Quint learned quickly not to call the purser by his first name. That was the captain’s privilege. Sir or Mister Pizent was what the purser answered to. Quint was Mister Tirolo if someone was mad at him or Tirolo or boy if they weren’t.
The seamen didn’t discriminate between Racellian hubites or Narukunian hubites. They were aligned to sailors versus landsmen. Landsmen on board ship were beginning seamen, which was a mild insult to the landsmen.
As a purser’s mate, Quint was in between being a seaman and an officer. He had his own tiny cabin and ate in the mates’ mess. The food was initially strange to Quint since Narukun cuisine and what he ate in Racellia were quite different.
The purser was patient, but Quint was a quick learner and was soon entering names and numbers into a series of ledgers. In two weeks, the purser had taught Quint the basic duties of a purser. There were secret ledgers that Horenz kept for various officers. Quint was told that there were various petty larcenies that were permitted on board any ship. He had learned in Racellia not to ask too many questions and that helped him as he integrated himself into the day-to-day operations on board the ship.
He rarely ran into the Dankos and gave them curt acknowledgments if he passed them in a corridor.
Quint had rarely exercised his magic on a regular basis, but the captain and his officers, including the doctor, called upon him regularly to complete tasks that were difficult or impossible except by magic. He cleaned the doctor’s instruments on a regular basis to keep them from causing infections and officers would ask him to repair lines used in rigging or broken spars.
Some of the tasks required Quint to become creative and Quint surprisingly added more strings that he had to invent to his list.
During the third week, halfway to Narukun, the purser called Quint into his cabin at midday. “You have taken to the sea, young man. I’ve talked to the captain about the way you’ve been helping everyone aboard and we’ve decided to promote you to assistant purser.”
“What does that really mean?” Quint asked.
“You are a junior officer, where a purser’s mate isn’t really anything at all. There is no pay increase because that would go into effect on your next voyage.”
Quint shrugged. “I didn’t expect anything other than a bed and meals, so I thank you.”
“We do have one more question. Danko said to the first officer that you know how to cast portent strings.”
Quint nodded. “I can do that, but I’m not a believer in using portents for any kind of decision-making. My original master didn’t, either.”
“We’d like a little advanced warning on the weather from time to time,” the purser said.
“I can do that, as long as you consider it a magic-enhanced guess.”
“We can do that. Once a day at sunrise. What will happen at midday, evening and overnight.”
Quint sighed. “I am yours to command, I guess. It may take me some time to learn how to control the portent. I’ve only cast portent threads a few times.”
“Can you do it from here?”
Quint shrugged. “I suppose so. If I fail, it won’t be so bad if I only disappoint you, sir.”
“Don’t fail me, Quint. That isn’t a threat, but a hope,” Horenz said with a smile.
Quint stood, spreading his legs apart as he created the portent string and focused on viewing the deck of the ship.
He saw the wet deck of the ship. There was lightning in the sky. For the sundown portent, the deck was still wet, but the sun was visible slipping beneath the horizon. The last portent was two hours after midnight. The wind filled the reduced sails as the rain continued to pour.
“I’ve got that written down. Now, tomorrow morning,” the purser said.
Quint’s last vision wasn’t a good one. A burning ship was close to theirs. Fire arrows arced across the gap, striking into the masts. A sail was beginning to burn. There were sailors lying motionless on the deck.
“We are under attack tomorrow morning just after sunrise,” Quint said, describing all the details he could.
“Pirates. We will be just past Vicenzi Island in the morning. It is a nest full of them,” the purser said. “I’ll tell the captain and we will be prepared.”
“It might not happen,” Quint said.
“But you would agree the probability of an attack has gone up?”
“The probability was always there,” Quint said, “but with more certainty you can be more prepared. Do you think they will wait until morning after tonight’s rainstorm?”
The purser nodded, getting up from his chair. “It’s time to talk to the captain.”
Quint followed the purser through the twisting passages that led to the captain’s cabin.
The purser knocked on the captain’s door.
“Come in,” said the captain.
Quint stopped mid-step. Calee and Fedor were sitting at the captain’s table eating lunch.
“Our assistant purser has information for you, sir.”
Captain Olinko rose from the table and wiped his mouth before stepping away. “It’s time I checked the quarterdeck. The sailing master said the weather might be changing.” He looked meaningfully at the purser and gave Quint a nod.
Quint was the last to climb to the quarterdeck, a place he had only been twice since he boarded the ship.
“This had better be good, Horenz,” the captain said.
The purser took Quint and the Captain to the starboard back corner of the deck. “I asked Tirolo to cast a portent on the weather.”
