by Rob J. Hayes
“Now da' will have to let me back into Fango,” Elaina cooed at the book in her hands.
Click.
Beck drew the hammer back on her pistol, its barrel pointed squarely at the pirate's back. Elaina turned her head to look at Beck.
“I'm going to need that book, Captain,” Beck said in a voice she hoped came across as cold and calculating.
The pirates who had dug the hole were on their feet, but with her pistol trained on their captain they weren't making any moves.
“Reckon there might be some misunderstanding, Arbiter.”
“I can't allow a book containing necromancy to remain in the hands of pirates. I will destroy that book whether or not I have to destroy you with it.”
“This is the problem with true believers.” Elaina Black sighed. “Always so damned zealous.” Very slowly, the pirate captain stood and held the book out.
Beck took it, her pistol still trained on Elaina.
“Before ya go setting the thing on fire,” Elaina said, her hands still up and nowhere near a weapon. “Reckon ya might want to look at it.”
Beck cocked an eyebrow. She had no need to dabble in necromancy.
“I know I said it was full of spells and such. Thing is, that was a bit of a lie,” Captain Black said, wincing. “Figured it would help ya make the decision to help. Have a read. It really is just the old Captain Black's journal. Lots of shit about course corrections and mutinous first mates, I reckon.”
Beck struggled opening the catch on the heavy book while holding her pistol and resorted to setting the thing down on the ground. Once it was open, she flicked through the pages, scanning them briefly while keeping her pistol pointed at the captain.
“Then…why?” Beck’s compulsion failed, of course, to lock down Elaina's will. “Why make me risk my life to get the damned thing?”
“My da's a bit of a collector of the old Captain Black's personal effects, and I ain't exactly in his good graces. Figured if I came bearing gifts he wouldn't give me the beating I rightly deserve. Needed magical help getting hold of the bloody thing, as you're well aware. Ya did a grand job, by the way. Very much appreciated.”
Beck flicked through more pages. Truth was, she had been lied to and manipulated. In a fit of anger, she stood and kicked the book away.
“Whoa!” Elaina Black hissed and reached after the book. “That's a fucking antique and my way back into my da's good books.”
“Now what?” Beck was unwilling to lower her pistol and unsure of how she would get off the island if the pirates decided to leave her.
Elaina Black picked the book out of the dirt and closed it. “Now I take ya to Sev'relain and be rid of ya. We had a deal and ya held up yours. Don't reckon I'll stick around though. Soon as you're off the boat, I'm gone.”
Beck wished her compulsion would work on the pirate. She would very much like to know if the woman was telling the truth, especially now that her usefulness had run out.
Though it went against her nature and better judgement, Beck holstered her pistol and nodded. “The sooner, the better.”
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Three days later, Beck stood on an old wooden pier staring at the retreating form of Elaina Black, grinning at her from one of Starry Dawn's dinghies. Part of Beck was sad to be parting ways. The pirate captain was endearing, if a little dangerous, and more than a little mad.
Beck turned towards the pirate settlement of Port Sev'relain and the folk staring in wonder and fear at her Arbiter coat. She felt her spirits drop. She had been sent here by Inquisitor Vance to find a particular pirate, and he had given no period of time for the mission. She looked behind her one last time at Captain Elaina Black and the Starry Dawn, then hove a heavy sigh and resigned herself to pawing through the morass of the Pirate Isles a while longer.
Religion on First Earth
During my edits on The Bound Folio, and having been intrigued with the worldbuilding Rob slowly unravelled during The Ties That Bind trilogy, I asked him for more information about his pantheon. He was more than happy to provide an answer, in a side note, and I found it so informative I decided to include it here as an appendix to this volume.
Reply to J.M. Martin (15/01/2016, 09:38):
The Five Kingdoms have six Gods.
Pelsing is the Goddess of gold and fortune, and she is the most worshipped with temples all over the world. There is also Farfus, God of the Plough and Harvest; Merlet, the God Death; Trinithon, God of Penitence; Korre, God of Battle and War; and Kroan, the Goddess of Beasts. There is some dispute about which of these Gods actually exists, yet it’s widely accepted that Pelsing, at the very least, certainly does exist and that she is a God native to First Earth.
Sarth has the one God, as detailed in The Ties That Bind, and that is Volmar, the founder of the Inquisition. Volmar is very active in the fate of First Earth, even going so far as to create an avatar for himself. That avatar is the God-Emperor of Sarth. Volmar is not a native God to First Earth, he comes from the Void, the same place demons come from.
The people of the Pirate Isles revere Rin, a sea Goddess who demands worship. She is native to First Earth and is very closely tied to Drake Morrass. He claims to have met her once or twice and also claims to be one of her 'chosen.’ Has he? And is he? It remains to be seen.
The Forgotten Empire — long since lost, but making an appearance in the Best Laid Plans duology — used to worship a single God with six aspects. Only one man alive remembers the name of that God and, as the God cursed him with immortality for bringing about the end of the Forgotten Empire, he is determined to take that name to the grave.
The Drurr don't worship any Gods, but they do admit they believe Gods exist in some aspect.
Last, we have the Dread Lords. They aren't Gods, they're immortal liches who bound their essences to the land now known as the Land of the Dead.
So, anyways, that's a brief overview. You did ask!
Rob J. Hayes
Want to read more from Rob J. Hayes? We can do that!
Keep reading for an unedited sample from Where Loyalties Lie in the Best Laid Plan series, following up his successful Ties that Bind series.
The Fortune
Black Sands burned and the fire danced in Drake’s eyes. It wasn’t the first town he’d seen disappear in the way of smoke and ash, and by the time his plan was complete it sure as all the Hells wouldn’t be the last.
The flames eagerly consumed everything they touched from the dark, sandy beach to the nearby encroaching jungle. Great plumes of black smoke billowed up into the sky where they blotted out the twinkling stars.
It was a grim day for the pirates of the isles, but a glorious night for Captain Drake Morrass. The rest of his crew were witnessing the death of hundreds and the extermination of one of the few safe havens left for scoundrels like themselves. Drake was witnessing the birth of an empire. His empire.
A single longboat crewed by eleven men steadily rowed back to the Fortune. Ashore, the Werry Meather, Black Sands’ largest building and only tavern, collapsed in upon itself and even from their position out in the bay all of the crew heard the crack as the final supporting beam gave way. There was a long moment’s silence from the crew; every one of them had been drunk and worse than drunk in that tavern. Drake would miss the place and no mistake, but there were plenty of places to buy grog and he wasn’t about to shed a tear over the loss of one. Besides, it was taking every ounce of control he had not to grin at his good fortune.
The longboat bumped against the hull of the Fortune and the silence was broken as pirates leapt to their work, knowing better than to slack. Ropes were lowered and secured, men scrabbled on board, and in an impressively short time the dinghy was no longer in the water and on its way to the deck of Drake’s ship.
A single man approached the foredeck where Drake stood in a bubble of isolation. Weather beaten skin, long, lank hair, and a gaunt complexion made plain the approaching pirate’s long experience on
the sea. He was, if anything, slightly older than Drake and looked every year of it.
“What’s the news ashore, Princess?” Drake asked his first mate.
“Town’s on fire,” Princess replied in an easy tone.
“No, you don’t say,” Drake let slip a brief grin but quickly removed it lest any of the rest of his crew notice. “Any survivors?”
“Not a single one. Seems those bastards wanted ta be, what ya call it, thorough.”
“Did you happen to witness who committed this terrible tragedy?”
Princess nodded and loose hair flapped in front of his face so he had to tuck the errant strands back behind his ears. “Jus’ so happens I took a few of the boys ta check on the other side of the island, Cap’n. Would you believe it there was one of them nice new Sarth navy ships jus’ setting course away from the deed.”
“Good. Make sure the whole crew know about that, Princess. Wouldn’t want anyone missing out on such a vital piece of the puzzle. We’ll set course for Port Sev’relain come first light and I want the whole crew talking about nothing else.”
“Right ya’ are, Cap’n.” Princess turned and walked away leaving Drake once again alone on the foredeck.
He stood there for a while watching the town burn. “Break out one of the barrels of rum, boys. I want everyone to have a drink for Black Sands. Then I want everyone to have a drink for never letting those bastards do it again.”
His crew cheered, their sombre mood replaced with a more rowdy, more vicious temperament better suited to pirates. But his crew were the easy marks. The real test would come in recruiting the other captains.
About the Author
Rob J. Hayes is a British fantasy writer born somewhere south of the cockney wastelands in a small town called Basingstoke. He grew up with all the usual influences such as LEGOs, Star Wars, and Transformers. At the age of fourteen he started writing, but he eventually grew up...a bit.
After four years at University studying Zoology and three years working for a string of high street banks as a desk jockey/keyboard monkey, Rob ran away to live on a desert island in Fiji for three months. It was there he re-discovered his love of writing and, more specifically, of writing fantasy.
Now in Derbyshire, UK, Rob has a variety of hobbies (when he’s not madly scribbling his next epic, that, unsurprisingly, is fantasy-themed). He regularly plays card games based on Game of Thrones and Netrunner universes and attends tournaments throughout the UK. Rob also enjoys Airsofting: the act of running around a forest with fake guns shooting (and being shot by) his friends.
He is available on Facebook at facebook.com/TheHeresyWithin and on Twitter (@RoboftheHayes). If you’d like to drop him a line, just email [email protected]. His website is www.robjhayes.co.uk.
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The Bound Folio is part of the First Earth universe. To get books in The Ties That Bind trilogy and the Best Laid Plans duology, visit Ragnarok Publications at www.ragnarokpub.com.
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