“Here we are,” said the captain, turning to face Anji and Kit. He scratched at his beard. “Few traders from Kardisa sold it to me. What with the Rain Plague and all, they won’t be back for some time. Like I said, not much in the way of a ship, but it’ll get you up to the next town north if you know how to tack.” He looked over his bulbous nose at Kit, who had now thrown the bag to the ground to continue rummaging through.

“We’ll manage just fine,” she said, the voice behind the mask weak and wavering. She held out a wad of Rhoda without looking up. “For your trouble, and for the sloop.”

The captain frowned. “I never said how much—”

Kit thrust the fold of notes forward. “Is this sufficient?”

Anji felt a tension in her shoulders, a pang of worry at the captain’s stricken face. They’d already dealt with enough today. If this turned into a fight, she wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to defend Kit against a man this size.

But the captain only pocketed the bills. “More than she’s worth,” he said, glancing toward the setting sun. “Wind’s blowing a strong south, but it’ll die down with the day. I’d advise against sailing in the dead of night if it’s just you two, but that’s your…” he trailed off, looking over Kit’s shoulder. His eyes had shifted past the Hawk, past the teeming wharf and equipment, to the steps leading toward the dock.

What little skin showed around his beard had gone white.

Anji followed the man’s gaze and sucked in a breath of salty air. The fleshy spots where her fingers had been twinged.

Metal clicking through bone.

Chapter 42

42

“Hawk!”

Heads turned along the quay as the Bear descended the steps. She pulled her longsword from its sheath.

“Hawk!”

The assorted dockworkers parted for that white mask, the single brown eye glaring through the destroyed mesh of its left eye socket.

“Get in the boat, Anji,” said Kit.

“Hawk!”

Anji pushed down a lurching wave of nausea as the woman strode down the quay, her long legs eating up the planks. The Bear’s bootheels clapped against the wooden boards with every step until she stopped ten paces away.

A seagull cried above their heads, circling over the creaking ships. The Bear’s shoulders rocked with each of her gasping breaths. She leveled her blade at Kit, its tip trembling.

The ship’s captain took a tentative step forward. “If you don’t mind,” he said in a quavering voice, “I’ve just sold this here sloop, and I mean to draw up a purchase document if you’d—”

“Off with you, old man,” the Bear said, her mask not twitching an inch. “Your business is finished.”