Mercer stood on the starboard side of The Shadow. He held the lower end of the ax handle in one hand, and the other gripped higher near the double-headed blade. The few men who did not die during the boarding stood around him. They were sentinels. Their charge was guard and protect.
The ShadowThere was a fog inside his head. Mercer could not clear it. He understood the task, but knew there was something else, something more about it which he couldn’t recall. It was right there. Just in front of him. But invisible. He hated when that happened, like when he misplaced the name of a friend within his mind. He knew it, of course he knew it, but at the moment the name escaped him.
He knew he was supposed to protect the ship, but … there was something about the ship, something about the order h
