Blood of the Fold Read Free

them, his mouth agape.
    “ Turn this ship around, Captain,” Ulicia said. “At once.”
    His tongue darted out to wet his lips as his gaze skipped among the women’s eyes. “Now you’re wanting to go back? Why?”
    Ulicia lifted a finger in his direction. “You were paid well, Captain, to take us where we want to go, when we want to go. I told you before that questions were not part of the bargain, and I also promised you that I would separate you from your hide if you violated any part of that bargain. If you test me you will find that I am not nearly as indulgent as Merissa here; I don’t grant a quick death. Now, turn this ship around!”
    Captain Blake leaped into action. He straightened his coat and glared at his men. “Back to it, you sluggards!” He gestured to the helmsman. “Mister Dempsey, bring ‘er about.” The man seemed to be still frozen in shock. “Right bloody now, Mister Dempsey!”
    Snatching his scruffy hat from his head, Captain Blake bowed to Ulicia, careful not to let his gaze stray from her eyes. “As you wish, Sister. Back around the great barrier, to the Old World.”
    “ Set a direct course, Captain. Time is of the essence.”
    He squashed his hat in a fist. “Direct course! We can’t be sailing through the great barrier!” He immediately softened his tone. “It’s not possible. We’ll all be killed.”
    Ulicia pressed a hand over the burning pang in her stomach. “The great barrier is down, Captain. It is no longer a hindrance to us. Set a direct course.”
    He rung his hat. “The great barrier is down? That’s impossible. What makes you think …”
    She leaned toward him. “Again, you would question me?”
    “ No, Sister. No, course not. If you say the barrier is down, then it is. Though I don’t understand how what cannot happen has happened, I know it’s not my place to question. A direct course it is.” He wiped his hat across his mouth. “Merciful Creator protect us,” he muttered, turning to the helmsman, anxious to retreat from her glare. “Hard a-starboard, Mister Dempsey!”
    The man glanced down at the men on the tiller. “We’re already hard a-starboard, Captain.”
    “ Don’t argue with me or I’ll let you swim back!”
    “ Aye, Captain. Get to the lines!” he shouted at men already slipping some lines and hauling in on others. “Prepare to come about!”
    Ulicia surveyed the men glancing nervously over their shoulders. “Sisters of the Light have eyes in the backs of their heads, gentlemen. See that yours look nowhere else, or it will be the last thing you see in this life.” Men nodded before bending to their tasks.
    Back in their crowded cabin, Tovi wrapped her shivering bulk in her coverlet. “It’s been quite a while since I had strapping young men leering at me.” She glanced to Nicci and Merissa. “Enjoy the admiration while you’re still worthy of it.”
    Merissa pulled her shift from the chest at the end of the cabin. “It wasn’t you they were leering at.”
    A motherly smile wrinkled Cecilia’s face. “We know that, Sister. I think what Sister Tovi means is that now that we’re away from the spell of the Palace of the Prophets, we will age like everyone else. You won’t have the years to enjoy your looks that we’ve had.”
    Merissa straightened. “When we earn back our place of honor with the Master, I will be able to keep what I have.”
    Tovi stared off with a rare, dangerous look. “And I want back what I once had.”
    Armina slumped down on a bunk. “This is Liliana’s fault. If not for her, we wouldn’t have had to leave the palace and its spell. If not for her, the Keeper wouldn’t have given Jagang dominion over us. We wouldn’t have lost the Master’s favor.”
    They were all silent for a moment. Squeezing around and past one another, they all went about pulling on their undergarments, while trying to avoid elbows.
    Merissa drew her shift over her head. “I intend to do whatever is necessary to serve,