“Ouuu.”
“With who?”
Fell turned and nodded in my direction, his eyes meeting mine.
“Ah, thirsty bastard.”
“And what about us?The next raid?Foreign wombed beings make poor casters, everyone knows this.”
“And you have no mother to cast for you.”
“They should call you Fell the cast-less.”
“Fell-without-magic.”
“Fell-fights-alone.”
All the words were said in jest, and Fell was laughing with them, but my stomach turned.What awful things to say to him.
“Oh,” one woman said, meeting my eyes.Her face was sweet and round.“Beingvaneurigkchanges all, maybe she will be a great caster.You cannot say.”
The captain growled.“You would work faster with less chatter.And none of you mind that.I can cast enough for ten wombed beings.”
Dania came to collect Layf, and I felt her through her gaze—the relief, the ache, the fervent thrill of her lover’s return after a long time of not knowing how he was faring.I set my hand on her elbow as she passed, and she pressed her forehead to my shoulder briefly, both of us knowing our friendship was restored.
“Ah, here she comes!”
“Our raiding companion!”
Another ship slid into place besideThe Tornado, so close that I braced myself in terror, thinking they were to collide for a moment.
“Took you long enough!”
“Had a leisurely rest out there, did you?”
“Shut your mouths!We had more cargo, and you know it!”
“Ah, you may tell yourselves that if you need?—”
Those on the recently arrived ship were painted—big black circles around their eyes, the rest of their faces ghostly white.The paint was peeling in places from splashes of the sea or sweat.
My heart stuttered, and I moved to follow Fell overThe Tornado’s side, where he was beginning to roll a large barrel down the dock toward shore.The ladder felt far less secure on the way down than it had on the way up, adding to my unease.I also got a sharp jolt of worry because I didn’t want to fall wrongly and hurt the child within.I kept pace with Fell along the dock, not eager to be left behind with the painted rowers.
“You will go to sea with them next time?”I said, my stomach turning with the idea or perhaps because of the door in my body.Perhaps both.
“Ah, I had thought to, but Arik… and now you beingvaneurigk?—”
“King Arik?”
“Yes, he had forbidden ships from taking me.You know how he is… paranoid.”
“But he sent you on a ship to fetch me so?—”
“Yes, that was his test, to see if I could go on a proper raid again.You know how he speaks of the mind.‘You must have this thought.Imagine that in your mind, again and again.’He accused me of thinking wrong for raiding?—”
I cut to the heart of my unease.“You want to steal from people?”These were raiding ships full of plunder stolen from foreign lands—exactly what I had been raised to guard against.
“Ah, I wanted—” He laughed, hefting the barrel he was rolling onto its bottom.A woman, far more owl-faced than I, was standing with a thin rod of metal and a tablet, watching the rowers bring items into the city.
