The Serpentwar Saga: The Complete 4-Book Collection

The man said, ‘You’ll call me Mr Collins, or sir, when you address me. I’m the Second Mate on Trenchard’s Revenge. The First Mate is Mr Roper, and the Captain is … You call him Captain. Is that clear?’

Roo said, ‘Yes, Mr Collins. But they didn’t give us any gear, sir.’

‘That’s not my problem. Your officer will get you what you need, I’m sure. It’s a long voyage, and you’ll have ample time to get organized. Now stay here until you’re sent for.’ He left.

Biggo took one of the lower bunks, with Sho Pi and Billy Goodwin above him, while Roo, Erik, and Luis took the other bunk, in descending order.

‘What do we do now?’ asked Roo.

Biggo grinned. ‘Nothing. I’m for a nap!’ he added cheerfully.

Erik realized that he was also tired, but nervous, waiting to discover what fate held in store for them next. Still, the lulling of the ship as it moved gently on groundswells in the harbor quickly soothed his nerves, and soon he was asleep as well.

A clatter from above and a sense of motion, and Erik sat up, striking his head against the bottom of the bunk above. Wincing at the pain, he almost stepped on Roo as he got down from the middle bunk.

A grinding sound from above and a change in motion, coupled with the shouts of orders from above, and it was clear they were under way. The six prisoners stood unsure of what to do, while the thirty men at the other end of the hold seemed amused by their confusion.

One of them, a large man nearly Biggo’s size, said, ‘Why don’t you run up and tell Bobby de Loungville that he’s been thoughtless in not telling you we was leaving this soon!’

This brought a burst of laughter.

Luis said, ‘Why don’t you go ask him if he knows who your father might be. Your mother certainly didn’t.’

The man on the bunk was on his feet and two strides on his way toward Luis when Sho Pi intercepted him. ‘Now, a moment, my friend,’ said the Isalani.

‘You’re no friend of mine,’ countered the large man, now obviously ready to fight with anyone, as he put his hand on Sho Pi’s chest to push him aside.

Suddenly the man was on his knees, pain etched on his face as Sho Pi held his hand in a torturous grip, pulling thumb back and palm reversed so the hand twisted back hard against its own wrist. A gasp of agony was the only sound he made.

‘I was going to suggest,’ said Sho Pi, ‘that as this is going to be a very long and tedious voyage, it would be in all of our best interests to make peace and try to consider one another’s feelings. I’m sure my friend here is more than willing to apologize for impugning your mother if you’ll graciously grant him pardon.’

Luis was now amused, and with a gesture of removing a nonexistent hat, he bowed like a courtier and said, ‘Sir, I was a boor and acted rashly and without thought. My behavior shames me. I crave your pardon, sir.’

The gasping man, whose eyes were now watering so that tears streamed down his face, said, ‘Granted!’ It was barely more than a croak of pain.

Sho Pi released his hand and the man almost fainted from relief. Billy helped him to his feet and escorted him back to his own companions, trying to keep from grinning as he did. The man kept rubbing his hand, as if expecting something to be broken, but nothing was. He shook it a few times as Billy returned to his own side of the hold.

The hatch above slid aside and two figures came down, de Loungville and Foster. Foster said, ‘Listen up!’

De Loungville stopped about halfway down the companionway so he could look around at all the men. ‘We’re under way, which no doubt you know unless you’re unconscious or even more stupid than I thought. We’ll be between ninety and one hundred days at sea, weather permitting. There’s plenty of work to do, and I’ll not have you running to fat because you’re not sailors. Besides, we may be coming home short-handed’ – he got a faraway look for a second, as if that meant more than what it sounded like – ‘so knowing your way around a ship will prove useful. Mr Collins will come down later with assignments and you’ll do as you’re told, no questions asked. He has as much rank as Knight-Captain in the King’s Army, so don’t go forgetting that because he looks like a common sailor.’

He moved down the ladder, walked over to where the six prisoners were waiting, and motioned for them to gather around. ‘I’m only going to tell you this once. Ruthia must love you, because the Lady of Luck has seen fit to keep you alive a little longer. I was given two weeks to judge if you’re fit to live, and as things were going, you were all heading back to the gallows.’ He glanced from face to face. ‘But I convinced Calis that I could hang you from the yard-arms as easily as I could from the gallows in Krondor, so you’ve only gained time.

‘The next three months are going to be harsh. You’ll work a full watch like every man on this ship, and another watch will be given over to some training you haven’t had and those others have.’ He hiked a thumb over his shoulder to the men at the other end of the hold.

Biggo spoke, to everyone’s surprise. ‘Are we to learn why?’

‘Why what?’ asked de Loungville.

‘Why this great galloping charade, Robert de Loungville, Sergeant darling sir. You don’t spend the Prince’s gold and dragoon soldiers from all parts of the Kingdom, then go through all this to save murderers and thieves from fair justice. You want something from us and you’re prepared to give us back our lives in exchange. Fair enough, and no questions asked, but men more stupid than me would know that it’s better for us to know what’s ahead and rest certain in that knowledge than to let imagination stir up horrors that might make us do something rash and foolish. If we get ourselves killed, we’re not happy and you’re not happy.’

De Loungville studied Biggo’s face for a moment; then his face split into a grin. ‘I liked you better when you were stupid, Biggo.’ He turned and as he left, he said, ‘Stay alive long enough, and I promise you you’ll find out more than you want to know.’ As he reached the companionway, he turned again to add, ‘But for the time being, the trick is to stay alive.’

He climbed the stairs, Foster, as ever, behind him, and as the hatchway closed, Biggo said, ‘Well, that’s not really what I wanted to hear.’

Luis said, ‘What do you think? Is he trying to scare us?’

Sho Pi said, ‘No, I think the problem is he’s trying very hard not to scare us.’

Erik returned to his bunk, and with a cold feeling inside, he knew that Sho Pi was right.

Days passed. The first day they had been allowed up on deck, Erik saw another ship traveling a short distance away. A sailor had told him that it was the Freeport Ranger, another ship under Calis’s command. Erik said he had thought all Kingdom ships were called Royal this or that, and the sailor merely nodded, then went back to work.

Erik didn’t care much for the work, but it was outside and the weather was clement, despite its being early fall. Roo hated being a sailor, having some trouble with the heights, but he had the agility to get around in the yards that Biggo and Erik lacked. Luis and Billy were steady hands, and Sho Pi took to the tasks put before him with the same easy grace he had shown in the camp.

After two weeks, Erik had gotten his sea legs and calluses on his feet; he had put his riding boots away, because they were dangerous on a ship and the salt water was bad for the leather. Only officers wore boots, for they never had to climb the rigging. Erik and the other men below went barefoot like the sailors and were learning the sailor’s craft in a hurry.

A landlubber of the worst sort, he was no longer confused by such terms as ‘running out a sheet,’ or ‘securing a yard.’ As in the camp, the hard work was accompanied by good food, a fact remarked upon by more than one sailor. That they were eating better than was the norm was not lost on Erik, and he joked that they were being treated like prize horses being readied for a competition among nobles. He decided not to mention that such competitions frequently ended with an animal down with a broken leg, or a rider thrown to serious injury or death.

Even Roo, averse to hard work his entire young life, was showing the effects of the hard regime and good food. There was wiry muscle on his scrawny frame, and he moved with a self-assurance Erik had never seen before. Roo had always laughed as a child, but there was a mean, dangerous edge to him, and his humor had often been cruel. Now he seemed more involved with the moment, as if it was slowly dawning on him what life was, as opposed to the mind-numbing fear that death was only a moment away. Erik sensed something had changed in Roo, but he couldn’t rightly say what that change was.

Sho Pi observed that whatever awaited them, de Loungville wanted them fit and ready. Each day was an equal mix of hard work and battle training.

The second day out, Sho Pi had gone up on deck during his off watch, to practice a series of controlled movements that looked like nothing as much as a dance to Erik. Graceful and flowing, they still held a sense of menace, as if to quicken the action would turn graceful motions into killing blows. After he finished and returned belowdecks, Luis said, ‘What was that you were doing up there, Keshian?’

‘Isalani,’ corrected Sho Pi, then as he swung into his bunk, he said, ‘It is called kata, and it is the heart of the arts I practice. It is a sense of movement and it taps the power around you, to give you balance and ease at the moment you need to draw upon that power.’

Erik sat up in his own bunk. ‘Is that the trick you used to disarm the soldier?’

‘It is, sad to admit, the same, but it is not a trick. It is an ancient art form, and it can be used to harmonize the self with the universe, as well as for self-defense.’

Biggo said, ‘If you could show me how to kick de Loungville around the way you did, I’d be interested in learning.’

‘That would be an abuse of the art,’ said Sho Pi. ‘But should you wish to practice with me, you are welcome. Kata will relax you, calm you, and refresh you.’

Billy said, ‘Sure. You looked so relaxed and calm when you kicked de Loungville.’

Luis grinned. ‘Ah, but it was refreshing!’

They all laughed. Suddenly Erik was visited with an unexpected and extraordinary affection for these men. Murderers all, the dregs of Kingdom society – yet in each he sensed something that made him feel kinship. He had never experienced such a feeling before and it troubled him as much as it felt natural. Lying back on his bunk, he pondered this odd turmoil.

By the end of the next week, Erik and the others had joined Luis in taking lessons in kata from Sho Pi. For an hour after their watch, the six would stand in a relatively clear area of the deck, between the main hatch and the foremast, and follow his lead.

Erik found the admonitions to think of a spot of light, or a soft breeze, or some other relaxing image while he moved vigorously through a long series of classic Isalani movements silly at first. After a time, he sensed the calm that would come with accepting Sho Pi’s advice. Despite the long, hard hours of work, the additional exercise didn’t tire, it refreshed, and Erik had never slept better in his life.

A sailor, a LaMutian, whose father had been a Tsurani warrior, asked to join as well. He claimed that much of what Sho Pi taught was similar to what his father had shown him as a child, part of the heritage of the Tsurani ‘way of the warrior.’

After the group had been practicing for a week, the large man whom Sho Pi had humbled came over to watch. After a few minutes he said, ‘Can you show me how to do that thing with the thumb?’