by S Lawrence
I’d wager that it was frustration; I think we are all feeling a bit of it. The whole situation has us all on edge, not just my brothers. The crews are wound tight as well. It’s not just Reyna’s presence; it’s the unrelenting pursuit by the King.
The King chasing us is nothing new, but he has grown more determined to catch us. I pause, looking up at the sky, at the birds flying overhead, and let my mind drift just like they are. Something has changed.
Lowering my face, I look around, the “something” is more than Reyna, although she is at the center of it all. I don’t think he knows we have her, the girl he’s been searching for, but he knows she is real. I don’t think the man that told Wilder about the girl and her importance would have told the King.
So who did?
It’s been niggling at the back of my mind since we looked at the chest, since she told us about the letter. Someone has been guiding us to her, and maybe her to us. But that means maybe we aren’t the only ones to have a guardian angel helping.
I’ve played it all over and over in my mind. I’ve examined every memory since I met Fallon. For an instant, the darkness of the hold of the King’s ship darkens my vision.
Who have I seen?
Who was out of place?
Who was always there?
Who was there with no reason to be?
All very good questions that I have no answer for. I whistle, three short bursts of sound, and wait. My brothers all join me within minutes.
“Hagen?” Fallon frowns at me, reflecting my own worry.
“What is it?” Wilder asks as soon as Fallon finishes.
Cyder remains silent, just watching. We all have our roles. I protect them.
“Think back. Do you remember ever seeing someone on his ship that seemed out of place?” I watch their faces, watching as they do as I ask.
Their eyes move almost like they are watching the memories and maybe they are, a way to separate themselves from the pain of them. It isn’t something I’m capable of. I feel each blow of the whip, the fist, hell, even the words.
He was very good at what he did, finding our weaknesses and exploiting them. What did we need? I shake my head, swallowing hard and trying to pull myself back to the present.
The words.
They often play on a loop through my head. We all got the beatings, but for me, it was the deprivation that made me who I am. He knew as soon as he found me what I craved, knew I would all but kill myself to get it. So he never offered it.
Which only made me try harder to get it. I did things, horrible things, to hear the words he never spoke. My teeth grind.
“Hagen?” Fallon is watching me closely when I look up at him.
“Sorry.” I don’t need to say more, for they already know.
“I can’t think of anyone,” he responds to my question then looks at the others, and they all nod. “Although I can remember times where he was locked away in his cabin.”
“What are you thinking, Hagen?” Wilder is watching just me. I can see his brain whirling, trying to process the information, filling in gaps, trying to understand what I’ve figured out.
“Well, I think someone, the person that the letter mentioned, has been nudging us toward Reyna for a long time, maybe our whole lives.” They all nod. “The King has been chasing us harder and searching for her. I can’t help but wonder if someone is also nudging him.”
Cyder clenches his fists and paces away. Wilder and Fallon look at each other then back at me, and I see the anger boiling there in their gazes.
Cyder stomps back. “Our whole lives? This person has watched and allowed…” He trails off and stomps away again, jumping on the rail then leaping across to his own ship. The sound of his cabin door slamming is loud, even from here.
“I don’t disagree with his thoughts,” I say as I turn toward my own cabin. I can hear the others following behind me.
“Maybe not our whole lives.” Wilder is the first to speak. “Surely, this person wouldn’t have let him...let us…” He stutters.
I feel his hurt. Wilder and Lash were the more gentle of us all, small and seemingly delicate boys. Lash was beautiful, hell, he still is, and the things he suffered... Wilder could read, and that saved him some of the worst treatment. But that small difference didn’t in any way save him.
So many broken and destroyed by his depravity, his absolute evil. His whole crew, the ones on his personal ship, are all just like him. Made by him. Some of the captured boys, most really, were sent to the others’ ships. Those were the lucky ones.
We were special, chosen to serve on his ship. I have often wondered what he saw in us, how he knew he could break us. Because no matter what we chose to do, since we were thrown away like trash, we were broken. It was the island and our fight for survival that shaped us into who we are now.
We are a tapestry of our scars, both physical and mental.
I have a tattered tapestry I found in the city hanging in my quarters, the delicate threads woven together to form a beautiful picture of a world lost long ago. Sometimes I stare at it, trying to picture a life within the world that they have created. I can’t.
“No. I don’t think our whole lives, but maybe for a while now. He or they could be the ones that protected the city, who put five ships at the dock. Hell, they could have made sure we got there. Or maybe when we arrived, they started watching. We didn’t see the ships right away.” I shrug.
“You think they watched as we recovered and put ships for us there after we were deemed worthy?” Fallon frowns at his own words.
“I don’t know. I just had the thought that we aren’t the only ones being guided. He is getting bolder, more desperate, and there has to be a reason. I think that reason is someone whispering to him, pointing him in the general direction, which means whoever the person is that’s helping doesn’t know exactly where Reyna was or is.” I voice my thoughts.
“So is the King tracking her, us, or the pull of whatever we are now searching for?” Wilder glances at us both.
“That is the question, isn’t it?” I look out at the shore.
“You think we need to get to one of the safe harbors?” Fallon asks then falls silent, waiting for my answer.
“I don’t know. In port, we are sitting ducks but running in open water, he’s got the numbers on us.” I sigh. “I think I wish we had more friends.”
“Let’s try to make a plan. If he is chasing us to get Reyna, we need to be prepared.” Fallon stands just as a whistle cuts through the air.
I stand and turn to look at Cyder’s ship anchored behind us. His crewman is high in the crows nest looking behind them, and Cyder runs from his quarters, sliding to a stop to look up at his man. The man holds up his arm pointing south.
Shading my eyes with my hand, I look and can just see sails.
“Fuck. They found the channel. Get the sails back up! I don’t fucking care if they are ready or not!” I scream at the crew.
Fallon and Wilder each start to run. Fallon whistles to his own crew as he pauses to yell at Lash’s crew to make ready. My eyes turn toward the shore just as Fallon looks back. His head shakes, and I punch the railing.
“He will keep her safe. We have to leave them or they will swarm the forest looking for her,” he orders and I nod curtly, knowing he’s right but hating it.
Just as I turn to start yelling orders, another whistle echoes and I look behind The Rising Dragon once more, where another set of sails is now in view. The channel is too narrow for us to maneuver to fight. We must run, and Cyder is in my position. His ship doesn’t have the guns I have.
“GO!” His deep voice rings out, and I lock eyes with him. “I will follow after I slow them some.”
The Dragon has her port side facing them, and I hear him order the gun doors open. By the time I turn back to my own crew, I see Lash’s crew has their anchor up and sails open, but their eyes are on the forest, faces tense with anger. They do not wish to leave their captain.
�
�He will know where to go,” I yell at them just as his ship starts to move.
We have plans and backup plans that they will make their way to us. Lash will hear the cannons and know to run. They have the beast and at least a single gun.
“Get us underway. NOW!” I yell, even though my crew began doing just that as soon as the first sails were spotted.
“If you are watching, if you are listening, help would be appreciated,” I whisper to the wind, praying whoever has gotten us all in this mess is paying attention.
As our ships all begin to move two across, since that is all the channel will allow, I watch behind us. Cyder should have started to follow but he hasn’t, and I frown as I look to my right. Fallon is already watching and as I watch him, his mouth opens and I hear a gut-wrenching “NO.” I whip my head back and see men running from the treeline, and some have already entered the water.
The crew sees at the same time and the sails are unfurled, helping to swing the boat around. We watch tense as men start up their ropes even as they rush to raise the anchors completely from the waters. Cannons are fired, shouts can be heard, and we watch helplessly, too far away to stop what is happening.
The ship starts to finally move toward us as I can just make out a tangle of men falling from the side. Then, one by one, those that had just boarded left alive jump into the water.
“What the fuck is happening?” I ask no one but I look at Fallon once more; he has a telescope to his eye and his face is white. “Fallon?” I yell. “Get my glass!” I yell to the boy close to me, and he runs like the devil is on his heels.
It’s in my hands in moments and I look, focusing on the area Fallon is watching. “Fuck.” I raise the glass and look at the ships they have slowed. “They got what they wanted.”
Boots hit my deck hard, and I look over to see Fallon striding toward me. “They have him.”
Fear’s cold fingers tighten around my heart.
“They will kill him,” I growl.
“No, they want information. They won’t kill him, they will torture him first.” His voice is low, an anger boiling in his face that I’ve only seen a few times in our life.
We’ve all been tortured, but nothing like what Cyder is about to go through.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” My fist hits wood after every word.
I want to kill someone. I want to kill the King. I want to kill every motherfucking one of them. I have had the desire since I was a boy, but now, now this is something altogether different. A new beast has been awakened.
“Get to your ship, brother. We go to Green Cove.” It is the closest of our rendezvous spots, a place we can resupply and form a plan of attack.
Fallon nods and does just that, leaving me to my rage. My crew gives me a wide berth as I make my way to my quarters. Jack is waiting by my door.
“They are following without their captain,” he mutters.
“As they should,” I bark.
He says nothing more as he follows me inside. “To Green Cove then, sir?” I nod without looking up from the map that is spread on my table.
“Jack, this is about to get ugly, so warn the crew.” I glance up as he nods then turns to leave.
Pausing, he looks back at me. “We’ll get him, sir.”
“Don’t make promises you don’t know will be kept.” He flinches slightly at my harshness but nods before leaving me to my map and anger.
I study the routes, the possible ways they might try to box us in as we move through the channel. How long had we been in before they had somehow found the opening? Is the fleet behind them or has it gone around? Hundreds of questions filter through my mind as I look at the map.
I’m staring at one of the waterways when a drop hits the paper. A tear or sweat? I don’t know at first, but then another follows and I realize it’s a tear. I scrub at my face, pushing the fear down, pushing away memories of us clinging to one another broken. It is the only way to survive and to save him.
Cyder and I are alike, both hard and distant, still unable to trust because of the things not only done to us but that we did to others. Our brothers never crossed the line, trying to win that thing the King withheld, but we did. We carried out orders, did things that killed parts of us. Those things are our shame; they are why we keep ourselves separate.
My fist hits the table once again.
“Focus, you miserable fuck,” I growl at myself. “Think.”
I slap my head, trying to dislodge any thoughts stuck behind the memories.
“First thing, get to the rendezvous. Find Reyna and Lash. Save Cyder.” Save Cyder. Save Cyder. Save Cyder. I say it over and over in my head.
I love Lash and care for Reyna, but Cyder is different. Cyder is in more danger. He will be killed because he will never talk, he would never give us up. Because of his loyalty, he will be taken apart, one cut, one punch, one broken bone at a time.
I need to get word to our friends, our allies. Sitting, I pull paper over and pick up a pencil. I write out six short, concise notes then tear the paper into small pieces that I roll up before I push up and walk out.
“Thomas!” I shout as I walk out of my quarters into the sunlight on the deck.
Boots pound across the smooth wood of the deck, heralding his quick arrival. “Sir.” His breath is huffing in and out of his mouth.
“Take these to the birds and send them out. Let me know the moment you get a response.” I hold out my hand, and he takes the notes. “Lives depend on your birds, Thomas.”
“They won’t let you down, sir.” He thumps his chest with his fist as he spins away and he goes as he came—at a dead run.
I watch him until he reaches the roost where his birds wait. They are swift, so our message should reach their destinations before we reach our own. They will return to the roost that is there. I just hope our friends will help us. The time has come for everyone to fight back against the terror that sails the seas with us.
We, my brothers and I, have held him at bay as best as we could, but he continues to grow stronger. If he gets whatever is buried, the world will burn once more, and we will not survive it this time.
A war is coming but it will be a slaughter if we don’t succeed. Cyder must be saved.
Reyna is the queen, and we are her captains.
Chapter Seven
REYNA
Cannons.
The booms sound like thunder and herald a dark storm.
Lash sets me aside and stands in one motion. I surge up, looking around us. I see nothing and hear nothing. Silence follows the cannon fire, and a loud bark startles me. I jump as Liam bursts through the undergrowth. His hackles are raised, and his keen eyes are focused on the way we came.
“Go check, Liam,” I whisper, and he looks at me for a moment before he bounds away. “He has always protected me, always known what to do. He will find out if anyone is after us.”
I start to follow the path my friend had taken but I go slower, and Lash is right behind me. We climb up high to a ridge and look out over the treetops to the channel. I gasp, and Lash grabs my hand preventing me from racing forward.
“No.”
I turn my face up to his and watch as he studies the ships, his eyes moving over each before his face turns to the right, eyes narrowed for a moment.
“What do you see?” I ask, deciding I need to trust my captain.
“They are retreating.” He sounds as if his words confuse him, and I look back at the ships.
I see my captains’ ships moving away. Cyder’s is last in the line but it is following. I can just barely make out the tiny shapes of two men looking back on Hagen’s ship.
“Oh God.” Lash’s words are low, and his voice is tight with so much emotion as his fingers tighten around mine, crushing the bone.
“What?” My own eyes scan, but I don’t see what has upset him.
“In the water. They have Cyder.” His finger points, and I can just see them reaching the side of a ship. I can just make out a shock of red hair a
gainst the near black of the ship.
“We must get to him. Help him. Save him,” I scream, and my voice reverberates off the stone around us.
“We can’t. We need to go to the safe harbor. The others will make their way there, and from there, we can save him. The two of us won’t survive the King on our own.” He turns toward me, gripping my shoulder with his other hand. “He wouldn’t want us to sacrifice ourselves on a suicide mission.”
I try to pull away but I’m reminded that he is more than a pretty face as he holds me immobile. I’m about to struggle, to try to break free, when I hear a bark. That distant bark pulls my attention from the man holding me. I see a streak of grey that almost blends in with the rocky shore, one that someone who hadn’t played hide and seek with an overgrown puppy would overlook. I see Liam flying down the shore at the edge of the trees.
I pull my hand from Lash’s and raise both, cupping them around my mouth. I hoot, just three short calls, to let my guardian know I heard him. He will track Cyder.
“What are you doing?” Lash frowns, eyes scanning the water again.
“Letting Liam know I heard him.” I don’t elaborate. “He’s trusting that you will keep me safe for now.”
“What do you mean?” He sounds so confused, so I raise my hand and point. He follows the line of my finger.
“He’s following them.” Incredulous—that’s how I’d describe his voice. “Why would he leave you to do that?” He turns his eyes back to me slowly.
“He likes Cyder,” I offer and he raises a brow. “Honestly, I don’t know why he’s tracking him. Maybe he understands how important you all are to me. My mother always said he had been sent to me, so maybe someone commanded him to.” I look beyond the man in front of me and watch as the small dot finally disappears from sight. “He will follow as far as he can. He might even try to get to Cyder.”
“Try to save Cyder…” His eyes look at the ship growing smaller. “From a ship.”
I don’t blame him for his disbelief, but Liam has often done the unbelievable. “Don’t underestimate his tenacity. He is exactly like a dog with a bone when he’s on the trail of something.” I let my lips curve slightly.