by Jamie Davis
Hal had so many questions swirling around in his head. One jumped to the top as he processed what the shopkeeper said at the end.
“Last night? Colin, please tell me you locked her in a room at the Outfitters. Tell me you kept her until you could send her home.”
“Why would I do that? Besides, you know my portal set up allows only me to travel back and forth. Tildi made sure of that.”
“Why—?” Hal paused as he searched for the words. “Colin, why wouldn’t you stop her? That’s our daughter. She has no business roaming around this place. She could get herself killed.”
“I think that would be harder to do than you’d think. Judging from everything she’s accomplished in the year since she arrived, I’d say she’s leveled up quite a bit. You know she’s the captain of her own ship now. She’s built quite the reputation for herself as the protector of the Southern and Western Seas.”
“Colin,” Mona asked. “Is she still in the city? We’ve come to take her home.”
Colin shook his head. “Nope. She planned on sailing with the evening tide last night. As far as I know, that’s exactly what she did.”
Hal’s thoughts turned right away to the ship he and Mona watched sail from the harbor the night before. Had they been that close, only to miss her by a few hours? Just thinking about it put a twisted knot in his guts.
“Hal, we have to get to the harbor. We need to get a ship to go after her.”
“I think you both should hold on a second. I have a message Cari asked me to deliver on her behalf to the Duke.”
“What is it? Tell us.” Mona ordered.
“Not here, Mona. This has to be done in private. Too many prying ears about for me to be comfortable talking here, even quietly. Come on Hal, get on your feet. You’ll want to hear this, I promise you.”
The young officer of the guard who’d ordered Hal and Mona taken prisoner stood by the door wringing his hands. He had a puzzled look on his face. He looked from Hal to Mona and then to Colin.
“Uh, Mr. Colin, sir. If this is truly Prince Hal and Princess Mona, does that mean the Dread Raider Cari is actually the Lost Princess herself?”
“I’ll leave it for you to do the math, boy. You’re a smart lad. You’ll figure it out. Now get out of our way. The Duke is going to want to hear what I have to say. I’ve been delayed long enough this morning.”
Colin brushed past the lieutenant, followed by Mona and finally Hal.
Hal met the boy’s eyes and winked. “You’re lucky. I was going to turn you into a toad. Who knows? Maybe I still will.”
The lieutenant’s eye’s widened, and the blood drained from his face as fear of what Hal might do to him sunk in.
Hal laughed aloud at the look of horror on the kid’s face. Maybe he’d be a bit more polite to the next person who came in to get an audience with the Duke.
Chapter 25
Hal found himself surprised at the youthful ages of the Duke and Duchess of Tandon. They couldn’t be older than twenty-three or twenty-four. They were barely older than Cari.
When Colin introduced them and announced their reason for coming to Tandon, an astonished look crossed the young Duke’s face.
“I knew it. I knew there was something special about that young lady. The Lost Princess herself stayed under my roof and I didn’t even know it.” He smiled at Hal and Mona. “She saved my life, you know, and the life of Crown Prince Timron, too. Now I’m graced with the presence of the man who saved the Empire itself. I’m humbled beyond measure.”
“I’m just a guy like you, your Grace. I put my pants on one leg at a time like anybody else.”
“Please, Your Highness, both of you must drop the formality here in the palace. Please call us by our given names. I am Korran, named for my grandfather who you knew very well back in the day. My wife is Cecelia.”
“Call me Ce-ce, please. I insist,” the Duchess said.
“Good, I never had much use for all that formal talk. Only if you call us Hal and Mona, though.”
“Very well, Hal, now what is it I can do for you two? I’ll put the resources of my entire duchy at your service as soon as we resolve the effects of this horrible plague that struck us.”
“What plague?” Mona asked.
“Actually, it turns out someone was poisoning the underground river that supplies water to our wells. Cari, your very capable daughter, tracked down the source of the problem and stopped those who were responsible, though we are a bit hazy on the details. We only know what little she told one of our court physicians before she left the city.”
“I’m sorry for what befell your city,” Hal said. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to recover in good time. What I need is a ship, preferably one fast enough to catch up with Cari, wherever she’s headed next.”
“That won’t be easy, Hal,” Colin said, jumping into the conversation. “Her ship, the Vengeance, is a mighty fast ship. Based on everything I’ve heard about her, she’s gained some unique abilities having to do with navigation and sailing. Besides, she’s coming back here when she’s done. That’s the reason I was coming to see the Duke.”
“Well, here I am, Colin. Out with it,” the Duke said.
“She’s found a survivor of the shipwreck that killed Prince Hamilton and his whole family. We thought they all had perished when the ship sank. It turns out it wasn’t a storm. It was raiders, as many of us expected. The raider captain took the youngest child, Jaycee, captive as a hostage for use later.”
Colin continued relaying the tale of the little girl’s rescue and fostering here in Tandon. He finished with a shrug. “I think the best thing to do right now, Hal, is for you and Mona to stay here and wait. Cari plans on getting the girl back and sailing right back here to Tandon.”
“He’s right, Hal,” Korran said. “Besides, there are no ships in the harbor. Once we opened the city again, all those ships quarantined in the harbor took off for open water. There’s nothing larger than a fishing boat down there right now.”
“If you’re right, Colin, she should be back in a few days,” Hal mused. “I suppose we should stay and wait for her here, if you’ll have us, Korran.”
“Of course. We’d be honored to have you stay here with us.”
Cecelia cleared her throat, and when everyone’s attention was on her, she spoke.
“I wonder, Hal, since you’re a mage of such renown and your wife is known for her exceptional mechanical abilities, if you could be persuaded to assist Tandon in its recovery from this horrible poisoning. The temple priests and healing mages are hard-pressed to keep up with the needs for healing and the water supply is still slightly tainted with the residual poison. People are still getting sick, though not at the rate or severity as we saw before.”
Mona glanced at Hal. “I suppose I could get together with the local craft guild masters to look at building some sort of water purification system for the city’s wells. You could lend your earth magic skill to helping with the healing needed by the people in the worst health.”
Hal nodded. “You’re right. We’ve got nothing else to do while we wait for Cari to return. Put us to work, Korran. We’ll do what we can to help your city recover. It’ll help pass the time and keep me from worrying about Cari every moment of the day.”
The mention of her name brought her to mind again and Hal’s mind wandered off, trying to picture his daughter as a dashing pirate captain. He chuckled as he remembered the name the lieutenant had used to refer to her.
The girl always had a flair for humor, “Dread Raider Cari,” indeed. She had obviously been inspired by an old 2-D flat screen movie they had watched many times together. Hal liked how Cari continued his tradition of co-opting pop culture references for use here in Fantasma, even if she did it unknowingly.
Deep inside he was proud of what she’d managed to accomplish in her time here, but he also knew the toll that kind of heroism had on a person. She was still so young. He hoped she was holding up under the burden of it all.
> Chapter 26
Cari awoke the day after leaving Tandon to sounds of increased activity on the deck above. She was about to leave her cabin to see what was going on when Percy knocked on her door.
“What is it?”
“It’s Percy, ma’am,” he called through the closed door. “Miss Doolan requests you on the quarterdeck. A raider ship is sailing up on us from the south. She’s approaching fast, and we’re clearing the decks for action.”
“Thank you, Mr. McShea. Advise the first mate I’ll be on deck in a few minutes.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
Cari got dressed while she tried to puzzle out what to do about the raider ship. While she’d made peace with the council of captains, the raiders formed only a loose partnership or confederation. There were multiple factions at play there rather than what anyone would call a true government.
She arrived on the quarterdeck and walked over to where Helen stood by the stern rail peering through the spyglass at a ship behind them. “What do you see, Miss Doolan?”
Helen handed her the spyglass. “It’s definitely a raider ship, though it’s a fast-rigged racing schooner. They’re flying the raider colors. I can’t tell if they’re friend or foe, though. They’re not a real danger to us. We could easily blow them out of the water.”
Cari saw the red and black checkered flag flying from the mainmast and shook her head. “Beats me. We made amends with most of the captains when we returned their families, but that didn’t account for all of them. There’s also the possibility of Raiders who don’t know the arrangement we made with Captain Wheldon and the other captains. This one would be a fool to attack us though. We’re twice their size and ship’s complement.”
“What do you want us to do?”
“Hold course for now and prepare for action but hold fire until fired upon.”
“That’ll give them the first shot, ma’am.”
“Or it’ll give them the opportunity to start a conversation before we fire at them. Do it. I’ll play the odds and see if they act aggressively first.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
Cari continued to watch the other, smaller ship while the Vengeance and its crew prepared for battle. She didn’t have time for a fight right now. She was itching to get to the fishing villages along the coast and try to find the missing princess.
A puff of smoke from the trailing vessel indicated a chase cannon firing before the sound of the distant cannon fire reached her. Strange that they’d shoot from so far away. There was no way they’d be in range for at least fifteen minutes.
Unless—
Cari squinted and tried to track the direction of the cannonball they fired. She saw none. “Helen, I think I’m right. Bring us about to let them overtake us. They just signaled us they want to talk and not fight.”
“Aye, ma’am. If you say so. Bosun, take in the sail. We’ll wait for our pursuers to catch up.”
Mr. Dawkins headed down to the main deck, calling out orders amidst the hustle and bustle of the cannon crews preparing their guns for firing. Other sailors headed aloft to haul in the sails and tie them off against the spars suspended from each of the masts.
Cari brought the spyglass up to her eye again and stared at the trailing ship. It was closer now, and she could make out more details. The other ship’s captain stood on the quarterdeck, peering forward at the Vengeance through his spyglass. He looked familiar.
The figure on the other ship waved. He must’ve seen her watching his ship. Cari waved back then looked at the man again.
It was Captain Hitchcock, the raider captain who escorted them into the harbor at Cairn Island with the freed hostages.
“Have the crew stand down, Helen. It’s definitely a friend. Have Cookie prepare light refreshments. We’ll be having company soon.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am.”
More orders were passed along. The gun crews began securing their guns, returning their weapons to standby positions secure against the rails on either side of the ship.
The raider ship caught up to them and lowered a boat to come across to the Vengeance as soon as they overhauled Cari’s position. Captain Hitchcock stood at the tiller as the crew rowed him across the gap between the two ships.
Cari waited on the main deck while he climbed up and over the side rail and stood before her.
“Captain Hitchcock, to what do I owe the honor of your presence? I did not realize it was you. That is not your ship.”
“Captain Weldon loaned me his racing sloop, Captain Dix. I have an urgent message for you from him.” He glanced from side to side before continuing. “You’ll want to hear this in private.”
“Very well, come with me down to my cabin. I’ll have some refreshments brought down to us.”
She led the raider captain down to her cabin and sat down at the table, offering her guest a seat across from her. Percy had already set a tray with some fruit, bread, and cheese on the table between them. He poured them each a goblet of wine and left, pulling the door closed behind him.
Captain Hitchcock double checked the door was closed then leaned forward towards her over the table.
“Do you remember Captain Day Ivarson from the council of captains?”
“I do. He was the one who wanted me killed if I remember correctly.”
“He was. Well, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Somehow he heard about the girl you were after. Captain Wheldon isn’t sure where he got that information, though I’m certain he’ll find out. Where he got it doesn’t matter. Captain Ivarson knows who the girl is, and he left right after you did, headed to the mainland. I can only assume he has gone to give the news to the Duke of Charon’s men.”
“That’s not good. Still, he doesn’t know where she is. I do.”
“He’ll turn out all his resources to find her. All he has to do is track you down. You’ll lead him right to her. Do you have the girl with you already?”
“No, but I know where she is,” Cari lied. “She is safe.”
“I was going to offer to take her back to Cairn Island. Jackie and I could take her in and tell folk she’s a niece visiting from her sister on the mainland.”
“No need for that. You could do me a favor, though.”
“Of course.”
“Return to Cairn Island and ask Wheldon to gather the council of captains. The Duke of Charon has control of the Imperial naval commanders in this region. If he decides to hunt the Vengeance down, I’ll likely need assistance. Do you think Crandall can convince them to back me and the future heir to the Imperial throne?”
“I know he’ll try his best. No promises, though.”
“Understood. I have a feeling I’m going to need some help to work my way around this.”
Captain Hitchcock stood and walked around the table to her. She stood and clasped wrists with him.
“I’ll do my best, Captain Dix. If nothing else, I know I can vouch for my ship and crew to return to your aid.”
“I’ll take all the help I can get.”
The two captains returned to the main deck and Cari walked Captain Hitchcock back to the rail and his waiting boat and crew.
“Godspeed, Captain,” the raider captain said as he descended the ladder down to his boat. Cari nodded in reply. He smiled up at her and ordered his crew to row back to his ship.
Cari watched them head back to the other ship for a few seconds then turned to Helen, standing by her side. “We need to get to Jaycee and we need to do it now. How long until we reach the first village?”
“A few hours, maybe more.”
“Put on all the sail we can carry. I want to get there as soon as we are able. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
Chapter 27
The pall of smoke hung over the village. Cari and the landing party all had their weapons out as they searched through the scorched remains of the small fishing community.
“Could the Duke of Charon’s men have gotten here ahead of us?” Rodrigo asked, standing
up after checking on a villager’s body for signs of life. Most of the bodies had been dead for a day or more.
“I don’t think so. The timeline doesn’t make sense. They shouldn’t have had time to gather any forces and get this far west to do this.”
“Then who?”
“Slavers,” Helen announced. She and Stefan returned from the far side of the village. They had a woman and two children with them.
“How do you know?”
“This is Akira. She and her children managed to hide in the forest while the raid happened. She described a large group of armored men in turbans. A ship put them ashore and sailed away. They came into the village and killed many of the men who fought against them. Then they rounded up the rest of the villagers, chained them together and marched up the coast to the east.”
“Cari, we haven’t seen any Sultanate ships around. The slavers put ashore must be heading to rendezvous with them farther east along the coast.”
“Or they’re moving on to raid the next village along the way,” Helen mused.
“How long ago did the raid happen?” Cari asked.
“Less than a day, miss,” Akira offered.
“Akira, I have to ask you something. There were foster children from Tandon brought here. Was there a girl named Janey among them?”
“No, we only took in five of the children since we’re such a small village. There wasn’t a Janey in that group.”
“That’s a small piece of good news in the midst of this tragedy. Akira, can we take you with us? We can settle you with another village up the coast.”
“We have nothing left for us here, miss. That would be very kind of you. Thank you for taking us in.”
“Alright. Stefan, help her gather what she can from the ruins here and then bring her to the ship. We’re heading on down the coast as soon as you’re aboard.”
“Aye, ma’am.”