I did as I was bid, and every muscle in my body screamed as the king led me to a small, side chamber filled with pillows, separated from the larger room by heavy curtains.
“I need a thin blade,” I said.“We have a tool back home especially for the type of knots we use.It will take me some time to untangle them without it, but a thin blade will help.”
My heart beat hard.I was—partially—lying.There was a tool—similar to a knitting needle, but curved in places—that allowed for the knots that held my gown together, but mostly I wanted the blade to make small incisions in the pillows and perhaps in the new clothing I would be wearing if it were thick enough.
The king stared at me, amused.
I thought I might retch.
He waved and spoke his throaty words, and Wolfshead came forward, setting a dagger on the furs near the hem of my gown.It was far thicker than I had been thinking.Still, I lowered myself on shaky legs and retrieved it.The king gave me the garments I was to change into, and I entered the chamber.
Now I will explain to you something of a goldkeeper’s attire.There is a leather cord running from the base of the spine to the nape of the neck, as well as from the wrist to the underarm.These cords pull the gown tight—cloth or thread would be broken by the weight of the dress, and even the leather snaps sometimes.I had an additional leather cord in my gown just in case.There is a thin wool underdress worn to help reduce sores from developing.Atop that is the first weighted garment, wherein the skirt is filled with pockets.The stitching at the waistline is so thick it looks to be embroidered leather.Then there is a leather overlay for the arms, chest, and back, also full of pockets.And then there is a heavy wool layer on top of everything which is designed to disguise any lumps that might appear when the pockets are full.
I began with the leather cord on my weaker wrist, but I encountered a problem immediately.The cord had swollen from the rainwater and the seawater and felt like rock.I didn’t want to cut it as I wasn’t sure how long I would need to make the two sets of leather cording last.I tried prying at the knot with the dagger.I tried my teeth.
“Your Grace,” I said, stepping out from behind the curtain to find the king and Pinkbeard and several others chatting while they apparently waited for me.
The king’s gaze hit me, and he waited expectantly.
“I will need a woman’s assistance.”
He grinned.“There are no women in the floating city, only Norsern and Sotern.”
“I cannot have a man help me,” I said.
The king scoffed.“I know your meaning.You want a wombed being.”He waved and choked out some words, and a woman did come forward—at least, she looked like one to me.The king’s words had me wondering if I were wrong.
I showed her my sleeve cord when back inside the chamber, and she tried loosening the knot with the benefit of using both hands.She muttered under her breath, growing visibly frustrated very quickly, before jerking me out of the chamber by my arm.I think she was hoping the room that was better lit would allow her to see where the knot began and ended.
There was laughter from the others and some words that had the feeling of teasing in them as she struggled.
Finally, she barked words back, and sea dogs—Pinkbeard among them—shuffled forward to take a look at my wrists.My cheeks and ears heated.I would not want so many people to see me take even the first step of undressing.
They watched over the woman’s shoulder and seemed to offer instruction from time to time, until she—very flustered—dropped my wrist and shouted at the person who had been speaking to her the most.That man stepped forward and spoke to me.
“Valya has dared him to try.He is a fisherman by trade.Knots are his skill.Allow him.He will not open the tie, only take out the knot.”
I lifted a trembling wrist, not wanting a man to touch any part of my clothing, but more than that, not wanting to test the king’s patience.I didn’t need to be told he was someone with little patience to spare.
The man tried and failed to untie the knot as the others laughed at him, and then he spoke in a challenging sort of way and, somehow, untying my sleeve lacing became a game to the sea dogs.They lined up and seemingly taunted each other, two at a time coming forward—one working on my left wrist, the other working on my right.They cursed and tugged and laughed like children, singing a song that started slow, but grew faster and faster until it seemed like they were humming rather than speaking actual words.
I’d never seen adults playing before but quickly gave up on resisting the mismatched insanity of it—I was too tired for that.I sat on the plush pillow offered to me and held my arms out for the next contenders, sea dogs growing sillier and sillier as more people took a turn.Wolfshead, who’d become quite drunk in a very short time, even kicked the woman lined up beside him to help slow her progress.
Finally, everyone had tried apart from Pinkbeard and the king.
Pinkbeard stood before me, and I held out my wrist.There was a glint in his eye as he pulled a dagger from his belt, the crowd of sea dogs around us giggling and reprimanding and booing him.I had already resigned myself to having the cord cut, but figured I would do it myself when the deranged sea dogs had finished their wild game.He waited, blade in hand.
“Tell him it is fine.Saysoalkja.”
So, I spoke my first Norsern word.“Sew-elk-yah.”Proceed.
He cut the knot away on my left wrist, and then I held out my right, and he cut that one, only the right cord had been loosened above the knot by one of the sea dogs and my sleeve opened a little without any unweaving needed.The thin wool of my underdress was visible.It was brown with bloodstains.
I was ashamed of the stains, which is foolish, I know.I began to pull my arm back, but he was already lifting the stained wool off my wrist, revealing sores wherever bone was close to the skin and yellow and purple bruising wherever there was muscle close to the skin.
He stared at me—into me even—and his gaze was so clear that it sped my mind a little.It was the first time I thought to myself,maybe I have not been treated righteously.
The sea dogs gathered around gawking and giggling, and the king gave another order, sending all away apart from himself, Pinkbeard, and the woman who had initially helped me: Valya, the king had called her.
