Kalam's gaze searched among them until he found the lieutenant. 'A word with you, sir—'
'Not now,' she snapped, donning her helmet and locking the cheek-guards in place. 'Get below.'
'He means to ram—'
'I know what he means to do. And when the crunch comes, the last thing we need is some Hood-damned civilian to watch out for.'
'Do you take the captain's orders ... or the treasurer's?'
She looked up at that, eyes narrowing. The other marines paused. 'Get below,' she said.
Kalam sighed. 'I'm an Imperial veteran, Lieutenant—'
'Which army?'
He hesitated, then said, 'Second. Ninth Squad, Bridgeburners.'
As one, the marines sat back. All eyes were on him now.
The lieutenant scowled. 'Now how likely is that?'
Another marine, a grizzled veteran, barked out, 'Your sergeant? Let's hear some names, stranger.'
'Whiskeyjack. Other sergeants? Not many left. Antsy. Tormin.'
'You're Corporal Kalam, ain't you?'
The assassin studied the man. 'Who are you?'
'Nobody, sir, and been that way a long time.' He turned to his lieutenant and nodded.
'Can we count on you?' she asked Kalam.
'Not up front, but I'll be close by.'
She looked around. 'The treasurer's got an Imperial Writ – we're shackled to it, Corporal.'
'I don't think the treasurer trusts you, should it come down to making a choice between him and the captain.'
She made a face, as if tasting something bad. 'This attack's madness, but it's sharp madness.'
Kalam nodded, waited.
'I guess the treasurer's got reason.'
'If it comes to it,' the assassin said, 'leave the bodyguards to me.' 'Both of them?'
'Aye.'
The veteran spoke up. 'If we make the sharks sick in the gut with the treasurer, we'll hang for it.'
'Just be somewhere else when it happens – all of you.'
The lieutenant grinned. 'I think we can manage that.'
'Now,' Kalam said, loud enough to be heard by every marine, 'I'm just another one of those grease-faced civilians, right?'
'We never figured this outlawing stuff was for real,' a voice called out. 'Not Dujek Onearm. No way.'
Hood, for all I know you may be right, soldier. But he hid his uncertainty with a half-salute before making his way back down the length of the deck.
Ragstopper reminded Kalam of a bear crashing through thickets as it barrelled along – lumbering, broad and solid in the spraying high seas – a spring bear, an hour out of the den, eyes red-rimmed with old sleep, miserable and gnawed with hunger deep in its belly. Somewhere ahead, two wolves slinking through the dark . . . they're in for a surprise . . .
The captain was on the sterncastle, braced against the hand manning the tiller. His First Mate stood near him, one arm looped around the stern mast. Both were glaring ahead into the darkness, awaiting the first sighting of their quarry.
Kalam opened his mouth to speak, but a shout from the First Mate stopped him.
'A point to port, Captain! Beating three-quarters! Hood's breath, we're right on top of her!'
The pirate vessel, a low, single-masted raider barely visible in the gloom, was less than a hundred paces away, on a tack that would cut directly in front of Ragstopper. The positioning was breathtakingly perfect.
'All hands,' the captain bellowed through the howl of the storm, 'prepare to ram!'
The First Mate bolted ahead, shouting orders to his crew. Kalam saw the marines crouch low to the deck, readying for the impact. Faint screams reached the assassin from the pirate vessel. The taut square sail, storm-jibbed, billowed suddenly, the ship's prow pitching away as the pirate crew made a last, doomed effort to avoid the collision.
The gods were grinning down on the scene, but it was the rictus of a death's head. A swell lifted Ragstopper high just before the contact, then dropped the trader down onto the raider's low gunnels, just behind the peaked prow. Wood exploded, splintered and shuddered. Kalam was thrown forward, losing his grip on the starboard stern rail. He pitched from the sterncastle, struck the main deck with a tucked shoulder, rolling as the momentum carried him forward.
Masts snapped somewhere above him, sails whipping like ghost wings in the rain-tracked air.
Ragstopper settled, grinding, popping, canting heavily. Sailors were screaming, shrieking on all sides, but Kalam could see little of what was happening from where he lay. Groaning, he worked his way upright.