by Rob J. Hayes
Following the Blade into the Council chamber, Elaina found it as grand as she’d expected. A circular table formed a ring around a large open area in the centre of the room. Light shone down from a glass-windowed ceiling and was complemented by a whole host of candles mounted to the pillars that stretched from the floor all the way up. There was a single break in the table that allowed folk to walk into the centre, and the centre was where the Queen of Blades was standing.
The Drurr stood tall and stunning in a figure-hugging dress of crimson. Her wreath of blades still rested upon her shoulders, and the smile she turned on Elaina was both welcoming and predatory.
Elaina gave each member of the Council of Thirteen a good long stare as she made her way into the centre of the room. For their part, the Council watched her silently, which only served to increase the prickling Elaina felt all over her skin. Once she stood in the middle of their circle alongside the Queen of Blades, the Drurr woman finally spoke.
“I introduce my guest Captain Elaina Black, daughter of Tanner Black, consort of Drake Morrass, and admiral of the pirate fleet.”
Elaina almost cringed at the introduction. She’d never considered herself an admiral, no matter how many ships she commanded, and the title of consort to Drake Morrass somehow made it seem all too real. The idea that she might actually have to marry and sit beside the slimy bastard on the throne had never occurred to Elaina as anything other than another obstacle to overcome.
“Some of you have already met with Captain Black,” the Queen of Blades continued. “I urge you not to be biased against her plea. We all know the way this works, after all.”
There was a murmur of agreement from a few of the Council members, and Elaina couldn’t help but feel the Queen’s comment was directed at those who had tried to curry Elaina’s favour themselves. She’d chosen the Blades as her representative among the Council, and that was likely to slight those others who had tried for the same position. The Queen of Blades had already warned Elaina of this, as well as which of the Council members would likely vote against her, and which were still undecided.
“The floor is yours, Captain Black,” the Queen of Blades said as she exited the ring and moved to the only spare seat at the table.
Elaina waited for the Drurr to sit down before clearing her throat and raising her voice. “I’m here on behalf of the Pirate Isles.”
“There is no need to shout, dear,” said Lady Tienna Ro’lare. “Some of us may be old, but we can hear you quite well.”
“Uh… right.” Elaina felt her cheeks redden. She forged on regardless. “I’m, uh, here asking for help. We’re at war with the Five Kingdoms and Sarth. They aim to purge us just like they've done before, but that ain’t happening this time. This time we’re fighting back. We’re organised. We’re united. We’re determined…”
“You’re doomed,” said Blunt, guild master of the Broken Spears.
Elaina focused on the man, her dark eyes staring a hole through him. Blunt didn’t so much as blink, let alone look away.
“We’ve beat ’em twice already,” she said vehemently. “First time they sent a Man of War and we took it, turned its bones into a town.” Elaina was well aware she was taking credit for something Keelin and Drake had accomplished, and she wasn’t about to stop there. “Second when they sent a fleet. We crushed it and took their flagship for our own.”
“Then why do you need our help?” said Somolus Tain of the slavers guild.
Elaina paused, trying to collect her thoughts; she hadn’t expected to be interrupted so early into her speech.
“Wins don’t come without losses, and we’ve suffered a good few wins. We need reinforcements. We’re close to winning this once and for all. Beating back Sarth and the Five Kingdoms so they ain’t got no choice but to recognise us as a kingdom of our own and pay the bloody tributes that go along with it. But we need a little bit of help from our friends to get us there. And, uh, I’m here hoping to count you lot among my friends – our friends.”
Blunt leaned forwards with his hands on the table. He looked just like his name, broad and hard and… blunt. “Or” – he paused just long enough to stand up to address the rest of the Council – “we could join the other side and help wipe out the pirate pest problem once and for all.”
A few of the other Council members made noises that seemed to be in agreement. Elaina looked first to the Queen of Blades and then to the Scarred Man, and she found them both silent and watching her intently. A test, she realised. They wanted to see if she could convince the Council without their help before they threw their support behind her as queen of the Pirate Isles.
“Once and for all, is it?” Elaina said. “Ya reckon that’s likely, do ya?” She laughed. No one joined in.
“This ain’t the first time other kingdoms have come for us with soldiers and fire, and it wouldn’t be the first time they sailed away thinking they’d dealt with us for good an’ all. We keep coming back though, don’t we? The Pirate Isles are conveniently placed right in the middle of the main shipping route between Sarth, the Five Kingdoms, and all the way over here in the Dragon Empire. To go around the isles completely adds weeks to a journey. Weeks of open sea with no little islands for fresh water, and some of those stretches of open sea are far more dangerous than an encounter with some pirates.”
“Yes, we’re all aware of the prime location your people currently occupy, Captain,” said Somolus Tain.
“Aye? Well, you drive us out and we just come on back once ya gone. Because there’s no better place to pirate from in all of the known world. All a purge ever accomplishes is a few years of less pirates and less pirating.”
“Captain Black makes a good point,” Blunt said loudly, a wide grin on his smug, bearded face. “Perhaps occupation of the isles by a military force would secure the trade routes.”
Elaina laughed to give herself a moment to think, but it came out as a nervous giggle.
“That’s uh… that’s exactly what I’m proposing, guild master Blunt. Thanks for bringing the subject up. Ya could send in your own military, sure, or maybe Sarth could, or the Five Kingdoms. Or maybe a combination of all three. I certainly can’t see that turning violent.” A couple of the Council chuckled at the notion.
“You’d have to support ’em,” she continued, feeling a little emboldened. “With food, with pay, with booze. Trust me, guild master Blunt, ain’t no military force sitting anywhere without a healthy supply of booze.
“They would need constant support to keep the isles free of us pirates, and the moment their discipline dropped – and it would – we’d be back. Not only that, but we displaced pirates would go elsewhere in the meantime. Pirate Isles is the best shipping route. It ain’t the only one. Might be we move on over to the Passage.
“You’re on the right course, guild master Blunt, but the way you suggest it is costly and dangerous. What happens if you let Sarth take control of the isles and they decide only Sarth merchants are allowed through?” Elaina shook her head solemnly. Blunt sat back down and steepled his hands.
Elaina smiled and glanced around at the rest of the Council. “There’s already a military presence in the isles. We’re already set up and ready, just without the incentive to protect rather than steal. All we need is a little help through a rough, uh, beginning.”
Elaina swallowed and found her mouth as dry as sand. With a rough cough to clear her throat, she continued.
“If you help us protect what’s ours and fight off Sarth and the Five Kingdoms, then you’ll get to sail your merchants through our waters without the threat of piracy. I ain’t saying it’ll be free, but anyone who helps us is gonna get to use the trade routes for a lot less than those that fight us.”
A number of the Council were now talking to their neighbours. Only the Scarred Man remained silent among it all.
“You’re proposing you tax us for use of the shipping lanes even after we help you protect the isles from invasion?” said Conney Markmarter of the Drago
n Slayers.
“Aye,” Elaina said a little too enthusiastically. “Aye. Discount rate, of course, on account of your help, but everyone gets taxed. No exceptions. You’ll lose far less by a bit of tax than the loss of entire ships.”
Again the Council members began to talk among themselves, and Elaina stood in the middle and watched them all. She caught a reassuring nod from the Queen of Blades, but it was fleeting; the Drurr was deep in conversation with Terk Ferrywold of the Red Hands. Elaina’s legs were wobbling, and she locked her knees to stop the weakness showing.
When the Scarred Man finally spoke, his voice came out as a dry rasp and all other sound in the hall stopped. “You ask a lot of us, Captain Black.” Elaina looked at the guild master of the Scarred Men, but it was impossible to see his face beneath his mask. “To whom should we entrust our ships and their crews? Many of us have had dealings with Drake Morrass before, and he is not always to be trusted.”
Elaina sniffed and straightened her back. Her speech had meandered and she’d lost her place, but this was an expected question with a prepared answer.
“I ain’t asking you to entrust your support to Drake. I’m telling you to entrust it to me. He’s got the support of the people and of the captains, it’s true. What he don’t have is the backing to make the Pirate Isles a true kingdom. With your help, I will have that backing. I’ll be sat there right beside Morrass on that throne, and you can trust me.”
“Can we?” rasped the Scarred Man.
Elaina swallowed. “Aye.”
The silence that greeted her statement said more than a thousands words.
“You’ve, uh, you’ve all heard of my father.” It wasn’t a question. “Many things can be said of Tanner Black, but none of them slate him as a liar. Well, he brought his children up the same way. I ain’t a liar, and I’m telling you now you can trust me to do what’s right by you. I don't forget my allies. Nor my enemies.”
As the chatter began again, the Queen of Blades stood. “If there are no more questions for the captain at this time, may I suggest we move on to the vote?”
Elaina waited to hear an objection, or another question she would have to answer, but neither came. It appeared all had already decided one way or the other. Her heart was beating too fast, and she wanted nothing more than to collapse into a chair with a strong drink. Public speaking in front of a hostile crowd was not something Elaina ever wished to repeat.
“As I brought the captain to us, I believe I shall start with myself,” the Queen of Blades continued. She’d told Elaina this was how it worked; the guild master in charge of the central district determined which order the other guild masters voted in. The opinions of others weren’t meant to sway a vote, but with guilds as powerful as the Blades, the Scarred Men, and the slavers, it was impossible for their votes not to impact upon others.
“The Blades vote to support Captain Black and the residents of the Pirate Isles,” the Queen announced. “How do the Scarred Men vote?”
Elaina turned to look at the Scarred Man, but it was pointless. With his hood up and his mask in place, Elaina couldn’t even see the man’s eyes, only the deep rents in the white mask that depicted the marks of the original Scarred Man.
“The Scarred Men vote in favour of the captain,” he rasped. Elaina felt her heart quicken.
“How does the slaving guild vote?” said the Queen of Blades.
“We vote against the pirates,” said Somolus Tain.
Elaina saw the surprise on the Queen of Blades’ face, and turned to see Somolus Tain sneering at her. Considering the slavers guild had tried to curry her favour themselves, Elaina had assumed their support was without question. She wondered how much of the denial was an attempt at petty vengeance for the offence Keelin had given when he ordered a knife held to Somolus’ neck.
With two of the three most powerful guilds in her favour and one against, the vote could still go either way. Elaina wagered she saw concern on the face of the Queen of Blades also.
“How do the Silken Soldiers vote?” said the Drurr.
Lady Tienna Ro’lare sat in her cocoon of silk wraps, old and shrivelled. “I vote against the captain’s proposal,” she said, and Elaina’s heart beat faster still.
Even dressed in her finest clothes and with her face daubed with white powder, Elaina felt her cheeks reddening. To be in the middle of all these fools and have them vote against her, despite how passionately she’d made her plea. Rage and embarrassment never mixed well with Elaina.
“How do the Nightborne vote?”
Red, the guild master of the Nightborne, sat in relative darkness compared to the other guild masters. The candles behind her had been snuffed out, yet even that didn’t account for the unnatural darkness around the sinewy, flame-haired woman.
“I like her,” she said. “She has my vote.”
“How do the Clerics vote?”
Brother Hernhold leaned forwards and nodded to Elaina. “The Clerics vote in favour of the proposal.”
Elaina’s heart was fair trying to hammer its way out of her chest, and she wished the Council would do their voting all at once, but traditions were traditions and the Queen of Blades had warned her how it would go.
“How does the Thirteenth vote?” the Queen continued.
Armen Vert, guild master of the Thirteenth and a royal bastard from the Five Kingdoms, looked unimpressed. “We vote in favour of Captain Black.”
Elaina almost questioned the man’s decision, she’d been so sure he would vote the other way, but good sense asserted itself and she kept quiet.
“How do the Fallen vote?”
Carowell stood up and fixed Elaina with a black stare, her dark hair framing her pale face in anger. “This is a mistake. They are pirates. They will…”
“The time for discussion is past, Carowell,” the Queen of Blades said firmly. “How do the Fallen vote?”
“Against,” Carowell snarled, and sat back down. Elaina had no idea what had caused the plump woman to bear so much anger against her. It certainly seemed possible she’d lost something at the hands of pirates.
“How do the Red Hands vote?”
Terk Ferrywold gave Elaina a sympathetic look. “You should have sided with me instead of the Drurr. I vote against.”
“How do the Civil Sons vote?”
Jeneus Lo’ten yawned wide and loud. “Whichever way you vote, my dear bladed queen. For the pirate. Why not, eh?”
At the sixth vote in her favour Elaina’s stomach turned over, and then over again. It felt as though her insides were dancing a nervous jig. One more would secure her support no matter how the last two guilds voted.
“How do the Broken Spears vote?”
Blunt, guild master of the Broken Spears and a man with impeccable taste in fine suits, smiled at Elaina wide and long. “I vote in favour of Captain Black,” he said in his deep, rumbling voice.
A couple of the guild masters started shouting, and those who didn’t all seemed to be busy in quieter discussions. Elaina wondered if major decisions made by the Council were always like this. The Queen of Blades fought for control of the situation and eventually managed to quieten her peers long enough to take the votes of the two remaining guilds. Elaina heard none of it. Her blood was rushing through her ears and a whoop of joy was threatening to escape her, but she held it in. She needed to maintain a measure of composure despite her victory.
With both Chade and Larkos behind her, there was no way anyone could dispute her claim to the throne, even if she did have to sit it beside Drake Morrass. There was also no way her father could be anything other than proud, even with the loss of her own ship. Tanner had sent her on an impossible task and she’d succeeded regardless.
“Captain Black,” said the Queen of Blades, and Elaina realised the entire Council had fallen silent.
Straightening up again, she faced the Drurr. “Aye?”
“The Council has voted in favour of your proposal. What is left is a discussion on the amount of s
upport that will be entrusted to you. If you would like to return to the antechamber – this could take some time.”
Elaina nodded enthusiastically, a wild grin plastered to her face. “Aye, I can wait.”
The Queen of Blades bowed her head slightly. “Congratulations, Captain.”
Chapter 28 - The Phoenix
Keelin looked up at the Bloody Bride and felt a shiver travel up his spine, across his neck, and then back down his spine for good measure. He’d always felt the name of the ship was a bit macabre, and now the thing looked downright spooky. The majority of the rigging was no longer made from rope, as one would expect from most ships, but from the silk woven by that terrifying monster of a ship’s pet that Captain Zothus kept. It made the Bride look like a giant floating nest of spiders.
“Can I help ya, Captain?” said a voice from behind, and Keelin turned to find the bald captain standing there, watching him with an amused expression. Zothus wore no shirt, and an extensive tattoo of a serpent wound its way all around his chest and arms.
“How can you stand it?” Keelin said.
“What’s that, mate?”
“The spider.”
“Rhi? She’s quite friendly once ya get to know her. Reckon she’d take right to you. She loves the scared ones.”
Keelin shuddered and glanced behind at the ship, his eyes darting around the rigging, looking for the cat-sized monster.
“What do ya want, Stillwater?” Zothus said with a laugh and a shake of his head.
“Do you still work for Drake?”
“I sail for Drake,” Zothus said. “I work for my crew.”
“Good enough,” Keelin said quickly. “The whole of the Pirate Isles sails for Drake these days. I’m wondering if you’re heading back there.”
Zothus nodded slowly.
“And how would you like an escort?” Keelin said. “Seems Elaina’s got some ships, and I have some slaves that need to find their way back to Drake.”
