The Pirate and the Amber Cat 29

Chapter 29

Suili and Cortleno wait at Cold Rock for Juriz and Suili’s ransom.

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Cortleno hurried her through the shadowy streets to the docks and his ship. In the Nysse's cabin bedchamber, he turned her chin to examine the slight cut at her neck, but she insisted on changing clothes first.

He nodded and left her alone in the room.

Suili hastily removed the vest, velvet skirt, and ripped chemise, tossing them over the screen as the repugnant stench of the man came back to her memory. The mauve flannel gown settled around her in a comforting embrace and she sighed, feeling strangely protected, as if the soft fabric would quell her chills. Assured, she scrubbed her face in the washbasin and washed her neck, arms, and shoulders, shaking a scented oil into the water.

Cortleno returned as she finished and stepped from around the changing screen, and she accepted the pewter goblet he offered her. She took only a small sip of the strong liquor tinged with cinnamon and anise.

"It stopped bleeding already," she said as he touched the nick at her neck still stinging from the perfumed water.

"Doesn't look like it will scar," he decided. He dumped the basin water out the window and poured in fresh.

She flinched when he held a cold, wet cloth to her swelling lip.

"It's not cut bad, but it'll still bruise a little. He hit you the one time?"

She nodded, her thick lip uncooperative.

"Any teeth loose?"

She shook her head and took the cloth from him.

He focused on her lips. "Open."

She frowned. "I will not. My teeth are fine."

"Keep that cloth on it for a while," he said with a grin, sorting through the armoire. He found the flannel cote and helped her into it. "You didn't know him?"

Her pout was hampered by the puffing lip. "Of course not. Juriz wouldn't send someone to assault me. I'll do it," she said as he began to tie the cote laces into a large knot at her chest. "By Tow, you could raise a mast with this."

"Not quite." He took out part of the knot and led her to the fireplace. "Drink that and you'll feel a little better."

She sat in the cushioned chair, the cloth at her lip and the drink in her hand. The coldness kept the swelling to a minimum, but she didn't like the thickness when she spoke. Her bare feet rested on the hearth as the flames leaped higher into the chimney.

Cortleno took another main gauche from the case and brought it and the polishing compound and sat in the opposite chair by the fire. He turned the twisted brass handle, inspecting the blade's straight edge. He looked up at Suili's bemused expression, softened further by the low firelight, and chose his words carefully.

"It shouldn't have happened, your attack," he admitted with unaffected frankness after several long moments. "Charades like that are common in slave ports. I should have recognized it." His hands stilled on the gauche and he said gently, "Suili, I'm sorry."

A short smile touched her mouth, hidden by the cloth, as she assessed the sincerity in his tone. The words surprised her. "I know it was not your doing," she said as a slow blush heated her face. She didn't know if it was from the brandy, the fire or his genuine concern, but she blamed it on the drink.

For a while she watched him bring a gleam to the knife's long blade. As she did, the trauma of her assault dissipated to be replaced by another concern. She wasn't confident in her ability to sway Cortleno's determination, but she was aware she had persuaded him to subtly alter his plans before. She put her tongue to her lip, judging that the swelling had shrunken.

"If you kill Juriz, you'll never get your brother back, Cortleno," she said, anticipating his retort.

His eyes fastened on hers with a weary restraint. "I told you my decision, and it's not open to debate."

"But it's true," she urged, the lip making her words sluggish.

"Perhaps." He ran a cloth down the clean blade, catching the fire's light. "Perhaps your husband will be more serviceable alive than dead. He may even be worth enough to exchange for Joshan."

She forgot her injured lip. "You would hold him for ransom?"

"Why not?" His voice hardened despite the appeal in her face. "You're convinced he won't trade a slave for you. Maybe he'll value his own skin more."

She watched him add more compound to the blade. "But you don't," she said almost inaudibly, her eyes dropping to the fire.

"Should I? I only guaranteed your life; not his."

She heard him, but didn't say anything. Juriz was doomed if he didn't bring Joshan. Cortleno was resolute this time. She knew it by his posture, and how he didn't look at her. She had learned that much about him. She folded the warm cloth and absently held the coolest side to her lip. It may not come to such extremes, she thought with fading consolation. Cortleno had come for his brother and wouldn't be compensated by any other settlement.

She sighed, staring past the fire, absorbed in thoughts of disillusion. Perhaps there would be another time to plead with Cortleno for Juriz's life before the confrontation, a meeting which could turn deadly for Juriz if Joshan was not to be delivered. There was still time for Cortleno to reconsider, but not much.

She refused to acknowledge the small whisper echoing in her head that demanded to know why she would plead Juriz's refusal to Cortleno if he wouldn't render the boy for her life.

No, she thought, focusing on the flames in the hearth. If Juriz would not bring Joshan for her, Juriz's life would be out of her hands.

For four days the Lita Nysse lay still in the Cold Rock harbor. The time passed slowly for Suili, whose thoughts volleyed between an unexplainable loyalty to her espoused husband and hatred for his amoral practices.

Juriz was late, there was no question, but Cortleno's promise for her future had been kept.

He hadn't taken measures against her, or even made new threats, and it resulted in an enduring trust in him. She idled the days sitting at the window bench with hopeful anticipation, her eyes moving along the dock traffic, and attempting to find interest in the books from the cabin office.

Cortleno himself didn't take the wait well, either, but he spent most of his time on deck, also waiting for Juriz Shaenen. He was wary, too, for any sign of military or other mercenary force that would try to interfere with his plans. He doubted action of the former effort, believing that Shaenen would prefer quiet, unspectacular attention for his business rather than deal with the ramifications. The threat of hired mercenaries was possible, and the Shaenen finances could well afford top swordsmen.

On the fifth night, Suili awoke to the bedroom door softly closing. She lay still, at first only aware of the fire snapping, and then distinguished low voices from the office. She looked to the unstrung hammock, and silently slipped into her dressing cote. She crouched beside the fire, and heard Cortleno's low voice, followed by that of Lucas.

". . . or anyone," she heard the first mate say midsentence. "But it's been occupied recently, within the week, and by a lot of people. Young, too. Most were small footprints. All bare."