Balanced on the Blades Edge #2 Deathmaker by Lindsay Buroker Page A

of their earlier models. Ah, but is that...?” He took a few steps, leaning to see around some post in his way. “Yes, it is. There’s an energy source glowing in the back. There are a couple of hulks guarding the craft, but I’m surprised someone hasn’t plucked that out yet to study.” He turned a speculative look on Tolemek. “I wonder what you could do with one of those.”
    Tolemek smiled. “So do I.”
    Goroth collapsed his spyglass. “Let’s go see who found it and if it’s available for trade.”
    A soft jolt ran through the ship. Two men lowered a gangplank. The docking slips were level with the rest of the outpost, so nobody had to climb a rope to get in and out of the craft this time.
    A young pirate called out, “We’re all secured, Cap’n.”
    “You calling shore leave, Cap’n?” the helmsman asked.
    “We’ll see. I—”
    “Captain?” a cabin boy called from the gangplank. “Messenger here to see you. Captain Rolostrek sent him.”
    “Word of our arrival got out fast,” Goroth mused. “Or maybe someone’s calling a captains’ meeting and inviting everyone.” He nodded toward the other slips, where six other airships were already docked. The Roaming Curse was one of the biggest outfits in the Targenian Sea, maybe in the world, and Tolemek was reminded of that whenever they returned to the outpost. “Must be some big news.”
    “Will you share our own news?” Tolemek asked carefully. He didn’t want to threaten Goroth on this, but he didn’t want hundreds of pirates knowing they had a member of Wolf Squadron on board, either. Not everyone would be swayed the way Goroth had been, to keep her alive in hopes of catching bigger prey. There were other ships in the outfit that had tangled with those dragon fliers, and any crewman would be happy to see an Iskandian pilot dead.
    “No, I’m not sharing anything with any of them.” Goroth pointed a finger at Tolemek’s chest and then at his own. “You and I will handle Zirkander together and keep all the reward that comes with taking that risk.”
    Not exactly what Tolemek cared about, but he nodded. “Good.”
    “Now, let’s go see what all the fuss is about, eh?”

Chapter 6
    W hen Cas woke up, muted daylight flowed in through a porthole near the hammock. She remembered where she was immediately and opened her hand to check for the vial she had fallen asleep clutching. A chain rattled. She wasn’t surprised to see her wrist attached to that pipe again, though it did make her uncomfortable to know Tolemek had done that without waking her. She must have been sleeping hard after being up so late, and after being stuck in such unpleasant accommodations for so long. Odd, all things considered, but she had slept better here than she had in weeks.
    The blanket on the floor had been picked up, and Tolemek was gone. So was the vial she had been holding. Somehow she doubted she had simply dropped it on the floor, but she peered beneath the hammock just in case. Nothing there. No, he must have found it and extracted it from her grip. That wasn’t surprising, either, though again she felt sheepish at having slept through that. Oh, well. That had been her decoy theft. She tugged up her canvas smock and dug into her underwear, hoping he hadn’t presumed to search there. Surely, she would have woken up for that .
    Her fingers found the hard glass tube, and she grinned.
    Now, she had to hope her guess from the night before had been correct. The lamps had been out, with Tolemek’s breathing soft and even, when she had crawled out of the hammock to poke around. Earlier in the evening, when she had “stumbled” and peeked inside the display case, she hadn’t been able to see the labels of the vials in the rack. It had only been the presence of a little canvas pouch, one identical to the one she had helped knock from the prison roof, that had made her think the brown substance in the vials might be the same brown substance he had used on the