Privateer (The Five Kingdoms #1)

by Robin Roseau

  "So little?"

  "Glora is smart. She won't need much discussion to offer an opinion."

  Sorri removed the blindfold then walked me to Glora's door. I knocked, and it was opened a moment later by a sleepy Minori.

  "I'm sorry to wake you," I said. "I didn't consider the hour."

  "Is something wrong, Auntie Rani?"

  "No. I need to speak to your mother. And I think also with you and your brother and sister."

  She opened the door, admitting me. I turned to Sorri. "Fifteen minutes, Captain."

  "Aye-aye, Ensign." She smiled when she said it.

  Glora was sitting up in bed, holding the covers to her chest.

  "I am so sorry. I should have waited."

  "No. I judge this is important."

  I crossed the room, and she patted the bed. Lindora and Jorek sat up as well. Glora made room, and I sat down beside her.

  "Is anyone scared?" I asked.

  "I was scared today," Minori said immediately. "But not now. Should I be?"

  "No. Anyone else?"

  "No," they all said.

  "Angry?"

  "Not anymore," Lindora said. "I was at first. I ruined my dress, and I very much wanted to dance with Trindo Marek. I was bored, too. There isn't much to do. But I am enjoying cooking. I shouldn't; it is servant's work. But the cooks talk and tease each other, and they tease me a little. I'm not bored anymore."

  "They are taking us to an island. The captain says it is beautiful, very, very beautiful. We will stay a while. Probably not very long, but at least several days. Longer, if there is trouble negotiating ransoms. There will be swimming. It is to be quite lovely."

  Minori climbed onto the bed and lay down with her head in my lap. Glora moved closer and put an arm around me. "What's wrong, Rani?"

  "The captain explained how they justify kidnapping us."

  "And you are wondering whether you should hate her."

  "Yes."

  "This is the third time I have been held hostage," Glora said. "The second was not so pleasant. The first was much like this, a fine adventure, although without the scare of my youngest child going for an unexpected swim."

  "A fine adventure?"

  "Of course."

  "Is the second one you can share in front of your children?"

  "It was not so bad, but it was winter, and very cold. The weather was miserable, and the crew was cold and sullen. I was seventeen, and I missed a dance that I had been looking forward to."

  "Did they hurt you?"

  "Oh of course not. But the ship was crowded and the food bland, and I was very, very bored. There was nothing to do. I was young, of course, and everything at seventeen is so dramatic."

  "I have been in raids before," I said, "but all of them after my fight with father, so they couldn't take me. There was no one to pay for me."

  "So this is your first, at thirty-three?"

  "Yes."

  "It is a stupid game the lords play with us," Glora said. "But the rules they follow are civilized."

  "If you count taking children from their beds as civilized."

  "I didn't like being taken from my bed. I wailed horribly as they pulled me from my father. That was the first time. It is quite remarkable that this is the first time for my children."

  "That is horrible."

  "The gag scared me," Glora said. "I was so scared, and I didn't have my mother with me. I was alone."

  "What happened?"

  "They gave me over to the cook. She fed me warm food, once we were on ship, and set me in front of the fire. She told me stories, and told me I would have a great deal of fun. I learned to swim on that trip. Not very well, and I have forgotten much."

  "The captain said she will teach me to swim properly!" Minori said.

  "The quartermaster said the things she is teaching me will serve me well in almost any business," Jorek explained. "Linten is so jealous, but the commander asked me first." He looked at me. "Did you tell her to?"

  "Yes."

  "Thank you, Aunt Rani."

  "None of you are mad?"

  "No," said Lindora. She looked at her mother. "Mama, the cook on the ship is better than our cook at home!"

  "This cook makes comfort food," Glora said. "Hearty, healthy meals. Our cook at home is an artist."

  "She's a bitch!" Jorek said.

  "Jorek!" Glora said.

  "I'm sorry, Mama," he replied. "But she is. The cook here is nice. I was hungry yesterday, and she gave me warm bread, straight from the oven. Our cook yells at me if I step into the kitchen."

  "Mama," Lindora said. "You know how to cook. I watched you. Can we please cook at home? I like it, and I like the food we're making. The cook doesn't yell if I steal things, either. She just smiles at me and tells me other things I should try, then tells me what I'm doing wrong with the knife."

  "Cooking is below your station," Glora said. But I'm not sure she believed it.

  "What good is having a station if you can't eat the foods you like or do the things you like?" Lindora asked. "The next time I am kidnapped, I am going to refuse parole if they don't let me work in the kitchen."

  "No!" I yelled. "You won't like it. You will ask politely."

  "Mama, can we fire our cook?" Lindora asked.

  "No, we may not," she said. "Your father's position requires a cook such as ours. But I will put my foot down, and we will begin cooking in our own kitchen at least a few meals a week."

  "Hendar isn't going to like that," Jorek said.

  "Hendar works for me, and Hendar will accept whatever I say," Glora said. "But I do not like to cook alone. I learned to cook with my mother and grandmother; we would talk while we cooked, and that is the proper way. If we start cooking, we are all helping. Rani, if you join our household, that means you as well."

  "But not father," Minori said. "He would complain."

  "He may eat out the nights we cook if he is unsatisfied with what we produce," Glora stated.

  Minori turned to me. "What did Mama mean, if you join our household?"

  "She has invited me to live with you."

  "What? And this is the first you told me?"

  "Did you all hear me screaming earlier?"

  They were silent.

  "You all know I can't help it."

  "We do now, Aunt Rani," Jorek said. "We didn't before. I thought you were just mean."

  "I am so sorry, Jorek. You don't know how sorry."

  "I forgive you," he said. "It wasn't your fault."

  "What has this to do with moving in with us?" Minori asked.

  "Your mother may not realize what she is getting into. There will be more screaming, every day. Maybe not like tonight, but every day. That is hard to take. She says she will help me, but it may be a far greater burden than I could possibly let her pay."

  "Then yell at father," Jorek suggested. "It would be good for someone to yell at him once in a while."

  Glora smiled, then stifled her reaction.

  "We will see," she said. "Aunt Rani may decide she likes the big city more. But either way, she will visit us far more often, and any of you who wish to visit her, or travel with her, may do so, subject to her schedule and your willingness to obey her."

  I leaned my head against her shoulder.

  "Rani, this wouldn't have happened without this voyage."

  "I know," I said.

  "Forgive the captain. Go to her. She is good for you."

  I turned to look at her. "Forgive her, Rani," she said again. "She is not the beast you think."

  "She is our kidnapper."

  "So?"

  I shook my head. "There is more." I told them.

  "That is just foolish," Glora said when I was done. "All right, taking children from their beds isn't good, but this is how it is."

  "Why, mother?" Minori asked. "Why is it like this?"

  Glora didn't have an answer.

  "If not them, then someone else," Glora said. "And they are kind. I'd rather them than oth
ers."

  "I would rather no one," I said. "Let them prey on the ones who deserve to be preyed upon."

  "Like the governors?" Glora asked.

  "You don't resent this?"

  "No. I will give up a few dresses and some baubles. I will forego an expensive trip to the palace I didn't care for anyway. My share of the ransom is about the same as the gown I was going to have to buy, a gown I can only wear once to attend an event with people whose company I do not enjoy. I will forego a few other things to pay the ransom for these three. But I am closer to my children than I have ever have been, and I have a new friend in you."

  I told her about Melissa Roughridge. They laughed at the story. "I hadn't thought about that!" Glora said. "We would need to coordinate very, very carefully."

  "You aren't seriously considering following Melissa's lead?"

  "I certainly am! If I time it right, I can avoid the most hideous of the events, the most expensive, and it won't cost Dinor any more money, even taking all three of my children along, and you too, if you like. But do not tell Dinor!"

  The girls laughed. Jorek screwed up his face for a moment, then relaxed. "I won't tell if you let me have a stallion."

  "If you tell, I won't let them take you next time, and you'll be stuck home alone for two months."

  "No annoying questions from my little sister," he replied, but he smiled at her. "Squirt. I won't tell Dad."

  "Glora, your dresses are so expensive?"

  "Well, dresses, thank you gifts to the hostess, travel expenses. It is all frightfully expensive when you add it up. If we lived further from the capitol, we could avoid more of it."

  "Aunt Rani," Minori asked, "do you like the captain?"

  "Yes, Minori. I do. I shouldn't, but I do."

  "I have a question for everyone," Minori said. "Where would you each rather be than here on the ship?"

  "I would have liked that dance with Trindo Marek," Lindora said. "But I went to the palace last year. I was excited to go, but once I got there, I didn't like it. The other girls there were mean, and I didn't care for them." She paused. "Aunt Rani, where are they taking us?"

  "To an island. The captain assures me everyone will have a very nice time."

  "I would like more to do on the ship," Lindora said. "But I do not have anywhere else I would rather be."

  "The quartermaster is treating me like a man," Jorek said. "I don't care for the cabin boy duties, but Commander Wattmore explained why I needed to learn them. There might be more things to do at home, but I am doing things the other boys haven't been able to do."

  "I don't think it's right they make Daddy pay so much money for us," Minori said. "And I didn't like my swim today. But I am enjoying my time here." She looked at me. "And I get to see you, Aunt Rani."

  "You see?" Glora asked. "If the captain is not to your taste, that is one thing. But I see how you look at her, and how she looks at you. Forgive her, Rani. Enjoy her."

  I couldn't believe what they were telling me. And I wasn't sure I was willing to admit Sorri was right, about anything.

  We continued talking until there was a knock. Minori answered, and Sorri entered. "Ready, or do I need to come back?"

  "Captain Westmere," Glora said. "I understand Melissa Roughridge has your negotiator's mailing information."

  "Yes she does."

  "So do I need to ask Melissa for it, or will you be giving it to me before we depart your company?"

  Sorri began laughing. "We are no longer in that business."

  "Perhaps your ethics will slip from time to time," Glora suggested. "I recommend right before that horrible ball at the capitol. You may need more ships to help you with the guests you could have. But you will need to negotiate very, very hard, or you'll get your hostages back just in time for Lady Wintermore's event, and that wouldn't do at all."

  "You people are crazy," I muttered. "Glora, I apologize for the interruption to your sleep."

  "We weren't asleep. We were telling stories. Captain, did you care to tell a story before you spirit my sister-in-law away? In fact, I insist. That is the price of this interruption."

  Sorri laughed again. "Well, if that is the price, I must pay it. I do not know what type of stories you were telling."

  "I had told the children about the first time I met their father," Glora replied.

  Sorri closed the door, and Glora patted the bed on her other side. Sorri crossed the room and sat down.

  "I don't have any good stories about meeting someone," she said. "Would you like to hear about a raid in which absolutely everything went wrong?"

  "Yes!" said the children. "Did you get caught?"

  "I did," she said. "But let me start at the beginning."

  Sorri's Capture

  Lieutenant Sorri Westmere

  I was only a little older than Lindora is now. I had been at sea for over ten years and had recently risen to the fresh rank of lieutenant. Commander Halfheart was a lieutenant commander by then.

  Yes, Jorek, she used to outrank me. Commander Halfheart outranked me from the day I met her until the day I became captain of the Fleetwind. In reality, she should have her own ship, but I am very, very glad she chooses to stay with me. We make a good team and I trust her completely.

  At the time, we both were officers aboard a ship called the Western Wind. The Western Wind is a larger ship than the Fleetwind, although not anywhere near as fine a ship. Her captain was a serious man named Dero Flatrace. He was a good captain, but sometimes rash. He, along with his senior officers, planned a complicated raid in Alencia, and I am afraid he wasn't as good at complicated raid planning as Commander Halfheart and I are.

  Yes, we were raiding Alencia in that war. It was a three-way war between Alencia, Candora and Pasorma. We carried a Letter of Marque from Pasorma.

  A Letter of Marque, Minori? That is a letter signed by one of the great lords that lets us act as a privateer. Without one, we would be nothing but pirates, and I would certainly not wish to be a pirate. Yes, that's right, the wizards would catch us very quickly, but being a pirate is not an honest occupation; there are no rules, and I dare say, no honor. I know your aunt doesn't care to know the Fleetwind is a privateer vessel, but she would be much, much more upset if we were pirates.

  So, as I was saying, the captain and his senior officers planned a complicated raid against Alencia. It was very elaborate, and if only a very small number of things went wrong, the raid would fail. Even I, a fresh lieutenant, could see problems with the raid, but of course a ship's captain on a ship that size doesn't consult a lieutenant concerning his plans.

  There were many different parts to this raid, and each of the ship's officers was assigned responsibility for a portion of the raid, even me, the fresh lieutenant. I was given one of the most dangerous tasks, but one that if I had made a mistake, would not have resulted in anyone being captured except my own team. That was a wise choice, I am sure; I had run other, simpler raids, but I hadn't been involved in anything this complicated before.

  My role was described to me in the captain's cabin earlier that day.

  "Lieutenant Westmere," Commander Drahgon, told me, gesturing to a map of Cena, the port town we were raiding. He pointed to a house. "This is your target. Franco Bittermore is a pewter smith of small reknown. He has a wife and two teenage daughters."

  "I am to take the wife and daughters?" I asked.

  "No. Do not interrupt. Franco lives here. This is Lieutenant Commander Halfheart's target. Mr. Bittermore keeps a mistress in an upstairs apartment in this building, two blocks away. She has the entire top floor. You will collect her and meet with Lieutenant Commander Halfheart's forces at the Bittermore residence, and then you will retreat to the ship with your targets."

  He gave me a few more minor details, but he left much out of the briefing. In short, Radha was leading my portion of the raid, but I had a secondary target. I would otherwise be under her command both in and out of Cena.

  At the time, I was not given details on wh
at anyone else was doing. I learned later just how complicated a raid had been planned, with each portion of the raid hopelessly understaffed if any unexpected forces were encountered. Commander Drahgon himself was responsible for meeting the captain of the city guard at a local pub and drinking him under the table.

  Nothing went right.

  We began our raid from a cove northeast of Cena, much like the cove from which we conducted our raid on Southgate. It was a good position for a raid, or so we thought. We sailed in on the rising tide and anchored easily, making our way to shore via longboats, arriving shortly before midnight.

  Our rather large force split into two at the cove, both supposedly heading to Cena but by different paths. That was when the first thing went wrong. We had Commander Drahgon with us, but the other group had one team who would cripple the ships in the harbor and a second team responsible for creating distractions for the city guard. Neither of those teams ever found Cena, and thus the ships in the harbor remained entirely whole, and the city guard was offered no distractions.

  On the outskirts of Cena, my group further split up into our individual teams. My team was to wait for an hour. Commander Drahgon went first with a small group, and they made it safely to the pub where the city guard's captain was drinking with friends, where they were promptly recognized and immediately arrested.

  Radha and I waited together, crouched in the dark, using the stars to judge time.

  "What do you think?" I asked her.

  "Do your job, Lieutenant, and trust everyone else to do his."

  "Aye-aye, Commander," I told her. Yes, she was a lieutenant commander, but in the field, we tended to drop the "lieutenant" part, as "lieutenant commander" is a lot to spit out.

  "Lieutenant, if anything goes wrong, do what you must to get away. This is a complicated plan, and there is a lot for room to things to go wrong."

  "Aye-aye, Commander," I repeated.

  When we judged it was time, we took our team into the city, moving quietly and staying to the shadows as much we could. We took slightly different paths, as twelve people all moving together tends to draw attention. That was where we encountered the first problem directly affecting our team. Two of the men stumbled upon a gang of hoodlums and were drawn into an altercation. We heard them from a block over, and Commander Halfheart turned my group to join in. When we arrived, we saw our two men, both bleeding, their swords out, facing five other men all carrying their own weapons.