by Sarah Noffke
“There will be a price,” Sophia countered.
“Of course,” the captain said at once. “Name it, and if I agree, you’ll get it once you’ve done what I’ve asked. If you’re a real weapons expert.”
“I am,” Sophia stated. “But that’s not how it’s going to work. I know you’ll double-cross me once you get what you want.”
Captain Silver Toe grinned. “Now, would I do that?”
“Every day of your life, sir,” Eye Patch blurted, then realized his blunder and clapped a hand to his mouth.
The captain glared at his crew member before looking at Sophia. “What is it you want?”
“A payment upfront, and one after I deliver,” Sophia promptly replied.
“Fine, that’s standard,” the captain affirmed. “What do you want upfront?”
Sophia patted her belly. “My ship is low on supplies, and I’m out of money. It’s been a while since I had a hot meal. Feed me dinner, and we’ll discuss what I get when I’ve delivered.”
“She can wash her clothes but can’t feed herself?” Seaweed Beard questioned.
Peg Leg elbowed him. “She does look quite scrawny.”
Sophia ignored them, staring straight at Captain Silver Toe. “What’s it going to be?”
“Yeah, fine. We’ll feed you and discuss the rest of your demands. Follow me.”
To Sophia’s relief, Captain Silver Toe set off through the crowd, headed in the opposite direction of where Wilder and she had deduced was where the bow and arrow were. Now was Wilder’s chance to break in and get it. Her job was simple: Stall for as long as possible.
Chapter Eighty-Four
Using his heightened senses, Wilder was able to listen in and determine what had happened with Sophia and the pirates. She had played it rather brilliantly in his opinion, shrugging off their concerns about her gender, appearance, and the location of her ship. According to the sound of retreating footsteps, she was leading the captain and the crew away from this part of the Dark Echo, giving Wilder the opportunity he needed to get to the bow and arrows.
He climbed over the railing after checking to ensure the coast was clear. The three pirates who had been stationed on the quarterdeck before were gone, obviously pulled away by the commotion of her arrival. There didn’t appear to be anyone around, which was perfect because Wilder suspected he’d need a chance to search for the case that held the weapon.
Guessing at where the captain’s quarters were on the Dark Echo, Wilder pressed his ear to several doors before opening them. To his disappointment, three of the doors led to simple bunkers or storage rooms. He was able to deduce one important thing from the contents of all of the spaces—pirates were dirtier than barn animals.
At the fourth door, Wilder didn’t have any higher expectations and was about to wonder if they’d correctly guessed where the captain’s quarters were. The ship was quite large, and if they were wrong, the entire mission would be a bust.
After determining that there was no noise on the other side, Wilder pushed the door open, and his chest both filled with relief and frustration. He’d found Captain Silver Toe’s quarters, which were hidden behind a plain door, the same as all the rest. Tricky little pirate, Wilder thought and looked around.
However, different from all the other rooms he’d seen, this one was huge. It was also full of treasure. Hundreds of thousands of items glistened and twinkled in the light given off by the oil lamps mounted on gimbals all around the room.
There was no doubt in Wilder’s mind that this was the captain’s quarters. It appeared fitting for a king—or a dirty pirate who fancied himself a king after stealing their treasures.
The problem for Wilder was that the room was so large and the treasures so numerous that he could search for the better part of a week and not be able to find the case he was looking for.
“I hope you chew slowly, Sophia,” Wilder said under his breath. “Because I’m going to need all the time you can buy me.”
Chapter Eighty-Five
“Do you have a name?” Captain Silver Toe held out an arm and offered Sophia the seat at the far end of the long table in a very gothic-looking dining room. The décor wasn’t that bad, but she had to remind herself that it was all stolen.
“Captain Long Sword.” Sophia took the seat as the rest of the pirates glanced down the table, waiting for their captain to sit opposite her.
He arched an eyebrow at her and grinned. “I’ve heard of you.”
Sophia swallowed. “Oh?”
“Yeah, rumor on the open seas is that you’re not a very good pirate. You can’t commandeer a ship to save your life or pillage a village if they hand over all their worldly goods in neat packages.”
Sophia didn’t know who the real Captain Long Sword was, but she was grateful that they were so bad at their job. “But you have heard of me, right?” She winked, thinking of Ramy and his obsession with Pirates of the Caribbean.
He sat, and the other pirates all clambered for chairs, fighting for spots like children. “I didn’t know this Captain Long Sword was a woman who apparently can’t feed herself, nor a weapons expert.”
“Well, I like to keep my secrets,” Sophia remarked as a pirate filled her dirty goblet with wine.
“You showed up when you heard I was looking for a weapons expert,” he challenged down the long length of the table.
“As you’ve heard, I’m hungry,” she retorted at once.
“What’s this other thing you require after you’ve done what I’ve asked?” Captain Silver Toe asked.
“Treasure, of course.” She sipped the red wine and had to stifle her gag reflex. She was pretty sure they’d served her straight-up vinegar. “I want your men to take a load of gold to where I moored my ship in the next harbor while I do what you require. That way when I finish, my treasure will be delivered.”
“That’s a crafty way to play things.” Captain Silver Toe swigged some wine. “How will you know we’ve done it and not shortchanged you?”
She winked at him. “I’m the trusting type.”
“And there lies why you be an awful pirate,” he retorted.
The truth was that Sophia didn’t care to get gold. She didn’t have a ship for the pirates to deliver it to. The point was to get half the crew off the Dark Echo. Then Sophia and Wilder would have fewer pirates to fight if they were caught trying to get away after everything was said and done, but hopefully, it didn’t come to that. If everything was going to plan, Wilder should be opening the case in the captain’s quarters right then and about to escape the Dark Echo.
Chapter Eighty-Six
Wilder had torn through the contents of the captain’s quarters and didn’t feel any closer to finding the case. He didn’t even know what he was looking for. Something large enough to house a bow and arrows, but that could be half the containers in the room. To make things worse, if and when he found it, he had to put the room back together or risk blowing Sophia’s cover.
He opened a large chest and was unsurprised to find it full of gold coins.
“What’s up with pirates and their gold?” he wondered aloud.
He turned and accidentally knocked a tray of silver goblets off a table, making them clatter to the deck with a loud noise that seemed unending.
Wilder froze, sure that the sound would have caused some toothless pirates to run for the captain’s quarters. He let out a breath a few seconds later when no one showed up. He reasoned that Sophia must be doing an excellent job of holding court, although he couldn’t hear her anymore since she’d moved off with the crew to the other side of the ship, probably to the lower deck where the dining area was.
“Put on that Sophia Beaufont charm and keep them distracted,” Wilder muttered, then turned his attention to an unexplored corner of the room with loads of treasure.
Chapter Eighty-Seven
“So how did you get the name Captain Silver Toe?” Sophia hoped that the conversation would distract from the fact that she was hardly tou
ching her food. Since all the pirates were watching her every move, she doubted that was the case. It appeared she would have to eat the pork chop swimming in loads of grease and adorned with slices of sautéed bruised apple slices—every single bit of it.
“I lost five toes,” the captain replied.
“Oh, better than the whole foot, I guess.” She tried not to sound as sympathetic as she felt. Pirates, she reminded herself, didn’t have sympathy…or feelings, well, except for anger. They apparently had a load of that.
“I lost three toes on one foot and two on the other,” he explained.
Hence the reason for the limp on both sides, Sophia thought.
“That must have been some accident.” She sliced into her pork chop, then sensing the eyes on her, dropped the fork and knife, picked up the meat, and tore into it with her mouth. That encouraged the rest, and they all dug into their food a second later.
“Oh, it wasn’t one accident,” Captain Silver Toe elaborated. “It was five.”
“Five different accidents?” Sophia found the meat nearly impossible to chew but tried to do so while she talked, as a pirate would.
He nodded. “Yes, five times in battle, a sword or a knife or an ax fell on my boot, severing one of my toes, until I was down to what I have now—only half.”
Sophia gulped some wine, finding it a little more palatable as it washed down the tough and stringy meat. “Wow, that’s some bad luck.”
“At least my efforts resulted in treasure,” Captain Silver Toe retorted, earning a laugh from all of his men. “I can feed my crew and have more gold than an entire empire. Unlike you.”
Sophia set her goblet down and shot a challenging look across the table. “And yet, you still need my help. So much so that you put out a call to the whole of the Amalfi Coast.”
“I heard there was a weapons expert in this area and I happen to be on the hunt for one,” he replied.
“Where did you hear such a thing?” she asked nonchalantly.
He emptied his goblet and snapped his fingers for it to be refilled. “There was an old gypsy in a town we raided a day or so ago. It was the same one where we got the treasure I need your help with. My men questioned everyone in the town, but no one knew anything, except for this gypsy who said there was a weapons expert believed to be hiding out off the Amalfi Coast. So we sailed down here, and look what we found.”
“A girl!” Eye Patch sang, swaying back and forth, having had too much of the vinegar wine.
“A woman,” Sophia corrected, realizing that the gypsy was probably Subner in disguise, the crafty Protector of Weapons instigating things.
“I’ve never met a pirate who fashioned herself a woman,” Captain Silver Toe commented. “You might be a lady after my own heart.”
“Well, you’d have to have one for that to be the case.” Sophia picked up the rest of her pork chop and tore into it with her teeth, thinking it might get the best of her. She was starting to understand why most of the pirates were toothless.
“Very clever.” Captain Silver Toe pushed away from the table, apparently finished eating. “When you’re ready, I think I’ve lived up to my end of the bargain.”
“I’m almost ready.” Sophia wished she could push her plate away and not eat the rest, but she played the part of a hungry pirate, and there was still food on her plate. “What’s this job you have for me?”
“It’s simple,” Captain Silver Toe stated matter-of-factly. “All you have to do is open a case and pull a weapon from it.”
“That’s all?” Sophia feigned surprise.
“That’s all,” he repeated. “Then you hand it over to me, and you’re on your way.”
“You’ll send a boat of men to my ship with the treasure?” she replied, now pretending to be skeptical.
“I’ll do it right now.” He snapped his fingers. “How much do you require?”
How much was enough in pirate currency? she wondered. She didn’t know the conversion rate of gold coins to modern-day money. “I risked a lot to come aboard. How do I know that you won’t kill me when I hand over the weapon?”
He shrugged with a wolfish grin. “We’re pirates. You don’t know. It was foolish of you to come aboard alone.”
She returned the grin. “How do you know that my men aren’t stationed all around here and ready to attack if something happens to me?”
Captain Silver Toe gave her an appreciative look. “Maybe you’re not such a bad pirate after all.”
“I prefer to be underestimated,” she replied.
“I have no reason to kill you if you retrieve the weapon from its case,” he stated. “It was spelled by some magician who didn’t want anyone but someone worthy to have it, so only a weapons expert can remove it.” He paused and eyed her assessingly. “That begs the question, if you be a weapons expert, how come you be such a lousy pirate and don’t have a store of weapons and treasure?”
“I’m a woman,” she said plainly as if this was a sufficient answer.
All the pirates around the table nodded in unison. “She doesn’t know what to do with her power,” Eye Patch declared.
“They are simple beings, aren’t they, women?” Seaweed Beard said.
“Such a waste, giving that power to a dumb woman,” Peg Leg slurred.
Sophia smiled inwardly, looking forward to besting these pirates at their game. She had to hope that Wilder was free and clear of the ship so they could end this whole charade with hopefully a very lackluster conclusion.
“Fine.” Sophia pushed up from the table, eyeing the scraps on her plate she’d chopped into bits to make it look like she’d eaten more than she had. “I’m ready to open this case. Send fifty pounds of gold to the harbor to the east. My ship the Lunis is moored there.”
Oh, very clever, the blue dragon said in her head.
You’re welcome, she replied.
Captain Silver Toe snapped his finger five times, and five drunk men rose from their chairs, most swaying back and forth as if they might fall over at any moment. “Take the treasure to where Captain Long Sword states and return right away with word.”
The men all grumbled, nodded, and headed out of the dining room.
Sophia smiled, glad to have fewer pirates to deal with. “If you’re ready, lead me to this weapon you’d like me to recover for you.”
Chapter Eighty-Eight
Wilder felt like he’d been through everything in the captain’s quarters, but it was hard to tell. He’d throw things around so willy-nilly that he might’ve covered the case in other treasures.
Looking around, he tried to think, his heart beating rapidly. Sophia had been gone for a long time. She would be leading the pirates here soon. Wilder was supposed to have retrieved the bow and be gone already.
“Where? Where? Where are you?” he asked, his voice vibrating with anxiety.
His eyes scanned the room.
Overhead, he heard thundering footsteps across the upper decks. It could be Sophia and Captain Silver Toe. It sounded like several pairs of boots.
It appeared that Wilder would have to abandon his strategy. Using magic, Wilder immediately began cleaning up everything so that it was exactly as he’d found it. He’d have to do the opposite of the Sophia approach and ambush the pirates when she was led to the case and couldn’t open it, blowing her cover. That wasn’t ideal, but he was out of options.
Within seconds, the captain’s quarters were back to the way they’d been when he entered them. Not neat, but at least somewhat orderly. Almost too organized based on the way he’d found things.
Using a little more magic, Wilder roughed up the room a little, throwing treasures around, when a large case partially obstructed by the curtains that lined the entirety of the room caught his eyes. Something that he hadn’t checked yet. Something that could house a bow and quiver of arrows.
Wilder hurried over, pulled out the case, and tried to open it. At first, nothing happened. It remained closed. The footsteps were growing louder overhe
ad. Wilder squeezed his eyes shut and tried again. This time, the lid reluctantly gave way. Then he was able to pry it back completely.
“Well, hello, beautiful,” he sang to the bow made with the most excellent craftsmanship he’d ever laid eyes on in his life. Beside it was a quiver of arrows. His gaze danced over all the beautiful designs on the bow, wanting to take them in.
However, the footsteps were right down the hallway. Wilder shut the case and pushed it back behind the curtains.
He was almost to the door when he realized the thundering sounds of approaching pirates were too close. He’d never make it out and up to the quarterdeck in time.
Wilder slipped behind a curtain covering the wall near the entrance and hid, hoping the plan would still work. He had the bow and arrows, after all. He just wasn’t supposed to still be on the ship.
Chapter Eighty-Nine
The pork chops were swimming uneasily in Sophia’s belly when Captain Silver Toe led her to his quarters where he kept the case. Behind them, giggling and making comments about everything from her “golden” hair and “shiny” boots were a gaggle of pirates. Their captain limped oddly and slowly across the deck, halting when he came to what she guessed was his quarters.
He turned and looked at her with his fingers on the handle and admonished, “Don’t touch anything in this room. I don’t lock it because none are stupid enough to steal from the great Captain Silver Toe. The last who did lost an eye.”
“It still hurts!” Eye Patch yelled from behind Sophia.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, a look of horror springing to her face. “Ouch.”
Pirates don’t show sympathy, Lunis warned in her head.
“Suck it up, buttercup,” she added. “Same would happen to my crew if they touched my treasure.”