Waterborne (Wanderlust 3)

Chapter Thirty-Six

"You're sure?"

"Aye."

Soren raised the spyglass to his eye and scanned the town ahead of them. It looked just like Akel, except that instead of sitting on the mainland, it made up the point of an island. It had similar jumble of docks and piers for a port, and a collection of buildings in various states of disrepair. Among all the little sailboats and rowboats, it was easy to train the spyglass on the larger ship Roan had noticed. She wasn't the only bigger ship in the port, but her dark flag marked her as a pirate.

Soren inspected the deck, looking for any sign of their people. "She isn't the one that attacked us."

"No," Roan agreed. He leaned against the bulwark beside Soren and let out a hiss. Soren spared his friend a quick glance and realized that Roan had rested weight on his right arm.

"Careful, mate."

Roan huffed. "Aye, Cap'n. But no, that lass wasn't the one that snuck up on us. Reckon that was Rico's, aye? So we probably won't be findin' Cap'n Tanden on this ship. Jerios'n Jale, maybe. Or information 'bout 'em, at the least."

Soren lowered the spyglass. He didn't want to get his hopes up, but it was hard to push them aside entirely. Tanden could be on that ship. It wasn't impossible.

Ivern spoke up from his nearby post at the helm. "So. What are we thinking, then?"

Soren turned. "I doubt the news of our commandeering got ahead of us, so we might be able to get close before they realize anything's wrong. But I don't want to rush right into a fight. We were lucky last time."

"Maybe." Roan slapped the bulwark with his good hand. "Maybe we won't need one. They know nothin' 'bout us. How many o' us there are, how many o' us know how to fight. Maybe we can scare 'em."

"Scare them?" Ivern replied. Soren was relieved to hear the skepticism in his voice. It saved him from having to sound confused.

"Threaten 'em." Roan crossed his good arm over his injured one. "Take the Waterborne over. Keep the ship out 'ere, out o' reach. Loomin'n scary, aye?"

The most annoying part was, Soren could picture Tanden pulling it off. It was easy to imagine Tanden strolling up to the other ship's gangway, saying something clever and grand, seeping in that edge of dangerous authority he could do so well when he was truly angry. It was like the bluff at the auction house all over again.

"Dunno, Roan," Soren said, forgetting for a moment that he was supposed to be acting as their captain. Decisive and firm. "Not sure I can act well enough for that."

"Yes, you can."

They turned in unison. Ara was standing at the top of the short staircase, carrying a woven basket of peeled fruit. He had taken on most of the cooking duties, as none of the more experienced sailors could be spared. Granted, cooking duties mainly meant seeing what the ship had stored and deciding which of the fresh or dried fruit, or dried meats they were going to eat. There was very little cooking.

Soren picked one of the pieces of fruit when Ara offered him the basket. "I think you did most of the work at the market."

"As bait," Ara held out the basket for Roan, then crossed over to let Ivern take a piece. "That... horrible man was too busy looking at me to really think about you, is that what you mean?"

Juice dripped down Soren's wrist as he took a bite. A twinge of guilt that still hadn't dissipated shot through him. "Aye, and—"

"So you just need someone else along to be the distraction," Ara said. "Not me. I'm not scary. Unless..." He looped his arms around the basket and leaned against the staircase railing. "Well, if you wanted to seem more scary, you could drag me around on a chain. That would do it."