Wake of the Bloody Angel

Chapter Thirty-three

It took a long time to get back to Neceda. I told no one but Jane that I’d found Black Edward. Clift and the rest believed I’d discovered only a cave and Edward’s former concubine.

Barbara had learned a lot of useful nautical skills during her time as Tew’s captive, and she quickly fell into the shipboard routine. She was okay with anyone who spoke to her, but she reacted violently if someone deliberately touched her. This quickly became common knowledge, and she was treated with the deference her experience on the island demanded. She and Jane spent a lot of time together talking, and I think having another woman to confide in, particularly one as self- possessed as Jane, helped a lot. I didn’t know where she’d end up, but I felt good about her chances.

At Blefuscola, harbormaster Moleworth presented Clift with a medal and a certificate of appreciation from Queen Remy herself. She had been monitoring the shipping crisis, and when Clift’s crew arrived with Marteen’s Bloody Angel, she was informed at once. I could tell it bugged Moleworth to deliver this praise, but he did so with professional efficiency. I wondered if it also meant Clift got a raise. Most of the Red Cow ’s crew was there to witness the ceremony, and Moleworth let Jane pin the little ribbon on Clift’s tunic. Clift clearly enjoyed getting the award from his old captain.

As we left the ceremony in the harbormaster’s office, Suhonen said behind me, “Got a minute?”

This time I didn’t jump, although as always, I had no idea he was there. “How did you get to be so good at sneaking up on people?”

“I’m the runt of my family. I had to learn to disappear if I didn’t want my brothers to kick my arse.”

“I see. Well, what can I do for you?”

“After all we’ve gone through, I wondered if you thought I’d make a good sword jockey.”

“Sure. Lots of it isn’t very exciting, though. And it’s easy to lose your way, morally speaking.”

“Easier than when you’re a pirate?”

“Okay, maybe not. But you still have to keep a close watch on yourself.”

He nodded, thinking hard. “Would you like an apprentice?”

“Me? No. I’m not a good team player.”

“You could’ve fooled me. You led that boarding party like you’d done it all your life.”

“And you’ll remember, the other ship got away.”

He laughed. “Okay, thanks, Mr. LaCrosse. I’ll keep what you said in mind. I owe Captain Clift my sword until the end of this tour, but after that, we may be working the same side of the street. Mind if I come by occasionally to ask your advice?”

“You’re way too big for me to refuse.”

We shook hands, and then followed the rest of the Red Cow ’s crew to the nearest tavern.

I bought a round of drinks for everyone, and we all toasted both Clift’s award and the successful voyage. Songs were sung, tales were told, and a few noses bloodied. Mostly we laughed. I realized that I’d actually miss these former lawbreakers, and came closer to changing careers than I can truly blame on the alcohol. But my anchor was already set back in Neceda, my home port.

I kept an eye out for the strange man who’d prophesied that I’d find Black Edward alive. There was no trace of him, and no one else in Blefuscola remembered him. Like the ghost of Dorsal Finn, he’d quietly vanished, his job done.

Before the Cow departed, I managed to get Duncan alone on shore. We stood at the rail along the dock, gazing out at the harbor. When it wasn’t packed to the gills with terrified ships, it was a beautiful place. “So what are your plans?” I asked him.

“I haven’t gotten paid yet, so I can’t go back to Watchorn.

Guess I’ll keep working until I can.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“I miss my boys.”

“And your wife?”

“More than I thought I would. But not as much as the kids.” I paused. I was about to light the fuse. “I need to tell you something. Back on the island, down in that hole… I found your father.”

He turned to look at me. “Really,” he said flatly.

I nodded. “He was dead. He’d been dead for a while.” It was a small lie for comfort’s sake, and I could live with that.

He chewed his lip. “Well… I guess that’s that. You don’t get answers to every question, do you?”

“Sometimes none at all,” I agreed. Then I handed him a pouch of gold, cut from Angelina’s advance. “Here’s a bonus. Don’t say anything about not deserving it or just doing your job. You left Watchorn a whiny little boy, and I’d call you a man now. A man who needs to get home to his family.”

He tried not to let his pride show as he took the money. “Thanks, Mr. LaCrosse. And when you see my mother…”

I waited for the rage and fury.

He smiled. “Just give her my regards. Tell her where to find me. If she wants to see her grandsons, that’s great, if not-” He shrugged. “-I won’t hold my breath.”

“Probably a good idea.”

Jane and I left the Red Cow in Blefuscola and booked passage to Mosinee on a passenger ship. Compared to what we’d had on the Cow, these quarters were palatial, and we both slept soundly for about three days straight. Subsequently, she spent most of her time in the ship’s bar, regaling tourists with tall tales of adventure in return for free drinks. Her laugh carried from bow to stern. By the end of the first week, most of the men on board thought they were in love with her.

I had a grimmer task. I had put off reading Black Edward Tew’s journal, diary, or whatever the hell it was as long as I could. I knew it would probably answer most of my remaining questions, and Angelina would want those answers. But I was sick of this whole case by now, disgusted with the people who would do such horrible things for such petty, selfish reasons. I’d had my fill of the Brotherhood of the Surf.

Still, I was a professional. I ordered some ale, locked my door, and arranged the journal so that the light from the porthole shown on the pages. The cover promised I’d know why Black Edward had done the awful things he had done. I opened it, saw the neat words written in my own native language, and began to read.

He told about his past: the son of a well-to-do merchant, educated and trained for the family business but enamored of the sea since childhood. I didn’t know the family he said he came from, but socially they would have been a tier or two beneath me. I recognized the place names, though, and the descriptions. He was Arentian, all right, just like me.

And in a short time, I knew pretty much everything else about him, too.

WHEN we reached Mosinee, I paid Jane what I owed her and added a healthy bonus, which used up the last of Angelina’s gold. Our horses, kept in reasonable shape by the stable, showed no overt sign they’d missed us. Baxter seemed just as annoyed as he always did when I climbed onto his back. I was equally uncomfortable after being out of the saddle for so long. I could tell my butt was going to really hurt for a while.

Outside Tallega, we stopped where the road divided. “Well, LaCrosse, this is it,” Jane said. “A hell of a trip, I’d say.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Hell of a one.”

“You still won’t tell me what was in that logbook?”

“Nothing that changes anything for us. The bad guys are all dead, the good guys are few and far between, and everyone left alive is on their way home.” I paused. “So how’d you leave things with Dylan?”

She rolled her eyes. “Dylan had it bad for me, LaCrosse, not the other way around. I think he finally realized I wasn’t who he thought I was. Or at least, not anymore.”

“So it’s back to Miles, then?”

“Yep.”

“What’re you going to do about him?”

“LaCrosse, I’ll tell you a secret. There’s only one thing worse than a husband you can’t control.”

“And what’s that?”

“One you can. ” She winked, nudged her horse, and headed toward home. Miles wouldn’t be there, but wherever he was, she’d find him, drag him back, and chain him to a bigger rock. And then they’d resume the life that worked for them. For a long time, I believed that Jane was trapped in her marriage by her sense of honor, but now I knew better. She was exactly where she wanted to be. Like me.

Well, not yet. I wanted to get back to Liz. Angelina could damn well wait.

“WELL,” Liz said between gasps for breath, “good to see you, too. Need to fix that shaky leg.”

“It always does that at that particular, uhm, moment.”

“I meant the shaky table leg.”

I let her down off the dinner table, and she moved her clothes back to their appropriate positions. I pulled up my pants and dropped heavily into one of the chairs. We could’ve made it to the bedroom, I suppose, but at the time, we’d had other priorities. I think the bards call it a “lusty bedding,” even if technically no bed was involved.

“If I never get on a ship again, it’s fine with me,” I said. “You have no idea what it smells like after you’ve been at sea for a month. They use piss to wash their clothes, Liz. Seriously.”

“Such lovely people you meet in your profession.” She poured us both some ale from the bottle we kept in the kitchen. “You got a nice tan out of it, though. And you lost weight.” She sauntered back with our drinks and sat in my lap. “And I assume, given your enthusiasm of the last few minutes, that you kept your hands off Jane.”

“It was a struggle, but we managed to control ourselves.”

She kissed me. Her face gleamed with the sweat of our exertions, and her short red hair was mussed. I thought she looked more beautiful than the sunrise over a tropical jungle. She said, “Does Angelina know you’re back?”

I shook my head. “I’m not quite ready to give her my report. I need to sort things in my head first.”

She kissed me again. “Want to tell me about it?”

“Eventually. But not yet. It’s not that I’m wondering what I’ll tell her. I’m just wondering what to do about it. We may have to leave Neceda.” I looked at her. “Or at least, I might have to.”

“You had it right the first time,” she said. “ ‘We.’ As long as I’m with you, I’m home. Wherever we are.”

I drank my ale and kissed her some more. There were few things I enjoyed doing more than those two. I couldn’t believe I’d gone so long without doing one of them.

DESPITE a subsequent encore of my welcome home that should’ve left me too exhausted to think, I couldn’t sleep. I left Liz in bed and wandered out onto the landing in the middle of the night, where I again found Mrs. Talbot at the bottom of the steps, this time pouring something from a large jug into a row of smaller ones.

“Poxbinder for killing sea monsters?” I said when she saw me.

She looked confused. “What?”

“Nothing. Cutting elderberry wine for street sale?”

“If I didn’t, I couldn’t sell it,” she said. “Those mountain folks make it strong enough to melt you all the way down to the soles of your feet. When did you get back?”

“This afternoon.”

“Did you find your pirate?”

“Yeah, I found him.”

“After all this time, that’s quite a feat. You should be proud of yourself.”

“Yeah, well, it wasn’t what I expected. Not at all.”

She stopped, straightened up, and rubbed the small of her back. “You’re not paid to expect things, are you? You’re the legs and the eyes; the heart and the brain are the person who hired you.”

I smiled. “That’s what the training manual says. I think I forgot.”

“Sometimes you have to relearn the basics.”

“Sometimes. Good night, Mrs. Talbot.”

“Good night. You two going to keep it down now that you’ve had your welcome home meet-and-greet?”

“Not likely.”

“Well, make her scream once in my honor, then.” “No, that was me,” I said.

She cackled.

I went inside, stretched out beside Liz, and kissed her bare shoulder. She snuggled back against me. Eventually I fell asleep. When I awoke, I knew what I had to do.