De Sous grunted.
“That why you brought the mage?”
“Why else?”
Fahr wasverygood at lying. He’d make a great king.
Polley sat forward.
“We seen the Channel maybe four months ago in Winterbright,” he said. “Only a flash, though. We don’t usually go into the Silence. We can, mind, ’cause o’ the wheels.”
“But the gaps, we seen ’em,” said de Sous. “We seenRhi’fogginAhrsweep right through ’em.”
“Freighters?” asked Fahr.
“Comingandgoing,” said de Sous. “Aye.”
Fahr thought a moment.
“And the most recent breach?”
“Two weeks west, give or take,” said de Sous.
“Take,” said Polley. “Twelve nights.”
“Aye, twelve nights,” said de Sous.
“We closed that one,” said Fahr. “Caught us a pair of cruisers in the process. Smashed them right sharp.”
“TheEndorathil,” said Polley. “Now, that’s the cruiser ye’ll want to smash.”
“She was bearing down on theCartyrlast we saw,” said de Sous. “Howan begged for our help, but we don’t mess with Ilvalour. One foggin’ chimeric ball, and this entire city goes down to the Old Sand.”
“She’s the terror of the Dreadtowns,” said Polley. “Scupper her hard, and the rest won’t dare set sail in the Northhelm.”
The glass in the port window rattled with a distant rumble, and we all looked up.
“Probably two of m’swabs fighting,” said de Sous, and he laughed for a moment before his face fell. “So. The chimeric, then?”
“Unfortunately, I trust you as much as I trusted Tarry Forks,” said Fahr. “You put a shiv in your own magistrate’s heart, and that’s low, even for the Bilge. So, here’s the plan. This here chest has enough chimeric to power all your wheels and all your cannons. But we’re going to leave it, locked up nice and tight, and once we’ve cleared the Bilgegate, the mage here will release the spell. The chimeric will be yours for the plunder.”
Polley rose to his feet, and the men behind him raised their flints.
“That is one bad plan, mate,” the big man said. “So, here’s a new one. We kill you all, ’cept the Blue, and keep the chest. She opens it, and we make her Bilgetown blackmage. How’s that sound, little Blue?”
I pushed my dark hair back from one ear, flashing the ring that swung there.
“Sorry, mates,” I said. “I took oaths to theTouchstone, and shetook oaths with me. There’s little you could offer that would be as sweet.”
Polley slid a flint from his sash and stepped closer, towering over me.
“Oh, the little Blue from the Spits talks now, does she?” He waggled the flint under my nose. It was an odd piece, three-chambered to fire three shots. “Open the chest, little Blue.”
“I can’t,” I said. “The spell is on me.”
I pulled off my gloves and held up my hands, where the chimeric runescars crackled and danced.
De Sous pushed to his feet now.
