me and glaring around the deck, sending
the rest of the sailors who had gathered around and in the
balconies overlooking the deck, scurrying back to their duties.
We'd been speaking in Cimmadar – that being the way we're thinking
these days – so everyone knew what just happened. Who knows what
they thought?

I turned back to Cin, still floating quietly,
anchored by her boots, and considered my next move.

Tri'n still stood next to me, watching me with
curious eyes. She was my first mate now, so I might as well put her
to work.

'Ah, Tri'n. Perhaps you can find me something I might
use to secure the hands and feet of my prisoner?'

She nodded and went off, leaving me to stare at my
old would-be-assassin – and comrade in arms – wondering at the
strange mix of emotions that seeing her now, long after I thought
her dead on some (other) suicide mission, had churned up in my
mind.

Tri'n returned promptly with a length of cord which I
used to bind Cin's hands and lash her legs together before breaking
her free of the deck and tossing her over my shoulder.

'Can I help, Captain?' Tri'n asked.

'Thank you, I'm fine,' I said, adding, 'I'm sorry to
have made such a fool of myself. Please feel free to reconsider
your decision to sail aboard the
Raven
.'

We started down the long gangplank

'She means something to you,' she said from behind
me, echoing Min. I was familiar enough with Cimmadarian speech to
know it wasn't a question. Which meant I didn't have to answer it.
Still...

'She didn't miss, Tri'n,' I said, and glancing back,
added, 'Many round-cycles ago, she was ordered by her superiors to
kill me. She could've easily hit me at point blank range, but
didn't. How could I, in turn, stand by and see her killed out of
hand?'

'How do you know it was deliberate? And why, if she
did?'

I laughed grimly. 'The one time she did,
unintentionally miss me, was when her arm was bumped just as she
fired, and she hit the badge on my cap,' I said, pointing to my now
bare head and briefly outlined the incident until we reached the
end of the gangplank.

'So you believe she missed deliberately.'

'Hitting my cap's badge a second time couldn't be a
coincidence.'

'Why? Why did she not kill you?'

I shrugged. 'I don't know. She likely expected me to
miss. She knows my effective range is a meter, or less.And well, we
were both between her and her likely targets, she may've figured to
stun everyone with the plasma air blast to give her an extra few
seconds to get a clear line on her targets before anyone reacted.
This was a suicide mission after all, so whatever happened
afterwards, wouldn't have mattered. Still, she could've killed me,
but didn't, so I can't stand by and let her be killed. And even
that's neither dragon nor snake, as you'd say. You don't kill
helpless prisoners out of hand. That's not war, that's murder.'

She said nothing more.

'You don't fear Prince Imvoy?' she asked as we walked
along the path for the
Raven
.

I glanced at Tri'n. A person of few words, but very
direct. Given our very different lives and outlooks, that was
probably for the best.

I shrugged, 'There was ill blood between us already.
His men darted me and he kept me prisoner once and he threatened to
pirate the Empress's ship when I simply wouldn't turn it over to
him. I'm sure he doesn't like me, and I neither like, nor trust
him, so this changes nothing.'

'He can challenge you to a duel.'

'I've fought one, and won.'

'So you don't fear a duel?'

'The custom here is like it is everywhere else. If he
challenges me, I'll have my choice of weapons, so no, I don't. But
he won't. It'd be beneath his dignity. And too iffy.

'Yes,' she said quietly, with a sidelong glance.
'Royalty has its privileges. After this, no one would wonder if you
disappeared.'

'I'll just have to be careful and keep in company
until we sail. We'll have two of his men onboard, but I don't think
they'll murder for him. I spared Ben's life once, for what it's
worth. And Vikei was the next best of the litter. We'll just have
to watch them carefully. And once the fleet sails, we should be
able to steer well clear of Prince Imvoy.'

'And you don't fear me?' she asked. 'That I might act
to avenge the honor of Prince Imvoy?'

I glanced at her. She was impossible to read, but I
answered truthfully, 'No. You're my first mate. Shall we cross over
to our ship?'

It was a bit awkward hauling the inert body of Cin
along as we pulled ourselves across to the
Raven
using one
of the mooring lines.

Riv, watching us come onboard, with a big grin,
called out, 'Gone native already, Skipper? My, and with two wives –
one of each kind – as well.' Fortunately in Unity Standard.

I gave him a dark look. Wasted, of course. 'This is
Sub-captain Tri'n, the new first mate of the
Raven
,' I said
in Cimmadarian, introducing her. 'And this is Riv D'Van, chief
engineer of the
Starry Shore
. Don't pay him any mind. He's a
mere tourist.'

He grinned and bowed, 'A pleasure to meet you
Sub-captain Tri'n. Welcome aboard the
Raven
.'

She gave him a measuring look and nodded, 'Thank you,
Chief.'

'And who's your other, more reluctant recruit,
Skipper?' he asked as I hoisted Cim to my shoulder again.

'Naylea Cin. The St Bleyth stealth.'