Scarlet and the White Wolf [02] - Mariner's Luck (15 page)

So caught up was Scarlet in the scene below that he did not hear footsteps approaching from the wheel. By the time he had turned, Oleksei was standing next to him. Scarlet's heart froze over for a moment and he looked down quickly to see if Oleksei held a knife, but no, they were empty. Oleksei stared at him with hate, and Scarlet remembered where he was. Oleksei didn't have him in a stinking hold with a gang of mariners to hold him down, and there was a pair of Morturii knives hanging from his belt. The beating of his heart slowed and he met Oleksei's gaze without fear.

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"Get away from me, you pig."

Oleksei held up his mangled thumb—the one Scarlet had bitten—and turned it into an obscene gesture. Scarlet looked aside and tried to step around Oleksei, but the mariner blocked him again.

"Lenilyn slut." Oleksei's voice was filled with loathing. "You may have your master fooled, but I know what you are. How much did you sell yourself for in Volkovoi?"

Scarlet would not answer the accusations of a rapist. "So you do speak my language."

Oleksei spat. "The tongue of outlander filth. How he bears to speak it, I do not know."

Scarlet's lip curled, and he felt in himself a rising sense of power. Oleksei's hate had a basis deeper than simply loathing Scarlet's race, and realizing it somehow made Oleksei smaller in his eyes. "You want him," Scarlet said, lingering on the feeling of power. "You want him for yourself, but he doesn't know you're alive. It's me he wants, not you. That's why you hate me."

Oleksei skated his hand over empty air, as if thrusting away the idea. "You cloud his eyes with tribal magic," he accused. "As your kind has done to us before."

Scarlet laughed shortly, but a sliver of icy fear wormed into his heart. So far, no one, not even Liall, knew about his Gift, and he wanted to keep it that way. He gazed at Oleksei, wondering if he had guessed it or seen something during the pirate battle, but no, the man was fishing in the dark, using any bigotry or excuse to explain Liall's incomprehensible attraction to a filthy lenilyn. It was corroded desire and 127

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bitterness behind Oleksei's accusation, not knowledge.

Suddenly, the mariner was pathetic to him, and he felt a rush of satisfaction in being able to stare Oleksei down and know that there was absolutely nothing Oleksei could do to change how Liall felt about Scarlet. Oh, there was a knack to this tangle of desire. Instead of groping blindly in the dark, he was finally beginning to find his way.

"Take your bitterness and go, Oleksei. Choke on it."

Oleksei grinned unpleasantly. "He told you my name."

"Only so he could curse it."

Oleksei's smile died as his face twisted with hate. He made a grab for Scarlet's arm and missed when Scarlet stepped back quickly.

"You are safe on this voyage, tribal whore," Oleksei snarled. "But one day he will cast you off. You will be exiled back to the Brown Lands, and you will have to cross this sea to get there. I will be waiting for you."

What Scarlet might have answered was lost, for Liall was suddenly there, shoving Oleksei away from him so hard that the mariner fell and toppled to the deck. As large as Oleksei was, Liall was older and stronger and—Scarlet knew—a better fighter.

"Va!" Liall raged further in Sinha and spat, towering over Oleksei. Liall watched Oleksei climb to his feet before turning to Scarlet. His voice was much quieter. "Did he threaten you?

What did he say?"

"Nothing that matters." Oleksei's insults were bad enough the first time, and Scarlet did not want them repeated.

Scarlet took Liall's arm and leaned against him a little. The 128

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knowledge that his actions would gall Oleksei made him shameless, and he brushed his uninjured cheek against Liall's sleeve. "It's getting late, are you ready to go to bed yet?"

Liall stared at him for only a second longer than normal.

"Certainly," he murmured, and with a last glare at Oleksei, he led Scarlet away.

Scarlet could feel Oleksei's eyes on his back for a long time. When they arrived at the cabin, he began to regret his brazenness. Perhaps Liall had taken him at his word and would expect ... what? Funny, he thought. A month ago I would have done anything to get Liall to touch me, now ... I don't know what to do.

Liall smiled dryly. "I know very well who your words were for. I expect nothing."

"I didn't mean to tease..." Scarlet began.

"Yes, you did," Liall said, dropping his coat off his shoulders. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it to the chair, reaching for his belt buckle. "But I do not mind a
little
teasing."

As Scarlet watched Liall undress, he realized that perhaps Liall was the one teasing. Liall kicked his boots off and pushed his breeches off his legs, and there he stood, a tall statue of amber skin and carved muscle. His chest was broad and hairless, his waist flat and ribbed with hard planes of muscle, and lower...

Scarlet could feel his face burning and he looked away quickly when he discovered that Liall was pale-haired all over.

Deva, he was well-made! Beautiful, if such can be said of men. Seeing Liall, he realized it could.

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"You do not enjoy looking at me?" Liall asked softly. He made no move to cover his body or get into bed, but rested one hand on his hip languidly. "Am I pleasurable to look on?"

"Yes," Scarlet admitted lowly. The scent of salt was heavy and his breath misted in front of his face as he exhaled shakily. The cabin was freezing, but Liall was born for this weather and seemed not to feel the cold. "Very pleasurable."

"Then why look away?"

Scarlet took an unsteady breath. "Because you will laugh at me."

"Why?" Liall pressed, direct but simple.

"Because I don't know what to do," Scarlet blurted, his eyes nailed to the floor. Oh, Deva, he's going to think me a moron...

He heard Liall approach and felt warm hands on his shoulders.

"And why should you know?" Liall's voice was low and charged. "You think I would despise you for innocence?

Scarlet, look at me."

Scarlet would not raise his head, not until Liall fitted a hand under his chin and urged him.

"Scarlet," Liall's voice caressed him like the warm fingers on his cheek. "You have no lack to be ashamed of."

Scarlet wished he could believe this, but too much had been drummed into his head. "I feel just like what Kio called me: a stuffy old Hilurin."

"Kio does not know you like I do." Liall pushed Scarlet's black hair—which was growing long—off his forehead.

"There is nothing in the least stuffy about you."

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Scarlet looked away again, extremely uncomfortable. Liall sighed before releasing him. After a moment, Liall turned and folded his long frame into the bed. "What did Oleksei really say to you?"

"I can handle Oleksei," Scarlet answered boldly.

"No doubt." Liall pulled the covers up to his neck and rolled over, letting the matter drop.

A wave boomed against the hull and Scarlet sighed, his breath steaming in the cold air as he began to undress. When he climbed in beside Liall, the man pretended to be asleep.

Scarlet wondered if it was kindness.

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6.

T'aishka

"Liall, did I hear you say this was good for us?"

"Quite good. First rule of travel: make friends with your new climate."

"I don't think it wants to be f-friends," Scarlet stuttered, his teeth chattering.

They were getting very close to Rshan. The Ostre Sul had passed through the Circle—the invisible line drawn on maps that terminated the normal spans of day and night—twelve days ago. The farther north they drew, the less light they saw, and all was shrouded in a gray nothingness in which there was no sun and no stars. There was nothing to steer by this far into the cold seas, no landmark or constellation in the bland sky, only the compass needle by the helm that arrowed the ship dead north for weeks. Liall watched Scarlet observe this change in the sky and saw how it frightened him, but when the pedlar began speaking of disasters and portents, Liall demonstrated the celestial mechanics of the event with a lighted candle and a ball of wax, showing Scarlet how the light could only shine on certain parts of the ball during the year. After that, Scarlet relaxed and ceased viewing the sky with trepidation, though he did wonder often and aloud how they managed to keep their feet on the ground if the world was spinning as Liall claimed. He also wanted to know what the stars were, and if they had worlds that circled their warming light as Nemerl did, and what manner of people lived here, but to these, Liall had no answers.

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It was freezing on deck, the air biting as fangs, and Scarlet shivered even under the heavy coat he was bundled into. His hands were gloved with thick, fur-lined leather and his arms were wrapped around his body, and still his slight frame rattled with shivers. Each new gale stole his breath away and clawed tears from his eyes. Scarlet bore it all without complaint, grinning at Liall over the high neckline as he blew his warm breath down into the coat's shell, conserving as much heat as possible.

"I am not trying to be cruel," Liall said over the sound of the wind. "I am exposing your blood to the temperature. It is far colder than this in Rshan during the winter months, and I do not know how long we will be there. The same is done with children."

"I'm not your child," Scarlet said immediately, with faint annoyance.

But Liall was afraid. Scarlet was already dangerously weakened by the voyage and his earlier sickness, not to mention the beating he had taken. Liall feared that if some measure was not taken to strengthen Scarlet, he would fall prey to the first illness that came along.

An extended gust blew over them, pushing chunks of slushy ice against the hull, and Scarlet began to shiver uncontrollably. Liall reached inside his coat and produced a silver flask that he had kept warm near his skin. Tipping off the cap, he took a swallow before handing it to Scarlet.

Scarlet stared at it and seemed about to refuse, but Liall pushed it into his hands with a stern look.

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Scarlet sighed and lifted the flask from Liall's fingers. He took one small sip and tried to give it back, his eyes widening at sharp burn of strong liquor, but Liall nudged his hand.

"Again. For true this time, you drink like a little girl." Liall knew that would goad his pride, and true to form, Scarlet tipped the flask up and took a mouthful too large even for a Northman.

Scarlet's eyes went very wide as he forcibly swallowed it down and then gasped for air. He swore in Falx and shook his head like his brains had been rattled.

Liall knew Scarlet's tongue must feel like cinders. That was the beauty of Rshan liquors: they were all made from the strongest spices or herbs and were very potent. Liall patted Scarlet's back helpfully as the young man gasped for breath, trying not to feel too sorry for him.

When Scarlet could breathe, he thrust the flask back at Liall. "There, happy now? Did I pass your damn test?"

Liall laughed and shook his head. "One more." Scarlet looked doubtful and angry at the same time. "It will warm you," he promised.

"Oh, warm," Scarlet answered glibly. "I remember being warm."

"And I remember you used to smile," Liall teased, pressing him to take one more drink.

In a few days they would arrive in Rshan. So far, the voyage had been one protracted song of disaster, danger, petty arguments and boredom. In the time since Oleksei and his fellows had attacked Scarlet, the pedlar had grown distant. When he slept beside Liall in the bunk, he was as 134

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close to the bulkhead as he could get without being on the other side, his back turned. Although the crew had begun to treat Scarlet with some respect since the pirate attack, his smiles had become rarer than the sun and he no longer laughed or joked with Liall at all.

Scarlet took another drink, a judiciously smaller one this time, turning the sharp taste over in his mouth before swallowing. "Is it cinnamon?" he asked.

"Something very like, fermented with honey over several years."

"Years?" He regarded the flask with suspicion. "Must be expensive."

"It was, so enjoy it."

Scarlet drank again and shook the wind-blown hair out of his eyes.

"I have a surprise for you," Liall said. Scarlet's eyebrows crept up. "Shall we go see?"

Scarlet shrugged and took a last sip from the flask. Liall capped it and slipped it back inside his shirt.

Once they were in the cabin, Liall closed the door and locked it before stripping off his gloves.

Scarlet looked pointedly at the lock, but said nothing.

When he saw what Liall had commanded the crew to bring in while they were gone, he laughed out loud. "A bath?" Scarlet gave a startled laugh. "That can't be fresh water."

"It is," Liall said. "Well, not really. It is melted ice from the floes. It has some salt in it, but not much. It is perfectly fine for bathing, though I would not drink it if I were you." He threw a few more coals onto the small brazier and opened the 135

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vents up a little. They all froze on the voyage, but he knew Scarlet felt it more than any other. Rshani mariners were accustomed to such weather and thought nothing of it. Liall had overheard the crude comments that floated around the ship regarding the Hilurin's constant need for warmth as well as his habit of washing, which the rough mariners thought faintly womanish, but Liall did not have to share a cabin with the mariners. If Scarlet intended to smell sweet throughout the voyage, he would get no argument from Liall.