Red Seas Under Red Skies: The Gentleman Bastard Sequence, Book Two (Gentleman Bastards 2)
1
There was one guard pacing the dock at the base of the lonely island. His lamp cast soft yellow light rippling across the black water as Locke threw him a rope from within the little launch. Rather than tying them up, the guard thrust his lantern down toward Locke, Jean and Caldris, and said, ‘This dock is strictly off . . . oh, gods. My apologies, sir.’
Locke grinned, feeling the authority of the full Verrari captain’s uniform enfold him like nothing so much as a warm blanket. He grabbed a piling and heaved himself up onto the dock, while the guard saluted him awkwardly with his lantern-hand crossed over his chest.
‘Gods defend the Archon of Tal Verrar,’ said Locke. ‘Carry on. It’s your job to challenge strange boats at night, soldier.’
While the soldier tied the launch to a piling, Locke reached down and helped Jean up. Moving gracefully in the now-familiar costume, Locke then stepped around behind the dock guard, unfurled a leather crimper’s hood from within his jacket, slammed it down over the soldier’s head and cinched the drawstring tight.
‘Gods know there’s none stranger than ours that you’re ever likely to see.’
Jean held the soldier by his arms while the drugs inside the hood did their job. He lacked the constitution of the last man Locke had tried to knock out with such a hood, and sagged after just a few seconds of muffled struggle. When Locke and Jean tied him firmly to the piling at the far corner of the dock and stuffed a rag in his mouth, he was sleeping peacefully.
Caldris clambered out of the boat, picked up the guard’s lantern and began pacing with it in his place.
Locke stared up at the stone tower that was their objective: seven storeys tall, its battlements were orange-lit by alchemical navigation beacons warning ships away. Ordinarily there would be guards up there as well, watching the waters and the dock, but the hand of Stragos was already at work. Nothing moved atop the tower.
‘Come on, then,’ Locke whispered to Jean. ‘Let’s get inside and do some recruiting.’