“What happened to you?”
He blew out the light in the lantern he held, got behind me with his back to the door, softly covering my mouth.
“Shh.” His breathing became lighter as the noise outside softened. When it became quiet, he slid from behind me to go back on deck and I followed him. The ship was a mess. Wood was broken and pieces of red velvet were torn from chairs. I was surprised we weren’t sinking.
“What happened?”
There was no answer, not even Fitzray gave me a reply. It was silent. Pete and Raven came in from the dining room side by side laughing, even when they saw the mess. I imagined them as young children, arm in arm. Then I smiled amused, thinking that even children wouldn’t be laughing.
“Look, we’ve been robbed!”
Raven said something quietly and they both laughed to some agreement.
“Old Captain is gone too!”
I looked over to Fitzray who grabbed my hand, not wasting any more time to hear them laugh. He took me over to the one part of the boat I had never been, but where the Captain would usually be. Just beside the large, old-fashioned steering wheel, I noticed Fitzray’s jacket on the floor. A sword wedged it between two floorboards, but it was not ripped. He pulled out the sword, threw it aside and shrugged on his coat. He put his hands on the wheel, resting his head down against it.
“You’re going to sail this thing?”
“Someone has to. The Captain is gone.”
“Will you listen to yourself? You can’t sail, let alone walk straight.”
He snorted at my joke. “I’ll get us to the next port.”
“How? Do you even know which way we’re going? Do you know if we were even thrown off course?”
He moved his head from side to side against the wheel as though shaking his head. “I’ll get us to the next port,” he said again.
“How do you expect to do that? You’re basically drunk off that juice and you don’t know the first thing about sailing.”
“So my stories of going out to sea with Caspian and an old crew had no significance? My stories meant nothing to you? I don’t know how to sail?” he pressed, his head lifting from the wheel.
I turned away from him without answering and made my way to my cabin. I didn’t know the first thing about piracy either. I didn’t know it still existed. I entered my cabin, too tired to check if anything else was stolen other than our Captain. Everything else seemed insignificant to me. It was only my first night out and so much had gone wrong. I knew there was a possibility that this could be my last night at sea because if Fitzray sailed us into a rock or some unseen port, I would never subject myself to get on a vessel again. On the off chance that we did arrive at a port, at least I could expect Pete to leave. He was no help.
I closed my eyes and willed myself to sleep through the tension. When I fell asleep, I was out cold, and the next morning I woke calmly. Light flooded into the cabin from my now open door.
“Chenille wake up.” I opened my eyes.
Fitzray stood in the doorway, his arm against its frame. I sat up feeling the rocking movement had subsided, suggesting that we had docked. Fitzray had darkness under his eyes showing his exhaustion. He did it. He brought us to the port. His white shirt was stained black from his scratches that appeared scabbed now. I detected a slight tremor coming from under his shirt, suspecting he was flinching from the salty air.
I couldn’t bring myself to talk to him, not that I didn’t have the courage to, to admit that I was wrong, but simply because I couldn’t wrap my mind around the whole idea. I didn’t listen to him, at least I tried not to, but he repeatedly told me that Pete had left. That was no surprise, I knew he would, and frankly, I didn’t care. Raven would tell me everything I needed to know.
Raven did inform me on Pete’s absence, told me not to worry, and that he had everything under control. It appeared true. He told me everything would be figured out by the time we were at sea again. I did not completely trust this, but I did not trust him either. I could only allow myself to trust his judgment regarding where we would be staying for the night, at a rather nice inn. But of course, most of the inns here on the ports were designed to house a variety of sailors and travelers.
Raven told me that I could wash up first while everyone else unpacked their things in their assigned rooms. Raven also told me that I would be sharing a room with Fitzray since there were not enough rooms available, even just for me to have my own. I agreed to this even though I still felt a bit annoyed with Fitzray. One of the hosts gave me a small square bottle filled with liquid, informing me it was soap.
I stepped into the bathroom to find the bath was already filled with clean, warm water. I stepped inside to settle myself beneath the warm surface, gathered the bubbles around me and washed. There were only two thick cranberry colored candles lit, though they emitted enough light for me to see. The cozy atmosphere embraced me for a while. It felt good to get the days’ salt off my skin. Just sitting and thinking I lost track of time, remembering Raven’s wife and daughter were probably on line.
I stepped out of the tub and wrapped a large towel around me. I turned to drain the tub when I heard a slam from the door behind me. When I turned to face who had entered I slipped on the wet floor and fell back into the tub. Fitzray walked up to me, amused at my mishap. I sat up to glare at him. He had unbuttoned his shirt and his scratches looked even worse. I looked over to the distant sink aware of the pile of waterlogged clothes that filled the bathroom with an oceanic smell.
“You still mad at me?” he cooed. “Still mad I sailed that ship and brought you to a port?”
I knew what he was doing. He was proving me wrong, he was making a fool of me. I got up out of the tub as soon as he rested his body against it.
“I’m not a fool and you know it. You know I haven’t changed. You know I haven’t changed the way Pete has.”
I glanced at him. To be honest I could not make that decision yet. I had only been with him for a few days, and to me he was not exactly as I had left him.
I walked over to him with a pair of wet pants I retrieved from the pile near the sink. “You have.”
I gathered the wet pants in my hands and threw them at his chest. His response was what seemed to be a growl, but I couldn’t tell. The pants only slapped him and fell to the floor, but he stared at his chest in pain. The salt must have hurt him. I figured he would have launched at me, which he did, and would have easily got me, had I not taken a few cautious steps toward the door.
I made my way to our room and locked myself inside. He pressed his hands to the door demanding I open it up. He continued to plea from behind the door, though we both knew he could have broken the door down on the first try.
“Chenille open the door.” His voice was firm again.
When he heard nothing he pressed a little more on the door, forming a slight bend in the hinges.
“Having trouble with the Queen?”
It sounded like a sailor, a voice I had not heard before. When Fitzray did not answer, I figured he was nodding his head, or perhaps he hadn’t replied.
When he entered the room after I finally surrendered and unlocked it, I was already dressed for bed. He angrily shut the door and sat beside me. He bent over his bag, roughly searching for a tee shirt and put it on. I did not see his scratches, but I was sure they were clean. His face remained unmoved, and I moved in front of him trying to make him look at me. When he didn’t, I put my other hand on his shoulder, curving my fingers into the side of his neck gently. His muscles relaxed under my hand, but when he caught my sudden surprised glance, he took my hand in his. My other hand traced a chain around his neck that led to a piece of hard metal I could not see.
“You have a Dragon’s Soul?” He nodded his head, closing my hand around the charm. “Who is your dragon?”
“Citrus.”
“Citrus was gone. We thought Citrus and Mullein flew off together and were captured.”
“Unfortunately Mulle
in was killed by the werewolves as suspected, but Citrus returned a few weeks after…well, you know.” He diverted his gaze, referring to my death.
“And Citrus became your dragon.”
I looked down, releasing his Dragon’s Soul. I did not even see my Minx. I did not even say goodbye to him. Fitzray’s hand gently held my Dragon’s Soul and I almost broke away from the feeling, a feeling of panic from another hand touching a Dragon’s Soul, but I steadied myself.
“I know you miss your Minx, but he will be at the palace waiting for your return.”
He let go of my precious necklace. “Tonight will be our only night at a port for a while, so make sure you have everything you need before we set sail tomorrow.”
“I don’t need anything.” All I needed was sleep.
Chapter 7 - Sea Dragon
The next day at sea was long and it became hard to find ways to pass the time. The crew was working busily and Raven’s wife and daughter were in their cabin. I walked over to hold the railing of the boat to gaze silently out to sea. I studied the sparkling waters, observing the fish and colored seabirds that passed.
A light blue bird landed on the railing only a few feet from where I stood. Her coloring was blue-gray and dull compared to her mate’s neon blue feathers. Her mate flew up from the water and landed on the railing. Together they dived into the water. I watched them, waiting for their return and suspected after several minutes they had popped up somewhere distant with their catch. A hand roughly grabbed onto my waist and pulled me away from the railing.
“If you looked any closer you would have ended up in the water.”
I looked up at Fitzray, glad that Raven knew how to sail and knew where he was going. Fitzray and Raven could now take turns sailing so Raven could spend time with his wife and daughter and Fitzray could spend time with me. The only exception was that Raven would sail at night since he was more experienced and Fitzray could sleep, but would take the early morning shift. I let out a sigh, managing to smile at him.
“You’re bored aren’t you?”
I nodded. “There is nothing to do.”
“You could talk with the crew or Raven’s wife when I’m on duty.”
“The sailors are always too busy and Raven’s wife is always with her husband when he isn’t on duty. I could only talk to her now, but you are here.”
He gave me a smirk. “But I see you’ve preoccupied yourself by watching the sea.” He wrapped his arms around me, glancing out to sea with me. Suddenly a force hit the boat, making it rock to the side. Fitzray caught his balance and held me in place. To my surprise the crew wasn’t alarmed, but simply continued to work.
“What was that?”
He walked with me back to the railing to investigate. Water shot up into the air, but I did not see anything there.
“Look, there she is.”
He pointed to the water where light gray and blue scales brushed below the surface. A nostril appeared and water sprayed up, followed by a massive head and a long snakelike body. There was only a stubble of green that I considered were her wings.
“That was a sea dragon wasn’t it?”
“There’s not just one,” he informed me, nodding his head toward the water, “there are a few lingering behind her I’m sure. Sea dragons never travel alone, unlike what we are used to seeing from our independent land dragons. The dragons hunt fish in packs like some dolphins do on Earth.”
Another head came up to the surface. I felt his grip slip away from me and he started to step back. “It’s almost time for my shift.”
I looked out to see that the sun was beginning to set. The colors of the sunset melted along the horizon.
“This is a short shift. Raven just needs to prepare himself for the nightshift,” he said softly.
I nodded and he walked off. The sea breeze caused a chill to come over me and I rubbed my arms, cursing the bitter feel it was giving me. I didn’t think I would be wishing for it.
The next week on the ship was nothing but blistering heat. Sunburn was present on every crewmember and we moved slower in the ever-growing heat. I sat on the deck in the heat, since it was like an oven in my cabin. I had no choice but to face the heat like everyone else. The fan I held gave me no more than a moment’s relief and I gave up using it. My dress skirt was rolled up and bunched in my lap, exposing my skin.
I looked at the dress and frowned. In becoming Queen of Catastrophe, I had taken up the customs and manors of acting like a queen. I gave up my mortal clothes, but now I longed for them. I didn’t care how ridiculous I would look as a queen in shorts and a tee shirt, even though Fitzray could get away with that if he really wanted, as long as he was on palace grounds. No one would see me anyway since I was hundreds of miles out at sea.
In thinking of cold places I would rather be, a hand smacked my bunched up skirt, sending it tumbling over my legs and trapping in the heat.
“Mind you, there are sailors on this boat Mistress,” Raven hissed as he walked by me.
I knew Pete would have done the same, but probably without saying a word. I hung my head and heard a roar of laughter. Surely it wasn’t concerning me. I searched for the source of the laughter only to find that the crew was pulling up buckets filled with cold ocean water. They were taking turns throwing the water at each other to cool themselves down. They immediately stopped, sensing my presence.
“May I have a bucket of water?”
The sailor closest to me handed me his bucket of water and I lifted it over my head and overturned it, letting it soak my burning body. The crew cheered and I handed the sailor his bucket. Soaked, I started to leave, when Raven caught my arm and roughly led me away from the crew.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m cooling myself off.” I remarked simply.
“I won’t allow this behavior from you. You are supposed to be representing us but instead you choose to participate in our crew’s inappropriate actions.”
“Inappropriate?” I shook my head, baffled. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”
“I was asked by Pete to cover in his absence. You don’t want him to hear of this do you?”
I struggled to pull my arm away. “Pete isn’t here. He wouldn’t care what I’m doing.”
“He told me to keep you in line,” he snapped. I glared at him shocked.
“That’s not your job.”
Raven immediately released me as Fitzray came from behind me and put a reassuring hand to my waist. Raven stood where he was, mouth agape.
“I don’t care what Pete told you. I don’t care that you’re Pete’s right hand man. I don’t care that you are in charge of our alliances. One more slip up like that and you’ll be appointed to the storage crates below deck and you will be shipped to our dungeon.”
I put a hand to his shoulder thinking now that he was overreacting. Fitzray knew he was important to our alliance.
“Now go sail,” he hissed.
When Raven left I turned to Fitzray.“Fitz-,”
He placed a finger over my mouth.
“Let me speak. I saw what he did. If he does anything like that again I swear I’ll-,” I stopped him from saying more.
“Raven is tired. I saw the bags under his eyes and I know that with all these night shifts he hasn’t gotten much sleep. He’s just tired. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”
“No, what he said could have come straight from Pete’s mouth. To say something like that…to even think like that, he can’t be trusted.”
“Fitz he’s a part of our alliance-,” He put a finger to my mouth again, silencing me.
“The only alliance he is in is the one he has with Pete. I’ve heard him speak before our court members and trust me, he knows no more than Pete or me. He knows it’s no skin off our nose if we put him in the dungeon or throw him into the sea. He just needed to be reminded.”
I nodded in agreement and leaned on him for support. The heat caused my head to swell in pain and I felt fa
int. He quietly brought me into a hot cabin and ordered several members to get me cold water. He calmly put a cool rag to my face.
“We just have a couple more weeks of traveling at most,” he assured me, “and in a couple more days we’ll be at our final port.”
I smiled, thinking of a nice cool bath. I wanted one now more than ever to wash the smelling seawater off, but two days was not that long. I closed my eyes as soon as Fitzray told me to sleep.
When I woke up from a nap the following night, I was bathed and in the bed of an inn. Fitzray was right, our traveling was fast and we were already at our final port. Fitzray came into the room, spotted I was awake, and happily kissed my forehead.
“You’re happy.” I said, sitting up.
“The Captain was found. The pirates that stole him had their ship raided by one of our rescue ships. He’ll be here by tonight.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Now our travel time will be cut in half. We’ll be on Alfur in a few days, a week at most.”
My face brightened at the thought of only a couple of days at sea. “Are we leaving tonight?”
He nodded. “Get your rest.”
The days at sea with our Captain flew by as Fitzray promised. We only had one bad storm that hit us on the second to last day that did minimal damage. Luckily, we weren’t thrown off course.
I looked forward to seeing our Allies and sleeping in warm sheets and having the feel of royalty again. I did not look forward to seeing Pete. Tomorrow he would meet up with us and we would go to our Allies in a beautiful village. That’s what Fitzray told me. I knew what to expect, at least what was to expect of our plans. I couldn’t wait.
Chapter 8 - Allies
When we arrived at the continent Alfur, it was well past midnight. The lights from the village lit up our path and the thick woods behind us. There was a cool atmosphere bordered by lush green and pastel flowers. The many wildflowers and vines that covered the ground were so thick that the dirt couldn’t be seen. The hidden cove behind the woody brush housed what was a small village. In the more discreet place near the woods was what could be considered a mansion. This building was known as the International House of Allies and Foreign Affairs. It was very formal, similar to that of a courthouse and was constructed of marble and limestone, now well weathered.
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