Tress of the Emerald Sea

Tress explores the ship; as she does, she hears voices and follows them, finding the quartermaster, Fort, and Ann, the ship’s carpenter. Ann asks Fort about the cannons and, as she eavesdrops, Tress discovers that the cannons were supposed to only incapacitate the other ship, not sink it. Ann and Fort are unhappy that they ended up killing 30 men rather than simply robbing them.

Huck reminds Tress that even being on board a pirate ship means the king would assume she is a pirate rather than a captive. Now that the pirates have killed people, they would be charged with murder and hung.

Tress considers how she can escape and turns back to watch Fort, whom Huck informs her is deaf. Before she can leave again, Fort turns to her with his board he uses to communicate, which says, “Come here, girl” (96).

Hoid, the narrator, informs the reader that not all the crew mates are necessary to know, so he calls any crew member whose name is unnecessary “Doug.” Hoid proceeds to tell of Tress’s interaction with Fort.

Fort warns Tress not to let on that she does not want to be a pirate, for her own safety, and gives her the dregs of the meal’s leftovers, telling her to return after the next meal. Tress asks about his board, and he explains that he traded for it with a wizard from beyond the stars, who had used it to translate words to their language. Hoid has his own suspicions about who that wizard was.

Fort tells Tress that he did not feed her out of kindness but as a trade—he just does not yet know what she will owe him as part of the trade.

Hoid wraps things up by noting that he has introduced all the people the reader needs to remember.

Tress cleans the deck and considers the situation on board the Crow’s Song. Before long, one of the Dougs calls her over and orders her to prepare the bags of spores that go into the cannons to help them fire. The ship’s sprouter had been thrown overboard when he refused to become a pirate.

Tress accepts the job without argument, to the Doug’s surprise. He gives her a funnel, goggles, and a mask and tells her that the contents of the bag aren’t the most dangerous types of spores, so she “should be fine” (107). Tress begins the work.

Tress works with the first spores from another sea that she has ever seen. As she works, she thinks, and eventually she discovers a false bottom in the barrel that she is loading with cannon balls and pouches of spores. She realizes that the cannonmaster must be hiding cannonballs that would not pass Ann’s inspection; they are not rigged to incapacitate a ship but rather sink the ship.

Ann approaches Tress. Introducing herself, Ann reveals that beyond being the ship’s carpenter, she is also assistant cannonmaster. Tress is unsure if Ann is in on the conspiracy to sink ships. Ann shares that they all had become pirates when the captain convinced them they would either fight in the war or they could strike out on their own. She reveals that they were not supposed to become deadrunners—pirates that kill in addition to robbing ships. Regular pirates go to jail, but deadrunners are executed. Ann also shares that sailors from a deadrunner ship are never accepted into another ship.

Tress realizes Ann isn’t part of the conspiracy, but Laggart and the captain probably are; the captain must have left someone alive to make sure word got out that they were deadrunners now. Lost in thought, Tress forgets safety for a moment and scratches an itch by her goggles. Spores explode in her face.

Ann laughs at Tress as Tress is blown back onto the deck. The spores that had gotten under the rim of her goggles had exploded, but the tiny amount was not strong enough to kill her. Ann takes Tress down to the surgeon to be checked over.

Dr. Ulaam is the ship’s surgeon. He is pale, with red eyes, no heartbeat, and cold skin. Ann calls him a zombie, which he says is a crude and inaccurate term. He explains that his cold skin and lack of a heartbeat lower his required caloric intake, but he does not provide an alternative to “zombie.” He collects body parts and eats dead bodies. Dr. Ulaam, according to Hoid, had searched for Hoid, discovered the curse put on Hoid, and then decided to stay on the ship—without trying to lift Hoid’s curse.

Huck finds Tress again and tells her he saw Laggart sneak several cannonballs from storage into his pack. Tress decides to test her theory, setting herself and her cleaning supplies near the cannon station to wait and watch for Laggart.

After Laggart inspects the cannons and praises the Dougs’ work, he makes a show of cleaning the cannon himself. Tress watches as he secretly takes cannonballs from his pack and hides them in the false bottom of the barrel. Tress’s suspicion is confirmed that Laggart and possibly the captain want the crew to become deadrunners against their wishes or knowledge.

Tress convinces Huck to use his size to their advantage by going to the window of the captain’s quarters, where Laggart has gone to speak with her. When Huck returns, he tells Tress what he heard, insisting he get into character as the captain and urging Tress to act as Laggart. He reveals that the captain had told Laggart that there were no survivors on the ship they sank, after all, because the man they left alive died, presumably from injuries they didn’t know he had. According to Huck, Laggart replied that they would have to sink another ship, and that with Fort “brewing trouble” (127), they needed blood to bind the crew to the ship “if we’re going to do what you want” (127).

The captain reveals a vague sense of the plan, noting that the crew would never follow her to dangerous seas unless they had no other choice. She says that when they sink another ship, they should leave several survivors instead of one.

On hearing this, Tress declares to Huck that she has a plan for their escape.

When the captain returns to the deck, Tress nonchalantly positions herself, while cleaning, near the captain. When she hears the captain order Salay to steer north toward the shipping lanes to find a target, Tress mutters, just loud enough to be heard, “You’ll kill more, will you?” (130). When the captain confronts her, Tress acts as if she had not meant to be heard but then claims that her family had been on the ship they sank, and that she is not an inspector—she had found the inspector’s coat and was wearing it to amuse her family. She sees Crow considering her story before telling Salay to change course for Shimmerbay. She claims it is to restock on water, but Tress realizes that, as hoped, Crow wants to leave Tress in a port to spread the story of the crew sinking the other ship.

Crow then kicks Tress, and Salay helps her up and offers to teach her how to use a ship’s wheel. As she stands at the wheel, Tress feels a freedom she’s never felt before—one she had not even known she might need. Salay explains the honor and deference given to the helmsperson—even the captain cannot decide who steers the ship or takes over for the helmsperson.

Although Salay says the whole crew chose piracy, Tress sees that Salay does not like the captain. Salay admits that she has someone she is trying to find on the seas—she hopes to pay his debts and take him home. Tress feels a connection to Salay through their similar journeys to find someone in trouble.

Salay has Tress rest when the seethe stops the ship in its place.

Tress hears Ann stick up for her by telling Laggart that Tress loaded the cannons so well, not the Dougs. Tress dreads being reminded of how nice some of the crew members are. Tress realizes, as she watches the crew in the quartermaster’s office, that they are a family led by a captain who does not care about them.

Tress tries to tell Fort about this, but he tells her to stop talking because that kind of talk would get her thrown overboard. He tells her that the captain is too dangerous and she could kill all of them easily.

That night, at port, the captain has Laggart subtly wake Tress and create an open moment for her to “escape” the ship. Tress, though, realizes that she would leave the crew trapped with the captain. Huck urges her to go. Despite her desire to rescue Charlie, she feels a responsibility to the crew. She tells Huck he can go, but he says he has a good feeling about her and will stay. Tress indicates she has a plan.

The captain makes an appearance and tells Tress she should run, but Tress tells her she wants to join the crew and that she had made up the story about her family to get pity and food. When Crow says she doesn’t have a job for Tress, Tress points out that she doesn’t have a sprouter. Tress is worried about Crow’s reaction, saying that she has a perfect place for Tress, but still Tress knows she is right to stay.