Free Shadows on the Moon by Zoe Marriott Page B

here?”
    “M-Mother is sleeping. She said —”
    Just like that, his face changed; the telltale stoniness was wiped away like grime removed by a wet cloth. He smiled his warm and charming smile.
    “I am sorry, Suzu-chan. Of course you will be wanting some fresh air after being cooped up for so long. Come with me. You will feel much better after a walk.”
    He took hold of my arm and guided me firmly out of the enclosure. Having unexpectedly gotten what I wanted, I immediately wished that I was back in the enclosure. Alone.
    The wind rolled over the deck with a low, wavering moan, bringing salt droplets to sting my face, and despite my double-layered kimono, I shivered. If Terayama-san had not had such a grip on me, I would have wrapped my arms around myself for warmth. The ship jerked and rocked more strongly, making me brace my feet as a spray of gray-and-white water flew up the side of the deck.
    Overhead, the sails made deep booming noises as the wind dragged at them, and the ropes and rigging creaked loudly.
    “Well, and how is your mother today, Suzu-chan?” he asked, pitching his voice over the ship’s noises as he pulled me along.
    My name is Suzume. It may mean nothing more than “little brown sparrow,” but it is
my
name.
    “She is very brave, but her health is not good,” I said. “She is not eating. I am glad we will reach land soon.”
    “You have been a great comfort to her.” He smiled again, but his eyes flickered away from mine, his attention fixed somewhere over my head. What was he looking for? I refused to crane over my shoulder and look, too, so pretended that I did not notice.
    The ship bucked again, more strongly this time. Terayama-san’s fingers tightened still further, keeping me from falling. I held in a sound of pain. I would have gotten fewer bruises from a tumble on the deck.
    “Neither of my ladies has her sea legs yet,” he said indulgently. “Why don’t we walk to the side, and you can lean against the rail? It is easier to keep your footing like that, and you can see the sea properly.”
    I didn’t really want to see the sea. I was trembling with the cold, and my arm was throbbing, and I felt . . . uneasy. Something inside was urging me to shake off Terayama-san’s hand and run back to the cabin. He didn’t wait for me to agree, just maneuvered me over to the side of the ship.
    “Here, stand on this. You’ll get a good view.” His hand left my arm at last to grab my waist, and he lifted me onto a large coil of rope. I wobbled and found myself clutching at him. Standing like this, I was taller than he was, and the rail went up only to my hips. The sea was jumping and fizzling below, blowing more spray up into my face until I had to turn my head away. I clutched at him more tightly.
    “Terayama-san, I do not think —”
    As I spoke, my eye was caught by a fleet, dark shape that swooped through the black tracery of the rigging, circling and diving as if at play. It was the falcon. This was the first time I had seen it since that day on the docks. Even above the sound of the sea, I heard my stepfather suck in a sharp breath.
    At that same moment, the ship made another bucking movement. Terayama-san seemed to stumble. His shoulder drove into mine.
    A scream wrenched from my lips as I was shoved forward, feet skidding off the coiled rope. My hips smacked into the rail, and I tilted like an acrobat about to do a cartwheel. I screamed again, slapping my arms down against the wooden planks. The silver-gray water reached up as if to grab me.
    There was a flash of red on my left. A hand clamped down on my shoulder like an iron vise. Another hand grasped the back of my kimono. I was dragged back over the side, ribs grating painfully on the rail. Then I was falling again, backward this time, onto the deck.
    I landed with a sob, fighting to breathe. It took me a minute to notice that I had not landed on wood but on a person. My rescuer lay underneath me, his arm now around my