The Automaton's Treasure Read Free Page B

said. “That's the only way. Stay onboard and tell the captain we must go to Qilar. Lie if necessary. The great treasure is waiting, and after I am reunited with it, then you can find your way to Idai City. Yes, yes. What do you say?”
    “I say that's impossible,” I told him, and shoved him to the floor. This time, he didn't argue.
     
    The day we arrived at Starlight Rock I woke with dread in my bones. Safin had not come to visit me the night before and I slept soundly, but when I woke to the clamor of bells that morning, I knew: we had found land. And my life was lost.
    I didn't know if they would let us take our possessions, but I packed my things anyway, all my worn and filthy clothes, the useless list of names Father had given me, my illustrated history of southern Qilar. The hairpin I wore like armor, sliding it into the coil of braids at the back of my neck.
    I sat on my cot and waited. My body was numb; my thoughts were hollow. The bells clanged and clanged.
    I didn't have to wait long. A knock came at my door, and the lock jangled.
    Hafsa waited on the other side.
    She didn't say anything and her gun was put away. But when I saw her, I thought of Safin: you must stay onboard the ship.  
    A complete impossibility without leverage. And I had no leverage. My title was lost; my most expensive possession was a hairpin I refused to part with.
    But maybe I didn't need a possession.
    “Come on,” Hafsa said. “We're here. Bring what you can carry. The porter's long gone.”
    I didn't move from the cot.
    “Did you hear me?” she asked, hand moving toward her pistol.
    “Yes.” It came out quiet, almost a whisper. “I—the thing you were looking for. I saw it last night.”
    She froze. I forced myself to look away from her pistol and into her face.
    “You're right; he had been coming to my room. I couldn't sleep last night and I—I actually saw him.”
    She dropped her hand to her side and looked me up and down. “What do you want?”
    “What?”
    “You want something out of this. Go on and tell me, and I'll see what I can do.”
    I took a deep breath and reminded myself that my life was over regardless. “I want passage to Qilar.”
    She blinked at me and then threw back her head and laughed. “We don't need the gold that bad, girlie.”
    “No, you don't understand.” The words spilled out of me, and I thought of the deception that had gotten me banished, how easy that had been as well. “The automaton—his name is Safin, he told me that—he's part of a great treasure. And he wants to get back to it, more than anything.”
    The ship tilted, and Hafsa shot out one hand to steady herself against the doorframe. “Go on.”
    “If you told him you were returning him to his great treasure, he'd help you find it, I’m sure. And the treasure's in Qilar, in the swamps, so—” I shrugged. “As payment for helping you find it, you can drop me off at Port Idai.” When she arched an eyebrow, I added, “Or whatever's convenient.”
    We stared at each other in the creaking silence.
    “Wait here,” she said, and she slammed and locked the door.
    I let out a long breath and slumped against the wall. Sweat dripped down my spine.
    “Marjani!”
    I looked up at the gap in the ceiling. Safin's head appeared.
    “Wonderful thinking!” he cried.
    “Were you in there the whole time?”
    “Oh, yes. I knew you'd devise something.”
    “Look,” I said, standing up on the coat so I could lower my voice. “She's probably going to ask me to find you. I don't want to do it here—too suspicious. I'll wander the boat a bit and call your name, and you come out before they hurt me. Do you understand?”
    “Yes, yes!” He disappeared, and I collapsed down on the cot. I didn't think this was going to work. I was acting by rote, an automaton myself.
    Hafsa returned. “The other passengers are disembarking now. You have until the last one is off the ship to find the creature.”
    My head spun. “How long will that