Chapter 21 #2
My heart was a tangled mess when I stepped out of the galley, but not so tangled that I didn’t immediately go still when I
noticed how abruptly the weather had changed. The sky had darkened far more than it should have in the time I’d spent inside,
and though there had been only a few wispy clouds when I went to check on Dunya, a greenish haze now limned the entire horizon.
Whether cloud cover or some trick of the light, I could not discern. I had never seen anything like it before—which is not
something you want to say on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The wind had picked up as well, in a bizarre choppy way, little
drunken breezes dipping here and there. I glanced down to study the sea, for such a wind should have been stirring ripples
into the surface. But the water, a deep and fathomless blue, was nigh mercurial.
I didn’t like it. There is little that unsettles a nakhudha’s heart more than a rapid shift in weather, and I was irked that
none of my crew had thought to inform me and that my supposed streak of luck—Raksh—seemed to be asleep at the job. I turned, intending to head to my captain’s bench.
Instead I ran into my companions, Dalila, Tinbu, and Majed, circling me like impatient crows.
“We heard Dunya’s voice,” Tinbu said by way of greeting. “It sounded like you were arguing.”
I gave another glance at the soupy horizon, then beckoned for them to follow me away from the galley in case Dunya was inspired to press her ear to the door. I would handle this matter first.
“You heard correctly,” I said, wiping the sweat from my brow with the end of my turban. “We spoke at length and doing so was
enough to convince me of our original course. We head for Aden as quickly as possible. It won’t be easy to sail north this
time of year, but we shall make the best of it.”
There was silence for a long moment before Majed asked, “Does Dunya wish to go?”
My conservative old navigator—a parent like me—was the last person I expected to ask that question. And frankly, I had no
idea how to respond. Dunya’s entire demeanor had changed when I asked her how she saw herself; I did not imagine she would
want that part of our conversation shared.
I settled for bluster, perhaps hoping that speaking so confidently would shut down my own misgivings. “Her wishes do not concern
me,” I lied. “Her safety does. And the sooner Dunya is reunited with her grandmother and behind the walls of a rich husband,
the better.”
“A husband ?” Tinbu repeated. “Is that why she ran away from home?”
“Part of the reason. From what she tells me, I take it she is not... well, not the marrying type,” I replied evasively.
“Her bridegroom is the governor of Aden.”
Majed let out a soft sound of surprise. “The governor of Aden... oh.”
“Oh, indeed. I am normally not one to deliver teenagers to unwanted marriages, but if Falco is alive and comes for her?” I
grimaced. “She will be far safer as a governor’s wife than with an old lady pirate. Truthfully I cannot imagine a better shelter
for her. Aden’s navy might have been fledging, but the governor’s mansion is more secure than a fort.”
“And that is the fate you would visit upon Asif’s daughter?” Tinbu challenged. “Locked up as a rich man’s wife? A girl who is not the marrying type ?”
A girl who is perhaps not a girl at all . “I’m trying my best, Tinbu, all right?” I shot back. “You didn’t hear the things Dunya confessed to. She ran away with a
Frank and taught him the magic he worked to murder dozens because she didn’t believe people would use it for evil . She jumped in a boat and ran off with a set of magical tablets in the vague hope of finding a way to dispose of them. She
needs to go home and have an adult put some sense in her head.”
“Magical tablets?” Dalila sounded baffled. “Do you mean those clay slabs?”
Still bitter, I was in little mood to give a recounting of Dunya’s entire diatribe. “Ask her yourself. She was rambling about
lunar spirits and the divine Sight and the Moon of Saba being a bucket.”
Tinbu blinked, briefly startled out of his anger. “The Moon of Saba is a bucket?”
“A fancy one. Yes. According to some tablets. Suffice to say, we have been conned yet again. Which is another reason not to
delay. Without the pearl, without any of the treasures we were hoping for, I am going to need payment from Salima immediately.
I know the men are expecting riches.”
“I would pray riches didn’t matter,” Majed said hotly. “Surely you are not disappointed ?”
But I was. I was disappointed and the shame of it cut deep. Was that who I was? A selfish woman who had left her child to
chase adventure, convincing herself it was for some greater good? A selfish woman whose ambitions had gotten her trapped yet
again and was now dragging someone else into a future I would have fled?
Some hero I turned out to be.
It’s for the best , I tried to tell myself.
The world was not a fair place, and Dunya al-Hilli’s lot in life could be far worse.
It would be far worse if she had her way, at least when it came to the supernatural; I had watched the shame in her eyes turn into determination when she spoke of it being her duty to thwart Falco.
There were almost certainly more harebrained schemes brewing in her head.
“I have made my decision,” I declared, ignoring Majed’s accusation. “I’m not going to let some youth run off with naught but
the clothes on their back, delusions of grandeur, and the enmity of a Frankish sorcerer.”
“You were her age when you stole the Marawati ,” Tinbu reminded me. “Majed was not much older when he left his cartography apprenticeship, I was even younger when I was sold into slavery, and Dalila spent her entire childhood in the Banu Sasan.”
“None of us are examples of good decision-making!”
“Is this because of the money?” Majed demanded again, clearly spotting my evasion and deciding to twist the knife. “Tell me
you’re not turning a girl over to an unwanted groom because of money.”
“I’m returning a teenager to her family because I don’t have a choice!” I snapped. “Salima is not threatening your children, and none of you saw the things I did
back in Socotra. None of you saw what happened to Asif when we left him to burn. That kid is fatherless because of me and—”
“ For the thousandth time , Amina!” Tinbu exclaimed. “What happened to Asif was not your fault!”
“Yes, it was!”
Tinbu jerked back in surprise. “What?” His eyes searched my face, and whatever he saw there must have made it clear I was
holding back. “Why-why do you say it like that?”
Maybe I should have lied, should have continued to guard the secret I had held for so long. But I was tired. If I was going
to lose their friendship when I dragged Dunya kicking and screaming over Salima’s threshold, if Majed was ready to believe
I would do such a thing for money alone, what was one more fault in their eyes?
“I knew , all right?” I pressed my palms against my brow, running my fingers down my face. “I knew what Raksh was when I brought him on the Marawati .”
There was a long moment of silence.
Too long. My heart skipping, I forced myself to look at my companions. The vile truth of my deception was there , finally laid bare, and yet...
None of them were reacting?
Were they too shocked to speak? Tinbu was staring at me with very wide, rather panicked eyes. Majed appeared to be swallowing
multiple responses, his throat bobbing up and down. Dalila... well, her expression was slightly more inscrutable than usual.
“I-I understand if this means you would no longer like to crew with me,” I added awkwardly, their reticence agonizing. “Trust
that I will see you properly paid out in Aden and compensate your passage home. But my decision regarding Dunya is final.”
I stepped back, meaning to return to my captain’s bench.
A strangled voice stopped me.
“ No ,” Tinbu choked out. “It was me. I am the reason Raksh got to Asif.”
I spun around and stared at Tinbu in bewilderment. “ What? ”
Tinbu hung his head. “Back in the Maldives... I met Raksh during a card game. I don’t normally gamble so much, but it was
like I had lost all my wits. I got in over my head with another player. His friends were threatening to take the money out
of my hide and—”
“Why did you not come to us?” Dalila demanded. “I would have killed them for you!”
“ Or paid off your debt,” Majed offered, with an exasperated glance at Dalila.
“I was embarrassed,” Tinbu confessed. “And confused . I remember feeling so addled, like I’d been drinking, though I hadn’t touched a drop that night—I don’t go near Maldivian palm wine; it’ll knock out an elephant.
But then Raksh offered to pay the men. He said it was no trouble; that in return, I could refer him to the lady sea captain he’d been hearing so much about.
We needed another sailor, and I didn’t see the harm in telling him where to find you.
Honestly... he seemed your type and I thought you might appreciate the distraction after Salih.
I’m so sorry. I should have informed you.
But then he turned out to be a decent sailor—”
“No.” It was Majed, sounding haunted. “Raksh was a terrible sailor. If he seemed adequate, it was because I was covering for
him. I... we made a deal too.”
“ You? ” I repeated in astonishment. “What could Raksh possibly have to offer you?”
Majed’s face fell. “He said he had a cousin in Calicut who was looking to charter a ship for a scientific exploration beyond
Malacca. It sounded so exciting; I planned to surprise you all when we landed the contract. But then...”
“But then Asif.” I faced Dalila. “What about you?”
She bristled. “What about me?”
“Admit it,” Tinbu prodded. “I can see the truth in your expression. You made a deal with him too. What was it, Mistress of
Poisons? A concoction to melt flesh? The pickled heads of the rogues who ran you out of Basrah?”
Dalila drew up, dignity clasped close. “We were in discussions . Nothing more.”
“He tricked us all,” I whispered, the realization stunning me. “Oh, God, you are all so stupid. We were all so stupid together.” I felt both terribly relieved and completely embarrassed, like I wanted to hug and smack each of my friends. “But
wait... did any of you have to sign a contract?” My face went slightly hot. “Or, er, do anything else with him?”
Tinbu and Majed adamantly shook their heads.
“Perhaps it was a lesser kind of pact,” Dalila suggested. “Did Raksh not say something about being bound to you?”
“He did.” But Raksh had also sworn in all feigned innocence the morn ing after we consummated our marriage that he had no interest in my companions. Relief and embarrassment gave way to a new desire scorching through me:
Murder.
“That lying motherfucker...” I gripped the hilt of my dagger. “Dalila, do you have any more of that black powder?”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to blow his demon ass off my ship!” I spun sharply on my heel, heading in the direction I had last seen
Raksh being useless and challenging the ship’s carpenter to a poetry competition.
“Amina, wait!”
I was already stomping away. But the Marawati was not large, and I quickly spotted Raksh. He wasn’t devising lyrical odes to his beauty nor reclining in a bed of ropes
while he convinced others to fetch him refreshments. Instead, I spied him standing alone at the Marawati ’s bow. Payasam was cradled in his arms, the oblivious cat clueless to the many jokes Raksh made about eating it.
However, Raksh didn’t look like he was about to crack a joke. Every line of his body was tense. And the expression on his
face... I’d seen my husband hungry; I’d seen him angry. Worried.
But not even when he was about to be buried alive had I seen the expression of terror in his face as he gazed at the southern
horizon.
“Nakhudha!” Firoz cried out from the crow’s nest, pointing in the direction Raksh was staring. “There is something in the
water!”