uncle being freed from the dungeons.
He had just the young lady in mind.
* * *
Van Gast stood easy as the current under him changed. He closed his eyes and tasted the wind. “Into the delta wash now. Almost there.” His lips curved in a grin. Stupid, this risk, but by Kyr’s mercy, it was what he wanted, needed. A twist, she’d said, and wondering about it, what it was, who they’d be twisting, had kept him going.
Holden checked the rigging, the heading and the helmsman. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” He frowned at the first hints of the low sandy islands at the edge of the delta.
“No, but that’s never stopped me. It’ll be fun. Exciting. We’ll go in sneaky. I like sneaky.”
“Yes, but—”
“But bugger all. We’re going. I’ve been cooped up too long. I need to get off this ship and get some air. Steal something. Get drunk and have some fun.” Find what I’m looking for, the only reason I’m here. Josie. No need to worry Holden with that part.
Holden looked down at him, his eyes preoccupied, as though he were debating whether to say anything. Too damn serious, that was Holden’s trouble. At last he came out with, “It’s not just you who’s at risk, though, is it? You’re a wanted man in Estovan and so is everyone who goes with you. They’re my crew—”
“Whose?” Van Gast raised an eyebrow.
Holden scowled. “Fine, they’re your crew now. But they were my men for a long time, and you’re risking their lives on a whim.”
“It’s not a whim. Even if it was, you aren’t bond-slaves now, you’re racks, and you need to learn the rules.”
Holden didn’t appear to be swayed, his face set, arms crossed. “Which are?”
“I have no idea. No point knowing, really, when all I do is ignore them, and so should you now. All you had all your life was rules. Now you don’t have any! Look, it’ll be easy enough. Any crew who don’t want to be racks can go ashore, find a new life. I’ll even front them some money. I’m nice like that. But this is what I do. Risky is where the money is. Besides, it makes it more fun, and I’ve had precious little of that the last few weeks. It could be time for a party. Parties are good. Booze, women, you know. Fun. About time you learned that word, and Estovan is the place for that. I could teach you a hundred different meanings of the word fun here, at least. Oh yes.”
Van Gast rubbed his hands together at the thought. Down-and-dirty Estovan, full of every pleasure known to man, and some that might surprise even him.
“A party?” Holden look aghast. “Van, I absolutely—”
“Absolutely nothing. You’re going to have fun if it kills me. I’ll make a rack of you yet. Ah, Guld. What have you got for me?”
The ship’s true-mage stumbled to a stop on the deck, his mousy robes in a tangled mess and his eyes bleary.
“What?” Guld blushed as both Van Gast and Holden looked at him. “Oh, um, yes. Quite a bit actually, Van. Firstly, Estovan is in chaos. Looting, occasional riots, some of the delta shanty-town got burned down three days ago. Utter chaos. It’s, um, a bit of a mess to be honest.”
That brought Van Gast back to good humor, though it made Holden even more wary. “We should hold off, anchor here until it settles.”
“No, we should not!” Van Gast paced across the deck, Forn’s bells chiming, the prayer bells every sailor wore to fend off death by drowning at the hands of the merciless god of the sea. His grin was back after weeks lost at sea, his heart was alive with possibilities and the nearness of Estovan, of the thrill. Of Josie. It, she, was all he could think about. “Chaos is good. I don’t expect a Remorian to understand it, but any rack worth his salt is in there making good, hard cash, believe me. It’s a built-in distraction, see? Essence of any good twist. Distract the mark, come in sideways, go home with a pocketful of gold. Go on, Guld. Why the chaos?”
“Remorians.” He glanced up shyly at Holden. “Sorry, but when you shot the Master, they all became free, all those slaves—you remember what that was like?”
Van Gast suppressed a shudder at the memory of the bond on his wrist, in his head. Only for a few minutes, and he’d been lucky. For those