Evan knew from the beginning of this partnership that he was being played by someone adept at identifying vulnerabilities and exploiting them. He was definitely being wooed—he just wasn’t sure to what purpose.
Don’t trust him, he thought. You trusted Captain Strangward, and look what happened. The empress is still out there, and she may be hunting for you. You can’t afford to trust anyone.
Yet, he couldn’t say no. What the wetlander offered was impossible to resist. If it was an elaborate trap, the soldier was going to considerable trouble and expense when hitting Evan over the head and delivering him to Deepwater Court would work just as well.
The bottom line was that he wanted to trust Destin Karn. He wanted to believe in this ship of dreams they were building.
As partners, they complemented each other like the two halves of a locket. Though both spoke Common, Destin was baffled by Evan’s use of maritime terms and directions. Evan knew the basics of ships’ carpentry when it came to minor repairs, and he had the barn-building experience behind him, but he was no engineer, and neither had ever built a ship. Fortunately, it was more of a repair job than a scratch build.
Evan made a list of materials and Destin sourced them somehow. Tall, clear pine for masts and spars brought down from the Dragonback Mountains. Iron and wood fittings, lanyards, rope, wire, blocks, and the like from the shipyard at the port. Tools such as prickers, heavers, mallets, and spikes. He ordered sails from the sailmakers, too. Given that it was just the two of them, anything that could be bought ready-made or contracted out, he did. Destin seemed to have a lot of money at his disposal, and he spent it freely.
He was also ingenious at devising ways to reduce the numbers needed to crew the ship. It was sometimes an advantage that he had no crew experience. He wasn’t bound by past practice or maritime custom, and so he asked questions about why things were done a certain way and whether they could be done differently. For example, he devised a system of bilge pumps driven by the motion of the ship through water to free up hands for other tasks.
It didn’t take long for Kadar to notice the activity around the ketch. First, two of his ruffins came, demanding paperwork proving Destin and Evan had permission to trespass aboard the ship. After Destin proved ownership of the vessel, there came two of Kadar’s rent-collectors demanding back payments for the slip space. In response, Destin showed his deed to the dockage. Finally, the big man himself appeared, strolling down the dock to their end. He stood, watching them work, for a few minutes.
“You should be taking this work to the shipyard,” he said finally, pointing toward his own establishment across the harbor. “This space ain’t meant for shipbuilding.”
“We’re not shipbuilding,” Destin said. “Just doing some dockside repairs.”
“You look familiar,” Kadar said, scowling. “Haven’t we met before?”
“We have,” Destin said. “My name’s Rocheford. I came to you asking about a pilot.”
Rocheford? Evan’s head came up, but he realized right away that it wasn’t his partner’s real name.
Recognition flooded into Kadar’s face. “Now I remember. But you never followed up.”
“That’s because I found one,” Destin said, pointing at Evan. During all this, Evan had kept his hands busy, letting Destin handle the heat from the dock boss. Now he waved and smiled, enjoying Kadar’s stunned reaction for a few precious seconds before he went back to woolding the mainmast.
“You hired him?” Kadar roared. “He works for me!”
Destin shrugged. “He said he needed work, and I needed work done, so we came to terms.”
“He’s not a shipwright,” Kadar said. “If he told you he is, he’s lying.”
Destin pointed at the rigging rising behind him. “So far, so good. I’m impressed.”
“Faris is a pilot, and I have a job for him now.”
Destin, raising an eyebrow, looked at Evan.
“I wish I’d known,” Evan said, conjuring up a look of regret. “But now I’m under contract. Mister Rocheford offered steady work, so I took it.”
“That’s fine for now, but what are you going to do when this job is finished?” Kadar tilted his head back, looking at Evan through narrowed eyes. “Don’t come crawling to me then. You need to be available when I offer you a contract.”
“I anticipate this will be a long-term engagement, if not permanent,” Destin said. He made a show of pulling out his pocket watch. “Now. I’m not paying this man to talk. You’ll need to continue your conversation later.”
“Don’t worry,” Kadar snarled. “I will.”
Evan swung down from the rigging, and they watched, side by side, as Kadar stalked away.
“Well, he’s pissed again,” Evan said.
“Do you think so?” Destin said, as if unimpressed.
“His thugs will be back tonight,” Evan said. “We’ll have to sleep on board.”
“For one night, maybe.”
“He’s ruthless.”
“I’m ruthless,” Destin said.
Evan cleared his throat, avoiding Destin’s eyes. “I’d prefer not to use magery,” he said. “It might draw attention we don’t want.” He meant from the empress, though he knew by now that Destin and Frances were on the run as well.
“Never fear,” Destin said. “We’re not just mages. We are engineers.”
In late afternoon, Evan left off working and strolled down to the fish market. After haggling with one of the dragnetters, he came away with an entire basketful of purchases. In the meantime, Destin did his shopping at the city market. Once darkness fell, the two of them met on the pier next to their ship and spent the next hours making ready. Their work finished, they returned to their ship to wait.
Just after the moon had set, a crowd of men gathered at the gate to the pier where the ketch was moored. They were muffled in cloaks and carried axes and clubs. Several were carrying torches, maybe in case something needed to be set on fire. Their leader cut through the lock on the gate and they swarmed through. They hadn’t gone more than a few steps farther when there was a snicking sound and the men in the lead began screaming. With that, the entire section of the dock collapsed into the water.
Evan and Destin were sharing a late supper on the quarterdeck, sitting next to the rail, positioned so that they could look down at the pier.
“They found the dragon traps,” Destin said, sipping his cider. “And the trip wires.”
“Let’s see if that stops them.”
“I think it’s fair to say that the ones that found the dragon traps won’t be coming aboard tonight,” Destin said, his voice cool and matter-of-fact. “They’re already at the bottom of the harbor.”
Evan shifted his weight. He suspected he knew some of the men in the water. Most of Kadar’s enforcers were mean as badgers, though. “Should we . . . do something to help them?”
Destin shook his head, his lips quirking in amusement. “If our positions were reversed, what do you think they would do?” he said. “Let’s see if their colleagues help them out.”
Below, men were still thrashing in the water next to the pier. But some had swum to the dock and were climbing up the pilings. Spitting like cats, they hauled themselves up onto the planking on the shore side of the gap. One man lay groaning on the dock, gushing blood, his left leg gone below the knee.
Evan’s stomach flipped. He’d seen his share of bloodshed while crewing for Strangward, but always at a distance. Now he’d been two years away from it, and it seemed that his thick skin had been sandpapered away.
Destin surveyed the scene, eyes narrowed, as if tallying up the score in a game of nicks and bones. When he looked up and saw Evan’s stricken expression, he grunted. “This is what it takes to survive, Pirate. These are the stakes in the game we’re playing.”
By the time everyone who hadn’t drowned was out of the water, there were only six men milling about, soaked and unhappy, from the swearing that was going on. None of them went back into the water to look for the missing. Nobody seemed particularly eager to continue the mission, either.
Finally, one of them raised his club and shouted, “Come on, boys. Let’s break her up.”
They split up, each man claiming one of the hawsers. The first man gripped the line and began to climb; but, halfway up, he shrieked and let go, flailing, and dropping back onto the dock with a bloodcurdling crunch. Two more ended up back in the water, screaming in pain.
“What’s that called again?” Destin peered through the railing, surveying the chaos below.
“Sea nettle,” Evan said. “It’s a kind of jellyfish. The tentacles deliver a really nasty sting, even days after they are detached. Some of the healers use them, but personally, I’d rather die.”
The dockside raiders had seen enough. Collecting their wounded, they stampeded back up the pier and disappeared into the twisty streets surrounding the harbor.
“Ruthless,” Destin said, raising his glass.
“Ruthless,” Evan said, and drank deeply, his mind in turmoil. He’d been on his own since he was a ten-year, and nobody would describe his life on the harbor front as sheltered. But he felt like a temple novice next to Destin Karn. Evan didn’t know his story—not yet, anyway—but clearly the wetland soldier had lessons to teach him about survival in a brutal world.
Was that what made the soldier so attractive—the sense that nothing was off the table?
There was one more attempt on the ketch, which they repelled once again. That same night, the newly refurbished New Moon caught fire and burned to the waterline. The next morning, Evan and Destin walked down the quay to where Kadar stood glaring at the smoking hull.
“Too bad,” Evan said. “She was a fine ship.” He shook his head sadly. “What’s the world coming to?”
“What the hell do you mean?” Kadar said, looking him up and down.
“Last night, for the second time, somebody attacked our ship, too,” Evan said. “And now this.” He gestured toward the New Moon. “Do you think it’s the same people?”
Kadar was momentarily speechless, which was a fine thing.
“Look,” Destin said. “I might own the mooring, but it seems to me that, as dock boss, you should provide better security.”
“Go suck the Breaker’s balls,” Kadar said, regaining his voice and demonstrating his usual eloquence.
“It’s to your advantage to make sure there are no more incidents,” Destin said. His gaze swept over the ruins of the New Moon, and across the array of ships in the harbor and buildings at dockside. “This whole harbor could go up if it were to catch fire.”
“Is that a threat?”
“Not at all,” Destin said, looking him in the eye. “I’m the one that’s asking you to make sure there will be no more problems.”
Kadar, a muscle working in his jaw, stood with his eyes locked on Evan for a long moment. Was it a threat, a promise, or an acknowledgment of defeat? It was impossible to tell. The dock boss turned on his heel and walked away.
Kadar hadn’t said yes, and he hadn’t said no, but there were no more incidents at the pier.