"That is once," she said coldly. The man, about to say something else, saw the look in her eyes, and stepped back. Cosyra turned back to Gareth.

He still felt numb-witted.

"How did you get to Juterbog ahead of us?" was the best he could manage.

"Easily. I hired a ship."

Gareth remembered the yacht that had distanced them days before.

A sailor a" Kuldja a" was on a barrel head.

"Why can't she sign?" he shouted. "If there ain't rules against it, she should be able to join us if she can hold her own wi' a cutlass or a halyard."

"An' where'd she sleep? She'd be welcome in my hammock," a crewman said. "But folks might talk."

There was laughter.

"She can sleep where she damned pleases," another crewman said. "Same as the rest of us."

"Damned woman'll do nothing but make trouble," another said.

"The hells I will," Cosyra said. "Tell me there's none among you who've gone into another's hammock aboard ship for comfort. Does anyone spit on them the next morning?"

There was an uneasy shifting. Sailors far from land and women traditionally found comfort with one another or by themselves, but it wasn't something that was talked about.

"The problem, young woman," a bearded pirate said, "is that you must be able to carry your weight, both literally and figuratively, with the rest of us. Have you experience as a sailor?"

"No," Cosyra admitted. "But I'm agile, and have no fear of heights. Aren't there men a" boys, even a" signed on this ship who think the bow is called the *pointy end'?"

There were chuckles.

"Aye," the bearded man admitted. "We train men for the trade. But what about fighting? I see you're armed. Is that for show?"

"I've been trained," Cosyra said. "And blooded."

Gareth remembered the fight with Anthon's bullies, and nodded involuntarily.

The deck was now filled with men, some in agreement, others shaking their heads vehemently, others, undecided, arguing back and forth.

"I still say the cap'n's lady should be allowed on," Kuldja returned. "And if she chooses to share his cabin, what of it? Aren't officers given some gravy?"

"Gravy ain't what we're talkin' about," Shenshi said. "At least, gravy's not what I leave in my doxy."

Amid the laughter, Cosyra walked deliberately to Shenshi.

"That was twice," she said clearly, and the laughter died. "There is no third time."

Her hand whipped, hard, across his face twice. He lifted a fist, and Cosyra jumped back, very fast, and her blade was in her hand.

"Now," she said. "You've been challenged. Make what you want of it."

A sailor shouted: "There's no fightin' aboard ship! Grounds for marooning!"

Another: "But she ain't a crewman. Let *em fight! Never seen a woman *gainst a man. I'll give a two, naw, three to one for Shenshi."

"Done an' done," another shouted. "I saw her leap, an' Shenshi's *bout as quick as a stalled ox."

Gareth turned to Tehidy.

"In my cabin. Get two pistols."

Thom nodded, slid away.

Gareth saw Labala move unobtrusively to the foredeck railing overlooking the waist, a belaying pin ready.

"Wait," the bearded sailor said, holding up both hands. "Maybe this solves our problem. And gives some amusement.

"Let these two fight. If she wins a" or even shows herself handily a" then perhaps we ought to admit her to the Company. If not a well, then, the problem is solved, is it not?"

There was a roar of approval.

Gareth started forward.

"Captain," Nomios said. "Stay your course. This one's beyond you."

Gareth looked around helplessly. A sailor was already coiling a long length of rope into a circle on the deck below.

"Yer steps outside this, drop yer guard and get back inside," he said. "No fightin' beyond the round. Keeps things from gettin' compelcated, an' dancin' around on steps an' such like in th' romances."

Cosyra nodded understanding.

Shenshi had a large cutlass in one hand, testing its edge with his thumb.

"Won't be much of a fight, boys," he called. "Get your silver on me, an' watch me smash that titty blade of hers, then it'll be interestin'. Real interestin'."

He pulled off his shirt.

"You goin' do the same?" he called, and winked to the applause. Sailors were calling bets back and forth.

Tehidy was beside Gareth.

"I've got the pistols. You want me to shoot him?"

Gareth shook his head helplessly.

"Let them engage, or we'll have a mutiny on our hands," he decided. "If Cosyra doesn't go down the first time he hits her, I'll try to break it up then."

There were two sailors standing in front of him. Both had sheath knives drawn.

"Captain, we's sorry. But th' Articles apply, an' you'll have to stand by and let what happens happen."

Gareth, lips in a thin line, didn't reply. Tehidy moved to one side, one hand casually under his shirt a" on, Gareth knew, a pistol butt.

"Very well," the bearded sailor called.

"Are both of you ready?"

Cosyra, rapier in her hand, nodded.

"Ready-ready," Shenshi said. "More'n ready."

Cosyra was in a half crouch, moving, careful steps, to Shenshi's offside. The big man's blade came up, and he slashed at her, going low. Cosyra jumped back, almost to the rope's edge, then jump-lunged.

Her blade flicked out once, twice, a third time.

Shenshi yelped, then looked down at his chest, as blood oozed out. There was another wound lower down, just below the first, below his lungs, and a third in the biceps of his sword arm.

Shenshi's eyes widened, his mouth fell open, and the cutlass clattered down.

"I a she a" and he stumbled forward and fell to the deck, facedown.

There was utter silence on the deck.

Gareth looked at Cosyra, who managed a weak smile. He suddenly and strangely thought he'd never loved her more than at that moment.

The bearded man walked to Shenshi's sprawled body, looked down at the twin wounds in his back, he knelt, then stood.

"He's still breathing," the man announced. "Mayhap he'll live. Perhaps, magician, you'll tend to him? He's not the brightest man we have aboard, but he'll do in a melee."

Labala tossed the belaying pin aside, came down the ladder, bent over Shenshi.

The bearded man inclined his head to Cosyra.

"Congratulations, milady. That was as pretty a piece of work as I've seen in years."

He turned, looked up at Gareth.

"Captain, I think we've added another corsair to the Company. Perhaps you'll have her sign the Articles?"

And so Lady Cosyra of the Mount became a pirate.

Seventeen.

The paradise of Freebooter's Island was shattered. The twin forts guarding the channel were blackened ruins, and sunk in the lagoon were half a dozen ships the pirates had left behind on their massive raid. The houses looked as if a giant had trampled them in a rage.

Gareth thought he could smell smoke, but that wasn't possible. The Linyati had come and gone time past.

"They must've used their wizards to track where we sailed from," N'b'ry said. His expression was stricken, and Gareth remembered what he'd said about the small woman with the boldest eye.

Without waiting for orders the pirates had manned the guns, and the lookouts were scanning the land, looking for attackers, or just a sign of life.

But there was none, until a parrot burst, squawking, from a tree, and everyone jumped.

"Nomios," Gareth said. "Two boats with a landing party."

"Sir."

"And signal to the others to stand by, without entering the passage. Have their guns manned and run out."

"Sir."

"Labala," Gareth said. "I want you with us as well, smelling for any magic."

The big man nodded.

The plash of the oars was very loud as the boats moved toward shore. The water was still crystalline, the wind still soft, the sands gleaming white.

But the island was dead.

Gareth jumped into the shallows, waded ashore, hand near a pistol in his sling.

Nothing moved except tattered vegetation in the cool breeze.

Here, where the pirate's market had been, was nothing but waste, the buildings ripped apart or fired. Even the handful of stone buildings above it had been smashed by cannon fire a or magic.

"Hallooo," Gareth shouted. "We're friends."

Echoes came back without reply.

Gareth called again.

"Knoll a Thom a search around the settlement in the bush. Maybe someone's still alive, still here, and too frightened to come out."

Tehidy and N'b'ry pointed to men they wanted. Other pirates got out of the boats, pulled them higher on the sand, their keels scraping loudly.

The search parties were about to start up what had been the main "avenue" when an amused laugh came, seeming from nowhere, from everywhere.

Gareth found he was having trouble breathing; he had his pistol cocked and his sword was in his hand.

The laugh grew louder, and the wizard Dafflemere came from behind a tumbled wall of coconut logs.