When the call was cut, Scrimshaw collapsed against the cabin wall behind xin, breathing heavily.
“Well?” she prompted.
“They were too preoccupied to be suspicious,” xe said, pausing frequently to catch xist breath between words. “Something has happened at the docks.”
At the docks. Talis felt a tightness grip her chest. “What happened?”
Scrimshaw opened and closed xist mouth and blinked slowly, xist eyelids drooping again. Xe shifted xist hips to sit up straight, which quieted the rasping that had been coming with each breath.
“The local authorities have arrested five members of the Yu’Nyun crew.” Xe dropped xist head slightly. “As well as your first mate, the Bone man.”
“Rot you, Dug!” She leaned her head back. “What were the arrest charges?”
Of course, Dug’s existence alone was enough to get him arrested. Which was why he was supposed to stay onboard Wind Sabre while she was gone.
“The Yu’Nyun were charged with inciting a riot. Your man appears to have a more complicated situation.”
She spared that a wry, frustrated laugh. Complicated was a good enough explanation for the Yu’Nyun. “So now what? Have they sealed up the ship and ruined our chances at getting the ring back?”
“No,” Scrimshaw said. Xe placed the tablet on the seat beside xin, and let xist arms hang limp at xist sides. “They are sending a diplomatic party into the city with the expectation that they can negotiate payment of fines in exchange for the release of their officers.”
“Bribe their way out, you mean.” Talis frowned. If the Bone were edgy, money wouldn’t be enough. The diplomats would likely end up arrested, too.
Scrimshaw closed xist eyes, either resting or nearly passed out from the pain and blood loss.
She leaned forward, reached out and prodded xist knee to rouse xin.
“So how much of the crew does that leave on your ship?”
Chapter 27
“Captain!” Sophie’s strained whisper came from outside the litter.
Talis exhaled in relief. Scrimshaw said xe’d told xist people to expect her to come back alone, as they’d planned. Still, she’d spent the ride up to her armpits in alien blood and was not entirely certain how she would cross the last distance on the docks without someone noticing the dark drying blue against the ruin of her pale blouse.
But Sophie, having no idea Talis knew about Dug, rushed to the side of the litter as soon as it came to a stop.
Talis put only her head and shoulders out from the curtain, carefully keeping it pulled closed. Sophie was alone, by some miracle. Talis had been half-frightened that the mob on the docks would still be there.
“They’ve taken Dug,” Sophie exclaimed before Talis could say a word. “Captain, he was only trying to help. The aliens were talking to the crowd—I think they said something about Onaya Bone that someone didn't like, or something—and it set off a real mess. Dug thought he could clear it up, but as soon as he stepped off the ramp, they arrested him.”
“I know, Soph. I heard.”
“Oh,” was all Sophie said. Her eyes darted to the curtain pulled tight around Talis. “Something else going on, Captain?”
Talis pressed her mouth tight. The docks might be clear, but every grain of sand on Fall Island had ears. “There’s been a complication. Have the litter pull up to block the line-of-sight between our gangway and the alien ship.”
Sophie’s expression screwed into a strange mix of confusion and frustration. “What about Dug?”
“Can’t deal with that ’til you do as I say. Go.”
But Sophie didn’t move. She stared at her captain, one eyebrow up and mouth set in a firm line. Talis sighed and opened the curtain wide enough for Sophie to see past her into the litter. To see the three bloody, twisted alien bodies, and Scrimshaw unconscious on the bench.
She gasped. Talis shushed her.
“You were attacked?” she asked in a hushed, horrified pantomime of a whisper.
“Keep your voice low. I’m fine. Illiya’s people did this, and Onaya Bone commanded it.”
Scrimshaw stirred inside the litter, a soft rustle of the fabric they’d bound around xist wound. Sophie’s eyes narrowed on xin.
“Just go,” said Talis, before the flood of questions could start. “I’ll explain, but we gotta move quickly.”
Sophie looked at her, then nodded. She got the litter to pull up, around the bend of Wind Sabre’s hull and under her belly, out of view of the Yu’Nyun vessel.
As carefully as she could, Talis handed Scrimshaw down into Sophie’s arms. Sophie’s lip twitched, and she seemed to shrink from the touch of xist slack limbs, for the first time showing antipathy toward the alien. Talis frowned. If xe hadn’t steered them wrong, Scrimshaw wasn’t their enemy. But by The Five, Nexus, and whatever hells could spare room, Sophie would need that aversion with what was to come.
Talis dropped down and took up half of Scrimshaw’s weight as they climbed back into the hull of their ship.
The litter moved away, no indication of the grisly contents that Talis had left behind. The priestesses had arranged the litter bearers for her return trip. They would hide the cab for a time, Illiya told her, to allow some measure of surprise. But in less than a day, the alien bodies were going to be displayed on pikes in the center of Talonpoint’s market.
In less than a day, the Bone were going to war.
“Come on, Scrimshaw, we need you.”
Talis patted the side of xist face gently. They’d laid xin out on the surgery table in the med bay. Tried to stanch the bleeding in xist torso, but in the end had to spare the time to stitch xin up. Tisker had done it.
Since they’d come back on board, Tisker’s face had been a mask. He asked no questions. Waited for explanation. Used his skills to patch up the alien who
