WARP world Read Online Free PDF Page B

freedom,” he sighed again, a lock of hair slipped out of place, “how I envy you! But, I’m getting carried away. You watch and listen, tell me what you see and hear, and I,” he knocked on the wheel, “will make sure that you stay free and sailing.”
    “You want me to spy for you?” Ama’s eyes were dark, she fought to keep her fists unclenched. “You want me to spy on my own people?”
    “I want you to help your people. I want you to protect them from those who would force me to use less civilized measures to keep order.”
    “Like burning boats?” She regretted the words the moment they slipped out.
    “Yes. Like that,” he replied, the friendly tone seeping out of his voice.
    “No.”
    “Think about this Amadahy.”
    “I have.” She kept one eye on Dagga, “I said no. You’re not my friend and I’m not yours. I’ll follow your rules but that’s all you can make me do.”
    “Sure about that?” Dagga muttered.
    Judicia Corrus tipped his head to one side then the other, “Well, I had to try, but I can’t say I’m surprised. Stubborn.” He lunged forward without warning, until his nose was almost touching hers. “Just like your mother.”
    Ama gasped, which elicited another gleaming smile, this one predatory.
    “You…” Ama’s heartbeat sped up. She tried to move but Dagga’s hand clamped on her elbow and held her in place.
    “Stubborn, proud, secretive, yes, you’re just like her.” Corrus said, then smoothed the undisciplined lock of hair back into place. “But perhaps you have slightly more concern for your family than she did, hm? Why don’t you take some time to think about my offer?”
    “Get off my boat,” Ama said, her voice barely restrained.
    “Your boat, yes, she’s a beauty,” Corrus said, then turned to Dagga. “Let’s leave our friend to consider her future. Oh, and Amadahy, if news of this friendly chat should reach any other ears, then those ears would find themselves at the mercy of my Head Constable. Understood?”
    Ama’s heart felt as if it had stopped beating. She nodded, unable to speak.
    “Good!” Corrus strolled away as casually as if he were in his own home.
    Dagga released Ama’s elbow with a shove, pulled a match from his shirt pocket and struck it on the cask of grint. He held the flame in front of Ama’s face, she leaned away from the light to keep her dathe hidden. Dagga let the match burn right down to the end, to the tips of his finger and thumb, without flinching. When the flame died, he placed the blackened stick on the helm, worked up a mouthful of spit and hacked it on the deck.
    “Thirty days, Amadahy,” Corrus called out from the stairs, without looking back. “Thirty days.”
    She watched the men leave until the night swallowed them. Then she hurried below deck, to her quarters, where she re-fastened her nove with trembling fingers.
    “Rutting Judicia,” she cursed.
    She thought of Dagga, pawing through the insides of her beloved Naida , and was filled with an urge to dive overboard again and scrub herself clean.
    Had they been watching her? What if Dagga had shown up while she was still onboard? She grabbed her knife off the small table in the corner and clutched the hilt.
    Thirty days.
    She couldn’t tell Fa or her brothers about Corrus’s threat, or she would put them all in danger.
    Overhead, the lantern painted the small berth a dismal orange. Ama sighed, as she looked around at her home. What were her choices? Whether she married or not, it would mean giving up the Naida and everything she lived for, with no way to ensure Corrus would leave her alone. If she could make enough coin, if she could only do that, then she could run, take herself and the Naida out of Corrus’s reach. Beyond the Rift Tribu, if it came to that.
    Thirty days.
    Or she could betray her own people.
    She stared at her mother’s likeness; Corrus’s words filled her head. No one in the family talked much about the suicide but Ama remembered, vividly,