Chapter 183: Apparently, One Galleon Is Not a Souvenir

The crew left to their merry hours and eventually work to refit the ship, James and Cudjoe returned to the Rose together.

Cudjoe’s boots scarcely touched the deck before he began to complain. "Are you really keeping this fat lady, Captain? What’re we meant tae do wi’ her once we’re home? Park her outside the bay and wave at the reefs like a pack o’ bluidy fools?"

"The old lady’ll fit fine, Cudjoe. Trust me."

Cudjoe’s voice went as flat as a calm sea. "Bah, that’s the very word that had me standin’ aboard some frigate wonderin’ whether I’d see another sunrise."

"And look how well that turned out."

"It turned out we blew the whole damned ship tae kingdom come, and I near went wi’ it."

James grinned. "See? Fine."

Cudjoe snapped a snort, like he could not be reasoned with. "The galleon’s gonnae run aground the moment we reach the reefs, and I’ll be the one explainin’ tae Sawyer why we need tae build a new dock around a dead galleon."

"Nah, ye have my word on it."

Cudjoe breathed through his nose, which made a snicker caught between a laugh and a curse.

There was no profit in arguing with a captain who had already made up his mind.

"Fine, have it yer way, Captain. Same as ye always do."

Both crossed the Rose’s deck toward the cabin.

Near the mainmast, Grey had a chart spread beneath one hand and was muttering at it like a man fighting an old quarrel. "That’s wrong, that’s my own hand, and it’s wrong. I’ll have to ask myself what I was thinking when I wrote it."

A few feet farther on, Farrow crouched beside a swivel gun and brushed his thumb along the touchhole with grave suspicion.

"This one’s lied to me twice already, third time, she goes over the side."

James raised a hand as he passed.

Neither man spared him more than a glance, which was probably just as well. He had enough people worrying about him already.

"Cudjoe."

James kept his voice easy. "How’d ye come to be out here at all? Last I knew, ye were meant to be at Concordia."

The question was simple enough aloud. In James’s own head it had a few more teeth to it, but he saw no reason to show them yet.

Cudjoe replied to him without hurry. "Williams kept the Marianne off Havana longer than any sensible man should, waitin’ on word from yer party. When none came, and none looked like comin’, he made the call tae sail for Concordia instead o’ sittin’ there rot. We’d barely reached Cuba when we caught on a rumor."

"And that was?"

"Merchants sayin’ a galleon had been robbed clean out o’ Havana a few days past."

Cudjoe’s mouth twitched, almost into a smile, though he seemed determined not to give himself the satisfaction. "It has yet to be born another fool in this whole ocean reckless enough tae steal a galleon from under the Armada’s nose. Wasn’t hard tae guess whose name belonged tae it."

"Aye, well."

James clapped him on the shoulder, grinning.

"Can’t fault a man for knowin’ me too well."

Cudjoe grunted, looking quite pleased with himself.

James let the timing turn over in his mind for a moment.

Perhaps the Fateweaving had simply made them found its way to him by accident. Perhaps it changed farther back, putting Williams on the voyage to Concordia to call for the Rose before either of them knew it. There was no way to tell, and James had little appetite for hunting an answer that might not be there.

He let the thought go as a man lets go of a coin dropped into water too dark to see the bottom. What was done was done.

By then they reached the cabin, and the door shut behind them, leaving the noise of the deck on the other side.

A chart lay across the table, its corners held down by an empty cup and a marlinspike.

Cudjoe dropped into the chair opposite him. "Right then. Whatever ye sailed tae Havana tae do, it plainly didn’t get done. So what now, Captain?"

James clicked his tongue in contemplation. "There’s a woman in Havana named Esperanza, runs smuggled goods through that city, and does it better than the bastard who tried sellin’ us out for a bounty on my own head. Fat fuck named Ambrosio Quintanilla."

He spoke both names plainly, watching Cudjoe hear them for the first time. "She owes me a debt that’s still standin’, while he owes me considerably worse. Neither account’s settled."

Cudjoe’s eyebrows climbed until they seemed intent on leaving his face altogether.

"There’s a bounty on yer head?"

"Aye, ye’ll have the whole bloody tale soon enough."

"Ye’re tellin’ me precious little of it now, Captain."

James shrugged. "There’s a tidbit needs takin’ care of before I sail back into that city a second time. I’ll say no more till it’s ready."

He nodded toward the deck, toward the galleon lying alongside them.

"That old lady’s got her own part to play in it, so we’ll need to fit her nicely and find a crew."

Cudjoe put that away and did not waste time trying to pry it loose.

James tapped the chart.

"For now it’s simple enough, we’ll return to Concordia.

Cudjoe pushed himself up, already working through the business in his head. "I’ll sort hands off both ships tae hold her steady on the voyage, and set us a course home once Williams and I have compared notes right."

He paused at the door and looked James over one more time.

"Get some rest, Captain. Ye’ve earned it, for once."

He left without waiting for an answer, and the door shut behind him.

Alone at last, James let his thoughts wander back to the one corner of that shop he had barely laid a finger on before today.

Fateweaving.

He had spent every last currency he possessed on one throw of it and received nearly exactly what he had asked for.

What a man could buy from that shelf with twice the coin, or ten times as much, was something he had no answer to. The longer he considered it, the more tempting the danger became.

Either or, there was no sense dreaming about spending money he did not yet have, so he left the matter alone.

Instead, he turned inward, toward that voice of his that apparently considered sleep an unnecessary luxury.

"That fight ought to have whatever ye had ridin’ on it. Well?"

The quest is complete. Confirmed.

"And?"