The Silver Hand (Volume 2) (Tides of Magic, Band 2) - Softcover

Carpenter, Shawn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1668033755 ISBN 13: 9781668033753

Verlag: S&S/Saga Press, 2026

Inhaltsangabe

The swashbuckling sequel to The Price of Redemption filled to the brim with hauntings, naval battles, and sorcery—perfect for fans of Patrick O’Brian and Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series.

Captain Rue Nath is sailing towards what he hopes isn’t his certain doom. As he guides the Redemption into port, the people cheer him and his crew as a hero. But a court martial awaits that could leave him ashore for years, or worse, strip him of his naval rank for good.

But Magister Enid d’Tancreville will do anything in her power to keep that from happening. After escaping the Theocratic Revolution and discarding her dream of fighting against the ‘Rats in the army, she’s not too keen to give up her new position as Captain Nath’s right hand and sorcerer. As Enid tries to drum up support for her beloved captain, Rue must decide whether to take the hand his enemies have dealt him or prove them wrong once again. Even if that means commanding a ship whose captains have only ever met perilous ends.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Shawn Carpenter is a new author in an old skin. His colorful work history includes cowboy, airman, chicken guard, game designer, and corporate cog. Ships and the sea have enamored Shawn since his childhood in tragically landlocked Oklahoma, where, after peregrinations to all corners of the US, he now lives with his amazing wife, two sons, three dogs, and a cat. His three adult daughters keep tabs on his antics from a safe distance.

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Chapter 1 chapter 1
Rue Nath, newly minted post captain and temporary commander of the Redemption, 38 guns, stood at the taffrail and smiled as he watched the island fortress of Gisbon sink below the horizon astern. His countenance was in marked contrast to Enid d’Tancreville, the noble Ardain expatriate who now served as his ship’s magister. While he wore a boyish grin which would do him no credit with the ship’s crew if they could see it, Enid’s lips were set in a grim line and her forehead was creased with worry.

Perhaps sorcerers as accomplished as Enid must adopt such a long view that they are robbed of the ability to live in the moment, Nath thought. Out loud, he said, “Come now, Enid, how can you frown at the spectacle of such a great tower of stone vanishing like lost Eressea beneath the waves? See how the old fortifications are pricked out in white under the forenoon sun? It reminds me of a passage from one of Maupin’s plays—”

“Yes, yes,” Enid said. “It is lovely. I am more concerned with the sea and sky before us, however. Mid Yeardly remarked that the hazy smudge on the horizon is likely to be heavy weather. I have yet to learn to revel in the crazed rocking of a vessel beset by storm, and I find the approach of a tempest daunting.”

“The barometer is sinking,” Nath admitted. “But not so rapidly as to indicate what I would call heavy weather. Simply weather. Certainly not a tempest. You should adopt a sailor’s view of nature’s capriciousness and enjoy the sun while it shines but prepare for the inevitable storms. Take the middle ground between the grasshopper and the ant.”

“Your allusion escapes me.”

“Oh, it regards a common fable praising ants who labor to the exclusion of pleasure to prepare for lean times and chastising grasshoppers for their short-sighted profligacy.”

“It may surprise you to learn cautionary tales concerning carefree excess are not common among the more aristocratic circles to which my family belonged.” There was a touch of dark humor in Enid’s voice, but Nath was relieved her tone lost some of its gloom. “I will strive to take your advice to heart. I must say your serenity in the face of what awaits us at Middlesea surprises me.”

“I am quite sensible of the potential ruin of my reputation a court-martial represents, Enid. But there is naught I can do about it now, save prepare to defend myself as well as I may.” Nath’s smile was vaguely apologetic. “I am satisfied my logs will speak for themselves. If they do not, my fate was predetermined by Lord Ambrose’s friends in Admiralty, and any failing is in their character, not mine.”

“Forgive me, but you sound as fatalistic as a Malasfandyari mystic.”

“Not fatalistic, I assure you,” Nath smiled. “I will fight tooth and nail to defend myself, but there are no foes before me now, only a bright day, an amiable breeze, and a fine sailing vessel beneath my feet.”

“Again, I find your serenity admirable!”

“Admire it while you may,” Nath said with a grin. “I reckon it will be a much rarer commodity once I’ve trod Admiral Morrin’s carpet and received formal notice of my court-martial.”

Enid mustered a thin smile for his jest and left him to his own company to conduct practical magic lessons for the young gentles. Alone on the quarterdeck, Nath loosed a long sigh. Poor Enid, he thought. She may have pinned her fate on a falling star.

He closed the door on the disheartening prospect with an effort and turned his face toward the warm sun and his mind toward ways to coax the best speed and handling from Redemption, even if he would not command her long enough to enact his theories.

The next three days gave Nath ample opportunity to make what changes to the rigging and displacement of cargo could be accomplished with the time and hands available to him. He was not at all pleased with the rake of Redemption’s masts, but there was nothing he could do about them at the moment. He could shift some things around the hold to throw her on a better strake for swift sailing, though, despite the remorseful expressions of some of the old Alarums who had assumed they would be on something approaching a holiday on the voyage from Gisbon to Middlesea, regardless of what might await them there. Let them grumble, Nath thought. They’ll forget all about the sweat spilled correcting the Naveroñians’ heedless packing of Redemption’s hold! We’ll make port a day earlier without her listing starboard and settled to aft like a great cow, taking her ease!

His understanding of his crew’s moods was confirmed when, at the end of their efforts, the frigate lay over half a strake and added at least a knot to her running speed. Their spontaneous cheer at the joy of it warmed his heart, as did the overheard words of one of the topmen as she descended the ratlines to the deck, “That’s our cap’n. He’s a sailor’s sailor, he is!”

Despite his short stature, he felt ten feet tall as he strode across the quarterdeck to check the current course at the binnacle. Satisfied, he called out to Yeardly, “I leave her to you, Mid Yeardly!”

The mid’s sharp salute and joyous smile broke Nath’s officerly reserve long enough for an answering wink to slip past, but it was firmly restored by the time he reached the taffrail. He stood next to one of a pair of brightly polished chase guns sited there. When he laid a hand on the grim, warlike visage of some Orthodox saint that adorned the gun, he found the metal warmed by the afternoon sun. He admired the gun frankly, and if he were the captain who received Redemption, he would fight the Board of Ordnance tooth and nail to keep it and its sibling aboard.

The Naveroñians weren’t famed for the quality of their guns, but this pair had breech marks proclaiming them to be products from the famed Ouvrard foundry in Arleonne. He was mortally certain a fleeing foe would find their accuracy disconcerting in the hands of a crack team of gunners. Perhaps I will sift out the best of the gunners aboard tomorrow and put these beauties through their paces. The gods know they’d find it a relief from wrestling with those lumps of brutish iron with which the Dons replaced Redemption’s great guns. It irked him to think of her original armament gracing the gun deck of some pigsty frigate in the kingdom’s notoriously lax “navy.”

The bleak thought passed quickly under the warm sun and cool spray of an idyllic Merentian day. He sighed contentedly. The only improvement he could imagine to the day was the taste of smoke from one of Enid’s sublime cigarillos. As appealing as he found the day’s perfection, though, he couldn’t help gazing ahead at the cloud-dulled horizon before them and speculating eagerly on how well Redemption would weather rough seas, wind, and rain.

Enid resumed the mids’ sorcery lessons on the third day out of Gisbon. The ship was now running as smoothly as could be hoped, with such an imbalanced admixture of new hands and veteran Alarums. Nath kept his mids busy drilling their divisions to blend the new hands into the ship’s people, but was careful to leave time enough for Enid to continue the training routine she established aboard Alarum. In this, as in all things it seemed, he was filled with an unshakable optimism. As Enid opened various basic instructional sorcery books to...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: S&S/Saga Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1668033755
• ISBN 13: 9781668033753
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 432
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande