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‘I WISH WE HAD time for more sea trials.’

Amber gave Althea a weary look. ‘No time. No money. And after each one, at least two or three hands jump ship. A few more sea trials, Althea, and we’ll have no crew left at all.’ She paused and cocked her head at Althea. ‘Is this the fifth time we’ve had this conversation, or the sixth?’

‘The twenty-seventh, by my count,’ Brashen interjected, coming up between them.

They shifted aside to make a space for him at the after rail.

He joined them in staring out to the open water past the mouth of Bingtown Harbour.

He gave a small chuckle. ‘Get used to it, Amber. Sailors have the same conversations over and over. Chief topics: the bad food, the stupid captain and the unfair mate.’

‘You forgot the rotten weather and the unruly ship,’ Althea filled in.

Amber shrugged. ‘I have a lot to become accustomed to. It has been years since I took an extended sea voyage. As a youth, I was a bad sailor. I hope that my living aboard here in the harbour will have schooled my stomach to a moving deck.’

Althea and Brashen both grinned. ‘Trust me. It hasn’t,’ Brashen warned her. ‘I’ll try not to expect too much of you the first few days out. But if I need you, I’ll need you, and then you’ll have to crawl about and do your best between trips to the rail.’

‘You’re so cheery,’ Amber thanked him.

A silence fell over them. Despite their easy words, they all had reservations about what they faced today.

The ship was loaded, most of the crew aboard.

Secreted belowdecks, unbeknownst to their hired crew, were seven slaves who had resolved to take this opportunity to escape to a new life.

Althea tried not to think of them. The risk they took was not just to themselves.

If anyone else discovered them before they sailed, who knew what might come of it?

Nor did she know how their hired crew would react to these extra hands.

She hoped they would be relieved there would be more backs to bear the work.

Most likely, there would be some scuffling for position and bunking space, but that happened aboard any ship.

She took a breath and told herself it would be all right.

She still pitied the crowded men hidden below.

The suspense for them must be agonizing.

At first light, they would sail. Althea almost wished they could just slip away now.

But to sail off silently into the dimness would be an ill leave-taking.

Better to wait and endure the farewells and good wishes of those who came to see them off.

Better, also, to have clear light and the morning breezes to speed them.

‘How is he?’ Brashen asked quietly. He stared off into the distance.

‘He’s anxious. And excited. Eager, and scared to death. His blindness—

‘I know.’ Brashen was brusque. ‘But he’s endured it for years.

He got himself back to Bingtown, blind and capsized.

This is no time for a risky experiment in carving wizardwood.

He’ll have to trust us, Amber. He has done so much to turn himself around that I don’t want to risk changing any of his conditions.

If you tried and failed, well.’ Brashen shook his head.

‘I think it’s better for us to sail as he is.

He’s familiar with this hindrance. I think he can cope better with blindness he’s accepted than with a great disappointment. ’

‘But he has never accepted it,’ Amber began earnestly.

‘Forty-two,’ Althea cut in. She gave a sigh but managed a smile. ‘We’ve had this conversation at least forty-two times.’

Amber nodded in acceptance. She changed the subject. ‘Lavoy.’

Brashen groaned, then laughed. ‘I gave him the last night in town. He’ll be on deck on time.

I’ll vouch for that. He’ll have a head, no doubt of that, and he’ll take it out on the hands.

That’s traditional, and they’ll expect it.

I expect he’ll drive them hard and they’ll resent him.

That’s traditional, too. He’s the best we could have hired for the job. ’

Althea bit her tongue firmly. She had lost count of how many times she and Brashen had wrangled about that.

Besides, if they got into it again, he would probably make her admit that Lavoy was not as bad as she had expected him to be.

The man had a streak of fairness in him.

It was unreliable, but when it did surface, he held himself to it.

He would be a tyrant. She knew that. So did Brashen.

As long as he did not go too far with it, a tyrant was exactly what this crew needed.

The sea trials had exposed every weakness in their crew.

Althea now knew which hands wouldn’t scramble, and which ones seemed incapable of it.

Some were lazy, some stupid, and some slyly determined to do as little as possible.

Her father, she was convinced, would have sacked the lot of them.

When she had complained to Brashen, he had told her she could replace any and all of them with better men at her discretion.

All she had to do was find such men and hire them at the wages he could offer.

That had ended that conversation.

‘I wish we were already out there,’ Brashen said quietly.

‘So do I,’ Althea agreed. And yet she dreaded it too.

The sea trials had exposed more than the weaknesses of the crew.

She knew now that Paragon was far more fragile than she had ever expected.

True, he was a stoutly built ship. Once Brashen had arranged the ballast to his liking, he had sailed well, but he did not sail like a liveship.

Althea was ready to accept that, as long as he did not actively oppose the men working his decks.

What was most difficult for her was his obvious torment.

Every time Brashen called a course change, the figurehead flinched.

His hands would break free briefly from his crossed arms, to tremor before him.

Almost instantly, he would recross his arms and hold them firm against his chest. His jaws were clenched tightly shut, but his fear simmered throughout the ship.

All around her, Althea could see the crew reacting to it.

They glanced at one another, up at the rigging, out over the water, all seeking the source of their uneasiness.

They were too new to the ship to realize they were infected with his fear.

That made them more prone to panic, not less.

To tell them the cause would only have made it worse.

They would learn, she had promised herself. In time, they would learn.

Trader Restart had had his carriage repaired.

The upholstery had been thoroughly cleaned as well.

Now the doors opened and shut as they should, the springs had not groaned alarmingly as Malta climbed in, and when the horses did start, the jolt did not clack her teeth together.

It all looked quite clean. As it worked its way through the busy Bingtown streets, a breeze came in the window.

Still, she could not convince herself that she didn’t smell dead pig.

She dabbed at her face with her scented handkerchief.

‘Are you all right, dear?’ her mother asked her for the tenth time.

‘I’m fine. I didn’t sleep well last night.’ She turned and looked out the window and waited for her mother’s next line in the dialogue.

‘Well, it’s natural for you to be excited. Our ship is sailing today and the Ball is only eight days away now.’

‘Quite natural!’ Davad Restart agreed heartily. He smiled round at them all eagerly. ‘You shall see, my dear. This shall mark the turn of all our fortunes.’

‘I’m sure it will,’ Ronica agreed, but to Malta, it sounded more as if her grandmother prayed it would be so.

‘And here we are!’ Davad brayed out enthusiastically, as if no one else had noticed. The carriage halted smoothly. ‘No, sit still, sit still,’ he told them as Keffria reached for the door. ‘The driver will open that.’

The slave did indeed come to the door of the carriage, open it for them, and then assist them all out.

As first Ronica and then Keffria thanked him for this courtesy, the man looked uneasy.

He glanced at Davad as if expecting to be rebuked, but the Trader was too busy straightening his jacket.

Malta frowned briefly to herself. Either Davad had become more prosperous lately, or he had simply decided to be freer with his money.

The repaired carriage, the trained driver, Davad’s new clothes…

he was preparing for something. She made a mental note to be more watchful of the Old Trader.

Foolish as Davad was socially, he had a shrewd streak for sensing profit.

Perhaps there was a way to turn whatever he was doing to her family’s advantage as well.

He offered his arm to her grandmother. Ronica allowed it.

They were all dressed in their best summer clothes.

Grandmother had insisted on it. ‘We cannot afford to look poor on this day,’ she had said, somewhat fiercely.

So fabric had been salvaged from old gowns, washed, turned, and pressed to make new dresses for all of them.

Rache was developing into quite a seamstress.

Malta had to admit she had an eye for copying the newer styles on the streets of Bingtown.

Today they were almost fashionable, save for last year’s parasols.

Even Selden was properly dressed, in blue trousers and a white shirt.

He was digging at his collar again. Malta frowned at him severely and shook her head.

‘A proper little Trader boy doesn’t fuss with his collar,’ she told him.

He dropped his hand but scowled at her. ‘Being a proper little Trader is choking me,’ he returned snippily.

‘Get used to it,’ she advised him, and took his hand.