The bunk was shaking. It did that whenever the ship was rocking in just the right direction and frequency. It wasn’t helping Meleng sleep.


    But no. She’d made her decision—probably not as informed a decision as would be ideal, but she’d made it, and he had agreed to her coming along. There was no changing that now. The betrayal might destroy her as much as what lay ahead if she came along. So that was it. Her course was set.


    Thinking of courses, the Lustrous Rose was due to sail out today. The crew had finished de-icing yesterday, helped by sunny, slightly warmer weather. At least, so he’d been told. He, Sinit?a, and Jorvan had spent the day below deck. The only remaining problem was that the local forces were still watching the ship. According to Gen and Ting, there were soldiers all along the pier, but with more concentrated near the gangplanks onto the Lustrous Rose. There was also a trebuchet pointed in the ship’s direction, albeit unloaded at this time. However, Gen remained confident they would be able to leave without incident. As long as they did nothing to draw attention and behaved like any other ship in the harbour.


    Ting shook their head. “You’ll just be in the way. Let us handle this.”


    The ship had only pulled a few yards away from the pier. Already, two heavy grapples were hooked over each rail, each attached to a thick rope soldiers on the pier had tied to the heavy posts. Two crew members were at each grapple, one trying to release the grapple itself while the other tried to saw through the rope. As he watched, a third grapple connected with the rail.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Meleng ran over to the new one first, since there was no crew already there—though a couple were approaching it when he got there. He waved at them. “It’s all right. I’ve got this. Stand back.”


    Wind was whipping up. It was blowing through Meleng’s hair and ruffling through his clothes. It was making it colder, but the sails were filling out and the Lustrous Rose’s speed was picking up.


    There was nothing Meleng could do about it. Not that he could think of, at any rate. It was too far away. He could strengthen the deck or hull, but not without knowing where it would hit. It would take far too long to strengthen everywhere.


    Meleng looked about, at the sailors continuing their duties, at Ting standing midship and watching over what the crew was doing, back to the pier where the soldiers had recovered and finished readying the trebuchet.