When he made it back to the helm, Doon nearly tripped over two corpses that had piled up at the door. Tobias' pale, panicked face made him feel a bit guilty. “You're killing lots of someones, I see,” Doon casually commented as he took the wheel from Tobey's trembling hand.
“Nine, actually. I'm up to nine,” Tobey sorrowfully reported as he stepped away from the wheel. “I don't know why I'm counting, but I am.”
“You'll have to kill a lot more if you want to catch up to me.” Doon squinted, concentrating intently as he turned the ship around. One of the Black Wings ships was closing in on the radio tower; Doon wanted to stop them before it was utterly destroyed. “Tobias, you and I will make our way to the sub cannons. You two!” Doon snapped his fingers at two of the pirates who were standing by. “Go to the main cannon and wait. If you have a shot, take it. Bryce, for now, you can pilot the ship.”
“Uh huh,” Bryce nodded slowly as he took the wheel from Doon.
“Doon,” Tobias moaned as they headed to the sub cannons, “Is it alright to leave the ship in Bryce's hands? I'm not trying to be rude, but that man doesn't seem especially... bright.”
“Bryce can steer a ship, I promise. He's a bit thick in the head, but he knows what to do in a pinch.”
Tobias and Doon hurried to the starboard side of the ship and descended to the sub cannons. “Weapons out,” Doon advised as he leapt down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, the airship suddenly rattled and shook.
“What was that?” Tobias gasped.
“I think we were hit.” Doon paused a moment, listening and waiting. “It doesn't seem bad, though. Now... grab some cannonballs and bring them to me. There are at least a dozen cannons here. I'm going to load and fire them all at once.”
The munitions for the sub cannons were heavy, but not nearly as cumbersome as the cannonballs for the main gun. Tobias grabbed two and passed them to Doon, who loaded the cannons as quickly as he could. As they loaded the guns, they were suddenly ambushed by three enemy soldiers who hoped to use the narrow corridor to their advantage. Two of them approached from Tobias' side of the hallway. When Doon realized this, he yelled, “Change sides, please!”
When his pupil didn't react quickly enough, Doon yanked his shirt. Tobias spun in a full circle as they switched positions. Tobey felt a bit dizzy when he raised his sword, but he blocked the incoming attack easily enough. Doon, with two swords in hand, took on two enemy officers at once. He underestimated them, as he often did—or perhaps he wasn't used to fighting in such close quarters. Either way, his arm was slashed at the beginning of the fight.
The sting of his flesh only fueled Doon's determination. While blocking one of the officers, he stabbed the other in the throat. When one of them was down, he wildly swung both swords at the officer that remained. Within seconds, the man was on his knees, cradling his stomach as blood poured through his fingers.
Doon turned to help Tobias, but to his surprise, his young comrade had the situation under control. More specifically, Tobey's sword was plowing through his attacker's chest. As Tobey ripped his sword free, Doon quietly told him, “And that would be number ten. Congratulations.”
“Wonderful,” Tobias groaned.
Doon finished loading the cannons, and when they were ready, he checked their position. When he noticed they were descending on one of the Black Wings airships, he shouted, “Perfect!” and tossed a silver lighter at Tobias, who barely caught it.
“What's this for?” Tobias asked as he idly flicked the lighter, igniting its tiny flame.
“It's for firing the cannons, you do—” Doon was going to call him a dolt, then he realized that wouldn't be very kind, so he stopped himself. “Err... you light the six on that side, I'll light the six over here.”
Tobias and Doon sprinted down the hallway in opposite directions, lighting each cannon's fuse along the way. A cacophony of cannon fire and subsequent explosions had Tobias' ears ringing. Doon rolled up his sleeve, checking the wound on his arm. It was deeper than he expected, and blood pumped continuously down his arm, but he couldn't let it distract him.
“BOSS!”
Doon could barely hear Bryce calling to him, so he hurried back to the helm as fast as he could. By the time he reached Bryce, the captain was breathless. “What is it?” he panted.
“Look! You won't believe it!” Bryce pointed at the enemy ship, which was partially consumed by flame. “I think they're goin' down! I think you did it!”
“There's still one ship left, Bryce,” Doon said. “And we should stay on our guard. There could still be more soldiers lurking on this ship.”
“There are,” Tobias groaned as he joined them at the helm. “I just killed one as I made my way up here. Lucky number eleven, as it were.”
“You aren't injured, are you?” Doon asked Tobias, who surprisingly shook his head. “I think you're the only one who's not injured. Well done.”
“Boss look!” Bryce handed Doon a spyglass and pointed at the final Black Wings vessel, which was in the process of turning. “I think they might be tryin' to run away!”
“Are they?” Doon studied the remaining airship through Bryce's spyglass. They were, without question, attempting to flee at top speed. “Hm... should we go after them?”
“I don't think so,” Tobias was quick to reply, simply because he'd had enough stress for one day. He was ready for it to end. “Just let them go.”
“I don't know.” As he considered their best course of action, Doon cut a strip of cloth from his coat and used it to bind his bleeding arm. “We might end up facing them later. It might be better to take care of them now.” Doon glanced around at the few people who surrounded him. Seeing the fatigued faces of Bryce, Tobias and the rest of his tiny crew made him change his stance. “Actually... let's just land the ship and regroup with the princess. I'm sure she'll want to discuss our victory.”
“Victory.” As Tobias repeated the word, it finally dawned on him. “Wait... we actually won, didn't we?”
“We did.” Though Doon tried to sound nonchalant, even he was surprised that they emerged victorious in spite of impossible odds. “For now, anyway.”
Twenty Five
Doon's two ships reunited by the partially destroyed radio tower. The stolen Black Wings vessel landed first, followed by the ship Miles was piloting. Lyneah was the first to disembark. As soon as she saw Tobias staggering off of the other ship, she ran toward him and threw her arms around him.
“Tobey!” Lyneah held him as tightly as she could—then she shoved his chest. “Don't you ever, ever do that again!” When her mild admonishment was over, she hugged him again.
Tobias folded his arms around her and cradled her head to his chest. Lyneah held onto him so long, Doon actually chuckled. “Tobias was very helpful, you know,” the pirate captain told her. “He piloted the ship. He loaded some cannons. He killed eleven men.”
“What?” Lyneah broke out of their embrace with a gasp. “Eleven? Are you serious?”
“Uh... well...” When he caught Doon's gaze, Tobias shook his head with disbelief. “I can't really deny it, but I don't know why he told you that!”
“Wait... you're not hurt, are you?” When Lyneah saw a few drops of someone else's blood on the bottom of Tobey's shirt, her eyes were flooded with panic. She lifted his shirt and checked his stomach for a wound. When she didn't see any evidence of an injury, she breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the shirt back down. “You didn't get shot... or... or stabbed... or...?”
“I think Tobias is the only one who wasn't injured,” said Doon, who was cleaning blood from his sword. “Well... Tobias and this guy.” He pointed at a very smug-looking volunteer. The unnamed man accepted Doon's praise with a nod, then he grinned at the princess.
“Well... thank you,” Lyneah said to the stranger. “And thank you, Captain Doon. I'm fairly certain I couldn't have done this without you. I'm glad to have you on my side.”
Doon nodded, and without another word, he headed back to
his ship. As soon as Doon was gone, they were approached by Carol.
“Um... Princess?” Their engineer was clenching her teeth, so Lyneah braced herself for bad news. “I think the radio tower is kaput. Like... really and truly dead. I can't get it to respond. We won't be broadcasting here anymore.”
Lyneah's shoulders sank. “I assumed as much.”
“And by the way, I really did tweak the broadcast range! I'm not sure how the queen found out we were here. Word traveled, I guess.” Carol pressed the palms of her hands together in a prayer-like position. “Please please please don't blame this on me!”
“Of course not, Carol. This is hardly your fault!” Lyneah glanced around their makeshift camp. While it had grown exponentially over the last several days, they still didn't have enough people. She had a little over two hundred soldiers—not enough to take the castle. But she was running out of options. Lyneah saw Kieran strolling by, so she stopped him and said, “I think we should leave. I think we should... attack my mother.”
“Really?” When Kieran stopped in front of Lyneah, he took a swig from a tankard. “Are you sure about that? Our army's still a bit on the small side.”
“We have two ships now. With two ships, we should be able to transport everyone... but we wouldn't be able to transport many more than that. The radio tower is destroyed, so I can't make any more pleas to the people.” Lyneah glanced in Tobey's direction, hoping for his insight, but he simply looked tired. “When we get to my mother's castle, I'll just have to bet on the fact that some of her soldiers will side with me. I am the rightful heir, after all. And she is a tyrant.”
“Very well.” Kieran took another swig, grunting at the potency of whatever he was drinking. “If you're sure about this, I'll get everyone to board the airships.”
When Kieran was gone, Lyneah held Tobias' hand. She was only sure of one thing: she didn't want him out of her sight. They spent a few minutes gathering their belongings from the camp, then they boarded Doon's ship together. One of the pirates escorted her to a bedroom, which was a veritable suite in comparison to the tent she used to sleep in. As soon as they were alone, Lyneah yanked off Tobias' shirt.
“Whoa!” Tobey laughed as the shirt flew off, tousling his hair. “Hey!”
“There's blood on that one. Here.” Lyneah found a cleaner shirt in Tobey's bag and popped it over his head. “Wear this one instead.”
Tobey was smiling and shaking his head as he tugged his arms through the sleeves. He barely had time to process being stripped and dressed before Lyneah pulled him to bed and dragged him on top of her. She cupped Tobias' cheek, caressing his face before kissing him three times—lightly, on the lips.
“You need to understand something!” Lyneah's voice was playfully reproving. “The fate of the nation depends on your survival, so you can't keep doing reckless things!”
“Oh?” Tobias raised an eyebrow as he gazed at her. “And why is that?”
“Because...” Lyneah nibbled on her lip as she dragged a hand through Tobias' thick, disheveled hair. “If you died, I would just... give up. I'd lay down in bed and refuse to move again. And since I would be useless at that point, my mother would be queen for the rest of her life, and the nation would fall to ruin. All because of you.”
Tobias chuckled and wrinkled his nose. “Oh, I hi-highly doubt that. I'm just a bartender from Lundun. A former bartender, even. I think you're giving me too much credit.”
“Okay, maybe I wouldn't just give up. But... you're everything to me.” Lyneah reached into her shirt and pulled out the necklace that was tucked inside. It was the clay heart from the Dovyr marketplace: Tobias' gift to her. “I wear it all the time, you know. I never take it off!”
“Is that so?”
Lyneah was blushing and nodding. “Mm-hmm.”
Tobias stroked her lips with his thumb, then he leaned down to kiss them. When she felt his mouth on hers, Lyneah was screaming on the inside. She had kissed him before, of course, but it was the first time he ever initiated it himself. Lyneah spent so much time wondering if Tobias would ever think she was the right girl for him. If he was kissing her, she had the answer she needed. Tobias' kiss had her giggling uncontrollably.
“Promise me you won't do that again!” Lyneah combed her fingers through his hair as she begged him. “Promise me you won't take any more risks like that.”
“Hmm.” Tobias squinted one eye and shook his head uneasily. “I'm not sure I can promise that. If I take risks, it's because I want to help you. And until you have your castle back...”
“Tobey.” she whined his name. “It'd help me more if I knew you were safe.”
“But I'm not a baby, Lyneah.” Tobias rolled off of her and stared at the ceiling. “I don't need to be protected. I should be the one protecting you. You're the one we need to keep safe.”
“I know, but--” Lyneah was dying to tell him she loved him, but she didn't want to frighten him away. “But you mean so much to me, and... I don't want anything bad to happen to you. When we get to the castle, there's going to be another battle, and I'm terrified by the thought of you participating in it! If Kieran died, I'd be sad, but if you died, I'd be gutted. Nothing would hurt me more.”
“I'll be alright, Lyneah.” Tobias tucked his arm around her and kissed her forehead. “I promise.”
A cold claw of dread settled around Lyneah's heart when she heard Tobias' promise. She couldn't shake the feeling that he would eventually break it—and take away her reason to live.
Meanwhile, up on the deck, Carol tapped Kieran on the shoulder. He was in the middle of drinking, which meant he wasn't in the best of moods to be bothered.
“So... Lyneah and Tobias...” Carol began. “They're... kind of like a thing, aren't they?”
Kieran unscrewed a bottle of whiskey and took a long swig. “What do you mean?”
“I mean... she likes him. He likes her. That kind of thing?”
Even though he knew the answer, Kieran shrugged. “I don't know. Why don't you find a girl to gossip with? This isn't really my thing.”
“But even guys aren't blind to this kind of thing!” Carol insisted. “Even if you're not paying much attention to them, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.”
“Not really.” Kieran yawned. “But if you're feeling rejected and lonely, I could take you out for dinner sometime. Then we can have wine and strawberries... I can invite you back to my room...”
“Uhh.. I wouldn't mind going to dinner, but I'm significantly less excited about your other ideas.”
“You have a problem with strawberries?” Kieran asked as he raised the bottle to his lips.
“No, but you're thinking of using them as a stepping stone to sex, and that is just not going to happen!”
“Uh huh.” Kieran stepped away from Carol and rolled his eyes. As he sauntered away, he saw Francis Doon walking across the deck. Their eyes met, and Kieran sneered at him, but neither of them said a word. For the sake of the princess, they were trying to be cordial to each other, but their mutual animosity was undeniable.
Some time later, Doon was on the bow, gripping the airship's rail as he leaned forward. He looked down at the makeshift bandage on his arm and resisted the temptation to light a cigarette. He could hear Kitt's voice in his ear, telling him not to succumb. Every time he thought of her, a tiny grin lifted his lips. Doon didn't want to admit that he missed her—but he did. He missed her complaining, her teasing. He missed her laughter, her smile. He missed the joy in her eyes every time she wandered around the deck, looking at the clouds. He missed her thinly veiled adoration of him. The last time she was on his airship, he could see it in the way she looked at him. When he was with her, it was as if he was the center of her universe. Doon had made so many mistakes, he was afraid she would never look at him like that again. He could only hope it wasn't too late to make amends.
“But it isn't as if I need her,” Doon whispered to himself. “I just... want to help her. Undo my mistakes. That's all.”
Doon unwrapped the bandage on his arm and stared at the sliced flesh. Blood still seeped from the gash, and the bandage was thoroughly soaked. It was worse than he thought. If he hadn't sent Miles to the Black Wings ship, he might have asked him for a few stitches. The wound certainly looked like it could benefit from some professional attention.
As Doon gazed into the sea of sky and cloud, he suddenly heard the click of a gun's hammer. It was a sound he had heard so many times before. He expected to turn around and find Kieran—after all, the eldest McCray still wanted to kill him, and he made no secret of it.
But when he turned around, he saw the face of Stephen Doon, leering at him behind a raised pistol.
“Hello, son. Are you surprised to see me?” Stephen Doon's ragged voice croaked the words. “You certainly look surprised! And you should be, because today's the day I'm going to kill you. Are you as excited as I am?”
Twenty Six
When he saw his son reaching for his sword, Stephen shoved the gun's barrel into Francis' throat. “No no no. No weapons. You will not be fighting back today.” Stephen nodded at the four men who stood beside him, who rushed forward to relieve their captain of his swords and gun. “Search him for more weapons,” Stephen commanded. “You can never be too careful.” As the pirates patted their way down Francis' legs, his father grinned wildly.
“I suppose it's not worth asking how you got out of gaol.” Francis glared at the four pirates who had chosen to side with his father. “Apparently, I had traitors working for me. Who knew?”
Stephen suddenly slammed the side of his gun into Francis' face. When his head snapped backward, he punched his son in the gut.
“Let me tell you, son... I could not wait for this day!” Stephen threw back his head and roared with laughter. “I told you it was coming, didn't I? How many times did I warn you? One day, I'd take back what was rightfully mine. One day, I'd make you wish you'd killed me. That's what I always said.” Stephen suddenly pursed his lips and whistled a few joyous notes. “You should have listened to your father, boy!”
Sky Pirate (Belles & Bullets Book 3) Page 16
