by Skyler Grant
Riggs scurried off and Lea did as well. Cobalt seemed comfortable enough around the three of us now that we had been disarmed. I tried to pull up her information, but found I couldn’t. Not even her name.
“Don’t try. You’ll just give yourself a headache,” Cobalt said with a grin. “And you’re fucked, because that was the Ebon Star back there.”
“We know. We were…” I started to explain and then trailed off, rethinking my next words, which would have been about hunting pirates.
“Prisoners? You’re no Theysian. You’re in bandit mail, your companions look like killers,” Cobalt said, pursing her lips. “Theys doesn’t like people who steal from them and they don’t like people who cost them money. The prize of their fleet goes missing, they are going to be looking for someone to blame. I expect you’ll make a convenient scapegoat.”
“Fuck,” Ashley said.
“That sounds possible,” Walt said. “And they knew we were aboard.”
“Why wouldn’t they just blame you?” I asked.
“Pillar of fire isn’t my style,” Cobalt said.
Cobalt looked altogether too cheery at our distress. I think she liked delivering bad news.
“We’ll figure it out,” I said to the others. “Where are we headed?”
“Archaton,” Cobalt said. “We should be there by morning and can discuss plans then. We have some guest cabins. Liam, if you were serious about the sex you can join me in my bed. Either of you other two joining us?”
My brain froze.
“No, thank you,” Walt said.
“Maybe later,” Ashley said.
“Riggs is piloting. Mind if Lea joins us?” Cobalt asked.
“Sure. I’ll thank her too,” I said, forcing a smile as if this were all perfectly normal to my life. Maybe Yvera had taken over plotting the game?
It was an exhausting and mind-bending night. Sex is one of those things you tend to think is very straightforward and where it’s possible to quickly go from amateur to competent. You’re proud of the work you do and take a certain craftsman-like joy in nailing the fundamentals. Then you meet someone even more into it than you are and suddenly time, space, and physics no longer seem to apply and your mind is opened to possibilities that you never even knew existed. You realize just how little you knew or had ever imagined. It wasn’t just the addition of Lea to the mix, although that added complications both delightful and awkward.
You gained a new relationship with Cobalt
Lovers
Lovers can often sense the moods of each other and find their lives tangled in unexpected ways. This tangle might well wind up strangling you.
You have gained a new relationship with Lea
Lovers
Lovers can often sense the moods of each other and find their lives tangled in unexpected ways. You may not see what is coming from your involvement with this seer but she will.
When I finally fell asleep it was well deserved and I awoke the next day to find Lea gone and Cobalt slipping out of bed and making her way to a clothes chest. The sheets had come off and the cabin air was chill against my bare flesh. Watching her get dressed was wildly different than Elsora or any other woman I’d ever met. It was no long process requiring assistance, but rather she seemed to go from delightfully undressed to slipping on her gun belt in around thirty seconds.
“Morning,” I said.
“Morning pretty,” Cobalt replied. “No need to get dressed just yet, I’ve got some questions for you.”
I looked her over appreciatively and felt my body surge in response. It was the sort of thing that might be embarrassing in other situations although after the night we’d shared seemed only natural. “Sexy questions?”
“The sort that determines whether you and your companions live or die,” Cobalt said with a roll of her eyes, leaning against the wall.
I started to shift out of the bed and she shook her head. I froze, feeling way too exposed. I’d just have to go with it. I stretched out instead and met her gaze as steadily as I could manage. “You couldn’t have asked before the sex?”
“I wanted to indulge. Besides, now that we have I’ll know when you lie. Call it a practical bit of pleasure. Why don’t you tell me just what you were doing on that ship?”
I considered my options. It seemed a tremendously stupid thing to admit to hunting pirates to a pirate, but I wasn’t sure I had a choice. I was pretty sure she was a lot higher level than I was. Even naked, I could probably set her or the room on fire with my spells, but I didn’t think that would be enough to stop her from shooting me. Besides, she might be honest about knowing, if I told the truth.
“We were hunting pirates,” I said, readying myself to cast a smite spell if she was going to start shooting.
Cobalt lifted a brow. “You aren’t lying. Looking like that? What pirates?”
“Ones who stole the cargo of a Theysian cargo ship headed to Genea a week back,” I said. “I don’t have more information than that.”
Cobalt tilted her head. She really was pretty, though she lacked the composure of Elsora or the perfect everything of Yvera. And there was something rough and tumble, and ready for violence about her. I liked it.
“Are you getting turned on in the middle of an interrogation?” Cobalt asked.
“You’re the one who insisted on the dress code,” I said. “Hey, you know I really like you.”
“I am a girl that loves flattery. So you’re an agent of Vala? I didn’t think they traded with the Theys.”
“The shipment wasn’t for Vala. It was for Castle Sardonis.”
That got her attention. Those blue eyes turned intent. “Again, you aren’t lying. Yet I know that Castle Sardonis fell centuries ago to a powerful curse. Explain.”
That answered the question of whether or not she could tell if I was lying. I’d told her something she considered outright unbelievable, but apparently something had confirmed the truth. I couldn’t lie to this woman, but perhaps I could get away with shades of the truth. I didn’t think it was a good idea to admit to a pirate that she had captured a king.
“Currently the castle is ruled over by Elsora Damos. She is the original curse that befell the castle, and upon the death of King Leosi she has grown considerably in power. It was her that arranged trade with the Theysians and, when the shipment went missing, arranged for us to be on the Ebon Star to investigate.” Not a word of that was untrue, even if the appearance it created was completely false.
Cobalt looked down at the floor. “All true. So you are agents of this Queen then?”
That seemed more a statement than a question. I carefully gave no answer and instead asked, “Not that I don’t find you absolutely intoxicating when you’re being threatening, but wouldn’t you rather come back to bed?”
Cobalt let the gun belt drop and the rest of her clothes joined it with astonishing speed. “I do like a man not afraid of a little danger.”
Hours later and properly dressed we joined the others for lunch and for the first time in too long I saw food other than fungus. There was an impressive spread.
“Riggs is an amazing chef in addition to hairdresser, gunner and pilot,” Cobalt explained. Ashley and Walt were already digging into a ham. They both looked well rested.
“I’ve explained to Cobalt how we were dispatched by Elsora to investigate her missing shipment,” I said to the others. “And since we slept together she totally knows every time I lie.”
“That’s our Liam, doing whatever it takes to satisfy Elsora and letting his bedroom habits get him into trouble,” Ashley said. I wanted to kick her.
“I may have a way to help all of you accomplish your mission,” Cobalt said. “The Theysians are likely to blame you for the loss of their ship, but I think you may be able to both reclaim your missing cargo and help to defend yourself from their attention.”
Ham was amazing. How had I never realized how overwhelmingly awe-inspiring delicious ham was until this moment? Oh, I was following what
Cobalt said, really I was, but when you’re starving food becomes so much more important.
“Does it involve us killing lots of people and looting them?” Ashley asked.
Cobalt gave her a thoughtful look and said to me, “Bloodthirsty. I like that. You really should convince her to join us in bed next time.”
“I’ll try,” I lied. Cobalt looked disappointed. That ability of hers was a serious inconvenience.
Ashley’s expression suggested if I actually did try she’d stab me a few dozen times.
“Your career as pirate hunters is over before it began,” Cobalt said. “But your life as pirates may just be beginning.”
“Pirates?” I asked. “Would you care to run that past me again?”
“A few years back the Goddess Atlantia went mad. Her island, Atlantis is now surrounded by a powerful twister. Annua is prowling the waters nearby preying upon anything it comes across,” Cobalt said, as she settled down at the table. “The pirate clans, the Theysians, Vala, if they were smart they’d have teamed up, but they aren’t. The pirates war amongst themselves in a constant struggle for who will rule. The Theysians grow more militant by the day while Vala just shut off their port entirely in an effort to hide from the world and proclaim to be the new rulers of Galea.”
“Annua is that sea dragon that almost killed us all?” Walt asked.
Cobalt nodded. “Protector of Atlantis. Vala hates anything not Vala right now and if you showed up on their door representing Castle Sardonis, I imagine you’d get an army marching back to the castle in answer. Theys is sensitive to any slight and you’ve burned those bridges, but the pirates… there you have an in.”
“What possible in do we have with the pirates?” I asked. “We barely know the difference between a ship and a boat.”
“I do,” Walt said.
“Nobody actually cares,’ I told him. I asked Cobalt, ‘You’re pirates, right? Are you going to give us a reference?”
“She’s not actually a pirate,” Riggs said with a snort.
“She just likes the title, because she thinks it’s fun to kill people and steal their stuff,” Lea said, picking at her plate of vegetables.
“I’ve stolen things, I fly around, I’m a sky pirate,” Cobalt said firmly, putting down the verbal mutiny from her crew.
“It’s because you think we’ll get the blame for the Ebon Star,” Ashley said, her eyes going wide.
“Smart girl,” Cobalt said.
“It’s a thin line between getting blame and taking credit,” I said, understanding.
“It vanished in a pillar of fire they probably saw all the way in Vala,” Cobalt said with a certain relish. “You, the follower of a fire goddess, lied and tricked your way on board the flag ship of the Theysian fleet where you then enacted a ritual destroying the ship and all hands, before making your escape.”
“You destroyed the greatest threat to the pirates there was, apart from another crazy Goddess,” Ashley said.
“Because you want to be Grand Admiral,” Cobalt said, leaning in. “Forget one missing shipment, you’ll walk away with a fleet at your command and a share of all they can steal. I can help.”
“What would you want in exchange?” Walt asked. “If we’ve learned anything lately, it is that there is always a price.”
“Liam’s Goddess, sorry, I don’t know her name,” Cobalt said.
“Yvera, Goddess of Passion and Fire,” I said.
“I want a favor from Yvera,” Cobalt said. “One big enough to regret.”
“That isn’t really on the table.”
“She summoned a giant pillar of flame to try to save your lives. I’ve seen your sword. Talk to her, ask,” Cobalt said.
There was a swirl of flame and Yvera appeared.
Guns came out.
“Yvera, Cobalt. Cobalt, Yvera,” I said.
“You’ll do more than help Liam with the pirates. He’ll need to meet Atlantia,” Yvera said.
QUEST GRANTED
Meet Atlantia
You instantly fell in love with the first Goddess you met. What possible harm could come of meeting her complete antithesis. Let’s find out.
“I will?” I asked.
“She’s behind an impenetrable wall of water,” Cobalt said.
“You’re clever and a lot more than you appear. You’ll figure something out,” Yvera said.
Cobalt thought it over. “Deal.”
“Deal,” Yvera said and vanished as suddenly as she’d appeared.
Cobalt gave me a devilish, self-satisfied smirk. “Lea, give them their weapons back. They’re going to need them. Riggs, sneak us up on Vinchy’s cove. Let’s be pirates.”
CHAPTER NINE
Below us figures scurried on the deck of a ship with tattered sails, one not nearly so majestic as the Ebon Star.
Ashley looked through a spyglass borrowed from Cobalt and said, “I count five on deck. You sure about this?”
Cobalt had dropped us off in the rocks overlooking the cove while she flew off to prepare a diversion. There was just one pirate ship in the bay.
“Aren’t you the one who lectured me last time that I need to trust the women I sleep with?”
“There is a difference between not murdering a girl in favor of a delusional rat with a crown and turning pirate, because she thinks it’s a good idea. She seems dangerous.”
Walt took the spyglass from Ashley and studied the figures down below. “I confirm five of them on deck. One near the stern seems to be shouting orders.”
I took the spyglass from him. There were five figures on the deck, all dressed in loose-fitting clothing. Near the stern there was a muscled, bald man in bright red pants who was barking out commands. “That must be the captain. He’ll be our focus. Remember that these are pirates, they don’t want a fair fight. We go in fast and we go in hard. Avoid killing.”
Walt and Ashley nodded. We didn’t have long to wait. Cobalt’s distraction came in the form of a massive boom and a pillar of smoke from somewhere outside the cove, followed by a series of smaller pops.
The crew moved to the railing of the ship to get a view of what happened, staring out to sea, their backs to the shore.
We were on the rocks above the ship, which meant a jump down to the deck. My landing was hardly subtle, one of the sailors turning towards me at the sound.
Dimensional Step
Walt flickered into existence on one side of me, while on the other Ashley landed with a fluid move, crouched low and with both her daggers drawn. How was she always so completely badass?
I charged the sailor, my shoulder catching him in his chest and sending him over the rail of the ship.
I gave credit for how quickly the other sailors responded. Cutlasses were drawn and combat was joined.
It was the bald-headed man who rushed towards me. The others attacked my companions with one on Walt and two on Ashley.
I met a cutlass blow with Intemperance, flames flickering around my sword and I was impressed at the strength behind the hit.
Vanishing Act
Dimensional Wave
Ashley vanished from sight, fighting in her usual style of where you could never quite be certain where she would appear next. Walt meanwhile drove back his opponent with a blast of force that left the air shimmering in its wake.
Bull Headed
My world exploded into stars as I felt an agonizing pain in my skull. It took me a moment to realize what had happened. My opponent had head-butted me, I supposed that was one way to get past a flaming sword.
Scattershot
One of the pirates fighting Ashley pulled a pistol from his side and fired. There was a fearsome roar and puff of smoke. It seemed more like a shotgun than anything else, perhaps designed to fight stealthy foes like now. It certainly did the trick, Ashley’s stealth was broken. She was spun around with the force of the impact, multiple bloody rents torn into her armor. Her health was perilously low.
Lay on Hands
I moved to
brush my hand against her shoulder, willing her healed and Ashley gave me a grateful nod.
“Switch?” I said.
Ashley didn’t answer as she picked herself up, but she moved towards the captain.
Scattershot
The second pirate Ashley had been facing fired his pistol, this time at me, but I had a shield to catch that blast. While the first worked to reload I chopped at his legs resulting in a cry and him crashing to the deck.
Dislocation
Walt’s opponent flickered out of sight to reappear in the air above the water. His expression was comically surprised before he plummeted into the sea.
Smite
I pointed Intemperance at the second pirate I was fighting and willed my Smite spell. Before, this had always resulted in a pillar of flame, but perhaps due to the divine nature of my blade a stream of fire set him ablaze. Screaming he flung himself over the side.
“He’s ready to negotiate, Liam,” Ashley said.
She had gotten behind the pirate captain and had one dagger to his throat, the other near one of his eyes.
“Is this always your hostile negotiation stance or something?” I asked.
“Worked on you and Yvera. Why change a winning formula?”
The captain struggled for a moment resulting in a line of blood being drawn from his neck. “I’m Bloody John Bull. Who are you people?”
Pirate names. Why hadn’t we given any thought to pirate names? Not only were they badass, but they would totally help our cover.
“I’m Admiral Flame. My companions, Ash and Ember.”
“I just get given my name? Really?” Ashley asked.