The Pirate and the Amber Cat 17

Chapter 17

Suili learns more about her ransom.

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Most prized of the raid on the Gorzai Queen was not the whiskey, although the Nysse's crew took great pleasure in this commodity. Kacerak was known for many reasons: its ruling family of idiots, a fertility and mortality rate beyond comprehension, and its metal smiths, resulting in the finest weaponry of the four continents.

The weapons were the first to catch the crew's collective eye and they were anxious to have it divided, but agreed to wait until daylight to examine the haul. In highest demand were the swept hilt cutlasses and double-edged stilettos of choice Rak tempered steel.

Less popular were the longer handled weapons, like the pointed katanas and two-handed swords. These, like the war hammers and axes, required more room to use effectively. Most fighting was done on ship deck, making these unwieldy and obsolete, although Lucas and a few other crewmen did choose a couple axes out of personal taste. What was not bartered among the crew was stored in the hold to be sold or traded in port.

Suili didn't go out onto deck until noon when the sun was high and a south wind blew in, warming the too cool air. Evidence from the night's ravage was still about her. Pieces of burnt wood and flotsam hovered within sight of the Lita Nysse and she quickly gave Cortleno back the scope when she recognized the debris in the water.

She pulled the shawl closer, her gold and bronze skirt sweeping over the swaying deck. The wind was mild today, but she still preferred the heavier brocade to the gauze and silks. She sat on the short stair to the quarterdeck and looked out over the main deck, then upward.

They had neared land to a day's distance and the skies were filled with pellums, or sea lizards, as Lucas called them. As scavengers, they sought the refuse of sea battles, and their interest was in what lay just south of the Nysse.

Suili heard one of the crew laugh loudly, and a pellum dove sideways and downward. She looked out among the men and saw Lucas and a Hemtitti native taking turns with sling shots. She watched for a while, deciding Lucas the better shot.

When the southern breeze changed abruptly to a stiffer western wind, Suili took refuge in the cabin. She spent the afternoon sitting before the hearth, reading the chapbook of sonnets and didn't realize the chill in the bedchamber until Cortleno entered.

"You're not cold?" he asked as he found kindling and arranged it in the fireplace. "I didn't think this weather was your element."

"It isn't." She watched the flames lick slowly at the tinder once he started a fire.

"What are you reading that makes you forget the cold?"

She felt a defensiveness creep over her. "It wasn't the subject so much as translating it," she corrected.

"What are you reading, Suili?" He put two larger pieces of wood on the growing fire.

"A poem." She closed the book when he looked to her.

"Why are you so reluctant to answer?" When she hesitated, he laughed easily at her discomfort. "Your husband certainly has a lot of work to do if he's going to carve a wife out of you. You're all cross-grain."

Her brow wrinkled. "You're no marvel of craftsmanship yourself," she said, the familiar lilt in her tone. She stood from her chair and left the fireplace to put the book on the table.

He grinned, refusing to take offense. "No, but at least I'm my own workmanship. No predestined print for my life."

The comment sunk deeper than he knew, but Suili refused the retort that came to mind. Conversation with Cortleno could be taxing sometimes when she tried not to speak to him.

"It was a poem called Song of my Lover's Heart," she said levelly, not looking at him.

He smiled, watching her adjust the oil lamp on the wall. The highlights in her hair danced with the flickering fire. "Do you like tea?"

"Yes."

He filled a kettle with fresh water and hung it over the fire on the iron idleback.

"Can I shut the windows?"

"I'll get them."

She found two ceramic mugs, a brass teapot, and a tea net in a cupboard by the mantle as he slid the shutters closed.

"Feel up to a game before supper?" he asked.

"Are you prepared to lose?"

He took the game board and bag of carved animals from the chest, which she noticed he now kept unlocked. "Just because you did it once doesn't mean it will happen again."

She set up the board at the table as he found a lighter shirt in his closet. "There's a piece missing. Uh, I think it's one of the jaspers."

"Check in the trunk."

She looked through the chest and located the jackal of tan with brown rings. "Here it is. He has a chipped ear."

He nodded. "He was like that when I got him."

She looked up from the jackal, eyes resting on Cortleno's arm as he pulled a shirt out of his closet drawer. For the first time she saw the mark near his shoulder clearly, and it made the blood run cold in her veins. She took a step closer, not believing what she saw.

He turned, his arm moving from her view, and saw a strange engrossment on her face. "Suili? What's wrong?"

She only shook her head. She reached for the bed post and missed it.

He dropped the shirt and caught her as she nearly sank to her knees. He held her upright and she leaned against him, her hand fumbling on his arm.