Where Loyalties Lie (Best Laid Plans Book 1)

by Rob J. Hayes

  Steel was drawn from scabbards, and T’ruck heard the tightening of bowstrings even over the sounds of his ship and crew dying. He looked up to see just how meaningless his struggle had been. The decks of this new ship seemed to stretch on forever, and they were crowded with hundreds of soldiers, more than he could count, and machines of war.

  Soldiers rushed forwards to restrain T’ruck, and he let them, the need to fight squashed by the realisation of how futile it would be. A heavy kick forced him onto his knees, and he felt his arms pulled behind his back and ropes tied around his wrists.

  An older man, impeccably dressed, with dark mahogany hair and an air of command, appeared from the press of soldiers. “Captain T’ruck Khan?” His voice was as cold as the northlands where T’ruck had been born.

  T’ruck nodded, defeated and mourning the loss of his ship and his crew.

  “Do you know who I am?”

  T’ruck glared at the man and nodded again.

  “Good,” Captain Peter Verit said. “T’ruck Khan, you are under arrest for countless acts of kidnapping, murder, theft, and piracy. You and any surviving members of your crew will be transported back to Land’s End and hanged for your crimes. Do you have anything to say?”

  T’ruck grinned up at the man despite the pain from his wounds and the wave of despair that was threatening to choke him. “I like your ship.”

  Chapter 56 - The Phoenix

  Keelin barked orders to his crew. A course change and a threat that, if the sails weren’t properly secured, he’d use the unfortunate pirate’s intestines to fasten new ropes. It was a hollow threat, they all knew it, but he felt the need to vent his rage.

  They’d done it. Despite Elaina’s betrayal, Keelin and Drake had convinced Tanner to join their cause and to follow Drake’s lead. To accept the charismatic captain as king of the isles and their people, and to help fight the enemies at their door. They’d also paid a heavy price for their victory. Mary’s Virtue and Poole were lost.

  Under Drake’s orders they left Captain Poole to his fate, turned their ships, and ran. Keelin watched the battle from afar and witnessed how Poole managed to turn his ship at the last moment, tying up two of the Five Kingdoms pursuers which, in turn, deterred the other three ships from chasing down a superior force.

  Keelin had also watched Mary’s Virtue go down.

  The Five Kingdoms navy scuttled the pirate ship instead of capturing it, and they used black powder to do it, blowing a sizeable hole in the side of the ship. Keelin was starting to both respect and fear the destructive power of the powder like he never had before.

  “Captain?” Aimi’s voice soothed Keelin even in the face of his loss.

  “Don’t reckon I’ll be good company right now, Aimi,” Keelin said without turning to look at her. He knew that in his maudlin mood he should retreat to his cabin instead of haunting his ship like a spectre of doom, but he wanted to feel the wind and smell the sea.

  “That’s alright,” Aimi said. “I’m excellent company and can easily take up your share of the conversation as well.

  “I ran into Lumpy earlier. The mangy little beast looked at me with big eyes and meowed, so I knelt down to stroke her and she attacked me. I have claw marks and everything.”

  “She doesn’t like being touched,” Keelin said absently.

  “Excellent advice, if only you’d been around two hours ago. Anyway, it got me thinking. I reckon we need a new ship’s boy. With Feather graduating to real duties… Did you know he’s a weird? And me, well I just don’t think it’s right, me taking on the duties of boy, considering my obvious differences to your gender.

  “I mean, I know I’m the newest member of the crew. Not the youngest though, but at least I take on real sailor duties as well. What about Kebble? He does nothing but sit up there in the nest all day, watching everything and everyone. Why can’t he scrub the sides of the ship and chase down Lumpy’s kills? Can you imagine giving that order? And even if he did agree, he’d probably be better at hunting down the rats than Lumpy. Perhaps you could get rid of the cat and give her job to Kebble.”

  Keelin had no idea what to say in the face of Aimi’s torrent of chatter. He turned to stare at her and found her smiling at him.

  “I just lost a friend,” Keelin said, his voice sad even to his ears. “And not the first. Likely not the last.” Keelin stopped there lest he find himself saying more. There was something that was eating away at him even more. He now knew he couldn’t trust Elaina, and that was a friendship he’d never thought he’d truly lose.

  Aimi nodded. She lowered her voice so none of the nearby crew members would hear. “Do you want to talk about it?” She nodded towards Keelin’s cabin.

  Keelin drew in a breath and sighed it out, turning back towards the sea and leaning on the railing. “I think I just want to be alone.”

  “Oh. Well, my shift just finished so I think I’ll join you. We can be alone together.” She leaned on the railing next to Keelin and stared out across the ocean.

  Keelin smiled. Despite his gloomy attitude, Aimi had succeeded in cheering him up, if only a little. He looked away from the little woman and his spirits sank again. There, sailing along next to his ship, was The Black Death, and even in the dwindling light Keelin could see Tanner staring back at him.

  Chapter 57 - Fortune

  Drake sat in the mess of his ship, gnawing on a stale biscuit. He’d known from the very beginning that his plan, his rise, wouldn’t come without sacrifice. Not even Hironous had been able to tell him what those sacrifices might be. They’d plotted and schemed for years. Hironous might have the sight, but Drake had something just as useful. He understood people. He could see how folk worked, and he knew how to manipulate them.

  The first sacrifice had been Black Sands, and Drake had known it would happen. He’d planned it. He’d given its location to the Five Kingdoms. Black Sands was to be the catalyst to bring all the other pirates together under his rule. Sev’relain hadn’t been part of the plan. Drake didn’t know whether Hironous had seen Sev’relain’s downfall, and that was part of the problem.

  Lillingburn had fallen soon after. Then Drake had lost his fortune. Then Fair View had burned; and none of those losses had been part of the plan either. They’d all helped to bring the pirates together, but each sacrifice was a heavy burden for Drake to bear. Now he’d lost Poole, one of the very first captains to follow him, and he wondered if Hironous had seen that too.

  For years Drake had lived with the certain knowledge of immortality. His brother had seen his death, and it wouldn’t be for many, many years. And when it did happen, he’d be a king. Drake had been living his life accordingly, taking risks and knowing they wouldn’t lead to his death. Now he wasn’t so sure. Tanner had had Drake at his mercy. And for a while Drake had known fear again.

  From the moment Tanner had taken hold of Drake’s tongue and threatened to cut it out, he'd had been scared, and now he found he couldn’t turn it off. What if Hironous was wrong? What if his death could happen at any moment? Had he been surviving on luck alone for all this time? It wouldn’t be the first time his brother had failed to predict a death.

  Drake wiped cold sweat from his forehead and tried to direct his thoughts elsewhere. He failed. He couldn’t get rid of the image of Tanner standing there, holding Drake’s life in his hands.

  Rag uncoiled from a shadowed corner of the mess and began weaving its way across the deck towards Drake. The creature was near two feet long now, and Drake could already see it would be more than capable of killing a man. It was dangerous, and for the first time he found himself scared of the monster. He wished he’d relented and let Princess find a cat to hunt the ship’s rats.

  Rag reached Drake’s foot and slowly began climbing up his leg, winding its way around and around, and Drake forced himself to sit still. He might be terrified, and he was certain the beast could sense that, but he’d be damned before he let anyone else see his fear. The giant centipede reached his waist and curled aro
und it like a belt, and Drake let out a ragged sigh.

  Silently he cursed his own weakness. He was Drake Morrass. He’d faced down dragons and demons. He’d made a pact with a goddess and escaped the Drurr slave pits. He sat at the table with some of the most powerful folk in the known world, and they considered him a peer. He fucked empresses, murdered kings, and drank toasts with death himself. He’d set plans in motion that changed the course of history. Ambition had always ruled his actions, not fear.

  “Cap’n,” said one of his crew as he sat down in the mess with a mug of rum.

  Drake swept his gaze over the man, barely acknowledging him, and prayed to Rin that the pirate wouldn’t notice how unmanned Drake felt. He needed to do something. Sitting still was serving no purpose but worsening his mood. He needed action and he needed to be in control, of himself and of others. Drake stood and tapped Rag on the head, hoping the beasty would respond as it always did and not simply attack. “Down. Go hunt,” he said, and the centipede uncoiled itself, latched onto the bench, and scuttled away. With a shudder, Drake smoothed down his royal blue jacket and left the mess with a purposeful stride.

  Drake hadn’t known where he was going until he got there but, standing outside Beck’s cabin, he knew why he was there. He wanted to fuck. He wanted to prove to himself he was still a man, and he wanted to do to Beck exactly what he’d wanted to do since the moment they’d met. Drake reached into a pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He had his own key to every lock on the ship, barring the crew’s own chests. He paused. For a moment he wasn’t sure if it was fear or common sense that stopped him from unlocking the door. In the end he decided he didn’t care. He put the key back in his pocket and knocked. And waited.

  Drake waited so long he almost thought Beck was elsewhere, or that perhaps she hadn’t heard. Eventually he heard the key in the lock, and a moment later the door opened. Beck stood on the other side, her blue eyes cold and hard and her golden hair loose around her shoulders.

  “What do you want, Drake?” she said, then looked up into his eyes. “Oh. I see.”

  Drake wasn’t sure which of them made the first move. One moment they were standing either side of the doorway, and the next he was inside, lifting Beck up and pushing her against the wall as she grabbed hold of his hair and pulled his mouth down onto hers.

  Beck tore open Drake’s shirt while he fumbled at the leather jerkin that held her brace of pistols. The damned thing wouldn’t budge, it was laced so tight. He pulled away from Beck, turned her around, and pushed her down face first onto the table.

  “Hurry up,” she hissed, grinding her arse against his groin. It did nothing to improve his concentration, and he fumbled at the laces.

  “Fuck it,” Drake growled as he pulled the knife from his boot and slit the laces, pulling Beck upright so her jerkin simply fell away. He spun her around and ripped open her shirt, sending buttons flying. She was staring at him with a feral hunger. Then she was pressed up against him, and Drake picked the Arbiter up and dumped her on the cot, sparing only a moment to whip his belt away.

  Beck pulled off her own belt and dropped her britches, climbing onto her hands and knees. Drake took the hint and climbed onto the cot behind her. They made a night of it and no mistake, and Drake was as sore as all the Hells time they’d finished with each other. It turned out the Arbiter wasn’t exactly the type to cuddle afterwards, and no sooner had they finished than she threw his clothes at him and locked the door behind him. Drake didn’t care; he’d got what he’d come for. After months of watching and waiting, he finally knew how Beck felt and how she tasted, and it was just as good as he’d imagined.

  Drake pulled on his trousers and buttoned them up, but his shirt was torn so he left it open. Climbing onto the deck of the Fortune, he welcomed the cool breeze on his skin and felt his spirits starting to lift again. He was Drake Morrass, and his accolades spoke for themselves. Now he could add seducing an Arbiter to the list.

  He’d survived Tanner Black and even turned the old bastard to his side. He’d escaped Ash and the trap the Five Kingdoms had set, and with only one ship lost. It was no small loss, he knew that, but it could have been much worse. Still, someone had told the Five Kingdoms where and when Drake and Tanner were to meet, and that meant they had a traitor in their ranks.

  Drake paced the deck of his ship and looked out at the lights floating nearby. The Phoenix, Hearth Fire, Ocean Deep, and The Black Death. Aboard one of those ships was a turncoat working against him and the isles, and he would need to find them sooner rather than later.

  “Cap’n,” Princess said, and Drake realised his first mate had dragged a stool onto the deck and was busy whittling away at a block of wood.

  “What are you carving, Princess?”

  “Not a clue,” Princess said with a smile. “Just sort of work at it and see what comes out. Usually just tends to look like driftwood, but it calms me all the same. Were you worried, Cap’n? When Tanner had you. Couldn’t see it all, but it looked a bit rough for a moment there.”

  Drake forced out a laugh. “Not at all, Princess,” he said, the lie coming more easily. “Oracle told me when I’d die, and it’s a fair way off yet. It was all part of the plan.”

  “Figured as much,” Princess said happily, and went back to his whittling.

  Drake had been helpless on Ash, completely at the mercy of Tanner, and so, even as he’d convinced the bastard to follow him, he’d had to concede to his demands. Drake spat over the side of his ship.

  In order to keep Tanner’s support, as soon as Drake crowned himself king he would marry Elaina Black.

  Epilogue

  The crew weren’t happy, but then they didn’t need to be. On board Starry Dawn Elaina’s orders were law, and she’d ordered them here and she’d ordered them to leave every prize they spotted. The crew didn’t need to know they were actually her father’s orders. She still seethed at being sent away.

  Elaina knew she should hate her father, that she had every reason to, but she didn’t. Couldn’t. He was her father, and she loved him fiercely no matter what atrocities he committed. Blu she could hate, and did so without remorse. Her brother was a devious, boot-licking coward of a bully, and it only made her hate him more that their father had chosen to take him along to Ash and leave Elaina behind. Not just leave her behind, but send her away.

  A hundred other ships floated in the crystal blue waters of Rainbow Bay, their masts making the place look cluttered, like a watery pit full of wooden spikes. Elaina spotted merchant ships, fishing vessels, navy boats, and even the odd pirate ship, but there were more slavers than any of those.

  Slavers were filthy vessels, with crews as filthy as the cargo and the conditions aboard. They were slow, ugly, disease-ridden, and completely unprofitable for piracy. Elaina hated them.

  The city might boast a thousand different pleasures, and at least twice that many distractions, but Elaina wanted none of them. Chade was too clean these days. It had been more enticing back when it was a mess governed by criminals.

  Today she was entertaining herself by running along the railings of the ship, keeping balance with feline grace and agility. Occasionally she would stop, leap up into the rigging, and scramble to the top before descending with reckless speed. She longed to go for a swim, but Rainbow Bay was renowned for its shark population, and though it wouldn’t be the first time Elaina had battled a shark, it was not an experience worth reliving.

  A vessel was approaching, a small rowboat moving lethargically through the water with the laboured actions of its two rowers, neither of whom looked happy about being out in the midday sun. Sitting in the front of the little boat was a single figure, a woman with shoulder-length, shit-coloured hair underneath a large blue cavalier hat.

  Elaina watched the boat approach from her position in the rigging, hanging upside down by her legs. When it bumped against Starry Dawn’s hull, Elaina released her hold on the ropes, somersaulting in mid-air and landing easily on her feet. She strode over to
the railing and stared down upon her visitors.

  The woman was standing up in the boat and looking none too stable; it was obvious she didn’t have any sort of sea legs. Elaina pitied those cursed to remain on the land. As the woman looked up, Elaina could see a criss-cross of scars on her face, and she was missing an ear. She sneered up at Elaina, who instinctively took a liking to her.

  “Hello there, and welcome to my little kingdom,” Elaina said with a grin, patting the railing of her ship.

  “You Captain Black?” the woman shouted.

  “Aye. How can I help you?”

  The stranger sniffed loudly and spat into the water, an act which unbalanced her and almost sent her careening into the bay. Elaina struggled not to laugh.

  “You can get down off that fuckin’ boat an’ come ashore,” the woman said after righting herself. “Ya wanted an audience. Well, the Lord and Lady of Chade are jus’ about ready ta grant one.”

  Table of Contents

  Fortune

  Chapter 1 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 2 - Fortune

  Chapter 3 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 4 - Fortune

  Chapter 5 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 6 - Fortune

  Chapter 7 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 8 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 9 - Fortune

  Chapter 10 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 11 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 12 - Fortune

  Chapter 13 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 14 - Fortune

  Chapter 15 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 16 - Fortune

  Chapter 17 - The Black Death

  Chapter 18 - Starry Dawn

  Chapter 19 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 20 - Fortune

  Chapter 21 - Starry Dawn

  Chapter 22 - The Phoenix

  Chapter 23 - Fortune

  Chapter 24 - The Phoenix