by Jamie Davis
Craning her neck around, Cari found the source. The slaver captain saw her fall. He now stood at the top of the steps, looming above her, a sneer on his face. He knew he had her right where he wanted.
There was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
Chapter 31
Rodrigo caught a glimpse of a speeding blur out of the corner of his eye as he thrust his sword through a slaver’s throat.
He ducked under the spray of blood and searched until he found its source. Just as he’d hoped, there was Cari. She’d somehow managed to invoke her strange magical ability to speed up her reflexes once again.
She’d spun up out of the hatchway, tearing through the slavers like a whirling tornado. Then she stopped and collapsed at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the quarterdeck. The exhaustion that followed her use of that magic had hit her.
“Stefan!” Rodrigo shouted and pointed in Cari’s direction.
The other lieutenant parried a thrust at his chest, following with a riposte attack that ended with six inches of his sword poking through the slaver’s back.
He searched for the source of the person who’d called him and then followed Rodrigo’s pointing finger. A simple nod followed. Stefan had seen her, too.
Rodrigo lowered a shoulder to shove a slaver out of his way and raced towards Cari, cutting down anyone in his path. He killed several slavers and took a few minor wounds along the way. He didn’t care. He had to reach Cari’s side and protect her.
Stefan battled through a mass of slavers at the other end of the deck, trying to get there, too.
Rodrigo hoped against hope that one of them would get there soon. The slaver captain had seen her, and he started down the steps in her direction, his scimitar poised and ready to strike.
Rodrigo swung his blade from side to side, kicking out at one slaver with his back to him, sending him sprawling to the deck.
He didn’t bother to finish off the slaver crewman, his focus intent on only one thing: getting to Cari before the slaver captain did. Stefan battled through the press not far away, heading in the same direction.
They were both still so far away from her.
It was too far. Rodrigo pressed himself forward even harder.
———
Cari somehow managed to lift her arm and bring the scimitar up in a guard position over her. It was a gesture of bravado and nothing more. She didn’t have the strength to actually parry a strike.
The slaver captain seemed to know this and he flicked his blade out, easily batting her sword out of the way.
Cari stared up at him as he raised the blade over his head and brought it down at her face. Her final thought was wondering if her parents would miss her.
The curved blade descended at her and then stopped, running into a barrier formed by two crossed rapier blades.
Cari looked behind her.
Rodrigo and Stefan stood there, bloodied and battered but both extended in a lunge with swords outstretched over her. They caught the captain’s blade before it could reach her.
The two then leaped over her to charge up the stairs, their swords a blur as they pushed the slaver captain back up the stairs with attack after attack.
The captain was an excellent swordsman, probably a master in his own right. He managed to deflect most of the blows from the two lieutenants and even get in a few attacks of his own.
Stefan fell to one knee as a sweeping slash took him in the leg and cut deep into his thigh.
Rodrigo’s left arm hung bloody and useless at his side, but he kept the pressure on the slaver.
Cari could see he was at the limit of his ability. The captain had him outclassed. Without Stefan to help him push the captain back, Rodrigo was now the one being pressed backward.
Some of the strength started to return to Cari’s exhausted body. The cool down countdown clock was in its final ten seconds. Each tick of the clock seemed to last an eternity as she watched the two lieutenants fighting and losing above.
…3, 2, 1.
The clock ticked to zero. Cari stood, wounded but with muscles she could command again. She raced up the steps.
Stefan was down now, laying on his side, trying in vain to rise.
Rodrigo had retreated all the way to the stern rail where he fought a desperate battle to block the incoming attacks.
He was losing.
Cari dropped the scimitar, happy to lose the unfamiliar blade. She bent down and scooped up Stefan’s rapier from the deck next to him and charged at the captain’s back.
Rodrigo fell to the deck just before she got there and Cari’s cry of fear for her friend warned the captain of her arrival.
He ducked and twisted around, delivering a vicious backhand blow carried by the momentum of his turn.
Cari’s rapier thrust at the back of the slaver’s neck missed when he ducked and she barely got the long knife in her other hand down in time to keep the strike from hacking into her side.
Damn, he was quick. She’d assumed he wasn’t that good since he’d opted to send the orc to fight her in response to her challenge. Now she realized he’d done it to provide some sport for himself and his crew. That was all.
She parried the next incoming attack and growled deep in her throat. She wasn’t going to let this pig hurt her or anyone else ever again.
Blocking another attack, she surprised her opponent with a spinning roundhouse kick to his head.
She felt the heel of her bare foot connect with the side of his face. It made Cari shout a primal cheer as she came around and landed.
It was Cari’s turn to sneer.
The captain spat blood on the deck, along with a few teeth. He wiped at his bloody mouth with the back of his hand.
“You’ll pay for that, girl.”
“Better men than you have tried to collect on that. They’re all dead now. Care to join them. You can tell them in hell how you were taken down by a little girl.”
The captain’s eyes narrowed and he bellowed something unintelligible as he charged at Cari.
Taunt engaged
What had been carefully coordinated attacks by the captain before turned into a rage-fueled frenzy of chaotic blows.
Cari backed up, parrying attack after attack while she waited for her opportunity.
It came when he slipped on a puddle of blood on the deck. His arms spread wide in a reflex to catch his balance and Cari made her move.
Executing a perfect lunge, Cari, the rapier’s blade an extension of her own arm, thrust her sword into the captain’s heart.
He looked down at the thin metal blade lodged in his chest, disbelief showing in his eyes.
“Say hello to the others when you get to hell,” Cari said as she lifted her foot and shoved him off her sword and over the ship's rail into the dark waters below.
6,000 experience
Cari turned to look for other threats, but the escaped slaves she’d freed had come up and overwhelmed the rest of the crew on the quarterdeck.
Down on the main deck, Cari’s crew from the Vengeance had the situation in hand as well.
Cari, her aching hands still not fully healed from her escape from the manacles, dropped the rapier to the deck and walked over to the mast and used the belt knife to cut the line holding the Sultanate flag. The green banner with a crescent moon and crossed scimitars fluttered down to the deck.
A cheer went up from the Vengeance and was echoed by the crew on the deck below.
“Cari, Cari, Cari,” they all called.
She raised her hand in acknowledgment then waved when she saw Helen watching her from the quarterdeck of the Vengeance.
As soon as the fighting died down, Trina emerged from the hold along with all the other slaves. Standing next to the teenager, holding her hand as she looked around wide-eyed, was Jaycee. They’d done it. They’d freed the real lost princess.
Quest completed — retrieve the missing princess
15,000 experience
Chapter 32
“Where to next, Captain?” Helen asked.
Cari leaned over the chart table in her cabin and stared down. Both the Vengeance and the slaver’s ship, dubbed the Freeman by the freed slaves who now crewed it, were damaged and needed to find a safe harbor for repairs before they were caught by a sudden storm at sea so common at this time of year.
She studied the chart and their position on it after she’d done some calculations. Standing, she rubbed at the aching knuckles on her right hand. Despite a day’s rest and another round of her regeneration ability, the hand seemed to remember the pain of broken and dislocated bones in her escape from the manacles. Every now and then, a dull aching pain flared up for a few minutes.
Cari pushed it away and stopped rubbing her hand, ignoring the pain. She stabbed a finger down on the coastline.
“Morton Creek.”
“Not Tandon?” Helen asked.
“No, Morton Creek is closer, plus we need a place to safely refit. We can make Morton Creek from here in three, maybe four days. It would take well over a week to get back to Tandon from here.”
“You know that is closer to the Duke’s center of power in the capital. If he gets word you’re there, he might send people after you, especially since he knows about little Janey’s true identity.”
“We need to call her by her true name.”
“Alright, but it’s going to be harder to keep Jaycee safe that close to the capital.”
“I know, but I’m hoping we’ll be repaired and back to sea before anyone arrives looking for us.”
Helen put her hands on her hips and nodded. “Morton Creek it is. I’ll pass along the orders to the Freeman and we’ll get underway.”
The two ships were still tied together, mostly to allow them to transfer stores and medicine back and forth while they made what repairs they could at sea.
Helen started calling out orders even as she marched down the passageway from the captain’s cabin.
Cari smiled.
It was good to be back aboard the Vengeance and heading back to a friendly port. She didn’t tell Helen the other reason she wanted to go to Morton Creek.
There was a very good swordsmith there and Cari hoped Heath Fletcher could help her craft a new sword while they were in port. Ever since the slaver orc champion had snapped her beloved rapier in two with one mighty blow, Cari spent a lot of time thinking about how she’d go about crafting a new blade.
With Heath’s help and some luck, she might even be able to pull it off. She had a feeling that a good, reliable blade was going to come in handy before all was said and done. It was going to take a lot of fighting to get Jaycee back to her great-grandmother, the Empress.
A tap at her door pulled her back into the present.
“Come.”
Rodrigo and Stefan entered. They didn’t jostle for space on entering as they’d done in the past. The two lieutenants exchanged nods and Stefan gestured to let Rodrigo go first.
The move surprised her. She hoped it indicated the constant rivalry between the two of them, directed at her, was finally over.
Stefan followed his friend into the cabin and closed the door. He cleared his throat and spoke.
“Captain, um, Cari. The two of us have something to say.”
“Yes,” Rodrigo added. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the two of us have been rivals in a bid to gain your attention for almost a year now.”
Cari hid a smile as she answered. “It has come to my attention. And?”
Rodrigo stopped with his mouth open as if trying to find the words to say next.
Stefan jumped in to continue their point.
“What Rod means is that we’ve been competing with each other to get your attention and it has sometimes affected our decisions and performance.”
“Go on.”
“Well,” Stefan continued. “After the fight on the slaver’s ship, we both decided to put the decision in your hands.”
Rodrigo found his voice again and chimed in.
“Yes, we want you to know that we’ll each respect the decision you make and step aside in favor of the one you choose.”
Cari stood behind her chart table, unable to fathom what prompted the two of them to bring this up now and in this way. They really wanted to force her hand and choose between them?
“What if I decide I’d like to choose both of you?”
“Um,” Stefan stammered. He cast a sideways glance at Rodrigo. “I suppose we could adjust to that if that is what you wanted.”
“Yes,” Rodrigo continued. “We can come up with a sort of schedule if you like, you know, for who is with you on which day.”
“Eww, no,” Cari laughed. “I didn’t mean it that way. What is it with you men and sex. I didn’t mean you both could share me. I meant that I would like to choose you both as friends and traveling companions, that’s all.”
The two men looked confused again. Cari resisted rolling her eyes. She didn’t want to hurt their feelings but, Lord, men were idiots sometimes.
“We are about to embark on a whole new quest and I need to know you’ll both be there at my side, to see it through to the end. We don’t have time for any encumbrances or extraneous relationships. We need to be comrades in arms. Can I count on you?”
That explanation caused a bit of disappointment if she judged the slumped shoulders correctly. Neither of them hesitated for a second when she asked if they were with her, though.
“You can,” they said in tandem.
“Good. Then let’s forget this little moment of awkwardness and get the ships underway.”
“Where to?” Rodrigo asked.
“It has to be Tandon, of course,” Stefan replied.
Cari shook her head. “Morton Creek.”
“What’s in Morton Creek,” Stefan asked. “It’s nothing but an abnormally large fishing town anymore.”
“It’s also a place we can safely leave a message for three friends of ours, right Rod? They should know who we’ve located. It might impact their plans for another imperial heir.”
“Indeed, it might,” Rodrigo replied.
“Good, because as soon as we get there, I’m leaving you behind to make your way to Liam, Chance, and Thad. I want to tell them about Jaycee and I don’t dare risk leaving a letter that might be intercepted and read.”
Rodrigo’s shoulders sagged as he realized she planned on leaving him behind when the Vengeance was repaired and ready to sail again.
“Don’t worry, Rod. We’ll catch back up with each other again.” Cari turned to Stefan. “I have something for you to do as well. You still technically hold a commission in the Duke of Tandon’s guard. I want you to carry the same message to the Duke and see what aid he can lend if it comes to an armed confrontation when we take her back to the capital. Can you do that?”
“If you’re not going back to Tandon,” Stefan asked. “Where will you go?”
“After we repair the ship, I’m going to take Jaycee and the Vengeance and head to Cairn Island until we can come up with a safe way to transport her to the Crystal City and reunite with her great-grandmother. Once we have word back from both of you, we’ll rejoin each other, either in Tandon or possibly here in Morton Creek and begin the journey to restore the Empress’ surviving crown princess to her.”
The two would-be-suitors shuffled their feet, unsure what to do with the directions they’d received. Cari decided they needed some additional orders.
“The two of you should get back on deck. Check in with the first mate and see if you can help Miss Doolan get underway. The sooner we can get sailing, the sooner we’ll get started on our other important tasks.”
———
It ended up taking four days for the two ships to sail to Morton Creek. The slower Freeman held the Vengeance back from making her best speed to port.
The crew of the two ships continued making what repairs they could during the trip and the progress on the Freeman, in particular, surprised Cari.
The freed slaves made Merk, the fisherman who’d helped her escape, captain of the captured Sultanate vessel. The triangular sail configuration more closely resembled the sails used by the small fishing boats these folks were used to and they were able to effect repairs based on long years of practice, along with some trial and error.
By the time they made it to Morton Creek and sailed into the harbor, the Freeman’s damage, primarily limited to damage to the rigging and the foremast, was repaired. All that remained was to seat a new mast where the old one had been cut away. The captured ship would be ready to return the freed slaves to their villages again so they could begin rebuilding their communities.
Cari met Merk on the dock where both ships tied up.
“Captain,” Cari said. “Once again I must commend you and your crew on the speed and quality of your repairs. What are your plans once the new mast is in place?”
“Many of the folk wish to return to their villages and rebuild their lives and homes. We will return them to their homes.”
“You said ‘many.’ What of the others?”
“We have enough men and women to crew the Freeman and we’ve decided to take her into the mercantile trade here in the western end of the Empire.”
“An excellent decision. May I ask a favor of you for your first voyage?”
“Certainly, we owe you our lives.”
“I am sending Lieutenant Claridge back to Tandon with an important message. I see no other large vessels here in port and the overland journey will take far too long.”
“You’d like us to take the lieutenant with us and deliver your message? Of course, we’d be honored to help you in your continuation of your families calling to protect the Empress and the Empire from its enemies.”
Cari cocked her head to the side, curious at the last statement.
“What do you mean?”