quieter and less important. A little while later, when the first blue light had begun to form in the east, Marcus yawned and turned to pace back down the deck toward the closet-sized room that was his cabin for some sleep. He didn't know if the jolting ship would allow him any rest, but at least, for a change, his own thoughts wouldn't be keeping him from his sleep.
He opened the door to his cabin, paused at a sudden scent, then scowled and stepped into the unlit room, shutting the door behind him. "Bloody crows. When did you get on the ship?"
"At the last stop," Sha rumbled in the quietest voice he could manage.
Marcus leaned his shoulders back against the door and folded his arms over his chest. In the cramped confines of the cabin, he was all but touching the lean Cane, and he had no intention of triggering a potentially violent response by making physical contact with the Hunter. "What word do you bring?"
"None," Sha said. "For there is none to bring. Our problem remains unchanged."
Marcus grunted. "Meaning that your leader and mine will be forced to duel."
"So it would seem," Sha said philosophically. "Though they have both faced such things before and survived them. The stronger will prove it upon the other."
Marcus grimaced. "That's a loss to both of our peoples, no matter who wins."
"Has a solution occurred to you?"
"Not yet," Marcus said. "But that doesn't mean that it isn't there."
Sha let out a thoughtful growl. "It may yet be possible to strike down my lord's enemy, Khral."
"I thought his proper title was Master Khral of the Bloodspeakers."
"Khral," Sha repeated.
Marcus felt himself smile in the darkness. "Gaining what, by removing him?"
"Time. There will be a delay while a new leadership is established among the bloodspeakers."
"Which could create additional problems of its own."
"Yes."
"What would be the cost of buying such time?"
"My life," Sha said simply, "offered in apology to my lord after the deed was done."
Marcus frowned in the darkness. He was about to ask if the Cane was willing to make such a sacrifice, but the question was a foolish one. If Sha said that he would go through with such a thing, he most certainly would. "Is your life yours to end?"
"If, in my best judgment, it is in the service of my lord's honor? Yes."
"Would not the loss of your service greatly hamper your lord in the long term?"
There was a brief, intense silence. "It might," Sha said, a growling undertone of frustration in his voice. "In which case, I would be neglecting my duty to him by following this path. It is hard to know the honorable course of action."
"And yet you do not serve his interests by continuing to allow Khral to hold power." Marcus narrowed his eyes in thought. "What you need to do..."
Sha waited in patient silence.
"You can't assassinate this Cane for fear of making him a martyr among your people. Correct?"
"Even so."
Marcus scratched at his chin. "An accident, perhaps? These ships are dangerous, after all."
"My lord would never condone the collateral loss of life that would require. Or forgive himself for it. No."
Marcus nodded. "Difficult to push him under the runners of his ship without being seen."
"Impossible," Sha said. "I spent the last two days looking for the opportunity. He hides in his cabin, surrounded by sycophants. Cowardly." He paused a beat, and allowed, "If practical."
Marcus drummed his fingertips on the cool steel of his armor. "What happens if he isn't assassinated? What if he just... disappears. No blood. No evidence of a struggle. No one ever sees him again."
Sha let out another rumbling growl, one that raised the hairs on the back of Marcus's neck despite the fact that he was beginning to understand it as a sound accompanying pensive moments for the Cane. "Disappear. It is not... common to our service."
"No?"
"Never. We serve our lords, but in the end we are his weapons, his tools. He abides by our work as if he had done it with his own hands. If my lord could best solve his problem by killing another Cane, he would do so with his own blade. When he cannot do so, for reasons of tradition or because of the code, and his Hunters are sent, it is understood that they are yet his weapons."
"And that protects him from the consequences of his actions?"
"Provided his Hunters are not caught," Sha said. "It is the proper way for a great lord to defend his honor when