Russell, Sean - Moontide and Magic Rise 02 by Sea without Shore

Author:Sea without Shore [Shore, Sea without]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-06-03T04:18:01+00:00

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Stern was in the great cabin with Llewellyn and the duchess. The captain had taken up a place before the open transom windows, and stood with his coat thrown back and his fist on his hip, as he did when his temper was in ascendance.

“Our voyage is in great peril,” he said, keeping his voice low so that he would not be heard on deck, but hiding none of his anger. “Two men dead, and every man in the crew demanding ‘prize money’ for this seed we seek. This secret seed. I, for one, let no word of this matter escape,” he said, the accusation clear. He paced quickly across the small open space, then stopped and looked at each of the others in turn. “Landsmen believe discipline on His Majesty’s ships is insured by dire punishments, but this has never been the truth. No, it is fairness and concern for the men’s well-being—mixed with a just use of the lash, to be sure—that keeps a ship safe from the crew’s worst impulses.” He pointed a long finger forward. “Those men before the mast, they have not a hope for anything in this world but poverty and the succor of drink. Not one in a thousand will make the rank of master. And here they see a chance for some small sum— though a fortune to their eyes. They might buy their way out of the service and have a bit of land and a cottage, for there is commonly no prize money to be had on a voyage of discovery. And they feel it more on this voyage where the dangers they have met are not of the natural kind. Lost Cities, and strange peoples, necromancy, and death at the hands of ”friendly“ natives. They feel the injustice of this. They feel they’re owed something for standing brave before such madness, for any Jack would face a thousand battles before they’d choose to face anything deemed unnatural. And now what am I to do?”

He glared at the others, obviously believing they were the cause of his problems, mere landsmen who did not have the least understanding of the ways of the navy.

“I cannot, by order, admit the existence of this seed. And even if I did, I can’t, on my own authority, give them

prize money for its procurement. Yet, have they not stood their ground in the face of the one thing that they fear most? Is there not some justice in their demands?“ He turned and stared out over the lagoon, lost in his dilemma.

“I could offer to reward the crew at the voyage’s end,” the duchess said quietly. ‘Ten gold crowns for each man, or even twenty, from my own purse. I’m sure the King would approve.“

Stern turned and eyed the duchess for a second, then shook his head. “I did not mean to suggest such a course. It is against regulations. If we begin offering bribes to every crew that threatens mutiny… Well, the Admiralty would never allow it.

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