Privateer (The Five Kingdoms #1)

by Robin Roseau

"Will you plan the engagements while my niece is here?"

  "Normally, yes. I would be planning now. But they would be for after the hostages are returned, or at least most of them."

  "If you promise to do your best to avoid engagements of any sort, and you do not begin actively planning future engagements, I will continue to help, and I will continue to offer affection."

  "And what do you expect me to do if we encounter a Noridan merchant ship?"

  "Are we going to?"

  "Probably not, but if we do, I would like to know the rules."

  "Would you follow them?"

  "We must come to an agreement."

  "Will you bypass a plump target for me?"

  "No. For many, many reasons."

  "How would this happen, that we would encounter a merchant vessel?"

  "Our lookouts would see their sails. We would turn to see what she was. When we drew closer, we would see whether she was a merchant ship or a war ship. Closer still and we could see her flags. At some point we would decide whether she was friend or foe, and if foe, to run or to attack. Along the way, we would also maneuver for the best position."

  "From seeing her sails to deciding a final course of action, how long will this take?"

  "Hours. Sometimes a full day if she is almost as fast as we are and chooses to run. Sometimes in coastal waters, a chase can last days as we play cat and mouse, but deep at sea, at sunset, it is exceedingly easy to lose a pursuer unless we are already very, very close."

  "Then, from the moment you see her sails and decide to investigate, you will confine me somewhere, and you will ask for no help of any sort from me or any member of my extended family. I may ask to stay and watch, but you must confine me before I know the nature of the ship involved."

  "All right. Is that all?"

  "If you choose to engage, then you must put me in the brig, very securely, and you will need help to do it. I will fight you, tooth and nail. The moment I realize your intention, I will fight you. I will not go quietly. I do not consider this a violation of my parole. You cannot ask me to stand by while you attack my countrymen. That is not reasonable."

  "I do not believe this will happen, Rani, but I do not like to leave things to chance."

  "Neither do I," I agreed. "I have other concerns about being called 'ensign'."

  "Such as?"

  "Your officers will grow to believe it is their due to order me about rather than a gift from me when I obey. Your officers will believe I am to give the amount of time another ensign would give. And it is bad precedent for an ensign to share a bed with the captain."

  "When you are engaged in the duties of an ensign, you will be called ensign."

  "Am I allowed to cease those duties when I chose?"

  "You agreed in your parole to the duties I assign you, Ms. Karden."

  I thought about it. "I did not agree to be drafted into your crew. Do not take me for granted, Captain, and I will remove my further objections. Next. I do not believe cabin girls have the rank of ensign. And what do you intend to call Minori?"

  "She is a seaman recruit, called either seaman or recruit."

  "Her mother will not allow that second title."

  "No, I suppose not. I believe I will have my own conversation with your sister-in-law. She is asking us to teach her children, which takes time from us and has value to them. This is not your concern. I will deal with it."

  "They are still children, and if you make them Seamen Recruits, I still want them to be children, Captain."

  "I began my life as a recruit when I was seven, Rani."

  "I believe your childhood was robbed from you."

  "I believe I was happy to put my childhood behind me," she replied quickly.

  "I am sorry. Minori and Jorek have had better luck."

  "They are old enough to begin experiencing what it means to be adult."

  "When you have this conversation with Glora, you will be clear I was unsure how I felt about it. I do not want her making decisions because she thinks I condone them."

  "If Minori were your child, what would you do?"

  "I would let her decide. But I would make you be exceedingly clear what she should expect."

  "May I tell Glora that?"

  "If she asks what I think, yes."

  We lay quiet for a while. Sorri's breath tickled the back of my neck. In retaliation, I wriggled again.

  "Stop that!"

  I giggled. "Your breath is tickling my neck."

  "Are you asking me to change something?"

  "No. Your breath may tickle me all it desires. Your lips, however, may not."

  We talked quietly for a long time, discussing easier topics. I asked about the places she had visited, and she told me wonderful stories of some of her adventures. She asked me about Norida; she had visited much of the coastal areas, but none of the interior. I had been many places, and so I was able to uphold my share of the conversation.

  We didn't talk about our pasts; we'd both had our own troubles we didn't care to share. I didn't want to hear about her job, and I didn't want her to tell her about mine. But we laughed quietly together. I felt warm and safe. What an odd thing, feeling safe in the bed of my kidnapper. I didn't dwell on that overmuch.

  Sorri's hands and lips kept their own parole, not pushing my boundaries. She stroked my arm and my hair from time to time, which felt nice, and I didn't stop her.

  I knew I was falling in love, falling in love with the most inappropriate choice I could imagine, short of a married woman. It troubled me, and part of me knew I should be maintaining my distance from her.

  But she was warm, and her lips had been soft.

  Eventually, our words slowed. We slept.

  Overboard

  Captain Sorri Westmere

  It was cold and dreary the next day. There was no sign of pursuit. We set a new course and wondered when we would get a fresh reading on our location. I had ordered Rani to shadow me, and she listened to me talking to Radha about it.

  "Captain, I have questions when you have time to indulge me."

  "Go ahead, Ensign," she said.

  "You have a pretty good idea where we are, don't you? How much does it matter? Candora is west. It is impossible to miss it."

  "We could run right into it in the middle of the night," I replied right away. "I need to show you the charts for further explanation."

  "Oh," I said. "There are obstacles."

  "Yes. There are islands, a few atolls, countless shoals, and a few areas of dangerous currents. Plus even if we encounter the coast, it is nice if we know where on the coast we have struck land."

  "Are you willing to show me where we are, Captain? Or will you lie? I understand if you do not care to show me."

  The captain turned to the commander. "Move out of hearing range, Ensign," the commander ordered, and I moved as far from them that I could go and remain on the quarterdeck. They talked for several minutes then invited me back.

  "I will show you," the captain said. "I won't lie."

  "May I use the spotting scope, Captain?"

  "There is nothing to see, Ensign."

  That wasn't an answer, and eventually she waved permission. I set up the spotting scope while they watched me. I spotted through it in several directions before focusing on Minori's toy dog. It was a great distance away, but I could feel it. I had never been this far from Southgate before. I turned the spotting scope until I thought it was pointed directly at the toy and took the reading from the compass. I took several more fake readings before putting the scope away.

  Captain Westmere did one more walk around the ship, inviting me onto the forecastle, and then we retired to her cabin. She gave me permission to pull out her charts, and it took her a minute to show me where she thought we were and explain why she thought so.

  "Here is our last known position. And we have traveled this way." She showed each step, one day at a time. "The navigator works very hard. She must know our heading and rate of travel very carefully,
and she must also know the currents. The longer we go with no sightings, the more the errors can add up."

  "Nine and a half knots instead of ten knots?"

  "Yes," the captain said. "A half a knot is twelve miles a day. And currents are not resolutely fixed or absolutely known. We are undoubtedly not exactly where we think we are."

  "How much error do you believe exists?"

  "Perhaps as much as a hundred miles, but I would hope for far less."

  She had plotting tools, and I took out a compass I thought was used for marking on the charts. "May I?"

  "Yes, very lightly," she said. I adjusted the compass for one hundred miles using the legend on the chart, then I drew a circle around the small point the captain had made on the chart.

  "You believe we are within this circle?"

  "Yes."

  "May I calculate our distance home?"

  "Go ahead, Ensign. This is good practice for you. Shall I assign you to the navigator for a few days?"

  "I believe I can work this out, Captain." I collected the correct charts and spread them out. When I was done, I showed her what I had calculated.

  "I believe that dot is nine hundred and twenty seven miles from Southgate on a heading of two hundred and eighty-two degrees. Did I do it right?"

  She checked my work. "Exactly so, Ensign. Very good."

  Except I thought we were outside her circle to the north. I went through it twice, the captain watching but not commenting. Finally she asked, "What are you doing, Rani?"

  "Captain, what if we're not in your circle?"

  "You do not believe we're in the circle?"

  "Pretend I am Minori."

  "All right, Ensign. Where do you think we are?"

  "Right where you said we were, Captain. But what if we were up here further?" I waved near where I thought we were. I wondered how accurate I was at this distance. "Are you willing to tell me where we're going?"

  "Not exactly, no," she said. "Do you have any reason to believe we are north of where I believe we are?"

  "I am only asking what would happen if we were? Would we have a shipwreck?"

  She eyed me carefully.

  "Humor me, Captain?"

  "All right. For training purposes?"

  "Exactly."

  "But you want me to use our real heading and not a made up heading."

  "Yes."

  She sighed and adjusted the maps until she had enough to show the coast of Candora laid out on the able.

  "We are going to somewhere in this area of Candora," she said, gesturing.

  "Are you lying?"

  "Not by enough to matter for this conversation." She showed the path she intended to take. "If we are not sure where we are, then we will reduce our speed at night when we think we are getting close to the coast." The route she was taking wasn't a straight line, and she showed me three islands we would pass between.

  "Now, if we are up here, then we will become very puzzled, when we do not see these islands when we think we should. We could then discover these shoals about eight hours later than we expect to encounter the islands."

  "When?"

  "Four more days."

  "There are no other obstacles we may encounter?"

  "No. Clear sailing either way."

  "Would you see the shoals in the daytime?"

  "Possibly. The surf may look different."

  "What if we're further east than you think we are, say, over here?" I indicated where I really thought we were.

  "The same answer, but it would be even longer before we see the shoals.

  "What will you do if we do not see the islands on schedule?"

  "If we are able to collect a fresh sighting, we will at least know our latitude, even if our longitude is incorrect. We can sail west along a latitude until we arrive where we want."

  "And if we can't? If it stays cloudy for a week?"

  She eyed the charts. "We would take soundings to try to find the ocean floor. If we know the depth of the water, that reduces the number of places we can be." She paused. "Ensign, I have done this a great many times."

  "Shipwrecks happen even for experienced captains."

  "I will make sure it does not happen to us."

  "If we get a sighting, will you tell me?"

  "All right. Yes."

  "Thank you."

  * * * *

  "Ensign!" said the captain. I turned to face her. "I require you to serve dinner for the officers tonight, but I then want you to vacate the cabin and spend your evening elsewhere."

  "Yes, Captain. May I take time to make arrangements?"

  She nodded, and I went in search of Glora, explaining what I needed. "May I join your family?"

  "Of course, Rani."

  "I do not know what time it will be. Do not wait to have dinner. If I do not find you in the mess, I will take care of my own needs and find you. Thank you, Glora."

  "Of course. The captain came to see me."

  "Did she tell you I was unsure what my reaction should be to her proposals?"

  "Yes. She also said you would ask Minori what she wanted."

  "I did say that."

  "I took your advice. She is accepting the captain's offer for an education. And Jorek received a similar offer from the quartermaster."

  "The quartermaster has been kind to me."

  "You arranged these things," Glora said.

  "Only after you asked me to, Glora."

  "Yes. Thank you. It is good for both of them to see more than their father and I can show them."

  "Minori will not live on the sea."

  "No, but Jorek may. Or he may not. He would be ill suited to follow his father's role."

  "Much like I am ill suited to follow anyone's role."

  She smiled. "Quite so."

  "I do not know how long the captain will wish me to stay away, but if I grow unwelcome, will you tell me?"

  "You will not grow unwelcome." She paused. "Do you really want Minori to gag you if need be."

  "Yes. Or you. Did she teach you?"

  "She tried, but I haven't been able to practice."

  I withdrew the gag I had and handed it to her. "You should assume I may not cooperate if enraged, but we may be gentle for this today. Do you know all the words?"

  "Minori taught me and said I got them right. What will we do if I am wrong?"

  "If you get the gag in place but can not remove it, then I will simply wear a gag long enough to find Captain Westmere. She will be able to remove it."

  I had her try all the words for me, and they sounded right, as best I could tell. And then she did it with the gag. It took her two tries, but soon the gag slipped into my mouth. She did the ties, and it grew snug.

  "I did it right."

  I nodded.

  She smiled and made no effort to remove it. Very funny.

  "Do you mind if I tease you?"

  I shook my head. And then she removed the gag and handed it back to me. I put it away. "Minori has one. I have one. Do not lose them. The captain will make Dinor pay with money and me pay with punishment."

  She nodded, and then I returned to the captain.

  I had a nice evening with Glora and her children. The captain didn't find me until late. We took a tour of the deck, talked to the navigator for a few minutes, and then retired for the evening. We talked quietly until slipping into sleep.

  * * * *

  My shipboard duties continued, as did my education. The day after the officers met without me, the captain told me, "There will be a meeting of the ship's crew tonight after dinner. You and Minori may dine with me, but I need you with Glora for a while after that.

  "I can't stay in the cabin?"

  "No."

  "I will make arrangements when next I see her. If I am unwelcome?"

  "Then I will find somewhere else to put you. Make sure I have warning."

  "Yes, Captain."

  That night when the captain got me, I asked her, "What was the meeting about?"

 
"You will ask no questions about it, and I have already told Glora that Minori is to ask no questions about it as well. This is non-negotiable."

  "Yes, Captain," I said immediately.

  In the middle of the night, there was a tap at the captain's door, waking us both.

  "Captain," said the navigator. "Come quickly. Bring your sextant."

  "May I come?" I asked immediately, and the captain agreed, but she wasn't waiting for me. I followed her out the cabin door a minute or two after she had left.

  When I arrived, the navigator was using the sextant to take a reading. I scanned the skies. They were overcast, but there was a window, and I thought I saw the cat's shoulder. I wasn't sure, as I couldn't see all of her. The captain and navigator looked busy, but I asked, "May I use the spotting scope?"

  The captain waved at me, so I took that as a yes. I took a compass reading for home, not bothering to disguise what I was doing, and then immediately put the scope away.

  Then the captain pulled me into her arms. "Let's go. It's cold."

  "Where are we?"

  "Mara will tell me in the morning."

  * * * *

  In the morning, I was interrupted in the laundry. "Ms. Karden," said one of the seamen. "You are required in the captain's quarters."

  "Thank you, Seaman," I said. "Minori, do you know what to do here?"

  "Yes, Auntie Rani."

  When I arrived at the captain's cabin, Captain Westmere, Commander Radha and Lieutenant Nordon were waiting for me. The lieutenant looked tired.

  "Come in, Ensign," the captain said. I entered and closed the door, then stood facing the three of them.

  "I have not done anything wrong, to the best of my knowledge," I said.

  "The other day you asked a great deal of questions regarding our location. You seemed concerned we may be significantly north of where I thought we were."

  "They were only questions. I have so much to learn."

  "Why did you pick off course to the north?"

  "Just a guess, Captain," I replied. "I don't have a secret sextant I am using."

  "Well, you guessed very well, Ensign," she said. "Come see."

  She pulled me to the table. "I said we were here. We have traveled about this far, so last night when we took the sighting, we would be about here." She made a mark.

  "All right."

  "You made your own guesses. You asked about here," she said, indicating one location. "And here." The second one was where I had thought we were.