“Then I’ll thank you to please stay out of my business,” I said, squeezing my way onto the bench.
The dark-haired girl I’d seen earlier came by a minute later with another pot of stew. “You’re new here?” she asked, ladling a large scoop into my bowl. “I’m Serena.”
“Stay away from him.” Imogen instantly appeared beside Serena.
“I was just saying hello.”
“He’s the one I told you about, when he came to the kitchen.”
Serena raised her eyebrows. “Yes, I know.” Imogen’s warning only seemed to improve her opinion of me.
I tilted my head, not sure exactly what Imogen had accused me of, but it had obviously worked to divert any suspicion away from us.
“He did that before he had to obey the code, so it’s forgivable,” Serena said, letting Imogen lead her away. I thought I caught her whisper afterward, “He’s handsome. I wouldn’t have complained if he’d tried that with me.” That made me smile a little.
Beside me, Fink snickered. “What’d you do?”
“I wish I knew.” Then to avoid any more questions, I began eating.
The pirates around us talked, ate, and laughed voraciously. Erick and I were included in the conversation like we were old friends, although Erick was far more engaged in talking with them than I cared to be. For once, it was nice to have Fink nearby so that his incessant chatter could fill the void.
I kept an eye on Imogen as she served the pirates their various requests, although I also made an effort not to appear too obvious about it. Both of us were newcomers and I’d already been too indiscreet when she came to the jail. As it was, she was probably all right as long as everyone believed her displeasure with me was due to some misbehavior on my part.
As soon as lunch was over, Agor escorted me to an area that had been cleared of grass and where the ground had become nearly as hard as stone. Long nails had been pounded into the trees, and hanging from them were a variety of wooden swords.
I backed away from the swords. “I came here as a thief, Agor, not a fighter.”
Agor picked out a sword for himself. “A pirate is both. Devlin wants to test your skills.”
“Did he test Erick?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Erick said, walking up to join us. Several other pirates had come with him. I couldn’t see the area where we’d eaten, but I assumed Imogen had remained there to clean up. That was probably a good thing. She wouldn’t want to watch this.
“Choose a sword,” Agor said.
I walked to the trees and looked the swords over as if it were the first time I’d seen any. It was probably too generous to refer to them as swords. Really they were little more than thick sticks with handles on them.
After a moment, Agor became impatient and grabbed one off the tree nearest to me. He thrust it into my hands. “Here.”
Agor raised his sword and I raised mine. My feet were braced beneath me but it had to be Agor who made the first strike. When he did, he struck hard against my shoulder and threw me off balance.
“What are you waiting for?” he asked. “Fight!”
“My mistake.” I rubbed my shoulder, certain a bruise was already forming there. “I didn’t know we’d started.”
I swung back at him but missed entirely. He feinted left, which was ridiculous since I wasn’t being aggressive enough to need to be tricked, then came at me from the right. I blocked most of it, but took a blow to my arm.
Around us, what began as a largely indifferent audience quickly turned into laughter and hollers for me to be taught a lesson. They further encouraged Agor, who seemed to like the idea of using my poor performance to showcase his abilities. He got in three or four hits at me for every one I attempted at him. Occasionally I’d find a mark, but frankly, he hit hard and I was quickly losing enthusiasm for this charade.
Finally, he struck me in the back hard enough to force the air from my lungs. I dropped my sword. “Enough.”
“You’re not very good,” Agor said.
“I never told you I was.”
Agor surveyed me a moment. “I guess we expected more. The last boy to join the pirates was about your age and he’s amazing.”
That would be Roden, who was probably nearing the end of his time at sea. I replaced my sword on the tree, then said, “What now?”