Oathbreaker, Book 1: The Knight's Tale - Colin McComb

windows are small and high—after weeks or months on the high seas, most of us’ve had enough
of the damned sun.
Well, except for sailors like me. My name’s Camila Voris. I’m a tiller’s engineer, so I
spend most of my time below decks, slaving away on the great gears that keep the boat moving in
the direction Captain “Early” Jon Meyels wants it to go. Working sixteen-hour shifts don’t give
me much latitude to get up on deck, and when I do, I haven’t usually got time to watch the
scenery, but what I do see, I hold as close to my heart as my lungs. I take the best chance I can to
make up for that lost freedom when we hit land and we’re laid over for two weeks. So naturally,
the weather set me off—I’d been hoping for sun and shine, and instead I got this coming rain. My
berthmates, Pol Austin and Skag Madison, recognized it in me and kept mum, or more likely
were as glum at the thought of rain. Even if we’re not aching for the sight of sun on land, none of
us fancies being trapped inside during our leaves.
So that might explain why we were less than courtly polite when we found our way
blocked by that young man.
Let me tell you about the Ocarina. She’s a fast vessel—not one of the fastest, but fast. She’s
tough, too—again, not the toughest, but tough. She’s outrun the pirates of Elsidon and gunned
down their fastest scout when it wouldn’t give up the pursuit. She’s a cutter with a steam engine
that provides us enough power to haul heavy cargoes or other vessels and still make it to our
destination on time, or else to put on a burst of speed when we’re running high. She’s got three
heavy guns and two light guns each to port and starboard, and the iron-clad hull boasts a
tempered-steel prow in case someone gets a little too friendly with us. She’s got three masts on
the deck and three levels below-decks, and one of those masts can double as a mooring for a light
dirigible if we've got our heavy anchors down. The steerhouse sits on the top of two levels at the
stern of the ship, with mage-hardened windows all ’round. She’s got a speaking-tube system that
lets the captain communicate across the ship, and he runs the ship hard and well. He runs the ship
for House Hulden, and they lease her services to other merchant Houses of the Empire, at least in
name. In practice, Early Jon picks and chooses the contracts he wants, and he’s good enough and
generous enough that he’s kept his sailing crew working with him for years. He's canny in the
ways of the sea, he rises before us and is abed after. The Ocarina is the best ship most of us’ve
ever sailed on, and it’s because of that that we’re in the position we’re in today.
Colin McComb Oathbreaker, Book 1: The Knight's Tale
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