by Alex Avrio
Jaeger rubbed his chin. “If there are no rocks, and if the frigate decides not to open fire, and if they're not carrying horses to pursue us with, and if you're happy to abandon the injured, then it might work. Not that we have any other choice.”
He went to talk to the captain. Regina's brow creased. She didn’t leave people behind, even if they were Eressian, but this time she might have to. If the Duke didn’t have the wounded killed, they could be ransomed back.
There was a great deal of gesticulation from both the captain and Jaeger, but finally the captain gave an order – the boat started to change course. The wind was now at their backs, a small advantage as they veered towards the coast. Waves frothed at the side of the boat, the prow cutting through. As the coast loomed larger, the captain gave another order, and the course changed again, the boat now running parallel to the shore. With the tip of a dagger biting into his belly, the captain still insisted the tide was against them and if they approached the rocky shores they were sure to be shipwrecked. They continued to follow the coast for several minutes, adjusting course once more to skirt a small island. The Korthi frigate tracked them, and was close to firing range. As they passed the island, Thomas ran over, jumping and pointing towards a small cove, in which a large ship had been concealed from their view. It was fully rigged, and heading on an intercept course, gun ports open. For a glorious moment Regina thought that it was an Eressian vessel come to their rescue. It certainly wasn’t Merrovigian.
She swore under her breath when she saw the colors of the flag undulating in the wind. Pirates. How much more bad luck would they have on this mission? But surely, even such a well-armed ship wouldn’t risk a confrontation with a Korthi warship over a meager smugglers’ vessel.
The cannons erupted, spitting fire, the boom thundering over the waves. The shots fell just short of the Korthi vessel. The pirate ship passed close by their own small one and positioned itself broadside on to the Korthi ship. The cannons fired again; this time a mast went down.
The Korthi warship turned to position to return fire, but another cannonade from the pirates splintered great holes in the side of the frigate. Finally the warship was in position and its cannons roared their reply. The pirate ship fired another volley: this time shrapnel, which Regina saw cut through the sailors on the deck as the cannons found their mark. Another barrage brought the Korthi vessel’s mizzen mast down.
The element of surprise had proved decisive and the captain of the Korthi ship now had to make a difficult decision. The ship turned, presenting the smaller target of its stern to the pirates’ cannons. It limped away, and the pirates let it go.
The pirates turned to the smugglers’ vessel, which they boarded with practiced speed. Jaeger exchanged a look with Regina. She shook her head. The Merchant Blades offered no resistance. Quickly, they were bound in irons and hauled up onto the pirate ship, thrown unceremoniously into one of the ship's holding pens. A short time later the injured were thrown in too, Morgenstern still under the influence of a sedative. Schaefer sat next to him, her left arm useless and swollen to unnatural proportions. Johannes lay in a corner, immobile, Amanates at his side.
Regina tested her bonds but the pirates knew their trade. Jaeger sat seething silently next to her. Rosamynd was crying, Emilia trying unsuccessfully to comfort her. Through Rosamynd's sobs Regina could pick up snippets of words: “I told you so. I should never have listened to you. We should have stayed in Korthi.” Charlie was sitting with tears in her eyes on Rosamynd’s other side, stroking the princess’s hair. Next to her was Thomas, looking glum. Briggs, Jackson, Eleven and Kyfer were crammed together, uncomfortably filling the rest of the small pen.
Some hours later they were dragged out of their little prison and up on deck to face the captain. The woman who walked out from the captain's cabin, tall and slender, had beautiful high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. She wore the clothes of an admiral, though it wasn't clear of which nation. Here was the red naval jacket of Merrovigia with its golden epaulets, but adorned with both the Merrovigian star and the Eressian cross. Her trousers were dark blue, Eressian style; as were her boots. Her hat held the rich plumage and vivid colors favored in the Southern Duchies. On her long fingers were many rings: some plain gold, others delicately crafted, others with large stones, as if she’d been given free rein in the jewel markets of the South Across the Water. Her wrists were crammed with as many bracelets as would fit. Her saber hung on her side in a sapphire-encrusted scabbard. Regina had no doubt that the saber was not just for show. The woman took a little time to inspect them, her gaze falling, lingering, taking in the details of each, before moving on to the next person. Finally she folded her arms across her chest, bracelets jingling.
“Welcome aboard the Sea Dog. I am Mercy Blue and this is my illustrious crew. Now, who might you be?”
48 THE SEA DOG
JAEGER stepped forward, trying to remember everything he had heard about this notorious pirate, Mercy Blue. Rumors were all they had to go: so many rumors that the truth was lost. Rumors that Mercy Blue was terrible and terrifying, a woman who had risen from nothing to command a pirate fleet in the space of a few years.
“We are Merchant Blades on a mission. I am Kapitan Jaeger and this is Captain Fitzwaters. This is our team.”
Mercy Blue puckered her lips, then smiled. “Is that so, Kapitan Jaeger?” Her voice was like an ethereal, light and dangerous perfume. “And who might those fine-looking ladies be? Have the Merchant Blades expanded into providing other services?”
“I wish we had. Our lives would be more pleasant.” Jaeger shrugged and gave her a little smile, the right balance of insolence and charm.
“My, my,” Mercy Blue said, taking a step closer. “Is this courage, Kapitan? Bravado? Or maybe sheer fear?” She grasped his chin, then gently stroked his cheek.
“Where did you get that scar?” she asked.
“Wolves in the Ugarri Pass, last year.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“Everyone’s heard of Mercy Blue.”
“Then you know I have little patience with fools, and even less with flesh merchants. We feed them to the sharks.”
She let go of Jaeger and beckoned Regina forward. “Women are generally more reasonable,” Mercy Blue said, surveying Regina from head to toe. “Two Captains in a team? An Eressian and a Merrovigian, working together? Unusual.”
“It’s a business partnership, ma’am,” Regina replied.
“So you wouldn’t mind if I killed him?”
“I’d rather you didn’t, ma’am. He’s good at his job and I’d lose a lot of money.”
Mercy Blue laughed. “A woman after my own heart.” She knitted her fingers together, rings glinting in the sunlight. “Now, Captain, why was that blind bastard after you?”
Regina cast her eyes downwards at the wooden deck, meticulously scrubbed clean.
“Don’t make me start killing people, Captain.”
“We took something that he believed belonged to him.”
“Would that be the ladies there?”
Regina nodded. Jaeger glared at her.
“Don’t be angry, Kapitan.” Mercy Blue gave him a little pout more suited to a courtesan. “You can hardly hide the facts. Who are they?”
“May I ask why you risked a confrontation with a Korthi warship chasing a mere smuggler’s boat?”
Mercy Blue turned all her attention to Jaeger. “The Korthi navy is hardly worthy of fear, and, my dear Kapitan, a Korthi warship wouldn’t chase ‘a mere smuggler’s boat’.”
Mercy Blue brought her palms together almost as if in prayer. “First, wheat from chaff.” She walked leisurely among the captives. She stopped in front of Amanates. “You’re a long way from home. You have no stake in this, I'll wager. You can come and work for me.”
“My Lady, forgive me, but I have given my word to these people,” Amanates replied, looking her in the eye.
She nodded. “What is a Tusseni warrior without honor?�
�� Mercy Blue cast her gaze one more time over the captives and then pointed at Morgenstern, Schaefer and Johannes. A couple of sailors pushed them to the left. She pointed to the three women still dressed in their fine Korthi carnival dresses and clicked her fingers. The women were pushed, more gently, to the right.
“In the middle, the Merchant Blades. Mercenaries. Bluecoats. A lot of money must be involved. Now let’s start this conversation again.” She gestured to her second mate and he gave a command. In seconds, Jaeger’s coat was stripped off his back.
“Eressians respond to physical discipline - I think you secretly like it.” A whip appeared in the second mate’s ham fist. Jaeger paled, but said nothing. A tall sailor with teeth filed to points tore Jaeger's waistcoat and shirt off, scarred back bared for all to see. Against faded older scars, the toothmarks of the bear on his shoulder and the deep gashes from the mist monster’s claws were vivid. Regina's hands curled into fists.
“Leave him. I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
Mercy Blue turned towards her. “I’m not speaking to you at the moment, Captain. Nor asking anything, at present. You’ve been lashed before, haven’t you?” she said to Jaeger.
The second mate uncoiled the whip and rotated his wrist making the whip startle the air with its snap. Two men held Jaeger as the lash fell. The intense pain contorted his face but he didn't make a sound. A scream did come, though, from Regina. After the tenth lash, Emilia ran and put herself between Jaeger and the second mate’s whip.
“Stop,” she screamed.
Mercy Blue, fascinated by the reaction of Regina struggling to compose herself and stand straight, raised one eyebrow.
“Very interesting,” Mercy Blue muttered. She brought her face close to Jaeger’s. “What did you do?” she asked. Her low voice carried from one end of the ship to the other. Jaeger remained silent. Mercy Blue wiggled her fingers, her rings clicking, the stones catching the light. The wind picked up. The second mate ignored Emilia and lifted his whip again.
“Stop,” Jaeger shouted. Mercy Blue raised her hand and the whip hovered.
“I disobeyed orders,” he spat.
“Eressian officers don’t get the lash for disobeying orders. Soldiers do. So, my lovely, you either lie about being a Kapitan, or you lie about the cause.” Mercy traced one of his old scars with her long fingernail. “I know an officer when I see one.”
Jaeger’s face was red, blood trickling to the floor from the open wounds on his back. She was so close he could see part of a mark on her neck, a rose wrapped around a heart.
“I was at Hildenburg and my General didn’t approve of what I did there.” His voice was dry as a bone. Regina looked away. Eleven, Summers and Jackson looked at him with shock in their eyes. Charlie was staring at him as well. No shock in her gaze, no surprise either. Mercy Blue let out a hearty laugh. She nodded at her men and they let him go. Jaeger picked up his coat and stepped back in line with the others.
Mercy Blue walked to the left side where the injured were. Without a word she drew a dagger and slit Johannes’s throat. The blood splattered over both Morgenstern and Schaefer.
“This is business: I don’t need dead weight. Your guild will ransom you Merchant Blades. Who will ransom these lovely ladies? Or shall I feed them to the fishies?” She wiped her dagger on Morgenstern’s coat before sheathing it. Two of the crew grabbed Johannes’ body and threw it overboard.
“Let me just remind you who I am. My mother was captured and given to the hostage merchants of Korthi. She wasn’t ransomed, so she was sold to a pleasure house. That is where I was born. Before I could walk I knew what men do to women and to other men. When I told the owner I'd saved enough to buy my freedom, he took the money and had me branded.” She pulled down her embroidered collar and showed them the brand mark of a rose wrapped around a heart. “The mark of a whore.” She showed it with pride. “He sold me to be a galley whore; that ship got captured by pirates; the rest is history. If you think you will find any mercy from me, you’re mistaken. I am getting bored and I wouldn’t get that much for the Blades. For the last time, who are you and why were they after you?”
49 CONVERSATIONS
REGINA stepped forward. Jaeger was staring at the deck floorboards, buttoning his coat, his ears red. Regina could, of course, physically feel his anguish.
“I’ll tell you. Just don’t kill anyone else.”
“It’s up to you,” Mercy Blue shrugged. The sails caught the air, and the ship lurched forwards, cutting through the waves.
“We were on a mission in Korthi, a discreet mission. An Eressian baron sent us to retrieve his wife.”
“Which one might that be?”
“Baron Orsy. His wife went missing. He hired us to find her and bring her back. Discreetly.”
Mercy Blue leaned ever so slightly forward, intrigued. “I’ve heard of Baron Orsy. Very rich, they say. One of the top nobs in Eressia. Man like him must be willing to spend a fortune to get dear wife back. Let me guess which one she is.” She stepped closer to the three women, looking intently at each in turn.
“You, my dear, are the maid or companion,” she said to Charlie. “And you, the trusted friend. A countess yourself, maybe, yes?” she said to Rosamynd. Rosamynd nodded. “I hear he chose his bride,” she said to Emilia. “You look like the type a man like that would choose.”
Mercy Blue returned her attention to Regina. “Do you have any proof? If this is true, you'll all be ransomed. We'll net a princely sum.”
“Captain Blue, if I may–” It was Schaefer who spoke. “The Baroness is my sister. I am Arlanza Schaefer, daughter of Baron Schaefer. I can guarantee that what they say is true.” Schaefer lifted her right hand to show a signet ring with the arms of her family. Mercy Blue pulled it off her finger and studied it. Then she added it to the collection on her own fingers.
“So the sister comes to get the wife back? This gets more interesting by the minute.”
“It was an embarrassment to the family,” Schaefer replied, her voice steady.
“If you are the sister and they are the escapees,” Mercy Blue pointed her finger as she spoke, “that bunch there are the Merchant Blades, sent as the muscle– then who would you be?” She looked at Morgenstern.
He wasn’t fully over the influence of the sedatives, but was alert enough to reply. “I am Major Valerian Kherr Morgenstern,” he said, and handed her his ring. “I’m the one she ran off with.”
Mercy Blue’s mouth formed a little o in mock surprise. “Meeting a Kherr, now that is something. I thought you were all about obedience, loyalty and service. Obviously not where your loins are concerned.” Morgenstern’s face turned crimson, his scar white. “But what I love most about this is the Morgenstern family salt mines. Between two Barons and a Kherr I do believe the ransom will be handsome.”
“Madam, I beg you,” Morgenstern said suddenly, “I shall pay you any amount, just do not involve Baron Orsy in this.”
“I'm a hopeless romantic, can‘t resist a good love story.” She put her hand over her heart. “If the price is right we might come to an agreement.” She winked at him. “Now one last thing. Why was the Korthi warship after you?”
“I believe that was me, Captain Blue,” Regina said stepping forward again.
“You?” Mercy Blue eyed her with disbelief.
“I know Francesco di Angelo, the Duke’s brother-in-law, from old. I was in Pella and he took something from me I did not wish to give. I took his eye. He recognized me in Korthi. Guess I should have taken the bastard’s other eye as well.”
Mercy Blue looked at Regina with new-found respect. “Take them to the brig. Treat them well,” Mercy Blue said. “Unless of course they give you reason to throw them to the fishies. If they do, do.”
Throughout the night the ship rolled fiercely, caught in a storm. Some pretended to sleep, others huddled together finding more comfort in company and conversation. Charlie waited until Regina had gone to exchange some words with Briggs and gin
gerly went to Jaeger’s side. He was resting, his arms crossed on his knees, his head resting on his arms. He looked as exhausted and as hurt as he must feel. Charlie sat next to him.
“Why aren’t you dead, Kapitan Hunting Dog?” she asked softly.
He looked up. There was no fight in him, but she hadn’t spoken the words with any malice.
“That thing slashed you in the back. It was meant for me and you took it. It was a death cut, that.”
Jaeger was silent. Charlie started to believe he wouldn’t say anything. Finally he looked at her.
“You know the situation between me and Fitzwaters. There seem to be other complications as well. We’re not quite sure how this thing works yet.”
“Does it hurt?”
Jaeger glared at her.
“So you can hurt, but not die? That’s a bit of a bastard.”
“I’m sorry about Adler. He was a good man.”
Charlie’s face darkened. “Yes, I’m sorry too.” There was silence for a little while. “That’s the second time you’ve saved my hide now.”
Jaeger started to shrug but then grimaced in pain. “Who’s counting?” he said.
“Will you shut your snout?” Charlie snapped. “I’m trying to tell you something.”
“Take your time: who’s going anywhere?”
Charlie was going to snap back, but she held herself in check. His past had been exposed and he’d been humiliated in the worst possible way. In front of his team, his fellow officers and his Royal Princess. And he was in pain. Of course he would be pricklier than usual.
“Just wanted to say thanks, that’s all,” she said. Jaeger gave her a long hard look. “You guys stuck around for Thomas and me more than anyone. Even when you and Captain left, Grandfather Time over there,” she nodded her head towards Briggs, “kept an eye on us. So did Amanates. So what I wanted to say is–” She fell silent.