The Tempest Sea

by Robin D. Mahle

  “It’s a fair question, but no.” Xavier met her eyes evenly. “I will spend the rest of my life making up for that mistake, and that’s fair, too, but I didn’t betray them again. I never will.”

  She still looked dubious but moved her gaze to Locke.

  “And you? You’re far too quiet.”

  “I would never put Ms. Kensington in danger.” His eyes flashed with indignation.

  Addie looked over from where she was staring at the map to give Locke a tired smile. This time, SuEllen nodded, like his answer was acceptable, but her eyes lingered on him for another moment. Before she could move her accusation to Gunther or me, Nell spoke up.

  “They could be tracking the necklace, like you did.”

  “They would have to have their own crystal, and a rather powerful one at that.” The captain’s lips pursed in doubt.

  Nell and her aunt had a brief conversation with their identical green eyes.

  “Very well,” SuEllen finally said. “I shall give you all the benefit of the doubt. For now. In any event, we need to make port. We were damaged, and we’re low on supplies. There is only one island near enough to be of any help, and it’s not known for its hospitality.”

  There was a map half the size of the wall hanging in her quarters. Gunther turned to study it intently.

  “What about the island to the east?” he asked.

  SuEllen shook her head. “Stormy waters between here and there, but that’s not the only problem. That is Reich, home of King Hadrian. He was the unofficial ruler of this side of the world until his plan to conquer across the Falls ended in such failure.

  “Since then, they closed their borders and all but abandoned the people. Most of the islands have established their own form of law in the meantime, but Reich remains a riotous place. It is not safe, even for warriors.”

  “So, Picaro Island?” Gunther’s voice was oddly resigned.

  “That’s the one,” SuEllen confirmed. “We can only hope they don’t blow us out of the water on sight.”

  Gunther’s face was inscrutable when he finally spoke again. “There’s a way to make them accept parlay. Sail to the north port and leave the rest to me.”

  The captain raised her eyebrows at him. I doubted she was used to being given orders on her own ship, least of all from my ordinarily-passive brother. I had long since learned not to argue when Gunther ever did feel strongly about things.

  “Or do as you were and hope they don’t kill us on sight,” he added with false nonchalance, a challenge in his eyes.

  SuEllen narrowed her eyes. “Very well, boy. We will do as you say, but if a single one of my girls gets so much as a scratch on the arm because of it, know that we will exact our revenge on you.”

  My brother’s face darkened for reasons the captain couldn’t possibly understand, but Addie looked close to punching SuEllen.

  “There’s no need for threats.” Addie crossed to Gunther. “I trust Gunther completely.”

  Gunther shot her a grateful look, though his eyes were still harder than I was used to seeing them. Still, it was high praise coming from Addie. I ignored the niggling part of my brain that knew she would never have said the same for me.

  “Just so we all know what’s at stake,” the captain said, not budging.

  Addie’s eyes narrowed further. Now seemed like a good time to move along.

  “How long until we reach port, then?” I asked.

  “Six hours,” SuEllen answered. “I’ve got work to do.”

  We filed out, recognizing our dismissal, but she put an arm out in front of Locke.

  “You can stay to help me contain this disaster,”

  The rest of us left her cabin. A girl of around ten nearly ran into Addie on the way down. The only children on this boat seemed to be exactly that age.

  “You’re little, like me,” the girl said.

  I didn’t think laughing would do me any favors where my already strained relationship with Addie was concerned, so I held it in. Barely.

  Addie didn’t look angry so much as confused. She tilted her head a little.

  I bit back my smile. Likely the socialite’s life had involved very little interaction with children.

  “Yes, I suppose that’s true,” she finally said.

  “For someone little, I saw you holding that sword yesterday. I bet you’re a pretty awesome fighter,” I told the girl, stepping in to save Addie.

  The child puffed up with pride, lifting her chin. “Of course. On Levelia, all women are trained from infancy… at least, that’s what Mama says. I’ve never been there.” She started to say something else, but a voice behind us interrupted her.

  “LiAnna.” The reprimand was gentle, but it made the child blush. “Don’t you have a message for the captain?”

  “Yes, Auntie.” She scampered along.

  Addie left without looking at me. There hadn’t been time to process what she had said in her cabin, my fury at what had happened to her, or the renewed anger it brought toward Xav. The idea that I had made an already difficult time worse for her gnawed at me.

  I started after her, but she was headed toward the training deck. It would probably be better to let her work through some of what had happened first. Besides, I had a feeling my brother needed me now.

  I gestured for Gunther and Xav to head to our cabin with me. I could put aside my anger with Xav for Gunther’s sake. I had done it many times before. When we finally sat down in the room, me on my bed, Xavier on his, and Gunther at a small desk chair, I asked the question I had been wondering since we left the captain.

  “Is Picaro your home island?”

  “I was born there. I would never go so far as to call it home.” Gunther was agitated, more so than I’d ever seen him.

  “We don’t have to go back there. I’m sure there’s another way.” The realization that I would do anything to keep my youngest brother from pain, even if it meant putting the ship in danger, gave me an unwelcome sympathy for Xavier.

  “Yes, we do. I’ll be fine, Clark. You guys can’t baby me forever. Sometimes I feel like to you and Xav, I’ll always be that broken kid who couldn’t speak.” His sky-blue eyes looked unusually discontent.

  Does he really feel that way? I stood up and moved closer to him.

  “You were never broken, Gunther,” I told him fiercely.

  Xavier came to stand next to me. “And we never saw you that way. Not then, and certainly not now.”

  “Then why do you always try to keep me from fighting? I trained right alongside you both, but I see the looks you give me when any combat breaks out.”

  “Gunther, we know you can hold your own, but you’re always going to be our little brother. We will always want to protect you first,” I said.

  “Technically, you and I are the same age, Clark.”

  Xavier raised his eyebrows, but I wasn’t surprised after what he had said in the chasm. Distance had given me perspective, and I understood now why he had never wanted to reference anything from that life.

  “You’re still littler,” I said with a wink.

  “And it’s not because you’re the weakest, but because we’re your big brothers,” Xav continued. “Whatever your real age is, that’s how we grew up. And I’m sorry if that upsets you because it’s never going to change.” He chuckled. “Besides, you might have trained alongside us once, but when was the last time you did?”

  Gunther smiled sheepishly, his freckled face reddening. “Fair point.”

  “And those lady pirates certainly aren’t looking at you that way, brother,” I added.

  “No, they’re too busy looking at us all like we’re prime meat and they’ve been starved for months,” he said.

  We all laughed, but mine cut off abruptly. I had apologized to RoSa, who had seemed neither overly embarrassed nor concerned, but I still didn’t know what to say to Addie. I decided to tell my brothers about it, in the spirit of honesty. Maybe they would have some insight.

  “And that’
s when Addie walked in…” I finished up uncertainly.

  My brothers’ faces stared at me for a solid two seconds before they both broke out into laughter again. I wasn’t sure what sage advice I had been expecting, but my features pinched with irritation.

  “Thanks, guys. That was very helpful.”

  “What do you want us to say? You’re an idiot,” Xavier said. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you actually interested in a girl for more than just the night, and this is how you handle it?”

  I glared at him, though I knew he was right. Gunther opened his mouth to speak, and I turned to him. Usually, his words were gentler than our older brother’s.

  “Yeah, you’re stupid.”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

  The Princess

  “This isn’t right. We should have been to calmer waters by now.” Nell’s grandmother had been saying the same thing for two days, in between heaving over the side of the boat.

  The navigation crystal had refused to glow at all during the first three days. Compasses apparently did not work in these strange, dark waters. Even navigating by the stars proved to be treacherous. They had traveled along shallows and sand bars and lengthy land masses for hours only to hit churning, unnavigable patches of sea and be forced to turn around.

  Nell tried to look at it as an adventure and to keep her brothers feeling the same way, but the tragedy they left behind weighed on them all. During the first stretch of calm, Nell’s grandmother had imparted what little she knew of the night they had fled. She seemed to have aged decades in the last week, eyes haunted and skin sagging. Her voice was hollow as she recounted what she had seen.

  Uncle HaDrian had led a coup, slaughtering her mother and older sisters while Auntie SuEllen was conveniently out of the palace. The news felt distant, unreal and unimaginable. PeNelope couldn’t even process such a thing. Didn’t want to. Grief had permeated what was left of Nell’s family, and an impossible journey turned into an unbearable one. Add to that five pampered royals spending several seasick days in cramped quarters on a lightly-provisioned boat, and Nell was starting to think she wouldn’t mind sailing into one of those whirlpools after all.

  Finally, a stroke of luck hit. A storm tossed their small schooner close enough to their unknown destination that the navigation crystal flickered faintly. It was enough to help them head in the right general direction. By following the subtler nuances of the crystal, they could take a straight path, which managed to avoid the obstacles of the first part of their journey.

  Unfortunately, it did nothing to protect them from storms.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  ADELAIDE

  I blocked the knife coming my way with my own dagger, then swiped out with my foot. Rain streamed down my face, and the boat rocked violently beneath me. These midday storms were so common, I was quickly learning to compensate for the movements without thinking. SeRavi dodged, of course, but she wore a proud smile. It took me a second to figure out why. I had successfully blocked one of her hits for the first time ever.

  A rare, wide smile graced my face. Nell was cheering from the bench, alone for a change. Those who weren’t working on the boat repairs were somewhere not getting rained on. I would have gone crazy inside a cabin, though. Besides, the captain had informed me if I were to be part of the crew, defending myself and my “sisters” was of the utmost priority.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about the crew calling one another sisters. That honor had been reserved for one person in my life, and she was gone. Even if I sometimes thought of Nell that way, I wasn’t sure I would ever go so far as to call her that. I hadn’t officially become one of them, so it wasn’t something I had to think about just yet.

  “Let’s keep going,” I suggested. The sun was setting, but maybe if I exhausted myself enough, I could forget about this afternoon.

  SeRavi agreed. I lost track of how much time we spent training before a voice shouted from the crow’s nest.

  “Land ho!”

  It was still another hour before we could dock, which meant I had time to visit the communal bathing room. The captain made the men schedule their time separately, and usually, the nudity wouldn’t have bothered me. But I was covered in sickly bruises and looked half-starved. Between that and the giant amulet I could never take off, the surreptitious staring I attracted had me searching for times when the room was empty.

  I was in luck. I hurried before someone else could join me, then headed back to my room, still towel-drying my gently wavy hair. Mere moments after I shut the door, a knock sounded. It was tentative, nothing at all like Clark’s confident raps. Not that he usually bothered to knock.

  Also, Shensi looked far less irritable than she did when Clark was around.

  Curious, I opened the door to find Gunther standing in the hallway. Where Clark’s eyes were a deep blue, and Xavier’s were almost teal, Gunther had bright blue eyes like a cloudless sky at high noon. Right now, they were brimming with uncertainty.

  “Is this about the island you mysteriously know so much about?” I asked.

  He tilted his head a little, and I wondered if maybe he hadn’t been able to read my lips accurately. I started to clarify, but then he nodded.

  “Yes, and no. Can I come in?”

  I stepped back to let him into my room. He sat down on the desk chair, and I sat on the unused bed. Neither of us spoke for a moment. What might have been awkward with Xav or charged with intensity with Clark was normal with Gunther. I knew he was just considering what he was going to say.

  He stared at his brown leather gloves for a few moments before looking up at me. “I’ve been thinking about what you said when I told you not to hide your face.”

  My features instantly tensed. Is he going to try to make me talk about what happened on The Arbiter?

  He continued. “And I think you were right. I think it’s time I stopped hiding my scars.”

  So, this was about his scars, not mine. He had shown me his hands once before, the angry lines that crisscrossed his hands and wrists. He was fidgeting with those gloves now while he spoke.

  “Especially now, before I go back there.” He looked up for my reaction.

  “Are they there?” I asked, referring to whomever had so ravaged his appendages to begin with.

  “Yes.”

  “Will you see them?”

  “Not by choice, but it’s likely.”

  I thought for a moment. If I hadn’t killed Jethro, would I have wanted him to see how he hurt me? Then again, would I have wanted him to see me going out of my way to hide the damage he caused? Why should I be ashamed of what someone else did?

  “I don’t think you have anything to be ashamed of, Gunther. I’ve seen your hands. They fix things. They comfort your brothers. They gave me this fabulous haircut.” I flashed a half-grin before I fixed him with a serious gaze. “There’s not a damned thing wrong with your hands.”

  He couldn’t hear the fierceness in my tone, but I hoped he could see it on my face. Slowly, he removed his gloves, one by one. He placed them on my desk and got up to leave.

  “Thank you,” he said. “I’d like you to go with me, you and my brothers. I’m assuming the captain and Locke will insist on accompanying us as well.” He smiled wryly.

  “Of course,” I said. I was touched he had thought of me, but that wasn’t the sort of thing I could ever force myself to say out loud.

  “Oh, and speaking of things I’ve fixed, where is your locket?” He asked it nonchalantly, but I froze.

  My eyes went unbidden to the desk drawer.

  “Did it break again?” he asked.

  “It needs cleaning,” was all I said.

  Gunther’s eyebrows furrowed, then his face cleared as the reason dawned on him. My favorite thing about Gunther was his uncanny ability to show concern without pity, as he was doing now.

  “May I?”

  I nodded. He opened the desk drawer and pocketed the locket. I felt guilty letting him put th
e work into cleaning it, but I knew if it was left up to me, it would rot in that drawer. I couldn’t face the bloodstained bronze any more than I could my memories of how it got that way.

  Before I could stop myself, I gave Gunther a quick hug. Stepping back so he could see me, I told him I’d be ready to leave by the time we docked.

  After Gunther left, I carefully chose an outfit from the clothes Clark had bought me on the trading island. These boots wouldn’t do, though, and I needed to fix my face. I only knew how to fight one kind of war, and for that, I would need reinforcements. With a final glance in the mirror, I set out to find Nell.

  The Princess

  The first gale came without warning, pitching the boat violently to the side. Nell’s youngest brother toppled to the deck with a cry. The next gust came on its heels, blowing in from the opposite direction. Seconds later, the sky broke open and a deluge cascaded from the clouds. Nell’s grandmother let out a curse, one of the few words she had said in days. If PeNelope hadn’t been sitting right next to the woman, she wouldn’t have heard it at all over the increasing sounds of the storm.

  FeLicia wrestled with the rigging, putting to use the limited knowledge that had been forced on them all by this ill-fated venture, while Nell’s grandmother fought the helm for control. Nell slipped her rucksack on, tying the straps around her waist for added security. They couldn’t afford to lose her emergency supplies overboard. She tried to comfort her brothers, even the older one, and keep the three of them from falling overboard.

  Whatever they were doing wasn’t enough. A wave crested over the side of the rocking boat, drenching them all. Nell’s heart beat a staccato, louder in her ears than even the thunder booming overhead. Her younger brother had tears streaming down his face, and the older one was clenching her hand in a death grip. His eyes widened at something behind Nell’s head. She turned around, dread already pooling like lead in her stomach.