Free A Riddle in Ruby by Kent Davis

Bastionado swords hissed and sang. The blade widened into a heavier diamond-shaped cross-section at the hilt. Ruby hoped he knew how to use it. He wound his other hand deep into his cloak and nodded at her.
    They crept to the railing, the sound of the waves accompanying their progress. Athen mouthed counting to three, and they both popped their heads over the edge.
    Rool was not there.
    â€œRudimentary,” rumbled a voice from the other side of Fat Maggie. Ruby whirled. Rool was crouching onthe railing as if it were his favorite rocking chair. “Why would I climb back up to have you stab me once again, Miss Teach? That was inhospitable.” He assessed Athen. “Will you introduce me to your friend? No? That is a fine blade, young man. I would suggest you sheathe it before one or more of us are harmed. I am unarmed, as you see.” He spread his hands wide. The gauntlets up close seemed to be covered with a fine layer of scales. Blood trickled from the right one down his arm. “I fear that a friendly solution is past us, but we can still have a result where no one is irredeemably damaged.”
    â€œYour words are wind, sir,” Athen responded. He took a small step to the right, point aimed at the much larger man’s right eye. “You are hardly unarmed. I know a Reeve when I see one.”
    â€œAnd I know what I see, as well, sir ”—Rool laughed—“though Miss Teach may not.”
    Sometimes things happen very quickly.
    Athen uncoiled like a spring and lunged forward, point dropping, to try to take Wisdom Rool in the chest. Feet balled beneath him, the big man could not havedodged to the left or right. He tried to do neither. Instead, he jumped upward, tucked his legs in a somersault over Lord Athen’s outstretched blade and landed upright behind him. Rool spun and clubbed Athen brutally between the shoulder blades with one gauntleted fist and aside the head with the other. Athen crumpled to the deck insensate.
    The scarred man turned to Ruby as she ran toward him, knives ready, yelling with either fury or fear, she did not know which. He brushed her aside with one massive hand, and she flew through the air to crash against the outer rail near Athen. The bulkhead gave her a nasty knock on the head as she landed, and she struggled to stay conscious. Little purple halos surrounded everything. Bells were ringing somewhere. She looked up, and Wisdom Rool was standing over her. He was saying something, but she couldn’t hear it. She was at the bottom of the sea. He laughed, and then he pulled the sack from his belt. She scraped her feet against the deck with what little strength she had left and pushed herself backward.
    Rool opened the sack. Suddenly his eyes widened in suspicion. He whirled, but it was too late. A man rushed toward him, someone Ruby had feared she would never see again. Gwath was brandishing, of all things, a heavy iron stewpot. He swung the pot around like a Titan, and it slammed squarely into Rool’s chest. Rool flew into the air, over Ruby, and over the rail. Gwath sprang forward to peer over the railing.
    Now where has he been hiding? she wondered as she drifted off to sleep.

CHAPTER 12
    I, Tom Givens, foreman at the Benzene Yards, have for some time been troubled with a Wracking Cough. Upon the prescription of one Doctor Argosy, 8 Seraphim Court, Shambles, I have begun each morning with a Heaping Spoonful of Mercury. Since then, I find myself Light at Heart and Steady in my Chest. I do heartily recommend his services to all who may labour under the same Distemper.
    â€”Advertisement, The Onlooker, September 22, 1718
    R uby woke. Above her were the points of a thousand knives. She raised up on an elbow, but the starlight and the moon cut into her eyes in earnest and a band of fire tightened around her head. She lay back, shut her lids against the annoyingly cheerful heavens, and attempted to get her bearings.
    The rough, soft pillow cradling