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provisions.
Billerand is sorely missed.
Hawkwood rubbed his tired eyes as the flickering table lantern played over the pages of his log. On the
desk by the lantern Bardolin s imp squatted cross-legged and watched the scrawling quill with
fascination. The little creature was covered with ink; it seemed to love daubing itself with it.
On a chair by the door of the cabin his master slumped, asleep. The mage had an iron spike loosely
gripped in one hand and his head had fallen forward on to his chest. He was snoring softly.
They had taken Bardolin s advice to heart. None of them remained alone any more, especially at night.
If Hawkwood paused to listen, he could hear the creak and groan of the ship s timbers, the rush and hiss
of the sea as the carrack s bow went up and down, the voices of men on the deck above his head. And
from the other side of the thin bulkhead, dark moans and thumps from Murad s cabin. He was not alone
either. He had the girl in there with him, Griella.
It was late. Hawkwood felt he had neglected the log; he felt he should pad out the bald entries more fully,
leave something for posterity perhaps. The thought made him smile wryly. Perhaps some fisherman might
find it one day, grasped in his skeletal hand.
He looked again at the last sentence he had written, and his face fell.
Billerand is sorely missed.
Aye. He had not truly realized how much he had depended on the bald, mustachioed ex-soldier. He and
Julius Albak had been the two indomitable pillars aboard ship. Good shipmates, fine friends.
Now they were both gone, Julius at the hands of the Inceptines they had killed him, no matter that it
was a marine s arquebus which had stopped his heart and Billerand under the muzzle of a werewolf.
Hawkwood felt strangely alone. On him rested the entire responsibility for the expedition, especially if
the Grace of God had foundered, which he was beginning to believe had happened. He and he alone
could point the Osprey s beakhead in the right direction.
The knowledge weighed on him sorely. He had told Velasca that three weeks would see landfall, but that
had been a mere sop to the man s fear. Hawkwood had no idea how long they had to go before the
fabled Western Continent would loom up out of the horizon.
He heard the ship s bell struck twice. Two bells in the middle watch, an hour past midnight. He would
take a last sniff of air up on deck, check the trim of the sails and then retire to his bunk.
He placed a sea cloak over the gently snoring Bardolin and went to the door. The imp chirruped
wheedlingly at him and he turned.
What is it, little one?
With a bound, it launched itself off the desktop and landed on his shoulder. It nuzzled his ear, and he
laughed.
All right, then. You want some fresh air too?
He left, reasoning that Bardolin would be all right for a moment or two, and climbed up to the
quarterdeck. Mihal had the watch, a good, steady fellow who was also Hawkwood s countryman. Two
soldiers, ostensibly on guard duty, leaned at the break of the deck smoking pipes and spitting over the
ship s rail. Hawkwood scowled. Discipline had gone to the wall these past days.
Mihal stared at the imp momentarily and then recited:
Steady nor -west, sir. Course due west under everything she can bear.
Good. You might want to furl the courses in a glass or two. We don t want to run smack into the
Western Continent in the middle of the night.
Aye, sir.
Where s the rest of the watch?
On the forecastle, mostly. I ve two men on the tiller. She s steering easily enough.
Very good, Mihal.
Hawkwood leaned on the windward rail gazing out at the night sea. It was as dark as the ink on his desk.
The sky was almost clear, and great bands of speckled stars were arching from horizon to horizon. Most
he knew and had steered by for twenty years. They were old friends, the only familiar things on this
unending ocean.
The imp made a noise, and he looked down into the waist to see a black-robed figure disappearing into
the sterncastle. Ortelius, most likely. What would he want at this time of night?
Wake me if the wind shifts, he told Mihal, and made his way back down the companionway.
The imp was whimpering and shifting around on his shoulder, clearly upset. He shushed it and then,
stepping into the deeper dark of the sterncastle, he knew something was wrong.
A golden bar of lantern light was coming from the door to his cabin but he had closed it after him.
He drew his dirk and pushed through the door quickly. Bardolin was still asleep in his chair but the sea
cloak had fallen to the floor. The imp hopped from Hawkwood s shoulder to his master s, still chittering
urgently.
The door was pushed shut behind Hawkwood.
He spun round and his mouth dropped with shock.
Mateo!
Well met, Captain, the figure said with a ghastly smile.
The ship s boy was filthy and bloody, his hair crawling with lice and his nails long and black. His eyes had
a light in them that made the hair on the back of Hawkwood s neck stand up like wire.
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