The Farthest Shore (Eden Series Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

cleared his throat. “Commander, I think the time has come for a decision no one here is likely to thank you for.”
    “What’s that?” Jash supposed she should be grateful any such unpleasantness would be spoken by him rather than her, because she seemed out of favor enough as it was, but she just felt tired. Why were so many of her captains like that? They showed a flash of intelligence, and then it vanished as they crawled into their shells like mollusks.
    Kier placed both hands flat on the table, as if laying down all his cards. “Open negotiations with the mainland.”
    There was a harsh sound of indrawn breath, though Jash could not have told where it came from, and a chair scraped back. Arudle Vates got up, clasping her hands beneath her swollen stomach, and went to the window. Hewl’s lips peeled back from his teeth.
    “You’re fortunate we’re in the commander’s meeting room, Safrage,” he said. “On the deck of Heart of Salt , I’d have killed you for that.”
    “On the deck of Masterless …” Daxen looked Kier up and down, then pointed to Hewl, “…I’d have put you off on his ship.”
    No one laughed, and Kier’s gaze went around the table in a challenge. “So you want to fight? Down to the last man?”
    “We will be killed anyway,” Enthow said flatly. “Whether we fight or not. You asked what we needed from them, but the real question is, what do they need from us? Nothing.”
    Nothing. The word fell into the room, and spread out as if to fill it. Enthow had lost so much that clearly his priority was just to survive long enough to pick up the pieces, but Jash couldn’t let his despair affect the others. She started to speak, but Arudle turned from the window first.
    “How far are they now?” she asked.
    “The mainlanders?” Hewl said.
    “The ones you sent into the Sheltered Ocean, Commander. Is there any hope of calling them back?”
    Everyone turned to look at Jash, and Hewl spoke as though repeating words in another language. “Sent into the Sheltered Ocean?”
    It wasn’t the first time Jash had been reminded of the strange powers manifested by islanders of the Vates clan, and it was definitely not the first time she’d wanted to strangle one of them. That had been her news to impart. Worse, there would be no need to call Ralcilos and his crew back if Arudle had foreseen victory—and whatever she had seen, they couldn’t be communicated with any longer, much less summoned home. They had to be past Cape Claw by now, rounding the tip of the great peninsula to enter Denalait waters.
    “I have been planning this for years,” she said as she got to her feet. “I knew the time had come when I heard of a race from Triton Harbor to Snakestone Isle, off the southern coast of Dagre. One such steamship will compete in it.” The mainlanders were so overflowing with resources they could play at racing, when her people didn’t know if they would see another year.
    Daxen sat up straight. “You sent a ship into the Sheltered Ocean to seize that vessel?”
    “The kind of ship they will never see.” One look at her aide and he unrolled another sheet of parchment to show them the new vessel. Then the plans were studied intently and whispered over while Jash took advantage of the respite to finish her wine. The iron link in the goblet—a sign of the broken chain symbolizing their freedom—touched her lips.
    “This couldn’t hold more than a dozen people,” Daxen said finally.
    “It holds thirteen,” Jash said. “Ralcilos Phane commands nine of the most trusted among my crew, plus an engineer. Kaig Coltrode is with them too.”
    “Kaig Coltrode?” Hewl grimaced. “I know him—he was the oarmaster on Dauntless . He left his position six years ago and as far as I know hasn’t stepped on a deck since. I heard he was hiding in Conger Cove.”
    “He was living in Conger Cove under my orders, with a Denalait child. They’ve taken her as well.”
    “A Denalait child?”