Page 48 of The Sea Witch (Salt & Sorcery #1)

Her second-in-command knew when it was a fool’s errand to argue. Stasia let her go as Alys slowly, awkwardly, climbed down

the companionway, and then went lower into the ship. She hobbled to the brig, where Ben stood, gripping the bars of the cage.

His gaze shot from her face, which was surely ashen, to the dark crimson stain on the bandage around her thigh.

“Where’s your damned doctor?” he demanded. “Get her here immediately.”

“Fatima’s busy.”

“The captain’s health should be her priority.”

“I decide what’s important on my ship.” She pointed a finger at him. “How many more sea creatures is the navy adding to their

arsenal?”

“I...” His brow furrowed.

“A leviathan and a kraken,” she said through gritted teeth. “With the Jupiter . A hell of a surprise.”

“Damn,” Ben muttered. “Warne spoke the truth.”

“No surprise for you, it seems.” She kept her weight off her leg as much as she was able, but she refused to hold the bars

of the brig to support herself. “You said nothing.”

“The Jupiter ’s mage and I are not friendly. When he speaks, I never know what to believe. Distorting the truth is one of his favorite games.”

She clenched her jaw to keep from crying out in pain. “Letting us know we might be facing two creatures instead of one would’ve

been somewhat helpful. Annihilation was very likely.”

“When was I supposed to tell you? En route to you throwing me into the brig? I only knew which ship you planned on commandeering

when I spotted the Ajax through the porthole. The same for the Jupiter . I’d no knowledge of them sailing to the Ajax ’s aid. How could I?”

“The kraken and leviathan don’t care who’s aboard the Sea Witch ,” she fired back. “If this ship goes down because of them, you go down with it.”

“I didn’t know the Jupiter would come to the Ajax ’s aid. The way you escaped from them, and their creatures... that scream... the rage within it.”

“The crew aboard the Sea Witch have reason to be angry. I’m angry.”

Doubt vibrated between them. “I couldn’t be certain if... if I could trust you with the information about the beasts. Especially

with these bars between us.”

“And now?”

“Now...” He drew in a ragged breath. “To think of the Royal Navy exploiting those creatures... giving their might to

help bastards like Kinnear... stealing the freedom of those women, and others like them...”

They regarded each other in silence.

“The poles have reversed,” he went on, “and I’ve no idea what side of the globe I’m on.”

She studied him for a long moment, even as her blood seeped through the bandage. His expression mirrored the pain she felt.

“I believe you.” She unlocked the brig. When he continued to stand within its confines, she pulled the door open.

He took a tentative step forward. She grabbed a set of manacles from where they hung on the bulkhead; he didn’t look surprised.

“Because I didn’t tell you about the other creatures?” he asked heavily.

“I don’t know if you’re keeping anything else back from me,” she said.

He said nothing, and in that pause, she had her answer. Yet he held still as she fastened the manacles around his wrists.

“To my quarters.” She jerked her chin toward the door.

“I could carry you,” he offered.

She shot him a look that would castrate a minotaur. “My crew only sees me on my feet, and it stays that way.”

“Aye, Captain.”

He stepped into the passageway, and she followed.

“It’s critical we find the fail-safe,” she said, limping behind him. “If we don’t, disaster follows for anyone seeking to

live free upon the water.”

“Subjugating not one but two creatures to the Crown’s will.”

“How many more will they control?” she pressed.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “I didn’t join the navy for this.”

Hobbling to her cabin made Alys’s head spin. They passed many crew members, some of them bearing evidence that Fatima and

her helpers had worked on them, while others still bore a residual glow from having been recently balanced. They all saluted

as they passed. Alys did her best to stand as straight as possible, and not let her face contort with the agony she felt.

Only when she was safely inside her quarters, easing herself down onto a chair, did she allow herself the luxury of groaning.

Manacled, Ben awkwardly poured a mug of rum, then handed it to her. She drank it down in one swallow.

“From the porthole in the brig,” he said, refilling the cup and handing it back to her, “I saw the seamen and captain of the Ajax in the cutters and jolly boats. You spared them.”

“All we had need of was the ship.” She gripped the mug tightly. “Killing the captain and crew served no purpose.”

“No purpose to spare them, other than mercy.”

She shrugged. “Death’s messy and often not necessary.”

“Few in your position would see it that way.”

“And for my efforts, the navy’s put a two-hundred-pound bounty on my head.”

His mouth flattened.

She drained her cup once more, letting the rum burn round the hard edges of her pain.

“Now I’m questioning my decision to destroy all of the mage’s potions.” She dragged her sleeve across her mouth. “In a trice,

my leg would’ve healed and I could climb the rigging as much as I pleased.”

“You saw the box?”

“The one with vines carved in the lid. It reeked of sulfur but when he drank one of the vials, it was as though he’d been

turned into a demigod.”

“Dragon’s blood.” At her raised eyebrows, he explained, “A poetic name but there’s no actual blood of a dragon in it.”

“I’ve heard nothing of such a brew.”

“The naval mages keep much of their... skills... a secret from the rest of the crew.”

“Yet you know.”

“A mage from the Destiny came aboard the ship, and I overheard a conversation between him and Warne.” At her sardonic look, he said, “I’ve never trusted

Warne. I was... monitoring the situation.”

“ Monitoring . A spruce naval word for eavesdropping .”

“Learning takes many forms, including listening in to conversations I wasn’t privy to.”

“And you learned...?”

“Mages drink dragon’s blood to heal and increase their magic, and to ingest it brings power at a great cost. They become the tinder that burns hot and bright, but devours the fuel too fast. Trims down their lifespan.

Few mages who take dragon’s blood live past five and fifty.

None of them seem to care, though. They’d rather be triumphant at that moment than accept their limitations. ”

“They brew the potion themselves?”

“It’s supplied to them, but what it contains, where it comes from and who makes it...” He spread his hands. “My monitoring didn’t help me glean more information.”

“These are the things witches are forbidden to learn,” she said moodily. “When I told you about the kraken and the leviathan,

you said you didn’t join the navy for that. What did you join for?”

He was quiet for a long time. He took the silver cup from her and refilled it with rum. When he offered it to her and she

shook her head, he drank the liquor himself, his manacles rattling as he did so.

Perhaps he might refuse to answer.

But then—

“I wanted to be a ship’s navigator on privately funded voyages of exploration and discovery.” He stared out the window, his gaze turning

faraway. “Learning new coastlines, pristine geographies. Seeing things I never thought I would ever see. It made the world

less mysterious, but also... more enchanted.”

“And your naval captain father thought otherwise.”

Bringing his gaze back to hers, the wistfulness drained from his eyes. “There was no choice. Not really. Except... as I

said, I wasn’t officer material.” His mouth twisted. “My father smashed our plates and china curios when I failed to make

officer. Mother never said anything, just swept up the debris. But I angled to become the master’s mate aboard his ship, and

that, he allowed. Allowed, but never... never accepted. Never approved.”

“And now you’re a sailing master. One of the best in the navy.”

He inclined his head. “Traveled all the way to London to take the oral examination before a senior captain and three sailing

masters.”

“A far journey,” she noted.

“A worthwhile one. I received my warrant, yet promotion is never guaranteed. I did get it. Though I don’t know if he’d be

proud of me.” He grimaced. “ I’m not. Not anymore. My skill as a navigator... it abets things... things I can’t countenance any longer. It’s all falling

away like so much rotten flesh from a corpse.”

“We cut off diseased limbs,” she said softly. “It keeps the infection from spreading.”

“It has spread.” His words were hoarse. “They have the leviathan bound against its will, and now they’ve added the kraken. No one

can stand in their way. God knows where it will stop. If it will stop. It’s not going to end with protecting the Crown’s interests.

There won’t be any resistance left. Whoever isn’t enslaved... they’ll be dead.”

“There’s only one way to bring an end to it.”

“Using the fail-safe.”

They were silent together, worry and doubt and apprehension shuddering between them.

There was a kind of comfort in their shared anxiety.

A knock sounded on the door, and when Alys bid them entrance, Stasia came in briskly.

“Fatima tells me no one will cross the River Styx,” she said, crisp. “Nothing to be amputated, no one lost eyes. A few days,

and everyone will be healed. We will recover.” She glanced at the crimson stained bandage around Alys’s thigh. “Everything

is shipshape topside.”

“I want you above,” Alys commanded, “where you’re needed.”

Moments after Stasia left, there was another knock on the door.

“Captain?” came a voice on the other side. “It’s Fatima.”

Ben strode across the cabin and pulled the door open. “Doctor.”

Shouldering past him, Fatima carried her bag under her arm. She went to stand beside Alys’s chair. “I’ll need you on your

berth.”

Alys cursed. “Don’t think I can stand. Not now.”

Cautiously, Ben approached, offering his arm. “Might I?”

“Tell no one of this.” Alys aimed this at both Ben and Fatima.