Five The Woman from Hesten

FIVE

The Woman from Hesten

SAMUEL

I stepped into the dark street outside the port mistress's high-fronted offices without feeling the cold. I hardly saw the dwindling crowds or smelled the pungent array of fish, brine and smoke. My eyes glazed over the names on the envelopes in my hands without care, noting only that none of them came from the Admiralty.

The port mistress's words, confirming Monna's assertions about Harbringer 's destruction, lingered in my ears. My thoughts were entrenched a hundred leagues away, in the hold of a Mereish ship where my brother languished—or the prison where he was chained, or, if my Sight had been wrong, the pit where his charred bones had been tossed.

Maybe he never made it to any of those ends. Maybe his body had been dashed to pieces on the rocks along with his crew, and his bruised, frozen flesh was long devoured by crabs.

My spirit began to drift, out from the security of my bones and into that Other realm. I ducked into the mouth of an alley, where the shadows were deep and only too happy to shield me.

I leaned against the wall and bowed my head, eyes closed, body braced as dark water began to slosh around my feet.

There. I saw Benedict's light again, dim but present. Still not dead. Not yet.

I closed my hand around the coin in my pocket. The spectral water retreated. The world sharpened once again, but for once I resented that retreat. Because here, in the human world, there was no distraction from the reality of my brother's doom.

"Captain Rosser?"

A short man peered at me from the mouth of the alley. He wore a fine blue frock coat with black cuffs and a bicorn hat—a naval captain. His demeanor was oddly amiable, even curious, with a laden satchel under one arm and a paper cone of roasted nuts in the opposite hand.

"Captain Archer." I straightened, a lifetime of etiquette moving my lips and limbs without regard for my inner turmoil. Archer was an old acquaintance from my naval days which I had, with some reluctance on his part, managed to rekindle since my part in bringing the notorious pirate Silvanus Lirr to justice. Archer captained a courier vessel, the appropriately named Swift , and I had no doubt the satchel under his arm was packed with correspondence to be left with the port mistress for Aeadine ships.

"Forgive me." I gave a shallow, polite nod. "I did not see you."

"Hardly saw you there in the dark myself." He waved his cone and I caught the scent of cinnamon, sugar and warm almonds. "No matter. I'm on my way to see the mistress, but you look… terrible. Nut?"

"Ah, no, thank you, Captain Archer." My eyes flicked to his bundle of letters. My lips moved of their own accord again, but this time in desperation. "Have you any word of Harbringer ?"

Captain Archer's expression stilled momentarily, then he let out a short sigh. "Yes, yes. You've my deepest condolences."

"What happened?"

"A storm and a reef, I heard. The surviving crew reported that Captain Rosser ordered them closer to land, something to do with a few abandoned villages and locals building breakwaters in winter, strange actions. I will not dally with you—the wreck was a bloody nightmare. Did all we could to keep it from the public, but you know how these things are. The Mereish are touting it as the greatest victory of the year, never mind the ship ran aground. Not much leaks out of that country, but this did."

All I could see were the ships in the harbor over Archer's shoulder, and memory after memory filled my mind's eye: Ben and I at sea as boys, learning to navigate, to chart, to identify morgories and huden and read the weather in the clouds; Ben sharing a cup of spiced chocolate with me at Festus in an unidentified port, back when he still, occasionally, manifested the ability to give and share.

I cleared my throat. "But there were survivors."

Archer nodded. "To your brother's credit. His Sooth foresaw the danger in enough time for Captain Rosser to dispatch much of the crew."

That felt like a kick in the ribs. Most ships were equipped with a Sooth for just such reasons, but the notion that someone else had foreseen a danger to my brother while I had remained ignorant was not easy to swallow.

"Will the Admiralty arrange for his release?" I asked. "I believe him to be alive."

Archer shrugged one shoulder noncommittally, but I saw the truth in his grave eyes. "Even if he did survive, Mr Rosser… The Admiralty will make no allowances for him, not in the light of… his… indiscretion."

I felt the last traces of color leave my cheeks, never mind the burn of the cold. "What has he done?"

Archer cleared his throat, looking suddenly awkward. The change in his demeanor sparked a realization—he had been remarkably kind to me these past few moments. No one from my former life treated me with kindness, even if my actions with Lirr had won their respect.

"I am loath to cite rumor." He avoided my eyes. "But it has become known that you, good fellow, may have been blamed for his indiscretion with a certain lady. Again, rumors. However, they are prevalent enough that the certain lady's husband has—discreetly— marked him for disfavor. Outside of clear, indisputable evidence of his survival presented in a public way, I fear Captain Benedict Rosser is beyond aid."

The Dark Water once again lapped at my heels and I grasped the coin in my pocket. Vindication and horror warred within me, livid in the sudden, strangled stillness of my thoughts.

For all I strove to keep my expression composed, Archer must have seen something slip through.

"My very deepest condolences," he said again. He studied the street, as if searching for someone to take his place, then forced a smile. "Let me buy you a stiff drink. I'll be but a moment with the mistress?"

I broke my gaze over the harbor, blinked back an unwelcome wetness in my eyes, and shook my head. "No, no. Thank you, Captain, for your kindness and your honesty. Until next time."

"Next time." He nodded with a relieved smile and strode away.

I watched him turn the corner, against the backdrop of snowy street and many-masted harbor. No sooner was he gone than a woman passed by. She was small, the bottom third of her face hidden by a thick scarf and the upper third by a windblown sweep of blonde hair and the fur brim of her cap.

My Sooth's senses jangled. I recognized her. She wore an Aeadine coat now, double-breasted and bronze-buttoned, but there was no mistaking the Mereish woman from Hesten.

I retreated farther into the shadows. My movement snagged her attention and she glanced towards me, but evidently decided a man skulking in an alley was not someone she wanted to be caught staring at. She picked up her pace and carried on.

Curious, I waited a few heartbeats then inched to the mouth of the alley. A dark-haired man bumped into me, the cold skin of his hand brushing mine as he muttered an apology.

My attention fractured. I glanced after him then quickly searched for the woman once more.

She had vanished, and I stood alone with Archer's words drifting through my beleaguered mind.

The lady's husband has marked him for disfavor.

I fear Captain Benedict Rosser is truly beyond aid.