“I know. I should get an award for it. I’m good enough that I suppose I could act like I’m always about to die, but that would severely cut down on the number of men I’m able to kill.” William grinned broadly.
Riley shook her head, looking at the table. “I’ve got to get a handle on this if I’m going to beat Rendal. I can’t be useful only when people are about to die.”
“Or acting like they’re about to die.” William laughed.
“Hush your mouth, fool,” Lucie chastised. She looked at Riley. “There’s time yet, girl. We’re not to him. You’ll be fine.”
“Tough student.” Worth’s smile fell away. “Tough-headed. No listen.”
He stood up, grabbed his chalice, and walked away from the table.
“What the hell is his problem?” Riley asked, feeling anger at Worth for the first time.
William smiled. “You’re just not as good a student as I am, and it’s buggin’ him.”
“Shut it,” Riley answered.
“Rendal isn’t blocking himself from me, Riley,” Lucie told her. “I can see where he’s at, and we’re another week away. We’ll get you using magic by then.”
“And if not, I’ll put the team on my back and carry us.” William laughed again. “Like I always do.”
Riley shot him a glare but said nothing. It was clear she was growing angry and was not in the mood for his jokes.
“Hey.” William’s smile faded. “You did good, skinny. You did real good. All jokes aside, you saved my bacon, and I’m embarrassed about how many times you keep doing it. Don’t worry about the magic; you’ll get there.”
Riley nodded, her glare disappearing. “Thank you.”
The ale house’s door opened. William, Riley, and Eric were all on their feet at once, weapons brandished.
“Calm yourselves, my friends. I’m not the one to kill.” It was Erin, still beaming her devilish smile. “But we do have more trouble.”
“Of course we do,” William groaned. “Ever since Pat showed up talkin’ about Rendal, we’ve had nothin’ but trouble.”
“Come on out here. You’ll want to hear this.”
The crew stood and made their way outside, William taking the lead and Riley walking behind him. She was still in her thoughts, unsure about the confidence everyone else felt in her. Everyone but Worth.
Maybe he was right.
Maybe she was too stubborn.
They stepped outside and Riley could hear the ocean in the distance, a constant presence on this island.
Verith’s soldiers had spread around the porch, creating a barrier between those inside and anyone who might want to enter. Verith stood at attention.
A pirate was on his right. He wore the Twocuts insignia, but he wasn’t brandishing a weapon.
“Twocuts is requesting our presence,” Erin told the group as they reached the porch.
“I’m sure he is,” William retorted. “We just killed all his men, and I killed at least ten of them by myself. Sure he wants to see me front and center.”
Worth laughed. “You kill like you drink. Weak.”
William’s head snapped to the bald man. “Watch it.”
“Watch you drink one beer. Take all day.” Worth grinned broadly.
“Boys, can we stay focused for just a moment?” Erin asked. “You can measure dicks or beer or whatever later. Right now, Twocuts wants to see us.”
“What if we don’t want to see him?” Riley answered. “We don’t have time to be meeting people; we’ve got to get to Mason.”
“Yes, I know. However, there does seem to be a problem with that, which is what I mentioned inside. You see, Twocuts has about twenty ships around the island. Inside the bar, we can defeat them, but even if we pull all Verith’s men off the ship, we’re still vastly outnumbered.”
“Why the hell did we come here?” William asked angrily.
“You seemed fine with it when you wanted beer,” Lucie said.
“Well I’ve had my beer, and now I’m wondering why?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Riley stepped forward and looked at the pirate. “What does your captain want?”
“Parley.”
“You believe him?” Riley asked Erin.
“On the seas, if a captain requests parley, you’re guaranteed safety. If Twocuts was to break that rule, he’d be in an awful lot of trouble with every other captain on the sea.”
“Then why can’t we just leave?” William grumbled. “If he wants to parley and we don’t, we can just walk away.”
The pirate shook his head. “Landlubbers.”
“That’s not how it works. If he requests parley and we decline, there’s nothing keeping him from attacking us,” Erin told them.
Riley nodded. “So we accept or risk war.”
“Exactly,” Erin answered.
“Well, not much of a choice then. Verith, your men ready?” Riley called down the steps.
“Yes. Do you trust this parley, Erin?”
“I do.”
Verith nodded. “Then I’ll leave the rest of the men on our ships.”
The crew walked across the island, the trip taking about thirty minutes. Riley was quiet as she walked, thinking about her magic use.
She remembered it much more clearly than she had at Rendal’s compound.
She could still see the sword flying through the air, knowing she had complete control over it. She’d told it to go faster, and it had listened. She’d told it to hit the pirate’s face, and it had.
She’d told it to make sure the man died for certain, and the blade had burst into flames.
The blade she carried on her side.
Yet, she had no idea how to do it again, and Eric had said he had the same problem. Only, he still had more control than she did. He could do more things as soon as a fight started.
Worth stepped up next to her. “Sword good, aye?”
She came out of her thoughts and looked at him. Worth was back to grinning, the chalice gone from his hand.
“Yeah, it is, Worth. It’s the best sword I’ve ever had.”
“It magic.”
“You keep saying that, but then you also say I’m magic.”
“Cannot both be magic?” Worth asked.
“I don’t know.” Riley shook her head. “I don’t understand any of it.”
Worth nodded. “You will. You magic. William!” Worth started jogging, leaving Riley and catching up with the other Right Hand.
She watched him go, truly not understanding what the man was talking about.
They finally reached the pirate ship. It was a massive thing, almost a city unto itself. Riley stared up in awe, understanding that the captain might have a lot of ships at his beck and call, but the loot mostly flowed one way—to this ship.
The pirate who had led them here had already gone aboard. William was the first of their crew to reach the ship.
Riley stepped up next to him.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think this thing is fucking huge.”
“No, skinny. About the woman.”
“Erin?” Riley’s voice lowered.
“Yeah. You think I got a shot with her?” William whispered.
Riley couldn’t keep the grin off her face. “You’re serious right now? We’re about to climb onto this huge pirate ship and meet a man who's had his throat slit twice, and you’re worried about a date with our newly acquired pirate?”
“Zip it,” William retorted. “Whaddaya think? I got a shot?’
Riley shook her head, still chuckling. The rest of the group was coming closer. “I think you’ll have to play your cards right. You don’t come off as the nicest man in the world.”
“But I’m definitely the most handsome.” He winked.
The pirate came back to the ship’s main door. “Come aboard and follow me. The captain is in his chambers. Only you six. The soldiers and their leader stay outside.”
“Fuck that!” William shouted.
William flinched at her touch; Riley had never seen anything like it from the big man.
He looked back at Riley. “What do you think?”
“I think we don’t have much choice.”
William grumbled something unintelligible.
Riley turned back to Verith. “Stand guard here, okay?”
“Of course,” he answered. He seemed unperturbed, trusting the parley. Riley supposed that was because he knew more about it than she did, meaning Erin wasn’t lying to them.
“I’ll stay here too,” Lucie told them.
“Why?” Riley asked.
“If Worth goes in there, it’ll be helpful to have someone outside who knows magic.”
Riley nodded; Lucie was right. She gazed at the red-haired woman. “We’ve just met, Erin, but we’re putting a lot of trust in you. You understand that?”
Erin looked at her, the smile gone. “I know. My son and I were looking for a home. I think we’ve found it with you. You accept him, and that’s the most important thing. I only wish the rest of my family had made it long enough to see this. I’m not leading you astray. I think Twocuts will treat us fairly.”
Riley nodded and turned to William. “All right, chubby, you ready?”
“I liked things better when I was in charge.”
“Hell, I liked it better, too,” Riley answered. “You want to be in charge?”
“No.” William grinned. “If you die and I have to tell Mason, I want to say you’re the one who put us on the ship.”
“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Riley looked up at the pirate waiting for them. “Let’s go.”
The crew walked up the gangplank, Riley leading the way. William came next, then Erin, her son, and finally the purple-mouthed Worth.
“No magic here,” Worth told everyone.
For all his drinking and jolliness, Riley understood that he might be the most dangerous of all of them.
They entered the ship and wound their way through wooden passages.
“Erin, have you seen Twocut before?” Riley asked.
“No. His ships stayed away from ours. The man is smart, which is how he’s gotten so many people under his banner. He would have lost against us, so he never challenged us.”
“You were pretty smart, too,” William commented. “You managed to make an entire community think you had more than two of you on board.”
Riley smiled, knowing what a compliment from William meant—even if sounded stilted as hell.
The pirate stopped and turned around. “This here is the captain’s quarters. I need not mention that very few people are allowed inside, and that yer here under the rules of parley. That means ain’t to be no fightin’. Ain’t to be no killin’. Ain’t to be no magic or whatever the hell y’all used in that alehouse. Ya understand?”
“We gotcha, pirate man,” William bellowed. “Now get outta the way and let us meet this damned captain.”
The pirate sneered, but he knew his place. He pulled no weapons, and wouldn’t break the sea’s code.
He turned around and opened the door, his voice louder as he spoke. “Captain Twocuts, I present those ya requested.”
Riley almost laughed at the man, who was trying to sound proper but was unable to do it correctly.
The pirate stepped through and Riley followed, the rest of the group entering and forming a line to her left and right—leaving Riley in the center.
The man in front of them was at the end of a long fur rug. Riley had never seen anything quite like it and had no idea what type of animal it was from.
The captain sat on a huge wooden chair, which was stained black. He wore black too, although Riley found it tough to decipher what he was wearing. Pants, a vest, and a shirt, but it looked like more. Somehow the clothes covered almost every part of him, including gloves on his hands. All of it black.
His hair was long and he wore it in braids, which fell around his face. His skin was deeply tanned, and his eyes were set deep.
The two scars across his throat were pronounced; much whiter than the rest of his skin.
“Aye, those I requested,” the captain said. “I suppose he ain’t bother gettin’ yer names, aye? The pretty blonde, there—what do ya call yerself?”
“Riley Trident, Right Hand of Assistant Prefect Mason Ire, loyal servant of New Perth’s kingdom.”
“A long name, aye. I take it ye know who I am.”
“We’ve heard,” Riley answered.
“No doubt from the redheaded bitch standing at yer side.” The captain said it with a smile, and Riley saw Erin match it with one of her own. “Aye, don’t take that too personally, Riley Trident, Right Hand of Such and Such. On the seas, we judge a person by their strength. We’ll rape, kill, and steal from the weak, but the one next to ya don’t count in that. I call her a bitch the same as I would a man.”
“Why did you ask us here?” William interjected.
“Well, ya carved up a few of my pirates, from what I can tell. And that’s fine. The strong survive on the sea, and ye all are mayhaps pretty strong. But ya don’t belong here, that much is clear.”
“I belong where I say I belong.” William’s voice grew louder.
“Aye, we got a live one, don’t we?” Twocuts smiled. “We can keep this civil. Indeed, we best, as we are operatin’ under certain rules.”
“What William is asking,” Riley said, “is why parley with us? Your men threatened us, and they lost. From what Erin says—”
“Erin?” the captain interrupted. “That’s the fierce Stormhandle’s name?”
“There was a reason you never attacked us.” Eric spoke for the first time, and his voice was icy. “Don’t forget that, Captain Twocuts.”
The pirate laughed loudly, though without menace. “And the dangerous son. Well met, lad. Please continue, Right Hand, loyal servant of Such and Such.”
Riley rolled her eyes at the slight but didn’t let her anger rise. “From what Captain Stormhandle says such action as we took is accepted here, so William and I are trying to understand why you called this parley.”
“You don’t belong on the sea.” The pirate looked at William. “I don’t mean any offense, big man. Them’s the facts, though. Y’all belong on land, but I find you out here on the sea, and it makes me wonder: what could make landlubbers venture out to dangerous waters? We’ve seen your ship. We saw your ship take Stormhandle’s. We stayed away because my crew is smart, and there are other things brewin’ on those seas.”
The captain dropped all pretense of levity. This was the cutthroat Riley had expected.
“I’m wonderin’ if what’s brewin’ a bit away from here has anything to do with you?”
Riley wasn’t going to lie to the man. “We’re chasing an outlaw mage. That’s why we’re on the seas. We came across Erin Stormhandle and had no choice but to fight. Same when we came here. Trouble keeps finding us, but our path is true. We’re here to find an outlaw mage.”
She wouldn’t mention Mason’s kidnapping. No one needed to know there was other valuable cargo aboard Rendal’s ship.
“Aye, I thought that might be the case. Or at least you were out here after someone new. I don’t know nothin’ bout no mages, although I hear Stormhandle’s boy there can light himself on fire and such. That true?”
Eric said nothing. Erin was quiet as well.
“Never mind. A ship broke apart days ago. Just completely crumbled into the water. Some of my ships found the survivors. They were floatin’ in the sea, survivin’ by holdin’ onto pieces of wood that hadn’t got waterlogged yet. Some of ‘em didn’t make it, of course, as things tend to go on the sea.”
The captain gave a sickly grin, leaving no doubt in Riley’s mind that his men had killed many—probably for sport.
“But the ones who did survive said something’ about a mage. Some of ‘em called him a magician. I don’t know t
he difference, if there is one. But they said a man broke the ship with his hand, which I don’t get even now. I didn’t believe it then. Said he had an army of magicians, too. I didn’t believe that either until I heard you all were causing a ruckus down at the alehouse. Now I wonder.”
“He broke a ship with his hand?” Riley didn’t see how that was possible either.
“That’s what they said.”
Worth nodded. “Magic. Not use hand. Use mind.”
The captain turned to the bald man, his eyes wide at Worth’s speech.
“If he says it, it’s true,” Riley responded.
“You’re a magician?” the captain asked.
“I magic,” Worth answered.
The captain sighed. “You are a weird lot, and that’s sayin’ somethin’ given everythin’ I’ve seen. There’s more, though. We have eyes on the ship. I keep eyes on everything out here on the seas, much as I can anyway. Two nights ago it sent up a distress signal.”
He smiled.
“My men ain’t as dumb as some of the other ships out here. They said those other pirates went streakin’ ‘cross the water like water snakes. And ya know what happened when two of ‘em got there?”
Riley’s palms were sweating. “What?”
“Nothin’.” Twocuts’ smile widened. “Absolutely nothin’.”
“Nothin’ is what’s between your ears, Captain Numbnuts,” William said and turned to Riley. “Look. I’ve heard enough. Whether or not Rendal had some ships stop by his and not fight him, it don’t matter, does it? We need to find him; that’s all that matters.”
“You’re not listenin’, landlubber,” the captain sneered. “Pirate ships don’t head to a distress call and then just stop. My men didn’t go because they’d been watching this ship for a while, and they knew somethin’ wasn’t right ‘bout it. Those other ships were dumb, but they should have sunk that ship after stealin’ all its treasure, ya understand? The two ships didn’t. They joined it.”
William turned around. “What do ya mean?”
“They ain’t flyin’ no banners, but they’re floating with it. That was two days ago. Now, I kept my ship on it, an’ I got little speed ships goin’ back and forth between this main ship and my others all the time. I wanted to know what was happenin’. Do you want to know, or you still got a hard dick to get out of here?”
Chasing Magic (Hand Of Justice Book 2) Page 7