I stared at her across the table, wishing for a pot of coffee.“You want to go alone?”
“I would have to,” Mary replied.“Though I always have Tane.”
I rubbed at my temples.“You know what I mean.”
“I can do it,” Mary asserted.
“We can find another way,” Grant put forward.“Cart drivers, I insist.Or those fellows who come to take away bodies, what are they called?The step before gravedigger.They must have dead going out here and there.We claim we are there for a body—hardly matters if there is one, we will already be inside.”
“Charles, be serious,” Mary said with a sigh.
“I am perfectly serious,” the highwayman shot back, and began to write.“‘Charles… poses… as a handsome psychopomp.’”
My headache worsened.“Poverly!”I called towards the door.
Footsteps sounded in the passage and Poverly popped her head inside.“Yessir?”
“Coffee, if you please.And tell Willoughby to prepare a light supper.”
The girl bobbed her head and vanished.
“How many times have you crossed into the Dark Water since that night?”I struggled to say ‘the fire’—the horror of that moment still felt far too close, the stench and the knowledge that Mary was burning alive before my eyes.It made the thought of her putting herself at risk for Benedict all the more intolerable.
“Half a dozen,” she admitted.“It is very unpleasant, and a dittama tried to eat me last time.But I can do it.”
“It would be dangerous,” Olsa agreed.“Any creature in the Dark Water could attack you.Though the dittama following us is veryunlikely to go ashore—they fixate on ships, not individuals, despite the superstitions.”
“What if your breath runs out, and you are somewhere where you cannot come back through?”I asked.
“Say, the middle of a stone wall, three paces thick?”Grant helpfully provided.
“Obviously there are dangers,” Mary said, growing exasperated— and, I noticed, beginning to tap a nervous finger on her opposite arm.“But this is the simplest and safest way.All I would need is a timely distraction.”
“Distractions, we can manage,” Olsa said.“But Benedict cannot go through walls.”
“Once I have Ben, I have a Magni.He can manage the guards.”Rising, Mary came around to stand beside me and spun my diagram for Olsa to see.She tapped on an anchor symbol.“Benedict and I can make our way down here to the prison’s private docks.Ben can overpower the guards, then we signal, and you land.Or you can land before, if you can manage it.Then we row out toHartand sail away.”
I opened my mouth to critique the plan, but instead found more pieces clicking into place.“I can lay a false trail.I do look like Ben, after all.Mr.Grant and I can ‘flee’ in the opposite direction and ensure Mary and Benedict escape unnoticed.Then we reunite at a safe location down the coast.”
Poverly reappeared with a tray and slid it onto the table before us.Perhaps it was my distraction, but I had not noticed how haggard the girl looked until she set out a tray of bread, cheeses and cured meats.
“Ms.Poverly, where is Willoughby?”I asked, glancing from the dark bags under her eyes to her thin frame, which was bordering on underfed.
“Sick in bed, sir,” Poverly said, straightening and forcing her young face into a bracing smile.“Did what I could, sir.”
Another weight settled on me.My own steward was sick abed, and Poverly looked well on her way to joining him.I was neglecting my crew.
“You did well, Ms.Poverly.Now go to sleep,” I instructed.
She looked simultaneously relieved and distressed.“But I’ve duties—”
I shook my head and pointed to the door.“You are relieved.Go rest.Please.”
Poverly looked from me to my finger to the door, then gave an awkward curtsy and scuttled out.
“Yes, Papa,” Grant murmured, a smirk tucked into the corner of his mouth.
I ignored him.“This plan is worth considering,” I stated, surveying them and trying not to let my eyes linger on Mary, imagining her creeping through the corridors of a dark prison, past rows of bars and reaching hands.“Olsa, you and Illya secure any more intelligence that you can, particularly any smugglers’ coves within a manageable distance of the fort.Resupply the ship tomorrow, and keep me informed.”
