A Trip To Tuanaki

Chapter 9

All of a sudden, Alice regrets coming to this remote island. The only things she's found here are questions and disappointment. "But..."

"Helene was the best girl there, too. She was the only one without a stick up her ass. All the rest were just there to find a husband, and learn to draw well enough their peers couldn't make fun of them for it. Helene was there to get a skill she could market — and I've heard she's done quite a few respectable portraits since then, so it wasn't a complete waste of an education. Hell, she was the only woman to graduate with a complete degree, not just a certificate, and our whole class just loved her so..."

Fahrn grins to himself, clearly remembering some memory of his school days. It doesn't interrupt him for long, though.

"She could've had any man in that class — all of us wanted her. Luckily for me, she had a bit of a thing for elves. Which I see is another thing she's passed on to you."

Alice feels her face heat up. Before she can come up with a denial that will actually sound as convincing as it is true, Mal speaks up.

"I'm just her bodyguard," he says.

"Oh? And what do you need guarding against, Miss Alice?"

He puts the same odd trill on the second syllable of her name that Piers' elven servants always did. It brings back memories she'd much rather forget, but there's no helping that. It just lets Mal answer for her again — something she finds she doesn't mind as much as she'd expect.

"Blacksails, primarily," Mal says. Unfortunately, it's the one answer that gets Fahrn to turn on Alice suddenly, a hard look in his eye.

"What did you steal from them?" he demands.

"I didn't steal nothing!" she protests. "I ain't that stupid! It wasn't me, anyway. It was Mal's cargo."

"Hey!" Mal protests. "I'm never going to get any shipments if I start opening them all up when I've been told not to!"

"What was the cargo?" Fahrn asks, dark and intent.

"These strange — syringes. With some kind of golden liquid inside..."

"Flehtkuv deredu en yis nihrs ilets," he mutters. "Did they follow you here?"

"No," Mal says confidently.

"Are you sure? If they didn't follow you, could they have tracked you?"

"Calm down, will you?" Mal asks. "I think I know how to get out of sight of a few blacksails."

Fahrn curses loudly. "This isn't just about getting out of sight, boy," he says. "This is about making sure that certain people don't find out about things that they're not supposed to know exist. The cargo, where is it now?"

"On the ship," Mal says slowly. "Guarded by my crew."

"A large crew, I hope," Fahrn says.

"Sizable enough."

"Good. We'll need all the hands we can get. Now, for my daughter..." He turns around, roughly facing the barn and the outlying sheds, cups his hands over his mouth, and shouts, "RHAI! WE'RE GOING TO VISIT GRASAMI!"

There's no response but he doesn't seem to expect one. He's speaking to Alice and Mal again before he's finished turning back to them.

"She'll only be a minute. If you excuse me, I'll fetch some maps, and we can discuss an island on which I'd like to meet you."

"An — island?" Alice asks, confused. She's still trying to catch up to the bit where, apparently, the blacksails are bearing down on them at this very moment. "What's the rush? We just got here."