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"I need passage," I said. "So probably the first."
"Passage? To where?"
"Wherever you're going."
She gazed at me appraisingly. The guys at the table shuffled their feet and exchanged glances with one another. I could tell they didn't want me around, but I knew their opinions weren't the ones that mattered.
"We're headed to Qilar," she said. "I suppose it's as good a place as any, for someone who doesn't know what they want."
One of 'em, not the squint-eyed one, muttered something about always playing captain. The woman ignored him.
"What can you do?" she said.
"My parents had a boat a bit like this." I nodded at the ship sloshing in the water. "Not quite as big, but I spent my whole life on her, and I know the rigging ain't that different." I squinted up at the ship's sails. "I know a bit of navigation, too, and I can hold my own in a fight, if the need arises."
"I hope the need won't arise." The woman smiled.
"One more thing," I said, trying to figure out the best way to say this. "It ain't just me. I got a…" I didn't know what to call Naji, exactly. I couldn't say assassin. "A ward, with me."
"A ward?" The woman raised an eyebrow. "Where is she?"
"He," I said. "He's back at the i
"I take it he's not as knowledgeable as you?"
No point in lying. I shook my head.
The woman sat for a minute, nodding a little to herself. Then she stood up and held out her hand. "I'm Marjani," she said. "Come back here in three hours. Bring your, ah, ward. I'll talk to the captain."
"Ana
"Don't thank me yet." But she gave me a smile and I had a feeling it was going to work.
I left the docks and ducked into the alley where I'd left Naji. He materialized right away. Fu
"I think I found something," I said.
"Really?" His brow wrinkled up. "They agreed to go to the Isles of the Sky? That seems too simple…"
I kept my mouth shut.
"Midnight's claws, Ana
"Sure we can," I said. "That's exactly how you do it."
"I don't think–"
"You don't know," I said. "Cause this ain't your world. It's mine. They're heading to Qilar, probably to Port Idai, and if there's anywhere in the high seas you'll find someone crazy enough to sail to the Isles of the Sky, it'll be in Port Idai." I glared at him. "I ain't just delaying the inevitable, you know."
Naji's eyes were black as coals and hard as diamonds, but he didn't protest further.
I decided to kill those remaining three hours down in the Port Iskassaya shopping district, where you'd find the few respectable types who lived out here. I ain't too fond of pickpocketing, but I figured some money was better than none.
Naji wasn't too happy about us splitting up again, but I yanked back the collar of my shirt and showed him the charm he'd made me.
"I'll be close by," he said.
I rolled my eyes at that. "You let me go to the docks without any fuss."
"And I could barely move from the headache it gave me."
I looked down at my hands. There were a million ways to respond to that, but I didn't want to say none of 'em.
The shopping district was crowded, which was good, though I really needed women's clothing to make this believable. I was a little too off as a boy. But I pulled some old tricks I learned from one of the crew of Papa's ship, this fellow who'd had a birthmark up the side of his face that made the usual sort of pickpocketing difficult, and after two hours I had a pocket full of coins and another full of jewelry. I scuttled out of the shopping district quick as a beetle and went down to the waterfront, where I found a dealer who didn't ask questions about how a young man-or-woman like myself wound up with a fistful of ladies' baubles.
When I walked away from the dealer, the shadows started squirming and wriggling. The sun was high up, right overhead, so Naji didn't have a lot to work with, just the dark line pressing up against the buildings and a few spindly tree shadows. I ducked into the first alley I could.
"I've never seen a more commendable bout of thievery," Naji said, rising up out of the darkness.
I smiled real big and handed him the pouch of coins from the dealer. He tucked it away in his robe.
"Keep that on you," I said. "Assuming they let us on the ship. But until we know the crew, it's best to not leave money lying around."
"As you wish."
"Also…" I took a deep breath, cause I knew he wasn't going to like this. "You have to take off your mask."
He got real quiet. "Why?"
"Because we need 'em to trust us enough to let us on their boat. You covering up your face like that, it's a sign of bad intentions."
"I usually have bad intentions."
"Well, you don't now, and even if you did, you'd still have to take off the mask."
Naji didn't say anything.
"Look, ain't nobody on that boat's go
Naji's eyes narrowed.
"You never wear it in front of me. It ain't like Leila's around."
I knew I probably shouldn't have said that, but he didn't answer, didn't react at all. For a few minutes we stood there staring at each other, sand and heat drifting through the alley. Then he yanked the mask away and walked out into the sun.
When we arrived at the Free Country boat, the cardplaying crewmen had all cleared out, and the ship rose up tall and grand against the cloudless sky. The sea, pale green in the bright afternoon sunlight, slapped against the docks.