Pirate Queen

by H. N. Klett

  “It worked,” Orin said, “because by the time her father was finished, I had asked her to marry me.”

  Orin grinned to himself, warm in the memory of it.

  “And?” asked Hailey.

  “After her father christened the boat I thought of staying and setting up shop there, but something happened.”

  Hailey kept looking forward, avoiding his gaze.

  “She came to me one night, all in a panic, and said we had to leave Jakar right away. I couldn’t understand what would scare her so much and make her want to abandon her friends and family like that, but I was in love and didn’t want to question it. She told me that there was a book that we had to hide, that someone was coming for it, and for her. I don’t think I had ever seen your mother so afraid. We sailed out that night with a small crew that we gathered in the tavern and sailed here, never looking back.”

  They walked on in silence, the shushing sound of the moving sand beneath their feet and the moist smell of seaweed and salt in the air. One question rolled over and over in her head like the surf churning off the shore.

  “So what happened to the book?” Hailey finally asked.

  Orin gave a slight grin. “That creepy thing? Well, at first we sent it away for a friend to hold on to. Your mother thought it important that she not be around it for some reason. That friend ended up trading it with someone else and we lost touch with it. Until recently.”

  Her father cleared his throat, then continued. “My old friend and sailing partner, Seamus Pike, stumbled on it on a trip to Aibronne. He wrote me about it and we decided to meet up in Baron’s Bay. Your mother had asked me not too long before she died to get it to you if I ever found it. I don’t know what’s in it or why she sent it away, but it was important enough to her that you have it, so I got it for you.”

  He stopped walking, and Hailey stopped beside him. With a sigh, he looked at her and said, “It’s a shame it disappeared.” He shrugged his shoulders and walked on, leaving Hailey there for a moment.

  Hailey thought he obviously knew, but wasn’t saying anything. True to his word, he didn’t press her like Grandmother Rose. He was giving her space to talk after he presented the facts. Hailey felt a little relieved at the fact that her dad sounded like he was going to let the topic rest, especially since he had been planning on giving her the book anyway.

  Hailey caught up with him and they walked on in silence. Off the shore, a mist began to build just under the two red stars that made up the Skull. Hailey suddenly felt a chill and decided to ask what he knew.

  “Dad, what do you know about pirates?”

  She found herself staring over her shoulder at the two glowing eyes in the sky, almost as if the eyes were following her. Watching her. She shifted and felt the book still hidden in her waistband.

  With every sailor, there were three things you never talked about: the Queen in the east, the storms to the west, or the ghosts of pirates waiting in the middle. They believed that the more you talked about something, the more you summoned them to you. Hailey wondered how right that was.

  She looked at him apologetically as Orin stopped and gave the question quiet consideration. He turned and looked out over the ocean, its soft waves crashing in the moonlight. A slight breeze stirred his long gray ponytail as his eyes searched the water. He seemed to notice the mists gathering just off the shore.

  “People say that they are just a myth. Boogiemen created to scare children into behaving. When the King was alive he would send out search parties for them all the time, but they never found anything. I never believed in them too much, though like any good sailor I try to avoid sailing in the mists if I can help it.”

  Hailey thought about the warnings she had heard as a child.

  Eyes of red

  of the pirate dead

  Are on the hunt for you.

  Beware the mists,

  And take no risks,

  Lest you become a ghost pirate, too.

  “I used to hear a lot of stories about the ghost pirates from my father and other sailors in port back then. Occasionally someone would tell tale of a black ship that could be seen in the mists for a moment and then gone the next. My father’s first mate swore he saw an ominous shadow of a ship on the water with no ship there. He was known to tell a tall tale or two over a few drinks in the tavern, though. They all did.” He shook his head. “I never took much stock in it.”

  “Why not?” Hailey asked.

  “Well, you see, not many who actually saw the ghost pirates lived to tell the tale. There are a few here and there that sound more convincing than the others, but not many. Your grandfather believed in them. Said he actually ran into them. He used to talk about it to anyone who would listen. I never gave it much attention until he disappeared not long after you were born.”

  Hailey’s eyes went wide. She could feel the cold metal of the book pressing against her back. The more her father talked, the more it seemed to get colder and bite into her skin.

  He turned from her and looked at the moon reflecting on the waves and noticed that the mist off the coast was larger and getting closer still.

  “He would tell us that when he was younger there were many steamy nights like this, where the mists creep out of the cool water and dance with the warm night air. Everything off the shorelines would be covered in a thick gray blanket that ships would completely disappear into. They’d be found days later, lifeless and stripped of everything.”

  Hailey gasped. “What happened?”

  “At first the King and noblemen thought it was some local townsfolk privateering, but there was no way. Trade was too good and nobody was fool enough to risk sending their entire families, children and all, to the gallows for piracy. Nobody was that stupid. Dad and the rest of the people in town thought it was the ghosts exacting revenge for what the Crown had done to them.”

  According to the history books of her father’s and what she’d learned in school, Hailey knew that the King at that time had hunted down every known pirate family two hundred years ago. No man, woman, or child was spared the Crown’s wrath. Even helping one of the suspected pirates was a death sentence. It was a lesson that the schools were quick to burn into the hearts and minds of its citizens. Piracy was a death sentence for you and your entire bloodline.

  “More ships kept disappearing,” Orin went on, “so the Crown sent more ships to patrol the waters. The more patrols they sent, the more cargo ships would vanish into the mists without a trace. Your grandfather reckoned that there was no way any mortal ship could avoid one of the patrols. A boat would have to appear out of thin air.”

  Orin paused, as if not sure whether to continue. “Your grandfather was on one of those ships that disappeared.”

  Hailey gasped.

  “Actually, way he tells it, the pirates sunk it. He was just a cabin boy on a ship with a family friend, Captain Stevens. They were off the northern coast of Arwend making the run to McKinnett when the wind died down and the mists rolled in and covered them completely. He’d traveled through mists and all kinds of weather before, but nothing like this. The fog was thick and looked like tentacles wrapping themselves around the ship. It clung to everything it touched and was cold and wet. Oddly, he said it left a taste in your mouth like sour grapes.”

  “And then what happened?” Hailey asked.

  “Once in the mists, their compasses and navigation equipment quit working. They were trying to get their bearings when all of a sudden there was the roar of cannons and an explosion of wood and metal on their port side. Their masts cracked and toppled to the sea. The whole crew was dazed and riddled with splinters from the shots. Then it got quiet again.”

  Hailey stared out at the water, seeing the mists starting to reach the rocks just off the shore, making them look like teeth popping up out of the mists. He continued.

  “Then the black ship appeared. He said it looked like it flew out of the mist silently, like an owl, and slammed into their starboard side. Your grandfath
er was beside the rail when it hit and was flung overboard. Fortunately he had enough wits about him to find a chunk of the mast floating in the water to hold on to and keep from drowning.

  “He watched from the water as the dark figures with glowing eyes poured from the black ship onto the deck. He heard only a few cries from the crew, then it was quiet again. The ship began to smoke and burn. On the quarterdeck he saw Captain Stevens standing there shaking with his hands up in surrender. A dark figure stood there and asked him something that your grandfather couldn’t hear. He swore by the looks of it they were looking for something.”

  Hailey flinched and went wide eyed. This is real. They are coming.

  Orin stopped and turned to her.

  “Are you all right?” He shuffled back towards her.

  The blood had left Hailey’s face and she felt light-headed, but she waved him off. “Yeah, just…” She hugged herself and shifted uncomfortably as the book dug into her back. “Just scary, that’s all.”

  He nodded.

  “Well, poor Captain Stevens pleaded with the figure, but it did no good. It said not a word as it ran Captain Stevens through with its sword. The sight of it made your grandfather scream.”

  She shivered despite the warm night.

  “That’s when the thing turned its hateful glowing red eyes on him. It leaned over the rail and looked at your grandfather there, floating helplessly in the water. When telling the tale, he would go into eerie detail about every moment of that event. It used to scare me. He would talk about the creature’s glowing skull for a face or its ragged and torn dark clothes or the terrible black cutlass it held in its hands. He even talked about little things like the rings it had on its bony fingers.”

  “Rings?” Hailey asked.

  Orin looked at her for a moment, puzzled, and Hailey ducked her head a bit. She was slightly embarrassed asking him, but she had to know. “What did they look like?”

  Orin paused and looked at her oddly. “If I remember right, he said that they had a silver weaving and in the center was a tiny skull with red eyes to match its owner.”

  Hailey thought back to the boy in the market. Was it the same ring? Orin was still looking at her, then continued on, turning back to the sea.

  “The ghost pirate just stood there for a long time on the deck, staring at him. Dad thought for sure it would jump over the rail and split him in two, but instead the ghost just turned and walked away and left him there to die from cold and exposure.

  “Out of the whole crew of fifty men, he was the only survivor. His boat broke up and sank, and the black ship just vanished into the mists as quickly as it came, leaving him alone in the water holding on to only a small section of the mast that stayed afloat.”

  “How terrifying. Poor Grandfather!”

  “Luckily one of the Crown patrol ships happened to see him floating in the water the next morning and brought him aboard. He tried to tell them what happened, but they didn’t believe him.”

  He turned back to Hailey, shaking his head.

  “It wasn’t just the Crown, though. No one would believe him. They didn’t want to hear what really happened, no matter how many times he tried to tell them.”

  They stood there quietly for a while until Hailey asked, “Do you think they’re still out there?”

  “I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder. Your grandfather disappeared at sea when you were a baby. I always wondered if they had anything to do with it. You see, he told me that once a pirate sees you, they never let you go. I don’t know why he thought that. Oddly enough, his was the last ship to disappear into the mists.” He looked down uncomfortably. “Maybe they finally got what they were looking for.”

  The mists had crept up a bit too close for either of their liking, especially given the story he’d just told. They both decided to head towards home.

  They walked in silence. Hailey was lost in thought, thankful that her father had not called her out for taking the book. Instead he chose to let it go and tell her the story about the book itself and how it was meant for her anyway. After reading it, she now also knew why her mother wanted to get away from the book.

  Her mind was awash with questions. Was that what they were looking for when they attacked her grandfather’s ship? Or did the ghost pirates take away her grandfather for seeing them? Had the ghost pirates been after her mother, too? If so, would they do the same to her if she had the book? Or worse? If her mother wanted to get away from it, why tell her father to get it back for her?

  Orin turned to her and interrupted her thoughts. “It’s been a long time since I heard anyone ask anything about pirates. What made you bring it up?”

  She shook her head slightly to dispel all the questions swirling around her. She then shrugged, and while doing so, reached back and touched the edge of the book in her waistband once more.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it was something I read.”

  Chapter 8

  The next day was a blur of faces and motion to get everything ready. Swarms of ladies arrived at their house just after dawn to aid and claim credit for preparation of the evening’s events at the colonial mansion in the heart of town. Hailey’s grandmother commanded the seemingly endless rabble like a general in the field, and it was as if they were going to war with the Crown instead of hosting a welcoming party for one of its grand emissaries.

  Hailey tried her best to remain hidden from her family. After their long beach walk, Orin was summoned to the Merchant’s Guild House. It was late and Hailey was asleep by the time he came back. Normally after a long voyage such as theirs, he would have to meet and resolve conflicts within the guild when he returned, but the meetings were usually brief and he was home by supper time. Not this time.

  Orin had returned as the sun was beginning to peek out of the eastern sky, looking haggard and exhausted. Hailey heard him collapse into his bed at the top of the stairs for an hour until her grandmother quickly swooped down on him. Something was amiss with the party preparations and she needed Orin to go and sort it out right away, so she harassed and pecked away at him until he finally relented and got up.

  Hailey had heard the two of them go downstairs and thought it the best time to sneak down and get out of sight before her grandmother could find her. Her grandmother had made her go to bed early, which told her that she had a list of things she didn’t want to do awaiting her downstairs. She had planned on staying up and reading the book, but her grandmother watched over her until she doused her light and surrendered to sleep.

  She took the book from under her pillow and slid it under the false bottom of her dresser. Once done, she put on her dressing gown and quietly crept down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, her grandmother appeared at her side as if out of thin air. Hailey flinched and stifled a yelp.

  “Oh, good! You saved me the trip. Go back upstairs and get dressed, dear, we need to make our way down to the mansion.”

  Hailey had been caught. She didn’t want to go, but she knew trying to resist was futile. From the dining room she could hear the chattering of Rose’s friends waiting on them, so she bustled back up the stairs and quickly dressed, knowing that her day would be filled with cleaning.

  Grandmother Rose pattered up to Orin as he sat at the dining room table, where he was drinking a cup of coffee and reading over the lists of instructions and items needed from his mother. He didn’t look up as Grandmother Rose gave him a peck on the cheek and told him goodbye. Hailey remembered that her grandmother once did the same for her not too long ago. Now that her mother was gone, the simple and doting grandmother she once knew was gone, replaced with a woman determined to make up for her dead mother’s absence. She meant well, but she still missed the kisses and kindness all the same.

  Hailey looked back with envy to her father as she joined the group of ladies as they left to go to the mansion. She wished that she could be left alone to read as well. To be an observer of the storm, not caught in its fury. She had so many questions about the book. Where did
it come from? What did it have to do with the ghost pirates? Was that what they were looking for when they attacked her grandfather’s ship? Why did the ghost pirates want it in the first place? She had the feeling that all the answers she was looking for were in that book. She just needed to find the time and a place to hide and read it. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be happening today.

  Hailey knew that there was a lot of work to be done to get the mansion ready for the party. The normally short walk to get from her house to the mansion seemed like an eternity. Every step along the way, Grandmother Rose ticked off things that would either need to be cleaned or arranged when they got there.

  The mansion had stood vacant for some time; its last inhabitant a Crown overseer who had been called back to the capital just before the Cowl’s Ridge incident. It had been years since anyone even thought about a replacement—there was simply no need. The Merchant’s Guild paid its tithes and taxes on time. Daden’s shipping had never slowed; goods flowed throughout the empire and population growth and sentiment wasn’t enough to merit attention from the Crown. They were all happy and content, so it had been a surprise to them all when the decree went out that the Crown was sending them another representative.

  Grandmother Rose explained to the ladies as they walked up the stairs leading up to the grand white mansion that once she had heard the announcement in the town square, her sense of propriety and duty couldn’t allow such a man of high status to arrive without a grand welcome. Hailey wondered if it wasn’t simply ulterior motives. Her mind went back to the fitting the day before as she grabbed a bucket and a mop and went to work removing the years of neglect from the mansion.

  As the day wore on, the storm of ladies began to slowly dissipate as they slipped out to prepare for the night’s activities. It was just after lunchtime when Rose was satisfied enough to dismiss everyone from setting up.

  Hailey and her grandmother walked home in silence. Once through the gate, Hailey followed her grandmother, and they walked the path around the main house to the small wooden-slatted kitchen house out back. A swarm of servants were coming in and out, carrying trays of foods, dancing around each other as they passed on the narrow staircase like bees in a hive.