Mortance: A Miscarriage of Hope

Jade Ⅶ

The northern isles were colder than I thought possible. It's hardly winter anymore, how can it be this cold? Even in the thick furs Captain Patch had begrudgingly bartered for us at our last stop, I was shivering. It's warm under the ocean, I thought. I'd much rather be there. But Queen Jade the Just had something more important to do than hide.

Mutiny, I remembered. That was the plan. Rationally, I knew it wasn't necessary, and that I would get to Seasport either way, but some things couldn't be left alone. It's a necessary risk, I knew. Queen Jade's conquest will not begin under the sails of an abusive pirate. My tale of glory starts with my claiming of this ship.

So I'd spent the past few days at sea trying to befriend the crew. They had to know that I would be a better option than Captain Patch. Hating him is one thing, loving me is another altogether. But they would learn. Any good leader had to be able to obtain allies, and I was going to be a good leader. Queen Jade the Just, I smiled at the name. Someday...

That day would come, but first I had to earn it. A cold, frozen wind blew us north and bit through my furs. I pulled them tighter around me and made my way to the bow of the Blind Beauty. Christopher James stood there, looking out at the treacherous, half-frozen waters ahead of us.

"It's so cold," I stood next to him.

"Aye," he agreed. "Tha's not what'll kill us first, though."

"I know," I nodded. He had told the entire crew about the rocky shores and sudden reefs we might run into in these waters. We'll sink before we freeze. I shivered in my furs. "That doesn't make it any warmer."

"True," Chris agreed. "It's warmer belowdecks."

"Aye," I shrugged. "I could go for some sword practice right now."

"Can't. Cap'n wants me on watch 's much as I can be," he looked at me, then glanced around to make sure we were alone. "Ye should ask Haeli."

"I... I could," I agreed. Dael had said that she might be on board with a mutiny, but Chris and I were still putting off asking her about it. She's too close to Captain Patch, I thought. If we told her and she wasn't with us, everything would be lost.

"Gotta ask 'er sometime 'f we really wanna do this," Chris said.

"Right," I nodded.

"We need 'er."

I sighed. My breath came out as fog. "I know." Hair blew across my face, but I brushed it away.

"We're close," Chris said. "Once she's with us..."

I know, I thought. We need her or the mutiny fails, but almost everything else is in place. Captain Ethan Patch was going to yield control of his ship to Queen Jade the Just or die in the act. Of that, I was certain. His swordswoman had to come over to me for that to happen, though. And the burden of that task falls on me, I thought. There will be songs sung of Queen Jade the Just and the mutiny that begins her conquest.

"I'll go talk to her," I decided after a moment of silence.

"Ye should."

"Yeah... I know."

It was hardly any warmer belowdecks, but at least there wasn't wind. Half the crew was huddled together around bunks, probably wishing they were allowed a fire. Anyone who tried to burn anything would be dead before the fire even caught. Captain Patch had made that fact known to us all. Now I was here to find the woman who would execute that order if it came to it.

I wandered deeper into the Blind Beauty in search of the Lost Swordswoman. It was not a small ship. Cold as it was, though, I felt a strange warmth as I passed down to the part of the ship that was below the ocean. The cold air tasted like salt, like home. I inhaled it deeply and let myself absorb the feeling before continuing my search.