Chris Wooding - Retribution Falls

‘What’s the story, Cap’n?’ Jez asked. ‘Are we getting out of here?’

‘That’s right,’ he said. ‘There’s no reason to stay any more.’

‘I can think of lots,’ said Pinn. ‘Most of them come in pints or bottles, the rest have big wobbling tits. Come on, how about a little shore leave?’

‘I’m trying to save us all from the noose, Pinn,’ Frey replied. ‘Stay chaste for a day. Think of your sweetheart.’

‘Thinking of her just makes me want to bang a whore even worse,’ Pinn grinned, then held his hands up in submission. ‘Okay, okay. Yes, Cap’n. Back to the Ketty Jay like a good little pilot. But I still don’t get what’s going on.’

‘Alright, I’ll tell you,’ said Frey. ‘We knew that Duke Grephen was planning a coup against the Archduke. What he didn’t have was an army big enough to take on the Navy, or the money to pay for it. Orkmund’s providing the army, and now we know who’s providing the money.’

‘Do we?’ Jez asked. ‘Who?’

‘The Awakeners.’

‘What makes you think that?’

‘That chest on the podium. I saw them bringing it out of the hermitage where Amalicia was being kept. I didn’t know what was in it then, but now we do. Money. And look where it ended up: here in Retribution Falls.’

‘The Awakeners are financing the pirates?’ Pinn asked. ‘Why?’

‘Because they want the Archduke out. Him and his wife.’

‘What’s his wife got to do with it?’

‘The Archduchess is the one who’s got him talking about all these new laws to limit the power of the Awakeners,’ Frey said. He was aware that he was losing Pinn already. ‘Look, the Awakeners run themselves like a business. And there’s no question they make bucket-loads of money from the superstitious. Now if someone as powerful as the Archduke starts saying that the whole idea of the Allsoul is rubbish, people are going to start listening to him. And that means the Awakeners start going the way of all the other religions they crushed a century ago.’

‘You’re remarkably well informed these days, Cap’n,’ Jez commented.

‘Been talking to Crake,’ he said.

‘You know he’s not exactly impartial, don’t you?’ she said. When she spoke of the daemonist, he noted that her tone wasn’t as obviously scornful as it had been yesterday.

‘So why are the Awakeners funding Duke Grephen?’ Pinn piped up.

Frey sighed. This would require careful explanation for Pinn to understand. ‘Because Grephen’s an Awakener. Just like Gallian Thade. If he becomes the Archduke, than the Awakeners gain power instead of losing it. In fact, they’d become pretty much unstoppable.’

Pinn frowned, pondering that for a moment as they hurried through the narrow, filthy lanes, past peeling walls and rusted steps. ‘And the Awakeners hired Dracken to catch us?’

‘No!’ Frey and Malvery cried in unison. It was Frey who continued: ‘Grephen hired her to catch us. Because he didn’t want us talking to anyone and blowing his plan before he could put it into action.’

Pinn thought some more. Frey had a feeling of dread in his stomach, anticipating the inevitable follow-up question.

‘So who hired the Century Knights?’

Malvery covered his face with a hand in despair.

‘What?’ Pinn protested. ‘It’s complicated!’

‘I swear, mate, you have the brains of half a rock.’

‘Nobody hired the Century Knights,’ Jez said. ‘They’re loyal to the Archduke. Nothing to do with Grephen. They’re after us because they think we’re the villains here.’

‘We did kill the Archduke’s son,’ Malvery pointed out.

‘Accidentally!’ Frey said. ‘And besides, we were set up. That means it doesn’t count.’

Malvery raised an eyebrow. ‘I’d like to see you try that line of argument with the Archduke,’ he said.

‘What Grephen wants,’ Frey told Pinn, before he could ask another question, ‘is that we get killed, nice and quiet, and he gets to show the bodies to everyone. Hengar’s murderers are caught, case closed. That was the idea from the start. We were supposed to die during the ambush.’

‘What he doesn’t want is the Century Knights catching us and giving us a chance to tell our side of the story,’ Jez continued. ‘He’s afraid that we know enough to make them suspicious, and that will blow his big surprise attack.’

‘Which is happening in a few days, if you believe that Orkmund feller,’ added Malvery.

Pinn gave up trying to figure out who was after who and asked, ‘So what do we do?’

‘What we do is cut a deal,’ said Frey. ‘Talk to some people. Set up a safe rendezvous. We’ll give them the charts and the compass, let them come see Retribution Falls for themselves. Once they find the army Orkmund’s put together, they’ll believe us. We’ll offer them the big fish, and in return, we demand a pardon.’

Pinn stopped dead. The others walked on a few steps before they noticed.

‘You’re selling this place out?’ he said, appalled.

Frey was confused. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, you’re going to tell the Coalition Navy where Retribution Falls is?’

‘You think you could shout it a bit louder, Pinn?’ Malvery cried. ‘I don’t think they heard you in Yortland.’

Pinn looked around furtively, suddenly remembering where he was. Thankfully, the alley they were standing in was deserted, and nobody seemed to have heard. He scuttled up closer to Frey and jabbed him in the chest with a finger.

‘This place is a legend! This place was built with the sweat and tears of a generation of pirates. It’s been the hope of every freebooter since the Aerium Wars that they could one day find Retribution Falls and live out the rest of their days in pirate wonderland. It’s a yoo -, a yoo—’

‘Utopia,’ Jez said. ‘Pinn, it’s a dump.’

Pinn was aghast. ‘It’s Retribution Falls!’

Jez studied her surroundings critically. The sagging roofs, the cracked walls and mildewed corners, the broken bottles and bloodstains. She sniffed, taking in the rank stench of the marsh.

‘You know what pirates are really good at, Pinn?’ she said. ‘Being pirates. And that’s all. In fact, if you asked me what would happen if you took a thousand pirates and asked them to build a town, I’d say it would look pretty much like this. This place was better as a legend. The real thing doesn’t work.’

‘Let me put it this way, Pinn,’ said Frey. ‘Do you want to get hanged, or don’t you?’

Pinn examined the question for a trick. ‘No?’ he ventured.

‘It’s either you or this place. Orkmund’s working for Duke Grephen, remember? And Grephen wants all of us dead. You too, Pinn.’

Pinn opened his mouth, shut it, opened it again, and then gave up trying to argue. ‘Lisinda would never get over it if anything happened to me,’ he said.

‘Think how proud she’ll be when she learns you single-handedly triumphed over an army of pirates,’ Malvery beamed.

‘I suppose I could dress it up a little,’ Pinn mused. ‘Alright, spit on this place. Let’s get out of here and stab some backs!’

‘That’s the spirit!’ Frey said cheerily.

Back at the Ketty Jay, Frey issued instructions for take-off and made sure Slag was trapped in the mess so some unlucky volunteer—Pinn—could force a mouth filter on him during the journey back. Silo was showing Frey some superficial damage to the underwings when Olric, the dock master’s assistant, wandered up to them.

‘Leaving, are you?’

‘Just got an errand to run,’ said Frey. ‘Orkmund says it’ll be a few days yet, so . . .’ he shrugged.

‘You gotta sign out.’

‘I was just about to. Be over there in a minute.’