Fink slowly exhaled. “Do you want to go to the pirates?”
I glanced over at him. “I have to go. That’s different.”
“You seem scared.”
“Everyone gets scared at times. It’s only the fools who won’t admit it.”
We were interrupted by Erick coming back over to join us. He crouched near me and said, “Will you join us around the fire, Sage? Everyone wants to hear your story about our adventures in Libeth.”
I ignored his question and asked my own. “When do we go to the pirates?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. If I had time to know you better —”
“If time is what you need, then I’ll leave tonight and find another way there,” I said without batting an eye. “Time is a luxury I don’t have.”
He massaged his jaw. “Will you promise to give them the location of the cave? Because if I bring you there and you refuse to tell them, both our heads will roll.”
I couldn’t promise that, but with total sincerity I said, “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my head from rolling. And I’ll try not to do anything that will cause them to detach yours.”
Apparently that was enough. Stars seemed to dance in his eyes as he said, “All my life I’ve wanted a chance with the pirates. But I’ve never had anything worth offering them. Until now.”
“So when do we leave?” I asked.
He thought for a moment, then made his decision. “At first light. I want to ride into camp as they climb from their beds. Devlin will be in his best mood then.”
I handed my bowl to Fink and picked up my bedroll, dragging it into a nearby supply tent. “In that case, I want plenty of privacy for a good sleep. Morning will come early.”
I lay down but never closed my eyes. I’d slept enough during the day that it wasn’t too difficult to stay awake. The hard part was fighting the feeling of urgency to leave, to run while I had the chance.
When it was very quiet, I at last decided that I had to take the risk of going back to the church to meet Mott. He had been right from the beginning: This plan was madness. My earlier conversation with Fink festered inside of me. When it came to the moment, could I really do what was necessary to destroy the pirates? I’d taken a life once at Farthenwood, not intentionally and in defense of Imogen, and even then it had nearly broken me. The closer I got to the pirates, the more I saw the flaws in my plan. I needed Mott’s help if I had any hope to succeed.
I propped myself up on one arm. Fink had settled in at the door of the tent as my vigil, but that wasn’t my exit. I pulled up a corner flap of the tent and silently rolled beneath it.
What I did not expect was to roll into the body of another thief, who sat up and grabbed me by my collar. “Where do you think you’re going?” he snarled.
“I’ve got to go,” I said, fully prepared to launch into my usual explanation of having inherited my mother’s pea-size bladder.
But he wasn’t interested. He shoved me to the ground and lifted the tent flap. “Get back in there ’til Erick comes for you. Wake me up again and Erick won’t have anyone left alive to get.”
His terms weren’t particularly in my favor so I rolled back under the tent. It was safe to assume any direction I went would have someone there as well, waiting for me.
I cursed and kicked at the tent pole, which startled Fink awake. I told him to go to sleep and stop bothering me, then sat with my back against the pole. It looked as if I would not see Mott tonight after all. I’d be going to the pirates alone.
I was still seated against the pole when Erick came for me very early the next morning.
“Already awake I see?”
Awake and still furious. I didn’t even look at him.
“I heard you tried to sneak out last night.”
“Everyone else is permitted to move about as they’d like. Why not me?”
“Because you’re not one of us yet.”
“Then we’re not going to the pirates.”
“Why not?”