Kaz held up his cane, but paused when he recognized Jesper. Sturmhond was running a short distance behind him.
"Jesper!" he called out.
"Oh, hey, didn't even see you there!" Jesper panted, coming to a halting stop in front of Kaz. "Nice night for a stroll on the docks, right?"
Sturmhond slammed into his back, nearly knocking them both over. Jesper caught himself, standing up quickly to grin nervously at Kaz.
"Where is Inej? And why is he with you?" Kaz growled. He folded his hands carefully over the head of his cane, his fingers drumming impatiently.
"Oh, her? She's off… Doing important stuff," Jesper said, looking frantically at Sturmhond.
"She had a lead on one of the slavers from the club. Told us that she'd be better on her own for the next part, so we took her word for it and decided to go for a nice stroll," Sturmhond offered, managing to still look calm and casual despite his heavy breathing. He folded his hands behind his back elegantly.
"Near the other slave ships. You know, so we can, uh, get more info. Best be on our way." Jesper tried to walk past Kaz, Sturmhond close on his heels.
Kaz held out his cane, blocking Jesper's way. Jesper froze. Beads of sweat poured down his neck. Kaz stared at him, his eyes boring into the side of his head. Jesper kept his face down. He didn't dare meet Kaz's gaze.
"Jesper Fahey." Kaz spoke quietly, darkly. "There is no crevice in this city, in this nation, in this world, that can hide you from me. Not even in your dreams nor in your nightmares would you find an escape from my wrath. I truly hope you know what it is you are doing."
Jesper looked up at him then, meeting his intense gaze. Kaz found there a mixture of fear, anger, and a small amount of mysterious longing, although Kaz knew not for what. But he did know that whatever Jesper was doing, he wasn't doing it for himself alone. He lowered the cane.
Jesper and Sturmhond rushed past him onto the ship without another word.
The two Shu warriors looked at the pair, incredulous. They raced around to the other side of the deck, vanishing from sight. The warriors turned to look at him.
"Mind if I come aboard your ship now?"
Jesper followed Sturmhond as he motioned where to go, coming to a small rowboat hanging over the water's edge.
"I need to grab some things. Be ready to drop into the water when I come back." Sturmhond raced through a door into what Jesper assumed was the captain's quarters.
Jesper hopped into the rowboat. He looked out in the distance, across the harbor. He knew exactly which ship would be the slavers'. Kaz had him mark all of the ships that came into the harbor, to keep an eye on who was in town.
Sturmhond returned with a pack slung over his shoulder. He leapt into the boat as Jesper released the lines, and they lowered quickly into the harbor below.
"What's in the pack?" Jesper asked, grabbing the oars.
"Some useful gadgets. I have a fabrikator friend. He makes some nice toys."
"Of course he does," Jesper muttered as he rowed, trying not to look over. He felt a pang in his heart; he didn't want to know what other fabrikators were possible of, what he could have been possible of.
"How good of a shot are you?" Sturmhond asked after a moment of silence.
Jesper looked over, giving him a wicked smile. This was something no Grisha could ever do better than him. "I'd bet you I'm the best you'll ever meet."
"You've met me, so it looks like you've already lost that wager." He pulled out a small device and waved it around casually, the glass on it catching the light. "However, I can't throw and shoot, so you're in luck. This is a bomb. I'm going to throw it over the side of the ship, and when I do, you're going to shoot it. It should hopefully cause a blast big enough to bring everyone above deck, giving us the chance to enter from below."
"What do you mean, enter from below? We can't just cut a hole into the side of the ship. That's impossible."
Sturmhond grinned at him in response. "Improbable, my friend. Never impossible."
They made it to the quiet ship without incident. As Jesper had suspected, hardly anyone was above decks. No one would give their rowboat a second glance, thinking that they would be headed elsewhere.
Sturmhond gave him a nod. Jesper pulled out one of his revolvers. A part of him sighed in relief at the comforting weight of the pearl handle in his hand; nothing in the world was more relaxing to him than that precious instrument of beautiful destruction.
Sturmhond stood up gracefully, barely even rocking the boat. He arced back his arm; Jesper cocked the gun. Sturmhond threw. Jesper waited, keeping his eyes trained on the small device as it sailed silently through the air. He fired.
A blossom of fire erupted, engulfing the top of the ship. The blast resounded through the harbor.
"I must begrudgingly admit that you are a fairly good shot," Sturmhond said fondly as they watched men rush onto the deck.
When they bumped up against the hull, Sturmhond got to work instantly. He plastered a strange paste across the wood above the water line, rubbing a patch about the size of a door. After that, he lit a match and held it to the paste. Rather than an explosive flame like Jesper was expecting, the paste started to glow bright red. The wood melted away before Jesper's eyes. Ashes flaked away silently, fluttering into the marine water below.
Sturmhond climbed in quickly. Water started to follow. Jesper leapt up and followed him inside, the water tugging at his ankles.
They emerged in a large, dark room filled with cages and chains. It looked like half the hold had been turned into a prison. In the dim light of the torches, Jesper could see only one figure in the entire length of the room.
Inej glared at them from her chained position on the wall. "Idiots," she muttered.
"Wonderful seeing you again as well, my lovely lady," Sturmhond said as he strode over to her. The tilt of the ship didn't seem to bother him at all as he walked. He reached into his bag of wonders and pulled out a pair of simple cutters.
"You really think those are going to break through these chains?" Inej asked, raising an eyebrow. Jesper moved away from the hole in the wall, wary of the water flooding in.
Sturmhond ignored her, cutting the chains off her wrists with one simple snap. She looked at him in wonder.
"Keep those away from me." She rubbed her wrists as she stood.
"I wouldn't dare to leave a blemish on such a pretty lady," Sturmhond responded with a wink. "Shall we be off then?"
"No." Inej folded her arms. "I want them all dead."
Sturmhond looked at Jesper. He shrugged, having expected nothing less.
"I suppose it'll give me a chance to play with my extra toys, anyway." Sturmhond shook the sack in the air, grinning mischievously.
Inej gave Jesper a quizzical look. He only shook his head in response before turning to run up the stairs that led up to awaiting chaos.