The Captive Kingdom

by Jennifer A. Nielsen

  Suddenly, I sat up, patting wildly at my pockets. “Where is it?” I mumbled.

  “Where is what?” Tobias asked.

  “The lens? Did you lose the lens?” Teagut leaned over the water hole behind me and peered in. When he saw nothing, he rocked back on his heels to glare at me. “You cannot have been this foolish!”

  I continued searching through my pockets until ending at the one in the right leg of my trousers. With my brows pressed low, I looked from Teagut to Tobias. “The lens should be here.”

  “There?” Teagut snarled. “You should have known it would fall out!”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly have time to plan my escape!” I gestured toward the water hole. “But if you want to swim back down and search for it, go ahead!”

  One of the pirates behind Teagut lunged at me, swiping me across my jaw. “Search him!”

  Three other pirates followed his lead, digging through my pockets until Teagut and Tobias pushed them off me. Tobias shouted, “You won’t harm your king!”

  “Roden won the duel,” said the man who had hit me.

  With Tobias’s help, I stood, massaging my jaw. “If you want treasure, then take it from the Prozarians who brought you here.” The grumbling stopped … or at least, quieted a bit. “Return with me now, and if you get me back to the cave before sunrise, I promise that you will be rewarded.”

  The pirates continued moaning over a treasure that now would never be theirs, but several of them did hurry ahead. Tobias kept his arm around my shoulders to help me walk and Teagut joined him on the other side. But we had only taken a few steps before Teagut said, “Without the lens, you have nothing to bargain with after we return.”

  My brow pressed low with sincere concern. “I know.”

  Tobias frowned over at me. “Then let’s hope nothing else goes wrong.”

  Teagut sighed. “We know you, Jaron. Something always goes wrong.”

  Yes, it did.

  * * *

  At Tobias’s urgings, the pirates pushed me along the trail faster than I wanted to go. At first, I tried explaining that I’d fought a duel with Roden, taken a beating along the backs of my legs, swum through an ice water tunnel, and had a rock crash into me, knocking me unconscious, only to be recovered by a medicine that would’ve made me lose my last meal, if I’d had one.

  “Sounds like an ordinary day for you.” Tobias didn’t let up on his pace for an instant.

  My next strategy was to dig my feet into the ground and slow everyone down, but Teagut only laughed and pushed me onward, with a few of the pirates threatening to carry me like an old woman if I couldn’t keep up.

  Since I’d have rather been beaten again than carried, my third strategy was to keep up. And as I did, I slowly warmed up, and the effects of Tobias’s medicine faded.

  By the time the cave was in view, I was sore and exhausted, and my temper was stirring. In other words, I felt almost normal.

  Dawn had begun hinting at the horizon, a reminder that if Tobias had not forced us to move so quickly, it would have been too late. On the north side of the river, Darius, Amarinda, and Roden stood with their hands bound behind them, each of them surrounded by Prozarian vigils, eighteen in total. None of my other friends were here.

  Wilta was the first to see us coming and immediately alerted her mother. From her shocked reaction, she might not have expected me to return by land with an army of banished pirates. In truth, I hadn’t expected this either.

  Strick rushed to the edge of the overlook, wildly waving her arms to get the attention of those down on the beach. “All Prozarians, come to the defense of your monarch!”

  I said to Teagut, “Send everyone down to stop them. No one gets up here.”

  Teagut turned and called to the rest of the pirates, “We’ve been itching for a proper battle. Follow me!”

  With eager shouts, they raised swords and scattered, filling the trails down to the beach. Tobias remained at my side, a knife in his hands. I still had the sword from the caves, which I held ready as I crossed onto the overlook.

  Captain Strick and Wilta walked forward to greet me, with Lump and Mercy trailing behind them, their weapons out.

  Wilta looked past me. “Where’s Phillip?”

  When I shook my head at her, she nodded with understanding. “In truth, we didn’t expect to see either of you again, not after all this time.”

  “I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

  “On the contrary, I’m relieved to see you here.” She held out her hand. “I assume you have the third lens. I am willing to keep my promise and allow your friends to go free.”

  I shook my head. “It’s time to keep my promise to free Belland. Consider this the beginning of our negotiations. But I warn you now, I’m terrible at negotiations. This will be easier if you give me what I want.”

  “And what do you want?”

  Our eyes met. I didn’t blink once when I said, “I want to finish this. Now.”

  Wilta withdrew her hand. Her expression was tight and her temper was already warming. “We are not leaving Belland without the third lens.”

  From this height, I saw the ships emptying out as Prozarians ran to the beach to fight the pirates. I grinned. “You are leaving, though not on that ship.”

  She turned to see which ship I was talking about. As she did, I lifted my hand high into the air and quickly lowered it.

  But nothing happened.

  Which was rather embarrassing.

  Nothing happened for long enough that the captain finally sighed. “Enough talk, Wilta. End this.”

  Wilta gestured for Lump and Mercy to advance on me, but neither one had taken a single step before a loud explosion out in the harbor shook the ground.

  Pieces of wood scattered high into the air. A few men who must have still been on board one of the Prozarian ships jumped into the sea as the vessel angled sideways, taking on water from below.

  While the others ducked and covered their heads, I rocked back on my heels. It was impolite to boast at a moment like this, but the explosion had been grander than I’d expected. Absolutely worth the extra few seconds of waiting.

  Captain Strick’s eyes widened into saucers and her hand covered her mouth. Wilta’s cry of horror still lingered in something between a gasp and a slow exhale.

  “I didn’t like that boat anyway,” I said. “Now, release my brother and my friends, then send your fighters to the beach to surrender to the pirates.”

  Wilta merely glared toward the sea with clenched teeth. That was a mistake. I shrugged, then raised and lowered my arm once more. “You should have believed me when I said I’m not good at negotiations.”

  I’d anticipated the delay this time, and so within seconds of my speaking, an explosion rocked the second ship, rolling it sideways to lean against the third ship. As before, any crewman on that ship quickly jumped into the water.

  “Did you see that?” I asked.

  She had. Panicked, Wilta motioned to Lump. “Untie the prisoners. The rest of you, leave this overlook.”

  Quickly, the Prozarians left, except Lump, who was untying Amarinda, and Mercy, whose face looked as if he too might explode.

  He freed Roden, who grabbed Tobias’s arm. “Let’s help the pirates.”

  Tobias stepped back. “How?” Maybe Tobias didn’t want to fight the Prozarians. Maybe he didn’t want to leave Amarinda up here with Darius. Either way, he protested the entire time that Roden pushed him along the trail.

  Wilta asked me, “How are you doing that? I will agree to nothing more until you explain.”

  “It must be those crates of weapons,” her mother said. “We transferred one crate onto each ship. Roden warned they may have some gunpowder on them.”

  “They had gunpowder in them,” I said. “You willingly carried to each ship the method of your own destruction.”

  “We can end this now.” Wilta held out her hand. “Give me the third lens and we’ll leave Belland.”

  “I have no
lens to give you. It was only from thin luck that I even made it out alive.”

  “You lost the lens?” The sudden rage in her eyes was alarming. “I’ll make you wish you hadn’t made it out alive.”

  I glanced over at Darius and Amarinda, stunned at Wilta’s boldness. “They’re still threatening me? Will one of you remind them that I am currently exploding their only escape from this island?”

  Amarinda said, “Please do as Jaron asks. Vengeance will cost far more than you have already lost. Learn that lesson now, and go home, in peace.”

  Strick shook her head. “If we leave now, it will not be in peace.”

  I said, “You’ve worked hard to understand me, but I think I understand you too. You are a coward, Captain Strick. Like all cowards, you attack because you feel weak. You gain respect through fear and threats because nothing else works for you. I pity that.”

  Darius added, “There will never again be any agreements between us. Long after your time has passed, the true king of Carthya will continue to reign.”

  “We do not fear you.” Strick’s eyes turned as cold as I still felt. “We will come for you, Darius, after you have become fat and comfortable on your throne.”

  At her side, Wilta turned and raised her arm to signal to the Prozarians below. “It’s the weapons crates,” she called. “Find them and —”

  “Don’t lower that hand!” I reached around her back in an attempt to stop her, but she pushed me away, barely casting a glance at me. Instead, her eyes flew toward the harbor when the third ship exploded.

  I clicked my tongue. “I did warn you. Now, you and all your people will abandon Belland with a vow never to return again, nor to make any further demands on these people.”

  “Belland is ours!”

  “No, I don’t think so. Listen to the name of the people who live here: Bellanders. Did you hear how their name sounds like their country?” I pulled my hand from my pocket and raised my arm high. “I assume that you come from somewhere that sounds like your name. Where is that? Prozaria? Prozar? Prozariamalaria?”

  “Never!”

  “That is another mistake.” At my signal, the fourth ship exploded, this one so violently that the ship actually seemed to have momentarily leapt from the water.

  Two ships now remained in the harbor: their flagship and the Shadow Tide.

  “We’ll leave Belland,” Wilta agreed. “Stop destroying our ships!”

  “You will never step foot in Carthya, nor in any of the countries with whom we have treaties.”

  “How will we know which countries are forbidden to us?”

  “Should we repeat the lesson on countries that sound like your name? Stay inside your own borders. To replace the pirate’s ship you sank, the Shadow Tide is mine now, which leaves you only one ship. Give me your answer, or you will swim away from here.”

  Wilta’s shoulders slumped as she turned to her mother. “Call our people back to the ship. We surrender.”

  Captain Strick glared at me unflinchingly, even as she sent Lump to the beach with orders for an immediate departure. I hardly cared. I was good at glaring too.

  “There’s one more thing,” I said.

  Strick sighed. “What?”

  “I want every Prozarian weapon. In exchange for the weapons you stole from me.”

  “No, Wilta,” her mother warned.

  “What other choice do we have?” Wilta snapped. She walked to the edge of the overlook, held out her arms for the attention of everyone on the beach, and shouted down, “My people, surrender your weapons!”

  She bent to her knees, then released her sword and a long knife that had been at her waist, letting them clang to the ground far below. Her mother followed her example, then the two of them left the overlook, arm in arm. Wilta’s head was bowed in defeat. Her mother’s head was not.

  The Prozarians on the beach must have followed their example, because that was when, for the first time, I heard the voices I had been almost desperate for. From the beach, Roden’s voice rose up first. “Pirates, collect those weapons. They will serve as payment for our time here.”

  I cocked my head. We could negotiate that later, along with who would keep the title of pirate king.

  “Mott, have you seen Darius?” That was Trea’s voice, arriving on the beach.

  “Where is Jaron?” I grinned, relieved to hear Imogen’s voice. Equally relieved that she was asking about me.

  I started toward the overlook, only to hear Mercy cry, “Curse you for this, Jaron!”

  I turned and saw him racing toward me, a knife in his hands. I raised my sword but wasn’t fast enough to lift it to the proper angle. Before he reached me, Darius attacked him from behind. Mercy attempted to twist around and stab Darius instead, but when he rolled away, his legs fell into the river. Mercy continued squirming, throwing his weight away from Darius. He wormed free, only realizing too late that the current was carrying him toward the cave opening. He clutched at some grasses on the shore, but his grip was slipping.

  “You are the son of a traitor!” Mercy growled. “How dare you challenge us?”

  “I am a king.” Darius held out his hand to drag Mercy out of the water. “Swear to never harm my brother again.”

  Mercy only spat at the proffered hand, and in the same moment, the clump of grass broke off in his fist. Seconds later, we heard his body splash into the water far below.

  Darius crouched low, resting his arms on his legs, head bowed until Amarinda touched his shoulder. He smiled up at her, but immediately turned back to me, meeting my eyes with an expression of relief.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  He nodded back. “You already saved me. I owed you this.”

  Unaware of what had just happened, Fink called up, “Jaron, are you up there? You need to see this!”

  I took a slow breath, then Amarinda joined me on one side and Darius on the other, and together we walked to the edge of the overlook, where Wilta and her mother had just knelt in defeat. There, I caught my breath in my throat. The Prozarians on the beach were on their knees in surrender. Pirates stood among them with the collected swords and knives in their arms.

  From below, the Bellanders must have joined the pirates in the fight, and they were the first to see me. Someone pointed up and shouted, “Hail to the Giver of Freedom, and brother of our king.”

  “Brother to a king,” I murmured. I smiled over at Darius and genuinely meant it. I had my brother back. That would always be enough.

  I was alone on the cave overlook for some time, warmed by the rising sun. I remained there long after the Prozarians had begun their evacuation, after the pirates had loaded the Shadow Tide with the weapons Roden had allotted to them, and long after the Bellanders had returned to their homes in peace.

  I stood at the edge of the opening into the cave, staring down at the rising tide, waves crashing against the walls before flowing back out to sea. The Prozarians were leaving, but with icy hearts and bitter threats about when they would see me again. I was not foolish enough to doubt them. The consequences for what had happened here would be severe. To me. To Darius. To all of Carthya, and perhaps even beyond our borders. I would have to be ready.

  Teagut soon arrived at the overlook, carrying a large bag of coins in his arms. “There’s a man on the beach who says he goes by the name of Lump now. He owes you payment for his lost wager.”

  Teagut dropped the bag on the ground, but I said, “Everything you can carry in one hand is payment for the sword you lent me. Take the rest, for equal distribution among the pirates.”

  “What about payment for pulling you out of that lava tube?”

  “Equal shares, Teagut.”

  “But I … very well.” Teagut hesitated again. “Earlier this afternoon when Roden challenged you to become pirate king, he didn’t truly win. Jaron, you are our king. When you’re ready, we’ll be waiting to carry you back home.”

  After he left, I sat on the edge of the overlook, facing the sea. The ships
that I had exploded were in various stages of sinking, tilting, and falling apart. The pirates were salvaging from them as well. The Prozarians would return home with almost nothing other than the clothes on their backs, and most seemed relieved to even have that much.

  I had never wanted to bring so much devastation upon them. I wished they would have listened sooner than they did.

  “Jaron?”

  I looked behind me and started to my feet, but Imogen was quicker to sit at my side. Her wet hair was neatly combed and rebraided, and I couldn’t imagine her any more beautiful than she was right now. I still didn’t know if I had lost her, or even if I had any chance with her.

  When we had last seen each other at the hut, I knew my words had hurt her. Half my time on this cliff had been spent trying to figure out a way to repair things between us. I had come up with nothing other than to conclude that on my best day, I still did not deserve her. I worried that she had finally figured that out too, or maybe she had known it all along.

  I quickly said, “It is my life, Imogen.” She turned away, but I took her hand in mine, adding, “There is a part of us that is only my life. It is full of flaws and mistakes and stupidity, nothing that would ever describe you.” She lowered her head, and I knew she was listening now. I folded my fingers between hers. “Another part of us is our life, and it is beautiful because of you. Imogen, you are my purpose, the reason I open my eyes each morning. I close my eyes each night only in hopes of dreaming of you. Every day that my heart still beats, it is because of you.” For the first time, I looked at her and saw tears rimming her eyes.

  The first tear spilled onto her cheek. “You really do say the worst possible things at the worst possible times … but not always. Sometimes you know what to say to make me love you more than I did before.”

  I cocked my head, an excuse to get closer to her. “Please tell me this is one of those occasions.”

  She reached for me and leaned in for a kiss, one that was too quickly interrupted by Fink, who had come up behind us. “Really? You’re doing that here? The whole beach can see you.”