The man was an idiot. But there were idiots aplenty in the world. An unending supply, in fact.
When Skulldeath finally stirred, Bottle edged out of the rat’s mind. Watching things like that-love-making-was too creepy. Besides, hadn’t his grandmother pounded into him the risk of deadly perversions offered by his talents? Oh, she had, she had indeed.
Skanarow moved up to stand alongside Captain Ruthan Gudd where he leaned on the rail.
‘Dark waters,’ she murmured.
‘It’s night.’
‘You like keeping things simple, don’t you?’
‘It’s because things are, Skanarow. All the complications we suffer through are hatched inside our own skulls.’
‘Really? Doesn’t make them any less real, though. Does it?’
He shrugged. ‘Something you want?’
‘Many things, Ruthan Gudd.’
He looked across at her-seemed startled to find how close she stood, almost as tall as he was, her Kanese eyes dark and gleaming-and then away again. ‘And what makes you think I can help you with any of them?’
She smiled, though the captain was not paying attention, and it was a lovely smile. ‘Who promoted you?’ she asked.
‘A raving lunatic.’
‘Where?’
He raked fingers through his beard, scowled. ‘And all this is in aid of what, precisely?’
‘Kindly was right, you know. We need to work together. You, I want to know more about, Ruthan Gudd.’
‘It’s not worth it.’
She leaned on the railing. ‘You’re hiding, Captain. But that’s all right. I’m good at finding things out. You were among the first list of officers for the Fourteenth. Meaning you were in Malaz City, already commissioned and awaiting attachment. Now, which armies washed up on Malaz Island too torn up to keep intact? The Eighth. The Thirteenth. Both from the Korelri Campaign. Now, the Eighth arrived at about the time the Fourteenth shipped out, but given the slow pace of the military ink-scratchers, it’s not likely you were from the Eighth-besides, Faradan Sort was, and she doesn’t know you. I asked. So, that leaves the Thirteenth. Which is rather… interesting. You served under Greymane-’
‘I’m afraid you got it all wrong,’ Ruthan Gudd cut in. ‘I came in on a transfer from Nok’s fleet, Skanarow. Wasn’t even a marine-’
‘Which ship did you serve on?’
‘The Dhenrabi -’
‘Which sank off the Strike Bight-’
‘Aye-’
‘About eighty years ago.’
He eyed her for a long moment. ‘Now, that kind of recall verges on the obsessive, don’t you think?’
‘As opposed to pathological lying, Captain?’
‘That was the first Dhenrabi. The second one slammed into the Wall at five knots. Of the two hundred and seventy-two on board, five of us were dragged out by the Stormguard.’
‘You stood the Wall?’
‘No, I was handed over in a prisoner exchange.’
‘Into the Thirteenth?’
‘Straight back to the fleet, Skanarow. We’d managed to capture four Mare triremes loaded with volunteers for the Wall-aye, hard to believe anyone would volunteer for that. In any case, the Stormguard were desperate for the new blood. So, you can put all your suspicions to rest, Captain. My history is dull and uneventful and far from heroic. Some mysteries, Skanarow, aren’t worth knowing.’
‘All sounds very convincing, I’ll grant you that.’
‘But?’
She gave him another bright smile, and this one he saw. ‘I still think you’re a liar.’
He pushed himself away from the railing. ‘Lots of rats on these barges, I’ve noticed.’
‘We could go hunting.’
Ruthan Gudd paused, combed his beard, and then shrugged. ‘Hardly worth the trouble, I should think.’
When he walked off, the Kanese woman hesitated, and then followed.
‘Gods below,’ Bottle muttered, ‘everyone’s getting it this night.’ He felt a stab somewhere deep within him, an old, familiar one. He’d not been the kind of man that women chased down. He’d had friends who rolled from one bed to the next, every one of those beds soft and warm. He’d had no such fortune. The irony of the thing that visited him in his dreams was that much sharper, in how it mocked the truths of his life.
Not that she’d been appearing of late, not for a month. Maybe she’d grown tired of him. Maybe she’d taken all she needed, whatever that was. But those last few times had been frightening in their desperation, the fear in her unhuman eyes. He’d awaken to the stench of grass fires on the savannah, the sting of smoke in his eyes and the thunder of fleeing herds ringing in his skull. Sickened by the overwhelming sense of dislocation, he would lie shivering beneath his threadbare blankets like a fevered child.