Anne Dray's Arc

Chapter 19 of 28

The chain work stalled at midday. Emily Deepwood came up the dock wiping tar from her hands. "A ship at the cut," she said. "Two masts. Old raider. Just sitting there." Anne knew the shape before she reached the water. She had recognized this captain a week ago, the one man who never answered her banner and never refused it. His silence had gnawed at her since. Now he had come to the harbor mouth, close enough to see her fleet, her half-built base, her captains. If he wanted, he could carry all of it to the Crown, or turn her own crews against her with a word. Anne took a single boat out to meet him. She rowed alone. Behind her, Kate and the captains watched from the dock, waiting to see who this stranger was and why Anne feared him. The raider rode low and hard-used, her hull scarred, her sails gray with sea years. A skull carved in gold stared from the bow. Anne came alongside and looked up. The captain leaned on the rail, unhurried. He did not draw a weapon. He did not smile. "You crossed the Shelf," Anne said. "A month before me. You've been waiting." "I have," he said. "I wanted to see if you'd hold this place or run from it." He nodded toward the harbor. "You're building a chain across the mouth. Same trick the Crown used to burn the last crew here." "I turned it around," Anne said. "So what do you want?" He was quiet a moment. "The Crown took my brother in a boom like that," he said. "I sailed off every banner because none of them meant anything. Then I heard a woman flew red and lost no ships." He looked at her banner on the far cabin. "I came to learn if it was true, or a story men tell in taverns." Anne held his eyes. "It's true. Every ship under it still floats. Come see the code my captains marked. Equal shares. No man's crew burned for another's mistake." The captain studied her for a long breath. Then he reached down and untied a strip of cloth from his rail. He let it drop into her boat. It was red. "I dyed it three nights ago," he said. "I only needed to hear you say it to my face." Anne rowed back with the red cloth in her lap. On the dock, Kate saw it and understood. The stranger's raider swung her bow and followed Anne in, past the half-strung chain, into the harbor. The last silent captain had answered. But he brought news with him. As his ship moored, he called across the water. "The Crown found the survivor from your reef. They know a navigator crossed the Shelf. They're paying well for anyone who's seen these waters." Anne's stomach tightened. The threat outside her banner was gone. The threat hunting for the way in had just grown teeth.