Zane Halloway: Omnibus Edition

by P. T. Hylton

  Zane saw another pirate had boarded The Empire using the same rope during the brief fight with the bald man, and a third pirate was crawling across. Zane lunged toward the rope and hacked at it with his sword.

  The man attempting to cross screamed as the rope fell away from the grappling hook, and he tumbled into the sea.

  Zane ran along the railing, cutting rope after rope. But for every one he cut, it seemed two new grappling hooks attached themselves. He glanced toward the fighting behind him on the main deck. Things were not going well. Perhaps he could do more good joining the fighting there. The problem was he didn’t know the pirates well enough to identify which side most of them were on. He was as likely to accidentally engage Amber’s crew as Petra’s.

  He saw something like a blur moving across the deck. It was a woman. Her sword moved with impossible speed. She cut through the belly of one pirate, and, with her next motion, slashed another pirate’s throat. She turned, saw a pirate sprinting toward her, and threw her sword. It sank into the approaching pirate’s chest, then flew back to her hand.

  It took Zane only a moment to realize who it was. He’d seen her fight dozens of times, sparred with her hundreds. But it seemed so illogical that she’d be here, aboard a pirate ship, that his brain refused to recognize her for a moment.

  And the way she moved! The forms were the same, but he’d never seen her sword move that fast. He doubted he’d ever seen any sword move that fast. She must have been using glides. He’d heard that was her focus. But he’d never heard of anyone using glides on a sword. It was brilliant.

  “Lily,” he said, his voice a whisper.

  “My God, is that Zane Halloway?”

  The voice came from his left. He spun, and saw Caleb Longstrain standing there.

  “I’m wildly curious how you came to be aboard The Empire.”

  “Caleb, is it?” Zane asked. And suddenly, it clicked. Amber had said he’d been partially raised by a man named Victor Col. Caleb Col was the new King’s Sword, Faraday’s replacement. That could explain why Lily was here. The King’s Sword had brought her. “What have you done, Caleb?” he asked with a growl.

  Caleb raised his sword. There was darkness in his eyes. “In my family, we take revenge very seriously. You put a blade through my father’s eye. I think I’ll repay the favor.”

  Zane raised his own sword, and Caleb attacked.

  It was immediately clear the young man had trained with Faraday. He had the same clean lines of motion, the same speed. But he was younger than Faraday had been when Zane had faced him, and stronger. Zane parried thrust after thrust, but each time the swords connected, a jolt of pain shot up Zane’s arm.

  Zane had defeated Faraday by using unconventional means, and he hoped the same would work here. He thrust at Caleb’s mid-section, forcing the young man to lower his sword to deflect the blow. When he did, Zane moved in, rushing toward Caleb, punching him in the eye with a quick left-handed jab.

  Instead of being surprised, Caleb let out a sound like a growl and threw three quick, powerful jabs of his own. Zane’s head rocked back with each one, and he staggered backwards.

  “Idiot,” Caleb said. “I grew up on a pirate ship. You think I don’t know how to brawl?”

  Caleb shifted his sword to a two-handed grip and attacked with a fury.

  Zane had thought Caleb’s strikes were powerful before, but those were nothing, a simple warm-up, compared to what he was delivering now. The fluid, technical swordplay was gone. Now he was just a pirate hacking away at his opponent.

  Zane parried again and again, but he was weakening. Bringing his sword up to block was growing more and more difficult. Then Caleb brought down a monstrous blow. Zane raised his sword just in time to save himself, but the impact made him lose his grip, and his sword clattered to the deck.

  Caleb raised his sword and held it to Zane’s neck. Zane felt the cold tip press lightly against the skin of his throat.

  “Tell me, Ferox,” the young man growled. “Is there any reason I should let you live? Is there any profit in it? Is there anyone in this world who would pay a ransom to see you returned? Anyone who would shed a tear to learn you’d died?”

  Zane didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. There was no one. The Ferox Society had a long-standing policy of not paying ransoms. The king certainly wouldn’t pay for the life of a ferox, even one who’d once done him a favor. As for friends and family…Zane had once had plenty of both. But that was so long ago. Now he had contacts. Sources. Informants. But not friends. Not family.

  “Is this how Faraday taught you?” Zane asked. “You’re the King’s Sword, are you not? You dishonor the position. You dishonor your nation.”

  Caleb chuckled. “My nation has dishonored itself. I’m not acting as the King’s Sword, but as a son avenging his father.”

  Zane risked a glance around the main deck and saw the fighting was winding down. It seemed most of Amber’s crew had either been killed or subdued. Both ships had started with a relatively equal number of combatants, but the combination of non-working thorns on Amber’s side and Caleb and Lily on Petra’s side had made short work of The Empire’s fighters. Zane felt a combination of pride and anger at the thought.

  “Caleb! I’ve got Amber!” It was Lily, calling from the quarterdeck.

  Caleb led Zane in that direction by sword point.

  Lily’s eyes widened as she saw Zane coming up the companionway.

  Caleb directed Zane to stand next to Amber. Lily had her sword at Amber’s throat, and Caleb had his sword at Zane’s.

  “Now then,” Caleb said. “Let’s get what we came for.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Lily stood with her sword to Amber Longstrain’s throat. Her old mentor stood next to the pirate.

  How in the world Zane Halloway had come to be aboard the ship of a woman who’d sworn to kill him, Lily could not begin to fathom. Not only was he aboard, he was fighting alongside her!

  The battle was over, and Lily’s side had won. During the fight, the familiar battle lust had come over Lily, that strange combination of clarity and unreality, of being in total control and absolutely outside her own body. It had felt wonderful. She’d probably taken down a dozen pirates.

  But now it was back to the messy, post-battle reality. The vitally important, yet lightning-quick decisions of battle had once again given way to a slower moral quagmire.

  Petra’s crew stood victorious over Amber’s fallen pirates. The survivors were on their knees, hands behind their heads. Lily even saw that a few of the King’s Guards had made their way across the ropes and were patting the victorious pirates on the backs.

  “What are you doing here?” Lily asked, her eyes meeting Zane’s gaze for the first time.

  “Same as you, I’d wager,” he said dryly. “Working.”

  Lily blinked hard. In their time apart, had Zane grown a sense of humor?

  Caleb turned to Amber, a wide smile on his face. “I would like my father’s papers, please.”

  Amber scowled at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Fine,” Caleb said. “We’ll start killing your pirates until you regain your memory.”

  This was all happening so quickly. Lily didn’t know if she was on the right side or the wrong side. Was there even a right side? She was opposing Zane, which wasn’t a good sign. As much as the man denied having any morals, in Lily’s experience, he stood up for what was right more often than not.

  “What papers?” Lily asked. “What’s so important that it’s worth all this death?”

  “Henry Longstrain’s papers of commission.” The voice came from behind Lily. Petra had joined them on the quarterdeck. “From the King of Opel.”

  Lily saw Zane’s eyes go wide, mirroring the surprise she felt.

  “That’s impossible,” Zane muttered.

  “Not all,” Caleb said. “My father was a pirate, yes, but a pirate in the employ of the crown. He worked this route for years, pirating up
and down the coast, making these waters a dangerous shipping channel. He took enough Opel ships to avoid rousing suspicion, but Tavel merchants were his real target.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Lily said. “King Edward would never—”

  “This was before Edward’s time,” Caleb replied. “He worked for King Albert.”

  Lily looked back over her shoulder at Petra. “Tell me he’s lying.”

  “He’s not,” Petra said. “Albert hired Henry, and in exchange, he promised him a royal pardon for his crimes and the title of Duke after twenty years of service. Unfortunately—,” she looked sharply at Zane, “—he only made it to fifteen years. But the king put the promise in writing. And Amber has the paper.” There was fire in Petra’s eyes as she looked at her sister-captain. “What should be shared among all of us, she keeps for her own. She holds it in reserve, so that if she’s ever caught she can use it to barter for her freedom.”

  Amber’s mouth was a thin, straight line. She said nothing.

  Lily looked at Caleb. “And how about you? What do you want with the papers? You want to be a duke?”

  He turned to her, and his eyes narrowed. “What does it matter? They’re my birthright.”

  “He doesn’t want to be a duke,” Amber said. “He wants to betray his nation.”

  Caleb’s eyes widened.

  “That’s right,” Amber continued. “I know what you’re up to. Tavel contacted me, too. They’ve long suspected Henry was a government operative, but they want proof. It will give them all the justification they need to start a war.”

  Lily lowered her sword. It couldn’t be true. Caleb loved the king. He would never—

  “This nation betrayed my father!” Caleb snarled. “He did dangerous work, work that caused his death, and they still label him an outlaw.”

  “He didn’t die because of his work,” Zane said evenly. “He died because he couldn’t stop marrying young women.”

  Caleb didn’t respond, but Lily could see by the look on Petra and Amber’s faces that the comment wasn’t winning Zane friends on either side.

  “I want those papers,” Caleb said. “Now. Give them to me, and you go free. Don’t, and I’ll kill every person on your ship. Except you. You I’ll set adrift with no supplies. You can die of thirst in the sea you love so much.”

  Amber sighed. “I can’t give you what you want.”

  Caleb turned and yelled down to the main deck, “Pass, please kill one of Amber’s pirates.”

  “Wait!” Amber yelled. “You’re not listening. I’d give them to you if I had them, but I don’t!”

  Ignoring Amber’s protests, Pass whistled and motioned toward a group of pirates. One of them scurried up the mast and tossed a rope over a crossbeam. Two of the pirates grabbed one of the Amber’s men and hauled him to his feet. Another grabbed the noose at the end of the dangling rope and fitted it around the man’s neck.

  “You son of a bitch,” Amber muttered through clenched teeth.

  Three pirates grabbed the other end of the rope and pulled hard. The poor man was hoisted five feet off the ground. His legs kicked wildly in the air as he hands clutched futilely at the rope around his neck.

  “Not to worry,” Caleb said as the man struggled. “He should lose consciousness in a few minutes. Are you going to change your story, or shall we hoist another rope?”

  “Listen, damn it!” Tears were standing in Amber’s eyes now, a sight Lily thought she’d never see. “I did have the papers. I kept them for five years after Henry’s death. Then I figured, since we’d carried on Henry’s work, King Albert would consider Henry’s contract fulfilled. So I went to him. I didn’t want the title. We all had enough thrones by then that we didn’t have to live this life. I asked for pardons for me and my sister-captains. And you know what he did? He laughed and tore up the letter of commission right in front of me.”

  “No,” Caleb said. His voice was a sharp whisper. “That’s impossible.”

  “He tore them up and told me I was lucky he was letting me live. He also told me if I or any of my sister-captains ever came back to him or did anything to imply that Henry was working for the crown, he would see the lot of us hanged.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Caleb said in a shaky voice.

  Amber looked to Petra. “Maybe I should have told the rest of you, but I wanted you to keep the hope of a different life, the hope that had been crushed inside me. Also, I didn’t want you to stop. I wanted anyone within fifty miles of the Opel coast to in fear of our name. And we succeeded. We’ve done that together!”

  Caleb looked at her for a long moment, then turned to Lily. “Kill her.”

  Lily’s eyes widened. “Hold on, let’s think about—”

  Caleb whirled on her. “You were trained as an assassin, were you not? You were going to kill for a living! Who deserves it more than this pirate? Finish her, or I will!”

  Suddenly Zane was in motion. He spun under Caleb’s sword and around behind him. Then he had an arm locked around his neck.

  “Drop the sword,” Zane said.

  “That was not a smart move, Ferox,” Caleb said, but Zane tightened his grip. Caleb complied and dropped his weapon. He looked toward Petra and said in a choked voice, “Kill them. Have your people execute every person aboard this ship.”

  Petra frowned. “I don’t think so. I allowed you to lead because of the papers, because it was your right to them. I needed you. Now? You’re just the son of a woman I never liked that much. Amber’s my sister-captain.”

  Caleb’s eyes widened.

  “Finally,” Amber said. “A little reason.” She called to the main deck. “Will you please lower my crewman?”

  The pirates lowered the man, and he hit the deck with the a thud. He’d long since stopped moving.

  Amber grimaced. “Let’s kill this fool boy and be done with it.”

  “No,” Petra said. “I won’t see that done any more than I’d let him kill you. He’s still Henry’s son.” She nodded toward Zane. “And the Ferox, he’s under your protection, I take it?”

  Amber paused for a tense moment, then nodded.

  Petra nodded. “Fine. We’ll kill him another time. For now, I’ll take the boy on my ship, drop him off in Tavel since he loves it so much—”

  Zane let out an, “Oof,” as Caleb’s elbow slammed into his stomach.

  Caleb dropped to his knees and snatched his sword off the deck. He swung the sword toward Zane.

  But Lily was already in motion, and her glide-enhanced sword moved much faster than his natural speed. She blocked his attack, knocking the sword out of his hand. She let go of the handle of her own sword, and it hovered in the air, the tip touching his throat.

  “I’d advise against moving,” Lily said. “That’s an experimental glide, after all. No telling when it might slip.”

  Caleb looked at Lily, and she was surprised to see something unexpected in his eyes: love. “Oh, Lily, you don’t understand. But you will. You think this matters? With all the information I have on King Edward and his plans. His methods. The way he thinks. That’s why I joined the Army in the first place, with the hopes of one day making it into his King’s Guard and learning his secrets. I never thought he’d name me his Sword.” He looked toward Zane. “You remember Charles Danum and the ferox he rescued from the Tavel prison? You wonder what they’ve been up to these past two years? After the Opel crown abandoned them, they were forced to become mercenaries. They’re currently in my employ. They’re waiting for me to return to them. With a team of ferox and the knowledge I possess, I’ll bring the Opel crown to its knees.”

  Lily turned to Petra. “If you want him to live, I suggest you take him back to your ship now.”

  Petra nodded. “And you? Are you coming with us?”

  Lily shook her head. “There’s no way he’d survive the journey if I came along.”

  It took Petra ten minutes to gather her crew and send them back across to The Gully. When it came time for her to
go, the pirate embraced Amber like a sister.

  Lily shook her head at the strange and complicated Longstrain family dynamics.

  As The Gully, and Caleb with it, disappeared into the distance, Lily turned to Zane. “He’s going to be a problem.”

  “Indeed,” Zane said. “The boy appears to be in love with you.”

  Lily smiled. “Like you never had a crazy suitor.” She nodded toward Amber. “She fancies you.”

  Zane raised his eyebrows in surprise. “The sea air doesn’t agree with you. You’re imagining things.”

  Lily looked at her old mentor. There was so much to talk about. So much to say. She could tell him why she’d really left, how she’d done it for his protection. She could apologize for not contacting him these past two years. She could tell him how difficult it had been for her to serve as an apprentice under Jacob after spending so long with a truly masterful teacher. She could at least ask him how he’d come to be in the employ of Amber Longstrain. But instead, they were joking about each other’s love lives.

  That was the way it had always been with them. The most important things always went unsaid. Neither of them were remotely good at communicating about what really mattered.

  “You’ll drop me and the King’s Guards in Morven?” she asked.

  “It’s not my ship. But I’m sure Amber can be persuaded.” He nodded toward the six King’s Guards. “Unless they’ve taken to the pirate life. Amber has quite a few openings on her crew.”

  The was a long pause, then Lily said, “I can see it in your eyes, you know.”

  “What’s that?”

  She smiled mischievously. “You have a plan.”

  Zane chuckled. “Indeed I do. Young Mr. Longstrain has given away his destination. He said Charles Danum and the other ferox were waiting for him. And it so happens I’ve been keeping abreast of Danum’s location these past two years.”

  Lily didn’t ask. Not now. Now there were injured that needed tending to and dead that needed to be put to rest.

  Two days later, they docked at Morven, where Lily and the King’s Guards were returned to dry land. Zane stood by the gangplank. As Lily reached him, he put a hand on her arm.