10 – Misdirection

Lucy hurried to the rail beside her brother and squinted into the glare of the sun on the water. "She's not after us," Lucy murmured, seeing specks on the horizon behind the Selbarani ship. "She's running from them."

Other ships. Three of them, fanned out behind like an honor guard, but Lucy knew better. The fin-shaped sails identified the others as Calormene.

A flash of firelight burst from one of the Calormene ships, and an instant later, Lucy heard the distant boom of cannon fire. Fearfully, she turned to Edmund. She knew his safety lay in avoiding other ships of any alliance where possible, but an attack on a ship of Selbaran might be more than he could stand. "It may be time to show your colors," she said softly.

Van came to the rail. "What are your orders?"

Ed's expression went grim and regretful. "We run."

Van might have taken it for missing an opportunity for plunder, but Lucy knew better. Ed's eyes remained on the Selbarani ship, and it took no great effort to see he was thinking of Asha. She could almost hear him grinding his teeth. "They'll sink it," she whispered.

"She's not on it," Ed snapped. Van gave them both a look, clearly wondering what wasn't being said. Ed started away from the rail, then halted, clenching his fist. He snarled an ugly curse and met Van's gaze. "We draw the Calormenes' fire. Then run."

Van's eyes went round. "What?"

"We're fast enough to do it," Edmund explained. "The wind is always with us. We can make it to the Faeries' Gate if we lighten our load."

Van got right in his face. If it had been Peter, Ed might have backed down. Not so with Van. "The heaviest thing we carry is gold," Van said.

Ed's eyes lit up. He looked into the rigging and put two fingers to his lips, then whistled loudly. "Arrow!"

The griffin soared down and landed on the deck.

"What's the most weight you can carry and still maintain your agility?"

"A man and a little more," Arrow said. He glanced at Lucy. "Or a heavier load, if the rider is small."

Lucy began to see where Ed's thoughts were leading. Excitement ran circles under her skin. "A small pouch of gold. Maybe two. I can do it, E—" She bit off the rest of his name with her heart pounding, then nodded. "I can do it."

Ed reached into his belt and tossed her a set of keys. "The silver one. There's a safe in my cabin. Hurry."

Lucy raced away.

- # -

"You're going to let her fly toward them?" Van demanded. "What if they fire before they realize what she's carrying? They'll blow her out of the sky like a boy slinging stones at pigeons!"

The captain's dark eyes met his. One brow quirked upward in a maddening display of amusement. "Concerned for her, Van? That's almost chivalrous of you."

"I'm concerned for our necks," Van snarled.

"She's flown with him plenty," the captain assured him. "They're fast. A griffin can outmaneuver firearms and cannon, as long as he stays in the sun glare. Once she drops the bait, the Calormenes will come right to us. And we are only a handful of leagues from the Faeries' Gate, my friend."

"You're stark mad," Van growled. "What if the Selbarani fire at us while the leddy's occupied with the Calormenes?"

A whirl of leaves approached. The captain turned to the dryad before she even got close. "The Selbarani will have the food you need, and be able to heal your illness. Can you get to the ship if we steer close enough past it?" he asked.

The dryad's gaze went from the captain to the ship running desperately from the Calormenes. "Yes," she said softly, "I think so." Her gaze came back to the captain. Even Van, unfamiliar with dryads, could see the admiration, even adoration, on her face.

"Good." The captain stayed silent a moment. When he spoke again, his voice went curiously soft. "Say nothing to anyone, except to her, when you see her. I charge you with that task."

"As you say," the dryad said, dipping her head.

"What the ...?" Van sputtered. The captain started away toward the ship's wheel, and Van chased after him. "First, you said you wanted no one to leave the ship. Now, you're letting her go?"

"Yes, Van. She can be trusted to keep silent."

"Until she gets to whoever this 'her' is you're sending her to. Which is who?"

"You needn't worry about her," the captain said. "Rather we concern ourselves with how to put ocean between The Phoenix and the Calormenes."

"After enraging them," Van said. "I don't like flying blind, captain, and I've been doing an awful lot of it of late."

The captain smiled at him, almost sympathetic, and more than a bit ironic. "I need you to trust me a bit longer, Van."

Minutes later, Lady Kirke emerged from the captain's cabin (proper cabin, Van reminded himself) with two leather sacks and the keys. The latter, she tossed to the captain. The captain plucked them from the air with an ease completely at odds with the fact that they were about to instigate cannon fire. "I don't trust anyone," Van said. "That's how I made it to the ripe old age of three-and-sixty."

The captain's gaze came up, quirk-browed and amused. "You're sixty-three?"

"Chronologically," Van snapped. "Physically, I'm probably younger than you."

The captain just grinned at the insult, unruffled.

Lady Kirke eyed them both. "Shouldn't we get started?"

The captain gave Van a last smile, then, looking at the lady, he sobered. "You'll need a harness."

"I can stay on. I've flown with him before," she said.

"I've been on a griffin in a power dive. You'll need a harness," the captain added.

The lady's cheeks pinkened, and she scowled at him with such ferocity that Van expected her glare to knock the captain on his rear. The captain bore the look with a feigned ignorance suggesting this sort of argument happened between them all the time. Reservations forgotten (but still wondering when and where the captain had flown on a griffin), Van stared at Lady Kirke. She hefted both sacks of coin toward Arrow.

The captain fished a sailor's belt from a hook and adjusted it around the griffin's barrel, saddle-fashion, with no hesitation about touching the irritable creature. The griffin bore it with calm, even dignity. "That'll have to do. All right?"

The griffin nodded. The captain helped the lady onto the creature's back, then tied the sacks to its harness. "Drop one when you get over the lead Calormene ship. Tear a hole with your dagger. They should see the glitter as the coins fall. Use the other only if you need it. If they catch you, you'll need to bargain with it, tell them there's more to be had." He gave her hand a squeeze. "Be careful."

"I always am," she said, and whooshed from the deck in a flurry of wind. The griffin's screech filled Van's ears, and as they soared upward, his belly plunged downward. What if she died in this foolhardy attempt? For what? A ship who would have as likely fired upon them, had she not been running from the Calormenes? Van glared at the captain with even more ferocity than the lady had shown him. How could a man who clearly wanted her safe one moment, encourage her into danger the next?

But then, he considered as he tracked the swish of the retreating griffin's feathered tail, the lady would probably not have listened to the captain had he been screaming in her ears. She struck Van as far and away the most stubborn, fearless creature he'd ever met. And he hardly knew her.

But he'd be changing that ... if they survived this.