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“But you are right. What Divvytown needs is not a ruler, but a leader. A man who can stir men to rule themselves, who can waken them so that they open their eyes and see what they could have.” Ke
He ventured to shift his eyes to Sorcor's face. A frown furrowed the mate's ta
“No offense taken, Sorcor. But you might consider that anarchy is but disorganized oppression.” Ke
“Hey, you, ‘ware there! You're to hold the ship steady, not be listening in on your betters!”
Sorcor sprang to the man with a look that threatened a blow. The sailor screwed up his face to accept it but did not wince nor budge from his post. Ke
But that had been why Ke
By the time he and Sorcor brought the Marietta into a port so distant that not even Sorcor knew the language, the Marietta had the guise of a prim little merchant vessel, and a crew who scrambled at a glance from either captain or mate. There Ke
Yet even as he stepped down onto the docks of Divvytown, thinking he had realized his life's ambition, all his joy in his accomplishment peeled away from him like dead skin from a burn. He watched his crew strut up the docks, dressed in silk as if they were lords, their swag bags heavy with coins and ivory and curiously wrought jewelry. He knew then that they were but sailors, and their plunder would be engulfed in Divvytown's maw in a matter of hours. And suddenly the immaculately clean decks and neatly sewn sails and crisp paint on the Marietta seemed as brief and shallow a triumph as his crew's wealth. He rebuffed Sorcor's companionship, and instead spent their week in port drinking in the dimness of his cabin. He had never expected to be so disheartened by success. He felt cheated.
It took him months to recover. He moved through that time in a numb blackness, bewildered by the hopelessness that had settled on him. Some distant part of himself recognized then how well he had chosen in Sorcor. The mate carried on as if nothing were amiss, and never once inquired into the captain's state of mind. If the crew sensed something was odd, there was no evidence of it. Ke
They not only pursued her, but grappled and boarded her, securing for themselves a fine cargo of wine and perfumes. Ke