Chapter 8
WHY DO YOU CARE
ODELIA
An hour later, I return to the deck, my stomach warm and overfull of leafy greens Otto picked up while they were docked.
He’d invited me to hang around, but sheltering in the galley doesn’t tempt me.
There’s only one exit, and it requires moving through the entire sleeping quarters, where anyone might decide I don’t belong.
The deck reflects light from the clear sky above and I squint until the bodies by the railing take distinguishable shape.
It takes one long look from the crew to realise I’m not sure where I intend to go.
Tavi’s voice rings from the perch midway up the foremast, directing bodies below.
Rune walks up the port side, with a man I recognize from this morning—broad, tattoo-free arms, brown hair, fair, red-tinted skin.
Pretty sure he’s one that wasn’t happy with Rune’s decision to follow the map.
I fall in step behind them, instinctively ensuring the sound of my steps is masked by theirs. I want to take another look at the map, decide how many we’ll take on the island, which requires, unfortunately, talking to Rune.
“Would the king support your change in focus?” The other man’s voice lifts in challenge.
Rune is cordial, but tense. He keeps his head forwards, his thumbs tucked in the pockets of his trousers. “I have reason to believe the king would be as interested in the map as I am.”
The man scoffs. “And he’d trust her?”
I hop forwards an extra step and put myself directly between them. “I suppose he wouldn't have a choice, would he, Rune?”
The man spins, his brow furrowing so hard it’s a wonder he doesn’t pull a muscle. “That’s ‘Captain,’ to you, pond scum.”
Angry heat blooms up my neck but Rune loops his thumb and middle finger around my wrist, tugging just enough to remind me to stay my hand. The touch is there and then gone, and when he speaks, it's as if he’s discussing the latest wind change.
“Reid, this is Odelia. She’s new, she’s feisty, I expect the two of you will get along swimmingly. Odelia, this is Reid. He thinks I should toss you overboard while I’ve still got breath in my lungs. Now that we all know the correct way to address each other, might we please move on?”
Unamused, Reid spits into the ocean across the railing. “Nah.” He scrunches his shoulders and shakes his head. “Talk later, Captain.”
We both watch him walk away, and when Rune finally looks at me I swear there’s amusement in his eyes. “Any complaints you’d like to bring forwards, Odelia?”
Other than the dirty looks I can’t say I don’t deserve? “The captain snores. Loud.” Rune snorts but looks away, like he’s trying to hide it. I can’t help the way my lips twitch. “And apparently he thinks I’m out to murder the cook.”
He sobers—but only slightly—and begins to walk again. The ocean is calm, blue stretching out as far as the eye can see, smudged by shadows on the horizon. “The cook’s heart is too big. He gives too freely.”
I fall in step beside him, my hands restless with no weapons to steady them on. “Then why is he on your crew?” Bear’s smile flashes in my mind. “It could get him killed one day. I know you like to think the only pirates that will ever make it on this ship will be in chains, but—”
“He’s earned the right to choose.” Rune’s voice is soft, but unyielding. “Why do you care?”
I know he’ll take my hesitation as a victory, but I don’t have an answer. This crew is a means to an end. A temporary solution. And not all of them will survive it. “I don’t.”
We come back around and approach the foremast, and he pulls his hair up into a tie, bunching it in a messy knot over his head.
“Well for the record, I don’t think you’ll murder him.
You’re too self-serving. But if you ever hurt him I really will toss you overboard.
” Then he flashes me a grin and leaps up the first few steps of the mast’s ladder, his shirt lifting to show coiled muscles and the dip of his spine. “Tavi!” he yells.
“Aye!” Tavi calls from above.
I watch him climb until the sun forces me to look away. He’s only gone for a moment before Tavi slips down with lethal grace, and he drops down beside her, his boots thudding on the solid wood. “Map meeting,” he says, tossing his chin towards his room. “Tavi, grab Elio and meet us, yeah?”
“Sir.” Tavi nods, not sparing me a glance.
We move to the navigation room attached to Rune’s quarters.
It’s small, little more than a wide table with a few bolted chairs.
Maps of the islands and the mainland’s coast hang on each wall.
Tavi fiddles with a small chest in one corner and rises with the treasure map while Rune tosses his massive body into a chair and Elio takes the seat to one side.
“Alright. We’re headed for the closest island that’s marked. But Tavi and Elio raised some valid points.”
Tavi joins them, and they spread the map over the table.
I cross my arms and lean against the curved wall, trying to act like seeing it doesn’t put a lump in my throat.
I’d like to believe that without it I could carve a new life.
But my skills don’t lend themselves to honest work.
And the more entrenched I end up in society, the more likely it is that someone will learn who I am.
My only real hope lay in getting this money and finding somewhere remote, alone.
Trees, grasslands. No questions. No chance of the past sneaking up and pressing a blade to my throat.
“Mainly—” Elio says, running a broad, tanned hand over his chin, “why bother with the riddles at all? The other islands are dangerous. The map marks the treasure right off. Why not go and see if we can break whatever lock the key is for? Worse, what if someone has already beat us to it?”
“No one’s beat us there. The island is largely untouched; it doesn’t appear on any other map I’ve seen. When we went—”
Rune cuts me off, his eyes darkening with suspicion. “You’ve gone there before?”
I shrug. “Following the same logic Elio is, yes. My—captain, Captain Ivor figured it wasn’t worth doing all the steps.
Why risk it, when we can dig for days or blow holes across the island?
Tide knows we had enough sluggar bolts for it.
” My father had no interest in the riddles, not when there was no guaranteed reward at the end.
The thought of him has trepidation snaking up my legs and into my stomach.
I swallow it down. Love is a cruel, sharp thing, and his grief at finding me gone would have been all rage, whether he’d found the map was missing or not.
They exchange looks. “And if you didn’t find it,” Tavi asks, “how do you know it’s there? Why gamble on this map”
I shrug. “Because I found the room. All I needed was the keys.”
“The room,” she repeats, as if she hasn’t heard correctly.
“Yes,” I say in a rush, annoyed it even needs to be said, “there’s a room under the island with a wall of solid stone and a spot for a key.”
Elio’s brows are pushed together, drawing out the light crow’s feet that bookend his eyes. “And the bolts didn’t work against the door?”
I sigh. “I didn’t tell anyone I found it. Plus, lighting loose sluggar bolts underground would be a death wish, would it not?”
They don’t say anything for a while, their eyes dropping to the map in turn.
Rune’s eyes flick to me. “There’s four other key symbols. I assume that’s how many riddles you have?”
I nod.
“And you’re sure you remember them correctly?” Tavi asks, ever the optimist.
“Yes.” I’ve grown tired of explaining myself, but Rune isn’t done. His attention drops from my eyes and lingers over my neck, but his expression stays unreadable.
“It’s about time you gave us the first, then.
” He stands and sources an ink and quill from a trunk in the corner.
He places them at the open space of the table, but I shake my head as subtly as I can.
Writing wasn’t part of my education, though I can read.
Somewhat. He watches me again, like he’s cataloguing the information, then pulls the parchment back to him while he sits. “Let’s hear it.”
We still have two days until we make it to the island, but telling them early shouldn’t interfere with anything. I nod and take a quick breath before speaking.
Twin serpent’s teeth, one gaping maw,
Deadly to sleep, silence a flaw
To step is to leap,
One breath to keep
The beasts are the least when nature is law.
Rune’s quill scratches for a little longer after I finish. Tavi and Elio peer at the words.
“That is eerie as fuck,” Rune says, sitting back, his lips pressed in a thin line.
“You knew it wouldn’t be especially safe.” Elio’s admonishment is light, but unmistakable, and its tension coils through me. Captain Ivor may have demanded his tongue for the slight.
But Rune smiles. Not a smirk or a grin—it’s almost sad. “Yeah,” he says.
Tavi presses a slender finger to the map. “We’ll be approaching from the west, but I’ll circle around to find a sheltered spot we can anchor and row in. We won’t be able to take everyone.”
“I never intended to.”
“Rune.” Again, Elio admonishes him.
Rune’s voice hardens. “We’ll take volunteers. I won’t put anyone in danger who isn’t willing.”
Elio shakes his head. “Everyone on this ship—”
Knock, knock, knock.
The man sighs and heaves himself out of the chair before Rune can stand. Natural light pours into the space as he opens the door and a brightly coloured square of parchment is thrust into the room as an offering.
“Believe this one’s for you,” Elio says, letting the door close behind him.
Rune glances at the parchment, his face carefully neutral, before his attention flicks to me again. “You’ll have to excuse us. We won’t be long.” Then, abruptly, he rolls the map and gestures for Tavi and Elio to lead the way out the door.
“Hey!” I say, pushing off the wall to follow.