TWELVE
Sativa spent most of her time atop the mast, where one of the men had nailed a little platform for her feet to rest on. She only descended when she had to – for mealtimes, and at night, when she ventured into the cabin she shared with Nekane so that she might sleep.
Nekane never noticed if she was there or not, and Sativa was hardly the person to comfort a grieving widow. If her plans came to pass, she would soon be happily married to a man she had no intention of losing to a dragon. If there were any such beasts left in the world. Sativa certainly hoped not.
Sativa was aloft when she heard the cry, "Captain! There's a ship in trouble ahead!"
The lookout on her left pointed.
Ahead of them, the river curved around a bend, and it appeared that a ship had taken that bend so fas
