Pirate Queen

by H. N. Klett

  The latches along the sides of the book clicked open as she pulled the book closer. She rolled off her legs and sat on the floor, stretching out and leaning against her bed, and opened the book in her lap. She stared at the blank page and waited for it to tell her something, anything, to fix the situation. The page blankly stared back at her.

  The book seemed to have a hold on her, was compelling her to do something. She started to wonder if her will was her own anymore.

  Hailey sat there and questioned her life. She wondered if she had ever truly done anything for herself, or had she just been putting on an act for everyone? She always did what she was told without question, whether she wanted to or not. She felt compelled to make everyone happy, especially since her mother died.

  And here she was again, wanting someone to tell her what to do. Should she give the book to her dad and let him worry about it? Should she give it to the bishop so he would leave her alone? Maybe she could throw it in the sea and hope the pirates got it?

  She wanted to throw the book in the trash and be done with it, but something told her that she would only fish it out. She could give it back to her dad, but then the Crown would be after him as well. All she wanted to do was be free, free from all of it. The book, her grandmother, growing up, the incessant need to please everyone. All of it. She just wanted to live her life how she wanted to.

  A hole in her soul the shape of her mom ached. She wished she could see her, talk to her. She would have known what to do.

  She shook the book in frustration and asked it through clenched teeth, “What am I supposed to do?”

  Words bubbled up on the page.

  BE READY.

  THEY KNOW.

  The words instantly sent her from being simply afraid into full-blown panic. She began to sweat and shake as she held the book.

  “What?” She fought the urge to scream at it and forced a whisper. “Who are they and what do they know?”

  THE BISHOP.

  THE QUEEN.

  THEY KNOW YOU HAVE THE BOOK.

  THEY KNOW YOU CAN OPEN IT.

  THEY WILL COME FOR YOU, HAILEY.

  IT WON’T END WELL.

  Hailey couldn’t help but gulp at the last line. Wouldn’t end well? Also, the book knew that Bishop Graver had seen her with the book. How was that possible? Despite having just wanted to live her own life, now she wanted more than ever to know what to do. For someone to tell her what to do. She found herself wishing she’d waited for her father to come home with her. She was having a hard time controlling her breathing. She started to rock back and forth while anxiously clutching at the book and gritting her teeth.

  “This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening.” Over and over she repeated the words like a mantra to convince herself, but it didn’t work.

  The book cleared its pages and responded.

  HAILEY, THIS IS HAPPENING.

  Hailey could have sworn she heard the book sigh.

  ARE YOU WAITING FOR ME TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO?

  “Yes.” She was ashamed to admit it.

  EMBRACE YOUR FATE. YOU ARE THE NAVIGATOR, AFTER ALL.

  YOU MUST GO OUT TO SEA AND MEET THE PIRATES.

  NOW.

  BEFORE THE CROWN COMES TO GET YOU.

  Now? In the middle of the night? There were no boats sailing from the harbor at that hour. How could seeking out the pirates be better than being taken by the Crown?

  Again, reading her thoughts, the book responded.

  YOU MAY LIVE SLIGHTLY LONGER IF YOU DO.

  The words were of no comfort to her. The word “slightly” seemed to burn itself in her mind before the pages cleared and in even larger letters, more words appeared.

  HIDE ME! SOMEONE IS COMING.

  She looked up and snapped the book shut. She barely heard the soft creak of someone coming up the stairs. Probably her grandmother coming to check and see where she had gotten off to. The woman not only watched her like a hawk, she was as silent as one, too. Hailey slid the book back under the dresser and quickly stood to touch the light globe again, bringing the room into darkness. She slid under the covers just as someone began to work at the lock on the door.

  Though she kept her eyes shut, Hailey could feel the light from the open door on her face. She could hear the soft nasal breathing of her grandmother as she stood over her.

  “Oh, child,” she whispered softly to herself. “I wish I could do more for you.”

  What Hailey wished her grandmother could do for her at that moment was to leave so she could listen to the book and make her escape, but it was not to be. Rose stood in the doorway, sighing and looking over her, and Hailey heard her leave. Then to Hailey’s horror, she heard the soft commotion of a chair being brought in. Rose set it down gently and there was a series of quiet creaks as she settled in next to the bed. Hailey was trapped in the room. She tried to wait her grandmother out, but she would not leave.

  Hailey eventually gave up and went to sleep, hoping she could slip away in the morning.

  Chapter 10

  Hailey’s eyes flew open and she sat up in fear as her grandmother burst into the room. Had she slept at all? She felt as though she had only just closed her eyes.

  “Get up, child! I have wonderful news.”

  Her grandmother moved about the room, opening the shutters to let the light in, then she shuffled to the tall closet next to Hailey’s dresser and began looking through the dresses.

  The light was dim and warm, telling her that it was early in the morning and the sun was still relatively low in the sky. It had been late already when Hailey snuck away from the party. She wondered if her grandmother had slept at all or if she had stayed up through the night.

  Rose came over to her bedside and laid a dress on the covers.

  “You, my dear, must have made quite the impression last night!”

  Hailey squinted up at her, trying to follow. “What do you mean?”

  “You received a letter first thing this morning from the bishop.” Her grandmother looked as if she could hardly contain herself. “He’s invited us to a royal tea!” Her grandmother’s smile wilted a little at Hailey’s expression. Instead being full of elation, it was laced with fear.

  “Now, Hailey, there’s no need to be like that.” Her grandmother crossed the floor and opened another cabinet to look for matching shoes. “Naturally I accepted the invitation right away. They will send a coach over shortly to pick us up.”

  Hailey kicked off the covers and stood to protest, but her grandmother cut her off.

  “No time to delay. Be sure to clean up and get dressed.” And with that she exited the room, closing the door behind her.

  Hailey growled in frustration. Her grandmother’s good intentions had delivered her right into the Crown’s hands. She sat on the bed and sighed. What would the book say?

  She knew what the book had said the night before. It told her that she was in danger and the only way out of this mess was to find the pirates. If that was the case, she would have to get to the docks.

  She pulled back the cover and looked at the dress her grandmother had picked out for her. It was made of a light yellow fabric with small white flowers sewn on. Grandmother Rose had bought it for her before she left with her father for Baron’s Bay. Hailey’s teenage mind thought it made her look too much like a little girl. Like another dress-up doll to play with.

  Like many of the outfits her grandmother had bought her before, it came with a porcelain doll with the same outfit. It was an extra expense that her grandmother thought would bring Hailey some kind of joy. After all, she was her only granddaughter, and in a way, the little girl she never had herself. She did it out of love; Hailey knew that. But had Rose ever paid attention, she would have seen the layer of dust on the other dolls she had gotten for her in the past, as they sat there quietly and untouched on the shelves Hailey’s grandmother had so carefully shaped out of the tree to line Hailey’s walls.

  The new doll looked out at her from the glass c
ase from which it was trapped, along with several others. The dolls meant that Hailey didn’t need to look at her wardrobe; she had a miniature glass display of all of her outfits. She often thought her grandmother wanted her to be just like those tiny dolls. Perfect clothes, perfect hair, with perfect made-up tan faces looking out at the world through empty eyes waiting to be used.

  Hailey decided it best to put on the dress over her shorts and shirt so she could quickly change later if she needed to. She let down her hair and brushed it out, then worked it back into her usual sea braid. She knew that her grandmother would not approve, but considering that she was wearing the dress her grandmother chose, she didn’t think she would fight her too much.

  She made one last check to verify that the book still remained in its hiding spot. It was still there. She couldn’t understand the anxiety she felt by its absence, like a feeling gnawing at her to pick it up. To touch it. To read it. She wished she had time to sit and read it but between her grandmother and the gurgling of her stomach, she had to get to breakfast. Besides, bringing a contraband book to a Crown function was surely a recipe for a hanging, especially since the bishop was after it.

  Her stomach growled loudly once again, so she stepped away from the dresser and quickly put on her shoes and made her way to the door. She trotted down the stairs that lined the wall of the home, driven by hunger. On the way down, she looked over the vast open space that was the entrance and living room, and she saw it was empty save for a pack of servants doing their morning work. The handful of servants, all with the flaming red hair of the servant class, picked up their pace of morning work when they caught sight of Hailey. She had never reprimanded them before, but Hailey had seen her grandmother do so dozens of times. In their minds, she must be just as bossy by association. That if her grandmother scolded them, she in time would do so as well. Hailey shook her head at the thought.

  At the bottom of the stairs, she decided that everyone must be in the dining room and crossed towards the back of the house. Her stomach continued to growl.

  Entering the formal dining room, she saw that it was also empty. No one sat at the large wooden table in the center of the room. She knew that there was only one other place they could all be gathered around for breakfast. She made her way to the kitchen house.

  Inside, there was a small table to the side. The table had already seen its first morning visitor, for a folded Morning Tidelands news sheet and an empty coffee mug rested at one of the empty settings of the small table. Her father must have already gone. Hailey had hoped he would be there so she could tell him about what the book had said. Get his advice. Have him tell her what to do.

  Grandmother Rose descended the stairs of the kitchen, a young servant in tow, carrying a sizzling cast iron skillet full of eggs and bacon. The young servant girl set the pan on the table’s trivet and removed her gloves, bowed slightly to Grandmother Rose, and hustled back into the kitchen.

  “Please, eat. They may be serving finger food at the tea, but I don’t want you to arrive at the bishop’s party on an empty stomach. Heaven forbid people see how much you really eat.” She chuckled to herself as she pulled up a seat.

  Hailey leapt on the eggs and bacon, scooping as much as she could on her plate with reckless abandon. She hadn’t had much to eat before or during the party and she found herself so ravenous that she thought she could eat her weight in eggs.

  “Where’s Dad?” Hailey asked around a mouthful of eggs. Grandmother Rose gave her a withering look.

  “Now, Hailey, I don’t want you to display such poor manners today. It will be the death of me.” She sighed. “Your father went out early to talk with a few members of the guild. He should be back by the time you get back from the tea. He mentioned that he wanted to talk to you about something.”

  Hailey paused briefly in her inhalation of her breakfast. She remembered the look in her father’s eyes at the party when he asked about the book. There must be something important going on, and it involved the guild as well as the Crown.

  The moment she finished the last bite on her plate, her grandmother took the plate and got up and went to the kitchen to hand the dish to a servant. Returning to the table, she stood over Hailey.

  “Well, let me look at you.” Hailey stood, and her grandmother looked her over and tsked to herself about Hailey’s obviously poor choice in hairstyles. It would have to do. She didn’t have time to do anything else.

  From the doorway of the house, one of the servants, this one tall and wide with his long hair pulled into a bun, stood and waited for Grandmother Rose to notice him. Hailey recognized him as the family groundsman, one of their handful of servants.

  “Yes, what is it?” Rose called out to him.

  The servant’s voice was a deep baritone that sounded like a low church bell as he announced across the courtyard, “Crown emissary to see you, ma’am.”

  Rose took a step towards the house to go and greet the emissary, but the sound of hard boots on wooden floors behind the groundsman made her stop.

  The tall servant stepped aside and a man wearing the royal red of a Crown officer stepped forward. His features were chiseled and his complexion slightly darker, betraying his time in outdoor service. This man was more marine than emissary.

  “I am here to escort Miss Hailey Heartstone to the mansion.” His body language offered more command than conversation.

  “Excellent, let us be on our way.” Grandmother Rose made a step forward but was halted by a sharp hand gesture from the emissary.

  “My orders are to escort Miss Heartstone, and Miss Heartstone alone, to the colonial mansion.”

  “This cannot be! You don’t expect me to send my only granddaughter off to a formal function unaccompanied!”

  “Is it her safety that you are concerned about?” He cocked an eyebrow at her, smirking slightly.

  “Not at all. I am just concerned that it is her first formal event, that is all. She may not know to handle the social situation properly without my guidance—”

  The man tilted his head and looked at her questioningly while raising an eyebrow. His face seemed to grow even darker.

  “Are you saying that you are a better teacher of manners and decorum than one of the heads of the almighty Church of the Ancestors?”

  Hailey could tell Grandmother Rose was not going to win this one. Even though he was only an emissary—if she were to believe that—he still wore the royal red of the Crown. A symbol of not just nobility, but a warning of the price to those that questioned the Crown. A blood red price.

  Hailey could see the defeat registering on Grandmother Rose’s face and her composure seemingly deflating.

  “Not at all, good sir. Please forgive me.”

  The man nodded and Rose turned to Hailey and put her hands on her shoulders and tried to give her best smile. The trepidation in her eyes was hard for Hailey to miss. Hailey could see that her concern for letting Hailey go wasn’t just the decorum; it was for her safety. Stories about Crown representatives behaving badly or marrying off the lower classes to nobles had been common gossip around the tea carts for years. Grandmother Rose feared that this might be such an occasion.

  For all her rigidity, Hailey knew that there was nothing but softness in the heart of Grandmother Rose for her. Her being so hard on Hailey was her way of showing her love to her, in her own weird way. She demanded better of her because she could see better in her. In that moment, Hailey realized just how much love her grandmother really had for her.

  The two looked at each other a long moment as if they were saying a silent last goodbye. Grandmother Rose broke the silence with a sigh.

  “Well, you better get going. I don’t want you to be late.”

  Hailey nodded and hugged her grandmother, which took Rose by surprise. It was the first time either of them could recall hugging one another in some time.

  Her grandmother whispered to her. “Be careful.”

  “I will.”

  Grandmother Rose quickl
y released her, nodded at the emissary, and scooted to the kitchen house, trying to hide the look of concern on her face.

  “Come back to us soon, dear.” She tried to smile a bit.

  Hailey could only nod briskly and turned and walked over to the emissary, who gave a slight bow and motioned for her to go ahead of him.

  They went through the interior of the tree house and out the side door. A large coach awaited them, drawn by two great steel horses. The emissary opened the door and helped her into the carriage and closed the door, and a small ping signified it locking behind her. The emissary took his seat on top of the carriage and with a lurch, the coach rolled out onto the crowded morning streets.

  The streets were crowded, slowing the progress of the carriage on its route to the mansion. Crowds crested around the iron horses like water on the prow of a ship; people parted and ebbed back in their wake. She had thought about picking the lock and running, but the emissary would surely see her leaving and stop her. She had to bide her time and hope that something came up that she could take advantage of to get away. If the book was right, she was riding into danger.

  Alone in the carriage, Hailey chose to pass the time looking out the window. She had never been in a carriage before and was disappointed by the interior. Though it was soft and luxurious, it was rather plain. There was nothing to catch her eye, just simple silk benches and padded walls. Outside the carriage at least offered her something to look at. She thought about her situation, her eyes following the flow of people around the square as they passed, though she could not enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of the town’s open markets as she had before.

  Her mind swirled about with the grim possibilities of what lay ahead. Either be hanged for contraband or be killed by ghosts. Either way, it would end badly for her and her father. But he was the one that acquired the book in the first place and lied to a Crown captain about it. Maybe if she threw herself on the mercy of the Crown they would spare her father?