Privateer (The Five Kingdoms #1)

by Robin Roseau

  I didn't have an answer for that either, so of course, she asked her next question.

  "Perhaps you are afraid you won't be able to catch anyone?" She made it a question, of course. "It's not any fun if you stay 'it' too long. When that happens to me, Auntie Rani lets me catch her. But I'm not sure she'll let you catch her."

  "You, young lady," I told her, "are far too smart for your own good."

  "Captain, do you mean to say I am far too smart for your own comfort?"

  "That, too," I agreed, and I began stalking her. She didn't move, and I reached out and tapped her shoulder. "You're it."

  "Oh no," she said. "There are rules. You can't tag the person who tagged you. You may only tag someone else, and it has to be someone who is playing. If we have to follow the rules, don't you?"

  "I wasn't playing, and you tagged me," I pointed out.

  "Then you may tell me you aren't playing, and I will tag someone else." She smiled at me.

  Without looking around, I knew everyone was watching and wondering what I was going to do. I knew Rani was watching, wondering what I would do. That made my decision for me. I set off in pursuit of one of the older children, and soon I was giggling along with the rest of them.

  Ten minutes later found me 'it' again. I began stalking after Rani. Laughing, she skipped away from me. I wasn't in a hurry to catch her, so I took my time, and she didn't seem to be too concerned about getting away from me, allowing me to draw close to her before skipping away again. Finally I cornered her, and when she made a dash to get past me, I grabbed her and pulled her into my arms.

  "I believe, Ms. Karden," I told her and she squirmed. "That you are it. However, I also believe it is time for lunch." And then I whispered into her ear. "I am sorry you missed breakfast. It was my fault. If it happens again, there is always something in the galley."

  "I do not waste away from one missed meal, Captain," she replied. "But please release me."

  I unwrapped my arms from her immediately, and she stepped away. "Am I serving?"

  "You are fetching," I replied. I turned and found Minori watching. "Minori, will you be joining us?"

  Minori looked around, locating her mother. "Mama, the captain has invited me to lunch. May I accept her invitation?"

  "Yes, Minori," Glora Karden answered immediately. "I expect you to wash your hands and be on your best manners. And none of your annoying questions; the captain is an important woman."

  "Ms. Karden," I said, looking at Glora. "Your daughter is a true delight, and if it is all right with you, I welcome her questions."

  A flurry of emotions crossed her face before she said, "Of course, Captain. I would not think to set the rules at your table."

  "Captain," Rani said very quietly, only loud enough for me to hear. "If you are humoring my niece to get on my good side, please stop. I will find out eventually, and I will..."

  I turned to her. "You do not need to finish that threat, Ms. Karden," I said just as quietly and without any anger. "I am not humoring your niece. I enjoy her company."

  "Are we clear?" she asked.

  "Quite. If I grow tired of her company or require a break, I will say so."

  She nodded agreement.

  "Ms. Karden," I said more loudly. "You will retrieve lunch for three. Minori, you may help her, if you wish, or may come with me and we may wait together."

  "I will help my aunt, Captain," the girl said.

  "My cabin, then," I said, turning away. From behind me, I heard Rani say, "Tag. You're it, Jorek." I smiled, and the game continued behind me, minus three.

  Several minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and then it opened, admitting first Minori, then Rani. I turned to face them, and Rani asked, "Was that correct, Captain?"

  "The rule about knocking applies if you know I have company or if you aren't not sure whether I have company," I explained. "Minori, you will always knock and wait."

  "Yes, Captain," she replied immediately.

  "If I had not knocked, but walked in to find company, would I be in trouble?" Rani asked.

  I sighed. "It would probably depend upon my mood."

  "Then I believe I shall continue to knock."

  The two proceeded into the room and began setting down plates and platters of food. "Am I to serve?" Rani asked.

  "No. We're all friends now."

  "That seems inaccurate, Captain," Rani said.

  I sighed. "Perhaps we could pretend."

  "Perhaps," Rani agreed. But they both sat when I gestured to chairs, Rani across from me and Minori to my right.

  Minori was being quiet, which initially surprised me. I worried her mother's order to ask no questions would stick. But I couldn't exactly order her to grill me. We passed the food around, each taking what we liked, and settled in quietly.

  "Why didn't you know the rules for tag, Captain?" Minori asked, breaking the silence.

  I smiled. "I haven't played tag before."

  Minori looked directly at me, her fork poised halfway to her mouth. She set it down on her plate, and it felt like she was searching my soul. Three times she opened her mouth, and three times she closed it again.

  "Perhaps I may ask a question," I suggested.

  "All right," she replied.

  "We do not know each other well."

  "That is not a question," Minori replied.

  "No. I am learning about you. I think you had questions you wanted to ask, but you rejected them. Am I right?"

  "Yes."

  "May I ask why?"

  "I did not think you would want to answer."

  "I was given to believe you enjoyed asking questions people did not care to answer."

  She smiled. "Auntie Rani and I thought perhaps I could find ample questions that may not make you quite so uncomfortable."

  "You rejected three questions."

  "No, Captain," she denied. "I rejected seven."

  "Seven."

  "Yes, Captain."

  "Would you share one of these rejected questions with me?"

  "Are you sure you wish me to?"

  I laughed. "No, I am not. Will you ask me the worst of the seven?"

  She cocked her head. "Who hurt you so badly, Captain?"

  I felt the color drain from my face as I stared into the face of this girl. "No one hurt me," I denied.

  She turned to her aunt. Rani shook her head, very subtly, and Minori returned her attention to her plate.

  "You just called her off!" I accused. "Why?"

  Rani looked at her plate, not answering.

  "Ms. Karden," I said. "I would like an answer. Why did you call her off?"

  She looked up at me. "Captain, may I ask my own questions?"

  "All right," I agreed.

  "Would you want me to lie to you for social niceties?"

  I looked between the two of them. They were a pair of peas in a pod. Minori was quietly eating, her head down, but I was sure she was listening attentively. "No, Ms. Karden," I said. "I would not."

  "Well, Captain, if I do not answer a question, it may be that I do not feel I can find words that will not lead to you becoming vexed with me. And I do not choose to offer a lie."

  "Are you afraid of me?"

  "Why would you ask a foolish question, Captain?" Minori asked quietly.

  "It isn't at all a foolish question."

  "Have you given my aunt cause to be afraid of you, Captain?"

  The table grew quiet again. I was sure Minori has more questions, but she wasn't asking. So I did. "Do you often ask rhetorical questions, Minori?"

  She looked up from her plate. "Is it possible to illuminate the truth by asking a question that no one answers?"

  "How are you so smart?" I blurted out.

  She smiled. "It's a gift."

  "It is indeed."

  "You are not angry with me?"

  "No." I turned to Rani. "I would like an answer to my question. Why did you call her off earlier?"

  Rani wouldn't look me in the eye.

/>   "Please, Ms. Karden. Answer my question."

  She sighed. "I am afraid you will turn your anger from me to my niece."

  "I am not angry at either of you."

  "Could you say that after she asks why you lied?"

  "That wasn't my question," Minori said, grinning. "I would have asked her if she actually thought we believed her lie."

  "Minori, enough," Rani said quietly. "The captain can do far worse than send you to bed without supper."

  "I am not going to punish her for asking questions, Ms. Karden!"

  "I do not choose to prove you wrong, Captain," she replied calmly. "No one survives unscathed when Minori releases her questions. But this time she is going to direct her curiosity in safer directions. Aren't you, Minori?"

  "Yes, Auntie Rani. Captain, how long have you been a captain?"

  "Wait," I said. "No one survives unscathed? Not even you, Ms. Karden."

  "I do not always know that a question will hurt just in the asking, Captain," Minori said. "I have seventy-one I am not asking my aunt."

  "You know the exact number?"

  "I am very precocious," Minori replied. "Do you know what that means?"

  "Yes," I said, smiling. "Do you often ask questions as a joke?"

  "No, Captain. Not often. I would like to more often."

  "Why don't you?"

  "Mama doesn't let me see Auntie Rani very often." She turned to Rani. "When I am eighteen, may I live with you?"

  "Oh dear heart," Rani said immediately. "I would like nothing more, but I can not offer you the things you father can."

  "Is that a 'no'?"

  "No, honey, it is not. But I will not assist you to make foolish choices."

  Minori smiled. "Well, that is settled then. Do not worry; I will not tell mother."

  "Minori," Rani said in a warning tone.

  "I know. You will not allow me to make foolish choices. So when I convince you I am not making foolish choices, then I may live with you. I do not make foolish choices."

  "No, honey," her aunt agreed. "You do not. We will discuss this again when you are eighteen."

  "We will discuss it again whenever I want," Minori replied.

  Rani laughed. "I suppose we will."

  "Ms. Karden, you did not answer my question. Do you come away scathed? The two of you seem to have a very healthy relationship."

  Rani sighed. "Go ahead, Minori."

  "Are you sure you want the captain to learn the things my questions would help her to learn, Auntie Rani?" Minori asked immediately.

  "I know I don't, Minori. Ask anyway."

  Instead, Minori turned to me. "Do you believe you deserve to learn the things you would learn if I asked my aunt questions?"

  I looked away first. "No, I probably do not. But I do not believe your aunt gets angry with you for your questions."

  "Minori, no!" Rani said.

  "Captain Westmere," Minori asked me, "what stupidity did you display this morning that caused my aunt to earn a gag?"

  "Minori, enough!"

  I stared at the child, shocked at her daring. She was as bad as her aunt.

  "If you aren't going to answer that, Captain, perhaps you will answer this. What kind of person kidnaps innocent women and children for money?"

  "Minori, shut up!" Rani yelled.

  "If not that question, then perhaps this. Captain, what did you do to my aunt in the brig that she would agree to behave?"

  "Minori! That's enough!" Rani screamed. She pushed herself away from her chair and tried to clasp her hand over the girl's mouth. But Rani was so small, Minori was actually bigger than her aunt, and she fended her off easily.

  "Captain, do you believe I will let you use me to convince my aunt to be nice to you?"

  And then Rani managed to slap her hand over Minori's mouth. I thought the girl let her. She had certainly made her point. Rani was panting heavily and glaring at me.

  "Don't you dare hurt her!" Rani screamed. "Don't you dare!"

  I took two breaths before responding. "Minori," I said in a calm, quiet voice. "You asked me how long I have been a sea captain. It has been a little more than two years. I was first mate before that. You asked me why I didn't know the rules to tag. I told you it was because I hadn't ever played tag. It is because I first became a cabin girl at a very, very young age and did not play with other boys and girls."

  I looked at Rani, her hand still clamped firmly over her niece's mouth. "Relax, Ms. Karden. She wasn't trying to make me angry. Her questions were for you. I believe she was demonstrating how even you do not come away from her questions unscathed. I would not dream of hurting one single hair on her brilliant head."

  Rani's face was next to Minori's, the girl's head pressed against her aunt's shoulder, a hand still over her mouth. Rani looked sideways at her. "You promised you would be careful."

  Minori slowly reached up and pulled her aunt's hand from her mouth. "I was, Aunt Rani." She looked to me. "Are you going to gag my aunt again?"

  I laughed. "Probably, but not for anything that has happened so far."

  "Aunt Rani," Minori said. "The captain wishes us to act as friends over this meal. She still thinks she can get you to have sex with her. She isn't going to ruin that by hurting me. And she knows she would have to kill you if she even threatened to touch me, and she isn't willing to do that."

  Rani kissed her niece on the cheek. "How did you get so smart, little girl?"

  "How is it I am bigger than you are?" Minori asked in response. "How much older do I have to be before you call me a woman?"

  "Forty-seven," Rani replied immediately, and the tension in the room broke. Rani returned to her seat, drinking slowly from her water glass.

  "Minori," I said several minutes later. "If I wanted you to ask someone questions, would you do so for me?"

  Rani began to open her mouth and answer for her niece, but Minori beat her to it. "I am sorry, Captain, but I must decline."

  "May I ask why?"

  "You may," she said, smiling at me, then sitting quietly. I waited for her to answer. Rani scoffed after a moment.

  "She answered your question, Captain."

  It was my turn to smile. "So she did. Minori, why won't you do this favor for me?"

  "I only do favors for my friends," she replied immediately.

  "And if we were to become friends?"

  "Do you believe I would easily become friends with my kidnapper?"

  "No," I said. "I do not suppose you would. What if I weren't your kidnapper?"

  "Are you offering to return me home?"

  "What if I were?"

  She considered my question. "Are you offering to pay restitution for kidnapping all of us?"

  "What if I were?"

  She sat quietly for a while. "Do you believe I would become friends with a kidnapper, even if she weren't my kidnapper?"

  "What if I were to retire from kidnapping?"

  She looked at her aunt, who sat quietly watching her. I was impressed. Most adults wouldn't allow a child to have a conversation like this. Minori turned back to me. "If you were to do all those things, then it might be possible we could become friends. I would carefully consider my aunt's opinion on the matter. If we weren't friends, but you did all these things you have suggested, then I might be willing to ask questions if you paid me a great deal of money to do so."

  "And what would you consider a great deal of money?"

  "Hmm," she said. "You ask good questions, too, Captain."

  "Thank you," I said. Somehow I was pleased by her praise.

  "I believe two full gold crowns would be fair."

  She was young. I wondered what she wanted that cost two crowns. "That seems like a very fair arrangement," I told her.

  "Per question," Minori added.

  I scoffed and began laughing. "You drive a hard bargain. One gold per good question."

  "Who decides which of my questions are good ones?"

  "I do, of course," I replied immediately.


  "Oh, I don't think so," she said with a smile. "Aunt Rani decides."

  "I believe your aunt would agree 'what is your favorite color' is a good question, if it would mean I owe you a gold crown for having asked it."

  "Do you have a gold crown, Captain?" she asked me.

  "Of course."

  "May I see the color of your money?"

  I laughed. "All right." I pushed away from the table, unlocked my desk, and pulled out a small money pouch I kept in a drawer. I locked everything else back up and returned to the table. I pulled out a gold crown from the pouch and handed it to her.

  "Captain, I am going to ask you a question about your favorite color, and if you agree it was a good question, will you give me this gold crown?"

  I laughed. "You would trust me?"

  "Would you cheat a child?"

  "Yes."

  "I will trust you anyway."

  "Ask."

  "Captain, what is your favorite color of hair?"

  I sputtered, then began laughing. I looked across the table at Rani. "Red," I said.

  "May I keep this gold crown, Captain?" Minori asked.

  "You may. What would it cost me to get you to ask your aunt a good question?"

  "Five gold crowns," she answered immediately.

  I hefted the pouch and set it on the table. "There are about fifteen crowns in this pouch. Maybe a little less."

  "You want three questions?"

  "I want three questions."

  She turned to her aunt but asked me, "And if I ask three good questions, will you allow me to keep this money? Perhaps you will ask my father for an additional sixteen crowns to free me."

  "You may keep the money, and I have already sent my demands to your father."

  "How did you do that?"

  "I do not wish to answer that," I said immediately. "Do we have an agreement?"

  "When I am done asking my aunt questions, then you will answer one more, Captain. You will tell me how much I should really charge for asking my questions."

  "All right, Minori. Agreed."

  "Auntie Rani," Minori said. "Does the captain remind you of someone very important to you?"

  "Oh god," she said. "Cut to the chase, why don't you? Yes."

  Minori turned back to me. "Good question?"

  "Yes."

  "Auntie Rani," Minori asked, "have you already admired the captain's body?"