Scarlet and the White Wolf [02] - Mariner's Luck (12 page)

A suitable bedmate, perhaps, he thought sourly. But still, have I been any more honest than he has? I've hinted and looked, but did I ever say I cared for him?

Cursing himself, Scarlet drew on his coat and gloves.

Opening the abused door, he ducked out into the icy wind, 99

Mariner's Luck [Scarlet and the White Wolf Book 2]

by Kirby Crow

shielding his eyes while trying to discern which way Liall went. Cold sleet drove out of a black sky, making his eyes water. He saw no sign of Liall near the inner railing, and the deck bucked worse than any Byzantur ferry ever had. He ventured out to the companionway, holding on to the wooden rails and shivering, and worked his way down the narrow walk. As he reached the end of it, he dimly recognized Liall standing braced by the bulward watching the sea churn, and Liall was not alone. The young mariner with the pale hair stood very close to Liall. As Scarlet watched, the mariner took Liall's hand and bowed over it, pressing a kiss to Liall's skin.

The cold wind roared in Scarlet's ears and battered him.

He had seen the mariner watching Liall with desire before.

As Scarlet stood, locked in hesitation of whether to stay or flee, he saw Liall's hand come up and briefly cup the young mariner's cheek. The mariner's eyes looked past Liall's shoulder and locked with Scarlet's momentarily, and the mariner smiled in gloating triumph.

Liall, seeing that his companion's gaze was elsewhere, turned and saw Scarlet watching them. Scarlet whirled around and quickly fought his way through the wind back to the cabin, his heart thudding.

Rutting bastard! Let him bed the stinking mariner if that's all he's after! He slammed the poor cabin door hard enough to rattle the frame and stood there shaking and breathing hard. Once inside, he felt trapped and angry.

The door opened and Liall was there. "Scarlet," he said, as he closed the door firmly behind him. "I do not know what you think, but—"

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"It doesn't matter," he broke in, fighting to keep his voice steady. "Just don't say anything."

He turned his face to the wall for fear Liall could see how much he was affected, how much seeing Liall touch the mariner had wounded him. Whatever else, he did not want Liall to see him that way. Scarlet picked up his pack and sat with his back against the wall, pretending to mend a strong strap on the side that needed no mending, determined not to look at Liall.

After a long moment, Liall crossed the cabin toward him.

Liall's fingers touched Scarlet's hair lightly. "Scarlet," he said, a note of chastisement in his voice. "I do not deny that Oleksei sought my company in his bed, but if you think I would cast you aside thus without even a word, you are mistaken."

Oleksei, Scarlet seethed. The name was alien and beautiful, nothing at all like his. He kept mute, afraid to say anything at all, for fear of shaming himself or making an already tangled matter worse. Liall sighed and muttered in Sinha, and then the bunk creaked as he lay down again.

Scarlet stayed awake for perhaps an hour after he heard Liall's breathing even out into the rhythm of sleep. Eventually, the rolling of the ship soothed his mind and he slept, waking only when a swell tossed the ship and he thumped his head hard against the cabin wall. He opened his eyes to darkness and tried to stand, finding he could not. The movement of the ship robbed him of any proper sense of direction. For a moment, he could not recall where he was, and then strong 101

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hands caught hold of him and an arm went around his waist, lifting him to his feet.

Still dazed and disoriented, he held on. The cabin was cold as death, and Scarlet realized he had let the fire burn out.

Liall's voice was close to his ear. "I have you," Liall rumbled, his voice as steady as the ship was not. "Are you all right?"

"Just bumped m'head," Scarlet said blearily. He blinked a few times in the utter blackness to clear his vision, and the corners of the cabin took shape in the form of blurred, silvery lines. He could see the bunk now, and the shape of Liall's body next to him.

"Do not move. I will find the lantern."

"I can see," Scarlet said.

"In this?" Liall's voice registered surprise. "How?"

Scarlet held on to Liall as another swell tipped the cabin alarmingly. Blind himself, Liall urged him over to the bunk.

Scarlet lay down without protest, not even bothering to take off his boots. Liall settled into the bunk next to him and Scarlet huddled against the welcome warmth, wondering if Liall even felt the cold. He never seemed to, and certainly he never complained.

"Rough seas," Liall murmured. One strong arm curled around Scarlet's back, drawing him closer to Liall's chest.

Scarlet had a thought that Liall might be referring to more than the actual water. "Yes," he agreed quietly. He was glad Liall did not question him further about his sight. Most Hilurin have an innate ability to see well in dark, which accounts for much of their skill at navigating roads and rivers. It was just 102

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one more piece of evidence that pointed to how different he was from Liall, and how far apart their races were.

Liall placed his palm against Scarlet's face. "You're freezing," he commented, and tugged the heavy blanket up around them both.

"I fell asleep. The brazier burned out."

"We will light it again in the morning. This will do for now."

He rubbed Scarlet's arms through the blankets.

Their hands brushed, and Scarlet felt's Liall's fingers lacing with his. Liall's hands trembled a bit, and Scarlet realized suddenly that he was not the only one in this cabin who was worried and afraid. Liall carries his own set of fears, he thought, wondering. They may be different from mine, but not lesser.

He felt Liall press a quick, chaste kiss to his temple. "I am sorry for my behavior earlier. It will not happen again."

Scarlet wondered what he meant by that exactly. Wouldn't try to touch him again, or wouldn't get mad when he was refused?

"Go back to sleep," Liall whispered, lulling like the sea.

* * * *

The next day was brief and bright, windy but without the fierce gales that had harried the ship northward for a solid week. Wind still caught in the huge white sails and filled them, driving the ship ever northwards, but the dim sun, a small, fuzzy ball of yellow light veiled in white mist, gave the illusion of warmth. With his red pedlar's coat buttoned tight, Scarlet found a spot on the deck to soak in it. Liall had told 103

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him they would soon be entering the Great North Sea, and once they were there, the sun would vanish entirely and shroud them in blue twilight that would not fade, but endure for months. Although Scarlet could not imagine a world without a sun, the ever-shortening days seemed to bear out the truth of Liall's words.

Liall was restless, working with the mariners when they would allow and helping with various chores. When he joined Scarlet on the deck at last, his mood was bored and out of sorts.

"Byzans are sun lizards," Liall said as he stood beside Scarlet. "Enjoy it while you can, for soon the sun will be a memory to us."

"If you say so," Scarlet muttered. "I still don't see how the world goes on without a sun. How do you know when to sleep?"

"You get used to it." Liall held out his hand. "Come, you need exercise. You learned knives from your travels in the caravan, you said? I saw some of that in the alley at Volkovoi, but you must show me what you can really do."

"The man who taught me was a not a master," Scarlet said as Liall grasped his hand and hauled him to his feet. "Rannon was a good fighter, but I've never had any real training."

Liall nodded thoughtfully. "We will mend that lack in Rshan." He looked out over the sea. "Perhaps twenty days more and you will see the land of my birth. Rshan na Ostre, the Land of Night." He seemed depressed at the prospect.

Scarlet tugged his red woolen cap down around his ears as a gust of wind battered them. He was very aware of the 104

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mariners working nearby, many of whom had stopped to stare at him as he chatted with Liall.

Liall followed the direction of Scarlet's gaze and scowled at the staring crewmen. "There is a spot on the half deck that has been scraped clean of ice," he said. "We will practice there." He strode away, plainly expecting Scarlet to follow him at once.

Scarlet tagged after Liall uneasily, simply because there was nothing else to do and it seemed they would quarrel if he did not. An argument in front of the gawking crew did not appeal to him at the moment. Though Liall's high-handed attitude irritated him, he obeyed without complaint.

Liall borrowed four sparring long-knives—heavy but blunted—from Captain Qixa. The dour captain looked at Scarlet as if he doubted his ability to lift even one of the blades. Qixa exchanged several sentences with Liall in their incomprehensible language, ending with Qixa staring at Scarlet in surprise and disbelief.

Liall shot Scarlet a look. "He says you are too small, and I will cut you in half with this." Liall hefted the sparring knife and spun it a little in his hand. "I told him you saved my life in Volkovoi with a pair of Morturii knives."

"Does he believe you?"

Liall shrugged. "No."

They left the captain and moved to the half deck between the mast and the captain's cabin. The wind was still for the moment and a parade of clouds chased across the sky. Liall chose a spot and spun the blade in his hand again, testing 105

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their weight, before taking up a fighting stance. Scarlet stripped off his coat and laid it on the deck.

Liall began first, lunging in with his right to distract while holding the left blade in reserve, ready to slip past Scarlet's knives. Scarlet guarded warily, turning to protect his vulnerable left side. After a rough beginning, Rannon's fighting lessons came back to Scarlet, and he returned each of Liall's moves with fluid counterstrikes.

"You have talent!" Liall called out. He seemed pleased and was not at all winded.

"Not so poor as you expected?"

Liall attacked with his left knife, not as swift as Scarlet knew he could, and Scarlet battered him back. He liked watching Liall, who moved with startling grace for such a large man, and who was careful to test him without endangering either of them. Scarlet danced away from the edge of Liall's knife and they traded blows, circling each other, for several minutes.

At last, Liall called a halt, raising his hand. "Are you tired?"

Scarlet shook his head impatiently and feinted with his right-hand blade, causing Liall's mouth to twitch into a grim smile. They began again, swifter this time, Liall less worried about Scarlet's skill and more eager to push him to his limits, testing him. They sparred for more than an hour, until the breath heaved in Scarlet's lungs and the muscles of his right arm began to tremble.

He knew it was unwise to keep going, but he was unwilling to say he'd had enough. When a counterstrike came dangerously close to Scarlet's throat, he thought Liall would 106

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stop immediately, but Liall was lost in the pleasure of movement and did not see Scarlet's weariness. Liall pressed forward as Scarlet dropped his guard.

The sun was setting, and the reddish haze was reflected off the edge of Liall's knife into Scarlet's eyes. For one instant, the sight threw Scarlet back to a time before Lysia was burned, when a bandit Kasiri had held him pinned and helpless in the snow with the point of a dagger at his throat: a dagger that caught the red light and flashed it into his eyes.

Scarlet flinched and backed up too quickly. His boot heel caught a ridge in the deck and he tripped, his rump hit the deck, and the knife fell from his right hand and landed with a muted clang.

Liall froze. "Scarlet?"

Scarlet blinked to clear his vision of phantoms. "I'm sorry, my arm—"

Liall's face changed. "You are tired. I did not see it." He took a step forward and bent to pick up the fallen knife as Scarlet got to his feet.

Once on his feet, Scarlet looked away from Liall in embarrassment, ashamed of his weakness. Liall's brief good mood had evaporated.

"I frightened you," Liall said.

Scarlet nodded. He felt like he should apologize, but knew it would be unwelcome. He could only gaze at Liall's hard, set face in distress.

"Do not ... what is it you say? Don't vex yourself," Liall said. "It happens to the best of soldiers. You were only remembering. It is nothing."

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Scarlet realized Liall believed he was flashing back to the pirate battle. "I'm sorry."

"For what? You have done nothing. Shall we return these blades to the captain? The sun will be down soon, and all our warmth gone if we stand here."

Scarlet gathered up his coat and handed his blunted knives to Liall. "Will I improve, you think?"

"You will," Liall said with certainty.

"Can we spar again sometime?"

"I think not," Liall answered curtly, avoiding his eyes.

"Why?"

"Stop chattering," Liall ordered. "Come."

Liall lead them back to the captain's cabin in silence, and Scarlet snuck a look at the hard lines of Liall's profile. I've offended him somehow, he thought, but he could not recall a single thing he had done.

Qixa was not in his cabin. Liall pointed to the aft. "You will return to the cabin. I need to speak with Qixa on another matter."

Scarlet nodded. "All right."