Chapter 10

It was after the earthquake, and things had settled more or less. Workers were busy clearing the streets of rubble and broken glass. The clock tower fire had been put out successfully. Unfortunately, there had been a few fatalities and several injuries.

May's wounds had been severe, but with some timely medical intervention, her life had been saved. Not without a notable amount of pain, May tried to make a fist. One arm in a cast, along with her right leg, the musket ball had to be cut out of her chest, and the wound stitched back together. On the side, the cauterizing spell had done its work perfectly, stopping any more blood loss and saving May's life. Except that she now sported burn scars all over.

"We really should have had more of a peacekeeping force around. I'm afraid we've bungled things up considerably." Fred said.

May sat on the bed, in the makeshift hospital, and could not help but agree. They did not even have a regular hospital in the town, but just a rickety doctor's office with a few patient beds. For the amount of weaponry and ammunition they were putting out, they were sitting ducks, waiting for a willing hunter, from within or without.

A fully equipped, fully trained team of peacekeepers would do wonders. It would not take more than 50 to hold the entire town and surrounding wilderness. But by the way things looked, it was far too late for that.

"Say," May began, nudging Fred with the bottom of her one, non-broken foot. He turned, stirred from his deep-in-thought-moment, and frowned. "What about mercenaries?"

May picked up an errant apple on the floor and threw it across the tent, hitting the canvas and startling Mr. Spiros, the breadmaker. He was having a cut on his forearm stitches.

"Sorry, Spiros," said May.

The breadmaker picked up the apple and threw it right back, but missing and hitting Fred in the back.

"Ouch." said Fred, before turning and yelling, "Free bread for a week!"

"One day." laughed back Spiros.

May stared at Fred, stonefaced, who in return shrugged. "It's just levity, we all need a break."

"Well, we're not getting it any time soon." She looked down, wanting above all things to avoid this conversation. May had done her best, while convalescing in the hospital tent, to steer her mind away from the guilt.

"I messed up," said May. "I underestimated what Darby was doing. I became complacent in my job, and I never really liked Patrick, never took care of him, and now, because of it, he's dead. His grandfather told me to teach him and to take care of him and I sent him to the wolf's den as a distraction. A distraction, that after all that, went nowhere."

Fred put his hand on May's shoulder, "I can't offer advice, as I've destroyed my own life very nicely, but what happened is not on you. It's the job. Who knew what Darby was capable of. I mean, murder attempt and hiring thugs? At best, I thought he might've been skimming off the top. Not this." he said, "Maybe Patrick is still alive. He could've escaped. Plus, as you said, he knows nothing, so they wouldn't they hurt him."

"Maybe," said May. "But I doubt it. I can't go fight in my situation."

"No," said Fred. "What did Bear say, weeks of recovery and then months of exercise?"

"Something like that. There's a long time before I can even think of holding a sword or a pistol." said May, "That's why we need to do something else."

"So then, mercenaries?" Fred asked.

"Did go check on the two that attacked me?"

"Gone and never coming back. The buildings collapsed right on top of them. It will be some time before they're found."

"Could we make it seem like I died in the collapse as well?" asked May.

"Why would we do that?"

"Not a lot of people saw me, and we're all covered in dust, scrapes, nobody's really paying attention. Who would know it's a lie?"

"Just to get Darby off your back?" asked Fred.

"Why not? This way, I can have time to recover my strength. Let's be honest here, my survival hinges on how long it will take them to break through the corridor. I'm sure they're up there blasting their way through the collapsed rock."

"We're gonna have to find somewhere to hide you. Once they come down into the city, I doubt they'll discriminate on violence. After all, they were willing to put down a peacekeeper. What are the rest of us worth?" said Fred.

"A whole lot, at least to me." said May, and after a moment to think, "I can't stay in the town. They think I'm a threat, they'll turn everything over to find me. I didn't know anything when they tried to kill me, and I don't know much of anything know, so it's not knowledge that bothers Darby. I think he's scrambling to destroy anybody that will be a threat, cleaning house before he plays his final hand."

"If not hiding in the town then what?" asked Fred.

"I leave. Find a ship, somebody we trust, get me to the edge of the Kingdom, where I can let the authorities know of what's happened."

"Attempted murder, that might attract some attention. They'll send a few agents back with you to investigate and punish."

"No, we'll need something bigger," said May.

"What's bigger than that?"

"What do all Kingdoms hate to hear from their colonies?"

Fred smiled as he realized what May meant. "Rebellion. That'll get the gears turning."

***

May had a hard time working her crutches. At the moment she was busy pulling one of them from between the two planks of wood where it had gotten stuck.

The docks were busy as always. The experiences harbor master set things going fast after the earthquake ended. People were busy unloading cargo or loading it back up on the ships.

The fishing ships were just pulling in for the day, decks slimy with their catch of the day.

May had covered her head with a scarf and wore a large, heavy coat. It was an attempt at hiding away her identity, keep the ruse that she had died going a little bit longer. Unfortunately, wearing new giant garments that you were not familiar with while at the same time learning to walk on crutches, well, things were bound to be a bit clumsy.

She was starting to get quite a few odd looks by now, but she kept marching on, making her way to the ship that Fred had commissioned for her.

It was a mid-range schooner, the new paint on the ship glittering in the sun. The figurehead was new as well, carved up to the neck, where the artist still had work to do.

The ship looked good, too good because it was probably newly stolen, May assumed, from some rich fool that tried to sail across the Long Sea and spend their holiday in the colonies. Suffice to say, they probably never made it and it was now under the command of a band of enterprising pirates.

The people on board looked as trustworthy as sailors ever did thought May. Some of them were missing a limb, and there was not one person without face tattoos.

At May's approach, Fred popped his head in from the ship and said something to the others. People appeared, walking down to help May make her way across the plank and onto the ship. It was quite the embarrassing experience, thought May, having to give her crutches to the sailors and be half-carried, half-dragged into the ship like she was helpless. When getting the crutches back, May had to restrain herself from smacking one of the sailors in the face.

"Hey, look on the bright side," said Fred. "At least you've still got your original parts." He waved a mechanical hand at her, gears squeaking as he motioned.

"Yeah, I know. Turns out knowing something doesn't much help with the frustration."

The captain of the ship came up to them, while the rest of his crew were looking at new arrivals out of the side of their eyes, trying to not be conspicuous.

"Howdy." said the captain. "I'm Alex." She shoved her hand forward, nearly knocking May off her feet. Alex turned out to be a very tall woman, looking wiry and tough, with as many scars as one could fit scattered all over.

"Freddie here tells me we're toppling the kingdom," said Alex in her cheerful voice.

"Just the opposite," mumbled Fred, rubbing at his forehead.

"Yes yes, whatever. I'm getting paid all the same. We prepared a cabin for you, give you time to recover from your little steel bites there. It's not the best place on the ship, that's for the one and only captain, but it's also not the worst. Because that's for our useless trainee. Ain't that right, Ricky?" She yelled over her shoulder.

Up from rigging, a young and scared voice yelled back. "Yes, Captain."

Alex laughed, shaking with glee. "He doesn't even know what I said but he'll agree with anything because he's terrified of me." When May just made a confused face, she retorted, "Well, it's not funny to you because he hasn't annoyed you with not learning anything. But believe me, he's quite useless and needs to toughen up."

"Well, I don't know anything about sailing," said May.

"I'll let you get to settling in," Alex said, and then pulled Fred around by the shoulder and began walking away. "We're going to count coins, aren't we Freddie?"

"We are?"

"Oh yes, there's the food, the cost of travel, plus I need to get her some different clothes, because one good wave and she's going overboard in those heavy things... "

Their voices vanished as May closed the door to the cabin. It smelled of salt and smoke. A little window let in the sunlight. A small drawer with a lamp atop it was the only luxury.

May sat on the bed and took off the scarf and the heavy coat, dropping them in a heap at the foot of the bed. She lay back and put her broken leg in a comfortable position. The room moved little by little with the tide, causing May's stomach to groan and feel nauseous.

"This will take some getting used to," said May, closing her eyes, trying to combat the motion sickness.