His glare turned on me, daring me to have a suggestion worth challenging him.
I could only hope that I did. “You have the opportunity to steal from this man twice. Send some pirates to Isel with him tomorrow disguised as his crew. They can sell the rocks, take his payment, and then kill him. If you send enough pirates, you’ll have fighting power to keep the cargo too.”
With his greedy appetite whetted, Devlin grinned. He pointed to a blond, curly-haired pirate who couldn’t have been much older than me. “Tie this man up. We’ll fetch him again in the morning.”
“Why not put him in the jail?”
“I’ve already got a couple of men in there cooling off for the night. Just tie him to a tree. There’s enough of us around he won’t be able to do anything.”
There was nothing more I could do now. Tilagon spat on my boots when I walked past him to leave. I stopped and he said, “It wasn’t enough to kill my men. Now you’ll steal from our investors too. Of all these miserable vultures, you are the worst.”
“I saved your life,” I said.
“Only for another day.”
“Then use it well. Even a day is valuable around here.”
“I’ll use it to beg the devils to curse you.”
“Get in line,” I said coolly. “Do you think you’re the first?”
Then I wandered to the dinner tables with the other pirates. Erick caught up to me on the way. “It was a good idea back there. At least, Devlin was pleased with you.”
“I don’t care a devil’s inch about what Devlin thinks of me.”
Erick glanced around to see if anyone had overheard. “You should. Because whether you like him or not, he’s king here.” I snorted my contempt, but Erick grabbed my arm to turn me back to him. “Who are you to look down on him? You’re no one, Sage. And you won’t get anywhere with that attitude.”
“Good advice,” I said, fully agreeing that my attitude wasn’t going to endear me to Devlin.
Dinner wasn’t much different than lunch had been. It was loud, boisterous, and obnoxious. I watched for Imogen but only caught a glimpse of her carrying dishes back to the kitchen from where the other serving girls left them as they busied themselves with different tasks.
Several hours passed before everyone settled in for the night. The sleeping quarters for pirates began at sea level as a large hut butted up against the cliff. The steep wall provided some protection but the other three sides were left open to the air. There was a second hut stacked above the one where I slept. It was slightly less exposed to the breeze rolling off the sea, and so was used by the pirates of higher authority. A single room was stacked above that, but I didn’t know what it was for. Devlin and Agor and other senior pirates had their own private quarters at the top of the cliff.
Sneaking out of the hut was fairly simple. Apparently, pirates slept in much the same manner as they lived during the day, loud and hard. The bigger trick after I left was to get off the beach and back up to the top of the hill. Directly behind us, the earthen cliff was too steep for a safe nighttime climb. Stairs were carved into the more gradual hill a little farther down, but they seemed well guarded, so instead I moved up the shore and did some scrambling across an old rockslide to get up top.
I was surprised that Tarblade wasn’t better guarded than what I saw up there. A few vigils were making rounds, but it was as if they knew nobody would be foolish enough to attack them so they expected little danger. Still, I moved cautiously as I made my way toward the captured navigator.
Tilagon was asleep beside the tree, his head tilted so far forward it was nearly touching his chest. I wondered how he could sleep like that, when even in the most comfortable of beds I often had trouble sleeping at all. At least they’d given him a blanket. Devlin would’ve wanted him to be healthy enough to travel in the morning, before they killed him.
The knot binding Tilagon’s hands was nearly halfway undone before he awoke. I whispered that if he made a sound we were both dead and he quickly closed his mouth. When the ropes were untied, I helped him move his arms back from around the tree. He gasped with the stiffness in them but relaxed again once they rested on his legs.
“You?” he hissed when he recognized me. “You’ve come to kill me?”
“Don’t be absurd. Now hush.”
“In that case, I’m sorry for what I said before.”
“Listen to me very carefully,” I said. “Your ship and its contents are lost to the pirates. You must leave on foot.”
Tilagon nodded. He was already massaging his legs with his hands, preparing to run.
I glanced around to be sure we were still alone, then said, “After you leave here you must not be found. Stay off the trails and go anywhere they won’t think to look for you. If they catch you, there won’t be anything I can do to help.”
He put a hand on my arm. “Tell me your name so I can thank you properly.”
“Thank me by staying alive. Give me your hat.” Tilagon obeyed, then I said, “It’s time to leave. Now.”
He nodded again, took my hand and gave it a firm squeeze, then leapt to his feet and ran, never looking back.