Chapter Twenty-five
The Sailing Directions said the Selma pirates took slaves along with their other loot, so Daniel was surprised to see that the only servants in the semicircular council chamber were a half-dozen adolescents and the two aged cripples who’d brought the cup around at the assembly. From the freedom with which they bantered with the officers, all were freeborn Dalbriggans.
Adele walked beside him, holding the heavy service pistol as gingerly as a spinster with a baby. She could put it in a cargo pocket since the barrel had cooled by now, or she could lay it on the scarred table. Daniel didn’t say either of those things because Adele was as able to see the possibilities as he was; and as with the spinster, there was more than a little pride in her expression.
She leaned close and said, “Interesting. They don’t allow slaves to be present during governmental deliberations. That shows better judgment than most slaveholders display.”
The Astrogator pointed to a seat in the middle of the table and said, “I’d like you there, Leary, facing me. Unless you’re scared to have your back to the door?”
Daniel chuckled. He gestured Adele to the chair beside the one indicated and said, “I doubt I have as many enemies on Dalbriggan as you do, Kelburney. Now that you’ve raised the question, though, I’ll try to control my fear that somebody’ll shoot through me to get you.”
The Astrogator snorted. He lowered himself into the chair across from Daniel—handsawn wood of simple design like the others, but the only one in the room with arms—and said without preamble over the sound of the others scraping into their seats, “I saw your ship when you landed. Looks to me like you didn’t show the best judgment in who you mixed it with.”
“The fight wasn’t our choice,” Daniel said calmly, “and it’s not over yet. On my honor! it’s not. But yes, the Sissie needs some work. My crew will handle the labor, but I’ll be purchasing supplies from your stores.”
“We run to small craft here,” Kelburney said. “There’s no masts on Dalbriggan to fit a corvette like yours.”
He turned his right palm out to forestall anything Daniel might try to interject. For the moment at least it appeared the form “I and your council” meant “I, the Astrogator.” The ships’ officers ranged up and down the long table watched carefully as they drank from the mugs servants were handing out, but they held their peace.
“We can help you get what you need, though,” Kelburney said. He smiled like a hungry cat. “If you’ve got the balls.”
Daniel spread his fingers on the tabletop as he considered the Astrogator. A boy put a goblet carved from rock crystal on the wood beside him; the mahogany-colored fluid foamed slightly.
Taley and the Princess Cecile’s riggers could fish and weld spars meant for Dalbriggan cutters into a working set of masts for the corvette; everybody in the room—with the possible exception of Adele—knew that. Kelburney was offering a plausible excuse as a bargaining ploy.
That was fine: Daniel was here to bargain. He smiled back and said, “I think you’ll find the RCN always has the courage to do its duty, Astrogator Kelburney; whatever the circumstances. Why don’t you describe your plan so that I can decide where my duty lies?”
“Bring in the prisoners,” Kelburney called. A door hidden behind hangings at the side of the room opened. Six concerned-looking spacers entered behind the black-clad woman who’d presided at the lectern during the assembly.
Daniel watched the newcomers with no expression. There were things he couldn’t permit. If this pirate chief so overstepped himself as to offer Cinnabar slaves in return for RCN help—
“Not our prisoners, Captain,” Kelburney said. The wariness in his voice showed that he’d picked up on Daniel’s change of expression. “Distressed spacers, put off in a lifeboat in the Dalbriggan system by pirates from Falassa.”
He gestured to the cripples filling mugs from a tapped keg on the serving table behind him. “Kephis, Bradley—give our guests some beer while they explain to Captain Leary how well we’ve cared for them after their misfortune.”