Free Balanced on the Blades Edge #2 Deathmaker by Lindsay Buroker

Tolemek stuck to the jungle paths rather than venturing into the streets, their corners illuminated with gas lamps. On the way back from his errand, he skirted the town until he reached the southern end where sailing ships and steamers were docked in the harbor. Past them, an oblong shape blotted out the stars over the horizon, though little else suggested a ship was up there. There wasn’t a single lamp burning above decks, nothing to give them away in the distance. With the wooden craft painted black and the envelope made from a similarly dark material, the Hunter sailed the skies with impunity on dark nights.
    Given the proximity of the fortress and the local garrison, the lightless profile was a wise choice. The Roaming Curse had a reputation grisly enough that most Cofah army commanders looked the other way rather than tangling with them, but if the pirates made a spectacle of themselves, then the military was forced to take action.
    Tolemek hoped Captain “Slaughter” Goroth had gone along with his wishes, giving Ahn a spot in his cabin rather than one of the dingy cells near the engine room. It was hot and cramped down there, and there were no portholes. Whatever army she was a part of, she had helped him escape, and he owed her something for that.
    He had been on the verge of ordering her released when Malbet had blabbed. Once Goroth knew who he had, there was no way he would let her go. And Tolemek owed him too much to go against his wishes. But if they could, as he had suggested, use her to trap Zirkander, then she need never be harmed. As much as Goroth hated all things Wolf Squadron, he would surely see the benefit of releasing her to gain the greater prize.
    Despite these thoughts, Tolemek quickened his step as he approached the airship. Though he trusted Goroth, he couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t take out some frustrations on Ahn. Tolemek wouldn’t have left her, but he had promised that boy his gold coin. He had found the youth, shivering beneath the pilings of one of the long piers that stretched to the harbor’s lighthouse. It was the meeting spot they had agreed to. Not only had the boy been forced to take a swim, but he’d been shot in the arm. He had been poor enough that he hadn’t protested his injury one bit, merely thanking Tolemek profusely for the coin and running off, but that had only made Tolemek feel guilty. He had risked that boy’s life, and for what? His research had been wrong. No, not wrong, but conducted far too late to matter. All he had gotten out of his stay in the fortress was a beating and... a burden he wasn’t sure he wanted.
    “That you, sir?” a soft voice asked from behind the tree the Hunter was anchored to, its dark form floating a few feet away from the top of the stout palm.
    “It’s me.”
    One of the cabin boys stepped into view and offered a rope. “You’re the last one out, sir.”
    “Good. Follow me up.” Tolemek climbed the knotted rope, his battered body protesting the exertion after the night he’d had. He wondered how Ahn had managed the climb. Judging by the visible bruises, she had received more beatings than he had. He wondered how long she had been a prisoner of war before being deposited at Dragon Spit. He wondered a lot of things about her, foremost among them, whether she would talk to him again.
    “That shouldn’t matter,” he muttered. “You’ve barely known her a few hours.”
    “What, sir?” the cabin boy asked.
    “Nothing. Just scheming up my next concoction.” Though he hadn’t used any of his “concoctions” on any of the pirates since Goroth took over three years ago, rumors never stopped flying, and Tolemek found that he could stop all questions pointed in his direction by making such a statement.
    Indeed, the boy’s gulp was audible, followed by utter silence.
    A guard waited at the top, but only nodded when Tolemek climbed aboard. He crossed the dark deck, not needing any lights to navigate the familiar terrain—Goroth