‘Pull it off, just pull it off!’
Sampa gave the last stubborn earring a swift yank. It tore free from the flesh that had grown around it. Shon Ju jerked. His eyes flew open.
‘Oh shit,’ said Sampa.
With an almighty howl, Shon’s arms shot out, flailing around his head and knocking Bero’s arm upward just as Bero pulled the trigger of the gun. The shot deafened all of them but went wide, punching into the plaster ceiling.
Sampa scrambled to get away, nearly tripping over Shon as he lunged for the stall door. Shon flung his arms around one of the boy’s legs. His bloodshot eyes rolled in disorientation and rage. Sampa tumbled to the ground and put his hands out to break his fall; the paper packet jumped from his grasp and skittered across the tile floor between Bero’s legs.
‘Thieves!’ Shon Ju’s snarling mouth formed the word, but Bero did not hear it. His head was ringing from the gunshot, and everything was happening as if in a soundless chamber. He stared as the red-faced Green Bone dragged at the terrified Abukei boy like a grasping demon from a pit.
Bero bent, snatched the crumpled paper envelope, and ran for the door.
He forgot he’d locked it. For a second he pushed and pulled in stupid panic, before turning the bolt and pounding out of the room. The diners had heard the gunshot, and dozens of shocked faces were turned toward him. Bero had just enough presence of mind left to jam the gun into his pocket and point a finger back toward the restroom. ‘There’s a jade thief in there!’ he shouted.
Then he ran across the dining room floor, weaving between tables, the two small stones digging through the paper and against the palm of his tightly fisted left hand. People leapt away from him. Faces blurred past. Bero knocked over a chair, fell, picked himself up again, and kept running.
His face was burning. A sudden surge of heat and energy unlike anything he had ever felt before ripped through him like an electric current. He reached the wide, curving staircase that led to the second floor, where diners were getting up and peering over the balcony railing to see what the commotion was. Bero rushed up the stairs, clearing the entire expanse in a few bounds, his feet barely touching the floor. A gasp ran through the crowd. Bero’s surprise burst into ecstasy. He threw his head back to laugh. This must be Lightness.
A film had been lifted from his eyes and ears. The scrape of chair legs, the crash of a plate, the taste of the air on his tongue— everything was razor sharp. Someone reached out to grab him, but he was so slow, and Bero was so fast. He swerved with ease and leapt off the surface of a table, scattering dishes and eliciting screams. There was a sliding screen door ahead of him that led out onto the patio overlooking the harbor. Without thinking, without pausing, he crashed through the barrier like a charging bull. The wooden latticework shattered, and Bero stumbled through the body-sized hole he had made with a mad shout of exultation. He felt no pain at all, only a wild, fierce invincibility.
This was the power of jade.
The night air blasted him, tingling against his skin. Below, the expanse of gleaming water beckoned irresistibly. Waves of delicious heat seemed to be coursing through Bero’s veins. The ocean looked so cool, so refreshing. It would feel so good. He flew toward the patio railing.
Hands clamped onto his shoulders and pulled him to a hard stop. Bero was yanked back as if he’d reached the end of a chain and spun around to face Maik Tar.
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Table of Contents
Title
Copyright
Contents
1. The Castaway
2. Child of a Pitiless Sea
3. In the Shadow of the Black Ship
4. To Find a Place to Fit
5. Those Who Stand Upon the Deck
6. Onwards, Ever Onwards
7. Bone of Old Gods
8. To Put Together on a Menday
9. The Breaking of Tide Child
10. The Return
11. Homeward and Bound
12. To All Who Serve, Comes A-Calling
13. Here Be Dragons
14. A Gathering of Cold Souls
15. A Reunion
16. If the Boot Fits
17. A Pledging
18. To Sea, Once More to Sea
19. All at Sea
20. A Greased Peg Slips in Well
21. And All the Blackest Birds Flock Together
22. Glimmers in the Night
23. Towards the First of the Last
24. A Sight Seldom Seen
25. I Saw a Miracle Upon the Water
26. To Sing a Song of Wind and Travel
27. What Lies Beneath
28. An Island Excursion
29. Onwards and Upwards
30. The Two Towers
31. Those Who Leave Us Will Return
32. Sooner Not Start Than See a Job Half Done
33. The Drum Beats Out and All the Deckchilder Answer
34. The Flight to the Death
35. Three Ships Rising, Ho!
36. The Pain of the Victors Is No Pain At All
37: The Hag’s Word Is Never a Good Word
38. The Hag Opens Her Arms, and Deckchilder Sink into Them
39. A Really Needed Skill
Appendix: Ranks in the Fleet and the Hundred Isles
Afterword and Acknowledgements