“Cold.” The question is stupid, so I give a stupid answer.
“That all? You know you can tell us if there’s anything else.”
Enwen blows heat into his glove-covered hands. “Yeah, Captain. Kearan’s a good listener. He can go hours without saying a single word.”
Dimella is a little ball of furs beside us, but she perks up at those words. “That’s because he’s probably fallen asleep, Enwen.”
Enwen looks at me out of the corner of his eye while shushing Dimella.
“Don’t you shush me.”
“Sorry, Miss Dimella, but I’m trying to encourage a conversation here, and you’re ruining it.”
“I don’t follow.”
Enwen mouths the words epic romance to Dimella, but she doesn’t catch them. I immediately look at Kearan and relax when I realize he’s not paying a wink of attention to Enwen.
“Miss Dimella, why don’t you come show me the starboard side of the ship?” Enwen asks.
“What?”
“I think we should leave the aftercastle and go on a stroll.”
“Why?”
“You’re useless,” Enwen says to her before storming off. “Excuse me? Sailor, you get back here.”
She takes off after him to give him a tongue-lashing, but it doesn’t matter. Enwen’s plan worked, and I’m now left alone at the helm with Kearan.
“I’ve been saying it for years,” Kearan says. “Enwen is mad.”
“You’re not much better. How are you feeling, Captain?”
“It’s your first time captaining a ship. You’ve lost four sailors. You should talk to somebody about it.”
“I did. I wrote Alosa and told her all about it.”
“And what did Alosa say?”
“None of your business.”
Kearan grunts. “Did she tell you not to blame yourself? Or did she assume you’re unaffected because that’s how you always act?”
I say nothing.
“So she did assume you were fine. Then let me tell you not to blame yourself. It’s not your fault. Don’t focus on the four souls you lost. Think of the twenty-five you saved.”
“Why don’t you keep your thoughts on yourself? Better yet, keep them to yourself.”
“You look out for everyone on the ship. Someone needs to look out for you.”
“I don’t need looking out for. I’m a damned pirate assassin, Kearan. The only looking out you need to do is for the knife at your throat when you finally piss me off enough.”
He grins. Grins. And says nothing more.
This is why you can’t let them know they get to you. They smile at your expense. My hand goes for my closest knife.
“I care,” Kearan says. “I want to know how you’re doing. I want to know how I can help. We’ve been through some things together. Storms and broken masts and fights against the pirate king. That doesn’t leave anyone unaffected. I just want you to know that you’re incredible, and I want you to be okay.”
My clenched fingers release the knife as sense finally slams back into me.
“Stop trying to flatter me!”
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
“Just because I’m telling the truth doesn’t mean I have an angle. I’m not trying to get anything from you.”
Except he is.
Because men always are.
“Then stop talking. Because your words are purposeless.”
I see his mind turn as he tries to work an argument around that one, but a call interrupts us.
“Land ho!”
When I join Roslyn up in the crow’s nest, I think all she’s spotted is another iceberg at first. It’s much larger than the others, for sure. I can’t even see the edges on the sea, but as we draw closer, I begin to spot other things.
Green. There’s vegetation, and with vegetation comes life.
The little lass has eyes sharper than a hawk’s.
I put the spyglass to my eye, making out the shapes of trees and mountains and snow-covered terrain, but there’s not anything terribly exciting to see on land.
The water surrounding it, however, is another matter.
Dead ahead, I see a bowsprit jutting into the air. To its right, a hull rests at an angle, the structure tottering with the incoming tide. A sail billows atop a broken mast, an unfamiliar flag streaming in the wind. Shattered planks float on the waves, and downy white birds sit atop some of them. A coil of rope has become entwined with seaweed, the brown mass floating alongside a frozen body facedown in the water. Who knows how long he’s been dead? The cold keeps everything perfectly preserved.
The island is completely surrounded by ship wreckage. I can’t look in any direction without seeing it.
We’ve surely found where Alosa’s women went missing.
But right now I’m more concerned with what caused all of this.
I climb down the mast, where Dimella and the rest of the crew wait patiently.
“It’s a ship graveyard out there,” I say, forgetting to be tactful until after the words are out of my mouth.
Enwen clutches his beads to his chest, and my gun master climbs the mast without another word.
“Is the Wanderer among the wreckage?” Dimella asks.
“We’re too far to tell.”
“We’re going closer?” Enwen asks with alarm.
Kearan puts a hand on his shoulder to steady him. “Find your mettle, man.”
“We’re going to circle the island without getting too close,” I say. “We need proof that the Wanderer docked here before we go ashore.”
“A lot of ships permanently docked here, Captain,” Dimella says. “What do you think got ’em?”
“Cannons,” Philoria says when she returns to the deck. “Definitely cannon debris. I’d stake my life on it. Nothing else tears apart masts like that.”
“No more beasties, then?” Enwen asks.
“Not this time.”
“Someone doesn’t want anyone going ashore,” I deduce.
“For what purpose?” Dimella asks. “Not like it’s a prime vacation spot or anything.”
“There must be something valuable here,” Kearan says. “Gold or other precious metals.”
“Gold, you say?” Enwen perks up.
“Take us closer, Kearan,” I say. “I want a better look at that debris.”
He does so, but it’s not easy. For hours, he maneuvers us around blocks of ice and ship debris. But we eventually find what we’re looking for.
I see the letters Wan painted on the side of one of the wrecked ships. The rest of the letters disappear into the water. Alosa’s missing vessel is here. Just from what I can see in either direction, there is enough wreckage for at least nine full ships. And the destruction continues as far as the eye can see. Surely there’s even more surrounding the whole island.
“Dimella, I want to go ashore alone,” I say to my first mate. “Have the crew lower a rowboat for me.”
Dimella narrows her eyes. “Captain, I know you mean to put no one in danger but yourself, but if anything should happen to you, then you’ll leave the crew without their leadership. It isn’t wise for you to go anywhere alone. Please consider taking a scouting party with you if you intend to go exploring. Alosa has chosen some fine girls for this voyage.”