Selena laid her hand on her friend’s arm. “Ilior…”
Julian cocked a brow. “Are you questioning how I do things on my ship?”
Ilior crossed his arms over his massive chest and shrugged.
The captain laughed. “Tell him your names, men. Make a proper introduction.”
Grunt grunted, Cur growled like a feral dog, Spit spat, and Whistle whistled. The crewmen named Helm and Cook snickered soundlessly.
“I don’t know their real names because they can’t tell me, nor can they read or write,” Julian said. “I hire men who’re either mute, like in the case of young Whistle here—” he tousled the boy’s hair— “or have had their tongues cut out, as have the rest of these fine fellows.”
Ilior’s hands clenched into fists. “You cut out their tongues?”
Captain Tergus regarded him, incredulous. “Did I say that? I hire men who’ve met that particular misfortune. And not many captains would. I’m doing them a favor by employing them where others won’t. Isn’t that sweet of me, dragonman?”
“But why?” Selena asked.
“You’d be amazed at how much more productive a crew is when they can’t stand around jawing all day. If you’re used to shanties sung every damn minute of every voyage, the silence will seem strange at first, but you get used to it. You’ll be able to appreciate the quiet,” he said, “and just sail.”
Selena glanced at the six mute men. They looked no different from any other crew on any other ship she’d ever been on. But they can’t speak, can’t sing shanties…and they can’t tell what they’ve seen on board.
“Have a question?” Julian asked, and Selena realized she had been silent too long.
“I was wondering, Captain, how it’s possible to give and receive orders to a crew that can’t speak. And aren’t you a bit short-handed?”
“Ilior and Svoz can pitch in,” Julian said. “No one stands around idle on my ship.”
Svoz, who had been roaming the decks, slipped up to join them when he heard his name. He waggled a black-nailed finger at Julian. “If you think I’m going to spend the voyage pulling on ropes and tying knots like some common—”
“You will,” Selena said, “because I command it. You will do whatever Captain Tergus requires.”
“I won’t ask you to do anything that is beneath you,” Julian told the sirrak.
“Everything that is not extermination is beneath me.”
“Lovely.” Julian clapped his hands together. “That should do it. The watches will be long but the voyage to Saliz is not. The Storm won’t give trouble if we all pull together.” Julian turned to Selena. “Care to see your lodgings?”
Selena left Svoz on deck while she and Ilior followed Julian to the galley with its big iron stove and water barrels, and the forecastle where eight hammocks were strung up.
“When you’re not on watch,” he told Ilior.
The Vai’Ensai frowned. “How far am I from Paladin Koren’s lodgings?”
Julian gave them both a peculiar look. “This is a brig, not a Guild barge. We’re all within hailing distance. But, don’t take my word for it.”
He led them through a passage so narrow, Ilior had to fold his wing in tight and duck his head. The cabin was small, six spans long and three across, but it had cots instead of hammocks, one to a side, and a trunk to stow belongings. There was no porthole as it was amidships, but Selena thought it more than adequate.
“It’s very fine.” Selena noted that while the bunks were spare and plain, they also looked clean, like everything else on Julian’s ship.
“My cabin’s under the quarterdeck,” Julian said, “but there is no reason anyone aboard needs to be anywhere near it unless invited, yes? And you,” he said to Selena, “are invited to plot our course and discuss the financial particulars. After provisions are bought and stowed, we sail. Tomorrow.” His gray-green eyes looked between Selena and Ilior.
“He stays with me,” Selena said, answering his unspoken question. “He’s a better sailor than I, and I rely on his judgment in all things.”
The smallest of shadows crept over the captain’s face. “Very well. It’ll be a bit cramped, but if you insist.”
“I do,” Ilior intoned.
Julian led them back up to the main deck, to his cabin, which was situated beneath the quarterdeck. It was twice the size of Selena’s cabin, and three large, slanted gallery windows afforded an expansive view of the Marauder’s Sea spread out before them and the sun hovering above the horizon.
The port wall of the cabin had several trunks lashed to it and was covered itself in an old, beautiful chart of Lunos. At the starboard wall was a bunk, wider than those in her cabin, but it was the captain’s desk that commanded attention. Two merkind, carved in intricate detail, met at the front of the cherry wood piece, their hair flowing and tangling together. Long ropes of finely wrought sea kelp climbed up each leg.
On top of the desk were several charts, an inkpot, a ledger book, and some drawings. When Selena drew nearer, she saw the drawings were schematics of ships, highly detailed and drawn with great precision. That Julian possessed the skill to create something so fine surprised her.
People are multi-faceted like jewels, she told herself, not plain and flat like steel.
Julian saw her eyeing the sketches and hurriedly laid a chart of the Heart Waters and most of the Eastern Edge on top of them. He unlashed a small stool for Selena to sit on while he took the chair behind the desk.
“I will stand,” Ilior said.
“As you will.” Julian turned the chart around so that Selena might read it. “As I told you last night, I believe we should take a more northerly route, out of these pirate waters.” He folded his hands. “But that is unsatisfactory?”
Selena nodded. “How far south can we sail?”
“Safely?” Julian frowned over the chart. “The pirate collectives here sail the Marauders’ Sea in droves. Given the situation with pirates who attacked you last night, we’ll be lucky to get out of here without a tail.”
“You killed a captain,” Ilior intoned.
“And she let the sole witness go free,” Julian returned. “Mine wasn’t the lapse in caution.” He turned back to Selena. “To sail farther south, into the Heart Waters, is to invite the wrath of the merkind. I’d rather take my chances with pirates, who I can outrun, rather than a merkind’s maelstrom, which I can’t. Of course, I’d much prefer avoiding both and sailing north along the Ice Isles.”
“It’s not possible,” Ilior said. “For her sake.”
“Nor for yours,” Selena told her friend. She looked at Julian. “I don’t want to risk your ship or the lives of you and your crew but this whole endeavor will be moot if we freeze to death. Is there no other passage that we can take?”
“Not unless you wish to sail south along the boundary between the Western Watch and the Heart Waters, then tack east past your homeland,” he said with a nod at Ilior, “and lastly sail north through the entire Eastern Edge.”