“Never heard of it. Must be far inland, and any place away from shore doesn’t have much meaning for my life.” He scratched the side of his face. “But I did not mean you were my competition. I meant that the current maps don’t matter because all is changed, you see. Everything’s different now.
“In the last two months the currents have shifted. The wind patterns that I knew so well have now changed direction, as if the seasons are all mixed up.” He let out a long groan. “And the stars at night are in the wrong places. How am I supposed to navigate? My astrolabes and sextants are useless. My constellation maps don’t show the same stars. Sweet Sea Mother, I don’t even know if the compass points true north anymore. I am making my way by instinct.”
Nicci knew full well what had happened. “It is a new world, Captain. Prophecy is entirely gone. Magic has changed in ways that we haven’t begun to fathom.” Then she turned her bright blue gaze toward his, and drew a breath of the damp air as a breeze rippled the papers on the chart table. “But someone has to be the first to make new star charts, the first to map out the changed currents, and the first to discover the best places to drop anchor. You can be one of those firsts, Captain.”
“That would be a wonderful thing … if I fancied myself an explorer.” The captain scratched his trim of a beard around his jaw. “But my ambition has always been to serve as a successful cargo captain going from port to port. I have families to support, many children. I see little enough of them as it is, and I want to be able to arrive on time.”
“Families?” she asked. “More than one?”
“Of course.” Captain Eli ran his fingers over his dark hair, tucking a silver-shot lock behind his ear. “I have a wife and two daughters in Tanimura, a younger wife and three sons at Larrikan Shores, and a very beautiful one in Serrimundi, the daughter of the harborlord.”
“Do they know about your other families?” Nicci asked. “Is this an unusual arrangement among sea captains?”
“I take care of each one in turn, wherever I go. Every wife has a fine house. Each of my sons or daughters is comfortable, with food, shelter, and an education. Most sailors and captains would simply visit the brothels at every port city, and I know of many a captain who caught a loathsome disease and gave it to his wife when he came home.” Captain Eli stared out at the endless sea behind the stern. “No, that’s not for me. I have chosen my wives, and I am faithful to them. I am an honorable man.”
Considering the countless women Emperor Jagang had taken, including her, and how he had thrown Nicci and others into the tents to be raped again and again by his soldiers, she did not judge Captain Eli Corwin. She had never felt any inclination to be a man’s wife, or one of his wives, except for the time she had forced Richard Rahl to pretend to be her husband. Nicci had imagined a perfect domestic existence, sure that she could convince him to adopt the philosophy of the Imperial Order. That had been not only a lie, but a bitter lie, and Richard had hated her for it.
Unconsciously, Nicci rubbed her lower lip, still imagining the long-healed scar there from Jagang’s gold ring. Nicci had never realized that her sick dream of forcing Richard to be her husband was a delusion as foolish as Bannon Farmer’s imagined perfect world.
Fortunately, she was a different person now. After living secretly as a Sister of the Dark for so many years, then being enslaved by Jagang, broken, then rebuilt—but rebuilt wrong, until she was finally fixed by Richard—she understood everything better now. Nicci owed Richard more than she could ever repay. And he had given her a mission.
“Let me see your charts nevertheless,” she said, driving away the memories. “The more I know about the Old World, the more I know for Lord Rahl’s sake.”
Captain Eli spread the maps out before her on the table, sorting the broad papers until he found one that showed the coastline far south of Tanimura. “These are our major stops. Lefton Harbor, Kherimus, Andaliyo, Larrikan Shores, even Serrimundi—we have a special agreement with the harborlord there, thanks to my wife.” He smiled wistfully at the thought of her.
Nicci ran her fingers to the edge of the map, seeing no sign of Kol Adair. “And what is farther south? These charts are incomplete.”
“No one goes farther south, no reason to go there. That’s the Phantom Coast. Barely settled, even though the imperial roads stretch far into that land.” Captain Eli sucked on his unlit pipe again, set it aside, and wiped his lips. “Who knows what the old emperors had in mind when they built those roads?”
Nicci frowned at the cities marked on the maps. “I need to make sure that everyone in the Old World knows about the end of war, the defeat of Emperor Jagang. We’ll ask for your help as well, Captain. Even after we depart your ship, I will give you something in writing which you can take to these ports and help spread the message about Lord Rahl. All lands must be brought under one rule, even though each will keep its own culture and separate governance—so long as the people do not break the basic rules as determined by all.”
“A fine sentiment,” the captain said, rolling up the maps, “if everyone felt the same way. But I doubt you will get them to agree.”
“That is the core of our quest. We’ll have to make them feel the same way,” Nicci said, and added a small, confident smile. “I can be very persuasive. And if I’m not sufficient, then there’s a large D’Haran army to help make the point.”
She and the captain left the chart room, stepping out onto the high deck from which they could watch the sailors doing their daily chores. The five shirtless men lounged about, disdaining the work and the crew. They turned their arrogant gazes toward Nicci, and one called up to her, “Come to play with us? We’ve got time.”
“You can waste your own time until we reach the reefs,” said Captain Eli. “But I don’t think the lady wants to play with you.”
Nicci said in a hard voice, “I doubt they’d enjoy how I might play with them.”
The shirtless layabouts responded with leering laughter, which annoyed Nicci. She turned to the captain. “Why don’t they work for their passage? They are worthless men.”
“They are wishpearl divers. They’ve been with me for three voyages—extremely profitable voyages.” He nodded to them all. “Sol, Elgin, Rom, Pell, and Buna. They might be lazy louts now, but they will earn ten times their keep in one day, once we reach the reefs.”
CHAPTER 10
Seagulls wheeled overhead, following the Wavewalker under sunny skies. Fascinated, Nathan joined the sailors crowding the ship’s rails, excitedly pointing down at the strange drifting infestation that surrounded them on the open seas.