Pillars of Six

by St Clare, Kelly

  Instead of mending the relationship between them, the conversation with Locks had left an uneasiness deep inside her.

  “When did ye meet Verity?” Ebba asked.

  His face tightened. He wiped his mouth and answered, “I met her when I was thirty-two. I thought I’d been in love afore that moment, but no one prior even held a light to her, and they haven’t since. In the darkness o’ what I’d been through, she reached me. Beautiful, fierce woman.”

  “Is that why ye have so many girlfriends?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “I’ve always had a smidgen o’ trouble trustin’ women after my mother left. My father didn’t help matters, I s’pose, as much as I loved him. Plus, Verity be the only woman I ever thought o’ settlin’ with, but she told me good and proper what she thought about me.”

  Ebba pursed her lips, remembering how the soothsayer had paused on the brink of sending a message to Locks. “Didn’t ye ever think to try again with her, though? Maybe she’s changed her mind.”

  “I’m afraid I got a bit busy raisin’ ye after that,” he said, his ears reddening. “And what would I say?”

  Ebba shrugged. “Tell her the honest truth-like. Not the pirate version.”

  Locks blanched. “I ain’t so good at that.”

  Perhaps none of them were. She took two steps and hugged him around the middle, smiling when his arms circled her in return. “Thank ye for tellin’ me what ye did.”

  “Do ye think di’ferent o’ me, lass?”

  Aye. She didn’t understand his festering hurt and why, in eighteen years, he hadn’t healed from what Cannon did to him. Yet even pressed against his chest, she could hear the still-raw anguish in his voice and knew she’d never voice her inner musings aloud. “I don’t think o’ ye any di’ferent, knowin’ yer past. It just makes me want to hurt that captain bad. I love ye, Locks.”

  “I’m sorry we didn’t tell ye about yer parents sooner,” Locks said over her head, rocking them. “That was wrong o’ us. Don’t see how ye could love a big pack o’ cowards like us, but I’m glad ye do.”

  Moving up on tip-toe, Ebba kissed his cheek. “Aye, ye should’ve told me. I won’t pretend I ain’t in big knots about it, but yer apology be a’preciated.”

  “Accepted?”

  She couldn’t accept anything until she sorted her head out. “I reckon there still be five more stories to hear afore I decide on that,” she said, hugging him close again.

  Five

  As soon as they passed north of Syraness and were nearing the west end of Kentro, Grubby shucked his tunic and dove overboard.

  Ebba leaned against the bulwark with Caspian, watching in amusement as hundreds of seals gathered around her part-selkie father within minutes.

  “I’ve certainly seen things I never thought to see while aboard this ship,” Caspian said, staring wistfully out at the joyful gathering of selkies beside Felicity.

  Aye, the sight of her father in the middle of so many selkies was an oddity, even for a pirate.

  Ebba teased, “Ye don’t see such things in Exosia?”

  Caspian cleared his throat. “Can’t say we do.”

  He glanced over his shoulder, and she tracked his gaze to where Sally was riding Pillage around the deck.

  “Hey, where’d the dynami go?” she blurted.

  “Barrels decided to give Pillage a break from it after finding some gouges outside his office this morning. I believe Grubby has it now. He wanted to show the selkies it was still safe.”

  Ebba replied hastily, “Gouges, ye say? I guess the tube was givin’ him super strength. Best he not have that one.”

  Caspian regarded her curiously. “Yes, Locks is down there trying to repair the damage. Stubby was too upset.”

  “Hey,” she said suddenly, not liking the knowing gleam in the prince’s eyes. “Do you think the rest o’ the realm knows magic be back? The wall must be completely down by now; the Earth Mother said it’d only be weeks until magic was returned for good, and more than seven have passed. Won’t others have noticed?”

  The Earth Mother had told them their crew was on a path they couldn’t avoid. She’d said that only they could save the realm from the evil immortal power, the pillars of six. Except the Earth Mother neglected to mention just why the crew of Felicity had to be the ones to fight the pillars. If the magical woman had given them some solid answers, maybe the members of Felicity wouldn’t be torn in two over whether to get involved. As it was, Plank, Grubby, and Ebba thought they should figure out why magic was returning, at the very least, while the other four members had outvoted them in favor of returning to their hidden oasis and waiting the storm out. In their eyes, and previously in hers, the looming danger had nothing to do with their ship or crew.

  Ebba still wondered why evil immortal power spreading through the realm should be their problem. But after seeing the fear in the Earth Mother’s age-old eyes, she’d finally been convinced these six pillars would be their problem whether they liked it or not.

  Cosmo tipped his head back. “I’m not so sure many people will have noticed. I mean, you saw Ladon at the top of a mountain, the siren in treacherous cliff passages, the selkies in a deep cave, and the sprites after surviving the cliffs—except for Sally.”

  The Taniwha and the Earth Mother had been in an underground cavern. “I guess the places we’ve seen magic have been tucked away a scant bit.”

  “They have,” he said with a frown. “But if magic was spotted on Exosia, it might be that much easier to secure my father’s agreement to send the navy after Malice. You said the Earth Mother warned of a great evil who was trying to attain the root of magic. Maybe he’ll help your crew to fight against the pillars of six, too—wherever they are.”

  With what Caspian had told her of his father, that didn’t seem likely. Ebba studied the intensity in his gaze. She hated to think it, but if going back to Exosia would help her friend, if it gave him new purpose, she wanted him to return to the mainland.

  “I’ll miss ye, but I think ye’re makin’ the right choice,” she said hoarsely, and left to cross the deck to where Stubby and Plank had their heads bent together. They were just gouges, but Ebba should make sure Stubby was all right.

  “What are ye talkin’ o’?” she asked them.

  They both jumped and whirled toward her.

  “Nothin’ innocent-like, I see,” Ebba said drily. She held up a finger as Plank prepared to run away. “Tell me.”

  Stubby muttered under his breath. His face was twisted into a scowl she knew well. Aye, he was jumping mad about the gouges all right.

  “. . . Better to maroon him.” Stubby bit out.

  Ebba’s jaw dropped. “Better to maroon who? Ye can’t mean Caspian?”

  “Prince Caspian,” Plank said. “And aye, we do. Ye’re our first priority, little nymph. King Montcroix be a dangerous man. We like Cosmo.” He shook his head. “Caspian, but we don’t trust him with ye. We don’t trust anyone who be havin’ the power to harm our child whether that be ac’idental or otherwise.”

  She planted her feet between her fathers and her friend. “Ye ain’t maroonin’ him. Not after everythin’ he’s been through. It’ll be the last thread on his hammock. And what happens if he’s picked up by someone? Then he’ll definitely be after us, and he knows where our retirement spot be. Best to believe in goodwill.”

  Stubby’s scowl deepened, and Plank gaped at her briefly before facing him.

  “He knows where our spot is,” Plank said.

  Stubby nodded, crossing his arms. “He has to die.”

  With Plank, the matter seemed more about the prince. With Stubby, it appeared more about the scratches on the ship and seeking any available outlet to his anger. “What? Nay,” Ebba said firmly. “Ye can’t do it to him. If ye don’t trust him, then trust that I know he won’t cause any harm. Do ye trust me?”

  They shifted uncomfortably.

  “We trust ye, little nymph. But sometimes, being a parent is about doin’ things yer
child doesn’t like.”

  “Ye won’t be keepin’ me safe if ye do this,” Ebba snapped at them. “Ye’ll just be actin’ the way Caspian expected ye to when he first happened upon us. Ye knew he was the prince this whole time.”

  “Aye, but we’d always planned to maroon him,” Plank said reasonably.

  Her fathers stared at her with wooden expressions. Ebba threw her hands in the air and stormed off to stand beside Caspian again.

  She wouldn’t be letting him out of her sight until he was safe on a ship to Exosia.

  * * *

  Caspian hesitated. “I’m glad you’re coming with us to the village, but I hope it hasn’t caused any trouble with your fathers.”

  Trouble? Aye, it had. She’d raised Davy Jones himself when Locks, Plank, and Stubby told her to stay at the ship with the others.

  “Nay, no trouble,” Ebba answered.

  He smiled. “You don’t call jumping off the side of the ship and swimming to shore trouble?”

  She grinned at him. “I’m not goin’ to miss a chance to spend another couple o’ hours with ye.” And she’d be keeping an eye on her fathers to make sure there wasn’t any funny marooning business.

  His face softened, and he drew closer. “You know, whatever has happened in the last three months, I count myself singularly fortunate to have met you, Ebba-Viva Wobbles Fairisles.”

  Her throat tightened. “Ye, too, Caspian. I ain’t sure I’ll ever have another friend like ye.”

  The prince squeezed her hand briefly, dropping it at a warning look from Locks. “I’ll miss you. More than you know. Leaving you is the only reason this choice feels wrong.” He sighed, his amber eyes moving over her face.

  She cleared her throat as her cheeks heated. “Aye, Caspian. I’ll miss ye fierce-like.”

  Ebba turned away and increased her pace to get to the front of their procession as her eyes began to prickle. If she was teary now, what would she be like when it was actually time to say goodbye?

  They marched through the low-lying and flowered forests of Kentro. All of the islands were pretty in their own ways, but Kentro was particularly beautiful with its exotic colors—reds streaked with black, mixed among electric blues and any number of purple hues. They’d started out at first light, so they could be back in good time to journey back to Zol. Stubby and Locks would go top up their supplies of food. They all carried large empty rucksacks for the return journey. Plank had come to arrange Caspian’s passage. Grubby was back in the water by the ship, making sure Malice was far away. And Sally was staying behind to make sure the grog barrels were safe.

  The low trees and flowers became patchier, and the dirt path widened into the outskirts of the southern Kentro village. Ebba had only been here a handful of times. There tended to be navy men to spare at the southern harbor, which was why her fathers hadn’t wanted her to come.

  “This is it?” Caspian asked, walking next to her as the path became a worn road, wide enough for a wagon.

  She nodded. “Aye.”

  Plank broke out of the humming daydream he’d kept up for most of the walk, saying, “Hopefully we can find ye a vessel leavin’ this evenin’.”

  “So eager to be rid of me?” the prince asked with a hint of a smile.

  Plank winked at him, stepping aside so a farmer and his donkey could get by. That put her father right next to Caspian—too close. Ebba glared at Plank when he glanced at her. “Give it a rest, little nymph. We decided not to maroon him.”

  Caspian stopped in his tracks. “What? You were going to maroon me?”

  Stubby gripped his shoulder, gray-blue eyes hard as rock. “Plank’s just jestin’, lad. Juuust jestin’.”

  By the looks of it, Caspian knew that wasn’t the case, but he wisely remained mute.

  The pathway grew busier as they worked their way between the thatch houses to the dock, sticking to the shadows in case of navy men. Most navy men liked to frequent the taverns when ashore, though, and it was doubtful they’d be awake so early. If they were, they’d be in no shape to give chase with a head full of pain. Ebba and the others would simply high-tail it back into the bush to lose them.

  “Little nymph, is there any point tryin’ to convince ye to go with the others to get supplies?” Plank asked.

  She shook her head. She was going with Caspian to the dock.

  Her three fathers sighed. Ebba and Plank passed over their empty rucksacks and then started down the hill to the docks.

  “Thank you for all you’ve done for me,” Caspian said to Plank ahead of her.

  Plank dipped his head. “Aye, lad. Ye’re welcome, for what it be worth. We’re just sorry ye came to harm on Pleo.”

  “Just a stupid coincidence, wasn’t it?” the prince said, bemused. “That the shrapnel hit me. One small movement and it mightn’t have hit me at all.”

  “Aye, lad.”

  “Though,” Caspian added, “I’m not sure if I believe in coincidence after sailing with Felicity.”

  Plank looked across at him. “Why do ye say that?”

  The prince shrugged. “You become locked in a war with Malice just as magic returns to the world and then happen across two objects of impossible power. I can’t believe there’s nothing more to it than happenstance.”

  “I agree,” Plank said. “But until the rest o’ the crew be comin’ around, there won’t be any figurin’ out.”

  Caspian smiled, his dimple flashing. “I thought pirates didn’t worry about the why of things.”

  Plank arched a brow. “I preferred ye when ye shook in yer boots at the sight o’ us. But between ye and me, I’m thinkin’ that ship law be on the way out.”

  “I still can’t believe you knew the entire time,” Caspian said, then jolted. “Could you thank Peg-leg for me again? I haven’t been as grateful for his help in the last six weeks as I ought to have been.”

  “Ye don’t need to worry yerself, lad. We know what ye went through; there be nothin’ ye ought to have done at all. We’re grateful for ye bein’ there for our Ebba when we couldn’t, and when she didn’t want us to be.”

  They fell quiet.

  Ebba spent the rest of the journey downhill preparing herself for a goodbye. She hovered near Caspian as Plank headed off to find transportation to Exosia.

  “I—” she and Caspian chorused at once.

  They chuckled awkwardly, and Caspian gestured for her to continue.

  Ebba toed the ground. “When will we see each other again, do ye think?”

  “I hope it won’t be long,” he answered quietly.

  His answer told her it would be a long time. She’d known it would be, and that was why she’d been so upset to hear the news. Ebba held out her hand and opened her fingers to show the object she’d carried with her from the ship.

  In her palm nestled a green-and-orange-striped bead. The one her fathers got for her on Maltu the day she met the prince. “I want ye to have this.”

  “One of your beads?” His amber eyes flicked up to hers. “Are you certain?”

  She took his hand, slapping the bead down on his palm. “Aye, and stop makin’ such a big deal o’ it.”

  His fingers closed around the bead. “It’s a big deal to me, Mistress Fairisles. I know what the beads mean to you. I must be more important than I’d thought to be gifted one.”

  “Don’t fuss. Ye ain’t s’posed to say upsettin’ things durin’ goodbyes.”

  Caspian’s eyes fixed on her. “How can I not when I don’t know when I’ll next see you?” He swallowed. “In fact, I . . . I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t tell you. . . ,” he trailed off, biting his lip.

  Ebba shifted, watching the color rise up his neck. A burning curiosity to hear exactly what he had to say overtook her. “Tell me what?”

  He inhaled sharply. “That I . . . that I think you’ll be the greatest pirate to sail the seas one day.”

  She released her pent-up breath, feeling strangely deflated by his words. What had she expected him to say
? Despite the twisting weight in her gut and her current pirate identity crisis, a smile spread across her face. “Ye really think so?” She toyed with one of her dreads.

  He stepped closer and took her hand, laying a soft, warm kiss there. “I do. And the prettiest,” he blurted.

  She stared at him, the weight within her dissipating and spreading as a light sensation through her chest. Caspian thought Ebba was pretty? He’d said something similar about her to Barrels once before. She’d never thought of herself that way. Sure, she enjoyed pretty trinkets, accessories, and doing her hair. Ebba frowned, unsure how to decipher the array of sensations his comment inspired. She’d been so adamant about just being a pirate for so many years. Now Ebba understood that her fathers hadn’t left her on Maltu because they viewed being female as a weakness. They’d left her to learn how to best cope with the changes to her body. With all of that added to the whole ‘you’re a tribe princess’ cannon ball, Ebba had no idea how to think of herself. But Caspian’s compliment made her happy and . . . uncertain, too, though not in a bad way. More like an exciting way.

  Holding all of those mangoes in her basket at once made her head ache more than when Grubby made the grog.

  She spotted Plank heading back. “Thank ye kindly,” she mumbled to Caspian, drawing her hand away.

  “Ye’re booked on a vessel leavin’ at high tide, lad. Aboard the Havanna,” he said. “I pointed ye out to the captain, who seems a good man. But ye have the knife I gave ye?”

  “Yes,” Caspian said, straightening with a glance at Ebba. “I’ll stay on deck like Stubby said.”

  Plank murmured his approval and spat on his hand, stretching it out. “Ye’re welcome aboard Felicity any time, Caspian.” He looked to the sky for a moment. “Unless ye set yer father on us, in which case we’ll hunt ye down and slit yer throat.”

  Caspian spat on his hand and shook her father’s in a firm grip. “Fair enough, but you needn’t worry. You know I’d never bring harm to Ebba.”