Read Online King's Shield by Sherwood Smith - Free Book Online Page B

around Nugget, hugging her tight. There weren’t any words that seemed right.
    Nugget sobbed, sniffed, then leaned against Pilvig. “They kept me alive, but they didn’t want me. Didn’t trust me. Called me Pirate Girl. Counted the spoons after I left a room, and wouldn’t let me go ashore because they said I wanted to signal pirates! All I wanted was to light a candle and sing the ‘Leahan Anaer.’ For you, and Inda, and Jeje, and the rest. Because I thought you were lost, going to Ghost Island and you’d sail forever as ghosts.”
    Pilvig gnawed the inside of her cheek. Ship-to-ship battle could be bad. Well, she’d seen it. But everyone was afraid of sailing into the deeps and never being found. The old lament “Leahan Anaer”—“the ship without sails”—was reserved for mates who’d sailed away never to return.
    Nugget gave a short sigh. “They said all I was good for was sheep tending.” She gulped. “If Inda was here, I’d go. I think he’d understand. But that Fox?”
    “Some—the ones who came on since we left the east—like him better than Inda,” Pilvig said. “They say he looks like a commander. They thought Inda was crazy. Because he would yell in his nightmares.”
    “He did? Why?”
    “Well, we don’t know. But we do know he got caught by the Venn and Fox rescued him. Jug was on one of the schooners when it happened.”
    Jug was their age, so he was to be believed.
    A quick rap outside the cabin, and Mutt stuck his face in. He looked taller and older than Nugget—seventeen or eighteen, almost grown up.
    “How’s that arm?” he asked, pointing to her empty sleeve tucked in her sash. She hated the thought of sewing the sleeve close to the stump; she wanted two sleeves, even if she couldn’t have two arms.
    “It’s all right. But I feel it in cold.”
    “Was it disgusting, when they took it off?”
    “Wasn’t awake.” Nugget made a face, and the others twitched, Mutt rubbing his shoulder. “Just as glad,” she added, and no one gainsaid her.
    “So, ye comin’ back aboard us?” he asked, his ruby glinting against his bony jaw.
    Oh, it was so good to hear Dock Talk again!
    But the joy was followed by another wave of anguish. Nugget sent a keep-silent look at Pilvig, who returned a I-don’t-blab chin lift, and Nugget sat up, wiping her nose on her sleeve. Nugget had had to get rid of her own ruby when she was among the lands-people, but they’d called her Pirate Girl anyway.
    She fingered her ear, wondering if the hole had grown shut; she’d tugged her curls down to hide her ears. “Can I get another ruby?” she asked, feeling her way.
    Mutt laughed. “Course! But right now, Fox is finally done with them harbor folk, and he sent me to fetch you. He wants to hear more about this pirate.”
    Nugget scrambled up. “Don’t know much, only that she comes from Khanerenth. Just like me. There’s rumor she was sister to the old king, before he got turfed.”
    Mutt whistled.
    “They took the island where I was staying. The fisher people got all of us young ones over here to the harbor last year, but they took a lot of other people hostage. They’d kill them one by one if they didn’t get what they wanted. The pirates stayed on the island a whole year—it was horrible—but they left as soon as a report came that the Land Bridge ice broke. The rumor was, there’s some Marlovan Jarl, Fera-Vayir, who was raising a big army to come down and attack them soon’s the snow cleared.”
    Mutt said, “What have they got?”
    “About sixteen schooners, a few capital ships. I never saw them.”
    “That it?” Mutt asked.
    Nugget nodded. “Fox’s going after the pirate?”
    Mutt grinned, his ruby sparking against his lean cheek. “He says we need the practice.” His smile faded. “Are you coming with us?”
    Pilvig scrambled over to sit next to her. Her black eyes were anxious under her broad, puckered brow.
    Nugget glanced down at her arm, then up, uncertain.
    “We’ve