“Would you care tohear my suggestion, for how the young squire should spend his freedom andfortune?”
He restrained asigh.“I suppose you’ll give it to me, regardless.”
“Well,” she said.“Considering a mage like yourself is probably chaster than a nun, I recommendyou indulge in drink and whores till your cock’s as wet as your gullet.Healthier than a thousand books, in your case.”
“Oh, yes,” Isaacreplied.“Drinks and whores.What a profound suggestion.Your insight is trulyunparalleled.”He stumbled slightly through the sand.“Also, for futurereference, the correct phrasing is more chaste, not chaster.Please conjugateproperly.”
“See, now, that’sexactly my point.That tongue’d be put to better use licking cunts, notteaching vocabulary.”
Isaac shook hishead, pacing slightly ahead of her.
“Oh?”she said, asmile in her voice.“Does mention of them bits and bobs make you squeamish,Isaac?”
“I’m just wonderingwhy you insist on chatting with me, like I’m not your hostage.”
She blew araspberry.“Oh, come now.Are you still on this?”
“Still on this?”heasked, incredulous.
“Is all this bondageof yours really gonna get in the way of us bein’ mates?”
“Yes!”he shouted,finally losing his temper.“Yes, it will!It’s not just the ropes!Youthreatened to have me devoured by birds!You’ve beaten me unconscious!Lastnight, you pressed aknifeto myneck!”
“Didn’t mean nothingspecial,” Zaria replied, her voice as breezy as the wind.“I’m a pirate, love.That’s the craft.Anyway, I said I was sorry for it.”
“I don’t care howsorry you are!You’re still doing it!You’re still holding me prisoner!Iexpect you’ll end up threatening me upon entrance to the tomb, when our livesare actually in danger!”He ripped at his restraints again, just to feel howthey dug through his wrists.“Your apologies will mean nothing to me until youactually correct your behavior.Gods above, you mock me for my parents, but Ihave to wonder what yours ever did for you.”
There was a silence.When Isaac glanced at Zaria, she was staring ahead, her shawl flapping in thebreeze, her gaze lingering somewhere on the nebulous line where the dunes metthe sky.The scar on her nose twitched.
For a moment, theonly sound was the whistle of a sandy wind.
“Fine,” she said.“Itake your point.Suppose we need a more calmin’ topicfor discussion.”
Isaac tore his gazefrom her.“I think silence will heal our wounds.”
“Ain’t how it works,squire.You and I are gabbin’ this out.”She turned to watch a dust spoutcircling over a distant hill.“In my world, you fight with a crewmate, youdon’t just let it lie, cause that way the meanness festers, and you’ll hateeach other all the worse.You force a talk.You keep on with the sod until youhave their respect, if not their liking.”
Isaac met her gaze,briefly, before looking away.
Their feet shuffledthrough sand.
“Tell me about yourfather,” Zaria said.
He gazed up at thesky, searching for clouds.He couldn’t find a single one.Eventually, he said:“What do you want to know?”
“Whatever you careto say.”
“As I told you, I’venever met the man.That is rather why I’m here.”
“Aye, no, but youdid say that all your teachers used to harp about his virtues.You must’veheard tales and such.”
Isaac peeled a flapof skin from the back of his thumb.“More than I wanted to hear.”
“Oh?”Zaria asked,perking an ear.
“Well, I mean—” He realizedwhat he had said.He also realized that talking with Zaria had made him bolderthan he had ever been at home.Certainly, he had never dared to argue againsthis uncle like he had with her.“It’s only that ...they would tell me thesestories like I was destined to become my father, like I would invariably end upfollowing his footsteps and sharing his thoughts and earning his achievements.My uncle once said we were already two souls sharing a body.He didn’t seemhappy about the thought.”
Zaria nodded along.“Is he a good man, your father?”
