The Black Lung Captain - By Chris Wooding Page 0,129

sheepishly.

She put her face in her hands. Her shoulders heaved with each breath.

'Are you crying?' Frey asked.

'I'm trying to calm down so I don't kill you,' she replied through her fingers.

'Oh.'

She took her hands away, shook her head, blew out a breath. Under control, Jez. Keep it under control.

She put her hand on her hip and poked Frey in the chest with a finger. 'I'll tell you what,' she said. 'I'll give you a choice. I quit the Ketty Jay. Right here and now.'

Frey looked stricken. 'Wait, you're quitting?'

'Ah! Ah!' she said. 'I'm not done. It seems you have a vacancy for a navigator now. So I offer my services. I'm a navigator. You won't find any better. But I'm also part Mane, with all the things that entails.' She folded her arms and stared at him defiantly. 'Now I've told you, upfront. Either hire me, and we start again from scratch, or don't, and I'll leave right now. But no more of this pussyfoot bullshit.'

Frey stood there in the slowly freezing slush and regarded her thoughtfully. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Nothing showed on his face, as if this was a game of Rake and he was considering his hand.

All or nothing. What's it to be?

Then he tutted, and looked up at the sky. 'Who am I kidding? We wouldn't last two days without you. You're the best damn navvie I've ever seen.'

'Because I'm part Mane,' she said. 'Because I can read the wind, and see in the dark. Because I just know where things are sometimes. Because I'm part Mane. Say it.'

Frey nodded. 'Okay. Because you're part Mane. And whatever goes along with that. I get it.'

'So,' she said. 'Am I hired?'

Frey grinned. 'You're hired.'

'I want a bigger cut of the profits.'

'What?' Frey was appalled. Jez just stared at him, arms folded, until he threw up his hands.

'Fine! When there's profits to give you, you'll get your cut,' he said. 'If we ever make any.'

Jez felt a grin spreading across her own face. She felt lighter than air. There was a huge sense of release. This whole thing had been building up and building up. Just talking about it made it better. Ironic, really, that it had taken the most silent member of the crew to teach her that.

She held out her hand. 'Thank you, Cap'n. And sorry for keeping it from you. Me being a Mane and all. I won't let you down again.'

He clasped her hand and then, to her surprise, he pulled her into a rough hug. 'Likewise,' he said.

The Happy Amputee was Raggen Crag's classiest bar, which wasn't saying much. It was a grubby, dingy room, lit by blackened bulbs, with tarnished metal fixtures and brass countertops. A broken-down band played on the stage. The locals drank hard liquor and talked in low voices.

Pinn sat at a table in a comer, sweeping a bleary and baleful glare across the room. He was drunk. Mean, stinking drunk. In one meaty hand was the ferrotype of his sweetheart that usually hung from the dash of his Skylance. Malvery sat next to him. hovering on the edge of coma, his eyelids drooping. His round, green glasses sat askew on his nose. Every so often, his head would dip towards the table, and then he'd startle awake briefly before sliding into unconsciousness once again. Several bottles of grog were clustered on the table in front of them.

'Look at 'em,' Pinn snarled.

'Mmf?' Malvery inquired.

'Them!' he said, motioning with his chin. 'The Cap'n and his whore.'

Malvery blinked and tried to focus. Near the bar, Frey and Trinica were deep in conversation with two local men. Tough-looking, ugly sorts.

'Leave 'em alone.' Malvery mumbled. 'Cap'n knows what he's doin'.'

Pinn scowled and took another swig of grog. The Cap'n definitely didn't know what he was doing. Palling around with that slut. Oh, she might have cleaned off that ghoul mask that she wore, but Pinn wasn't fooled. She was still a woman. Treacherous as quicksand. Not that Pinn had ever been near quicksand, but he'd definitely heard it was treacherous.

Bewitched, that was what the Cap'n was. What else could it be? What else could explain it? This past month, you hardly ever saw them apart. The Cap'n was all spry as a lark while everyone else sloped around feeling rotten. What was it between them, anyway? Pinn had thought the Cap'n hated her. Pinn had thought they were enemies. Why ask her along?

All Pinn knew was that Trinica had

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