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

“Out of the way,” Pol snarled, and she reached out to shove the interloper aside. I say she reached
because he wasn’t there when her hand got to where he’d been.
“Don’t do that,” the stranger said. His voice was flat, his face empty, and it nailed Pol to
the spot. If he’d flashed or growled, she might have tried again. She backed down, though, the
first time I’d ever seen her do that. And now, thinking back on it, I think she might be a better
fighter than I ever thought, because I guess she never got into a fight she wasn’t sure she could
win, and she never’d backed down before. At least not in front of me. But this time, she put her
hands down and spoke.
“What do you want?”
“I need to speak to your captain,” the stranger said. “I need a ship, a fast one, for myself,
my charge, and my steed.”
“Guild’s empty,” I said. “We’re just in, and we ain’t leaving.”
“You will. I can pay.”
Skag broke in: “We won’t. We been out to sea for a month now, and we’re due leave.
You won’t find a crew willing to take you for at least a few days, unless you have truly excellent
money.” Skag looked the man up and down. “A lot more than it looks like you’re carrying.” Skag
had been third mate before he’d been busted back down, and he knew how a ship ran. “Anyway,
the captain won’t see anyone ’til he’s seen to the replenishing of the ship.”
“I do not ask,” the man said. “I require.” His hand drifted to his sword handle, idly,
slowly, and it was suddenly perfectly clear to me that it wasn’t idle at all, that this man didn’t
make threats, not like sailors do.
“But you can’t require,” continued Skag. “Our ship is light-staffed as it is, and our sailors
have spread through the city. No way we can run a ship without our men, and no way we’ll be
able to find them all in this city in the next few days. They’re at the whorehouses or the gambling
dens, or they’ve headed out into the country. Like I said, we’re due leave, and our sailors take it
when they get it. They’ll hear if we put the word out that there’s more money to be made, but I
don’t make any guarantees.”
The stranger looked at us, one after the other, studying us. Though he didn’t like it, he
saw the truth in our faces like sun off the water. He nodded, tilted his head a tiny piece, and said,
“My apologies for the waste of your time. I shall return tomorrow evening to speak with your
captain, and with enough money to hire your services.” He turned and headed up toward
Candlemaker’s Square. That’s when the clouds broke, and that’s when we bolted in.
Colin McComb Oathbreaker, Book 1: The Knight's Tale
61