Will Wight - Of Dawn and Darkness

Andel was a little trickier to handle, in some ways. The problem was, he was just too useful. He tended to assume responsibility for every problem as soon as it arose, so he would often have fixed whatever-it-was before Calder was even aware. This undermined his authority in the eyes of the passengers, so Calder tried to take charge whenever possible.

But having a crew member who was too skilled was a good problem to have, especially when the total crew numbered precisely three. Calder conducted most everything related to the handling of the ship himself, but passengers still ended up working for the duration of their journey.

Except this passenger.

Mr. Valette looked like a schoolteacher. He was thin as a fence post, with expensive spectacles and long gray sideburns, and he had a tendency to frown at Calder as though expressing deep, heartfelt disappointment. Only one thing ruined the impression: his long, black coat.

He refused to work, refused even to acknowledge it when Calder asked him to carry a box or tighten a line. He would simply frown and walk away. The passenger seemed to spend most of his time scribbling in a journal, which he kept tucked away in the inner pocket of his coat.

Two weeks into the journey, Calder finally mustered up the courage to ask his passenger a question. “If you’ll pardon me asking, Mr. Valette, what does the Blackwatch need in the town of, ah…” He had to glance down at the log to remember the name of their destination. “…Silverreach?”

Mr. Valette slapped his journal closed, glaring at him. “I would pardon you asking, Captain Marten, but I doubt my Guild Head would do the same. She would be irritated with you, in fact. If you had ever met her, you would know how terrifying a prospect that is. So let’s keep our questions to ourselves, hm?”

Calder still had nightmares about his first meeting with Bliss, but he couldn’t admit that to this Watchman. Valette wasn’t the only one who preferred to avoid sensitive questions. “That’s understandable, Mr. Valette, and thank you for the warning. But considering the nature of your business, this information could affect the safety of everyone onboard. I wouldn’t want to run into any trouble with Elderspawn, after all.”

The passenger scratched at one of his sideburns, considering this. “I do not anticipate trouble,” he said at last. He slipped the journal into his coat, rising to his feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be in my cabin. The weather does not look like it will be kind to ink and paper.”

Calder glanced up to the stormclouds, which rolled in a slow, spiraling whirlpool. There was a storm on its way, but it wouldn’t be likely to harm his book. Clouds like those meant that the rain would come in reverse.

He headed over to Jerri, who was slumped over the ship’s wheel, an expression of absolute boredom on her face.

“I’ve seen two fish today,” she said, as he approached. “One of them ate the other.”

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She smiled out of the corner of her mouth. “At least it looks like rain today. That’s the only difference from yesterday.”

“And we won’t even get wet.” He leaned against the railing next to the wheel, watching her. “What do you think of Mr. Valette?” he asked, voice low.

“Reclusive and shady, like every other Watchman I’ve ever known. All of them. No exceptions.”

“No wonder they kicked me out. So you don’t want to know what’s happening in Silverreach?”

Jerri looked out over the sea, her eyes narrowed. She began to tap her fingers, drumming a rhythm on the ship’s wheel. Just when Calder was about to break the silence, she spoke. “I’ve…read about Silverreach before. Somewhere.”

It wasn’t too surprising that Jerri would have read something he hadn’t, but he hadn’t thought Silverreach was that significant of a town. “Is it famous?”

Her eyes flicked to him and then back to the horizon. “Not famous. But if I’ve heard about it, something must have happened there. We should do some research.”

Calder thought about the pathetic four books they kept on the entire ship. “By ‘research,’ you mean…”

“We should steal Valette’s journal.”

That was more like Jerri. Rather than wasting time feigning surprise, he nodded. “How?”

“The easy way,” she said, flipping her braid over one shoulder. “Wait until he’s asleep, take the book out of his coat.”

Andel thunked a barrel down onto the deck loudly, attracting their attention. “I thought you should know we had a beetle problem. Half of the barley will have to be thrown overboard, and we’ll have to filter the quicklamp fluid.”

Calder nodded to the barrel. “Is that the barley?”

“The beetles,” he said. “They tried to mutiny, so I had to quell their rebellion. Show them who owns this ship.” The lid of the barrel started to surge upwards, as though something inside was pushing its way out, until Andel sat on it. Seated comfortably on the barrel of beetles, Andel pulled his hat off and began fanning himself. “So what’s this I hear about a theft?”

Calder and Jerri didn’t look at each other before they spoke. They’d worked together long enough that they reacted immediately.

“We were planning to rob you,” Jerri said.

Calder let out a sigh. “Wait until you were asleep, go through your coat, take away all your…valuables.”

Andel looked at them calmly from his perch on the barrel, still fanning himself with the hat. “Not my precious valuables.”

“Now that you’ve heard us, our plot has been foiled,” Jerri said. “You’ve beaten us again.”

Calder stared into the water, filling his gaze with regret. “We never should have opposed you to begin with.”

“That’s true,” Andel said. “Without me around, you’d be face-to-face with Kelarac before we ever caught sight of shore.”

It was common for sailors to reference Kelarac when referring to the bottom of the ocean, because everyone knew that was where the Soul Collector was sealed. But Calder couldn’t help a shudder. Ever since he’d actually met Kelarac, the phrase had become more than just an expression.

“And it’s good that you were planning to rob me, instead of our passenger,” Andel went on. “As we wouldn’t want the Blackwatch finding out we had any breaches of conduct. Not only would they feed us to Elderspawn, they wouldn’t pay us.”

The barrel under him shuddered, the beetles struggling to escape, but Andel didn’t seem to notice.

Calder forced a smile, but his hands were clenching on the railing. Whenever he started to get used to having Andel Petronus around, the man had to get in his way. Where was the harm in a little book-snatching? He’d been brought to trial for worse.

Andel reached into his white jacket, pulling out a palm-sized, tightly bound book of his own. He waved it in the air, then tossed it to Calder. “Fortunately for you, I don’t like sailing in the blind any more than you do.”

Jerri leaned over the book as Calder opened it. The first line read, “To my Guild Head, Bliss, from your servant Andrei Valette…”

From a quick scan of the page, it went on to describe his plan of action when he reached Silverreach, including his predictions about what The Testament ’s crew would do on shore.

“You copied his journal,” Calder said. His forced smile had slipped away, replaced by naked shock.

“I used to work as a scribe for the Order. All I needed was a few minutes a day before and after I laundered his coat. He’s fastidiously clean.” Andel didn’t even look proud of himself. He sat there with an expression of absolute calm, even as the beetles surged underneath him.