The Wilder World

by Jeff Hook

  The Wilder World

  Pirates and Powers volume 2

  Jeff Hook

  Copyright 2019 Jeff Hook/Happy Programmer LLC

  All rights reserved

  Contents

  Previously in Pirates and Powers

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Discover More of the Pirates and Powers World

  Free Novella!

  Character Index

  Previously in Pirates and Powers

  Last week, our heroes thought Tandoku Island was the only inhabited island in the world. Unbeknownst to them, they were protected from the outside world — and superpowers and their own emotions — by a powerful Adiamite Crystal contraption. Then two pirates slammed into the Adiamite Crystal’s barrier, cracking both crystal and barrier and putting Tandoku Island in danger.

  Now they’ve sailed away from the island, discovered their superpowers, fought a sea monster, got betrayed by pirates, fought pirates, lit their ship on fire, and washed up on the shores of Havlam Island.

  Their mission is to find an Adiamite Crystal so they can replace the one that’s cracking and save Tandoku Island.

  1

  Tastes Like Adventure

  Fido peered over the railing of the crow’s nest, letting his tongue hang out, eagerly tasting the breeze. He was a Terrier mix; his light bones made climbing up to the crow’s nest easy, and from there his superior nose and eyes let him survey the ocean. It wouldn’t do to run into anyone that might be unfriendly, especially this close to Knyn territory. Not that the whole sea wasn’t Knyn territory by now.

  He tasted the familiar salt and healthy algae that dominated the ocean smellscape. He also got… burnt wood? He inhaled deeply, letting the scents marinate like a good cut of beef.

  That was definitely burnt wood. There were also traces of blood and burnt flesh. And… cœurbrute?

  “That way!” he yelled down, pointing toward where the scents were stronger. There were dots in the distance that confirmed what his nose told him.

  He flicked on a specialized sighting contraption that was firmly attached to the crow’s nest’s railing, one whose many fine lenses were stabilized by a structure of small but potent chillimite and arimite crystals. It was already the most expensive contraption on the ship, but as he struggled to find and focus on the figures in the distance Fido dreamed of getting just a little bit of mytholite in there to create an auto-tracking scope. Never mind that it would cost more than their entire ship.

  He finally found them, and focused in on a solitary figure clutching a wooden plank with burnt-out ends. No, not one figure — there was another. Two figures, both passed out with their arms wrapped around what little remained of their ship.

  “How the gears does that happen?” Fido muttered. When a cœurbrute destroyed a ship, they usually ate it all, down to the last plank, and they would never waste a meal by burning it — if a sea-based creature like that even knew how to create fire. At the same time, the smell of cœurbrute was stronger than from a typical attack, and the two humans below weren’t ripped to shreds.

  Fido yelled down at the others and pointed toward the two bodies. “We got floaters!”

  Teffel, a Golden Retriever, leapt into the water in the direction that Fido was pointing. That one was always jumping in without thinking, although not always quite that literally.

  When Fido had joined up he’d been nervous about being part of an all-Baltese crew. He couldn’t say why, but it made him feel like a bad dog. Baltese crews were always the bad guys in the stories, and if they didn’t have a human or Knyn around to keep them in line they might do that thing again.

  But his fears had proved unfounded. Teffel was out there risking his life for a random human. Their captain was a Rottweiler, one of those dogs, but he was one of the smartest, nicest, calmest dogs Fido had ever met, and he was proud to be Baltese.

  First Mate Firla stepped on deck, her droopy Bloodhound ears flopping around her neck. She always looked as if she had a deep frown, even when smiling, unless you really knew what to look for.

  Fido knew what to look for. Her smile was beautiful.

  “Good eye, Fido,” she yelled up to him. His heart pounded in his chest as pride welled up and a grin spread across his face.

  They lowered ropes down and Teffel tied off the first floater. Soon he’d tied off the second floater and the crew hauled both of them up onto deck. Two men: a thick Mezazi with second-degree burns covering his chest, and a tall northerner with a deep cut on his arm.

  “They’re breathing!” announced the doctor. “Don’t know how, but they’re breathing!”

  “Pirates or soldiers, by the look of those swords,” Firla groaned. “And one of them’s Mezazi, so not friendly. Is there a way to… not let the captain know about this?”

  “Too late. Already sent someone to tell him.”

  Rudder, their captain, stepped out onto deck. He had a thick jaw and a majestic black coat, with bits of orange-ish brown around his muzzle and paws.

  “Found some humans, eh?”

  “Your sense of smell is as good as ever!” said Teffel happily.

  Rudder spoke without contemplation, without even looking at the humans. “We’re not going to leave them to die, but we don’t want them around too long either. Mark this location, then set sail for the nearest human settlement. Teffel, take them to the quarantine cabin.”

  The group below broke up, each going back to their duties, and Fido returned to gazing out at the sea. His body was alert, and though his tongue lolled almost lazily out the side of his mouth it was alert in its own way. He peered over the horizon, felt the cool winds, smelled and tasted a thousand plants and animals, each as exhilarating as the first day he’d set sail.

  What did the sea taste like? Like dolphins and gulls and planks of wood. Like algae and fish and pirates.

  Most of all, it tasted like adventure.

  2

  Havlam Island

  Hishano awoke to a stick thumping gently on his arm. Then again, maybe it only seemed gentle in comparison to what they’d been through lately.

  “Ah, so you are alive,” said a kindly voice. “Aside from lying unprotected on a beach, you don’t look that bad.”

  Hishano grabbed at his left side, where he’d sliced himself in two to save Karugo. A jagged scar remained. His healing power wasn’t perfect, but it was extremely powerful.

  “Well, there is that,” said the man. “Still pains you after all these years?”

  Hishano looked over to see that Karugo and Ishū were still okay, then finally looked at the man tapping him.

  He was middle-aged, grizzled and lean like a laborer after a tough year. His beard was just starting to grey. His skin was the same strange white-pink as Freddy’s and he had the same shock of pure-black hair. “What’s your story? We don’t get many shipwrecks around here. Not much of anything, really.”

  Now that Hishano knew everyone was safe, he could be confident again. He just had to ignore the fact that this guy looked real similar to someone who had just tried to kill them all. “We’re looking for an Adiamite Crystal,” he said with as much pep as h
e could muster.

  “By lying on the beach? I’m no crystal diver, but that doesn’t seem like a good method to me.”

  Ishū sat up beside him, while Karugo snored away.

  “We had a ship,” said Ishū sleepily, “but there were pirates. We barely escaped.”

  There was a lot to that story that Ishū was leaving out. Was it just Ishū being gruff, or did he have a reason for leaving out most of the story?

  “Such is life,” said the man. “Last time we had a pirate raid, half my farm was burned and one of my boys starved to death. You were lucky to get away.”

  “Can you tell us where to get an Adiamite Crystal?” asked Hishano. “We’re trying to save our people.”

  Apparently these sorts of terrible things really were common in the outside world. Not that Hishano had ever disbelieved the Elders, but he thought that maybe they’d been exaggerating a little. This made it even more important that they get the crystal soon, so he could come back and save everyone else.

  “Persistent, aren’t you? Direct, too. I like that. Well, I don’t know my constituent crystals or any of the compounds. This island is too small. But they have just about everything in Tarabrant, so maybe you can try that.”

  “Okay!” yelled Hishano, leaping to his feet. “Let’s go to Tarabrant!”

  “Now, hold on a minute. You don’t look like you have much stuff. Pants, torn-up shoes. Not even a shirt among you. How exactly do you expect to get there? And once you’re there, how do you expect to pay for the crystal?”

  “Pay?” Hishano asked in confusion. “We really need the crystal. If they see that, surely they’ll help. Where’s your Elder Council?”

  “Where exactly did you grow up?”

  “Tando—”

  “We’re from a very small island,” interrupted Ishū. “Remote. Isolated.”

  “Interesting. Is everyone there green?”

  “That’s unusual?”

  “I’ve never seen a green person in my life, although I’d heard stories that they exist on the very other side of the world. And except for that one,” said the man, pointing at Karugo, “your hair is strange as well.”

  “No one here is green?”

  “I’ve seen black, pink, yellow, blue, brown, Knyn, dog, Lapine, and a whole host of strange creatures… but never green. You sure you’re not a messed up blue person? They’re real close, closer than the core of the Empire, that is, and they still have Elders in the old sense.”

  The array of different types of people dizzied Hishano. Jack had been black-ish. Freddy had been white-ish. Both of them had looked wildly different from any Tandoku he’d ever seen, and not just in their skin color, and as his eyes adjusted Hishano could notice small but significant differences between this man and Freddy. The others this man mentioned… what would they look like?

  More importantly, were they all as naughty as Jack and Freddy or were they as helpful as this man seemed?

  “How do we get to Tarabrant?” In the end it didn’t matter what anyone looked like, as long as they were able to get the Adiamite Crystal and save their island.

  “Well,” said the man, “a boat comes in about a week, give or take a couple days based on storms and such, so maybe you can try that. But you’ll need money.”

  “Do you have any money we can use?”

  “Uh….” The man was flabbergasted. “Do you really not understand money?”

  Ishū had his eyes closed. Was he sleeping again? No, not quite. “The animals say most everyone here is pinkish-tan like him, so he’s telling the truth there. There’s no one who looks like us here. However, the animals don’t understand money either. I think he might be lying about that.”

  “You can talk to animals? Could you… could you help out on the farm? My ox is stubborn and we barely grow enough each year for my family to survive. That’s why I’m out here fishing.”

  Hishano wanted to help the man, but he also wanted to get the crystal as fast as possible. If this man was telling the truth, this was a way to accomplish both goals. “We’ll do it,” said Hishano, “but only if you pay us in money.”

  “That’s, uh… that’s how it generally works.”

  “I still think he’s lying about ‘money’,” said Ishū.

  “We’ll have him show us a money, then ask other people what it is.” Hishano was proud of his compromise. “Worst case scenario: we help this man and we waste less than a day.”

  The man shook his head in amazement. “You better be thankful it was me that found you, and not that cheating Knyn. Knyn do enough damage to people like me who understand money… I’ll tell you what, you got a place to stay?”

  Hishano and Ishū looked at each other, but neither spoke.

  “Okay, I have extra room. Not beds, mind you, but we can get some padding on the floor, and you’ll have a roof over your head and food every night. I’ll help the rest of you find work. In exchange, you give me rent of three standard mezcop a night. Or thirty-six heffo, if that’s what people pay you in.”

  There was no context for these numbers, but Hishano did his best to remember them. They seemed important to the man.

  “Let’s give it a try,” said Hishano.

  Ishū shrugged in agreement. “Best shot we have right now. I’m real hungry anyway, so even if this money thing ends up fake we get that.”

  Karugo snored.

  “I’m Seth, by the way,” said the man. He poked at Karugo, then started walking, motioning for them to follow. “Get him up and let’s get going. If you’re going to survive around here, you’ve got a lot to learn.”

  3

  Troubled Farms

  Karugo dreamed of glory, of everyone at home cheering him on as he returned with an Adiamite Crystal. “I’d love to stay,” he’d said in the dream, “but there are so many amazing things I have left to do… and out there they love me even more.”

  The whole crowd cheered, but Karugo focused on the back where he saw Grandpa Toraburu. All the other Elders were trying to get his attention, trying to talk to him, to say they were sorry — Karugo could somehow hear all this — but Toraburu had eyes only for his grandson. He smiled, then mouthed one word: “hero”.

  Someone shook his arm. It was Mabayu, the shy but beautiful girl he’d often stared at while ignoring his teachers. She’d never been mean to him as much as the others, although she never paid much attention to him either. “Take me with you,” she said. “This island is nothing without you.”

  He was about to offer a gracious reply when she shook his arm harder. “We’re going now.” Why had her voice suddenly turned masculine? She shook his whole body. “Come on, we don’t have all day.”

  He awoke to Ishū shaking him. Above him was a grey and cloudy sky just turning pink with sunrise.

  This was… less good than the dream. But he remembered the events of the previous few days — the events that had allowed him to dream — and he figured it was alright. Ishū and Hishano really did like him, and they really were going to find the Adiamite crystal.

  There was a new man present, with skin as white as Freddy’s. Karugo flinched backward and set his fist on fire.

  “It’s okay,” said Hishano. “We’re pretty sure he’s a friend.”

  “We thought Freddy and Jack were friends too…”

  “Interesting,” said the man. “Fire. What else can you do with it?”

  “See?” said Karugo. “That man is interested in my power, just like Jack was. He’s evil.”

  “I’m Seth, and nearly everyone is interested in powers. It’s how you know who you’re dealing with. Not just the natural-born power, which does seem to be connected to personality in some rough manner, but also how you’ve developed it.”

  “Then what’s your power?” Karugo still didn’t like the man.

  Seth looked embarrassed. “I have really good balance.”

  “That’s… that’s it?” He was probably hiding his real power because it would make him seem evil. Like seeing f
ar, or staying dry… on second thought, maybe the powers weren’t as great a personality indicator as this strange man implied.

  “Not all powers are winners,” said Seth. “I could’ve done more with it, been a sail rigger or an acrobatic swordsman, but my limit is pretty low. I just use it so I don’t get hurt as much when I’m fishing or working my farm.”

  A farmer? Maybe they could trust him. For now. Karugo started walking, and Seth led them with a smile.

  They passed a muscular boy about their age. “I thought we were fishing today,” said the boy.

  “I’ll join you once our guests are taken care of,” said Seth. “Meet my son, John.”

  “Hurry up,” said John, looking at the newcomers suspiciously. “We’ll need a full day’s income.”

  The came out of a stand of trees and saw a large field to one side and a gigantic vineyard on the other. The vineyard wasn’t particularly wide, especially compared to the field, but it was tall. Wooden posts twelve feet high were completely wrapped in vines.

  Ishū whistled. “Is this yours?”

  “That it is, minus loans.”

  “Looks like you’ve done alright with your power.”

  The man scrambled up one of the posts and plucked a bunch of glistening, juicy grapes. He then scrambled down effortlessly with grapes in one hand. When he reached the ground he started breaking off smaller bunches and passing them out.

  “If it was just feeding my family I would be fine. But that sun-scorched Knyn always wants her interest payment, and to do that, I need to sell.” Seth handed some grapes to Karugo, and Karugo bit in. They were as sweet as they looked. The dark purple ones had a lush flavor, while the orange ones were more tangy. Seth, Karugo decided, was a pretty alright guy.