The Price of Faith (28 page)

Drake was sitting on the desk now, his hands gripping her buttocks as they kissed each other with wild, bruising passion. Jez placed one knee on the desk grinning as she stared into his dark eyes.

JEZ!

She stopped. Her own voice in her head snapping her out of her strange trance. Drake leered back at her, the ghost of confusion passing across his eyes. He made to kiss her again and she recoiled, pushing off the desk and backing away a few steps.

They were both breathing heavy; Drake with a half-smile, watching her, licking his lips and Jez trying to make herself look somewhere else, anywhere else.

The night seemed almost like a dream. Drake had been ready to let his crew rape her and then… the ship… the battle. She hadn’t killed men like that for a long time, not since the days of Catherine and Constance and the Angel’s Blades. Not since Thanquil.

Without a word Jezzet turned and fled, crashing through the door to Drake’s cabin and storming down into the hold of the
Fortune
. There she found herself a dark corner and silently wept bitter tears of anger.

Standing on the forecastle on a day lit by relentless sunshine it was easy for Jez to see why people fell in love with the sea. It was beautiful. A vast crystal blue of rolling waves with beams of light fracturing and dancing off the surface. Jez wasn’t fooled though, she knew the sea for what it really was; cold, wet, infinitely dark and infinitely dangerous. The truly wise feared the water and though Jez didn’t count herself among them she definitely agreed with them.

In the two weeks since their attack on the cog she had learned the names of many of the
Fortune’s
crew and even a few nautical terms. She had come to enjoy standing here at the bow, staring out over the water and had somehow managed to strike up a strange sort of camaraderie with a giant spider; the little beast often found its way into her company and more than once she had awoken to find it watching her and she chose to believe it was watching over her and not deciding on the best time to eat her. In the two weeks since their attack on the cog she had also studiously avoided Drake Morrass as much as was physically possible. Unfortunately it was his ship and she was discovering ships were not really that big.

The few times she had run into Drake she had done her best to seem terse and uncooperative but the man had a charm all of his own and Jez always found herself drawn into conversation or jab trading. Those she could handle, just so long as things didn’t get physical. She had a history of making poor choices once her blood was up.

Blademasters were not supposed to kill for fun. They killed for money, or for loyalty to a lord, for honour, for a challenge, or to protect themselves but they did not kill for fun. Yuri had been very strict on that regard, making certain she knew he wasn’t training her to be a cold blooded killer. On the cog though… Jezzet had enjoyed it and those men hadn’t even served her as a challenge. They were just… there. Afterwards she had almost enjoyed Drake and that was something else that could never happen again. Otherwise she didn’t deserve the chance to protest her innocence to Thanquil and that was something she desperately wanted.

None of the pirates had tried to rape her again since that first time. Whether that was Drake’s influence or the effect of them seeing her in battle, she didn’t know but it was something she was glad of. Sending them a message just the once was a chore, if she had to do it again and again she would quickly run out of pirates to maim.

“Ship ahoy. Right behind us,” Princess shouted from the nest. Jez recognised his voice immediately.

Despite her best intentions she felt her blood stir at the prospect but she ignored it as best she could. It didn’t take long to cross from one end of the ship to the other at a full run and Jezzet had always been fast. It was mere moments before she was standing at the aft railing staring at a speck of black on the shimmering, blue horizon.

Drake calmly joined her at the rail. She could feel him staring at her and it caused a squirmy feeling in her gut she both knew and hated.

Zothus joined them shortly after with Rhi sat on his shoulder clicking and chittering to itself. The first mate stood next to his captain and dwarfed him; though Drake was not a small man, Zothus was both tall and broad. His head was entirely hairless, even devoid of eyebrows, and a large scrawling tattoo stretched from his left cheek all the way down his bared, bronze torso crossing over to the right side of his body before disappearing below his trouser line. The design made no sense to Jezzet, a swirling mass of lines and shapes she couldn’t understand, but it fascinated her all the same.

“Navy?” Zothus asked.

Drake shook his head. “Could be. Seems unlikely this far out but might be hunting bad people like us. We have been running slow for a couple of weeks.” He caught Jez looking at him and grinned as she looked away. “No rush, eh.”

The captain took his spyglass from his belt and handed it to the spider.

“Up.”

Rhi flexed it fangs and took hold of the little spyglass before leaping from Zothus’ shoulder onto a rope and scuttling up it until it hit the rigging, from there it zigzagged upwards. Jezzet lost sight of the little beast but a few moments later she heard Princess’ scream.

“Well he screams like a girl,” Drake said grinning at Jez. She laughed back.

“Zothus,” Princess shouted from the nest. “Keep your little demon away from me!”

Drake took a deep breath and bellowed back. “The second you see colours you let me know, Princess.”

“Aye, cap’n.”

“What happens if they’re navy?” Jez asked.

“We run or we fight.”

Run.

“We can outrun them?”

Drake laughed. “This here is leisurely sailing for the
Fortune
. Don’t see no need to run her ragged. But if that ship’s a threat and if we don’t feel like a fight. We’ll show them what our arse looks like.” He took the cue to look at Jezzet’s arse. She glared at him. “Reckon we got a little while if you…”

“No.”

The captain sucked on his teeth. “Good job I like a bit of teasing. You’ll come around eventually.”

Jezzet ignored him, staring at the boat behind them. “Could it be one of hers? The Dragon Empress.”

“Nah. She was never even after us.”

“What?” Jezzet turned to find a smug grin on Drake’s face. “I distinctly remember being locked in a flooding cell… and being arrested.”

“All part of the plan.”

“Whose plan?”

“Hers. Mine. Sort of a combined effort really. See Rei has been wanting to make a few changes to her empire for a while now but she needed more involvement from its people and less from the magistrates. You were needed to show the people that women, and not just their empress, could be more than just ornaments to be shown off and hidden in equal measure. And you played your role very well, a real co-operative little pawn.”

“The women on the boat? The attack?”

“All staged. My little Rei she knew what she wanted to do with her empire but didn’t know how to go about it, so she asked me and I came up with a plan.” Drake looked at her and Jez felt her cheeks redden. “Problem is she couldn’t have you sticking ‘round after. The political power you’d have wielded would have been too dangerous for her.”

“I wouldn’t…”

“Funny thing about folk in power; they don’t like letting go of it. Any of it. She needed you to play your part then she needed you to go. So I stepped in again. Needed some time away from her anyways. This worked out best for all involved.”

“Not for me!” Jez shouted at the pirate. “Not for Thanquil.”

Drake nodded. “Aye, well, thing about pawns is they’re there to be sacrificed.”

Kill him, Jez!
But she knew she wouldn’t. She’d never survive his crew turning on her and she needed to tell Thanquil the truth. She would not allow herself to die before she got the chance.

“What about the magistrates?” she asked. “They would never allow any sort of…”

“Reform?” Drake laughed again. “There ain’t exactly many survivors. Most suffered and unfortunate case of drowning during the storm. Way I understand it is one of the struts gave way. Whole district sank. Very tragic and no way to predict. No way Rei could possibly be blamed. In fact there ain’t really anyone to challenge her power any more. Seems to me she can do… almost anything she wants. And I reckon last thing on her mind is chasing after us. She knows I’ll come back eventually.”

“Why?”

Drake looked sidelong at Jez. “She’s very limber.”

Jez snorted. “Back in Larkos, you said she had agents in the city looking for us.”

“A lie. I felt like the
Fortune
needed a woman’s touch and you an’ me, Jezzet, we’re a lot alike.”

“We’re nothing alike.”

“No? We both like danger. Both like being dangerous and being around dangerous. Both like a spot of killing. Don’t deny it. I saw you after that fight, all hot and bothered. I reckon...” He licked his lips. “Yep. I can still taste you.”

She swung at him. A full fist snapped towards Drake’s face but the pirate was waiting for it. He blocked and hit back, a lazy blow Jez avoided with easy. Before she could stop herself she reached back for one of her short swords and it flowed like water from its scabbard towards Drake’s neck. His own blade was out in a flash and the two weapons hissed as they met.

Neither Jez nor Drake made another move, they just stared at each other over naked steel. As fast as he was Jezzet had already assessed the pirate and she knew the truth of it.

“I could kill you,” she said her voice flat and emotionless.

The corner of Drake’s mouth twitched upwards. “I know. Makes it even more exciting don’t it. You think you could do it before my boys get to you?”

“Yes.” Jez glanced over Drake’s shoulder. Zothus was there with his spider, watching them but making no move, still leaning on the aft railing as though he wasn’t in the least concerned.

“Confident,” Drake said, taking his sword away and slipping it back into its scabbard. “I like that. But even if you did, I don’t reckon you’d enjoy what came after. My pirates might not take too kindly to you killing their captain.”

Jez could hear her heart beating in her ears, could feel the blood pumping through her veins but she ignored it all, sliding her own sword back into its place.

“Captain,” shouted Princess from somewhere far above.

“Aye,” Drake shouted back, the smile never slipping from his face and his eyes never moving from Jezzet.

“It’s
the Phoenix
.”

“Stillwater,” Drake mused. “Now what would that ponce be wanting with me?”

Jez looked away, walking back to the rail and leaning on it. “Is it so unusual for you pirates to talk to each other?”

“Aye. ‘Way from port as we are. Could be he wants a chat. Could be he wants what we got in our hold. Never can be too sure with pirates, deceitful lot as a rule.

“What do you think we should do, Jezzet Vel’urn?” he asked.

Jezzet thought about it. Thought about the cog and how the fight had made her feel, how killing those men had made her feel, how much she had wanted to fuck Drake afterwards.

“Run,” she said. “No sense in risking a fight in open water. Nothing to gain from it.”

She could feel Drake watching her, studying her and he did so for a while before speaking. “You heard the captain, Zothus. She says run. We run.”

“Give chase!” Thanquil shouted.

Captain Stillwater turned dark grey eyes on the Arbiter before going back to regarding the ship in the distance.

“Put on more sail or…” Thanquil floundered. “Make the ship go faster.”

“One more time, Arbiter. If you try to give me an order on my own boat one more time, you can swim after Drake.”

Thanquil’s jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. He stepped close to the captain. “We had a deal. You help me catch Drake…”

Captain Keelin Stillwater placed a hand on Thanquil’s chest and pushed. The Arbiter stumbled back a step. “Our deal was for me to take you to where Drake is most likely to be, not catch him. I told you we would never out-pace the
Fortune
and it still holds true. Only reason we got this close is she’s been shuffling along, lounging in the breeze. Now she’s put on sail, Arbiter. Drake is running and there’s no way we’re catching up to him now. Our deal still stands.”

“But he’s right there,” Thanquil pointed a finger at the ship in the distance. “She’s right there.” He still hadn’t told the captain why he was after Drake and the
Fortune
, it was information the man didn’t need to know.

“Right there happens to be well out of reach, Arbiter. And what would you have us do if we did catch her? Drake’s running means he ain’t in the mood to talk. You think you could take the
Fortune
all by yourself because I don’t have the men nor the will to fight him.”

Thanquil fumed. To have Jezzet so close and still so far away was maddening. Despite Inquisitor Vance’s orders Thanquil had chosen to chase after Drake. He justified the defiance easily. Kessick was known to be somewhere in the vastness of the Untamed Wilds and Drake’s most likely destination was also somewhere in the wilds so he was completing both tasks. That neither the Inquisitor nor the God Emperor would likely agree with him was no matter, they weren’t here and he was.

His thoughts turned to the sword he had stowed safely below decks in a locked chest to which only he had the key and only he knew how to safely disarm the charms he had placed to protect it. He didn’t like thinking about the demon-possessed blade but unfortunately he couldn’t help it. The thing called to him, whispered to him. It was almost as if every time he managed to forget about it, it intruded on his thoughts to remind him it was there. Thanquil had seen the way some of the pirates had stared at the wrapped package. They didn’t know why their eyes were drawn to it and likely they couldn’t really hear the demon’s whispering but it fuelled their curiosity and they knew they wanted it whatever it was.

Inquisitor Vance had told Thanquil what to do with the sword and it all seemed simple enough. If Kessick’s forces proved to be too much to handle all Thanquil needed was Myorzo and the blood of a demon-touched and the only person Thanquil knew to be demon-touched was Kessick himself.