03.11.08

16: The Last Favor

Posted in Pages at 10:53 am by Alexandra Erin

A moment after Jace cried out, he realized he’d blown whatever slim chance he might have had for his tumble below decks to go undetected.

His scream and fall were both cut short by the cloaked figure which swooped out of the shadow, catching him in surprisingly springy arms.

“What?”

“This is absolutely the last favor I’ll do for you, water-boy,” Tarnach whispered. They were in a cramped cargo hold. He set Jace down, then reached up to straighten his hat and beaked mask. “The next time we meet, it will be as enemies, though you may find consolation in the fact that it will be over quickly.”

“What are you doing here?” Jace asked.

“Considering whose name appears on the crew roster, I should think I would be asking you that,” Tarnach said. “If I hadn’t sent you here myself, of course. Never you mind that. Do you hear that?”

Jace thought he could hear his own heart beating in his chest, but he realized it was actually the tromp of booted feet thundering closer.

“Here comes a few of the Lord Governor’s finest,” Tarnach said. “It will be best to let me do the talking, I think.”

Lantern light probed the darkness, finding Jace’s eyes and blinding him. He squinted up and saw the pair he had glimpsed on deck, realizing that what he had taken for sailors were actually soldiers. Tarnach, his hands on Jace’s shoulders, straightened up, moving his own face away from the light.

“Who’s down there?” one of the soldiers asked.

“Only I,” Tarnach said. “The magnificent Tarnach.”

“Taking a bit of leisure, are you, Tarnach?”

“Not quite. I have discovered a stowaway.”

“Well, take him and toss him overboard, then.”

“Here in the harbor?” Tarnach said. He tsked loudly. “He’d only scurry onto another ship. What sort of a punishment is that? I’ll make him secure until we’ve a bit more distance from shore. Perhaps the crew can take bets.”

“As you like,” the second soldier said. “Not our ship, not our lookout. We’re just here to make sure His Lordship’s property is secure.”

“Well, you can look in on her while I’m making this lad ’secure’,” Tarnach said.

“You don’t honestly mean to put him in with her?”

“Unless either of you gentlemen has a brig in his pocket?” Tarnach asked. “No? Then I shall be up on deck in a trice.”

“Right, but nothing funny,” the first soldier said. “The rest of the crew keeps their heads down until we get the signal from the fort.”

“You will get no argument from me on that point,” Tarnach said. “I’ll make certain this ship remains buttoned up tighter than a minister’s vest until our dangerous cargo is offloaded.”

“Right, then,” the soldier said. “You see that you do that, then.”

Permalink