Fariz gave a humourless laugh. ‘Why do I feel I am making a deal with the devil?’ he asked, reaching down and taking hold of the witch’s travel sack. Hoisting it over his shoulder, he moved off in the direction of the gangplank leading up to the deck of his ship, calling back over his shoulder as he started to ascend. ‘We leave in thirty minutes.’

Almer was staring at Fleya with a look of admiration. ‘You would have made a great merchant,’ he said.

The witch reached out, a small silver coin appearing between her thumb and forefinger. She dropped the money into the man’s hand.

‘Thank you for your trouble. That should make up the shortfall in the money you hoped to make selling the ponies,’ she said gently.

‘How did you know I … ?’

But the witch was already moving away. With a gesture to her nephew, the pair moved off up the wooden walkway to board the ship.

Lann’s excitement at finally being aboard a ship quickly dissipated when he spent the first few hours of the crossing draped over the bulwarks being horribly sick. He did his best to ignore the taunts and gibes of the sailors, who seemed to find this hilarious. Some of them shouted out insults in foreign tongues, laughing among each other and making their own loud retching sounds to mimic his own. But as the day went on, little by little, the boy got his sea legs until eventually he was able to smile ruefully back at his tormentors.

The vessel was nothing like he’d expected it to be. It groaned and creaked as it made its way through the ocean’s dips and swells as if it were a living thing. And it wasn’t just the wooden body of the ship that sang along to the tune of the sea. The great sails hummed or boomed in the wind as they strained against the rigging, which screeched and sighed in response. As he was taking all this in, Lann spotted Fariz standing beside the mainmast.

‘You are feeling better?’ the man asked as he drew near.

‘Yes.’ He nodded his thanks. ‘Have you seen my aunt?’

‘The witch?’ Fariz shook his head and gestured towards a door that led down to the cabins at the rear of the ship. ‘She went below decks almost as soon as we set sail and has stayed there.’ He saw the concern on the boy’s face. ‘She is well. My guess is she is sleeping.’ He looked up at the sails and then at the waves, then shouted something to one of the crew, who scurried off to do as he was bid.

‘Have you always been a sailor, Captain Fariz?’