'Sir,' agreed Sorcor. Then he hung his head as if studying the sand between his big boots. 'Sir, I'm taking Alyssum.'
'If you must,' Kennit replied in some annoyance. When the big man lifted his head, there were glints of anger deep in his eyes. 'And of course you must,' Kennit amended hastily, shaking his own head sadly. 'For what is left for the poor girl here? You're the only protector she has now, Sorcor. I see it as your duty. You must.'
Sorcor was nodding gravely. 'Just as I saw it myself, sir.'
Kennit looked with distaste at the trampled muck he must pass through on his way back to the boat. He must manage it so that it looked no more difficult for him than for anyone else. He took a firmer grip on his mud- slicked crutch. 'Let's go, then. There's nothing left for us here.'
He cast a wary eye at the folk that still huddled in clusters, staring at them. None looked prone to attack, but one never knew. As he glanced at them, one stepped out boldly to stand before the rest. 'You're leaving us here, like this?' He was incredulous.
'How else would I leave you?' Kennit demanded.
Again, Wintrow surprised him. 'You've made it very apparent he's not welcome here. Why should he waste his time on you?' The boy sounded sincerely disdainful.
'It wasn't us that jumped him!' the man cried out, affronted. 'It was them other troublemakers, and they're all dead now. Why should we be punished for what they done?'
'It also wasn't you that jumped in to save him,' Wintrow snapped back. 'That shows you have learned nothing. Nothing! You still believe that the evil that befalls another is nothing to you. Let another man be taken slave, let another town be raided, let someone else be slaughtered on the beach right in front of you. It won't matter to you until it's your own throat being slit, and we haven't time to wait for that. Other towns are glad to listen to what he says, glad to profit from his leadership. Divvytown is dead. It was never on a chart, and it never will be. Because the people in it were already dead.'
The boy's voice had a power to it. The very people he was reviling drew closer, moving as if drawn in like fish on lines. Some scowled, some looked shamed. Some still wore the dazed look of people whose bodies have survived some widespread disaster while their minds fled. They came toward the boy. Even stranger, the men of the crew parted, to let Wintrow stand before his audience unblocked. When the boy fell silent, the quiet that followed his words echoed his accusation.
'Other towns?' someone finally asked from the crowd.
'Other towns,' Wintrow confirmed. 'Towns like Askew. They took the ship that Kennit gave them and put it to use. With the wealth that came in, they bettered the lot of all. They no longer hide, but venture out and declare to the world that they are there and they are free. They trade openly, and they challenge slaveships that seek to pass. Unlike you, they took Kennit's words to heart. They fortify their harbor and live free.'
'That won't work for us,' a woman objected. 'We can't stay here! The raiders know where our town is. They'll be back. You must take us with you. You must! Our only hope is to flee. What else are we to do?'
'What else?' Wintrow mused. He stood up on his tiptoes. He looked about the squalid harbor as if mentally comparing it to something. 'There!' He pointed to a low bluff. 'That is the spot where you could start. You rebuild, but you begin with a tower there. It need not be very tall to command a view of the lagoon. With a man keeping watch there… nay, even a child on watch there could have warned you all in time to flee or fight. You would have survived the last raid.'
'You're suggesting we rebuild Divvytown?' a man asked skeptically. His hand described an arc to indicate the remnants of the buildings. 'With what?'
'Oh, I see. You have better prospects elsewhere?' Wintrow asked him dryly.
When the man made no reply, he went on. 'Rebuild it with what you do have. Some of the lumber is salvageable. Cut trees now and put them to dry for more lumber later. Raise the ships in the harbor. If they will not sail again, put their planks to use elsewhere.' Wintrow shook his head as if he could not fathom their stupidity. 'Must it all be laid out for you? Make your stand here. Was this not your home? Why are you allowing them to drive you from it? Rebuild, but this time, do it right, with forethought for defense, for trade, for clean water. The docks should never have been built here! They should run out from there. You gave the best ground to the warehouses. Put your homes and businesses there, and build the warehouses on pilings over there, where a ship can come right up to the door. It was all in Kennit's plans; he saw it clearly. I cannot believe that you did not ever see it for yourselves.'
Few things appeal so much to the heart of a man as a fresh start. Kennit watched them look about with new eyes and then exchange glances. Almost as quickly, he saw a sly look steal over several faces. There was opportunity here, a chance to better what they had lost. Those who had been newcomers or poor were suddenly on an equal footing with everyone else. He would wager that whoever had owned the ships had been dragged off in chains. Someone would be smart enough to claim what was left.
Wintrow raised his voice like a prophet proclaiming. 'Kennit is a good man, who has always cared for you, even when you spurned his offers of help. You have never been far from his heart. I doubted his motives at first. I feared him. But I can tell you this now. I have seen into his heart, and I believe now what he believes. Sa has put a destiny upon him. Kennit will be King of the Pirate Isles. Will you be one of his cities, or will you vanish?'
Kennit's ears rang. He could not believe for an instant what he was hearing. Then his heart seized it. The boy was his prophet. Sa had sent him Wintrow, a priest of his own, to open the eyes of others to his destiny. That was what he had felt, when he had first set eyes on the lad. The connection of king to soothsayer had linked them. It was not, as the charm had accused, some brutish urge to repeat the past. Wintrow was his prophet. His luck embodied.
Even stranger events followed as the miracle unfolded. A man stepped forward, declaring, 'I'm going to stay here. I'm going to rebuild. When I got away from my master in Jamaillia City and fled here, I thought I was a free man. But now I see I wasn't. The boy's right. I won't be free until I stop running and hiding.'
One of the freed slaves came to stand beside him. 'I'm here. I have nowhere else, nothing to my name. I start again here.' One of his fellows came mutely to join him. Slowly the whole crowd edged closer.
Kennit set a muddy hand on Wintrow's shoulder. The boy turned his head to look up at him and the admiration in his eyes near blinded the pirate. For an instant, he truly felt something, a pang of some emotion so sharp he could not tell if it was pain or love. His throat closed. When he did speak, his words came out softly and folk drew nearer still to hear him. He felt like a holy man. No. Like a wise and beloved king. He smiled down on his people. 'You have to do it together. It cannot be every man for himself. Begin with the tower, yes, but at its foot, raise a shelter that all can share until your homes are restored. Dig for your water instead of taking it from the slough.' He looked around at the faces of the folk listening to him. They came to him like lost, bedraggled children; they were finally ready to hear him. He could correct their lives for them. They would let him show them how they should live. His heart swelled with triumph. He turned to Etta at his side.
'Etta. Go back to Vivacia, to my stateroom. Bring the plans from my desk; they are labeled clearly. Do you know the ones I mean?'
'I can find them. I can read,' she pointed out gently. She touched his arm briefly, her smile warm, then turned to commandeer two men to row for her.
He called after her, 'Tell the crew to make all secure. We will be here for a time, helping Divvytown rebuild. The Marietta has sacks of wheat aboard. Have them start ferrying the wheat ashore. These people are hungry.'
A murmur ran through the crowd. A young woman stepped forward. 'Sir. You do not need to stand out here. My house is still standing, and I have a table. I can draw water for washing as well.' She made a self-effacing gesture. 'It is poor lodging, but I would be honored.'
He smiled at her, and then looked around at all his loyal subjects. 'That would be most welcome.'
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
The Calm
'MALTA, YOU HAVE USED TOO MUCH POWDER. YOU LOOK PALE AS A GHOST,' Keffria rebuked her.
