by Monica Hahn
“Don’t cry, lass,” a familiar voice said, as comforting arms wrapped around her and Mikel said in her ear, “I’ll fix it.”
She stopped crying, stunned that he was there. Then she embraced him tightly. “Please take me away from here,” she said.
He helped her up and wiped the tears off her cheeks tenderly with the pads of his thumbs. “Of course, love,” he said. “How about a drink and you can tell me all about it?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Catarina said, dully, but she walked along with him.
“That’s what the drink is for,” Mikel said. “To make you want to talk about it.”
Catarina chuckled reluctantly. Alcohol did make her awfully chatty, not that she usually needed much help with that.
She rested her head against Mikel’s arm for a moment.
Chapter Nineteen
It only took two drinks for Catarina to start talking. Granted, they were brimming mugs of ale, but she was a lightweight. Mikel chuckled as he recognized the inhibitions disappearing. Although he did want her to talk about it, he also wanted to make her pain disappear, and sometimes the alcohol helped with that, as well. As she told him about her conversation with her father and her former fiancé, his hands tightened into fists. He should have stayed with her. Why he had walked away and let them insult his wife… Never again!
“So, then I said that I wanted to stay married to you,” Catarina said. “And my father threw me out of the house.”
Mikel paused for a moment in contemplating ways to hurt Stefan and started considering punishing his father-in-law instead. Then he thought about what Catarina had just said and his heart lightened as all thoughts of revenge got superseded. “You said that?”
“It’s the truth,” Catarina said, with the absolute sincerity of the inebriated. “I don’t know why I didn’t know we were really married before, because that seems really obvious now, but all of that doesn’t really matter. Can we really just stay married?”
“I would like nothing more, really,” Mikel said, dropping a kiss on his wife’s nose.
She gave him a brilliant smile. “I’m so happy,” she said. Then she suddenly frowned. “Are you just saying that?” she asked, suspiciously. “Because I know you have made taking care of me a habit, but I don’t want this to be about that.”
Mikel felt his heart bursting out of his chest. “I’m not just saying it,” he said. “I love taking care of you, but us staying married isn’t about that.”
“What’s it about?”
Mikel couldn’t contain himself any longer, and he didn’t care that his wife was a bit tipsy, or that they were in a very public tavern. He placed a hand on either side of Catarina’s head and kissed her. Her lips were as soft as he had imagined and even sweeter. She sighed against him, and he felt her hands smooth up his shoulders to clutch at his hair.
Catcalls drew them apart. The kiss had sobered her up, if her bright eyes were any indication. She smiled at him, and he just wanted to kiss her again. There was something that he should tell her first, though, if he could just make his brain behave long enough to remember what it was. Fuzzily, he realized that he needed to tell her he was Horatio.
“Let’s get out of here,” Catarina said.
She stood up and held out a hand.
Mikel felt himself grinning foolishly as he leapt to his feet and took her hand. As they walked towards the door he bumped into a short man standing near there and the man turned around. Mikel was ready for either a nod of apology or a brawl, since either was possible, but he wasn’t prepared to recognize his childhood friend Bosley in the still freckled face.
“Mikel?” Bosley asked, then grinned. “I thought for certain that the sea had taken you!”
Mikel clapped his shoulder. “She did, at that, but I’m back.”
“And with a lovely lady,” Bosley said, with an admiring glance at Catarina.
“My wife,” Mikel said, proudly. “How have you been?”
“Fair enough. I’m married myself, with two children, and I’m working as the dock master.”
“Bosley always was one of the hardest working people I knew,” Mikel told Catarina.
“I had to be,” Bosley said. He grinned at Catarina. “Whereas your husband worked just as hard, but it was all a lark with him. Just a break from being a prince.”
“You knew?” Mikel asked, surprised enough that Bosley had known that he didn’t even register that Catarina didn’t.
Bosley shrugged. “Not at first,” he said. “But after some of the king’s guardians roughed me up asking about you, I followed you home to see what was so important about you. I’m guessing you haven’t been to the castle yet, though, or we’d all have heard about the missing heir returning.”
“Prince Horatio,” Catarina said, slowly.
“It’s a long story,” Mikel said. “Bosley, would you mind keeping this a secret for a bit?”
“Of course. I’ve never had trouble keeping your secrets.”
“Thank you,” Mikel said. “I’ll speak with you later.”
The men clasped hands, and then Mikel guided a still stunned Catarina out into the street.
“You’re Prince Horatio?” she asked, after they were halfway back to the ship and had been walking in silence.
“Yes,” he said. “I was going to tell you. Are you upset?”
She stopped and leaned against a fence. Her hair had loosened a bit from the complicated style and a few tendrils drifted around her face. Mikel gently tucked an errant strand behind her ear, which just slipped out again when she shook her head.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “I’m not certain how I feel about it.” She looked at him and narrowed her eyes. “How could you do that to Arati?” she asked. “Don’t you know how much she’s been missing you? Nobody even knew whether you were alive or not!”
Mikel felt the accusation sting, and he knew it was justified. “I’ve missed her, too,” he said. “But, there were reasons, Catarina, for me leaving.”
“What reasons? What could possibly be a good enough explanation for deserting not only your family, but an entire kingdom that depended on you?” Catarina might not have been upset before, but now she was working up a good head of steam.
Her hands were flying about as she talked, and Mikel had to track them for a minute before he could finally capture them. He then transferred her hands to one of his so that he could lay a pacifying palm against Catarina’s cheek to make sure he had her attention. “My grandfather, the king, threatened to kill me,” he said.
Catarina gasped, and stared at him with wide eyes.
“I don’t know as he actually would have,” Mikel said. “He was using the threat to manipulate his daughter at the time, and it would have worked. He wanted to banish her again as a way to control me. I could have done what he wanted me to, and perhaps that would have been the best decision. But, I was young and proud, and thought that I could outsmart him by removing his leverage. And running away meant that I could experience freedom and travel and adventure, so it was a selfish decision. I was only twelve. There were nights I cried after the other boys had fallen asleep, I was so homesick. But coming back without being successful never seemed like an option until now. I didn’t have a compelling enough reason until you.”
She kissed him.
“But what about the man from Gilden that I had told you about?” Catarina asked. “He must be an impostor, and that should be a compelling reason!”
“I was planning on returning for that reason,” Mikel said. “It just wouldn’t have needed to be quite so urgent. Have I disappointed you? Do you feel that you no longer know me?”
She smiled at him, the genuine smile that crinkled her eyes and wrinkled her nose and made his heart pound. “I know you,” she said. “You’re the man I love, even if you’re a prince with a rather dreadful name.”
“It really is, isn’t it?” Mikel said, grimacing.
“I do prefer Mikel.”
&nb
sp; “As do I.”
“You are planning on claiming the throne, aren’t you?” Catarina asked. “Tibercon is in a dreadful state.”
“I see that,” Mikel said. “And I think it’s time to fix it.” He wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist and drew her towards him. “Will you be my queen?” he asked.
“I was so looking forward to life on the sea,” she said, and sighed. Then her eyes twinkled at him, and she grinned. “But I guess I could get used to a crown if necessary.”
Mikel kissed her, his heart overflowing with love and his mind with plans.
Catarina melted into him, and then suddenly said, “I think we should get back to the ship.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” Mikel said. “I need to speak with Tarik.”
“True,” said Catarina, “but that’s not the reason I was thinking of. I’m looking forward to our bunk.”
Mikel kissed her forehead. “You must be exhausted,” he said. “It’s been a hard day for you.”
“Yes, but a nap isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
Mikel stared at his wife, who was looking very demure, and then she winked at him. He started laughing. “You shameless hussy.”
She shrugged. “I am a pirate’s wife; what do you expect?”
They couldn’t get back to the ship fast enough.
Chapter Twenty
Tarik didn’t leave his ship much. There was never any real reason to, since he was perfectly happy there. Happy enough, at least. There wasn’t usually anything in the port cities that he cared about. Port Sinbad was different, though. Arati was here in Tibercon, and knowing that he was so close brought up old feelings that he thought he’d buried someplace safe. He had thought that he wouldn’t care, that he could just drop off Catarina and leave again, but he was finding that impossible to do. He felt restless and being on the Quest was giving him cabin fever, which it never did. It had been a while since he’d been to shore. Maybe a drink at a local tavern would settle him down. And maybe Mikel needed him. Losing Catarina wasn’t going to be easy for the lad.
So, Tarik dressed with more care than usual and left the ship, to the amazement of the crew he left in charge. As he walked through the market he realized that things were even worse than he’d heard before. He was propositioned by a woman young enough to be his daughter, and she was holding a baby with a small child clinging to her skirts. He declined the proposition but handed her a few coins. He got a few curious looks from ruffians, but nobody challenged him as he went on his way.
He stopped at The Roost, surprised that it was still around. It seemed to hold a nice bit of symmetry though, to make his first stop the last of his previous trip. As he walked in, he noticed a group of Tibercon guards, but he couldn’t think of any reason why they would notice him, or care if they did, so he went ahead and pulled up a bench at the only empty table right beside them, sitting at the far side but facing them. An attractive barmaid eventually made her way over to him and asked for his order. She seemed a little surprised when he asked for a glass of ale, without any flirtation at all, but she got him the brimming glass soon enough. Tarik sat there, taking a sip every now and then and keeping a watchful eye on everyone around him. When a large, boisterous party left the tavern, there was a noticeable decrease in the noise level, and Tarik heard one of the guards mention the princess.
He hadn’t even bothered to try and catch their low-voiced conversation before, but without the extra racket, he tuned in.
“You said that the princess was close to agreeing last week,” one of the men said.
A man that looked faintly familiar to Tarik, and not in uniform, who was on the far side of their table, said, “And she is. We should be engaged within the month.”
“Are you certain of that, Minister Zanth?” the same man asked. His tone was respectful, but the question was a bit impertinent.
“I am,” the minister said, sounding confident. “She doesn’t have a choice.”
“What do you mean?” asked the impertinent one.
One of the other men laughed. “We’ll march on the castle if she doesn’t!”
“It won’t come to that,” the minister said. “The princess will be mine. It’s in her own best interest. I can always remind her that I knew her when she was young and much more impulsive. The people of Tibercon might not be so willing to accept her as their queen if they knew everything about her.”
It was then that Tarik finally recognized the man. He had been leading the pack of Tibercon guardians that had escorted Tarik to and from the castle that memorable day so many years ago. Which meant he knew that Arati had been consorting with a pirate and was apparently prepared to blackmail her with that knowledge. Which made Tarik responsible for Arati’s current predicament. Assuming, of course, that he wasn’t making wild leaps of logic from an overheard conversation…
“Well, I wasn’t around then,” the man who had laughed earlier said. “And I don’t know of anything bad about the princess. I think whoever won her hand would be lucky indeed!”
“I thought you were all ready to march on the castle?” another soldier said, mockingly.
“Not to hurt the princess! Her father is another story…”
“Here, here!” the minister said, and they all raised their glasses.
*****
Tarik had heard enough. It was evident that Arati shouldn’t be forced to marry this man, either by threats of violence or blackmail, and to prevent that, she needed a better option. In an impulsive moment, which was something Tarik rarely had, he decided that he could be that option. After all, it was probably time to do what he should have done when he had first met Arati, go to her father and ask for her hand. If he had done that in the first place, especially if he had properly explained his situation, it might have prevented this whole mess. Back then him being a pirate had been a detriment, but now he was starting to see it as an advantage. He had become a successful shipping merchant captain because of his experience as a pirate, and he could see how leveraging that experience might solve the king’s current problem of a kingdom which had become a dangerous place. With his mind made up, Tarik didn’t waste any time. Who knew how long the guards would be occupied with drinking, and it would certainly be better to not have them at the castle. Tarik threw down some coins to pay his tab and left quietly.
As he walked to the castle, he tried to formulate a strategy, but he found that he was too busy anticipating his reunion with Arati to even care about his meeting with her father. The closer he got to the castle, the more memories came flooding back. He remembered the soft light in her eyes, and the scent of jasmine that she carried with her, and the softness of her lips. He remembered the feel of her hair and how his name sounded when she said it. And the way that she laughed. She had to have changed. It had been a long time. He’d changed. And yet, he felt like an eager young man again when he thought of seeing her. But, business first.
A guard challenged Tarik at the castle entrance. “What is your business here?” he asked.
“I need to speak with the king,” Tarik said.
“Is he expecting you?”
“I’d imagine not,” Tarik said. “Would you tell him that Tarik, who has been called Tarik the Terror, requests an audience?”
The guard nodded at a page boy, who gawked at him before scampering off. It wasn’t long before he was back and he grinned up at Tarik. “The king grants an audience,” he said. “Follow me.” And the guard stepped aside to let Tarik pass. Tarik followed the page boy, who was now walking sedately, to the throne room. Tarik slipped him a coin, which made the boy smile, and walked into the place where Saras had ruined his life so many years ago.
*****
King Saras was definitely looking older, and much less healthy, but Tarik had no trouble recognizing him as the father of the only woman he’d ever loved. Whether Saras would recognize him, however, was the first potential hurdle. He didn’t seem to, though, as he appeared merely curious when he asked what Tari
k’s business was with him.
“I’m here to help you restore Port Sinbad to the premier port in the island kingdoms,” Tarik said, boldly.
“What makes you think that I have a need for such a service?” Saras asked.
“The dock is a disaster, the city is disgraceful, and members of the Guard are plotting against you,” Tarik said, mincing neither his words or the seriousness of the situation.
“My guards?” the king asked, with mild surprise, although he didn’t bother disputing the other points.
“Openly, in a tavern, for any stranger to hear.”
“Well, that is a problem. And you would be my solution?”
“I would.”
“And you would perform this service for what price?” the king asked.
Tarik grinned. “I understand that you have a daughter that is still unwed. I would be willing to solve that problem also.” He watched in amusement as the king considered this.
“So, you come to me as a former pirate asking for my daughter’s hand in marriage?” The king didn’t sound nearly as outraged as curious. Either the years or the illness had mellowed him a bit.
“It’s my former profession that is going to make me a valuable asset to you,” Tarik insisted. “In just under two years, I have made twenty-six successful voyages and delivered one hundred percent of my cargo safely. In that time, I’ve sunk thirteen pirate ships.”
“Your former colleagues?”
Tarik laughed. “We don’t have a secret handshake. The point is, because I know how they think, what they do, and how they attack, I can defend against them. Hell, I can go on the offensive and keep them from even entering the harbor. And once they know that they are facing Tarik the Terror here, your docks will be safe. I guarantee it.”
“I’ve heard that you are a man of your word,” Saras said, after a long pause. “And I am a man of mine. You have my permission to marry my daughter, but you’ll have to convince her of that. She’s always been a trifle difficult.”