“And?”I prompted.
“She called herself something in Mereish, an oathbreaker.She says that the Usti want her for information, not piracy, and that her own people would sooner kill her than see that happen and had likely already sent someone to kill her.Someone from a group called the Ess Noti.”
“So it was these Ess Noti who boarded us?”I pressed.An inkling struck me, thick with magic.“Was there a woman among them?Blonde?”
Mary’s expression was tight.“I don’t know.The only one I saw clearly is the dead one.But yes, I think it was the Ess Noti.They spoke in Mereish.They moved… it was eerie, Samuel.Tane says they weren’t mages but something off.I tried to use my power on the lot of them, to Quell the air in their lungs, but it only worked on that last man, briefly.In any case… before they came, I struck a deal with Monna.She told me where they took Ben in return for a chance to escape.”
I held my expression carefully still.“So where is he?”
“A place called Gat, a fortress on the Mereish coast, near the town of Maase.”Mary searched my eyes, anxiety leaking through her conviction.She tried to smile.“I know I betrayed you, andI know you might hate me for it.Thus the ‘please don’t throw me overboard.’”
“I would never throw you overboard,” I said, but my voice was harder than I intended.The name of the fortress rung in my ears, taunting and obscure.Compulsively, I clarified, “Though I would throw you overboard if the ship was burning.”
Mary’s smile wavered, but she seemed to take my admission as a victory and plunged on, explaining all Monna had told her.
“The Ess Noti will seek out Ben too,” she finished.“That’s another reason why I struck the deal.Sam, we were not delivering Monna to justice, only torture and a knife in the dark.And we needed to know what she knew, for all our sakes.”
I ran a hand across my mouth, stretching my aching jaw.I could feel a headache coming on, and with it a jangling of half-formed premonitions and presentient whispers.This moment felt familiar, as if I had lived it before, and I knew, intrinsically, that everything was about to change.
“When I went down to free Monna just now, the Ess Noti came upon us,” Mary went on.“But Monna did escape.”
“She left you to them?After you saved her?”I was disgusted, but hardly surprised.
“Not really.Two Ess Noti went after her, and the last one… He looked at me strangely, as if he suddenly realized that he knew who I was.”She gestured to her face.“He tried to take me with them.I shot him and missed.I tried to steal the air from his lungs.Then you arrived.”
Betrayal.Relief.Grudging gratitude.A great, blossoming weight of emotion.I cleared my throat and focused on Mary’s face again.“You should have come to me right away.”
Mary’s chin drifted to one side.“You would have stopped me and handed Monna over to the Usti.”
Frustration hit me like a rogue wave, along with the suspicion that she was correct.If she had come to me in the middle of the nightasking to release Monna, my first instinct certainly would have been to discard the Mereish pirate’s revelations and say no.At least until morning.
Then the Ess Noti might have come and gone in the night, and the body in my hold might be the pirate’s.Mary and I would either be dead, captured, or know nothing of the Ess Noti’s interest in us and the Usti’s curiosity about Mereish sorcery.And I would have nothing to lead me to my brother but a vague light on the horizon, veiled and insubstantial.
“These Ess Noti are still a threat to us,” I stated.
Mary nodded.“And perhaps everyone else who came back over the Stormwall, especially theghiseau.”
“I knew this could not be kept quiet,” I muttered, remembering our arrival back in Hesten and the warnings that the pirate James Demery had circulated among our little fleet.His intention with those warnings had been to keep the details of the Ghistwold and treasure we had found as vague as possible—guarding our own future plunders—and to keep the dual natures of theghiseauprivate.Not all of the thousand men and women who had returned with us had even known about theghiseau, confined as they were to other quarters of the battle.
But there was no silencing sailors with too much money and a hell of a story.
“What happened beyond the Stormwall—it changes everything we thought we knew about ghistings and mages,” Mary added quietly.“We knew that information was dangerous, just not to this extent.”
The knot in my chest began to loosen, and responsibility flooded in with a deep, even breath.
“Monna was taken from us by unknown Mereish assailants,” I observed.“Our commission is unfulfilled, and their natural destination is Mere.It would be understandable for us to intercept them before they hit Mereish waters, or perhaps pursue them further south.”
Mary’s eyes lit, immediately catching my ruse.“That would be expected,” she agreed, sounding a little breathless.“We’re going, then?”
We could not see the sunrise from the windows, but the sky was light.A frozen, misty haze hung over the harbor and turned the ships to spectral webs of masts and rigging, with dark water beneath and pink-grey horizon beyond.
“Yes.But I cannot trick the crew into coming, not on a personal endeavor,” I said.“We will need at least a day to resupply and reorganize.I will warn the crew that this journey is likely to take us far off course.Whoever wishes to leave, can.I will have Mr.Keo dismiss anyone we cannot wholly trust.Many of those who were with us beyond the Stormwall we can bring fully into our confidences.As to Monna’s ship, I will leave it and her crew in the custody of the port mistress.That should appease the Usti for the time being.”
Mary reached out to snag my hand.There was much more I wanted to say to her—needed to, once I had a chance to soothe the wound her betrayal had cut.But for now, I focused on gratitude.She was alive.We knew where Benedict was.Because of Mary, I could act.She had sullied her hands where I refused to, and she had nearly been killed for her effort.
I did not have to let my brother die.
Impulsively, I pulled her into my chest.She was stiff for a moment, startled, then relented slightly.For a time, we simply held one another, and I felt the last of my betrayal fade into a temerarious hope.
