Privateer (The Five Kingdoms #1)

by Robin Roseau

  "No. It's too late for that."

  "What if the four who remain here promise not to attempt to escape for at least an hour?"

  "I will be hog-tying anyone I leave here."

  "Do we have an agreement?" she asked.

  I sighed. "If you lie to me, whoever we take dies."

  She pursed her lips. "I believe that would violate the rules set forth by the Grey Wizards, but I didn't intend to lie. Do we have an agreement?"

  "Yes."

  She turned her nose to the left. "That room is mine. This is my home. I am the one you want. I will cooperate completely if you keep your agreement and if you make sure my friends will be released after we're gone."

  I nodded. "Thank you, Ms. Tranville. Do you wish help selecting your clothing?"

  "Will you allow me to dress properly?"

  "If you promise to be quick."

  "I delayed you enough," she said. "Are you going to abuse me?"

  "No."

  I helped her to her feet then followed her to her bedroom. It was clear this was the room belonging to the mistress. It was well decorated, and when I opened the closet, it was full.

  "If you untie my hands, it will go faster. I will behave, as if I misbehave, you can take it out on my friends. I will get the clothes I want, and I will cause no further delays."

  "Fine," I said. "But once you're ready, you get the magic bonds and gag."

  "I expected," she said.

  It took a minute to untie her hands, but then she was good to her word. She stripped out of her pajamas right in front of me, then crossed to her dresser and pulled on underthings. She pulled out a few handfuls and tossed them onto her bed.

  "I have a bag," she said. "In the closet."

  "If you come out with a weapon, I will kill you," I told her. "And your friends."

  "I won't," she said. She disappeared into her closet, tossing out an empty duffle bag. I picked it up and put it on the bed and began stuffing her clothing into it. She reemerged a minute later with several articles of clothing. She threw them onto the bed and went back to the closet. I stuffed the clothing into the bag. She came out with one more trip, then on her final trip, she had breeches and a tunic. She pulled them on then turned around and grabbed sensible shoes.

  "I presume we have a walk to your ship," she said.

  "Yes."

  "Then I will pack these and use boots from my front closet, if you will allow my hands to remain free that long."

  I nodded and picked up her bag, then took her by the arm and pulled her back to the front room. She collected boots and three cloaks from the front closet.

  "I would like two hats as well," she said.

  "Fine," I said.

  She pulled from the closet everything she wanted.

  "I would rather not get hot by finishing dressing until we're ready to go," she said. "If you are going to finish tying them, perhaps you will do that first."

  I nodded. "Watch them," I said. I grabbed one of the women and pulled her back upstairs. I brought her to the bedroom, told her to lie down on her stomach, then carefully bound her ankles. She was already gagged.

  "Can you breath all right?" She nodded.

  I treated the other three the same, but I spread them out. I left one in the hall. I put another one in the other bedroom. And I left one downstairs. I closed doors. They wouldn't be able to help each other free themselves.

  When I was done, Ms. Tranville was ready. She was wearing black boots and a long, warm cloak. Her other things were in a small pile by the door. I bound her hands behind her, inside the cloak.

  "Anything else?"

  "You promise you'll make sure my friends are freed?"

  "I promise. I will tell the pewter smith. Will he see to their freedom?"

  "Yes. How are you securing him?"

  "Probably with a threat," I said. "But that isn't my part of the operation." I studied her. "Are you really his mistress?"

  "Yes."

  "Lucky man," I said. Then I held the gag out, and she cooperated while I gagged her. Tenny picked up Ms. Tranville's other things, and moments later we were back out on the street.

  We'd spent forty minutes when it should have been ten.

  It turns out it didn't matter. Radha has her own problems.

  We arrived at the pewter smith's, letting ourselves in the front door, now unlocked. We made our way to the family quarters where we found Radha dealing with a problem. Two more of her men had been hurt by swordplay, and she was facing off against a swordsman. She had already been nicked twice, and so had he. He was guarding a doorway.

  I stopped and stared, still holding onto Ms. Tranville's arm.

  "Nura!" the swordsman said. He made a lunge for Commander Halfheart, which was barely parried.

  "Problem, Commander?" I asked.

  "What took you so long, Lieutenant?"

  "She wasn't alone."

  "Nura!" the swordsman said again.

  "Is that your trollop out there?" I heard a woman's voice from the room the swordsman was guarding. "I suspected it was Nura Tranville, but I didn't have proof. When Daddy hears about this, he's going to castrate you, Franco!"

  "We left four women tied up at Ms. Tranville's home, Mr. Bitterroot," I said to him. "No men."

  He made a flurry of attacks at Radha, driving her back, but as soon as he did, he left himself exposed, and one of the other men lunged for him. He parried and pulled back into the doorway. As long as he was in the doorway, his flanks were protected, but if he stepped into the room, he was open to attack.

  "We'll wear you down eventually," Radha said. "You are outnumbered. Surrender and we'll treat everyone with care."

  "Go to hell!" he said. "You have a time limit, I am sure. Your ship is going to sail without you."

  "We have time," she said. "Ours was an easier target." She lunged, and he parried easily.

  "You are outclassed as a swordsman, Commander," he said. "I haven't killed you yet because I do not care to kill women, even misguided women such as yourself."

  I sighed and turned to my prisoner. "I am sorry," I told her quietly, pulling my dagger out. She began to struggle, but Tenny held her other arm. I moved the dagger to her cheek, and she stopped struggling, but her eyes looked at me sadly.

  "I will cut her, Mr. Bittermore," I said. "I will ruin her beauty."

  "Do it!" his wife said from the next room.

  "It looks like she surrendered willingly," Mr. Bittermore replied. "Hurting her is against the rules."

  "Consider me very desperate," I replied. "And when I am done, I will set fire to your shop. We don't have any more time for this."

  "Also against the rules!" he yelled.

  I sighed. "Mrs. Bittermore," I said loudly. "If you surrender, I promise we will take exceedingly good care of you. I also promise we will ask for a very expensive ransom for Ms. Tranville. Perhaps your husband will choose not to pay it, and we can sell her into indentured service instead."

  No, Minori, I wouldn't have done any of those things, but no one else knew that. No, I wouldn't hurt a prisoner, and we've sold people into indentured service only three times. I know it seems barbaric, but there are long stories about each. Perhaps I will share them with you sometime.

  So, where was I? Oh yes, my offer to Mrs. Bittermore. I got my first look at the lady when she stepped up behind her husband and began hitting him over the head with a large book. "Keep a mistress, will you?" she yelled. "I'll teach you to keep a mistress!" She yelled something every time she hit him, and then the two tumbled into the room with us. Commander Halfheart and two of the other men pounced on the opportunity and quickly disarmed and trussed the pewter smith. I knelt down in front of him.

  "Did you hear what I said about the occupants at Ms. Tranville's home? You will see to them?"

  "Don't hurt her," he said. "You aren't really going to sell her, are you?"

  "Not if you pay her ransom," I said. "Of course, I am only a lieutenant. I can't make promises for my captain."r />
  Mrs. Bittermore heard that and turned her attention to me. Soon I found myself fending her off, but Commander Halfheart pulled her off me and quickly had her hands bound behind her. "Behave now," she ordered. "Or we won't bring any of your clothing with us."

  It took another ten minutes to finish at the pewter smith's. We left him there, but he assured us the help would find him when they came in the morning. He didn't even threaten us. With our four hostages and their bags, we found ourselves back on the streets.

  We had taken well over an hour when we had only budgeted twenty minutes.

  We began moving through the streets, and everything was fine for a while, but then we saw ahead several guardsmen. We ducked down an alley, but they gave chase, whistles blowing. We fled, dragging our reluctant hostages with us, then ducked into another dark alley, and the guardsmen followed us.

  But we set a trap, and when they saw they were facing four of us with naked swords, they surrendered. We trussed them and brought them with us. Now there were eight of us managing six hostages. Twice more we evaded the guards, but they didn't see us, and we arrived at our rendezvous point without any further incident.

  That was when we discovered more trouble. Only half of our group was there. We were very late, and the rest should have been there. Commander Halfheart was the ranking officer, and she elected to have us all wait.

  "A half hour, then we head for the ship," she said.

  Twenty minutes later, we heard the sounds of fighting, and it was moving closer to us. A minute or two later, we saw several more of our crew in a withdrawing fight with the guard. Commander Halfheart left me with four men and the orders, "Get these hostages to the ship, right now!"

  We began our way back towards the ship; Commander Halfheart rushed forward with the rest of the men to lend their support to our crewmen. We couldn't afford a full fight; we slightly outnumbered the guard present, but there would be more on the way. However, the guardsmen that were there harried our crew as we retreated to the cove.

  And when we arrived, we walked directly into an ambush.

  Things had already gone poorly, and the Western Wind had tried to flee, but the tide was out, and in the middle of the channel leading out of the cove, she ran aground and was well stuck. She would stay there until the tide lifted her again, but by then, she would be populated by an Alencian crew.

  On the shores, hiding in the shadows, were two detachments of marines, borrowed from one of the naval ships. We were amongst them before I realized they weren't my own crewmembers, and we found ourselves surrounded and badly outnumbered.

  We surrendered without a fight.

  I myself released Nura Tranville from her bonds, and the marine captain let her truss me using my own bonds and gag.

  "Would you really have cut me?" she asked while she was doing it.

  "No. I don't break the rules."

  She was gentle when she trussed me, and I didn't resist. That was the third time I was forced to wear a gag.

  In the end, they got all of us and the ship. And it turns out, the captain hadn't gotten around to posting a bond for me, and when offered the opportunity to pay my ransom himself, he instead chose to ransom his ship, going into debt to do so. Radha was evicted from the country, and I rotted in jail. They began talking about selling me into service, although I knew Radha would ransom me if she could.

  In the end, however, it was Nura Tranville who saved me. She visited me in jail every week. When I asked her why, she told me, "You amuse me."

  At the end, she offered to bargain for me. "Commander Halfheart will ransom me," I said.

  "They don't want to wait. They're going to sell you," she said. "Mrs. Bittermore is quite angry with you, and she has the ear of the governor."

  "And why would you bargain for me?" I asked her.

  "You will do something for me," she said. "And you will agree to pay me back twice what you cost."

  "I don't have it."

  "You'll owe me."

  "You would trust me?"

  "Yes."

  And so, in the end, she paid my ransom for me. I lived with her for three months, doing the things she had asked me to do, and then I connected with Commander Halfheart and arranged to join the crew of a new ship.

  Forgiveness

  Captain Sorri Westmere

  I removed Rani's blindfold. She blinked at me twice, and then I turned away to replace the silk in its drawer in the closet.

  "Was that story true?" she asked me.

  "Every word," I said.

  "What did Nura Tranville ask you to do for her?"

  I smiled. "What do you think?"

  She laughed. "Really?"

  I laughed with her. "No, not really. I agreed to be her personal servant for three months, waiting on her and her friends. They all teased me mercilessly, but she was otherwise kind and treated me well."

  "Did you pay her back?"

  "Every crown," I said. I grinned. "And I have kidnapped her twice since."

  Rani laughed. "Get your money back?"

  "No. She's not a legitimate hostage. She went willingly each time, though, just for the fun."

  "Another Melissa Roughridge?"

  "No, and I haven't raided Cena in years, but the two times I did, I called on her on the way out of town. The first time it was just to say 'hello' and thank her, but as soon as she saw me, she packed a bag and offered me her hands to bind."

  "Did she have a nice time?"

  "Of course."

  "Did you sleep with her?"

  "Jealous?"

  "Curious."

  "No. We kiss goodbye, that is all."

  "Well, maybe in the next war, you will side against Alencia, and you can visit her again."

  "Perhaps, but we haven't talked in years."

  "You don't stop by when you're in Alencia? You're waving the Alencia flag, after all."

  "One doesn't need to visit Alencia to acquire a Letter of Marque," I told her. "Honestly, Noridans are my favorite passengers. That's why I sided with Alencia in this war."

  "Are we the most complacent passengers?"

  "No. You are the best educated, which makes you more interesting."

  "Alencia has some excellent universities."

  "Alencians tend to be, well, unfriendly."

  "Nura being the exception?"

  "Yes. But then, she's from Norida originally."

  Rani laughed, then sobered. She began pacing the room. It was then I realized we had both been ignoring the real reason we'd been in Glora's room.

  She came to a stop near my bed. "Come here, Captain," Rani ordered. I wasn't accustomed to taking orders on my own ship, but I found myself obeying her anyway. I stepped up to her, and then she began to pace, finally coming to a stop in front of me, my back to the bed.

  My heart was pounding. She hadn't given me a clue what she would do, but now she was nervous, acting much like she had earlier, and I thought I had lost. I didn't think I would get another opportunity with her, either.

  "You ask me to forgive what you have done."

  "Yes."

  "You ask for my friendship."

  "Yes."

  "You ask me to accept your business ventures?"

  "My now adjusted business ventures."

  "You ask me to accept that you will still take ransoms for all of us, including me, and I can ill afford it."

  "Yes."

  "You ask me to accept that you prey upon my country."

  "Yes."

  "You suggest you are honorable, and that you do not victimize the innocent."

  "Yes."

  She paced around some more before coming to a stop in front of me.

  "You are not asking for my body."

  "No."

  She stepped closer, and I couldn't read her expression.

  "You ask the impossible, Captain. I am not interested in your offer under the terms you have outlined."

  My face fell. I thought at least we could be friends.

  Rani put
her hands on my shoulders, leaning into me, her face inches from mine. "You ask the impossible," she said again. "I do not care for your terms." Then she gave me a stupendous push backwards, surprising me, and I fell backwards onto the bed. I reached out for her, pulling her with me, and she landed on top of me. She scrambled before I could catch her, and her arms found my shoulders. She leaned into them.

  "I am making my own terms, and you will accept them." And then she leaned down, and her mouth captured mine.

  She caught me by complete surprise, and her tongue was inside my mouth before I could register what she was doing. She took my mouth, she took it thoroughly, and all I could do was close my eyes and moan with the sudden pleasure and surprise.

  She broke the kiss, not lingering.

  "You are the captain of this ship, but I am the captain of this relationship. Do you agree to my terms? They are non-negotiable."

  I stared up into her eyes. "Yes, Rani. I agree to your terms."

  And then her hands were on me, and she was pulling my clothes off, and her own, and it was only a few seconds before she was perched over me, both of us entirely naked. She leaned down, pressing her body into mine, her legs on either side of me, her sex poised over my pelvis.

  She took my mouth again, and together we moaned.

  Then her mouth moved down, and she took a nipple, teasing it mercilessly. I reached for her, intending to turn the tables, but she batted my hands away.

  "Where are the bonds you used on me?"

  "What?"

  "If you can not behave, you will be rendered helpless. Do you understand?"

  "You're not serious!"

  "Where are they?"

  "Brig."

  "You have some in here, Sorri. Where?"

  "Desk. Top right drawer. Two sets."

  She climbed off me. I reached for her, but she said, "Touch me and I leave."

  "What are you doing to me?" I asked her.

  "Setting the rules. You will enjoy them," she said. "How do I open this drawer?"

  I described the hidden catch for her, and she opened the drawer, finding several more gags and several of the magical bonds we use when capturing and releasing our hostages. She took those out.

  "What are the words?"

  "The same as the tethers on the gag," I said. "If you speak them properly, I will let you apply them. Otherwise I am applying them to you!"